Asian version of UNCHARTED: DRAKE'S FORTUNE patched to V1.01, Trophies added.

Our Asian version of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune finally receives a patch to version 1.01 on Sept 15. The patch adds the long awaited Trophies (all 48 of them) to the game.

However, you must play the game again to unlock the Trophies even if you have collected all 61 treasures and 1000 medal points in your previous saves.

Happy Trophies collecting!!

Latest games in MY stores.

PS3:

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (EU) - Action


Xbox360:

Infinite Undiscovery (JPN) - RPG
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (EU) - Action
Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise (US) - Sim
TNA iMPACT! (US) - Wrestling
Warhammer: Battle March (EU) - RTS


Wii:

Ferrari Challenge: Trofeo Pirelli (US) - Racing
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 All Play (US) - Sports
Mario Super Sluggers (US) - Sports

Latest games in MY stores

It's been a while since new games appeared in game stores, but the flood gates for Fall 08 games have started.

PS3:

Vampire Rain: Altered Species (US) - Action
Disgaea 3: Absense of Justice (US) - RPG
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 (US) - Sports
Siren: New Translation (Asian) - Horror
Soul Calibur IV (US) - Fighting

PSN:

The Last Guy - Puzzle
Racthet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty - Platformer

Xbox360:

Too Human (US) - Action RPG
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (US) - Shooter
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 (US) - Sports
Spectral Force 3 (US) - Strategy RPG
Tales of Vesperia (JPN) - RPG
Soul Calibur 4 (US) - Fighting

Wii:

Order Up (US) - Simulation
CSI: Hard Evidence (US) - Simulation

I'm back..... from the Twilight Zone

I have been missing from the cyberpages, due to personal and work commitment. Also that it has been a very slow period for gaming in MY, and not much new stuff are emerging.

However, as this is the Fall season, more games and gadgets are coming out to MY. As such, I will work harder to update the local info, and be active in these pages again.

Thanks for visiting, and keep the comments coming in.

Latest Game Titles in MY stores now.

Here are the latest games available in MY stores, but obviously the most anticipated and biggest release for the PS3 ever arrives on Thursday, Solid Snake's first and final appearance on Sony's console, and I hope to bring you impressions as soon as I get my hands in it the same day.

PS3

Haze (US) - FPS
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (US) - Adventure
Singstar (game and mic) (US) - Singing


Xbox360

Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy - (EU) - Action
Ninja Gaiden 2 (EU) - Action
Grid (EU) - Racing
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (US) - Adventure


Wii

Kawasaki Snow Mobiles (US) - Racing
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (US) - Adventure
Wii Fit (US) - Fitness

Wii Fit (US) is available at selective MY stores

Wii Fit (US) is here. Its not as widely available as other games so you will need to do some walking to find one. It's retail price here is much cheaper than in Singapore, so get it here if you can find one (if you are wanting to get one).


It was here several months ago in the Japanese version, but as I dont read Japanese, I have not bought that version. I will be collecting one unit soon and looking forward to testing the unit out.

Latest Game Titles available in MY stores.

PS3:

Dark Sector - (US) Action
Viking: Battle for Asgard - (US) Action
SEGA Superstar Tennis - (US) Sports

Xbox360:

Universe At War - (EU) RTS
Football Manager 2008 - (EU) Sports
Armored Core: for Answers - (JPN) Action Shooter
SEGA Superstar Tennis - (EU) Sports
Viking: Battle for Asgard - (EU) Action
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 - (US) Action Shooter
Dark Messiah: Might and Magic Elements - (EU) FPS RPG


Wii:

Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 - (US) Sports
Dewy's Adventure - (US) Platformer
George of the Jungle - (EU) Platformer
Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure - (EU) Action
Arctic Tales - (US) Action
Destroy All Human! Big Willy Unleashed - (US) Action
Puru Puru Pack - (US) Mini-games compilation
Cocoto Magic Circus - (US) Mini-games Complilation
My Horse and Me - (US) Pet Sim
Super Mario Galaxy - (US) Platformer
Big Brain Academy Wii Degree - (US) Mini-games Compilation
My Word Coach - (US) Mini-games Compilation
Worms: A Space Oddity - (EU) Action
Baroque - (JPN) RPG
No More Heroes - (US) Action
EA Playground - (US) Mini-games Compilation
Ninja Reflex - (US) Mini-games compilation
The House of The Dead 2 & 3 Return - (US) Light Gun Shooter
Go, Diego, Go! Safari Rescue - (US) Action

Latest Game Titles available in MY stores.

