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Comment Possibly the Oddbox? (Score 3, Insightful) 36

by J_DarkElf (#32923430) Attached to: New <em>Oddworld</em> Games In Development

It was mentioned before by the Oddworld Inhabitants team that if the re-released Abe games sold well there would be an Oddbox, with additionally Munch's Oddysee and Stranger's Wrath ported to Windows.
This sounds more like a reference to that, since there is no indication Squeek's Oddysee or other new Oddworld games are in development.
E3

Sony To Detail "Premium PSN" Plans At E3 171

Posted by Soulskill from the if-only-we-could-still-access-psn dept.
ranulf writes "VG247 is reporting that Sony will reveal their plans for 'premium PSN' services next month at E3, even though they've long stated that one of the PS3's advantages over the 360 is that they offer PSN for free. In addition to the premium services, they intend to offer a free PSN game to subscribers each month (from a choice of 'two to four games'), which should make the premium PSN effectively free if you already bought a game every month. VG247's source claims 'nothing planned will impact the service’s current free aspects,' and that 'there’s nothing in the premium package which will gimp regular PSN users.'"

Comment Re:Thanks for the heads up (Score 4, Insightful) 167

by J_DarkElf (#29037277) Attached to: Classifying Players For Unique Game Experiences

Then don't buy the Xbox version. If you RTFA, it mentions that the data collection was done through Xbox Live.

Of course with its achievements etc. Xbox Live is always tracking everyone in the first place, Eidos' data collection is a logical next step. If you're paranoid, avoid Xbox Live, PSN, and any similar system (including Steam on PC unless firewalled).

Or of course just pull the network plug of the PC or console...

Comment Re:A Bad Idea Made Worse (Score 1) 174

by J_DarkElf (#27558409) Attached to: Google Open Sources Updater

Don't forget about the Apple Software Updater, which is installed even if you opt-out during the install of whatever software (ie iTunes or Quicktime) you're installing!
At least this can be uninstalled again.

Java also insists on installing an always-running update service, with no easy way to disable.

Are there others -- outside of antivirus vendors, one of the few examples where an always-running updater makes sense?
Music

Alpine Legend Revolutionizes Music Game Genre 45

Posted by Soulskill from the haven't-the-foggiest dept.
Microsoft has announced the upcoming release of Alpine Legend for the Xbox 360. Building upon the established titles of the music game genre, Alpine Legend takes you to the Swiss mountaintops, where you and your friends play up to three Alpenhorns at a time while a fourth yodels along. When you're done playing, you can disassemble the 8-foot horns for easy storage. "Jam with alpine legends like Franz 'The Manz' Lang and Johann Hornbostel. Shake the mountain tops with 100 classic Alphorn tracks including, 'Whose spit is in my horn?' and 'More goat bell (It needs).'"
AMD

AMD Demos Live Migration Across Three Opterons 25

Posted by timothy from the which-walnut-under-which-cup dept.
bigwophh writes "Advanced Micro Devices has just revealed to the public the first video and images demonstrating live migration across three generations of AMD Opteron processors on VMware ESX 3.5, including the six-core AMD Opteron processor, often referred to as 'Istanbul.' For those unaware of the strains in a server environment, live migration of virtual machines across physical servers is crucial to providing flexibility for managing data centers. AMD is also taking this opportunity to highlight its continued, cooperative development efforts with Microsoft as evidenced in Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V, which just also happens to be available today in beta form, that adds support for AMD-V technology with Rapid Virtualization Indexing."
Portables (Games)

Assassin's Creed, LittleBigPlanet Coming To PSP 49

Posted by Soulskill from the good-things-come-in-small-packages dept.
Sony unveiled their PSP lineup for 2009 today, and it contains a number of major games and franchies. Assassin's Creed is on the way, as is a portable version of LittleBigPlanet , which will still allow players to share their levels with the community. A Motorstorm game set in Alaska is also coming, and Rock Band: Unplugged is in development as well. "There will not be a peripheral attachment available... Instead, all input is handled by the 'Left,' 'Up,' 'Triangle,' and 'Circle' buttons. The player can switch between guitar, drums, bass, and "vocals" (although he won't physically be singing, merely tapping buttons) using the L and R shoulder buttons. ... The player can actually choose to switch instruments at anytime, but switching prematurely will cause him to lose his multiplier."
First Person Shooters (Games)

