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QuickJump QuickPeek Issue # 02: Of sentient beings, console failure rates, and a hero's farewell

Posted Jul 07, 2007 at 05:11PM by Jerico G. Listed in: News Tags: Fanjita, Metroid, price drop, Dark AleX, SIXAXIS
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QuickKump QuickPeek logo - Image 1 


(As promised, here's the second serving of our weekly feature, QuickJump QuickPeek! For the uninitiated, this space will be filled with the highlights of the past week in the gaming world. On to the second ish!)

Aside from Michael Bay not totally bastardizing our childhood memories of the Transformers, there are a few other great events that made this week quite memorable. There's Microsoft announcing a 3-year extension to their warranty service as an answer to the reported 33% failure rate of purchased Xbox 360s. There's also the rumbling webtalks of the looming PS3 price cut. And there's the Wii too, reportedly just a little over a million figures behind Xbox 360 in terms of consoles sold. Do bear in mind that we haven't even scratched the tip of the All Spark, err, iceberg yet; there's still a lot more great events that made this week, ahem, "more than meets the eye."

This weeks news', transform and roll out!

PSP-PS3 logo - Image 1 


PlayStation Portable
It's been especially hard for any PSP homebrew loving human not to feel down this week. The report about Dark Alex leaving the scene to avoid future legal tussles with Sony disheartens us up to now. Suffice to say he's the hero of our community and definitely among the coding pillars that brought us to where we are right now. We were told we have the Transformer's theme for this issue, so we'll leave you the last words of the most heroic Autobot that comes to mind - Dinobot.

"Tell my tale to those who ask. Tell it truly; the ill deeds along with the good, and let me be judged accordingly. The rest... is silence." [Dinobot from the "Code of Hero" episode]

Ok, enough with the drama. Lucky for us there are some other equally great developers who are willing to bear the PSP homebrew torch and to keep the scene rolling. Fanjita with Noobz team, and 0okm headline the homebrew front this week with the former releasing an updated 3.50 downgrader (for the Japanese version of Lumines) and the latter coming up with a Homebrew Enabler for the same Lumines version.

Also, one of the most talked about event that happened last week is Fanjita talking about the morality of downgrading. As most of those familiar with PSP homebrew know by now, Fanjita and his team were recently unfairly accused of boosting piracy with the groundbreaking release of their 3.50 downgrader. Manning up to the accusation, Fanjita lets out a very inspired statement regarding the matter, which you can all read by going over here.

That's it for this week. We know we're all still saddened over Dark Alex's decision to quit the scene, but as Optimus Prime said at the end of the movie, "we lost a good comrade, but we've gained more." And with the PSP scene ever growing, we're sure there's a new Dark Alex somewhere cooking up something as groundbreaking as custom firmwares for us.

- by QJ.Net PSP team

PlayStation 3
According to Prime, "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings". And what sentient being wouldn't enjoy the freedom to own a PlayStation 3 at a much affordable price? So it's no wonder the QJ.NET PS3 page was bombarded of mixed reports confirming/denying the PS3 price cut. The latest word is that Sony has no plans to lower their console's SRP. Judging the way the gaming world works, we wouldn't be surprised if things change faster than you can say "roll out."

You can't expect Starscream to be genuinely concerned for Megatron, but he would be if the latter's failure rate is as efficient as the PS3's. That's right, based from a study done with Store Managers used as samples, the failure rate for PS3 is less than 1%. That's just one of the things that made our sparks glower with pride this week.

Lastly, we've got some hefty updates from Polyphony Digital regarding their highly anticipated project, Gran Turismo 5. Based from Kazunori Yamauchi's statements, we have to say that once we get rich enough to make a Transformer of our won, we'll definitely phone these guys for the design. Why? Read this.

There you have it, another great week for us PS3 fans. Let's all keep our fingers crossed it stays that way, at least until next week.

- by QJ.Net PS3 team

Xbox360-Wii logo - Image 1 


Xbox 360
If the Xbox 360 is a Transformer, it'll be one green and mean baddy. And with all these talks about the system having a 33% failure rate, Xboximus Prime would be one robot even Megatron and Optimus will have a hard time dealing with (and even harder for Michael Bay to work with). Kidding aside, it's really an alarming figure, and it's one of those things that really hurt our console's image this week.

