Techmeme Goes Cyborg, Hires Human
News editor will help shape the content of the popular tech news-aggregator site.





Firefox Add-On Alerts Amazon Shoppers to Illegal Content
“Pirates of the Amazon” points shoppers to free–and illegal–versions of products they’re about to buy.





iPod Shortage: Just a Marketing Ploy?
Apple’s music players seem to be the must-have device this year. But are they really in short suopply?





Second Google Phone ‘Agora’ Out In January: Available Now for Pre-Sale
The second handset based on Google’s Android OS is now available for pre-order from an Australian firm. The Agora will come SIM-free making it potentially compatible with AT&T and T-Mobile.





18 Suikoden DS shots
All-new RPG adventure due next March.
Konami will bring an all-new Suikoden to DS next March titled Suikoden Tierkreis. Here are the first batch of shots.
Click here to read the full article
18 Suikoden DS shots
All-new RPG adventure due next March.
Konami will bring an all-new Suikoden to DS next March titled Suikoden Tierkreis. Here are the first batch of shots.
Click here to read the full article
Grand Theft Auto IV PC Release Full of Bugs

Welcome to the latest installment of Disappointment Theater — starring Your Life. Today’s guest star: Grand Theft Auto IV! Wrecking one of the year’s best games definitely seems like an impossible task, so read on and be astonished.
According to Steam’s fuming masses, as well as gaming site Shacknews, GTA IV’s creepy crawlies are all over the place. Topping players’ lists of things not to be thankful for, however, are missing textures (apparently caused by corrupt graphics drivers) and the ever-popular crashing bug, which can potentially keep you from even loading the game at all.
Fortunately, one intrepid Steam user has tossed together a forum thread outlining all known issues and possible fixes, so as a (highly prestigious) reward we’re putting his name on the site. Thanks, Ramzy!
Additionally, while it’s not exactly a bug, the majority of wannabe-crime lords are being forced to run their game of choice at low graphical settings — a complaint to which Rockstar has issued a response:
"Higher settings are provided for future generations of PCs with higher specifications than are currently widely available," claimed the developer.
Rockstar also released a statement promising that it’ll unscrew this pooch as quickly as possible.
So, unless you want to pay $50 for a glorified beta test, wait a couple weeks before taking the plunge.
Grand Theft Auto IV PC Release Full of Bugs

Welcome to the latest installment of Disappointment Theater — starring Your Life. Today’s guest star: Grand Theft Auto IV! Wrecking one of the year’s best games definitely seems like an impossible task, so read on and be astonished.
According to Steam’s fuming masses, as well as gaming site Shacknews, GTA IV’s creepy crawlies are all over the place. Topping players’ lists of things not to be thankful for, however, are missing textures (apparently caused by corrupt graphics drivers) and the ever-popular crashing bug, which can potentially keep you from even loading the game at all.
Fortunately, one intrepid Steam user has tossed together a forum thread outlining all known issues and possible fixes, so as a (highly prestigious) reward we’re putting his name on the site. Thanks, Ramzy!
Additionally, while it’s not exactly a bug, the majority of wannabe-crime lords are being forced to run their game of choice at low graphical settings — a complaint to which Rockstar has issued a response:
"Higher settings are provided for future generations of PCs with higher specifications than are currently widely available," claimed the developer.
Rockstar also released a statement promising that it’ll unscrew this pooch as quickly as possible.
So, unless you want to pay $50 for a glorified beta test, wait a couple weeks before taking the plunge.
Vista SP2: Six Things You Need to Know
Eager to install Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) when it becomes available Thursday? Before you do read this guide to what you need to know.





Amazing Killzone 2 singleplayer footage now live!
Comments from the guy who captured the videos:
|
[Aside from] Some slowdowns/frame drops aside and other minor issues which are clearly going to be fixed (like voice over), Killzone 2 is a rollercoaster of a shooter. What I liked the most (technicalities aside as vids speak for themselves) is how non-linear the approach to firefight is. On the one side, you have the AI acting unpredictably so everytime you re-do the same fight, it actually plays out differently (Video 01 shows this quite clearly when I repeat the last section after dieing). On the other side, levels are designed so that you can change approaches to the same confrontation quite radically. You can see this in one of the Welcome vids when I go upstairs while Garza stays down near the stairs. I have three options there. Shooting from above. Use the turret. Turn the corner ahead and go down the stairs to hit the HGHs from behind. There are many situations with such tactical freedom. I also liked the Lean & Peak mechanics and overall controls. Coming from two online beta phases I got used to the standard configuration and it kinda makes more sense with the L&P mechanic in place. Anyway, L&P works pretty well. You push L2 to crouch, and if you are close to something, you stick to it as long as you keep L2 presses. What I liked about this is that you never feel "trapped" when you are behind cover. On the one side, you are free to slide and peak in any direction you want. But you can also rotate 360° no problem (gun automatically points ahead when there is no wall). So I don’t feel too "scared" about being attacked from the side. And being it a Hold rather than Toggle thing, you cannot **** it up when detaching yourself from cover to get behind another one. It works really, REALLY well. To the point that I seriously think I wouldn’t mind having the option to use it online as well. What I liked the less are changes occurred to some levels. Especially how Visari Square looks now. IMO, it’s too bright and colorful. Blue pavement, orange lights and greenish structure in the background? I liked the darker version more. I hope GG is not too afraid of the B/W stigma and adding colors to avoid it. As for my "quick fix", I’d suggest adding more flying drones. They are criminally underused IMO. In the first 6 levels at least. In Resistance 2, flying drones are very cleverly used to spice things up and force you to swap from ground-to-ground to ground-to-air combat. And move from cover to cover. Not so in KZ2. In the preview code levels. Perhaps **** hits the fan later. |
Some shots from the footage:





