iPhone 3G Composite AV Cable

- Only $7.40 shipped from dealextreme.
- Works fine with iPhone 3G 2.2.1.
- Quality is pretty good for composite. The above video was converted with handbrake at a pretty low bitrate (about 500MB for the entire movie). It still didn't look too bad blown up to 52". Make sure you go into settings, ipod to adjust some tv out settings. After that I got it to fill the screen perfectly and still maintain the proper aspect ratio.
- Charges while using the cable through the usb connector. I did NOT try syncing but the charging part seems to work fine. Use it with this great USB power adapter.
- Who knows if it will continue working once 3.0 comes out. But for $7.40 it's not that big of a deal to me.

Highly recommended. It's dirt cheap and works fine (at least for now). It turns your iPhone into the ultimate portable video player. Hook it up to a TV while you are at a hotel as long as the tv has composite inputs. The only drawback is stuff you order from dealextreme usually takes about 3 weeks.

UPDATE: 6/29/09
- They do NOT work with iphone 3gs. I think a friend tried it with the iphone 3g with the 3.0 os update and it still worked. On 3gs it works for like 3 seconds and then a message comes up about accessory not being compatible and then cuts the output which we all know is BS b/c I just saw it working just fine. Screwed by apple again. Well, I guess I can always get the offical apple composite cables for $50 ($42 apple tax!).

Nintendo DSi

- Preordered one from Amazon for $170 just to save on shipping.
- The screens do feel a bit larger but of course the resolution is still the same so the pixel density is even lower. It's quite noticeable especially if you've just been playing on an iPhone.
- I like the new volume and power buttons. It's nice that you can't accidentally change the volume like with the slider on the ds lite.
- There are 5 brightness levels and the maximum volume seems louder than the ds lite.
- The matte finish is also nice and feels good in your hands.
- No slot 2 means no GBA games and no guitar hero. There are still some good classic GBA games like super sf II and doom which never got ported over to the ds.
- The SDHC slot support is pretty weak. I stuck a 32gb class 4 in there which worked fine. But what you can do with it is pretty darn limited. You pretty much can only copy dsiware games from the internal memory to the sd card but you cannot PLAY from the sd card. You can only play dsiware games from internal memory. Man this feels like launch wii conditions. They need to get that fixed quickly in a future firmware update. You can also take those whopping .3 mega pixel pictures and save directly to sd. Finally, if you convert some mp3's to aac format, it has a pretty average music player. The biggest drawbacks are you can't lock the buttons and you can't even close the lid without the whole system going into sleep mode and stopping music playback. Pretty lame that it doesn't support mp3. So basically don't bother getting a large sdhc card because most of it will probably go to waste unless you plan to use your dsi as an aac player. I have my iphone for that.
- For mp3 -> aac conversion I like dbpoweramp.
- The overall form factor doesn't seem much different from the ds lite. It really didn't seem any thinner.
- I haven't played it long enough to judge how battery life is yet. Battery is still user replaceable which is nice.
- What is up with changing the power plug yet again!!!! At least I found a pretty good 4 in 1 usb charging cable that works with ds phat, ds lite, dsi, and psp. Pricing is dirt cheap from dealextreme but expect shipping to take around 3 weeks.
Couple that with this very nice usb power adapter (works great with iphone 3g too with the iphone usb cable):
- The two cameras are pretty low resolution. I guess it's ok for the smallish screens on the dsi. You can do all kinds of real time manipulation of the image like stretching it out, etc. My kids got a kick out of it. It also has a pretty nice slide show mode. What is pretty lame is you can only view pictures taken with the dsi. You can't just put a bunch of jpeg's on a sd card and view a slide show. WEAK!!!
- No video support at all (playback or capture).
- The audio recording application is pretty limited. You can only take very short clips and only save to internal memory. It also lets you apply all sorts of funny filters.
- The camera, sound, and music application all feel very fisher price to me.
- Finally, they added WPA support which btw works just fine with dd-wrt. Too bad it's not backwards compatible with older ds games that only support wep.
- You can link your dsiware account with your wiiware account so you only have one login to worry about but what is silly are the points are tracked separately. That means your wii points and dsi points are separate buckets. At least they give you $10 (1000 points) free when you first login. There really isn't much dsiware to pick from. I Bought birds and beans for $2, and I guess I got my money's worth but it isn't anything that you couldn't play on a GBA. Hopefully we'll see more cool indie stuff like the wii has been getting.
- I also grabbed the free opera browser which works kind of ok. You'll tend to run out of memory on more complex pages and of course there is no flash support. Eh, I've got my iPhone which is probably the best hand held browser out right now.
- I upgraded the firmware to 1.3u.
- Comes packed with an extra stylus which is a good thing. The stylus slot is a bit loose for my taste. Still no wrist strap though there is a notch to attach one. Yup, I'm still using my original wrist strap that was included with my ds phat.
- I picked up this case which is pretty nice and compact.

