Shameless Words from Shameless Geeks

Dulles VA based AOL is suing three international groups in the first test of Virginia’s anti-phishing law. Phishing is a tremendous annoyance in that it not only generates huge amounts of spam, the spam contains links to malicious websites that can ruin your life.

Kudo’s to the Virginia legal system for trying to make our life better. I’m glad to see that my state government is doing something useful.

I’ve seen a few posts letely about Infinity Ward’s announcement that CoD2 anti-cheat (punkbuster) is in testing. Hopefully, they will release an update soon. I’m getting tired of all of the cheaters. Hopefully, they will either make the patch compatible with the dedicated Linux server, or they will release a new Linux server with the anti-cheat facilities active. We’ll let you know.

A new invention for the military. Sensors to help soldiers avoid messages from HQ asking what they would like for dinner and other REMF questions during a firefight.

Another week another list of games coming out. Onto the list:

24: The Game for the Playstation 2
American Conquest: Divided Nation for the PC
Black for the XBox, Playstation 2
Cowboy Bebop for the Playstation 2
Championship Bowling for XBox
Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach for the PC
FIFA Street 2 for the Gamecube, Playstation 2, XBox, PSP and Nintendo DS
Final Fight: Streetwise for the XBox, Playstation 2
Generation of Chaos for the PSP
Greg Hastings’ Tournament Paintball Max’d for the Playstation 2
The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II for the PC
MLB ‘06: The Show for the Playstation 2, PSP
MX vs. ATV Unleashed: On the Edge for the PSP
Payout Poker and Casino for the Playstation 2, XBox, PSP
Street Supremacy for the PSP
Super Princess Peach for the Nintendo DS
Ultimate Pocket Games for the Gameboy Advance

Wow this is a big week with a lot of games for all you hardcore gamers. Onto the highlights:

24: The game: I wonder if this game will last 24 hours. Another TV license rehash, do I need to explain why I will take a pass on it.

Cowboy Bebop: Another license rehash of a popular Anime game. Since we have a few Anime fans out there, I figured I mention it here.

Black: Rumored to be a good shooter that got a little hype at the last E3. Gamespot already has a review of it up.

Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach : Newest MMORPG that is attempting to be the next World of Warcraft slayer. I have not played it yet, nor plan too but my MMORPG buddies are looking forward to it. I even had several ask me if I could get them in the beta.

Final Fight: Streetwise: I about peed in my pants when I saw this game on the list. It has been about 15 years since the last Final Fight came out and I thought we would never see another one. Seeing as beat ‘em ups are all but dead. This franchise was one of the greatest beat ‘em ups of all time and I still play it to this day. Well up to the day when I sold off my last arcade machine a few months ago. Too bad this game will fail, Capcom is asking the full price for it when it should be sold at a budget price and well it is a beat ‘em up.

The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II : Shameless another geeky RTS for you. See I do mention them if you whine loud enough.

Super Princess Peach : I have no clue what this new Mario Platformer is. Still it is a new Mario Platformer staring everyone favorite Princess, Princess Peach. So it must be good.

My pick for this week: Super Princess Peach

This time, it looks like THG and AnandTech are having a very public fight… well at least their successors and proxies are. I read the reviews on both sites, then only listen to what they tell me NOT to buy. Some I pass on to you, some I don’t. If you’ll notice, I’ve been passing fewer and fewer on.

It’s a shame, but the the tech press is drifting into the same state that radio did during the 1950’s. The public is starting to pay attention to them, and those with the most to gain from their opinions are starting to notice that. If you’ll remember, this era in the radio biz brought us the “payola” scandals that dragged many down in shame.

Currently, there are an awful lot of payola-like accusations being thrown around. I can’t say for sure whether or not they are true, but I have noticed an awful lot of biased reporting going on. Rest assured that ShamelessGeeks doesn’t get paid for our opinions about anything. In fact, nobody has ever paid us a dime for anything. Period. We have only gotten one game and one anime DVD from manufacturers, and those ended up with mediocre (and honest) reviews.

The funny thing about this whole fight is that, on the surface, it is about nothing. The whole thing looks more like an attempt to boost readership through controversy than any attempt for either to smear or clear the other. If you’ll read the posts, you’ll notice that they are slinging mud at each other because they are incenses about… nothing of importance.

