Entire F.E.A.R Multiplayer to be made available completely FREE

Sierra Entertainment today announced that the multiplayer component from the award winning PC title F.E.A.R. (First Encounter Assault Recon), has been renamed F.E.A.R. Combat, and will be made available to the public as a free download on Thursday August 17th, 2006.

As an avid gamer and major cheap-arse, this is welcome news. Over the past few days, to quell the boredom that has filled my waking hours, I have been playing some freeware games. I could have been studying, or doing homework, reading, writing a novel, doing creative crafts or any number of things; instead, I was hunting down a 3d Space Invaders clone (and found one, actually; http://www.endbossgames.com/index.php?select=2&gametitle=11). If more polished, complete, and most importantly, good free games are released, the P.C. gaming market could move in a new direction; I believe the future in gaming is advertising. With rising costs and slimming profits, making a game is becoming a harder and more expensive undertaking. I remember hearing about those teenagers who became millionares by designing simple Amiga games (or something like that). But now days, with specular lighting, bump mapping, blah blah blah etc. it's hard for an amatuer to make a successful game. This wouldn't be so bad, but it seems that games are only being made now if they are a guaranteed cash bringer. There are no risk takers; only emulators of other games (no, not illegal emulators, you ROM addicts). So where was I? Oh. Right. Advertising in games. I don't know where risk taking in games came in, but what I meant to say was that there would be a lot more free games if there was a successful advertising model that could support development. Radio, television and other media (even the Internet itself) rely on advertising for revenue; is it selling out to put it in games as well? You be the judge. I don't know what this has to do with FEAR, but maybe by some skewed logic it does.


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Is it illegal to upload YouTube videos?

Do you like using video sites like YouTube? Better be careful: You might be violating copyright laws. Simply put, owning a copy of a song or video does not give the owner the right to distribute the material. But does that mean that the Internet site that hosts the video is breaking the law? This article examines the legal issues.


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A Bad Day Takes A Twist

Above is a video of the phone I found at the bus stop; it was an interesting turn of events that capped off a crap day. The day started off, innocently enough, with me going to school; that's when I realized I was wearing the wrong shoes. Yes, I am so lost, I would wear black shoes on a sports day WITH the rest of my sports uniform. I was walking around, trying to cover the shoes and make them less conspicuous, but I realize now it was a futile effort. I can hear your sniggering, but put yourself in my position.
Not only this, but since it was a sport day, we went bowling. Let's put it lightly; I suck at bowling. I am really horrible. And today, was my worst day ever. Needless to say that I came last out of everybody, even Hamsay beat me (and Hamsays no bowling king.) My score was so embarrissingly poor, that to mention it would be a violation of some kind of bowling code (and a violation of my dignity). So you can imagine I'm a tad depressed at this stage of the day, but on my way home, while passing the glass-enclosed bus stop, I spotted a small, purple object. Without even thinking about it, I swooped, clutching what I now realized was a mobile phone in my hand. It's a crap phone, in a "super bitch" case, but I found a phone! No, don't panic, I'm not going to keep it; I'll call up some of her (I'm assuming it's a her, given the "super bitch" and everything) contacts and see if I can return it. Why do I feel happy about that? Because I believe in Karma. And surely returning a phone would earn me dare to show my face at that establishment ever again.)
I know this is breaking my new once a day posting rule, but I just had to report my discovery. I'll give you a status report once I've returned the phone (or, if I can't get in contact with the owner, decide to keep it).

Duran Duran to Perform Live in MMORPG

British band Duran Duran are to create a virtual island within online game Second Life, on which they will perform actual live concerts. Second Life is an online 3D digital world, which is imagined, created and owned by the residents. Are virtual celeb appearances the next big thing online? I want to battle celebs in BF2! :)=)

I'm posting this article as a test of the blogging features on digg.com - after registering, you can instantly blog an article you find (after setting up your blog in your account, of course). I think that this is a great way to boost the content of your site. One other great feature of digg is the ability to digg your own articles - meaning if you have written something on your blog which you think is interesting, informative, funny, entertaining or whatever, you can submit it to digg and if other people digg it, you'll get it read. This will not only get your article read, but generate traffic to your blog.