PS3:

Gran Turismo 5: Prologue (Chinese) - (Asian) Racing [Download or Blu-Ray]
echochrome - (Asian) Puzzle
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 - (Asian) Shooter


XBox360:

Condemned 2: Bloodshot - (US) FPS
Army of Two - (US) Shooter
Turning Point: Fall of Liberty - (US) FPS
Lost: Via Domus - (US) Action
Frontlines: Fuel of War - (US) FPS
Lost Odyssey - (Asian) RPG


Wii:

Winning Eleven: Playmaker 2008 - (Jpn) Sports
Pinball Hall of Fame: The William Collection - (US) Pinball Sim
Bully - (US) Action
Balloon Pop - (US) Puzzle
SEGA Bass Fishing - (US) Fishing Sim

Super Smash Bros. Brawl (US) won't play on Wiis with dirty lens, Nintendo offers fix.

US Wii gamers are faced with the same problem Japanese gamers faced with Nintendo's hottest title, Super Smash Bros. Brawl. As reported in Japan early February, Wiis with "dirty" lens are unable to read the dual layered DVD thats stores Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

To help solve this, Nintendo of America have offered to collect and clean the dirty lens, on their expense. All you have to do is fill up the form here, and wait while its being collected, cleaned and returned to you.

So all it will cost you is not having the Wii to play on while its being cleaned.

Japanese Super Smash Bros. Brawl disc read error on Wii.

Nintendo of Japan have issued a statement about reported disc read errors for the game. According to the statement, Nintendo has received complaints from Super Smash Bros. Brawl buyers of the Wii being unable to read their newly bought disc, or of videos chopping up during playback. These users claim to have had no such problems with past games.

Nintendo then did a study, and concluded that the problem arises from dust building up on the Wii laser lens. As Super Smash Bros. Brawl uses a dual layer DVD (the touted D9), the disc is more sensitive to dirty lens. A fix to this problem is to clean the Wii laser lens but its not something regular Wii owners can't do on their own.


To fix this, Nintendo of Japan have offered to clean Japanese Wiis for free and even pay for the shipping fees. All you have to do is ship your Wii, warranty card and a copy of Super Smash Bros. Brawl (to prove you actually bought the game, and not simply wanting a free service) to Nintendo's service center in Kyoto. Only drawback, you lose your Wii for one week while Nintendo cleans your lens.


Be aware, please don't send in your modded Wii and expect a free service, ya?

Rock Band for Wii, officially mentioned.

EA's CEO John Riccitiello confirmed a Wii version of Rock Band is forthcoming during his third quarter conference call done on Jan 31, 2008. In it, he mentioned of a "coming launch" of the Wii version of Rock Band. This is in line with Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos' mention of a Wii-specific version of the title, way back in April 2007.

No pricing, song list, DLC support nor release date was mentioned.

Wii Fit dated for US and EU regions.

For the benefit of the few of you who don't know this fact, Wii Fit, the fitness game with a balance board, have sold over a million units in Japan since its debut on Dec 1, 2007.

Now the rest of the world will get to work their flabby muscles on the same balancing boards. Wii Fit is dated for release in April 2008 for the US markets and June 2008 for the PAL (EU) regions.

Now where have I placed my workout clothes...?

Latest Game Titles available in MY stores.

After a long draught, games are slowly trickling back to MY stores. I expect the draught to last longer till mid February as Chinese New Year is around the corner and most stores will be closed for the holidays.

PS3:

Burnout Paradise - (US) Racing

Wii:

Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity - (US) Racing

Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None - (EU) Adventure

Semi-bricked Wii: What is it and how to unbrick it?

With many request for semi-bricked Wii and the solution to unbrick it, I have decided to share on how I semi-bricked my Wii and how I was able to unbrick it later.

Please note that Nintendo Wiis are region locked and accordingly, their firmware is also region locked. This mean that you can only update the Wii by using firmware from the same region. Wiis have 3 main regions: NTSC Japan (3.0J), NTSC US (3.0U) and PAL Europe (3.0E); the alphabet behind the firmware represents the region it beloings to.

