Strategy Informer :: Wednesday, February 01, 2006
” It’s a solid little game that delivers exactly what it’s supposed to, but severely lacks that X factor. ”
80 Days (PC) Review
Strategy Informer :: Wednesday, February 01, 2006
You just have to ask yourself if you have a soft spot for struggling little adventurers and if you’re prepared to work with it through its issues to give it a home on your games shelf and a place to play on your pc.
PSP: The Con
Bytesector :: Wednesday, February 01, 2006
“The sound takes you. A small crowd of spectators shouting your name as you step into your world. Tonight it’s a back alley, perhaps tomorrow a park. You are a fighter, but tonight you are more than that. Money has been a tad scarce as of late, so you decide to take up acting. With what I believe to be one of the first fighting games on the PSP, The Con takes you into a world of money making. A combination of gambling, on both yourself and the opponent, combined with the fight itself makes for so…”
SPAMfighter 4.3.0 Review @ NGOHQ
NGOHQ :: Sunday, January 29, 2006
Quote: “Without doubt spam is one of the most annoying things associated with the Internet. For some people, say me for example, it has become Internet public enemy #1. Even viruses are being distributed via Email as spam, and avoiding this blight on the Web can be very difficult. I tried many mail server based anti-spam plugins and applications, some of which weren’t the most user-friendly, but almost nothing has been able to prevent spam 100%. Today I was desperate and began to try yet another free client spam filter hoping that this may bring some better results.”
Fatal1ty; The Next Michael Jordon
CoolTechZone :: Sunday, January 29, 2006
“It’s no surprise that Fatal1ty has become one of the most recognized brands in the enthusiast community. He first signed a contract with Abit and is now working with Zalman and Creative (along with three other brands) on more projects. Additionally, he has been featured on numerous publications (online, print and broadcast), including his most recent appearance on CBS’ 60 Minutes.”
NBA 06
Bytesector :: Sunday, January 29, 2006
“NBA 06 is essentially a mediocre improvement from the first NBA title that Sony released for the PSP. It still has quite a few bugs that plagued the gameplay, which should have been fixed, since they were also present in the previous iteration. Despite all the problems, the game has undoubtedly improved dramatically in some of its aspects. I would think that if you are really hurting for an NBA game to play on the PSP, this one could be in the running, but it does have quite a few shortcomings that damn well should be ironed out before I can truthfully admit that Sony has finally made a good NBA game for PSP.”
Quake Wars (PC)
Strategy Informer :: Sunday, January 29, 2006
With massive maps, more advanced graphics and animation than ever before, a large range of weapons and vehicles, not to mention a wide array of character classes to play with, gamers are going to be challenged both individually and in teams to pit their wits and skills against one another.
DH Review: RedOctane Afterburner Metal Dance Pad
Driver Heaven :: Sunday, January 29, 2006
“While there are ?soft? dance mats mad out of cheap foam materials, dancers who wish to play the more difficult songs without an endless bombardment of problems should invest in a metal dance pad. The Afterburner Metal Dance Pad, from the makers who also brought us In the Groove, is prided for its multiplatform capabilities, increased arrow sensitivity and its sturdy metal frame. Purchasing one of these dance pads will cost around $200 plus shipping, so it?s definitely a good idea to make sure if the Afterburner is right for you.”
Pac-Man World 3
Strategy Informer :: Sunday, January 29, 2006
It’s a great, fun little platformer with a proud history and it’s certainly worth playing if you’re looking for something simple to relax with. check it out
Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) Console
Laptop Gamers :: Sunday, January 29, 2006
The first impression one gets from the PSP (once you’ve ravenously clawed your way through the packaging) is just how sleek the system is. From a purely aesthetic standpoint, the PSP is one seriously sexy piece of cutting-edge tech. The system’s faceplate is fashioned of one glassy piece, interrupted only by the protrusion of the various buttons. The backside is just as nice, with the UMD disc door featuring a prominent PSP logo inside a silver metal ring set flush against the backplate. The two shoulder buttons are clear plastic, and the perimeter edge is accented in silver giving the whole thing a very streamlined look
Xbox 360 Shortages ‘Running Into Spring’
OCModshop :: Thursday, January 26, 2006
Shortages of Xbox 360 will likely drag on into the spring, according to at least one major retailer. In an article in yesterday’s USA Today, Circuit City’s Jim Babb said, “We think supplies are going to remain pretty tight for the next 90 days.” The company is still not actively promoting Xbox 360.
