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Redakai Cards: The Newest CCG On The Block

GBT Admins — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 18:50:22 +0000

What is it about CCGs that is so dang fun? Seriously, pick your poison: Magic: The Gathering, Pokemon, Yugioh, or even the hybrid CCG/Transforming marble game Bakugan… we’ve been playing these things for over a decade, and they never stop being amusing. If you have been known to throw-down the cards from time to time, then no doubt you have heard of the new major CCG on the block: Redakai. It was just released but already there are fan sites cropping up like the Redakai Cards Dojo, and more. Is it going to be the next Pokemon sensation? Learn more inside…

Redakai Cards

Redakai is a 2 player CCG where players duke it out on a battlefield. The real interesting part of this game is that the cards are clear plastic and feature holograms and animations on them. Remember those cracker jack toys you’d get that let you see a moving picture when you rotate them? Well, it’s like that only moreso. The “Lenticular Card System” allows the cards to display surprisingly detailed animations, and since they are clear they layer on top of each other to create cool effects as you lay them down.

There will also be toys that the cards will interact with. When you scan the cards into the toys a video animation will display on the toy featuring some kind of cool cartoon effects.

How To Play Redakai

Each player gets a team of 3 heros who can morph into powerful monsters. Whenever you make an attack on a monster, you layer the attack card directly on top and it displays battle damage. You take turns attacking each other and spending the “Kairu” points you acquired to either attack, defend, or upgrade your team. Different monsters offer different special abilities and strengths. As with most CCGs, how you choose to build your deck will determine your strategy immensely. There’s plenty of room for clever card combos and building specific decks that make use of various strengths and weaknesses.

The game is surprisingly cool and easy to learn. At the same time it is also in depth with plenty there for an experienced gamer to sink their teeth into. There’s already plenty of action going on in the official and unofficial Redakai forums.

Redakai Cartoon

The game is made by Spin Masters, the same people that brought the world Bakugan. In addition to the card game and various toys and merchandise they plan to market the game much like Bakugan. Already there is a cartoon planned to release in July on the Cartoon Network. The cartoon will feature the same characters from the game, and kids will get to watch their adventures as they try to gather the mysterious Kairu energy that is scattered throughout the planet. This Kairu energy gives them the ability to transform into monsters and defend the planet from the evil “Lokar” and his minions. Apparently whoever masters the Kairu energy will become the next Redakai master… or something like that…

Final Thoughts

So it looks like the Redakai Card Game does indeed have something going for it. There are many unique aspects of this game that could very well appeal to kids this summer/winter season. We wonder how much staying power it will have though… will it be the next Pokemon? Probably not… however it could become the next Yugioh if they play their cards right. (Pun very much intended)

Learn more about the game at Redakai.com or at the Redakai Dojo Redakai Forums.

14 Year Old Dethrones Angry Birds

GBT Admins — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 23:47:35 +0000

You probably noticed there’s a new #1 free app on the app store. Bubble Ball dethroned the seemingly invincible Angry Birds Seasons on Jan 17th. What kind of massive media giant was able to conquer a multi-million dollar business like Rovio in the rankings? A 14 year old 8th grade boy and his mother. Robert Nay and his mother Kari, residents of Spanish Fork, Utah, were able to bring down this media phenomenon with their very first game. Read about it after the jump…

That’s pretty impressive.

3 days later and Bubble Ball still #1 on the charts.

Welcome To The Wild Wild West Of App Store Development!

What’s more impressive is how the App store is turning the gaming world on it’s head. It’s the Wild West out there, a clever idea and a sweet app can turn you from zero to hero in under 24 hours. What used to be a closed market has opened up, and indie game developers of all shapes, sizes, and ages are crawling out of the woodwork hoping to make their mark. The iPhone, iPod, and iPad are quickly becoming the most popular gaming devices out there, and are putting the nails in the coffins of former contenders like Nintendo and Sony Playstation.

With over 160 million iOS devices out there right now, and that number growing exponentially every quarter, the potential market for reaching people is huge! This is both good news and bad news for all of you indie developers out there. While the market is getting bigger, so is the competition. Big name companies have moved into the app store and are able to propel their games to the top of the charts from sheer size alone. Getting noticed on the app store is just going to get harder and harder.

However the story of Bubble Ball is an encouraging one to all indie developers out there. It’s still possible to get lucky. All you need is a clever idea and the determination to see it through. Of course, a little marketing can’t hurt either. In the near future, we’ll be writing a series of iPhone game marketing tutorials using some little known methods that just may open your eyes to the possibilities out there!

Flight Control HD coming to the Mac App Store

admin — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 03:50:17 +0000

Let’s just hope that it won’t cost that much more than the iPhone version… People look to iOS app store a cheap way of getting great apps. Once the Mac App Store is out, people are going to think the same way. Therefore, applications in the Mac App Store better be cheap.

No official press release from Firemint has been released yet.

3 Great iPhone Games

admin — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 15:45:23 +0000

The iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad are all amazing gaming platforms. Apple is trying to push the devices even further ahead with Game Center. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Game Center is Apple’s gaming social network for iOS that lets you play games and compare achievements with friends. If you have an iDevice, I recommend taking advantage of this goodness with some great games. These just a few of my favorites.

1) Rolando and Rolando 2: This is a great series of platforming/puzzle games by ngmoco. The idea is that you, the ‘finger’, control the Rolandos, who are little circle shaped guys that roll around. You can tilt the device to roll them around and swipe up to make them jump. When you start the game you are greeted with a map that sets out different levels you unlock. The levels are full of puzzles, and you have to use Rolandos strategically. For example, in some levels there are switches in different places, and you have to use objects or Rolandos to hit all of them at once. The game isn’t that hard to beat, but it’s fun while it lasts. Rolando is $2.99 and Rolando 2 is $4.99.

2) Ragdoll Blaster My favorite puzzle game. This comes from the makers of Paper Toss, the game we all know and love. $1.99 gets you 104 levels of creative and challenging puzzles. The first few are easy and help you get the hang of it, but they get harder as you go. You complete the puzzles by shooting ragdolls out of a cannon and hitting targets. Couldn’t be simpler, but it is really addictive. There is also Ragdoll Blaster 2, which you can get if you want to pay a dollar more for more levels and better graphics. I still prefer the first one.

