LIVEdigitally

So apparently last week’s Christian Game Developers Conference was noteworthy enough for Wired’s John Gartner to write not one but two articles on game publishers striving to, according to one CEO, “…shake up the industry in a positive way.” Given Rockstar’s recent avalanche of bad press surrounding GTA: San Andreas, I suppose the timing of such articles couldn’t be better.

Perhaps it’s just me, but one of the games Gartner writes about, Timothy and Titus, from Australia’s White Knight Games, really perplexes me. The simple fact that a company has designed a role-playing game emphasizing increasing love, hope and faith points instead of health or weapon skills kinda leaves me dumbfounded. As an educated, fair-minded and tolerant person I’m not passing judgement on the validity of such concepts in video games, but perhaps because I was raised on car racing, Goomba bashing, ID’s gory shooters or the wonderful work of Sid Meier, Maxis and Blizzard, my mind is not equipped to even process the existence of a game where you can pray for foes or use the “finger of God” to convert them. That’s right…YOU CAN USE THE FINGER OF GOD TO CONVERT THEM. Am I the only one who’s really hoping this topic becomes the subject of a Penny Arcade comic sometime in the near future? If so, just go ahead and use the damn finger of God on me already. I guess I deserve to be purged of my inner heathen.

UPDATE (7:42 am PST 8/5/05): Check the comments for a clarification on Gartner’s article. I guess my inner heathen might be safe after all!

Dearest Vanessa,

I am not in the market for office software, not even at “bottom prices”. I do believe you when you say your software is 2-10 times cheaper than your competitors, but I have all the software I need right now. I also agree that $89.95 is a great deal for Windows XP Professional + Office XP Professional, thanks. I am not sure if I’ll make it to your Web site anytime soon, although your Web address is quite memorable, “http://oeuujgrftcavou98mx.digreceam.info” just flows right off the tongue.

Seriously though, I’ve done the math, I get it, I know spam works. But can’t you let me opt out of the stuff which simply does not apply? I am not in need of a mortgage, a university diploma, larger breasts, viaggra (or viaagra, or even vi-AGRA), and I really don’t have the time to become a secret shopper.

I’ve read a few reports recently which talk about spam emails finally showing signs of decline. I guess it’s possible. All I can tell is two things:
1) I get tons of spam, to just about every email address I have.
2) I no longer have any confidence that when I send an email to someone they actually get it, because their spam filter may have decided I am risky, simply because I attached a picture to the email!

I heard about the Russian spammer who was killed for spamming. This is not a good thing. But maybe it will make Vanessa J Smith and her Windows software, Lonnie Nieves and his replica Rolex watches, and Laurelle Spangler’s pharmacy think twice before adding another million names to their lists.

I hate [giggle] to be labeled as the scoffer of LIVEdigitally, but I told you this would happen months ago. Gizmondo has decided that it’s just not a heavy enough hitter to play with the big boys. The GPS, messaging, gaming device didn’t have a chance. Considering that the PSP and Nintendo DS just came out, and have been breaking tons of ground with different mods and hacks, this overweight, under featured cop off just wasn’t going to cut the butter.

If Kotaku and Gizmodo say it’s so, and of the time they’re not wrong. I have no questions about it. Farewell Gizmondo, you can join the dodo bird and the dinosaurs. But don’t be jealous of them, since they actually existed at one point.

The Plextor name is synonymous with high quality, and innovative, optical drives. They have produced some excellent drives over the years including the first Burn-Proof (buffer underrun protection) drives, the first drive to use the serial ATA interface, and manufacturer sanctioned overspeeding (writing media faster than rated) drives.

The high price of Plextor’s 716A “flagship” DVD writer has been holding back sales. With the introduction of the 740A model, Plextor is attempting to offer a more affordable product for the consumer marketplace. The 740A is based on the Benq/Phillips chipset; previous Plextor models have been based on the Sanyo chipset. Another drive based on this chipset is the Benq 1640 which has fared well in its reviews, so this is an excellent starting point. Plextor engineers have written their own firmware for this drive making it part of the Plextor family. This drive is intended to augment the lineup, but not replace the 716A drive. The 716A is intended to be the more premium product, while the 740A is the more affordable. Even high priced BMW designs the affordable Mini, so let’s take a look at how affordability does in our testing.

What’s In The Box

The retail package includes the following:

-Plextor 740A drive
-quick installation guide
-4 mounting screws
-emergency eject tool (My paperclips are now safe!)
-extra jumper
-80 pin IDE cable
-Nero Burning ROM Suite version 6.6 (latest version)

Plextor’s 740A was shipped with firmware 1.00. It was updated to version 1.01 for all tests (available from the Plextor website). As it is a new drive, I would expect more firmware releases over the next several months. In general, you should use the manufacturer’s latest firmware on your drive, unless you have extensive expertise in this area, and you are willing to cancel your warranty, or risk destroying your drive. The media was all burned with bundled Nero Burning ROM, version 6.608. All discs were scanned using a LiteOn 852S drive and Nero’s CD Speed version 3.80. While this is a notebook drive, it served aptly in this task, and allowed me to complete the testing away from my desktop. Recorded DVD movie discs were further compatibility tested in 2 stand-alone DVD players: a Sharp DV-S1U (designed to play “minus” discs, but is quite tolerant), and a Sony DVP-NS315 (designed to work with “plus” discs, and tends to be picky). (more…)

Seeing information about CraftRobo, the printer with the built in cutting head capable of spitting out pre-cut patterns that can then be folded into 3d objects reminded me of this incredibly cool section of Yamaha’s web site (who knew?). Apparently motorcycles, ATVs, snowmobiles, industrial robots, unmanned helicopters and pool technology just weren’t enough.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, thanks to the good folks at Yamaha Motor Co., those of us lucky enough to possess an internet-enabled computer and a printer (color, preferably) can make our very own “Paper Crafts.” From the YZR-M1 motorcycle to the sumatran orang-utan or even the little spotted kiwi (how cute!), the site has a wealth of patterns, each as pdfs that also include assembly directions. Forget the excitement over hauling long-thought-extinct coelacanths up from the bowels of the ocean – I have one right on my desk!

Get to work, people! I want to see five animals and two machines on my desk by the end of the day!