The fight does have one valuable thing about it… It is extremely entertaining. Go ahead and check out the posts, even though they are just a cheap attempt to boost the hit count. It’s really funny how juvenile some people can be.

In some ways, I wish someone out there would pick a fight with ShamelessGeeks like this. It would certainly boost the hit count. Then again, it won’t boost the non-existent revenue, so who cares?

Nobody! It looks like there is no decision on the BlackBerry injunction yet, meaning that nobody has actually won the case yet. In addition, USPTO has issued a rejection to another NTP patent… 2 down, three to go.

I don’t know about you, but I’m so sick of patent trolls that I hope RIM wins, no matter what the violation was. The fact that NTP is just a patent holding house is good enough for me to consider them a leech on the tech industry.

I’ve decided to post a few thoughts about my initial experience with Star Wars: Empire at War. Please remember that this review is from someone who actually went out and bought the game.

This one won’t appeal to a lot of die-hard RTS gamers. It seems to be designed with the same philosophy that Battlefront was. It is a very lightweight and easy game to play, but seems like it will get old after a few hours. Lucas Arts certainly took a big risk with this one. It isn’t yet clear to me whether that risk was worth it.

The Battlefront heritage shows up quickly when you start to play the skirmishes. You need to control certain points on that map that are used to bring in reinforcements. These points are captured in exactly the same way that command points are captured in Battlefront. You need to clear out all enemy forces in range of the point, then stand there and wait till control switches to you.

There is no traditional gathering of resources. Income is generated by the buildings and planets that you capture, as well as (in the Rebel case) how much you can steal. This has the effect of eliminating the chance of an economy-based win. As far as I see it, the whole strategy is map domination for it’s own sake.

The Empire’s method of tech advancement is fairly standard, but the Rebels must steal all of their tech from the Empire using spy units. This may be too much of a departure from the normal way that RTS games handle tech in that it always keeps the Rebels a few steps behind the Empire. It seems to me that a good strategy for an Empire player would be to learn how to dominate with early units, then keep the game at that stage of technology by refusing to advance. In other words, the Empire is in complete control of Rebel technology.

Multiplayer brings back the concept of co-operative teams. Everyone on the Empire team shares resources and tech with everyone else on the Empire team. The same goes for the Rebels. This isn’t a new concept. I can remember playing Starcraft in this mode, and I’m sure Starcraft wasn’t the first either. (I can remember watching two headstrong players trying to share resources… hilarious) Unfortunately, this scenario has become a pretty unpopular one. It is likely to make the multiplayer game unplayable. I’ll give it a try, then let you know what I find.

My current assessment: If you are looking for the next big RTS, this isn’t it. However, it seems that Lucas Arts took quite a risk and brought forth a unique game. If you are looking for something different, this may be for you. I haven’t had a long time to investigate gameplay yet, and this game is far enough from what I’m accustomed to that I need to give it a little bit more of a chance before panning it. So far, I don’t think it is worth the $50 price tag ($60 for the collectors edition). Maybe you should wait until it drops below $30.

More to come soon.

– C O Jones

According to a Gamespot article, Infinium Labs, makers of the Phantom Game Console, is cash strapped. This is forcing them to put the Phantom Game Console aside and instead focus on releasing the Phantom Lapboard that was so popular at E3 2004. The Phantom Lapboard is a combo keyboard mouse pad with a stand.

The scary part of the article is that Infinium plans to use a viral marketing campaign to market the product. That is… they plan to post phony positive reviews from people on their staff on blogs, tech sites, and forums.

Please note:
if we find any shill-like reviews of the Phantom Lapboard, the offending post will be removed. Infinium Labs: if you want a honest review, we would be more than happy to review the Phantom Lapboard. Simply email us and we will work out the details.

Cathode Tan recently posted an article asking “is the grind, also know as crunch time, necessary in the Game development cycle“? The Grind is the end of the cycle where the developers and artists work major overtime to meet the deadline and get the product out the door. Having just come off a grind today, I would love to say no, but like with any Software project, the grind is a necessary evil. The reason the grind happens most often is because guessing how long it will take to code something is very hard to do. It is more of an art then a science.

