Lunar Shards

I was originally debating on several ways to do podcasting both over skype which I do for Sequence Break XIV and hopefully another one with the group later down the line. On top of that friends locally want to do a podcast as well which focuses more on tech then anything else. My recording equipment though is lacking and I’ve been meaning to fix this for some time. Originally I intended on using USB mics but have found them to lack the proper sound when I’m going into editing. I currently use a Samson Go Mic which unfortunately gives me a very tinny sound unless I’m sick upon which I’ve found some seem to want me to sound like that

Anyway, looking at equipment I’ve been eyeing several pieces which I need to consider for future upgrades.

The Microphone

Calaera, One of my co-hosts on Sequence Break XIV, pointed me in the direction of the MXL 990 Condensor Microphone. It cost as much as the Samson Go but has a much deeper sound when I listened to examples of it’s use. The microphone comes with a shockmount, which is very much needed for mics like this and a standard stand. It goes for about $79.99 on Amazon which isn’t a bad price. Of course it’s also XLR which gives me some versatility in choosing the interfaces it connects to.

The Stand

Of course I need a stand, I can’t hold this thing in my hand or use my current jerry-rigged mic stand which the Samson Go is clamped onto. I’m debating on if I should consider a boom mic stand or just a desk mounted one which allows me to take it on across town to do other recordings. For a desk mounted unit, I was considering A relatively cheap unit. At around $12 on Amazon, it’s not a bad price and hopefully is sturdy enough for use. It should be easy enough to pack for transport with whatever equipment I need to haul over for recording on location. It is height adjustable which is good since I may not have a desk high enough to be even with head.

The Boom

If I wanted a more advanced setup for my mic at home, I was considering a Heil Sound HB-1 Steel Microphone Boom. It’ll run me about $70 dollars and is built similar to my jerry-rigged setup but actually designed to support the weight. Since forward desk space is a premium, I was thinking of attacking it to my dual monitor arms allowing me to push it up and out of the way when I don’t need it.

The Audio Inferace

Obviously with XLR, I need some way to transit to a computer for the Sequence Break XIV podcast. I was a mixer with USB output which basically turns whatever mixer I use into an audio interface with individual channels. Since this same mixer would also be used for the in-person recording for the podcast we want to do locally, I wanted it to have at least 4 microphones inputs for individual mics. I like the idea of people having their own channels which allows me to control the levels more easily. Something that isn’t present in Skype which I wish was there.

For this purpose, I was considering the Behringer XENYX X1204 USB 12-Channel Mixer. It runs around $170 dollars and provides me with the USB output. Since these mixers have a USB port, it doubles as an external sound card. I wonder if I can then port the sound directly to an DAW rather then using a round about means to record the WAV file?

An Independent Alternative

Now since I’m doing all this research, I actually decided to swing by Best Buy to look at microphones. They use to have a good selection but it seems that’s changed a bit. I had remembered they had a 4 microphone USB based mixer but that’s long been sold and they no longer carry it. That sorta sucks :X

While checking prices and looking at gear I stumbled upon what I thought was just a nice control surface near the computer section till I picked it up and looked at the back of the unit. To my surprised the thing had 8 combo jacks! The device I had picked up to examine was the Zoom R24. I hadn’t heard of this device and didn’t know what it was at first. It turns out the Zoom R24 is a Digital Recorder/Audio Interface/Controller. This made me blink for a minute and stare in confusion.

The R24 can operate as a stand alone Digital Recorder with up to 8 inputs from either mics, instruments or anything else that will plug in. It records the audio as PCM 16/24-bit linear WAV and at 44.1kHz which is awesome! Better then I can say then my Olympus voice recorder which unfortunately only does WMA much to my disappointment. As an Interface, it allows for all 8 inputs to be passed to the computer as individual channels which is also great for editing purposes and you can monitor the mixing from the unit.

Finally it’s also a control surface which means those sliders on the unit actually control sliders in the DAW. Basically allowing me to fine tune individual tracks as if I was doing this analog. Albeit this is more of a extra then needed but considering how some of these programs work, trying to spin a dial in the program can get annoying if you click it wrong and it jumps way past where you want it to go.

