Archive for December, 2005
The first step in the long and winding road to a cracked Xbox 360 has been achieved by a Dutch hacking group. “Team PI Coder” has posted details of the file system used on the console’s game discs along with a program to extract files from them.
As it stands this isn’t a revolutionary move. The Xbox 360 uses a disc format extremely similar to that of the original Xbox which was widely hacked, so the step is a small one. Crucially, the code from copied games cannot then be run on the console.
Even so, there’s a first step in every journey and with innumerable hackers around the world working on the Xbox 360, it surely won’t be long before a soft mod (i.e. with no chipping involved) is available.
Microsoft have made much of the increased security of the Xbox 360. The original Xbox was built around a PC-style architecture, making it the most widely hacked console ever.
December 23rd, 2005
Escient has introduced its flagship Media Management System, the FireBall DVDM-552, as well as its performance-extending companion, the FireBall MP-200 Digital Media Player.
Featuring the industry’s first-ever 2,000-DVD library management capability, the DVDM-552 establishes a new price-performance ratio in multi-room home entertainment networking, offering significant cost savings over higher-priced hard drive-based multi-zone media servers. Using its award-winning, easy-to-use on-screen interface, users can browse and play vast DVD and music collections in five connected mega-disc changers, in addition to over 8,000 CDs stored on its 500GB internal hard drive.
Ideal for high-end custom installations, the FireBall DVDM-552 offers users a variety of unprecedented multiple room capabilities. When used with the MP-200, users can literally watch any movie or listen to any song in their collection from a second room of their home. Music stored on the DVDM-552 hard drive can also be streamed and played in multiple rooms in the home simultaneously via multiple connected MP-200s or by using DLNA/UPnP compatible digital media adapters. In addition to being able to watch two different DVD movies in different rooms when connected to the MP-200, the DVDM-552 even lets viewers enjoy the same movie simultaneously in separate rooms.
Both the DVDM-552 and MP-200 are designed to give custom installation specialists the ultimate solution for creating the ultimate home entertainment systems. Pre-built external control interfaces and modules are available for many 3rd party control and automation systems including AMX, Crestron, Elan, NetStreams, and Russound.
For added flexibility, a web server built into the DVDM-552 allows users to browse, manage, and play their movies and music from any standard web browser, and integrated file-sharing features lets users transfer, backup, and play music files between the DVDM-552 and a PC or Mac. The DVDM-552 features a built-in CD-RW Player/Recorder for playing CDs, ripping CDs to the internal hard drive, and for creating custom mix CDs. It also plays MP3 and WMA Internet Radio stations.
All DVDs and CDs controlled by the DVDM-552 are automatically identified by the Escient MovieDB and the Gracenote CDDB disc recognition services via the user’s Internet connection. The metadata and cover art for each disc are automatically downloaded and stored on the DVDM-552. A built-in parental control feature allows parents to determine which movies can be displayed and played through the on-screen Movies Guide.
The MP-200 digital media player, a multi-zone audio/video player designed to work in conjunction with the DVDM-552, gives users even more advanced options for “connecting the dots” in home entertainment, providing additional options for remotely managing, browsing, and playing media collections from multiple rooms in the home. The MP-200 works by providing each room or “zone” in the home, with an independent on-screen TV user interface, full remote control capabilities, video inputs, and digital audio. In conjunction with the DVDM-552, the MP-200 can independently access the user’s entire DVD movie collection and watch the same or different movie in a second room.
In addition to providing DVD access and viewing capability in multiple rooms when connected to an Escient DVDM-552, the MP-200 is an advanced network music player that lets users stream and play digital music from any FireBall Music server. Key to the MP-200’s advanced performance is its 100% digital audio circuitry. Unlike other remote media players on the market, the MP-200 delivers a pure digital music stream for optimum audio performance. Users can stream and enjoy MP3, WMA, and FLAC (CD Quality) audio files into any room of the house, using standard home wired or wireless networks.
The MP-200 also plays MP3 and WMA Internet Radio stations, and thanks to its Gapless Audio Playback feature, there are no more gaps between tracks when playing classical or live CDs. For added flexibility, users may stream digital audio to up to four FireBall MP-200 players from one FireBall Server, for five simultaneous audio streams, and with its integrated Web Server and PDA Interface, the MP-200 also provides remote control and music streaming from any standard web browser or PDA.
