Archive for October, 2006:

IGN recently posted a few pictures of their team unwrapping a new PS3 prototype. You can check out the pictures here or more from bit-tech here.

Personally, I don’t think there’s much to shout about. It looks very similar to the original PS2, albeit with a glossy finish. It’s as if Sony crossed the PS2 with a George Foreman grill, which resulted in the ugly-ish PS3.

Will you be buying one? I don’t think I will…

Those of you that regularly keep up-to-date with the latest software releases, will already know about Mozilla and Microsoft’s latest releases - and indeed, those oblivious to most updates may have heard about it on TV, the Radio or Online.

Microsoft released IE7 last week, with a few minor bugs present from the outset. Mozilla released Firefox 2 today, though it was possible to download it yesterday via their ftp servers.

I have had IE7 running for a week and Firefox 2 running for just over 24 hours and my initial impressions of both are good. IE7 is a big step-up from 6 and most users will find it alienating to begin with - for example, the menu bar is disabled by default.

Firefox 2 on the other hand is pretty much the same as users will expect - with a few minor changes here and there. For a start, each tab now has its own close button (the familiar red cross) and Firefox now has a built-in spell checker too! It works much the same way as Microsoft Word’s, in that mistakes are underlined in red. Bizarrely, Firefox is not recognised as a word - so I’ll add it to my dictionary. The spell checker is a great addition, as I will no doubt be using it to its full capabilities over the coming weeks on future blog-posts.

One thing I was pleased to see, is that IE7 appears to be trying to conform to standards - unfortunately though, it is wayyyyyyyy off of being successful.

IE7 is looking even more Early-Learning Centre like, with its obese icons and simplified but glossy/glass-like look. This, ladies and gentlemen, is what is known as ‘Web 2′. Interesting.
Firefox on the other hand is still keeping up with the standards. It displays all valid web pages correctly and doesn’t kick up a fuss in the process.

You can see the addition of the individual crosses on each tab. I used to right-click on a tab and select close, but this makes that process slightly quicker. However, it takes a good few tries to get used to.

Will you be using Internet Explorer 7, or Firefox 2? Or will you be staying with a previous version for the near future?

Let me know what you think of each - as I personally don’t see any reason to revert back to IE, especially as it still can’t display the Internet how it SHOULD look.

EDIT: One last thing, Microsoft’s so called, Cleartype looks more like fuzzyText to me…

December’s issue of Custom PC is arriving today for subscribers - I only recently became a subscriber once I knew that I was going to be featured within the magazine.

Anneka sent me an email this morning saying that my issue had arrived, asking if she could open it and see the article. I’m awaiting more information on the pictures themselves, but luckily, it appears that the picture of me is relatively small on the page(s).

Most of my prizes have arrived now, I’m just awaiting the graphics card. The case itself is huge and is currently sitting in the garage until I find some time (and spare cash) to turn it into another masterpiece.

Until then, enjoy this month’s issue, featuring yours truly - subscribers can check it out now - the general public can pick up an issue this Thursday, from all good retailers…

Ninja Edit: I’ve uploaded 4 scans from the pages - firstly there’s the contents page, then the first page of the article, the second page and finally - the third page. They made my rig look really cool on the first page of the article, so much so - that I’d like to buy one. Wait a minute…

Hopefully they wont mind me scanning in the pages straight from the magazine - seeing as I wrote the words and made the pictures possible.

It’s official - Electronic Arts (otherwise known as EA) are indeed, mincers.

They have introduced in-game advertising, that also contains Spy-ware in their latest hit - Battlefield 2142. Many people are disgusted at the idea of EA making even more money via in-game advertising, whilst simultaneously not offering their products at a reduced cost.

So not only are they making money off of the sales, but also shite loads from the adverts.

Spy-ware or not, I thought in-game advertising could have been a useful tool, especially as it would mean a reduced cost to the gamer - but no.

Read more about it here or even here.

Will you be buying any future EA titles? Apparently the Need For Speed series will feature this Spy-ware and in-game advertising too. Eventually their whole product line-up will be glorified Spy-ware games. Possibly.

I’ll leave you with this quote: “Don’t buy EA games folks, they’re scum and they’re systematically removing all that is good from video games.”

And I’ll add this: “Download the cracked versions via bit-torrent instead!“

I have just received an email from Anneka, that says a few packages have arrived for me at home - that look like they may be my prizes from the Custom PC competition. Woo woo.

Unfortunately I’m driving to Tamworth this evening, so wont be able to unpack them until the weekend - but I reckon I could slip in a sneak preview.

I guess it means I can begin on my next project, which will be named R26.

On a side note, I just realised it’s ‘nearly’ Christmas. Another, what, 10 weeks? Something like that…