Max Limitz: Game Consoles and Stuff

Power Consumption of Consoles

2011-09-18T23:41:00.008+03:00

I decided to make a small comparison of the power consumption of my consoles: Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360. I used Esic Power Meter PM498 for measuring. It's a simple device and you can only plug in one device at a time.

And directly to the results... Nintendo Wii takes the least amount of electricity, about 17 W and 19 W when using the dashboard (Nintendo Channels) or playing Animal Crossing (disc game). PlayStation 3 takes around 120 W and 154 W on dashboard (XrossMediaBar) or when playing Gran Turismo 5 (not installed on hard drive).

I have three different Xbox 360s, so I compared them together using an unregistered silver account, so I didn't have to transfer my profile from one console to another. I tried to make the comparisons as similar as possible, but because you can't use HDMI with the Xbox 360 Core System, I used VGA instead. The oldest Xbox 360 (Core System) uses the most amount of power and the newest one (Xbox 360 S) the least. Games installed on hard disk take less energy on all of my X360s.

After unregistered silver accounts I also used my online gold account to see any differences by comparing two games and the Video Library to the Dashboard. I chose an empty Video Library, because it doesn't have any animations increasing the power usage and I noticed it uses just a little bit less energy than the Dashboard. The popular Xbox Live Arcade game UNO uses energy a little bit more than the Dashboard. Halo 3 uses about 20 W to 40 W more power than the Dashboard depending on has it been installed on hard drive or not. There were no surprises, but now I have my own results I can look up, if I ever need them! Below is the more detailed information.

WII AND PS3

Nintendo Wii
- standby (offline): 1 W
- standby (online): 11 W
- dashboard (no disc in): 17 W
- dashboard (disc in): 19 W
- Animal Crossing (disc game): 18 W ... 19 W
- Sonic the Hedgehog (WiiWare): 17 W

PlayStation 3

- standby: 1 W
- dashboard (no disc in): 112 W ... 123 W
- dashboard (disc in, GT5): 120 W ... 130 W
- Gran Turismo 5, local race (not on HDD): 134 W ... 154 W

X360 SILVER ACCOUNT

Xbox 360 Core System (VGA)
- standby: 2 W
- dashboard: 145 W ... 147 W

- Halo 3, local campaign (installed on HDD): 161 W ... 176 W

- Halo 3, local campaign (not installed on HDD): 163 W ... 182 W
- installing Halo 3 on hard drive: 151 W ... 158 W

Xbox 360 Arcade (HDMI)
- standby: 2 W ... 3 W
- dashboard: 93 W ... 95 W

- Halo 3, local campaign (installed on HDD): 104 W ... 115 W

- Halo 3, local campaign (not installed on HDD): 126 W ... 130 W
- installing Halo 3 on hard drive: 99 W ... 105 W

Xbox 360 S (HDMI)
- standby: 1 W
- dashboard: 68 W ... 70 W

- Halo 3, local campaign (installed on HDD): 73 W ... 80 W

- Halo 3, local campaign (not installed on HDD): 80 W ... 96 W
- installing Halo 3 on hard drive: 74 W ... 76 W

X360 GOLD ACCOUNT

Xbox 360 S (HDMI)

- Dashboard (gold account): 71 W ... 72 W

- Video Library, empty: 70 W ... 71 W

- UNO, online match using avatars: 72 W ... 74 W

- Halo 3, local campaign (installed on HDD): 74 W ... 87 W

Summary For Year 2010

2011-01-01T17:41:00.005+02:00

Nothing special happened in 2010: I just relaxed and played whatever I wanted and whenever I wanted. Game-wise most of my time I used with my Xbox 360 playing Mass Effect 1 and 2, Red Dead Redemption, Blur, Halo: Reach and Call of Duty: Black Ops. During the November 2010 Dashboard update my Xbox 360 Arcade console showed me the Red Ring of Death, so I bought Xbox 360 S (S is for Slim or Sexy or something like that), because I have to have at least one ready to use backup console. Then I bought Kinect to see what's so special about it and got bored fast with it, because it's just too simple for me. I reached 35k Gamerscore and I really haven't paid much attention to boosting it. According to Raptr I used 137 hours with Read Dead Redemption, 113 hours with Halo: Reach, 102 hours with Mass Effect 1, 95 hours with Black Ops and 87 hours playing Mass Effect 2. The 360voice blog says I reached the 500 days streak of using my Xbox 360.