3) NinJump This last game, also from the makers of Paper Toss, is a really good, Doodle Jump style game. I say it is like Doodle Jump because the premise is to avoid enemies while going higher and higher. You are a ninja, and you run up the sides of buildings in some Asian country. There is a wall on either side of you, and tapping the screen makes you jump between them. Enemies will appear on the walls or jump across the screen, and if you run into them you obviously die. You can grab shields, (like in Doodle Jump) and also if you hit three of the same enemy in a row, you get a boost. Now, this app may seem like a Doodle Jump knock-off, but I find it is fun in its own way. I also like it because it is free and supports iPhone 4 retina display graphics.

You may not have heard of all these apps, but that’s what I intended. If I told you my real favorite three apps, they would be something like Doodle Jump, Flight Control, and Angry Birds, which everyone has probably heard of. I hope this helped you discover some great iOS games that you might not have.

From X-Plane Racing

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Call of Duty: Black Ops dedicated servers

admin — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 16:08:33 +0000

One of the biggest complaints PC gamers had about Modern Warfare 2 was the lack of dedicated servers. Treyarch obviously took this hint and is using Gameservers.com in order to bring these dedicated servers to PC gamers. While dedicated servers are great, they do come at a price. There is a $14.95 price point for an 18 player ranked server, and and $.99 price point per player of an unranked server, with discounts if you buy for multiple months at a time. Treyarch does press that they will still have their servers, so this fee is not necessary. The servers will go online on release day.

Flight Control surpasses 3 million sales

admin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:00:29 +0000

What’s that? You’ve never heard of Flight Control? Well, go buy it. Firemint last night has announced that they have had over 3 million sales of Flight Control, one of the simplest and more interesting games that are available for iOS. Firemint also mentions an update that will be out very soon that takes advantage of iOS 4.1′s Game Center. Full press release after the break.

[spoiler show="Show press release" hide="Hide press release"]
We’re thrilled to announce that Flight Control has now landed on more than 3 million iPhone and iPod touch screens! Our ever-popular App Store classic continues to delight new players around the world, and even 18 months after release is in the top 30 paid games in 64 countries around the world, including #7 in Netherlands, #12 in UK, #14 in Australia, #16 in France and #27 in the USA.

Over 2 billion planes have been landed on Flight Control’s online leaderboards, approximately equal to 5,000 times the air traffic handled by LAX per day! Flight Control has enjoyed numerous free updates adding social and online features, additional airfields and gorgeous updated graphics to make the most of the iPhone 4 and iPod touch 4th generation Retina display. We will also release an update that supports Apple’s new Game Center to coincide with its launch, and even more free updates are currently in development.

Flight Control has also spread its wings to new platforms, with Flight Control HD, the highly successful adaptation for iPad being awarded a prestigious Apple Design Award for its “innovative gameplay, outstanding use of Multi-Touch, and superb attention to detail”. Flight Control HD for PlayStation Move is about to launch in glorious 1080p, coinciding with the Move motion controller’s European launch on September 15. It supports drop-in/drop-out multiplayer for up to 4 people and stereoscopic 3D, and features an exclusive new map that cycles through day and night. Flight Control is also available on Nintendo DSiWare, and through a licensing agreement with Namco, is currently rolling out on non-Apple mobile phones.

Flight Control is a fantastic example of an App Store success story, and we’re overjoyed that player communities around the world are continuing to embrace its elegant simplicity and insanely addictive gameplay. There’s a lot more Flight Control to come, so stay tuned!
[/spoiler]

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Fruit Ninja quick review

admin — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 04:32:13 +0000

Fruit Ninja is a new game by half brick studios that is in the same vain as doodle jump or canabalt in the sense that it is a high score fest. First off, this game is not what what you expect it to be (with a name like “Fruit Ninja” what can you possibly expect?) instead of playing as a ninja. Read the rest of the review after the jump.

The objective of this game is to slice as many fruits as possible before you slice one of the many bombs that show up on screen. The addictiveness comes with the addition of openfeint, so you can have local and global leaderboards as well as a slew of achievements for you gamerscore hungry gamers. in addition to all of that awesomeness, there’s is another game mode called “Zen Mode” that will have you slicing and dicing fruit for 90 seconds without any bombs to worry about, the goal of Zen Mode is to see how many fruits you can massacre in that allotted amount of time. with a price tag of $0.99 (less than a cup of coffee) It is an overall very fun game with a few small downfalls (crashing, glitches, unfair bomb placement, etc) but for $0.99 it’s all around great and I recommend getting it.

Click here to buy this app!

[How-To] Host Hacked MW2 Servers (PC) – 1.0.195 Compatible

admin — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 01:36:00 +0000

There are more and more people who are hosting hacked servers. There are tons of positives as to playing on one. The more people who host one, the more people who can enjoy Modern Warfare 2 more. This has all been tested with the latest version of Modern Warfare 2 (1.0.195).

Hosting your own hacked servers is quite easy. Just follow the rest of the instructions and you’ll be set.

Worried about getting banned? I wouldn’t. Fewer people are being banned. It seems that IW doesn’t exactly care about hackers, as more and more people are doing it everyday.

Downloads

Instructions

Extract the downloaded files.
Run LoaderX.exe.
Click on Auto Inject.
Run VAC_Chaos.exe.
Click on Load Game.
Wait for Modern Warfare 2 to load.
Make your game windowed (ALT+Enter).
Press F2 to bring up the console.
Play around with the commands in the Console Commands.txt file in the Shortcuts + Commands folder.
Enjoy.

You can also use littleservertool.exe to do some other cool things while playing and hosting, such as changing a user’s name, teleporting players, flying, and so on.

A command that I forgot to list in the commands text file is “kick”. You can kick everyone at once with “kick all”, or kick a single player with “kick PLAYERNAME REASON”.

Enjoy!

IPhone as a gaming device?

admin — Fri, 14 May 2010 01:45:59 +0000

iPad apps, iPhone apps, and soon to come, apps made for the (assumed much faster) iPhone 4G. It’s getting out little of hand. What was once an easy device to make apps for has, in turn, become hell for app developers. It was okay when Apple only had 3 devices out with similar capabilities. But now, we have 3 separate devices that need to have apps that must to be optimized for its respective processing power and screen size.

Now, unlike other portable game consoles, the reason Apple devices are not seen in the same light as, for example, PSP’s and DS’s, is because developers must make different versions of apps which leads to apps that are poorly optimized and don’t work in 2x mode properly on the iPad. Hopefully, the push that Apple is putting on iPad applications means that more developers will put in the time to make universal apps for the iPhone and iPad, but one can only hope. While the iPhone may have over 185,000 third-party apps in the app store (and the DS and the PSP combined don’t even get close to that), most games on the app store are horrible (eg. bad, unresponsive controls, bad graphics , etc). That makes Apple’s devices seem to just be a phone as opposed to a gaming device.

