Playstation 4?

So I have just read something very interesting. Rumour has it, that Sony is due to announce their next gen console - dubbed the Playstation 4 (PS4). These rumours have been sparked by the news that Sony have ceased worldwide production of the Playstation 2 (PS2). Shortly after they did the same thing with the original Playstation, the Playstation 3 (PS3) was announced.

Now, I am not a Playstation gamer myself. I do own a PS2, and did originally own the first Playstation but I don't have the PS3. The reason for this is solely one of price. When the PS3 was first released, it was well beyond my budget. The Xbox 360, on the other hand, was much more affordable for me. Being an Xbox gamer for the last few years has made me rusty on the Playstation(s). I can't get used to the controller, so quickly give up and return to the Xbox.

I have no idea when Sony would even be likely to announce the PS4. It could be in a few days, weeks, months. It might not even be at all. They may have already shown a very select few individuals what they are working on, however.

Either way you look at it, a new console is inevitable from Sony. They know consoles like I know how to breathe - it completes them and, to be quite frank, is one of the key building blocks to their corporation.

In my honest opinion, I can't see myself going back to Playstation. If they make the controller similar to the Xbox, or they make the Xbox controllers compatible, I might consider it but I can't see that becoming a reality. We'll have to just keep our eyes and ears open for more juicy news.

You can see some concept art below the post. I don't think the PS4 (or whatever Sony's next console will be) is going to look a thing like these, but it's nice to see the community are so involved in the potential project and what they'd like to see. I can almost definitely believe that 3D will be introduced. With the likes of the 3DS and 3D televisions becoming ever more popular, I would think the likes of Sony would be first in there on introducing a 3D capable console - like they did with the Blu-Ray.

Concept design 1 - Kind of has the "Wii" look

Concept design 2 - Controller looks bulky and the console looks unstable

Apple lose £813,000 in Paris theft

I read this story late last night but didn't have chance to post my reaction. Basically a group of armed robbers broke into the Apple store in Paris, making off with goods worth £813,000 (1M euro).

Their planning was half decent, I've got to admit. The heist happened on New Years Eve, a time when the city was counting down to New Year and the attention of the Police was focused on the celebrations.

The Apple store in Paris, France

I have seen a lot of reactions to this online, stating that "it isn't a huge loss for Apple" and "they make billions a year, this isn't even pocket change for them". Whilst this is all true, theft is still theft. If you were a multi-millionaire it would still upset you to have something stolen from you.

Another point is that if Apple just shrugged this off, what's to stop more frequent and possibly dangerous heists being attempted? I count them lucky that the robbers decided to break in when the store was shut.

I feel these days, with the recent expenses scandal in the UK and the news of "tax evading" corporations, people have literally gone on a witch hunt. If you're a big corporation with lots of profit and hardly any outgoings, you deserve to be robbed. This is where the line should be drawn. No one "deserves" to have their possessions taken from them, regardless of how rich and/or powerful they are. At the end of the day, if you steal from someone then you're a low life who does not deserve to walk free.

We all need to accept that a business is there to make money, and a business only thrives on hard work and dedication, plus a lot of money, from the people who run it. Sure, some are gifted with rich parents or family who fund their ventures but a company can't simply run off borrowed money. It needs to turn into a successful and profitable business that can only be attained through dedication and a LOT of hard work.

Apple

The robbers of the Paris Apple store are still at large, with a lot of Apple products. Unless they're smart about how they shift the goods, someone is bound to get suspicious about the amount they're selling.

I, for one, seriously hope they are caught sooner rather than later and definitely before they have the chance to target anyone else.

Hello, 2013

First post of 2013! Happy New Year to you all, the views and shares I have had on this blog to date has been fantastic. I saw a real push yesterday when I clocked my highest ever view count, so thank you!

My post today is about Minecraft, more specifically Tekkit Servers. I've just purchased a server, got it setup and installed the Tekkit plugin but I keep running into problems when I attempt to play the darned thing! It keeps telling me I don't have certain mods that the server requires. I've managed to sort out a couple of them after some quick Google searches but I'm stumped with the other two. I've contacted the server techie guys, hoping they can help.

I am a technical guy myself but this stuff is just a little out of my remit, hence me asking the experts!

Tekkit - Possibly the most popular Minecraft Mod pack.

I really love Tekkit. I've only recently got into it so it is taking some getting used to, but the more I play the more I'll pick up. I've also been following a few YouTube series' to see how other people play, get an idea of what to do, what machines to start with, etc.

I might do a playthrough on Tekkit. If that's something you're interested in then check out my NerdyCraft blog, link here. That blog is empty at the moment but maybe my beginnings with Tekkit can be it's first adventure. I'll see how I go - got to get the server and my launcher working in tandem first however.