With PlayStation 3 I purchased the PlayStation Plus, which is a bit like a Gold account on Xbox Live. Because I haven't been playing much anything with my PS3 I barely reached Level 3 in Trophies with the help of Gran Turismo 5. In GT5 I got to level 20 to see the pretty dull visual damage system you can see when you crash into something. I think I like Forza 2 and 3 more than GT5. There's much more to tune and adjust in Forza.

I bought a new gadget, iPod Touch, which can be used to listen to music and play games, but it's also like a small mini computer you can use to surf the web when you're watching television or something like that.

On the Web I didn't blog anything with Blogger, but I did post some random stuff to Twitter and Facebook. I didn't add any new videos last year to my YouTube account. With delicious I added more game, movie and television related links. I tried the Party Chat Podcast featuring Stallion83, but it's just too boring. I kept on listening to Major Nelson and the Finnish Pelaajacast. And that's pretty much it.

PAL-60 Video Capturing

2009-08-18T11:08:00.013+03:00

You may want to capture game videos of your favorite games, but some Xbox 360 games are PAL-60 only, so using any composite/S-video capture card won't be as easy as you may have thought as you can see with these three different video capture card tests:

PAL-60 Test: EzCAP 116 USB (Partial Success)

PAL-60 Test: Pinnacle 510-USB (Failure)

PAL-60 Test: Dazzle DPVM (Failure)

You may ask "what's the deal, there aren't many PAL-60 games?". Actually, there are more than you may have thought. I have more than 30 PAL-60 only games:

If you are interested in free video capture programs, I made some videos about them also:

AMCap by Noel

VirtualDub

Windows Movie Maker

My Desktops

2009-06-10T15:07:00.011+03:00

Here are pics of my Windows, Mac, Linux, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii desktops, dashboards, menus, etc.

Windows XP desktop.

Mac Pro desktop.

Mandriva Linux One 2009 Spring desktop.

Ubuntu 9.04 desktop.

Xbox 360 Dashboard with Tomb Raider: Underworld Theme 2.

PlayStation 3 XrossMediaBar.

Wii Menu with Channels.

Update: June 21, 2010: added Mac desktop.

How Much Bandwidth Games Use?

2009-06-07T16:03:00.011+03:00

How much games use bandwidth? This post only includes a few current Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 games. As I mentioned on my previous post you can use your computer as a router for your game console. With Windows Task Manager you can see an approximate figure how these games use the bandwidth and that's where I was looking while playing. These screenshots are only for my Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, as I haven't figured out how to do it for my Wii. And here are the screenshots with short explanations.

Xbox 360: sign in to Xbox Live

Signing in to Xbox Live. Approximate speed: 0.1 Mbps. Time: 1 minute 8 seconds.

Xbox 360: select a video

In Game Marketplace selecting a video icon without downloading the video. Approximate speed: 0.6 Mbps. Time: 1 minute 37 seconds.

Xbox 360: COD4 - 6vs6

Call of Duty 4: Headquarters. Approximate speed: 0.07 Mbps. Time: 12 minutes 28 seconds.

Xbox 360: COD4 - 9vs9

Call of Duty 4: Ground War. Approximate speed: 0.07 Mbps. Time: 11 minutes 50 seconds.

Xbox 360: Forza 2 - 5 players

Forza Motorsport 2: Exhibition Race. Approximate speed: 0.3 Mbps. Time: 2 minutes 9 seconds.