In my opinion, for Apple to become a leader in the portable gaming market is to make a gaming-only device that has more RAM and higher processing speed so that these unoptimized apps will run good. Until then, the market is too segmented to be a viable gaming option.

Why Gaming on the Mac Will Never Be (& Steam for Mac Sucks)

admin — Wed, 12 May 2010 23:03:54 +0000

Now that Steam is officially available for Mac OS X, people are flocking to give Portal a try. But here’s the thing: PERFORMANCE BLOWS. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that one out. But why? What makes it so bad?

Keep in mind that this is more specifically geared towards Mac OS X-only users. You can always install Windows on your Mac via Bootcamp and game that way (like the way it’s meant to be).

Quite simply, Mac OS X’s GPU drivers are HORRIBLE. If Apple would just let Nvidia take control over the graphics drivers as well as releasing periodic updates for their drivers (just like on Windows and Linux), performance would be through the roof (as with Windows). Knowing the way Apple is, this will never happen. Below is a copy of my specs:

Intel Core 2 Duo (2.66GHz)
4GB DDR3 RAM
500GB 7200RPM HDD
1440×900 screen resolution
9400M (Mac OS X) + 9600M GT (256MB, Mac OS X & Windows (& Linux))
Mac OS X 10.6.3 (non-64-bit native)
Windows 7 Professional x64 (with the latest 197.16 drivers straight from Nvidia)
Ubuntu 10.04 x64

All you have to do is install the Windows version of Portal on your Mac (through Bootcamp), and then install the Mac OS X/Linux version of Portal in Mac OS X. Set both games to the same exact settings, and play. There’s a HUGE difference in the frame rate. The Mac OS X version is VERY stuttery compared to playing it on Windows. I was able to hit 90FPS in Windows, while Mac OS X was probably getting around 25FPS (and this WAS WHILE USING THE 9600M GT, NOT THE 9400M). What’s sort of funny is that a straight-up Cider port will provide better performance than the Steam version.

Speaking of Steam… It’s just the Windows version that is written to run properly on Mac OS X. Want to see something sort of funny? Add any application to your game’s library and try and change the icon for it. It will ask for a .EXE file (strike 1). Next, try setting the in-game overlay shortcut. Press the Command key. Steam will think that it’s the Winkey (strike 2). Finally, just browse the files for Steam for Mac. You’ll notice a BUNCH of files that you’d think would be specifically for Windows. But, as just mentioned, this is just the Windows version of Steam running in Mac OS X. It’s not 100% native.

I’d hate to hate on Mac OS X, but when it comes to gaming, it loses (quite horribly) in a bunch of different ways. The bottom line is that, if you’re planning on gaming on your Mac, it’s best to just dual (or triple) boot with Windows [7].

Modern Warfare 2 (PC) Aimbot + ESP + Wallhack (1.0.195/LATEST)

admin — Fri, 07 May 2010 17:00:32 +0000

Last updated: 5/7/2010

Hacking in a multiplayer first person shooter is a very controversial subject. Hell, hacking in any game is pretty debatable. But, to me, who really cares? They’re just video games, and more and more people are hacking in video games, more specifically, Modern Warfare 2 for PC.

This post will quickly tell you how to use a free and safe aimbot + ESP + wallhack hack that works on the latest version of the game (1.0.195). Thousands upon thousands of players use this, and so far, it is safe (nobody has been banned from this). IF YOU GET BANNED, DO NOT BLAME ME. Just for the curious, the only known way of getting banned from this game is to use the rank hack to change your level, prestige, and stats. Full post after the jump.

Below is basically a “how-to” video on how to use the hack. It’s totally safe, and contains no virus/spyware/trojan/etc. Although your antivirus may pick it up as something bad (people seriously use antivirus?), it’s just because it has to inject unverified code into a program.

** INSTRUCTIONS **
1) Go here: http://bit.ly/4B0Iu7
2) Choose a mirror.
3) Download to your desktop.
4) Open the file.
5) Extract the .exe & .dll wherever you want.
6) Delete the .zip (optional).
7) Run ‘RenameMe.exe’.
Run the game (multiplayer).

** ONCE IN-GAME **
1) Press the right-arrow (or Insert) key to bring up the settings for the hack.
2) Only change ‘Activation’ and ‘Bone’.
3) Just highlight what you want and it’s activated.
4) Use the left-arrow key to go back a menu.

It’s that simple. Refer to that video’s description if you need more help.

Comments for this post have been disabled. Again, refer to the video’s description above for more assistance.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 for iPhone – Real Soundtrack Transformation

admin — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 20:55:17 +0000

Today, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 for the iPhone and iPod Touch was released. It’s a near perfect port of the original game that was released back in 2000 (that’s 10 years ago). There’s only one real (and obvious) problem with the iPhone version: Not the original soundtrack. We sought out to fix this by implementing the original soundtrack. Full information and soundtrack download after the jump.

Before you continue reading, you must be jailbroken. If you aren’t, then you might as well go somewhere else. Why do you need to be jailbroken? You need to be able to access the already installed game directly on your device, or you need to be able to install modified IPA files (AppSync/installd patch).

So the below download includes all 15 songs from the soundtrack, but only the first 9 will be able to be played in the game (Song00.mp3 – Song08.mp3 will work, Song09.mp3-Song14.mp3 do not – it’s just the way the game was programmed – this isn’t something that can be changed without having the source files).

The music from the intro video has also been swapped out with real Rage Against the Machine song (was edited and re-rendered).

DOWNLOAD

Just transfer all the files from the ZIP archive to the location of the game on your device (/var/mobile/Applications/{weird_string}/THPS2.app/).

So enjoy. If you like these songs, buy them.

OMG Pirates! iPhone App Review

admin — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 00:48:37 +0000

OMG Pirates! is an iPhone app by the creators of Zombieville USA, Mika Mobile. Those of you who play Castle Crashers on the Xbox will feel right at home with OMG Pirates! OMG Pirates is an action “beat-’em-up” game, which places you as a ninja fighting off hordes of pirates who are invading your village.

The gameplay works like a charm – the ninja star on the left is used to move your character around the screen. Unlike Zombieville USA, where you could only move left and right, in this game you can move in any direction. As explained in the tutorial in the game, the green button does different things depending on when you press it. If you press it when you’re running, you can do an awesome ninja jump, and if you press it while you’re standing still, you can dodge/counter.

Even on easy mode this game gets challenging fairly quickly. The kinds of pirates have great variety and overuse of the bombing pirate gets really annoying.

I’ll give this app a score of 9/10, I say buy it.

And if you’re good, you can cheat your way through the levels, as shown below.

