Supermarkets in the south-eastern UK presented a fresh target for motorist anger today, as reports circulated that the grocery chains had been selling contaminated fuel.
A large number of irate drivers have contacted media and consumer-affairs organisations over the past 24 hours, complaining that their cars did not run properly after refuelling at certain forecourts.
When taken for repairs, the affected vehicles were typically found to have defective "lambda sensors," used in modern car engines to regulate the richness of the fuel-air mixture. The sensor measures the amount of oxygen present in the car's exhaust gas, allowing the engine electronics to feed in the correct amount of fuel.
Such exhaust-oxygen sensors normally fail after 30,000 to 50,000 miles. This will cause the engine to use too much fuel and emit more pollution. It will often run rough at idle, and respond sluggishly or misfire when accelerating.
Automotive parts suppliers seeing unprecedented demand for replacement oxygen sensors in the South East, giving rise to suspicion that duff fuel may be involved. Some reports have hinted at ethanol contamination, but the AA said that tests have shown this is not the case. Other fuel contaminants can degrade lambda sensors, for example antifreezes or silicones.
Trading standards officers are now investing the matter. It's to be hoped they can wrap the case swiftly, lest disgruntled drivers mount a letter-bombing campaign or worse, a Downing Street e-petition.
A new report by Variety discusses what is expected to be the biggest summer in film history. Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, Warner Bros' international prexy of distribution, talked about Order of the Phoenix, just one of the major flicks coming out this summer:
"The opening date is not an obvious choice on the domestic side, but it really does put our best foot forward internationally. With 'Harry Potter,' we're going day and date everywhere except in the Middle East and a few minor markets, because most are going to be in holidays at that point, so this date really maximizes our opportunity."
With so many tentpoles, the battle for screens will be intense.
"We'll have between 6,000 and 7,000 on 'Ocean's' and over 10,000 on 'Harry' but that's going to be a challenge because there are so many incredible films coming."
In other HP film news, Dame Maggie Smith (McGonagall) mentioned her return to West End stage in a new interview, and also how the first Potter film is her favorite.
A publicist for Daniel Radcliffe has confirmed the actor will reprise his role in both the Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows movies. He is set to begin shooting on Movie 6 in September. There is currently no word on whether Rupert and Emma will return for the last two films, but Rupert has already expressed a desire to do so.
For the past few years, Warner Brothers has screened each Potter film in the Chicago area for lucky moviegoers. About a week ago, WB screened Order of the Phoenix at the AMC River East, and one of the first reviews is online now from Ain't It Cool News.
As with all reviews, this one has several spoilers. AICN gives the film a B+ and notes a running time of 2 hours and 30 minutes.
They might not think of it this way, but the designers of adult-oriented video games are a little bit like nightclub owners; they are always trying to figure out how to attract women as the ultimate lure for larger groups of male customers.
That dynamic was one of the major topics of discussion here Wednesday at the Game Developers Conference during a roundtable on the business of sex in video games.
"Right now, the (adult video game) market targets mainly straight white guys," said Brenda Brathwaite, chair of the International Game Developers Association sex special interest group. "And straight white guys aren't the only ones having sex."
Indeed, the developers of several leading adult online games said that there are major design problems built into trying to please multiple market constituencies, and that as a result, they have tended to focus on the straight male market.
One of those design problems, said Noah Dudley, the producer of Naughty America, an online adult game that will launch later this year, is that women don't approach sex in games the same way men do.
"When we started, it was pretty much sex land," Dudley said. "You could have sex anywhere you wanted. Our marketing people said, 'We can't sell this to women.' So we cut way back on the sexual content. Now you can have sex pretty much in your apartment. This shows that it's a lot more appealing to women."
These days, the number of adult-oriented video games is growing, but they are overwhelmingly aimed at straight men. Among the games on the market or expected soon are Playboy: The Mansion, the Leisure Suit Larry series, Virtually Jenna--which licenses porn star Jenna Jameson's likeness--Naughty America, RedLightCenter, and a few others.
There's also the virtual worlds Second Life and World of Warcraft, which, while not overtly about sex, make it fairly easy for users to engage in sexual activity.
"If you see two avatars lying down (in World of Warcraft), they're not just tired," said Brathwaite, who moderated Wednesday's roundtable discussion.
There has even been a Sex in Video Games conference, which was held here last June.
But while the video game industry appears more ready than ever to take on adult content, it still is grappling with how to get women interested. And it's not just an altruistic or gender-equality equation; marketers want women involved because women attract large numbers of male customers.
Brad Abram, the president of XStream3D, which publishes Virtually Jenna, said his game's user base is actually around 50 percent women. He said the company has achieved that by building in more story--albeit erotic story--into the game.
"We're evolving story like Penthouse Forum, and you finish it off, so it gets more cerebral," Abram said.
Despite some advances, it still seems that there is a long way to go, particularly because many sexually oriented video games are geared to giving their male audience what they really want: a way to almost instantaneously have sex. And that doesn't go over well with some women.
"I want to be me when I'm in (an adult game)," said one woman on hand for the discussion Wednesday. "I want to do more than log in and have sex. If I want to do that, I'll log on to a sex site."
Brathwaite agreed and said that adult game designers need to take such sentiments into consideration. They must, she argued, build in a way for women to achieve the arousal they desire before they engage in sex, even virtual sex.
"It's the thrill of the chase," Brathwaite said, making a somewhat awkward analogy. "When the animal just lays down dead and says, 'take me,' it's not erotic. No, I have to kill you first. It's really important. Women want that degree of erotic advancement, that chemical whatever that builds up over time. Make me think I'm hunting'--every woman I talk to, that's what they say," Brathwaite said.
Several participants in the discussion said that gay men and women are also underserved. And one main reason, it was agreed, is that because straight couples have different body movements when having sex than gay men or women. There's often too much animation work required to satisfy those markets.
