1.21 giga-watts?!?!?

Remember the famous exclamation by the 1955 incarnation of Dr. Emmet Brown from the movie Back to the Future? Well, he was talking about the PS3 when he made that exclamation. To be sure, I downloaded a copy of the Back To The Future script and made double-sure...

Dr. Emmett Brown: [running out of the room] 1.21 gigawatts? 1.21 gigawatts? Great Scott!
Marty McFly: [following] What the hell is a gigawatt?

Dr. Emmett Brown: Marty, I'm sorry. But the only console capable of consuming 1.21 gigawatts of electricity is a Sony PS3!
Marty McFly: [startled] What did you say?
Dr. Emmett Brown: A Sony PS3. Unfortunately, you never know when or where it's actually gonna be released.

Ok, now that we have that out of the way, look at this!

Some more interesting Wii tidbits

This is from an artical from the new Edge magazine. Pay close attention to the 2nd and 3rd items here, number 2 is the most important, and number 3 is just an interesting bit.

General Wii stuff
- CNN has signed up with Nintendo as the provider of news content on tne News Channel in American and Japan. News will be presented by category, but another way of getting to it is by spinning the weather globe to find stories in different countries
- Sega has moved a significant number of development staff from PS3 to Wii over the Summer
- Although Nintendo has removed DVD movie playback from the Wii, it plans to launch in Japan next year an enhanced Wii capable of such a feature
- Nintendo intended to bring Wii to shop shelves in the UK and US for £150 and $200, but became influenced by pressure from the larger retail chains, which raised concerns over margins and low so-called 'basket value' (ie, the amount of revenue generated from a customer's overall purchases at the till)
- There are plenty of Wii Channel slots remaining to be filled
- Edge says that Wii Sports will be to Wii what Mario 64 was to the N64. Says golf has the best single player mode (no surprise) and boxing is their favourite overall

Laurent Fischer interview
- He doesn't expect all of society to immediately jump on board from day 1. At first it will probably be mainly the hardcore and casual gamers buying it, but little by little he expects more people to come on board through word of mouth, advertising etc... much like the DS. He says word of mouth has played a huge part in the DS's success in Europe.
- He says in Europe the DS has done a wonderful job of capturing the female gamer and the casual gamer, but getting the non-gamers still has some way to go yet. NOE's goal is to get the DS selling as fast as it is in Japan where on a weekly basis they're still not able to fulfil the demand, becaue they're attracting such a broad audience. "In Europe I don't expect us to be in that position for some time, but we're on the way. It will take one year, certainly and with the Wii it will take the same time. We know it's a long way to get out of the videogaming ghetto"
- He says when creating games Nintendo doesn't say "this is going to be a gamer's game and this is not." He says a lot of hardcore gamers enjoy Brain Training, because it's something different and another good example is Animal Crossing. Nobody at Nintendo thought Animal Crossing would be a very massmarket game. It started out as a hardcore game with people around the world going crazy for it, then it became a bridge between the hardcore, casuals and the wider population, which included females and people looking for a different concept. In Japan they were surprised by the strength of Animal Crossing's sales and every week NOE says "WOW" at the sales. He said on the GameCube it only sold 150,000 in Europe but the DS game has already passed 850,000
- He says for months and months he had to sit and see journalists politely smiling when he told them DS is stronger than the PSP, but he knew from the start it would take off eventually, because he tested it on the people around him. He said his wife kept stealing his DS which has never happened with their other consoles and his neighbour - an awful old lady - became addicted to Zoo Keeper. She'd played Tetris long ago and now she was hoooked on Zoo Keeper. "If there was one person who wouldn't play a videogame, it was her"
- He says he's not worried that people can download the old (Virtual Console) games on the PC. He says it's important to be able to play them on your TV screen and doesn't think playing a NES game on the PC is something you'll really love. "Of course, you can play them on your PSP via emulation too! [laughs] Actually most PSP owners I know are using them for Nes and SNES games"

In the dimension of 3

Every so often I like to dig out my old copy of Bryce3D and play around with it. I had an idea for a nifty little animation so I made it. It's only about 5 seconds long and it's nothing spectacular, just some primitve shapes rotating in the opposite direction as a pair of offset rings. It's the color tone of the whole thing that I like the most. I really like that dark shade of blue. So, if you are interested in checking it out, here it is.

Importing bookmarks from Firefox to IE7

 

Most people liken moving from Firefox to IE like moving from th Bronze Age to the Stone Age. But I am using IE7 and I like it. But recreating all the favorites is a pain in the arse!! So I found this guide on the web and am posting it here in case anyone else wants to use IE7 for whatever reason.

=============================================================

Importing bookmarks from FireFox to Internet explorer 7 (IE7) is really easy and straight forward.

First of all click on the add to Favorates icon in internet explorer 7 and choose "Import and Export..."

This will start the import/export wizard. Click next...

