Fortunately now we’re working fine again thanks to the efforts of the WordPress Boys, who certainly know their stuff. If you happen to have a problem with your wordpress install, these guys do a great job.

But now back to reviews and news. This week has obviously been a bit lax, considering the site was practically non-existent, so I’ll do my best to fill it up with content soon.

Thanks for reading.

This is of course the second time Asda has slashed the price on Nintendo’s new console. It did so back in March, cutting the price then by £50, so obviously the original price cut didn’t have a dramatic impact on sales, as here we are less than two months later, doing the same thing.

It wouldn’t be surprising if other retailers followed suit either, as worldwide Nintendo has only sold 390,000 of the console since Christmas. Before that it managed to push just over three million, but that quick surge of buyers dried up very, very quickly.

Much of the problem is thought to be Nintendo’s poor games lineup, which hasn’t really been bolstered since the release of the new Monster Hunter Ultimate in March. That however, despite being a well received game, is part of a reasonably niche genre and not the kind of game Nintendo is usually associated with.

Add to this, the fact that a lot of Wii owners still think the Wii U is an upgrade and not a new console and you have a quagmire that’s difficult to get out of.

[Thanks Eurogamer]

And today, 1st May 2013, I’m happy to announce it’s now on sale. 

Which means this is what I look like all the time now.

But Jon/Whoopty, what happens in this obviously strange and dead tribes-woman filled adventure? Well how about a plot synopsis to explain things?

“Lindsey Sterling, ex-nurse and conservationist, is travelling to the heart of South America to survey a newly discovered rainforest. Her task: to keep everyone alive and healthy whilst dealing with their team leader’s imperfections.”

“But her group isn’t the only one interested in the region and a local tribe could prove far too dangerous to deal with; especially when the jungle seems to have its own way of maintaining a steady human population.”

Intrigued? I hope so. I’ve been looking forward to sharing this story with someone other than my girl and a few close friends for a long time now. My family is going to buy it for sure, but their sugar coated opinions aren’t what I’m looking for. I want the real readers, the day to day guys that have helped me realise I can write more gooder (or however you say it) by keeping up with my day to day ramblings on what’s going on in the world of tech.

There are Kindle and Paperback versions and I’ve priced both as competitively as I can. However I know times are tough, so how about this: my favourite three Facebook comments or Amazon reviews (after you’ve read it only, please) about the book, will get a signed print copy sent out to them by me personally, along with the ebook in their preferred format and a signed, blown up picture of the cover.

So go on, check out the following links:

Amazon Product page

My Facebook Fan page

My Twitter

“Each of the ‘actual gameplay’ demonstrations purported to show consumers exactly what they would be buying: a cutting edge video game with very specific features and qualities,” the claim reads (via Polygon). ”Unfortunately for their fans, defendants never told anyone – consumers, industry critics, reviewers, or reporters – that their ‘actual gameplay’ demonstration advertising campaign bore little resemblance to the retail product that would eventually be sold to a large community of unwitting purchasers.”

Colonial Marines was a complete cluster-f*%^ upon release. Gamers realised the game looked nothing like pre-release trailers which used much more advanced lighting effects, higher quality models and other environmental effects. On top of that, the AI was poor and allowed you to simply run through some levels with little to no gameplay necessary if you chose to just avoid everything.

Recently the Advertising Standards Agency in the UK reacted to a complaint about the game’s advertising footage, forcing Sega to add a disclaimer that what was on display was from a pre-release demo.

What a mess.

“It’s time for a sad announcement,” begins studio head, Jonny Hopper’s blog post on the matter. “Ambient is shutting its doors. It’s been an amazing ride and we’ve produced some amazing products like Monster Meltdown and Death Inc. We’re super proud of what we achieved, but ultimately we didn’t manage to make enough money to keep the wolves from the door. And so we had to make the difficult decision that it is no longer feasible for Ambient to continue operating.”

He goes on to thank everyone that backed Death Inc. during the Kickstarter and during the paid alpha and said that people who did pay out for the game, will be receiving full refunds. However, understandably, much of the reward tiers promised by the alpha period will not be fulfilled.

