SAVEDATA.JP - Ultimate Website for all Your Japanese Game Save Needs!

I know I mentioned SAVEDATA.JP earlier in November 4th's post titled "Musou Orochi 2 Japanese Platinum Game Save"; however, I felt like this awesome website deserves a more honorable and noticeable mention. I also wanted to give a little tutorial on how to navigate the website (whether you understand Japanese or not) and how to download game saves and find game save codes (for usage with Bruteforce Save Data).

So basically, if you're reading this post and are thus far interested, you should head on over to SAVEDATA.JP now. By the way, give it a bookmark as I'm sure you will refer back to it in the future.

When you first arrive at the website, you'll be greeted to a list of game consoles with links next to each:

Sounds like you know what to do right? Yep, simply click on the picture or link to the console you want to find game saves and codes for.

Afterwards, things get a little more complicated if you don't understand Japanese. Ignore all the guff on the top and scroll down the page until you start seeing a list of game names for that console (in Japanese, of course).

Game list for the PS3 page of SAVEDATA.JP

Conveniently, the website provides a link to the game's respective Amazon.jp page. Therefore, if you aren't familiar with the Japanese title, simply click on the link and you will be directed to that game's Amazon.jp page. There, you can then use the game's box photos to determine what game it is.

Okay, so you have found the game you are looking for. Now what?

There are three links next to each game, these are from left to right: Save Data, Save Edit, Questions and Other.

Save Data will direct to a message board where users on the website can upload their own game save for the game. This is what you will want to go to if you're only looking to download full game saves. Most of the time, these game saves will be 100% complete and have platinum status trophy. Each game save will be different in content and progress, so be sure to read the uploader's description (you can use Google Translate if you don't understand Japanese). Be wary of game saves that are heavily modified with codes, resulting in non-legit data and strange gameplay.

Downloading game saves will require you to resign them to your own PS3 profile before you can use them. Please see my "How to Resign PS3 Game Saves" post for more information regarding this.

Save Edit will direct to a message board where users on the website can share their codes for the game. By codes, I mean the cheats you can apply to game saves via Bruteforce Save Data. This is a more confusing area for those who won't understand Japanese. Regardless, Google Translate can also help here. If you are completely unsure of what a code does, feel free to e-mail me about it and I'll gladly translate it for you!

Questions and Other is a message board where users on the website can exchange information for one another and ask questions about the game. You don't really need to be here unless you understand Japanese.

And that's pretty much it to using SAVEDATA.JP. Simple, easy and effective, right?

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Upgrading My HD Capture Device Next Month

Okay, so I finally decided it's time to upgrade my HD capture device starting next month—that is, the one device that I've been using for all my YouTube videos since 2008!

Perhaps I didn't shed any light upon what I actually have been using. It's no other than the Hauppauge HD-PVR. I have the very first model of it, and I was one of the initial buyers to purchase it right when it came out.

Having gone through 5 years of model revisions and improved HD capturing technology, it was starting to feel as if my HD-PVR was falling behind the times. Although the quality was still there, I felt the ease of use was not prominent as it should be, and there were features on newer capture devices that I very much yearned for.

I especially desired a HD capture device that allowed me to capture in an uncompressed or lossless format, as opposed to forcing me to use its H.264 encoder. I always edit and re-encode my videos (never uploading the raw captured file), so once you start encoding a H.264 video with the same codec more than once, you're going to be losing a lot of quality. On the contrary, by having an uncompressed/lossless video file, I would have no worries of losing avertible quality when I edit and encode the video for YouTube.

Also, let's face it—HDMI is the way forward. Component limits your max capturing resolution to 1080i only, and you are additionally plagued to deal with analog interference, which can potentially ruin your footage.

So I decided my next HD capture device was going to be a BlackMagic Intensity Shuttle Thunderbolt.

It's perfect for my needs. It has HDMI in and out, 1080p capturing, uncompressed capturing and high bandwidth thunderbolt connection. From just looking at the technical specs and features alone, this device far outclasses any other existing consumer HD capture device on the market today. It's also priced very aggressively, at $230 new and around $260 with a thunderbolt cable.

What about more popular HD capture devices such as the HD-PVR 2 and Elgato HD Game Capture? While those are a nice upgrade to my existing HD-PVR due to them being HDMI equipped, they are more or less the same box of yesterday—forced H.264 encoding with last generation USB 2.0 connection. I don't want more of the same; I want something with unlimited potential, something the Intensity Shuttle Thunderbolt can offer.

I did briefly use an Intensity Shuttle a few months back, but it was the USB 3.0 version. My laptop unfortunately was not able to fully utilize the USB 3.0 speed, so the capture device was not fully operable. I now own a desktop that has thunderbolt connections, which is quite a lot faster than USB 3.0.

In conclusion, what does this all mean? For you as my viewers, it simply means much better video quality for my videos on YouTube. And I'm even hoping to be able to start uploading 1080p videos (although none of the games I've been recording are 1080p native). You can also expect a review here on this blog once I get it as well.

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Wii and Xbox 360 Case Mods

I just finally got around to finishing modding the cases of my Nintendo Wii and non-slim Xbox 360. As you can see, the finalized design sort of compliments the consoles well. The Wii is seen as a friendly, cute console with the anime case. The Xbox 360 is seen as a more hardcore geek machine with its dark case and illuminating red lights.

Nintendo Wii

Xbox 360 - Regular Flavor

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