Anyway, about the actual article itself - it says a lot about the maturity of the medium of gaming if now bands are playing in MMO's; it looks like the rest of the media is starting to take the concept of interactive entertainment a lot more seriously. Gaming is a young industry, and it's come leaps and bounds over recent years - this can only be good.

read more | digg story

Manic Monday

The video above is my dogs - both Maltese terriers (although I'm not sure about pure bred). The fat one is a male named Lucky; the skinny one is a female named Lucy. I recorded the video using a mobile phone which is capable of 640X480 resolution videos - pretty good for online streaming.
I've found an interesting website - www.talkr.com. It creates a podcast based on your RSS feed which has a computer voice reading out your blog postings. Very nifty indeed - I've seen it integrated into a blog so that at the end of every post, the reader has the option of hearing the audio instead.
Worked from 4-7 PM today; got called in. Pretty boring and tiring, but I suppose I need the money to sustain my spending addiction (see previous posts).
Gadget of the day - the Optimus LED Keyboard (http://www.artlebedev.com/portfolio/optimus/). It works on a system of configurable LED lights which can be easily configured to adapt to a variety of keysets - for example, the images displayed in the keys could be changed for specific programs like Photoshop, and it could also be an awesome gaming keyboard - an alternative to the different keysets for the Zboard.
Download of the day; Frets on Fire (http://louhi.kempele.fi/~skyostil/uv/fretsonfire/).
It's a free PC game similar to Guitar Hero, and lets you play a rhythm based guitar game with your keyboard. You can hold the keyboard like a guitar and the system works quite well. Unfortunately, the program only comes with three songs. You can import your own, but I believe you have to some fiddling.
At school, we've been doing Shakespeare, and have an assessed creative folio piece coming up - I'll probably post it when it's done.
Anyway,
until tomorrow.

Lazy Sunday

It's a Sunday down here and I feel rather lethargic. I have a pile of homework to do (mainly maths) and no motivation to do it. I am bored witless, titless and shitless (a favourite expression of my crazy uncle) and I have nothing to blog about. It's a bit leechy to sustain a blog with videos, but hey, they shouldn't have built that feature into YouTube if they didn't want people to do it.
I've been surfing Blogmad so much that I've seen the same blogs several times already. And they don't get any more interesting the second time round (I suppose that happens with my blog as well.) Anyway, another day, another post; I'll try and maintain my daily posting quota for as long as I can, and after that, well, I don't know.
I've been looking into freeware games to quell my boredom; a good source is www.sourceforge.net (they have plenty of freeware projects) and also www.freshmeat.net.
My brother has consented to buying a DVD box set from England with MY ebay account (technically it's not mine - I'm too young - but I'm the one who uses it) and I've had to do a whole lot of crap just to get my account to do international transfers (thanks a lot bro). I had to call up the people, head into the branch, and now have to wait several days. Not only this, my account won't make any transfers because the guy on the phone screwed up.
Anyway, until tomorrow (if I have something to post).

Hey big spender...

I suffer from spend-itis. It's a rare condition that affects the back-pocket. It's a horrible affliction that causes an individual to expel the contents of his wallet and can strike without warning, at a subtle change in the human psyche ; these lapses in cash control are known as "impulse buys." I was diagnosed with this disorder when I recieved my first dollar, and immediately spent it.

Now that I have a job, I have spent more money in the space of a few months than I have possessed in my entire life. Most of it has been on computers and tech; I bought a new PC, and a webcam, and an Mp4 player. A lot of it just goes to food and other small expenses. But the thing is, I must have gone through about $2,000 - and has it improved my life? Has the little bits and pieces, the techy crap, the nerdy joy made my existence more fulfilled? Well...

Yes! You expected a different answer didn't you. I've learnt that although many may preach about selflessness and humility, there is happiness to be attained through materialism; or, I just like cool stuff.

When Paris Was A City "Of the week awards."

powered by ODEO

Every week I'll be posting a mini podcast with my websites, articles, and downloads of the week. In editon number one:

Websites of the week:
www.digg.com
www.podnova.com

Articles of the week:
Zune already problematic: The ‘iPod killer’ won’t offer video at launch
Microsoft: Reporter faked Gates talk

Download of the week:
Secret Maryo Chronicles

Mmm.... More spam.

It seems since my last post about spam I've had something like 5 posts by "Anonymous" that are poorly spelt spam; the irony is, I was hoping my post would dissuade the culprit. But it seems this Anonymous is trying to pull off some kind of scam; even going so far as to post fake comments on his own "make money now" post that the links in the comment post to. That's blatant Spam; I like genuine comments and don't mind the comments linking to a blog, but something saying "here are some links that will be interested" (Anonymous' bad grammer, not mine) is just infuriating.

Mmm... Spam.

