StickRPG2 to be released in a few months!

May 19th, 2006 at 4:35PM EDT or 2 years, 6 months ago (mid-afternoon)

It’s still chugging along and it’ll get finished in a few months I hope! I know I just said a few months, but for God’s sake, don’t ask me for a release date!!
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Yes, straight from the horse’s mouth! I’ve been waiting for this game since 2003 and they’ve finally released an estimate (the guys at XGenStudios have NEVER released a estimate date for this game, so this is good news). I know it’s just a flash game, but it’s a DAMN good one! :)

For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, play StickRPG, the best flash game ever made.

Wii Hide You Seek for the Nintendo Wii

May 19th, 2006 at 2:54PM EDT or 2 years, 6 months ago (the early afternoon)

What game is this you might ask. Well it could perhaps, in my own opinion, be one of the funnest online games out there. No, its not a shooter, a fighter, an RPG, or anything you might expect from an online game, no this is something different.

Introduing Wii Hide You Seek.

Wii Hide You Seek brings a very basic concept into the picture. Its a massive online hide and seek game, featuring numerous locations, such as a Mansion, a neighboordhood, or even a city. It will offer many different ways to play online.

How does it work?

The gameplay is simple. Teams are assembled and choose a game to join via the lobby. Each game will have its own unique setup, the different play mods that have been announced at this time are listed below.

Each team is designated a specific chat channel, and will be able to communicate via a microphone (it doesn’t mention if this is built in to the controller, or if you have to buy it, but either way it means we won’t be texting online. Yes!)

You might wonder how an online hide and seek game works, I mean won’t it be easy to find each other? Not to worry, using an ingenious level design, you might play the same map numerous times, but it will never seem the same.

Every game will be its own “dedicated game”. This means that within each game, whatever happens is entirely unique. For example in the neighborhood level, there might be cars parked outside houses, and you can climb into truckbeds and hide, but its possible that another time you play, this same car will be gone. Also, backyards for example are fairgame, this means that sometimes you might find a backyard completely empty, and other times there might be a dog, and it will alert the enemy of your presence.

In order to officially catch someone in the games, you will have to physically run up to them, and reach out with one of the controllers (most likely the Nunchuck [see bottom of post] and touch them.

Once a player is captured, they can switch between any of their teammates locations, and still communicate, however they WILL not be able to see an opponent, even if they are on-screen for whomever you are watching. This is to keep the game fair and balanced.

So does this mean it might actually FEEL like a real hide and seek game? That’s what this seems to be shaping out to be. With real in game movement, it seems to me like this will be one big, virtual playground for us to play in, and this is only ONE level! Imagine the possibilities. Here are the game types, to get you more excited.

Normal Play

Players: 4-16

Description:

This is the very basic mode. It offers quick clean fun. Teams are assembled (based upon number of people in the game). A map is selected based on majority rule. Once the map has loaded, one team will be randomly selected to count. Once selected the screen will go black, and a countdown timer will begin counting down on the screen. (Time given is chosen during set-up) Once the timer reaches zero, the screen returns to normal and the selected team begins hunting for other players. A timer will begin going up at the top of each players screen. This represents how long the selected team has been searching, the longer they take, the better the hiders score and rank will be.

Once all players from 1 team have been found, that team becomes it, and the countdown will begin.

Options:

Countdown Time
Total Game Time
Number of Players
Map

Cops and Robbers

Players: 4-8 (1-2 Robbers 3-6 Cops)

Description:

The classic game of Cops and Robbers. Usually played with 1 person against all cops, but in this case there can be up to 2 robbers, depending on how many people join the game. The concept is simple, the robbers hide, and the cops try and find them. In order for the robbers to win, they must successfully avoid the cops for a preset amuont of time. For the cops to win, they must capture the robber before the time ends. The countdown timer works in the same manner as it does in Normal Play.

Options:

Robber Win Time
Map
Countdown Timer
Win Set Time
Number of Players

Night Seek

Players: 4-16

Description: This brings a childhood hide and seek dream to reality. Playing at night. That’s right, you get flashlights, as it will be much harder to see. The set-up is almost identical to that of Normal Play, only a few minor changes. Team sizes remain the same, the main difference here is how you play. Rather then simply looking high and low for players, you must now use a flashlight, making it much more difficult, and exciting. It makes the normally obvious hiding places just as good as any other hiding spot. Also, the people hiding will have flashlights as well, because as in all the other modes, a hiding spot isn’t official, you can move around, just make sure you don’t get caught moving around, or it will be much harder to hide again.