Many Wii owners have accidentally semi-bricked their Wii when they installed the wrong firmware that don't correspond regions. Usually, installing firmware from a different region that you Wii will brick the "Wii Setting" menu, basically it gives you an error message stating a problem in accessing the Internet via the Opera browser.

This effectively prevents you from accessing the Wii Settings menu. Games will still load and play, but you simply cant change any settings on your Wii, thus the term "Semi-brick" used by myself.

This happened to me when I inserted Super Mario Galaxy JAPAN without noticing the game's region coding, and proceeded to install the firmware. After installing the firmware, my Wii Setting menu crashed with the prior mentioned error code. The games plays fine, but I am stuck with a locked Wii Setting menu.

The solution to this is rather simple. Just wait for the next Nintendo first party game to be released, get that game and make sure it is the same region as your Wii and load it up. Most first party titles by Nintendo comes with a firmware checker, it checks the firmware in your Wii and updates it to the latest version on the disc. Run the update if the disc prompts you to, and it should install the firmware as per the same region as your Wii, and unlocks the Wii Settings menu.

For me, I used Link's Crossbow Training. It ran on my Wii and asked for a firmware update. I installed the update, and behold, my Wii Setting menu is back up and running Firmware 3.0U.

So for those of you who had semi-bricked your Wii, feel free to try this method as it has proven successful to me and other users having the same issues.

Disclaimer: Following the method mentioned above don't guarantee absolute success, just simply coz it worked for me. Also, this method may not unbrick modded Wii. Leave your comments if it works for you.

Latest Game Titles available in MY stores.

Due to the excessive time from the previous update, the list of games out in MY stores is very long, and I have chosen to simply list the titles without the boxart. Fear not, boxarts will return very soon in the future.

Here's the long list, most of the big games of 2007 are now in stores, good luck in finding some of them.

PS3:
The Orange Box - (ASIAN) FPS
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men - (US) Action Shooter
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune - (US) Action Shooter
Assasin's Creed - (US) Action
Time Crisis 4 (with Guncon3) - (ASIAN) Light Gun Shooter
Timeshift - (US) FPS
Soldier of Fortune: Payback - (US) FPS
Beowulf: The Game - (US) Action

Wii:
Wii Fit - (JPN) Fitness
Trauma Center: New Blood - (US) Medical Sim
Soul Calibur Legends - (US) Action
Geometry Wars: Galaxies - (US) Shooter
Ghost Squad - (US) Light Gun Shooter
Link's Crossnbow Training (without Zapper) - (US) Light Gun Shooter
Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles - (US) Light Gun Shooter
Tomb Raider Anniversary - (US) Action Shooter
Super Mario Galaxy - (US) Platformer

Xbox360:
Black Site: Area 51 - (US) FPS
Mass Effect - (US) Action
Soldier of Fortune: Payback - (US) FPS
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men - (US) Action Shooter
Beowulf: The Game - (US) Action
Assasin's Creed - (US) Action
Need For Speed: Prostreet - (US) Racing
Bioshock - (US) FPS

PS2:
Puzzle Quest - (US) Puzzle
Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots - (US) Action
Fire Pro Wrestling Returns - (US) Sports Sim
Need For Speed: Prostreet - (US) - Racing
Petz: Catz - (US) Pet Sim
Petz: Dogz - (US) Pet Sim

Wii Photo Channel 1.1, revert back to 1.0 for MP3 support.

If you prefer to play MP3 music while you view your photos on your Wii, please do not update to Photo Channel 1.1 as this version only supports AAC format music (as reported earlier).

However, if you have update to version 1.1 but still prefer to have MP3 support, then Nintendo have provided the steps you need to perform to revert your Photo Channel back to version 1.0 (that supports MP3).

Here it is (if you dont wish to go to Nintendo's page):-

From the main menu, click the "Wii" button;
Select "Data Management";
Select "Channels";
Select "Photo Channel 1.1" and confirm you want to delete it;
After that, Photo Channel 1.0 will automatically be available again from your Wii menu.
If you ever change your mind, simply go back to the Wii Shop Channel and re-download Photo Channel 1.1!

For Wiis shipped in December 2007 and after, Nintendo have preinstalled Photo Channel 1.1 and you cant perform the steps above to get Photo Channel 1.0. New Wii owners will have to live with AAC support only.

