deKay's Lofi Gaming

The First Wii U Post

My Wii U arrived! So I spent most of the weekend playing it and the games I got with it. Nintendo Land It’s not a minigame collection. No matter who tells you it is, it isn’t. It’s a collection, sure, but some of the games are full, proper games. Take the Pikmin Adventure game. It’s Pikmin. Sure, it’s not got all the item collecting and night-time save-all-the-pikmin bits, but it’s a complete and reasonably long “campaign”. Single player only game …

Managed network install of Google Chrome Frame

If you’re locked into using Internet Explorer on your network, for whatever reason, you’ll probably find that there are some websites that simply don’t work properly, and ask you to install a “modern browser” like Firefox or Chrome. Thing is, allowing other browsers on your network is fraught with technical support issues, especially if you use other systems that insist on only working properly in IE (like some Sharepoint stuff). You can’t rely on users to always use the right …

Lego Pirates of the Caribbean (360)

It’s more Lego! First, the bad stuff. It has crashed on me already – my console froze just 10 minutes in. However, it did the same on Lego Harry Potter last week, so it might be my 360. Then, on the first boss fight, it bugged out meaning Barbosa just stood there, indestructible, and I couldn’t progress. Finally, it seems so small! You see, Harry Potter was huge. The levels were big, but more than that – 4 books with …

My CGC Entries

Over the years, I’ve entered a few games into the comp.sys.sinclair Crap Games Competition myself. Never won (or should that be lost?) mind. Perhaps my games were too good? Read below for the actual games, or skip over to the last page to play them! Octopus Lite (1999) This is my Speccy conversion of an old Nintendo Game and Watch game called (spookily) Octopus. The idea is to guide your little man down to the treasure, nab it and return …

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1 (iPhone)

I said I wouldn’t buy it. I wasn’t going to buy it. I really didn’t want to buy it. Really. But of course, I did. Rubbish. But is it actually any good? Could it be a surprise? In many ways, it does a lot right. Like, very right. Splash Hill, for instance – it’s ace. First level of Lost Labyrinth? Excellent. Mad Gear 3? Lovely. But some of it, like the nonsense of “get 100,000 points!” in Casino Nig^H^H^HStreet 2, …

Gameking – Unleash the Games!

<< Previous (The Gameking) Gameking Games Readers without short-term memory problems will recall that I bought 13 games to go with my Gameking. Each and every one is special in its own special way. Special as in “special needs”, naturally. Firstly, a few points about Gameking games. The cartridges are strikingly familiar to anyone who has ever played on a Game Boy, since they’re exactly the same as Game Boy cartridges. Almost, anyway – instead of “Game Boy” they say …

How to play import Wii games

Thanks to the mysterious (and sexy) The Goat Keeper, I’m now the not-so-proud owner of a US version of the Wii stinker “Heatseeker”. Of course, I knew it was going to be rubbish, but that wasn’t the point. No – I needed something to test if my UK Wii could play imports. And, of course, it can: I show that the disc isn’t recognised by the Wii, then fire up the Homebrew Channel and from there load Gecko OS. One …

My 360 RIP, part II

Yesterday, I emailed Microsoft with the problems I’d been having. Today, I got this reply: Hello Andy, Thank you for writing Xbox Customer Support! We have received your email and I understand that you found that your game discs got scratched while they were inside the Xbox 360 console. I deeply apologize for the inconvenience. Scratches on a game disc can occur for several reasons. However, scratches do not necessarily prevent the disc from working. If you move or reposition …

Am I ready to go Mac-only?

I’ve had a Mac mini now for almost four years. I bought it for two reasons: I needed a new Linuxy server, and my wife needed a machine for internet and email use. Since OS X, under the hood at least, is close enough to Linux to allow me to set up the SSH server, Leafnode, Apache and PHP things I used my old (P233) Linux box for, and it was easy to use “at the desktop”, it seemed perfect. …

Onkyo breaks Wii Virtual Console: The Horror!

Noooo! My lovely shiny expensive sexy audio equipment has a flaw! A nasty horrid flaw! It seems that you can’t play Wii Virtual Console games through it. The picture splits in half, and the left half is on the right and vice versa. Then the screen goes black. And then I can’t use the Home button to bring up the menu, as when I do, the Wii crashes. Rubbish! Thankfully, I figured ot a workaround. Until now, everything that goes …

Gizmondo resurrection: Exciting Psychic Worlds!

Just when you thought the Gizmondo Story had reached the final chapter, it seems there may be a sequel! The Gizmondo was a poorly realised and even more poorly marketed handheld machine, with built in camera and GPS, and with game and media playing facilities. Seven people bought one. Of course, the great thing about Gizmondo wasn’t the device, but Gizmondo Executive Stefan Eriksson. Eriksson had a dodgy financial background, links to organised crime, and, in 2006, crashed his Enzo …

Fillum Review: Jingle All The Way (1996)

So this was on Channel 4 at the weekend.¬¨‚Ć Actually, I watched it on Channel 4 +1.¬¨‚Ć No, that’s not “Channel 5”, but rather Channel 4, again, one hour later than “standard” Channel 4. Do other countries do this? Anyway – the review! The plot is generic Christmas nonsense. Man (Howard, played by Arnie) promises son a Turboman doll (or rather, “action figure”) for Christmas, leaves it until Christmas Eve to bother buying it, and OMFG NO! It’s sold out! …