Xbox 360: Halo 3 - 5vs5

Halo 3: Social Team DLC. Approximate speed: 0.1 Mbps. Time: 2 minutes 54 seconds.

Xbox 360: Halo 3 - 8vs8

Halo 3: Social Big Team. Approximate speed: 0.7 Mbps. Time: 12 minutes 35 seconds.

Xbox 360: UNO - 4 players - avatars

UNO: Ranked Match with NXE avatars. Approximate speed: 1000 bps (0.001 Mbps). Time: 7 minutes 3 seconds.

Xbox 360: UNO - 4 players - videos

UNO: Player Match using video with all the players. Approximate speed: 0.2 Mbps. Time: 7 minutes 16 seconds.

PlayStation 3: COD4 - 6vs6

Call of Duty 4: Headquarters. Approximate speed: 0.07 Mbps. Time: 13 minutes 30 seconds.

PlayStation 3: COD4 - 9vs9

Call of Duty 4: Ground War. Approximate speed: 0.07 Mbps. Time: 7 minutes 15 seconds.

PlayStation 3: MotorStorm - 9 players

MotorStorm: Race. Approximate speed: 0.07 Mbps. Time: 6 minutes 32 seconds.

Mobile Connection and Xbox Live

2009-05-17T03:19:00.016+03:00

Because I have a mobile connection some people have asked me is it possible to connect your console to online services such as Xbox Live, PSN and Nintendo WFC and the answer is yes. I'm not a networking guru, but it doesn't stop me from telling my experiences how I have managed to connect my Xbox 360 to Xbox Live. You might be able to do the same with your mobile connection (3G/GPRS/UMTS network) using your mobile USB device. You don't need a super fast connection with Xbox Live. I'm using Sonera mobile connection (maximum speed 1 Mbps) with my Option iCON 225 USB modem (maximum capacity 7 Mbps).

Mobile computer application.

Two Ways of Connecting

I know two ways of connecting to Xbox Live with my mobile connection. The first one is by using a mobile router and the second one is by using a computer as a router.

Mobile Router

The more efficient way to connect to Xbox Live is by connecting my mobile USB device (Option iCON 225) to my mobile router (Dovado UMR), because that way I can use more than one console or computer online at the same time and I don't need to keep a computer turned on to work as a router. To get the "Open NAT" result with the Xbox Live connection test, I needed to go to the router settings, and select "Enable UPnP". Depending on the router/modem manufacturer you may need to have UPnP enabled or disabled. More info with this search.

My mobile router from the front.

Mobile USB modem, mobile router from behind and a SIM card.

Using Your Computer as a Router

When I didn't have a mobile router I used my Windows XP laptop for sharing my mobile connection. In other words, I used my computer as a router. One problem with this way is that I only get the "Moderate NAT" result with the Xbox Live connection test. Another problem is that I need to set the DNS servers in my Xbox 360 Network settings (see section "Define DNS Servers") and check the settings of my firewall (see "Firewall Settings"). In Windows XP there are two ways of making the settings for sharing a connection (see headings "Sharing: Method 1" and "Sharing: Method 2"). With both methods you need to connect your Xbox 360 with an Ethernet cable to your computer.

Xbox 360 connected to Xbox Live using my laptop and mobile modem.

Sharing: Method 1

In the first connection sharing method go to Control Panel and then Network Connections. Look for the icon for your mobile connection. It might say "Mobile Connection" or "Wireless Network Connection 2" or something else. Right-click the mobile connection icon, select "Properties", select "Advanced" tab, select "Allow other network users to connect through this computer's Internet connection" and select "OK". Try connecting to Xbox Live with your console and if that doesn't help, read the rest of this post.

Allowing connection sharing.

