TALES OF TECH LOVE

After getting a HDTV but never using it to his full potential and with my PC getting not powerful enough for the latest games, I decided to buy an Xbox 360. It was close to the launch, I went to FutureShop but they were sold out. I checked their web site and ordered it there. A week later I got a nice box from the mail with my Xbox 360. I connected it to my HDTV and tried a bunch a demos. After trying a few demos, I decided what game I wanted to buy and got a few. It was the begining of a love story and 85k gamerscore later I still love that console as I loved it on the first day!

TALES OF TECH WOE

It was Saturday morning, after a week of hard work when I finally had time to continue to play to Assassin's Creed 2 on Xbox 360. I was right in the middle of the story, exploring a new city I just discovered when the image frooze and I saw the red ring of death on my Xbox 360. After 5 years of loyal service (launch console) and 75k gamerscore later, my unit finally left me in the middle a session. I tried waiting a bit, check the Microsoft tech customer but I had to conclude that my console was finally dead and would not be coming back!

To make matters worse, I went to FutureShop to buy another one but they were out of stock. I had to wait 1 week before FutureShop would get more but it was worth it and I could finish Assassin's Creed 2 and add another 1k to my gamerscore!

LEFT 4 DEAD review

Left 4 Dead is the latest FPS developed by Valve. It is available on Xbox 360 and PC. Valve announced the sequel at the last E3. It made a lot of noise since Left 4 Dead is not old but if it is as good as the first one, why complain?

Story
The story of this game is pretty simple. There is a zombie infection spreading and you must survive. It is as simple as that. No explanation as to how it started. What matters it that you must survive to escape those zombie hordes. It is a fast paced gory blood bath zombie massacre! Sometimes you simply don't need more to make an awesome FPS.

The atmosphere that Valve created is really awesome. It feels like you are in a movie. It reminded me of Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror (great movie by the way). They paid attention to small details and added humor. For example when you start a campaign you will see a poster of the "movie" with the cast using the player names (ie "Player 1 as Francis") and a catchy line (ie for the chapter/movie "No Mercy", the line is "Curing the infection... one bullet at a time."). When you complete a chapter you will see credits like you would at the end of a movie. If a player died but the others made it, it sill start with "In Memory of Player1". At the end the number of zombie killed will be displayed as "X zombies were harmed in the making of this film". They really paid attention to details.

Gameplay
In campaign mode you play as one of the 4 survivors (Zoey, Bill, Francis, or Louis) and other players (if you are playing online) or the AI control the 3 other characters. The goal of the game is quite simple, as a group you must survive. There are 4 campaigns available containing 5 chapters. You must get to the safe room to continue to the next chapter and in the fifth chapter you must defend a zone against zombie hordes before the transport arrives to rescue your group.

You can also play versus mode. This one can only be played in multiplayer (online or split-screen locally). Up to 4 people play as the survivors and up to 4 people play as zombie specials (more details to follow, for now let's just say their are über zombies). So you play a chapter as one of the team, then it switches to the other side (if you were survivors you become zombies) and so on until the end of the campaign.

While playing you will usually fight (read massacre) "normal" zombies. But sometimes you will face special zombies. There are 5 special zombies, 4 of them being available in versus mode. The witch (which is not available in versus mode) looks like a child crying in a corner. Make sure you do not disturb her or she will run at you and likely kill you (turn off your light and don't make noise). There is also the hunter that jumps before making his kill. The Smoker has a tongue that can strangle survivors. The Boomer can vomit on the survivors and it will attract an horde of zombies. Finally the Tank is like a giant gorilla (for the lack of a better term...): very strong, can throw stuff at you, can jump and climb. Moreover the zombies never spawn exactly at the same places so even if you play the same level multiple times, it will never be exactly the same.

A third mode was added via the free DLC (downloadable content) that is called survival mode (including a new map: The Last Stand). In this mode you must survive against horde of zombies for as long as you can. It might seem easy but it isn't. Sometimes your team won't last more than 30-45 seconds! This FREE DLC puts to shame other DLCs, such as the one from the other zombie game, Resident Evil 5 (which is not even free and should have been included on the retail disc anyway).

Sounds and graphics
The graphics are good, they do the job well but they are not impressive like Gears of War 2 for example. On the other hand it isn't as important since the game takes place at night so everything is dark. Furthermore the game is very fast paced and you will see a zombie head exploding in front of you without having time to analyze it (unless you want to die). There are many zombies and the framerate on the Xbox 360version is always good (for PC it will depend of your computer performance obviously).

The sound and specially the music are very important in the game. Audio is used as it would be in a movie. Based on the audio you can know if a horde is coming to you or a special zombie.

Multiplayer
As described earlier in the gameplay section this game supports multiplayer. I would go even as far as saying that it REQUIRES multiplayer. It is so much fun when you play with other players instead of the AI. If you plan on buying the Xbox 360 version and you don't have Xbox Live, I would almost suggest that you skip this game (you will be missing one great game though).

