Games Update

So first of all we'll start with some good news:

The west is finally getting an updated version of 'Monster Hunter Tri', yay, called 'Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate' for the Wii U and 3DS. This will have HD graphics (I know for a fact that it's 1080p on the Wii U). Unfortunately only the Wii U version will support online play, but the 3DS can be played on multiplayer via ad-hoc. You can also transfer data from the Wii U version to the 3DS version so if you've got the money you can play on the game on the go and online!

Also, there's some great news for Final Fantasy fans! 'Final Fantasy Versus XIII' is NOT cancelled! It is still in development for the PS3!

Now for some more unfortunate news:

'Lord of Apocalypse', the sequel to the blood thirsty 'Lord of Arcana' has already been out in Japan since December last year. This is not looking good for a western release, but if you can speak Japanese then you can get it for your PSP/PSV no problem (I can't yet!).

Some bad news for Final Fantasy fans too. 'Final Fantasy Type 0' has been out in Japan for about a year and there is still no sign of a western release. This might be because of the release of the PS Vita so one can only hope that they're updating it for use with the PSV.

I posted a while ago about 'Devil Survivor Overclocked' and 'Devil Survivor 2' coming to the EU. This is true, but it seems to be taking a little longer than I first imagined. There is still no release date for these games, but as soon as I hear one I'll post it on the blog.

Have fun gaming people!!!

Interesting thought...

On my way back from paris I noticed some wind turbines and thought to myself why don't they make them able to spin around to get the maximum revolutions per minute by facing in the right direction to get optimum wind flow. Of course this would require power to do so and if the wind turbine isn't spinning at all then this would be impossible to do so. Also a simple low powered computer would be required to run a program to measure the wind direction, wind turbine direction and rpm. They could probably do this by making a small hut either above or below ground and storing the computer and a generator inside. The generator should reserve about 5% power to make sure that it can spin the wind turbines in the right direction if all of them are facing the wrong way and not getting any revolutions.
It's just a theory though don't know if it'd actually work out...

Interested in Computer Graphics?

There are quite a few graphic programs out there, hopfully this guide will give you a better knowledge of them...

3D Graphics

Maya, 3DS Max, Mudbox, Sculptris, Blender, Zbrush, UDK, Unity

Animation

Maya, 3DS Max, Endorphin, Adobe Fireworks, Adobe Flash, Morpheme

2D Graphics

Adobe Photoshop, Gimp, Adobe Fireworks, Paint, Paint.NET

Prices:

Maya: £3050.00 or Free for Students
3DS Max: £3050.00 or Free for Students
Mudbox: £3050.00 or Free for Students
Scluptris: Free
Blender: Free
UDK: Free
Unity: Free or $1500.00 for Pro Version
Endorphin: Free for LE or priced for professionals (Not Stated)
Adobe Fireworks: £285.60
Adobe Flash: £667.20 or £142.80 for Students
Morpheme: Priced (Not Stated)
Adobe Photoshop: £667.20 or £190.80 for Students (becomes extended)
Gimp: Free
Paint: Free (should come installed with Windows OS)
Paint.NET: Free

Sorry that this post isn't very detailed, but it would have been a super-long post if I included all the features each product has!

Interested in Programming?

If you're interested in programming then there are multiple different languages to choose from and different software packages. This post should help you know what options are out there...

C/C++, C#, XNA, Direct X, Visual Basic & F#:

If you are a hobbyist then the best program for you is Visual Studio express 2010, however if you are a student at university you can get the professional version from a website called Microsoft Dreamspark.

These languages can be used to make PC & Console Games and Software.


NB: Please note that if you are planning on using XNA 3.1 or lower you will need to use Visual Studio 2008, since Visual Studio 2010 is only compatible with XNA 4.0.

Java:

There are many platforms out there for Java and I find that the best one is eclipse, which has options to download many additional content from a GUI creator to a UML toolset, which can help you with your projects. Unfortunately some of these you will need to buy a licence for if you plan on using them.


There is another one called BlueJ, which might come in useful to you if you are new to OOP (Object Oriented Programming). This program shows the classes you create as objects and also shows which classes you have connected together.

This language can be used to make simple PC & Old Mobile Phone Games. It is mostly used for Software Deveolment though.