Sharing: Method 2

In the second connection sharing method go to Control Panel and then Network Connections. From the left side select the "Set up a home or small office network" link. Press the "Next" button. Press another "Next" button. Select "Ignore disconnected network hardware" (if there are any) and continue. Select "This computer connects directly to the Internet. The other computers on my network connect to the Internet through this computer." (Next button) Select the name for your mobile connection, which might be "Mobile Connection", "Wireless Network Connection 2" or something else. (Next button) Select "Local Area Connection" so you can try to connect your console with an Ethernet cable to your computer. (Next) Press the "Next" button. Select "Turn on file and printer sharing". (Next) Select "Just finish the wizard; I don't need to run the wizard on other computers". (Next) Press the "Finish" button. Try to connect to Xbox Live with your console and if that doesn't help, read on.

Define DNS Servers

With my shared mobile connection I need to define my DNS servers with my Xbox 360 to make the connection work (at least most of the time). To see the IP addresses for your DNS servers, in Windows XP go to "Start", "Programs", "Accessories" and select "Command Prompt". There type ipconfig /all (and press Enter) and look at the "DNS Servers" section for your mobile connection (there might be more than one connection/adapter listed).

Firewall Settings

With the default Windows Firewall you may need to nothing, but if you have made settings before trying to share your mobile connection try to restore the default settings for the Windows Firewall: go to Control Panel, double-click Windows Firewall, select "Advanced" tab and press the "Restore Defaults" button. Restoring Windows Firewall to default settings stops sharing your connections, so you need to set sharing again for your mobile connection. If you have some other firewall, try using medium security. For example, with ZoneAlarm Firewall using Internet Zone Security: Medium and Trusted Zone Security: Medium works for me. There are so many different firewalls, you need to find out yourself which settings help you to connect to Xbox Live. Of course you don't want to turn your firewall off totally because of the all the Internet worms and viruses, but very strict settings may prevent you from connecting to Xbox Live.

Basic ZoneAlarm Firewall settings.

NAT Type

If with your Xbox 360 you make the Xbox Live connection test and select "More Info", you probably see this kind of text:

"Your NAT type is Moderate. People on networks with this NAT type may not be able to join certain games or hear other people while playing online. For the best online experience, you need an open NAT configuration."

If you want to get the "Open NAT" result, I don't see any other way than using a mobile router (or ADSL connection or cable connection or some other broadband connection compatible with Xbox Live).

Stop Sharing

If you want to use your Ethernet cable the normal way (i.e. surf the web with your computer), unplug the Ethernet cable from your console and stick it to your modem or router (if you have any) and you need to stop sharing your mobile connection. Go to Control Panel and then Network Connections, right-click the icon for your mobile connection, select "Properties", select the "Advanced" tab, remove the tick from "Allow other network users to connect through this computer's Internet connection". You can also go to Control Panel, double-click the Windows Firewall icon, select the "Advanced" tab and press the "Restore Defaults" button.

Is Three UPSs Enough?

2009-05-16T22:21:00.007+03:00

I have three UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) devices in the living room. I'm not an electrician, but it seems like we have power surges too often here. One proof is that my CD-ROM drive, USB hard disk and couple of routers and many light bulbs have stopped working without any obvious reason in a very short time, that is, in a few weeks. Yeah, well, machines tend to break anyway, so that doesn't mean it's the power surges. Another proof besides broken stuff is that my three UPS machines are making a clicking noise every day and that noise should only happen when there is a power surge. At least next time when one of my consoles, routers, USB hard disks or other electric equipment stop working I know it's not the power surge (unless the UPS has stopped working, of course) and I can blame the equipment itself. The reason why I have three UPS devices is that I have five consoles (and one backup Xbox 360), a modem, routers, an SVGA monitor, a television, a digital box (TiVo like machine), three computers, home theatre, printer/scanner and other stuff and I don't need to switch cables whenever I'm going to use a certain peripheral.

My three UPSs on the floor.

In each of my UPS devices, there are four outlets with power surge protection and battery backup and another four outlets for only power surge protection. In addition to that there is also surge protection for Ethernet connection. In the below picture the ADSL modem is connected with the red Ethernet cable to the UPS and the wireless/wired router is connected with the blue Ethernet cable to the UPS. One Xbox 360 (white Ethernet cable) and one PlayStation 3 (gray Ethernet cable) is connected to the router.

