There is a new auction site in town called TeleBid. The idea is that all the products on the site are new and that each time a bid is placed just 7p is added to the total cost of the item and a few seconds are added to the auction end timer. When the clock on the auction reaches zero whoever is the winning bidder gets the item.
On the surface it seems too good to be true. Yet the auction system is clearly designed to make you place many small bids instead of allowing you to place an initial maximum like on eBay. TeleBid will even give you £20 when you register to use on auctions.
The thing that makes the site profitable and which isn't stated dearly enough is that although winning an item requires you to be the last person to have pressed the Bid button when the auction timer runs out, you are charged 50p everytime you press the Bid button. I hesitate to call the site a scam because the 50p charge is very clear on the help section, but it a scam and people are getting very burned by it.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Uncanny, Wii and XaviXPort
Firstly watch this (warning, do not turn your volume up):
This is called the XaviXPort and it was released in 2004. That is to say two years before the Wii, but like rockband each game requires an expensive addon, so the XaviXPort hasn't done so well.
I don't think that Nintendo has plagiarised anything that SSD has done with XaviXPort because motion sensing technology has been experimented with gaming for years and looking at the history of motion sensing it seems amazing that it has taken so long to be worked into a successful product, but I do find it interesting that I knew NOTHING about the XaviXPort until just fifteen minuets ago.
This is called the XaviXPort and it was released in 2004. That is to say two years before the Wii, but like rockband each game requires an expensive addon, so the XaviXPort hasn't done so well.
I don't think that Nintendo has plagiarised anything that SSD has done with XaviXPort because motion sensing technology has been experimented with gaming for years and looking at the history of motion sensing it seems amazing that it has taken so long to be worked into a successful product, but I do find it interesting that I knew NOTHING about the XaviXPort until just fifteen minuets ago.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Dr Byron's Video Game Industry Review
So some Dr of physiology was paid a large sum of money to Write A Report that would give some recommendations to the UK government on how to protect children from violent or harmful video games.
She has two main recommendations:
1) All games should carry a BBFC certificate.
2) All game consoles should have parental lockouts.
The response from the video game industry has been a big "meh, we told you so".
The Responce From The Government has been very much "This well conducted review has exemplified our commitment to the safety and well being of our nations children".
My response is this. The government should claim back the money they spent on this usless review and invest it into a "Just Say NO!" campaign to educate parents about saying NO to their own children.
She has two main recommendations:
1) All games should carry a BBFC certificate.
2) All game consoles should have parental lockouts.
The response from the video game industry has been a big "meh, we told you so".
The Responce From The Government has been very much "This well conducted review has exemplified our commitment to the safety and well being of our nations children".
My response is this. The government should claim back the money they spent on this usless review and invest it into a "Just Say NO!" campaign to educate parents about saying NO to their own children.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Last Gen > This Gen?
Ideas of gameplay transcend generation gaps as our understanding of gameplay progressively improves, but there is an argument out there that the current generation of console's graphics don't look much better than the last generation's later games. This comes from the fact that some people believe that this generation's graphics are just in a higher resolution than the last generation's. And that if it wasn't for the increased output resolution then this generation wouldn't look much different from the last, and I see their point after playing a few current gen games on an old CRT. But that was until I watched this video of the GTA IV trailer rendered in GTA San Andrea's graphics engine:
And the same trailer in GTA IV's engine:
After watching theses two videos back to back I was actually surprised on the leap that has been made since last gen. One that looks just as significant as the leap from the N64 to GC or PS1 to PS2.
And the same trailer in GTA IV's engine:
After watching theses two videos back to back I was actually surprised on the leap that has been made since last gen. One that looks just as significant as the leap from the N64 to GC or PS1 to PS2.
Monday, March 24, 2008
FireFox 3 Beta 4
Despite FireFox having thousands of happy users, I have never been one of them. I am one of those people who will sometimes have more than ten webpages open at any one time and then leave them open on my computer overnight. This meant that FireFox's memory issues always blighted my attempts at using it as my primary browser. So it was with absolute delight that I discovered FireFox 3 (currently Beta 4 with Beta 5 coming soon) has solved all of that.
