EA wants an open gaming platform

Considering EA is the king of repackaging the same game for multiple consoles (and multiple years — hello, Madden), you wouldn’t expect the company’s head of international distribution to call for a single universal platform, but that’s exactly what Gerhard Florin told the BBC he wants. “We want an open, standard platform which is much easier than having five which are not compatible,” he said, adding that “You don’t need an Xbox 360, PS3 or Wii — the consumer won’t even realise the platform it is being played on.” Florin’s comments were based on his prediction that set-top boxes would eventually contain enough horsepower to stream and run games over the net, a development he said would kill the market for dedicated consoles in the next fifteen years — which means he’s obviously never had to struggle with a cable company DVR, because we think we’ll stick with a console that can register more than three button presses without locking up, thanks much.

[Via Gamesindustry.biz]

That would so rock, I get tired of having a console war with all these makers. “One console to rule them all, One console to bind them!!”

Customize Your Mac with TinkerTool

Mac OS X only: Freeware customization utility TinkerTool tweaks hidden settings in all corners of your Mac, from modifying Finder and Dock features and effects to adjusting your system fonts. Similar to previously mentioned system tweaker Onyx, TinkerTool focuses more on visual tweaks in contrast to OnyX’s maintenance-focused tweaks (making them nice companion tools). My favorite feature: the ability to reorganize the order my startup items run via a simple drag and drop. TinkerTool is freeware, Mac OS X only.

I’m do not have a mac but I am trying to include the mac people! 😉 if anyone tries out these programs let me know how they work!!

Britain recruiting spies with ads embedded in video games

Prefer the artful headshot of the sniper rifle to the scorched-earth carnage of the gatlin gun? Good, Britain’s GCHQ needs your help. The intelligence service focused on securing communications and information systems is set to embed adverts in games like “Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Double Agent” starting this month. A GCHQ spokesperson told The Times that the move was a bid to attract “computer-savvy, technologically-able, quick-thinking” recruits. The advertisements will not be written into the games themselves but will be fed via the Internet to PCs or Xbox 360 consoles. As the expression goes, “Never trust a gamer under 30.”

Hey now I resemble that remark!! 😉 I am always going to be a gamer under 30!! 😛

iPod classic May Have Battery Drain-o Bug

Today there was some buzz about a battery bug in the iPod classic. Since perceived bugs aren’t always universal, or even widespread, we like to wait a bit before sounding the alarm. Well, this afternoon, when I plugged in an iPod classic that I swore was close to fully charged and saw the “Please connect to a power source” error message you can see above, I decided to dig deeper.

Sure enough, many, many classic owners are experiencing troubles. On this Apple Support thread alone, 33 posts discuss the issue, with speculation about whether the cause is use of Cover Flow or even leaving the clock display on (for as long as it lasts) when music isn’t playing. Most people say the problem hit when they upgraded to 1.02, the supposed classic “fix.”

In my own circumstance, the cause couldn’t be Cover Flow, because I rarely use it. (Sorry Steve!) It could definitely be related to the 1.02 update, as I had no problems until I updated. If you haven’t updated to 1.02, you may want to hold off. If you have, some people recommend restarting it to get it out of its continuous battery-draining spin. Some people simply recommend taking it back to the Apple Store for a replacement.

And they say the I-Pod firmware update was needed. I’d hold off on updating your Classic till they fix the problem.