At CES earlier this month, Bill Gates said he expects availability to improve “over the next three or four months” as Microsoft’s extra manufacturing partner fully comes on line.
Clearly, some in the industry believe the shortages are damaging for Xbox 360s future. USA Today points out that while Microsoft sold 600,000 systems of Xbox 369 prior to the holidays, the original Xbox sold 1.4 million units in the first two months of 2001.
John Davison, editorial director for Ziff Davis’ games mags said, “Microsoft needs to get the supply-and-demand situation nailed real soon. If it drags out much longer, it’s just going to promote apathy rather than excitement.”
Richard Doherty, research director of the Envisioneering Group. “Damage to Microsoft and 360 is growing every week with no clear explanation. The silence is unfair to consumers and fans alike.”
wxRipper v1.2 and wx360 v1.6
Xbox-Scene :: Thursday, January 26, 2006
Gael360 released a new version of his tools to dump Xbox 360 discs with a PC DVD-drive using an hot-swap method (means you’ll have to open your drive – see previous news). This is a translation from french to english of what he said on the gueux forums about the new release:
I just released a big update of my tools, you will now be able to find the ‘magic number’ immediatly, without having to scan an unknown Xbox 360 DVD. So there’s no longer a difference between known and unknown games, they will all be detected/dumped the same way.
The advantage of this method is that you will be able to use wx360 directly to open the content of the DVD without having to dump it first. After doing the hot-swap you’ll just have to open wx360, select the DVD-drive and click the DVD icon. wxRipper will thus have a feature to find the ‘magic number’ immediately, without scanning the Xbox 360 DVD. The features related to dumping did not change.
GUN Xbox 360 Review
Gamer’s Hell :: Thursday, January 26, 2006
Review – GUN Xbox 360 Review check it out
Review: Myst V
Primo Tech :: Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Myst V is a tedious addition to the familiar adventure series, which will take you between two and 15 hours to complete, depending on how many times you are driven to cheat
Keepsake (PC)
Strategy Informer :: Wednesday, January 25, 2006
There are probably some kids out there who will love this game; apart from the fact that the puzzles are either really easy or really boring.
Review: Call of Duty 2
Primo Tech :: Monday, January 23, 2006
Originality is a hard thing to come by these days in the videogame industry. And while you might expect me to now launch into a lengthy tirade about how Call of Duty 2 changes all that, you’d be wrong. Indeed, developer Infinity Ward thought up, created, and released Call of Duty 2 for those of us- including myself- who thoroughly enjoy the World War II genre. Infinity Ward must have asked itself the most famous rhetorical question in the videogame industry: Why fix what ain’t broke?
Universal Combat – A World Apart (PC) Review
Strategy Informer :: Monday, January 23, 2006
If you do chose to pick this one up, prepare to go into gaming hibernation as you pore over manuals and experiment with endless controls, click between screens and get lost and confused.
Cuban Missile Crisis (PC)
Strategy Informer :: Sunday, January 22, 2006
The guys with little to say say it little again!…
check it out
Saitek P3000 Wireless Gamepad @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Saturday, January 21, 2006
Quote: “When you think of PC games you usually think of a keyboard as your “controller”. That is what a large percent of PC users use for gaming on a PC. There are just some games that would be totally better with a controller; sports games, racing games, even some action games. A lot of PC users seem intimidated by using a controller, but it’s really easy and improves game play on a lot of games. So what controller will be up on the testing block today? The Saitek P3000 Wireless Gamepad.”
