Mistical.com

Disappointed with the Razer Onza

// May 29th, 2011 // No Comments » // Blog, Gaming, mistical.com, News, Reviews, Tech

So today is the day where I no longer use the Razer Onza yet alone any other future Razer product.

I preordered the Onza the minute it was made available for preorder back in January 2011. I had been waiting to play with it for over a year since it was announced. It was finally shipped to me just over 2 months ago. I loved it at first, but will not even bother to love it anymore. Read on as to why.

I was actually told to contact Min-Liang Tan on Twitter via email, the CEO of Razer, week ago about my issues with the Onza. I was actually going to email a lot of what I said below in an email to them, but decided not to. Why? Because I do not feel as if these issues have been fixed, not only does my brother’s controller and girlfriends have the same issues but people online around forums and other comments elsewhere have reported the same issues as mine or similar. Plus I would be without the controller for who knows how long aside from using the main Xbox 360 controller.

Now that that has been said, I will get to the main reasons why I am disappointed with the Razer Onza, Razer and just overall think the product is terrible to purchase.

• 1st issue (big issue/main problem): The left joystick will always stop you from running in games. To be more specific, games such as Call of Duty: Black Ops, where when the left joystick is clicked, this allows you to run. It is always a damn problem, usually a hit or miss each time you use it, for me, it has frequent use. I have tried disconnecting and reconnecting the controller to regain control of the left joystick but that does not work. The only time it starts to work right for a short while it when I have shut down the Xbox 360 and turned it back on.
• 2nd issue (big issue/main problem): The right joystick (very rarely the left joystick) will sometimes physically get stuck in a position. The position it nearly always gets stuck in is towards the right and slightly downwards, think of it getting stuck around the 0 degree angle towards 320 degree. It actually gets stuck, it does not move back into position if I let go over the joystick.
  
  This does not happen on a constant basis but I can almost always get it to happen and it will normally happen about 6 times (guessing) over a course of around a 5 hour gaming session.




• What happens in-game with this above, 2nd, issue?
  I use the controller for all games, but its main purpose is for each Call of Duty title online/multiplayer, right now it is Black Ops. When the right joystick gets stuck, it causes me to spin in the game until I physically remove the joystick from being stuck at that position.
• 3rd issue (minor problem): The X button feels like it has begun to act like it has worn out when it is touched/pressed. It feels different when “touched/pressed” versus the other Y, B, A buttons that feel perfectly when pressed/touched. I hope this makes sense.
  
  It has not rendered the X button inoperable though, it still works just fine and the response time just does not feel the same anymore over the last 31 days of usage when pressed.
• 4th issue (minor problem): After the first week of using the controller, the sticker on the back containing the serial number among other information has started to peel off. I have tried to stop this process from happening but with no luck. I definitely try to avoid touching that area but I do have big hands and I cannot just constantly think about making sure I am not touching it and have to play the game. How I use the controller is how I hold the controller too, so I cannot just easily change how I hold it, it should never start to peal off within the first week anyways.

I would personally suggest to avoid purchasing the Onza controller. I also do not see them fixing the above issues anytime soon, and even if they did, I am sure people like myself and others who have had these problems are screwed anyways.

So with that said, what issues have you had with your Onza controller? Do you still use it? Please comment!

Iron Man 2 Review

// May 12th, 2010 // No Comments » // Blog, mistical.com, Movies, Reviews

Last Thursday Night, my girlfriend Jordan, my brother and my good friend Michael went to see Iron Man 2 at the midnight release. We literally sat through 20 minutes of trailers, the most we have ever had to sit through. I am not necessary complaining about it but 20 minutes is a long time to watch trailers, we saw this movie at an AMC theatre.

The movie was fucking awesome and I really enjoyed it. I think I can say the same for all of us too that saw it too. If you see it, make sure to stay till the end of the credits. Majority of our crowd in the theatre stayed after the movie to watch the clip that we all knew was going to happen, just like at the end of Iron Man.

First off, there were a bunch of easter eggs, if you are interested in finding out what they were, click that link and enjoy. If you have not seen the movie, I would not recommend you read it. There are more articles out there on Google you can go to which provide more pictures of the easter eggs and discussion.

Now about the movie, the action scenes were awesome and well done. The best part I loved about the movie, is the final fight scene and the weapon that Tony Stark/Iron Man uses. If you have seen the movie, you know what I am talking about. If you have not seen it yet, you will know what I am talking about when you get to the scene.

