"Sequels are in" - GoW 2 and Saints Row 2 videos

Over the weekend a couple of very cool videos got released with some exclusive footage fo two of this years biggest sequels - Gears of War 2 and Saints Row 2 (if only there  was a decent Fable 2 video this weekend, it would have made one hell of a hat-trick, but I digress).

First of all, the Gears video was all about the new multiplayer stuff in the game this time round, and it looks fantastic! (Sorry about the crappy ads in this one though)

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The second video is for Saints Row 2 - which I have to admit with all the hype of GTA 4 I had kinda thought "meh" about this game, but having finished the first one and then to see where the story line is being taken with this one, you really do just wanna go and get it because it looks awesome!

New DRM tool makes it debut

Well it looks like the rumours on this one were true, MS have just released a new tool that will let you transfer the licenses for all your downloaded content from one console to another. So if you fell victim to the RROD or had to get a new console for some other reason, then this is definitely something you need to check out.

For those who don't know, DRM (digital right management) is a way of locking your downloaded content to the console and gamertag that you downloaded it with. So this means that anyone who signs on to the console it was downloaded to can use it, or the gamertag that downloaded it can use it on any console, as long as they are signed in to Xbox Live. This meant that if you got a new console, only your gamertag could use the arcade games etc. that you downloaded (any other profiles on the console would just see the trial versions) and you had to be signed in to do it.

Now with the help of this tool, you can transfer the licenses to your new console. There are a couple of catches - the main one is that you can only do it once every 12 months. Also you can't transfer licenses for movie rentals (not that we have the video marketplace here in Australia, so I don'e care about that one). And lastly (and this is an important one if you are outside the US) to get to the tool on xbox.com if you are not in the US, go to https://live.xbox.com/signup/UIPStartPage.aspx?appid=ConsoleLicenseTransfer instead of www.xbox.com/drm, otherwise you will get a page not found error (Found this fix in the comments about the tool on Major Nelsons blog, Litheon posted it).

For more information, check out the FAQ on Xbox.com (use the link above) or Major Nelson's blog.

My new PC

I recently got into playing some Halo 2 on my PC, and quite quickly discovered that my PC was not exactly up to scratch on the gaming front. So with my birthday being yesterday, my other half and her family put in to buy me all the parts I needed to build a new PC! I am so happy with it too, this thing just flies! Here is a run down of the specs:

• AMD Phenom x4 9500 CPU (Quad core 2.2GHz)
• 4GB DDR2 800MHz RAM
• Gigabyte GA-MA770-DS3 motherboard (AMD 770 chipset)
• Sapphire ATI HD 3850 512MB video card
• 2x Samsung 500GB SATA2 hard disks
• 2x Leadtek DTV1000T digital TV tuners
• Antec Sonata III case with 500w power supply
• Pioneer 20x DVD burner with lightscribe

I did a 3D Mark 06 test on it yesterday, while it was streaming live TV to my Xbox and it scored 7600 or so, I'll do another test when its not wasting resources on TV to see how it goes!

World of Wifecraft

Saw this video recently and I had to share it - if you are a WoW player and you are in a relationship, you have gotta watch this!

Sitting on top of the world

For those who don't know, the demo of civilisation revolution was put up on the Xbox Live Marketplace yesterday, and my first impression is "wow".

The game has been changed pretty dramatically from previous civ games, but at the same time it is very much the same. The biggest difference is in the speed of the game - no more games that last you weeks in this one, I reckon you could get through an average size game in a few hours. This is a good thing in my opinion, and will help the game be adopted well on the consoles (I suspect PC gamers might feel a little ripped off though).

The visuals have been changed to reflect a more cartoon-ish look, which isn't at all out of place as it is done well. The demo plays incredibly well, so if you can spare the 1.25GB of space on your hard drive it is well worth checking out.

Xbox live port forwarding

I'm posting this just because I'm sick of using Google to find it every time I go looking for it. If you test your Xbox Live connection on your 360 and the NAT status is "moderate" or "strict" this means you need to forward some ports in your router to your Xbox. You will need to get the exact instructions for forwarding ports from your router's manufacturer, but here is this gist of the whole process:

1. Assign your Xbox a fixed IP address on your network (like 192.168.1.10)
2. Log in to your router, and look for the port forwarding section
3. Forward these ports to the IP address you assigned the Xbox in step 1:
1. TCP 88
2. UDP 3074
3. TCP 3074

Once this is done, repeat the connection test on your console (best to reboot the console first to be sure everything is reset) and then you should see "open" in the NAT status.

It's also worth noting that you will need an open NAT status to be able to play some games correctly online (Halo 3's match making and I'm pretty sure Gears of War are two that come to mind off the top of my head) so its worth sorting this one out.

More info from Microsoft at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/908874.