Farewell...

It is today that I would like to say goodbye to ausgametech. I have had some great times posting on this blog but it really isn't going in the direction I want to go. So today I am leaving ausgametech and starting a new blog called about: tech and gaming. I will also be leaving as the admin of both the forums and chat feature. AndrewCow will take over from me as sole admin.

So..This is goodbye...unless you read my new blog! :)

New You Tube

YouTube is bringing out a new channel layout and its pretty cool. It is in super secret beta (i did not make that name up). You an see an example of it on my page here. I designed it very quickly and I know the text clashes but oh well it looks cool. If you want to try out the new format go www.youtube.com/super_seekrit(I love you URL). If you do this and design a channel page better than mine (which wouldn't be hard) we would love you for to post it in the comments:)

AndrewCow

Comments and Wakoopa

Firstly, the comments finally work. Sorry they were out for so long. Secondly, McFar54 and in turn me and Philip have signed up for a sight called Wakoopa. Basically, the users download a client that tracks what programs you are using and uploads your usage to the site. Now don't get worried. There is no spyware or anything and it is confidential. It is really cool. For example, it tells me that the program I use 2nd most is WoW just behind Word which is rightly so because it also tells me the 9th most used program on the site is WoW. I encourage you to sign up HERE

Thanks for reading

AndrewCow

Profit Mad! and Real Buttons on a Touchscreen?!

Firstly I would like to tell you that a lot of companies have been making profits lately despite the global financial crisis. I think that this really does show that despite the public losing money they still ant to buy tech and games to make them feel better. One interesting point is that Ubisoft made a profit over teh last year despite most of there games only havign a moderate number for sales.

Next I would like to highlight and article on technologyreview.com that talks about a new touch screen that uses air pipes to simulate real buttons. you can read the Article at http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/22550/. This will help eliminate accident buttons say on a touchscreen keypad and eliminate errors. Whether keyboards and phones will be able to utilise this technology is yet to be seen.

REALLY COOL FOR PHYSICS NERDS:)

The title says it all:) MYTHBUSTERS RULE!!

AndrewCow

P.S. WoW Peggle and Bejeweled is REALLY COOL but does not seem to be available on Curse Client, but it is available on WoW Matrix.

No One Let Andrew Read This Post

Popcap have just released an add-on for the MMORPG World of Warcraft that intergrates Bejeweled and Popcap's immensely popular Peggle for FREE, letting you play Peggle or Bejeweled in game.

So now it's the end of humanity.

Source: http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/wow_peggle_end_human_civilization

Bioshock 2

Lewt's talk about the next big thign in gaming..no not Mass Effect 2 but Bioshock 2. Based on what I've seen this game looks great, even if it uses the Bioshock Engine, and the idea of playign as a Big Daddy is a great decision by new gamign company 2K Marin. In the game you can 'harvest' Little Sisters to do you bidding including getting ADAM, the in-game currency, from dead humans. WHiel you harvest Splicers will be randomly coming from differetn directions and it will be your job to protect the Little Sister. YOu will also be able to go out of teh main building of Rapture and explore tegh other buildings by walking underwater.

Yes, this game does look great but why use the Bioshock Engine, why not a new engine? Yes it does provide more accessability as it means that Specs will be close to those of Bioshock but the graphics will look the same.

We won't know more until more is said but for know...keep up the good work 2K Games and try not to stuff this up...we all are lookign foreward to it.

BTW: Mass Effect 2 will be featured in my next post!

A True Fad, I just never thought anything like this would happen

When you go to YouTube, and there is the the Videos other people are watching, I can guarantee you that one of the videos will be this one of Susan Boyle, the amazing singer, with not the best looks.

All the embed links to her vids are disabled but here is a URL.

This is what i call a true world wide phenomenon. In has been just 11 days since she sung on Brittans got talent, and her videos have received over 49 MILLION views. Yes, you read right. 49 MILLION. Now that is a true internet(worldwide more like it. Even my mum who barely noes how to use youtube loves her)phenomenon that i never thought i would see.

AndrewCow

P.S. I'm sorry i will try and post more regularly

HAPPY EASTER

HAPPY EASTER!

National Broadband Network.

Today Kevin Rudd released the final information on the National Broadband Network. The NBN will be just fibre optic cable providing high speed (up to 100mb/s) internet to 90% of Australian Homes. PM Rudd announced today that, after a lengthy bidding process, no bidders offered any plan that meet the Federal Government's expectations so they said that they will do it them selves in a majority public owned company.

Yes, this is very socialist but who really cares about that, what really matters is the quality of the infrastructure and who will be providing the service (ie. who will be the ISP). It is all very vague but it should be completed in 2017-2018, that provides enough time for the government to sort everything out.

Personally I believe that this is a good plan but cost and infrastructure problems will hinder this as well as logistical problems such as who will build it and who will provide the service. These problems will take a long time to sort out and so don't expect this before 2020.

Mr Rudd also blamed the Howard Government for not planning this during their time in office. There is one problem with this and that is that the technology to provide this service has not been around for very long and was only in its infancy during the Howard regime.

All of this coupled with the planned internet filter could lead to a China-like system of socialist internat filtering and use dictation. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

EDIT: THERE IS NOW A FORUM TOPIC IN HARDWARE ABOUT THIS.

Supanova Day(or rather Night)1

Well..... not much happened worth telling everyone about.... charity auction raised about $4400:) We beat the record:) We were introduced to some guests being Vic Mingona(don't no how to spell last name), the creator of Invader Zim, Some comic writers including the creator of Watchmen and some guy from Battlestar Gallactia.

Yea..... There were some cool costumes:)

Thats all

More (and I mean more sorry) Tomorrow

AndrewCow

New Feature released today!

