6/30/2004

Well Mac users, once again you're brought into the PCs sick world of existence. Now you're given crappy multiplayer games! 

Got Brown? You better if you want your computer repaired.

Now yesterday there was an article about Driv3r and how apparently they demanded good reviews for advanced copies.  Now rest assured the Sanitarium will never ever sell out.  At least not sell out for so little.  One advanced copy of the game? Damn that's weak. Maybe Atari can't afford much more given their disastrous games like T3: War of the Machines but damn if you want me to sell out I need real greenbacks. In fact some of the new fifties would be sweet.

6/29/2004

Microsoft announced a plan to speed up the turn around on fighting viruses such as this recent "Scob" outbreak.  Is it a wonder of technological advancement?  No, but you need to turn on your Windows Auto Updater. It's all your fault! Gosh you're stupid! Damn I'll just keep using Trend

All you Star Wars Galaxies junkies can rejoice. Apparently, anyone who's played since the game's launch is going to get a big "thanks" by giving those users some sort of nice luxury ship for free in order to cavort the galaxy.  While not a fan of SW:G, I'm really impressed in how they are rewarding loyalty. 

6/27/2004

North Korea is upset about Ghost Recon 2's plot. Which has made the Defense Department scramble since they didn't know North Korea had computers.  Yet once again, another failing by the CIA and NSA.  

6/26/2004

Uh, a new Beavis and Butthead might be in the works. I just felt my IQ drop 100 points. And that's uh... cool! Yeah yeah!! Kick ass!

Yeah, I know. Other sites are covering the Intel motherboard recall or the security leaks in IE.  My first story? A Beavis and Butthead movie sequel. Sue me. 

I've been trying out a browser called Firefox and I have to say this thing is pretty hot.  Small memory footprint, easy to install plug-ins, and super simple to add themes for the browser, with my personal favorite being the Noia 2.0. Plus it ensures my browser won't be victimized by those IE worms going around right now. 

And because Painkiller left so many questions unanswered, an expansion is being planned. What type of questions? Well, like how many more baddies I can freeze and then obliterate with the double barrel shotgun I suppose. Yeah, that's the ticket. 

6/24/2004

BOINK!!! Woops.. I mean BOINC. What's BOINC? Beats the hell out of me but all the alien hunters are going ape about it since SETI@Home is going to start using it on their desktop client.  Intereting, but I use the folding project instead to eat up my unused CPU cycles.

Microsoft is going to start getting into parallel computing. What's parallel?  Hook up a bunch of small computers and they work together basically. Good for if you're going to scale your network. 

Taldren, developers of the Starfleet Command games, have closed shop for good.  I really enjoyed the games they put out but SFC3 did get a bit too easy. 

Wow look Mac users, you're getting a game that I've had for over a year. 

6/23/2004

Ch-Check it out, cause the Beastie Boys CD is checking your system out and installing some DRM stuff on it.  

Quake is eight years old today. To celebrate, go play some old Thunderwalker and get some rocket jumping going. 

It's nice and cute that Microsoft is now getting all serious about security but shouldn't this have been done a while back?

Dan's Data has more letters out so get to reading.

6/20/2004

Warhammer Online has been cancelled.  Too bad really since it sounded interesting.

The Army has set up it's own software development company. Is this a good thing or bad thing, I don't know.  I think I'd rather have my tax dollars being spent on blowing up terrorists in their hidey holes. Who knows, maybe this is so the military can make better training simulators or something.  Sort of the Sims with guns maybe. 

6/19/2004

Some clever fellow has made a mod for Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory which might make watching matches and demos a whole lot better.  Check it out here and oogle at the screenshots. Amazing.

6/18/2004

There's a new version of the motherboard monitor software and it supports the VT8237 southbridge which means I think I'll give it a try.

A Dirty Harry game?  G'dammit if they get Eastwood to do the voices (fat chance) that would be about as cool as it gets. 

And for anyone who cares, there's a new rendition of the King Arthur movie coming to screen in a few weeks.  I, however, believe that the movie Excalibur is about as close to the King Arthur legend as you can get and so you should find that and watch it instead.

6/17/2004

Now I wash my car every few weeks to keep the oxidization and dirt off the awesome blue of my Acura.  That normally runs me about $20 at the local place. So how much is it going to cost to clean this bastard?

You know it's a slow news week if a site is going into their 3rd (one, two, THREE) part of a preview for Playboy Mansion.  If I was allowed to preview that game I'd think it would be very simple:  breasts, Hef, more breasts, Playboy Mansion, and Grotto. 

Is N-Gage the Daikatana of the handheld gaming world?   

If you've been reading this site and for whatever sick reason remember most of it, you know I don't do consoles.  Stupid controllers, graphics aren't as nice as PC and if you open a console, they get all pissy about it it probably unleashes demons similar to Raiders of the Lost Ark.  Having said that have you seen the screenshots for Gran Turismo 4?  I do like a good racing game from time to time.