Ethernet surge protection in practise.

Less Multiplayer, More Achievements

2009-04-29T08:12:00.008+03:00

I'm not addicted to getting a higher Gamerscore, but I have so low Gamerscore for too many of my games, so I decided to play multiplayer games less this month. My favorite multiplayer games are Project Gotham Racing 3 (PGR3), UNO, Halo 3 (including co-op campaign), Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (COD4) and Call of Duty: World at War (COD5). After completing Halo Wars campaign on Hardcore difficulty in co-op I played Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City with my Nintendo Wii until I got to the point where my city now has a waterfall and a lighthouse, and where I could no longer make my house bigger. There's still more to do, but I got bored with it at that point.

I have bought more games than I have time to play, because I've wanted to see different kind of games, so it was time to get some achievements for a while. I played My Horse and Me 2 for 820 Gamerscore and then I finished LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures for 1000 Gamerscore.

I still have games with 0 Gamerscore, so I have tried to get at least one achievement in those games. I played Kung Fu Panda and SEGA Superstars Tennis a little bit. I tried Feeding Frenzy, one of those few 60 Hz games that don't work with my SVGA CRT monitor, so I needed to play it with my HD TV. I got some achievements in Luxor 2, but I got stuck on level 10-2, so I switched to another game (I might try to finish the stages later, but this game is too simple to be played for many hours). I got two achievements in Warlords, one in Asteroids & Asteroids Deluxe, one in Yie Ar Kung Fu and one in Sensible World of Soccer (SWOS). I also tried Geometry Wars Evolved and Tempest again, but didn't get any achievements for them. Some games really have hardcore achievements! Now for a past few days I've been playing Rapala Tournament Fishing and it's not as simple as you might think. You need to switch lure types and sizes and fishing spots until you start getting certain target fish you are supposed to get to complete tournaments and time challenges.

My Xbox 360 Repair History

2009-04-12T14:50:00.006+03:00

My Xbox 360 console has been replaced three times so far. I bought my first Xbox 360 console on January 2nd, 2006. It's the Core version since I thought I would play only by myself, but later I bought a Gold membership for Xbox Live, headset, camera, wireless racing wheel, and so on.

My Xbox 360 showed me three red lights known as "Red Ring of Death" (RRoD) on March 1st, 2007. It took me 20 days to receive my first replacement console on March 21st, 2007 from Germany. That console lasted approximately 6 hours, so I had to wait approximately two weeks to get my second replacement console.

I received my second replacement Xbox 360 console on April 2nd, 2007. It scratched and destroyed my COD4 disc, so I sent it for repair on January 22nd, 2008. Then it scratched and destroyed my GTAIV disc and I sent it for repair on May 7th, 2008. Finally, on January 11th, 2009 it showed me three red lights, so I sent it for repair on January 14th, 2009.

I received my third replacement console on January 23rd, 2009. I have been using it since then. After the NXE update I have installed my games to the Xbox 360 Hard Drive to avoid scratching my discs. Because it takes approximately two weeks each time my Xbox 360 Core console is being sent for repair on January 12th, 2009 I bought an Xbox 360 Arcade console.

Too bad Xbox 360 breaks so often, otherwise it would be even a better console. Why I still use Xbox 360 as my main console instead of using my PS3 or Wii is that the social aspects in Xbox 360 work so well. It's easy to add new friends, send them messages, discuss with them and see what they are doing. I hope the next generation of Xbox consoles will have less technical problems as the current one.

Gamerscore Cheaters

2009-03-24T13:44:00.009+02:00

There appears to be websites where you can download game saves to your Xbox 360 console so you can unlock achievements in a few seconds. In 2008 Microsoft punished most serious offenders by resetting their Gamerscore and not allowing them to gain the same achievements again. One cheater, Aaron "ColdRaccoon" Mesec, from Murrieta, California told MTV Multiplayer "I started cheating, I guess, because I got addicted to gamer score completion".

