Spider-Man Edge of Time Announced

Following up last year’s Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, developer Beenox is going for a second home run with Spider-Man: Edge of Time, due out this fall, 2o11. Whereas the previous game focused on four different Spider-Men with different abilities in four very different alternate dimensions, Edge of Time focuses solely on Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2099. The future version of Spider-Man sends a message back through time in an attempt to prevent the assassination of Peter Parker, which has grave consequences for the future. Alchemax probably gets to take over the world, finally. It’s your job to stop the evil corporation once again.

Forum Topic of the Week

This week’s DanBirlew.com forum topic with the most new posts is Film You Just Saw – And What You Thought About It. This thread was started by @Plopper in May of last year, and as of today has received 360 posts — the largest thread ever propagated on DanBirlew.com. The simple premise of this thread is to post what movie you just watched, including the format (in theater, DVD, blu-ray), what it was about, and whether you liked it. The thread has become a kind of running monitor of the ever-changing film tastes of the forum members, and also serves as a great way to find recommendations for new movies to watch as well as warning on what to avoid.

Click Here to View “Film You Just Saw – And What You Thought About It”

The 3rd Birthday Rocks!

The 3rd Birthday is now available on the PlayStation Network for $29.99. This is the sequel to the games Parasite Eve and Parasite Eve II. Usually Square Enix game tend to run at a higher price, so this is a real bargain. It’s pretty much a run and gun game with a lot of RPG elements on the side. I’ve been playing it virtually non-stop since it came online.

Recording from the Wii

How do sites like GameSpot capture high resolution images from the Wii? This is a question I’m often asked, since I provide similar images for my strategy guides. If this site serves any purpose, it’s to educate the public and other games journalism professionals and strategy guide authors about what I do.

As I’ve previously discussed on this site, getting an HD quality image or video from a PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 is relatively simple: just do a search for “HD Capture Card,” buy one, install it on a desktop (or even a laptop, these days), and connect your console to it via component cable. (HDMI uses encryption that blocks the use of recording devices, so you’re stuck with component.) Then you’re set to go. While some HD capture cards will handle NTSC input, say from a non-HD console such as the PSP, or as this article’s title suggests, the Wii, the visuals take a significant hit even if you use an S-video cable or component instead of standard composite A/V. After all, the NTSC standard is only 480i, setting a capture card to NTSC will not accommodate 480p. So in order to get the best possible image from a Wii, you need to improve the signal that it sends out. In most cases it’s the only way you’ll achieve 16:9 and at least 720p.

Vagrant Story: Snowfly Forest Map

Some of you may recall a blog post from a few weeks ago where I got all excited that the PSOne Classic Vagrant Story was available on PSN. Having always wanted to play it on handheld I purchased the digital version and I’ve been leisurely replaying it in my off hours.

So let’s talk about the Snowfly Forest area. Yeah, that whole mess. This is a warp labyrinth stage typical of older RPGs, where the connections between areas aren’t as logical as what you see on the map. Exiting through point A doesn’t take you to point B; instead, you enter point J. Player confusion is intentional. Once I remembered this, I took out my personal copy of the Vagrant Story Official Strategy Guide I wrote. As anyone who’s read it can testify, this isn’t a very easy map to follow in the guide. At the time you’re writing something, your work makes all the sense in the world. But sometimes, as in this case, it just doesn’t translate from the author’s mind to the reader’s. Apart from being hard to read, there are a couple mistakes on it as well. On the other hand, what few mistakes there are tend to be quite egregious, and not my usual style. Which leads me to wonder whether these are my mistakes or production errors. I simply can’t recall. Either way, it happens.

I doubt this rectifies the matter, but I’ve created a new version of the Snowfly Forest map, for your viewing pleasure here. At first glance, you’ll probably think this map isn’t much easier to read than the one in the guide. But refer to the key at the bottom, and it should make more sense.