Unfortunately all this awesome comes at a big price tag. It runs around $499 new and about $449 used. Although I have seen it sold for around $399 on one site but I’m not sure about their reputation just yet. I need to do more research. If that’s the case, it’s about the same price as it’s lower model, the R16 which is a bit odd. There are bundle kits which give me just about everything I need so I might consider this if budget allows.

The Wishlists

The basics list consists of the following:
MXL 990 Condensor Microphone $79 (Mic at Musician’s Friend)
Desk Stand $12 (Desk Stand at Amazon)
Behringer XENYX X1204 USB 12-Channel Mixer $170 (Mixer at Amazon)
Patch Cable $15
This is the absolute basic setup. This will run me about: $276

If I also get the boom arm, which I’m very likely need:
MXL 990 Condensor Microphone $79
Desk Stand $12
Heil Sound HB-1 Steel Microphone Boom $70 (Mic Boom at Amazon)
Patch Cable $15
Behringer XENYX X1204 USB 12-Channel Mixer $170
This is the absolute basic setup. This will run me about: $346

This requires me to haul my laptop around for the recording device. The advantage is each track can be recorded as individual channels doing this. The downside is I’m hauling a $17 inch laptop which in hindsight shouldn’t be that bad considering I’m already hauling a mixing board around.

A setup without the laptop would use the Zoom R24.
Zoom R24 $499 (R24 at Amazon)
Desk Stand $12
Heil Sound HB-1 Steel Microphone Boom $70

This setup goes for $581. So wait, the mic is missing! Well the reason behind that is there is a kit that the Zoom R24 has that comes with a Samson C01 Condenser Microphone and doesn’t change the price surprisingly. I had considered the Samson CU01, which is the USB variant at one point but couldn’t find one locally. So this particular setup is about $235 more expensive but cuts out the need to haul a mixer and laptop around for local recording. The kit also comes with extra patch cables and such which should make things a lot easier on us.

I’m leaning towards the cheaper of the two but of course I’ll probably dig around a lot more to see if I can somehow get the R24 for a lot cheaper then this! The same goes with the mixer route.

Cloud saves are awesome! The idea of going from my desktop to my laptop and keeping my save files sync is great! I found this extremely nice when playing Deus Ex: Human Revolution as it used Valve’s Steam Cloud to sync my save files. Of course not everything works with Steam Cloud though they should. There is an alternative to this and one I really wish I had realized sooner.

First off you need a Dropbox account which you can get by signing up here.

Once you have it setup and the software installed on your first PC and running, we’ll begin the process of syncing your game files with Dropbox. You’ll need to fire up a command console. If you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7, go to your start menu and type in ‘cmd‘. It’ll come up as either ‘Command Prompt‘ or ‘cmd.exe‘. Right click it and choose ‘Run as Administrator‘. You’ll be prompted by the UAC for approval for this action if you have this feature turned on.

Once you get into the command prompt navigate to your dropbox directory. For me it would be something like “C:\users\Frei\Dropbox\”.

If this is your first time in here, welcome to the golden days of computing! No seriously, this was all we had back before Windows 95 was released to setup and run games. Anyway, to navigate to your directory, the following commands can be used to get there:

To change drive letters…

Type in the drive letter like this

C:\

or

D:\

This will change the drive you are looking at in command prompt.

To list directories and files…

Type in

dir

which will list the directories and files in alphabetical order.
You can also type in

dir /w

to make it easier to see all the files and directories in the small window.

To change directories…

Type in

cd [directory]

to navigate into that directory. For example:
I’m in “C:\” and I want to navigate into the ‘users‘ directory. I would type in

cd users

to navigate into it.

Okay once we’re in there, we need to setup what is known as a symbolic link. A symbolic link is a way of linking to a folder located somewhere else on the drive or computer. The command you need is the following:

mklink /D [link] [target]

The ‘[link]‘ refers to the folder which will appear in the Dropbox folder and the ‘[target]‘ refers to the actual folder elsewhere in the computer that if you open the link you will end up in. For example, I’m playing Mass Effect 2 on the PC and I want to keep my save files synced between my home PC and my laptop. I would use the following command to create the symbolic link:

mklink /D "Mass Effect 2 Saves" "C:\users\Frei Casull\Documents\My Games\BioWare\Mass Effect 2\Save"

This will create a folder in the Dropbox directory called ‘Mass Effect 2 Saves’ and if you double click the folder, you’ll be sent to my save files located in the Documents folder. Dropbox will sync the files since it thinks those files are in that folder!

