Don’t have World of Warcraft yet?
Buy World of Warcraft (PC CD-ROM) at Play-Asia.com

Buy World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Expansion Pack (PC CD-ROM) at Play-Asia.com

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Learn more about Max and the Magic Marker from their official web site.
If you’d like to subscribe to GameTrailers Wii, click on the following button:

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Pre-Order your copy of Muramasa: Demon Blade from PlayAsia to get it as soon as it comes out!

Click on the following links for the other games in the lineup:

• New Super Mario Brothers Wii
• Wii Sports Resort
• Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
• Sin and Punishment 2

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P.S. Yes I know I said I’ll be posting about iPod and Ubuntu. Don’t worry, we’re getting there.

Add/Remove Programs…

Click on Applications then on Add/Remove Programs…

The Add/Remove window will appear and you’ll be presented with a lot of applications that you can install, organized by category. You can quickly find an application by typing in the first few letters of its name (while the application list is focused), clicking on one of the categories to trim down the list, or by entering a few keywords in the search bar on top.

Tick the checkboxes of the applications you want to install and click Apply. After the applet downloads the package files and installs them, no questions asked (no pesky options which you’ll ignore and clcik Next anyway).

Synatic Package Manager

Installing GNOME Raw Thumbnailer via Synaptic

Synaptic functions much the same way as the Add Remove Programs, except it displays the packages themselves instead of the application. Most applications are composed of multiple packages, though you don’t have to worry about that because when you choose to install a package (ex. miro), it automatically prompts to install all the dependencies (packages which miro needs to run). Go ahead, try it for yourself. Oh, and as with the Add/Remove Programs method, there are still no pesky questions aside from the “Apply The Following Changes?” confirmation. Whereas the Add/Remove Programs… applet offers you a user-friendly interface to pimp out your Ubuntu box, Synaptic offers you a way of choosing specific packages to install (more often than not, instructions on the net will tell you specific packages to install), while still remaining relatively user-friendly.

Debian Packages (.deb files)

Installing the Skype .deb

This method is perhaps the most familiar to Windows users:

1. Download the deb file (Win users might be more familiar with the term installer)
2. Run the deb file
3. Agree to the End User License Agreement (EULA)
4. Select destination folder and click Next
5. Select Full or Custom Install. If Custom, select the appropriate options.
6. Click Install

My bad, there are no steps 3, 4, and 5.

Aptitude

Aptitude is the command-line utility used for installing packages. Now before you go dissing off Aptitude because it’s a terminal command, consider that when you’re installing a lot of programs at once (or following instructions off the net), it’s quite faster and easier to type (or paste) in the command-line sudo aptitude install blender miro mirthkit scummvm filelight deluge frozen-bubble than it is to find and select those 7 applications.

Source Code

When worse comes to worst, you can install most open source applications by performing the following steps:

1. Downloading the source code (usually distributed as a .tar.gz file)
2. Extracting it (Right-click > Extract here… or tar -xzf file.tar.gz)
3. Entering the extracted folder via the terminal
4. sudo aptitude install build-essential if you haven’t done so already
5. Typing in ./configure
6. Typing in make
7. Typing in sudo make install
8. If you want your program to be removable via Synaptic/Aptitude, use sudo checkinstall -D. This will create a package first before installing it.

A more thorough explanation of the compile process can be found eleswhere on the Internet. Just Google it.

A Word About Dependencies

One of the fundamental differences between programs in Unix/Mac/Linux and Windows is the way a program is packaged. As you install more and more applications, you’ll notice that fully-functional programs only use up a few kilobytes, sometimes only a few megabytes, and you might begin to wonder how Linux programs get to be so small when compared to their Windows counterparts.

This is because of one of the unwritten rules in writing programs for Linux, writing many small applications with a single purpose rather than 1 massive application that does many, allows many programs to use and share libraries or even other programs. These libraries or programs that an application uses are called dependencies. In Windows, save for a few Windows DLLs, each application needs to include everything in its installers (haven’t you ever wondered why you’d hardly find any CD installers for Linux?).

