save
Latest
Mass Effect save file transfers 'hundreds' of decisions to sequel
When BioWare told us to hold on to our save files from Mass Effect for use in the highly anticipated sequel, our minds drew simple conclusions. We figured it would determine our character's appearance, for example. However, a recent PC World interview with Mass Effect 2 lead producer Casey Hudson reveals the save file's true purpose: it keeps track of your every decision during the first game, which in turn will affect the plot of the second.Not just the big decisions, either -- Hudson says that the player made "hundreds" of choices in Mass Effect that have an impact on the sequel. For instance, Commander Shepard superfan Conrad Verner made a brief appearance in the first game. Players could respond to his fandom in a number of ways (ignoring him, threatening him, supporting him) -- however you decided to treat Conrad will ultimately affect his subplot in the second game. Us? We sent him to hostile alien territories to go snipe hunting. We're worried he'll have a bone to pick with us.This all sounds very cool, but we're still curious whether or not our characters' stats, abilities and equipment will carry over from the first game. Screw the story elements -- we're attached to raw, unbridled power.[Via VG247]
Dragon Quest IX save data 'enormous;' only one slot allowed
The upcoming DS-exclusive RPG, Dragon Quest IX, is massive. In fact, producer Ryutaro Ichimura notes that "the amount of freedom we give players is huge." The consequence? "The data that needs to be saved is enormous." Instead of providing multiple save slots, as found in most DS games, Dragon Quest IX is too large to fit more than one save file in the DS cartridge's limited memory. While those who prefer creating multiple save points (before a dungeon, for example) will be disappointed, we're reminded of yet another huge DS game: Pokemon. And like Nintendo's monster collecting RPG, Dragon Quest IX will feature a backup system just in case your DS battery dies. "The scariest for save data is when the battery dies," notes DQ creator Yuji Horii. With this system in place, you'll be safe knowing a failed save won't result in hours of gameplay lost. [Via Kotaku]
BlackBerry credited with saving skier's life, serendipity left hanging
Not that we haven't heard a few miraculous gadgets-saving-lives stories before, but this one is in a league of its own. According to the always-embellishing Sun, one David Fitzherbert is thanking his smartphone after coming entirely too close to falling 700 feet to his death. As the story goes, he got wedged between a pair of rocks after losing control of his skis in the Matterhorn, and while we aren't quite sure why he chose RIM's BlackBerry over -- say, chap-stick, car keys, his wallet or a fattening breakfast -- he credited it with adding just enough width to his person to keep him wedged. Two hours after finding himself between a rock and a hard place, rescue crews arrived and flew him to a hospital where he used the "0.5-inch wide" phone to tell his wife that he had survived a nasty spill. We still say David owes a round of thanks to genetics, luck and Zeus, but hey, what do we know?
Mac 101: Enter directory paths when in open/save dialogs
Last week I told you about easily switching directories (folders) while in an open/save dialog. This was great when you knew where a folder was located in a specific place, and you could drag + drop it on the dialog. But what if you want to type in a directory path (i.e. ~/Desktop)?While in an open/save dialog, pressing Command + Shift + G will allow you to type in a directory path. For instance, if I wanted to open my Documents directory for my user, I would type ~/Documents. The tilde (~) tells the computer to look in the current user's home directory.Want more tips and tricks like this? Visit TUAW's Mac 101 section.
Terminal Tips: Stop Safari "saved text" dialogs
We're continuing with Safari hacks for today's Terminal Tip. Have you ever typed text on a web page, but then realized that you want to go to another page without saving your input? However, when you close the window or tab, Safari rudely tells you that you have saved text and if you navigate away, your changes will not be saved. While these dialogs can be useful, most of the time they're annoying. If you want to get rid of them, just type in this Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/) command and press enter: defaults write com.apple.Safari DebugConfirmTossingUnsubmittedFormText NOYou will no longer see the dialog when you have typed text on a page and want to navigate away. To reverse the command, replace "NO" with "YES." Want more tips and tricks like this? Visit TUAW's Mac 101 and Terminal Tips sections.
Forum post of the day: Random acts of kindness
Of course there's a lot of bad blood between Horde and Alliance, but every once in a while we work together. About half of the times I've done the Ring of Blood quest line in Nagrand I've seen Horde and Alliance fighting side-by-side. There are some other quests that seem to promote this behavior like "Even Gronn have Standards" and "The Skettis Offensive." Some things just bring out our cooperative souls. Sometimes we just find ourselves compelled to do nice things. Sukalin of EU-Anarchronos told a tale of a complete stranger coming to his rescue:Just a few minutes ago, I was running down through Stranglethorn Vale on my 20 Warlock, so I could get to Booty Bay and eventually The Barrens to do my Succubus quest. I kept getting attacked by beasts and dying, though. About a quarter of the way down I was attacked by a tiger and was reduced to about 5% health when a Troll Shaman called Ayisah shocked the tiger and saved me! I was grateful, of course, and expressed my gratitude in the form of emotes - but in addition to that she helped me travel down the rest of the zone by following close behind me on my way to Booty Bay.
