Patchou's Cabana

This one’s mine :-).

While searching for technical information regarding 802.11n networks, I found this good piece of advice.

The Three Rules of Wireless Networking (source):

1. It never goes as fast as they say it does
2. It never goes as far as they say it does
3. It never sets up as easily as they say it does

Following the great experience I’ve had yesterday at Video Games Live (if they go in your city, get a ticket!), I thought I could take some time this weekend to play old PS2 games I never could finish before (like the latest Wild Arms). Unfortunately, my old PlayStation 2 decided she had done enough for me over the years and now refuses to recognize any of my games. As Sony didn’t think it was worth their time to implement the backward compatibility they always promoted as being essential in the PS3 (sight), I found myself wondering if somebody had finally managed to emulate the PlayStation on a computer.

To my great surprise, PCSX2 is exactly that: an excellent PlayStation 2 emulator. So far, it as worked perfectly with all my games, full screen, full FPS, with an incredible boost of visual quality compared to the original PS2. You can even plug your PS3 gamepad on a USB port, enable 5.1 sound and get a complete experience, right on your computer.

I highly recommend any game enthusiast to give this emulator a try. It was set-up on my system in less than an hour, it’s easy to use and, in my own experience, it simply just works. Here are 2 screenshots taken in Final Fantasy XII, one showing what the game looks like on a real PS2, and one showing the game running with hardware acceleration on my computer in Windows. If you maximize those screenshots on your screen, you’ll see what I’m talking about in regard to quality.

FF-XII - As seen on a PlayStation 2

FF-XII - Emulated with hardware acceleration

A new version of Eorze’as Guide has been released and is now available worlwide in the BlackBerry’s app store! Various improvements and updated recipes (1,305 genuine entries from the Lodestone) are part of the 1.4 update, as well as a brand new German translation. If you own a BlackBerry and play Final Fantasy XIV, give it a try now, it’s free!

For more information and screenshots, visit the page dedicated to Eorzea’s Guide on this web site (yup, page browsing is free as well, fantastic isn’t it?).

I just saw Suck Punch at the cinema and I have to say I was impressed. I understand why critics were so hard on this movie: it’s not something you usually see in general public venues you need to keep an open mind to enjoy this kind story. Music was superb and the mood of the movie was set from the first minutes to the very end of the credits, almost 2 hours later. Kudos to Zack Snyder for bringing this movie to us. It’s the kind of enjoyment I generally don’t expect to get outside of the yearly Fantasia festival :-).