Fortunately for us, Peter Moore released a "baby come back"-themed statement to address the Red Ring of death issue. Part of the latter states that instead of the usual one year warranty for purchased Xbox 360s, Microsoft is now giving a "three-year warranty that covers any console that displays a three flashing red lights error message". Now that's Cybertronic customer care for you.

Lastly, we have a truck-full of updates for post-beta Halo 3. Our Spartan Hero may only be part robot, but that doesn't make him any less badass. Not convinced? Take a look at this collection of screens and fresh info to find out for yourself why Microsoft is upping the production of Xbox 360s in anticipation of the console demand the game will bring come its release.

More news from this side of the universe next week!

- by QJ.Net's Xbox 360 team

Wii
If Wii is to have a character in the movie Transformers, it wouldn't be Optimus Prime, Megatron, or any of the other robots seen in the film. It wouldn't even be smartass Sam Witwicky; it has to be Mikaela Banes (played by hottie Megan Fox). Why? No it's not because the Wii is for Wiimen. It's because nobody in the film except for her can be as hot as the Wii is in terms of sales.

That's the highlight of this week for the Wii universe. Wii is just a little over a million units sold behind Xbox 360 despite being released to the market more than a year later than Microsoft's console. Even Megan Fox can't be that hot.

Do bear in mind that Nintendo's big guns aren't even out in the market yet. And the week's updates for the upcoming big titles spoke volumes of how it could transform the Wii to be a monster of Fortress Maximus proportions. For example, we have the confirmation of Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles having co-op mode. Character updates for Bowser, attacks tut, and Bridge of Eldin revelation in Super Smash Brothers Brawl also gathered huge interest from fans. We do have a bit of a downer with Metroid Prime 3: Corruption losing online multiplayer features, but Nintendo bounced back by releasing a multitude of details and screenshots for/of the game.

Optimus Prime, after challenging Megatron, says "By the end of this day, one shall stand, one shall fall." Well at the end of this week, Wii is still the one left standing, guess who's fallen?

- by QJ.Net's Wii team

Roswell Incident - Image 1 


Honorable Mentions
Video games are all good and well but they're still entertainment. Heck, even the Autobots fought Decepticons for lightyears and never failed to defeat them until they met our race. Big things are happening in real life and QJ.NET's been striving hard to cover them too. So this time around we'll put in snippets of the week's top newsmakers in the "planet of sentient beings".

In the field of Science, Air Force press relations officer during the Roswell incident - Lieutenant Walter Haut - revealed stunning deathbed confessions. Here's an excerpt of our report:

Haut, in his statement, swore to have seen an egg-shaped craft with no wings, windows or landing gear about 12 feet in height and some six feet in width. He says that two alien bodies less than four feet tall were shown to him covered in tarpaulins. The bodies were humanoid in form but had heads which were strangely large for their bodies.


The Roswell incident has been a setting for many sci-fi flicks in the field of TV, Movie and even Video Games entertainment. Having revelations as earth-shattering as this really shake the foundations of what we have grown up to believe and imagine. Read the full report here.

You won't be sitting in front of our PCs reading this page after taking a break from playing your favorite gaming console or handheld if you're no fan of technological advancements. Right now the hottest thing in the world of gadgetry is Apple's iPhone. Initial reports have been promising with sales of the said gadget sky-rocketting.

But what really shook things up is the freshly uncovered news that Apple's baby has already been cracked by underground hackers. Known as iPhoneInterface, this tool allowed the developers to manipulate the different features and services of iPhone. You can read the full report here, but we'll put up the list of things you can do with the said tool:
  • Windows and Mac tool that allows you to manipulate the iPhone's state
  • Launch services
  • Interact with the iPhone file system
  • Scan the iPhone file structure
  • Create and remove folders
  • Start iPhone services
That's it from us. You can go back to playing your games now. Just don't forget you learned two great things from us today! See you again next week.

- QJ.Net's deans of geekology

That concludes the second issue of QuickJump QuickPeek! Hoped you liked the Transformers theme, expect us to do the same thing next week. So what should the next theme be? Harry Potter? E3? Fire away at the comments!

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15 Comments


Sort by:
   by alb (Unregistered) - 2007-07-07
 » reg
...


   Re: PsPoPPer (Unregistered) - 2007-07-07
 » actually
I love these qj articles, but alb u r gae
   by wtf (Unregistered) - 2007-07-07
 » wtf
why did you compare every console to the transformers?
anyway it was kind of good article
but it cold have been better.


