Breaking Windows

Roughly once a week, Sony representatives visit the retailers who carry their products. They check on kiosks, update employees on various happenings, and set up merchandising.

This week, Sony's representatives have told a small number of employees (including myself) that the PSP is going to be pulled from the market within the next few weeks. This is news that should be staying at a store level, but it's simply not fair for someone to purchase such expensive hardware and not get what they paid for. Therefore, we've chosen to reveal what we know as of right now.

Oh what a web we weave, when we practice to deceive. Blogcritics has a page dedicated to the '05 batch of April Fools jokes (we have ours over there of course).

Following on from news earlier this week which saw Sony lose a key IP case and almost had all PlayStation products withdrawn from sale in the US. Immersion Corp CEO Victor Viegas has spoken exclusively to SPOnG about the case.

There has never been a video game character like Kratos. Sure, there have been numerous anti-heroes over the years, but none have come anywhere near the frightening brutality of this "God of War" hero. He slaughters innocent people for his own benefit, has sex with two women in the midst of a war, and provides more decapitations than any "Mortal Kombat" game. This is the backdrop that develops one of the few "real" characters in a game, and it does so better than most major films.

SEATTLE — Microsoft (MSFT) said it will use a product name that antitrust regulators insist upon, and make other changes, as it moves to supply Europe with a version of Windows stripped of its media player.

I guess Reduced Media Edition was not a very catchy name.

And please tell me: How is it that the EU can get MS to do things that our DOJ cannot? Didn't the DOJ try and get MS to take Windows Media Player out of Windows? And now years later the European Commission has done just that, made them take it out? That makes no sense to me whatsoever.

Scott Richter has filed for bankruptcy protection for his email marketing firm OptInRealBig.com, blaming a Microsoft lawsuit

Scott Richter, self-confessed Spam King and one-time peddler of ladies' underwear, has filed for bankruptcy, with Microsoft cited as the main reason.

Yay!

Several EA launch games for the PSP do not support online (infrastructure) mode, despite clear labeling on their boxes saying otherwise. EA has stated that there was a misprint on the boxes, and that the games only support the multiplayer (Ad Hoc) mode.

That is a rather big mistake. It is labeled wrong on all their 6 first round titles. It is a real shame too, as it would have been great to play EA Sports titles via Infrastructure mode

In an agreement reached with 47 states plus Washington DC, the company has agreed to fork out US$630,000 to settle claims of deceptive advertising. That means customers who claim to have been misled (or didn't read the fine print) will be given refunds for movies inadvertently purchased and restocking fees.

Blockbuster will also need to change its marketing slant in its "no late fee" advertising as a result of the settlement.

Pro wrestling fans only get one event like this a year. Well, actually they get one a month from the WWE, just none with the grandeur that Wrestlemania carries with it. This is the 21st year for wrestling's Super Bowl. It was a solid event, helped along by a few great bouts, but some disappointments and lackluster finishes put a damper on everything.

Warning: The following rant contains a line that may offend Puritans.

Spyware sucks. At least, that's what I think it was. I was hit yesterday and I have no idea where from. It completely killed my laptop for an entire day. After I noticed things running a little slow, I ran Adware. It told me to reboot to completely clean it up and that was it. Whatever it did, it hit the explorer.exe file Windows needs to run. It refused to boot AT ALL.

So, after re-installing Windows entirely (and then Word too which it seems to have got a hold of and w.bloggar won’t run at all now), I downloaded Ad-Aware which is supposed to be better. Well, it found the one piece that was left but it can’t get rid of it no matter what I do. I tried Spybot too.

Now, about every 20 minutes, I get a pop-up ad on my desktop for refinancing mortgages. I would threaten to shave the creator’s testicles off with a cheese grater if I ever met him face to face, but that would be a threat and I could get in trouble. Oh wait, I just did. Oops. I’m open to suggestions if anyone has any.

Some people were having some Photoshop fun. I would do this too, if only I had the time. Check it out! They all look pretty good.

Thanks to Shellie for the link.

You have nothing on this guy. I have seen lots on eBay that didn't come close to this.

Off course I find the site I wanted to link to on April 1 a few days late! There are some great ones here, like the Taco Liberty Bell. Great stuff. The Upper Case and Lower Case islands is my personal favorite, and people bought it!

