Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts

NBA 2K10 Review

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I know most of the game enthusiast are blown by the good graphics and gameplay that NBA 2K9 provided, and after taking over last year game charts... 2K Sports is now back with one of the most anticipated game of the year, the NBA 2K10. First thing I noticed was the game menu, it was presented with different animation and some are NBA highlights :) Pretty neat right?

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Game Introduction on the court are appealing as well, each team and their star player/s has their own style which makes it more fun to watch... like when Shaq shoot his teammates like bowling pins, vujacic giving Koby a hug, Dwight throw some robot moves and Lebron playing with some hand powder.

(click image to enlarge)

Now let's proceed to the gameplay. 2K Sports added a lot of signature moves and style to each player that makes 2K10 the best basketball game on PC and other console. I've been playing 2K9 a lot but the thing I noticed with 2K10 is the tighter defense... you wont get to the basket that easy using spin move or cross-over like in 2K9 which is nice with 2K10. There are times that players are also interacting with people on the sideline after a hard drive to the basket. Alley-oop, dunks/follow-up dunks are also eye-popping and fun to watch, especially when the commentators/host goes crazy about it providing more realistic gameplay. Wide variety of camera angles and occassional news around the league are also added to the game. Regarding with Online features, they adopted most of the 2k9 features.

(click image to enlarge)

(click image to enlarge)

2K Sports introduce "MY PLAYER" mode in this game. In "MY PLAYER" mode, you'll be able to create your own player by adjusting from physical attributes to skills/moves you want your player to have. As you play through it, your player will be invited by different teams for assessment. The skills improvement of your player will depend on how you pass, how you choose your shot selection and steals... generally said, its how you play. If any of the team that invited your player saw some potentials, you'll be on the NBA court in no time... but of course, you'll start as bench player like everybody else. Simply put, this is your CAREER MODE.

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Also, 2K Sports added a "Reel Maker" feature, a tool where you can create or edit your own Reel/Highlights from your saved replays and share it with your friends by uploading.

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The few glitch that i noticed on this game was, some of the replay (like the replay on "JORDAN player of the game" after a match-up), the background were off and out of sync as the camera zoom-in and out... so the result, the audience are bigger than the players and players are out of the court :( Check some snapshots I took below.

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(click image to enlarge)

Other than that, all replays are gorgeously fine. Second glitch is when the referee took 3x handing-over the ball for an inbound pass before it was caught by the player. Though you rarely see this glitch, I found it annoying sometimes. I think by this time 2K Sports has already released a patch for the said glitches.

So considering all this, I'll give 2K10 a 9 out of 10 rating ^_^
This game really is worth a try... a good job 2K Sports.

Video Conversion / Converting Tool

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Sorry for the delay, been busy for the past few weeks. Ok, lets proceed.

I'll introduce you to one of the best video conversion tool. Based on my opinion and review, this is simply the best so far... the ImTOO MPEG Encoder Platinum. What i like about it is that it's user-friendly, easy to use and it support wide variety of video and audio file-types. You can convert any video optimized for your DVD/VCD player, iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, Mobile Phone, PS3, PSP, Windows Mobile, HD Video, Xbox/Xbox360, Portable Media (Zune, Creative Zen Vision, iRiver PMP-100, Archos) even Pictures and Animation. You can easily select what type of video output and for what player (see image below).

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This Software also support multi-Core CPU which makes the video conversion much quicker. In my case, I have a Dual-Core CPU (see image below).

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You can even set how many CORE/s you want to use. Lets assume that you have a Quad-Core CPU and you only want to utilize 3 of them so you can use the remaining 1 to another application you are running. Go to "Tools" button, select "Preferences" then choose "Convert" tab. Set the CORE value to 3 (see image below).

