Strike Witches STG for PSP

Damn, I forgot to blog about the PSP version last year but now, I'm giving this a try before moving on. The PSP version has additional stuffs the Xbox 360 version doesn't have and some of the graphical details are missing compared to the Xbox 360 version. Expect the slowdowns to be in the PSP version as well since this may seem to be a modern shooter developed by Gulti. The PSP port is another good one as the Xbox 360 version can be played on the Japanese Xbox 360 consoles only which is kind of regretful for Asian players like us just like the shopkeeper already told me the other time. This may also be due to the fact that it is an anime licensed video game but for the PSP version, you can play this game on non-Japanese PSP consoles as well as the console itself is region free that there's no need to worry about the games being region locked or something.
Well, it may be a fun game based on the anime but I guess that to have a real fun in this game, you either need to know the genre the game is in or perhaps the anime itself to play it. Lastly, I think that it's a shame that this game won't be in the Asian PSN either not because it's a licensed game.

Groove Coaster Zero

OK, I already had this app all along on my IPod Touch and things were quite good until there was another update that changed the factors forever in getting the songs. Instead of getting the songs like everyday, we end up getting the songs by leveling up. Perhaps it was kind of lucky like that that the replayability was changed where-else for TapSonic on IOS, it was unfortunate that this kind of above-mentioned feature was COMPLETELY GONE! That ruined the replayability like there's no way I can play more songs for free like everyday compared to Groove Coaster zero on IOS. Way to go to casual games for taking over the mobile gaming like that.
This year, there are some surprising updates as well, in addition to the upcoming arcade version, there's even a pack of Vocaloid songs in the IOS version of Groove Coaster Zero so that you can enjoy them even before the arcade version is bound to come out. We don't know the release date yet for the arcade version as of now but more details can be revealed after that.

Windows 8 RTM Aftermath

The days before the release in October 26th last year, it seemed that the developers still had to improve the quality of the product by issuing the updates to the Metro apps and the operating system itself. For the OS itself, there was a GA cumulative update for both Windows 8 and its server variant. It brought the improvements to power efficiency, audio and video playback as well as application and driver capability and applications and the start screen. Perhaps the computers in the shop running Windows 8 should already be patched with these improvements when you're going to buy one of these.
Also, the Metro apps would be updated before the release in October 26th last year to ensure smooth shipping as well. Perhaps, it was a good time that the developers checked their work before releasing their product to the market.
I remembered that I discovered certain third-party tablet computers running Windows 8 or perhaps RT and it seemed that Windows 8 was more of a recommended choice than RT for extended capabilities as most of the Windows tablet devices come with the laptop sized keyboard with the touchpad as the workaround probably due to the unacceptable existence of the desktop mode whose interface is still as small as ever and things are still not touch-friendly that way. Also, where the hell was the Microsoft Surface tablet the last time, huh? I expected it to be released in addition to Windows 8 itself but all I saw was the third-party ones. Lastly, Microsoft Surface Pro will be released sometime this year and it may look even better than Surface RT by the way but the thing is, there was a claim that Surface Pro is for business use while Surface RT is for consumer use. It doesn't matter anyway as the customers are likely to be aiming for the third-party Windows 8 tablet devices or perhaps the Windows 8 desktops/laptops.

Office documents on Office 365 Final Version

As we already know, the preview versions of all the Office 365 products had already expired and it's going to be time to buy the final versions of Office 365 products like they were already available. So, when you install Office 365, you get to see the Welcome to Office video. I don't know if that video is updated or not for the final version but it should be to reflect the title.
Now, here came an irritating part. For some reason, the applications decided to jam/hang on me due to that STUPID CONNECTION TO Office 365 and Skydrive stuffs. WHAT WAS THAT TECHNICAL PROBLEM ALL ABOUT WHEN TRYING TO EDIT OR SAVE A DOCUMENT ONLINE? In that case, I had already decided to edit the Office documents stored in my Dropbox storage INSTEAD! Even worse was that the Office documents I've been using were not able to be synchronized properly. That freaking Office Upload feature, it wouldn't do any uploading feature let alone the Skydrive doing all the work.
At least, the new Skydrive doesn't give me whatever technical problems because it functions the same way as Dropbox does and especially for the new Skydrive site that allows you to browse the files online but if you try to work on the Office documents stored in your company's Office 365/Skydrive online as a team, I don't know if the technical problems will surely annoy you or some sort. Better still, use Skydrive for storage purposes while using Dropbox for synchronization and document editing purposes in business.
Another irritating problem when editing documents is that interface keeps animating when the window is not that large or wide enough and when you're editing certain parts of the documents.
I don't know if the bugs are fixed in the final version and I will be buying Office 365 Home Premium or not one day but that has been so much of beta testing for me that new bugs can continue to annoy the beta testers upon detecting them and the developers are being reported regarding them and asked to fix them.