Nintendo DSi Skin






- Got it from bestskinsever.com for $8 + $2 shipping during a promo. Right now it goes for $11.
- These skins are made out of a very tough material that is highly resistant to scratching and punctures. It covers almost every inch of the DSi for complete protection. It's pretty much the same thing as invisible shield but a lot cheaper.
- Make sure you read the faq and installation instructions carefully.
- Installation is pretty tough. It took me about 2 hrs and even then I screwed up in one corner of the cover but overall it came out pretty good. Here are some tips:
- You want as little dust as possible because getting dust trapped under the skin not only looks bad but also causes air bubbles which makes things even worse.
- There are two methods to wet the skin before applying. You can either use a spray bottle or dip it in a shallow container and shake off as much water as possible. I used the dip method. The advantage of the dip method is it slides around pretty easily for positioning the skin. The disadvantage are the corners and edges are hard to stick because initially it is so wet. You really have to wait several minutes for it to dry out a bit and hold the corners for 30 sec several times before it sticks.
- Doing it in a steamed (from running say a hot shower) does help with keeping the dust out of the air. I've also read a fan helps but it didn't seem to do much for me.
- Keep a credit card handy to help smooth out the skin though keeping your fingers wet and just doing it by hand works quite well.
- Use a toothpick if you need to peal up a corner and retry. It's best though once you lay the skin down you don't ever lift it back up. Just slide it around until it is in position.
- The pieces are cut very precisely and only fit one way. There isn't much room for error so make sure you know where every piece goes and position them carefully.
- A lint free cloth with a bit of highly diluted vinegar and water solution works well to clean the surface before applying the skin.
- Make sure you let the the DSi dry for 24hrs before turning it on.
- You definitely want to wait 36 hrs for best results. The difference between the first 24hrs and 36 hrs was pretty dramatic. It really does smooth out, and most air bubbles will vanish in 36 hrs.
- The feel of the skin is something you'll have to get use to. It's a bit tacky with a slight grip to it. Here's my biggest complaint. For the touch screen it doesn't really reduce sensitivity much as far as using it like a pointer. You don't really need any more pressure to say click on a button. The problem is with gestures with games like Rhythm Heaven. I find it quite a bit harder to flick and drag the stylus across the skin. It really takes some getting use to or I might never get use to it. It looks fine though. The skin is pretty transparent.
- One thing I tried that helped a lot with the touch screen: I wiped the entire ds really well especially the touch screen with baby wipes. This seemed to remove some of the tacky feeling and makes the stylus glide much better over the touch screen. I gave elite beat agents a try, and it seemed to work much better after cleaning the skin.
- The other option is to go with some Hori clones (or the genuine ones) for at least the touch screen. I have some of the hori clones but I haven't decided if I want to put those on instead. I really did a pretty good job on installing the screen pieces so I'm a bit reluctant to remove it.
- The skin also makes the DSi look very shiny. I kind of liked the original matte look and feel. It's really just personal preference.
- Overall what you gain is really good and very complete protection. What you lose is some stylus control on the touch screen and a change in the look and feel of the device. Also, a lot depends on your skills at installation, and I can tell you right now I don't have the most steady hands. I think a lot of it depends on personal preference if you like these full body skins. At $11 + shipping it's not a whole lot to risk. If you don't like it you can always remove it.