I noticed I've been getting a couple comments from someone called "Anonymous" that are actually spam. I would delete them, but they make my blog look like people are actually reading it :) I realize that I, too, am a bit of a spammer; although to a lesser degree. I've practically barraged the Internet with self-centered promotions, trawling through and posting in forums, adding my link to countless directories, and commenting for the sake of it just in a vain quest to get my blog read. I realize now, that I probably spent more time (unsuccessfully) promoting than writing good content. Whats the point of people reading your blog, if all they're going to read is garbage? I think that the thrill of traffic is a sort of self-assurement that you're opinions and ideas are interesting. That might be where the appeal of blogging lies; the fact that other people might think that you have something worthwhile to say. There are a lot of different blogs, and I think that blogs pushing an agenda (like the countless political blogs) aren't really blogs at all; at least in my definition of a blog. I think a blog should be an unfiltered, personal account of whatever springs to mind; if you had a written journal, would you write about politics in it? I've been trapped into writing crap as well (not that I'm saying political blogs are crap; I quite like the passion for politics). I mean, posting YouTube videos isn't exactly great content. Anyway, I've gotten off topic again... What was the topic? Oh yeah, spam. Yeah, spam is bad.

Webcam quality

I just wanted to remind you all that the grainy quality and poor lighting of the Hellodeo footage below makes me seem much more hideous than I am. No, seriously, its all the webcam; I'll upload a real photo... er... when I get a chance.

Got Hellodeo Working As Well

I got my webcam working with www.hellodeo.com and it's actually quite a useful site for making short video messages, similar in function to www.odeo.com (they're made by the same people.)

powered by ODEO

I recieved my webcam that I purchased off e-bay in the mail today. I finally got odeo.com to work with the in-built microphone, but hellodeo.com won't recognize the actual cam; a bit of a hassle, but I'll eventually figure it out.

My Friend Jackson

I thought I'd change up the blog a bit and do a little bit of personal story. So I have this friend, his name is Jackson; he's Sri Lankan and he's a bit older than me. The thing is, we have a very strange relationship; he is wierdly affectionate, and I think it's because he comes from what I percieve to be a very strict family, where he is expected to study hard and play little. I think he treats me, at least sometimes, the way he'd like to be treated - like a child. I won't go into detail about some of the things he says, but it includes 'my precious white child' (we have this ongoing thing whereby he makes white jokes and I make black jokes). So he bags me and I bag him, but I sense a hint of envy - he seems to have never really had a childhood. He always gives me crap because I don't really study, and I recipricate. Anyway, this guy is good at every subject - but he has worked hard for it and he deserves it. But my strength has always been English - its just my forte. But recently I recieved a B, and he an A - absoleutely crushing. I still haven't recovered. The teachers only written complaints were a lack of quotes, and apart from that, it was 'a very good essay.' So now it seems that Jackson has robbed me of English, and the only thing I am still superior to him in (at least in terms of marks) is I.T., which he doesn't even care about. Which brings me to my next quarrel with him - whats important and what is not. In todays world, IT is a very important skill which he sorely lacks - while I find a lack of real world use for Maths (at which I also lack). I wonder where I'll need quadratics, but I'm sure I'll forget it when I need it most - perhaps, by some bizarre circumstance, I'll meet a super hot chick who won't go out with me unless I find the point at which the parabola passes through the X-axis. Right about now, this very moment, I'm realizing that I've posted this for no point - I've wasted your time, and mine. I've told you about a dysfunctional abusive friendship for no reason. But I can do it because its my blog.

The Power of Independance

Why do people like blogs? Why do people like podcasts? I think the driving force behind many of the burgeoning and established popular Internet trends is because the power of creativity falls into the hands of the people. The Internet is an interactive medium; you can put your opinion out there, and people can disagree all they want, but it's still out there for them to read- like it or not. The choice to become a part of the Internet - and, if your opinion is true and interesting, shape the Internet - is the power of independant media, constantly changing and involving, that gives users a true feeling of belonging. While most of conventional media is controlled by others, with no way of reaching through the T.V. and putting yourself in it, the Internet is what you want it to be. That's why your not just on the Internet - your in the Internet. The independant content creators, which is nearly everyone at one point or another, contribute at least a single valuable piece of information, and if it sticks, it will be floating out there in the web forever - an archive of you. The best websites - digg.com and ebay to name a few - rely completely and solely from user input to function. This is where the next generation of websites will take it a step further, the so called "web 2.0" Internet destinations, assuming they deliver the interactivity and community belonging that they should, could change the way we think about the Internet. Websites have changed - where they were once impassive, static pages, we now have communities - where you can connect with people around the world who have a similar interest to you. Which brings me to why I'm even writing this - because I can. I'm demonstrating a point. I can publish what I want, when I want, because this is the future of media - the people do what the people want. Even terrorists have websites, although this really highlights one of the core problems with this "free media" philosophy. Hating individuals can spread their message of despise across the world, and have it immortalized forever - an open forum for lunatics and murders. So - should their be some control over what is posted on someones blog? Or is it their right? The ethics behind the independant Internet are often questionable. But one thing is certainly for sure - it is truly a people-driven network.