Personal Note: I can’t WAIT to see other people in game running around with flashlights looking around for other people, itll just be fun!

Options:

Map
Countdown Timer
Total Game Timer
Number of Players

That can’t be all the modes…

True, it isn’t all of the modes, but those are the only ones to be explained as of this time. It seems the developers would like to keep the other modes under wraps right now, maybe some crazy ones, or maybe some more variations of traditional ones. Who knows.

So how do I control this thing?

The official control scheme is not known, but it is assumed that it will function along these lines (Normal Play only listed)

The remote itself will serve as a camera of sorts when rotated, so you can change your view. The B button when held down will enable running, which is controlled by the Nunchuck attachments analog stick. The Nunchuck will also serve as how tall you are standing. Since this is a hiding game, it is important to be able to duck, and jump, which will be controlled by your movement of the Nunchuck.

No known use for A button has been stated, but I would assume it allows you to grab on to ledges and climb up on things.
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It hasn’t been officially confirmed by Nintendo, but coming from a leaked upcoming Nintendo Power magazine issue [confirmed by a reliable source], I’ll believe it.

All in all, this sounds like an awesome idea. :D

Inquisitor Online

May 18th, 2006 at 3:36PM EDT or 2 years, 6 months ago (mid-afternoon)
RV2 on Inquisitor Online

Inquisitor is very cool instant search plugin for Safari (I’m using it for Safari) and Camino, but I found there is a pretty nifty AJAX online version they have as well (for free). :)

MacBook RELEASED

May 16th, 2006 at 3:01PM EDT or 2 years, 6 months ago (mid-afternoon)

Brand-new MacBooks released today!

Black MacBook

1.83 Ghz Core Duo White, $1,099
-Ships 1-5 Business Days
-60 GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard drive
-Combo Drive

2.0 Ghz Core Duo White, $1,299
-Ships 1-5 Business Days
-60 GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard drive
-SuperDrive

2.0 Ghz Core Duo Black, $1,499
-Ships 3-7 Business Days
-80 GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard drive
-SuperDrive

All Models
-13 widescreen, 1280×800 display
-Front Row and Apple Remote
-Integrated iSight
-MagSafe
-Integrated Intel GMA 950 graphics with 64 MB shared graphics memory
-mini-DVI with extended display support
-512MB 667 Mhz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300)
-1 Firewire 400, 2 USB 2.0 ports
-Gigabit Ethernet
-Airport Extreme + Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR) Standard

SkypeOut calls now COMPLETELY FREE!!!

May 15th, 2006 at 2:56PM EDT or 2 years, 6 months ago (the early afternoon)

We just announced that SkypeOut is now free within the US and Canada to all landlines and mobiles, until at least the end of 2006.
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Free SkypeOut calls

This is completely shocking news. :o

For those of you who don’t know what SkypeOut is, it is a feature part of the Skype client (which rocks, by the way) that allows you to make calls from your computer to LANDLINE phones. Skype alone is used for making free calls between you and other Skype users (just PC to PC). I’ve been using Skype and SkypeOut for a while and I love it. I can make calls from my computer (sound quality is great) and there’s an ability for conference calls (you can add limitless amounts of people to your “call-room” (both landline and other Skype users)). However, before SkypeOut became free today, there would be a cash balance on your account and calling a landline phone costed money on a per-minute basis. Now IT’S COMPLETELY FREE (for the United States and Canada only though- sorry other countries, you guys still have to pay).

Let the phone prank calling begin! :D

Windows Media Player 11 leaked

May 13th, 2006 at 11:27PM EDT or 2 years, 6 months ago (late at night)

Windows Media Player 11 has been leaked on Softpedia. days before a public preview beta (official release scheduled sometime in June 2006) from Microsoft. The Softpedia servers are at the moment getting hammered from all the downloads, so I’ve mirrored the .exe into a zip file here.