Conclusion
If you like fast paced FPS and you are not afraid of a zombie blood bath, Left 4 Dead is the perfect game for you. I recommend it, I finished the campaigns a bunch of times but I still have a lot of fun. The only negative aspect I need to point out is that it would need more campaigns. The game is so fun but with only 4 campaigns you still want more. Of course you can try them on Easy, Normal, Advanced, or Expert but it still takes about 35 (on easy) to 95 (on Expert) minutes to complete a campaign. Left 4 Dead: A simple idea executed perfectly!

Score: 9/10

GUITAR HERO: METALLICA review

Guitar Hero: Metallica is the latest Guitar Hero game from Activision featuring the famous band. It was released a few weeks ago for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii. It isn't sold with instruments since all/most instruments from previous games are compatible depending of the platform. On Xbox 360 any guitar/drum/mic from Guitar Hero 2, Guitar Hero 3, Guitar Hero: World Tour, Rock Band, and Rock Band 2 are compatible. I tested the game on Xbox 360 but from what I read the same can be said for the PlayStation 3 version (except for the guitar from Guitar Hero 2 since the game was never released for PS3) but not all instruments released for Wii are compatible.

Story
The story of this game is pretty simple. You are a young band playing the first part of Metallica concerts. Another band ("hair metal", quite funny) is trying to steal your place but you stand your ground.

Gameplay
If you have played to previous Guitar Hero/Rock Band games you know what to expect. This game is based on Guitar Hero: World Tour so it has the same gameplay features. The major difference from previous games is that this time the music really rocks. While many songs from previous games are good, you are often stuck with Bon Jovi and other crappy groups (no offense to Bon Jovi fans... but I doubt school girls will read this blog anyway ;p).

Most of the popular Metallica songs are available (Master of Puppets, Enter Sandman, One, Battery, Fade to Black, Orion, The Unforgiven, Seek and Destroy...). I still think that some important songs are missing though such as ...And Justice For All, Ride The Lightning (ironic since this was the subtitle used for the game), Call of Ktulu, Blackened, and Four Horsemen. Some of these were available as downloadable content for Rock Band so maybe there was some sort of exclusivity :(. If you bought the Death Magnetic album downloadable content from Xbox Live you'll happy to see that it can be used in Guitar Hero: Metallica (as well as Guitar Hero 3 and Guitar Hero: World Tour). On top of the Metallica songs, the game also includes songs from other artists that are somehow related to Metallica. Unfortunately in my opinion most of them are not as good as Metallica so I think more songs from Metallica should have been available instead.

A new difficulty level was added for the drum (not available for every song, only when justified). This mode is called Expert+ and pretty much requires a second drum pedal to match the drumming style of Metallica's Lars Ulrich. This mode is simply crazy! The game also contains live performance videos and facts about the songs. When the song is not from Metallica you can understand how it is related to Metallica by reading the facts.

Sounds and graphics
As you would expect, audio quality is important in a music game and the quality is really good. The graphics are the same as Guitar Hero: World Tour. They are great and the Metallica characters look quite good. Motion capture was used with the band members to recreate the on-stage experience. The character models are nice since they look like the real Metallica members with a bit of a cartoony look to match the other Guitar Hero characters. Don't expect to see previous members of the band in the game, only the current members are available. On the other hand 3 models can be used for each member: current, classic and zombie.

Multiplayer
The game supports many multiplayer modes (the same as Guitar Hero: World Tour). You can play 1 vs 1 (battle, face off, pro face off), 2 vs 2, coop (2 guitar/bass or whole band), band vs band (this mode is really fun)... Of course you can play these different modes with friends in front of the same screen or over Xbox Live.

Conclusion
If you like Guitar Hero/Rock Band games and you are a Metallica fan this game is a must have. Guitar Hero seems to be taking over Rock Band (across all platforms, US sales for 2008 stand at 3.4 million for Guitar Hero: World Tour and 1.7 million for Rock Band 2) and I am not sure how Rock Band can make a comeback. I don't believe they are heading in the right direction with Lego Rock Band. Personally I would take a Metallica music game over a Lego music game any day. Don't get me wrong I think the Lego Star Wars/Indiana Jones/Batman games are fun games but a music game featuring Lego characters? Shouldn't they be concerned about the music?

Score: 8.5/10

STAR WARS WITH D-BOX MOTION review

As you might have noticed from my previous reviews, my D-BOX SRP-120 Motion Platform, along with my Xbox 360, is one of my favorite gadgets. Since there aren't many people with that cool toy yet, it makes my motion reviews quite original. So far I only reviewed games but if you look at the D-BOX web site, you will notice that they support over 800 movies on DVDs and Blu-Ray discs. The same motion platform can be used for both movies and games (you do need a different controller unfortunately).

Is there a better movie to benchmark a system than Star Wars? Of course not! More than 30 years since its release, Star Wars is still the reference. The influence the Star Wars movies had on the whole cinema industry are still felt today. But haven't I already fully experienced Star Wars? I have seen these movies at least a hundred times (no kidding!). I watched them in pan & scan (when I didn't know better) and widescreen. I heard them in the original language and dubbed, in mono, stereo and Dolby Digital 5.1. I have seen them on Beta, VHS, analog TV (with ads), Laser Disc, DVD, digital cable, standard theater (1997 Special Editions and the prequel trilogy), IMAX theater (Episode 2), digital theater (Episode 3). And more precisely, what about the classic trilogy? I have seen the original 1977, 1980 and 1983 editions, the 1997 Special Editions and the 2004 DVD Editions. Yes I though I had seen them all... but I was wrong!

So here it is, a review of the Star Wars DVDs with D-BOX Motion Code!

Star Wars: Episode 4 - A New Hope
I don't think I need to describe the movie. Unless you lived under a rock for the last 30 years, you know the story. It's the one that started it all! Luke Skywalker begins his Jedi training with Obi-Wan, rescues princess Leia with Han and Chewbacca and finally blows up the Death Star. Simple yet effective!

What about the motion though? I only have one word to say: AMAZING! I had chills down my spine when seeing, I mean feeling, the Tantive IV (rebel ship) being shot by The Executor (imperial destroyer) at the beginning of the movie. The motion and vibrations really add a whole new experience to Star Wars. You will feel effects about everywhere you would expect them (and won't be disappointed). You will also have some surprises but you will never feel inappropriate motion and vibrations when there shouldn't be any.

The best motion effects are experienced when you are aboard a space ship. The Millenium Falcon steals the show here when leaving Mos Eisley and being attacked by Star Destroyers, arriving to the destroyed Alderaan and being pulled by the Death Star tractor beam and finally fighting TIE Fighters while escaping the Death Star. The final Death Star battle also includes very nice motion effects. Furthermore, vibrations effects are also used effectively for gun shots (every gun shot feels different), massive explosions (Alderaan, Death Star) and subtle Sandcrawler (vehicle used by the Jawas) movement. There is also an interesting mix of motion and vibration when Luke is using its Lanspeeder, it makes you feel like you are floating. The final fight between Vader and Obi-Wan also uses a good mix of motion and vibration.

I expected these effects and I wasn't disappointed. On the other hand, I felt some unexpected, but very cool, motion effects. I felt like I was being thrown when Vader throws Captain Antilles at the beginning of the movie. Same thing when Chewbacca throws an imperial officer trying to reach the holding cells to free Leia. I think only 1 effect was missing: it would have been great to have a subtle effect of back pitch when a stormtrooper hits his head when entering the control room where C-3PO and R2-D2 are hiding (the fans obviously know about this but the casual viewer probably never even noticed this).

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Star Wars: Episode 5 - The Empire Strikes Back
The best movie ever made. Could it be even better with motion? The short answer is yes! This one is about Luke meeting Yoda to continue his training, Han being captured by Boba Fett and, of course, Luke learning that Vader is his father.

As soon as I felt the motion effects of the probe droid pods being dispatched from the Star Destroyer to find the rebel base at the beginning of the movie, I knew this one was going to be as awesome as the previous one.

As expected, the motion effects of the ships are really great. The battle of Hoth with snowspeeders is amazing, you feel like you are part of the action, flying alongside the rebel team. The same can be said about the multiple scenes of the Millenium Falcon, including the famous escape through the asteroid field! Furthermore, there are many scenes screaming for extreme vibrations and we are being served (the scene where imperial troops are blasting their way through the rebel base on Hoth and the one where the giant worm is getting pissed after Han shot him from the inside).

The fight scene between Vader and Luke also benefits from the D-BOX system. It starts with many motion effects that make you feel like you are doing a lightsaber duel. As the fight goes on and the intensity gets stronger, you will really feel the, once subtle, vibration effects upon lightsaber impacts. There is also a nice subtle "floating" effect when carbonite Han is being moved to the Slave-1 (the ship used by Boba Fett) cargo hold.

This proves that the best movie ever made can be even better...

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Star Wars: Episode 6 - Return of the Jedi
Return of the Jedi is a good movie to end the original saga. Basically, as you know, Luke and his friends rescue Han from Jabba the Hutt, the rebel alliance destroys the second Death Star and the emperor and Vader die.

The first part of the movie seems to have less motion effects than the previous movies. This is perfectly fine as the on-screen action isn't suited to motion effects at the beginning. The first major scene featuring many effects is the scene where Luke fights the Rancor. Even though it is not a scene including ships, I was impressed at how effective it is. It makes the Rancor seem even more massive, you feel like you are being part of the action, fighting with Luke. Another awesome scene is the one where Luke escapes on Jabba's Sail Barge near the Sarlacc Pit. Many vibrations reproduce the multiple gun shots. The motion effects are also great as there is a lot of moving and jumping around from Luke as well as the flying barge moving.

The fights on the moon of Endor and in space around the Death Star also don't disappoint. Extensive use of motion is done, as it should be. Furthermore, a more subtle, but effective, use of motion and vibration is felt while Luke fights Vader in the final confrontation. The question you are probably wondering now is which scene is the coolest one with motion effect... The Endor speeder bike chase or the navigation through the Death Star tunnels? I have been thinking about this and can't decide, you'll have to feel them to make your mind. As Han said to Lando, "Good luck, you are going to need it" if you want to decide :).

The 3 movies from the classic trilogy are awesome with motion but, while it is a pretty close call, overall Episode 6 has the best motion effects.