"Everything we want people to be able to do has to be animated separately," Dudley said. The way that men interact with men differs from how men interact with women. So if we're going to deal with gay sex, which we do, then the amount of work we have to do skyrockets."
Abram said that Virtually Jenna allows players to highly customize their characters, including giving those wanting men with different-sized genitalia the ability to get what they want.
The same goes for what Abram called "ass physics," essentially the firmness of the male buttocks.
"I guarantee you, 'ass physics' has never been said at GDC before," Brathwaite said.
2D underwater adventure title Aquaria has won the Seamus McNally Grand Prize at the Independent Games Festival awards, earning a $20,000 cash prize for developers Bit Blot.
The awards, which are designed to recognise and reward innovation and creativity in the independent sector, were presented in San Francisco last night at the same ceremony which handed out the Game Developers Choice Awards.
Aside from Aquaria's Best Independent Game win, there were two awards for shoot 'em up title Everyday Shooter, which picked up Design Innovation and Audio gongs, while Xbox Live Arcade title Castle Crashers took the Visual Art award.
The Technical Excellence award went to online title Bang! Howdy, and the honour for Best Web Game went to point and click puzzle title Samorost 2.
In addition, two special awards were presented - an audience award voted for by readers of US website GameSpot, which went to Castle Crashers, and three special cash advances being awarded by GameTap for games which will now be featured on its download service. Those advances went to Everyday Shooter ($10,000), Blast Miner and RoboBlitz ($5,000 each).
Recognising the emergence of exciting new talent from the student sector, a new award was instituted this year for Best Student Game, with a $2,500 prize pot. The winner chosen from the IGF Student Showcase game selection was capture the flag title Toblo, which was developed by students at the DigiPen Institute of Technology.
Finally, rewarding new talent in the amateur mod scene, the IGF Mod Competition handed gongs to Half-Life 2 modification Weekday Warrior not once but twice - with the mod picking up the $5000 award for Best Mod as well as the award for Best Singleplayer FPS Mod.
Thanks to wraggster for allowing me to webmaster the DCEmu's Blog site. This site and forum will be for posting off-topic related news articals. Wraggster has also allowed me to post some occasional Anime news on the site, which is a added bonus. There have been many great additions and changes to the sites layout and they look great.
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Rules are the same as most of the other news sites and forums. No flaming, no warez, no foul language, no double posting ect....
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The DCEmu Blog site and forum is for posting off-topic or rant news articals. If you wish to have a post in the DCEmu Blog site simply post a thread in either the Submit news forum or the off-topic forum. If its appropriate for the site it will be moved to DCEmu Blogs news site accordingly. I hope you all enjoy the DCEmu Blog site.
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Partially due to the book's high cost, over a quarter of independent booksellers in the UK have chosen not to stock Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The book's sticker price, $34.99, is roughly twice the $17.99 cost of Sorcerer's Stone when it was published by Scholastic in 1999.
Independent booksellers are also unable to offer the extraordinary discounts being advertised by major retailers (Amazon is offering 46% off, Costco 50% off, Borders 40% off and Walmart 49% off.) To these retailers, Deathly Hallows is what is called a "loss leader" - it drives traffic to the store. The companies' profits take a big hit from the actual sale of the book, but they make their money from the sale of other items customers purchase while shopping.
For the second year GLBT members of the gaming industry had roundtable discussions to explore their place in the business. Issues like an International Game Developers Association special interest group were discussed, along with establishing Human Rights Campaign corporate equality index numbers for all game companies. The developers who didn't have domestic partner benefits at their companies believed that it was a simple oversight, not a decision point, by their employer. One of the stand-out moments was the discussion over the 'non-troversy' of gay game characters.
Designer Jeb Havens who led the roundtable sessions coined the "non-troversy" phrase to explain the Bully boy-on-boy kiss. An incident that many believed would blow up, but ended up being a bullet point. The non-troversy continued last week with Peter Molyneux's announcement that gay relationships would be allowed in Fable 2, even though it was an "accident" in the original Fable. As the roster of gay characters increases, which according to a recent study are wanted much more in RPGs, could gay characters become non-troversies in games like a Gears of War sequel? The film V for Vendetta was used as a prime example of how the gaming industry could incorporate gay issues that don't distract from the game's story, but actually help propel the plot.
This homemade roller coaster that was built out in the fields of Oklahoma is pretty cool, I guess. Call me when you add the loops, guys. Then it'll be a real coaster.
Check their website for a whole slew of videos of these guys just asking for a broken neck.
Welcome to Part 2 of our Tomb Raider Anniversary coverage. Crystal Dynamics game designer Jason Botta is ready to talk us through the changes the team has made to one of the original Tomb Raider's most memorable levels - the Lost Valley. Bring your dino-hunting hat...
How has the Lost Valley changed from the original game?
Actually in the original game it didn't really work - it was actually supposed to be a valley with the open sky above but, because of the limitations of the hardware, lots of that part was in a cave. So the first thing we did, we opened it up to the sky - it changed the whole feel of the environment. But overall, the feeling of the space when you came in and the floor of this valley that was lush and green in contrast to the rest of what you'd been in before - you know, up until that point with caves and grey and a little bit of running water and what-not - and er the fact is all still there.
We've sort of condensed some of the gameplay in the outlying sort of caves around there - we still have caves and little areas off of the main valley, but we've put more gameplay into the actual structure of the valley itself, so you go in, you fight the T-Rex, you get to the temple at the end and go through it all and what-not - there's more pathing and exploration of the space itself within the main complex of the valley. So you're never... believing this interesting-looking, lush, open environment and then just going off into side caves - we wanted to bring more of the gameplay into the more visually interesting area.
Screenshots in link above. Leave feedback via comments.
