SteelSkin.net – The Ramblings of Chris Nutt

Here’s my character Karl Shepard in Mass Effect 2 Also here is my Mass Effect 2 gallery.

I purchased the above dongle from ebay.  It is a little usb dongle used to add a mic and headphone jack to just about any PC or Mac. The key thing is that it is driverless and so will be supported by the PS3. The main benefit is in playing a multiplayer game like Uncharted 2, that you have a clear headset and that it’s battery doesn’t run out. I used it with a really nice headset I got for a birthday a few years back. I don’t use the headphone jack, instead I use the headphone out on my 5.1 receiver.

Mass Effect 2’s cover art is getting some criticism at the moment, even though it was reworked because of earlier criticism. I thought it a good idea to have an idea of the previous standard of artwork.

Left to right: The standard western cover, the limited edition western cover and the standard Japanese cover.

They are all pretty  good. Sheperd in first two is a bit butterfaced and indistinct. However the first is much more space opera like and evokes a bit of Star Wars. The special edition, looks a bit more hacked together, like its made from bits of the first and the mono-orange tone is a bit bland. The Japanese cover is a much cleaner design and evokes more of an alien style hard hitting form of sci-fi. I think I prefer the first one on balance, but Saren does look lost and cramped up there, like he is peaking over the top in the cheap seats. The last is next best, OMHO, and is far more striking from a distance. The middle is just meh and looks a tad unprofessional compared to the others, it does at least try.

I previously talked about Sony’s Portable ID for PSN.

Surprisingly there is an alternative service called PS3 Trophy Card.

PSN America offer a very nice alternative too.