Grab Beyond Good & Evil OST for free!

Beyond Good and Evil is one of my favourite games ever (might be smart to finally do that list one day and publish it here). I love its green-lips heroine, races design, story, orphaned alien children, graphical design and of course great soundtrack. It is therefore with much pleasure that I would like to point out that the aforementioned soundtrack is available for download free of charge (the password for the album is MySpace.com/HyllianMusic and the list of mirrors is here).

While the music tracks from Beyond Good and Evil haven’t reached the ultimate status that mp3 can dream of, namely being put in the permanent folder on my Zen Stone player, they are quite memorable and I do come back to listen to them every now and again. There is also a good deal of variation between them: ranging from ambient oriental music (“Ancient Chinese secrets”) which I have used as a background for one of my tea ceremony dates, through weird sounds of “Propaganda”, to aggressive techno-ish boss fight theme (“Sins of father”), they provide a good variety of tunes for different moods.

The soundtrack was in fact released for free long time ago, which is when I got it, but it’s just quite recently that it has popped up on MySpace. Even if it’s just the clever marketing ploy in order to draw our attention to incoming Beyond Good and Evil 2, I am comfy with it, because I do like freebies, plus this soundtrack is really awesome. Also, worth noting is this interesting remix of one of the main themes, availabe at OCRemix – it is an unofficial remix, but it’s quite good, so I allow myself to link to it as well.

Free MAC Address Changer

There are rare occasions when even an average user needs to change their MAC address, otherwise known the physical network card address (on Windows you can check it by typing ipconfig -all in command console). One of the most common reasons is MAC filtering by internet providers. In my case, I needed to be able to use my company laptop for strictly job-related purposes from home. The problem was that my internet provider only allows one computer to be connected to the internet; more than one computer sharing the connection means that monthly fee goes double. I am not kidding here – welcome to Poland.

Were I to use more computers in the home network, I would probably just sit down and tinker a bit, the result being a post on routers with MAC cloning (this may happen one day), but as someone who normally abides the rules, I didn’t want to go down this road. After all I only use my company laptop on rare occasions, so I just needed to change the MAC address of its network card.

While searching for a tool that would allow me to do that, I realised that there is a is a crapload of programs out there that I would have to pay to use. It seemed to me that changing MAC address is such a simple thing that a free program should be able to do it. I was right – there are free programs that will change your MAC address, they are just buried in Google underneath steaming piles of crappy software the creators of which are greedy.

The most comfortable solution I have found was Technetium MAC Address Changer v5 (the name is pretty much self-explanatory). It’s user friendly, simple to use, does not include fancy-schmancy overblown visual interface, gets the job done and rus on almost every Windows system out there (not sure about Windows 7 though). A great simple tool for a particular purpose is what it is.

Oh, and to anyone that would like to go on about how displaying ones MAC address on the internet can be potentially harmful – did you read the title?

[PMS] PSPDOSBox – DOS emulation on PSP (duh)

When I was a kid, we needed an ugly, bulky PC to be able to play our simple games. I still remember the gray tower of an early AT on which I played modified version of the classic Digger (it was not a very politically correct version, substituting names of monsters with names of communist officials of the period).

Nowadays all we need is a PSP.

The development of technology doesn’t cease to amaze me. I was quite shocked that PSP could handle GTA in its full three-dimensional glory, but it was programmed by a team of experts for a particular hardware after all. But a huge surprise for me was finding out that a mere homebrew program can actually emulate early PCs – such emulation, while perhaps less stunning visually, is a very complex task and thus also a very impressive thing.

What you see here is in fact not Norton Commander,
but its free Russian clone – Volkov Commander.

PSPDOSBox is a PSP port of DOSBox, a program that allows accurate emulation of DOS environment, in this case on your PSP (this sentence is sponsored by Captain Obvious). It is not a very user friendly homebrew and some amount of tweaking configuration files coupled with a number of trial and error runs will be necessary to set it up properly, but if you are patient enough, you will be rewarded with the ability to play PC games on your PSP – and isn’t that worth fighting for?

