HSDEMONZ.com

Yesterday I spent a nice Saturday out, starting with the usual Saturday lunch on Highway 7.

I didn’t have much planned beyond that. I did know I needed to get some drill bits replaced, having busted a half dozen or so at work. Short of that, no real plans. However, I never get through a weekend without hitting up the local Future Shop and/or best Buy locations.

I spotted the Logitech Cordless Desktop (ex110) Wireless KB/mouse combo. I’ve wanted a wireless keyboard exclusively for the 360 for awhile now, especially with the continued delays of the 360 Messenger Kit. It was on sale for $30. I couldn’t pass up this deal. What’s the worst that could happen? It doesn’t work on the 360 and I’d have a wireless combo as a backup for the pc.

I decided to test it on the PC first. Glad I did. The combo came with everything needed, including Duracell Batteries dated Mar 2014. Well, The mouse worked out of the box. The Keyboard was entirely another story; I was pulling my hair out trying to get it to connect. Eventually, I caved in and swapped the batteries with some Rayovac shit I got laying around. Shazam. Worked nice.

I migrated the Transmitter/receiver unit to the 360 and it worked like a charm. I found though that from the tip of the transmitter that you only have 8 feet of reliable range. It’s workable for me, but other might need to extend that with a usb extension to get the optimal use of the keyboard where they game on the 360.

The second item I bought, was a bargain, or so I thought. A Future Shop house brand these days, Rocketfish makes a tone of shit, and FS sells it cheap. Well, I’ve been eying their Bluetooth 2.0 EDR Class II Wireless USB Adapter since it was at the $49 price point. It was reduced to $20. At that price, I picked it up with a smile. 

When I tried it on the PC, like a lot of things I’m trying on Vista these days I don’t bother with the included install disks. Vista accepted it and gave me basic Bluetooth functionality right away. I fired up my w810i Sony Ericsson phone and started moving files back and forth. Awesome. Then the phone alerted me that the PC wanted to know if I wanted to use the phone to control Media layer, or act as a control for Mouse on the PC. Fuck yah. That was cool. That feature only worked once though, when I first installed it.

I wanted to find a way to get that remote control function back, so I did something I later regretted for the next 5 or so hours. I installed the Rocketfish install disk. What a nightmare. Nothing worked right after that. Uninstalling what it did was an even bigger nightmare. The end result was a system that no longer booted right. I had to resort to using Vista’s restore points. Thank god that works well. I had about a dozen point across a week or two.

I opted to move the system back to the point before I bought these toys. 10 minutes later I was in the good again. I’ve since put the Bluetooth back on, but again, ONLY with the Vista installed stuff. I’ll burn that Rocketfish disk. The Rocketfish site was another nightmare.

I have no doubt this stuff rocks on XP. I put half the blame on Vista, half on Rocketfish. I should know better than to buy anything these days that doesn’t specifically state VISTA CERTIFIED. (and even then.. research it)

So.. I can’t recommend the Rocketfish Bluetooth stuff for Vista users. Spend more money.. get something with Real Vista certs. Anyone wanting a 360 usable wireless Keyboard/Mouse in Canada should hit up FS while they are still around and cheap.

No comments »

Went out for the usual Saturday Sushi run to Sushi on 7, then hit up the local Future Shops out there. Only had enough cash left on hand to buy one of 2 games I’ve been interested in buying.

• Blue Dragon
• Bioshock

I passed on both.

Undecided we drove around some more, did some more shopping for pop and then bumped into another Future Shop. Went in, and picked up a copy of Bioshock. Walked around the store for an hour looking at other stuff trying to decide how much I wanted it.

I decided to just say fuck it, buy it.. and leave. It’s a long holiday Weekend, so I figured I’d treat myself to a relaxing day at home with my 360.

I’ll let you know what I think about it once I jump into it.

My buddy picked up the Blue Dragon. Depending on what he thinks about it after playing it this weekend, I’ll make a decision if that next on my list or if my next one is Halo 3.

Next 2 I’m looking forward to are Halo 3 and Mass Effect.

Peace

No comments »