Rumor: Nintendo DS Extreme news to be released on E3

http://www.t3.com/news/new-nintendo-ds-on-the-horizon?=35580

Nintendo likes to toy around with their lovable handheld consoles. After buying the Nintendo DS Lite February last year, I'm still savoring the experience of playing games with it since it's my first handheld console. And even if I already have a Sony PSP, I'm still a little bit biased and inclined to playing games at my DS.

And with the recent rumor, I know I'd be drooling over with the soon to be released new version of DS which will be according to T3:

"The new console is thought to do away with the GBA port (so won't be backwards compatible with GameBoy Advance games), meaning a slimmer design and lower price."

3D Graphic Box Shots

A year ago, I was assigned to create a logo for our outing. While searching for some ideas, I stumbled upon the software True BoxShot. It's as easy as 1, 2, 3. Just choose what options you'd like to go 3D. For box shot generating, pick the Box Shot.



Immediately, you'll be led to the 2D tab to load the pictures you'd like to add to create the 3D box. Usually, only the top, left and front images are necessary to generate it. After selecting the images which I would assume has been cut into three dimensions (for top, left and front views), click on the 3D tab and the application will automatically generate the 3D effect for the chosen images. Render it and voila! You now have a 3D box shot!

Galaga Time!

Galaga is one of my most favorite games of all time.

Upon searching for something interesting in my archives, I found some screenshots of the Galaga saved game in my pc. It's funny because I just got curious during those days and wondered what would happen if I deliberately reached a hundred stages in it. Although nothing special really happened, I had fun playing or perhaps the more appropriate term would be "toying" with it and eventually got tired and stopped at Stage 153. As you can see, I have 24 extra jets left and have two of it firing at the same time...

Manga Reading Tools

Manga, also known as Japanese comics, has been one of my favorite things to read on the pc since college. And a lot of mangas I followed and am currently following are better in terms of plot and is very much updated apart from their anime counterpart.

I'd like to share some of the tools that make manga reading on the pc a little easier:

WinRAR - Yup, better than WinZip and does a lot. 'Nuff said.
CDisplay - The comic book reader which allows you to view images in an archive file apart from the CBR extension name which is also being used when you download comics like Marvel.
mIRC - Old fashioned downloading? I've been using it to download lots of manga stuff and I find it way faster to download here than to read and download on online manga scanlations. Two of the most popular manga servers would be irc.irchighway.net and irc.rizon.net.
File Renamer Basic - When you download manga archives in different sites aside from the IRC, chances are the files that you've downloaded will have different filenames. This is the perfect tool for the job. It also has advanced features aside from the automatic incrementing of numbers to rename the files in which WinXP also does.

That's it. Just sharing some of the tools for all our manga reading pleasure.

Phidias in DS Lite rocks!

Having an idle and quite old second-hand Wacom Tablet, I'm easily always away from my PC. A friend of mine recommended Phidias which happens to be a paint program sort of like MS Paint in Nintendo DS Lite. To my surprise, with almost a week ago of trying to make the brush work, I saw an article that says you just have to put the "brushes" folder under the Phidias folder of your MicroSD card and voila! You're on the go for DS painting experience!

Here is an example of my first attempt at the program. I already converted it to jpeg format anyway. The image is about 512 x 384 in resolution which happens to be the largest resolution for Phidias as of the current release which is Phidias041907.

How to convert PSX games to PSP

First, search for the ISO file of the PSX Game you would like to convert to. Then, open IceTea 1.1. You can customize the image you'd like to load as the full screen background, info screen, icon and the animation. You can even choose to set the sound file to be played.

On another note though, with the file size of the PSX game you're currently converting, the images and sound files will also be included in the conversion so a quick tip would be to lessen the quality if your memory stick contains a lot of games. Click the "Let's Go" button and then wait for the conversion to be successful.