Adobe today announced Creative Suite 2 (CS2) and MacCentral has a lot of coverage. People are all up in arms about activation in CS2, with a bunch of posts in the forums about it. Macromedia is doing this now. Its just a fact of life people. Get over it.

There are first looks on Photoshop CS2, InDesign CS2, Illustrator CS2, GoLive CS2, and the new File Browser replacement Bridge.

Of all the applications, Photoshop CS2 and this new Bridge look to be the major reasons to upgrade to CS2. The upgrade price is nice too. It will cost me $349 to upgrade CS Standard to CS2 Standard. This is better then past Adobe "suite" upgrades which have gone for $499 to upgrade. I will upgrade to CS2, which ships in May.

I don't see us upgrading our 20 seat license at Student Publications though. I do not think the new features warrant that upgrade.

Now. what in the world is wrong with calling it Photoshop 9? It is fine if you want to call it CS2, because it is a suite, but just say it includes Photoshop 9, because it does.

On a related note: If you purchased Adobe CS Standard or Premium within the last three or so months I would call Adobe today and ask for a free upgrade. I bought the Adobe Design Suite just before CS hit. I got a free upgrade from it to CS Standard.

NEW YORK -- Tom Cowles, who heads one of the world's largest bulk e-mail, or spam, businesses, ought to be a happy guy.

By his account, his company makes $12 million a year e-mailing billions of advertisements, mainly to folks who don't want them.

The reason I am posting this rather old article is because this guy lives here in Bowling Green. I got to talking with JD Pooley about SPAM, and he said he had to go shoot the picture for this article. Its pretty creepy, having a known spammer living in Bowling Green. He must get hell for it, and rightly should.

So, how long before they blame the "stress" on a video game somehow?

Seriously, this is exactly what's wrong with this country. Sound absurd? It's not. Parents sit around all day not caring that their kids are blowing heads off in "Grand Theft Auto," but when they get a red "F," they take notice and blame it on the color of the ink. I mean, we all know that a purple "F" is so much more appealing. Parents, you have far more important things to worry about. Get over it. If your kid is flunking math, then he or she has far more issues than the color of the ink used to grade him. Idiots.

Tetris is a computer game involving a sequence of falling tetromino pieces which the user must first revolve into a desired position and subsequently pack into an increasingly dense rectangular array.

We all knew that right? Well you might not know the history behind Tetris, or know that the Russian developer massacred his wife and son either. Nothing like some video game history and a brutal murder to lighten the spirits.

Yes folks, that link is from rotten.com. So its not for the squeamish. If you do not know what rotten.com is, well you might not want to go there. You have been warned.

For the most part, the National Lampoon "Vacation" series has been solid. The original is the classic family road trip movie and you can make a strong case for "Christmas Vacation" too. Though it's not associated with the National Lampoon in anyway, "Johnson Family Vacation" draws comparison simply because it recycles every single idea, resulting in a lifeless mess that is as incoherent as they come.

It's funny because it's true.

Jackie Chan may not be the greatest martial artist to most people and that's fine. What Chan does is entertain. His style is unlike anyone else's and no one can do what he can (at least not with the same flair). That's why it's a real shame that on the downside of his career he chooses movies like this.

Each version is looking pretty unique. There's no arguing more Joe isn't a good thing.

One of the rarest of the rare is up there now. Here we see the outstanding Neo Turf Masters, probably the best golf game ever created. I believe that's close to $4,000 U.S with 4 days to go as of right now. That's nuts. A year or two back, I plunked down $150 for a conversion cart (a MVS/Arcade cart modified to work in the home AES system) of the game simply because I can't live without it. It's that good, just maybe not $4,000 good.

Yahoo has a nice guide to getting some stuff running on the console. This info has been around for a bit now, but it's nice to have it in one place and it's well written in plain english.

Sony has patented a new way to play games: putting the information directly into your brain. Hey, I love video games to death, but when they start invading parts of my body I've never even heard of, I'm calling it quits.