   Re: WHAAA?! (Unregistered) - 2007-07-07
 » sdfvbrtgbd rgtns
Yeah, somebody saw the movie too much.
   by NINTENDO GO FFUUKK YOURE SELVES (Unregistered) - 2007-07-07
 » NINTENDO OWNS RETRO STUDIOS SO ITS NINTYS FAULT
nintendo blows, and im giving up on them.nintendo is garbage for pulling out the online multiplayer from metroid prime 3 corruption.all they care about is making easy money, they dont give a ffuukk what the paying customers want.ide love to beat the sshhiitt out of them 4 being stupid bbaa$$tards.nintendo online is a joke and a damn bad 1 ,all they did was make a bare bones crappy a$$$$ version of the $$hhiittyy ds online interface,hell there not even trying.get off youre lazy a$$$es and make us a mother ffuukknn game that doesnt blow donkey ballz,WII DEMAND A *****N 1ST PERSON SHOOTER WITH ONLINE MULTIPLAYER YOU GGAY A$$$ED RETARDED BASSTTERDS,8V8 OR 10V10 NOT SOME GAYYYY A$$$$$ DS JOKE *****KIN RIPOFF.WII SHOULD HAVE ABOMBED kYOTO JAPAN BACK IN THE DAY BECAUSE NINTENDO ARE SELFISH A$$$HOLES.LAZY LAZY LAZY LAZY .


   Re: Xtealth (Unregistered) - 2007-07-08
 » wow
Can you please shut up. And clean your language, you sound like a hill billy, and a bum.
   by TheMetroid (Unregistered) - 2007-07-07
 » Wiimen!
well--- technically, i am a Wii Man....(no pun there) I for one can say Metroid Corruption, And Red Steel Aren't Girly titles. SO SHUT THE F UP! stop giving Wii a bad name. If you do you can all say "We were beaten by a girl!" So stop calling it childish and girly. Sure its small, sleek and sexy, but so is iPhone...


   Re: Anon (Unregistered) - 2007-07-08
 » lol
i think the other post point is that the wii really is lacking in features that it should have and id say he spot on even with all caps and swearing it just doesnt have what it takes its fun but kinda gimicky and its certainly not nxt gen anyone who has wii for there onry system had better get used to nintendo same old song and dance
   by Advertising -
   by kobe (Unregistered) - 2007-07-07
 » haha
im so happy i didnt downgrade. u *****az who downgraded cant play new psp games (cough*god of war*cough)
HA HA!


   Re: ... (Unregistered) - 2007-07-08
 » What?
Course we can dumbass...
we can always just update again and come down later and even the stupid people who go a lil to far will eventually be able to downgrade again.
you must feel like a complete dumbass now, you type like one.

   Re: Anon (Unregistered) - 2007-07-08
 » LOL
lol you are stupid i hav nvr upgraded my launchday psp and there has yet to be a game i cant play lol GOW will be no diferent HA HA!
   by frwololo (Unregistered) - 2007-07-07
 » cool
Hey QJ, really nice article, I enjoyed the first one as well, keep up the good work with these weekly articles. It really allows knowing what's going on without having to read everything every day, thanks !


@Kobe:Red steel for the Wii is bad. The wiimote just sucks for that kind of game, and the graphics are "meh". Try real games such as Half Life 2 and Doom3 on PC, and you'll stop talking about Red Steel ;)

   by qw (Unregistered) - 2007-07-07
 » Nice
These are always a good read. I was beginning to miss the regular QJ articles, interviews and all that. These are better. Though the Transformers theme was a little too geeky for me

   by Anon (Unregistered) - 2007-07-08
 » ???
who the F is this dinobot they are talking about???
im pretty sure i know every transformers name and there was no dinobot do they mean grimlock? id say yes but he nvr had lines better the "tell grimlock story" any idea who dinobot is???
link it cause i dont think there ever was such a transformer


   Re: Whaaaa? (Unregistered) - 2007-07-08
 » Dinobots
How could you not know the Dinobots? They were an entire sub-set of Transformers, and pretty cool toys at that. Sure, they had the intelligence of cavemen, but they were still cool!

Grimlock was the leader of the Dinobots (the T-Rex), but he had 4 other Dino-buddies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinobots


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