I'll keep you all posted.

Sonic Jump for iOS: A short review

Today's free gift on Apple's 12 day of Christmas app was the game "Sonic Jump". If you've ever heard of, or played, Doodle Jump then the prospect is very similar.

The aim of the game is to jump upwards from platform to platform, collecting coins and power ups along the way. Of course, you must avoid running into bad guys or they'll knock you off and you'll need to restart the level. Yes, unlike Doodle Jump, it is level based rather than one continuous run.

Whilst ascending each level, platforms get trickier to land on and the bad guys get more dangerous and frequent.

Whilst I love Doodle Jump, I'm not really feeling any love towards Sonic Jump. It's another nail in the coffin of the dying SEGA franchise and I can't see it impressing loyal fans of Sonic, or generating potential new followers. Still, for free I suppose you can't complain.

The gameplay is rather monotonous and each level, whilst increasing in difficulty, doesn't really bring anything else to the table. The character movement is very slow and, for some platforms, moves too slowly for you to reach the next one up.

All in all, whilst not bad for free I wouldn't be quick to download the app if and when it returns to the paid for version.

Tomb Raider: Survivor

Lara Croft: Born Survivor

The hugely anticipated, latest instalment of Tomb Raider is due out in early March. As you can see from the image above, taken directly from the tombraider.com website, Lara looks a lot different than in previous games.

Then again, the entire story is different. Square Enix, who now publish the franchise, have taken a different spin on the life of Lara Croft. No longer is she the hardened adventurer that you experienced in previous versions. In the new Lara Croft, she's a fresh adventurer, new to the field and rearing to get going. Unfortunately she gets herself into a right pickle and has to learn how to survive, and how to do it well.

The story on the official site explains how the game explores Lara's origins and how she must adapt in order to survive and become the veteran she is on previous titles. The developers, Crystal Dynamics, have really thought through this one and the trailer makes the game look incredibly enticing. I know this is the sole purpose of a trailer but I don't know, with this it's different and obvious that a lot of time has gone into it. I mean, we've been waiting since 2008 for another instalment. I genuinely thought they weren't going to reboot the series.

Many people have already jumped the gun and criticised Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix of creating an aura of sexist fantasy amongst male gamers. The most informative article I found that tackles this topic was from The Guardian. You can read the article here. In my opinion, Tomb Raider has always been targeted more towards the male gamer. Why else would they use an athletic, fearless and strong female lead who hardly wears any clothes and has larger than average assets?

A multiplayer mode has also been confirmed. I wonder how this will turn out, and what is planned for it. What types of game modes will see, weapons, maps. Building a multiplayer platform is just as important and requires the same attention to detail as the standard single player mode. It is being developed by none other than Eidos Montreal, the developers responsible for Deus Ex: Human Revolution, so I have my fingers crossed for something at least half decent. It also pleases me that the studio developing the multiplayer have a link to the franchises old publisher, Eidos Interactive.

Price wise, it marries up nicely to other high end games of this modern day. There are 3 separate packages for sale: Standard, Collectors and Survival. You can pre-order them now from Game UK for the following prices:

Standard: £39.99

Collectors: £74.99

Survival: £54.99

It is worth noting that, with the collectors and survival versions, you get some rather nice additions. The collectors additions comes with an 8" Lara Croft figurine - great for all those die hard fans who want good old Lara in their display cabinet. There's also a map, art book and a "survival tin" that the game rests in. In-game content wise, you get a weapons DLC pack (presumably for the multiplayer aspect but can't confirm) and a 10 track score (not entirely sure what this is).

The survival pack is very similar to the collectors, although there is no figurine  and the game packaging is different. You still get the map, art book and in-game content however.

Personally, I won't be pre-ordering a fancy copy. I'll go to the shops on release day and purchase a standard copy instead. I cannot justify the massive price hike, sorry.

Tomb Raider: Survivor is released in the UK on 5th March, 2013 and will initially be for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC. I reckon it'll play better, or at least feel right, on the PS3 because the Playstation is Tomb Raider's roots - where it all began. I'm not sure if they'll release a Wii version, but there's no sniff of speculation about it so I can't see it becoming a possibility.

You can view the latest trailer below.

Apple strikes back

It appears that the Apple God(s) have smited me for my comments in yesterday's blog post.

This morning, when coming down the stairs to get ready for work I slipped. This sent my beloved iPad flying out of my hands, smashing against the corner of the bottom step and then landing helplessly on the bottom floor. I also did some damage to my knee but at that moment in time I was only really worried about what had become of my iPad.