The arrival of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will bring with it the film series’ fourth director, with David Yates following the creative footsteps of Chris Columbus (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets), Alfonso Cuaron (Prisoner of Azkaban) and Mike Newell (Goblet of Fire). Along the way, he’s attempting to bring his own style to the film as he helps to orchestrate the next stage in Harry’s evolution.
GEEKMONTHLY.COM: How challenging was it for you to come in to this series mid-stream?
DAVID YATES: I’d just finished shooting quite a complex epic grown up drama called Sex Traffic and I got the call about this. I read the book and, obviously, it’s very difficult not to be intrigued and interested when offered a chance to get involved, because the world is very rich and fantastic and some of the themes in this particular story are incredibly dark and grown up. It was very difficult not to want to join in, as it were. Even though the film franchise has been going on for four pictures now, the attitude of the producers was really to be kind of open to new ideas and new ways of pulling things in a slightly edgier, more emotional direction. Which is, of course, a good reflection of where book five is anyway and what Jo [J.K. Rowling] created in the first place. So you’ve got lots of the benefits and lots of the advantages of joining a franchise such as this as there is a production infrastructure in place.
GEEKMONTHLY.COM: And dealing with the kids continuing to get older has to be a real advantage as a filmmaker.
DAVID YATES: It’s a really exciting time to be at Hogwarts, because, as you said, the characters are older and they’re dealing with really complex things. The cast is more interested in pushing themselves and being pushed as actors. It’s the best of both worlds. You still feel that you’re making a unique film and it’s your film, and it’s a very one-off story, but at the same time you’ve been given this tremendous reserve of resources if you need it.
GEEKMONTHLY.COM: What would you say are some of the themes of Order of the Phoenix?
DAVID YATES: Jo’s work is full of really interesting thematic stuff. In our story, Harry’s having to deal with the whole issue of whether or not he’s being corrupted and been made bad by this connection he has with Voldemort. It’s classical. Anyone who’s ever been through those very turbulent, difficult teenage years where you find yourself growing angry and frustrated and those years are really formative, will be able to identify. They’re the years that can sometimes define you as a person. Some people can take that and develop in a positive way, and some people start on a route that ultimately leads them to difficult years. That’s what this film and story partly looks at - the very emotional and turbulent time when you’re growing up and you’re suddenly questioning everything about the world. You’re also discovering the world is quite a complex and complicated place, and all the adults around you don’t necessarily have all the answers; there might even be falling out amongst themselves about how to deal with issues and problems that are threatening them. And you discover how complicated you are within your own self. What Jo is brilliant at doing, ultimately, is exploring that universal truth regarding that transition to adulthood in this magical universe.
Its toilet gadget time again, and here's the Brondell Breeza, a deodorizing toilet seat that's available in two different models. The Basic Breeza is battery operated and just keeps that stench down to a manageable level, while the Breeza Warm (pictured above) plugs into the wall and actually has a heated seat (which I can tell you from personal experience is well worth the trouble and expense). Both have that delightful gentle closing seat and lid that can help you at least keep some of those obnoxious bathroom noises to a minimum.
Both models have an automatic quiet fan that draws odors into a replaceable activated carbon filter, and then there's some sort of fragrance that you can place into the works as well. The Breeza battery operated seat can be installed in just 15 minutes according to the company; of course the heated seat's installation might be more complicated if you don't have an outlet nearby.
Viacom has launched a $1bn lawsuit against YouTube and its owners Google over copyright infringing videos hosted by the site. The case could test the limits of the 'safe harbor' protections for ISPs and influence other user-generated content sites.
The entertainment giant said that its clips have been viewed more than 1.5 billion times without its permission and has sued the search giant and its video sharing subsidiary in a New York court for "massive international copyright infringement".
If the case goes to trial it is likely to test the limits the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DCMA) of 1998. Google claims 'safe harbor' status for YouTube, which is a DMCA protection designed for search engines, web hosts and ISPs to shield them against liability for third party copyright infringements. Similar protections exist in European laws.
The safe harbor was designed to protect such companies from having to monitor the activity of every internet user, something which was recognised as impractical. These companies do not have to prevent illegal use of their services pro-actively, but when properly notified that they host infringing material they must "expeditiously" remove or disable access to that material. There is presently no clear judicial authority on the speed of reaction that qualifies as expeditious under the DMCA.
YouTube was built as a way of sharing videos made by users themselves, but a vast number of the videos posted and viewed are not created by the posters but are clips of television shows and music videos whose copyright belongs to entertainment corporations.
YouTube and other sites which allow users to post material for sharing rely upon the 'safe harbor' provisions of the DCMA for their own protection. The Viacom case will test that protection.
Para-Site
"YouTube is a significant for-profit organisation that has built a lucrative business out of exploiting the devotion of fans to others' creative works in order to enrich itself and its corporate parent, Google," said Viacom in its suit. "Their business model, which is based on building traffic and selling advertising off of unlicensed content, is clearly illegal."
"In fact, YouTube strategy has been to avoid taking proactive steps to curtail the infringement on its site, thus generating significant traffic and revenues for itself while shifting the entire burden – and high cost – of monitoring YouTube on to the victims of its infringement," said Viacom.
Though some observers have predicted a pay-off for Viacom, which owns MTV, VH1, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon, Google said it will defend its DCMA protection.
"We will never launch a product or acquire a company unless we are completely satisfied with its legal basis for operating," Alexander Macgillivray, Google's senior product and intellectual property counsel, told news agency Reuters.
"This is an area of law where there are a bunch of really clear precedents, so Amazon and eBay have both been found to qualify for the safe harbor and there are a whole bunch more," he said. "We will continue to innovate and continue to host material for people, without being distracted by this suit."
Viacom recently demanded that YouTube remove 160,000 clips which it said violated its copyright. YouTube removed the clips, but reports emerged that users immediately re-uploaded many of the clips almost instantly.