As for the speed of emulation, don’t forget that PSP has but a 333MHz processor and emulating a machine as complicated s PC requires significant processing power overhead. As a rule of thumb I would say that XT and AT games mostly run fine, 386 is pushing it, 486 is in some cases borderline playable and early Pentium is beyond the limit of what this emulator can do.

Also, DOS4GW games are generally a no-go, which is a shame. I tried some tricks, but was unable to run them. Some internet sources claim that it is feasible, so perhaps someone with more time, willpower or technical aptitude will manage to do that. I didn’t.

Have I ever told you that I have actually finished Targhan all by myself?

Taking the above limitations into account, I used PSPDOSBox to replay a couple of PC classics of old. I spent most of my time with games from a legendary French developer Silmarils. Metal Mutant, Targhan, Colorado, Star Blade, Ishar – these titles are as playable as they were fifteen years ago. Other games I have played include Prince of Persia, Fury of the Furries, Prehistoric and Electro Body. They all run fine, the only problem being key-mapping – PSP has significantly fewer keys than average PC keyboard.

You will have to excuse me, but I don’t remember exactly which combination of files I used to get DOSBox to run. Below is a couple of assorted links that I used to find files, configs and tips on running the games:
- posts tagged DosBox on QJ.net
- Google-translated Russian forum thread on PSPDOSBox (original here)
- description of p-sprint keyboard
I am afraid you will have to experiment with them by yourself, dear reader, but I assure you that these were my only sources and they were enough to get me to have a playable and usable version.

Other than that, I can only encourage you to give it a try – having a PC on your PSP is definitely awesome. There are even reports on the web of running Heroes of Might and Magic II on PSPDOSBox!

Harpooned

I love Japan, I really do. But despite many things that make it great, Japan also has its dark sides. One of these rather dreadful things is the Japanese approach towards whaling. I wouldn’t be mentioning it here on Barts News (this is principally a game blog after all), were it not for Conor O’Kane, a man who has chosen a rather unusual media channel to draw people’s attention to the issue: he made a PC game about it.

Called Harpooned, the game is in fact a clever satire disguised as your average shoot’em up game. Player controls a whaling ship, killing whales and collecting their meat, while taking care not too shoot protesters. All this is accompanied by sarcastic messages such as “scientific bonus” taking a jab at Japanese explanation that this cruelty takes place just for scientific purposes.

As player progresses through the game, more whales get harvested for scientific research and fewer of them remain in the sea. The comments between the game levels will be saying things like “Our research shows that there are less and less whales in the area – we must kill more of them to find out why it is so” until finally there won’t be nothing in the cold waters but scientific vessel and icebergs…

Average player will be able to complete the game in couple of minutes, but it is not really so much a game but rather a statement disguised as a game, a way of drawing attention to the real-life problem. Therefore I couldn’t really say that its brevity is a handicap, on the contrary – average player will be able to reach the end of the game before they get bored and witness the empty cold sea themselves. I think this was intentional in order to make an impression on the player – it certainly worked in my case.

It’s also worth noticing that the production values are high for an indie game made by one man – from pretty graphics, through blood effects, to sad music, everything is polished and carries a sense of style. There also is an online score board for the best whalers scientists.

Download the game at Harpooned website (there is also a Mac version available) and if you can’t spare five to ten minutes to complete it, at least have a look at the trailer below:

Now, will anyone make a similar game for Taji dolphins?

Barts’ Short Bursts vol. 2 – from pr0n to chess

I do understand that some of you might puke due to excess of PSP emulation related notes recently, so for some distraction from PMS (PSP eMulation Series), here goes a burst of short news and not-so-news to keep those of you that don’t have a PSP yet out of misery.

First of all, new Saint’s Row 2 downloadable content pack, titled Ultor Exposed, will be starring porn star Tera Patrick. I have to admit having teenage crush on Tera Patrick – ever since seeing Forbidden Tales commercial in CD-Action magazine (don’t ask me how a porn ad got its way into a gaming magazine for teenagers, but it was there). Were it not for hardware requirements of Saint’s Row 2, this DLC would be my day one purchase. Don’t give me this funny look, I’ll rephrase it for you: Tera Patrick. In a game. Nerdgasm.

