Friday Reading - no modchips for Xbox 360? - briefly
(hx) 10:45 PM CEST - Sep,02 2005
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So Andre Vrignaud
(Director of Technical Strategy for Xbox Live) claims that it's going to be a
long time before the Xbox 360 gets modded. Hm, I'm curious as to how easy/hard
it will be to mod. I also wonder what kind of potential the Xbox 360 has when it
comes to emulation, and how difficult it will be to make current emulators run
on the machine. What do you think?
Here's some stuff:
- DirectNIC Crisis Manager Braves the Chaos of New Orleans - The
Interdictor, a DirectNIC crisis manager,
is currently braving the madness of post-Katrina New Orleans. Server
rescues, OC4 repairs and live video and audio feeds abound as he and his crew
battle the odds with what seems like the entire internet at his back.
1700+
People are tracking his blog, and IRC channels are full to capacity. In
related news,
Sony Online is asking its EverQuest II players (or anyone, for that
matter) to donate what they can in funds to the American Red Cross so that aid
can be given to those who need it.
- Broadcasting from IFA Berlin this week -
"Into Tomorrow with Dave
Graveline" is The Consumer Electronics and Technology Show on the air LIVE
every Sunday from 2 pm - 5 pm ET (11 am - 2 pm PT); now airing on over 100
radio stations around the country and worldwide on the American Forces
Networks.
- Q&A: Ageia CEO Manju Hegde -
CEO talks about the PhysX processing unit, the PlayStation 3, and getting
developers to support the Ageia PhysX PPU. Physics technology startup
Ageia has had a busy summer getting its PhysX software development.
- Playstation 3 Blu Ray drive will cost Sony $100+ - It turns out
that at the release of the console in the first half of 2006,
Sony will
have to pay more than $100 per drive it builds in Playstation 3. This is a
lot of money, because even in retail you can buy a DVD +RW drive for less than
$50 now.
- PS3 to Have Mouse/Keyboard Support for UT2007 - The Inquirer has
learned that
Sony's
upcoming PlayStation 3 will have USB keyboard/mouse compatability for
games such as the upcoming Unreal Tournament 2007.
- Microsoft to ship millions of Xbox 360 at launch - Microsoft is
storing the chips and its contractors
ready to
build hundreds of thousands of Xbox 360 consoles and it's certain that it
won't be in short supply when it comes to the graphic part.
- Don't count on modding your Xbox 360: Microsoft exec - Andre
Vrignaud, Director of Technical Strategy for Xbox Live,
referred to modchips for Xbox360: "More interestingly, a question from
an audience member on the security for Xbox 360 in terms of 'mod chips' and
other devices that modify for imported/illegal content prompted a reply that
Microsoft took 2 and a half years on security this time round, whereas the
Xbox only had around a year. Vrignaud prompted: "Never say never", but he
thinks it's going to be a long time before the Xbox 360 gets modded."
- Blizzard wins hacking lawsuit - Federal appeals court says
players don't have the right to reverse engineer games to circumvent
Battle.net.
- 50Mbit/s Broadband, for Free! - Deutsche Telekom have just
announced that
they will be rolling out 50 Mbit/s connection in 50 cities around Germany by
2007. By mid-2006 the first 10 cities will be connected to the new fiber
network, covering around 2.9m households. More immediately there will be a
free six week trial starting in Hamburg and Stuttgart which will run at 25
Mbit/s. If you're interested, you'd better
sign up at their site
quickly - it's expected to fill up fast (not surprisingly).
- New Cool LED Watch From Japan -The cool Japan based cool wrist
watch store TokyoFlash tells us that they have
a
new LED Watch - The High Frequency by Equalizer. The display of the High
Frequency LED Watch pushes up the top row of lights and they float back down
in a real equalizer effect, finally all the lights fall down off the face of
the watch to leave only two lights to indicate the time for 5 seconds, then
the two lights also trail off. The watch measures 50mm x 30mm and weighs 140g.
The battery life is supposed very good on this LED watch despite the number of
LEDs on it. The new LED watch sells for $161.63.
- Seiko Worldwide Atomic Solar Watch -
This watch, part of the Seiko Brightz line, can synchronize with most of
the atomic time server around the world—hence the "worldwide" moniker. When
fully charged, the battery will hold enough power to run continuously for 6
months, or 1.5 years using the power saving function. Seiko plans to start
making these watches available in Japan in September of this year, and then in
Europe at some point in the future. Yes, the US is conspicuously missing from
their plans.
- An SMS glowing on your pillow - The researchers have managed
to integrate flexible arrays of multicolored LEDs into fabrics without
compromising the softness of the cloth. They have developed an
interconnecting substrate made entirely of cloth. After having created
flexible and drapable substrates from plastics and films, the researchers have
placed on the substrates passive matrixes of 10 x 10 red, green and blue LED
packages. The pixelated luminaries have been embedded in objects such as
pillows, backpacks, and floor mats.
