July 1-14, 2001

Sunday 15 July 2001

Well nothing for the last couple of days, so I'll make this one a fairly long post to make up for it.

The FIGJAM Clan had a LAN last night and all went well. Many new games were played, along with some old favourites. With luck, the clan leader should have a LAN review up at his site shortly, for you to read.

Great News......Tim, Our illustrious FIGJAM Clan leader has just posted his LAN report over on the FIGJAM home page! Check out the action here!

Well, while we were at the LAN we attempted to play the new Half-Life total conversion - Opera. THe game seems to have some potential, but had way too many bugs in it to make it a worthwhile game. The biggest problems we had were with the networking side of things - unable to get more than 3 into the game at any one time, people hosting games seemed to crash with a different error message each time! and that sort of thing. It is sad, as the programmers have obviously put in a lot of work to make it a good mod. On the plus side, the graphics were quite good and the action styles were efficient and effective! Some nice touches have been used, particularly in the reloading and diving areas. I think that this program will get a lot better over time, but as it stands now, it needs a lot more work to get it there.

On the subject of Half-Life mods, there is a new update to Front Line Force, bringing it up to version 1.3a. You can get it from FilePlanet or through 3DFiles.

Oops, I've run out of time, so I'll have to keep going with this tomorrow. Stay tuned for a "review" of Australia, written by the now late Douglas Adams (of Hitch hikers Guide to the Galaxy fame).

Thursday 12 July 2001

The Half-Life and Counter-Strike patches are now available from FilePlanet and numerous other mirror servers throughout the world. And the excellent news for Telstra Broadband users is that Wireplay in Australia have the files already. It seems that with the 3Gb cap they are getting more files on their servers and getting them much more quickly than previously. This means that we don't have to use up precious bandwidth so we can play on other servers! This is GREAT news! Good on you Wireplay!

Wednesday 11 July 2001

Also on the update front, the latest patch for Half-Life (1.1.0.7) is set to be released sometime today and will be available from the FilePlanet servers as soon as it is released. Along with that patch, the latest Counter-Strike update (1.1.0.2) will be released at the same time! Go get them or wait for other servers to mirror the files and then get them! I know you want to!

Well that just about does it for the Game News stuff!

In other news, it seems that the media have just found out about people trading new release movies over the net! (didn't take them long really!) Once again the movie companies are trying to protect their rights by force and intimidation. I have previously posted a link to an article that deals with some of the hidden problems with copyright legislation and enforcement, so I won't go into it here. However, most of the laws simply restrict the average law abiding individual, rather than their targeted "criminal" groups. Lets face it, if they really want to pirate the movie then they will succeed, and no amount of law making will stop them! Just like in the music industry! But if they deal with it in different ways then maybe they can take the pirates market away from them, and then maybe, just maybe, the average consumer may benefit just as much as the dealer! So if you want to find out more about this, check out this article.

That's it for today, see you tomorrow!

Tuesday 10 July 2001

Well not much happened yesterday so I skipped posting. Hopefully there will be more today.

In general news, CNN reports that a boy was attacked by a shark the other day. Nothing unusual there! But wait, there's more! The uncle of the victim jumped in to help the boy and then wrestled the shark into shore in order to retrieve the arm. Unfortunately 1 shark was harmed in the struggle, but the arm was retrieved and doctors successfully reattached it to the boy! Click the above link to read more.

The Dutch and their free sex! In an interesting piece of marketing madness, a Dutch mobile phone company is offering a free vibrator (yes the sex toy variety!) with each sale of their vibrating mobile phones. I think their slogan should be something like - "If you are happy, buzz your friends"! Check out the details here.

Have you ever felt that you get way too much e-mail? Getting annoyed wading through all the spam "get rich quick" schemes? I know I do! For those who feel this way Yahoo News have posted an article on how to deal with too much e-mail. It seems some people are organized in every other aspect of their lives, but their inbox is chockers with old messages. Click the above link for the full story.

