About Author: Reuben Wang

Website
http://PowerofStupidy.blogspot.com
Description
Studying in the same school as Xavier and Zhou Tong, Reuben is a 14-Year-old avid gamer who indulges in his Xbox console during his leisure time. He currently studies in a school which uses macbooks in class. He blogs anything related to technology, from gaming to Mac on TechXav.

Posts by Reuben Wang

  • The Battle of Midway is the turning point of World War 2, where America,still outnumbered, outskilled and outclassed, managed to wreck 4 Japanese carriers, effectively giving US the initiative in the war.

The Playstation had been gaining alot of ground the past few years- it finally overcame many of the problems the PS3 had at launch- lack of titles, price and its crappy online play  just to name a few. With this momentum, they are trying to win over the vital "core gamer" market (the casual gaming market had already been dominated by Nintendo and Apple).

The Xbox, on the other hand, just introduced Wifi- the last console to do so. Their sights is aimed straight at Nintendo- to get a share of that very profitable casual gaming. That can be seen in their crappy E3 presentation, where they spend the second half on casual games- which is not a very good idea when the audience are core gamers, people who think casual gaming is corrupting gaming as a whole.

    Is E3 the Midway of the Console War?

    The Battle of Midway is the turning point of World War 2, where America,still outnumbered, outskilled and outclassed, managed to wreck 4 Japanese carriers, effectively giving US the initiative in the war. The Playstation had been gaining alot of ground the past few years- it finally overcame many of the problems the PS3 had at launch- lack of titles, price and its crappy online play  just to name a few. With this momentum, they are trying to win over the vital "core gamer" market (the casual gaming market had already been dominated by Nintendo and Apple). The Xbox, on the other hand, just introduced Wifi- the last console to do so. Their sights is aimed straight at Nintendo- to get a share of that very profitable casual gaming. That can be seen in their crappy E3 presentation, where they spend the second half on casual games- which is not a very good idea when the audience are core gamers, people who think casual gaming is corrupting gaming as a whole.

    Continue Reading...

  • There are 3 types of games in the Market- core, casual and social. While most core gamers hate the casual and social for being too simplistic or bad, there is no denial casual gaming is much more powerful then the core market- the Wii sold as much as the Xbox and Playstation combined. 

However, social gaming (eg. facebook), also had been rising up- and everyone wants a piece of this pie before Zygna's monopoly become tighter.

    The Power Of Social Gaming [INFOGRAPHIC]

    There are 3 types of games in the Market- core, casual and social. While most core gamers hate the casual and social for being too simplistic or bad, there is no denial casual gaming is much more powerful then the core market- the Wii sold as much as the Xbox and Playstation combined. However, social gaming (eg. facebook), also had been rising up- and everyone wants a piece of this pie before Zygna's monopoly become tighter.

    Continue Reading...

  • It's official -- the long speculated slim Xbox 360 had finally been announced at E3 yesterday and had already started shipping. As stated above, the new Xbox will have a 250 GB Hard disk and built in Wifi -- but what does this changes mean?

For one, the new Xbox addresses many of  the orginal's criticism. The Xbox had been laughed at for its overcharging of accessories. Previously, it took $100 -- 1/3 of the Xbox's price- to get Wifi and the 250GB hard disk cost $129. With the new Xbox, this issue had been resolved- putting an end to the fed up gamers who did not want to pay so much for WiFi. Also, with the 250GB HDD, the ability to install games to the hard drive can now be more widely used, as the old 20GB HDD can't hold that many 6GB games.

    Slim Xbox Announced

    It's official -- the long speculated slim Xbox 360 had finally been announced at E3 yesterday and had already started shipping. As stated above, the new Xbox will have a 250 GB Hard disk and built in Wifi -- but what does this changes mean? For one, the new Xbox addresses many of  the orginal's criticism. The Xbox had been laughed at for its overcharging of accessories. Previously, it took $100 -- 1/3 of the Xbox's price- to get Wifi and the 250GB hard disk cost $129. With the new Xbox, this issue had been resolved- putting an end to the fed up gamers who did not want to pay so much for WiFi. Also, with the 250GB HDD, the ability to install games to the hard drive can now be more widely used, as the old 20GB HDD can't hold that many 6GB games.

    Continue Reading...

  • Halo: Reach feels and plays like any other halo game. There is no looking down of sights, no custom classes. This is still halo. Weapons are scattered throughout the map, and you are still going to get the mad dash for the rocket launcher at the start of every game.

While many complain about the lack of change, I personally like how the game feels. Why change something which had worked so well for Halo? It may be an aged system, but it still works very well. Besides, what would halo be if everyone is able to pick a "sniper class" like in Call of Duty? Halo's weapons are in no way balanced, and thats not a bad thing- the power weapons can slay enemies, but there are only a small number of them; you will have to fight for it.