There is a term called dependency hell. I personally experienced this back when I was using Red Hat. It describes what happens when you have an application with several dependencies, where each dependency has a few more dependencies themselves or is dependent on a specific version of an application. Thankfully, the package manager for Ubuntu (and Debian for that matter) is very robust in automatically handling these dependencies for you.

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Stay away! You're wallet would be safer with a thief!

“7,750?” I asked. “7,795 po”, the saleswoman corrected me, the tone of her voice proud, as if they were selling the deal of the century. Indeed, Datablitz’s price is one of the lowest, compared to around 9,500 pesos in the toy shops of the large malls like SM Toy Kingdom, Toys R Us, and that toy store in Landmark Trinoma. If only people knew that they were actually selling the WiiFit more than 200% of its real price. At Yodobashi in Japan, the Wii Fit sells for 8,360 yen or about 4,180 pesos. And it would have been even lower if it wasn’t for the bad foreign exchange right now, and since Yodobashi is like a huge chain of super stores, you could find an even better deal if you bought from other smaller stores. An imported Japanese DSi would set you back 17,800 pesos here. It’s SRP? 18,800 yen (9,400 pesos). A Wii console costs 22,000 pesos. It sells for 25,000 yen anywhere in Japan. And good luck looking for a Y30,000 Xbox 360 Premium. You’d be lucky to get it here for 20,000 pesos (Y40,000). Apparently, I’m not the only one being miffed by this whole situation; this situation has been going on since the PSX and is not likely to abate any time soon.

Sadly the state of gaming here in the Philippines isn’t limited to overpricing. Piracy is so rampant that the ones who would dare buy *gasp!* original games/software are considered weird! Not rich. weird. Rich peope here still buy pirated games. And establishments “for the masses” like SM don’t help the situation at all with their overpricing. I don’t quite understand it. Some say that this is a third-world country, and people simply can’t afford buying original. Yet, these same people can afford DVD players, PSPs, DSs and Playstation consoles?

Their response? “Well, it’s because we save our money to buy that PSP. But that’s it, we can’t afford to shell out for an original game every month”. Read that again, I urge you, and tell me there’s nothing wrong here. It’s not that people can’t afford it. It isn’t frugality or a sense of economy. Rather, it’s because people here are too cheap, piracy has become the norm, and you can practically hack your PSP at the nearest convenience store.

My Tips To Stay Pirate-Free:

1. Buy online. Datablitz is good, but you’ll find great deals on forums like Pinoy-N, Pinoy XBox, or your favorite local gaming forum. You can buy new original games from P2,000 all the way down to P1,000 sometimes. Plus you get to meet new people.
2. Set aside money for 1 game a month. If you followed #1, you will only have to set aside P50-P100 each allowance/working day to do this.
3. Actually TRY TO FINISH all games that you buy. Try this, and it will make #2 even easier. When you buy pirated, you get tons of games, and maybe play for a good 10 minutes and that’s it. Not only did you bring the value of the game down by pirating it, you also bring it down by not playing it through.
4. Get your siblings to pitch in. If you’re like most families, you’ll have at least one. If they don’t like it, they don’t play. Simple as that.
5. Buy 2nd hand games. Come on, don’t be stupid. This isn’t a car or computer, this is a piece of software. Unless he sells you something that looks like it was scratched by a paper shredder, it’s still worth it (especially when you can get one near-mint condition for P500! Oh yeah!)

Hey, if you have any more tips that we all could use, hit the comments!;)

Well, the Guardians of Space are back, and they’re kicking Ryu’s ass in this video of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom for the Wii! Watch the video to see the beautiful, head-bashing visuals:

After the break, we have Ghostbusters coming to the Wii



About a decade after the Ghostbusters movie, you can now relive the adventures of Pete, Egon, Rey, and Winston as they zap the crap out of Slimer, the Staypuft Marshmallow man, and other new ghosts in the upcoming Ghostbusters video game, coming out for multiple platforms:

Visit the Ghostbusters home page for more info.