FireFox 3 Beta 4 is fast and responsive under all conditions. Websites like Google Maps, Digg and IGN that used to be super sluggish under IE and FF2, are now just as fast as any other website. I will even go as far as to say just as fast as a plain text blog.
So if you want to give the beta a go, you can Download A Copy Here. But be warned, I have found that it doesn't work with the new Yahoo Mail (I am using the classic view) and I have had the beta crash twice in the few days I have been using it for no apparent reason. This hasn't been a problem however because it remembers the pages that where open at the time of the crash, but despite all that FF3B4 is my current primary browser over IE7, FF2, Safari and Opera.
FireFox 3 Beta 4 is fast and responsive under all conditions. Websites like Google Maps, Digg and IGN that used to be super sluggish under IE and FF2, are now just as fast as any other website. I will even go as far as to say just as fast as a plain text blog.
So if you want to give the beta a go, you can Download A Copy Here. But be warned, I have found that it doesn't work with the new Yahoo Mail (I am using the classic view) and I have had the beta crash twice in the few days I have been using it for no apparent reason. This hasn't been a problem however because it remembers the pages that where open at the time of the crash, but despite all that FF3B4 is my current primary browser over IE7, FF2, Safari and Opera.
Friday, March 21, 2008
A Quick Note To Website Builders
If you build websites for a living. Now is the time to Go Here and download a preview copy of Internet Explorer 8. The important thing is that you do this BEFORE the browser is launched and not AFTER. This will prevent a future incident where your inbox will be filled with complaints from customers.
That being said IE8's standards compliance is much better so problems (if any) will be minor, but it always annoys me when companies use the "It wasn't out so we couldn't test against it" excuse when there was a preview build (specifically for compatibility testing) available months before the official release.
That being said IE8's standards compliance is much better so problems (if any) will be minor, but it always annoys me when companies use the "It wasn't out so we couldn't test against it" excuse when there was a preview build (specifically for compatibility testing) available months before the official release.
Brave or Stupid
There is a fine line between bravery and stupidity and I think these people crossed it twice.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
People Don't Need (Disturbing, NSFW)
People Don't Need Fur
People Don't Need Dolphin-meat
The whole animal meat eating thing is a difficult issue and I wish meat could be grown in plastic containers like plants, but the truth is that animals have to die to make meat and if you (including the hypocrite who wrote this) eat meat (be it a ham sandwich or whatever) you are part of the issue. But at least promise me that after watching this next video you will refuse to ever eat or try dolphin-meat and maybe we can call it a step in the right direction.
People Don't Need Dolphin-meat
The whole animal meat eating thing is a difficult issue and I wish meat could be grown in plastic containers like plants, but the truth is that animals have to die to make meat and if you (including the hypocrite who wrote this) eat meat (be it a ham sandwich or whatever) you are part of the issue. But at least promise me that after watching this next video you will refuse to ever eat or try dolphin-meat and maybe we can call it a step in the right direction.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
The Worst Gaming Tattoos
Here is a collection of bad gaming tattoos. Although I will say that I don't think 19, 16, 9 and 8 are so bad.
I am a fan of many products by companies, but I would never have a tattoo of a company logo on my body like the people in photos 15, 14 and 1. Branding yourself with a company logo as if you where a product. The guy who has branded himself with the Nintendo logo even included the little Registered Trademark (R) on his tattoo. I don't know if this legally makes him the property of Nintendo like it does with cattle farming, but I would be eagerly following the caught case if one should arise from this.
I am a fan of many products by companies, but I would never have a tattoo of a company logo on my body like the people in photos 15, 14 and 1. Branding yourself with a company logo as if you where a product. The guy who has branded himself with the Nintendo logo even included the little Registered Trademark (R) on his tattoo. I don't know if this legally makes him the property of Nintendo like it does with cattle farming, but I would be eagerly following the caught case if one should arise from this.
Monday, March 03, 2008
The New Pace of Technology
The pace of technology is ever increasing and we can see this in the Fisher Price Tickle Me Elmo toy series. There has been more versions than what I am showing here, but look at the dates and leaps in technology and you will see my point.
1996 - The first TME toy is relased allowing a stuffed toy to interact with the child playing with them.
2006 - Motors controling Elmo's limbs are added to create animation.
2008 - Improved motor skills give the Elmo toy much the same characteristics of movement to that of his on-screen puppet counterpart.
2010 - Dissatisfied with being treated like disposable play things an army of indestructible Elmos rises up.
2011 - A new order is established.
1996 - The first TME toy is relased allowing a stuffed toy to interact with the child playing with them.
2006 - Motors controling Elmo's limbs are added to create animation.
2008 - Improved motor skills give the Elmo toy much the same characteristics of movement to that of his on-screen puppet counterpart.
2010 - Dissatisfied with being treated like disposable play things an army of indestructible Elmos rises up.
2011 - A new order is established.
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Programmer Puzzle Games
There is a subset of puzzle games which for the purposes of this post I am calling programming puzzle games. The basic idea is that there is a level and you have a guy that you can control to complete whatever the objective is in the level to progress, but you can only control him by giving him a set of rules to follow by programming him (empowering him with a rule based AI). I love these things, but only independent developers seem to be doing anything with them.
Currently the best set of these games is made by Epsitec Games with their CeeBot series. In the case of CeeBot there is a programming language for the player to learn. This sounds hard, but it is aimed at a 5+ age range audience so everything is explained gradually with each level building on the lesson of the last and you can only progress once you have understood the concept the level is teaching. The game even comes with a better debugging tool than what most Java and C++ developers use today, so when your programs start to get large the game emergent teaches about logic errors without ever explicitly covering them.
Anyway today I played Spuds another Programmer Puzzle game that uses pictures to do the programming with. It was made by two brothers and apart from being a little overpriced ($19.95) and forcing the player to sit through a long tutorial, it's very interesting.
Again these games might sound boring, but I suffer from timeloss whenever I play them.
Currently the best set of these games is made by Epsitec Games with their CeeBot series. In the case of CeeBot there is a programming language for the player to learn. This sounds hard, but it is aimed at a 5+ age range audience so everything is explained gradually with each level building on the lesson of the last and you can only progress once you have understood the concept the level is teaching. The game even comes with a better debugging tool than what most Java and C++ developers use today, so when your programs start to get large the game emergent teaches about logic errors without ever explicitly covering them.
Anyway today I played Spuds another Programmer Puzzle game that uses pictures to do the programming with. It was made by two brothers and apart from being a little overpriced ($19.95) and forcing the player to sit through a long tutorial, it's very interesting.
Again these games might sound boring, but I suffer from timeloss whenever I play them.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Random Fact
When a Dog's skin has a flea infestation the type of flea the dog has is most likely to be Ctenocephalides Felis. Which is more commonly known as the Cat Flea.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
XNA Playable Games Now Available
Firstly to get started:
Culture "Gardening Game"
Three puzzle games in one all centred around a garden.
Blood, involves circling weeds.
Paint With Flowers, is just painting by numbers.
And Flower Garden, requires you to cross breed flowers to get the target plant (actually fun because it isn't a dumbed down breeding game).
JellyCar "Crayon Physics"
Drive the flexible car to the end zone. The physics and art style are done very well, gameplay is a little unrefined.
Little Gamers "Ownag3 Platformer"
You just kill stuff from themed level to level, only really for the die hard Little Gamers fans, but the art style is very sharp, just like the webcomic.
ProximityHD "Abstract Strategy"
Abstract puzzle game that is too architected to be fun. Each turn presents very little challenge to the player and very little to consider on each turn as players will quickly develop a winning strategy. Plus the game's random element is too random for any hardcore strategy development.
Rocketball "Wacky"
Third person dodgball game with button mashing.
The Dishwasher "Meaty Chunks Everywhere!"
If you like Devil May Cry, Legacy Of Kain or Alien Hominid, I highly recommend that you have a look at this. The story is tedious, but the combat is fun and bloody.
TriLinea "Read The Rules"
Somekind of realtime pattern matching game on a board against an opponent. It suffers from information overload and isn't very noob friendly.
Go to the Games Blade > Games Library > Game Store > More...Then download away.
Then Go to Game Add-ons > New Arrivals
Select the XNA Creators Club (bottom of the list)
Download the launcher
Back out to the Games Library
Go to My Games
Go right to XNA Creators Club
Press Y to see the list of games and get to downloading
- [From XBLArcade.com]
Culture "Gardening Game"
Three puzzle games in one all centred around a garden.
Blood, involves circling weeds.
Paint With Flowers, is just painting by numbers.
And Flower Garden, requires you to cross breed flowers to get the target plant (actually fun because it isn't a dumbed down breeding game).
JellyCar "Crayon Physics"
Drive the flexible car to the end zone. The physics and art style are done very well, gameplay is a little unrefined.
Little Gamers "Ownag3 Platformer"
You just kill stuff from themed level to level, only really for the die hard Little Gamers fans, but the art style is very sharp, just like the webcomic.
ProximityHD "Abstract Strategy"
Abstract puzzle game that is too architected to be fun. Each turn presents very little challenge to the player and very little to consider on each turn as players will quickly develop a winning strategy. Plus the game's random element is too random for any hardcore strategy development.
Rocketball "Wacky"
Third person dodgball game with button mashing.
The Dishwasher "Meaty Chunks Everywhere!"
If you like Devil May Cry, Legacy Of Kain or Alien Hominid, I highly recommend that you have a look at this. The story is tedious, but the combat is fun and bloody.
TriLinea "Read The Rules"
Somekind of realtime pattern matching game on a board against an opponent. It suffers from information overload and isn't very noob friendly.
A Possible Explanation For Mass Effect's Faults
Mass Effect is a great game, but there are a few things which clearly make it less than it could have been and this has been bothing me since I completed it. The game was in development for a long time, the team didn't lack vision and they had enough money to throw around, so what went wrong? Why wasn't Mass Effect all it could have been?
An explanation for the shitty side quests, incomplete dialogue and general gaps in the RPG world could be seen as a lack of commitment from the developers, but they hyped the game so much that this explanation seems silly. That is until you Read Stories About Unhappy Employees and Bad Employment Practices. Then it all makes sence, Bioware is a bad place to work.
I have had a couple of jobs now working for particularly bad managers, they work long hours and are under a lot of stress so the people under them should feel that pressure too and they think they are getting the job done, but what they are really doing is dismantling the company culture and destroying any enthusiasm their employees might have about their work. Then for the employees their job turns from an opportunity to a black hole in their lives and in the end they will look back on their old job and be glad they it is all over.
An explanation for the shitty side quests, incomplete dialogue and general gaps in the RPG world could be seen as a lack of commitment from the developers, but they hyped the game so much that this explanation seems silly. That is until you Read Stories About Unhappy Employees and Bad Employment Practices. Then it all makes sence, Bioware is a bad place to work.
I have had a couple of jobs now working for particularly bad managers, they work long hours and are under a lot of stress so the people under them should feel that pressure too and they think they are getting the job done, but what they are really doing is dismantling the company culture and destroying any enthusiasm their employees might have about their work. Then for the employees their job turns from an opportunity to a black hole in their lives and in the end they will look back on their old job and be glad they it is all over.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Achievement Types
Not got much to say so here is a little soemthing I put together last week. It is categories for all the Achievements avalible for 360 games. This doesn't include a category for silly achievements, but each one of them based on their own merits can fit into one of these categories anyway so there isn't a need for another.
Be The Best
eg Become number one in the world
Time Will Tell
eg Get 1,000,000,000 kills with your left thumb
Fluke
eg Get a hole in one
Progress Marker
eg Compleate level three
In-human
eg Defeat the final boss on ultra mega death hard with only the pistol and without dieing
Baby steps
eg Watch the tutorial
Compleationist
eg Collect all the hidden flags
Be The Best
eg Become number one in the world
Time Will Tell
eg Get 1,000,000,000 kills with your left thumb
Fluke
eg Get a hole in one
Progress Marker
eg Compleate level three
In-human
eg Defeat the final boss on ultra mega death hard with only the pistol and without dieing
Baby steps
eg Watch the tutorial
Compleationist
eg Collect all the hidden flags
Monday, February 11, 2008
The Weiner Circle (NSFW)
I have a list going of places I want to visit at somepoint during my lifetime and it is way too long for me to actually go to all of the places on my list, but my latest addition is The Weiner Circle in Chicago, a hotdog restraint.
And incase you too want to visit:
View Larger Map
And incase you too want to visit:
View Larger Map
Friday, February 08, 2008
Time And Time Again RRODs
I was thinking about my history with my 360 and having had one for two years I have also had two cases of RROD which is nowhere near as bad as what some people have had it, but this begs the question, do I think I will have another case of RROD and when will that be?
17th March 2006
Bought my first XBox 360 for £279.99
9th April 2007
First console develops RROD.
17th April 2007
Recieved a replacement console (my second).
25th January 2008
Second console develops RROD.
7th Febuary 2008
Got second console back with a new motherboard and DVD drive.
In both cases of RROD when I used to turn my console off I could hear the plastic cracking as it cooled, this symptom is present in my current fixed console, so yes I do expect another case of RROD. Looking at the historical data it should occur sometime February 2009 assuming that the Added Heatsinks that has probably been fitted are ineffective and I continue to use my 360 on a regular basis (normally once a day).
Do I have any advice to people worried about RROD?
Don't let it bother you, you are covered by warranty so when it happens just Call Microsoft and let them collect it. But when it comes back keep the packaging they send it you in, because if you do have another RROD you will then have correct packaging available to send it in (first time you are going to have to find something to send it in).
The 360 is an awesome console, but the hardware has a high failure rate, I expect in future that Microsoft will have to extend the warranty period again or start compensating customers in a different way.
17th March 2006
Bought my first XBox 360 for £279.99
9th April 2007
First console develops RROD.
17th April 2007
Recieved a replacement console (my second).
25th January 2008
Second console develops RROD.
7th Febuary 2008
Got second console back with a new motherboard and DVD drive.
In both cases of RROD when I used to turn my console off I could hear the plastic cracking as it cooled, this symptom is present in my current fixed console, so yes I do expect another case of RROD. Looking at the historical data it should occur sometime February 2009 assuming that the Added Heatsinks that has probably been fitted are ineffective and I continue to use my 360 on a regular basis (normally once a day).
Do I have any advice to people worried about RROD?
Don't let it bother you, you are covered by warranty so when it happens just Call Microsoft and let them collect it. But when it comes back keep the packaging they send it you in, because if you do have another RROD you will then have correct packaging available to send it in (first time you are going to have to find something to send it in).
The 360 is an awesome console, but the hardware has a high failure rate, I expect in future that Microsoft will have to extend the warranty period again or start compensating customers in a different way.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Got My 360 Back
So I go my 360 back and as well as a new motherboard, has had it's DVD drive replaced. Now I have the BENQ DVD Drive (see llamma.com's Xbox 360 DVD Drive Comparison Page).
Supposedly the BENQ DVD Drive is quicker than the others and after running a few tests I have found that it is faster than my old Samsung. The way I know this is by racing a fast car around the motorway on Saints Row which would normally cause the road to start popping in infront of me because the DVD drive couldn't load the levels into memory quick enough, (I once even managed to fall through the level by driving over a bit of road that hadn't had it's geometry loaded in before I attempted to drive over it) but with the BENQ I can't even make even a hint of this problem occur, which probably means that load times will be better in general on all titles.
Supposedly the BENQ DVD Drive is quicker than the others and after running a few tests I have found that it is faster than my old Samsung. The way I know this is by racing a fast car around the motorway on Saints Row which would normally cause the road to start popping in infront of me because the DVD drive couldn't load the levels into memory quick enough, (I once even managed to fall through the level by driving over a bit of road that hadn't had it's geometry loaded in before I attempted to drive over it) but with the BENQ I can't even make even a hint of this problem occur, which probably means that load times will be better in general on all titles.
Friday, February 01, 2008
Something Original
It isn't often that I see some original gameplay, but Factory Balls a flash game about making balls does it for me.
There are already puzzle games where you have to decorate a cake to make it look like one on a card, but what Bart does it make his game more challenging by making you learn how to use your decorating tools. And that adds a feeling of accomplishment that those other games miss.
There are already puzzle games where you have to decorate a cake to make it look like one on a card, but what Bart does it make his game more challenging by making you learn how to use your decorating tools. And that adds a feeling of accomplishment that those other games miss.
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