There is a blog, Xbox Cheater Watch, which is dedicated to discussion about probable cheaters on Xbox Live. It has been pretty quiet this year, but you can still find blog posts about unconfirmed and confirmed cheaters. A cheater will get the text "They've been caught cheating." on their xbox.com profile. If you are interested in seeing real life examples, here are some:

aCasinoguy
Bips
CheaterMcCheat
CHIP MLC 01
ColdRaccoon
Copper Nitrate
Essential Matt
FARD0 NL
flamarlins21
Ix UK Woody xI
Kawasaki 450f
NECKSHREDDER
O0000
RiFLE DoEz WoRK
Sly Crime
StripClubDj
The Splinun
TheSwindler89

Games I'm Currently Playing Online

2009-03-22T08:36:00.009+02:00

Below is a list of my current games in which you can ask me to play. I like to play co-op campaigns but I also play multiplayer games. I appreciate you first send me a message to max.limitz@gmail.com or a via Xbox Live to my Gamertag Max Limitz so we can agree on a time schedule. After that send me a friend request to my Xbox 360 Gamertag Max Limitz, PlayStation 3 PSN ID MaxLimitz or register my Nintendo Wii friend code 2157 0305 6854 1836 and send me yours. I also have Nintendo DS and Sony PSP, but I don't use them much. I insist you use a microphone with Xbox 360 and PS3 as it makes playing much more fun. I'm in a Finnish game clan and I have other things to do in my life also so it may take a while before we meet. And here's my list of online games I'm ready to play with others as of now:

Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City (Wii)
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (X360)
Call of Duty 5 (X360)
Grand Theft Auto IV (X360)
Halo 3 (X360)
Halo Wars (X360)
LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (X360)
Left 4 Dead (X360)
LittleBigPlanet (PS3)
UNO (X360)

My Website and Contact Info

2009-03-20T06:57:00.017+02:00

To see some of my game console pictures for Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii, have a visit at http://max.limitz.googlepages.com/ My website tells my nicknames and friend codes for my consoles, but I'll mention them here also. Xbox 360 gamertag: Max Limitz. PlayStation 3 PSN ID: MaxLimitz. Nintendo Wii friend code: 2157 0305 6854 1836. See also my Wii game codes on my website.

If you want to contact me about games, the best way is sending me email to my email address max.limitz@gmail.com or sending a text message via Xbox Live to my Gamertag Max Limitz as I use my Xbox 360 most of my game consoles.

If you want to add me as a friend in one of my consoles, I would appreciate a message telling me a reason, like you want to play a co-op campaign with me or visit my Animal Crossing town or something like that as the friends lists have their maximum number of people and I might wonder "who on Earth is that dude and do I need to remove someone to give him/her space on my list?". Sometimes I clean up and remove people who haven't been using their accounts for many months as that may mean they have a new nickname or they have sold their equipment or something.

Here are some instant messaging nicknames of mine. ICQ: 593921542. AOL/AIM: maxlimitzz. Skype: max.limitz. YIM: max.limitz. QuakeNet: maxlimitz. Google Talk (Gmail voice/video chat): max.limitz. I prefer Google Talk as it doesn't slow down my computer and doesn't take much memory either. I'm not a fan of instant messaging applications and I don't keep my computers open 24/7, so email and Xbox Live is the best way of contacting me.

I'll mention some of my website profiles also: Eurogamer.net. Facebook. Gamebattles.com. GamerDNA.com. GameSpot.com. Giantbomb.com. Google.com. IGN.com. MyGamerCard.net. PlayStation.com. TripleTags.com. Twitter. TrueAchievements.com. WiiSpace.com. Xbox360Achievements.org. YouTube.

And here are some of my Finnish language website profiles also: Gaming.fi. KonsoliFIN. Livegamers.fi. Livenurkka.net. Pelaajalehti.com. Tilt.tv. V2.fi.