Breaking Windows

I don't know how old this is, but its funny.

Crap on a crutch on a raft in the middle of the frigging Baltic Sea, when will this email phishin' shit stop? I just got one from "PayPal," the second PP fakie in the past couple weeks, and I really have to worry about the life skills of someone who tells me they'll have "no choise" but to "temporaly" suspend my account if I don't respond immediately and give them all my information.

After what seems like an eternity of salivating over a few screens and grainy leaked videos, we finally got to go hands-on with Bethesda's Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and it was good.

In my opinion, Oblivion is the "killer app" for the XB 360, not Perfect Dark Zero. I am still enjoying Morrowind, and I have not started Tribunal or Bloodmoon yet. I have a feeling that Oblivion is going to be bigger then Morrowind is. That is not a bad thing for us RPG fans.

I just thought you all should know.

"Scientists have taught dolphins to combine both rhythm and vocalisations to produce music, resulting in an extremely high-pitched, short version of the Batman theme song."

Their next project: the Shaft theme.

It is amazing that I am still playing Morrowind. I have been playing it since it came out on the PC in May and Xbox in June, 2002. Getting sidetracked by other great games doesn't help. But Morrowind is just that good a game. I am finishing up all the faction quests, and the expansion packs. I really wish the game tracked how many hours you played. It would be frightening to say the least.

While looking for some remote cave in the game, I came across this great java based map of Morrowind. It has it all, right down to the ancestral tombs. It loads a rather huge background image that takes a long time. It's not broken, it just takes its sweet time. It is well worth the wait, however. Oh, I almost forgot: you can search the map too.

I wish I had found this three years ago.

Becoming the first film to shoot inside the United Nations Headquarters, The Interpreter gains points for bringing a unique perspective to a typical thriller. It moves faster than the counter indicates, keeping up great pacing and Sydney Pollack keeps his main stars intertwined for incredibly tense sequences of dialogue. Unfortunately, it leads the viewer too much, becoming obvious and predictable early.

And a large portion of 12-year olds now know that. To quote from the article:

"I didn't set out to offend. I'm a priest and I'm very careful about not offending people."

Riiight... Can't imagine what he thinks of video games.

Off to a slow start in the current generation of handhelds, EA's Madden franchise just can't find footing in the portable realm. The two DS entries were less than stellar, and now the glitchy PSP port arrives in typical, toned down fashion. It's impressive to feel and use the physics of the series on such a small piece of hardware, but it's not fun to deal with the multitude of other problems.

Kudos to this seller who not only has a great sense of humor, but speaks the truth too. Someone needs to memorialize this for safe keeping for future generations.

Way above the quality of Pac-Pix, Namco's latest treatment to their feature star is a pleasant, short, fun diversion on the DS. While Pac 'n Roll may have worked just fine with an analog stick, it feels proper to use the stylus. It becomes a surprising, unexpected success on the console, and it's close to an A-list title.

Sidney Crosby's debut was so-so, Wayne Gretzky started his new career with a loss and the Tampa Bay Lightning celebrated winning the Stanley Cup remember the Stanley Cup? on opening night for the new-look NHL.

Hockey is back! Who cares!

Lets hope The Great One is a better coach then Jordan. Time will tell.

Kingdom of Heaven is a victim of its own doing. Its story begins rapidly, moving into the characters before you even realize critical information is being provided. Given how quickly it begins, it's the expectation that this will move just as briskly to the inevitable battle during the crusades. It doesn't.

It's the first virus made specifically for a gaming console.

So I go to McGill up here, "The Harvard of the North"; it's supposedly a well-respected institution and etc. But it's a little cheap. I mean, it is a party school too... Frosh Week is all about students binge drinking thanks to the university and wrecking the town and dying from alcohol poisoning and all that. So I was dismayed but not surprised to learn Playboy did a shoot here the other week.

I'm not entirely sure if my first game experience was on the NES with Contra or on our Apple II, but this is a great way to figure that mystery out. Some great games here.