    Halo: Reach Beta Impressions

    Halo: Reach feels and plays like any other halo game. There is no looking down of sights, no custom classes. This is still halo. Weapons are scattered throughout the map, and you are still going to get the mad dash for the rocket launcher at the start of every game. While many complain about the lack of change, I personally like how the game feels. Why change something which had worked so well for Halo? It may be an aged system, but it still works very well. Besides, what would halo be if everyone is able to pick a "sniper class" like in Call of Duty? Halo's weapons are in no way balanced, and thats not a bad thing- the power weapons can slay enemies, but there are only a small number of them; you will have to fight for it.

    Continue Reading...

  • One of the most innovative games of all time, Portal has been credited as one of the best puzzle game ever. It is a masterpiece of physics and programming. It won <strong>40 game of the year" awards. </strong>It cost around $10, but developer Valve had an better price: $0

Thats right, Valve is allowing <strong>EVERYONE</strong> to download their masterpiece for free <strong>until May 24</strong>. If you have a PC, what are you waiting for? If you have a Mac, too bad. Oh wait,<strong> </strong>Valve just ported it to the Mac and <strong>is also giving it free on the Mac</strong>.

    Get Portal for free for both PC and Mac

    One of the most innovative games of all time, Portal has been credited as one of the best puzzle game ever. It is a masterpiece of physics and programming. It won 40 game of the year" awards. It cost around $10, but developer Valve had an better price: $0 Thats right, Valve is allowing EVERYONE to download their masterpiece for free until May 24. If you have a PC, what are you waiting for? If you have a Mac, too bad. Oh wait, Valve just ported it to the Mac and is also giving it free on the Mac.

    Continue Reading...

  • If you ever played a online game in Xbox Live with a microphone, you will no doubt hear the infamous 8 year old kids and their vulgar racial surls. Oh, wait, did he just say something about my mom?

I am not joking; that's why I don't game with a headset anymore. I am quite to find out that a mom actually found out what her son did on Xbox Live. Click on for hilarity.

    Mom Finds Out Why Her Son’s XBOX Account Was Suspended [PIC]

    If you ever played a online game in Xbox Live with a microphone, you will no doubt hear the infamous 8 year old kids and their vulgar racial surls. Oh, wait, did he just say something about my mom? I am not joking; that's why I don't game with a headset anymore. I am quite to find out that a mom actually found out what her son did on Xbox Live. Click on for hilarity.

    Continue Reading...

  • I thought of writing this post during a free period as a teacher is absent. And I realized I haven't used the macbook in school for weeks. Even a teacher had admitted they would not let us use our Macbooks to plot graphs as we will wonder off to other applications.

It's kinda sad. They just started the "<a href="http://www.techxav.com/2010/01/25/the-most-apple-savvy-school-in-the-world/">Future Maris Stella@ Singapore</a>" program the year I came into this school. It was the first school in the Asia-Pacific region that used MacBooks as a medium to teach their own curriculum. There was so much fanfare, and Apple even listed "no viruses" as one of their bulletins on the "Why buy a Mac brochure".

    Why Integrating MacBooks Into The School Curriculum Ain’t The Best Idea

    I thought of writing this post during a free period as a teacher is absent. And I realized I haven't used the macbook in school for weeks. Even a teacher had admitted they would not let us use our Macbooks to plot graphs as we will wonder off to other applications. It's kinda sad. They just started the "Future Maris Stella@ Singapore" program the year I came into this school. It was the first school in the Asia-Pacific region that used MacBooks as a medium to teach their own curriculum. There was so much fanfare, and Apple even listed "no viruses" as one of their bulletins on the "Why buy a Mac brochure".

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  • I live in Singapore, which is about 2,800 miles (4,500 km) from China. Yet, many of us still use Baidu. No, not for searching the web. Instead, practically every pirate is using it to find pirated chinese songs with Baidu. A search engine famous for piracy? If it was in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pirate_Bay">west, I think the owners would have been sued to death by now</a>.

As much as anyone can deny it, China is playing catchup with the newest programs out in the world. And the slightly weaker websites/programs still survive because of the sheer amount of people. Foreign websites may blocked in an moment's notice, and the domestic duplicates won't. Thus, creating an situation where people are using the backwater sites/programs. With the amount of traffic and foreign (often good) ideas out of the picture, this websites and programs don't really advance.

    How China Is Playing Catchup With International Companies

    I live in Singapore, which is about 2,800 miles (4,500 km) from China. Yet, many of us still use Baidu. No, not for searching the web. Instead, practically every pirate is using it to find pirated chinese songs with Baidu. A search engine famous for piracy? If it was in the west, I think the owners would have been sued to death by now. As much as anyone can deny it, China is playing catchup with the newest programs out in the world. And the slightly weaker websites/programs still survive because of the sheer amount of people. Foreign websites may blocked in an moment's notice, and the domestic duplicates won't. Thus, creating an situation where people are using the backwater sites/programs. With the amount of traffic and foreign (often good) ideas out of the picture, this websites and programs don't really advance.

    Continue Reading...