Sega X Taito Rhythm Collaboration

Last month, it seemed that Sega decided to add in various theme songs of their classic games like Quartet, Space Harrier, etc. and for those playing Groove Coaster Zero on their IOS devices like I already have, you get the Cosio arrange of Quartet theme. Hmm, not as good as the Project Diva Arcade remix of that theme though but at least you can enjoy that arrangement whenever you go via Groove Coaster Zero in addition to enjoying it in the arcade via Maimai Plus.
Also, while Taito was showing their arcade version of Groove Coaster series at JAEPO, what the hell was Sega doing there? Well, I'm sure Sega was like showing off something else I don't even know of.

Cafe De Tran

Strangely enough, when I went to Virtualland arcade at Bugis the last time at the beginning of this month, I was surprised that certain IIDX Tricoro songs are in Jubeat Saucer. That included the songs from Legend Cross and Omega Attack events. Basically, that event was the crossover of Beatmania IIDX 20 Tricoro and Jubeat Saucer where the songs are brought out to each other. I guess that songs from Tricoro are somewhat less difficult to play in Jubeat Saucer but the songs from Jubeat Saucer can be difficult the other way round. Other features of that event involve delivering sweets to Tran so you have to keep playing either of two games to gain additional stuffs so that you can give them to her to increase her happiness. This is Project Diva F's Diva Room on steroids where her happiness level decreases over time so playing everyday is an insane task for arcade gamers like me and besides, every run costs money so what's the point of fulfilling this event.
Also, to unlock the song, Confiserie, you have to unlock all the event songs from both games so that you can unlock it in both games. It can be a tedious task in case you find IIDX seriously hard like I've been finding it hard to start off.
God, the Bistro Saucer thing, I bet it takes me forever to unlock other songs I know and want to play. Oh, the event is bound to be over by the time we reach April I think. I don't know if the songs from this event will be playable in Jubeat Plus. At least, that is the easiest way to get them played in the first place that you can save money that way and that can be what Jubeat Plus can drive you, a mobile arcade gaming through App Store, not those money consuming events that take time to complete so that you can unlock the songs. However, if the event songs are likely to be unavailable in Jubeat Plus like Konami has no plans whatsoever, I'm sure that you have no choice but to play those two games to get those songs playable.

Jubeat Saucer Gameplay Report

Day 1
Back at TKA Virtualand arcade at Century Square, I was surprised to see the latest Jubeat game on the existing cabinets. With that, I could access my E-Amusement Pass to start playing. However, unlike the later days seen below, those epic Bemani players were not there. Song unlocked at the end was Heaven and Hell.
Day 2
When I reached the same place again, it seemed that those guys were already there playing Resort Anthem and Jubeat Saucer and oh god, I'm a sucker at IIDX, lol. I could probably pass the songs of up to level 7. Anything beyond that was already hard. I might have already changed the factors for playing rhythm games in the future such as the Difficulty Level by number as well as the Difficulty Level by Difficulty Category. For example, the song is at Level 9 in Extreme Difficulty that there may be risks of failing it compared to playing it in Advanced Difficulty which is Level 7. Between these two levels of difficulty, I may rather play the song in Advanced Difficulty. Damn, those guys must be playing for damn long like everyday or something and no wonder so many familiar songs were already unlocked by them. It took them like so much money to unlock most of these. The song list at first is a joke but it's really a joke if the machine is offline, so it takes time to unlock the songs you want to play through Bistro Saucer. Song unlocked at the end was Quaver.
Day 3
Damn, those same guys were at the same arcade again playing the same games. Their progress must be faster than mine and I still haven't even finished the songs in Maimai yet. Song unlocked at the end was Little Star.