Hooray for justice! All we need now is the lawsuit against the game maker and store to be dropped too.

A golfer steps back, looking at a par 3 that will earn him a championship if he can make birdie. He lines up his shot, adjusts for the wind, and begins his back swing. However, this is Tiger Woods '06, and none of that is necessary. Charge the gamebreaker, start your swing, and jam on the A button. Instant hole-in-one.

You won't be seeing Ron Mexico on the NFL Network anytime soon. And you can forget about watching touchdown celebrations from the greatest receiver in the game, T.O. Mass (announcers pronounce it Moss). That's because after receiving initial clearance to promote Blitz: The League on the NFL Network through paid commercial advertisements, the people at Midway have just been informed that the NFL Network is now pulling out, refusing to show the spot headlined by one of the league's own legends, Lawrence Taylor.

IGN has the commercial, I know you are dying to watch it. But did you really think that the NFL was going to run a commercial that competes with Madden 06? I mean when the NFL decides there will be a monopoly in NFL video games (and it was the NFL - not EA, EA just happened to have the deepest pockets) they mean a total monopoly, advertising included.

Having LT and the writers of Playmakers associated to the game probably did not help either.

There's more WipEout action coming to the PSP. Those that can't get enough of the game can now download another expansion, Classic Pack 3, which includes a new track, two new tunes and a new ship.

This marks the sixth download for WipEout Pure. That rivals most Xbox Live games, or rather Xbox Live itself. Don't get me started on Xbox Live "Downloadable Content" designation to their games.

The new skin, Icaras, has a very light purple background and the purple text "Icaras" in the upper right like most other skins. I now have ten skins to chose from. This new skin leaves the text easy to read, unlike some of the other skins.

The Icaras ship is fast (5/5) but lacks shields (2/5), has mediocre handling (3/5) and OK thrust (4/5). It is a great ship to use in the early speed classes, but will get tore apart in the faster rounds when the enemies start using more weapons.

With an amazing backlog of games, arguably one of the largest in terms of high quality, its no surprise that Capcom's compilation, Capcom Classics Collection, is one of the best to date. This is a set of the company's best (and a few of their lesser titles just for historical sake), almost all memorable and instantly recognizable. The variety is amazing, and for $20, this is a steal.

And what are you going to be for Holloween? (Also in child size.)

In Ken's words, it's the shittiest Holloween costume ever.

Missing the mark on the PSP in its first outing, EA's Tiger Woods 06 is actually playable this year. Gone are the absurd load times (obviously because a of rushed product), and they now more closely resemble the console version. It's still behind in the feature set, the multitude of modes cut down and single player only includes the Rivals mode, also changed from the home versions. Where it matters is on the course, and Tiger 06 fares only ok.

Advertised horribly, Unleashed is hardly the action film it was made out to be. It definitely has action (and superb sequences of it as well). This is a drama however, one that switches in tone twice before ending in a basic revenge tale.

There is a 26 minute chat about Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion over at msxbox-world.com that explains a lot; answers a number of questions.

This was recorded at X05 and says that it will be a day 1 launch title, although now Kotaku is saying that 2K Games is pushing it back two weeks. Who knows if that is true or not. Nothing is truly official until it comes from 2K Games or Bethesda.

We had the chance today to sit down and go hands-on with Bethesda's upcoming role playing epic for the Xbox 360 we continue to be impressed by the title's appearance and depth. Be aware, this preview may get a little technical.

This one puts to rest the notion of Bethesda watering down their RPG for the - how do I put this nicely - wussy crowd. It seems they have made it more accessible but keeps all the goodness that was Morrowind. Lots more good info on the one true "killer app" of the 360.

What a busy day. Although I can't it was a surprise, thanks to the rumor sites. MacWorld has a piece on the new iMac, Playlist has the video iPod and iTunes 6 covered.