Wii Fit out in Japan.

Wii Fit is out in Japan as of Dec 1, 2007. Nintendo of Japan's idea of getting their customers healthy via a console game is shipped with a new peripheral, the Balance Board. The Balance Board is wireless with its own sensors, and connects to the Wii effortlessly powered by 4AA batteries, and weighs slightly more that Wii itself.

Players, or rather users, loads up the game and steps on the Balance Board. Data such as age, height and clothing that you are wearing (it does affect your weight) needs to be entered, and Wii Fit will do the rest. It will give you your weight, BMI (Body Mass Index) and spells out your ideal BMI.

You can then choose to set your target BMI and planned duration to achieve it, and Wii Fit will help you work out towards your target. There are 4 main groups of exercises to be had: Yoga, Balance Training, Cardiovascular Workout, and Muscle Training. Each type has 9 to 15 exercises, and you unlocked new ones with points earned based on the amount of time you've spent working out.

Wii Fit allows up to 8 users with individual password access to secure your data and progress. Retailing at 8300Yen or USD$80 (RM280), the whole package consists of a Wii Fit disc (can call it a game?), Balance Board with wireless sensors and 4AA batteries. US will get Wii Fit sometime in January 2008.

Super Mario Galaxy disc contains Firmware 3.1 update, semi-brick modded Wiis!!

Super Mario Galaxy discs comes with Firmware update 3.1 for the Wii. Nintendo have apparently added some form of copy protection method in it.

Upon insertion of the SMG disc into the Wii, it will prompt for a Firmware update to 3.1. What happens next differs from different mod chip users. Some will report a black screen in the middle of updates, some reports of the screen "hangs" at 30+%, then shoots up to 100% (WiiKey: mine did exactly the same).

After the firmware update, SMG wont play and give you an error, stating that it has detected an unauthorised device within your Wii (that's the mod cip in case you are wondering). You will then need to reset the Wii. Also, it will freezes up your access to Wii settings (as some mod chips enables Wii game region change settings here). Luckily, other games still works.

So updating to Firmware 3.1 effectively semi-bricks your Wii. Update at your own risk. Meanwhile, I will be looking for some solution here (ie.WiiKey update to 1.9g)

Nintendo Wii turns ONE too.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Nintendo Wii, you turned ONE too this week.

Wii: Launched on Nov 19th 2006 in US, Dec 2nd 2006 in Japan and Dec 6th elsewhere.

Wii had a stellar first year, outselling all "new-gen" consoles (PS3 and XBox360) by at least 2:1 ratio. Its performance was so impressive that by September 2007, it had overtaken Xbox360 as the most sold new-gen console, despite Xbox360 having a full year head start.

While many games on Wii are shovelware (games that are easy ports from PS2 or other consoles), there are several biggies amongst them. Wii Sports, Zelda: Twilight Princess, Resident Evil 4 Wii, Metriod Prime 3, Super Paper Mario, Ghost Squad, Medal Of Honor: Heroes 2, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles and the latest, highest rated game ever (complied from review averages) Super Mario Galaxy.

As Wii is the only new-gen console that offers one SKU (PS3 had 4, XBox360 had 5), this makes buying the Wii clearer, but not necessarily easier. Wii have been sold out all over since its launch, and despite Nintendo's claim of producing 1.8 million units a month. Good luck in getting yourself one this holiday season (I have one since early this year).

Going ahead, its crucial for third party games develor to make money on the Wii, as Nintendo is the traditional winners when it comes to games on its systems. With a weaker system graphical processors than its competitors, Wii need to rely on variety and unique gameplay immersion to continue win gamers hearts and lead in its second year.

Latest Game Titles available in MY stores.

PS3:
Clive Barker's Jericho (US) - FPS

XBox360:

Assassin's Creed - (US) - Action

Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (US) - Action

Wii:

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games (US) - Sports

WWE Smackdown! VS Raw 2008 (EU) - Fighting

Victorious Boxers: Revolution (US) - Sports

Lego Star Wars : The Complete Saga (US) - Action

Asterix in the Olympic Games (EU) - Sports

PS2:

WWE Smackdown! VS Raw 2008 (EU) - Fighting

Asterix in the Olympic Games (EU) - Sports