Universe’s Tech Blog

Wii Prices…

No this isn’t an April Fool’s joke. Windows Live Barcode enables users to store their own data in QR codes, which are already present on Spaces for markets like Japan. From the homepage:

What is Windows Live Barcode
Windows Live Barcode is a set of services that transfer information between various media (PCs, billboards, magazines etc.) and handsets via Quick Response Code (QR Code), a two-dimensional barcode. It provides a new method for people to exchange information and enjoy various online services on handsets. Windows Live Barcode aims to enhance handset utility and provide you with more convenience and flexibility.

What is QR Code
The QR Code is a two-dimensional barcode. It contains a considerably greater volume of information in both vertical and horizontal directions than typical barcode in one dimension.

After several months of silence it was more or less accepted that Microsoft wasn’t going to do anything about the firmware hacks that allow Xbox 360s to play backups. Rather surprising, considering the ‘inventor’ of the hack confirmed in March already that the mods are easily detectable, and the reports that piracy is running rampant in countries like China. It appears that Microsoft is finally taking action against them though, although they may be hitting the wrong persons.

This thread on the official Xbox.com forums was started by Furydog, who posts with a completely empty gamer profile:

I have two xbox 360’s and since Friday October 13 2006 I have not been able to connect with my two 360’s. According to MS customer support my status codes indicate that I have MODDED 360’s which I don’t. I have contacted several different people and I only one person (GreenJohnny) has responded to me but he was not able to assist me. Although, he did confirm that the status codes I received indicate that my systems Mac addresses are banned because their supposedly MODDED.

Xbox Support stating there are status codes that indicate a machine was banned for modding? That’s a new one. To further confirm the story ILBCNU from Xbox Support Staff responds to his post stating they are investigating the issue and apologizing for the problem. No denial or anything, so yep, your modded Xbox 360 is now officially in risk of getting banned from Live or worse.

The fundamental problem with the firmware hack is that it’s a so-called Man in the Middle attack on the system’s security. Imagine a phone call between 2 English speaking people, and you’ve got control over the line in between. By cutting in at the right moments, you can make it appear to one of the participants that the other one is saying something to him, but it’s actually you saying something else and making him believe that it’s a valid response. That’s a simplified explanation of how the hacked firmware works: it lies to the 360 kernel about what the disc is saying about its authenticity. Now imagine if both the speakers on that phone line suspected you were in the middle, and switched to speaking a slightly modified dialect. If you’re still breaking in with the original dialect, it’s easily detectable that you’re trying to fool around. Back to the 360, since Microsoft still has absolute control over disc contents and the kernel code, they can simply change the dialect on both sides and thus detect firmware hacks. If they wish, they can take any action they want upon detection, ranging from the simple Xbox Live ban to even bricking your 360 or disabling it to run any newly released games.

There is something slightly fishy about the report though, being that it says the 360 is banned based on MAC address. Those of us familiar with the OSI model and common network implementations will immediately know this is not true, because MAC addresses are part of the Ethernet protocol and live on Layer 2, and never get routed over the internet. In simple terms: your 360s MAC address is not remotely identifiable. An option could be that the Xbox Live login code sends the MAC address itself to the Live servers to be able to uniquely identify the 360, but that would be plain silly since MAC addresses are known not to be unique: they only need to be unique within their physical subnet. A far more obvious solution on Microsoft’s part would be to use the console serial number for this, which is embedded in the system anyway and truly unique.

Whatever the details, we can probably consider it a fact that MS is currently acting against modded Xbox 360s, and you should start worrying if you’ve got a firmware replacement in your concave box: the Empire is Striking Back.

This extract from a chapter of our book Troubleshooting Mac® OS X describes several ways to free-up space on your Mac OS X startup disk, also known as your Mac OS X boot volume.

While you could replace your current hard drive with a larger model, or install a second internal hard drive if your Mac will support such, the following tips will help you to free some space without changing your hardware. Additional tips are provided for saving more space if you have a second internal hard drive or an available partition.
Determining available space on your startup disk

To check how much free space is available on your startup disk:

1. In Finder™, select your startup disk’s icon. For most users, this is Macintosh HD.
2. Press the Command-I keyboard combination.
3. The Get Info window for the startup disk will open, showing the Capacity, Available (free space), and space Used.

Simple ways to free space

You can employ any of the following tips to increase the free space available on your Mac OS X startup disk without altering your hardware.
Empty the Trash

As obvious as it may sound, some folks regularly Trash files but neglect to periodically empty the Trash. In Finder, select Finder > Empty Trash or, under Mac OS X 10.3 or later, you can also select Finder > Secure Empty Trash.