The "EBOOT.PBP" will now contain your converted PSX game. Create a folder in the memory stick with the title of the PSX game and then copy the EBOOT.PBP file into it. Load it into your PSP and test it!

Another popular PSX to PSP app is the PSX2PSP. Although it may be the most popular converter, IceTea is still my preferred converter.

Mav-wrecks to Mavericks to Mav-wrecks

I became an avid fan of the Dallas Mavericks after playing NBA Live 2003. Not much has been expected with them as the Nowitzki-led line-up coached by Don Nelson isn't expected to go deep then because of their almost non-existent defense and the run-and-gun style. Years after, two of the trios namely Nash and Finley had gone out to other Western teams only to find out that they've become solid contributors to their opponents.

Everyone thought it was over for the Mavs, until a surprising seven-game series against the Spurs during the Western Semifinals of the 2006-07 NBA Season proved that they can be a title-contender. Winning the Western Conference finals against the Suns, they faced a fading Shaq and a budding Wade as a heavy favorite to win the NBA title. Unfortunately, when a lot is expected of them, they fail to live up to their expectations.

After their NBA finals meltdown, they proved themselves hungrier than ever for the title the next season with a whopping 67-win record only to be beaten by the Golden State Warriors in a Western Conference first round playoffs biggest upset in the NBA History. Right time and the right place for the Warriors who have seemingly found the right time to gel with one another after their mid-season trade with the Indiana Pacers while on the other hand leaving the Mavs scratching their heads.

In this season, the Mavs haven't found their true identity with a sub-par performance in the first half of the season with what is expected to be a three-way race between them, the Spurs and the Suns for the first place in the Western Conference. However, things got worse when the panic button was pushed by Mark Cuban as they acquired Jason Kidd for Devin Harris, DeSagana Diop and Maurice Ager with the Lakers getting Gasol and the Suns seeking for the services of Shaq.

Cuban desperately needed the trade and not the players. Traded the future for now. However, the supposed to be "now" still isn't working for the Mavs as they are facing a huge deficit against the Hornets for the first round of the playoffs. Now, with Kidd, everything backfired. I suppose even with Kidd's character, they shouldn't have traded for him. Even with his almost triple-double stats, the kind of leadership he has is not the one that the Mavericks are looking for. They should've gotten someone from the draft like Bynum instead of giving up a lot for a 35-year-old complaining point guard.

Cuban, Kidd, Johnson, Nowitzki, Stackhouse... everyone choking at their own way. And what better way than to choke all at the same time.

Fighting Game Ideas

Fighting Game Idea

I was supposed to post this blog four days ago however my blog site is still locked. Anyways, I was just excited to post this crazy idea about a fighting game inspired by the recent news of the Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe which may or maynot be the rise again of the Mortal Kombat Series.

Here’s a gist of what features I had in mind for the game:

Power-ups

FPS, racing, side-scrolling games and even RPG games have these power-ups which may help improve the character’s current status immediately or permanently during the entire game. A few fighting games offer this one. And maybe only those of the comical type of fighting games include it. Upon creating the game, add the option on whether to include power-ups or not.

FPS-type Maps

Roam around free just like FPS games which let you roam around, gather weapons, obtain health packs and either sneak or hide until you’ve completely recovered against your enemies.

Royal Rumble/ Steel Cage Match

It has been an old tradition in WWE to let the wrestlers fight each other in a slug fest with everyone confined in a small arena. The creation of this confined arena allows you to fight around eight or more players in which you are eliminated if you were either forcibly or accidentally kicked out of it.

First Post!

There's always this first post and there will always be the writer in me who will keep on updating this blog from time to time. Anyway, just to kick off... welcome to my imagination! This is Chris Aldrin, a developer of combined experience of cobol/400, quicktest pro and c# for three years now. Oh well, that's it for now. You'll get to know more about the stuff I usually have interest on like photography, poems, occasional pc, handheld and console gaming, toys etc on the days or weeks to come.

Thanks for visiting my site!