I was also sketchy at first with Don Cheadle replacing Terrence Howard as Rhodey. Do not get me wrong, Don Cheadle is a fucking badass actor and the same goes with Terrence Howard. But in the end, I think Don Cheadle deserves the role of Rhodey. The moments and humor between him and Tony/Iron Man throughout the movie were greatly written and well done. The chemistry was perfect, I think.

You will also notice that a lot of new characters are introduced in this movie than the first one. I have read around that more of the characters could of had a little more screen time such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johansson and Clark Gregg especially. I do not 100% agree with this, but I do think they should of had a little more screen time. I am barely a fan of Sam Rockwell and his acting, but he did play the role of Justin Hammer good.

In the end, I rate Iron Man 2 a 10/10. It is definitely worth seeing and paying for. You can not go wrong here with the purchase, unless of course you do not like Iron Man or maybe even the first one.

Avatar Review

// February 9th, 2010 // No Comments » // Blog, mistical.com, Movies, Reviews

I have been meaning to write a review on Avatar the first time I saw it. But since then I have already seen it a second time too, both times in IMAX 3D. I first saw it with my girlfriend and then the second time with my brother.

Where to begin? This movie was just one of the greatest movies I have ever seen my entire life. The visual effect will just blow your mind away. The story? Just one of the most amazing scripts in a movie in the last many years.

Yes, there have been other great movies with such great scripts and visual effects. I am not saying there has not been but Avatar I would have to say is the first of its kind in a long time, yet alone in its own category.

Now, if you did not know, this script was actually wrote in 1995. But due to the fact the technology necessary for such a film he in-visioned was not existent back then, it did not come out back it. I would say this is a very, very good thing and I am glad that James Cameron waited so long too.

I highly recommend you go see this movie if you have not yet, see it in 3D too, preferably IMAX over Digital but Digital 3D will be fine though. This movie blows a 10/10 rating out of the water.

At least one Avatar sequel is already in the works, possibly two more at that. Taken from James Cameron’s Wikipedia:

Cameron has confirmed that at least one Avatar sequel is being planned, including more story lines with Jake and Neytiri, and the exploration of another moon orbiting Polyphemus. The sequels are rumored to be Cameron’s next two projects.

Armored Review

// January 5th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Blog, mistical.com, Movies, Reviews

I watched the star packed movie Armored earlier tonight. I must say, I was quite disappointed in this movie. I think I would of been more upset to have spent $20+ at the movie theaters as it would of been myself and my girlfriend Jordan at least there. I recommend only renting this one.

Basically what you see, is what you get. If you have seen the trailer, you know what the movie is about so do not expect more than that. There was no crazy twist or turn here in this movie which possibly may of made it even better. I will also point out it was a very short movie, only an 1 hour and 22 minutes long.

So the movie has pretty much every known awesome actor today right? Consisting of Columbus Short¹, Matt Dillon, Laurence Fishburne², Jean Reno³, Amaury Nolasco⁴, Milo Ventimiglia⁵, Skeet Ulrich⁶ and Fred Ward.

I think I would of enjoyed a different plot then what was shown in the movie. You could maybe split up the actors all working at the Armored Truck Service and have one half trying (bad) trying to steal the truck. Then the other half trying prevent the armored truck(s) from being stolen without any outside assistance and then go from there.

Anyways, that is not how the movie was or ever will be. It seemed as if some of the actors, especially Laurence Fishburne, Jean Reno ad Skeet Ulrich really enjoyed bitching a lot in this movie and acting very pussy like. Even if they are just armored guards, I expected more out of such great actors. Unless they were playing these characters like such because they figured they finally realized they signed onto a terrible project and wanted to get it over with.

1. Stomp the Yard, Accepted [↩]
2. CSI, The Matrix [↩]
3. Godzilla, The Professional [↩]
4. Prison Break [↩]
5. Rocky Balboa, Heroes [↩]
6. Jericho [↩]

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising Review

// October 8th, 2009 // No Comments » // Blog, Gaming, mistical.com, Reviews

Let me start off by saying that I do enjoy and like the game already. It is much, much better than Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis. But I will start off by saying a short message to Codemasters. Why in the world would you not allow us to utilize ALL of the advanced options when starting a co-operative game? Seriously, the wait time if you happen to die from BULLSHIT while in the game is absolutely ridiculous. To top that off, if all of you die in co-op, you have to start the entire mission again.