MS Tools for VMware Integration and Migration Jump Start

That was a better and smoother Jump Start but it is not the first time I attended online though. The event started yesterday from 11PM to 3AM today in which it lasted five hours. It focused on the four chapters/modules such as Monitoring the entire environment with System Center tools, Migration from VMWare to Hyper-V, VM Management stuff or whatever and the Automated Deployment with Orchestrator.
Now, before I start explaining about what I did yesterday, I may have to tell you my experience in virtualization. The first virtualization program would probably be Virtual PC from Microsoft and it was quite new back then until there were competitors trying to take Microsoft down or something like VMWare, VirtualBox, Parallels, etc in which I then started to use VirtualBox. For Virtual PC 2007 SP1, you get the higher resolution, custom resolution, widescreen support for guest OSes and other stuffs to make it on par with its competitors but for now, it seemed that Microsoft was apparently working on something even more superior to Virtual PC such as Windows Virtual PC for Windows 7, Hyper-V for Windows Server series including Windows 8. Can Hyper-V be the most superior one from Microsoft? Sure, you can close the virtual machine window to pause or directly shut it down or something but I don't know if you can keep the virtual machine running in the background in Hyper-V. It may be a great deal for Hyper-V to keep the VMs running in the background as Hyper-V is probably stored on the servers and people may want to access those VMs remotely. Then, for Parallels, VirtualBox and VMWare, you can bring the virtual machine desktop environment to the host desktop environment like you can get two taskbars at the same time for example and you can have the windows from two OSes at the same time as well. It may be cool but you have to know which OS desktop environment are you using. This may be useful for all computer users regardless of the competitive OSes.
Using the latest System Center tools from Microsoft, you're able to save cost that way and it may be why this course and Jump Start existed in the first place. You can manage the whole environment of physical and virtual machines with System Center and you can manage the VMs that are running Hyper-V or VMWare. However, you have to be careful when trying to migrate to Hyper-V. First of all, the virtual machine configuration may not be part of the migration process and especially if you're migrating the VMs to the newer physical machines for like better performance. Second, you have to plan carefully and get ready the clusters in case the process may fail. And in case you don't like to do any tedious scripting to do the automated deployment, you can use System Center Orchestrator tool to do the thing. You drag and drop the stuffs provided that you have the Integration Packs installed and ready and then establish the paths on where you want the instructions to be followed step by step but be careful on what you're doing as you have to TEST before you RUN FOR REAL! Each set of instructions is known as a RunBook and when you start it, it will do all the instructions you've specified for you. Other factors involve the parameters you're going to specify like the computer name, the location on where you want to store VM stuffs to and other stuffs you want them to be in the VMs. For example, if you want to install the OS on multiple VMs simultaneously, you can use this Orchestrator to make a RunBook of making a VM with the specific OS and then commence the deployment. Lastly, there may be free tools to convert from VMWare to Hyper-V but keep in mind that there's no other way round.
During the event, I contributed in the correct way and I got the response in the good way. Also, there is even the IT Camp where you can go to Microsoft to attend various events there. Jeez, how is that the public event anyway and how is this a real camp? So far, there are three of them in Singapore but one of them is already full as I already checked during the event. We'll be looking forward to more IT events like this.

DDR Dance Wars - WTH?

Previously, there were some DDR games on IOS devices that were kind of buggy that they were quickly pulled from the app store but later on, one of them was put back on the app store after certain bugs were fixed. And this year, we get DDR Dance Wars, the latest DDR CS game on IOS. We may be wondering if this is really dancing at all when playing on IOS devices.
However, I might have discovered a wireless bluetooth dance pad that is compatible for the Ipad on the net but it seems that it was being displayed in this year's CES or whatever. With that, you should be able to play some DDR games on the IOS if that works but otherwise, you're going to be out of luck if that doesn't work. And really, who thought this was a good idea? At least, you can try out Stepmania with the DDR controller to be played on Windows tablet devices provided that there's USB support and Stepmania is installed with the songs ready.
Lastly, the game features the mission mode, event mode as well as the famous DDR songs you can get but what the hell is up with the event mode? Holy cow, Konami, this is NOT the next SC5, like having to stop the alien invasion thingy with dancing! Another problem is the use of the new game engine that the timing or perhaps the BPM cannot be exactly right for certain hardcore DDR songs.

