Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Some PS3 Details -- 10:16 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Sony's Ken Kutaragi gave some details on the PS3. The big bits of news are that the PS3 is scheduled for a simultaneous world-wide launch in the beginning of November and that it will include a 60G hard drive. In some way or another, it will run Linux (and there was much rejoicing). As originally stated, it will be backwards-compatible with PS2 and PS1 games. Still no pricing details, though.

Update! I'm reading on some other sites that the hard drive might not be included by default but might still be required. Obviously there are still more questions than answers out there right now. Not including it but still requiring it would seem like a very strange plan.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Ubuntu Uffda -- 9:17 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

If you are running Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger), you will want to go to this page as soon as possible. Apparently the installer fails to delete its world-readable log when installation is complete. That log contains the root password in plain text. Ooops. Go to that link and download the patch ASAP. Thanks Slashdot.

Game Mag Previews Decide our Games? -- 8:54 am CST, Update by The Master

Kotaku posted a fascinating article on the gaming press and it's role in deciding shelf space for mediocre games. Very good read.

A.T. Hun comments: I didn't think that there were any real surprises in that article. Whenever you are getting review copies for free from publishers, suddenly your credibility and impartiality become suspect. If you'd read through my reviews, you'd find that the majority of them are overwhelmingly positive--certainly higher than the industry average. Why? It's because all the games I buy I pay for myself. I don't have a ton of money to spend on such frivolities, so if I buy a game, I'm already pretty sure that I'll like it. The only review I'd like to revisit is my review of Shogo for Linux. I probably should have dropped it at least a point. I think I gave it extra credit since I was simply so thrilled to be playing Shogo in Linux.

The problem is that if you buy a game and find out that it is garbage, most places won't take them back once they've been opened. This seems like a lawsuit waiting to happen. Then again, isn't everything? . . .

The Master comments: What bothers me about this stuff is that if you're not "savvy" to the industry, you might buy into some of this magazine/online review hype. Here at The Haus, if we review it we paid for it ourselves, but that's not true of most websites. I guess it's the infamous "buyer beware" all over again.

McAfee Slash and Burn -- 8:49 am CST, Update by The Master

I wonder if this DAT file got tested: McAfee Anti-Virus Causes Widespread File Damage talks about the March 10 DAT file update from McAfee trashing many systems due to deletion or quarentine of key system files due to an anomaly in the virus data. This is why you test these things :-/

Steam Updates -- 8:44 am CST, Update by The Master

The weekly Steam announcement talks about plans for reworks of older Counterstrike maps for high-dynamic range lighting and the good news that the Friends system will be leaving beta soon.

Bleh -- 8:41 am CST, Update by The Master

We did the big house move on Saturday. Thankfully pretty much everything moved in a 3 hour span, and we're now settling into the new house. Finding out that our plumbing is thoroughly clogged with what looks like grout was an unpleasant surprise, so I hope the home inspectors don't mind paying that bill.

I am really missing at-the-fingertips internet access. It's amazing how many times in the last 2 days I've wanted to look something up and not had any way to do it. Plus, I can't just sneak onto someone's home wireless network in the new neighborhood, because no one HAS a wireless network. Good grief.

No Old News

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