Darius Cozmic Revelation - Mixed Impressions

Man, you call that HD when only the jagginess of the edges is gone without other enhancements in HD Mode of G-Darius in the compilation through upscaling? At least the other PS1 games that are ported to other modern platforms have remastered graphics whether they're standalone or part of the compilation. Even as an arcade shooter, the HD Mode should have REDONE graphics with true Hi-Res textures, various shaders and the explosion effects having Add/Screen type Alpha Blending. Raystorm HD already has remade graphics although something's off with the in-game aspect ratio and the remade graphics are not that great. The price is what turned many critics off the most as a result.

Recently, there was a PS1 emulation core in Retroarch that allows custom textures in PS1 games but until the recent time, having something like custom textures or hi-res textures on PS1 emulators is no easy feat due to the way the PS1 performs. The N64 emulators already allow that opportunity probably due to the fact that the N64 console has the RAM expansion stuff. Even the Dreamcast emulators have that same opportunity as well. The screenshots of the N64 and Dreamcast games on emulators I saw had the sharp looking textures with that mod. Perhaps, anyone can try having Hi-Res textures with the use of Beetle PSX HW core for Retroarch and there's even the Widescreen option in the emulators as well although not all games may look like that and there will or will not be inaccuracies depending on the setup. There are ways to make Hi-Res textures for Beetle PSX HW core.

I don't know if the HD port of G-Darius in the compilation is emulation-based or some sort but M2 surely specializes on the emulation quite well and especially for a 32-Bit console-era game like G-Darius which performs well in the compilation. The one in the compilation is based on the arcade version whether you choose HD Mode or Original Mode which is kind of like the Arcade Mode of various Cave arcade shooters on Xbox 360. The resolution is like extremely low, around 240p for those games but it's basically what the arcade version of those games is like originally.

Another game in the compilation is Darius Burst Another Chronicle EX+ which actually has its own additions like additional stages and additional music in Event Mode. It's the same repetitiveness as Chronicle Mode but Event Mode seems a little bit more reasonable like getting your score recorded for instance. The additional music that's exclusive to EX+ is what I anticipate the most upon hearing it from ZUNTATA's live stream of the compilation game and the music from the upcoming album CD being shown.

Darius Burst SP Obtained

OK, the ITunes Gift Cards popped up at Challenger stores that I decided to buy one so that I can buy the apps for my IOS device. Unfortunately, the newer ones are not likely to be compatible with it as if I need the new IOS device. It may be the similar story for your Android devices and even the Windows ones if you want to access the future apps.
The Burst Counter feature works easily by using the Burst Beam at the enemy's Burst Beam. You have to unleash it after the enemy unleashes its own to do the Burst Counter. I found that tricky to do so on the PSP version but it is easily done on the arcade and smartphone versions. Other differences include the game endings, the bosses and music but they are not quite major compared to the arcade version which is extremely major in differences.
Perhaps I'll try to video capture the zones with different music in this version so that people can know what the SP mode is like.
The only disadvantage is that the mini burst feature is missing in this version which can be difficult in some of the boss battles. It can be useful against things that increase the burst guage quickly at the same time like what the PSP and arcade versions have but no, you DO get the normal burst which takes up the burst guage much quicker. There may be choppiness due to so many things on screen at once but for the arcade version, I'm sure that there may be slowdowns due to how extremely over-wide the HD resolution is. Perhaps, there should be Super Darius Burst Another Chronicle for Taito Type X3 with next generation graphics and better hardware tolerance as well as Nesica X Live support in the future.

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.

Sine Mora Obtained!

Wow, looks like I was able to use the button-mashing method for this game as the firing speed when holding down the fire button is as slow as in Darius series but I don’t know if that surely applies to the entire Darius series as the only Darius game I played was Darius Gaiden on the emulator. For that game, the firing speed is kind of slow but if you tap the button as fast as you can which makes the firing speed faster, you can tackle the enemies with less difficulty. It may be the same in Sine Mora in which I did the two things in button mashing. One is tapping the button and the other is sliding the button. I may have suggested myself into playing this with the arcade stick and button-mashing on the A button like that where else for Shooting Love 200X’s Shmup Skills Test, I should be using the normal Xbox 360 controller as button-sliding like that with the arcade controller is kind of difficult.

The Story Mode was like I can play well but there are certain obstacles that will instantly destroy you in one hit regardless of time and shield and I was instantly destroyed like that. For example, in Stage 3A, you are supposed to hide in the trash and follow its path without getting out of the trash until you reach the end of the path where the trash is sucked in. If you get out of the trash however, there’s some kind of mine that will explode immediately that will destroy you instantly. For Stage 3B, try not to get crushed or collide with the molten metal. For Stage 6B, the train can instantly knock your plane off if collided. Lastly for Stage 5, the thicker laser beams can burn your plane off if you’re not careful. And those are what you have to be careful for while everything else takes off seconds from collision.

With button-mashing, the enemies can be knocked out quicker than usual, not like those videos of this game on YouTube we have ever seen, that is for Story Mode as I’m still getting my ass kicked in Arcade Mode and I still have to find the solution for that. Even worse is that you’re given three credits for Arcade Mode compared to Story Mode which has more credits to start. Another worse thing is that you will get lesser time compared to Story Mode so getting hit can be worse in Arcade Mode that you will run out of time for sure.