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Another good feature of ImTOO MPEG Encoder Platinum is the clip tool... you can choose one or more segments, or even several crossed segments, and then convert them to individual file respectively, or merge them to one file. Moreover, you can also convert video file to various audio formats. You can convert a portion/video to any of the ff:

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***General Video***
ASF - Advanced Streaming Format
AVI - Audio-Video Interleaved
DivX Movie
DVD - MPEG2 PS Format
DV - Digital Video Format
MOV - QuickTime
MP4 - MPEG-4 Video
MPEG-1 Movie
MPEG-2 Movie
MPEG-4 AVC Video Format
RM - RealVideo
Super VideoCD - MPEG2 PS Format
Video CD - MPEG2 PS Format
VOB - MPEG2 PS Format
XviD Movie

***General Audio***
AAC - Advanced Audio Coding
AC3 - Dolby Digital AC-3
SUN AU Format
M4A - MPEG-4 Audio
MP2 - MPEG Layer-2 Audio
MP3 - MPEG Layer-3 Audio
OGG - Ogg Vorbis Audio
RA - RealAudio
WAV - Waveform Audio
WMA - Windows Media Audio
AIFF - Audio Interchange File Format

***iPod***
iPod (320x240) MPEG-4 Excellent
iPod (320x240) MPEG-4 Mini
iPod (320x240) MPEG-4 Normal
iPod touch MPEG-4
iPod touch MPEG-4 480P
iPod touch MPEG-4 Extra
iPod touch MPEG-4 Wide Screen
iPod touch MPEG-4 (320x240)
iPod touch MPEG-4 (480x320)
iPod Video2 for TV
iPod Video2 (640x480) MPEG-4 Normal
iPod Video2 (640x480) MPEG-4 Mini
iPod Video2 (640x480) MPEG-4 Excellent

***iPhone***
iPhone MPEG-4 480P
iPhone MPEG-4 Extra
iPhone MPEG-4 Video
iPhone MPEG-4 Wide Screen
iPhone MPEG-4 (320x240)
iPhone MPEG-4 (480x320)

***Apple TV***
Apple TV h264 (320x240)
Apple TV h264 480P (640x480)
Apple TV h264 720P (1280x720)
Apple TV MPEG-4 High 480P (640x480)
Apple TV MPEG-4 Normal 480P (640x480)
Apple TV MPEG-4 Low 480P (640x480)

***Mobile Phone***
3GPP - 3rd Generation Partnership Project
3GPP2 - 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2
BlackBerry AMR Audio
BlackBerry 3GP Video
BlackBerry AVI Video
BlackBerry MPEG-4 Video

***PS3***
PS3 Video 1080P MPEG-4
PS3 Video 720P MPEG-4
PS3 Video 480P Excellent MPEG-4
PS3 Video 480P MPEG-4

***PSP***
PSP - PSP MPEG-4 Video
PSP AVC Video Format
PSP AVC Video (480x720)
PSP MPEG-4 Video - Excellent Quality
PSP MPEG-4 Video - Minimal Size
PSP Video(480P) MPEG-4

***Portable Media***
Zune MPEG-4 Video
Zune MPEG-4 AVC Video Format
Zune WMV - Windows Media Video
Creative Zen Vision Video
iRiver PMP-100 Video
Archos AV500/GMini402 Video
Archos AV700 Video

***Windows Mobile***
Dell Axim X51 Video
Dell Axim X51v Video
General Pocket PC Video
General Pocket PC-Excellent Quality Video
General Pocket PC-Minimal Size Video
HP iPAQ hw6500 series Video
HP iPAQ hx2000/rx3000/rx1900 series Video
HP iPAQ hx4700 series Video

***Picture and Animation***
FLV - Flash Video Format
Picture - BMP Format
Picture - GIF Animation Format
Picture - JPEG Format
Picture - PNG Format
SWF - SWF Format

***HD Video***
HD ASF Video
HD AVI Video
HD H.264 Video
HD Quick Time Video
HD MPEG2 Video(*.mpeg)
HD MPEG2 Video(*.mpg)
HD MPEG2 TS Video
HD MPEG4 Video
HD H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
HD MPEG4 TS Video
HD VOB Video
HD WMV Video

***Xbox Video***
Xbox MCE HD WMV Video
Xbox360 HD H.264 Video
Xbox360 HD MPEG4 Video
Xbox360 HD VOB Video
Xbox360 MCE HD ASF Video
Xbox360 MCE HD AVI Video
Xbox360 MCE HD MPEG2 Video(*.mpeg)
Xbox360 MCE HD MPEG2 Video(*.mpg)
Xbox360 MPEG2 1080pTV Movie
Xbox360 WMV 1080pTV Movie
Xbox360 MPEG4 Video
Xbox360 WMV Movie
Xbox360 H.264 Video
Xbox360 MCE AVI Video
---------------------------------------------

For advance users, you can set more video properties like interlace (see below). Otherwise, leave it on default settings.

