Friday, January 17, 2003

FTC: Rambus Shredded Evidence -- 7:26 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is alleging that Rambus shredded documents that could have been used as evidence against them. While this would come as no surprise to anyone who has been following this case, Rambus has issued a blanket denial. Here's a snip:

Two other employees cited by the FTC indicated the documents should be destroyed because they might be "discoverable" in future lawsuits against Rambus.

Ahh, the fun continues. Thanks Ars Technica.

Solid NWN Linux Client Info -- 6:30 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Bioware updated the Neverwinter Nights Linux Client page with the first solid information on the port. Here's some selected highlights. Regarding the installation of the client:

You will need to get the Neverwinter Nights game resouces from one of two locations. You can either get them from an existing Windows installation of the English 1.27 build of Neverwinter Nights, or from a Neverwinter Nights Linux Game Resource download that will be available from several mirror sites. Either way, instructions will be provided with the downloads. Why must it be this way, you ask? It is because there is no feasable way to get the game resources from the InstallShield cabinet files on the Windows version CDs.

You will have to purchase a copy of the game to get a valid Neverwinter Nights CD-Key. Of course, with this purchase you also get a lovely Neverwinter Nights mapkin, a spiral-bound game manual, and three plastic-coated aluminum-reinforced W1nd0z3 brand coasters.

That's awfully cool that they will be making the content available for download. That solution is a pleasant surprise. Regarding the expansions:

Since the executable for Neverwinter Nights will be the same, with or without any expansions installed, we plan to release Linux Client versions of both Shadows of Undrentide and XP2 for download at the time of their shelf date. We have not resolved the game resource installation issue for Linux at this time. We will know more closer to the release date of Shadows of Undrentide.

Yesh! You can be certain that I will report on how the beta works as soon as it is available. Good thing I just happen to have a working Windows installation of NWN with the 1.27 patch!

WineX January Update -- 4:49 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

TransGaming has posted their January update on the status of WineX, their gaming fork of WINE. They talk about progress in WineX itself, Direct3D 8 support, and individual game support. Here's a snip:

December and early January saw our first visible results of progress on support for Direct3D Vertex Shaders. We now have some of the basic Direct3D Vertex Shader sample programs running in WineX with hardware acceleration. Some additional work is still required to support proper handling of color data, but we are now very close to having this technology completed. Pixel Shaders are an optional feature of the Direct3D API, and as such we will most likely revisit them after some of the other remaining Direct3D 8 core features have been addressed.

Thanks Linux Games.

Shadows of Undrentide Screenies -- 11:06 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

GameSpyDaily (Motto: "Spaces? We don't need no steenking spaces!") posted some screenshots of Shadows of Undrentide, the upcoming expansion for Neverwinter Nights. They show off the new desert tileset and some of the new critters. Thanks Blue.

APC UPS Recall -- 11:01 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

APC has announced a recall of their Back-UPS CS 350 and Back-UPS CS 500 uninterruptible power supplies. These units could overheat and cause a fire hazard. If you have either of these models, check the link above to see if your serial number matches. Thanks Slashdot.

Thursday, January 16, 2003

Pondering the Imponderable -- 1:41 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

I'd imagine that the Internet will soon slow to a crawl with the release of the Counterstrike 1.6 beta. We'll post as soon as it's out there. You'll need Valve's Steam 2.0 content delivery system installed (and have a broadband connection) to get the beta. Update! Valve announced that it will be released at 3:00 P.M. U.S. Pacific time (5:00 P.M. Haus time). Update #2! Liars! It's not going to be out at all today.

In the meantime, check out this article on ESPN.com that shows how they made that cool new Michael vs. Michael commercial for Nike, where the 39-year-old Jordan appears to play his 23 year-old self. I wonder how much the CG for that cost . . .

J.t.Qbe comments: I'll add a random newsbit to your random newsbits: the long-awaited VAX VMS 7.3 Hobbyist Kit will be shipping next week--you can order yours from Montagar. The big attraction for me is TCPIP 5.1 with its DHCP client, a very nice feature now that my home network uses DHCP. I never did get any of the third-party clients working.

Past Two Days' News

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