Better have a credit card. In order to learn about the Xbox version, click on the big guy with the gun on this screen. Usually, all you have to do is enter your birthdate. Now, a valid credit card is needed too. Is this just stupid? Like a kid isn't going to figure out how to get to IGN or Gamespot, right? Considering I don't own nor want a credit card, getting screen shots for reviews on games like this could be an issue (the developer sites are always the best).

"The motion picture industry is still looking for a formula to port its movies to the video game platform. According to a study by market researchers The NPD Group reported in today's (Wednesday) Los Angeles Daily News, The Matrix video game sold about 2 million units. By contrast, sales of the "pure" video game Halo totaled $125 million on the first day it hit the shelves. "It took Spider-Man four days to do that [at the box office]," Keith Boesky, an industry analyst based in Los Angeles, told the Daily News."

That's from an Internet Movie Database story yesterday.

This is funny. They actually need an analyst to figure out why movie games don't sell as well? Here's a small suggestion: make something actually worth playing instead of horribly generic platformers, cookie-cutter action games, and even worse fighting games. Oh, and you might want to undo the damage done from "classic" bad games like Total Recall, Friday the 13th, Universal Solider, etc. Maybe look at everything the Chronicles of Riddick (Xbox) did right and go from there. I mean, I'm no analyst or anything, but it sounds like a good idea.

Every sitcom needs that one priceless moment in its first season that's instantly unforgettable. That's the sign you're on to something. That's the something the "Bob Newhart Show" is unfortunately missing. However, it managed to last six years on CBS so it did have something going for it and that was, rather obviously, Bob Newhart himself.

Not the greatest number, but when you consider the price, time of the year, and lack of any major promotion, it's an ok launch. The European release is going to be real interesting, especially considering they delayed the system over there.

Note: This number conflicts with a Gamespot report, which says an extra 100,000 have been sold.

LOS ANGELES, California (Hollywood Reporter) -- Actor Sean Connery, the original James Bond of the big screen, has agreed to reprise his role as Agent 007 for Electronic Arts' upcoming video game version of "From Russia With Love."

Connery will record dialogue for the game, and his likeness will appear as it did in MGM's 1963 hit movie, his second outing as the suave British super spy.

Did anyone have any doubt that EA would not pay to have Connery? I hope "From Russia With Love" plays like "Everything or Nothing," as that was the most fun I had playing Bond since my N64 days playing "GoldenEye" in the dorms.

TOKYO (AP) -- Ken Kutaragi, whose name is often paired with "geek" and "genius," seemed to many a logical choice to take Sony Corp.'s helm as it struggles to turn around its stumbling electronics business. He is, after all, known as "Father of the PlayStation" for siring the industry's most popular video game console.

It is old news that Ken Kutaragi did not get promoted like everyone thought he would. What is new is that he also got demoted right off of Sony's board. He still runs SCEI, but that is hardly what he deserves.

Not sure who was really first with this, but it seems like this bit of PSP lore is emerging simultaneously from multiple sources as folks discover it. There’s a fairly simple way to achieve multi-player gaming on two PSPs using a single UMD disc, by starting the game on one console, starting an Ad Hoc Multiplayer game, then hot swapping the disc to the other device. It’s apparently working for Tony Hawk, Twisted Metal, and Ridge Racer with perhaps a few protocol tweaks here and there.

Now that is just cool. It works just great. It will not work for games like Untold Legends which read data off the UDM in the middle of the game (like when you go to your inventory).

PSPCasting on the Windows side is fairly well documented, achieved by combining Videora and PSP Video 9 to pull down videos via BitTorrent and convert them to MP4 format for transfer to the PSP. There isn’t a single solution yet for achieving the same on the Mac side, but with some very minimal manual intervention we can automagically download and prepare a bunch of new video content for our PlayStation Portables using the ANT RSS video aggregator in combination with the PSPWare syncing application.

Engadget has full details, so check out the link.

On Tuesday, April 12, Microsoft will turn off the blocking feature that has made it possible for some enterprises to block Windows XP Service Pack 2 downloads by employees who use Automatic Update. That means in companies that used the blocking tool, SP2 will be downloaded automatically to desktop computers that use Windows' Automatic Update feature.

Enterprise Windows customers must be thrilled. As if their IT staffs don't have enough problems. Thanks to Matt for the link. And if you are a home user and don't know about it, guess what? You are getting SP2 on the 12th. Hurray!