Do not use the Trash as a “temporary” storage area. Only put an object in the Trash if you are sure it is no longer needed.
Archive old files

Archive — move, copy and delete, or backup and remove — files you do not use regularly to CD or another backup medium.

If you have not done so already, this is an excellent time to consider implementing a comprehensive backup and recovery solution.

Mac OS X 10.3 Panther® and later has a built-in function — Create Archive — for creating compressed archives of files or folders. These archives are generally far smaller than the original files they contain, provided the original is not already in a compressed format. To use this function, see the following AppleCare® Knowledge Base document corresponding to the version of Mac OS X you are using:

* “Mac OS X 10.4 Help: Archiving files and folders.”
* “Mac OS X 10.3 Help: Archiving files and folders.”

Clean up system logs and temporary files

Follow the advice in our “Running Mac OS X Maintenance Scripts” FAQ to regularly execute the Mac OS X maintenance routines that clean up System logs and temporary files created as part of the UNIX® underpinnings of Mac OS X.
Remove unused localization files

If you selected the Easy Install option when installing Mac OS X, localization files for over a dozen languages are installed. These files enable the Mac OS X interface to appear in a variety of languages. You can save roughly 200Mb of hard disk space by removing these localization files.

* If you only need to run your Mac in US English, download and run Bombich Software DeLocalizer.
* If you wish to retain specific localizations — such as US English and Spanish — download and run the freeware utility Monolingual to remove only selected localization files.

Note: Be sure to thoroughly read the instructions before using these utilities. Only use versions which are compatible with the version of Mac OS X you have installed.
Delete the Previous Systems folder from a prior Archive and Install

If you have performed an Archive and Install of Mac OS X, a Previous Systems folder was created containing your prior Mac OS X System folder. Once you are satisfied that your Mac is functioning properly after an Archive and Install, you can delete the Previous Systems folder as follows:

* Mac OS X 10.3 Panther® or later:

1. Using your Admin account, drag the Previous Systems folder to the Trash.
2. Type your Admin password when requested to authenticate this operation.
3. Empty the Trash.

* Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar: See the AppleCare Knowledge Base document “Mac OS X 10.2: How to Delete a Previous Systems Folder.”

Uninstall unused applications

If your Macintosh HD > Applications folder is cluttered with:

* Applications you are no longer using.
* Trial software that shipped with your Mac, but which you do not intend to use.

Then uninstall them.
Uninstall Mac OS 9

If your Mac can only boot into Mac OS X and you have no need for Classic mode, you can uninstall Mac OS 9 using the instructions in the “Uninstalling Mac OS 9” section of the “Mac OS 9” chapter of Troubleshooting Mac OS X.
More ways to save space if you have a spare partition or second hard drive

If you have a second hard drive or an available partition, you can also save space on your Mac OS X startup disk with the following additional tips.
Move your iTunes Music folder to another disk or partition

To change the location of your iTunes® Music folder, carefully follow the instructions in the AppleCare® Knowledge Base document “iTunes Moving your iTunes Music folder.”

Laptop users may want to consider having two iTunes libraries: a small library of current favorites on their computer, while their complete library resides on an external hard drive. Utilities like iTunes Library Manager enable you to easily have multiple iTunes libraries you can use with your account.

You can investigate other solutions for managing multiple iTunes libraries by searching MacUpdate and VersionTracker.
Move your iPhoto Library folder to another disk or partition

To move the iPhoto™ Library folder to a new location, employ the instructions in the AppleCare Knowledge Base document from this list corresponding to the version of iPhoto you are using.

Laptop users may want to consider having two iPhoto libraries: a small library of current, favorite photographs on their computer, while their complete library, or archives of older photos are saved on an external hard drive. Utilities such as iPhoto Buddy and iPhoto Library Manager enable you to have multiple iPhoto libraries that you can use with your account.

You can investigate other solutions for managing multiple iPhoto libraries by searching MacUpdate and VersionTracker.
What about moving my Home or Users folder?

The UNIX underpinnings of Mac OS X make it possible to move either your Home folder or the entire Users folder to a different disk or partition. While this seemed to work well for some users in the early days of Mac OS X, it has become problematic with respect to Mac OS X Updates.

