I actually sat their cringing at the presentation... I still, as the guy mentioned in the video, am sceptical about the 'low latency video'. However, given everything works as advertised, OnLive would be great. I am still sceptical about the amount of resources required to power these games also. I'm wondering if they can do any sort of video caching across sessions or something, which would be interesting. Given they've been working on this for ~7 years, I'm sure they've considered these sorts of things.

Down to my major gripe... I'm from Australia, a country roughly the size of North America with a population smaller than London. Not only do things take forever to be released in Australia, it presents a problem in terms of data centres. If you know anything about Oz, you'll know you can't really just stick a data centre on Uluru and expect it to service the country. But who am I kidding, even if OnLive came to Australia, commissioned data centres in the right places, our broadband network is close enough to a joke to make it a waste of time.

I'm also very curious to see how this affects Nintendo as it seems they have built a little empire around motion control/IR and peripherals. I wonder how resilient these things will be to OnLive. I've got to say tho, OnLive would enable Wii owners to be able to play the games that a Wii just cannot handle, which is a win

B.

Feel free to add me and let me know your details so I can add you...

Wii: 5410 1724 7942 6499
MK: 1633 4529 0206
Brawl: 3093 8857 7989

Okay, so I went out and got Wii Speak for the fun of it, but being heavily reliant upon friend codes I've decided to bite the bullet and try and get some Wii friends... anyone?

My number is 5410 1724 7942 6499

I was really excited about the COD4 engine being used for a Wii game. I only got to play COD4 once at a friends place, but it was really good, despite my inability to use a console controller to play first person shooters. I've never got a hang of the aiming thing, I much prefer a mouse. However, having said this, COD:WaW was released for the Wii which takes advantage of the IR of the Wiimote for aiming... I believe the correct gaming term is "woot".

World at War has turned out to be so much better that what I thought it would be, and I was expecting alot, so I am very pleased. I haven't finished i yet because I've spent the majority of my time (and holidays) playing online.

World at War on the Wii has a stripped down multiplayer mode (when compared with the PS3 & xBox360), it supports 4v4 team death match with varying settings OR a 8 player free-for-all on 7 or 8 maps. While that all sounds a little dissapointing, the Gamespot review got it spot on, what keeps things interesting is the upgrades and perks available. For me personally, I just like that you retain your xp across sessions and that you have an overall rank. I'm currently a Major which is level 41-43... once you hit level 65 you open up prestige mode, being only a major, I can't elaborate on that, but so far, I'm loving the game.

The campaign has also been a blast, but whenever I fire up the game, the multiplayer menu option is just too tempting

B.

Well, I've been waiting for some time now, and finally, Rock Band 2 for the Wii has been released, AND, best of all, it supports Guitar Hero: World Tour instruments

The last remaining part of the puzzle is an Australian release date.... but hey, two good things... I can wait for the third

B.

Well, I'm having a blast playing through World Tour, finished the drum & guitar careers and you can check out my progress on the GH Community website.

For the most part I played the Guitar career on hard, then realised I could do the expert, so I played the middle on expert then the end on hard.

Drum career was a sliding scale, first 3 or 4 on expert, middle on hard, the end on medium.. still a blast.

Just had my birthday and I got some Wii Points and Shaun White Snowboarding. I bought 'No Rain' by Blind Melon and 'Mr Brightside' by the Killers. Haven't had a chance to play any of them yet tho! nooo....

Looking forward to Skate It and World at War as well Still trying to decide on Animal Crossing with Wii Speak, cause I think that would be interesting.

B.

Well, yesterday it arrived, check out my unboxing here.

Unfortunately my guitar seems to play itself, I think this is because the touch strip is too sensitive? I plan to give it some more time untill I make a final judgement..

The drums seem mostly fine at the moment, but I would like the yellow (hit hat) pad to be a little more sensitive. As a result I've just purchased a USB->MIDI interface on ebay and will use the drum tuning software that I've already downloaded and installed.

Been working too much... haven't had time to play

B. 

Ok, so every review or comment that I've read about Guitar Hero: World has complained about the Music Studio. Now, being from Australia, I'm still waiting for it to be released, so I haven't actually seen it at all.

I'm just wondering... what were people expecting? Making music is not a simple process; there are just so many things that you take for granted when actually playing an instrument, mapping all these things from a plastic guitar back to a music track is never going to be a straight forward process.

In any case, I'm looking forward to trying to re-create some songs that my band has recorded, I think it would be a blast to share it with friends.

Is there anyone out there that has positive views of the Music Studio in GH:WT? I'd love to hear from you.

B.

I checked my mail over the weekend to see a little email informing me that Guitar Hero World Tour has been dispatched.... on Friday 31st October. The game is due for release here in Australia on Novemember 12....

*twiddles thumbs*

B.

So you know things are getting a bit out of hand when you are that excited about a firmware update. In anycase, I was...

Last night I got home and noticed my Wii's pulsating blue light and in an instant I was thinking about all the cool things this update could mean. Silly me, I should have realised that it would be a Wii Shop Channel update that does nothing exciting.