A shortcut in case the directory you are linking to is too long to type, navigate to it from ‘My Computer’ from the desktop and then click on the bar which tells you where you are. For me it would say

Frei Casull > Documents > My Games > BioWare > Mass Effect 2 > Save

When you click on it, it’ll expose the actual directory path:

C:\users\Frei Casull\Documents\My Games\BioWare\Mass Effect 2\Save

which you can right-click and select copy. Then head back to the command prompt and right-click and select paste. This will write out the complicated link to the [target] portion. Just remember to include the double quotation marks.

WORD OF WARNING!

Be sure that the directory your syncing isn’t huge! If the save files are several hundred Megabytes, I would avoid doing this as it’ll eat your bandwidth as well as your drop box space. You should check the directory you will link to by right-clicking it and selecting property.

The second computer (and beyond!)

Once you confirmed your link is working right and Dropbox is beginning to sync the files to the server, go to the second PC you want to work with. Install Dropbox and let it go ahead and download everything to the second PC. Now here’s where things get a little tricky. The second PC and beyond requires you to do things a little different.
So in your Dropbox on your second computer should be “Mass Effect 2 Saves” if you have it sync everything in your drop box. Since the folder is created by Dropbox, we’ll have to point the actual save directory to this place instead. This is reverse of what we did for the first PC.

Navigate to the Mass Effect 2 save directory on the second computer via the command prompt (For this second computer I have it on “C:\users\Frei\Documents\My Games\BioWare\Mass Effect 2″) and we’ll run the command to create a symbolic link.

NOTE: that if you already have the directory there you’ll need to remove it before this will work. I suggest packing up whatever is there into a zip file or a backup directory before removing it in case something unforeseen happens. Once I’m sure the directory isn’t there anymore, I run the following command:

mklink /D "Save" "C:\users\Frei\Dropbox\Mass Effect 2 saves"

Now whenever the game attempts to access the save folder it will actually access the Dropbox folder instead.

That should do it for this tutorial. Let me know if I missed something or if there is something to improve but this should allow you to keep your computers synced when gaming on the go.

The same idea works well if you play World of Warcraft on both your Desktop and Laptop. You can sync your addons doing this same solution.

Hot Shots Golf World Invitational
Platform: Playstation Vita
Started: February 15, 2012
Status: Ongoing

Been mostly doing a daily grind on the daily tournament. I’ve slipping more and more each day since it’s been on the mirror holes which usually screw me up. I haven’t made any progress in the Silver bracket of challenges. They’re not easy :X Some of them require you to very accurately thread the needle in high winds no less. So far the Legends course is kicking my ass. Doesn’t help that on top of high winds, we’re playing on the side of a mountain.

Dynasty Warriors Next
Platform: Playstation Vita
Started: February 23, 2012
Status: Ongoing

Since I’ve been burning out on golf, I decided to play more hack and slash. I really don’t know why I didn’t get the other games on digital but I think I’ll do that in the future. I played more of the conquest mode which is a custom game where you select a kingdom to take over all of China. The risk feature of the game bites both ways as I found out. There was a moment where I was stuck sitting outside the main territory because I didn’t have enough power to take them over and the random territory upgrade kept upgrading territories that where bordering other areas. I also messed with some of the mini-games. The Steeplechase is slightly addicting as I’m sitting around the 200ish rank for the online leader board. We’re talking about a 2 seconds difference between my current rank and 1st. I’m tempted of going back to see if I can improve it.

Final Fantasy XIII-2
Platform: Playstation 3
Started: Jan 31st, 2012
Status: Ongoing

I hadn’t been playing in a while so I picked it back up again. I did a little bit of fragment hunting but I’m pushing forward with the story so I can gain access to my racing Chocobo. Once I have that it’ll be the process of unlocking the needed items to get more CP. I’m aiming to break this game :O I did download a few DLC including the fight with Nabaat which I must say is DIFFICULT. I thought just fighting Lightning and her companion was hard, no, Jill takes the cake. At least in Lightning’s battle I lasted a few minutes, Jill… I don’t think I made one minute!

