The Nintendo DS is full of fun packed games, many in which are my favorites, and I am unable to decide between them. But for now I am going to be talking about Cooking Mama. Though this sounds like an independent game that you just play on the DS, it’s actually much more then that. Cooking Mama is the first game of its series that allows you to cook with step by step instructions, you learn on the game, but can apply them in real life.

Cooking Mama is a simulation game. You will learn how to cook and prepare meals virtually, but all the skills you learn can apply to the real word. The narrator/character in the game that will tell your cooking score is Cooking Mama. Cooking Mama will give you the instructions and guidance you need to cook a successful meal. You will be scored at the end of the game, based on how you did. Speed is a virtue in this game. The faster you are, the more points you will earn. Be sure to practice each recipe before you decide to play for points. The game is played with the stylus, as well as an integrated microphone. This game requires no use of the console buttons what so ever.

There are a total of 76 recipes to choose from, all these recipes include anything from meat, salad, vegetables, and even some foreign recipes. You can also create your own meals and recipes. This is a great way to be creative, but just make sure to practice your custom recipes before you play for points.

This game is designed for players of all ages. Cooking mama and most other Nintendo DS games are designed to teach children and adults the skills they need for the real world. The Nintendo DS is the gaming console of education.

To learn more please visit http://dseducation.blogspot.com.

 

 

 

The only thing better than Xbox is Xbox Live, as it gives you the opportunity to play with your buddies -and complete strangers - from all over the world. Whether you are in the mood for sports, racing or shoot em ups, you can play anytime, anywhere.

Xbox Live comes in two flavors, Silver and Gold, but regardless of which you choose, you can integrate it with Windows Live Messenger. This opens the door to more fun, as you get to use avatars, create a profile, record all your gaming achievements, use video chat and more.

All this comes at a price, of course; to get the most form Xbox Live, you need to have a DSL line. You also have to pay for Xbox Live, but there are ways you can get it for free.

1. Trial Cards

The easiest way is to get the Free Trial Card. With the card, you will be able to open an account, and play Xbox Live without charge for eight weeks or so. They are available from a variety of web sites.

2. Free Game Trials

Several Xbox games, such as Star Wars Battlefront and Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes, come with free codes that allow you to play Xbox Live at no charge for two months.

These are not just limited to Xbox games you can buy at the stores, but there are also some downloadable games on the Net that come with these trial codes.

3. Freebies

Whether it is a promo from an online gaming magazine or a freebie from a game, there are always free Xbox Live codes. Just keep your eye and ears open, especially on game sites that are coming out with a new product for the gaming platform.

4. Go to Microsoft’s website

Every so often Microsoft offers promotions for Xbox, and a lot of times this involves giving people the chance to play it without any charge for certain periods. As the creators of Xbox, it pays to visit their site, as any new announcements or freebies will be posted there.

Usually, the best time to expect free time on Xbox Live is when there is a gaming event taking place (such as the launching of a new game). there will usually be a tie up with Microsoft and the promo may include free codes.

5. Websites

Among the most popular sources of free Xbox Live trial codes are gaming websites. The process for getting these codes will vary from site to site, but generally they follow this pattern.

The first is to take part in a survey question, and then fill out a form and register on their site. After completing the registration form, you will be able to log on to Xbox Live. A screen or dialog box will come up, called either Promo Guide or Prepaid Card. Follow the instructions, and you will be able to play.

There are several Internet web sites that provide these codes: these include, but are not limited to, Invision Free Site 1, Invision Free Site 2, Xbox, Xbox Free Zones, Free Zone Rewards, Team Box Forum, Gaming Lagoon, Xbox, Box Deal and many more.

Peter Garant is writing articles about how to get Free Xbox Live Codes cards for a full site about Free Xbox Live Codes.

 

The Nintendo DS does more than give you cute dogs to play with; it actually can help you exercise your brain and improve your vision. You’ll need the right software to get started.

For exercising your noodle, choose Brain Age. This program asks you a series of questions – answer honestly and no cheating! It compiles your answers and comes up with a Brain Age score. A combination of voice recognition, touch screen answers, as well as entry speed and accuracy make taking the Brain Age challenge fun and interactive. You can even team up with other Nintendo DS users and have a friendly competition.