iPhone 101: Saving images in Safari
Have you ever been using Safari on your iPhone or iPod touch and wanted to save an image? Well, the 2.0 firmware makes this easy!Just tap and hold on any picture in Safari. When you do, a menu will pop up allowing you to save the image to your camera roll or follow the image link. Apple even places a subtle outline around the selected image (nice touch, Apple). The great thing about this tip: it also works in Mail. Now you'll never be without your images. Now for that copy/paste (ahem, looking at you, Apple). Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
Apple seeds developers with Safari 4.0
Apple has seeded developers with a copy of the new Safari 4, which adds some new features and is based on a newer version of WebKit. Apple is also rumored to be using the SquirrelFish JavaScript engine which allows for faster Javascript processing.New to this version of Safari is the ability to save webpages as "Web Applications." This new feature allows Safari to save pages similar to the way Fluid does. You also have the ability to choose how new windows will open (i.e. with your favorite bookmark, blank page, etc.). One of the biggest "features" is the fact that Safari 4 (along with the new version of WebKit) scored a perfect 100/100 on the Acid3 test. If you are inclined to see what the new version looks like, World of Apple has placed some screen grabs on their blog for your viewing pleasure.
Wii Warm Up: Back that data up
We know that a lot of you are running out of space on your Wiis, and many of you are using SD cards. We're curious, though, as to whether or not you like to back up your save files on them. Because we're paranoid, and terrified of losing hours worth of data in games like Fire Emblem if our Wiis ever kick the bucket, we usually tend to put our files on our SD cards, for piece peace of mind. What about you? Are you equally as paranoid? And does it freak anyone else out that you can't back up your Brawl data? DOES IT?!? (Deep breath.)
On saving your game
So after being recommended it by a friend a long time ago, and being in a zombie mood, I finally rented Dead Rising last night for my Xbox 360, and while it was a lot of fun, I was really distraught to find that the save system is old school. To save, you had to go to a certain place, and press a button. Die before you saved, and all your progress was lost.Why was this so shocking to me? For one, I've gotten used to the easy breezy, checkpoint saving system of most games nowadays-- hit a point in progress, and your game automatically saves for you, so that if you lose the game for any reason, you can simply load up the last checkpoint and keep going. But the other factor in my save-system shock was all those MMOs I've played. In persistent world online gaming, there is no longer such a thing as "saving" your game.Is that good or bad?
Back up and manage your game saves
Unlike Datel's Action Replay Max Duo, this game-save manager from Gametech doesn't require any GBA-slot jury-rigging or an unsightly device that sticks out of your handheld like an air conditioner. All you have to do is pop your DS cart into Gametech's discreet USB dongle, hook it onto a PC with the installed software, and you're good to go.This $30 device can be really useful for titles like Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja or SimCity DS, both of which having only one save slot. You can also keep a back-up of your progress in case you accidentally lose the game or decide to trade it in later. [Via Game Watch]
TUAW Tip: Speed up Sheet animation
I was reading this article from MacDevCenter on how productivity maven Mark Hurst sets up a new "Good Easy Mac" for his own maximally productive use. He's got a number of interesting choices (check them out for yourself), but one of the coolest tips was a link to a MacOSXhints hint that describes how to speed up your sheet dialog boxes. These are the boxes that appear when you open, save, or print and by default OS X animates them so that they drop down and expand. Well if you open a lot of these sheets like I do, this can get annoying after a while, especially if you use Default Folder X, which adds its own delay. Anyway, a simple terminal command can radically speed up the appearance of these sheets, which over the course of a day can really cut down on the annoyance factor. All you have to do is open the terminal and type:defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSWindowResizeTime .001If you want to restore the default behavior just replace the '.001' with '.2' Anyway, try it, I bet you'll like it.
My Pokemon saves: Let me hack them
Pokesav is an editor program that allows you to hack your Pokemon Diamond and Pearl saves, adding rare Pokemon, changing their abilities, and doing all kinds of crazy hacky stuff. It appears that not only can you generate any Pokemon, you can then assign them abilities outside their type, and with more PP than the abilities can usually have. You need some kind of homebrew ability to do this, obviously, since you need to get your savegames onto the computer. There's even a database of downloadable Pokemon, so you can get started cheating right away. We wouldn't recommend you use ill-gotten Pokemon online, but for your own use, we don't see why you should be bound by the limitations of the game.Check after the break for a tutorial video sent to us by the Hall of Bards. Pokesav is serious business.