XHTML/HTML, JavaScript, VBScript, JScript, ActiveX etc.

The best program for this is unfortunately only availible for a price. This is Adobe DreamWeaver, the reason why it is the best is because it has a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) Screen, which can speed up your web design dramatically.

If you are looking for free option though there are 2 good programs out there for download. These are context and Notepad+. The reason why these are good, even though they don't have a WYSIWYG Screen, is that they colour code the text for the language you are using, which makes it easier to use and to edit your text. You can also use notepad, but I wouldn't recommend this for big programs.

These languages can be used to make Web-Based Games and Static/Dynamic Web Pages.

Want to make an Intranet page?

Well first of, incase you don't know what an Intranet page is, it's basically a webpage that is only accessible throughout a certain network. For most users that will be a single PC. To make one you can use any basic editor or a specialised piece of software designed to help the user make web pages with a WYSIWYG(what you see is what you get) screen, like Dreamweaver. I don't have this piece of software however and therefore used notepad. It is extremely easy to make an Intranet page and you can inlcude links to all your favourite sites on it and therefor get to them in only a simple click of the mouse.
Open notepad and type in the following code, but do not type in the text between *s this is for your benifit only:
<html>
<head>
<style type="text/css">
h1 {color:white;} *Allows you to change the colour of the title*
a {color:white;font-size:30px;} *Allows you to change the colour and the size of your hyperlinks*
</style>
<title>Kennerz's Intranet Page</title> *This text will appear in the tab*
</head>
<body bgcolor="black">
<h1>Kennerz's Intranet Page</h1> *This is the pages' title*
<br>
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/">Facebook</a> *This is a hyperlink, you can make as many as you like to different pages, but make sure to include the full address*
<br> *This makes the next hyperlink appear on the next line*
<a href="http://www.google.com/">Google</a>
<br>
<a href="http://www.hotmail.com/">Hotmail</a>
<br>
<img src="C:\Users\Kenworthy\Pictures\Lightning.jpg" alt="Lightning Picture" align="right"> *This allows me to input a picture onto my Intranet page and align it to the right. You have to replace the address of my picture with one of your own.*
<a href="http://www.linkedin.com/">LinkedIn</a>
<br>
<a href="http://www.siliconera.com/">Siliconera</a>
<br>
<a href="http://unilearn.hud.ac.uk/">Unilearn</a>
</body>
</html>
After you have copied the code and made any adjustments to make it your own, save it as, well, whatever you want to call it, but at the end add .html to make it a web page. You can then open it, go to tool, Internet options and where it says home page click on the button that says 'Use Current'.
Congratulations you now have your very own Intranet Page :)

Final Fantasy XIII-2 DLC Update

I recently discovered that the Final Fantasy XIII-2 May DLC should be coming out on May 15th

Final Fantasy XIII-2 May DLC

There is quite a bit of DLC coming for Final Fantasy XIII-2 this month these include:
Requiem of the goddess (Lightnings Episode)
Perpetual Battlefield (Snows Episode)
Moogle Costume Pack (At Last!)
White Mage Costume for Serah
Black Mage Costume for Noel
It's time to spend those Microsoft Points or PSN money people!

SMT Fans rejoice...if you're in Europe

Shin Megami Tensei Devil Survivor Overclocked and Devil Survivor 2 are coming out in Europe for the 3DS and DS respecitively. No release date has been comfirmed as of yet, but I will let you know as soon as possible.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 Demo Verdict

I played on the demo of Final Fantasy XIII-2 Demo and I have to say it was  awesome! It's a bit confusing at first for people who have played on Final Fantasy XIII, but after a while you get used to the differences. It comes out on January 31st in North America and February 3rd in Europe so I've still got 21 days to wait until it comes out in my country :(

Random Info

Just a random post to tell you people that if you would like to record something on your PC screen camstudio is a really good free program to download. You can download it here. I have checked the video quality of this software and it is really good.

PS Vita to have Augmented Reality

Check out the augmented reality feature for the PS Vita here. It looks awesome!

Final Fantasy XIII-2 Demo

A demo of Final Fantasy XIII-2 is coming to Xbox Live and PSN! It is released for the PS3 on January 10th in North America and it is released in Europe and for Xbox Live the day after.