Students Need To Get A Life

If you're finding it as hard to concentrate on reading this as we are writing it due to having nine social networking tools open and blinking at you for attention at this very minute, you are not alone.

A study, reported by CTV, which deprived a selection of 200 students from their internets and Facebooks and the like for a period of 24 hours, found they felt anxious, frustrated and isolated as a result of the mother-brain disconnect.

They literally NEED all this nonsense.

Unable to concentrate without the numerous forms of stimulation that they all use to get them through the day without actually paying attention to anything, the poor darlings complained that they didn't know what to do with themselves with one student saying "I stared at the wall for a little bit" - before surrendering to boredom and taking some sleeping pills to help get through the rest of the boring tech-free day.

They should be grateful they didn't have to get through a Sunday in 1989.

So Where's Our Lawsuit?

Sony had pulled the plug from 'Other OS' feature in PlayStation 3 console with firmware 3.21 update that created quite a ruckus last month. Disappointed with that move, Anthony Ventura from California has filed a suit against Sony for "intentional disablement of the valuable functionality originally advertised as available" in the PlayStation 3 console, reported IGN. Lawsuit says that Sony's act of removing 'Other OS' support was more concerned with potential piracy.


However, Sony had clearly stated that the removal of Other OS feature was simply for security reasons. That didn't scare PS3 hackers as GeoHot demonstrated custom firmware for retaining 'Other OS' support on PS3.


The lawsuit states, "On information and belief, contrary to Sony's statement, the 'security concerns' did not involve a threat to PS3 users, but rather reflected Sony's concerns that the Other OS feature might be used by 'hackers' to copy and/or steal gaming and other content." The suit alleged Sony for violating California's Unfair Competition Law by restricting the PS3's functionalities via "forcing consumers to choose between the Other OS function and the Other Advertised Features impaired by Update 3.21."


Ventura seeks compensation and legal fees from this lawsuit but no fixed amount was mentioned. However, the suit does state that the amount in controversy is in excess of $5 million

Sony 3DTV In The Wild

But is it really a good deal? Despite flashing the £1300 price tag, look closer, that's with a trade-in plus you also then have to buy a 3D transmitter and a couple of pairs of glasses too, that takes the price up to a cool £1500, which put it in direct competition with the Samsung 40" model which has in-built transmitter and includes 2 free pairs of glasses. The other bothering thing is the Sony one looks to me the same as a Sony 40" KDL40EX403U which you can pick up for an easy to find £600 from the same shop, is this just a case of Sony rebranding an older model and trying to make a fast buck on the back of the 3D launch?

[mobiletone] stealing the companies internets

PS3 Can't Do Full HD3D

SCEE’s stereoscopic team confirms earlier predictions that corners must be cut for 3D gaming

Any games that receive a retrospective 3D adaptation for PS3 will likely see their resolution and graphical clout cut in order to maintain a smooth performance, according to two developers working in SCEE’s stereoscopic team.

The admission backs up claims by Ninja Theory co-founder Tameem Antoniades earlier this month when he pointed out that current hardware simply isn’t up to delivering full 3D at 1080p at 60Hz.

Now Sony has confessed that the 3D versions of both WipEout HD and MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, both of which will be given free to anyone who buys one of Sony’s 3D Bravia TVs, will suffer texture and resolution drops.

“WipEout HD was originally 1080p at 60Hz – obviously a good foundation to start from but in making the 3D build of this we had to go for two 720p images,” senior development manager Simon Benson told Digital Foundry.

“Because it was 60Hz we could just drop to 30Hz and in actual fact, that was it. There was no more work to do. That worked. It took very little time getting the game into 3D; there were very few problems with WipEout.”

However, converting MotorStorm: Pacific rift into 3D was even more daunting.

As the game runs at the lower resolution and frame rate of 720p and 30Hz respectively, the developers had to rework the split-screen two player mode that already reduced the amount of graphical detail, allowing it to effectively run two games at once. The end result is that single player 3D MotorStorm suffers the same graphical compromises found in the two-player version in the original title.

Whether future titles built for 3D from the ground-up will be able to overcome these challenges remains to be seen.

Roy Fokker's Wet Dream

Even if this doesn't get an EU release, plz have English subs so I can import!!

Between this and the rumoured Zone of the Enders 3 I might die from a mech O.D.

[pabloamigo]

The Lost And The Awesome

Finally my dream has come true, two years ago someone said it wouldn't be long before there would be tattooed gangs of PS3 fanboy bikers roaming the land, yesterday that long remembered concept came true. For many an hour i was the lone eastern europian chopper rider dealing out pain in Libery City, now i finally have my own whole biker gang and totally authentic club house.

The game also remembered my controller set-up etc from GTAIV and has fixed a few niggling issues from the first game, the most obvious was Nikos weeeeeird leaning over while walking around corners. It also adds the option of a 'grain' filter to make it look more edgey, grainy footage makes things edgey? Then when you ride with the gang you replenish health and vehicle buy staying within the club logo projected on the ground. I'm sure there's more but need to put some hours in yeah.



Some of the new bikes are to die for, billboards, radio and TV have been updated and i was sad to hear in a news item on the radio that Lazlo had been sacked, that guy was an in-game and real life legend. There's more Halo Republican Space Rangers cartoons too. Shame we had to wait two years fro this DLC pack, but it's here now and i am the bunny of happy.

ps: anyone else get a Modnation Racers PSP code today?

pps: i hope FedEx arrives with my new bike forks before i have to leave for the doctors.

1 Million Damage - (ding!)

Good news for all you Disgaea 3 fans out there (via Gaming Union):

NIS America have just confirmed that trophies will finally be coming to the European version of the game and after contacting them, they've now confirmed that the trophies will be retroactive.

This basically means that loading up old saves will instantly unlock the trophies, if the requirements have been met. There was a lot of confusion about this when the patch came to North America last year so it's good to hear some definitive confirmation for the European patch.

The patch will be available on the 13th of May across Europe.

[pabloamigo]

Sex OR Violence?

Heeeeeeeeeeeeere's Yahtzee

*goes off to thrash DNS service with a large plank* Enjoy this Just Cause 2 video, yeah..

Games Don't Make You Smrt

"The largest ever investigation followed 11,430 people over six weeks to see what effect, if any, playing brain training computer games would have.

While players got progressively better at the games, the gains were not transferable, Nature journal reports.

Players gained nothing in terms of general reasoning, memory, planning or visuospatial abilities, experts found. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8630588.stm 

/// If that is the case, then i'm guessing that Violent games don't make you violent, Stealth games don't turn you into deadly ninjas (sorry Sketch) and Driving games won't turn you into the next Lewis on the track. But what games can do is make you feel happy, sad, angry and a whole range of other emotions, but let's not kid ourselves here that they are any better for us than a homeopathy 'medicine'. Games are games are games, and in the same way Monopoly doesn't turn you into the owner of Canary Wharf, nailing some n00b with a head shot at 1000 yards has no transferable skills in the real world.

Games are nothing better or worse than virtual crack, and the sooner we admit that to ourselves the better.

[mobiletone] IQ of 145 and none the better for it.