If you are a retro-freak (like me) and love point’n'click adventure games (unlike me), then this new will be your cup of tea: King’s Quest I, II and Hero Quest II remakes are available for free download from AGDInteractive webpage. I’ll pass, there are too many other things to play and do, but I believe some of you will be very happy to check this.

Before I gotten into computer games, I really enjoyed playing chess. Later on, in the busy times of my high school, studies and work, I only played it very occasionally, but I still prefer a game of chess to a game of cards. There is some elegance in this ancient game not found in poker or others based on chance, there is need to think, analyse, observe, plan and create tactics. There is also some psychology involved, but this part gets lost when playing against computer adversary, which is perhaps why I don’t play chess against computer – totally not knowing what it is thinking (also, I don’t like losing). And this is where Thinking Machine 4 comes into play.

This website allows player not only to play a round of chess online, but also to observe how the artificial inteligence is thinking, how it estimates the probabilty of possible variants and combination of moves. A fascinating spectacle unfold with every move, not only hinting the most probable scenarios, but also creating a pretty web of entangled lines visualising alternative futures. Read more about the project here, play your game here and you may also have a look at the post through which I believe I have found it.

How to save and convert YouTube to PSP

I know that there are programs like YouTube downloader and PSPTube to download and watch flv movies on your PSP. They both have some shortcomings, which is why I prefer to watch movies in mp4 format using PSP XMB menu – it is much more comfortable, esthetic and smooth than PSPTube (with all due respect towards its creators, of course).

My story starts with this great music video:

At first I thought that I would download it using KeepVid, an excellent page for saving Youtube videos, would be enough – after all, it provides user with a link to movie in mp4 format (higher quality version of the video) in 16:9 proportion and encoded with H.264, so theoretically it was a perfect choice for saving it for PSP.

Unfortunately, even though the movie looks nicely and is recognized by my PSP, it would hang randomly every now and then during playback, especially when fast forwarding. After careful examination with Gspot (ohoho, I see what you did there with the name), it turned out that the problem is due to resolution of the video. Look at the information below:

I actually missed it the first time – the resolution is 480×270, instead of 480×272. Almost, but in this case “almost” makes a huge difference.

Having no option but to convert video, I started looking for a program that would do the job for me. I wanted something that would be idiot-proof and easy to use, as I don’t have much knowledge about video encoding process (I used to dabble in image and video processing when I was a student, but that didn’t include meddling with half-broken codecs). I don’t have to explicitly mention that the program had to be free as well, do I? PSPVideo9 fit the description, so I downloaded and installed it.

On the whole I find the program annoying – error reporting is quasi-non existent, user interface is cluttered with spam (sorry, commercials). Blargh. But I have decided to give it a try, since I already had it installed. Since as I mentioned before I am a newbie when it comes to video encoding and I do not intend to waste my life on trying to learn the intrinsic details of the process, I have chosen Normal set of options ( less things to fiddle with).

After minimal trial and error, I have settled for these settings:

The result is the video that does not take too much space, has decent quality (more or less the same as seen on Youtube in higher quality) and plays flawlessly. Video parameters are as follows:

Yes, the video stream is a bit too generous when it comes to kbps, but still the result is satisfying. Reencoding with 500kbps doesn’t yield that much difference in file size, so for the sake of this HowTo I have decided to keep it simple and remain in Normal settings domain.

Now, the process of conversion doesn’t take long and with the settings now saved as default, it is pretty much automatic – download Youtube video with KeepVid, process with PSPVideo9, put on PSP, enjoy watching.

Now it’s feedback time – what do you think about this post? Useful? Simplistic? Plain wrong? Let me know via comments.

Barts’ Short Bursts vol. 1 – a bit of everything

I really do need to find some more suitable title for this (such as Gnome’s Decker’s Delight Links or Bytejacker’s Indie Rapid Fire): there are so many things worth bringing to your attention and so little time to write about them. Therefore, I have decided to make posts with a compilation of interesting links and tidbits that don’t quite qulify for a full post, either due to my chronic lack of time or because they are just a small curiosity. Here goes the first bunch:

No country for old pigeons.

