Abbey Road

At last, I have my Abbey Road DLC for The Beatles: Rock Band and all is good with the world. Have not tried the medley yet, but instead played each segment individually. Her Majesty is a damn tough song for just 23 seconds!

Have also just learnt that Up on Blu-ray in the US is region A specific. Damn Disney for starting to play the region coding game with Up!

DSi LL (XL)

I know I haven’t posted in a while, but I thought this was worth a mention, mainly because it got my back up so much.

Over the past few days, rumours have been circulating in relation to a new DS that was due to launch with a larger screen. I pretty much took these to be rumours and nothing more (after all – why launch a DS with a bigger screen), anyway, it looks like the rumours were correct. Lets all welcome the DSi XL (or LL in Japan):

Now I’m in 2 minds about this… Is this intended to be:

A: A pointless update to the (not even a year old) DSi in order to drum up more sales?
B: An attempt from Nintendo to broaden their audience even further to capture the elderly market who find the DS to be too small a fiddly, and also easier to read.

I’m really not too sure. I guess time will tell to see if the DSi XL supersedes the normal DSi (in which case I’d be really pissed). I’m hoping that it doesn’t, because it looks rather big for a portable and bring back memories of the Lynx and other early handhelds which failed when competing against the Gameboy.

Destruction has voiced its opinion, and I find it hard to disagree:

“So there you are. Sorry if you already bought a DSi, but Nintendo has a better one now. The best part is, if you bought DSiWare games for your original DSi, you can't upgrade without losing those games. Gotta love Nintendo and its ability to release ten billion versions of one handheld.”

In all fairness, I’m thinking that that DSi XL will likely run alongside the normal DSi, but all the same it’s a odd move all the same, especially in view of the fact that the DSi and the DS Lite are already running alongside each other.

It’s at time like this that I much prefer the Sony model for downloads, namely that they are not tied to a machine, but instead to a user… Why couldn’t Nintendo also follow this model? Oh yes, it would mean that people wouldn’t then have to buy multiple variations of games and machines!

Sorry, have a bitter head on today.

TS3

Boy does this look good:



I especially like the looks of the "reset" Buzz.

Uncharted's done good

I know I've been a tad slack of late posting - I'll try to do better!

Anyway, the first reviews have started appearing online for Uncharted 2 and it seems that the game if basically Uncharted with all the (few) niggling little faults fixed... Which is a good thing considering that the original is still one of the best games out there for the PS3.

Uncharted is currently my most anticipated game for the 4th quarter, and I'm looking forward to playing it come my birthday on 7 November.

Joystiq have helpfully posted a collection of reviews here:

Joystiq review scores collection

To tide me over the Uncharted beta has gone live, so shall download this and give it a go tonight.

Other news:
- Have also ordered myself a 64gb itouch
- Cleaned up decapitated mouse (thanks to our cat Saffy) from the hallway this morning
- Seriously not impressed by the MAG beta

Decadance and Beatles: Rock Band

Film Watched:
Tokyo Decadence



Shock value does not a good film make. Not interesting, not entertaining, not good.

3/10

Okay now, so I’ve had The Beatles: Rock Band for over a week now (and the remastered box set) so I thought I’d take a moment to quickly post my take…

It’s good… It’s very, very good. It’s so good in fact that I have trouble dragging myself away from it.

That is, however, stating the obvious. A Rock Band game featuring the music from The Beatles was always going to be good. As such, I thought I’d jot down a few of my niggles.

1) It is meant to be a homage to the history of The Beatles, and as such, you would imagine that it would try to be accurate. It isn’t however. A few things that I’ve noticed:

- Ringo is playing drums on Dear Prudence and Back in the USSR, when in actual fact it was Macca on drums for those 2 songs (Ringo left the band for a short spell during the White Album).

- As far as I am aware, I Want You (She’s so Heavy) was never played during the Abbey Road rooftop concert (this was from Abbey Road and not Let it Be and as such was written after the concert).

- The audience members in the Budokan Concert should be Japanese (and a lot more restrained). Instead the same audience member from the other concerts are used.