GameStop expects to fulfill 360 preorders in February
Gamespot :: Saturday, January 21, 2006
According to a well-placed source, GameStop headquarters recently sent out an internal e-mail to all its stores stating that the retailer has fulfilled an estimated 70 percent of all in-store preorders for the Xbox 360. The memo went on to say that the chain has filled all of its “first shipment” preorders, and that all remaining orders should be completed in February.
The source also told GameSpot that GameStop locations have seen a number of non-preordered $299 Xbox 360 Core Systems appear on shelves for immediate purchase. Apparently, many gamers who preordered systems are holding out for the $399 Xbox 360 Premium Systems, which come with a wireless controller and hard drive.
Xenium Gold in Production
Xbox-Scene :: Saturday, January 21, 2006
Xenium(info) Gold is now in production. We would like to apologise to all our valued customers and retailers for the delays but the move between factories caused a number of unforeseen problems.
We would like to assure all those that have outstanding orders for Xenium Ice that these orders will be fulfilled by Xenium Gold stock as soon as it is has been shipped to all retailers. We would like to thank you in advance for your patience and loyalty and we are doing everything in our power to get stock out as soon as we can.
GamersHell Atari/Reflections Driver 4 Developer Chat Log
Gamer’s Hell :: Saturday, January 21, 2006
GamersHell Atari/Reflections Driver 4 Developer Chat Log check it out
What it’s like to play Fatal1ty @ Bona Fide Reviews
Bona Fide Reviews :: Friday, January 20, 2006
Quote: “It’s 5:30am. Your alarm clock goes off and you press the snooze for those critical 5 extra minutes of sleep. It goes off again, this time you get out of bed and you’re brain begins to ponder. No, you’re not thinking about what to wear to work/school or what the weather is like outside. You’re pondering the same thing that everyone else ponders when they first roll out of bed. What would it be like to play a 4 minute match in Quake 4 against Fatal1ty? Well today is your lucky day because I am going to tell you exactly what it’s like!”
Is 3DMark Really the “Gamers Benchmark” ?
NGOHQ :: Friday, January 20, 2006
Quote: “3DMark is no doubt one of the most popular benchmarking programs in the world, with everyone from newbies to power-users running and testing it on their machines. The vast majority of hardware sites incorporate this ubiquitous application into their video card reviews, and no PR blurb would be complete without an anticipated 3DMark result figuring central to the report. Many people love this small program that tells you how powerful your graphics hardware is, or alternatively if you need to spend hundreds of dollars upgrading your components.”
Space Hack (PC)
Strategy Informer :: Thursday, January 19, 2006
The game itself is a combination of sci-fi-hack and slash-action RPG hybrid.
Review: Stubbs the Zombie (PC)
Primo Tech :: Thursday, January 19, 2006
At first, no one paid any mind to the extremely unattractive man on the streets. Then, the attacks began. Soon, vigilante citizens were up in arms and the cops were called in. After a while, the offender was correctly identified as a zombie by authorities when a casualty of his assault rose from the dead and was quoted as saying “Braiiinsss!”
Star Wars: Empire at War Demo
Strategy Informer :: Thursday, January 19, 2006
New demo of Star Wars: Empire at War
check it out
Crime Life: Gang Wars Review
Strategy Informer :: Wednesday, January 18, 2006
New review, Crime Life: Gang Wars (PC):
check it out
Xbox 360: To Repair or Not To Repair?
Net4Xbox360 :: Monday, January 16, 2006
After waiting 17 hours in line to be the first to buy an Xbox 360, I find out one week later that my Xbox 360 is over heating.
It freezes up on any game at a point where it required some serious GPU power. This happened to be at a time when there was also a shortage of Xbox 360’s and I’m on a week vacation. So returning my Xbox to the store was not an option. Didn’t want to be left with out my favorite game console while on vacation.