Super Monkey Ball 2 – Jailbreakers Beware (Black Screen – Fix Inside)

admin — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:49:43 +0000

SEGA on the 1st has released Super Monkey Ball 2, packed with lots of new features and levels to choose from. Before making this purchase, ask yourself: “Am I jailbroken?” If you answered yes to this question, read the rest of this post. If you answered no, you may leave if you wish.

In short, if your iPhone or iPod Touch is jailbroken and you try to play this game on it, all you’ll get is this:

It doesn’t matter if you’ve legally purchased it or illegally downloaded the IPA of it, it won’t work. But don’t worry! There is a quick and simple, but maybe annoying to some, fix to get you playing.

Open up Cydia and install “SwapMode”. Open up the app, and turn “Game Mode” ON, as shown below:

A popup will come up. Just tap ok, and your device will respring with all MobileSubstrate extensions disabled. Try starting up Super Monkey Ball 2 now. Instead of the black screen, you can actually get into the game:

It is somewhat of a hassle to live without your precious mods, but if you want to play the game, this is your only choice.

We decided to email SEGA about this, and we received the same exact response as others have gotten (here). Here is their response:

SEGA is aware of the recent issues with Super Monkey Ball 2 and would like to assure users that there is no issue with iPhone or iPod Touch standard systems and the game. The issue only occurs when an iPhone that has been modified (for what we assume is development purposes). Due to the many different configurations that can be used for a modified phone we are unable to test those systems and accurately gauge any issues that a modified configuration may cause the game. We will continue to test Super Monkey Ball 2 on our end to ensure that it offers the standard iPhone and iPod Touch systems only the best gaming experience possible.

Best Regards,

Evan

SEGA Customer Support

SEGA is aware of the recent issues with Super Monkey Ball 2 and would like to assure users that there is no issue with iPhone or iPod Touch standard systems and the game. The issue only occurs when an iPhone that has been modified (for what we assume is development purposes). Due to the many different configurations that can be used for a modified phone we are unable to test those systems and accurately gauge any issues that a modified configuration may cause the game. We will continue to test Super Monkey Ball 2 on our end to ensure that it offers the standard iPhone and iPod Touch systems only the best gaming experience possible.

Best Regards,

Evan

SEGA Customer Support

If you clicked on the link right before their response, you’ll see that it is exactly the same. Apparently they know about this. Maybe it is a coincidence with jailbroken devices? Maybe they are trying to fight piracy? We don’t really know. Maybe they will happen to release an update soon that let’s it work on all devices.

Newton’s Cradle app review

admin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:06:49 +0000

Newton’s Cradle is a fun app that allows you to have fun with and expericence Newtons grand invention for free (pro version avalible). The app has 4 ball sets to choose from and they are as follows, Regular, Hearts, Christmas balls, and “Stop Poverty” balls. Ignoring the fact that the ball set advertises a need to do something, Newton’s Cradle provides a fun expericence with the invention without having to pay the extra $$ for the real thing.

Developer: Enabled Games

Download the app here: (note: will launch iTunes)

Screenshots

*”stop poverty” balls not shown.

Cool Windows Game: Stick Soldiers 2

admin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:07:02 +0000

Stick Soldiers 2 is a multiplayer game that you play either on a team in team deathmatch or you can do free for all mode.

Stick Soldiers 2 allows you to easily add user created DLC to the game via http://www.andrewrussellstudios.com/wsu/ and also the game files are easy enough to deal with that I was actually able to change the drawing of a weapon and insert it back into the game as my own. I have not yet figured out how to make it so one bullet is an, to use a phrase from cod:waw, ” insta-kill”, but I assume the game files being the way they are that someone could easily edit them.

There is also a built in level editor which I have yet to figure out how to save the levels I make.

As you can probably tell ss2 was not made by Andrew Russell, it was in fact made by another developer who sold the rights to it.

So as far as Stick Soldiers 2 goes it is basically a very simple windows game that brings the phrases FFA, and TDM, down to the bones of what they mean, and with community DLC and your own created content to import, this free game is a definite download.

Click the picture above to download (Windows Only)

There is also a well known cheat called god mode where you hit (`) to get to the console and type (god) to be invulnerable as well as (give all) which gives you all weapons in the game and full ammo.

Poll #003 – Do you prefer MW1, World at War, or MW2, OR NONE?

admin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:35:32 +0000

For our third poll, we are asking whether or not your prefer Modern Warfare 1, World at War, Modern Warfare 2, or none.

This poll ends next Wednesday.

[poll id="3"]

Poll #001 – Will you be purchasing Modern Warfare 2?

admin — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:19:57 +0000

We now have polls! For our first poll, we are asking: Will you be purchasing Modern Warfare 2?

This poll ends next Wednesday.

[poll id="1"]

5 Map Pack for Eliminate

admin — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:40:06 +0000

New maps! If you’ve played around with Eliminate’s files, you’ve probably noticed that Eliminate is based off of Quake 3. With that being said, you can add your own maps! Even better, you don’t have to be jailbroken! These maps can’t be played online, but the good thing is that this doesn’t disrupt your online account.

The following 5 map pack contains 5 awesome maps:

Charon
Concrete
Emperors Hall (you should have a 3GS or a new Touch for this)
Hipertrofia
Pong

They are very good maps, especially Pong. So, if you want these levels, lets get started!

DOWNLOAD (67.5MB, 9 MIRRORS)

If you’re jailbroken…

Things are a little bit easier if you’re jailbroken.

Download the above file.
Extract everything inside to the ‘LiveFire.app’ folder in /var/mobile/Applications/[random string here]/LiveFire.app, overwriting everything. Your current maps will stay intact.
Start the game, and enjoy these new levels.

If you’re not jailbroken…

It’s still possible to get these maps into Eliminate without being jailbroken. It just requires a few extra steps. If you’re on Windows, you’ll need WinRAR so that you can transfer files on-fly-fly without any pre-extracting. If you’re on OS X, you can rename the .ipa for Eliminate to .ZIP, extract it, change the files, recompress everything, then change the extension back to .ipa. You can use WinRAR on OS X by using WINE or CrossOver. Steps 1-7 will cover Windows. Steps 8-19 will cover OS X.

