Qanba Q4 RAF Thorough Review From An Arcade Stick Newbie!

The Qanba Q4 RAF Ice Red Limited Edition (with frosted finish)

This is a thorough review of the Qanba Q4 RAF arcade sticks (and a partial comparison writeups with the X-Arcade TankStick) from someone with little to no arcade playing experience. I pretty much live my childhood and teenage life with a Sony Playstation controller, either on console or PC. Yes I played ALL PC games using my trusty PS controller using the MotionInJoy software, or DS3Tool! It's very natural for me to pick up a controller and start playing virtually any games possible. Using the arcade sticks ought to be a very unique gaming experience to me, to say the very least!

Nintendo 3DS mini product review

What's up guys. Here's my first product review just to kill some free time of mine. Frankly speaking, I had intended to do product review since I started this blog but alas, I just couldn't find the proper digital camera, experience, and time to do it.

After long time of hesitation I finally get ahand of Nintendo latest portable gaming console, the Nintendo 3DS. At first I had been juggling between PS Vita and 3DS. So what make me choose 3DS over the PS Vita? For me, the primary factor in choosing a console is the games library. As PS Vita is just launched in JP and HK few weeks ago, the game library is still in its infancy and the current game title is countable by fingers! Even the future release games list doesn't appeal much (to me at least), with the exception of probably Persona 4 and Disgaea. For 3DS, a list of promising titles had been announced, in development, and in my wish list. To name a few, Harvest Moon, Etrian Odyssey, Pokemon, Mario, Zelda, Resident Evil, Kirby, and Phoenix Wright.

Another issue is the pricing, as of now the price is a bit pricy and only after it is released in MY/SG can we expect to see a price drop. But for the time being, purchasing it doesn't seemed to be a wise choice, not if I had a limited budget at hand. 3DS, on the other hand, had seen a price drop and it had helped Nintendo to rise up the sales target once again. Previously, many had speculated that the sales number for 3DS is not so promising and will never compete against the sales record of PSP. But look at the chart now, it is without a doubt that 3DS leads the number among other portable handheld gaming device. Only time will tell whether PS Vita will triumph over 3DS.

Another factor that leads me to choose 3DS over PS Vita is the 3D effect. As you might probably aware of, a majority of people had said that 3D is just a hype of the moment while some are still standing on the fence, hesitating. Yea one can live without 3D but 3D will enhance the gameplay even more.

Hardware spec for PS Vita is definitely overpowered, with 4 cores (only 3 cores are usable), touch front and back screen, dual analog control, and the massive 5 inch OLED screen, what's not to like. But at the end of the day, it's the games that matters, not the hardware. Given the most powerful handheld device in the world, if there are no popular games to unleash its potential, what good will it be?

Speculations had it that 3DS Lite might be announced in E3 but I highly doubt so as it took 18 months for DS Lite to emerged and another 12 months for DSi. It is CNY and I thought why not having a 3DS to spur the moment for this festive season.

Enough talk. My 3DS package consist of crystal case by FunBox, Hori Screen Protector, Acekard 2i and a 3DS game, Super Mario 3D Land! The console is Flare Red color and it is MY/SG set, which is also a US set.

More pictures after the break.

uCertify - Both studying and test preparation under one hood

Today I'll make a full review on a software that integrates both study and test preparation in a way that I am impressed with - uCertify. Although there are other softwares available out there, there are several distinctive features offered by uCertify that set it apart from others. This review is solely my own personal opinions and after several hours of usage.

Simple and clean User Interface
When I opened up uCertify for the first time, I am really impressed with the total integration between the study material and the test. Each of them are nicely presented and arranged in sections. There are no unnecessary buttons or stack of menus that I need to click to launch a task. In fact, I began to familiarize myself with the software in the matter of seconds even without reading the documentation prior to that!

Wide variety of professional certificates tests
Ranged from A to Z (well perhaps not Z but you know what I meant.). If there is a professional certificate, uCertify has it. So far I had tested out with Microsoft, Cisco, and Oracle tests and they had provided me with a better understanding and confidence when I shall take the exam in the future.

Dell 27" U2711

I've been wanted to change my current 23' (Acer H233H) with glossy screen to a matte screen panel.

Here are some reviews from various source for future references.

Reviews:
FlatPanelHD
PRAD (German to English Translation)

Some issues that might concern you on U2711:
  • Anti-Glare (AG) coating (less intrusive and aggressive than U2410)
  • Non-native Full HD resolution

Something to keep in mind before purchasing U2711:

  1. You'll need dual DVI inputs to support 2560x1440 resolution.

From [H]ardForum:

Quote:
Originally Posted by VectraP View Post
Would I be able to get 2560 x 1440 working with a normal HDMI Cable?
No.

Single-link DVI can only transmit up to 1920x1200 at 60Hz. To do higher resolutions (including 2560x1440) at 60Hz, dual-link DVI is required. Single-link DVI uses 12 pins, dual-link DVI uses 24 pins, HDMI uses 19 pins and Displayport uses 20 pins. HDMI and DP achieve the higher speeds required for higher resolutions or higher Hz by sending more data through the same pins, while DVI achieves the higher resolutions or speeds by adding more pins in dual-link mode. HDMI and DP cables can transmit single-link DVI because they have more pins than necessary, but there is no way for HDMI or DP to transmit dual-link DVI because they don't have enough pins.

Edit: I speak here of converting HDMI from your video card to the DVI port on the u2711, because the u2711 is not capable of doing more than 1920x1080 through its HDMI port. According to the documentation, you can only get 2560x1440 on the u2711 through dual-link DVI or Displayport.