Bernie Sepaniak, president of D&M Holdings’ ReplayTV, Escient and ACT divisions noted: “As we celebrate our 10th Anniversary in 2006, our continuing mission is to give our valued custom installation customers the best-in-class products and system-building options that will let them create customized home entertainment systems with unprecedented features and capabilities, both for convenience and for multi-room entertainment. The DVDM-552, along with the companion MP-200, provides the leading-edge, high-wow-factor features and solutions that support the high-end pricing custom installation experts require, and they represent the pinnacle of media management technology today.”
The DVDM-552 and MP-200 will be available in March 2006 at suggested retail prices of $5,999 and $999, respectively. Escient’s FireBall line of DVD and Music Managers also includes the FireBall SE-D1 (SRP: $999) the DVDM-100 (SRP: $1,999) and the DVDM-300 (SRP: $4,999).
December 23rd, 2005
In a story of worrying irony, it has come to light that the libraries of anti-virus products from Symantec, such as Symantec AntiVirus, Symantec Norton AntiVirus and Symantec Norton Internet Security, could be used to gain control of an infected machine.
According to Symantec the bug, which affects a range of the company’s products, is a “high” risk, while the Danish security specialists Secunia have labelled it as “highly critical”. The vulnerability can be found in the mechanism used by Symantec’s AntiVirus Library to handle RAR compressed files. It could cause a heap overflow, which then may let an attacker execute additional code giving them control of the PC.
Symantec has not yet released an update for this vulnerability, and recommends that people disable automatic scanning of RAR files.
December 22nd, 2005
Lexar has announced it is bringing Google applications directly to customers by including Picasa, Google Toolbar and Google Desktop Search applications on its line of popular USB flash drives. The offering is the first time consumers will be able to install Google applications from a USB flash drive directly to their desktop to edit photos, find files and search the web using popular Google applications.
“While these popular applications have traditionally been available on the web directly from Google and other web affiliates, offering them on a Lexar JumpDrive provides a new channel to reach customers,” said Steffen Hellmold, vice president of USB flash drives at Lexar. “Taking web-based applications from Google and making them available on the Lexar JumpDrive line is appealing to retailers and is very valuable to consumers worldwide.”
Customers who purchase a Lexar JumpDrive simply have to plug the device into the USB port, on their computer, where the user will be prompted with instructions to easily install the free applications. If the user accepts installation, Google products automatically install to their computer and are then removed from the USB flash drive.
“We’re excited to make it possible for people to easily search the documents, photos, music and video they store on their Lexar JumpDrives and computer hard drives as well as to find information on the Internet,” said Marissa Mayer, Google’s Vice President, Search Products & User Experience.
Lexar JumpDrive products with Google applications will be available worldwide beginning in January 2006.
December 20th, 2005
Blizzard has announced that World of Warcraft has surpassed five million customers worldwide.
The subscription-based MMORPG launched approximately one year ago in North America, Australia, and New Zealand and has since released in multiple countries throughout Europe and Asia. This latest milestone comes on the heels of Blizzard’s recent announcement of a World of Warcraft expansion, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, which will push the boundaries of the game and offer even more content and features for players.
“World of Warcraft’s growth continues to exceed all our expectations,” said Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We want to reiterate our thanks to the millions of players worldwide and to all the retailers who have enthusiastically supported the game over the past year. Our commitment to continue growing World of Warcraft is stronger than ever, with development on future content patches and on our 2006 expansion, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, well underway. We look forward to offering even more content for current customers in the months ahead and welcoming new players into the world this holiday season.”
With a strong presence across Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America, World of Warcraft has quickly become the world’s most popular MMORPG. Most recently, the game was launched in the regions of Taiwan, Macau, and Hong Kong on November 8, 2005.
As World of Warcraft’s population grows, Blizzard continues to support the game with additional content through regular patches and a planned expansion pack, set to release in 2006. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade will add new lands, quests, monsters, magic items, spells and abilities, two new player races, a new player profession, 10 new levels of power for players to achieve, and much more. Additional information on the expansion and the game’s regular content updates can be found at the official World of Warcraft website.
December 20th, 2005
If you’re desperate for some PSP wireless goodness, then you might like to look at WiFi MAX for PSP, a no frills solution for creating an internet WiFi access point in your home.