Ginga Force for Xbox 360

The only way to buy this recently released game will be from Games On Demand or perhaps online as the game is in Japan only but we're glad that it is region free. Speaking of Games On Demand, I already bought Eschatos from it last year in which the creators of Eschatos made Ginga Force. The effects, shots and other stuffs are somewhat similar between these two games and especially for the sound effects and the way you get the 1UP.
What's even better is that you get the full voice acting support for the gameplay and cutscenes but one of the inferior things about this game is the opening. How is the opening made out of in-game graphics, that's kind of bull-crap compared to other shmups that have true animated openings such as Otomedius Excellent and Trigger-Heart Exelica Enhanced? At least, those two games have the true animated openings but for this game, the developers should have collaborated with the company that has the ability to make a true anime-like opening. Also, you can notice the lack of the boss destruction sequence. Sure, you're capturing the criminals in this game according to the concept and the storyline but later on, you get to encounter the craziest antagonist of all who's trying to summon his own space fleet or whatever to wipe out the fictional Seventier. It was fine with some energy that powered Seventier until he corrupts it for unknown reasons and it's up to you to stop him in further parts of the game. This is where the real disappointment comes in after defeating him when it comes to the lack of the boss destruction sequence like what's so difficult like that when the whole game is in full 4:3? At least for Strania, the whole thing is seriously big, the explosions, the bosses, the enemies, etc but this one surely supersedes Eschatos graphically although the whole graphical quality doesn't seem to be quite enough. Lastly, is a bunch of mini-training simulators to deal with but how are those fun anyway?
The release date? Well, to a surprise, it was released in Valentine's Day last month and it was also when the Lunar New Year days were still on-going but too bad the developers didn't seem to prepare anything for that special day other than the game's release.

After Burner Climax for IOS

Holy shit from what I saw on the net. The graphics are kind of different and the effects are ruined compared to the arcade version. Also, the cutscenes are missing and especially the additional voices. Another thing that ruins the port is probably the lack of motion controls. Maybe that feature must be way too difficult to use that you're given the normal controls instead with the virtual D-Pad? And why the virtual D-Pad anyway?
Well, come on, what were they doing when making the IOS port of After Burner Climax? The home console version looks even better than the arcade version due to HD graphics and widescreen support but this port looks kind of inferior to even the arcade version. Anyway, the IOS port may seem to be okay to buy but this is not how an arcade game is ported to the IOS.

Beatmania IIDX 20 Tricoro and Reflec Beat Colette OSTs

I guess that when these two soundtrack CDs were out, I still hadn't finished my works of last year before moving on to the works of two years ago which I recently started. For Beatmania IIDX 20 Tricoro OST, it contained the normal songs from the game as well as the songs from the events such as Legend Cross and Omega Attack. Speaking of Omega Attack, it is still on-going and having to go through it completely is a son of a butt because you're supposed to eliminate the viruses off the map including the songs that are parts of the sectors that are affected as well. There are also boss songs which can be really hard as well but it can't be a problem tackling them in Normal difficulty. However, by playing in Normal, I guess that you may get lesser bonuses like that. Also, you're gonna need lots of Dellars or whatever to buy those weapons needed to wipe out more viruses off the map in Omega Attack. It's seriously money and credit consuming but at least it may be how you may enjoy Beatmania IIDX 20 Tricoro.
For Reflec Beat Colette OST, it may be the same sort of thing, containing songs that are in Standard Mode as well as the songs from the events such as the Adventure Mode or whatever it is where you need to guide Pastel through various places. I guess that navigation through this mode is somewhat easier through the touch screen feature.
Anyway, these two soundtrack CDs were recently out last month or something so that you can enjoy the songs from the game without having to view the freaking online videos of the respective songs you want that have the gameplay on them but take note, some of the songs may be different on the CDs and the bonus tracks may be either remixes or perhaps the full versions of the songs.

Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds

So far, the nature may seem to be good for a while starting this month and now, we're going to blog about Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds. It was recently out in February 27th on XBLA and the knowledge about it is that the original game was a fighting game released two years ago. That was one of 5PB's product genre spinoff projects besides Bullet Soul as 5PB is all about Visual Novel gaming. I may assume that there may be visual novel elements in Phantom Breaker and its spinoff by the way as it's a shame that Bullet Soul doesn't have one. The opening of Bullet Soul is freaking static by the way like there are no animations whatsoever for the characters and the ships.
Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds is the four-player beat-em-up game based on the fighting game released two years ago. It has the cool fighting game elements added to it and it's gonna be extra fun. There was a comparison between this and the other beat-em-up game so expect some similar fun. It's in 8-bit style and has the characters from Phantom Breaker in chibi form.

For whatever cosmic reason or anything like that, this may be the next game for me to buy. Also, I may recommend that you play this with the arcade stick or some sort.

E-Amusement Pass Obtained!

Oww, talk about accidental collision with someone like that but never mind. It is probably a minor mistake and I already apologized all along for that. But that aside, I managed to get the E-Amusement Pass for $6 from Bugis Virtual Land arcade which is by far the greatest arcade in Singapore. It was really hard to find where the hell was it in the first place until I found out that I was supposed to get to the area with the fountain. Somewhere there, there was a staircase which will lead you to the arcades so shame on Google Maps for giving me wrong information.
Unfortunately, I made a huge scandal upon myself into concluding that I'm not anything good at Beatmania games that I kept on failing miserably when playing Tricoro like that. Such a rhythm game like that is seriously hard to start off and the training with the Beatmania IIDX simulators is not enough for me. It is probably due to the lack of the actual controller that mimics the arcade experience but having to use the keys and the turntable at the same time is probably more difficult for me. Maybe I should go back to Jubeat series as I can pass the songs in Advanced difficulty and besides, that series is easy to start off similar to Sega rhythm games today. What a disgrace the way I played Beatmania IIDX like that. Perhaps I should start off in Normal difficulty to get used to the controls. You think you can play this after playing O2Jam tons of times? Well, obviously, the controls are going to be different and the timing is seriously strict and the inclusion of the turntable can make the challenge even worse. It's like I wasted 10 freaking credits on this and it wasn't good like that!

Darius Burst obtained!

OK, I still have yet to buy other games for my Xbox 360 console after buying this and holy cow, the graphics on the PSP version are somewhat inferior compared to the arcade and IOS versions. Sure, the PSP is like the portable Playstation 2 in which the graphics will never be that smooth and especially for the gradient shadings everywhere. Talk about loss of gradient shadings everywhere in this game for the PSP but at least, it may be a nice addition to your shmup collection. However, if you're going for the consumer HD version, you can go for the IOS version which has additional features that are exclusive to it and it has certain stuffs taken from the arcade version. Hell, if there's an Iphone 5 and Ipad 3 support for Darius Burst, the graphics will be even sharper than ever but even then, there will still be pixel loss compared to the arcade version.
And before you start this game for the first time on your PSP, you're supposed to enable the Auto-Save and make sure that the Save File is made and stored in your memory card. Somehow, I made a mistake by accidentally pressing the other button that declined the first question about the Auto-Save thing. Sure, there would be two questions the first time you start the game but then, all these texts are in Japanese to be honest. Perhaps, I shouldn't be cocky enough to start the game like that after obtaining it.
It's a shame that the intro video is not used in the PSP and IOS versions but rather the ARCADE VERSION? What the hell? The game on the PSP is like less than 100MB and it can somewhat remind you of the game size of Ikaruga when the whole disc is compressed.
Lastly, I still have to figure out on how to unleash the more powerful burst laser beam which requires the collision with the enemy burst laser beam. It may be risky but it is how the players play. Also, the IOS version has the nice retina display feel to it as if the HD graphics are taken from the arcade version that you can buy it easily instead. For the PSP version, you can buy it from the retail store or the PSN store. I bought it from the PSN store today to be played on my Playstation Vita.