New higher screen resolutions

Well, the tablet and laptop devices don’t have the 1080P resolutions that the 720P like resolutions are the maximum estimations. Resolutions such as 1280X800, 1366X768 and 1280X720 for example are those maximum HD resolutions that the laptops and tablet devices can handle. The devices can also run the 1080P videos like I already tried on my laptop but will this be the same for tablet devices anyway?

For this year, there will be resolutions even higher than 1920X1080 for tablet devices. Hell, the new Apple tablet device was already out with such kind of higher resolution which is 1024X768 X 2. This provides the Retina Display just like Iphone 4 series and Ipod Touch 4th Gen devices already have. With that tablet device, you should be able to watch 1080P videos in addition to 720P videos. Sure, the screen resolution is still 4:3 but then the widescreen videos will be letterboxed anyway. Also, even Microsoft is preparing the tablet Retina Display like resolutions such as 2560X1440 compared to 2048X1536. Oops, that’s 96 pixels lost like that but imagine the Windows 8 Metro port of Darius Burst that will be optimized for HD screens including 1080P and Retina Display support. That will be pixel perfect on Retina Display tablet devices but for other devices, you will get pixel loss and that means certain parts of the screen will be cropped.

The better imagination involves taking a video of Darius Durst AC version and then convert it to 2560X1440 resolution. That will be freaking blurry for that and you still won’t get that kind of exact resolution when watching like that on TV or 1080P monitor.

Welcome to Windows 8 Consumer Preview but in screwed up way

The Developer Preview might seem to be the impressive opportunity for me to try it last year but the following problems occurred from there. The charm bar as in Consumer Preview was missing and I still can’t snap things like that even in Consumer Preview. Also, you couldn’t even close the apps unless you use the freaking Task Manager to do it which is something you do not want when it comes to Metro experience.

Then, things were starting to get corrupted on me such as the Start Screen not showing things up in Developer Preview and unpinned apps couldn’t be pinned back or shown in the Apps search. Also, the Control Panel was so blanky looking than colorful in Developer Preview and interactivity in Internet Explorer 10 and Control Panel was animation-less. Even in Consumer Preview, I still can’t move the tabs in IE 10 Metro version.

Now, about the Consumer Preview, the boot screen looks kind of distorted but that looks okay on my Acer PC which is widescreen. Then, what the heck is up with the boot screen symbol as well as the texture-less polygonal betta fish? You know, why don’t you illustrate an artwork with bosses and boss backgrounds from Darius Burst and then use that artwork as the new wallpaper? That should be better that way or it may look like we’re being brought back to the past to play the 3D games with texture-less polygonal graphics.

The real disappointing side in Consumer Preview is that you have to move the mouse all the way to the corner to do the next interaction. The task switching by dragging is there but there’s also a Metro taskbar on the left which can be difficult for users to explain with. The right side is another real downside as you have to go to the top-right or bottom-right corner to bring the freaking charm bar. Also, what’s up with dragging the app task from the top side of the screen? Surely, that looks idea-less to me. At least, some problems are solvable with the tablet devices but I don’t know if the Metro task snapping is there or not. In theory, there should be for tablet devices.

Last problem, is there a reason on why they slacked on the Xbox 360 powered apps on Windows 8 like I can’t even connect to my console directly with those apps? Hmm, it’s not okay for laptop and desktop users like me for Consumer Preview. What kind of music were they listening to? That was a sign of the screw-up in the Music apps section. Also, the boot time is kind of worsened or something.

I guess that this is an unacceptable beta version of Windows 8 for desktop and laptop users. The release candidate of Windows 7 was enjoyable enough to me so is the developer preview version.

Darius Burst for Iphone

This one, there’s no much of surprises but it seems that Darius Burst for Iphone may seem to be looking like the PSP version or even the better one. Well, if there’s Xbox 360, PS Vita and Android ports of this game, then perhaps the PSP version may be for you to forget or something. Man, if there’s also the tablet version of Darius Burst under Darius Burst HD, I guess that the HD graphics may be taken from the arcade version. But porting like that from the arcade version to Xbox 360 and tablet devices may be imperfect and non-exact. Anyway, what a nice announcement from Taito during the Lunar New Year days.

However, Famitsu reports that the whole Darius Burst for Iphone is the new title with new music but according to the screenshots I already saw, the game itself still looks like Darius Burst anyway.

IPv6 Day in June 8th

Looks like Google website told us that the Internet is already running out of addresses but then I already setup the Gogo Client and GogoNet to obtain this IPv6 technology. Hell, I also put that in my external router with IPv6 support but not all devices on my home network are IPv6 supported so what’s the point?

Also, tricking us that today’s the final day of living due to the unknown eschatology day is equal to someone melancholic warning us not to disobey or things like that will happen for sure. Well, there were my lecturers making imagination about this but someone else is honestly warning the main person.

The bottom-line, the Day of Darius Internet Edition will happen one day once all IPv4 addresses have been used.