Select "Import Favorites" then click next

Now the "Import from File" is already selected and its the only option. You basically need to locate the path to firefox's bookmark file.

The location depends on your operating system and your windows user name. Also Firefox assigns a random name to your profile but you don't need to know it, it's probably the only folder there.

For Windows 2000 and XP the location of the bookmarks file should be here

C:\Documents and Settings\[YOUR WINDOWS USERNAME]\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\[RANDOM NAME].default\bookmarks.html

If all went as planned you'll get this window which will allow you pick to the location of your bookmarks

And then when you click next you'll get the message you are waiting for "Success!"

Another nail in Blu-Ray's coffin

This was ripped from enGadget:

 

Xbox HD DVD drive to connect to PCs via USB

Posted Oct 17th 2006 6:02PM by Cyrus Farivar
Filed under: Gaming, HDTV, Peripherals

While we've got our eye on that new Xbox HD DVD drive that's about to drop next month, one thing we didn't know is that it'll be able to connect to your regular ol' PC via USB -- so that basically means you can get a sweet external HD DVD drive for $200. But here's the catch, Microsoft, in its infinite wisdom isn't including a Windows HD DVD driver so that your PC can actually play those next-gen discs that you're lusting after. But of course, given that its HD DVD player is manufactured by Toshiba, it would appear there's a good chance some enterprising fellow (or software company) will figure out how to make it work pretty quickly. That said, even if someone does get a driver working, there's still that irksome issue of HDCP to get around, assuming your disc requires it for digital output. But maybe now that these devices are getting cheaper and eventually more widespread, that theoretical HDCP hack we heard about earlier this year may become reality.

Best news all day....

Man, Sony is one step closer to JUNK!!

Wii possibly launching early?

This was cut from an artical on Gamesutra...

Okay, okay. I hear you, no one's going to do a surprise launch right? Especially Nintendo. What's the point? We all know what happened with Sega's surprise Saturn availability announcement. So why the speculation?

Well, reader Jut wrote in to let us know that he (or she) looked up inventory info on both the PlayStation 3 and the Wii. Everything on the PlayStation 3 database entry looks kosher: ships November 17th, street date is November 17th. (Hey, that beast of a package weighs 15 pounds!)

The Nintendo Wii on the other hand, has a very different kind of entry.

According to the General Item Information on the Wii, Best Buy will be receiving their shipment from Nintendo on October 29th. Yet, no street date is listed, despite Nintendo announcing that the console would go on sale November 19th nearly a month ago.

Will Best Buy be sitting on their inventory for 3 weeks? It's not totally crazy, but maybe a little odd.

Definitely not as odd as Nintendo changing their launch date, but stranger things have happened. If there's one thing we have learned from the upcoming generation of consoles, it's that we can't count on previous generations to set the rules.

Still, this could be nothing more than outdated information or an errant entry, as an earlier than announced launch date sounds suspect at best.

If the console doesn't launch early, at least we'll have that much more time to hopefully trick a blue shirted sucker into breaking the street date. Yeah, consider this pure speculation that most likely won't turn out to be true. But if it does, can I pump my fists in the air and yell "I totally called it!"? Please? -Michael McWhertor

Software Reviews

Software reviewers today are not writing reviews in the more tech-oriented ways they should be. Here is a brief list of things they should include in the very first paragraph of a software review:

• OS compatibility (WinXP, x64, MacOSX)
• Minimum Processor (Pentium 3/AMD Athlon 1Ghz)
• Minimum RAM (256MB)
• Install space required (1-2GB)
• Video Requirements (Basic video, 3D Acceleration)
• Special Features (Supports Dual Core Processor)

Then in the space below all that they should begin writing their dumbed down for the average user review. The problem with wring a dumbed down review is that anyone who reads it does not have to learn anything new. There should be a level indicator of the review as well. They should print a big red number one next to a review of something like Roxio's Easy media Creator if they aren't gonna include technical details in the review. Or in another case they should print a big red number five next to the review if they are gonna make it as technical as possible. That right there would let me know which reviews I would wanna read and which reviews I should not waste my time reading through because they don't have the information I'm looking for in them.

It works...

Well I have sucessfully logged in and played WoW on a free server. It took a little mesing with because one of the patch files providd with the torrent doesn't work. Well, turns out you can install just the 1st patch provided and still play. I made three characters but only played one, the human mage. I made and Orc warrior and a Tauren warrior as well. I'll play more later. But now that you guys have confirmation that it works, maybe you will download it and pay too? This server population is pretty low at the moment. But if we all got together and formed our own guild, we could really do some damage!

Free WoW server?

I found this on one of the bit torrent sites I frequent. If you use bit torrent, then this is apperantly a viable option.

 

Games : Windows : Full Game : English
GideonsLair, this server works very very good. No bullshit!
If you already have the install discs for World of Warcraft scroll down to "NOTICE!"