Activities include playing the piano, counting out change, making simple drawings, writing words, solving problems, and more. These fun activities stimulate and challenge your gray matter. Spend a few minutes each day training your brain.

Once you’re as smart as Einstein, it’s time to work on your klutziness. Want to increase hand and eye coordination? Choose Flash Focus for Nintendo DS consoles. You may have to wait before shopping for this software in the UK as it hasn’t hit the shelves just yet. But early reviews say that Flash Focus is sure to be a hit. This nifty program tests and challenges your hand and eye coordination, peripheral vision, eye agility, and reaction time. This vision training technology has been used by athletes to improve their vision and aim. When you have this technology installed on your Nintendo DS, you too can improve your vision, focus, and overall athletic prowess.

Both of these Nintendo DS video games are designed to stimulate your thinking and improve your skills. You should actively play these games every day and keep your skills in top-notch condition. Before you know it, you’ll be smart and coordinated!

Martin Wyman is a contributing author on Consoles News athttp://www.mangotango.co.uk/technology-news/

 

Like any other electronic gadgets that are using operating systems, the PSP has problems as well. 
You certainly may encounter many PSP errors codes but do not know what it means or how to fix it. I will try to list some error codes and the ways to fix them. For more codes you can visit my website, which I put in the end of the article.

CA000005 shows you the error in “keys.bin” file.

FIX: this file is required in order to play PSX games, put the bin file in the same folder as your “eboot.pbp” for the game

80100D00 shows you “The Channel could not be added”

FIX: You can try to reformat your memory stick. As far as I am concerned it works well for me.

80410D09 means “A connection error has occurred.”

FIX: The PSP does not support WAP security, try switching to WEP and reconnecting.

80110305 means the loading has failed. The Memory Stick could not be accessed.

FIX: Backup save data folder and reformat your memory stick

80020148 means “PRX type unsupported”

Explanation: This error comes up when you try to use emulators, home-brew, etc on a psp with version 1.52 and higher.

80410D07 = This error comes up if errors occur when it is trying to connect to a wireless router.

FIX: Change psp settings to manual and enter in all of the Internet Protocol (IP), DNS, subnet mask, and default router info

80410410 = Cannot connect to the given access point (Connection to the Server Failed.)

FIX: Unplug your modem and router for 30 seconds to a minute. Plug in your modem, wait 30 seconds to a minute, then plug in router.

There are still tons of codes that often irritates a Portable play-station owner. To view and get more information about all the codes, Visit PSP Error Codes - Fixing PSP Error Problems. Leonard Jones is a game fanatics and now he is a PSP enthusiast. He is now an expert in hacking and repairing PSP. Check out his recommendation atwhere to Download Unlimited contents for your PSP.   PSP Repair Guide

 

New websites are being made by the hundreds offering to repair PSP systems for low prices such as thirty dollars to fix your UMD issues or a little bit more to check into all three. In point of fact that is indeed true, and they do get dust in the cases, which can in fact be fixed quite easily without taking them to a repair center or sending it back for a lengthy wait while they are disassembled. Turn over the PSP and remove the battery. You’re going to need a precision Phillips head, a flat head screwdriver and a UMD door. Unplug the button bars flex cable next by lifting that tab up toward you and sliding that cable out. You will see a ‘warranty void if removed’ sticker placed there. Gently wiggle it free of the hole on the backside. Among those reports of common problems are dead pixels on the screen, UMD drives which are broken and even some analog nubs that don’t work. Pull out the other side equally slowly so that you don’t damage it and then turn the LCD at a ninety degree angle so you can access that connector cable. Again with the flathead screwdriver and VERY EASILY, pry the hinge to the side and out. To begin to disassemble it there will be a need to remove the seven screws from the case on the back of the PSP.