For example, we know of at least one Mac OS X Security Update that expected the Users folder on the Mac OS X startup disk. Those who had relocated Users to another partition had problems installing this update. Consequently, we do not recommend moving either your Home or Users folders to a different disk or partition.

However, if you want to throw caution to the wind, advanced or expert users will find these instructions from Bombich Software useful in relocating a Home folder to another partition.
Finding lost disk space

If you find your Mac OS X startup disk has become full unexpectedly:

1. Check Console for clues. In particular, examine the various Console logs for large blocks of identical, repeating messages. Such blocks of repeating messages often indicate a runway process is logging excessively due to either a flaw in the process itself, its logging parameters, or a problem with your Mac. Excessive logging can result in log files growing without bounds.
2. The freeware utilities OmniDiskSweeper and WhatSize are great for finding large, invisible files. Take care to be sure you understand the purpose of a large file before you delete it. In particular, Virtual Memory (VM) Swap files, located in the /private/var/vm directory, should not be deleted while your Mac is running. VM Swap files are created and released dynamically by Mac OS X.

General Wii stuff

- CNN has signed up with Nintendo as the provider of news content on tne News Channel in American and Japan. News will be presented by category, but another way of getting to it is by spinning the weather globe to find stories in different countries

- Sega has moved a significant number of development staff from PS3 to Wii over the Summer

- Although Nintendo has removed DVD movie playback from the Wii, it plans to launch in Japan next year an enhanced Wii capable of such a feature

- Nintendo intended to bring Wii to shop shelves in the UK and US for £150 and $200, but became influenced by pressure from the larger retail chains, which raised concerns over margins and low so-called ‘basket value’ (ie, the amount of revenue generated from a customer’s overall purchases at the till)

- There are plenty of Wii Channel slots remaining to be filled

- Edge says that Wii Sports will be to Wii what Mario 64 was to the N64. Says golf has the best single player mode (no surprise) and boxing is their favourite overall

Now I really can’t wait for Wii Sports., especially since they liked the golf, and that’s the one I’m looking forward to playing most. The possibility of a new enhanced Wii doesn’t get me excited though. Infact it makes me feel rather anoyed just like te DS Lite did. I won’t bore you with details of why, but most of this is great news.

Massive DS sales boost six-month net income by 48 percent; overall sales up to 69 percent, but outlook remains unchanged.

Although the Wii won’t be on sale for weeks, Nintendo is already enjoying robust financial numbers. Today in Tokyo, the company reported a 54.4 billion yen (around $459.5 million) profit for the first half of its fiscal year, which ended on September 30.

The figure is a 48 percent increase from the 36.63 billion yen (approximately $309.2 million) the company reported during the same period the prior year. The Kyoto-based game giant rang up 298.82 billion yen (approx. $2.52 billion) in overall six-month sales, a massive 69 percent increase from the 176.36 billion yen (around 1.49 billion) it took in from April-September 2005.

To anyone following the game industry, the reason for Nintendo’s success will be unsurprising. The company announced it has sold more than 10 million units of its DS handheld this year, a trend which accelerated after the sleeker DS Lite was released this spring. So far, the company has sold 26.82 million units of the DS and DS Lite since the platform debuted in late 2004.

Brisk sales of DS hardware translated to brisk sales of DS software. New Super Mario Bros. has sold 6.76 million units worldwide since it went on sale in May. Another popular game, Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day, sold 4.59 million units during the April-September period–bringing its lifetime sales total to 8.51 million units. The game hit Japan in May 2005, arrived on US store shelves in mid-April 2006, and came to Europe in June 2006.

Despite its surging sales, Nintendo’s full-year outlook remains the same since it revised the figure upwards three weeks ago. The Mario factory now predicts its net profit for its entire business year, which ends on March 31, 2007, will be 100 billion yen (about $850 million), a 20.5 percent increase from its previous estimate of 83 billion yen (about $705 million).

Next-gen console breaks 6 million-unit barrier–but Entertainment and Devices division still takes $96 million Q1 hit.

First, the good news. As part of its earnings announcement today, Microsoft boasted that high Xbox 360 sales have boosted quarterly revenue for its Entertainment and Devices division by 70 percent. “Demand for Xbox 360 consoles, software, peripherals, and Xbox Live” increased the department’s July-September revenue to $1.03 billion, up from $606 million during the same period the year prior.

“The Xbox 360 has sold 6 million consoles worldwide…to date and achieved record cumulative attach rates for software and peripherals in the United States, while Xbox Live passed the 4 million member mark during the quarter,” the company said in a statement.