Viva la video on the iPod! And to answer Matt and Jake, NO I am not gonna buy one. I have Final Fantasy VII Advent Children and Sin City on my PSP right now, and I can watch them (and actually see the details) just fine on the luxurious screen. Granted I only have a 1 GB card, but I will take the bigger screen over the bigger hard disk space.

The one thing that gets me is how Apple can only charge $1.99 for videos and TV shows. I think that is a miracle in itself. Of course the flip side to that is BitTorrent and free, but $1.99 a show isn't bad at all.

To avoid the feeling of repetition, the Dynasty Warriors series created a reputation of providing pure visceral thrills. It's unlike anything before it, even though the genre is ancient. That leads to questions like: What went wrong with this Game Boy Advance version? Whom had the idea to create a game so toned down and dull, that it barely resembles the game it's based on?

ST. PAUL, Minn. - (KRT) - Crew members on two chartered boats told authorities Wednesday they saw Minnesota Vikings players take part in a wild sex party on Lake Minnetonka, detailing allegations that have rocked a team reeling both on and off the field.

Man, why didn't the writers of Playmakers come up with this one? Seriously folks, here goes the No Fun league at its best. Those guys in the NFL can't have any fun now. Really.

This goes beyond the NFL and their "clean" image though. It speaks loudly about how our society in the US still sees sex as taboo and wrong. Barring any criminal charges that may come out of this, such as indecent exposure, prostitution or rape, what is wrong with sex? Lets take a look at what these men are doing all week. They are hold up in a football stadium. And we all know that professional athletes are not angels.

I don't know which is funnier, the question this nOOb posted or the number of responses he got.

If you've been on eBay for any amount of time, you've surely dealt with someone we'll call "the idiot." This person can be either a buyer or a seller, but the stubbornness of some people is what makes the otherwise necessary online auction site a pain for some people. The eBay Survival Guide will get new people started, providing far more information on "the idiot" than the actual site does. Veterans know everything in here though.

The DS is in the unique position to bring some new life to some classic titles. The touch screen and its numerous opportunities has the chance to bring some unique control schemes to a handheld, and that's unfortunately not the path the aptly titled Retro Atari Classics takes. The gimmicks here are "remixed" version of 10 classic titles with new graphics created by graffiti artists. It doesn't make any sense.

Rockstar's upcoming video game won't hit the market for months, but a teen suicide is already prompting protest over the title...

Rochelle Sides, the parent of a teen who committed suicide after being bullied, has started an online petition addressed to Rockstar President Sam Houser, pleading with him not to release the video game.

I am sorry that this kid took his life, but this is not the way to memorialize your teenager. I don't know what this lady is going through, but I do not think she is going about things in a healthy manner. If anything this is going to galvanise this release, and probably give it more sales then it might get otherwise. So much for trying to get the game canned.

Update on our kooky Jack Thompson friend:

First he proposed a violent scenario to video game companies, promising $10,000 to a charity of their choice if they make his game about killing video game industry employees.

Then the National Institute on Media and Family issued a letter distancing themselves from the screwball.

(As a footnote, Mike Krahulik responded to Jack's challenge and got a nice reply.)

The preview build I took for a spin on final Xbox 360 hardware is running about 75% complete in terms of game mechanics and 90% complete in terms of visuals. And oh what magnificent visuals they are.

Lots of good information here. All sounds promising for this Thanksgiving and Madden football on the 360.

If the engine used in Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction is never used again, it's a crime against the gaming community. Here's game specifically created for Marvel's green angry monstrosity, but would work so well for something like King Kong. It needs to be used in other titles, though it's hard to imagine how much better this can get.

I originally played Sid Meier's Pirates (SMP!) almost 20 years ago on a friend's PC and then later Pirates Gold on the Genesis. This year 2K Games has published the updated SMP! for both PC and Xbox. It is amazing how much of the game has stayed the same after all these years.