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Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace
The Phantom Menace is the first movie of the prequel saga. This is obviously the story of Anakin Skywalker but the important part is that it is the beginning of the rise of Palpatine as the supreme chancellor which will eventually lead to the birth of the Empire: while saving Queen Amidala from the Trade Federation, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan meet Anakin Skywalker who is to be trained to become a Jedi. A special note about this DVD is that the image quality is not very good. This was the first Star Wars movie to be released on DVD and it shows. Unlike the other movies, the picture is plagued with edge enhancement.

As you would expect now, the motion effects are put to good use in every space ship scenes. Very similar motion effects are also played when Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon and Jar Jar are using the Bongo (Gungan submarine). On the other hand, when the same group first goes to the underwater city, a very cool motion effect (new to me) is used to simulate the action of swimming. I was also impressed by the subtle mix of motion and vibration when the first droidekas (Destroyer Droids) attack Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon at the beginning of the movie. You feel them rolling, deploying, putting their shield on and then starting to shoot.

The final battle of the movie is very impressive motion wise. You get a great range of motion and vibration effects since you've got space ships flying, shooting and exploding, hoovering tanks moving and shooting, a Gungan army and a small militia group from Naboo shooting and, of course, the final lightsaber duel between Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon and Darth Maul. The motion and vibration effects are as diversified as the on-screen action so it really adds to the whole experience.

Although this is a really great scene for motion, my favorite scene is the famous pod race. It seems it was designed for the D-BOX motion system. When the race is about to begin and all the pod racers start their engine, you feel the vibration of every engine. This is not a "generic engine effect" used for every pod, it is different for each one and matches the specific sound and visual of the pod. Once the race starts, you feel the acceleration as if you were in the pod turning left and right and even jumping.

The only disappointment I had related to the motion rendering of this movie is that I expected some effect when Jar Jar is pushed by Sebulba when they first meet in Mos Espa. This is a very minor observation but after what was done in Episode 4 (Vader throwing Antilles and Chewbacca throwing some stomtroopers) I expected a similar result.

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Star Wars: Episode 2 - Attack of the Clones
Now that the bases are established for the new trilogy, it is time for some action. The story is about the rise to power of Palpatine and the beginning of the clone war. After an assassination attempt on Senator Amidala's life, Obi-Wan investigates a bounty hunter called Jango Fett and discovers the creation of the clone army while Anakin starts to fall to the dark side.

The motion and vibration effects impress almost as soon as the movie begins. We can feel some great effects while Anakin and Obi-Wan chase Zam Wessel (the bounty hunter hired by Jango Fett) through Coruscant. The other effects in the first part of the movie are more subtle, as it should be, following the on-screen events but it doesn't mean these effects are weak. For example, when Zam programs and sends her droid to kill Amidala, we can experience a nice effect as the droid leaves to reach its destination.

On the other hand, the last part (specially the last third of the movie) is quite the opposite. So far, it is the most intense experience I have had with the D-BOX motion system. It starts with the fight between Obi-Wan and Jango Fett on Kamino. This fight is a good opportunity to discover "new" effects since it doesn't really involve flying ships and lightsabers. Then there is non stop action resulting in multiple motion and vibration effects. The space fight where Jango Fett and the Slave-1 drops seismic charges is enhanced by some impressive motion. Motion seems to add even more to the scene as there is no sound when the charge is dropped but it is followed by a high volume explosion, creating an even more dramatic effect. Basically, this scene is followed by the arena fight, leading to the ultimate Jedi battle involving clones, droids, chases and, of course, duels (Anakin, Obi-Wan, Dooku and Yoda).

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Star Wars: Episode 3 - Revenge of the Sith
This is the best movie from the prequel trilogy and I think it is the Star Wars movie that benefits the most from the D-BOX motion system. You know the story: Anakin becomes Darth Vader and the Emperor executes almost every jedi. The only hope of the rebel alliance is the offspring of Anakin, hidden from him.

I don't have much to say about the motion and vibration effects of this movie except that they are awesome. From the beginning to the end you will feel them since there is almost non-stop action. I would have to describe the whole movie to highlight the strong parts :). This is the movie that should be used as a demo of any D-BOX system!

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Conclusion
As you noticed, I made movies to show some of the motion effects (you can't see vibrations unfortunately, you need to sit on the chair to feel them). I chose some of the scenes with the most intense effects that are generated continuously through the whole sequence so that it is easier to see. Remember, if you haven't seen the Star Wars movies with D-BOX motion code, you haven't seen them at all!

TOP 5 REASONS WHY ONLIVE MIGHT FAIL

The OnLive service was revealed last week at GDC 2009 (Game Developers Conference). This service looks very promising. It will allow you to play games using a simple web browser on your computer or using their MicroConsole on your TV. And no, despite the fact that they named their service OnLive, similar to Microsoft's Xbox Live service and they named their console MicroConsole, similar to Microsoft, this company has nothing to do with Microsoft. I am not into the whole lawyer stuff (pretty much hate it in fact) but I can smell the lawsuit coming...

The way I see it, this service has 1 great advantage over our current gaming setups. You would need to upgrade your expensive high end PC every month to be able to play to the latest games with decent graphic settings. While I don't think it it likely to happen, if consoles were to be supported, you would not have to buy an Xbox 360, a PS3, and a Wii to be able to play to all the exclusive games: a simple OnLive account would be enough.

Sadly this is the only advantage I can see. On the other hand, I can find many negative consequences that are, in my opinion, deal breakers. So here are my top 5 reasons why OnLive might fail.

5. Stability of the Service
I don't really like to rely totally on an external service. If you have a problem with your internet connection, OnLive will not be available. If OnLive is down for maintenance or technical reasons, you will not be able to play to any games. OnLive will probably require a complex infrastructure to run (you need high processing power to run all these games and do real time HD video encoding as well as major bandwidth to send all this data) and it is likely to go down a few times. If you look at major multiplayer games like Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4, you will remember that at launch, so many players wanted to play that the servers of Microsoft and Sony were slow (Microsoft and Sony are not small companies with crappy servers...). And these servers only handled the game connections, they didn't run the entire games and stream 5 mbps video to every player...

4. Video Quality
Everybody likes high video quality (except Wii players...). The current consoles (Xbox 360 and PS3) and PC can deliver awesome HD graphics. They deliver it directly and uncompressed to your monitor or TV. OnLive cannot do that. It has to compress the video (5 mbps rate for HD) and it has to do it in real-time so the quality cannot be as good. Furthermore it seems that HD will be limited to 720p so no support for 1080i or 1080p. If you were lucky enough to compare HD cable or satellite video quality to Blu-Ray or HD-DVD, you noticed that while both are HD, the quality is far from being the same: cable and satellite are not as good.

3. Limited Games
Don't get me wrong, the list of games available for a new service such as this one is really impressive. Major developers support OnLive and the list includes games such as Burnout Paradise, Tomb Raider Underworld, Hawx, Fear 2, GRID, Crysis Warhead, Lego Batman, Unreal Tournament 3, Mirror's Edge, Bioshock... Unfortunately, that is still a very small list if you compare it to every game available on PC. If your game is not supported, you are pretty much stuck and will have to forget about it. Otherwise you would also need a gaming PC on top of the OnLive service, which pretty much defeats the whole purpose of having an OnLive account...

You are also likely to get a limited experience with those games. Many games support user software content (mods) and hardware add-ons such as my D-BOX Motion Platform or Philips amBX. I highly doubt you will be able to install those cool Unreal Tournament 3 mods or use you D-BOX motion system in GRID or Crysis Warhead if you use the OnLive version of these games.

2. High End Internet Connection
OnLive allows you not to need a high end PC but it replaces that requirement for a high end internet connection. You will need a very good internet connection (not something that every gamer has or even has access to) to be able to use the service. For HD gaming you will need a connection that can receive 5 mbps continuously. You also need an internet provider that doesn't impose crazy download limits since OnLive swallows 2.5 gig of download for each hour of play.

1. Unresponsive Controls
Controls are a major element of any game and responsive controls are very important to appreciate the game. On the other hand unresponsive controls can really frustrate gamers. How annoying would it be in a FPS to shoot an enemy but to be killed because of the delayed controls? You probably already experienced a similar effect in a multiplayer game if your connection was bad... and you likely left the game. This issue is even more obvious with games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band. These types of game would definitely not be possible on a remote service like OnLive. I don't care what algorithm you use to try to diminish the effects of lag: you will experience delays, even using a good internet connection. You cannot tell me that the control response on a system that will be a few miles away from me can be as good as the response on my PC or console that are a few feet away from me... You also need to add to that equation the fact that the service needs to encode video before streaming it. This will add another delay because of the processing time required to encode it.

Conclusion
In the end, will the OnLive service be worth it? Only time will tell. If it works perfectly (which I don't believe is possible with the current hardware and connectivity) and gets support from game developers, it could be awesome for PC players that have great internet connections.

But on the other end, if you simply want to play without having to spend a fortune upgrading your PC every month you can simply buy a console. It costs between $200 (Xbox 360) to $500 (160 gig PS3) and is supposed to last 5 to 10 years... No need to dedicate your internet connection to it, no need to worry about availability of games, no need to worry about unresponsive controls...

THE LAST REMNANT review

The Last Remnant is an RPG developed and published by Square-Enix. It was released on November 2008 for Xbox 360 and will make its debut on PC this month. A PlayStation 3 version will be released eventually but no date have been announced so far.

Story
Last Remnant tells the story of Rush Sykes, a young man (obviously effeminate looking since this is a Square game) who is looking to save his sister from an evil wizard. Rush will discover that a bigger evil plan is behind this kidnapping and he will try to save the world. The story is alright, it is not awesome but it is far from being mediocre, it is a classic story of good versus evil. Unfortunately you might get lost in the main story because you are likely to forget the major events. The reason for that is that you will spend most of your time doing sidequests instead of the main quest. There are about 75 sidequests in the game. For each progression event you accomplish in the main story you unlock 2 to 5 sidequests. Most of these sidequests have no link to the main mission so they are pretty much irrelevant story wise. On the other hand, the characters of The Last Remnant are diversified and adds a nice touch to the story. Futhermore, the world in which these characters evolve is also interesting and well developed.

Gameplay
The combat system is fun but it will frustrate some players as you don't have full control over your party. Characters are called units and parties are called unions. You create unions from available units and then you are ready to get into a fight. You cannot control specific units, you can only control the general actions a union will execute.

