Games releasing in the first 5 months of 2013

2013 is looking real good, at least in gaming (not economics, eeekks!), some hyped games are scheduled to release within the first five months.

Title Release Date (AUS) Hype Level
Anarchy Reigns 10 Jan 2013
RROOOY
I like the unique character designs very much, frantic action from the developers that brought us Bayonetta and Vanquish. However, this game focuses on multiplayer, battle royale type of gameplay. Single player campaign is available, but in my opinion, there's just not much of replay value.
DMC: Devil May Cry 15 Jan 2013
RROOOYYY
Capcom is revitalising one of its blockbusters by outsourcing the game development to a UK studio, Ninja Theory. Heavenly Sword (2007) is beautifully crafted, one of the early games to show what PS3 can offer. However, their follow-up game, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (2010) is a miss though. The in-game environment takes advantage of different color palettes, character designs are likeable and deep story driven adventure but it's the irresponsive controls and camera angles that broke the gameplay. I shall give this new DMC a go to see how they'd improved.
Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch 31 Jan 2013
RROOOYYYG
Played the demo, it totally caught my attention. I'm truly impressed with the animation-style graphic, fluent action, polished fighting mechanism and best of all, story!! This is going to be my second JRPG after Final Fantasy XII.
Dead Space 3 7 Feb 2013
RROOOYYYGG
Played the demo.
+ Intense gameplay: Work your way through foggy atmosphere where monsters are lurking somewhere.
+ Tight controls: Simple yet efficient controls, no fuss.
+ co-op: Some would argue this will reduce the tension but I love it entirely.
- Underwhelming visual: Not sure if the dev wants to reduce the download size or graphic engine is outdated?!
- No local co-op mode: In other words, no split screen or offline co-cop, what??
Having played the first two games, I'm definitely getting this for story's sake and blasting necromorphs with the trusty plasma cutter.
Aliens: Colonial Marines 12 Feb 2013
RROOOYY
I still have Aliens VS Predator (2010) lying in my pile of shame. I just couldn't get into this game even though it's packed with 3 different single-player campaigns (Alien, Predator and Marine). The 1999 version which was developed by the same studio, Rebellion still remains as my favourite Alien/Predator game of all time. I'm buying this to see how Gearbox Software would tackle on this franchise.
Crysis 3 21 Feb 2013
RROOO
I remembered when Crysis initially released on PC, it's used as a tool to check whether your PC has the meat to run such beast or perhaps tech demo. To me, Crysis series is not more than a generic FPS with HD graphics. I guess I won't be bother getting this unless I've finished Crysis 2 (which is sitting cold in the cabinet).
Metal Gear Rising: Revengance 21 Feb 2013
RROOOYYYG
Played the demo.
+ Awesome design: Love the art style
+ Action packed minus long dialogues
- Weird camera angle: When blade mode is activated, most of the time I will mess up Raiden's view angle. Thus, making me tedious to do precision cuts.
Not going to deny, anything related to Metal Gear universe or Hideo Kojima is a must get for me. Judging by previous games developed by Platinum Games (MadWorld, Bayonetta, Vanquish) and produced by Kojima Productions, I would say it's in good hands.
Tomb Raider 5 Mar 2013
RROOOYYYG
First released in PS way back in 1996, numerous attempts to revive the female protagonist until Crystal Dynamics rejuvenates this series with a fresh dose of med pack in 2010, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (a download-only title). Great fun playing it with a mate. This reboot proves to be a great challenge for the studio and it looks promising so far.
God of War: Ascension 14 Mar 2013
RROOOYYYGG
Without much thoughts, I've come out with this equation:
Greek mythology + (1 angry god) + (awesome * (graphics, sound, control)) = orgasm
I don't know what more you can ask for?
Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 15 Mar 2013
RROOOYYY
The first game wasn't in my radar due to lack of marketing and complaints of difficulty spikes and bugs. City Interactive now utilises CryEngine for the sequel. Since watching Enemy at the Gates, snipers have been vowed as the coolest military units. Furthermore, those short sniping missions in Call of Duty are always the most satisfying bits. City Interactive found the niche and made it a full-blown sniping action.
Gears of War: Judgement 19 Mar 2013
RROOOYYYGG
Since People Can fly studio acquired by Epic Games, their first release was Bulletstorm in 2011, emphasizing on players allow to perform creative kills by interacting with the environment. Gears of war is the only franchise that I dearly love on XBox360, can't wait to know how the story would carry on. You might be interested to learn more about the series creator, Cliff Bleszinski, in this 3-part interview.
Dead Island: Riptide 23 Mar 2013
RROOOYY
Back in 2011, most of us were surprised by the emotionally engaged game...trailer. I somehow gave it a pass, knowing of the various technical and gameplay hiccups reported in forums. If there's a 3rd person view option in this new release, I would definitely give it a go, no doubt.
Bioshock Infinite 26 Mar 2013
RROO
I've heard of good reviews of this series, even tried on Bioshock. Sorry, I just can't get into it.
Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel 28 Mar 13
RROOOY
Played the first game in 2008 when co-op mode started to get some attention from game devs, skip 40th day for some unknown reasons. This new instalment is developed by Visceral Games, the studio which brought us Dead Space series and the not-so-good Dante Inferno. I would be checking this out, but it's not going to be day 1 release.
Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen 23 Apr 2013
RROOOYY
Since there's no Monster Hunter love for consoles, Capcom's first open world adventure, Dragon's Dogma, is the nearest thing we can get. Much time has been spent previously to explore the world and grind to purchase custom weapons and outfits. If time permits, I'm more than happy to replay this expansion.
The Last of Us 17 May 2013
RROOOYYYG
Not any game companies can churn out new IPs and release a trilogy within a console cycle. Visceral Games, of Dead Space fame and Naughty Dog, of Uncharted fame are truly the exceptions. This would most probably be the last PS3 game by the studio and their attempt into survival horror action adventure has won much of my respect. From my experience of playing Uncharted series, there's only one thing that game dev needs to perfect it -- the shooting mechanics.
Resident Evil: Revelations 23 May 2013
RROOOYYYG
I'm so glad that this previous exclusive to Nintendo 3Ds title is coming to consoles, finally!  This is the game which is being alluded as a return to its horror roots. 