I would now like to say that a new thing on the blog is here...THE WEEKLY RANT! It will be released every Friday and one of us will rant about something that has happened this week.

This week's rant: CONFICKER WORM!

The Conficker worm scare was one hell of a hoax. Everyone had been talking about it and talking it up for weeks in advance and nothing happened. Basically all the worm did was change the way it gets its instructions and the media played it up and said that computers around teh world were going to crash and the virus would spread itself to others causing every computer in the world to crash. It was like Y2K all over again. I am personally disgusted at the media for fallign for this simplr prank and spreading fear to the people. The date of instruction change was April 1...APRIL FOOLS DAY!!! It was an elaborate hoax and the media, as always, fell for it. The worm did change the way it got its instructions but no computers crashed and nothign happenned. Now Germans have found the fingerprint and we are all "saved".

.......I've done it

Firstly this is not a belated(posted 2/4/09) april fools day prank.

I've finally done it. At 9:20pm 2/4/09 my draft iPhone application for the blog worked!!!!

Yes thats right. This blog will soon(i hope) have an official iPhone app. There are some layout and final coding issues I must deal with before submitting it to the store(which I still haven't figured out how to do) but it cant be too long:)

Just thought i would tell you the news.

AndrewCow

classification.gov site gets hacked an is now down and NEW BLOG FEATURES COMING YOUR WAY!

Firstly, as at 7:09pm on Saturday 28 March, the Australian Governments classification board sit, http://www.classification.gov.au, was down with the error message "Bad Request (Invalid Hostname)". Earlier today the site was hacked and the hackers changed the front opage test to read ""This site contains information about the boards that have the right to CONTROL YOUR FREEDOMZ, The Classification Board has the right to not just classify content (the name is an ELABORATE TRICK), but also the right to DECIDE WHAT IS AND ISNT APPROPRIATE and BAN CONTENT FROM THE PUBLIC" This was donwe shortly after Stephen Conroy had spoken on Q+A on the ABC last night. I assume this was done in response to Senator Conroy's Internet Filtering and certainly got the message through but these people, when and if they get caught, are in for a lot of trouble. Great Cause but Stupid Idea.

Next I would like to announce some new blog features that will be coming soon:

• New Theme (again)
• Facebook Group
• Twitter use
  
• Music player
• Better use of forums
• Handy Tips and Tricks
• Podcast (tentative)
  
• iPhone App (tentative)

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, Internet Censorship, Windows XP Support shutdown and Sims 3 DRM

Firstly I would like to say that Modern Warfare 2, the next game in the Call of Duty franchise. has been given a release date of November 10 2009. This is great news if you loved the franchise. Infinity Ward is developing this game, much to everyone relief. Hopefully it will by a solid game but nothing can be said until we see more. Anyway here is the trailer...



Next is that Stephen Conroy, the 'mastermind' behind the proposed internet filter, has appeared on the ABC's Q+A program and was asked question about the internet filter idea. He tried to defend the stupid idea for a nationwide filter and someone even said that "it will be like making a dam wall out of chicken wire" and made reference to the Wikileaks scandal. Personally I think that Mr Conroy is making a bad decision by going ahead with this filter and I think that he should just scrap the idea and never talk about it again. Louise Adler, a publisher, made a good point on the show that instead of having a mandatory internet filter we should be looking for the causes of paedophilia and addressing that directly without censoring the internet.

Next is the news that on April 1 Microsoft will be stopping support for Windows XP and Office 2003. This is not new news but just a friendly reminder about this.

Finally, EA has confirmed that the Sims 3 will not have the internet DRM that featured in Spore but instead they will go back to the old Serial Number method. This is great as it saves hassles if you have to reinstall windows or you get a new computer and want to reinstall the game. Why EA had to go with the Intenet and Phone DRM for Spore no one will ever know, but this news about the Sims 3 will save a lot of hassles for gamers all round.

More GDC!!!

Here's some more stuff that has come out of GDC...

Unreal Engine 3: Epic Games has been using this for a while to make Gears of War 2 and Unreal Tournament 3 but now they have released their engine for developers to license and use for their own games. I won't dwell on the massive changes to UE2 or even list them so i'll just post the trailer....



Next is the Zeebo which is a cheap console for 2nd and 3rd world countries. This is a great idea and will bring gamign to countries where only the elite can afford such luxuries. The Console can be plugged in to TVs and it features the followign specs:

Platform
• Qualcomm Chipset
Applications Processing (Audio/Graphics)
• ARM 11 / QDSP-5 running at 528Mhz
3D Graphics Processing
• Qualcomm Adreno 130 Graphics Core
• Mobile Display Processor (MDP) (Concurrent 3D Rendering & Screen Operations)
Internal Memory
• Non-Volatile Memory:
1 GByte NAND Flash
• RAM:
128 MBytes DDR SDRAM + 32Mbyte stacked DDR
SDRAM in MSM7201A
Output Color System
• PAL-M and NTSC
Video-Out Resolution
• VGA (640 x 480) - 4:3 aspect ratio
Banding
• Quad Band GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900) MHz
• Tri Band UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (850/1900/2100) MHz
Antenna
• Internal
Modem Processing (Integrated in MSM7201A)
• ARM 9 CPU / QDSP-4
Power
• External Power Adaptor (Battery Not Required)
Power Supply
• 100 – 240 V (50-60Hz) (universal)
Ports and Slots
• Three USB 2.0 Standard A (for accessories)
• USB 2.0 OTG – Mini B
(Accessible to Service Centers and Developers only)
• RCA Connector (Video Composite TV Signal, x2 Stereo Audio)
• SD Card Slot / Interface
Power Key Functions
• Power On / Power Down / Power Off
Software
• BREW-based
Pre-Loaded Content
• 4 Games + 1 Free Wirelessly Downloaded Game
Audio Formats
• MIDI (72 voice polyphony 512 KB wavetable, 44kHz sampling rate)
• MP3
• PCM
• ADPCM
• CMX
• QCELP
Messaging
• SMS, server initiated
User Interface (UI)
• Proprietary Zeebo User Interface (Updatable wirelessly)
Console ID
• International Mobile Equipment Identity – IMEI

This a really good idea but will never replace the more expensive consoles in most 1st world countries.