Expecting other games? Well Actually there is one other game but I rarely post the MMOs I’m playing. I’m still playing Final Fantasy XIV which recently got it’s latest patch, 1.21 which adds the classic jobs to the game as well as World of Warcraft. Been messing with a new class though not a fervent about leveling it since i can’t join the guild till they fix up their application process. I’ll probably play more this week since I’ll have a bit more free time after work than before. This past week as been a drag.

Hot Shots Golf World Invitational
Platform: Playstation Vita
Started: February 15, 2012
Status: Ongoing

I’m not sure if I’m getting better or worse. I’ve dropped down in the 600s now online. Still not bad, still in the top 6% of the leaderboard but I keep screwing up holes I know well. Doesn’t help that every so often they throw in a mirrored course which totally fucks me up. I’ve cleared up to Silver now single player but Silver is like taking repeated punches to the face. The holes are MEAN… We’re talking ultra precise shots, and very difficult place holes. Argh… I bet there’s a gold rank ready to put me out of my misery.

—

- Append –

I somehow forgot I was playing this!

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
Platform: Playstation Vita (PSP Emulation)
Started: March 6, 2012
Status: Ongoing

I got this through the PSN sale after recently. I hadn’t played the first game a whole lot, though it was interesting. This one’s a bit better and I get the combat system now. I’m playing mostly RPG mode which makes for an interesting time. I can’t say I’m happy with which characters ended in the Chaos camp, but well I’ll just have to deal with it for now. The game does give a bit of issue with some maps having some very difficult boss in a place you need to get buy, or how damage carries over unless you have healing items. One bad battle can totally fuck you up to the point the only choice is to throw the battle and start it over. There was at least one map where I was sitting at 300 health after an encounter with one of the chaos units and had to practically play extra aggressive to survive the next to so I could escape to the world map. Still need to beat the game, I want to play as Prishe!

Hot Shots Golf World Invitational
Platform: Playstation Vita
Started: February 15, 2012
Status: Ongoing

Yup… still playing! I’m getting better with the Bronze Rank but man its getting difficult. In a lot of cases the hole is in the worst possible spot, usually on steep slopes or very bad angles. I’m still holding a rank within the top 5-6% but I’m beginning to slip.

Jeanne D’arc
Platform: Playstation Vita (PSP Emulation)
Started: 2/28/2012
Status: Ongoing

I hadn’t played this in a long time so I’m starting over again, hence the new start date. The game isn’t officially listed on the Vita compatible list however I can confirm it plays right now. The art style is pretty until you meet some of the guys and some of the in-game models are odd but fits Level-5′s style when compared to Professor Layton. The game looks pretty good on the Vita but you can really tell that it’s being enlarged for the screen.

Prinny – Can I really be the Hero?
Platform: Playstation Vita (PSP Emulation)
Started: Unknown
Status: Ongoing

I played a little bit more of this game. Gah… Now I remember why I stopped playing the first time. The bosses later one start to get very very difficult to deal with. In some cases, you need very exact movements and jumps to take them out and most likely you’ll lose a good stack of lives just doing so. Yeah, I’m already a quarter of my way through all my lives so far.

Mass Effect 2
Platform: PC
Started: February 23rd, 2012
Status: Ongoing

I finally cleared the first half of the game and moved onto the second half. I’m probably not going to get Mass Effect 3 right away and i’m not sure which system to get it on. I’ll probably get the 360 version via Gamefly so I can finish that character off but I might buy the PC version so I have access to my male Shepard. I’m still probably going to stipe mine every planet I find though

Hot Shots Golf World Invitational
Platform: Playstation Vita
Started: February 15, 2012
Status: Ongoing

This game is addicting… I don’t know what it is. Every day so far I’ve taken part in the Daily Tournament that’s in the game. So far I’m ranked around 340-350s out of 5000+ players which is pretty cool considering I’m bouncing around around that rank but I’m slowly slipping as better players start to do do these tournaments. Every now and then a bad shot really rattles me and I just blow the round. Nothing heart breaking than finishing +10 because you got trapped in an area you can’t shoot out of. I did unlock another character for use but I can’t afford her plus she’s one of the expert class characters so that means a lot more difficult to use.

Wipeout 2048
Platform: Playstation Vita
Started: February 21, 2012
Status: Ongoing

I did finally get a chance to try this out. The game feels a lot more grittier in terms of technology in game than the HD Fury series as this is set in the infancy of the Wipeout program. So far the overall feel when playing feels right. Things move fast considering I’m at the beginning class, I can just imagine the top tier races. The load times are something to be desired. I’m a patient but this can wear on you after a while.

Dynasty Warriors Next
Platform: Playstation Vita
Started: February 23, 2012
Status: Ongoing

What can I say, I’m a sucker for these games. I love the Samurai Warriors series more than the Dynasty Warriors one however this one looked like a lot of fun and it is. The game looks visually great compared to previous handheld releases and is pretty responsive which is good. It plays closer to the Empire series than the normal games since it breaks up each huge battle into several smaller battles covering a region. The game automatically selects the character you play so your sort of shoe horned into characters you might not enjoy in terms of weapon types.

I actually like the mode Conquest, which lets you play vs the CPU and a sort of turn base risk style setup. I actually played more of this than anything else with a customized character. You can unlock more officers for user in this mode which is nice. The battles themselves may take only 10-15 minutes which is nice considering I remember spending a good hour in the console versions just clearing out regions. They also include several Vita specific battles which requires you to tilt and touch. For example you might get ambushed in which several targets jump into the air and your only option is to move the Vita around to see them all and touch the front screen on each target to knock them out of the air. The first time this happens it gets disorienting but you get use to it. There are several variants of this you’ll run into. The second type and one that gets some getting use to plays close to Infinity Blade for the iPhone and iPad… which considering is a pretty good touch screen combat mechanic. This game’s versions a bit more toned down so once you get the pattern down it gets relatively easy to do.

Overall the game is okay, not quite the insane console version but a lot of fun still.

Prinny – Can I really be the Hero?
Platform: Playstation Vita (PSP Emulation)
Started: Unknown
Status: Ongoing

Decided to pass an hour or so messing with another PSP title on the Vita. This time I threw on Prinny, which is probably one more the more sadistic platformer games since one hit (or 4 if your on easy) means starting from the check point. The game gives you 1000 lives which at first seems like overkill in lives but when you get into the harder levels, they almost don’t feel like enough. I got through the first three stages before I put the game away for the time being. The puns in this game get a bit much. I’m sorry, sisters by the name of Kim and Chi? REALLLY!?

Mass Effect
Platform: PC
Started: Unknown
Status: Discontinued

Decided to replay Mass Effect to see if I could a safe file ready for 3 when I eventually get it but I just gave up. The game had a very bad texture issue on the PC with some pretty low-fi textures for supposed maximum settings for characters but it looked like their heads were taken straight out of Mass Effect 2. I got partway through 1 before I gave up and jumped straight to ME2.

Mass Effect 2
Platform: PC
Started: February 23rd, 2012
Status: Ongoing

So I modified my way into Mass Effect 2 instead of playing through ME1. Now before you start complaining that I shouldn’t skip the good story of ME1, I have finished it on the Xbox 360 (along with ME2) already so this is more of a replay through with a new character. The modifications are to an already completed ME1 save file which gets me most of the way where I’m going with modifications to correct any play through ME1 issues I wouldn’t have done.

I decided to create a male character this time as I played Femshep through the 360 play through. So far I’m still in the first half because I’m strip mining every planet I come across. Enough that my friends are joking that everyone in the universe will have reason to be gunning after me soon. I’m also using a HD texture pack that some folks over in the Bioware forums have setup. It really does help the game look a lot better on the PC. I’m surprised this wasn’t a true option in the game. The in game textures look a bit um… messy. It’s pretty obvious when I equip the Terminus armor vs the N7 default armor with the texture pack installed. I’m hoping to finish this this week so it’s out of the way.