Using WinRAR, open the ‘EliminatePro 1.0.ipa’ file located in Music>iTunes>Mobile Applications.
Download the above file.
Extract the contents of the file into the Payload>LiveFire.app folder from the ‘EliminatePro 1.0.ipa’ file.
Delete the app from iTunes.
Add the app back to iTunes.
Resync.
Start the game, and enjoy these new levels.
Using Finder, change the extension of the ‘EliminatePro 1.0.ipa’ file located in Music>iTunes>Mobile Applications to .ZIP.
Extract the contents of the newly renamed .ZIP file.
Download the above file.
Extract the contents of the file to your desktop.
Go into the Payload folder of the original .ZIP file (that you changed from .IPA).
Right-click on LiveFire.app>Show Package Contents.
Take the extracted contents of the downloaded .ZIP and put it in LiveFire.app.
Recompress Eliminate, including the Payload folder and the iTunes related files.
Delete the app from iTunes.
Add the app back to iTunes.
Resync.
Start the game, and enjoy these new levels.

We will make a video or image instructional upon request.

Wii 2 – Blu-Ray?

admin — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:30:38 +0000

There have been some rumors floating around lately about the Nintendo Wii 2.

First, it’s rumored to have Blu-Ray built-in. This will provide 1080p gaming as well as high-definition media. It’ll also help stop-piracy, since there are currently no Blu-Ray games anywhere online (since they’re huge in size).

The Wiimote will also have some sort of motion sensing capabilities to maybe compete with Microsoft’s Project Natal.

It’s expected to be released worldwide at the same exact time. Nintendo will also maybe have a trade-in program for current Nintendo Wii owners.

Eliminate/LiveFire for iPhone/iPod Touch Review

admin — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 04:12:26 +0000

Eliminate Pro/LiveFire – ngmoco – FREE, App Store

Way back in the day of early June 2009, ngmoco announced Eliminate Pro, an all-new FPS (first person shooter) for the iPhone and iPod Touch. ngmoco announced on their Twitter account yesterday (October 30) that Eliminate Pro was available for download from the app store, but for Canadian users.

It’s actually free, because it’s still considered to be in testing stages, although when we tried it out, it seemed pretty perfect. It has also been leaked around the internet, and since the game is free, it isn’t really illegal. Now where were we…

PS: We aren’t 100% sure what the actual name of this game is. In the app store and online, it’s called Eliminate Pro, but the actual .app of the game is LiveFire.app, so maybe LiveFire was its original name?

Eliminate on SpringBoard.

Eliminate’s splash (Default.png) screen.

Part of the introduction video. Quite entertaining!

Hehe…

Auh …

Kewl!

Plus+ time! Making a new account is a snap and very user-friendly.

Lots of neat avatars to choose from.

The main menu! We weren’t sure what the “Please wait, connecting to HQ…” thing was about; it would never connect.

In-game documentation. There’s a lot of useful information in here.

You’re a new employee of Arsenal Megacorp, a company that is the global leader of national safety and personal security systems. You’re compensated based off of performance in the combat test arenas. The suit allows the company to track your status. You can practice in the arena, but you will not earn credits. Credits are used to purchase new equipment or upgrade your existing armor or weapons. A stronger employee means a better employee! Enter the combat arena with energy, perform well to earn credits, and use credits to upgrade your equipment.

So when you first open the game, you’ll be greeted with the introduction new recruit orientation video (shown above). It’s about a minute and a half long and tells you some of the basics about the game, including your battle suit. After that, you’ll be asked to log in to plus+’s online and social networking tool. After you’re logged in, you’ll be taken to the main menu!

Here, you can choose from playing the game, upgrading your battle suit and equipment, and the game’s options. Tapping on the “WTF” button in the lower-right will take you to a documentation page that will explain the entire game to you.

The options menu.

At the options menu, you can change look sensitivity by sliding upon the slider. You can also enable four other options, including ‘tap center to zoom’, ‘flip controls’, ‘auto-fire’, and ‘show direction pads’. You can also view the game’s credits, review the introduction video, or review the controls video (shown above). Viewing your achievements and online leaderboards can also be done here.

Stock up on gear, upgrade it, or buy new equipment.

At the Gear Up menu, you can buy and recharge energy, buy new weapons and armor, or upgrade your current inventory.

The Play menu.

If you’re offline, you won’t be able to earn credits.

This is the Play menu. From here, you can choose to play online with strangers, play with your plus+ friends, or play offline in practice mode. In practice mode, you won’t be able to earn new credits or anything like that.

Map selection menu.

There are five amazing levels to choose from. They are all highly detailed and fun to play in. Even with its high amount of detail, it plays great on a jailbroken iPhone 3G.

Bedlam.

Bedlam again.

Lift.

Tank.

Flood.

Onrail

Controlling your character is very easy. Slide your finger left or right in the middle of the screen to aim. Use the left paddle to move in your desired direction. Tap on the right-center area of the screen to shoot. Double-tap to shoot as well as aim. Tap the bottom of the screen to jump. Tap the top of the screen to pause the game. It’s a very straightforward and exciting first person shooter.

So that about does it for this game. We haven’t had a chance to try online play, but we will update this post when we do. Overall, this game is amazing. Great graphics, great sounds, great gameplay… There isn’t anything else you would really want in a mobile FPS! Instant 5/5!

Pocket God Review

admin — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 02:08:27 +0000

Pocket God, iTunes – $.99

Pocket God is an awesome little game by Bolt Creative. The object of this game is, well, to control the lives of little islanders, called “Pygmies”. You can be as nice or as mean to them as you want. Let’s get in to it, shall we?

When you first open the app, you will be asked if you would like to use OpenFeint or not. As in Rope’N'Fly 2 and many other games, you have to option to use OpenFeint’s leader board and social collaboration system. You can keep track of all of your high scores as well as the achievements you have achieved while playing Pocket God. You can also see if any of your followers on Twitter are getting as their high scores, as well as any other OpenFeint games they might be playing.

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There have been a total of 26 updates to Pocket God, each update being a new episode, where new features and objects of enjoyment are added. The help menu (question mark in the upper-right) will explain how to use each of these things.

SO, you start out with one Pygmy on the island. You can add more by tapping on the + in the upper-left. A maximum of 6 can be on the island at once. You can tap on them, and move them around. Tilting your device can shift the ground, so they will slide down in that direction. Quickly tapping on the screen can bring up fireworks, and the Pygmies will begin dancing.There’s just a huge list of things to do in this game.

This app also features Push Notifications. We aren’t exactly sure what you get with these notifications, but it’s awesome!

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There are 4 different islands and areas to go to. In all above-sea level levels, you can change the weather to dark and stormy by sliding the clouds. You can bring out a lightening bolt down by sliding from the dark clouds to wherever you want the bolt to go. You can also strike the pelican that flies across the screen. You may want to do that right away to keep it from pooping everywhere.

In this particular level, you can pick up the big magnifying glass to have your Pygmies catch on fire and turn into a little pile of dust. You can also throw a Pygmy into the volcano, which when done enough times, will make it erupt. YOU CAN ALSO tap on the ant hill to have ants eat a nearby Pygmy. There are a lot of things to do on this one.

To access the underwater level, tap on the ocean and quickly drag it left or right. This will cause a huge tidal wave to engulf the island they’re on. You can also access it by tapping on the first icon from the main menu selection bar, then tapping on the wave.

In this level, you can kill your Pygmies either by tapping on the metal spear, or tapping on the bucket of fish. That will actually cause a mini-game to start. You have to use your accelerometer to target on to your Pygmies and fire a laser on them by tapping on the button in the lower-right. Your Pygmy will be vaporized in an instant. To get back to the normal world, slide down on the water.

As with other OpenFeint enabled games, you can unlock various achievements. These are all nice and dandy, but when you achieve an achievement, a popup will come up, pausing the game and covering the screen, which can become very annoying very quickly.

New in this version is this spooky graveyard level, release just in time for this halloween season (I should have changed to the stormy weather ). I saw a spider web in the tree but wasn’t sure how to activate it. See the little pile of dirt next to the grave stone? Tap on that a few times to remove the dirt from the hold. Drag a Pygmy into that, then cover the hole back up. The soul will come out of the Pygmy, allowing it to mutate the normal Pygmies. If you tap on the screen to start a fireworks show/dancing session, the dead Pygmies will do their own special evil dance. Too bad there wasn’t a way to kill the pelican!

Giveaway time! We stuck it in the middle of a post to make sure that people just don’t jump to the bottom of the post, where people usually post the codes. There are two (2) codes available. You’ll have to scroll around hard with your cursor to find these codes, which are placed in to images. Find it, redeem the code, and let @besweeet know if you’ve got it.

Also new in the latest versions if the ability to customize the characters in the game for only 99 cents. Not a big deal, but if you love this game as much as we do, you may want to check out some of the customization options to mix things up a bit.

Something else that is new in these new updates is the “Ooga Jump”. We aren’t sure what this is, so we couldn’t really explain this well (at all).

Pocket God is a well rounded game with amazing graphics and cool sound effects. Choosing to be a evil master or friendly chief, you will find hours of entertainment with this one little $.99 app. We give this app an instant 5/5. You should too! Check it out on iTunes. Come on, who can’t afford a dollar and some change?

Please leave a comment!

Rockband for iPhone

admin — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 04:46:15 +0000

(Screenshots at the bottom).

Rockband was JUST released for the iPhone. It boasts about 9 [very nice] songs as well as supporting the bass, guitar, drums, and even vocals. The app costs $9.99 and features in-app purchases, where you can buy 2-track song-packs for $.99. We weren’t able to get this working (kept getting a network error), but maybe it’ll work for other people or start working by tomorrow when more people try buying them.

The game itself is visually spectacular. The graphics are very nice and the frame rate is perfect. The audio is all of high quality (not some low bitrate sound effects and what not).

You can play the game online via Bluetooth (and wifi). There’s a quick play mode and a World Tour mode.

There are about 9 songs, all of which can be played as bass, guitar, vocals, or the drums. We haven’t tested out the vocals, but everything else plays great, except for the drums. The beats weren’t really like what was in the music.

There are a few annoying things that you should remember when considering purchasing this $10 app. Each time you go to a new menu, you have to wait for it to load. This can waste time and cause the player to lose interest. Secondly, and most important, the A/V seems a little bit off. The notes come down before it’s actually played in the audio. You have to learn to tap ahead of the audio.

So. Considering there aren’t a lot of songs, and any extra songs that show up have to be paid for, $9.99 may or may not be worth it. It all comes down to whether or not you usually pay this much for an app. There are a few annoyances but we think they aren’t that big of a deal. We’re giving this app a 3.5/5.

Rope’n'Fly 2 Review

admin — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 01:58:50 +0000

Rope’N'Fly, iTunes – $.99

Rope’N'Fly is the successor to the very popular Rope’N'Fly game by HiB. This extremely simple game can be extremely addicting. Once you get one score and lose, you want to keep on going and going until you beat the score. For only $.99, you can’t really go wrong!

Rope’n'Fly 2 is a very simple game. Tap on a building to bring out a rope, and your player will swing on the rope. You have to rope along as many buildings as possible, building up points. This version now has sound effects as well as nice background music. You can also unlock a plethora of achievements via OpenFeint, a free online collaboration back-end for iPhone applications.

The menus are very simple to navigate. You get 4 simple options. The help menu gives you a brief overview of how to play the game. Online will let you open the OpenFeint menu from within the app, so you don’t have to open Safari. You can view various high scores, your achievements, as well as communicating with other plays of Rope’N'Fly 2 and OpenFeint enabled games. The Options menu will let you change some settings, such as weather and sound effects. You get three weather settings: sunny, rainy, or both. If you use both, the game will switch between sunny and rainy weather every 15 or so seconds. This can decrease the frame rate of the game and make things hard. I like leaving things on sunny. The rainy weather will have rain and lightening effects.

There are several game modes to choose from. You can choose between the number of ropes you can use, the time limit, and many other variables. Begin playing by tapping on “Play!”. Your character starts on the left side of the screen, and you fall towards the ground. Tap on the roof of the nearest building to begin your swinging session. Tap anywhere on the screen to remove your rope after you’ve flown a little bit. Tap on another building to keep on swinging. Make sure to avoid the short red buildings as much as possible. These are what ALWAYS keep messing me up. Another very annoying part of this game are the achievements. Whenever you achieve one, a popup will display, pausing your game. This can become very annoying and will ruin your concentration when you’re in a good run. There are 33 achievements, so expect 33 popups. Something that’s new in this version is “extra lives”. Way back in the day in the first version, if you hit the ground at all, you lose. In this one, parts of your body disappears, so that you can keep swinging. If you hit the ground enough, though, you will lose.

Once you do lose, a menu will come up giving you your total distance. You then have the option to view high scores through OpenFeint, go back to the main menu, or try again. Viewing high scores will open up the OpenFeint menu. You can view high scores throughout the world, friends, and your achievements. I never really cared for these online leader board systems, so this isn’t anything I can really go deep in to. I do remember seeing OpenFeint in Minigore, so this was somewhat familiar.

Rope’N'Fly 2 is a game well worth the ninety-nine cents that it costs in the iTunes App Store. It’s simple, fun, and addicting. Those three aspects will keep you playing on and on and on. Its nice sounds and improved graphics make the second version of this game even better than the original. I give this game a 4.5/5. The achievement pop ups are VERY annoying. You also can’t save your game if you get a call or close the app, which is a big bummer.