GDC News Galore!

A lot has come out of GDC so far. With 1 day to go I thin k we have squeezed a lot from GDC Sofar.

Firstly is OnLive, which is a new service based on XBox Live. It allows you to host your PC games on a cloud computing server where all graphics are rendered there and the game is completely housed on their servers. Sadly I don't think that this will be feasable within the next 5 years duer to bandwidth issues but it reaslly is a good idea.

Next is CryEngine 3, Cryteks newest game engine. This really isn't as good as you think it is. It is just a port of their previous engine, CryEngine2.

Next is a new Wii Storage solution. Nintendo have today released a system update that they announced a GDC which will add support for SDHC Card of up to 32GB. It also adds an SD Card menu and all channells except for the Nintendo Channel and the menu can house up to 240 Games. This is a major improvement over the feable 512MB of storage in the Wii at launch.

Finally Nintendo has released a new part of the wii shop called Virtual Console Arcade which will house arcade games not availiable for any other console. This is great and hopefully there will be some overlap with teh Xbox Live Arcade.

AWESOME!!!!

I saw this on Top Gear last night. It was so awesome i just had to shown you. This car is truly the future i think.



Thanks
AndrewCow

My perspective of life has changed for ever

I was just watching a TV show and it said in fact the Myths about the internet being 99.9% porn is actually the opposite. A study was carried out about internet content and it was found that in fact less that 1% of the internet is Porn but more than 80% of emails are spam:) Who would have thought?

AndrewCow

How to make a media server for your PS3

I am sorry this has taken so long. I said I would do this post about 2 months ago but I couldn't be bothered but here it is:)

Have you ever been looking through your PS3 and seen "Search for Media Servers" and wondered what it is?Well I did and found out. IT IS AWESOME. Are you like me and have TONNES of 'very very legal' media on your Computer. Well I do(i have 2250gb of space to store it :) )and I have been having to hook up my laptop to my TV to view media and it gets VERY VERY anoying. Well with the media server you can stream straight from your PC to your PS3. Now I highly recomend using an ethernet cable and not wireless to prevent lagging but wireless still works, it just needs to buffer more:)

Step 1 -
Get the software. Now I use two different programs(both free) because one supports more formats but stuffs up more and the other one is more reliable(but for some reason crashes when the other one is open). These are SimpleCenter and D-Link Media Server(the ones at the bottom and not the TV one)(In order). For their free downloads click on the names.

Step 2 -

Install ether pieces or both pieces of software and then follow the guide for the respective software.

Simple Center - Once open, click settings, then Media. Just add all your media there. Then go to the server tab and choose your name. If you add something to the folder you have added to the server, click on the tab for whatever type of media it is(on the main menu out of settings) and then click on 'Add Movies'(if you and in the movies tab for example)and scan all watch folders. Now this does not do it for every media type. You will need to do them separately.

D-Link Media Server - Once open, go to the 'File Types' tab and make sure all types are selected. Then click on 'System' and put in the name for the server. Next, to add media, go to 'Shared Folders' and click 'Add a Folder'. Locate the folder and add it.

Step 3 -

Make sure your preferred media server application is open and leave it open(can be open in the background).

Step 4 -

Go to your PS3 and find where it says Scan Media Servers(it may have done this automatically). And there you go. Go into the server and watch anything(file format supported) that you have added to the server(note: you can add multiple folders).

ENYOY

If you have any questions, comment.

By the way, we have redone the forums and hope you like them. They are much better now and have lots to comment on. Also put your name on the internet blocking thing up the top.

Thanks for Listening

AndrewCow

The Rise of Mobile Gaming

I have noticed of late that more and more games have been ported to mobile phones or even whole games in a series made specifically for mobile devices. One prime example being the Metal Gear series. Kojima Productions made Metal Gear Solid Mobile and Metal Gear Acid Mobile specifically for mobile phones as well as Metal Gear Solid Touch for the iPhone and iPod touch.

At times this does concern me as not everyone has a compatible phone to play these so it isolates the games and at times does compel people to buy a new phone just for the game. Will game companies associated with this trend join forces with mobile phone makers and even mobile phone service providers to try to maximize revenue? Only time will tell

FINALLY

IPHONE USERS!!!APLE HAS FINALLY FULFILLED OUR DEMANDS.

Apple has just announced the new iPhone 3.0 OS. It has everything we have been asking for. It has over 100 new features for users such as cut/copy/paste, MMS (photos, sounds, contacts, locations) , Landscape view for all inbuilt apps, Forward messages, voice memos(although there are quite a lot of apps for this on the app store but this is build in), new calendars(like subscriptions), new stuff in the stock app( such as more detailed information), search for all key apps(including iPod) AND global phone search( called Spotlight no duh), Bluetooth support( I think. well i know there is stereo bluetooth ad-leased and i think norman but am not sure), autofill on safari and much much much more. There is also TONNES of new stuff for developers but there is just SOOOO much to mention there i wont bother. For more you can watch the Keynote Video here. The developers BETA is available now and will be available for the rest of us this Winter(summer is the US so you don't get confused). It will also be available for iPod Touches but will cost US$9.95 (free for iPhone). It will also be available for the original iPhone if you have one but some features will not be available.