There is a requirement in the DMCA that, if a subscriber or account holder is found to repeatedly infringe copyright, a company seeking to rely on the safe harbor provisions must remove that person from its network. This termination policy must also be written into the terms of use.
YouTube's conditions comply with this requirement. They state: "YouTube will also terminate a User's access to its Website, if they are determined to be a repeat infringer. A repeat infringer is a User who has been notified of infringing activity more than twice and/or has had a User Submission removed from the Website more than twice."
Repeat infringements
The DMCA does not specifically address repeat infringements by different individuals, one of the biggest problems for content owners that object to their material appearing on YouTube. But it does provide an option for "such other injunctive relief as the court may consider necessary to prevent or restrain infringement of copyrighted material specified in the order of the court at a particular online location, if such relief is the least burdensome to the service provider among the forms of relief comparably effective for that purpose."
Struan Robertson, a technology lawyer with Pinsent Masons and editor of OUT-LAW.COM said: "It's possible that if Viacom's case goes to trial, new guidance will be given on the safe harbor provisions and the expectations for sites that are built on user-generated content."
A Supreme Court ruling against file-sharing firms Grokster and Streamcast in 2005 means that if Viacom can show that YouTube promoted the infringement of copyright by users, it would likely be liable for that infringement. But Robertson said this may be difficult to establish. "There are clear and prominent warnings in YouTube's upload process, not just its small print, that tell users not to upload copyright infringing materials."
"The problem is that users can ignore the warnings," he said. "YouTube and Google know that and have been working on filtering technology to reduce the infringing material on its site – but clearly not fast enough for Viacom."
"Viacom will no doubt argue that YouTube's failure to identify and block infringing uploads is tantamount to promoting them – and that would be a worrying result for any user-generated content site," he said.
Simon Fox, CEO of high street retailer HMV, has told GamesIndustry.biz that the company plans to focus more on videogames as it prepares to launch its new 'store of the future' initiative.
"Games will continue to be a key strategic driver in our plans going forward, increasingly taking up a larger share within our overall product mix - which, in turn, will equate to more trading space in-store and an increased share of the overall games market," Fox said.
"We also plan to increase the profile of games within our HMV.co.uk Internet business."
Fox's comments come after HMV unveiled a three-year strategy designed to revitalise the business in the wake of a further deterioration in trading conditions.
As part of this strategy, the company will focus on the growth of its website - with the aim of ensuring that 20 per cent of HMV sales are made online by 2010. There are also plans to introduce a new type of store which will have particular benefits for gamers.
"HMV has been developing a format for the 'store of the future', which gives customers a totally new interactive experience," Fox told GI.biz.
"Based around a refreshment hub, with online access to HMV.co.uk and our proposed social networking site, the new format will offer the facility to download music digitally and to 'pay to play' the latest games on new gaming consoles.
"I believe this has the potential to be a very exciting development, that will encourage more gamers instore and underline our growing credentials as a games specialist."
HMV is developing 'store of the future' formats for 10,000 and 4000 square foot models in two trial stores, and is aiming to launch the initiative early this summer.
The retailer is taking a "cautious view" for the remaining seven weeks of the financial year, despite the forthcoming launch of PlayStation 3. Full-year profits "are expected to be below the current range of market expectations".
Early this morning, Scholastic announced "There Will Soon Be 7," a multi-million dollar marketing campaign for the seventh and final book. Deathly Hallows will hit shelves on July 21st, with a record-breaking print run of 12 million copies, breaking the previous record set by Half-Blood Prince (10.8m).
"There Will Soon Be 7" launches on April 17th and includes:
7 Questions of Harry Potter campaign - Beginning on April 17 and ending on July 7, 2007, Scholastic will release one question every two weeks. These are the big questions fans debate at great length online, at book clubs and in everyday conversations, and that they hope J.K. Rowling will answer in this final installment. The questions will be posted on scholastic.com and released through advertising and publicity outlets.
Knight Bus National Tour - On June 2nd , exactly seven weeks prior to publication, a touring Knight Bus, based on the unique vehicle in the Harry Potter books, will take off from New York City and travel to 40 libraries in 10 major metropolitan areas all across the country. In each location where the bus stops, fans will be invited to visit the Knight Bus and share on video their thoughts and feelings about the Harry Potter books. Select video clips from each location will be uploaded for viewing and sharing on www.scholastic.com/harrypotter
Retail Promotions : Scholastic will send "There Will Soon Be 7" table top easelbacks and millions of collectible bookmarks to retail accounts and libraries throughout the country. Both the easelbacks and the bookmarks will feature one of the 7 Questions as each is released. Between June 2nd and July 7th, "There Will Soon Be 7" countdown standees (a 5 foot corrugated promotional piece featuring Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows cover art and a countdown to July 21st feature) will land in retail accounts and libraries. And, finally, to celebrate the big day, Scholastic will distribute millions of tattoos for giveaways at what is sure to be a record number of Harry Potter midnight parties.
Binge-drinking is defined as having five or more alcoholic drinks in one sitting
Ireland has the highest rates of binge-drinking in the European Union, a survey exploring attitudes to alcohol has indicated.
Finland and Britain came second and third in the Eurobarometer survey.
In Italy and Greece, by comparison, only 2% of people said they did binge-drink - defined as having five or more alcoholic drinks in one sitting.
The survey comes just a few days before Ireland, and much of the world, celebrates Saint Patrick's Day.
BINGE-DRINKING IN THE EU
Ireland 34%
Finland 27%
UK 24%
Denmark 23%
Portugal 4%
Italy & Greece 2%
Source: Eurobarometer
Binge-drinking is a particular problem among young people, with almost a fifth of the 15-24 age group usually binge-drinking when consuming alcohol, according to the results of the survey on attitudes towards alcohol, presented by the European Commission on Thursday.