Ha ha. Gotcha. Isn't it sad that Microsoft has not yet released a list of launch titles for the US Xbox 360 launch? I personally think it is because so many of them are going to be 11th hour decisions. Of course I also think that Microsoft could have waited until the spring to release the 360, giving developers enough time with the final hardware. But then I still say the 360 is coming too soon, as there is still life in the Xbox (Ninja Gaiden, for example).

The Xbox Live Arcade service lets gamers purchase and download arcade-style games directly to their hard drives. The service is part of the casual games movement, aimed at a broad audience. Pricing has not yet been announced, but most games are expected to sell for fewer than $20.

So you will have a list of 21 parlor games to play on your brand new next-gen console. Forget Perfect Dark Zero, fire up Hexic HD (free with the 360 hard drive) and get your puzzle on.

These games should not cost more then cell phone games - they surely do not take (much) more programming to pull off. If they cost $19.99 I don't see people buying them. But then I was totally off on UMD movies. And they are flying off store shelves.

Popcap Games is the biggest surprise on the list. This developer has some pretty addicting games. Astropop is one of my favorites. The list of arcade games ready for launch is only overshadowed by the list of developers that will be contributing to the Live Arcade service, including heavyweight Q Entertainment (Meteos, Lumines, Every Extend Extra).

Microsoft could really have something here with these 'casual' games. I don't really see a casual gamer spending $300 or $400 to play parlor games, but this has a chance to turn into something successful.

Now, how about that launch list Microsoft!

Violence continued to erupt in a North Toledo neighborhood this afternoon where a Nazi march had been planned earlier in the day.

Protesters who had gathered for the rally, which was canceled because of disturbances, looted a gas station and liquor store and then set the liquor store on fire. Assaults also were being reported.

Mayor Jack Ford, Fire Chief Mike Bell, and community leaders all tried unsuccesfully to quell the uprising. Mayor Ford has declared a state of emergency and an 8 p.m. curfew.

I know Matt was so looking forward to this :) I really have no idea why they would actually schedule a Nazi march, then think it would go off without a hitch. This has disrupted so many events in the North Toledo area.

Kicking & Screaming starts properly. The opening moments are not far off from Adam Sandler's hilarious golf outing Happy Gilmore. Mike Ditka and Robert Duvall have a spat. Will Ferrell sets up another ridiculous character created just for him. Then it falls apart.

Ken.

I hope that this short e-mail finds you fit and well. Read your interesting post at Macworld. This is going to be a huge topic when the Xbox 360 finally hits the stores and poeple want to start playing the games that will only be available ever on the Xbox. I am thinking about doing exactly the same thing. Do let me know know if your idea worked.

I'm buying the Xbox just to play the two Bioware games, Jade Empire and Mass Effect. I'm a role playing fan. I'm in no hurry, they said they'll need to do an emulator for Jade Empire to port it from the original Xbox, and Mass Effect won't be out until 2007.

I guess some one like Griffin will eventually have an intelligent cable that will connect the two and take care of the gamma issue you mentioned.

Thank you for your time with this.

Greg

I posted this over at Macworld and at TeamXbox, and pretty much got nowhere with it. Other then Peter Cohen telling me what I figured was going to be the answer. I had been meaning to post it here too.

The basic gist goes like this: The Xbox 360 will have a 1st party cable that will connect it to a VGA monitor. VGA is an analog signal. There will be not 1st party DVI (which is digital) cable for the 360. Which seems odd considering how much Microsoft is pushing HDTV with the 360. I think it is a rather big oversight on Microsoft's part not to offer a DVI cable. Especially since DVI has caught on over the past number of years.

You find DVI on most newer HDTVs these days, but it also on the nice big monitors from Dell, HP, and Apple. I have a 23" Apple Cinema Display, which has the resolution for an HD signal. It also happens to be widescreen, which my TV is not.

Yet at this point in the game there is no solution for me to hook up a Xbox 360 to my HD Cinema Display. I do hope Griffin or some other 3rd party does come up with a DVI cable for the 360. Only time will tell.

Jade Empire was one of the best games of 2005. And I have my eyes on Mass Effect too. I am sure it will be another great game, it is BioWare after all.