Features in Windows Media Player 11:
-New UI
-Support for better synchronization for portable devices
-Album “stacks” of album art
-Indexed libraries with search-as-you-type features
-User controlled downgrade of quality for DRM content to allow for smaller files
-DRM content will contain metadata that shows what the user is allowed to do with the file
-Includes Microsoft and MTV’s Urge music store

And oh yes, in typical RV2 [blog] fashion, I discovered a Windows Genuine Advantage workaround (for those illegal copies of Windows) since it does do a check prior to installation (you’ll need WinRAR for this- it’s free):

1) Extract “wmp11.zip” and you should get a folder called “wmp11.zip” with a file named “Microsoft Windows Media Player 11.exe” inside.
2) Right click “Microsoft Windows Media Player 11.exe” and select “Extract to Microsoft Windows Media Player 11\”. Double-click the newly made folder named “Microsoft Windows Media Player 11″.
3) Double-click the file named “wmfdist11.exe” to install the Windows Media Player 11 codec.
4) Double-click the file named “wmp11.exe” to install Windows Media Player 11!

With that said, the best choice, for playing media files is still VLC or iTunes.

Free boxes from USPS with free shipping

May 13th, 2006 at 1:02PM EDT or 2 years, 6 months ago (around lunchtime)

The USPS offers free boxes (with their logo on it, of course) and they’ll ship them to you for free. The maximum you can order is 500.

500 free shoe boxes from USPS

I didn’t want to be too greedy, but I just had to see what 500 boxes on my doorstep would look like. :P I just hope they don’t come folded flat.

Ctrl+Alt+Del Sony Pii Comic

May 13th, 2006 at 9:44AM EDT or 2 years, 6 months ago (the early morning)
Ctrl+Alt+Del Sony Pii comic

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Nintendo Wii Tennis!!!

May 12th, 2006 at 8:58PM EDT or 2 years, 6 months ago (around evening time)

This is so freaking insane! :o I have to get this console.

E3 Nintendo Wii line to play

May 11th, 2006 at 10:32PM EDT or 2 years, 6 months ago (the late evening)

This is unbelievable… :o

Fox shows added to the iTunes music store!

May 11th, 2006 at 4:28PM EDT or 2 years, 6 months ago (mid-afternoon)

Apparently the shows were added a a few days ago, but I just noticed them today! :D You can now purchase 24 (!), Prison Break (!!), Unan1mous, Stacked, and some “Fox Television Classics” (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, and Lost in Space) in the TV Shows section of the iTunes music store.

Prison Break on iPod

I purchased an episode of Prison Break (called “Tonight” (the episode before last weeks episode)) and for $1.99, and it’s not too bad. I was able to place it on my iPod right away and on my iPod it looks great! However, on my computer, they quality is a little iffy. Personally, I still prefer the quality and speed of Bittorrent, but this is definitely a leap in the right direction (making good shows available for legal download).

Sony PSP battery pack for $7.99 at Best Buy

May 11th, 2006 at 3:51PM EDT or 2 years, 6 months ago (mid-afternoon)
Sony PSP battery pack $7.99 at Best Buy

Best Buy is selling them for only $7.99 each! Very good deal! :) It retails for $39.99 MSRP and they sell for $25 or more online. Limit is three of them. You can do in-store pickup to save $5 on shipping.

Update: They’ve sold out of them and have changed the price back to $39.99.

Bungie reveals some SHOCKING news!

May 10th, 2006 at 5:25PM EDT or 2 years, 6 months ago (the late afternoon)

You’ll never guess; today Bungie announced Halo 3, the third and final game in the Halo Trilogy. Halo 3 will be released for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 in 2007. :o They also released a spiffy new trailer to go along with the news and I have uploaded the small version to YouTube for you guys (you can grab the HD sized version here- but beware it’s 154MB and insanely amazing quality).

Oh Bungie, we never saw it coming.

Nintendo Wii Classic Controller

May 9th, 2006 at 6:50PM EDT or 2 years, 6 months ago (the early evening)
Nintendo Wii Classic Controller

Completely real (from the Nintendo website). Looks good to me. :)

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New Sony PS3 Controller

May 8th, 2006 at 10:16PM EDT or 2 years, 6 months ago (the late evening)
Sony PS3 controller

Ah, thank god it’s no longer that boomerang shape. Too bad there’s not much new here. It’s pretty much the PS2 controller combined with the Wii (Nintendo Revolution)…

Specs include X-Y-Z, pitch, roll, yaw, and lateral motion detection, bluetooth and wireless controls, and it’s lighter than the PS2 controller.

Looks like Sony just stole Nintendo’s originality. :P

In addition, pricing details of 20GB for $499 and 60GB for $599 have been released as well.