According to the data, men drink more than women, and one in 10 Europeans usually drinks five or more drinks in one session.
Almost eight out of 10 Europeans agree with putting warnings on alcohol bottles and adverts to warn pregnant women and drivers of the dangers of drinking alcohol.
Irish debate
One in three Irish people questioned in the EU survey regularly binge-drink.
In Ireland, there is an ongoing public debate about attitudes to alcohol, especially among young people, says the BBC's James Helm in Dublin.
The Catholic Church has added its voice to those warning of the dangers to society of alcohol abuse.
Saint Patrick's Day on 17 March, the feast day for Ireland's patron saint, can be the cue for heavy drinking.
In recent years there has been much concern about underage drinking on Irish streets on Saint Patrick's Day and some of the resulting problems, including violence, our correspondent says.
This year, police will patrol outside many off-licences where alcohol is sold and there have been calls for stores selling alcoholic drinks to restrict their opening hours in order to try to prevent excessive drinking.
A 2006 report by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office called "Filesharing Programs and Technological Features to Induce Users to Share" was just released to the general public yesterday, and it contains some interesting governmental observations as to the dangers of digital piracy.
It's 80 pages long and I am far too busy/lazy to read through the entire thing, but it looks like the general gist of it is that file sharing supports terrorism and corrupts our children. It claims that peer-to-peer networks increase the chances of government workers sharing sensitive data, which is kind of a stupid argument (let's ban phones, while we're at it, so they can't call people and tell them secrets).
An even more backwards argument is that by exposing kids to P2P software they are at a higher risk to pirate music, therefore be sued by copyright holders. The bad news about all this? It will make people protecting their copyrights seem antagonistic. Actually, the copyright holders that are being antagonistic are the ones making themselves seem that way, chief. If any of you out there with too much free time on your hands wants to comb through this beast for some fun quotes, pass em along and we'll post the best ones.
If you thought spelling bees, dominoes, and the Bud Bowl were sorry excuses for sporting events, wait 'til you catch all the lack of action at the National Texting Championships. What do you have to do to win this amazing event? You'll need to text faster than anyone, of course. The catch? You can only enter if you have an LG enV.
Nice try, LG. I'm not falling for that one again and buying a mediocre phone just to enter a national competition based around text messaging. We all remember what happened last time.
The Sudokube is exactly what it sounds, and looks like. This little mind-puzzle combines a favorite puzzle game with an age-old mind boggler, the rubik's cube. The lack of colored tiles makes it very color-blind friendly! $10.
On a related note; you know what really grinds my gears? The fact that I still have a rubik's cube sitting on my desk unfinished, but a 3-year-old can do it in 114 seconds. Am I doing something wrong, or is this just a superchild? Stupid kid and its stupid super smartness.
A German belly dancer who checked into hospital to have her thighs trimmed ended up with just one butt cheek after the plastic surgeon hoovered out her right buttock, Ananova reports.
Julia "Cleopatra" Meyer, 38, of Munich, said of her liposuction ordeal at the Berlin Charité hospital: "I had been unhappy with my saddlebags, the fat stored in the outer thigh area. Because of the local anaesthesia I did not realise what he was doing. When I saw afterwards that half of my bum was missing I almost fainted. It had been completely sucked away."
Unsurprisingly, the matter ended in court, where Meyer was awarded £12,000 damages against the unnamed private plastic surgeon. The court heard her career is dead and the poor woman "does not even dare to go to a swimming pool because she is ashamed of the way she looks".
A consultant at the Berlin Charité hospital chipped in his expert opinion, describing the arse reduction as a "grave error in treatment".
A number of months ago, Emma Watson expressed uncertainty about returning for the sixth and seventh Potter films. Over the weekend, several UK tabloids reported that she wouldn't return for the movies, and also - we presume - misquoted co-star Rupert Grint.
Fortunately, a WB spokesperson retorts, "We're extremely confident that Emma will be back for films six and seven." The actress is reportedly set to sign her new contract soon.
We will update you with more on this story shortly.
Air-conditioned vests have certainly graced the bodies of armed men and women before, but an elusive new breed is being tested in the multi-million dollar Spinnaker Building at the University of Portsmouth to ensure that it'll keep soldiers cool from the brutal conditions in Iraq. Scientists at the school weren't at will to disclose all the nitty gritty details about the classified gear, but we do know that these bad boys utilize "a combination of air, liquid, and new applications of old technologies such as converting paraffin wax into liquid in chambers within the vests to absorb heat from the body." The gist of the testing is to create a suit that actually improves one's ability to make sound judgments while in the field and under extreme conditions, and it was also mentioned that a mysterious US defense contractor is hoping to tweak these and have 'em out "within one to two years." Now, if only these things were available en masse for our poor laps, we'd really be in business.
Tony, a professional pirate, is pissed at P2P for taking away his business. While it used to be that pros (the guys that sell pirated CDs and DVDs) would have had an easy time getting customers, people are now unwilling to pay for illegal material they can get for free online.
"File-sharing, P2P—call it what you like. When you asked a customer why he wasn't buying anything, 9 times out of 10 it was 'BitTorrent this, LimeWire that'. Add that to the fact that huge numbers of PC users have burners and fast broadband and its obvious why I had to get out and earn a living another way. We had it good for a while but I don't think those days are coming back."
People seem willing to pay for legal music, however, proving that people know that there's value in paying for music online if they know the money will get to the people who deserve it. People like Tony get no sympathy.
Say it with me: get rid of DRM and we'll buy more music, get rid of DRM and we'll buy more music, get rid of DRM and we'll buy more music. Music fans are not inherent criminals.