You can also try out Rope’N'Fly 2 “Lite” for free in the App Store here: http://bit.ly/3njjwd

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Review

admin — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:37:32 +0000

Nathan Drake is back with a vengeance in Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 2: Among Thieves for Playstation 3. The sequel to the commercially and critically successful Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Uncharted 2 has a lot to live up to. The original Uncharted, heavily advertised as a launch title for the Playstation 3, boasted exhilarating gameplay, a powerful storyline, and wonderful visuals. Can Uncharted 2: Among Thieves match the hype?

Not only has Uncharted 2 matched the hype, it has far surpassed it. I will say straight out that Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is simply one of the greatest video games you will ever play. Everything just fits. I dare you to find a better game that is already out or is coming out (yes, including Modern Warfare 2) that is better than Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.

We all know that Naughty Dog got something right in Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, so the basic gameplay has remained similar to the first one. There have been some changes, though. Platforming is has been thrusted to center stage, with almost everything climbable, both in single-player and multi-player. The cover system is a bit more robust this time round, but it does have its faults. It is a little hard sometimes to switch from one point of cover to another, and other times it is hard just to get out of cover. But other than those minor hiccups, the system works fine. The AI in game is actually very smart; they will try to flank you and frequently throw grenades to flush you out. There’s 26 chapters for you to enjoy, so it’s more than enough gameplay time. The controls for both shooting and jumping just feel right, and everything flows well.

Speaking of flow, the animations in Uncharted 2 are simply impeccable. Everything from the littlest movement to jumping over obstacles looks real and fluid. The graphics and character models are just as pretty. The backgrounds and environments are stunning, whether looking over a war-torn city in Nepal or over a bay on top of a mountain in Indonesia. They really add a sense that you are really there.

One of the most striking features of Uncharted 2 is just how well it sets the mood of the game. The characters feel and act like real people, and their voice acting is absolutely phenomenal. The way characters talk to each other during gameplay makes you feel like they really are people, and not just AIs sent to help you. The camera angles during the cutscenes are incredible, and some moments in game make you scream with excitement, smile, or cry with terror (especially the opening, be prepared for a shock). The plot twists are great, the storyline is superb, the score (composed by Greg Edmonson) is spectacular, and overall the immersion is incredible.

The multiplayer, a feature missing in the original Uncharted, is now a readily featured component of Uncharted 2. It’s got the standard Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch, as well as a few other modes such as Plunder (where two teams try to find treasure and return it to their base). Co-op is also a great feature, allowing you and two other friends to duke it out with AI opponents. A rank system is present, and you can spend money you earn in both single and multiplayer to buy boosters (perks) and different character skins. Overall the system works great, and multiplayer is a mode that will greatly increase Uncharted 2′s replayability.

In short, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is a game that will have you from the minute you turn it on until the last chapter. And even after that, you’ve still got multiplayer to enjoy. Naughty Dog has crafted something truely extraordinary game that everyone should play. If you have a Playstation 3, go out and buy Uncharted 2: Among Thieves right now. And if you don’t have a Playstation 3, now would be a pretty good time to buy one! Sure it has a few minor flaws (nothing’s perfect), but Naughty Dog has created an incredible gaming experience in Uncharted 2, and it’s one that you won’t soon forget. I know I won’t. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves gets a superb 5 out 5.

250GB PlayStation 3 Available soon!

admin — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:31:58 +0000

Sony will be releasing a new PlayStation 3 Slim with a bigger 250GB hard drive, versus the 120GB hard drive currently found in the PS3 Slim. The system will cost $349.99. The regular 120GB PS3 Slim can be purchased for $50 less, at $299.99.

Considering the cheapest 250GB 2.5″ SATA hard drive on Newegg is currently $54.99, getting this PS3 compared to buying a 120GB PS3 Slim is about $5 cheaper.

[How-To] Hack your Wii to do things you wouldn’t imagine!

admin — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:24:31 +0000

Not very many people think of the Nintendo Wii to be a powerful gaming machine. It really isn’t, but it’s still worthy of an overall good gaming machine. While the Wii itself is near perfect (ie. no bugs, etc), there are lots of cool things you could do by hacking it. You may be thinking, “Isn’t that going to break it?” The answer is: maybe. It’s not very likely. There are many communities around the web that could help you in the event of a catastrophic failure. The overall hacking process is extremely easy to do; it’s never been easier to hack your Wii. Oh, hacking your Wii is more commonly known as “homebrew”, as iPhone/iPod Touch hacking is “jailbreak”.

This post will tell you how to hack your Wii to allow the HBC (Homebrew Channel) to be installed, which is the gateway to doing other things.

There are a few things that you will need before we can begin:

SD Card – Mine is 1GB. This is the optimal amount of memory your card should have, should you decide to do other things like put music or movies on it, or extra apps.
Time – When I first tried this, it took SEVERAL hours to do. Things have changed since then, and now it can take less than one.

It’s good to know the version number of your Wii. The latest system menu update is 4.2. This guide will show you how to get up to 4.1. 4.2 doesn’t have any crucial changes that you actually need, so 4.1 is what this guide will cover.

This guide originally came from this link. All the steps are listed below. The process may seem really hard and time consuming, but it really isn’t. Give it a good read a few times over before attempting any of this. If you have any questions, contact us and we’ll try and help you.

“This guide will fully modify your Wii to safely play backup games, it works on all wiis up to 4.1 regardless of serial number/region etc this includes boot2 v4 Wiis aka ‘LU64-65′ models, If you bought your Wii this year and it came with 3.4+ on it then it will be a boot2 v4. If you are on 4.2 then do this excellent guide by messie to modify your Wii.
When completed you will have everything you need to play backups and the SD card does not have to be left in, you can delete everything off it if you wish.

Make sure you do the steps in the right order or you could run into problems, and read the guide through a couple of times before trying it. Read ALL OF IT! Most problems arise from people not reading the instructions properly or not using a compatible SD card, a plain 2gb one is best. If you are buying a new one try and get a Sandisk.

All you need is an SD card formatted to FAT32, an internet connection on your Wii and these files: DOWNLOAD - MIRROR

Before you start make sure Wiiconnect 24 is off as it can stop bannerbomb working, you may turn it back on once you have completed the guide.

If you get errors during any of the steps format your card with this tool.

