Archive for April 22nd, 2005
Sony Online Entertainment has announced plans for Station Exchange, the official auction site for SOE games which is scheduled for launch in late June. Initially the website will only cover EverQuest II, allowing subscribers to buy and sell the rights to use characters, items and coin in a player-to-player auction setting.
“The unsanctioned secondary market for online games is rapidly growing and more and more of our players are taking part in it,” said John Smedley. “Not only are we answering the demands of a sizable portion of our subscriber base, but we are also set on establishing the standard for online game sales. SOE is in a unique position to help guide the industry, just as we have since we first opened the world of EverQuest to the public six years ago.”
Leading industry analyst group DFC Intelligence estimates that the online game industry in 2003 was $1.9 billion. By 2006, they predict revenue growing to $5.2 billion with continued steady growth, with worldwide online game revenue reaching $9.8 billion by 2009. As this business has grown, so too has the “secondary” market, which is based around the unsupported buying and selling of in-game characters, items and coins. Unofficial estimates of underground “secondary” market trade volume range from $100 - $800 million a year, with titles such as SOE’s EverQuest and EverQuest II making up 20% of those sales.
The difference between Station Exchange and other third party, non-sanctioned sites can be summed up in one word: security. When a player decides to auction the use of an item or character, that item is removed from the game world and is moved to a secure Station Exchange server. Interested buyers will be able to browse through all auctions, and will have the comfort of seeing exactly what they are bidding on and knowing that once an auction is complete, the item or character will be placed in their account. Since all transactions happen through Station Exchange servers run by SOE, fraud will be virtually eliminated and the transfer becomes an automatic process. All activities on Station Exchange will be player-to-player on servers designated “Exchange Enabled”; Sony Online Entertainment itself will not sell items, characters or coin.
It is expected the SOE will roll out the service to other MMORPGs, such as Star Wars: Galaxies later in the year.
April 22nd, 2005
It’s the stuff of science fiction, but a group of researchers from the University of Washington have placed mice into a state of suspended animation and then revived them with no obvious ill-effects.
The mice were placed in a gas-filled chamber of air laced with 80 parts per million of hydrogen sulphide (H2S). H2S is thought to help mammals regulate body temperature and metabolic rate.
Within minutes the mice lost consciousness, their breathing rate dropped by a factor of 12 and their core temperature fell to 11C. Amazingly, when air was then pumped into the chamber the mice woke up and continued as if nothing had happened. They had effectively been in suspended animation.
The next step is to try out the technique in higher mammals (don’t shoot TechSmec.com you anti-vivisectionists out there- we’re just the messenger) with a long term goal of putting astronauts on long journeys into a state of hibernation.
As interesting as this discovery is, we’re a bit let down by the simplicity of the solution. Breathing rotten-egg gas isn’t quite what we were imagining when the crew of the Nostromo go into hibernation in Alien.
April 22nd, 2005
UK broadband users got a raw deal at first with connections speeds languishing at the 512Kbps level until very recently.
Now hot on the heels of British Telecom’s recent announcement that it would boost speeds up to 2Mbps for every customer (depending on proximity to exchange of course), news reaches us that BT and Thus, better known for its Demon Internet brand, are trialling an 8Mbps service across the UK.
In a statement Nigel Steven, Thus Product Director, said, “Most homes currently have a maximum broadband connection speed of 1Mbps, but once subscribers can connect to more than 2Mbps it opens up a whole new world of possibilities, allowing users to download and stream applications with rich media content. By playing an integral role in trialling 8Mbps ADSL we can ensure that we deliver a fully functional high-speed service ready for roll-out later in 2005.”
“Target customers for super-fast broadband will include residential users wanting the additional speed to allow multiple users within the home, and businesses that have outgrown 2Mbps”
Of course, the excitement that this announcement will cause must be tempered with the reality that anyone more than a few kms from their exchange is unlikely to get 8Mbps and the actual speed will depends on the amount of attenuation of the ADSL signal in conjunction with the signal to noise ratio….whatever that means. Basically, don’t count on it.
April 22nd, 2005
Fed up with the short range of Bluetooth and keen to open up the blue-jacking possibilities to your entire neighbourhood? How2.0 has a tutorial on how to a) invalidate the warranty on your Linksys USBBT100 Class 1 USB Bluetooth adapter b) extend its range to up to one mile - in that order.
Mike Outmesguine detached the stock antenna from a Linksys USBBT100 Class 1 USB Bluetooth adapter and replaced it with a larger HyperGain RE05U 2.4GHz antenna. He can make a Bluetooth connection up to a mile away, or as he puts it, about 4,950 feet farther than most.
You’ll need more than a basic grasp of electronics to follow the instructions, but if you want to control your Bluetooth devices from the next door block, it’s just the mod you’re looking for.
April 22nd, 2005