Beware the distributed computing project! If you, like me, are into those distributed computing projects such as Seti@home, United Devices and any of the now numerous others, be well aware that you should only run them on computers that you have permission to run them on! One unfortunate, but well intentioned, computer user is being prosecuted by the State of Georgia (it could only happen in the US!) for the princely sum of $415,000, for unauthorized bandwidth use. They claim that it costs $0.59 per second of transfer time to send in the data units and to receive them. They have actually gone so far as to seize the records of the project to use them against him. This poor chap was thinking he was doing a good thing with all those spare CPU cycles and look at the mess it gets him into. Needless to say, he is fighting the action! Check out more, and read what others have to say here.

Now on to some more game related news!

Ever wondered what happens to all those games that get canned half way through development? Ever wonder why they get canned? Well GameSpot have a place on their website called "PC Gaming Graveyard"! This site deals with some of those very canned games. This time they have posted an article dealing with the planned new realm in the Ultima Online universe - Ultima Worlds Online - Origin. There seems to be quite a discrepancy between the official line and what the axed staff are saying! Go check it out for some interesting behind the scenes reading. Who said computing was devoid of intrigue and back room dealings?

Why wander, lost, through the wilderness when you can sit in comfort and watch the seasons change via your computer? There are many advantages to travelling via the computer! The best I can think of is that it is much much cheaper than actually going there! Hey call me a cynic, but you can't beat free! Anyway for all of you who are too poor or lazy to go outside and see the sites, here is a story (well at least a place you can go grab them!) about some of the wonderful nature screen savers available.

If you are interested in the Front Side Bus speeds and tweaking your system, then check out this interesting article. Raises some interesting questions about locked multipliers and such! Worth a read.

If you are wondering about upgrading to the next Microsoft operating system, Windows XP, then you might want to read this article over at NTCompatible. It is arranged in the form of a FAQ and discusses some pertinent issues. Go check it out.

Well a new mod for Half-Life has been released to the gaming public. This mod, Opera, is based on the Hong Kong action style movies. That's all I can tell you about it cause I haven't played it yet. But the FIGJAM Clan will be trying it out at this weekends LAN. This mod has been in production for over 2 years and sounds really interesting. You can grab it from one of the mirrors listed on this page.

Sunday 8 July 2001

Well it looks like the problems with WWII Online are starting to settle down now! Things are reported to be working well on the servers and Cornered Rat Software have announced a road map for feature implementation. You can check it out here.

How would you be if you found $10,000 whilst working in an old house? What would you do with it? Well these guys gave it back! Check it out here.

In a startling piece of scientific investigation, scientists (who else!) have discovered that matter matters more than anti-matter matters. If you catch my drift! Apparently matter is stronger than anti-matter and that is the reason our universe actually exists. This supports the current theory on how the universe came to exist! You can check out all the grisly details here!

In some alarming news from MS NBC News, it appears that on July 14, the US is planning to test it's missile shield technology again! I wonder if it will work this time? Will it be a shield of steel? Or will it be just tissue paper? Only time will tell Batfink! Check the story out here.

nVidia have release some more "official" drivers for their range of cards. That brings the official Detonator Drivers up to version 12.41. You can get the correct drivers for your system here. Win 95/98/ME, WinNT, and Win2000.

A battle for supremacy for the American Rail lines is looming! Recently Microsoft released it's critically acclaimed Train Simulator (at least in the US!), and now Flying Lab Software is preparing to fire the first shot in the war, with it's forthcoming release of Rails Across America. Not since the days of the Railroad Tycoon series, have gamers seen any train simulators. But now, there are two on the market! If you are interested in this type of simulation, or you just like trains, but can't afford a real train set (they are soo expensive nowadays!), then check out this preview of Rails Across America! - Thanks VE.

Saturday 7 July 2001

There is a new version of DVD Genie, bringing it to version 4.02, available. There is also a patch for Edge of Chaos: Independence War 2 which fixes a lot of things. And there is also a demo for the much talked about Anachronox (watch this one, it weighs in at 92Mb!). All these files are available from 3DFiles.