Hot Shots Golf World Invitational
Platform: Playstation Vita
Started: February 15, 2012
Status: Ongoing

Funny thing about the games I got for the Vita upon release. They’re essentially the same games I bought for my PSP during it’s release. So far I have Hot Shots Golf and Wipeout 2048 (which I haven’t played yet). Both of which I own for the PSP upon it’s release. Hot Shots Golf is one of those unusual sports games I will play over and over. I think I wore out the UMD of the PSP one since the top caved in. This version looks gorgeous on the Vita’ screen and I’ve been nonaddictive playing the online competition every day. One of the new features is a daily tournament where there are 3 courses with set rules to beat. Each day the scores are tallied and you are ranked. Right now it’s a pre-season so we don’t have much at the moment.

Monster Hunter Unite
Platform: Playstation Vita (PSP Emulation)
Started: I forgot…
Status: Ongoing

This game was the first test of the adhoc mode between a PSP and a Playstation Vita. I was more than surprised how well it worked. The advantage you get from the Vita here is the ability to reassign the right analog stick to the camera controls usually found on the D-Pad. Not that it helped much. I instinctively gripped my Vita in the unusual manner that allows me to control the camera with my index finger.

Valkyria Chronicles 2
Platform: Playstation Vita (PSP Emulation)
Started: 2010
Status: Completed

One of the user confirmed titles that hasn’t been mentioned in the official release. In order to install the game, it has to be downloaded to a PS3 than sent over to the Vita. You can transfer all your DLC too but since Valkyria 2 suffers from a poor DLC download setup, you have to download every single mission separately. Another thing to note, for some reason, the game will NOT transfer any code released content meaning you have to re-enter every code into the game again before restarting the save file you transfer. The same situation happened in Valkyria 3 when I moved it to a new PSP the previous week. I ended up playing a few missions with a friend which proved amusing since we steamrolled the enemies.

For many of my friends, they were surprised that this was the first time I ever attended Megacon. My first convention (outside of ones I help run) was Anime Weekend Atlanta. I go mostly to hang out with friends and to have a bit of fun. Usually involves a lot of photography too. I eventually stopped going since I started attending Dragon*Con which makes AWA look tiny in comparison. It makes the one I helped run minuscule as well. Normally my friends would also go to Megacon but most times I passed on it due to scheduling conflicts. This was the first time I went.

The venue for Megacon is pretty amazing. The convention center reminds me of a Airport terminal at the entrance side and is massive on the inside. I’m pretty sure it’s bigger than the others I had seen before. There were also other events including a cheer-leading competition which I’m pretty sure was near by and a TruValue market near the entrance we always used.

The first thing I noticed about Megacon is the way they handle badges. Instead of the typical con badge, it’s a colored wrist strap which identifies you for 3 days, the current day and what not. This is useful since it’s hard to lose them. The 3 day advance passes are waterproof wrist bands so that means also not taking them off at night. A little bit annoying but I can deal with it. The schedule though made me groan. Megacon is essentially 3 different conventions in one. There’s a Sci-fi and general fan convention schedule, an anime convention schedule and a gaming schedule, neither of which use the same formatting for the schedule setup nor in a way to see them all at once together if your jumping between the 3 different areas!

I was especially surprised to find out this hasn’t changed in the last several years :O

I eventually put everything into Google Calendar just to figure out what to attend but of course this went out the door within a few hours. Last minute room changes, cancellations are all part of the norm but sinage reminded me a lot of the one we run and the issues we are facing. They do have a mobile site but that needs a lot more work still. I’m probably going to write a few comments for them to consider for both their mobile app and their convention setup.

The dealers room is a spectacle by itself. The pace is huge! For comparison, the entry area is pretty empty except for Stan Lee’s area. Great for photography since people hang out there before entering the dealer’s room. That area alone is about the size of AWA’s dealer’s room in my memory. I want to say it’s bigger than one of the Dragon*Con’s dealer room. The actual dealers area is huge though :O It took me a good 4 hours to browse the whole area Friday just waiting for the panels later in the afternoon. Things were spaced out which is something that Dragon*con needs and easy to navigate on any day but Saturday. I can’t say the prices were reasonable. It is a convention for crying out loud. The thing that surprised me though is that the number of figures that were available. Normally I order from places like HLJ, AmiAmi, or Hobbysearch for figures from Japan I wanted. This is the first time I’ve ever gone to a convention that was at the start of the season for the companies. The number of figures that are normally gone by AWA and Dragon*con astounded me. I saw several rare figures including some priced well over 200 dollars. All very tempting and I had to restrain myself though.

