RPGeek's New Writeups

Children of Mana (review)

2009-11-06T23:55:37Z

Developer: Nex Entertainment
Publisher: Square Enix
Release Date: March 2, 2006 (Japan), October 30, 2006 (North America), November 30, 2006 (Australia), January 12, 2007 (Europe)
Platforms: Nintendo DS
ESRB Rating: E10+ (Language, Mild Fantasy Violence)

With Secret of Mana for the Super Nintendo, Squaresoft established the action RPG in its modern form. It merged the freewheeling top-down gameplay of the Legend of Zelda games with a character advancement system borrowed from more methodical games such as Final Fantasy, and was elevated to classic status by its seamless co-op multiplayer. However, since the publication of the Japan-only sequel Seiken Densetsu 3 in 1995, the series has been mired in mediocrity, and, unfortunately, Children of Mana is more of the…

beta decay (thing)

2009-11-05T03:59:52Z

Beta decay is one of the forms of radioactive decay, where the nucleus of an atom transforms into a different nuclear species while emitting an electron or positron(beta particle). Unlike alpha decay, where part of the nucleus is simply ejected, in beta decay one of the protons or neutrons that make up the nucleus is transformed into a neutron or proton, respectively. This transformation changes the nucleus into that of a new element but leaves the total number of constituents, called the mass number (A), unchanged.

Discovery and Significance

Shortly after Becquerel discovered the existence of radioactivity, it was shown that there were three types of radioactive emission: positively-charged alpha particles, negatively-charged beta particles, and neutral gamma rays. It was soon discovered that the beta particle was an electron, but properties of beta decay remained a strong driver for theoretical physics through the first half…

virtual console (thing)

2008-11-28T22:40:40Z

In the most recent generation of video game consoles, backward compatibility has been a major point of competition between the three major hardware manufacturers. The success of the Playstation 2 in the previous generation is seen as being due in part to its full compatibility with the vast pre-existing library of PlayStation games and peripherals. Nintendo, having switched from cartridge to disc media between the Nintendo 64 and GameCube; Microsoft, being a newcomer with their Xbox; and Sega with their non-compatible Dreamcast were thus at a disadvantage, especially given the dominance of the original Playstation.

This time around, the situation is different; all three major consoles have some form of backward compatibility. Though the Xbox 360 has an extremely different architecture to the original Xbox, a system of software compatibility is available that is compatible with roughly half the games on the original Xbox. Sony's stance with the Playstation 3 has evolved…

Braid (review)

2008-11-20T00:31:25Z

Platform: Xbox Live Arcade, PC, Mac (forthcoming)
Genre: Puzzle/Platform
Developer: Jonathan Blow
Release Date: August 6, 2008
ESRB Rating: E10+ (Cartoon Violence, Crude Humour, Lyrics, Suggestive Themes)

One major change to the console world with this generation of consoles is the addition of download services, which publish small, inexpensive games through digital distribution. Xbox Live Arcade, WiiWare, and the Playstation Network provide independent game developers with a new means of distribution, backed by the promotional resources of the large console manufacturers. One developer that has come to prominence through these services is Jonathan Blow, with his popular Xbox Live Arcade game, Braid.

Braid is, on its surface, a lushly animated, beautifully orchestrated 2D platform game. The player guides the protagonist, Tim,…

libdvdcss (thing)

2008-11-19T01:37:46Z

While the DVD-Video format does not require copy protection, the ease of making and distributing digital copies led the movie studios to develop an encryption-based system of access control, the Content Scrambling System or CSS. The MPEG-2 video stream of a CSS-protected DVD is encrypted using a proprietary 40-bit cipher with the key stashed in a separately-encrypted header region. This header is encrypted with a variety of different keys, which are held as a trade secret by the DVD Copy Control Association (DVD-CCA). In principle, to play a CSS-encrypted DVD you must first license one of these keys from the DVD-CCA, signing a long licensing agreement which restricts how your player may handle the decrypted content and requiring absolute confidentiality of the key.

Since the vast majority of DVDs have CSS encryption, this allows the DVD-CCA to control the implementation of the DVD format. Since the license is expensive and requires non-disclosure of the encryption keys, this prevents…

Dell XPS M1330 (thing)

2008-11-05T23:40:41Z

Introduced in the summer of 2007, the Dell XPS M1330, along with its 15-inch sibling the M1530, was intended as a departure from Dell's reputation as a producer of dull, boxy laptops bought more for their value than their design. While the M1330 lacks the elegant minimalism of Apple's laptops, the sleek, lightweight design strikes a balance between elegance and functionality. The M1330 is a direct competitor to Apple's MacBook, and is a better value while not compromising on style.

In early 2008, I was getting tired of the bulk and aging technology of my old laptop, a Dell Latitude D505 named Falcon. As a Linux user, I wanted a machine which was well-supported by current Linux distributions, but, at the same time, I wanted a machine which was small and light for ease of transportation. My first thought was of the MacBook, though it had a few Linux compatibility issues, because of its compact design and the seductive flashiness of Mac OS X. When I heard that Dell…