My answer to that would be, why are you twisting it in that fashion in any case? Unplug the flex cable that leads to the button bars. Mental note, the warranty doesn’t cover dust in the screen, so if you want it out, you have little choice but to remove it yourself; and voiding warranties is what electronics freaks and computer geeks do. No new product will ever pop out of the box, particularly one as long awaited as this one, without its fair share of problems, bugs and glitches. Seat your UMD door Properly. The other says that the UMD will pop out when it is twisted. If you force it you will probably break it so do be gentle with it. Slide the left corner into place, and make sure that the metal housing is connected to the inner door. Open the system using the two screws holding the UMD door in place. Otherwise when it comes time to put it back together guess what you’re going to be searching for. When the tabs are loose from the pad, press the latch to open the UMD door. Be extremely careful as these are very weak in nature and will break easily if you twist and turn them. Probably the best bet to clean it is one of the screen cleaning cloths that can be purchased for the screen of your LCD monitor, or failing that, a very soft paper towel such as those used for cleaning glasses. Start by removing the pink star screws, and very gently pry the brace out toward you. Additionally are a few not worth mentioning. Be very careful not to lose the contact (which is made of rubber) for the thumb. Before you even try it, try using canned air to see if you can dislodge any loose dirt or dust.

Bear in mind that if you do repair your own PSP you are probably effectively defaulting on the warranty. Rather than wiping it, dust gently across it, so that whatever dust or debris is on the screen doesn’t scratch the actual screen. The left side of the LCD screen has a metal bracket that holds the LCD in place. When you have accomplished that, slide the small screwdriver under the lip that is located on the left aspect of the button bar and slide it up so that the bar is disconnected from the housing. You will need to unhook that side of the LCD by sliding your flat head screwdriver between the LCD housing and the mounting bracket for the LCD. Lifting the clamps on the connectors, you will see brown clips, which are the only aspect that will lift up. The LCD screen is a very delicate aspect of the PSP and will in fact scratch incredibly easily. New reports are surfacing still, after this period of time that says PSP has defects or problems or one issue or another. Buy yourself a Think Geek tee shirt that says “I void warranties” gather your Snap-on screwdrivers and get moving. Is there a point to SEEING if you can deliberately break it and then whining about the fact that it hasn’t the power to stand up to a grown persons muscle? That being said, the UMD Door repair can be effected at home, however its not quite as easy as it might sound yet it can be done. To the pixel death issue, we truly have no good repair that can be effected at home by the user, however, there are multiple good repair services out there who seem to be making some inroads into fixing those things which are reported PSP issues. To do that you will need to disassemble the unit. Always place the screws in a zip lock baggie or on a magnet to hold them while you are working. Press the clip on the right side in and make sure that everything is opening and closing properly before you reassemble your PSP. Don’t wipe the LCD until you have something reasonable to wipe it with. That the PSP will eject when you twist it, one hand going one way and one hand turning the other direction. When you’ve accomplished this the face plate will come off of the unit, if you pull up on it GENTLY. Once you have accomplished this task, very slowly pop the tabs and the LCD screen will come out. It can be fixed by removing it and wiping it clear of dust or other debris carefully. Another report says the the LCD screens are not air tight and will in fact get dust inside them. Take out the button bar by sliding a tip of the screwdriver under the left side of it and slide the screwdriver up till it is disconnected.

Public Designs: DIY Tutorials

First things first you are going to need a hard drive, your current one is probably a 40gb 2.5″ sata 5400rpm so you need to look on places like amazon, misco etc… for any hard drive that is 2.5″ sata 5400rpm and has the size in GB that you want. Sony recommend that you don’t go faster than 5400rpm, so don’t, in case it has adverse effects your shiny new ps3, and there are plenty of 5400rpm to choose from at the right price.

Secondly you are going to need an external drive or USB memory stick to backup your game saves, downloads etc… To see how much space you will need on an external device go to Settings>System Settings>System Information, this will then display how much free space you have on your system so you have to use some maths to work out how much space you have used, e.g. “free space 30GB/40GB” means you have 30gb free space out of 40gb so you have used 40gb - 30gb = 10gb

there are two ways of backing your information up, the cheaper way is to use a USB pen drive, to back up your game saves, an 8gb should be enough and can be bought for around £10 if you don’t have one already. To do, this insert your USB drive into a USB slot on your ps3, then go to Game>Saved Data Utility> then highlight the game save data you want to back up e.g. COD4> press triangle to bring up the menu> select “copy”> you will then be asked to “select destination” and your USB pen drive should be listed, Highlight the USB drive and press “X”, the game save data will now be saved on your USB. Repeat this method for all your game saves. If you have enough space left after this is done on your USB then you can also back up any media you have on the ps3. If you have only used around 7gb on your ps3 (highly unlikely!) you can do a full system back up which is explained below

The other method is to do a system back-up on an external drive, which must be in the FAT-32 format, attach your external drive to your ps3 and go to Settings>System Settings>Back up utility>Back up this will then back up all your information to your external drive.

The first method is probably the best if you don’t already have an external drive for cost issues, as

your user account and PSN account info and updates are stored on the ps3’s internal flash memory. It is only your media, game saves and downloaded content/media that is stored on the HDD, so if you do a backup of all your media and game saves you will be ready to go, once the ps3 ormats your new HDD. But if you are using a wireless router make sure you know your WEP key as you will have to put that back in when your new HDD is in.

Also downloaded games like Tekken 5 can’t be backed up, so you will have to download them again, this is not a problem as you get 5 downloads of each title you buy, simply go to the playstation store and go to download history where all the games/media you have ever downloaded will be listed, then simply press download on the highlighted game.

For the next bit you will need;

A small flat head screwdriver

A small Philips screwdriver

Somewhere flat and free of dust/dirt to work

O.k. So we have our nice new HDD, and we have backed up all the data we want to, it is now time to remove the original HDD. First turn off the ps3 and remove all power cables for safety, now locate the drive cover on the left hand side of the system, it should have a HDD sticker on it or a label saying “detach this cover when removing the hard drive” get your small flat head screw driver and prise off this cover, this will then reveal the HDD.

You should now see your HDD and a metallic BLUE screw, get your Phillips screw driver and remove the blue screw, this is the screw that holds the HDD in place on your ps3, once this is removed flip up the metal handle that is to the left of where the screw was and slide the HDD towards the FRONT of the ps3 to dislodge it from the internal connections, you can now pull the HDD carefully towards you and it will slide straight out.

You now have access to your HDD out side the ps3, you will now have to remove the tray that is attached to your original HDD, there are four Phillips screws, two on either side, that need to be removed, once this has been done remove your old ps3 HDD out of the tray and put in your new 2.5MM SATA Notebook HDD then replace the 4 screws to hold it in place.

Now your new HDD is in the ps3 caddy, you now have to install it into your ps3, which is the reversal of removal. First push carefully the new caddy into the HDD space, but remember to keep it to the right hand side of the slot (or the front of the ps3), when it touches the back of the HDD space use the handle to push it to the left (or back of the ps3) to locate the HDD connections on the PS3 connections, you will know when this has been done correctly when the space where the blue screw goes lines up with the hole on the ps3. Once it is lined up you can now put the Blue screw back in to secure the HDD to the ps3, replace the HDD cover and turn your system on.

Now as soon as the console boots up you will presented with a screen asking you to format your new HDD, as your ps3 has realised there is a new HDD installed, you must select “yes” twice as a ps3 safety precaution in case you erase your hard drive by accident!

This will take around 2 minutes and you will then be asked to reboot your system. Once you have rebooted you can now check if your mod has been successful (fingers crossed!) Go to System>System Settings>System Information, this will display your free space that should reflect the size of the replacement HDD you have just installed, but don’t start worrying if it is 15 - 20GB short of what you expected as this is taken up by the ps3 for system use.

You now have a new bigger hard drive, all you need to do now is put your game saves/media back on, simply connect your USB/hard drive go to games>saved data utility>USB device(or what ever you used to back up your data) you can now highlight the game you want to copy onto your new HDD, press triangle and select “copy” repeat this for all your game saves and media and away you go, you now have a bigger HDD and your new ps3 is back to normal. It’s pretty easy really, it just takes time to save all your games and put them back on, but well worth it for all that extra space!

If you choose to perform this modification then ps3offer.co.uk accepts no responsibility if you harm or break your ps3 while performing this task. If you are not confident you can do this procedure then please leave it to someone who can.

Andrew Stanley, who has worked in the gaming industry for over 5 years and has been a gamer for over 20 years, he runs ps3offer.co.uk and planetxbox360.co.uk Read the full original article at ps3 deals which includes pictures