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Got Wii U and Windows 8.1

With the release of Wind Waker HD Nintendo released a Wii U bundle with a “limited edition” Zelda Wii Gamepad, so I thought it was a good chance to get that Wii U that I intended to buy but never really did because of the lack of games.

Wii U Wind Waker bundle box

Box shot of the Wii U Wind Waker bundle

Zelda Wii U Gamepad and Zelda Wii Motion Plus controller

The Zelda Wii U Gamepad next to the Zelda Wii Motion Plus controller from the Skyward Sword bundle

That being said, there still is a lack of really good games for the Wii U. I bought Nintendo Land (which has at least a few multiplayer games that are quite fun) and also ordered Assassin’s Creed 3 which I look forward to playing on the Wii U just to see how much better it feels to have a map on the gamepad instead of having to go into the map screen every 10 seconds. Oh well, honestly I’m not in a hurry to get more games, but I do want to get a few more party games before I get too bored of playing Nintendo Land!

 

Windows 8.1 was released a few days ago, and while my Acer Iconia W511 could automatically upgrade from the Windows Store, my stationary computer had to be upgraded with an installation DVD because it was installed using a corporate version of Windows 8. And it took a long time to download the Win8.1 DVD from Microsoft’s website, probably because a gazillion people are downloading it right now. But I eventually managed to upgrade my stationary too.

It is nice that I can now boot directly to desktop, see my desktop wallpaper on the start screen, and that it is slightly easier to move icons around on the start screen. Though honestly I don’t really use the start screen for much except searching for programs, which is why it is still a bit cluttered in my screenshot.

Start Screen Wallpaper

Now you can choose to keep your desktop wallpaper on your start screen

The search is supposed to be improved in 8.1 too, now it automatically searches across all apps and files. I did try just now to search for one of the songs on my computer, and Windows did find the file quite quickly. Selecting the file started playing it in my default audio player (Mediamonkey). When I say supposed, it’s only because I never really tried “advanced” searching much in Windows 8, so I wouldn’t really know what has changed.

Oh and now you can dock more than two Windows 8 apps on the screen at the same time (as long as it’s larger than a certain resolution), and you can also dock apps on more than one monitor at the same time (in Windows 8 I could only dock things apps on a single monitor, and the Start screen would insist on opening up on that screen when I had something docked). If nothing else, I can at least now keep the Facebook app docked on some edge of one of my monitors. Yeah I might be kind of a FB junkie.

In Windows 8.1 you can now dock apps to multiple locations and also still use the desktop at the same time

In Windows 8.1 you can now dock apps to multiple locations and also still use the desktop at the same time

While chatting in the Facebook app for Windows 8.1, I noticed that Microsoft still hasn’t fixed the issue of spell check being enabled in apps even though it’s disabled in the PC settings… I think I noticed this in Windows 8, but because I didn’t use so many apps before, I forgot about it. Until now that Facebook made an app. Eventually I gave up chatting using the app and installed the desktop version of Facebook Messenger. Because I do chat a lot more on FB than on other services nowadays.

Oh and yeah, they did add the start button back to the desktop task bar. I don’t really care since pressing the Windows button on the keyboard is 10x times faster than using the mouse to click on the button, but I did notice that they added a bunch of shortcuts to useful system settings if you right click on the Windows button! Which could potentially be useful. I guess.

So I guess now it’s about time for me to start making Windows 8 apps! As soon as I finish Wind Waker HD. And Fez. Also I ordered the new Pokemon game. Oh well, soon.

 

Posted by on 2013-10-19 in Rambling

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Stockholm, moving, Batman, Skyward Sword

I visited Yann and Gabriel in Stockholm in the beginning of November. Went to Gamex and tried out a bunch of games, was happy to try Skyward Sword and Super Mario 3D Land! Also Kirby’s Return to Dreamland, and various other games. Also we got to listen to a preview of the Gamer’s X-mas concert, lots of great video game music! Almost considered going to their concert the next weekend, but I was kinda tired of travelling by then, needed a break.

Batman 3D
I didn’t bother to try Batman: Arkham City since I was expecting to get it soon…

I’ve moved back to my old apartment now, missed living by myself! It’s great! And I got a copy of Batman: Arkham City shortly after moving, which kept me entertained for many evenings untill I got Zelda: Skyward Sword. Can finally play all evening without worrying about disturbing my brother’s homework. And the apartment doesn’t get messy shortly after I’ve cleaned it.

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Although it took some time before it was cleaned up after moving.

I bought the Collector’s Edition of both games (Batman and Zelda), but according to Spaceworld they hadn’t gotten the shipment of Batman: Arkham City Collector’s Edition before now. So it’s on its way in the mail. But the webshop sent me a normal edition copy of Batman for me to borrow and also sent me a bunch of promotional stuff to compensate, quite good service! Unfortunately I’ve read online that there seems to be a bug in the XBox 360 version of Batman, where the savefile would randomly stop working, so I’m a bit too worried to keep playing the game now. But since I got Skyward Sword I’ve been playing that instead.