Yes, you! Well, actually, now you can't. I mean, you could have but the auction is over. The pictures and video make this one worth a look.

Get them now while they still have some!

Francis Ford Coppola is none too pleased with Electronic Arts' adaptation of his classic mob movie...

"I knew nothing about it. They never asked me if I thought it was a good idea," he [Francis Ford Coppola] reportedly said. His ire was further riled when he was given a preview build of the game by EA. "They use the characters everyone knows, and then for the next hour they shoot and kill each other. I had absolutely nothing to do with the game, and I disapprove," he was quoted as saying.

I would like to know what kind of rock Francis Ford Coppola has been living under to not know that this game would be about going around and killing people. I mean, hello! They go around killing people in the movies. That and games with shootings and killing seem to sell really well.

I bet he is really pissed because he is not getting a cut.

If you're already subscribed, this should work as an extension.

Pretty much a good thing except for the whole lost jobs part. They made the way overhyped State of Emergency and dropped the ball with it. Seems the sequel may still make it out. If it does get released, for the love of all things holy in video game land, give it a real mission structure with realisitic time limits.

This set of PSP accessories is well priced and has a number of great items. Unfortunately, some of the items leave something to be desired, and one advertised accessory is not even included. Regardless, this is a kit worth picking up of you want a case to tote your PSP on the go.

In 1,000 years, a scientist will find a time capsule buried deep in the ground. He'll open it to find a copy of this Sci-Fi Channel original, "Snake King." Even with years of study, he fails to comprehend just how something made in the year 2005 can possibly have worse special effects than something like "King Kong" from 1933. That just doesn't make sense. However, we're in the present and we have the advantage.

A guy walks into the local welfare office, marches straight up to the counter and says, "Hi . . . You know, I just HATE drawing welfare - taking from society and giving nothing back. I'd really rather have a job".

The social worker behind the counter says, "Your timing is excellent. We just got a job opening from a very wealthy old man who wants a chauffeur/bodyguard for his gorgeous daughter. You'll have to drive around in his Mercedes convertible, and he'll supply all of your clothes.  Because of the long hours, meals will be provided. You'll also be expected to escort her on her overseas holiday trips and you'll have a two-bedroom apartment above the garage. The starting salary is $200,000 a year".

The guy says, "You're bullshitting me!"

The social worker says, "Yeah, well, you started it."

A group of second, third, and fourth graders, accompanied by two female teachers, went on a field trip to Churchill Downs, the local race track, to see and learn about thoroughbred horses.

When it was time to take the children to the bathroom, it was decided that the girls would go with one teacher and the boys would go with the other.

The teacher assigned to the boys was waiting outside the men's room when one of the boys came out and told her that none of them could reach the urinal.

Having no choice, she went inside, helped the boys with their pants, and began hoisting the boys up, one by one to the urinal.

As she lifted one, she couldn't help but notice that he was unusually well endowed. Trying not to show that she was staring, the teacher said, "You must be in the fourth grade."

"No, ma'am," he replied. "I'm the jockey riding Silver Arrow in the seventh race.

I'm selling the baseball that started my wonderful first day of spring break. Do you want to know why I'm selling the baseball that started off my wonderful first day of spring break? Only because Ebay won't let me sell my kids who were playing with the baseball that started my wonderful day. Is spring break over yet?! Here's the whole story...

The auction is over, but wow what a horribly funny story. The baseball (signed no less) went for $1,125.00. This proves you can sell worthless things on eBay other then seven inch long french fries.

DOOM 3 is finally out on the Xbox! And they actually packed more features then the PC release into the Collector's Edition for the Xbox. In this case, it really is worth the extra $10.00. Sure you get some frilly videos, but you also get Ultimate DOOM and DOOM II to play on your Xbox to boot! Oh and then there is Xbox Live, I almost forgot that.

On MTV yet! This is a first. It's also smart, beating out E3 announcements which will be flooding in that week. Still, there's no reason for another console gen this soon, but that's another editorial.

Ok, I cut them some slack when it was announced the NFL wanted exclusive rights, not EA. Then they irratated me when they nabbed the Arena League. Now it's hit bullsh*t proportions. This is now a monopoly, and I don't care what some high priced laywer says.