No High-End Gaming Systems from HP @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Sunday, January 15, 2006
“With Dell focusing on the high-end custom PC building market where Alienware and Voodoo PC co-exist, we wondered whether other OEMs, such as HP, would be interested in pursuing the same market.”
Rumor: Dead or Alive 4 glitch killing game saves?
Gamespot :: Sunday, January 15, 2006
World of Warcraft v1.9.2 Patch
Gamer’s Hell :: Sunday, January 15, 2006
World of Warcraft v1.9.2 Patch check it out
Half-Life 2: Aftermath Screens, Def Jam Fight For NY: The Takeover Announced and more
Gamer’s Hell :: Sunday, January 15, 2006
– Half-Life 2: Aftermath Screens check it out
Law & Order: Criminal Intent (PC) Review
Strategy Informer :: Sunday, January 15, 2006
New review today: Law & Order: Criminal Intent (PC) check it out
Mad Tracks Demo
Strategy Informer :: Sunday, January 15, 2006
Mad Tracks Demo
check it out
Xecuter: Multiple Xbox 360 ModChips from Different Teams in Development
Xbox-Scene :: Sunday, January 15, 2006
Well … in fact the article from team xecuter is mainly about one of the ‘hot’ discussions currently in the scene: the Team I.C.E. ‘modchip’ for the Xbox 360. Xecuter(info) received an email (which we received too) from Divineo giving even more reasons to think this modchip is fake:
[QUOTE] The 360 chip is 99% a scam, we had booked tickets to go meet them, we were ready to make huge prepayment and more after we meet the guys at their office and see the working X-Box 360 with back-ups they 100% confirmed they had and it was no problem to show etc. Now at last second they cancelled, with some lame reason, those guys are scammers I really believe. They did the same to Xenium(info), backed off and changed completely what they said. [/QUOTE]
Moore: Blu-ray Xbox 360 add-on possible
Gamespot :: Sunday, January 15, 2006
Xbox marketing chief says Microsoft could release peripheral for the Sony-backed disc if HD-DVD loses format war. At Microsoft’s big CES keynote address last week, Bill Gates announced that the company will release an add-on peripheral to read HD-DVD discs on the Xbox 360. Considering that console rival Sony is a primary backer of the competing Blu-ray format of high-capacity discs, it came as little surprise that Microsoft would side with Toshiba’s HD-DVD standard. The company’s support for the HD-DVD camp has been apparently strong, with reports from late last year suggesting the company is offering cash incentives to PC makers that adopt HD-DVD drives into their systems.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Technology Interview @ Beyond3D
Beyond3D :: Sunday, January 15, 2006
Bethesda’s Morrowind was one of the “big three” computer roleplaying games released in 2002, along with Dungeon Siege and Neverwinter Nights. Sporting an advanced engine many high end systems buckled under the pressure and gamers delighted at what they saw. The game went on to win multiple awards and warranted two expansions and re-releases. Bethesda is close to finishing the latest in the Elder Scrolls series: Oblivion and its renderer looks to be no push over either even for today’s monster cards if you choose to pump up the detail settings. Being released for the PC and the Xbox 360 we asked the developers what was under the hood graphically as well as some of the inroad they have been doing with regards to artificial intelligence and physics. Gavin Carter was kind enough to answer our questions for the Beyond3D readership.
Review: Black and White 2
Primo Tech :: Sunday, January 15, 2006
“Let me preface this review by saying that I am slightly biased. I loved the original Black and White. And when I say “loved,” I’m talking about an unhealthy obsession. So to say I was eagerly anticipating the sequel would be a gross understatement. But, with that said, I will try my best to remain objective. Knowing what high standards I have for a game bearing the Black and White name, this shouldn’t be too difficult.”
Night Watch Demo
Strategy Informer :: Sunday, January 15, 2006
Night Watch demo contains a cinematic intro, three playable classes, the first three missions including tutorials, and much more.