Now, the not-so-good news–just because the 360 is popular doesn’t mean it’s profitable. For the quarter, the Entertainment and Devices Division lost $96 million, versus the $173 million that it lost during July-September 2005. The Xbox 360 did not launch until November 22, 2005, so it was not on sale during the same quarter last year.

The Xbox 360 is currently the only next-gen console on the market, but it will face competition when Nintendo’s Wii and Sony’s PlayStation 3 launch next month. It comes in two models: The $299 hard drive-less core unit and the $399 wireless-controller-equipped premium package.

Overall, Microsoft took in $10.81 billion during the July-September quarter, the first of its fiscal year. That was an 11 percent year-on-year increase–the same percentage bump its quarterly operating income enjoyed, going from $4.05 billion during the same period in 2005 to $4.47 billion in this year’s July-September quarter. Net quarterly income was $3.48 billion, which came out to $0.35 per share.

Source: Worthplaying.com citing an Avalanche Studios interview in Swedish game mag Kong.

What we heard: Though not a raging success in North America, Just Cause has been fairing quite well in retail in the UK, where it stayed on the region’s top 10 all-formats list for four weeks after its September release. This success was apparently enough of a sign to begin work on a sequel, according to Internet reports.

Gaming site Worthplaying.com cites an article in Swedish gaming magazine Kong, in which Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios (also from Sweden) apparently cops to a sequel’s development. Worthplaying says Avalanche CEO Christofer Sundberg reveals that his studio is already working on a sequel and that the game will abandon the Far Cry-esque island paradise for a “VERY large city environment” (caps in original).

The game will also reportedly go multiformat again but this time will focus on the next generation–specifically the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Though taking translations from foreign publications often ends up in a game of “telephone,” this bit of scuttlebutt is likely legitimate. Avalanche has a grand total of one game under its belt (Just Cause), and given the game’s success and potential, it seems like a smart business move to pump out another one of Rico Rodriguez’s adventures.

The official story: Eidos rep–”We don’t have any comment on this as of yet.”

Bogus or not bogus?: Officially? Bogus. Unofficially? Not Bogus.

Soon-to-be defunct importer blasts Sony’s claims that it had nothing to do with the company’s early demise.

The soon-to-be shuttered Hong-Kong-based import game retailer Lik-Sang has released a final statement in the tit-for-tat verbal battle between it and industry giant Sony.

The company recently lost a court case in London to Sony, who contested that its selling of Japanese PSPs to Europe infringed on Sony trademarks, copyrights, and registered design rights. Sony then asserted its intentions to block all “grey importing” of its products.

Lik-Sang responded to this by circulating a statement to games industry personnel claiming that key Sony Europe executives bought Japanese PSPs from their company, and continued to name names. Sony issued a statement stating this was simply “sour grapes”.

Today in his final e-mail as a Lik-Sang employee, marketing manager Pascal Clarysse hit back at Sony’s claims that it had nothing to do with the importer’s closure. “While they ’strongly denied that their actions have had anything to do with [Lik-Sang's] closing’ in their statement, they still had the time to send a 15-page fax less than 24 hours later, outlining the terms of the order made by the UK court last week and asking Lik-Sang to pay the sum of £100,000 ($190,000) just for their legal costs before 4pm on November 1,” he said. “The fax also includes a penal notice, nicely reminding the reader that not obeying the order (which means shipping any PlayStation branded product to any country in Europe) may mean sequestration of all assets and, in worst case, imprisonment for the directors of the company.”

Lik-Sang also blasted Sony’s statement that any Japanese PSPs which would have been bought by members of their company would have been solely for investigatory purposes. “Sony’s unbelievable statement that all purchase orders made by their own directors ‘would’ be for investigatory purposes speaks volumes, and also doesn’t explain why these and all the other orders placed by Sony officials were not revealed to the High Court,” said Clarysse.

Clarysse concluded his statement on behalf of Lik-Sang by declaring that it was a sad day for import gaming. “Sony should be proud of having such a die-hard import gamers’ community rushing to buy their products and supporting them with a passion. Instead, they march all over us,” he said.

“I just tried a Google Image Search in IE7 for the first time. Whenever I click on an image, my browser tells me in big bold letters, “This is a reported phishing website.” Try it yourself: make sure automatic phishing detection is turned on and do an (adorable) image search; click on one of the result thumbnails. MSN Live Image Search has no such issues. Insert Microsoft evil conspiracy theory here.” I get this behavior under IE7, Win XP Pro, SP2, Parallels, Mac OS X.