6/16/2004

Where was I? Vacation. Orlando is sweet.  Go to Universal and ride The Mummy.  And surprisingly, the Animal Planet Live show was interesting.  Somehow, they trained a cat to do tricks which to me is akin to finding some bones in your yard and then you discover that they're Jesus. 

Microsoft to make their own Anti-virus software which is just about the dumbest thing I've ever heard.  Stick your core business dammit until you get it figured out correctly. Everyone else, use Trend

6/11/2004

Wow, more Half-Life 2 news. But it's not what we're waiting to hear which is "the game is being shipped to stores!"

Flaws and more flaws.

I've been pointed towards a game called Guild Wars. It appears interesting and, I vaguely recall something about it also being free. 

6/10/2004

Wi-fi security still stinks.  Yeah, people don't know how to use it right and they don't know how to lock it down. Probably the same people who don't patch their machines.

As if it was too terribly difficult in the first place, here's a guide for Call of Duty. It's only about eight months late. 

6/9/2004

What the heck is Sempron? That's not even a word dammit!

6/8/2004

If you're running a newer Giga-Byte motherboard you might want to get into the advanced settings (Shift-F1 or Ctrl-F1, I forget which right now) of the BIOS and check the parameter called "MaxMemClock."

I found this little variable while poking around in the BIOS after doing an update and saw this number set to "133"

Now that surprised me since I'm running PC3200 RAM. A quick email to Giga-byte support suggested that I could up this clock rate but start slow and go from 133 to 150 to 200 then 400 (all those numbers are fixed integers so you can't just type in a random number).

I just found it odd that the MaxMemClock was set so low by default.

6/7/2004

Duke Nuke'em Forever will never come out. I believe the first mention of DNF came in the Old Testament.  Yes, in fact here it is, Pslam 34:14:

Broussard makes a premonition

about DNF bringing much demolition

Three thousand years go by

and most of the original fans of DNF have died.

6/6/2004

Interplay is officially closed which is of course counter to what was printed just Friday on Gamespot.  What a disappointment since they published two games that I played the heck out of: Descent and Starfleet Command. A pity to see them go. 

I have been reading, probably like most of you, about this whole "toxic dust" issue from computers. 

Researchers collected samples of dust from dozens of computers in eight states, including university computer labs in New York, Michigan and Texas, legislative offices in California, and an interactive computer display at a children's museum in Maine. They tested for three types of brominated flame retardants suspected to be hazardous.

The most toxic piece of equipment discovered by the researchers was a new flat-screen monitor in a university in New York, implying that newer equipment isn't necessarily cleaner.

So does this mean when I have kids they'll have three heads and 6 fingers?  That'd be sweet. Just thinking of the keyboard mappings they can make for gaming!  And if they're autistic they will rule the RTS world! Watch out South Korea, I'm taking over Starcraft with my mutated offspring of mathematical super humans!

6/5/2004

Doom 3 the movie will probably never happen.  I'm convinced of this now.  Warner Brothers lost their rights to it, and now the game is getting a "reimaging" and a new director.  I mean how hard can this be?  It's DOOM! Throw a lone soldier in a room with about 300 of the meanest, most drooling creatures on some space station on Mars and let the good times roll.  

Games./.org reports there's not going to be Quake IV at Quakecon.  Which begs the question: exactly what will be shown at Quakecon this year? Last year Call of Duty and Doom 3 were shown and the year before that it was Enemy Territory.  Ah crap you don't think they're just going to be showing Doom 3 again?  Screw that. 

Virutal Land Trading? On the one hand it's really not much different than a person trading pork futures or gold (do you really think someone who does wants to have pigs or gold delivered to their door) but at the same time it's pretty dang weird. I mean, if they unplug a server your investment is completely gone. *poof*  But I guess that's not much different from some stock investments in the past couple of years.  

The fellas at Penny-Arcade are going orgasmic over the movie tie-in game for Chronicles of Riddick. Personally, I'm not all that hot still about console games (save for sports), but I'm intrigued by one's ability to engage in fisticuffs.  Call of Duty came close to this when you could smack someone to the ground with the stock of your rifle but I think some pure bare knuckle brawling would be a welcome addition to a first person shooter again.  Doom did it so why not!  In fact let me do a couple different moves or even give me the ability to dodge. Wait, now it sounds like a console game. Dammit now I'm just confused what I want. Go away. 

6/4/2004

Ok, most of you are probably too young to remember a program called VisiCalc but as I'm older than you, I'm going to go in the Wayback machine post a link to a story regarding the 25th Anniversay of Visicalc, which is basically one the big reasons why businesses even use PCs today.  While I didn't see this till much later (like around '89 or so), you can see the roots of Excel, Lotus, and just about any other modern spreadsheet program there. 

For the on the go geek, a backpack that supports wireless networks. Le' Chic, so geek!

How do Windows and Mac OSX boot so much quicker now, read on dear reader!

Star Wars Galaxies trial for 14 days?  Sure but I ain't buying it still. 

6/2/2004

Today there's a nice write-up on Valhalla games regarding Knights of Old Republic 2. More prestige levels for Light and Dark Side and another 40-50 hours of game play.