From what I have also read this morning, I believe it kills homebrew? Interesting... at any rate, since I do not par-take in any of that tom-foolery, I installed the update and was bored with it....

I was playing Lego Star Wars The Complete Saga, collecting the mini-kit parts... I think I have about 3 or 4 packages to find.. Still wating for Guitar Hero World Tour.....

B.

There's a Nintendo Press event on?

I had no idea... I like news from Nintendo Looking forward to Monday...

Well, I've worked the last 3 weekends (as well as the weeks) and also had to do some damage control when our server room lost power (I work in IT). As a result, I haven't had much of a chance to play much... or do much else really.

On the up side, cricket will be starting soon along with Daylight Savings which will be 3 weeks early this year (which I am all in favour of).

Anyway, still looking forward to Guitar Hero: World Tour... I'm starting a list of songs that I want to re-create in the Mixing Studio. Somehow I can't see this content lasting long once record companies complain. At least I'll get to play them

B.

While most people spend their time umming and ahhing about which rhythm game to purchase, Rock Band 2 or Guitar Hero World Tour , I think living in Australia has provided the answer for me.

As we are still waiting for the release of the original Rock Band down under, I was excited to read that RB2 had been ****fied by the Australian ****fications Board but that article does go on to mention that the original RB was ****fied in 2006 and we've still seen no signs of that. So the decision, Rock Band 2 or World Tour comes down to, what can I get my hands on? As it stands, World Tour wins hands down.

Guitar Hero World Tour is scheduled for release in Australia on the Wii on 12 November and yesterday, I took the plunge and pre-ordered the complete band edition. I was originally only going to order the Guitar + Game pack so I would have my GH3 guitar, a World Tour Guitar and then I was hoping to be able to use my electric drum kit with the game via the MIDI in (although deep down, I did want the full thing, the complete set, ya know....).

Although, having see a GameSpot AU Hardware review about the World Tour instruments, I began to doubt the ability of the game to handle the electric drums without having a set of the games drums. One of the images shows the much talked about MIDI input, but it is on the drum controller, meaning to play other drums, you'd need to plug them into the drums.

I still can't find anything that definitely says you could use this MIDI input during gameplay (I'm suspecting it is just in the Music Creator/Studio), so I figured, If I'm going to need the drums to get this MIDI input to play my real drums, I guess I'll go with the whole band game edition. Then I found dStore.com.au had the complete band package for $40 off retail, and that was that.

Bring on 12th November.

B.

Well, I got hit with a flu/cold thing just recently and spent some time off work. In between nice long sleeping periods which was good, I got to spend a little more time playing some games...

Lego Star Wars: The Complete Sage - 74.5%
Guitar Hero: Areosmith - 30/31 on expert (but i can't beat the Joe Perry battle )
Battalion Wars 2: 75%
Mario Kart: Only two golds and two silvers for the Mirror Cups

Cheering with the announcement of Guitar Hero World Tour in Australia on Novemember 12 That was some good news to return to work on.

B.

I love it when you get good news. Today, another confirmation that GH World Tour for Wii will have DLC. While everyone keeps saying this, I am still nervous about it and will only be happy when I see it.

GameSpot also released a preview of Shuan White snowboarding on the Wii which looks like it will be pretty good. Heres to hoping

B.

Well, my wife and I got through Lego Indy with 100%, our first game together (awwww). She was so keen on it actually that she wanted to give Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga a go, so we are. After close to 10 hours of it over the weekend we are 18.8% the way through. As most people have said, it is fair bit longer than Lego Indy. I just wish there was some way to take your treasure/lego studs from Lego Indy to Lego Star Wars, then I could just buy all the upgrades

Anyway, good times...

B.

Well, it has been a while. A little update on what I've been up to on the gaming front. Last post I was playing Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit had been dispatched. Two months on, I am still slowly working my way through Mario Kart Wii. I've got Gold medals on 50cc,100cc & 150cc and have a couple of medals on the mirror class grand prix's as well. Still enjoying it, just got to find time to play and unlock everything.

Wii Fit arrived on its release date and was muchly appreciated. I had a blast playing most of the games. Still is really good, fun now and then, but as I anticipated, it doesn't get much use as a game in itself. I do however get up every morning and perform a daily body test. I think I've been using it for 73 days now and have lots of little charts and stuff which is cool if you are into that. I've lost about 7kg since getting Wii Fit, although that is mostly thanks to a lifestyle change (which in total has lost me 44kg), you know, eating better and exercising. I do enjoy Wii Fit as a tracking mechanism for my exercise and weight etc. In my opinion, it's a great buy, especially when considering the other games that will take advantage of it (Shaun White snowboarding I'm looking at you... but more on that later).

Recently I've also got Lego Indiana Jones and Super Smash Bros Brawl. I've been playing through SSBB when I get a chance; it isn't a very wife friendly game it turns out. I think I've done 30% of the Subspace Emissary and finished Classic with link as well as 19/20 events. Can't seem to finish the Pimkin one, 17 I think it is. On the other hand Lego Indy IS a wife friendly game. We've actually sat down and watched the movies as a little refresher and as of last night we've finished the Raiders of the Lost Ark, well, played through the story at least. Overall I think we're at 25%. In the game you can jump into baskets and plants and walk in disguise, which actually looks quite funny, all you can see is the characters feet. My wife was literally roflol, I'd never seen that before.