An Early Look at Killzone 2's Multiplayer 47

Posted by Soulskill from the apparently-you-shoot-things dept.
Giant Bomb takes us through the multiplayer mode of upcoming first-person shooter Killzone 2 from Guerrilla Games. They explain how you gradually unlock more ranks, weapons, and classes as you find success. They also say you should expect different modes of play to be thrown at you after every victory: "The big thing to 'get' about Killzone 2's multiplayer is that the game isn't really broken down by game types, like team deathmatch or capture the flag. Those styles of gameplay are instead integrated at a higher level. Each map and each match is capable of serving up five different objectives. And the game serves these objectives to you on the fly. So you might join a game and get thrown into a Body Count mission, which is the game's take on team deathmatch. If one side hits the kill count or if time expires with one side ahead of the other, the leading side wins that mission and earns one point. After a brief respite from mission-based activity, the game launches into the next thing."
Image

Slashdot's Disagree Mail 100

Posted by samzenpus from the good-things-come-in-small-packages dept.
Ernest Hemingway's micro-story, "For sale: baby shoes, never worn," is one of my favorite examples of how less is sometimes more. Sometimes a few sentences say it all; you don't always need a hundred pages to convey an idea. Most of the mail I get is brief and to the point. Others are just brief. To be honest, I appreciate the short, crazy email more than the long rants, and they can be just as funny. Read below for this week's mail snippets.
Media

The Copyright Crusade a Lost Cause? 253

Posted by Zonk from the got-lost-in-his-own-museum dept.
A. Smith writes "Ars Technica is exploring the relationship between property rights and copyright, arguing that copyright holders are making a mistake by stressing similarities between property rights and copyright. They compare P2P users to 18th-century squatters in North America: 'Like squatters of old, many ordinary users find copyright law bewildering and are frustrated by the arbitrary restrictions it imposes. Customers wanting to rip their DVD collections to their computers, download music they can play on any device, or incorporate copyrighted works into original creative works find that there is no straightforward, legal way to do these things.' They conclude by offering that more reasonable, understandable copyright restrictions would result in a user base friendlier to publisher interests."
The Internet

Jimmy Wales Faces Allegations of Corruption 289

Posted by Zonk from the he's-no-jimmy-james dept.
eldavojohn writes "The SFGate site has up an article noting that Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, is facing allegations from multiple quarters accusing him of abusing his power. Several people apparently claim he used the foundation to pay for personal expenses, including reimbursement for a $1,300 dinner for four at a Florida steakhouse. Accusations have also been made indicating that he edited the Wikipedia entry of political commentator Rachel Marsden, a woman he was seeing, at her request. In the case of that allegation, Wales replied that 'I acted completely consistently with Wikipedia policy. I did the right thing: I passed along my work to date for other editors to deal with, and I recused myself from the case.'"
Government

If IP Is Property, Where Is the Property Tax? 691

Posted by kdawson from the making-the-world-safe-for-mickey dept.
nweaver writes "In a response to the LA Times editorial on copyright which we discussed a week ago, the paper published a response arguing: 'If Intellectual Property is actually property, why isn't it covered by a property tax?' If copyright maintenance involved paying a fee and registration, this would keep Mickey Mouse safely protected by copyright, while ensuring that works that are no longer economically relevant to the copyright holder pass into the public domain, where the residual social value can serve the real purpose of copyright: to enhance the progress of science and useful arts. Disclaimer: the author is my father."
Science

Fish Can Count to Four 103

Posted by samzenpus from the incredible-mr.-limpet dept.
Khemist writes "Fish can count, according to scientists, who have found that North American mosquito fish have the ability to count up to four. Previously it was known that fish could tell big shoals from small ones, but researchers have now found that they have a limited ability to count how many other fish are nearby. This means that they have similar counting abilities to those observed in apes, monkeys and dolphins and humans with very limited mathematical ability."

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