What Did You Think About The Sega Pass Intrusion, And PSO 2 Being Hacked?

This email was copied straight to my Blog. I put off posting this, this seemed like another bad Headache coming. It took a long time for Sega Pass to come back up. This is a personal email.
When I viewed this, I was wondering what next. As time passed I ended up not posting this. Life, and the fact, I had problems that needed to be patched with Windows 7, kept me busy. I was suffering from the BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death) bad, luckily the problem has been brought to a minimal but that is another subject.
Recently I decided that it is still a good idea to post this, the reason being, I have received news that PSO 2 (Phantasy Star Online 2) has been hacked, as a supposed prank. I want to show that this is not the first time Sega has been hacked.
By the way if you don't know, Sega Pass has been back up since for a while now. 

Dear Anthony, As you may be aware, the SEGA Pass system has been offline since yesterday, Thursday 16 June. Over the last 24 hours we have identified that unauthorised entry was gained to our SEGA Pass database. We immediately took the appropriate action to protect our consumers’ data and isolate the location of the breach. We have launched an investigation into the extent of the breach of our public systems. We have identified that a subset of SEGA Pass members emails addresses, dates of birth and encrypted passwords were obtained. To stress, none of the passwords obtained were stored in plain text. Please note that no personal payment information was stored by SEGA as we use external payment providers, meaning your payment details were not at risk from this intrusion. If you use the same login information for other websites and/or services as you do for SEGA Pass, you should change that information immediately. We have also reset your password and all access to SEGA Pass has been temporarily suspended. Additionally we recommend you please take extra caution if you should receive suspicious emails that ask for personal or sensitive information. Therefore please do not attempt to login to SEGA Pass at present, we will communicate when the service becomes available. We sincerely apologise for this incident and regret any inconvenience caused. We are contacting all our members with these recommendations. If you have any further questions please contact SEGA customer support on csescalations@sega.com

© SEGA. SEGA and the SEGA logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of SEGA Corporation. All rights reserved.

News on PSO 2 being hacked @:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2J-mYHgl2o&feature=player_embedded

http://www.gamespot.com/phantasy-star-online-2/forum/phantasy-star-online-2-hacked-as-an-alleged-prank-63392681/

News From E3! (Rebooted & Revised)

I had posted previously about E3 and I came to the conclusion, that two of my posts were garbage. So I decided to start all over again. I want to express that accurate reporting is what I am focused on. So I want to apologize for "It Is Called Vita! (And News From Nintendo)" and "PS3 & PC Gaming News: Sony Outshines Nintendo At E3, And PC Gaming Is Still Hot!"

About the Nintendo Wii U, it is true that Nintendo didn't put on as good of a show as Sony did at E3, but as far as the Wii U is concerned, it doesn't mean that the system will not live up to being a Hardcore Console. In fact according to Nintendo Network (http://e3.nintendo.com/hw/#/about). The Nintendo Wii U will support 1080p, and will use an AMD Radeon based HD GPU, and an IBM multi-core CPU. The system comes with a new controller, that is like a tablet, will allow you to play the the Wii U, even when someone else is watching the same TV that the system is connected to. The new controller will add another dimension to the game play of  The Wii U. Now as far as how good the system Hardware will be, nothing is confirmed yet. 

As for Sony, an official name for the NGP from Sony has been announced, "Vita." As mentioned in a previous Blog Post, "PS Vita" is a portable made for Hardcore Gamers. Also an interesting PS Move demonstration involving Medieval Moves: Deadmund's Quest was made at E3. 

As for PC, if you have viewed the game trailers that I posted on my Blog, then you already know that games are still coming out for PC in 2011, and 2012. There is a ton of E3 (and E3 worthy) game trailers, and news, on the Internet for PC Gamers.

The last bit of news I want to share concerns both PC and PS3 Gamers. It is not new news that Sony is already involved with publishing games for PC with Station.com, but CCP (Crowd Control Productions) will is doing more than that, by publishing a game for the PS3 called "Dust," that will connect with a popular PC MMO called "Eve Online." As was mentioned by Hilmar Petursson from CCP, "Dust" and "Eve Online" will be "one universe, one war," meaning the game will have PS3 and PC connected as one gaming platform!

For more information you can check out the links below. I have left the option to watch The Sony E3 Press Conference 2011 from G4 in one part or from Game Trailers in six parts.