Highly recommended if you don't already have a DS. Otherwise I would probably recommend you wait until some good exclusive DSi games come out that make good use of the cameras or maybe a killer dsiware game. Right now it's just a slightly nicer DS Lite for $40 more.

Halo Wars (XBOX 360)

- Finished the single player campaign. Length was pretty good: 15 missions. I did most the of the missions on normal. The last few missions I just switched it to easy because I was trying to get a few more achievements. Besides, there aren't any specific achievements for finishing all missions on normal. I got all skulls and black boxes.
- I tried a little bit of skirmish (farming more achievements) but haven't tried online yet.
- Cut scenes are very well done. The voice acting is quite good, and the story isn't half bad. It was also quite appropriate that I played this right after finishing Halo: Contact Harvest.
- Graphics are quite nice though you don't get much camera zoom control.
- Unit caps were much too low. I prefer either very high are no unit caps like in the c&c games.
- It's a very streamlined and simplified RTS but feels pretty at home on a console. It kind of reminds me a bit of battle for middle earth. You can only build bases and structures on preset spots on the map. Resources come in via supply drop ships that you really don't have to worry about defending. Base defense is pretty much taken care of with turrets. The tech tree is pretty shallow. Unit variety is pretty low.
- Controls work pretty well for the most part. I'm still unhappy about the limited ways you can group your enemies. They let you select all units or local units. You can also easily pick all the units of a particular type but I really wish there was a way to exclude multiple types for your current group or select more than one type from your current group. The circle selection method doesn't help much either. The ability to quickly jump between your different local groups and bases is nice though.
- Path finding is adequate most of the time but once in a while they will do some screwy things.
- Mission variety is pretty good with quite a few heavily scripted levels. Some win conditions seem overly strict. I hate timed missions, and there were a few too many of those. The difficulty ramp is pretty good until you hit around mission 10 where it gets quite a bit harder. Also, I don't particularly like non base building missions. At least heroes can't die and can be revived.
- I liked going heavy air power. I found it quite effective though it takes a while to build up a base to crank out the higher end/upgraded air units.
- What is up with the single mid mission save? Sure you can save at anytime but I would have liked a few slots for experimentation.

Highly recommended. Great RTS lite for the console especially if you are just getting introduced to the genre. There's quite a bit of replayablity. The missions can be quite difficult on the higher skill settings.

Far Cry 2 (XBOX 360)

- Finished the single player. Haven't tried multiplayer.
- The game took 34 hrs. I subverted all main missions, did all cell tower and weapon dealer missions, and found all tapes except 1 and I can't remember which one I missed. I did quite a bit of diamond hunting in the north but not much in the south because by then I had bought pretty much everything I wanted.
- Stats:
96%
21/40 side
5 underground
11 buddies
9 dead
10 rescued
870 diamonds
20 weapon bought
favorite weapon as50
m-249
mac-10
32,482 shots fired
17% accuracy
308 wounds healed
time played 33:43:02
125km walked
257km driven
3km swam