Tyler sent this to me a little while ago:

Hello,

I found your website www.breakingwindows.com on Google.

Your website has content related to ours at www.superiorblinds.co.uk. This is a quality website and will be well ranked on Google.

We are happy to upload a link onto this website in any way you request in exchange for a return link. I'm sure you appreciate that this would be of great benefit to us both.

To go ahead with this exchange please upload our link information below to your links page. Then reply to nick.sellman@superiorblinds.co.uk to say where you have uploaded it.

If you would like your return link presenting in a particular way please include this information in your email.

I will then arrange for your link to be uploaded and email you again the let you know.

Thank you.
Regards
Mindy

I don’t know if you got this, but it made me laugh. It actually took me a few minutes to reason why a blinds company would want to link to BW. :) Tyler

Three kingdoms awash in turmoil. One mysterious mercenary bent on carving out a fourth kingdom. Beautiful maidens in need of rescue. Enter Wein Cruz, hero-in-the-making. Shake, stir and relax to the classic elements of a strategy RPG.

Growlanser III: The Dual Darkness is like a striptease act in which the stripper starts off attractive and interesting but grows steadily revolting and boring as the clothing is shed and the same dance moves are used over and over.

Note: With four hours of Sci-Fi Channel original "entertainment" to get through in one night, it's impossible for one person to take that much in one sitting. As such, help has been called in. Chris Beaumont covers the first of the films this week, and as is the norm, I take on the second.

Return of the Living Dead 4: Necropolis Review by Chris Beaumont

It's been a long time since I've seen any of the Return of the Living Dead movies, to be honest, I can't even recall if I've ever seen Part II. Being that my last viewing is a bit of a fuzzy memory, so my grasp of details is a little slim. Anyway, the returning dead are back for another go around, the first since 1993. There are 2 new sequels, Necropolis and Rave to the Grave. I am here to take a look at the first one, Necropolis.

Always a great site (some hilarious George Bush stuff), but this one is hilarious because it's true... or is that depressing?

The sequel to one of the best exploration-style Castlevania titles on the Game Boy Advance, Dawn of Sorrow comes to the DS and establishes the series on new hardware. This meticulously detailed action platform game is addictive, and even more so than the previous entries. The addition of a soul collection system raises this Castlevania entry above the usual expectations and keeps players hooked.

It's about time someone on the "other" side jumped in to discredit insane Miami Lawyer Jack Thompson. With this letter, sent from the Nation Institute of Media and the Family, Thompson seems to be slowly destructing inside his little ring of lies. Dr. David Walsh finally figured out it's not helping his organization if Jack is on their side, demanded the link to their website be removed from Thompson's, and things would only spiral downward from there.

This is quite old news, but I wanted to post it anyways. During Homecoming weekend this year (September 30th - October 1st) The BG News held their 85th Anniversary Reunion with festivities Friday and Saturday.

Now is the time for something like Halo 2 Hacks. The fans have ripped it apart inside and out, and this book goes deeper. While it starts somewhat like a strategy guide, it quickly dives into actual hacking of the game's code. This is where you can have the most fun with the game, creating textures, maps, and new features for weapons.

When I heard that Apple was going to make an announcement to coincide with the PhotoPlus Expo in New York City, I expected to see an advanced version of iPhoto. What I got was something so much more exciting—a pro-level application that promises to finally make working with raw images as easy as working with JPEGs.

If anyone can make the RAW format easy to use it is Apple. But is Aperture a Photoshop killer? Priced at $499, it could cut into Adobe's Mac sales. I wonder how Adobe will react to this one?

A surprisingly calm action film, Unleashed isn't the action packed martial arts flick it was advertised to be. It's a drama, and an unexpectedly good one. Jet Li's brutal strikes in the opening few moments are intense, certainly more so than other recent films in the same vein.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A man got a prison term longer than prosecutors and defense attorneys had agreed to -- all because of Larry Bird.