Living in Australia, E3 was not quite as watcher friendly as it might have been in other parts of the world. I actually forgot about it and as a result missed the Microsoft conference which I'm even more bummed about after realising I missed out on the conference medal for 08, oh well, life goes on. I did manage to get up at 2am for the Nintendo conference. Wii MotionPlus looks like it could be awesome. I think they've done a good thing by releasing it later as price would have been a barrier if they released it at launch, apparently they parts retail for approx $40 (not sure what currency). Wii Music, I dunno, I just don't get where the enjoyment will be coming from, however the drums look like they could be useful.

I am really looking forward to Shaun White Snowboarding. I caught the stage demo done by GameSpot of the PS3 version and it looked awesome. I'm hoping that they can include a similar feature set on the Wii version, that would be super sweet when coupled with the balance board support (I hope anyway). The demo showed a small section of 1 environment, which was huge, the game looks massive. They demoed the chair lift as well which I think is a pretty cool idea, especially since you can jump off at any time. You can place markers, get off your board and walk around the place... looks awesome.

I was waiting for an announcement from Nintendo about a new Zelda game, I thought that E3 would have been a great time, instead "We're working hard on key franchises", referring to Mario & Link Oh well, maybe next year.

I also managed to catch the Sony conference as well, that started at 4:30am here on the east coast of Australia. They do a great job over there at Sony. Some really great looking games, Home looks like it would be amazing when it comes. I'm not so big on the whole digital distribution thing, what can I say, I'm just not a movie man. But all in all, Sony do some great stuff and I do think they will probably end up out doing the Wii or maybe I'm just a little jaded cause I didn't get Zelda

It appears Nintendo are in it for the mass market, which makes sense as a company. Now, as they are making a stack of $$$ of the casual market it seems logical that they continue to appease them. Having said that, I think they really need to do a little more with their firmware updates. The most recent update, while in testing for 3 months, served to stop the Twilight Princess hack for loading unsigned code and allowed Mii's to get to your plaza more easily? or something... There are a heap of cool things that could really help the Wii, such as support for USB hard disks etc, which would give developers a better opportunity to make games on the Wii instead of stripping out features like have happened in the past.

Well, that was a little of an aside. The last thing, at E3 Guitar Hero 4 & Rock Band 2 got a showing. As Rock Band doesn't even have a release date (upon last checking) in Australia, I find it hard to be excited about Rock Band 2. Sure it looks great and there is backwards compatibility, but we don't even have the game here... so... ? Guitar Hero 4 looks like it will also be the goods. I saw a video demoing it and it was awesome. The best part was the announcement about compatibility. Most people will be chuffed that Rock Band and Guitar Hero 4 peripherals work interchangeably, however, the more important thing in my world is the support for any Midi instrument. At the moment I am learning to play drums and have an electric set of drums which has, you guessed in, midi in/out. This means I could play Guitar Hero 4 (probably needs a rename at this point) on a set of real electric drums.... How cool! Lets just hope Activision can get the game to Australia in a more timely manner than what Harmonix have.

That's about it for the moment. I am pretty excited about a lot of stuff coming out, even the stuff that I won't play (as I've only got a Wii) like Fallout 3, RE5 and a host of other stuff. Anyway, catch ya later.

B.

Well, it turns out that Mario Kart arrived on the date it was released, so much for expecting it to be here early. I've been playing it and loving it. I do agree with much of the GameSpot review, it is a little unfortunate that the item weighting is more painful than ever, ie, if you are coming first you won't get anything good, just a few defensive items. But despite all this, I love the game and am enjoying unlocking everything. I've just finished the 50cc & 100cc Grand Prix's with all gold medals. I will have to go back through and try and get star rankings in them. 150cc seems to be a whole lot harder… and I am looking forward to unlocking another mode? The license screen has a section for another class, but I haven't read or looked for anything about this.

Oh yeah, back to the topic, Mario Kart arrived on the release date, but here's to hoping that Wii Fit will come early. I received an email yesterday, 30th April saying that Wii Fit has been dispatched a whopping 8 days early! Here's to hoping it comes in early

Oh yeah, this morning I watched the GTAIV review… I really do want another console or a decent computer, but, for one game, I'm not really considering… I do want to play it though. I was a little surprised that it got 10/10 considering the review said 'its not perfect but…', but that is neither here nor there, looks like a fantastic game. Loved the last little sequence in the review

I received an email yesterday (21st April) afternoon letting me know that my pre-ordered copy of Mario Kart Wii has been dispatched. With any luck this will mean that it should be arriving tomorrow (23rd April) given the track record of my supplier

I'm still in disbelief that they kept the AU release date of the 24th while US still has the 27th. A small victory for Australian gamers, not that this is a discussion I want to have, I just gets me depressed about how long we will have to wait for some games... I'm thinking Rock Band.

B.