I cant wait!!!I WANT IT NOW

thanks for reading

AndrewCow

PHASE 2 and POST 100!

Welcome to Phase 2 of our redesign.

It is my pleasure to present to you the new theme. This theme is very minimalistic and there will be some minor changes based on your thoughts and based on our thoughts.

Also I would like to release the new forums! To access them go to http://ausgametech.1.forumer.com or click on the link below the archives.

Finally...THIS IS THE 100th POST!!!!

Jail Parents for Giving Children Violent Games?

According to the website stuff.co.nz, New Zealand's chief government censor Bill Hastings proposed that parents who give their children violent video games should be prosecuted.

Laws around video games were "an even stricter regime than alchol", because when an adult gives a child aged under 18 access to a restricted video game, even in their own home they are breaking the law, he said.

If someone was to be caught knowingly allowing a child to play restricted video games such as the R-18 Grand Theft Auto series, they could be punished by up to three months of imprisonment or a fine of up to 10 000 dollars while no-one had yet been prosecuted under the law.

Mr Hastings says:

"That's what the law says, but... you're not going to have police officers in everybedroom... There would certainly be some shock value to prosecuting a parent who gives their under-18 child access to a restricted game. It would send out a message that the enforcement agency means business."

More at : http://news.mmosite.com/content/2009-03-10/20090310003231076.shtml
Source: MMOsite News Center

NEWS FLASH

Sorry about posting like 10 mins after my first one but I just got news that new Nintendo DSi will be in stores on the 02/04/09 for $300 (EB Games). This also comes with 2GB SD card when you pre-order from EB. For more info on the DSi its self, watch the vid below.



Later:)
AndrewCow

Apples On a Role:)

APPLE IS ON A MASSIVE ROLE

FIRSTLY--Safari 4

I hate to say it. It may sound blasphemous(i googled the spelling:) ) but i have switched.

I have been using FireFox and i hate to say it but......it is better that FireFox.

It is so damn fast and has an awesome interface(even if it is just like google chrome -

it is better than chrome). I am not joking it is 42 times faster that IE7.

I definitely recommend downloading the BETA here.

SECONDLY -- New iPod Shuffle

Yes on the 11th of March apple released the worlds smallest MP3 player

AND it even talks to you. Yes they has combated the problem of not having

a screen by making it say your selection. It is so tiny because it has no buttons.

All of the buttons(except for the hold button) are on the headphones.

It comes in silver and black and only available in 4GB models so far but for only

AU$129. For more info go to the official site here.

Also, as most people no by now, apple has made the worlds most energy

efficient Desktop AND Laptop. The Mac Mini is the tiny desktop (about the

size of the small Dell ones but SOOOOOOO much more power)that has claimed

the title of the most energy efficient computer and the new Mac Book can run off

1/4 the power of a light bulb.

Well done apple:)

AndrewCow

(Don't get me wrong - PCs all they way.........except for maybe my AMVs)

Sorry for the repost -- formatting issues:)

Army of 2, Command and Conquer and The rise of Casual Gaming

Welcome to the new opinion based ausgametech.

EA has announced Army of 2: The 40th day which appears to follow on from the idea of the original Army of Two. It does however change the way the co-op works with each player relying on each other. There will also be more co-op moves and the game will be available on the XBox 360, Playstation 3 amd Playstation Portable.

Command and Conquer Red Alert 3: Uprising is availiable digitally today.

Finally, I have been receiving many press releases from both Activision and EA outlining nwe Casual Games becoming available for all teh major gamign consoles. EA has released Trivial Pursuit and Activision is set to release Little League World Series Baseball 2009. This could be the start of a downhill trend with each publisher publishing more casual games than hardcore games. If this happens then it may prove to cause their profits to drop signifcantly.
I have only one thing to say to the major publishers...FOCUS ON YOUR MAJOR FRANCHISES AND TRY TO COME UP WITH A FEW MORE IDEAS TO PROVIDE A FRESHNESS TO EACH FRANCHISE!

2009 Conventions!

This year ausgametech will be visiting 2 conventions held in Brisbane.

The first will be Supanova, which andrewcow will be covering from April 3-5.
"Gathered from the wonderful worlds of science-fiction, pulp TV/movies, toys, console gaming, trading cards, animation/cartoons, fantasy, comic books, entertainment technology, books, music, sport, internet sites and fan-clubs, Supanova Pop Culture Expo is where the adoring public comes face to face with the creative talent that inspire their imaginary worlds under one big roof. It's where burgeoning talent can also display their work and where industry comes to get new ideas and network within the community.

Celebrity guests, tournaments, special events, exclusive screenings, interactive competitions, product launches, collectables, nostalgia and more drawn from the international elite of popular licenses and intellectual properties combined with the very best of Australia."

The second will be Gen Con Australia, which I will be coverign from 18-20 September.
"Gen Con™ Australia is a consumer games and entertainment convention that showcases games for a broad audience of entertainment seekers. The event will be held 18th to 20th of September 2009 at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Gen Con™ hosts the largest number of games tournaments and demonstrations ever seen in Australia.

Held annually in Brisbane, Gen Con™ provides families and games enthusiasts with an opportunity to see and play games across three major categories namely Electronic Games, Family Games and Enthusiast Games."

LOL

LOL i have been very happy lately. YU-GI-OH the Abridged series has been posted every week for about 3 weeks in a row:) If you don't no what it is go here to watch some of the hilarious episodes . But the real reason I bring this up is LittleKuriboh(the person who makes the show) made this vid that i thought was definitly worth sharing:) ENJOY!!!