It seems Square developed the game quickly since the different locations are pretty basic. There is no 3D world map where you can walk to go to different places. There is only a 2D map where you chose a specific location and you are automatically teleported there. Even the cities are not fully rendered. You have a city map and you can chose between 2 to 5 areas to go in the city. The use of invisible walls to stop you from going to certain places in the cities feel really cheap in 2009. Furthermore the same dungeons are used again and again and again: you can have up to ~6 quests in the same location.

The biggest flaw in the game mechanic is the way Square designed the character leveling. It is the worst system I have ever seen and it almost kills the game. Basically you have 2 choices. You can play normally, fighting monsters as you encounter them. You might have fun but you will not be able to fight the god-like bosses. The other option is to run away from every single monster (a lot of fun...) until you reach specific areas with strong monsters. You fight them over and over to level up and then continue to run away from the weaker ennemies... The reason this works is because you characters have attributes/skill points as well as a general battle rank. The goal is obviously to have more points but a lower battle rank. Strong monsters increase your points more than weak monsters. Fair enough. But your battle rank increase pretty much the same if you fight weak or strong monsters. The higher your battle rank is, the less points you get for each fight. The only way to maximize your points is to avoid normal (weak) monsters at all cost and only fight strong monsters.

Sounds and graphics
The Last Remnant uses the Unreal 3 Engine. The battles look really good. While most games don't benefit a lot from installing them on the Xbox 360 hard drive, this game does. I would go as far as saying that this is mandatory for this game in my opinion. If you don't install it, the battles will not be fluid. This solves the problem in the first part of the game but on the 2nd disc (OMG you will have to change disc after ~30 hours of gameplay!!!!11111 OMG!!!!! Multiple discs = Epic Failure, think of Final Fantasy 7! ;p) with multiple unions, you will get slowdowns in big battles.

The environments, even if they are simple and lack some details, also look good. On the other hand, Square was really lazy when it came down to polishing the game. The game uses cheap tricks to try to hide, miserably, the lack of animations. For example, in the big battles with reinforcement troops, instead of seeing the reinforcement units arrive you will get the following: an animation of doors opening (from a fortress or castle), black screen for 2 seconds (Uh?...), units magically appearing on the battle field, animation of doors closing. But wait, it gets even more pathetic at the end of disc 1. When you reach the end of disc 1, you really completed the first part of the story. The game could end here and the second disc could be labelled as The Last Remnant 2. Instead of having a nice little ending with a cutscene you get a freaking black screen (not even static 2D pictures) and you hear a narrator explaining the events since the next part of the game takes place later. I have never starred at a black screen for so long. Weak!

I also need to talk about the loading times. Even after installing the game (this is on Xbox 360 so this means the WHOLE disc is copied to the hard drive, you cannot get faster than this) the loading times are terrible. They completely kill the rhythm of the game. Let's take a classic example. You are in the city, you want to see your map since it is the only way possible to move around, so you press the button and you are greeted with a short loading screen (yes, a loading screen for loading a simple 2D static map...), press the button again to go to the world map instead of the city map and you will see another short loading screen. Chose a destination on the map. Long loading screen. Move your character around and encounter a boss. Long loading screen. Cutscene. Long loading screen. Fight. Long loading screen. Cutscene. Long loading screen and you are finally ready to play again. It completely kills any momentum the game could have, it is that bad.

Multiplayer
This game doesn't support multiplayer. You can't blame Square, I don't know how they could come up with an interesting multiplayer mode for this game.

Conclusion
This game is more than a deception. It has some major flaws and it feels cheap. This looks like a budget title, not the type of game you would expect from a major company such as Square-Enix. In my opinion, it is obvious that Bioware (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect...) is now, by far, the leading company for linear RPG games, a crown that Square once owned but started to lose with Final Fantasy 7 (to their defense, Final Fantasy 6 was so awesome, how could they do better?). The big battles are quite fun though, I had one that lasted about 1 hour and it was really great. Square-Enix released free downloadable add-ons for the game but unfortunately it is far from being enough to redeem it.

Score: 4/10

MICROSOFT FLIGHT SIMULATOR X WITH D-BOX MOTION review

Microsoft Flight Simulator is probably the most known PC flight simulator. I suspect almost every PC user tried it at least once. However I highly doubt many of them experienced it with a motion system. I will review the latest version of this simulator, Flight Simulator X, using a D-BOX SRP-120 Motion Platform (see my previous review for details).

The installation process of Flight Simulator X is done via a standard Windows Installer. The same can be said about the D-BOX motion add-on. Many options are available through the D-BOX motion settings to adjust and enable the motion features that you want. You can even chose the way the motion is rendered (gravity and G-Force, gravity and pitch or body accelerations). Unlike the previous D-BOX games I tried, you have an option in the configuration settings to enable or disable the use of the add-on. I simply enabled motion in this panel to experience motion automatically every time Flight Simulator X was started.

Flight Simulator X has many options that you can configure to your preferences. The display section allows the user to configure the settings related to the graphics. A powerful computer is required to achieve the highest quality with a decent framerate even though this is an old game. Another section is used to configure the audio settings. Every control available in the game can be customized by assigning it to a specific keyboard/mouse/joystick input. Finally a section is dedicated to the realism options. This allows the user to adjust the difficulty level.