- Quite obviously, any mix track from Love does not accurately represent The Beatles during their recording days (I’m referring to Within You Without You / Tomorrow Never Knows)

- Eric Clapton isn’t present during While my Guitar Gently Weeps

2) I’m sure the note chart isn’t quite right for Back in the USSR – having played at least the start of the song on my own guitar.

3) Because of the nature of their songs, and the timeframe in story mode, the difficulty level is all over the place.

Apart from the above, I have very little to complain about, and look forward to the Abbey Road, Sgt. Pepper and (especially) Rubber Soul DLC incoming in the next few months.

Oh also the remastered boxset is uniformly excellent.

Withnail, District and ipod

Films watched:

Withnail and I

An overrated British drama, with great characters but very little else.

5.5/10

District 9

A fantastic sci-fi film that flicks between mock documentary and action drama.

8/10

I also think that my ipod is aware that the Beatles back catalogue is due to be reissued tomorrow as remasters. The reason you ask? It’s because my ipod has chosen this point in time to start acting up. It now has trouble synching with our home PC and sometime tracks will skip, or freeze, sometime the battery indicator will show low (even when I’ve only recently charged it) and on occasion it just switches itself off. Admittedly it is now a good few years old and has been used on an almost daily basis, but still I don’t fancy the thought of having to buy a new one at the moment…

An ad with style

While the PS3 TV adverts over here are very so-so, this US one is great:



Any advert that pokes fun at Sony's total inability to keep secrets gets my vote!

Genetic Opera and Splitter

Film watched

Repo: The Genetic Opera



A modern stab at a Rocky Horror style musical that whilst stylish, lacks any charm and humour.

6/10

Also yesterday I got my hands on a HDMI splitter. I’m a little odd in that I get very excited about quality cables of any description and the back of my LCD is an absolute labyrinth of cables, made yet more complicated by this splitter. First of all, I managed to get for a bargain price from Amazon (£32.95) considering that other splitters I have seen have cost well over £100+, also it works well.

Now this is a splitter and not a HDMI switch, as such, it takes a single HDMI signal and splits this to two sources. This is most commonly used to split a signal so that it can be shown on 2 screens at the same time, I use mine a little differently.

Although I love my Amp, for some reason the HDMI signal from my PS3 sometime has issues, namely occasionally the screen will go blank or flicker. In addition it didn’t carry a full RGB signal and while I could compensate for this by adjusting the LCD to the correct brightness and contrast levels, it was still a little bit of a fiddle. As such, I have wired things up so that I have 1 HDMI cable which bypasses the amp and goes direct to the LCD and one which goes through the amp and then to the TV. As such, I can view both a perfect HD picture and listen to perfect HD audio at the same time now without any compromises.

Watchmen Directors cut and Sky Blue

Films watched:

Sky Blue



Gorgeous Korean Anime, but unfortunately never drags you into the story sufficiently.

6/10

Watchmen: Directors Cut



Doesn’t fix my 2 issues with the theatrical release, but still allows the movie to breath and is definitely the better cut.

9/10

Avatar

So here is the Avatar trailer...



I'm not sure about this. I have a huge amount of faith in Cameron, but this isn't at all how I imagined Avatar would look.

I have a sneaking suspicion that this may not be the success that a great many are expecting!

Slim

Well it's slim... and it's cheaper, by $100 or 100 Euro (so that will likely convert to around a reduction of £10.00 in the good ol' UK.

Anyway, here's a picture...


Lets just hope it can sell a lot more of those buggers for Sony!

Oh and also, LBP is getting a cool update:

The Beatles: Rock Band tracklist

So thanks to Game informer, we now have a list of all the tracks to be included in The Beatles: Rock Band… All that is save one, which for some reason is being held back as a surprise (although lets be frank, how much of a surprise can it be?)