IndLinux Rangoli v1.0 BETA
Phoronix :: Sunday, January 15, 2006
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos Patch
Strategy Informer :: Wednesday, January 11, 2006
We’ve just added the newest patch (version 1.20c) for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos in different languages:check it out
Neoseeker FX-60 Review
Strategy Informer :: Wednesday, January 11, 2006
“The business benchmarks were dominated by the overclocked FX-60, and the stock FX-60 was only slightly slower than a highly overclocked 4000+. Raw processing power, as shown by the Sandra CPU and Cinebench benchmarks was outstanding; and memory bandwidth was quite good given the limitations of the maximum memory bandwidth reachable on our testbed – a whopping 285MHz.”
World of Warcraft Patch
Strategy Informer :: Wednesday, January 11, 2006
We’ve just added the newest patch (1.9.1) for World of Warcraft in different languages: check it out
Hexic HD Achievement Hacks Don’t Touch Xbox LIVE
Xbox-Scene :: Monday, January 09, 2006
There was some misinformation floating around last week that I wanted to clear up. Specifically, that folks are cheating at Hexic and earning achievements or getting high scores that they got by cheating. I got an email from the Xbox Live Arcade team where they told me: We’re seeing reports of people hacking Hexic HD using the European Kiosk disk hack. The truth of the matter is that we actually removed the code from the kiosk version of the game that awards achievements and Gamerscore and posts high scores so the reports are false. While Hackers can play the game and trigger the achievement awarded animation as if is still there but they don’t actually earn anything since they can’t connect to Xbox Live.
So there you have it, keep working on your high score in Hexic with complete confidence that the folks above you earned their way to the top.
Corsair 2GB XMS2 Review
Gamer’s Hell :: Monday, January 09, 2006
The memory timings were the strangest part of the whole review. I could not overclock much at all with relaxed timings. I was able to boot into Windows with 5-5-5-15 at 255 FSB, but it wasn’t stable and would end up with a BSOD every time. 5-5-5-12 resulted in a black screen. Yet slightly better performance was shown with the relaxed timings of 5-5-5-15 over 5-5-5-12.
X-C-K: Xbox Capture Kit
Xbox-Scene :: Monday, January 09, 2006
XCK (Xbox Capture Kit) is the newest and best way to capture your xbox . You can use this kit to connect to your Xbox on the fly (while playing games) it’ll also allow you to take screenshots with gauranteed less lag than other apps. You can also capture video with as little as NO LAG depending on quality. The perfect pack for people who have debug setup on their xbox if you’re using Xbox Image Grabber(info), give this a try
SpiderGX Modchip Review
Xbox-Scene :: Sunday, January 08, 2006
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (PC)
Strategy Informer :: Sunday, January 08, 2006
You will need your puzzle solving skills for just about every leg of the adventure. Not only will you need to figure out ways to cross chasms and frozen rivers, open gates and shatter barriers but you’ll also need to use your brain during combat to best utilize the various skills of each individual character when confronted by the different enemies.
Commodore…Back With A Vengeance! @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Sunday, January 08, 2006
Quote: “Some of you may not know the name Commodore, but for me it brings back many memories. I really got my start in all this computer stuff with the Commodore Vic-20; I can say that it changed the way I looked at computers and how I felt about them. Sure I used and owned other computers, but when I got the Vic-20, that’s when my love for computers became an obsession. Today we had the chance to take a look at the ‘new’ Commodore company. Bob and Alex, being much younger than I, really couldn’t appreciate or understand my excitement and enthusiasm at going to the meeting with the Commodore reps for our private little showing of their newest products. I’m sure some of you out there that are reading this can possibly understand how I felt about this meeting.”