There are 2 types of activities in the game: free flights and missions. Missions involve performing a specific task and allow you to learn the basics (and more) of piloting. The missions are ordered by difficulty. On the other hand free flight mode doesn't have any goal, as you would expect. It lets the user chose his airplane/helicopter, location, time of the day and weather conditions. Flight Simulator X (Deluxe) includes:

• 24 airplanes/helicopters
• 45 high-detail airports
• 38 high-detail cities from all over the world
• 50+ structured missions

I am not an expert at flying (as you can easily see in my videos) but you don't need to be a real pilot to enjoy this game even if it is a simulator. You can play seriously and might even learn some key information about flying. On the other hand you can adjust the realism level to your likings and do some air stunts!

I won't lie to you, I cannot really talk about the realism of the motion rendered by the D-BOX system. It seemed good to me but I can't compare it to the real thing since I have no idea of what flying should feel like. I can get an idea of what it might be to be in a real race car even if I don't drive one but it is not as easy for a plane. What I can say about the motion though is that it adds a lot of fun to the whole experience. When you are about to take off, you can feel the texture of ground surface based on your speed and the ground type through the vibrations generated. Similar to driving games, you can also feel the vibrations of the engine. The motion you experience while flying is unlike anything you could experience in a driving game. You know if you go left or right, up or down, simply by feeling the motion effects. I noticed in the configuration settings of the motion panel that many effects can be enabled or disabled. I can conclude that many realistic effects are implemented. I experienced the stall effect and it added a nice touch of realism (I guess). My favorite effect is when you are about to take off and you feel the bumps on the ground. As soon as you take off everything is smooth and for a moment you almost feel like you are flying. My only disappointment is the rendering of the helicopter vibrations. It seemed too smooth to me but I might be wrong as I have never been in one.

To conclude, I made some videos to give a rough idea of what it might feel like. Unfortunately you can only see the motion and will miss the vibrations. Please notice that when it comes down to flight simulations, I am more of a stunt man than a real pilot :).

video 1 direct link


video 2 direct link

INTEL E7300 AND OVERCLOCK review

Intel is the world leader in the microprocessor market. Its main competitor, AMD, managed to steal the performance crown on a few occasions in the past but currently Goliath wins against David. Today I will review the intel Core 2 Duo E7300 processor and explain how you can achieve a better performance if you are willing to overclock it.

DISCLAIMER
Overclocking is not for the faint of heart. The performance benefits come with a cost. Overclocking could DAMAGE your processor PERMANENTLY and it VOIDS your warranty. Do not attempt anything unless you understand the risks of what you are doing.

It is important to warn you about the danger of overclocking but on the other hand, I don't want to scare you. Overclocking isn't an underground practice anymore reserved to the self proclaimed computer elite. Major motherboard manufacturers such as Asus provide whole BIOS configuration pages dedicated to overclocking.

Basically overclocking is having your processor clock run faster than the standard frequency proposed by intel or AMD. Obviously this makes your processor faster and if you are a technology enthusiast, chances are you want to get the most out of your components. You have to keep in mind that every processor is unique. The results I achieved with my E7300 are likely different that the results you would achieve with another E7300.

Before talking about overclocking, let's see the intel Core 2 Duo E7300. As its name implies, that is a dual core processor. The official specifications (directly from the intel web site):

sSpec Number: SLAPB
CPU Speed: 2.66 GHz
PCG: 06
Bus Speed: 1066 MHz
Bus/Core Ratio: 10
L2 Cache Size: 3 MB
L2 Cache Speed: 2.66 GHz
Package Type: LGA775
Manufacturing Technology: 45 nm
Core Stepping: M0
CPUID String: 10676h
Thermal Design Power: 65W
Thermal Specification: 74.1°C
VID Voltage Range: 0.85V – 1.3625V

The specs in bold are the most important ones to check and I will explain them in this article. The E7300 comes with a basic HSF (heatsink fan) that will do the job if you want to run it at stock speeds but you will need a better cooling unit if you want to overclock, such as the OCZ Vendetta 2 (see my previous review). The reason is a higher clock (and often a higher voltage, more on this later) will generate more heat. To dissipate that heat and ensure the stability of the system, you need a good HSF. When buying a new HSF, make sure that it supports the package type you have (LGA775 for a E7300). Most HSF support multiple types while others support only one specific type.

To overclock you need to go to your BIOS and change some settings. Motherboards have different names for these options. On my Asus P5Q Pro motherboard, the section is called Ai Tweaker. You will see options such as multiplier and FSB (names can be different, it can also be a ratio instead of a direct FSB option). A stock E7300 runs at 10 (multiplier) x 266 Mhz (FSB), resulting in a 2.66 Ghz frequency. To achieve a higher frequency you can increase or decrease the multiplier and the FSB. For example, I run my E7300 at 3.8 Ghz with a multiplier of 9.5 and a FSB of 400. Unfortunately, overclocking is not as simple as that. With a higher frequency, your system might become unstable. To avoid that, you need to increment the voltage of the processor (maybe the Northbridge and Southbridge) and make sure your temperature is not too high. As you can see from the official intel specs, you should not exceed 1.3625V. For my overclock, I had to increase the vCore to 1.3625V to be stable. I didn't need to increase my Northbridge and Southbridge (I don't recommend it unless you use a better cooling system for these and find the official safe voltage specifications).