Anyway, here is the list:

Singles
I Want To Hold Your Hand

I Feel Fine

Day Tripper

Paperback Writer

Revolution

Don't Let Me Down

Please Please Me (1963)
I Saw Her Standing There

Boys

Do You Want To Know A Secret

Twist and Shout

With the Beatles (1963)
I Wanna Be Your Man

A Hard Day's Night (1964)
A Hard Day's Night

Can't Buy Me Love

Beatles For Sale (1964)
Eight Days a Week

Help! (1965)
Ticket To Ride

Rubber Soul (1965)
Drive My Car

I'm Looking Through You

If I Needed Someone

Revolver (1966)
Taxman

Yellow Submarine

And Your Bird Can Sing

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band/With a Little Help From My Friends

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds

Getting Better

Good Morning Good Morning

Magical Mystery Tour (1967)
I Am The Walrus

Hello Goodbye

The Beatles (White Album) (1968)

Dear Prudence

Back In the U.S.S.R.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Birthday

Helter Skelter

Yellow Submarine (1969)

Hey Bulldog

Abbey Road (1969)

Come Together

Something

Octopus's Garden

I Want You (She's So Heavy)

Here Comes the Sun

Let It Be (1970)
Dig a Pony

I Me Mine

I Got a Feeling

Get Back

Love (2006)
Within You Without You/ Tomorrow Never Knows

I’m pleased that a track from Love made it into the mix. A good one at that. Also good to see Helter Skelter and I Want you (She's So Heavy). Anyway, noticeable omissions which I feel should have been included are as follows (not including the DLC which will cover Abbey Road, Rubber Soul and Sgt. Pepper):

Hello Goodbye
Rain (come on now!)
Please Please Me (How could they miss this out)
Roll Over Beethoven
Things We Said Today
Help (arrghhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Darn them.)
Dizzy Miss Lizzy
I’m only Sleeping
Got to Get You Into My Life
Only a Northern Song
Across the Universe

This is of course just a selection which I think would suit the game, there are tons more which I have not included. Of course it’s very possible that some or all of the above will form of future DLC, we’ll have to see.

BTW, I’m placing bets that the last 1 song not yet mentioned is Hey Jude, even if it’s probably not the best song for a Rock Band game.

Hansel and Gretel and more Beatles

Film watched
Hansel and Gretel



A Korean horror / dark fantasy film about child abuse and a child’s imagination. Very Twilight Zone movie, but better.

7.5/10

I was also happy to learn today that in addition to Abbey Road being made available as DLC for The Beatles: Rock Band shortly after its release, both Sgt. Pepper and also Rubber Soul will get the DLC treatment (those songs at least that aren’t included in the main game). This is great news, if I were to pick one album that really should be included in the game it would have to be Rubber Soul.

Both While My Guitar Gently Weeps and Hey Bullfrog have also been announced as being in the main game, two of my favourite tracks…

Less than 1 month to go now!

Waterhouse and weight loss

On my very last trip to London for my UK courses, I travelled earlier in the day (the course being the following day) and also took Roz with me.

I took the opportunity to visit the Royal Academy of Art purely so that I had the chance to see the J W Waterhouse exhibition which is currently on display. It is the first time in several decades that so many works by Waterhouse have been brought together in the same place and as such, as an admirer of his work, it was a golden opportunity.

The exhibition was very busy, and I was quite lucky to get a ticket, but it was well worth it. It was fantastic seeing so many of his paintings in the flesh. I was especially pleased that amongst them was also my favourite of his, namely “windflowers”.

Anyway, I thought I’d post a few of the Waterhouse paintings that I saw on this site, as follows:

I also weighed myself the other day and was utterly horrified.

My weight has been slowly creeping up for the last few months, initially partly because of the issues I had with my facial nerves (i.e. I was treating myself to distract myself from the pain), then from travelling to Canada and then to London (multiple times) and as such eating out a lot. However, when I weighed myself the other day I found that I had somehow managed to gain 8lbs in 9 days!

I hardly believe that this is possible!

I must stress that I have not been binge eating, but at the same time I have not been taking it as carefully as I normally would.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I’m now back to a very strict diet.

Looking on the internet, I have found out that many people have found that after having their gallbladder removed that it is incredibly easy to put weight on. This actually makes a lot of sense, after all the gallbladder is there after all to break down fatty foods. As such, lacking a gallbladder means that the fatty foods either pass through you quickly, or else the fat is retained in your system.

Awesome Beards

This is a bit old (but please bear with me - I haven't had time to blog in a while).

One of many examples why Little Big Planet is one of the finest games on the PS3...