Owl Country is a little indie title that I have found on TIGSource, but can’t recall how. It’s just pure magic of teh internets, I guess. While the game itself is a bit of a one trick pony, it has a great intro, amusing gameplay mechanics and big game makers could learn a lot from its authors when it comes to creating atmosphere. Be sure to watch the awesome trailer !

A true classic

Other not-so-indie game that caught my attention is in making is a remake of a retro hit we all know and love: R-Type. Check the trailer here – notice how the player can switch between 2D and semi-3D view, really neat. Another game these guys are making is Lode Runner remake, which makes me instantly like them, even if their website looks like prepared by a ten year old with an outdated HTML book (their Facebook page is a bit better). Sadly, this game is going to be available only for Xbox 360.

Penny Arcade noticed the existence of Poland in their comic strip. I love PA and this one is quite funny, but I need to point out that syfy would rather mean spots (as in nasty case of acne) and syphilis would be commonly called syf, which also means something of low quality or not nice. Always a nitpicker, Barts is.

There are also two quite interesting flash games that I would like to recommend for your gaming pleasure – Virus 3 and Bloody Day Out. They are both about logical thinking and planning a couple of steps ahead. The first one involves infecting a system of geometrical shapes as a virus and requires carefulk planning to infect the whole level within designated moves limit. The second one is starrring a cute little Death cutting through fields of equally cute critters. The trouble is, Death is bleeding out while doing that, so player needs to plan their moves carefully. Bloody Day Out is an excellent time-waster ad I heartily recommand it.

Did you know you can play hundreds of NES games online? I didn’t, so when I first learnt about Virtual NES website, it cost me a good hour or so spent with Belmont, Mario and others. Also, contrary to abandonware sites (mostly illegal), the owners of the site have gone to great lengths to prove their website is legal. Definitely worth a look, especially for other retro freaks out there.

Gaming on Acer Aspire One

Being a gadgeteer, I too often buy cool technological gizmos just because I get into my head that it would be cool to have one. In most cases I get back to my senses some time later when I realize I am not using them to their full potential or that they are not half as cool as their marketing promised them to be and as a result sell them when in need of money. Examples of things I used to own but don’t anymore include: iPhone, Wacom Intuos3 A4 tablet, Toshiba M200, Toshiba M4, Powerizer clone and, just recently, a cool Acer Aspire One netbook.

In case of the netbook craze, I reckoned it would cool to be able to type my blog posts and other writing thingies when travelling by train to my hometown (you wouldn’t believe how long it takes Polish railways to travel 200km…) or occasionally check mailbox when in one of many cafes in the city center. Being able to watch a movie, do lightweight programming or play some games were additional plus. At first I wanted Asus EEE, but it was expensive and I told myself that I wouldn’t buy anything more expensive than 1000PLN (Polish currency, which I give here because dollar conversion is changing a bit too rapidly these days). Then I fell in love with MSI Wind, because it was prettier, got many things better and also carried 6-cell battery, promising about five hours of battery life. For a short period of time I considered Samsung N10, which was even cooler – however, it turned out to be freakin’ expensive as well.

Finally I settled for a used Acer Aspire One, with 6-cell battery, 80Gb hard drive, 1Gb of RAM and Windows XP for significantly smaller amount of money than my limit. Unfortunately, it turned out that while it is quite capable machine on its own, it also has several drawbacks.

First of all, the keyboard, while often described as the best among netbooks, is still too small for me. I am a tall guy of about 2m (6.6 feet) and I do have large hands with long fingers – which made typing problematic. Secondly, while the screen was wonderfully crisp and colourful, it also had very high DPI (meaning very small pixels), making extended use for writing/reading a strain on my already strained eyes. Coupled together, these two issues made my primary application of notebook – as a portable typewriter – very limited. I would get tired of using it for anything else than games and movies much faster than the battery would run out. Don’t get me wrong – it was a delightful little device, only it turned out to be unfit for my particular purposes and physical build. I use the past tense, because I sold it very quickly (in order not to lose money, since the moment for sale on the netbook market is good).