The Order of the Phoenix video game is slated for a release one week before the July 13th release of the movie. The game's senior designer has said, "You're going to see all of Hogwarts based on the blueprints from the movie. It's all there and it streams without loading. We're showing some places that have never been seen before like Grimmauld Place where Sirius Black lives."
British book chain Waterstone's is currently listing Deathly Hallows on their website as having 608 pages. If correct, this would make the US edition around 688 pages long.
However, it should be noted that the site also lists Half-Blood Prince with 608 pages, so Waterstone's could simply be using that page count as an estimate for Deathly Hallows. In addition, generally this type of information is released to the public (via JKRowling.com or her publishers) first.
Please consider this very much a rumor for now, and we will update you with more information as soon as possible.
It's the million dollar question, the one that's on everyone's lips - can videogame TV shows actually work?
Well, XLEAGUE.TV reckons they can, as it's delivering an eSports television channel on Sky.
XLEAGUE.TV will feature the likes of matches and league tournament play - complete with commentary and league analysis - along with news, reviews and "magazine format shows", according the evangelising PR.
The channel is due to launch in spring - so any time now - and the TV show is being integrated with a dedicated website - linked to above - where the leagues are maintained. It's not just catering to PC gamers either, console fans.
Does a TV channel dedicated to eSports appeal? Would you like to sit and watch four players going head-to-head in Supreme Commander with an excitable commentator filling in the dull moments? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Yesterday we told you that Waterstone's was listing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as having 688 pages. Bloomsbury has informed us that a page extent for the UK edition of the book has not yet been confirmed.
Scholastic announced today that the US edition of Deathly Hallows will contain 784 pages, making it the second longest book in the series behind OOTP!
Since the US versions of the books are published in a larger font and contain chapter pictures, this should mean the UK version will be around 700 pages long.
The US version of the book will have an initial print-run of 12 million, and the publisher has also revealed that each of these copies "will be printed on paper that contains a minimum of 30% post-consumer waste (pcw) fiber."
The President of Scholastic Trade Publishing and Book Fairs said, "Scholastic worked hard with our suppliers and the Rainforest Alliance to secure this extraordinary amount of recycled and FSC certified paper for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. As a company with an ongoing commitment to protecting the environment for this generation and generations to come, we believe producing this book and our future reprints of Harry Potter books with a minimum of 30% pcw recycled paper is an important publishing decision."
The Venezuelan Solidarity Network has taken issue with Pandemic's Mercenaries 2 and want production stopped, targeting Bono as the one who could ultimately do the deed.
The organisation is collecting signatures of religious leaders for a letter that it plans to send to U2's lead singer in early April, "to ask him to use his considerable influence to stop the sale of the game".
Bono is on the board of Elevation Partners, which has strong ties with the partnership established between BioWare and Pandemic in 2005.
"Our concern", says the letter, "is that this game will only deepen an already antagonistic relationship between the U.S. and Venezuelan governments". Mercenaries 2's plot deals with a power-hungry tyrant whose taking control of the oil industry turns Venezuela in to a warzone.
This Lightsaber universal remote is just the thing to have when the Star Wars episodic TV show heads our way in 2009. Featuring five buttons—volume and channel up/down and a gigantic power switch—this 20cm-long remote will make you feel like you're Alec Guinness or Liam Neeson slumming for cash. And when the show turns out to stink as much as the last three movies did, well, you'll be able to switch over to House while making noises with your mouth.
There will be a fourth series of Doctor Who, writer/producer Russell T Davies has confirmed, although he refused to say whether David Tennant would continue in the lead role.
Speaking at the London premiere of the third series, Davies declared: "Series four is officially existing. I'm very excited, but we have known for ages." Tennant refused to be drawn on his possible participation, telling the press: "Do you know how many times I have been asked that question? Do you know how many times I have answered it?"
Series three kicks off on BBC One on 31 March. It features Freema Agyeman as the Doc's new assistant Martha Jones, replacing Billie Piper as Rose Tyler who decided to hang up her time-travelling boots. Agyeman said: "Billie did a tremendous job. I know no one likes change but the nature of the show is change and hopefully fans will be cool with that and give me a chance."
Highlights of the new series are a Dalek two-parter and the Doctor "sharing a kiss" with Martha Jones in the first episode. Hot stuff. ®
The 20-year-old Wisconsin man last year charged with having sex with a dead deer has been sentenced to probation and evaluation as a sex offender, Yahoo! reports.
Bryan James Hathaway was cuffed on a "a misdemeanour charge of sexual gratification with an animal". The court case raised some interesting legal issues, since according to the defence, the relevant "crimes against sexual morality" statute prohibits sex with animals, but fails to mention carcasses.
Hathaway's attorney Fredric Anderson filed a motion which argued "because the deer was dead, it was not considered an animal and the charge should be dismissed". He insisted: "The statute does not prohibit one from having sex with a carcass."
This audacious interpretation of the law clearly cut little ice with the courts, because Hathaway earlier this month pleaded no contest to a charge of "misdemeanour mistreatment of an animal". Judge Michael Lucci sentenced him to six months' probabation and ordered him to be "evaluated as a sex offender and treated at the Institute for Psychological and Sexual Health in Duluth, Minnesota".
The judge admitted: "The type of behaviour is disturbing. It's disturbing to the public. It's disturbing to the court."
Hathaway had previously been convicted of a related offence in April 2005, when he pleaded "no contest to one felony charge of mistreatment of an animal for the shooting death of Bambrick, a 26-year-old horse, to have sex with the animal".
Although he received just probation for his latest escapade, local animals can sleep sound in their beds since he attracted a nine-month jail sentence back in February for violating the extended supervision order slapped on him for his equicide outrage.
Warner Brothers announced in a press release today that Dan Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint are all officially signed on for the Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows films. Each of the three actors, along with Producer David Heyman, were quoted in the release.