“Hyped by a good deal of fanfare, outfitted with some new features, and now available for download, Firefox 2.0 has already passed 2 million downloads in less than 24 hours. However, a growing number of users are reporting bugs, widening memory leaks, unexpected instability, poor compatibility, and an overall experience that is inferior to that offered by prior versions of the browser. Expanding on these ideas, this list compiles nine reasons why it might be a good idea to stick with 1.5 until the debut of 3.0, skipping the “poorly badged” 2.0 release completely.” OK, maybe it’s 10 reasons. An anonymous reader writes, “SecurityFocus reports an unpatched highly critical vulnerability in Firefox 2.0. This defect has been known since June 2006 but no patch has yet been made available. The developers claimed to have fixed the problem in 1.5.0.5 according to Secunia, but the problem still exists in 2.0 according to SecurityFocus (and I have witnessed the crash personally). If security is the main reason users should switch to Firefox, how do we explain known vulnerabilities remaining unpatched across major releases?”

Bethesda announced its plans to publish Rogue Warrior, an authentic, tactical first-person shooter based on the best-selling book series by Richard (Dick) Marcinko, former U.S. Navy SEAL and founder of both SEAL Team Six and Red Cell. Rogue Warrior is being developed for the Xbox 360, the PLAYSTATION 3 and Windows by Zombie Studios in conjunction with Bethesda Softworks. Rogue Warrior is scheduled for a fall 2007 release. We have the first three in-game images so follow the screens tab above to get your first glimpse of the game.

We are very excited to be working on Rogue Warrior, which allows us the chance to bring Bethesda’s creative vision and development expertise to this brand, said Vlatko Andonov, president of Bethesda Softworks. This game marks our return to shooters since our highly successful Terminator series, and we hope to offer fans a true next-generation gameplay experience.

Rogue Warrior is a story-driven shooter that provides team-based tactical combat set in massive, contiguous levels using Unreal 3 streaming technology. Central to the game’s single and multiplayer experience is the idea of a freeform battlefield, where players are given the freedom to choose how to complete a given objective, allowing for creativity and surprises, rather than heavily scripted events and tightly contained spaces traditionally used in this genre.

An advanced AI system allows NPCs to react and fight realistically, see and hear others, and respond as a team. Rogue Warrior offers a new take on the multiplayer experience, with 10 gameplay modes and a system whereby maps are created using tiles that are selected by each team. Rogue Warrior’s tiling system allows users to experience over 200 maps in both day and nighttime settings. In addition, the campaign features solo and on-the-fly cooperative play for up to four players, where anyone can join or leave an existing campaign game at any time without having to go to menus or save progress.

Rogue Warrior is the game we’ve been waiting to make for years, said Mark Long, lead producer at Zombie Studios. We’re using terrific technology in a way that’s different from other games - we have a unique HUD and control system for your teammates, on-the-fly co-op play, and we’ve really focused our efforts on making multiplayer more fun and challenging by giving you lots of modes and hundreds of maps you can see and play. We’re thrilled to be working with Bethesda on this new initiative using a brand we know and love.

In Rogue Warrior, you play Dick Marcinko, leader of an elite SEAL unit trapped behind enemy lines in North Korea on a covert mission to assess the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear arsenal. When war breaks out between North and South Korea, you must try to lead your team back into South Korea while greatly outnumbered and with no support and limited resupply. Your journey will take you through a variety of never-before-seen environments inside of North Korea, including submarine pens, shipbreaker yards, prison camps, and more.

A 30-year veteran with the U.S. Navy, Dick Marcinko served in both the Underwater Demolitions Team and Navy SEAL programs, was a military attache in Cambodia, and conceived, founded, and commanded SEAL Team Six, the U.S. Navy’s first counterterrorism unit. He later created and ran Red Cell, a unit created to test the Navy’s anti-terrorist capabilities for highly-secured bases, nuclear submarines, ships, and other purported “secure areas”, including Air Force One. Dick’s experiences as a Navy SEAL were captured in his New York Times best-selling autobiography, Rogue Warrior, and his Rogue Warrior fiction series.

I think this game has a lot going for it and I’m very excited to be a part of it, said Marcinko. You have input from my SEALs and me on everything from animations to equipment to artificial intelligence to tactics to ensure accuracy of the gameplay, plus a story that has lots of relevance with the current events in North Korea, and the expertise in making great games that comes from Bethesda and Zombie…I think it’s going to take names like only a SEAL can.