(click image to enlarge)

NBA 2K9

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I'm one of those people who never forget NBA games on my list, whatever type of console im playing with. I've been a fan of EA sports - NBA LIVE for years now but things change. Since I played 2K sports - NBA 2k9, its definitely the best NBA game on PC, PS3 and Xbox as of date. T-MAC's dunk in NBA 2K9 on the left is one of the proof. After playing NBA 2k9 for months now, the gap between the two franchises appears to be wider.

One of the best feature of NBA 2k9 is the Living Roster which enable players to constantly have the most updated rosters possible (you need to be online for this of course). The Association (counterpart of NBA live's Dynasty mode) enables you to control everything about your team, from contract signing, trades, practice schedule/priorities, and even scouting. Other GAME-MODES are Season, Playoffs, Rookie Challenge, Practice, and Situation. You can practice on tight situation like buzzer-beater and clutch time plays using the Situation mode. NBA BLACKTOP which consist of Dunk Contest, Pick-up Games, 3-pt Shootout, Game of 21 and Dunk school is also included to add more flavor on this game.

Controls are less complicated but the movements, highlights and court actions are stunning, much better compared to NBA LIVE for me. Even the court/stage layout, lighting and dynamic glow are fantastic. Using high-definition monitor, you can also notice the player's sweat dropping from their faces specially when lights are reflected on it. Each one has their own shot release, expression, and trademark moves based on the real NBA players. Wide-variety of plays, dunks, cross-over, lay-up and alley-oop spice-up every game and actions. Those are the little things that blew me away with the 2k9 graphics and features... i can't wait to see the the 2K10/2KX


Still not convinced, here's some pictures and videos taken from NBA 2K9...



























...more HIGHLIGHTS



Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare

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I've been a game enthusiast since i started working with computers. Games with good graphics and gameplay always catches my eyes. INFINITY WARD did a great job on Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare. First of all, the game looks very realistic and stunning...one of the few games that support/utilize DirectX10.

In Single-player, you'll be switching between the perspectives of two soldiers, a U.S. Marine and a S.A.S. British soldier. Both team has the same goal, to extinguish a terrorist threat. Every mission of each team is linked to one another which makes it more understandable. Story is presented so well with such a raw and gritty fashion so it's easy to be drawn into it... and I have to say, dramatic twist and some of the sequences will shock and leave you breathless.

The modern settings adds some very interesting features. First will be the guns, some of the primary weapons has grenade launcher and a lot of the guns now have laser-sights, making it easier to shoot your enemies. Here's the interesting part, you can shoot through thin walls, wood, or anything that looks like it that could provide poor cover on your target. Just a reminder, always watch your six...some of the bad guys dont give up easily and can still kill you with a "last stand shots" which makes it more life-like. You even have stuff like night vision, flash-bangs, air strikes, bombing runs, claymores, and other various explosives to give you an upper hand over your enemies so use it wisely. Your enemies are smart so don't underestimate them, they'll take advantage of cover, grenades, and if they're given the chance, they'll outflank you.

The only problem I saw was a short campaign, you can even finish the game in just one sitting... but I assure you it's a thrill ride which makes this game stand out.

Multi-player mode offers a lot of things, you can choose between deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag, territories and so on. It can be addictive as well because of the level-up and perks system... the higher level you get, the more guns are unlocked (more powerful ofcourse). Perks are also unlocked at the same time like claymore, grenade laucher, deep penetration (for shooting walls), last stand, increase bullet damage, and more. You have to select 3-perks wisely... that will depend on what type of guns and match-up your going to play. Camo patterns and different iron sights are also available on this game. You can even call a chopper and air-strike on multi-player, that is if you're able to kill 5-7 enemies without dying.

Call of Duty 4 is one of the most eye-pleasing games to date. With gorgeous destruction, eye-piercingly sharp gun models, and dynamic shadows...this one is worth checking out.


Here are some pictures taken from Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare



































and for some videos...





By the way Call of Duty - Modern Warfare 2 is coming this 2009... here's a teaser.