Nintendo Network @ E3 2011 - Introducing Wii U:

Nintendo Network @ E3 2011 - Introducing Wii U

Nintendo Network @ E3 2011 - Video Gallery:

Nintendo Network @ E3 2011 - Video Gallery

PlayStation.Blog - PS Vita:

http://blog.us.playstation.com/category/ps-vita/

G4 - Sony E3 Press Conference 2011:

http://www.g4tv.com/videos/53264/sony-e3-2011-press-conference-video/?quality=hd

Game Trailers - Sony E3 Press Conference 2011 (in six parts):

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2011-sony/715655?type=flv

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2011-sony/715657?type=flv

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2011-sony/715659?type=flv

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2011-sony/715661?type=flv

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2011-sony/715663?type=flv

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2011-sony/715699?type=flv

Medieval Moves Deadmund's Quest @ Sony E3 Press Conference 2011:

http://www.g4tv.com/videos/53379/medieval-moves-video-from-sony-press-conference-e3-2011/?

quality=hd

Dust @ Sony E3 Press Conference 2011:

http://www.g4tv.com/videos/53384/dust-514-video-sony-press-conference-e3-2011/?quality=hd

Eve Online:

http://trial.eveonline.com/en/eveishard.aspx?aid=103316&gclid=CKTPloGGt6kCFcgZQgodkh9A9Q

http://www.eveonline.com/

Logo:

http://cooltext.com/Render-Image?RenderID=533953452

Note: most of my changes to my Blog are conerning Nintendo (considering that the Wii U is not out yet). As far as other information , I am an active PC and PS3 Gamer, with a lot of experience on a lot of other game platforms, and Sony doesn't hold back on what the PS Vita is capable of doing.

 

An HD Version Of Wii Is A Good Idea!

When I tour the stores in my area, I get told there are no known plans for a new Nintendo Wii capable of displaying and processing High Quality HD graphics for now, but there are plenty of articles and predictions listed when I Google search about the possibility of a Nintendo Wii made for High Definition graphics.

The second week in February I was looking for extra information on Sony's NGP. When I came across a post from "Crave - The Gadget Blog From CNET" about an HD Nintendo Wii. Even though I knew the article is more likely speculation, I started to think about what if there is a new HD capable Wii. What would that be like? Think of it! The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, and Mario for the first time with stunning HD graphics!

I think it would be cool if there is a Wii with HD technology. I always thought that the Wii should have been least 720p, to make the graphics sharper, clearer, and more pixel correct. I don't know what Nintendo is planning, but if it does decide on an HD capable Wii, I would hope that it would be fully compatible with its current last gen and classic games. All current Wii games should be fully upscaled to High Quality HD (preferably 1080p),with the graphics sharper, clearer and smoother, resulting from being upscaled like many classic games on PC, but not upscaled like classic PS One games on PS3, where the graphics are barely looking any better, and the blocky graphics are blurred (using smoothing). Something similar to Scale3x, or Scale4x should be used, unless Nintendo would have something better in mind.

Right now, the idea an HD Nintendo Wii coming out seems like a tease, but maybe there will be an announcement any day now with some good news.

This Post is from my person.

Reference to "Crave: The Gadget Post From CNET" that inspired me to give my thoughts on the subject from:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10357422-1.html

You can find Google search at:

https://encrypted.google.com/

You can get more info about NGP at:

http://ultimateantman.blogspot.com/2011/02/could-portables-replace-desktops-for.html

You can find more info about upscaling classic games at:

http://ultimateantman.blogspot.com/2011/04/play-station-one-games-need-to-be.html

The wallpaper used in this post is from:

http://desktop.freewallpaper4.me/download/7170/legend-of-zeldas-link

Add note: you can download the wallpaper visiting the site above, also I believe  the current Nintendo Wii can display some games in 720p, like the first Xbox can, because Nintendo Wii has better hardware than the first Xbox.