- BMW X6 car -
The BMW
X6 is a cross between a sports car, a coupe and a SUV, wow.
- DOOM behind-the-scenes video -
IGN has posted an exclusive behind-the-scenes video feature on the
forthcoming game-to-film adaptation.
- Get Lost on DVD -
Available on Tuesday, September 6, the
highly-anticipated release is a seven-disc DVD box set
 that includes all 24
episodes from the thrilling first season. The second season of Lost will
premiere on September 21 at 9/8c on ABC.
- Vitamin E gives mice a longer, more acrobatic life -
High doses of vitamin E may help mice live longer, according to a new
study by Spanish and Argentinean researchers. Male mice given the vitamin
lived an average 40% longer than their peers and showed a much higher level of
acrobatic prowess when they performed on a high-wire tightrope, the
researchers found. The improvements were due to the vitamin's antioxidant
properties, they say.
- Five Ways to Spot a Liar -
How can you tell when your lawyer is lying to you? According to the old
joke, it's when his lips are moving. But lawyers haven't cornered the market
when it comes to deceit. Some studies suggest more than 50 percent of doctors
would lie to insurance companies to obtain treatment for a patient and a
consultant to some of America's largest public corporations says his polls
reveal 20 to 30 percent of middle managers have presented fraudulent internal
reports.
- 10 Most Overpriced Cities in the US. Did Your Town Make the List? -
For the second year in a row,
Seattle takes the top spot. hy? The city does poorly on all counts, but
was at the bottom when it comes to job growth, and the cost of living is very
high
- New Orleans Before and After satellite pictures -
check it out
- Jennifer Lee video -
check it out!
Reviews:
Codename: Panzers Phase Two (8/10) /
Codename Panzers: Phase Two (8/10) /
Dungeon
Siege II (4/5) /
GTR /
Guild Wars (8/10) /
Madden NFL 06
Previews:
Matrix: Path of Neo /
Neverend /
Starship Troopers /
The Sims 2: Nightlife (GameSpy) /
The Sims 2 Nightlife (GameSpot) /
The
Suffering: Ties That Bind /
TOCA Race
Driver 3
Media:
Bad Day
L.A. trailer /
Myst V movie /
Nero Hunter shots /
The Sims 2 Nightlife movie /
X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse movie
Mods/Tools -
BF2 King of the Hill /
Middle of Nowhere (BF2)
Other gaming news:
- NFS: Most Wanted Ship Date - The game will now ship for PS2, Xbox,
GameCube, PC, PSP, DS and GBA on November 15, 2005. Of course, you should
expect the game
to hit
retailers on November 16, 2005. The only system Most Wanted is not
shipping on come mid-November is Microsoft's next-generation console, the Xbox
360.
- 18 Wheels of Steel: Convoy Demo -
An 18 Wheels of Steel: Convoy demo is now available, offering a trial with
the full version of the trucking sequel .
- Wibble Playable Demo -
Wibble (download)
is aloveable and relaxing game in which you blow your letters into the target
zone on the game board. With an emphasis on simplicity, Wibble will captivate
you in mere seconds.
- Sega unveils Lindbergh games -
The Lindbergh is based on PC architecture and uses top-of-the-line
hardware components, including an Intel Pentium 4 that runs at 3GHz, an Nvidia
GPU with dual-screen output, and a 64-channel Digital Signal Processor for its
audio. Trailers for five Lindbergh games were shown at the AM Show: Virtua
Fighter 5, House of the Dead 4, After Burner 4, Power Smash 3, and Psy-Phi.
While House of the Dead 4 and After Burner's trailers were nearly identical to
trailers shown at E3 2005, the Virtua Fighter 5 trailer had new footage.
- Gabe Newell video-interview -
Valve has posted its video interview (part
#1 /
part #2) with Gabe Newell, thus ending their weeklong lust for all
things Half-Life. In the two part video interview (totaling 17 minutes), Mr.
Head Honcho Newell himself talks about pretty much everything you could think
he would say, from his displeasure at next-generation consoles to the episodic
content to a Half-Life movie.
- Are Games Getting Easier? -
Are games getting easier to play, or are we all just getting better at
playing them? Personally, I don't think we're getting better as players, I
think publishers and developers are catering to a mainstream audience...
Buy goodies:
Millennium - The Complete Third Season
/ The 42 inch TH-42PD50U Plasma EDTV
($1,632.99!) / Sega iDog
Pre-order: The Sims 2: Nightlife (Amazon
/
EBGames)
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Updated:08:10 PM CEST Jun,05
(new)