WiFi MAX is a dongle that plugs into a USB port on an internet-connected PC. You can then connect to the internet and play online-enabled multiplayer games with PSP gamers from all over the world. WiFi MAX supports up to five ‘local’ PSP gamers at a time, so you and your mates can all play online at once.
As well as multiplayer games, WiFi MAX also lets you organise your media files and download them to your PC using our exclusive MAX Media Server software. Transfer MP3s, images and video files from your PC to your PSP from anywhere that’s within range of your new WiFi network.
Now, onto the downside. £30 isn’t expensive, but it’s not markedly cheaper than a full-blown wireless router which provides a lot more features. Worst of all, we could find no mention of any security features so for all we can tell, WiFi MAX might be opening up your PC for the whole world to look at.
It certainly looks easy to set up, but for the moment we will be sticking with our tried and trused wireless router.
You can read more (or even buy) here…
December 20th, 2005
Hauppauge has announced the release of its new ‘Wing’ software, enabling consumers to record TV shows on a personal computer for playback on the PSP, video iPod, and other portable video players. Wing can also be used to convert existing TV recordings to the PSP and iPod format.
Wing is sold as a $24.95 accessory to Hauppauge’s PC-based WinTV-PVR personal video recorders. Live TV shows can be recorded with a single click and played on a PC or TV set as well as a portable video player. Wing records in H.264, MPEG-4 and Divx formats, and also will record directly to a recordable DVD disk.
The Wing application comes with three components: a plug-in for the popular TitanTV internet based electronic program guide for automatic recording of TV shows, a plug-in for Hauppauge’s WinTV Scheduler for manual TV record scheduling, and an off-line recorder which will turn MPEG -2 videos into any of the formats supported by Wing.
Hauppage’s Eskape Labs division is also developing a version of Wing for the Apple Mac using the myTV.PVR, the Eskape Labs Mac-based personal video recorder . That product will be released in early 2006.
Wing is available directly from Hauppauge at: www.hauppauge.com/wing
December 20th, 2005
HP has joined the HD-DVD promotions group in a move that will see it back both of the next-generation DVD formats.
The support for HD-DVD is not surprising given the fact that HP has moved in the last month to position itself away from Blu-Ray and had even issued an ultimatum about two technologies supported by HD-DVD, but not by the alternative, Sony-backed, format.
Mandatory Managed Copy allows users to copy legally purchased discs onto hard drives for streaming around a home network. HD-DVD also uses an XML-based technology known as iHD, reportedly supported in Windows Vista, for providing interactivity, whereas Blu-Ray uses the rival BD Java.
“By joining the HD-DVD Promotions Group and continuing work with the Blu-Ray Disc Association, HP will be in a better position to assess true development costs and, ultimately, provide the best and most affordable solution for consumers,” HP said in a fence-sitting move.
The news comes at an uncomfortable time for HD-DVD with the admission that the launch of the format might be delayed until the end of Q1 next year, bringing it into direct competition with Blu-Ray.
Source: DVD Recorder World
December 19th, 2005
Terratec has announced a dual digital TV tuner card that will allow you to watch one digital TV channel while you record another.
As it has in the past, the Cinergy 2400i DT receives digital terrestrial television through an antenna, and because the signal is distributed to the two tuners internally, a single connecting cable is all you need. The card is inserted into the PCI Express port of your PC, which also makes it future-proof for your next computer. In conjunction with CyberLink PowerCinema 4.5 or Windows XP Media Center Edition, you can enjoy all the benefits of the new TV technology—and, thanks to the included remote control, you can enjoy the convenience you have come to expect.
If you are interrupted for any reason during a program, you can use the time-shifting function to restart it later exactly where you left off, without missing a single scene. If you want a quick overview of all programs currently in progress, simply go to the multi-channel preview. All of the functions of PowerCinema 4.5, which plays DVDs, pictures and music as well as TV, can be controlled quickly and intuitively using the easy-to-understand selection menus.
You can also use the Cinergy 2400i DT as a video recorder for recording digital terrestrial TV programs with timer and full MPEG-2 support. You can then burn the finished recording to CD or DVD with just a few mouse clicks. The electronic program guide (EPG) helps you to confidently navigate the sea of channels and set the timer for recording, and the integrated videotext function makes sure you’re excellently informed even beyond the TV program.
There are two versions for you to consider, one with and one without a remote.
