Yup +1 for pfSense it really is great. Run it on an embedded ALIX board like this http://linitx.com/viewproduct.php?prodid=12270 and for £100 (plus ~30 for compact flash and enclosure) you have firewall/router that would cost... well far more than £100 from Cisco or any other name-brand lock-in. I'm pretty sure an embedded chipset like the ALIX (500mhz AMD Geode) will do 100mbit full duplex without problems.

That sounds awesome, i did something similar a little while ago, quit an (IT) job i was getting bored in. I chose to leave, got a different job with less hours while i planned some time away traveling. Right now is probably not the best time to be quitting a job unless you really feel you have to. But in a situation with more opportunities, people should take the risk.

One of the reasons i quit was "computer overload", i was spending work and spare time thinking about computers; and the job i was in was pretty varied as far as IT jobs go (i wasn't in front of a terminal all day).

I'm looking for a job now, and after having had a break i actually have enthusiasm for IT work again. Hopefully i can find a place at a small business, I've never felt i would get on in a large corporation.

This wont stop piracy. All they did was screw real fans. Same old story AGAIN. You cant rank on hacked servers and most players will want their rank and other stats global. Ranking was a great way to make causal pirates get a legal copy, assuming they didn't just want single player. The hardcore group will of hackers will inevitably reverse the matchmaking servers.

Well done IW you lost a sale, at least until its heavily discounted. Ill be playing L4D2.

Watchdog used to have a reputation as a respectable consumer issues program, going after the corporations trying to rip us off. Over the last few years its become basically a troll show that for some reason, only goes after the big stories, whether there is a real issue or not. I guess they are chasing ratings.

It has an increasingly confrontational feel, and its very hard for them to get anyone from companies on to seriously defend accusations because they know they will get shouted down by the hosts.

I don't know why they ran the program into the ground, the producers need to get a clue. Maybe they are trying to compete with the internet mentality.

This is a prime example, basically a non-story about a perfectly acceptable failure rate, obviously blow out of all proportion because of other issues with competing products *cough*.

He also said -- when someone asked him about releasing the Quake 4 source -- that he was going to have the conversation with Betheseda soon, and expected there to be no problems, as it was already pretty much agreed. Based on current evidence there should be no problems with future code.

Also he was pleased that Id's history of open sourcing code was finally paying off, because Wolfenstein and other "Id Classics" released on mobile platforms were all based of the fixed code from the open source projects. That's the reason it only took him a weekend to knock them together, and he was happy there was now proof its worthwhile for those who disagreed with him.

It's the easy way out too. Instead of having to innovate interesting ways to use the internet for gameplay OnLive is attempting to give developer and publishers the ability to just shove existing content down the pipe at the consumer, but in a way they have total control over. No clever people or innovate ideas needed.

Criterion has done it better by heavily integrating social stats and scoreboards into Burnout Paradise. You need a valid account to keep track of your stats and to be able to compare yourself to other players, that is a big part of the game. If you want to get the full experience you need a valid account. You can lend the game to a mate, but do you want him/her screwing up your stats? And would he/she want to play through the game with a borrowed account? I think that sort of personalisation of the game -- give the gamer something that they end up creating and owning themselves -- is they way to stop piracy. But it requires more talent than just loading a disc with SECUROM or devlivering it through Onlive.

EA could do it with Madden, instead of selling a $60 game every year with the teams changed. Sell the platform once and then sell team updates and the social multilayer experience as a subscription. Now im sure EA would try and screw the consumer out of as much money as possible on the subscription (unlike Burnout which is a one off payment), but it's the right direction to go.

Humm, that makes me remember a program i watched. They averaged the facial features of a set of volunteers, and then asked them to rate how attractive faces were including the averaged one. The averaged face of the group was rated very highly for attractiveness. The conclusion being that a (scientifically as was possible) average face was in fact the most attractive. In fact the averaged face may have come from a very large set of data, larger then the group rating for attractiveness. I cant remember now, or the name program, could have been a BBC docu, sorry.

Of course we all find ourselves attractive, which is why couples always looks eerily similar =)

Yes, i had no idea what you were all on about. Try The Four Lads if you're clueless like me.

Just ask this guy to do it for you. He would have made 2 or 3 Duke games it the time it took 3DR to make a couple of models in Maya.

At the moment their top 50Mbit tier is totally uncapped. I guess if you raped it constantly they might say something, but at least in comparison to their other offerings it is.

If im going to be capped id rather be capped during the times their network is under the most load, than some blanket 50GB/100GB cap for the month. Which is what seems most common. At least i can make full use of my 20Mbit connection during off-peak times.

If i wanted i could leave bittorrent running for ~12hrs at night and not hit any cap. Not bad for the UK. If i do any big downloads i just wait until after 9pm.

I have hit the caps before now without realising it. They may become a real issue if you did lots of HD streaming (iPlayer HD maybe). But 95% of the time i can watch whatever i want on iPlayer, browse the web etc. and not hit their peak-time caps.

Im satisfied with Mr Branson so far ;)

Or just link to the printable version of the article in question (where possible), to save the 8 extra hits to their server to read the whole thing. Although... maybe that's their problem.

It wasn't really that odd. Sure the PS3 fanboys went mad, but that was to be expected for anything other than a 9 or a 10. The review its self was pretty positive (if you read it), and Edge traditionally scores lower than the IGN or Gamespot's. 7/10 is a solid score.

Ive not played the game, but honestly from what i have seen, the gameplay is nothing other than run-of-the-mill for a shooter. Multiplayer seems to have had more thought put into it, but even that is basically COD4's level/unlock system.

If i had a PS3 i would buy it for sure, because i like shooters. But for anyone else there are games that provide the same experience already out.

Often with these big platform exclusive games, their review becomes a review of the platform -- rather than the game -- in many readers eyes. Saying Killzone 2 is average is saying the PS3 is average, so there is more at stake for some than just a game review.

As for Edges reviews generally. There are some inconsistent scores. But because the review is written and scored by an individual, and that is the only opinion given in the magazine. It is bound to happen from time to time. Overall the magazine is still one of the few i trust for an engaging read and sensible reviews.

I think EA means 99.8% of SPORE players dont care about DRM. Which could well be true. 99.8% of their target customer base is way off tho. I would like to think the real number is around 80% too, as that would be big enough for them to take notice. You must remeber that that 20% they alienate are the demographic MOST LIKELY to be buying lots of their games. So they piss off their most luctrative customers. Good work!