DirectX9, DirectX10 and DirectX11

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Microsoft already released directx10 but only for WindowsVISTA since DirectX10 is built from ground up, on a totally different architecture. They started with a clean slate which means that more than half of the games and applications you used to run under XP with good old DirectX9 simply don’t work anymore with DirectX10 installed.

Directx is a collective name for a programming interface, Direct3D, Direct Draw, DirectSound etc, and is used to handle tasks in multimedia applications. Mainly used with video games, basically how well a video game looks.

If you want to fully utilize the power of directx10...you need to buy a new graphic card that support directx10 (as far as i know Nvidia 8800 series/ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT or higher) and obviously, you also need to buy a new OS "windowsVISTA" if your still using windowsXP. Oh and by the way...buy new games and applications that already support/utilize directx10. Sounds like we're going to spend a lot of cash just to catch up with directx10.


Here's some pictures taken from games regarding the difference of Dx9 and Dx10...

FLIGHT SIMULATOR X
with DirectX9












with DirectX10












AGE OF CONAN
with DirectX9















with DirectX10















Sample Videos from games:
CRYSIS with DirectX9 vs DirectX10


COMPANY OF HEROES with DirectX9 vs DirectX10


If you have windowsXP it stops at DirectX9.0c. DirectX10 is NOT backwards compatible as they claim at Microsoft. People call it "artificially" backwards compatible which means it will only "emulate" DirectX9, but that’s not the real step back since it’s built on a totally different architecture.
It will take years for most gamers to catch up and take advantage of DirectX10 since Microsoft excluded XP and Xbox360. Bad move for their marketing strategy and I hope Microsoft will realize that they needs to work on the backward compatibility issue since its a big deal especially with end-users.

Here's some benchmark from the game ‘Lost Planet’ DirectX9 vs DirectX10



























































More info about DirectX10



There is an on-going project for DirectX10 to run on WindowsXP which is called ALKY PROJECT by an independent group. Its already on ALPHA version and it is said to be working for some users. So if this group pull this one out for XP, then we can use those money to upgrade videocard instead of buying a new Operating System...hahaha!

About DirectX11, Microsoft will release it for Windows7...hopefully this one will have better review when it comes to backward compatibility. For more info about
DirectX11, click here.

Batch conversion of audio files MP3, WMA, OGG, and WAV

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I found this software that converts/support multiple audio format like MP3, WMA, OGG and even WAV files. What makes it different is that it can support BATCH conversion even if you're going to convert multiple file-types together. So it means you can convert MP3 to WMA, OGG to WAV and WMA to MP3 at the same time... you can just sit and relax while this software converts all your audio files :)

Its "Advance WMA workshop" by LITEXMEDIA

this converts...
MP3 to WMA
MP3 to WAV
WMA to MP3
WMA to WAV
OGG to WMA
OGG to WAV

it also support the ff Bit Rate, and Sample Rate with added features...
FOR MP3
- bit rate: 32kbps, 40kbps, 48kbps, 56kbps, 64kbps, 80kbps, 96kbps, 112kbps, 128kbps, 160kbps, 192kbps, 224kbps, 256kbps, and 320kbps (can also convert to VBR "variable bitrate")
- sample rate: 32000hz, 44100hz and 48000hz
- Channel mode: choose between joint-stereo, mono or dual-channel mode
- with options like: enable ID3 tag, automatically load ID3 tag from source, delete source file after processing

FOR WMA
- bit rate: 5kbps, 6kbps, 8kbps, 10kbps, 12kbps, 16kbps, 20kbps, 22kbps, 32kbps, 40kbps, 48kbps, 56kbps, 64kbps, 80kbps, 96kbps, 112kbps, 128kbps, 160kbps, 192kbps, 224kbps, 256kbps, and 320kbps
- sample rate: 44100hz and 48000hz
- with options like: enable digital rights management, enable ID3 tag, automatically load ID3 tag from source, delete source file after processing

FOR OGG
- bit rate: 32kbps, 40kbps, 48kbps, 56kbps, 64kbps, 80kbps, 96kbps, 112kbps, 128kbps, 160kbps, 192kbps, 224kbps, 256kbps, and 320kbps (can also convert to VBR "variable bitrate")
- with options like: enable ID3 tag, automatically load ID3 tag from source, delete source file after processing


This software helps me to organize my audio files in a fast and easy way...if you want to know more about Advance WMA workshop, click here.