In case you're curious of the script that generates the hype meter, here you go.  You may not view the correct result due to limitation of JS support (HTML pane) in JSFiddle.

How to fully utilise Android Mini PC - MK802 III

The bundle (USB power adapter is not included)

What is Android Mini PC

In short, it is a tiny device which can turn your TV or monitor into a giant Android tablet.  There're abundance of models out in the market now, but I shall focus on this model - Rikomagic's MK802 III.


Shopping Cart
Item Description Amount (USD)
Rikomagic MK802 III
Dual Core Mini Android 4.1 PC RK3066 1.6Ghz Cortex A9 1GB RAM 8GB ROM HDMI
63.00
RC 12
Smart Wireless 2.4GHz Air Mouse + Touchpad Handheld Keyboard Combo
19.90
TOTAL 82.90
OR You can buy the bundle for USD$87.99

- As it comes with only 1 USB port, you would need a USB hub if you're going to attach a few devices, e.g. external hard disk.
- The Air Mouse & Keyboard combo device is optional if you own an Android phone.  You can download the "MK802 III Remote app" in Play Store which works very well.


Apps
Name Functionalities
PPS影音 (HD) A Chinese P2P video streaming app, provide a variety of movies, dramas, anime from East Asia.
ServiiGo Set your Serviio server configurations (most probably from the laptop or desktop computer) from Android devices. It uses a new API built into Serviio PRO v1.0 that works over the internet as well as at home. For older version, you can use ServiiDroid instead. Refer to my previous post on how to install and configure Serviio.


FAQs
Q1. It keeps restarting itself when you open Play Store or certain app.
A1: This is due to power insufficiency issue.  If you plug the USB power cable to the Tv's USB port, you might want to switch it to other USB port (label as 'HDD' port) or a better option, plug it to an external USB power adapter.


If you've any nice apps, do recommend in the comments.  Appreciate it!!

Open source invoice software [UPDATE]

On a weekend, I was asked to develop a "simple" software to generate invoice, a sample document is given as reference.  First thing that comes out from my mind is to setup a template in Office Excel, that would be easy and fast.  But the idea gets turned off immediately because invoice number needs to be auto-incremented.

A simple google search leads me to Siwapp Invoice System and Simple Invoices.  I spent some time playing with the demos, here's my opinion.

Siwapp v 0.4.1
PROS
Easy to setup in XAMPP (Apache web server, PHP, MySQL bundle on local machine)
Clean and pretty interface
Built on Symphony which is similar to CodeIgniter and PHP5.3, easy for programmers to do customisations
Able to set up recurring invoices
Provide wiki and community forum to look for solutions
Able to create invoice templates
Able to add extra modules, e.g. Customers, Estimates and Products
CONS
Beta version, undergoing very slow development phase
Unable to set up database in XAMPP if password field is empty unless you apply a small hack as shown here

Simple Invoice v 2011.1
PROS
Easy to setup in XAMPP
Provide several types of reports
Able to create database backup files
Offer more configurations
Supports PayPal and Eway Merchant
CONS
UI needs to be improved, should not have fix width

FusionInvoice v1.2.4 beta
PROS
Build on CodeIgniter PHP MVC framework.
Simple, clean UI from Twitter bootscrap
Ongoing development and bug fixing by the creator
Same and more functionalities as Siwapp
Calendar view
Able to import .csv files, see documentation.
Report generating
CONS
Cannot change invoice template from UI
Limited search criterias
Cannot do batch actions on invoices
Pagination is not done in Ajax

Update:
I've done some modifications to Siwapp, check out my other post for more info.  I stopped halfway through implementing "batch invoice status update" feature.  I might continue to develop it until I'm confident to release the codes.

On the other hand, I came across FusionInvoice early today.  After playing the demo and comparing it to Siwapp, I would say it's a decent software and worth checking out the code structure.

References:

Javascript: How to extract and update key value pair of query string

If jQuery is not used (refer to map function), use the below method to extract or update query string key's value.



References:
http://joncom.be/code/javascript-querystring-values/
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5999118/add-or-update-query-string-parameter