A day at Microsoft Game Conference n Sydney

Posted 10.02.2010 6 2730

So last week I was invited to attend a VIP Microsoft games conference happening at the University of Sydney held yesterday. Luckily I have a friend who is a MVP at Microsoft and was able to secure me a spot to have a look at Microsoft's latest software and hardware technology.
Once I was inside the uni one thing I noticed straight away was how them people suck at putting up signs for me to find the place >:[.

Anyways, after 15 mins of so looking around (at the hot uni chicks too!) I found my mate waiting for me outside eating a hot dog- of which he ended up spilling tomato sauce on his tie, Naughty naughty.

Inside he told the hot attendant "he's with me" and we got inside the event. First piece of tech I had a look at was the Microsoft Surface. A giant iPad with has a thick glass surface which is entirely touch sensitive with a cabinet under it where the PC is stored. They showed off some apps for it, some games, and other possibilities of the device.
How does it work? Bit also has cameras under the thick layer of glass which can scan stuff you put on the glass surface. For example, the guy chucked this book on top of it and it detected what it was and opened up info about it. In America these are used at hotels, Restaurants, etc.

Next cool thing I saw? 3D gaming! I was able to try out Avatar on the 360 on a 3D tv. How did I find it? Cool very cool but somethings were a bit annoying. The glasses for example, after a while they start to irritate you and the 3D eventually starts hurting your eyes as many also pointed out.

Software front- had a look at this game which I forgot the name that is like LBP you make your levels to then play them. Although there's a bit more into it, like you can make your own phisics, gravity, etc. Pretty cool stuff.

Then Project Natal was shown, pretty interesting but it was as I thought, for games you need to aim or need more control, you have to use the pad at the same time- which natal added very little to. Also accuracy was some what of a concern to some as it didn't respond as well as it seemed in videos. But gotta give it credit where it's due, some games are really fun to play on likfe fighting games. It was pretty much like an eyetoy with a bit more precision, I'd like to try some games on it when it comes out.

Now, I overheard a tiny little secret while around natal. You see, there were 2 Microsoft guys talking to each other in spanish on the side there. One of them said to the other: "Natal seems to be really appealing to some people, but maybe Microsoft should wait and release the new hardware with it next year instead of relasing natal now then the Xbox a few months after."

I was quite surprised when I heard them talking, then a third guy which my friend said was another MVP joined in the convo and started talking to them in english, they asked him why doesn't ms release the "720 together with natal instead of in different times" he said he didn't know but that it should be released wthin the next 1-2 yrs.

My friend told me that MVP's usually see things when they are still far from being released, like he saw the Surface 5-6 yrs ago.

Afterwards we were taken down to the lecture room where we were able to see Robbie Bach and hear a few things abut tech and gaming, showed off the Surface, some games using Natal, talked about Natal and answered questions.

It was a bit boring hearing the man speak, the most exciting parts was trying out the new tech they had on display.

Overall the day was great, got to know how things work, tried out new stuff and got to hear a little surprise at the end. Very cool day for those who love technology!

Edit: had to repost this as for some reason the first time around part of what I wrote was cut. :-x

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PC Questions, problem solving, general talk.

Posted 04.05.2009 13 2775

Rightio people, I decided to make a blog to help out people around here with their PC's whether it's upgrading questions, tweaking, cleaning, troubleshooting, general questions, recommendations, etc. Note this is PC platform only, no Mac's Linux, etc.
I build PC's as a side job, fix em too so if anyone has a problem with their PC's and need help fixing them, or want to upgrade but don't know how/what to upgrade, post it and I'll help you through!

You may also discuss PC brands, parts, software, tools, etc.

Hope this is able to help people over here!

Andrezao.

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Games Soundtracks!

Posted 26.01.2009 24 3069

Alrighty everyone, basically here I was showing Jb this cool Klonoa video, then the convo ended up about Donkey Kong, how I thought the IP deserved some love like Mario Galaxy.

One thing lead to another and here we were talking about Music, games soundtracks. I pointed out that the Sound Director who worked for RARE during the DK days was still with Nintendo and he has released a project, where he made DK soundtracks played re orchestrated.

He did not record them, but a few followers ended up picking the idea and making it themselves and recording it. I shared the link with JB and I thought of posting Links of sites where you guys can go check out your fav songs from your fav franchises. I know quite a few, so here are my 2 best ones: http://www.zreomusic.com/download and http://dkcproject.ocremix.org/download.html#07 Enjoy!

The whole idea of blogging this though was JB. So big thanks to him!

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