Free Games On PC

For a long time, my budget was tight, and still is just not as much. But how did I game when the money was tight, in addtion to getting $3 to $10 steal from time to time from a book store where I lived. I downloaded and played a ton of free games, I had to weed out some just mediocre games to find what was cool. I am not going to mention every game that I have played and downloaded, just to many, and I may update this post from time to time, because I have not played all the free games on the internet, and there are so many free games now. But if you want to find games that will let you play even when money is tight here some that I have found to be entertainning:

Vindictus

• Vindictus:  If you are in the mood for some good hack and slash/ brawling action, then this game is a good game to start with! The game play is comparable to God Of War 1, 2, or 3. This game is a mix of MMO Action and RPG. Like an RPG you will go on Quests, and have a wide variety of weapons to use. I like this game, because it is a mix. Also if you have a Hard Core Gaming/Media PC Rig, and use a good HD Monitor or HDTV, set the game in HD resolution, (I prefer my HDTV monitor), then you will see some of the best free to play HD graphics around. I run this game in1080p (1920x1080) it is very now-gen quality. You can try this game out for yourself on http://vindictus.nexon.net/ , and don't go by the video on the page try it out for yourself. To let everyone know also I use a dual thumbstick control to play this game called the Saitek Rumble Force Pad P2600.

Dungeons & Dragons Online (DDO) 

• Dungeons & Dragons Online (DDO): If you are in the mood for a good MMORPG simular to WOW (World Of Warcraft), but has some perks that WOW don't, then try DDO, this game has a variety of quests, some cool weapons, gameplay options, puzzles, and has plenty of interesting areas in the game world; caverns, dungeons, and others. to explore. I set up the game to control like the Fable, so that makes it a plus, I can do that. The graphic in HD resolution, look like they are last gen with now-gen color, lighting,  and post processing effects to enhance the graphics, plus you can enable Very Sharp texture filtering. This game was rated by MMO Hut as the #2 free to play game. I do agree that this is a pretty good MMORPG, plus its free. You can give this game a try at https://signup.ddo.com/ddo.php

Lord Of The Rings Online (LOTRO) 

• Lord Of The Rings Online (LOTRO): This game is very similar to WOW, but the theme is based off of the Lord of The Rings (LOTR) novels. Do you want to play as a Hobbit, Human, Elf, Dwarf, Ranger, Burglar, Wizard, and others, in a genuine LOTR game world, then you should give this game a try. The game does have its moments, When I participated in the Winter Festival, that just past, I had the chance to see a Hobbit passed out drunk, with a mess by his face that could pass for vomit. The graphics on a good gaming PC are better than, WOW, plus like DDO you can enable Very Sharp texture filtering. Here is the link if you want to play for yourself  at http://www.lotro.com/

Spiral Knights 

•  Spiral Knights: Rich now-gen CG 3D Anime style graphics, this game is like if you took earlier games belonging to The Legend of Zelda 2D series, Alundra, or  Land Stalker, and gave them a theme similar to Clockwork Knight on Sega Saturn. From Sega and Three Rings, this game is worth checking out. It ran smooth at 1080p, with graphic settings maxed out. You have to chop down trees and blocks for hearts,  crowns (currency), and other things. I enjoy this game and might even play it when I am finished with this blog post. I could give out more details, but I don't want to spoil it. Play it yourself at http://www.spiralknights.com/

Team Fortress 2 (TF2)

• Team Fortress 2 (TF2): This FPS (First Person Shooter) is now F2P (Free To Play). I received TF2 with The Orange Box that came with Half Life 2, Half Life 2: Episode One, Half Life2: Episode Two, Half Life 2: Lost Coast (as an update) and Portal. This game on a Hardcore Gaming PC, with a High Quality HD TV looks good in either 720p (1280x720) or 1080p (1920x1080). It has CG 3D Animation style graphics resembling a Pixar or Dream Works Movie. TF2 is a comical, and fun FPS, with many different modes to play. If you use your headset you can hear players online cracking jokes, and making all kind of humorous statements. TF2 is available at http://store.steampowered.com/app/440/?snr=1_4_4__13

Like I said before I will update this post in the future. There are some free to play games, that I am playing now, that I might recommend later, and some that almost made this list but didn't. In this post are the ones that made it. Have fun!

Screen Shots were by me and were taken while playing each game.

This post is from my personal experience playing these games, only one reference to MMO Hut from:

http://www.youtube.com/user/MMOHut

Add note: Some thing that you might want to know is in LOTRO like many MMORPGs you can click and hold  the left, and the right mouse buttons, at the same time, to move your character forward, then use the mouse to move your character left or right.