Last, but certainly not the least, if you haven’t heard of The Conduit (you haven’t heard of The Conduit?!), it’s an upcoming FPS for the Wii that is going to push the limits of the Wii’s hardware. While most developers were still too busy playing with the motion controllers of the Wii and testing the Wii waters (Wii Music, anyone?), the Conduit creators decided it was better to make a splash and created it’s own engine for the Wii, called the Quantum 4 engine, and as showcased in this video:

Developers take note, the Wii’s hardware may not be as powerful as the PS3, but it certainly isn’t weak (and the controls, of course, well, there’s nothing like it). Please, please, please, snatch up this Quantum 4 engine and give us better-looking, envelope-pushing games!

And here is the Quantum 4 engine, as used in The Conduit. Enjoy!

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Before entering the hall, you are greeted by this giant. Though I’m unfamiliar with who he is.

Among the games there was a big booth showing Cooking Mama 2 for both the DS and Wii versions.

The Need For Speed Undercover booth had a sports car on display, while video displays were continuously playing trailers of the game.

Monster Rancher 3 was also demoed, showing the controls side-by-side with the gameplay.

There was also Taiko no Tatsujin game, though I wonder why it took them this long to make one.

The one game I actually lined up for was Let’s Tap. Not because it had a comparatively fast line (play time is limited to three stages), but because it had the most innovative gameplay; it’s the only game where you’re NOT SUPPOSED TO HOLD THE CONTROLLER. Instead, you place the Wiimote face-down on a box (see pictures below). The Let’s Play box, but I asked the usherette and she said any normal box could be used, in case your Let’s Play box is already in tatters from too much playing. You then…tap. And tap and tap and tap. It’s really amazing.

Final Fantasy Dissidia

Tenchu 4

アルコスの戦士 (Arugus no senshi)/Rygar: The Battle of Argus

Capcom

Sega

Takara Tomy

There were also some cosplayers, though they weren’t part of any of the events. I think they’re just seizing the opportunity to dress up.

and then there were some mascots as well.

There was a nice display of cool Wa-Sa-Bi Cases for handhelds. Pictured here are the DS cases, but there are also cases for PSP and cellphones.

Over at the Game Science Museum booth, surprising I saw  Johnny Lee’s Wii Head Tracking software! From the looks of it, they just downloaded the software directly and put it there.

Beside the head tracking display there was a display showing a graph of the outputs of the Wiimote accelerometers. Having played Let’s Tap early, I put the Wiimote face down and tapped on the table. And yes! The Wiimote is THAT sensitive!

Well that’s all for this week. If ever you’re in Japan, the Tokyo Game Show runs until tomorrow, so you have one more day to go. Then again, there’s always next year. If you want to pre-order some of these games,try searching Play-Asia here:

Remember, they offer free delivery.

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On the other hand, you may be more excited about rumors of the successor to the highly-successful Wii. Dubbed Wii HD (although that may not be its final name) will feature HD-capability and a beefed up “next-gen” graphics processor while maintaining backward-compatibility with the current Wii. And with Nintendo’s increasing their R&D spending by three times since the launch of Wii, we can hope to see whatever Nintendo has in store in a 2 short years (Unless they spent $370 million dollars for developing the DSi, which I doubt).

For the rest of you preferring to look at the present for now, I leave you with a lineup of games coming to the Wii this fall. And they’re looking pretty amazing.