The panels themselves were a lot of fun. Especially the voice actor ones for the anime side and the Star Trek one which featured Tim Russ and Robert Picardo who are from my favorite Star Trek series Voyager. They’re also the biggest pranksters on the set as well from my understanding.

The hotel we stayed at is okay. I’m sure there are better locations though but the prices were getting a little out of hand the closer you get to the convention area. I know we pay a lot for Dragon*con but considering the length of time and the need to be near the convention area is kinda of unavoidable. I’m hoping that hotel room we were in was just the issue since it look like it was modified for Handicap use. I’ve ever been in a shower that small before.

Food was a bit of an issue. Stupid me forgot to pack the food I bought in my bag the entire convention so I ended up eating late meals outside the convention area due to the price gouging that happens with food at conventions. When a small pizza from Papa Johns costs as much as a medium at their normal store, there’s a problem. I think I ate out most times though a few cases I did eat in the room. Dragon*Con I ate mostly in the room with food I brought but I couldn’t deal with that the final day or two.

Overall the convention was pretty decent. I might go again next year ready for what happens.

So just one more day before the Vita is finally released in the US officially. Of course there’s been debates over the pros and cons of what Sony is doing with this release. First and foremost in the arguments has been the memory cards used for the Vita. Unlike the PSP or the DSi/3DS, the Vita uses a proprietary memory card. The cost of these memory cards range from $20 for a 4GB memory card to $99 for a 32GB memory card. I ended up getting a 16GB one since I couldn’t find a 32GB to save my life around here. The memory card is REQUIRED for the Vita to actually save the profile and downloaded games and DLC that doesn’t fit on the game card.

The point of argument is the price and why they didn’t use a known format such as SD or even their own memory stick format. Their argument was an attempt to stop piracy as most of the hacks to open up the PSP were via it’s memory card and an altered save file causing a bug to allow unregistered code to run. The memory card isn’t accessible via normal means so that means you can get into the directory level access even if you plug into a computer. You can back up the files to the computer using the manager software but you can’t copy things the Vita won’t accept. Supposedly some Japanese homebrew groups were able to get some homebrew code to run via the PSP emulator but the question is if Sony has patched that hole yet.

A proprietary memory card does provide some benefits over an open format such as SD cards is that they can control the general quality control over the memory card. As a amateur photographer, I had a crash course in various sub-classes of just ONE format. One SD card from one company is different from another. For example the sped of a Kingston memory card is different from a PNY memory card. Heaven forbid you need to get a class 10 card. Of course if your running a game of a memory card you might need a class 10 SD card for it’s read and write speed. Some are cheap, some are not and not all class 10 cards are created equal. Some are faster and some are slower, as long as they pass a certain threshold. The cheap ones though are like trying to play Russian roulette, you never know when the card will suddenly give out. I’ve already thrown out 2 cheap memory cards because it can’t be written to after filling it up twice then cleaning them off. I was lucky not to lose the content. Can you imagine suddenly losing your 40 hour save file in a game such as Valkyria Chronicles 2 because the cheap 20 dollars 32GB card fails? Of course the cost of the really well made ones may still be cheaper then the Sony Vita cards but not by much.

Of course we’ll see some knock off cards soon enough. Unauthorized reproductions of the memory cards but after getting burned BADLY on the PS One, I lost my Final Fantasy VII safe file late into the game because of a 3rd party unauthorized card, is I don’t trust them. The quality of one brand to another varies and sometimes one brand might have a strong line but their value line is shit.

The second offender in Vita’s anti-piracy isn’t really anti-piracy per say but an attempt to get the user to be someone legit. Of course they may also be a dual purpose it also effects used sales. In most Vita physical games, a piece of paper with a code in it will grant you access to the online pass. Yup, every game so far I’ve seen has an online pass which you have to activate in the PSN store. From my understanding, any game that connects online will have these for the Vita. Of course this prevents pirated games form getting online without buying the online pass from the PSN store which is around $10. The same goes for used copies of the game.

