Quick Questions

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

i need a new ps2 pad and am considering going wireless.. can anyone recommend a good wireless pad (that's fairly available?)

if not, i'll just get yet another friggin' dualshock...

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

no reason at all.. In fact, i think im gonna start unplugging it from today onwards.

bleh, and i've given up on my search for wireless ps2 pads..surf waves are impossible to find..and everything else is either rumble-less or just plain sucky-looking.

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

im pretty sure DGen had save states active when I played through Snatcher a few years ago.

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

G'day knowledgable ones...
Does anyone have any experience, or know anyone who has had any luck with the Xploder HDTV PS2 bootdiscs & VGA cable?

I know someone's been asking around about one of those upscaley box things elsewhere on the board, but those are more annoying for me to ship in to the UK(and are a bit more expensive).
I want it mainly to play on my monitor - so I don't mind playing at only 480p, instead of 1080/720 etc..

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

I've just upgraded my PSP(old) with the latest M33 3.71 custom firmware...

Here's my questions - what is the 1.50 kernel addon for?
The only bit of homebrew I've got (Cave Story) seems to load fine, so how will i benefit from installing the addon?

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

its been out for ages on the DS & GBA.. unless you're talking about the one that features the critters from Diamond & Pearl!

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

Every Extend Extreme Extra?
Pinball?

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

oh well.. I really like it.
I also really like the PSP version.
I don't know which I like more yet.

Is that Mutant Storm Reloaded that someone mentioned, the new shiny version? or is that still in the works?

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

heh gooktime, im guessing you took advantage of the Game deal..

Do you know of any highstreet stores that are selling the stick? Im not a huge fan of Royal Mail at the moment...its taken nearly a month to get my dvd of Tekkon Kinkreet through to me..
Im dreading the wait for my R4 cart.

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

There's also a card called the M3. Hardware-wise its the same thing as the R4 (except for the sticker on the front).

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

heh... i knew it was the M3-something..i just couldn't remember the correct suffix..
I got my R4 from an amazon reseller...thats a fairly reliable way to order, i suppose?

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

i have an "ARRRed" version too, but i've not played it for a long time. I never got the merging sound problem...when did it usually happen?

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

ok... so I've been told that to get a PS2 running on a monitor, you'd normally have to get a VGA Box device, etc...

But, if a monitor like this has a composite video input, in theory I'd be good to go...right??

I know I could get a good TV for that sorta cash, but I tend to use monitors for watchng stuff/playing games on anyway..plus you can rotate the screen!!

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

good point. i completely forgot that the ps2 had component cables!
Think I'll wait till April-ish before I buy one of these badboys.

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

thx for the info. Im also looking into the 2407, as its £200 cheaper, and is only lacking the HDMI, which I don't currently need... unless sony decide to release a nice compact version of the PS3 anytime soon!

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

wow. that looks great. Pity we have no Best Buy's here in England..
On the plus side it does prove there are some other great monitors out there, so I'll do a little bit more research.

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

You might get £30 from Game if you're lucky (England).

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

Eurogamer reviewed it here

7/10 - make of it what you will. Im hoping a demo hits Live at some point..

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

fundogmo - its got the original & extra stuff in it. If you have a finished save game from the original P3, it lets you transfer stats or something..

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

yo..I ordered myself the Famicom GB Micro, in a moment of madness. However, I'm a UK'er, with 240V of powah running through my electrickery supply.

Will it be safe to use my UK micro charger on this Japanese model? I could just use my USB charger to be ultra safe... but if its all the same, I'd like to know!

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

Having said that CubaLibre, I remember being told that the atmosphere that the graphics provide in the original were quite important to the experience overall?

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

Tested it on my R4. I didn't realise it was a boss rush game!

In any case its got cool music & so-so boss designs. After beating the easy & normal modes I unlocked some sort of question & answer segment bit. Hard mode is a fair jump from normal mode. I've always been quite bad at any Japanese shoot-em-up, as I lack the patience & technique too learn even the most basic of patterns. Growing up playing Raptor & Tyrian probably gives me a false sense of being able to play their Japanese counterparts!

- back to Dead Space & Mother 3 for me.

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

robot rocker - i thought mine was noisier too when I got it back from repairs, but you just forget about it after a while. I think the strange whine from your disc tray is just the laser doing something - warming up/checking whats inside. I have taken to installing whatever my "current" game is , so I don't have to put up with constant streaming and the ultra loud fan

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

madcatz sf4 360 pads will be out soon, they'll work on PCs. Some people have said they're comparable to the Saturn pads.

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

yeah, im a bit doubtful as to how good they might be too - but I think its worth a try. The 360 pad is fairly usable once you shave off all the excess plastic surrounding it. Still not great for fighting games still though.

I never bothered with the Nuby pads, the dpad just seemed too chunky and awkward to me. I would recommend the old Microsoft Sidewinder pads though. They were a bit like the old xbox pads, which I thought were not bad. They also had 6 buttons (and 2 shoulder ones). I've got one sitting on a shelf unused ..its a game port pad, which annoyingly my computer doesn't have. I hear convertors are either hideously laggy or just don't work at all.

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

other than the Nuby's girth, did you experience any problems with the D Pad/ buttons?
I've been using a wireless Air Style PS2 pad (its a rebranded Sega Wave afaik), which is fine for SNK fighters, but I'd rather have 6 face buttons for Alpha 3 & 3rd Strike... The Nuby is more or less my only non-ebay option.

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

well, i've temporarily quenched my thirst for new pads.. I ordered a USB saturn pad from ebay for PC & PS3 usage.. A bunch of supposedly reliable Chinese counterfeits flooded the market recently. expect to pay abour $26-35 depending on where you live.

I'll wait for some PS2 versions to make a special appearance (wishful thinking)! Those Ascii pads sure are pricy, but look like something i'd like to use.

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

cybercity oedo 808 ?
not sure if it had hoverbikes, but there were lots of ghosts in computers and stuff... quite a cool series!

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

I remember reading about that console with some sense of awe, in Amstrad Action, back in the days...

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

Fighting Stick II for PS2..
Has anyone come across these & have any opinions, even educated guesses about them? Is it a Hori product? I can't tell.. I read a shoryuken forum post mentioning two versions of the fightstick 2.
anyway thanks for any info you might have.

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

posted this on GAF, but here's my impression on the Madcatz Fight pad.. (short version - saturn pad is still better)

Got mine this morning,
first impression - "man this looks cheap"
i unpack it - "damn! it feels cheap!"
Load up some SF3.. hadokens, dps, sonic boom charges, moon kick charges all work..
D-Pad feels a little odd, slightly angled away from the user.. So the upper half seems to be further away. I think I'm a little used to sliding my thumb across a dpad, as opposed to planting it on the dpad and "rocking" it..

Its definitely better than the 360 pad,as it registers directions properly..but it does have a cheap feel to it. If I was a PS3 owner, I'd opt for the bootleg Saturn USB pad, if stick was not an option.

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

Battle Fantasia - is this worth £20? that probably translates to $40 USD today!
I am a fighting game enthusiast who doesn't really play games enough, so this would be a curiosity purchase, more than anything. I'd be willing to let it drop another £10 if i didn't think it would vanish off the shelves entirely!

Martial Loh · Joined: 12 Jan 2007 Location: London, UK

loki - nope, MS haven't bothered to patch this issue.. sucks balls.. I paid £5-10 for my copy and probably won't get more than £1 for a trade-in :(

THey never did fix the stupid super jump stuttering in SF3 either!