Now on to other matters. I am a terrible person:) I have two big posts that i have been putting off for about a month but NO MORE. The Windows 7 review p2 will be up this weekend and the How to make a media server on your PS3 will be up sometimes the week after:)

Now on to other other things. Are you one of the 11.5 MILLION people who play wow(that is more than half the population of Australia LOL). Well then i definitely recommend you get the Zygor WoW guide:) It is Excellent. It may be a bit pricey in our economic depression but oh well:). If you don't play WOW START NOW.

So yea BTW for some strange reason Mozilla announced that the log awaited FireFox 3.1 is now 3.5?? Does this mean FireFox 4 is coming sooner that we thought. Yea well I have been using the Beta 3 Pre Beta for a while and it looks well............exactly the same. Oh well i am probably missing something. :)LOL if you are wondering, the rumors are true. SAFARI 4 BETA IS EXACTLY THE SAME AS GOOGLE CHROME.:)

See you next time and feel free to ask questions or request we review something on the chat box:)

AndrewCow

P.S. - I will be covering Brisbane supanova(the tech part of it anyway)

IMPORTANT!

As of today ausgametech will be undergoing a revamp. This will include the following:

-Chat Feature (active as of March 8 2009)
-New Logo (Coming March 2009)
-Better Forums (Coming March 2009)
-New Layout (Coming Late March 2009)
-More Opinionative Blogging Style (Starting March 9 2009)

We at ausgametech hope you will enjoy the new look and if you have any queries feel free to discuss on the forum.

Blizzard Not Attending E3 2009

"Blizzard Entertainment will not be attending or participtating in this year's E3 Expo" Blizzard PR manager Bob Colayco told the website Edge in an e-mail.

The details are as follows:

For the past two E3s, organizers had toned down the event, allowing only around 5,000 media and business attendees, as opposed to the tens of thousands that would flock to the L.A. Convention Center in years past. Activision had opted out of E3 2008, electing to hold its own event, but recently confirmed it would be returning this year, when the large, flashy format makes a comeback.

The last time Blizzard attended E3 was in 2007 when the low-key media and business summit was held in Santa Monica.

Blizzard has held its own BlizzCon event since 2005, a decidedly different kind of show that caters to fans as opposed to gaming professionals.

Also, the full list of current exhibitors follows:

- Activision - Atari, Inc. - Atlus U.S.A. - Azuradisc, Inc. - Basco Distribution - BDA - Bethesda Softworks - Brady Games - Capcom USA - CH Products - Conny - Creative Mind Interactive Inc. - CTA Digital, Inc. - DDR Game - Digiwinner Limited - Disney Interactive Studios - dreamGEAR - egameforless - Eidos Interactive - Electronic Arts - Epic Games - EZ Games Distribution, Inc. - Game Center Distribution Inc. - Game Outlet Europe - Game Source, Inc. - GAMETech - GelaSkins - Graffiti Entertainment, Inc. - iBeta Quality Assurance - IGN.com - Innex, Inc. - Iron Will Creations Inc. - J.F.J. Disc Repair - K2 Network

- Kaltman Creations - KOEI Corporation - Konami Digital Entertainment - Leashtec - Majesco Entertainment - Matcom Distribution - Mayflash Limited - Microsoft Corporation - Midway - MTV Games - Namco Bandai Games America - Nintendo of America - Penguin United - Performance Designed Products - Prima Games/Random House, Inc - Rampid Interactive - Rebellion - RTI Disc Repair - Scanavo North America LTD - SEGA of America, Inc. - Sony Computer Entertainment - Sony DADC - Sony Online Entertainment - Square Enix, Inc - Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. - THQ - Turtle Beach - U.S. Games Distribution, Inc. - Ubisoft Entertainment - USERJOY Technology Co., Ltd - Video Game Advantage - Warner Bros. Interactive - Z-Best Audio & Video Inc. - ZeroPlus Technology Co., Ltd

Source: MMOsite News Center
(http://news.mmosite.com/content/2009-02-05/20090205193050433.shtml)

Blizzcon 2009 Announced! and Windows Mobile 6.5 and

Activision Blizzard yesterday announced Blizzcon 2009. It will be held at the "Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California on Friday, August 21 and Saturday, August 22." This will be Blizzards 4th event but their first since merging with Activision. Hopefully we will see more on Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2.

Windows mobile 6.5 has been announced and i will post more on it in the next few days.

NEW QUIZ

Well here it is. I was not sure if it was to hard or to easy so i hope it is good.:)



Good Luck

AndrewCow

Update

OK maybe i started out a little hard with DRUM ROLE PLEASE 99 Luftballons(the German not 99 red balloons the English version). Well at leased that's what i have been told and since i have just created one that is so ridiculously hard that i cant do it for i while i will keep going with the competition. The new vid will be up soon.
Bye
AndrewCow

Activision Blizzard Q4 Earning Report

Activision Blizzard released their Q4 2008 Earnings report with a loss of $72 million. Blizzard made the most money out of the two conjoined companies and the Wii topped their console game sales. The loss is the interesting point as they have publishing rights over many popuklar franchises such as Guitar Hero and Call of Duty franchises. Overall it was quite disapointing and better luck to them in Q1 2009.

Splatterhouse Trailer!

Here is the trilaer for the upcoming game Splatterhouse for the PS3 and XBox 360.

Splatterhouse Trailer

Quake Live Preview

Lately i've been BETA testing Quake Live which is id Softwares newest Quake Game. It is browser based and includes selected maps from all Quake Games. The game is completely multiplayer with serverds around the world.It features an advanced matchmaking system which tells you wether a server is at your skill level or more or less chalenging. The graphics are crisp with very few graphical errors. There is little to no lag so the action will always be fast moving.