From Dan:
"Playing the role of Harry Potter has been an immense privilege, and I look forward to completing the series. I feel a huge sense of loyalty to the character of Harry and the fans who have supported these films over the years. During filming, I have learnt so much, made lots of friends and met people who have changed my life. I am indebted to J K Rowling, Warner Bros. and David Heyman for giving me this fantastic opportunity."
From Emma:
"I could never let Hermione go - she is my hero! I love her too much and love what playing her has meant to me. I am excited and honoured to be finishing what I started and playing her in all seven of the films."
From Rupert:
"Ron Weasley has become a big part of my life and not just because we've both got ginger hair! I've been so proud to play him and loved every second of being part of this world. I'm really looking forward to filming the last two films and being back with my 'Weasley family' and, of course, to seeing my good friends Emma and Dan. Thank you to everyone for being so supportive over the years; we couldn't have done it without you."
Ziff Davies Media has reported a 70 per cent rise in profits for the fourth quarter, despite a loss for its Game Group.
Profits reached USD 14.3 million (EUR 10.7m) for Q4, compared to USD 8.4 million (EUR 6.3m) for the same period last year.
Ziff Davies' Game Group publishes US magazines Electronic Gaming Monthly and Games for Windows, as well as consumer website 1.UP.com.
Fourth quarter revenues for the videogame division were down from USD 11.6 million (EUR 8.7m) compared to USD 14.3 million (EUR 10.7m) for the previous year, with profits down from USD 3 million (EUR 2.2m) in 2005 to USD 1.6 million (EUR 1.2).
A decline in print advertising was given as the main reason for loss, although the company said this was offset by growth in online revenue of 76 per cent.
Ziff Davies closed the Official US PlayStation Magazine in January of this year.
Profits for the company overall increased 57 per cent to USD 27.1 million (EUR 20.4m), over USD 17.3 million (EUR 13.03m) in 2005, with consolidated revenues up to USD 181 million (EUR 136.3) for the whole of 2006.
Music has been a focal point of many of EA's titles for years now, and now the publishing giant has gone a step further by forming its own music label.
In a joint venture with Nettwerk One Music, the new LA-based Artwerk record label will sign both new and established artists, the first of which will be Junkie XL, who worked on music for Madden, SSX Blur and Need for Speed Carbon games.
EA will use its games as a worldwide marketing tool to promote its artists.
"For the past five years, EA has been instrumental in breaking new artists, but we have been limited in our ability to grow them. With Artwerk, we can now directly sign, develop and launch artists for publishing, master recordings, sync deals and beyond," said Steve Schnur, worldwide executive of music and marketing at EA.
"With Nettwerk, we are once again partnered with the most visionary team in the industry. And with Junkie XL as our premiere signing, we are enormously excited about the future."
Zuxxex, the German games software distributor, has hired lawyers to chase down about 500 British file-sharers, launching the first in a series of swoops by computer forensic experts.
Law firm Davenport Lyons will use this case, its first "volume" job to stalk file sharers, to launch a specialist practice. A partner at the firm, who preferred to remain anonymous for "security reasons" said Davenport had other publishers in the pipeline.
File sharers were reported under court orders served on 18 ISPs at Davenport's request after computer forensic experts associated their IP addresses as sources for downloaders of Dream Pinball 3D, a computer game that's unleased in the UK - it goes on sale in June.
Letters sent to 500 file sharers in recent weeks recommended paying a £600 fine for sharing the £16.99 computer game on a peer-to-peer file sharing networks. Failure to pay would result in prosecution and potential court costs of "tens of thousands of pounds".
Harry Bilbao, who has received a letter from Davenport, dated 6 March, which accused him of file-sharing, said in an email to The Register: "BIG problem is... I have no clue when it comes to law, I have no idea where I stand. Can you help?"
He said he had no knowledge of the game, had found there was a virus on his computer, had appealed against the threat and supplied evidence that there were viruses around that could commandeer your machine.
"I have looked for the game on my computer and I don't have it... And I don't remember ever playing it as I don't like pinball," he wrote.
Davenport replied in a letter dated 21 March: "In relation to your claim that your computer was hacked into, we regret that the security of your computer is not our concern. It is your responsibility to ensure that your computer is protected at all times."
The law firm gave Bilbao seven days to pay and sign a declaration promising never to share computer games again.
Davenport has a phone service for people worried about the threatened action, but the firm has told staff not to tell anyone their names. The letters they send out are not named.
A Davenport partner told The Register: "We don't give out names to infringers because we don't want to end up getting abuse on the phone."
The partner, and another who spoke about the campaign, said they were also worried about being threatened or spammed, and were worried about the welfare of their female employees.
But they admitted that the only calls that gave them concern had been ones from people demanding that they "speak with the engineer and not the oily rag".
In one instance, a file sharer had appeared at Davenport's offices, he said, although in this case it was a woman who ust wanted some answers.
The partner refused to say how much his firm was being paid for pursuit of the file sharers, but the letter sent to them said £250 of the £600 fine being levied against them was to cover the solicitor's fee.
Dirk Hassinger, sales director at Zuxxex Entertainment AG, which holds the European licence for Dream Pinball 3D, said it had tried to find lawyers prepared to charge low fees because he didn't want to "bankrupt" file sharers
Scholastic and Bloomsburyhave released the covers for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!
We have the UK Child and Adult and also the USA version covers to take a look at:
Heres the screens (Click the pics for bigger screens)
Heres some background info from msnbc
The seventh and final installment in J.K. Rowling's phenomenally successful "Harry Potter" books series does not hit book stores until July,.
The colorful cover for "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" suggests a confrontation between the teenaged wizard-in-training and his nemesis, Lord Voldemort, but Rowling's American editor, Arthur A. Levine, refused to shed light on speculation that Harry dies at the end.
"It doesn't look good for Harry," TODAY host Meredith Vieira commented as the jacket of the book was unveiled publicly for the first time.