Seriously Codemasters, what were you thinking? Why the hell even advertise that checkpoints have been reached if in co-op it does not count? Lazy coding to you “codemasters”? Ugh. I could totally deal with spawning right away with no checkpoints or vice-versa checkpoints with spawn wait time.

Anyways, I will move on to the actual game. These maps are huge. Now I do not exactly remember Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis size maps but I do remember they were fairly large but these maps are HUGE. With the lack of vehicles too, you find yourself walking/running a lot. Forget even crawling in the grass at any point, it will not even matter to your enemy A.I.

What about your team A.I.? Not the greatest. Sometimes they are smart, sometimes not. Half the time I find myself wondering where the hell did my teammates go? So if you are going to buy this game, make sure you have someone to play co-op with. Remember you can play up to 4 players co-op. Thank god, cause some people will need that.

You can command your teammates to do various commands from having them flank left to having the move fast or suppress fire. Now do they always do this? I found it works pretty well but since each mission is at least an hour long, if you do NOT die (especially in co-op) then you may find yourself using this less and less so you can move on since each level is not only huge but there are fairly small simple missions.

Now I have been playing on Normal so far which is the “easiest” and even then, do not think it is that easy. You can not run and gun in this game, it is pretty realistic but you will die in a few shots, depending where you get hit. You can heal yourself or get healed. Driving controls in this game are absolutely terrible. I have yet to get to any flying missions so I hope to god it is not as bad as driving vehicles.

Well that is about all I will continue to say, I have said enough. This game is not a terrible game, but it may just be that rental for you rather than purchasing it. Unless you are picking it up for maybe $15 and have interests in it. It could of been much better, especially if they were to make use of stealth, no point in having a knife you can’t use 99.9% of the time.

Xbox 360 Launch Console vs Xbox 360 Elite Fall 2009

// September 6th, 2009 // 6 Comments » // Gaming, mistical.com, Reviews

On Saturday, August 29th, 2009 my Xbox 360 Pro Launch Console received the dreaded E74 error message. Which is basically right next to the RROD error. My Xbox 360 Launch Console is obviously out of warranty and I was not going to pay $99 to get rid of the launch console to only get a refurbished one sent back to me that could possibly get this again. Plus, the launch console is too valuable to me for various reasons.

Anyways, here is what I have noticed with the Xbox 360 Elite Fall 2009 build. The console is obviously quieter, without a doubt. I forget it is on, which is even better when you are using it to play movies. I never really had a problem with it while playing video games. I also noticed that game discs load much faster than before with the launch console. Then there is the Jasper CPU which you will not really notice but it is better than the Falcon CPU they used in the launch and early on system consoles. These 360′s should not be prone as much to the RROD’s or E74 error messages either.

If you are looking to get an Xbox 360, definitely by the Fall 2009 consoles or any other ones with later build dates. If you some how have waited this long to get an Xbox 360 because of hearing people with RROD/E74 problems, then you should not of waited but no need to wait any longer now either.

Biggest Summer Movies of ’09

// September 3rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Blog, mistical.com, Movies, News, Reviews

This year’s biggest surprise movie according to the list yahoo movies put together was The Hangover. Now this movie could of been so much better than it was, how about actually showing what happened rather than trying to remember? This is where I hope The Hangover 2 picks up from and makes better. Time will tell, I still will see it. Anyways, I saw this movie the night it premiered with my girlfriend Jordan. Like I said, while it could of been better I did really enjoy it and have since seen the movie a lot since then.

Back to it being the “biggest surprise” summer movie of the 2009, it made a total of $270,237,753 in the U.S. alone. Not bad what so ever I would say! The biggest loser of the year was Land of the Lost with $49,438,370. That, I would totally agree with. Will Ferrell needs to start rethinking the roles or movies he makes. The biggest was Transformers 2, now that one is an easy one :) while I have yet to see it, will soon with Jordan in the meantime it made $399,416,040. The new Harry Potter movie made the biggest worldwide though with $895,958,075.

Somehow Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs made it as the biggest international hit with $613,790,529. I am quite surprised by this. While I saw the movie and it was alright, it was not as good as Ice Age 1 or 2 was.

Source: Yahoo.com

Initial Snow Leopard thoughts

// August 28th, 2009 // No Comments » // Apple, Blog, mistical.com, Reviews

Well first off, you will notice a speed improvements almost everywhere as well as lots of saved hard drive space. After installing I gained around 18GB of space, yes, AFTER installing Snow Leopard from Leopard.

There are a bunch of “apps” that do not work for me. Most of this is because of InputManagers have been removed by Apple. It will be interesting to see what will happen from this and how, if ever, this applications will work again.