There s a vast array of weapons from all Quake games as well as a capture the flag mode reminiscent of Quake 3 Team Arena.

All in all Quake Live is a solid browser based FPS which will be ready when it is ready. To sign up for the beta program go to http://www.quakelive.com/.

NEW COMP(mabey)

Well you see i was sitting there bored and i thought what could make the blog funner and i thought "i no a competition". You will not win any prize apart from the respect or your fellow ausgamers. Play the vid and guess the song. I modified the song in many ways. Hopefully we can do this every week with a new song but that depends if you like it. I no the quality of our new intro(it was excellent and somewhere along the way if became bad quality)but i hope you like it. So if you like the idea or no the song(this week is pretty easy but oh well)please guess and tell me if i should continue or not:)
Soz about the quality again and hope you enjoy:):)



Now just a small unrelated side note. Remember the animated Christmas light display vid i posted a couple of months ago. Well there are some i am finding all over aus. and finally after months of looking i have FINALLY FOUND A DISPLAY IN BRISBANE!!!!!!!
Here is one of the 4 vids and go to the videos info for more(it is in Rochedale i think)



See you next time and happy guessing

AndrewCow

So long then 3 in one

Hi
Sorry i haven't posted in a while. I have been a combination of busy and lazy. I have very bad news. I still cant review Windows 7 cause it has stuffed up on me. I am very sorry but i can tell you I is AWESOME. The Beta is still laggy but every day there were ad leased 8 updates. :) Now i no what i am about to say will be VERY VERY controversial but I LOVE WINDOWS VISTA. IT IS SO MUCH BETTER THAT XP IN EVERY WAY SHAPE AND FORM. people say it has bad security but who cares. since when has anyone only had 1 security. even if you think you only have 1 i can guarantee you you have more. Yea so you get it i love vista and 7 is just as good if not better. Now there are some things which are not as vista but i presume that's just the beta.

More of that will be in the next(hopefully) post. Now for something completely different.
iTunes Plus-- I have bought my first DRM free and really good quality songs off it and it is AWESOME. To those of you who think it will not make much difference you are completly wrong. Now not all songs are available with the Plus features but quite a few are. I no this is a bit off topic but the song i downloaded was this one(link below) except the later version where they are the Jackson 5 not just the Jacksons. I no this isn't very relevant but i found this funny vid. LOOK AT THE COSTUMES. THEY ARE SPACE MEN(maybe that's why they can sing so well)

Well thanks for reading and sorry again but now enjoy:)



AndrewCow :)

MMOs May Be Illegal In Australia

John Hatzistergos, New South Wales Attorney-General recently said that online games are illegal in his part of Australia.

Video game publishers and retailers are risking hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines by illegally selling online role playing games such as World of Warcraft without age classifications.

The games industry believes there is a legal loophole exempting online games that don't have a single player component from classification requirements but this view is contradicted by the federal and state attorneys-general.

------

All are sold as boxed sets in retail stores across the country without classification by the Classification Board or the appropriate labelling, for instance M or MA15+.

A spokesman for NSW Attorney-General John Hatzistergos said the NSW Classification Enforcement Act prohibited publishers and retailers from selling unclassified computer games.

"The NSW legislation covers computer games bought online as well as those bought in stores, and treats single, multi-player and online games the same way," he said.

The spokesman added that enforcement of the act was the responsibility of police but penalties for breaking these laws ranged from $1100 to $11,000 for individuals and/or 12 months' imprisonment. For corporations the fines were approximately double.

"If there is any suggestion that any business is trading illegally, police need to know, and it should be reported," he said.

Source:http://news.bbgsite.com/content/2009-02-03/20090203030641095.shtml

News Original From: smh.com.au

EA Third Quater Results and Google Monoculture?

EA Today ported their 3rd Quater results for fiscal year 2009. They reported a net revenue of 1.65 billio dollars,up 165 million citing FIFA 09, Rock Band™ 2, Need for Speed™ Undercover, Rock Band, Left 4 Dead™, Dead Space™, Madden NFL 09, LITTLEST PET SHOP, NBA Live 09 and Mirror’s Edge™ as reasons for the profits.

On another note, I have been reading a lot lately about the world becoming a Google monoculture. I really think that may be true. People are relying on Google for search and email and if something goes wrong, people become confused. Sadly I believe this can't be helped and Google will continue being a major source for information.

Finally, The Sims 3 has a new ship date. It is now June 2. Just in time for US Summer holidays and our Winter holiday season.

Eight Cores on Feb 9?

ZDNet reports that Intel has revealed plans to release an Eight Core Xeon Processor on Fewbruary 9 at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference in San Francisco. For consumers this would mean being able to run more programs at once or the same number of programs faster. This is a pleasant leap foreward for the CPU industry but we are still waiting to see the first 16 core processor for the home market.

Hellgate: London Reborn as Free- to- Play

Hellgate: London's failed reception and sales gave a lethal blow to Flagship Studio, causing them to dissolve due to financial troubles. The game's servers however, remain up until 31st of January 2009, after which the servers will be shut down (planned by Namco Bandai).

However, Hellgate: London will been reborn as a free- to- play multiplayer online game, according to the comment from the Korean publisher and developer HanbitSoft. HanbitSoft plans on updating the game and strengthening the community features.

The re-birth of Hellgate: London will be clearly aimed at the English-speaking market according to HanbitSoft's official weblog statement. However, it is unclear whether the company is formally allowed to operate the game in the U.S. or Europe.

Myself, I am unsure if this means the whole game is free or whether the multiplayer servers are just free and you still have to buy the game.