"We're seeing Harry in a very interesting situation. Readers will find out exactly what the situation is," said Levine, who admitted he cried as he read the book.
"We know that someone's going to die, right?" Vieira pressed.
Levine held his ground, saying only, "We do know that someone's going to die."
The cover jacket depicts Harry Potter on the front, looking skyward with his left palm open and raised above his head. The jacket wraps around to the back, where Lord Voldemort — a dark wizard who is so evil that characters refer to him only as "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" — glares at Harry menacingly with his thin, bony fingers reaching for the popular protagonist.
"As the guy who brought it here [to the U.S.], do you have mixed emotions about this series being brought to an end?" TODAY host Matt Lauer asked.
"Oh, yeah, sure," Levine said. "When I was reading it, I had both the excitement and the power of the book, and the plot, driving me forward. But I was also feeling a little sad. It's the last time."
When Levine admitted he "sobbed and sobbed" while reading the book, Vieira made a valiant-but-failed final effort to get Levine to disclose whether Harry Potter is finally done in by Lord Voldemort.
"That means someone we like dies, doesn't it?" Vieira prodded.
"Well, it means it is a very, very emotional book," Levine said.
For British author J.K. Rowling, the final book in the series caps a remarkable run of success that began with the publication of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" in 1997 (retitled "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," in the U.S.). The stories, which led to six movies that have either been released or are in production, have been mostly set in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
It is there that Harry Potter honed his skills and used them to fight against the evil Lord Voldemort, who killed Harry's parents.
The US Postal Service continues to attempt to cash in on the Star Wars brand, now cranking out a pane of 15 stamps featuring Star Wars characters, monsters and gadgets. The US mailmen are also attempting to lure you into voting for your favorite stamp. It's tied in with that R2-D2 mailbox stunt you've undoubtedly heard about, and involves a sweepstakes where you answer a group of questions that only a fanatic could answer.
In this grand and ironic attempt to gather email addresses (perhaps for future spamming) and to get you to stop using FedEx, the US Postal Service is offering a grand prize trip for four to a Star Wars Celebration IV event in Los Angeles on May 24-28, 2007. That five-day marketing orgy features a bunch of washed-up Star Wars actors, Star Wars toys and lots of other bullshit. Sounds like the kind of publicity stunt that would happen at Burger King, not the post office.
Now if it were a Star Trek event, that would be different.
That's right, Blue Dragon could be the last anime for Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Quest character designer. It's based off the Hironobu Sakaguchi Xbox 360 game of the same. At the recent Tokyo Anime Fair, the animator said:
The offer to direct an animated version of Blue Dragon came in February of last year. Studio Pierrot approached me regarding it. I knew that Sakaguchi had been working on assembling staff to produce a game, although at the time Blue Dragon hadn't yet been formally announced. According to the materials, it was to be a fantasy world like "Lord of the Rings", with a detailed world view and story.
This may be my final anime, I'm a little worried (about it). There's incredible pressure, but at the same time, there's a sense of accomplishment — that it's worth doing. Blue Dragon will be a masterpiece, not simply because I'm working hard on it, but because the staff is expecting nothing less.
Blue Dragon begins airing on TV Tokyo on April 7th. Increased Xbox 360 console sales to follow.
Toshiba has slashed the price of its HD-DVD players in the US, effective immediately, in a move it labelled a "strategic reduction."
The manufacturer is dropping prices of its entire HD-DVD line of players, with the entry level HD-A2 reduced to USD 399 (EUR 299 / GBP 203) and the newly released HD-A20 model coming to market at USD 499 (EUR 374 / GBP 254).
The HD-DVD format features in Microsoft's Xbox 360 console while Sony's rival Blu-ray format is a key element of the PlayStation 3.
Supporters of the HD-DVD format, including Warner, Paramount and Eagle Rock have welcomed the move.
"The spring is ramping up well for HD-DVD, with an incredible list of movies and the best priced hardware on the market," commented Ken Graffeo, executive VP of marketing at Universal Studios Home Entertainment.
Last September, Entertainment Weekly caught up with the actors on the Order of the Phoenix set, where they were in the midst of shooting the climax Department of Mysteries sequences.
Director Yates recently watched the Detention With Dolores scene with a test audience in Chicago, and he said: "The theater went very, very still. Dolores does it with a smile and a cup of tea. That's what makes her really horrifying."
The trio is growing older, and by the time the Deathly Hallows movie comes out, Dan's expected to be 20 and Rupert 21. According to Dan, "And people come up to me and say, 'Do you not think you're getting too old for the part?' It's lunacy." But even Radcliffe admits that he and his castmates certainly look dramatically different. "I saw a bunch of continuity photos from the first film the other day. It was quite incredible. We've changed so much, it's unreal."
Scholastic previously announced that the US edition of Deathly Hallows would be 784 pages long, leading fans to believe it is the second longest book in the series (behind OOTP's 870, and ahead of GOF's 734). However, on Tuesday, Bloomsbury revealed that their edition of Book 7 would contain 608 pages, making it the third longest book (behind OOTP's 766, and GOF's 636).
The US editions have always comprised more pages than the UK ones because they use a larger typeset as well as chapter images. But, the typeset for the American versions has grown in the last few books, while the font has remained unchanged in the British editions.
This would indicate that US edition of DH is only longer than GOF because the typeset has once again been increased. Therefore, the book, while consisting of more pages than Goblet of Fire, would actually be shorter in words. On the other hand, Bloomsbury - in an effort to minimize the amount of paper used - may have reduced their font size.
Even though we're fairly certain Book 7 is indeed shorter than Book 4, we have spoken to Bloomsbury on the matter; they don't yet have a word count for the book, so we cannot yet verify which book is longer. We'll keep you updated as soon as we know more.