Bunnie about Xbox 360 Kiosk Demo Disc
Xbox-Scene :: Sunday, January 08, 2006
I’ve also been observing the progress on the Xbox360 hacking, and I’m impressed. The hacking scene is more or less an organized anarchy that is frightfully productive. Now that I’ve had a little brush with being a manager in my day job, I can see that clarity of purpose obviates the need for management; people just self-organize and things happen. I could ponder on this for many parargaphs, but I’ll spare you my treatise on human social behavior.
At any rate, some very interesting things are afoot. Much of it stems from the discovery of an all-media bootable kiosk demo disk. Many hackers will instantly recognize the value of this, but it’s still interesting to reflect on the significance of this find.
Microsoft announces HD-DVD addon for Xbox 360
Microsoft :: Sunday, January 08, 2006
LAS VEGAS — Jan. 4, 2006 — Highlighting key consumer products such as Xbox 360™ and offering the first broad demonstration of the consumer features of Windows Vista™, Microsoft Corp. Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates showed how the company is delivering on its vision for a digital lifestyle where devices, services and applications work together seamlessly. In his 10th annual keynote address at the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Gates demonstrated how Microsoft® Windows Vista, Xbox 360, new mobile devices and the emerging wave of software-based services will deliver more connected and richly personalized experiences for consumers.
In his keynote, Gates said that the consumer electronics industry is poised to deliver a quantum leap forward in rich, interactive, high-definition experiences. “Technology has revolutionized how we listen to music, watch TV, play games, communicate, and manage and share personal information,” he said. “In the years ahead, further exciting innovations will unify the software, hardware and services in people’s lives, offering them even richer, more engaging and deeply connected experiences.”
TheSpecialist’s Xbox DVD-Drive ‘Unlocker’ Code
Xbox-Scene :: Sunday, January 08, 2006
TheSpecialist emailed us about a tool he released that unlocks an (original) Xbox DVD-ROM drive, attached to a PC, so you can access an original DVDXBOX disc from PC (using tools like Clone CD (yes it’ll report many bad sectors, that’s normal) without having to FTP to your modded Xbox. Of course you must use the Xbox DVD-drive (it won’t work with a normal PC DVD drive). Easiest to test this is probably to connect the IDE-cable of your Xbox DVD-drive to your PC and keep the cable for power/eject connected to the Xbox (if you want to install it fix in your PC you’ll have to convert the cable, here’s a pinout). Also note that Windows must be able to detect your Xbox drive. Some Xbox drives (like the Philips) seem to be not detectable by Windows. Once the drive is connected and detected you can use this tool to unlock the drive to read original DVDXBOX discs.
Nintendo’s Ups and Downs
Twitch Guru :: Sunday, January 08, 2006
The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) began storming North American households with graphics capabilities 20 years ago that were well beyond the capabilities of other consoles of that era. The games were fun to play and Nintendo was essentially printing money with its new console. So much so, that it dominated the market with a 90% share. Of course, when you’re the 800-pound gorilla on the block, you also open yourself to attack and self-important arrogance. Now it’s time to look back and see what humbled this one-time juggernaut into a mewling underdog.
Financial Times comments on Moore’s law; Xbox 360
Xbox-Scene :: Sunday, January 08, 2006
A buddy at work sent over a very interesting Financial Times editorial (requires registration) called “The future is here – and it works.” A very optimistic peice, the author talks about the simultaneous exponential growth of processing power – Moore’s Law, the rapid drop in price, and specifically, what this could mean for our daily lives.
In an anecdote which could prove much more scintillating than the author intends, they say “Had it been around as recently as 1998, the latest Xbox games console, available for $399, would have ranked as the world’s fastest supercomputer.” That is to say, better than anything NASA, Microsoft or IBM labs had back then.
I did some research into this, and right now, the world’s fastest supercomputer appears to be the IBM Blue Gene/L, clocking speeds of 280 teraflops. Xbox 360 packs approximately 1.15 teraflops. (one trillion floating point operations per second). Now sure, my Xbox 360 while xbox isn’t built to be a supercomputer, what we have in the Xbox 360 is a hyper-powerful machine, and it’s exponential changes in computing that makes it possible.