For those who are having some troubles with Operation Flashpoint there is a partial walk through over at OperationFlashpoint.net. This is not a full walk through but may give you some ideas on what is supposed to happen and what you are supposed to do! Don't think of it as cheating, it is just like asking a friend to tell you how they got through a mission!

For those of you who are like me, relatively illiterate when it comes to "computer speak", check out the 1337 (elite) language guide over at CFGN. If you think you are familiar with most of the peculiarities and peccadillo's of the computer fraternity's special language, then check it out anyway, cause you might just find something there that you didn't know. Now as with most languages, 1337 speak is constantly evolving. So use this as a guide to work out what the hell people are saying in chat rooms! It is kind of like the difference between learning French at school and then speaking it over in France!

The teen hacker who was audacious enough to send Viagra tablets to our antitrust friend, Mr Bill Gates, that were purchased via stolen credit card numbers, has escaped a custodial sentence. However, he was ordered to undergo three years of psychiatric treatment and community rehabilitation. I don't know which would be worse?? If you would like to read the full story, you can find it at BBC News.

In a classic tale of the fake finding the real thing, and the cops actually catching the right guy, the French police have made an interesting arrest. A guy who was pretending to be a policeman, stopped the wrong car and was arrested by the occupants! They were real detectives! What bad luck! Check out the short story here.

Omaha.com have run a story that should warm the hearts of all those who feel oppressed by the mighty banks! An 82 year old woman seems to be winning her fight against a Mexican bank. She has sued for interest that could mount up to a staggering 42 billion. Now we are not sure if that is dollars or pesos, but what ever it is it is a huge sum. However, the bank is fighting tooth and nail to not have to pay out the sum, and is probably going to hold the pay out up in court until the poor old lady dies! You can catch the story here.

That's all for today folks!

Friday 6 July 2001

In a small but interesting story, lawyers are taking to their pens and writs in an attempt to protect Barney the Dinosaur from the malicious attacks of some websites. This action will be of great interest to anyone who likes to take a shot at, poke fun at, or even disagree with, something someone else says or does in "real" life! I certainly will be watching for the result. So much for the "free speech" part of the American constitution! You may not like what they say but everyone has a right to say what they think! That is called communication. You also have the right to challenge anything that someone says about something. This is how the world revolves and attitudes change. And they want to stop it? Let me know what you think about it. You can check out the full story over at Wired News.

Word from the Tribes 2 developers, Dynamix, is that you may find that the latest patch seems slow if you have a faster connection than a modem. This is because the patch automatically resets the network connection speed to "56K modem". All you have to do is go to the network part of the settings in the game and check to see if it is set correctly for your connection. If you have any further trouble then check out the forums at Planet Tribes.

In an interesting survey from Neilsen, it seems that women are beginning to take over the net in terms of usage. It seems that there are more of them and that they are more efficient at using the net. The survey claims that they usually know what they are looking for before they get onto the net and then they quickly leave once they have found what they want! So we men like to look around and surf aimlessly for a while! We learn more that way. At least that's the story I'm sticking to! Find out more here.

There is a new patch for Delta Force: Land Warrior available from 3D Files. Maybe this will update the AI to the point where it can actually be called that! While on the subject of 3DFiles.com, they have announced the demise of their message boards and forums! They suggest several others to use and cite bandwidth issues as the main reason for the closure. It is a sad thing to see them close the doors on such a wonderful resource.

In hardware news, Intel have released the draft version of the new AGP 3 specs. This is good news for gamers as it relates to the AGP bus speed and bandwidth. Basically, for non-geeks, it provides fro the doubling of the current AGP 4X standard to AGP 8X. This should improve the data flow through to the graphics card and thus increase the frame rate in games. GeForce 4 anyone?? Check out the specs here.

Voodoo Extreme is back from their revamp and it looks good.......if you can see any difference. But seriously, the work was done on the back end and I must say the site is much quicker to load now. Go check it out!

Voodoo Extreme have posted an interesting new review of Mucky Foots new release, Startopia. The developers include some of the finest sim writers from titles such as Sim Themepark, and Sim Hospital, and also the classic dark real time strategy title, Dungeon Keeper! VE gives the game the thumbs up and a huge 90%. Check it out if you like real time strategy games and are in need of something a bit different to the standard C&C universe games. It does sound quite interesting! When it comes to Australia I will have to have a look at it.