He would have been better off to be a fan of Magic.

IGN has an article on the new Xbox 360 integration of Xbox Live and Xbox.com. You can also drink the official Kool-Aid from Xbox.com itself.

Sure you can turn it off (I think) but in the next generation, everyone is going to know what games you play, how well (or poor) you do, and what parts of games you have unlocked.

Wow. Can't quite get to their site to actually try it though.

WASHINGTON - Why is Tom DeLay smiling? After all, he’s been indicted. Forced out of his job as House majority leader. And called into court for fingerprinting and a mugshot like a common criminal.

I thought maybe he wanted one last good photo before he goes to jail, but I guess it to detour the attack ads that will be coming. But then they will come, and just use something as bad. It will just have a smiling DeLay in it.

It's great to see Hollywood take hold of the creature feature. So many great ones languish in the video market with restrictive budgets, some of which could very well make a mark given the chance. Welcome to one of those that had a shot, Mimic.

Dripping with sarcasm. Old, but figured it was worth posting if you missed it.

Got a new entertainment center so things needed moved. Lots of changes, including the semi-removal of the arcade game which seems like I'll never have enough cash to get it working again. I'll be updating the magazine pics in the next few days. Finally got them in order by dates and it looks SO much neater.

And just in case you even think for a second that I have too much stuff, I have NOTHING on this guy.

Sleeper: A great movie, lost in the crowd of hundreds and never receiving the credit it deserves. See also: Brokedown Palace, an outstanding courtroom/prison, drama/thriller (take your pick).

This is not a DVD review. I will leave it up to someone more qualified to rate the audio quality and video transfer of this DVD. This is merely a rant.

There are two flavors of this DVD - a single disc and a two disc Deluxe Edition with extra features. An employee of an unnamed store told me there was a problem with the Deluxe Edition because of the comic book on the second disc, and they only got eight of them, with no more coming. It looks like I can buy it from Amazon, though. So I do not know what he is talking about. And I cannot find anything about a problem with the DVD by searching through many sites.

Here comes the rant part. Even the two disc set has no commentary track by Christopher Nolan. While I would like to see the features (they do look impressive), I am not going to buy it if there is no commentary from the director.

I have been a .Mac user and supporter for years. But alas this time around I cannot justify the $99 a year price tag. This is because of a number of factors. The main problem I have is that .Mac services are duplicated in cheaper services I pay for. I have a web host, and I have grown to not use the iCal and iPhoto integration of .Mac. With the advent of bigger USB thumb drives I find I do not even use my iDisk anymore. That was the last straw.

This thread had me in tears, it is so funny.

This is just absurd. The video game has NOTHING to do with the story, yet it's on the headline. I bet if he was making chicken for dinner it wouldn't have made the headline, but video games, they're headline material.

Mandatory driving tests every year after age 70... now.

Defeating any and all odds in the US market, Katamari Damacy raised itself above the usual expectations for such a quirky title. It gained far more fanfare than most games of its type with little or nothing from the marketing department. It did so based on an absurd concept that had to sound even worse in a design meeting.

Titanic is a frustrating film. Hauling in well over $1 billion worldwide (combined theatrical and video release), the movie is an obvious success. That doesn't mean it's clear from criticisms though, and there's plenty to go around.

Joystiq has a listing of Xbox 360 games and their expected release dates that blog GamersReports claims comes directly from a GameStop point-of-sales system printout.

My only question is why do we have to resort to this underground way of gathering information? With less then a month before the release of the Xbox 360, (26 days for those of us counting) I do not see why there is no official news from Microsoft yet. I cannot remember a console launch where we did not have an official list this close to launch.

Before I say anything else, go out and buy Liberty City Stories. If you enjoy the series, and you own a PSP, you will no doubt find hours upon hours of fun here. This may well be the game that convinces you to get a PSP if you are still on the fence.