After crawling down the stairs, I turned it over and saw no obvious damage. The screen looked OK, it was turning on and off OK and apps seemed to load just fine. As I was inspecting it further I noticed that it had been completely dented in along the volume side, ruining a corner and also wedging the volume button into the casing. Unfortunately for me, it's wedged in on the reduced-volume side which means I have no audio. Not at all. Everytime I try to turn the audio up via the slider on YouTube, the music app, etc, it immediately returns to silence. Also, as the button is wedged into the case, I'm unable to fiddle with the audio via those means either.

Pictures of the damage are below:

Caved in 

 Volume button wedged into casing



Damaged corner

It ran out of warranty only about 2 weeks ago. In fairness, this would be classed as accidental damage and wouldn't be covered by the warranty anyway so there's no point dwelling on this too much.

I've looked on the Apple website but I can't find anywhere how much this would even cost to repair. I have asked about and been informed that I would be charged half the cost of a new one to be given a replacement. I believe I am right in assuming that if this is the case, it would be a refurbished model.

My girlfriend's dad will take a look at it for me tonight. As it's out of warranty it won't hurt to pry it open and play around with the button from the inside - might just be able to pop it back out again and make it usuable. Sadly, the cosmetic damage will remain but it's a small price to pay if I can actually get the volume working properly again.

I'll keep you posted.

iPad 5 due in March?

First of all, I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas. I most certainly did. I'm very happy with my new Kindle as well as the usual deodorants and shower sets that I got. 

Anyway, back to the topic on hand.

Rumour has it, and I would like to note that I have only today come across this, that Apple are going to launch the iPad 5 in March 2013. In all honesty, this wouldn't at all surprise me. Their product turnover is immense. Unfortunately for the owners of the latest iPad, or iPads if you count both the Mini and the 4, this means their beloved Apple product will be obsolete within only 6 months of it being released. As you can imagine, this has outraged many people but for others it is another step forward in the Apple Revolution.

The iPad Mini - The latest redesign of the popular iPad

I can see where the unhappy people are coming from. Personally, I would feel ripped off after spending my hard earned money on a product that, only a mere 6 months later, would be outdated by an updated version of the same product. You could even go as far as stating that the "new" product is exactly the same as the previous model just re-branded as "The New ...". Of course, this isn't entirely accurate because Apple do always improve their products slightly.

The other argument relating to such small release windows is the idea that Apple must already know and have possibly created the next feature they want in the newest model of their product. Why don't they just wait a little longer and add all the cool new features into one amazing product. This makes me think that they deliberately hold back on these features, just so they can release a newer model a few months down the line and sell it at the same price, making them huge profits in the process.

I know full well what people say - Apple are a business and they're out to make money. Whilst I agree with this, I do feel that a business needs integrity. I can't see this happening anytime soon, but I really do see Apple losing what integrity it has left if they continue this practice.

The iPad 4, dubbed "The Resolutionary new iPad" - Released at the same time as the iPad Mini

I myself have an iPad 2, purchased in December 2011. Since then, Apple have released 3 more iPads including the mini. This means that in just 12 months, they have released 3 newer versions of my product into the market. If you look at the tech specs of each iPad, the latest iPad 4 (pictured above) is not that much different to my iPad 2. Sure, it has retina display, a slightly faster processor and a HD screen, but is this worth the starting figure of £399. The exact same price that I paid for mine 12 months ago. I can't see the appeal to be quite honest.

The iPad Mini is very similar. They subtitle it "Every inch an iPad". Exactly right, it only has minor reduced specs compared to the 4 and the price is just over £100 less for the smallest GB model. In fairness, I don't have many gripes with the Mini. In certain situations, my iPad 2 is just too big whereas the Mini would be perfect with it's smaller dimensions and similar processing power. Still, starting at £269 it is still a fairly hefty sum to part with.

Concept design for the iPad 5 - the most common found on rumour sites and forums

You will see above an image I keep coming across when searching for more information about the suspected iPad 5. It looks a lot thinner and more trimmed down along the edges. I also see no evident home button so if Apple are thinking of a design along these lines, they're sure to have something up their sleeves to combat the lack of a home button. In fairness, if this design is even slightly accurate I would be the first to applaud Apple for adopting a revolutionary design and being the leader in bringing 3D technology to the tablet industry (the app icons look 3D and the screen slightly blurry, as you get with 3D films).

My only concern with 3D is that 9/10 you require glasses to get the full effect. I know Nintendo released the 3DS that required no glasses but I am not sure how well this fairs, having not played about with one myself. If any of you have one, or have played with one, I would be intrigued to learn if the 3D effect is even half decent.

What are your views on the iPad 5? Will it be well received, or should Apple seriously start to review their business plan on how quickly they release these things? Comments on a postcard... or below (that might be slightly easier).