December 16th, 2005
Game: Need For Speed Most Wanted 5-1-0
Platform: PSP
Publisher: EA
Price: £29.99 (Amazon.co.uk)
Reviewer: Jay Neill (TechSmec.com staff)
Need For Speed has made its long awaited debut on the PSP and let’s get one thing straight from the off - it doesn’t disappoint. Falling neatly into the category of ’semi-authentic racer’ Need For Speed Most Wanted 5-1-0 delivers a tasty mix of arcade thrills with handling authenticity and it’s the first title we’ve seen on the PSP that actually ‘fits’ on the handheld. Of course, we’ve been reviewing NFSMW alongside Grand Theft Auto, so it’s all the more amazing that it remained a firm favourite in our main PSP even with the stiff competition from Rockstar’s magnum opus.
Followers of the Need For Speed series won’t need any introduction to the concept. Take a variety of cars that you could buy from the forecourt of your local garage and take them onto the streets of a fictional city, racing against like-minded underground racers. If you find success you’ll win the cash to start to upgrade your car, both in terms of performance and visuals. If you do really well you’ll start to unlock new cars which you can start to pimp up all over again adding ridiculous body kits and go faster stripes.
What makes NFSMW different is the addition of the cops. Other street racers, such as Burnout, see you cause complete destruction to whole city blocks without ever attracting the attention of the boys in blue. NFSMW is different. Every piece of agressive driving - breaking the speed limit, driving in the wrong carriageway, running cars off the road - sees your ‘heat level’ increase. At first the police will give chase in a fairly half-hearted way, but as the heat level rises, so does the interest of the law and before you kinow it you’re being chased by high-powered cop cars (and even vans) trying to run you off the road. They’ll try to make you stop, or get so far ahead that they can mount road-blocks or throw tyre-shredding stingers across the road. If you are stopped you’ve got three seconds to get going again or you’re busted and that’s the end of the race. At the very least the attention of the police slows you down and you’ll often find a winning position can get turned into last place in a matter of seconds thanks to a carefully placed roadblock.
The core of the game is a career mode which sees you start on the bottom rung of the illegal street-racing ladder. Win four events (there’s a variery of formats - time trial, race, tournament and heat challenges) and you’ll get the right to challenge the ‘boss’ racer above you in the ladder. See off the boss and you unlock a new level which might see new tracks and new challenges. There are fifteen levels in all and the difficulty level increases as you advance.
As a racing game, NFSMW doesn’t miss out in many areas. The tracks are interesting and have a myriad of shortcuts and alternative routes. The feeling of speed isn’t quite as intense as, say, Burnout, but then NFSMW is a different animal as it strikes a balance between arcade fun and realism. The compromise is just about perfect.
The controls are adequate. Although you can use the analog stick, we found it easier to use the direction buttons to steer. Accelarating and breaking use the right control buttons. Alas, applying the nitro for extra speed involves simultaneously holding down the accelerate and o buttons which requires a remarkable bit of finger-contortion. At the end of a long session we had index-finger ache. Despite these complaints you certainly feel part of the car and the difference in handling between vehicles, and even after applying new suspension upgrades, is noticeable.
The graphics are sub PS2. There’s no getting away from the fact that you’re looking at a handheld device, but they do the job. Lighting effects are nice and the cars are well rendered, even if a long way off photo-realistic.
Sound is a little tinny. The car engines tend to sound like buzzing bees, especially through the PSP’s built-in speakers. The typical EA rock soundtrack plays in the background throughout and actually adds to the game for once. Street racing and pumping bass seems to fit with boy (and girl) racers, but you’ll need the headphones to get the best out of it.
We heartily recommend Need For Speed Most Wanted 5-1-0 to anyone looking for a great handheld racer. It has technical failings, but on a pure gameplay level, it’s a winner.
Graphics
About as good as you would expect on a handheld, but not as good as GTA: Liberty City Stories has shown they could be - 8/10
Sound
Tinny sound effects, but nice tunes - 6/10
Gameplay
It’s just a racer, but an excellent one. The driving is fun and intuitive and the career mode is just difficult enough to provide a challenge while keeping the interest alive - 9/10
Verdict
The best racing game on the PSP to date, with enough variety to keep you coming back for more again and again. If only they could have slightly improved on the graphics and sound, this would be a handheld classic - 8/10
December 13th, 2005
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