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So, those two games plus the moving and unpacking and cleaning are the biggest reasons why it’s been more than a month since I updated. Though I did have some other activities too last month besides going to Stockholm.

For one it was my birthday, which I didn’t really celebrate much this year, just had a dinner and cake with my family. It was nice! Didn’t get so many gifts, but as you can see I already bought lots of stuff for myself so I’m happy. My parents gave me lots of stuff for the apartment too: a bigger bedquilt, new shower curtains and some furniture. Tina bought me a wooden cutting board, I try to cut down on plastic kitchen utensils now.

We had a party game and dinner day at church and also a sleepover weekend with A.L.I.V.E. at a church member’s house. Made cupcakes, played games and had fun together.

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Buttercream topping was a bit too much for most of the A.L.I.V.E. members. Basically 100% margarine with some powdered/confectioner’s sugar and food coloring.

And I went to the Mission Training Weekend in Gothenburg, where we had some training on how to share our testimony with people. Met a lot of friends, ate the sushi buffet at Haiku Sushi (again). I think the consensus amongst my friends is that the sushi there is "all right", though not necessarily that impressive. The buffet is quite cheap in any case (in my opinion), costs almost the same as buying a medium sushi meal in Norway.

IMG_20111119_150202These aren’t all mine.

I think I’ll go play a bit more Skyward Sword before going to bed now. It’s is an amazing game, every time I play I have a hard time putting it down! Hmm so it’s probably a bad idea to start playing now. Oh well, it’s weekend. It’ll be fine. Probably.

 

Posted by on 2011-12-03 in Uncategorized

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Enoch Birthday, Easter Travels, Portal 2

I forgot to mention it in the last post, but we had a surprise party for Enoch a few weeks ago. I was a bit late since I was working and also went to buy some snacks for the party, and I ended up going to the apartment when almost everyone else were actually hiding in the backyard to surprise Enoch. When I was to go down, I was almost spotted by Enoch who was on his way up with the elevator! Luckily I figured that since the elevator was taking such a long time to arrive right after I took it, someone must be on it. So I went down to the lower floor to take the elevator from there instead. From there I could hear Enoch getting out of the elevator and Elin greeting him when he went inside the apartment. I then went down to the others, who called him up and asked him to look out of the window, to see everyone standing there!

Enoch's birthday cakes!
Enoch’s birthday cakes!

We didn’t really do anything in particular at the party, just played a bit Alias and ate and chatted. Never got around to play mafia or watch any movies either. But it was fun anyhows!

During the Easter week I went to two cities. First I went to Stavanger to visit some friends there, since Anna was going there in Easter to visit Man Jai, and asked me to come join too. Most of the time I was just staying at Elisa/John/Janey/Cecilie’s house, talking and playing card games with my friends, watching TV and eating. It was nice seeing people again and chatting with them!

Friends in Stavanger

Then I went back to Oslo, where my parents had a birthday party for my mother with lots of their friends. Bought her a bath pillow in Stavanger as a birthday gift, since her previous one was leaking air. Ate lots of great food!

After that I went to Stockholm for the NCCC Easter (youth) camp. I enjoyed the camp and talking to my friends there, and I also met pastor Dick Lee that I went on a church internship with about ten years ago! Tried to find photos from the internship trip that I had, but I couldn’t find any, I guess I didn’t take any photos during that trip? Huh…

Me and Dick Lee
Random mugger in the background

Unfortunately I was kind of sick during camp so I spent a lot of time in bed instead of talking more with people… The camp is too short! By the time we got "warmed up", the camp was over… I do feel reminded about how God has answered a bunch of my prayers!

Anyhows, Portal 2 came out during Easter! I played a bit before going to Easter Camp, and finished the rest of it once I got back from the camp. It truly is an excellent game with an interesting and well-written story, even though it’s basically a puzzle game made with a first-person shooter engine! And the game is also quite short, though longer than the first Portal game. I want to try the two-player coop mode, but as far as I understood it that would require my brother (or some other person) to buy another copy of the game. Hmm, I guess I’ll check if anyone else has the game…

J. K. Simmons is hilarious as Cave Johnson in the game, who sounds pretty much like J. Jonah Jameson in Spiderman, only caring about his own goals and totally disregarding other people’s wellbeing. Wheatley is also funny and likeable, though it’s kind of sad what happens to him. I won’t spoil it for you though. You should play this game if you like puzzle solving and funny dialogue! Unless you think it’s too expensive for a short game. According to Steam, I finished the game in only 6 hours. I guess it’d be longer if I tried to get all the achievements, and also if I get around to play the co-op mode.

In other news I’ve been home from work after Easter because of being sick. Been in bed almost all the time, except when doing stuff on the computer. But I got some medicine now, so hopefully I’ll get better soon!

 

Posted by on 2011-04-28 in Rambling

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