Also, HanbitSoft is also working to reborn another Flagship Studio failure- Mythos.

Ubisoft Sales report.

Ubisoft's Q3 Sales REport came out yesterday and included some surprise announcments for the next year.

Ubisoft reprted that sales went up 13% to AUD$1 billion. They say this is because:

• "The diversity and quality of Ubisoft‘s games line-up for the holiday period, with a targeted offering for each type of consumer.
• A solid showing from franchise titles launched during the quarter, particularly Far Cry® 2 and Rayman Raving Rabbids® TV Party which generated sell-in sales of 2.9 millionand 1.5 million units respectively and offset the impact of a slower take-off for Prince of Persia® (2.2 million units).
• The creation of a new multi-million units selling franchise œ Shaun White Snowboarding œ which was the quarter‘s number two sports game in the United States and recorded2.3 million units sell-in worldwide.
• The ongoing success of the Group‘s casual games, notably the very robust performance turned in by the Imagine® range fueled by the success of Imagine Teacher and Imagine Wedding Designer. For 2008, Ubisoft‘s market share for Nintendo DS games is 13.5% in Europe and 12,0% in the United States."

They also reported that games to be released before March 31 include Tom Clancy's Hawx, Tom Clancy's End War (PC) and Grey's Anatomy: The Video Game.

Finally, they revealed titles expected to be released between April 2009 and March 2010. These titles include:

• Assassin's Creed 2
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction
• A new Ghost Recon game
• 4 New movie based games
• More casual games for the Wii and DS

Here is UbiSofts game release schedule for January - March 2009:

Games Release Schedule

Fourth quarter (January œ March 2009)

BROKEN SWORD
Wii™, Nintendo DS™

CHRONO TRIGGER (AUSTRALIA œ DENMARK)
Nintendo DS™

CSI: NEW YORK (EUROPE)
PC

DISGAEA 3 ABSENCE OF JUSTICE
(AUSTRALIA œNORDICS - FRANCE)
PLAYSTATION®3

DRAGONQUEST® HAND OF THE HEAVENLY BRIDE
(AUSTRALIA œ NORDICS - BENELUX - FRANCE)
Nintendo DS™

FASHION STUDIO: PARIS COLLECTION
Nintendo DS™

GREY‘S ANATOMY: THE VIDEO GAME
Wii™, Nintendo DS™, PC

IMAGINE® BALLET DANCER (EUROPE)
Nintendo DS™

IMAGINE® CHEERLEADER (US)
Nintendo DS™

IMAGINE® FAMILY DOCTOR
Nintendo DS™

IMAGINE® FASHION PARTY
Wii™

IMAGINE® ICE CHAMPIONS
Nintendo DS™

IMAGINE® MOVIE STAR (EUROPE)
Nintendo DS™

IMAGINE® POP SUPERSTAR (EUROPE)
Nintendo DS™

JAKE POWER ™: SOCCER STAR (EUROPE)
Nintendo DS™

JAKE POWER ™: FIREMAN (US)
Nintendo DS™

JAKE POWER ™: HANDYMAN (US)
Nintendo DS™

JAKE POWER ™: POLICEMAN (US)
Nintendo DS™

JOJO‘S FASHION SHOW ™
Nintendo DS™

LAST REMNANT (AUSTRALIA œ NORDICS)
PC

MONKEY MADNESS (EUROPE)
Wii™

MY ENGLISH COACH™ LEVEL 1
Nintendo DS™

MY FITNESS COACH (AUSTRALIA œ UK)
Wii™

PETZ ® MY BABY PANDA (EUROPE)
Nintendo DS™

PETZ ® HORSESHOE RANCH
Nintendo DS™

PETZ ® MY KITTY FAMILY (EUROPE)
Nintendo DS™

PETZ ® MY MONKEY FAMILY (EUROPE)
Nintendo DS™

PETSHOP STORY (EUROPE)
Nintendo DS™

RHAPSODY: A MUSICAL ADVENTURE (AUSTRALIA œ NORDICS)
Nintendo DS™

SCRABBLE® 2009 (UK œ FRANCE - AUSTRALIA)
Nintendo DS™

STAR OCEAN: SECOND EVOLUTION (EUROPE)
PSP™

TENCHU: SHADOW ASSASSINS
Wii™

TENCHU: SHADOW ASSASSINS (US)
PSP™

TOM CLANCY‘S ENDWAR™
PC

PLAYSTATION®3,
TOM CLANCY‘S H.A.W.X™
Xbox 360™, PC

TOTALLY SPIES AGENDA (EUROPE)
Nintendo DS™

VACATION SPORTS
Wii™

WORD ACADEMY (EUROPE)
Nintendo DS™

WORLD IN CONFLICT®: SOVIET ASSAULT
PC

Super Mega Post of Doom Part 1

Hi
I'm back in the great land of Oz(Australia not Oz as in the wizard of of or where Wicked the musical or book is set which by the way was AWESOME)and i have news. First this is the super mega post of doom part 1 cause it was going to take to long to write so i'm doing it in to parts so i can squeeze some WoW in between.

So as some of you no i have been in the US which means I had access to the worlds greatest TV channel G4. For those who don't no it is a tech/gaming channel in the US(some of you may have seen attack of the show or X Play on Fuel TV here). And what just so happened to be of G4 but LIVE CES!!!!So now here(if i can remember anything--it was like 2 weeks ago)are my favorite releases and unavailing from the Consumer Electronics Show.

Firstly, i think Sony(cant remember) has released a flexible screen. That's right. It is like material. Maybe in the future we will all be like the Telle Tubbies with TVs on our shirts.