However, this being primarily a gaming website, I couldn’t pass the opportunity to check Acer Aspire One’s gaming capabilities – and I have to tell you that it makes an excellent portable gaming device. All the emulators run smoothly (PSX, Amiga and others), but what’s more impressive, a good selection of great older (but not too old, mind you) PC titles are playable as well. I immediately checked four of my favourites that I was itching ever since seeing some of the other “Gaming on Acer Aspire One” videos: ONI, Manhunt, Morrowind and Unreal Tournament Classic. ONI and UT run flawlessly at full speed, high details and in perfectly fluid animation. Manhunt is totally playable in all its gory glory, occasionally losing couple of frames in some more graphic-intensive fragments when there are lighting and fog effects present. Morrowind becomes a bit less fluid outside, but in interiors runs great and lowering drawing distance makes the game an enjoyable experience. Without further ado, here come the four classics in action:

I do apologize for the video quality, but I made this movie in my last hour of Acer ownership, when the buyer was already on his way to my place. It was bright spring morning and AAO’s shiny screen did become quite reflective. As a result, not only can you watch my skinny hand and arm, but also reflection of me and the camera. While what you can see in the movie looks a little weird with the glare, it actually didn’t infer with playing. In other words, things look much worse in the video than in reality. Still, this is the video showing in action some games (ONI, Manhunt) that you couldn’t find played on a netbook anywhere else on Youtube and it might be helpful if you are thinking about buying Acer Aspire One with potential gaming in mind.

Double portion of LSD Pong

The title says it all – today I would like to share with you two versions of the classic Pong game that both look as if their respective creators enjoyed experimenting with LSD a little too much.

I found the first remake while reading my daily portion of Exophase. It is not so much a full game yet, but a tech demo showcasing what can be done with the new PSP game engine by A_Nub. The chances are that it will soon become a regular game with cool graphical effects. If you have a PSP, download it from the release thread – static screens don’t fully show how trippy this game is. If author adds pulsating plasma background, people will get high by just playing it.

Speaking of plasma, watching Gnarly Pong in action made me recall equally trippy game for PC called Plasma Pong and I have realised that unfortunately I never mentioned it here on Barts News. Essentially, the game is good, old Pong with added fluid dynamics and funky visual effects. It is quite fun to play in short bursts.

While googling for more information, I found out that the notice on author’s page suggests that Atari was unhappy with him using their trademark. On a positive note, though, author promises a new title to make up for that and the original game can be still found in many places over the internet, for example here.

You owe it to yourself to read more detailed review here and see Plasma Pong in action in this video, because similarly to Gnarly Pong the beauty of the game manifests itself best in motion.

[via Exophase]

Zombiegrinder 60000

Not that much can be said about Zombiegrinder 60000, except that it is a scrolling shmup that allows player to literally grind zombies – but there is a little twist to it, which makes it slightly less forgettable.

Player is put in the blood-covered shoes of a man with shotgun who is incessantly running to the right, killing zombies while accelerating. The original concept, however, is that the action is closely tied to music, so when the music slows down, the time flow also does in the bullet time manner, and when the music goes crazy, the action pick up on speed to match it.

Simple? It really is and I don’t think anyone can play the game for more than a couple of minutes, but it’s well executed, provides some distraction from work (ahem) and the idea of time slowing down together with music is neat. Plus there are zombies in it and gamers love zombies, so without further ado, ladies and gentlemen (okay, somehow I don’t think ladies are going to actually play it) I give you:

Olle Hemmendorff’s Zombiegrinder 60000

As the name implies, the in-game music (I know that calling this sound thingy music is perhaps stretching the definition of the word to the limit, but oh well) is grindcore. If you are not familiar with different kinds of metal, such as for example vegetarian progressive grindcore, feel free to inform yourself by means of this excellent video.

[found via comment section of Rock Paper Shotgun post on something completely different]