Well The Sims seem to be getting another expansion pack for their neighbourhood! Creatively entitled The Sims: Hot Date, it will allow the sims to date and to go elsewhere that just in their houses. The expansion adds restaurants and coffee shops for the romance to blossom in! I wonder if it will include motels for those married sims, who want just a little on the side? Anyway there is more information on the Maxis site.

And on a final note, for those of us who use the Tel$tra broadband services and still have questions about the AUP (who doesn't - and that includes the Telstra staff you speak to over at customer service!) then check out the Wireplay Forums. Helchick from WirePlay has posted some answers to the common questions relating to online gaming. I'm still confused about a lot of it, but now I know a little more about how it will affect my gaming!

Cheers, goodnight, and have a great weekend!

Thursday 5 July 2001

Well those who play Tribes 2 will probably be aware of the several beta patch releases that have not been supported by Dynamix. Well the wait is over for the "official" patch. It is out now! Just log on and let the auto-update do it's stuff! If you did install one of the other patches, then you will have to uninstall it/them before upgrading.

In Operation Flashpoint news: there are several reviews going around at present either for or against the game. In my humble opinion the game is great and I stand by my review as we at FIGJAM clan all experience the game with similar views. If you are still considering the outlay of money for the game then go and check out all the reviews and make an informed decision. The last thing I would want is for you to buy the game based on my review, and then be disappointed. The other option is for you to grab the demo (either one) and give it a whirl, and then see how you like it! In other news our compadre Viper from Viper Downloads has added a new section to his site for player made custom missions. Check this out soon and you will find some great missions there as they flood in. The mission editor is very strong and easy to use in this game and should make for some entertaining and challenging new missions!

Well today is the day that Tel$tra stopped the picnic! Yes today the AUP 3Gb bandwidth limit comes into effect for all Tel$tra broadband users! Well hopefully it will produce some awesome game pings with such a huge bandwidth sacrifice. If anyone actually knows how this limit works please e-mail me with the information, because I have read the policy and I still don't know how they calculate it! Thanks!

Wednesday 4 July 2001

News has just been released that Action Half-Life is being upgraded to beta version 4.1. It will be available sometime this week.

For those of you who are into warfare with large metal beasts, then you will be pleased to know that Mech Commander 2 has gone gold! There is no word on a release date yet, but you can find out more about this game from Microsoft.

There is a strong rumour around that the next game to hit the hit the big silver screen will be none other than that Playstation classic Crazy Taxi. Don't ask me what the plot will be or who will be in the movie, cause I don't know! Frankly I am amazed at even the thought of it! Well, so be it! On other game movies - there is still no further word on the progress of the Diablo movie deal, but rest assured that I will keep you updated as soon as I hear anything!

Well that's it so far for today! If anything new comes in I'll update later this afternoon, but now it's back to work on my thesis! Enjoy!

Tuesday 3 July 2001

Well not much of anything happening today. The only real bit of news is that the Official Black & White patch, has been delayed again but EA quality assurance testing. This also means that all the planned releases for the addons, will be set back as well! C'mon guys, how about actually delivering on the promises that you made when the game was released. All those really cool things were supposed to be in the game from the beginning! Now we have to wait even longer for them to be implemented! Shame on you for misleading us in this manner! Enough of that! That's it for today. Go send EA a nasty email and let them know how annoyed you are at their continual delays! Cheers!

Monday 2 July 2001

With only a few more days to go before Tel$tra bring in their 3Gb cap on their "unlimited" accounts, there is quite a storm brewing. You could even say there is a ground swell of opposition to the plan! One group has even started raising money for a full page advert in The Australian newspaper. If you would like to pledge some money or just check out what all the fuss is about then go here. Or if you would like to see a slightly funnier side to the issue, check this satirical site out! It's called Hel$tra!Or you can check out this other funny site called Blowstra!