- This game is beautiful. I love the lighting, weather, sunsets, etc. It has an amazing sense of place.
- They really nailed the combat. The weapons are very satisfying and feel and sound great. They AI is pretty good at taking cover and flanking.
- PC version has save anywhere. Console versions have save points that you have to find like in safe houses. This annoyed me a bit at first but I got over it.
- The amount of land to explore is massive with a nice variety of environments.
- Side and even main story line missions follow a pretty rigid structure without much deviation. You'll find yourself doing the same types of missions over and over again with just a few slight variations and a change in locale. But it nails so many core aspects I don't mind the repetitive nature of these activities. It reminds me of Assassin's Creed in this respect. I didn't mind the repetition because I was still enjoying myself even after 30 hrs.
- You will definitely want to subvert the main missions to get the upgrades to your safe houses.
- I did all available weapon dealer missions first because I wanted to unlock my weapons first.
- Favorite weapon load out: AS50, M249, M79. For the earlier part of the game I used: Dragunov SVD, PKM, IED
- I love the vehicle with the mounted grenade launcher. You can burn down entire villages and checkpoints.
- Fire looks cool and affects gameplay. It spreads like a real fire does.
- Malaria isn't too bad. You only run low on pills once you advance a certain amount in the main missions. So you can work on side missions without ever worrying about running out of pills.
- Weapon jamming is a bit more of an issue. Just make sure you go by the weapon dealer and swap out weapons every couple of missions.
- There are many ways to approach an objective especially depending on your play style and weapon load out. I'm usually a mid range assault rifle kind of guy but I quickly fell in love with sniping.
- It is by far one of the most satisfying sniping games out there. I pretty much only used the Dragunov and then switched to the AS50 as soon as I was able to unlock it. Things get way intense when they start shooting mortars at you. You are frantically trying to fend off guys that are charging and flanking you while still trying to find that damn mortar dude (which the AI has amazing accuracy with).
- The ending was a bit short but overall a very satisfying game and a very long one especially for a shooter. The story was rather confusing. I really didn't care who was who or with what faction. Leadership seemed to change almost between every mission.

Highly recommended. Looks great and plays great. If you dig the core elements of this game and don't mind a bit of reptition, you are in for a great experience.

Madcatz Street Fighter IV Fightpad and Street Fighter IV (XBOX 360)

- I picked one up from gamestop for $40
- Sucks that it is wired. Why won't microsoft license out the wireless stuff to any 3rd party controllers except for fake musical instruments??!!?? Cable is pretty long but I added a usb extension cable.
- The size and shape of the pad is just right. It feels really good in the hands.
- The d-pad is very responsive and works great for SF IV. It feels a bit loose and the travel distance is a bit more than I would have liked but it doesn't seem to have any negative impact.
- The buttons are pretty responsive though I find the X and A buttons a bit harder to reach depending on the size of your hands.
- The turbo feature works well and lets you toggle turbo on/off for each of the buttons on the fly. Settings are not persisted between power cycles of the xbox 360.
- Pulling off special moves, typical 3-4 hit combos, ex's, super's, and ultra's are all easily done with this pad.
- Pulling off more complex combos like ones that use focus cancel are pretty difficult to do mostly due to the buttons. I usually like to play with using my right thumb to press the buttons but switching to using your right fingers helps a bit if not quite as comfortable (and you can't hold the pad as steady). I think you really need an arcade stick with nice big buttons to play at that level consistently.

Street Fighter IV
- I am by no means an expert. I'm pretty limited in skill though I played a bunch of SF II back in college. I haven't really touched the series since then.
- I've unlocked all the characters including Seth (which is pretty nerfed as a playable character).
- The graphics and animation are great. It all runs smoothly even over xbox live (well most of the time). The network code really is pretty amazing.
- I love how they stuck mostly to the old school gameplay with an added level of depth if you wish to explore it.
- It took me a while to get use to the two button throws but I really like how you can counter/cancel them now.
- EX, super, ultra moves are a nice addition. I'm not sure how I feel about focus attacks though. It changes things quite a bit, and so far it's one of the harder new aspects for me to grasp and use effectively.
- Characters for the most part seem balanced with a few exceptions.
- Inviting friends over live works great.
- Quick match/player match is mostly broken. If you feel like playing random people just set it so people can challenge you during single player arcade mode. That way you are always playing either against the cpu while you wait for a challenger or some random internet person. I find this works much better than trying to go through quick/player match.
- No quarter mode.
- Being able to map the bumper buttons to all punches or kicks sure helps with some of the special moves.

Both are highly recommended. They really go great together. Once you play SFIV it's really hard to go back to SF II Turbo HD remix which I though was great before but is a bit of an eyesore in comparison. With the pretty much broken d-pad on the original xbox 360 controller, I can't imagine getting one without the other.