So because of InputManagers being removed, one popular app that no longer will work is PlugSuit aside with aFloat. This allowed me to keep certain applications on top of others no matter what. While I barely use this anymore like I use to for my own reasons. I will be able to live without this I am sure.

iStatMenus also does not work and no update has been released yet even after all this time they had to update it. They are working on an update (2.0) and it is in beta already and should be released in the next few days the developer says.

Chax is another InputManager application that does not work. But do not fear as it is its own app now with iChat inside of it. Chax Alpha 1 is out that gives you bare minimum of the Chax features. A lot that you will miss and have to wait for as the developer has time to code and release updates. [UPDATE] Alpha 2 is out and released more missing features that you may of used that I used such as auto-accepting features and bug fixes to some features that did not work in Alpha 1.

Okay, aside from those applications. I have not really had much of a problem with others or have had a lot of time to check all of what I have. Moving on though, I am absolutely still loving Snow Leopard. Expose got a HUGE upgrade that is 10x better than before. Expose now includes minimized apps and even a better interface than before. You will notice some menus like long clicking dock icons look more iPhone-like too.

Overall, I am impressed with Snow Leopard even if some applications need to be updated or may never work again because of InputManagers being removed. Maybe we will see something different with this in the future from Apple or not. I do recommend the $30 or less upgrade. If you are upgrading from 10.4, you can upgrade to 10.6 from 10.4 so do not cave in and pay the even more increased price and save money by getting the $30 version as they are both the same.

My Top G1 Apps #3

// June 24th, 2009 // No Comments » // Blog, mistical.com, Reviews

This is my third list of my top G1 Apps. I think I will do this every so often months just to give some people a fresh list of what is out there, what is better than previously was and so forth. If you would like to, you can read my previous top G1 apps lists here, #1 and #2.

I have since rooted my phone as of last week. I am sure if you have rooted your phone by now, you have already installed aNetShare if you at any point in time plan to tether your phone to your laptop/other devices. Also Advanced Task Manager is key to have to close apps in use.

If you use JesusFreke’s root, make sure you grab JF Updater if you have not. I however am not nor going to use any type of App2SD, I do not recommend using Move Cache either (see an earlier post of mine about this).

If you have not rooted your phone, unless you plan to tether, control tasks or do something else that requires root then you do not even bother to, though it is very, very easy to accomplish.

Since before I have removed AnyCut and replaced it with Better Cut. I actually decided to make my phone more Apple theme like using BetterCut to replace a few icons on the desktop (I am an Apple fan just not an AT&T fan).

I also decided to replace the default virtual keyboard that came with Cupcake with Better Keyboard.

If you do not know by now, make sure you download the new version for Google Maps. You will find it much better with more features, it sadly does not show up for an update until you do this. Google also just came out with a new application about 2 weeks ago called Places Directory and boy, what an amazing new app by Google. Very good and useful, I highly recommend adding it to your collection.

Here is the “full” app list I am currently using that I recommend that most people have or try out not including root apps: AK Notepad, Better Cut, Better Keyboard, aTrackDog which will check apps for updates, Movie Finder, My Account, MyBackup Pro which backup text messages, apps, contacts and more, OI File Manager, OI Flashlight, Places Directory which will find nearest gas stations, restaurants and more, ShopSavvy, Weather Channel, TuneWiki which is the best music player, Twidroid best Twitter client so far, Txtract which backs up text messages and WeatherBug.

So Long, Circuit City

// March 6th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Blog, mistical.com, Reviews

March 8th, 2009 marks the date that every Circuit City will officially be closed. I guess it is not just Circuit City that makes me have chills when hearing this or rather saying but among other companies that have already gone under that will be missed, that are going to be gone as well or headed there.

I will miss Circuit City, I know I a few bad experiences with them in the few end years. But I do have some fond memories there as well such as when I camped out on launch date for Xbox 360. What an awesome night that was and for the people I met. Camping out is always fun, not there are becoming very few places to camp out.

Circuit City really messed up many years ago and just continued to more. They should of never got rid of appliances, fired top smart employees and so forth. Now given, who knows what state they would be at if all this never happened, their mistakes, maybe they still would be going under. But it will be missed still. Very soon for how many businesses are going under in these scary times, we seem to be headed in the direction of Wall-E’s “Buy More” or also known today as Wal-Mart which they have already been doing almost 20 years though but you can really see it more than ever now.