This cap is just plain money grabbing on Tel$tra's part! With the tools to punish abusers of the system (and simply using it as an excuse) they have penalized every user! Now that is what I call customer service...... If you can't please all of the customers, all of the time, then why not piss the lot off in one fell swoop! Go Tel$tra! Thanks to Tim's News for passing this one on.

In case you were wondering what has happened to VoodooExtreme, they are simply doing some back end renovations and will be back up in a couple of days.

Well there isn't much more game news items today, particularly since it is only just Monday morning over in the US, so I'll give you some interesting little general news items to tide you over!

It seems that the hapless music trading company NAPster is being sued again! This time though, it is by a music company that sells relaxation music to insomniacs! It seems that some people are listening to the music and falling asleep at the most inconvenient times. You can find out a little more from atomicMPC.

Ever wondered just who those copyright laws actually protect? Well it would surprise you to know just how much the transnational corporations have manipulated the copyright laws to their own profit! If you are interested then I urge you to check out this site!

In a recent press conference, it was revealed that the British Intelligence Agency, MI5, had planned to recruit a highly trained team of GERBIL spy hunters! Yep that's right, that misused rodent is really a finely tuned spy hunter! Capable of surviving even the most gruesome torture without breaking, these trusty rodents were unfortunately never tested in the field. You could say that they have been sat on ever since! However, it was also revealed that British Intelligence have long had a secret rodent training facility. During World War 2, they trained rats to carry explosives. Sadly no sewerside rat ever came back to report on the success of the mission! You can read more about this story at BBC News.

Do you believe in life after death? Do you believe in the christian concept of a soul? Don't worry if you don't, but some British (I really wonder how they get the money for this research???) scientists have been studying the brain wave patterns of the recently deceased or those having a "near death" experience. They found that the brain waves went on long after all biological functions had ceased. Now, gosh darn it, you may just have to read more, here, and then rethink your whole concept of self! Enjoy!

Sunday 1 July 2001

The FIGJAM Clan (well three of them anyway!) attended the major local LAN meeting today, CQGL. I am pleased to hear that the Clan performed very well and took out the coveted Quake 3 capture the flag event, and proudly assisted in the Counter-Strike war that took place between the two biggest rivals at the LAN. You can check out Tim's quick LAN report at Tim's News, or you can go directly to the FIGJAM Home Page. Well done guys!

Macintosh fans will be pleased to learn that the MacOS versions of American Magee's Alice, and the Tomb Raider Trilogy have gone gold! There, is no mention of actual release dates yet though! You can check out the full details at MacGamer.

Happy Birthday to Savage News!!!! They turned an upright 1 today! Hip Hip Hooray!

Well that's it, 'night!

Sorry about the lateness of last nights post! Damn ADSL was playing up and I couldn't get to upload the site! But that's fixed now so let's get on with the news.

My old mate Tim from Tim's News has posted some Golden Rules of Computing. If you own a computer, or even know someone who does, read them! I urge you! You can find them here!

Well it seems that Microsoft have managed to stem the legal tide against them and have avoided being split into smaller companies. But that ruling only delays a result and prolongs the court battle. The lawyers win big time, and we get to foot the bill for it all! Once again we consumers get shafted so that the big boys can make even more money! You can read more about this decision here and more on it here.

For Half-Life Mod fans, there are several upgrades on the horizon at present.
Half-Life is set to release 2 patches - 1.1.0.7 & 1.1.0.8
Counter Strike - patch 1.0.0.2 (retail version)
Day Of Defeat - patch 1.3
There will undoubtedly be other upgrades as Valve/Sierra release the in game voice patch (1.1.0.8), but that is all that have been announced as yet. Stay tuned and I'll let you know when the patches are released!

It is a sad state when sites go under or merely reduce to an occasional post on a repeating theme. Gamepig.com used to be one of the great news forums, but now is sadly either having enormous technical problems, or is dying a slow agonizing death! Why not go and visit him and his forums just to show we are still interested in his site!

Day of Defeat beta 1.3 has just been released and you can get either the upgrade or the full patch from FilePlanet (full version 93meg).

Well that's it for another day! Enjoy!