You want to use the lowest voltage possible while having a stable system. You need to start low and do some tests. If the tests fail you increase the voltage and start over until you are satisfied. As you can see, it is impossible to prove that your system is stable, you can only prove that it isn't. To check your system stability I recommend a few utilities (all of them are free). To check your temperature (remember, a E7300 must not go higher than 74.1°C) you can use Speedfan. The main stability test I use is Prime 95. I execute a torture test (it is the actual name of the test in Prime 95) of 15 hours straight. If no errors are detected, I consider my system stable. If you are running a 64-bit version of Windows, make sure you use the 64-bit version of Prime 95 as it will push your system to its limits even more. Another stability test I use is Intel Burn Test (also compatible with AMD now). This is an EXTREME test, make sure you monitor your temperature since it will go about 20°C higher than it would have after running a few hours of Prime 95. Again you should use the 64-bit version for a better test of your system. Finally I also use Memtest86+ to check the stability of my memory. The easiest way to use it is to burn it on a CD-R/RW and boot from the disc.

To conclude I'll simply say that this article is a simple introduction to the concepts of overclocking. If you are serious about overclocking, before attempting anything you should read more in-depth articles. Remember, this could DAMAGE your processor and it VOIDS your warranty. You should not consider this solution to save money as it is time consuming, I only recommend it to fellow computer enthusiasts. And please, don't try it on a $1k processor... Doing it on a $120 processor is alright, doing it on a $1k processor is just crazy. Sorry if you got a $1k processor, my $120 processor has a higher clock than yours ;p (intel doesn't make Core 2 or Core i7 processors at 3.8 Ghz yet).

ARCA SIM RACING WITH D-BOX MOTION review

ARCA Sim Racing is a stock-car racing simulator for Windows developed by The Sim Factory LLC. This simulator is based on the rFactor engine since The Sim Factory licensed it from Image Space Incorporated and modified it to be more accurate for oval racing. It is officially licensed by ARCA Incorporated, Ford, GM (Chevrolet, Pontiac), Chrysler and Toyota. I will review this simulator using a D-BOX SRP-120 Motion Platform (see my previous review for more details) to experience motion.

Don't be fooled by the first impression you might get from this simulator! Once you receive your package from the mail (you order it online), you will notice that the box art is pretty basic: while it gets the job done, it still looks home made (see my pictures). The installation process is straight forward and standard. Then you should install the patch to get the latest version. I managed to find the update page on the official web site but the download links for the patches are invalid... I did a search on Google and found the patches on other web sites. The Sim Factory did not digitally sign the patches and you don't download them from the official site so you have to hope for the best and have your anti-virus software running. Right now, 3 patches need to be installed. One to get to version 1128C, one to get to 1128D and one to get to 1128G. These patches are not cumulative so you have to install each of them separately. The first 2 patches need to be ran from the folder where ARCA Sim Racing is installed but the third one asks you where the simulator is installed (they are getting better!). You are finally ready to play but if you are running Windows Vista, the configuration window will pop-up forever without letting you start the game... You have to right-click on the shortcut and select "run as administrator". At last you can start the game and create your driver profile... Not so fast, first you need to exit the game then you can use your profile! The D-BOX Motion Code add-on installation is standard and you'll notice the now familiar motion/vibration configuration settings to tweak the effects.

Many consider this simulator to be the best stock-car simulator on the market since Nascar 2003 and I have to agree. My first impression was not so good but overall these problems are minor and are likely to be fixed in the future. ARCA Sim Racing only needs more polishing on the user friendliness side. On the other hand, the game delivers when it comes to racing and that is what really matters!

All the different events are simulated starting from the practice, qualifying session, warmup and the race. Furthermore all the major tracks (oval and road course) are included: Daytona International Speedway, Duquoin State Fairgrounds, Iowa Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Michigan International Speedway, Montréal Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Nashville Superspeedway, Pocono Raceway, Rockingham Speedway, Salem Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, The Milwaukee Mile, Toledo Speedway as well as USA International Speedway. While the graphic engine is not the most recent, you'll notice that all the tracks are nicely detailed. All the official cars (Ford, GM, Chrysler and Toyota) are available and look like the real ones but their most impressive feature is the sound coming from their engines. On top of that, many settings are available to tune the handling of your car.

The physic engine is really good, which is not a surprise coming from a modified version of the rFactor engine. It probably has a direct impact on the D-BOX motion rendering which is, again, awesome. The whole experience really benefits from the motion system since you can feel the acceleration, even taking into effect the shifting of the gears. I felt the lateral G-Force when turning left or right as I would probably feel driving a real stock-car. And I told you that the sound of the car engine was impressive but when you add the simulated engine vibration produced by the D-BOX system to that, it is even better.

I tried to explain the motion effects as best as I could but it is not easy to describe them until you try a D-BOX motion system. I made 2 videos to show the motion in action (unfortunately you cannot really see the vibration in these videos, you would need to sit on the chair to feel them). Oh and don't worry, as I wrote earlier, the oval tracks are available but I chose the Montréal road course for these videos:

video 1 direct link


video 2 direct link