As far as the grinding being used to mainly weed out people, I doubt it. Unless the management is totally evil and could careless about it’s employees, or feels they are easily replaced. That idea is just plain stupid. Good software people are always hard to find and replace, no matter what the industry. Then again, who ever said management was competent?

The new Star Wars RTS is out, and reviews are starting to hit the net. I’m getting mixed signals about this one, which usually either means that there are some “reviews for hire” out there, or that the game is really good, but isn’t the latest technology. You judge for yourself.

I’ll probably be buying a copy soon. Meanwhile, if any of you have a review you would like to submit, I’d be glad to post it.

I’ve seen reviews on Firing Squad, AP, and IGN. Please post others that you find.

… and doesn’t do too bad of a job this time. The sloth-like USPTO has issued a final rejection of NTP’s claims on one of the patents used in their suit against RIM. The 4 remaining patents in question have a status of “non-final rejection", which sounds like a close cousin to “limbo". Hopefully, this one rejection will be enough to stay the pending injunction.

Nice to see that NTP is getting called out for obtaining a patent on someone else’s work. Hopefully, they’ll soon end up in the dustbin of tech history… right next to SCO.

Recent stories about a Radio Shack CEO resigning when he got caught falsifying his resume have caused me considerable irritation. The guy is a liar and a cheat, but I have to wonder how hard he was pushed into the whole thing. I can see how common practices in the tech industry should be held partially responsible for this kind of behavior. Though there is no excuse for lying on a resume, I think that tech recruiters are at least partially to blame as well.

How can anyone judge this guy unless put in the same situation? How many times did he submit a real resume before giving up and following someone’s advice? Just how hard was he pushed into this?

Before going off on a tangent about how he should have done all of the stuff that he claimed to, you should realize that there are a lot of stories out there about people who truly wish they could have led perfect lives, but were unable. If you limit your talent pool to those who have never made a mistake, taken a bad risk, or otherwise explored the world, you will have a really paltry list of prospects.

Unfortunately for many of us, the “minimum standard” is extremely rigid. Nobody will ever actually read your resume if it is missing one or more search terms. Unless your resume is fully buzzword compliant, you won’t make it past the HR secretary serving as an entrance filter. Maybe the solution would be to stop using irrelevant minimum standards and replace them with something a little more meaningful.

If you take a look at my resume, most of you will see someone who has done a whole lot of different things at various levels. Unfortunately, the only thing a recruiter sees is “Ummm… I don’t see a diploma". Many would contend that 17 years of experience should make up for 4 years of education. They would be wrong.

So… Given that I know I can do the job, and that others know I can do the job, what am I to do about that roadblock? Well, I have been told by more than one recruiter that if I fabricated a college career and put it on my resume, they would then be able to put my name in for a job. I have been told by others that I should buy one of those mail-order degrees online and use that to fill the space. Nobody will ever check.

I can’t bring myself to do either, and I have been punished for that honesty.

Along comes a Radio Shack CEO who gets caught with a puffed-up resume. If he hadn’t, he probably wouldn’t have gotten hired. Instead, he was rewarded with a CEO position. Ask yourself this question: given his choices, would you have been able to maintain your integrity? I know that I would because I have faced that choice. I suspect that I am probably in the minority.

A High School student in Pennsylvania has discovered that anthrax in a letter can be killed simply by ironing it. That’s right… all of the doctors and toxicology specialists working on the problem have no solution, but a High School student does. Classic.

Does this mean we can all peel the plastic sheets and duct tape off of our houses now?

Microsoft has released its list of six Windows Vista products at last. I’m wondering what the price will be and whether they will have package licensing deals. So far, I haven’t seen anything. It’s a shame, too. It will cause me to delay my upgrade plans.

Microsoft, as you will recall, sold their souls when they required remote activation of a legally purchased product. They have made it so difficult to upgrade that many hobbyists like myself are getting deeper and deeper into Linux, and getting better and better at living without Windows. My prediction: when a few more games are available for Linux (you can already play some of the great ones like Quake 4 and CoD2), many like myself will forego Windows in favor of something we can afford.