Secondly, the big thing at CES this year was OLED(organic light emitting diode). It is like HDTVs, except on crack. Nearly every brand you can think of brought out one of them. Also i think the flexible screen might even be OLED.

3rd, someone( cant remember but i think it is either Sony(they did tonnes this year) or Panasonic) brought out a TV that does 3D. You still need the weird glasses but can you imagine playing your favorite game( i was going to say whatever the game of the year was but doesn't look like there is one) in 3D. I think it can make everything 3D so it is not like you need special games/movies to use the 3D but i am not sure( if someone could verify that it would be great).

Another awesome thing at CES was a TV Toshiba(or Fujitsu, cant remember but i am 80% sure Toshiba) brought out a TV with motion controls so no need for a remote:)

Now on the Phones. There were TONNES of phones brought out this year, all aiming to kill the iPhone but the one most likely to achieve its goal was the new phone bu Palm. Now I don't no much about it except it looks like the iPhone except more rounded and it seems to have a similar app system but i am not sure. The thing I am sure of though is that everybody went CRAZY over it. I am not sure what is go great about it but who it seems that this could be a major contender for the iPhone.

Now the oddest thing I saw phonewise was a Watch Phone by LG. It is surrounded by secrecy and G4 couldn't actually show what it could do but they say its pretty awesome. Lets hope it is not like the one Dr Ashens reviewed



Sorry i just like the review. Hope you do aswell. Well what else was there........I no i am missing something big but i cant remember what:(
Oh well thats about it. It was awesome. For more go to here.

In other news i signed up for the Windows 7 Beta test( also announced at CES) and will be reviewing that in Super Mega Post of Doom Part 2.

Thanks for reading

AndrewCow

P.S -- McFar 54 can you spell check please

Microsoft's Next Operating System

Microsoft's next operating system, Windows 7, will use Microsoft's new Windows Advanced Rasterization Platform (WARP), making any CPU 800MHz or faster will be fully compatible with DirectX 10.1. The platform is designed to take advantage of multiple cores.

Apple First Quarter Results and Sony revises loss figures

Apple today released their First Fiscal Quarter 2009. They reported a "record revenue of $10.17 billion and record net quarterly profit of $1.61 billion" and also said that they "sold 2,524,000 Macintosh® computers during the quarter, representing nine percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold a record 22,727,000 iPods during the quarter, representing three percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPhone units sold were 4,363,000, representing 88 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. "

This just shows apples growing market sare in the home Computer and Laptop market as well as a continued strong growth in the mobile phone and mp3 player market. It also shows that despite the economic downturn people are still willing to purchase electronic goods.

Apple also said that they "may provide unspecified features and additional software products to iPhone and Apple TV customers in the future free of charge, in accordance with GAAP the Company recognizes revenue and cost of goods sold for these products on a straight-line basis over their economic lives, with any loss recognized at the time of sale".
This just means that they may provide free software for the iPhone and Apple TV without increasing prices. This may be because of the already high prices for these products and would show that they are aware that they may lose sales if prices are increased.

Sony today released a revision to their $152 billion predicted loss and now predict they will have a loss of only $130 billion or 14% less than originally predicted. Most of the loss is blamed on the economic downturn. Final results won't be available until April 2009.

Ubisoft have released there 2008-2009 results with sales up 32% and a net income of $47 million. This appears to be good news for the relatively quiet developer/publisher who have not made many big splashes over the years.

In other news...

EA has announced Command & Conquer™ Red Alert™ 3: Ultimate Edition which will bring Red Alert 3 to the PlayStation 3. This should help to boost sales of both the game and to a lesser degree the console as it will add:

• Five exciting new multiplayer maps
• Behind the scenes videos and trailers, including Raising the Iron Curtain Documentary, From Pens to Pixels, the Girls of Red Alert 3, Bloopers & Outtakes, the Red Alert 3 Remix and many more!
• PS3 exclusive Command & Conquer TV programming, including PS3-dedicated BattleCast™ PrimeTime and a special episode of Command School focused on tips, tricks and strategies from the development team
• In-depth profiles on all the Red Alert 3 Units
• The official Red Alert 3 soundtrack

On February 11 ausgametech will be delighted to post Activision Blizzard's December Quarter earnings and 2008 earnings results and the EA results on February 3.

Steve Jobs Steps Down!

Steve Jobs has stepped down as CEO of Apple until July due to health reasons. This is a concern for all as Steve Jobs has been at the helm at Apple for so long and has become a figurehead for the company. This announcement should not see any changes in anything Apple will do until July.

I'm Back

After an absense, I have returned with some news about this blog:

• Youtube 5 will now be the best 4 and5 starred videos of the week and will be moved to Tuesdays!
  
• A new Youtube Fail will be postedevery Thursday featuring the best 1 and 2 starred videos of the week!
• Better News Coverage in 2009 with some posts about events later in the year!
• We welcome Philip who has been doig the Month of DOS posts as an official member of the Ausgametech Team!
  

I hope that this will improve your experience here at Ausgametech and HAPPY NEW YEAR (even if we are 12 Days Late)

Here's the debut, 1 day early, of the new Youtube 5 but only 3 vids will be posted today and teh remaining 2 tomorrow:



Jordan - River Deep Mountain High by Tina Turner


20 Good Reasons


Rove is a bit tongue tied - ROVE LIVE 2004

Byw........For now

Hello

Just letting you no i will be away till the 22nd so i will not be posting...probably. I might if i get a chance but probably won't. So i leave you with a video. Now normally i do not do direct links to the reviewers i watch but this one was just so funny i had to. It might not be to you but it reminded me alot of my mum so it was to me.:)



bye.....for now

AndrewCow