CPR Teddy cuddles up nicely, teaches resuscitation
We've seen soft 'n cuddly teddies transformed into nearly every gadget imaginable, but the Save-A-Life Training Center is hoping to teach common individuals how to perform CPR with the use of a less frightening subject. The oh-so-adorable CPR Teddy looks a whole lot better than other CPR training bots that we've come across, and after squeezing one of his paws, "voice prompts walk you through the correct procedures for choking rescue and infant / child CPR." It gets a bit dodgy, however, when you have to submerse yourself in the moment and actually press down on his red heart patch as the bear's built-in metronome paces you. Subsequently, the creature's bow tie actually lights up in green or red to alert you of how you're doing, and his chest will actually rise up as you perform rescue breathing and simultaneously inhale mounds of fur. The basic CPR Teddy kit rings up at just $79.95, but we'd highly recommend picking up a few extra masks to avoid getting choked up yourself when performing mouth-to-mouth.[Via Uber-Review]
Datel PowerSaves: Playing in Easy Mode
Have you gotten so bad at playing video games that you've actually managed to have your character die in Wii Sports: Golf? Has it gotten to the point where you need some sort of "infinite lives" code just to finish a course? Well then, that is pretty shameful. Datel's PowerSaves 512MB SD cards helps you live with that shame, giving you access to hundreds of cheats. Many of the saves on the $24.99 card have been hacked to enable features and codes that developers never even intended for their games. To sweeten the deal, Datel has also bundled in its MAX Media Manager Pro software to help users organize and transfer their photos, videos, and music to their consoles. You'll be the envy of all your friends when they see the effortless life you've made for yourself. Just like you've always wanted.
Xbox Live update hurts online roster sharing
Innocent bystanders get hurt in every war. In Microsoft's war on online cheating, those victims are sports game fans that make and share customized rosters online.5WG did some digging and found that the latest Microsoft dashboard update stealthily disables hundreds of customized rosters that are shared on unofficial sites like 360gamesaves. Apparently, the new update checks all save files against a list of banned system IDs extracted from sharing sites. Files from banned systems will not work on other systems.Why does Microsoft care whose save files you use on your machine? We can only assume the move is an effort to stop players from getting Achievements without earning them by using downloaded save files. This is somewhat understandable -- Achievements are good for both bragging rights and real freebies, and it's important to keep that playing field level.The side effect, though, is the destruction of a small but vibrant community of players using these game saves to extend the value of their sports games. As 5WG points out, "there's no cheat here: just a group of people giving back to the community for little or no compensation."Hopefully Microsoft will come up with a solution that protects their Achievement system and allows for a healthy roster trading community at the same time.[Via ArsTechnica]
Mac 101: Mastering the Save Dialog
The Save dialog in Mac OS X (it's the box you get when you press Command-S) can often lead switchers, and inexperienced Mac users, astray. When you save a document you are presented with a dialog box like the one above (this example is from TextEdit) which is a bit limiting. Do I need to use the drop down menu for everything? How do I save this document some place other than the defaults under the "Where" pop-up menu? Read on to find out how to master any Save dialog box on Mac OS X.
DS Daily: The state of saving
Portable gaming is fundamentally designed for more sporadic, shorter periods of play. Bus rides, waiting rooms, you know the sort. And thus a fundamental problem arose: how does one allow a gamer who needs to stop playing immediately to save one's progress? Allow a true save anywhere, and the game's difficulty is compromised. If the system was left alone, however, frustration would set in as players would be quite often forced to replay the same thing over again.Recently, many games have begun implementing a "quick save" option, which allows a temporary save and one-time load upon rebooting the system (the Final Fantasy Advance series comes to mind). This is confusing for many gamers, though, and accidents are bound to happen. What do you guys think? What's the ideal way to handle the situation?
Gamecube for Wii credit, and tomorrow's chaos
Perhaps some of you are reading this article via your smartphone, waiting in bitter cold weather because you're sick and tired of not having a precious Nintendo Wii. We understand. Tomorrow's deluge of Wii's, which should be occurring at many nation-wide outlets (Best Buy, Target, and Circuit City all seem to be proper candidates), may make many people quite happy. It may make many people really, really pissed off.While you might be willing to spend whatever it takes, we have a bit of thrifty advice. First off, EB Games is taking your soon-to-be-completely-worthless Gamecube as fifty dollars of trade-in credit for a Wii. Normally, they only give twenty-five. While EBG and Gamestop have not been officially confirmed as having units available for tomorrow, it's worth a phone call (why would they advertise such a deal if it were impossible to use?). Also, it seems Tower Records is having a massive sale, with 25% off of pretty much everything, including games. Pick 'em up cheap! And good luck, troopers.[Thanks, Dave and Vincent!]
Wireless headset for $45
Here's a reason for genuine holiday cheer: Amazon is letting Xbox 360 Wireless Headsets go for $44.99 with free shipping. Stuff one in your own stocking if nobody else will.[Thanks Ryan]