Another week, another list of games coming out this week:

The Apprentice for the PC
Fight Night Round 3 for the Playstation 2, PSP, XBox and XBox 360
Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords for the PC
MS Saga: A New Dawn for the Playstation 2
Neverend for the PC
Sonic Riders for the Playstation 2, Gamecube and XBox
Super Monkey Ball Touch & Roll for the Nintendo DS
TOCA Race Driver 3 for the PC, XBox, Playstation 2
Tycoon City: New York for the PC

Decent selection this week, with again some odd games making the list like The Apprentice. I heard rumors about it but I thought it was joke. Guess not. Nothing really noteworthy, in other words no A-list games. My pick for this week is: Super Monkey Ball Touch & Roll. Loved Super Monkey Ball and this is the perfect game for the Nintendo DS. It should be winner if the designers actually put some effort into the game.

Chris Morris over at CNN asks: Is the gaming industry ignoring Grey hair gamers? So are they?

Move over 12-Step program! China now has a hospital ward for internet addicts, where they’re denied use of both the internet and phones for a 20-day period.

I doubt such a method would ever come to the US - geeks everywhere would decry it as “cruel and unusual punishment” under the Constitution. Too bad, because if it did I could send my parents there. XD

AnandTech is featuring an online tour of Newegg today. It’s nice to get a look at the second most likely place for my money to end up. If you are wondering about the MOST likely place for my money to end up, I’ll just respond by saying that I have already seen my Daughter’s college.

In a major turnabout, the US Congress actually did something that the American people can agree with. The US House of Representatives spoke out against Internet censorship in an effort to chastise four large companies about their recent deals with the Chinese government.

Though it was a refreshing change from the usual partisan bickering about who said what about who, they still have a long way to go before they can be expected to actually accomplish anything that the people want. We’re all waiting patiently for the day when Congress can do something useful, but it probably won’t happen in our lifetime. But still… baby steps are good.

Well, half of the inevitable has happened. US companies have started to filter traffic to China, bowing to the totalitarian regime’s wishes. Of course, Google, Microsoft, and all of the other web companies have their “justification” that censorship is a necessary evil. Unfortunately for them, I think it will bite them in the end (pun intended) when the other half of the inevitable happens.

Eventually, the filtering will become a moot point. The growing affluence of the Chinese people will increase the size of this task exponentially as more and more people get connected. In addition, the people will become increasingly curious about the forbidden fruits that are being held from them, and will seek ways around the filters. Once that point is reached, the whole scheme will get overwhelmed.

In the end, when the censorship has collapsed, the Internet companies will have a hard time convincing us that limiting free speech was a good idea, no matter what it meant to their bottom line. Free speech is something that free people hold dear… especially bloggers.

Microsoft is showing off a new software tool for managing online identities. Hopefully, it isn’t like their old software tool for managing online identities.

Sometimes, I wonder if there is anyone at Microsoft that has a memory that lasts more than a few patch cycles. The last Microsoft Wallet app opened up millions of users to identity theft and, if prosecuted, could have resulted in billions of dollars in fines. I’m wondering what makes them think that they have a bulletproof system this time?

The whole idea of online identities with CC numbers, SS numbers, and any other info that could be used to impersonate me just seems scary. Though it would be desirable to have all of that in one convenient place for shopping, I would hate to have it in one convenient place for hackers. Too little to gain for the risk. Count me out.

Sorry for the delay but I have been digging my computer of the snow dropped by the Blizzard of 2006. A lot coming out this week as the pace should start to pick up for the spring. Onto the list:

Age of Empires: The Age of Kings for the Nintendo DS
Drakengard 2 for the Playstation 2
Exit for the PSP
Full Auto for the XBox 360
Grandia III for the Playstation 2
Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure for the PC, XBox, and Playstation 2
Rugby 06 for the Playstation 2 and XBox
Star Wars: Empire at War for the PC
State of Emergency 2 for the Playstation 2

A lot of good stuff coming out this week. Onto the highlights:

Grandia III: Hopefully the translation work on this version of Grandia as the Working Design was. Previous installements where fairly good if you enjoy Japanese RPGs.

State of Emergency 2: With the ghost of 9/11 and GTA not hanging over this game hopefully the devolpers will devilver the anarchy fun fest they promised in State of Emergency 1.

Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure: After many delays finnally Marc Ecko’s little vantity project hits shelves. I played this at E3 and well found it to be a bore fest. Poorly designed and a total vantiy project. Marc you had no right to say what you said at last GDC.

Drakengard 2: Love to fly with Dragons? Love Square-Enix? Then you will love Drakengrad 2.

Age of Empires: The Age of Kings: This one has been getting a lot of hype, I am on the fence about it. It looks like a fun game but I am unsure if it will translate well to the small scale. Still before the stylus only a looney would even think about releasing a RTS for a handheld.

Full Auto: After a long drought owners of the XBox 360 gets another game. Isn’t odd how there has been more XBox game released then XBox 360 games released since the XBox 360 came out.

My pick for this week is: Grandia III. Loved the first one, loved the second one and hopefully will love the third one.

If the story is true that RIM’s new workaround for NTP patents takes the patented stuff out of the equation, this whole patent troll mess may come to a conclusion soon. Maybe someday, lawyers will no longer be able to make claims against IP that they had little or no creative input for… and the Cubs will win the World Series.

Here is one for the books. Big Planet Comics, a local comic shop to me here in DC is suing its rival, Big Monkey Comics, for trademark infringement. Joel Pollock, owner of Big Planet Comics, feels consumers will be confuse Big Monkey for Big Planet Comics. Scipio Garling response to the lawsuit was: “For my part, I just want to assure the public that there is nothing that could interest me LESS than emulating the overall feel and impression of Big Planet Comics. Please do not confuse it with Big Monkey Comics.” Then asked his readers if they could tell the difference between a picture of planet and monkey.

Exploding Ink patented by Qinetiq. This is a step up from the exploding cigar prank.

Recently I found the online site Instocktrades.com, which sells graphic novels and trade paperbacks at 30%-50% off. With free postage on orders over $50. Which is a better offer then Amazon.com. This site’s deal sound to good to be true, so I gave them out a try to see if they where legit.

I have to say they are 100% legit. I went to their site and order several graphic novels and couple trade paperbacks that had been planning to read. It was fairly easy to find what I wanted. Provided it is still in print (if you are looking for out of print stuff try mycomicshop.com or ebay). The only complaint I have about the site is there is a lot of broken links to pictures of covers. I also would have liked more synopsis and user feedback information about the various books.

The order went fairly smooth. I ordered on a Sunday and Tuesday morning they sent me an email telling the order had shipped with a tracking number. The order arrived five business days later, which is not bad for free shipping. They do offer faster shipping if you can not wait five days for your books.

The order was packaged fairly well with lots of peanuts and the order itself was in a plastic bag with backing board. The only issue I had with the order was that one of the books was damaged. Luckily, Instocktrades.com has a good replacement policy in place. I simply emailed them and they sent me a replacement out right away.

I definitely plan to use Instocktrades.com in the future and would recommend it if you are looking for a low cost source on the latest graphic novels and trade paperbacks. They also offer a comic book subscription service, which a lot of people rave about. I can not say one way or the other if it is any good since I have never used it. I still enjoy going to my Local Comic Book Shop on Wednesday to much too use an online comic book subscription service. If you do use their comic book subscription service please post here if it is any good or bad.

Slate has posted an article about Stephen King’s latest book the Celll. Which is about zombie cell phone users. I know cell phones are annoying but when did they become Eeeevillll?

It appears that looking for a job online has just gotten tougher. There are new federal regulations governing how a company must conduct it’s online job search that will have a dramatic affect on all of your job hunting. I would suggest that every Geek looking for a job read up on the new regs, and incorporate them into your job search. Thank the federal govt. and the cheap lawyers of the world for this one.

Meanwhile, I think it’s a good time for me to go back and finish GeekHall.

It looks like scientists have found a lost world in Indonesia that is full of previously unknown species.

Still no sign of Marshall, Will, Holly, or the sleestak.

Yet another list of the losers of 2005. Wired has released it’s 2005 Vaporware Awards. Is the winner a surprise? Nah! It’s the current world record holder and vaporware icon. It’s only about 8 years late now. I was surprised to see that some of the winners are still being promised. I thought that TF2 and Starcraft: Ghost were long forgotten by Valve and Blizzard.