This announcement seems such a shame, as it was only a couple of weeks ago that the latest Death Inc. update was released.

Invictus faced tough opposition this week when it took on favourites World Elite in the finals of the Chinese Gigabyte StarsWar League, however the team emerged victorious and claimed the grand prize of £31,500. That prize money is now going to help those affected by the earthquake that hit South Western China last Saturday, killing over 160 people and injuring as many as 5,700.

I’m not sure if one of these guys is really short, or if they were just arranged this way.

This is a big gesture no doubt, but don’t worry, Invictus won’t be eating poorly because of it. These guys managed to win a big DotA 2 International last year, netting them a million US dollars in the process.

Cheers PCGamesN.

While it actually sold less games and hardware than it did last year, when the company had its first loss in many years, it managed to look a little more effective this year thanks to the strong Yen, which helped Nintendo profit by around seven billion yen (£46 million).

Eurogamer reports however, that if Nintendo doesn’t want to make a catastrophic loss in 2013, it will need to do something about Wii U sales. As it stands, less than 400,000 have been sold since Christmas, making it one of the worst selling consoles of the past decade.

The 3DS is at least selling well, with over 30 million units shifted so far and it’s become the dominant console in Japan, where handhelds are a much more focal point for gamers. However, this doesn’t mean it’s doing as well as was initially hoped, with Nintendo lamenting the lack of momentum the console has built in European and North American markets.

Nintendo does have a lot of money in the bank however, so it can weather storms like this. It just needs to get some good games out on the Wii U or it’ll have units as far as they eye can see that just don’t go anywhere.

Introduction

Today we’re going to be looking at the Datacolor Spyder4Elite, a display calibration tool that uses a sensor suite to correctly adjust your display to your surroundings. The Spyder4Elite works on a wide range of displays too – monitors, laptops, HDTVs, projectors, iPhones and iPads are all supported. We’ll be judging the Spyder on its ease of use, its calibration results and its uncanny resemblance to a Facehugger. Let’s get started.

Features

• Automated Color & Brightness Calibration
• Full-spectrum color sensor
• Single sensor calibrates all your displays
• Improved accuracy and stability
• Fast Re-calibration Assistant
• Adapts display to surrounding light
• Spyder4ELITE software options for greater control

Unboxing

The Spyder4Elite comes in an unassuming white box with red highlights, showing the main section of the Spyder in clear plastic.

On the rear, are some handy setup instructions

Hidden within the box is the rest of the kit – the long USB cable attached to the Spyder and the desktop docking base. There’s also a CD, which has on it a serial for the software, as well as a handful of quick start guides and other such documentation.

The patch itself won’t be implementing an offline mode either, so after the patch has been applied and the servers are back up, there’s still no chance of playing offline. That is unless you have a cracked version, in which case you have a better, more free gaming experience than paying customers do.

Some of the game fixes include:

• Region filter tweaks, so ones with spare cities appear at the top of the list
• Tourist fluctuation should be more predictable now
• Casinos and gambling have now been made more profitable
• School buses should no longer get stuck at high schools
• Student population will be tracked properly
• Fire trucks don’t clump
• Air pollution sources are more obvious
• Transit vehicles stuck in a loop, will head back to the depot before attempting to pick up more passengers

For a full list of patch notes, check out the SimCity blog.

Released in 2003, the Nokia Ngage was supposed to bring true gaming to the mobile phone. This was years before the true smartphone craze that saw real power in the handset, so what was on offer wasn’t hugely impressive, but it was the device’s poor handling of other phone features that made it more of a handheld console than a phone that could be used on a day to day basis.

People had gameboys for that, what exactly was Nokia expect to happen?

The adverts for the Ngage weren’t great either.

In some ways it was ahead of its time, with the whole wireless, mobile gaming, but it was its poor phone capabilities that really put this one to bed.

If you do happen to want to buy one new from Walmart and not for £10 on ebay, here’s where you can do it.