Tuesday, October 31, 2000

Pondering the Imponderable -- 10:11 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

I'd like to thank my sons for giving me what I would estimate is my 153rd cold this year. I think before I had kids I could count the number of colds I had on one hand, two hands tops. Now I get them more often than I get hot dinners. If/when this breaks, I hope to have some brand-spankin' new content for the Haus. Stay tuned!

Eavy Assault Bonus Pack Released -- 7:38 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Eavy has released his assault bonus pack for Unreal Tournament. In the 20M download you get new versions of some of the standard UT assault maps that remove various exploits, several new maps, and a mutator that removes some of the annoying exploits from the assault gametype itself. It is a must-download for an UT assault player.

Scott Miller .plan update -- 3:26 pm CST, Update by The Master

Scott Miller updated his .plan with a modernized version of the old Ant and Grasshopper story. While it's just a tad bit harsh, it's an awfully good description of life under the special interest groups. I got a chuckle anyway :-)

A.T. Hun comments: As an ultra, ultra-conservative I can't help but sigh to myself when I read that (and I've read it in various forms before). We need a kick in the hinder in this country so people stop thinking that the decade of economic prosperity we just enjoyed is what the government "owes" us. So many compare "Gen-X"ers to the "Lost Generation" of the 20s. They got their kick in the pants from the Great Depression and WW II. I wonder what we're setting ourselves up for . . .

XWing Trilogy -- 12:34 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Lucasarts announced that it will soon be offering the XWing Trilogy (XWing, TIE Fighter, XWing Alliance, and a demo version of XWing vs. TIE Fighter) for $29.95. If you never bought XWing Alliance, this is a great chance to get a great game. XWing and TIE Fighter are great too, although the technology is older. I assume those two games will be the versions that were released as the XWing Collector's CD-ROM. That had updated versions of those two games using the XWing vs. TIE Fighter engine. Thanks Evil Avatar.

I've wasted an awful lot of time and money on this series (but it's been worth it!). I bought XWing and both expansion packs, then also the XWing Collector's Edition. I bought TIE Fighter and its expansion pack, then the TIE Fighter Collector's Edition. I bought XWing vs. TIE Fighter and its mission pack. I bought XWing Alliance. Finally I bought the XWing Collector's CD-ROM. So, in effect, I bought both XWing and TIE Fighter three times :) If memory serves, I think J.t. has my original copies of XWing and TIE Fighter.

RAMBUS Drops 20% -- 12:17 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

In the "ha-ha" department, RAMBUS' stock is dropping like a rock today (-11 3/4 this morning, although it has rebounded a bit) on word that Intel will "phase out most of its RAMBUS technology". It'd be a pity if the stock price would drop enough that, say, Micron could buy them out :) Thanks sCary.

The Master comments: No thanks, I think I'd rather have someone in Taiwan buy them out. If Micron picked them up they'd just continue the patent attacks, and raise prices too. Micron is a market hyena too.

Bill Gates and the World's Poor -- 9:35 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Bill Gates and Microsoft get (justifiable) flak on this page from time to time, but I have to give him credit when credit is due. He gave a speech at the Creating Digital Dividends conference, whose goal seemed to be making the world better via technology. Gates makes the valid point (which is quickly lost on so many Americans who have too much money for their own good) that computers alone will not make the world a better place. Here's a quote:

Do people have a clear view of what it means to live on $1 a day? ... There are things those people need at that level other than technology. ... About 99 percent of the benefits of having (a PC) come when you've provided reasonable health and literacy to the person who's going to sit down and use it.

I'm always amazed at the theoretically smart people who think that any problem can be solved by throwing computers at it. The Minnesota government was considering a project to give EVERY family in the state a computer. News flash: if they can't eat and aren't healthy, computers won't make a difference. We've been throwing computers at our schools for years, yet students' test scores are still dropping. Computers are tools, not solutions in and of themselves. Unfortunately too many people assume that if you throw enough money (or equipment) at a problem, the problem will go away without us having to get directly involved. Thanks Ars Technica.

RA:UT 1.60 Released -- 8:59 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

As was announced yesterday (story), Mongo released version 1.60 of the popular Rocket Arena for Unreal Tournament mod. There are two versions available: a 21.2M full version and a 8.9M patch from 1.4x or from the Game of the Year edition of UT. 1.60 is not network compatible with 1.4x, so everyone should upgrade as soon as possible.

This should be a great day for UT fans. Eavy is supposed to release his assault bonus pack today too. I'm glad he took the time to make all the improvements to assault that he did. Epic left some horrible exploits and cheats in that gametype which really kept it from taking off online.

Monday, October 30, 2000

NFL Week #9 Final -- 11:17 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

The Tennessee Tuxedos pull off the upset in Washington, so my final record for this week is 10-4. Eeyore is 7-7. Year-to-date that makes me 84-44 (.650). Eeyore is 62-51 (.540). October was a great month for picks for me. In the past four weeks I went 41-15 (.730). Not at all bad.

Scott Draeker Interview -- 6:38 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Media and Games Online posted an interview with Loki Software's Scott Draeker. The interview covers topics such as Linux game sales and emulating as opposed to porting games to Linux from Win32. Thanks Linux Games.

Na Pali Patch Yet Again -- 2:15 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Legend Entertainment's Craig Lafferty updated his .plan with another link to the Return to Na Pali patch (story). Here's the scoop:

If you can't find the patch at the Infogrames site, we have posted a local copy here http://www.legendent.com/patches/napali/unrealrtnppatch.exe

Once again, sorry for the problems with this patch getting released. Things shouldn't be this bumpy in the future.

New RA:UT Tomorrow -- 11:50 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Mongo updated the Rocket Arena for Unreal Tournament website with word that a new version of the mod will be released tomorrow. This version will fix some bugs and make the mod compatible with the UT 4.32 patch. Thanks Stomped.

Mandrake 7.2 Released -- 8:58 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Version 7.2 of the popular Linux distribution, Mandrake, has been released. You can find out all about it on their official site. This release includes XFree86 4.0.x and the new KDE2 desktop. Mandrake--Reuben's favorite Linux distro. Thanks Slashdot.

Past Two Days' News

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