Archive for the ‘Other’ category

All the stuff that's supposed to entertain us. Including films, video games, comics, porn and mangos.

The Sarcastic Gamer

Wednesday, June 27th, 2007

Games are being taken too seriously. We hear about people killing themselves as a result of losing in a game; we hear of people dying because they’ve been playing for too long. We read articles that are just grave. Reading IGN or GameSpot makes you feel bored after about 15 minutes. Games are fun; so we can figure out that articles about games should also be funny - they have to make you laugh, they have to be written as if the author was talking to a friend, not to a ‘reader’, and - first of all - they have to be humourous. Life without sarcasm would be totally boring - and that’s why The Sarcastic Gamer was created by Doc Adams.

It’s completely different from other gaming websites, it’s interesting. It’s written… well, not only is it written - it’s also sung! “How To Kill Your Brand” (also known as “The PS3 Song") watched by nearly 2 million people, is the most popular of Doc’s songs.
It reminds me of many Weird Al Yankovic’s songs, which are also full of sarcastic barbed remarks. That’s why it appears on my iPod’s Top Rated playlist.

The Sarcastic Gamer isn’t just about parodying and laughing at everything - it’s a gaming news centre, in the full meaning of this phrase, even though it gives the news in a… erm… very uncommon way. It even - despite being just three-week-old - is launching its own podcast (tomorrow, to be exact).

The Sarcastic Gamer is really a perfect gaming news website for me - it has up-to-date information from console gaming market with a huge dose of humour. Check it out at SarcasticGamer.com.

Below is a YouTube video by the Sarcastic Gamer about Microsoft Surface and its uselessness (although Doc Adams says he’d like to have one, but he just can’t afford it, so he parodied it).

Xbox 360 vs. PlayStation 3

Tuesday, June 26th, 2007

Since the third PlayStation was released in the US (November 11, 2006) and later in Europe (March 23, 2007) every console gamer in the world has been arguing which console is the best. I’ve browsed and searched the whole Internet to find the technical specifications, descriptions and opinions on the best next-gen game consoles: Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3

According to the old rule “first things first", I will give reasons why I will compare only Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, without Wii:

  • Wii has a 729 MHz processor with 243 MHz clock speed. My laptop’s better than that.
  • It doesn’t support HDTV-resolutions (just 480p) and HDMI.
  • It has only 64 MB of (GDDR3) RAM.
  • It doesn’t support DVD!
  • It has no hard drive.
  • “Wii” sound like “wee".

I hope it’s enough. And here’s a proof I’m not lying.

Now, let’s get to the main point of this article.

Hardware comparison

PS3 is said to have a more powerful processing power - it’s  b u l l s h i t . It’s true that PS3 has a 3.2 GHz Cell processor with 7 cores, whereas Xbox 360 has a 3.2 GHz unit with 3 cores only, but: 1) 360’s cores are dual-threaded, PlayStation has single-threaded cores and 2) these processors aren’t directly comparable - you can find out more in IGN’s article. It says:

When you break down the numbers, Xbox 360 has provably more performance than PS3. Keep in mind that Sony has a track record of over promising and under delivering on technical performance. The truth is that both systems pack a lot of power for high definition games and entertainment.
 
However, hardware performance, while important, is only a third of the puzzle. Xbox 360 is a fusion of hardware, software and services. Without the software and services to power it, even the most powerful hardware becomes inconsequential. Xbox 360 games — by leveraging cutting-edge hardware, software, and services — will outperform the PlayStation 3.

Moreover, Xbox 360 has 512 MB GDDR3 of system video RAM (at 700 MHz) plus 10 MB embedded DRAM (eDRAM) frame buffer, whereas PS3 has only 256 MB of GDDR3 RAM (at 700MHz). It’s said that PS3 has higher-quality textures while X360 has better light effects, but the graphic processors comparison shows that Xbox will be able to display more graphic marvels in the future.

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