Liberty City Stories (LCS) is no side story to GTA III, it does not borrow any missions from its brother. LCS is set in 1998, before the events of GTA III. As in San Andreas, you run into new and old friends from the GTA world.

Comparing LCS to GTA III is inevitable. So lets not try to hide it. I dusted off a friends copy of GTA III for a nostalgic ride through the 2001 version of Liberty City.

Revered on home consoles, the resurrected Prince of Persia series was a critical success. The control over the lead character was incredible, simple to perform, and incredible to watch. Bringing problems was the camera, and now in 2-D on cell phones, this sequel translation is a mild success, hampered by a convoluted control scheme that leads to unnecessary death and aggravation.

Spinning off the Advance Wars series, Battalion Wars does a great job of keeping the light atmosphere of the series alive outside of its roots. This is an enjoyable romp into a world where war is handled like a sitcom, complete with bad Russian accents and dialogue. It has moments where everything goes awry, but quickly pulls itself back together.

Given that the Sci-Fi Channel has dug up just about every creature known to the human race for their Saturday night features including (but not limited to) pythons, centipedes, gargoyles, dragons, raptors, pterodactyls, killer bees, snakehead fish, megalodons, the chupacabra, loch ness, spiders, saber tooth cats, and cockroaches, it was only a matter of time until the network began to reach. This brings us to Cerberus, a creature flick that could only come from this cable channel. This is unbearable dreck, one of the cheapest, ugliest, and far reaching of their monster roster.

It did not take long for Rockstar to release a utility to enable custom soundtracks in Liberty City Stories (LCS). I would hope that it was planned to launch a few days after the release of the game, and not because of the amount of emails and ranting I am sure that Rockstar has received.

At any rate, it is nice to have custom soundtracks in LCS. You can download Rockstar Custom Tracks v1.0 (RCT) from Rockstar's official site, among other places. But you cannot use it on a Mac. It is Windows only software. This is disappointing as I use a Mac application to manage all of my PSP media.

Picking up right where Locusts left off, Lucy Lawless returns as Maddy Rierdon to combat another menace, Vampire Bats. This made for TV quickie is mild fun without an original idea to carry it. If you've ever seen a killer bat movie, than you've seen this too.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court Monday refused to consider an appeal by Microsoft Corp in a case involving claims by a privately held California software firm [Eolas] and the University of California that Microsoft infringed on their patents with its Internet Explorer browser.

This is that Eolas debacle that I have written a lot about. It looks like it is finally over. Of course looks can be deceiving. This case now goes back to the federal court. So I am sure this will not be the last we hear of it.

So what is the big deal?

The case sparked concerns that Microsoft would have to alter its Internet browser, making it unable to run certain applets, or mini-applications, that run on Web pages. Microsoft's browser is used by nine of every 10 Web surfers.

Suppose Internet Explorer was forced to change their browser and no one else was, that could get ugly. Even if every web browser had to make a change for applets/plugins it would be a lot of work for both the browser and web developers.

The World Wide Web Consortium is claiming "prior art" in this case, which I agree. As much as I like seeing the government sticking it to Microsoft, this is not the place.

To say Indigo Prophecy is one of the strangest games you'll play this generation isn't a statement that far off base. What little control the player has over the characters is awful because of the camera, yet the concept is so engrossing and so unique, it's a new achievement in video game storytelling. It's a shame it loses focus towards the end and spirals downward rapidly, but it's worth fighting through the quirks to experience all it has to offer.

This news is over a month old by now but I just saw it on the CBC for the first time yesterday, and it raises just all sorts of questions (and more than a little bile).

US troops in Iraq have been trading 'trophy photos' of dead Iraqis, really gruesome stuff, for access to the porn site nowthatsfuckedup.com.

Yesterday was the 10th anniversary of the 1995 referendum to see whether Quebec would secede from Canada and form its own independent country.

I don't remember the event firsthand at all, I was only 13 at the time and ignorant of world politics, but I know a lot of people now who remember it well. It was a nail-biter. And there're murmurs that the province may try it again in the next five years.