This is the world of warcraft game, its connected to a private server that is "Blizzlike" so it's absolutely free!
This download includes the game and everything you need to connect, all you need to do is:

1. Download the game and extract it.
(TIP! Put the extracted folder in your "C:\Programs" folder.)

2. Sign up for an account at this site http://gideon.servegame.org/sign.html
(NOTICE! You have to use Internet Explorer to create the account.)

3. simply click on the "World of Warcraft" icon in the folder you downloaded.
(TIP! Make a shortcut to the "World of Warcraft" icon on your deskop for easy access)

4. Enter your information and your ready to play!
Remember to sign up for an account at the forum too http://gideon.free-forums.org/.
Then you can get the latest updates, get information and ask questions.

For more information about the server visit http://gideon.servegame.org/
Give it a try. It is worth it!

And please, when you get it seed it so people can enjoy this free game-server

NOTICE! This is the whole World of Warcraft game. If you already have the game and/or the install discs for World of warcraft I recommend instead of downloading this big file, download the instructions of how you connect to the server when you have the install discs. In that download there is an very simple guide about how you connect with the patches, addons and how you install them.
Download it here: http://www.demonoid.com/files/details/484097/8179871/

But if you prefer the easy way, just download this torrent
WATCH! There is a new client you have to install after you've downloaded this file and extract it, download it here and install http://www.yourfilelink.com/get.php?fid=185937
In game tip:

*If you get any trouble in game, loging out and in will fix most of the problems.

*Make a macro with the command "/sleep" when you use it you will regenerate mana/health instead of eating/drinking.

Top 9 Reasons to be a Super Villain

1. You will have more friends
Peter Parker was a social outcast. Norman Osborne was the popular kid. Reed Richards was a dorky scientist. Victor Von doom was a rich socialite. Anyone else sensing a pattern here? Everyone wants to get a little piece of the evil. It is like Starburst.

2. You get to laugh maniacally
Good guys don’t get to do this. No one has ever heard Superman or Batman laughing like a maniac and no one ever will. Trust me, this is something everyone wants to do. It is strangely liberating. While you may pass chances to do this every once in a while during your civilian life, you will never get the quantity of opportunities that come with a career in villainy.

3. All of a sudden, you will have the budget for all kinds of toys
Super bad guys are never broke. Not only are they never broke but they always have more resources than the hero could ever hope for. Apparently the villain racket pays very well. It also seems to be recession-proof. I hear the tax breaks are good too.

4. Hot chicks dig evil guys
You never see an evil villain with a busted ass woman. Sure, they may be dirty, rotten, and out to steal your empire, but you can always kill them if they get out of hand. Studies show that breasts of women who hang out with evil guys are an average of two cups bigger than the nice dudes chicks. Studies don’t ever lie.

5. You will be safe from everyday accidents
Evil villains are never killed in car accidents. It just doesn’t happen. You won’t slip in the shower, get smashed by a falling piano, or die of food poisoning. The only way you can be killed is in an explosion created by the hero by exposing the one flaw in your plan that no one could ever possibly foresee. Even then…

6. You don’t have to worry about anyone killing you
Evil Villains simply can not be killed. People may think you are dead but you will secretly be lounging in an easy chair on your secret desert island hideout planning your next caper. The only way you can be taken out is by another villain eviler than yourself who will subsequently take over your identity and continue upon your path of world domination.

7. You can kill anyone you want
You won’t go to jail. For some strange reason, cops never come to bust Evil villains at their homes even when the evidence is overwhelming. You could kill Superman on a live video feed in front of the entire planet and not one cop would try to arrest you. They can’t even arrest you for the stash of plutonium you have in your shed. It is in the charter when you join the union.

8. You get to dress how you want
You never have to wear a suit and tie again. You can even dress in the most outrageous outfits while demanding the world bow to your demands and no one will even make the slightest of snide comment. This could have something to do with the fact that you can kill anyone you want and can’t be killed back. Remember, no one ever made fun of Magnetos helmet…

9. No matter how weak you are, you will be more than a match for any hero facing you
“But zero, Batman would kick my ass in two shakes of a stripper’s ass…” None of that matters. The sheer newness of your evil plot will confuse the hell out of any good guy. As long as you aren’t doing something that has been done to death (ie goblin themed villains) you should have no problem getting your plans off the ground.

A new Beginning...AGAIN...

Well, I just got the old ASUS board back into my computer case and everything is working fine. Infact i'm using that computer now. The other MSI board is on it's merry way back to Tigerdirect. I just found the motherboard driver CD for the MSI board sitting on my computer table under the new Windows Vista RC1 DVD's I got in the mail today. Hopefully Tigerdirect won't notice that and they will just send me the new board. If they do notice the CD is missing they will return the box I just mailed to me and i'll have to put the CD in and mail it back again. That sucks. I guess as long as this computer is working i'm not in a hurry though.

Windows Live Writer Test

Hey, is this thing on?