Xbox 360 Dumper v0.13
Xbox-Scene :: Sunday, January 08, 2006
The Xbox Dumper that can now also access big-endian FATX partitions on the Xbox 360 HDD (by oz_paulb) has been ported to Windows (by pedrospad). From readme/nfo: [QUOTE] This program allows files on an xbox(360) hard disk to be dumped out.
**UPDATE**: oz_paulb modified code to deal with Xbox360 images. **UPDATE**: pedrospad ported to windows. 01/05/2006 See “XBOX360” define in the Makefile. Still a work in progress.
Two basic commands are supported: xboxdumper list [partition number] [xbox image filename] This will dump the directory tree of the specified partition.
xboxdumper dump [xbox filename] [output filename] [partition number] [image filename] This will dump the file [xbox filename] into the file [output filename] from the specified partition number. The full directory path to the file using / or \ should be supplied.
Xbox 360 has Bumpy Quarter
OCModshop :: Sunday, January 08, 2006
“Xbox 360, what’s the holdup?” asked Goldman Sachs analyst Rick Sherlund ahead of a meeting with Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT – news – people ) at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week.
“It is clear that something disrupted the supply of Xbox 360 shipments in the quarter, and there does not appear to be any end of year catch-up in shipments,” the analyst said in a report issued Monday.
Mashie Design Visual Audio (MDVA) Review
MODTHEBOX! :: Sunday, January 08, 2006
“The concept for the MDVA was derived from one of Mashie’s older projects dubbed Anemone which took first place in the Summer 2002 CPL Consummate Computer Competition (C3). The MDVA includes a green coloured PCB circuit board that is protected by thick black acrylic and includes pre-drilled mounting holes for simple installation into a standard case. The overall appearance is the MDVA is very clean with access to the rear of the PCB. Towards the bottom left of the PCB is the location for a 4-pin Molex connector which provides power to the unit while the right side includes a 3-pin header for the bundled Audio Y-cable.”
Updated Linux Xbox-DVD Unlocker
Xbox-Scene :: Sunday, January 08, 2006
[QUOTE]
Ok, here’s a new version of the Linux version of the unlocker. You’ll need to apply the kernel patch (linux-2.6.14-mediachange.patch) to properly see the unlocked disk capacity. It just adds an IOCTL that calls saw_media_change(). You’ll get an error if you don’t apply the patch. However, for some reason dd won’t produce nice images (maybe it has something to do with its error handling (tried with “dd conv=noerror bs=2048 skip=32 if=/dev/hdd of=disc.img”)), so I’ll probably need to write a proper dumper that stores the “bad sectors” in a separate file for future purposes.
But wait! There’s something more. Perhaps you have heard of FUSE? FUSE stands for Filesystems in Userspace. I wrote a small FUSE driver that allows one to mount the XBOXDVDFS discs directly to the filesystem. You’ll need to get FUSE from http://fuse.sourceforge.net and install it (“./configure ; make ; make install ; modprobe fuse” – remember to insert the kernel module). Then you can compile the xboxdvdfs.c driver:
# gcc -o xboxdvdfs xboxdvdfs.c -lfuse
Now, assuming you have not unlocked the DVD drive yet (which is “/dev/hdd” in this example), you run:
# ./unlocker /dev/hdd
# mkdir /mnt/xboxdvd
# ./xboxdvdfs /mnt/xboxdvd /dev/hdd
Root directory table at sector 1685288 (size 2048 bytes).
Looks like a XBOXDVDFS filesystem.
# ls -l /mnt/xboxdvd
You can also specify an image file instead of a device to xboxdvdfs (should work, but my images were broken). This stuff should be all moved to kernel space (one IOCTL for unlocking the drive) and the filesystem into a proper kernel filesystem. Sorry for the crappy source (no proper error/exit handling), but it seems to work for now and it’s userspace so it shouldn’t hurt your system :-) The xboxdvdfs driver should be able to mount Xbox 360 images too, if I’ve understood correctly (should be the same format?).
