Dominatio Per Malum

BBC NEWS

Astronomers have revealed faint images of the two oldest and most distant supernovae to be discovered to date.

“As a point of reference, the universe is currently about 13.5 billion years old,” said Dr Sullivan.

Fallout 3 is terribly addictive. I have not been able to do much work these days because of it. Must stop playing. I fear for my sanity once Diablo 3 is released.

Ok, so there was the art controversy where players complained that D3’s graphics are too bright and cheery. I agree, and i do prefer the darker graphics but i’ll defer to the experts at Blizzard on how to make an awesome game. However, the inclusion of auto-set attributes rankles me to no end. Look, when i level up, i want POINTS to distribute for my stats, not some auto level mechanism. If i want to create a strength based wizard or a magic welding barbarian, that’s my prerogative to screw up my character. If i want to sacrifice hit points for more damage per second, that should be an option. So please Blizzard, Diablo 3 is NOT world of warcraft. Don’t screw with a winning formula.

As Cnet asia notes fallout 3 is only somewhat available in singapore.

Apparently, Fallout 3 (PC version) will only be out on Nov 13 in Singapore. The crappy versions (console) are already out, but seriously, why would you want to play F3 with a controller when you can use a mouse? Not that it matters to me because i absolutely cannot touch Fallout 3 until December. Fallout is a toxic substance that will make you fail exams, and i say that from personal experience.

Plus, those of F3 cold turkey can download the original F3 demo by Black Isle Studios here. You know, the ones who did F1 and F2.

Tech Tips for the Basic Computer User - Pogue’s Posts - Technology - New York Times Blog

New Stuff i learnt:

* The number of megapixels does not determine a camera’s picture quality; that’s a marketing myth. The sensor size is far more important. (Use Google to find it. For example, search for “sensor size Nikon D90.”)

Spore: Most Pirated Game Ever Thanks to DRM | TorrentFreak

Spore was without doubt the most anticipated game of the year. The game itself has blown away the people who have played it, but the DRM encouraged thousands to get their copy illegally. Already Spore has been downloaded more than 500,000 times on BitTorrent, and this number is increasing rapidly.

Spore is this really well rated game plagued by terrible DRM. It can only be installed 3 times, after which it is basically worthless. In other words, it is a deliberately crippled game. Now why would you actually buy a deliberately crippled game that comes with DRM when you can download a copy that is actually better than the retail version? A no-brainer, really.

Also, Amazon users have given Spore multiple 1star ratings solely because of its draconian DRM. And in my opinion, its well deserved.

Microsoft Works to Perfect Windows Vista - NYTimes.com

Vista represented a big shift from its predecessor, XP, so it required a lot of new drivers — and Microsoft did a poor job of communicating how much work was needed. Often, Microsoft said, an older driver still worked with Vista, but it slowed down the PC or made it crash unpredictably. Today, 77,000 hardware devices and components are compatible with Vista, more than twice the number when Vista was introduced.

“We are in a very different position with Vista than we were even six months ago,” said Mr. Veghte, senior vice president for Windows strategy and marketing. “And there are a lot of people holding forth with criticism of Windows Vista that have not used Vista, or not recently.”

Well, I have used Vista for months, and i am also concurrently using XP (laptop). Which makes me qualified to say that Vista sucks. I’m used to Vista and its annoyances but given a choice now, i’d still pick an XP machine over a Vista machine.

Playstation 2 component incites African war - Video Game Feature - Yahoo! Video Games

Allegedly, the demand for coltan prompted Rwandan military groups and western mining companies to plunder hundreds of millions of dollars worth of the rare metal, often by forcing prisoners-of-war and even children to work in the country’s coltan mines.

“Kids in Congo were being sent down mines to die so that kids in Europe and America could kill imaginary aliens in their living rooms,” said Ex-British Parliament Member Oona King.

Ergo, consoles are evil.

There are good games, there are great games and then, there is Diablo 3. As with all Blizzard Products, the cinematics are top notch and the teaser trailer kicks ass. But is the the gameplay trailer that truly impresses, with a more of what players are familiar with, and then some. I am so glad they kept the 2/3 perspective and did not go full 3D 1st person perspective. That would have been so un-Diablo. Even though D3 is still at least years from release given Blizzard’s tendency to take ages to release games, it something to look forward to.

Video games turn kids into killers? Not so, says new book - Video Game Feature - Yahoo! Video Games

While their digital pastime is often credited with eroding the state of contemporary literature, gamers have found an unlikely ally within the pages of a new book.

In other words, playing a few hours of GTA IV will not result in your kid stealing a car, careening through traffic and gunning down civilians.

How to Get Microsoft Office at 91 Percent Off - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

Even though i don’t like the newest incarnation of MS Office, this is a fairly tempting deal which requires only a .edu email address from an american uni.

I should be doing exam prep, but i was moved to write this quick diatribe because Singtel Mio sucks. Big time. It has caused me significant annoyance since its installation, mainly because its modem has a tendency to disconnect for no apparent reason. So it disconnects and then after a while, it reconnects, leaving me frustated. Because it is not serious enough for me to go through the hassle of getting tech support to fix this, but it is annoying enough to seriously piss me off. And from what i gather after googling the web, mine is no isolated issue and alot of people are annoyed by Mio. So if i suddenly dc while on MSN, you know why.

:: DESTRUCTOID PC blog - Hardcore Gamer Community :: PC News, PC Hints, PC Cheats, and Codes on Video Games: PC, Wii, Xbox 360, PC, PlayStation 2, GameCube, PSP, DS, GBA & Retro

Interplay announces Fallout MMO. Not to be confused with Fallout 3, which is developed by Bethesda. Now, i still have good memories of playing Interplay games, back when they were good. So, tentatively, i hope that the MMO will meet the standards of the original Fallout.

Hide the Safari “Update” Notification in Windows

getting annoyed when itunes asks me to install safari. No, i do not need another browser when firefox v3 (beta 5) works well enough.

Creative pisses more people off, like… HORDES! - CNET Asia Blogs: reHASHplus by Michael Tan, Singapore

Long story short, Creative sells supposedly “vista Ready” Sound cards. Unfortunately, its buggy and basically sucks. So this modder helps develop a patch to make it work on Vista properly. Instead of thanking him, Creative threatens to SUE him because, well, it infringes on the IP or something llike that. facepalm In the process, it commits PR suicide and pisses off alot of its customers. Releasing a lousy/ deliberately crippled driver is bad enough, but when someone fixes it so that it does not suck, you threaten to SUE?! Its so infamous, its been slashdotted, which means that its a bona fide PR disaster. Luckily i don’t buy Creative products: I’ve never had a particularly good opinion on their quality control and this incident doesn’t improve their image any bit.