Now i’m not taking a stance on this issue as I see online passes like CD keys or registration codes for games. It’s a proof of purchase of a new game. Something that’s been around the PC industry for some time for physical media releases. I may be use to it but many console gamers aren’t. To them they see it as an affront and a risk that players may not use the online portion since it requires them to register the game in the PSN or Xbox live store. Sure it’s an digital lock on the game which limits access to the online portion but you have the key to unlock it if you bought the game new. It’s when you buy it used where this stings. A game you thought was cheap has a $10 component that didn’t come with the used game. This was always a risk with used PC games when the CD keys came around but unlike the PC games, you can get a new key to be used. With PC games you were shit out of luck sometimes.

Some argue that this will greatly effect the game sales but that’s only in the used side of the market. Those who don’t have a legal copy, well this is their way of controlling them as well. Albeit if they can get a key from the store, they can somehow slip by the detection, they still earn some profit from them.

Used copies of games are how some gamers get their games. The money they pay go directly to the store which is why Gamestop makes a huge deal about used games. It’s more profit for them selling games a little bit below retail of the new games. Instead of getting 5-10 dollars for a brand new 59.99 game, they’re getting around $30-40 for a used one. Of course this means the publisher, and then in turn the developer doesn’t actually count that to a sale of the game nor see any profit from it. Now I don’t know of a studio has closed due to used game sales however it does slow some games sales pace a bit which could translate to slower sales of a particular game which in turn tells a publisher that the game isn’t doing well and which magnifies by the time it gets to the developer.

On the non-legal side, well the PSP had such a large gap in it’s protection that games that should have done well have done poorly and as a result we’re not seeing sequels being released in the US. Not that online passes would have helped these games as many PSP games didn’t support online infrastructures, a requirement of PS Vita games now.

Of course the Vita’s second barrier will be it’s digital release versions. The digital releases for PS Vita games will be 10% cheaper then their retail releases. That is at full price, not sale prices. This also prevents used sales of the game since digital releases can’t be traded-in. One of the golden apples that many companies are looking at going forward. The reason the Vita isn’t a full digital release is after the fiasco that was the PSP Go. This was their attempt to see if a full digital only release would be viable for a game system however publisher backing was lacking as they were still focused on entertaining brick and mortar stores.

I’m sure there are more technologies present in the Vita to stop piracy but these are the most obvious ones there now. This is just my thoughts on the whole thing.

I got in the last of the accessories for the Playstation Vita in from my usual sources. Included in the package was the Travel Pouch (Finally!) and the two games I ordered for the Vita. Fat lot of good those are until the system releases. Anyway the biggest concern was the Travel Pouch. In the original video and promotional images, the pouch looked bigger but after testing it with some cables and stand in for the components I’ve run into a few problems. First and foremost, the Travel Pouch can not house the Carrying Case which wraps around the Vita. I was concerned about this initially and looks like this confirms it. Second, the limitations of what you can stick into the travel pouch.

Since I don’t have a Vita, yet, I used the insert in the Carrying Case to represent the Vita’s general shape and size. I then stuffed it using the PSP Adapter and cable, and a PSP Go Cable to represent the items I would have with the Vita. Needless to say, that’s a very VERY tight fit. The Pouch bulges a lot on the back side and top which concerns me. I couldn’t fit the Car Adapter in if I wanted to. The Instruction says you can put in 4 PSP games into the padded slots and 2 accessories. By the looks of it, just the charging equipment based on the overall stand-ins I used. The manual says it’s a perfect for the Vita which I don’t doubt at the moment but it’s not forgiving either. It’s probably an EXACT fit.

Since I ordered this online, sending it back isn’t worth the cost or effort. I’ll probably end up re-purposing it as an accessories pouch by itself which is kinda sad. I’ll hang onto the Carrying Case for now though the HORI PS Vita Face Cover (http://www.amazon.com/HORI-PS-Vita-Face-Cover-Sony/dp/B006WJ6YGW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1329148088&sr=8-3) looks tempting. The advantage of the Carrying Case is both sides of the system are protected where as the rear touch pad of the Face C Cover is exposed. I’ll see when the actually unit arrives Wednesday.