Facing The Bitches of Death
Twitch Guru :: Sunday, January 08, 2006
This is the second part of our interviews with women gaming clans. Last week, we spoke to the Dominating Divas; this week, it’s the Bitches of Death.
Xekanirelle These women like to play first person shooter (FPS) PC games against guys. They are an international clan of women, and pretty hardcore as online gamers go.
XboxMediaCenter (XBMC) 2006-01-01 CVS T3CH build
Xbox-Scene :: Sunday, January 08, 2006
>> T3CH released a new CVS compile of XboxMediaCenter(info).
This T3CH-compile is a BAREBONE package (with just a few thirdparty scripts and with just the default skin) compiled with XDK v5849.
Here’s the added stuff from the changelog since the 2005-12-25 CVS release:
* added: http api “getshares” and “getmedialocation” now accept “files” as a share type
* added: Conditional window origins for dialogs.
* added: Builtin functions SetVolume(percent) and Mute.
* added: Info values for Player.GetVolume (int + label) and for Player.IsMuted (bool)
* added: Play action on a folder in videos will build internal playlist recursively and start playing immediately
* added: ListItem.Thumb and ListItem.Label to the InfoManager.
* added: new Http Api command “getmedialocation”.
* added: advanced configuration option for path substitution; look in xboxmediacetner.xml for details.
* added: custom slideshows in My Pictures via m3u playlists (only images are queued into the slideshow)
… rest of changelog (including many fixes): here.
Keep in mind this is a CVS snapshot of the current development tree. It’s not an official (stable) point release. Use only if you know what you are doing.
Pacific Storm (PC) review
Strategy Informer :: Friday, January 06, 2006
New review of Pacific Storm (PC): check it out
Chessmaster 10th Edition v1.03 Patch
Gamer’s Hell :: Friday, January 06, 2006
Chessmaster 10th Edition v1.03 Patch check it out
Quake 4 @ Bytesector
Bytesector :: Friday, January 06, 2006
“The story is pretty much a standard Quake storyline in that you play a single marine (Matthew Kane) in a battle against an alien race known as the Strogg in an effort to wipe them out and prevent further attacks on Earth. For the first little while, you\’ll run and gun your way through the Strogg forces with very little story except for what is necessary to give reason for you moving to a new location. After not too long though, you will hit the fun part.”
HardwareOC Quake 4 Benchmark, Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales Trailer
Gamer’s Hell :: Wednesday, January 04, 2006
– HardwareOC Quake 4 Benchmark check it out
– Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales Trailer check it out<br< font=””>
World of Warcraft (PC) Patch and The Moment of Silence (PC) Review
Strategy Informer :: Wednesday, January 04, 2006
New patch for World of Warcraft 1.9.0 has been added at:
check it out
We’ve also added a review of The Moment of Silence (PC) at:
check it out
Saitek P2600 Rumble Gamepad Review
Futurelooks :: Wednesday, January 04, 2006
SAITEK has long been making some of the most kick ass joysticks and gamepads. With some already great products under their belt, SAITEK has surged forward again with the P2600, featuring force feedback action and a highly ergonomic design.
DH Review: Xbox 360
Driver Heaven :: Monday, January 02, 2006
The next generation of gaming is finally upon us. Microsoft?s Xbox 360 has finally hit store shelves all over the world, but with the hefty price of $300 for a core package and $400 for the premium setup, is it really worth your money? In this review, we’re going to dissect every aspect of the 360 to find out if it truly enters a new era in gaming.
Sniper Elite Xbox Review
Gamer’s Hell :: Monday, January 02, 2006
Review – Sniper Elite Xbox Review check it out
Ice Age 2: The Meltdown Game Announced
Gamer’s Hell :: Monday, January 02, 2006
Ice Age 2: The Meltdown Video Game Announced check it out