If I was ever going to prank American Idol it would go something like this

Here is the list of games coming out this week:

Chibi-Robo for the Gamecube
Drill Dozer for the Gameboy Advance
EA Sports Arena Football for the XBox and Playstation 2
Finding Nemo: Escape to the Big Blue for the Nintendo DS
LA Rush for the PC
Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition for the PC
Resident Evil: Deadly Silence for the Nintendo DS
The Rub Rabbits! for the Nintendo DS
Tales of Legendia for the Playstation 2
World Soccer Winning Eleven 9 for the PC, Playstation 2 and XBox
WWII Tank Commander for the PC

Here is the highlights:
Rub Rabbits: Which is popular sequel in Japan to launch DS game Feel the Magic XX/YY.
Tales of Legendia: Which is the next RPG in Namco’s “Tale” series of games. Looks like it will be a good Japanese RPG.
EA Sports Arena Football: Continue EA’s domination of all games Football. You would think EA would at least throw someone a bone and pass on this licensee.

Again not much to pick from this week compared to last year when we having a new A list game every week. My pick for this week is the RPG: Tales of Legendia.

I’ve decided to put the CoD2 server back online as a public deathmatch server. I may be using it for some web-based server experiments, so use it at your own risk. I also haven’t found any real anti-cheat yet, so be warned that there are a lot of cheaters out there.

Enjoy.

This isn’t really news to most of us, but I thought you might enjoy it. The first IE7 Beta 2 bug reported was found in 15 minutes by a guy running a “fuzzer” program. Classic.

For those unfamiliar with the term “fuzzer", it refers to a program that tests another program by feeding it random input. Running such a program should be part of the test procedure for any commercially available software.

Fuzzers aren’t hard to create, and there is no excuse for a company as large as MS to fail to use one.

Well, here is more evidence that the music industry is full of itself when it tries to blame slumping CD sales on downloaders. Once again, the public has said that it is tired of paying high prices for lousy music. Most people have never downloaded, never will download, and think it is wrong. These are the “criminals” who deserve to have rootkits installed on their machines to spy on their every move.

Wake up guys. Most of us are tired of paying $15 for a $5 CD and seeing the remaining $10 go to the support of the cocaine industry.

An apple a day keeps the doctor rich. Well, that’s what a Louisiana man suing Apple for hearing loss caused by an iPod might say. His claim is that listening to an iPod on full volume for more than 28 seconds a day can cause hearing loss. Funny thing is… he isn’t claiming that he actually suffered hearing loss. Looks like another “deep pockets” lawsuit is upon us. There is a really good solution to the whole problem… Turn the damn thing down!.

Whats next, something like this? : Microsoft Corporation was named in a lawsuit today by a West Virginia man claiming that Windows caused irreparable damage to his IQ. Film at 11.

Jeez.

Research In Motion got a little more ammunition in their fight against the Blackberry injunction when the USPTO issued a non-final rejection of all 5 of the NTP patents in dispute. Now we get to wait until Feb. 24th to find out if the judge will take the USPTO seriously, or will he grant NTP an injunction on Blackberry based on patents they should never have had.

This looks like a critical decision for the future of IP laws. If the injunction ends up being granted, then every NTP-like patent troll will think he has a right to sue. We’re waiting.

Bill Gates spoke out against Internet censorship at a Lisbon, Portugal forum today. Thank you, Captain Obvious. In Mr. Gates’s defense, his statement was far better than coming out in favor of censorship.

The whole thing was obviously in response to the heat that some large western companies are taking for the recent shutdown of free speech in China. Though his sentiment was good, nobody with 2 or more contiguous brain cells in their head believes that Microsoft was in favor of this. Bill’s time is better spent on his humanitarian missions than on trying to explain something that everybody already understands.

I think I know what is happening to all of those manhole covers disappearing in Indianapolis. Thats right… It’s the Larry Niven Fan club collecting them and covering them in chocolate.

Just what is this incredibly obscure reference? Check the category for a clue. If you laughed at the joke because you understood it immediately, then you need to put down that book and get a life. If you can’t figure it out within 5 minutes, you have no right to call yourself a geek.