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Kaero-kun: U~n. Komatta na~
Ushi-kun: Doushita no?
Kaero-kun: Ima kara, isoide rinzouko family bokojou ikanakucha naranaindayo.
Ushi-kun: A sounanda.
Kaero-kun: Isoganakucha ikenai noni, idou ni tsukau norimono ga nani mo nainda!
Ushi-kun: Eeee?
Kaero-kun: Aaaa…bokujou monogatari waku waku animaru ma-chi mitai ni, doubutsu ni notte idou ga dekireba na~
Ushi-kun: …
Kaero-kun: …Noreru doubutsu ga itara na~
Ushi-kun: …Nori na yo…
Kaero-kun: Ii no? Arigatou! Tasukaru yo Ushi-kun! Kimi wa hontou ni ii ushi da na! Un. Arigatou. Yosh. Shuppa~tsu.
Kaero-kun: Ushi-kun. Osooooi!
Ushi-kun: Ya, datte boku, ushi da mono…shouganai yo.
Kaero-kun: Motto bariki dashite yo!
Ushi-kun: Ya are, uma da mono. Uma no chikara to kaite bariki mono. Boku ushi da mono.
Kaero-kun: Jaa, gyuuriki dase yo! Gyuu riki!!
Ushi-kun: Gyuu riki ha kiita koto nai mono.
Kaero-kun: Ushi no chikara to kaite gyuu riki dayo! Gyuu riki wo dase! Ushi-kun! Gambare! Gyuu riki~ Gyuu riki~
Ushi-kun: Nanka, Inoki* mitai ni iwaretemo..
Kaero-kun: Gambare! Yareba dekiru!!
Ushi-kun: Mmoouu
Kaero-kun: O, ii zo! Hayai hayai! Gambare. O ii zo ii zo!
Ushi-kun: Ha! Ha! Yatto tsuita! Haaa!
Kaero-kun: Otsukare! Okagede tasukatta yo! arigatou ne! Ja, Ushi-kun, shibaraku koko de mattete ne.
Ushi-kun: Eh?
Kaero-kun: Ya, boku wa ima de-to dakara Keromi-chan ni awanakucha ikenai kara sa. De, mochiron kaeri mo nosetette morau kara. Dakara koko de mattete, ne? Soko de hen ano aru kusa ippai tabete ii ka. Kusa tabehodai dakarasa. Ne? De, yoroshiku. Ja ne. Keromi-chan!
Ushi-kun: Nandayo! Hidosugiru yo! Eh? Aah, ie. Boku chichishiboriyou no ushi janai desu. Hai. A, iya chigaundesu, hontou ni. Chichishiboriyou no ushi janai desu yo, boku. Iya iya, hontou ni. Chotto yamete kudasai. Narabanai de! Boku chigau kara, hontou ni. Uwa~ chotto nani? Sawaranaide. H yamete. Nani sunno? Chotto…
Kaero-kun: Ho!
Ushi-kun: Ah! Kaero-kun, ii tokoro ni kaette kite kureta. Ne, tasukete.
Kaero-kun: Chotto, Keromi-chan! Koko de ushi no chichishibori yatteru yo!
Ushi-kun: Chigau!

Roughly translated:
Frog-kun: Groan… this is a problem.
Cow-kun: What’s wrong?
Frog-kun: RIght now, I need to go to the Rinzouko family farm.
Cow-kun: I see.
Frog-kun: Even if I need to hurry, there isn’t anything I can use to get me there!!!
Cow-kun: Eeee?
Frog-kun: Aaaa…Just like in Harvest Moon: Animal March, you can ride on animals to get around
Cow-kun: …
Frog-kun: …If only there was an animal I could ride…
Cow-kun: …Get on…
Frog-kun: It’s ok? Thanks! You really saved me, Cow-kun! You’re really a good cow aren’t ya! Yeah. Thanks. Alright. We’re going!
Frog-kun: Cow-kun. You’re slooow!
Cow-kun: Yeah, well I’m a cow…it can’t be helped.
Frog-kun: Give it more horsepower!
Cow-kun: Well, that’s for horses. When you write horse and power, that’s horsepower. I’m a cow.
Frog-kun: Then, bring out your cowpower! Cowpower!!
Cow-kun: I’ve never heard of cowpower.
Frog-kun: When you write cow and power, that’s cowpower! Bring out your cowpower! Cow-kun! Give it your best! Cowpower~ Cowpower~
Cow-kun: Like…even if you told me that like I was Inoki…*
Frog-kun: Give it your best! You can do it!
Cow-kun: Mmoouu
Frog-kun: Oh, that’s good! That’s fast! Give it your best! Good!
Cow-kun: Ha! Ha! We finally arrived! Haaa!
Frog-kun: Good job! I’m saved thanks to you! Thanks! Well, Cow-kun, wait here a little ok?
Cow-kun: Eh?
Frog-kun: Well, I’m going on a date, and I have to meet up with Keromi-chan. Of course you’ll be giving us a ride home. So, wait here ok? You can eat a lot of grass over there. It’s a grass buffet. Right? Well then. Keromi-chan!
Cow-kun: What the?! That’s too cruel! Eh? Aah, no. I’m not a milking cow. Yes. A, no, really. I’m not a milking cow. No, no, really. Please stop. Don’t line up! I’m different, Really. Whoa, wait! Don’t touch me. Stop that. What are you doing?
Frog-kun: Ho!
Cow-kun: Ah! Frog-kun, You came just in time. Save me.
Frog-kun: Keromi-chan! They’re milking a cow over here!
Cow-kun: No they’re not!