TAKE OUT ALL GAMECUBE MEMORY CARDS/CONTROLLERS

1. INSTALL BOOTMII AND THE HOMEBREW CHANNEL

a). Put all the files from ‘copy to sd card.rar’ onto the root of the SD Card. It should look like this when done.

b). Insert the SD card into Wii.

c). Go to Wii Options, then go to Data Management > Channels > SD Card, then you will get a message saying “Load boot.elf?” , select ‘Yes’ and the Hackmii installer will run.

d). Install Bootmii as boot2 if you can, if not then install it as an IOS then go back and install the Homebrew Channel.

2. BACK UP YOUR NAND (OPTIONAL)

Making a NAND backup with Bootmii is highly recommended, it will recover your Wii from 99.9% of bricks.
Use the same SD card you used to install Bootmii and make sure there is at least 530mb free on it.
Bootmii is very fussy about what SD cards it uses, so avoid generic ones and try and use a Sandisk or similar.

a) Put the SD card into the Wii, if you installed Bootmii as boot2 then it will load, if it is installed as an IOS go to the Homebrew Channel, press ‘home’ on your wiimote and select ‘Launch Bootmii’.

b) Use the power/reset/eject buttons to navigate the Bootmii menu and select the icon with the gears on it. If those buttons don’t work then you will have to use a Gamecube controller.

c) Now select the icon with a green arrow pointing from the chip to the SD card and follow the on screen instructions.

D) In about 10 mins you will have a NAND backup, it is normal to have up to 80 bad blocks so don’t worry if you get some.

e) Put the SD card into PC and copy the NAND backup somewhere safe, you can now delete it from your card. If you installed Bootmii as boot2 then also copy the Bootmii folder to your PC and either delete or rename it, otherwise it will load every time you switch your Wii on.

If ever you get bricked then copy the bootmii folder and NAND backup onto your card, do steps a) & b) again, using Preloader to get to HBC if necessary, then select the icon with the arrow going from the SD card to the chip. It is not recommended to restore your NAND if you have Bootmii installed as an IOS.

3. GET A CIOS

You may want to check this video before you do this stage. The only difference is that you can select ‘load IOS from SD card’ instead of download from NUS.

a) Go to Homebrew channel and run Trucha Bug Restorer, load IOS36, press 1, read the warnings then select ‘downgrade IOS15′, select to load IOS from SD card then let it do its job, keep an eye on what it is doing and make sure you select ‘load from sd card’ when it asks & don’t get any errors.

b) Run Trucha Bug Restorer again, this time select to load IOS15 on first screen using dpad left/right, then select the IOS36 menu & install patched (select ‘yes’ on all 3 patches) IOS36 to slot 36, again using IOS from SD card.

c) Run Trucha Bug Restorer again, load IOS36 and this time select restore IOS15.

d) Run cIOS38 r14 installer, select IOS36 as the one it should use and then select wad install.

4. UPDATE YOUR SYSTEM MENU VERSION (OPTIONAL)

This step is optional unless you are on 3.3 or 3.4, you may upgrade now if you wish, boot2 v4 owners cannot downgrade! but can upgrade if you want. If you want to update to 4.1 then make sure you have at least 250 blocks free or you will brick, install IOS60-patched first (step 5a), then run Firmware Updater 4.1. If you are on 3.3 or 3.4 then you must update.

5. THE FINAL STEP

Preloader is also an optional install, if you don’t want it just skip b & c, but you must do step d, system menu hacks can be taken care of by Starfall (3.2) or startpatch (4/4.1), if you want them click my sig and have a look through my mediafire. There are no system hacks for 3.3/3.4. There are now Preloader hacks for 4.1J Wiis.

a) If you are on system menu 4/4.1 use Wad Manager with default settings (IOS249 & SD card) to install IOS60-patched.wad – make sure you do this before you install Preloader. If you installed it in step 4 then skip this part. Never uninstall IOS60! You will brick!!

b). Open the Homebrew Channel and load Preloader, press 1 to install. After install, your Wii should reboot and load the Preloader menu. If it doesn’t, turn your wii off and on again whilst holding down reset and it will load the Preloader menu.

c) Select ‘system hacks’ in the Preloader menu, and enable the hacks that you want – ‘skip disc update check’ and the region free ones are all you need. Select ‘save settings’ and wait for confirmation message to display ‘settings saved’. Press B to go back, and enter Settings. Set ‘Autoboot: System Menu’ using D-Pad, then select save settings. Press B to return to main Preloader menu.

d) In the Preloader menu select Homebrew Channel (if you didn’t install Preloader then just open HBC as normal), run Wad Manager 1.4, use default settings (IOS249 & SD card) and install these wads from the ‘wad’ folder:

IOS38-64-v3610
IOS50-64-v4889
IOS53-64-v5149
IOS55-64-v5149
NeoGammaR7

Then restart your Wii.

All done! You will now have the safety/hacks of Preloader & Bootmii, NeoGamma R7 backup loader that has 99% compatibility, cIOS249 r14, IOS38, 53 & 55 for newer games and IOS50 to help prevent disc update bricks. If you ever need to access Preloader’s settings hold down ‘reset’ when switching your Wii on.
If you get the ‘system files corrupted’ screen don’t panic, just reinstall preloader and if that doesn’t fix it reinstall your current system menu with Wad Manager.

UPDATES

If you want to update your cIOS in the future or if you want to install a different one just run the installer and select ios249 as the one it should use, it will overwrite the old one so no need to uninstall. If you want to update Neogamma go to wii options > data management > channels and delete the old one first, then just install the new one with wad manager.
If you want more hacks for Preloader have a look at them here, and copy/paste them to your hacks.ini file. Make sure there is one blank line at the bottom.

OPTIONAL

Install the new 4..2 shop channel with Wad Manager - Download

Install USB Loader GX & WBFS Manager 3 - Download - Mirror

Install cIOS56 to play Guitar Hero 5/Beatles from the disc channel - Download

Install the new cIOScorp 3.4 for DVDR loading through Disc Channel – (works on all wiis) - Download – make sure you read the readme!

Install the Internet Channel - NTSC-U, PAL or NTSC-J

Use your Wii as a media player with MPlayer CE & DVDX

Get some emulators for all your old favourites (better than vc except for N64) ”

So there you have it. You Wii should now be hacked to do things never thought of before.

My most favorite thing I find useful from hacking a Nintendo Wii is being able to play your games on a external drive (ie. USB stick, external hard drive, iPod, etc). You have to use “USB Loader GX” for that, and is the most user-friendly Wii app I’ve ever used. You drive must first be formatted to WBFS, which you can do on your computer with WBFS Manager for either Windows or Mac OS X. You can then use your Wii to import your actual game DVDs to a ISO which is stored on your external drive, which can then be loaded on the fly. You can also add games from your computer to the drive and then play them.