So I got my brains out of the drawer, dusted it off, and started using it a bit, and thought up of a cheap, simple, and really easy-to-do but very elegant solution! The philosophy behind it? Don’t reinvent the wheel.

Things We Need:

• IR LED
• LED Keylight
• Small screwdriver
• Long-nose pliers
• Wire cutter

First step is to go to your nearest electronics store and buy an IR LED. Then get yourself to the nearest flea market (like Divisoria) or dollar store (over here and in Japan, we have Daiso, which is where I got this). Buy one of those small LED keychain lights.

The reason I bought this particular type is:

1. The LED is immediately visible
2. It has ONLY ONE LED
3. As shown on the back of the box, it is EASY to replace the regular LED without any “hacking”.

NOTE: It is also possible to buy an LED flashlight from the dollar store and convert it into an IR flashlight. It’s use and application, however, is different from this IR “lightpen” tutorial. Also, depending on the flashlight you buy, you might need a hell of a lot more IR LEDs.

Before our mod, this is how the LED keylight shines: with a nice, bright white LED light.

According to the instructions on the back, you simply unscrew the four tiny screws at the back housing openand the housing comes apart. There are two CR2016 3V batteries sandwiched between the legs of the LED. Once you get the keylight housing open, removing them is as simple as plopping them down onto your palm.

Note that the white LED’s legs are bent into a certain shaped and cut to a certain length. The spacing of the legs is just enough so that the batteries are not in contact with both legs at the same time. There are also grooves in the housing to prevent the LED from moving around too much, and that’s also why the legs are cut to size. You want to shape and cut the IR LED’s legs to match as closely as possible to the original. Use a pair of long-nose pliers and wire cutter.

The final step is to test if our creation is working. Since the IR LED is emitting infrared, which isn’t in the visible spectrum, you’re going to need to use your webcam or a digicam to see if it’s working or not. Here is a shot of the IR keylight using my phone’s camera.

So there you have it! An IR LED light tutorial that’s easy on the pockets and very professional-looking without you needing to break a sweat (or any tools). What are we gonna use it for? Stay tuned, we’re gonna get to that next time!

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:

If you found this information useful, buy me a coffee.

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

If you found this information useful, buy me a coffee.

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!;)

The XBox 360 dropped out in the very first round while the Wii and PS3 continued on duelling it out till the end. Applause! Applause! Hmm, maybe I shouldn’t get a 360 after all…

Note: I urge you not to perform this test yourself, but feel free to do so. I waive all responsibility.

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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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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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If you’ve long been dreaming about wielding a lightsaber in your own hands and vanquishing foes with it, this will probably be the closest experience you’ll have short of getting Jedi Training in an asylum somewhere (at least for now, we’ll see if Star Wars: Clone Wars has anything to say when it comes out). This game is exactly like what we saw in the Wii Producer Walkthrough video that we showed in one of our recent posts, only hands-on it gets so much better. In a nutshell, you get a Wiisaber and Forcechuk with the game. So as previously mentioned, Force Push is executed by quite literally performing a “push” (you push forward on your Forcechuck) and enemies go flying! Here are some more Forcechuk moves:

Force Grip: Grip your enemy (by gripping on the Z button)
Throw Enemies or (objects at enemies): Force Grip them, move them around (using the Forcechuk analog stick), then release your grip (by releasing the Z button).
Force Pummel: Grip your enemy, and wave your other hand to send objects hurtling toward your force-gripped opponent.
Force Choke: Grip your enemy, then turn your Forcechuk upside down (similar to how you would turn your hand ala Vader-style)
etc.

Now isn’t that intuitive?
Wiisaber moves aren’t any less spectacular either. You swing your Wiisaber right, left, up, down, or thrust to perform the same moves. The game has a tutorial mode to get you quickly up to speed. You’ll be taught by Proxy, your droid, and none other than Vader’s hand demonstrations themselves! Pardon the screenshots, I don’t have a capture card, just a camera. And yes, you can see my reflection from the TV.

Edit: It’s pretty standard for games to vibrate during gameplay, but did I mention that the Wiisaber also emits lightsaber sounds as well? Yup! Not from your TV, from the Wii mote itself with its built-in speakers whenever you activate it or it hits something like another lightsaber. Can’t believe I forgot to mention this.

Krome Studios did an excellent job with designing the controls. The point here is to maximize, not use for the sake of using. Imagine if you ran by “jogging” both controllers. Thankfully, Krome was SMART enough not to fall down that dark path and just used the nunchuck analog stick for movement.

Sadly, the Wii version does not have Euphoria or DMM, or even an attempt to mimic these technologies. That’s not to say there aren’t a lot of objects flying around, getting thrown, or getting destroyed. The second level boss fight with Jedi Master Gen. Rahm Kota is particularly beautiful (see the video below); it takes place in a TIE-Fighter Construction Facility control room. As the intense battle of two powerful wielders of the force ensues, you’ll have to sometimes stop and marvel (at the risk of your own demise) the surroundings, especially the large glass window that cracks and sends out shards of glass as one of you gets slammed into it. The battle ends in a climactic finish with a large and dazzling display of the destructive power of the force as wielded by the Secret Apprentice.

The Wii game also sports a Duel Mode where you get to fight with another player. At the start, you’ll only have access to the Secret Apprentice, Darth Vader (!), and Rahm Kota. But as you play the Story mode, you’ll be able to unlock other characters, including Ep. 3 Anakin, Darth Maul (no dual-saber though),  Obi-Wan, Qui-gon Jinn, as well as the Secret Apprentice with different costumes. Although, cheating might be rampant as in the following example dialog:
Player 1: Damn it! Why the heck did you push me for?!
Player 2: That was a force push.

As BlendGames points out, Krome “will be focusing the game mechanics around motion control.” In essence, there will be 5 versions of the game (as was covered in our last post’s video): Xbox360/PS3 versions (with DMM and Euphoria), Wii (Duel-mode, motion control), PS2 (Jedi Trials), PSP (play historic missions), and DS (made by N-Gage. No news on this one). So which version do you get? According to LucasArts, you’ll have a different, unleashed experience on all platforms. The first mission on Kashyyyk, for example, is a night-time raid on the Wii version (Here’s a video of Vader fighting the Rogue Jedi in the attack) while it’s day-time in the PS3 version. The Wii will have 5 more levels, and the level design will also be different. Even the Junk Titan seems different in design (PS3: Here Wii: Here).

Basically, if you prefer trees that splinter, metal that bends, and storm-troopers that panic, get the amped-up graphics of the XBox360/PS3 version. But if you like to really get unleashed wielding force powers, as well as playing head-to-head against another player, get the Wii version. If you’re an on-the-go type, get one of the handheld versions. And since most of you probably have a PS2 as well, be sure to pick it up as well. I would. Right now, I’m tempted to buy an XBox360 just to see DMM and Euphoria in action.

I highly recommend that you get the Wii version. If you’re local retailer doesn’t have it yet, you can get one from Play-Asia and say no to piracy. Mine arrived around a week after I ordered it. For now, I’ll leave you with these two videos: The first one is a gameplay video on the Wii, all the way up to a spectacular boss battle at the end. The second video is a compilation of clips from the PS3 version of the game. Enjoy! I’ve got more foes to send flying in the air.
Wii Version Gameplay

PS3 Video Clips

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