*Antonio Inoki is a famous Japanese pro-wrestler. The cheering of Kaero-kun, “Gyuu-riki! Gyuu-riki!” is in reference to how people cheered on Inoki with “Inoki! Inoki!”. Thanks to Minami-sensei for this info.

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Like Bokujou Monogatari Waku Waku Animal March?Order here and get FREE SHIPPING to any address in Asia!

This particular commercial is actually quite funny and very creative. Almost to the point of making me buy a copy of the game, except I’m not a big fan of the Harvest Moon series. Although, I wouldn’t mind if anyone sent me a copy for review. Still funny though. It’s in Japanese but I added a translation below.

Harvest Moon: Animal March Puppet show Part 2 (Click here for Part 1)

Ushi-kun: Kaero-kun, bokujou mongatari waku waku animaru ma-chi de ge-mu sa, ge-mu no naka de shashin wo tottari dekiru rashii yo.
Kaero-kun: Sou nandayo. Soko de boku mo, kossori Ushi-kun no shashin wo tottanda!
Ushi-kun: Ee, sou nano? Zenzen kizukanakatta!
Kaero-kun: Sorega, kochira!
Ushi-kun: Kore boku janai to omou yo…
Kaero-kun: Iya iya, shoushin shoumei Ushi-kun dayo! Shashinka no ude ga ii to koumo ririshiku toreru mondane!
Ushi-kun: Boku janai to omou kedo…
Kaero-kun: Mada aru yo. Kore!
Ushi-kun: Nani kore? Itsu totta no?
Kaero-kun: Kimi wa nezou ga warui na~
Ushi-kun: Are neten no kana… Nanka kowai na~
Kaero-kun: Ato sekushii shotto mo tocchatta
Ushi-kun: Ee, mou chotto nani mou yamete yo, sonna no. Nani shiten no ne?
Kaero-kun: Ofuro agari no…ushi
Ushi-kun: Riaru da ne~

which quite roughly translates to:
Cow-kun: Frog-kun, in the Farm Story Exciting Animal March (Harvest Moon: Animal March) game, it seems like you can do things like take pictures
Frog-kun: Yup. I secretly took pictures of you.
Cow-kun: Really? I didn’t notice at all.
Frog-kun: This one!
Cow-kun: I…don’t think this is me…
Frog-kun: No no, this is genuinely you. With good photographer’s hands, don’t I take take awe-inspiring pictures!
Cow-kun: But I don’t think this is me…
Frog-kun: I still have more. Here!
Cow-kun: What’s this? When did you take this?
Frog-kun: Your sleeping position is really awful isn’t it.
Cow-kun: Ah, was I sleeping? It’s quite scary.
Frog-kun: I also took a sexy shot
Cow-kun: Ee?! Wait a sec, stop doing things like that. What do you think you’re doing?
Frog-kun: Cow…out of the bathtub
Cow-kun: …So it is…

Now for weeks now, I’ve been bombarded with short trailers for Wii Music, featuring a girl playing one instrument per commercial. And I used to think, “this game looks pretty boring”. But after seeing the following trailer, makes me think twice about it. For sure, it’ll be nice multi-player fun for the whole family. At the very least, this trailer is worth watching.

Wii Music Truck Gameplay

Here’s another nice Wii Music Clip. While here’s the rest of ‘em (a lot! Including all the boring instrument commercials)

On the other side of the creative fence, here’s an aptly named “Lost Appetite Trailer“. I mean, what kind of creative genius would think that a Wiimote wielding kid and a scary-looking, guiness-record-for-longest-nails-holding woman would get them to sell more copies of The Guiness World Records game.

And Cabela’s hunting game, a game about hunting for trophies to stuff and hang on the wall, seems to have involved a lot of digital animals hurt during the making of this game. Nothing like good ‘ol educational values like hunting endangered animals for sport.

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