Today, 7-Eleven announced that they will start carrying certain video game titles for sale, including Fallout 3, Gears of War 2, Call of Duty: World at War and World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.
Additionally, they will make several prepaid game cards available for companies (and games) like Nexon, Habbo, Gaia, Guild Wars, Runescape, Aeria, City of Heroes, ijji and Neopets.
Press Release: Gamers never die; they just grow up … and continue to play ... and play ... and play. Today, the average gamer is not in his teens, but in his early 30s and, not surprisingly, most likely male. They play at home, at social gatherings, at work (shhhh) and online.
That’s good news for 7-Eleven, Inc. whose customer base skews heavily male between the ages of 18 and 34. The world’s leading convenience retailer is ready to take the proverbial plunge into video game sales after dabbling in it over the past years with successful Slurpee® beverage promotio... More »
Here's a new one... rumor has it Datel, longtime developer and manufacturer of videogame enhancement products, has beat conventional PSP hackers in unlocking the PSP 3000 console.
To quote: The breakthrough was made by Datel, thanks to their newest tool battery that will put the PSP 3K into service mode. Okay, what does this exactly do? According to their post, service mode allows you to downgrade your PSP for you to do whatever you may want to do with it, basically.
So. Here's the deal. In order for you to enable the service mode on your PSP 2K and 3K models, you'll need Datel's new crypto processor based battery called the Lite Blue Tool battery.
It comes with toggle options between a service mode and normal mode, as well as a built in LED power gauge feature! Datel's Lite Blue Tool comes to your nearest store on November 28th for a mere US$ 19.99 (UK) and US$ 29.99 (NA).
After the secret source code for its then-unreleased shooter Half Life 2 showed up on file sharing services in 2003, game-maker Valve Software cooked up an elaborate ruse with the FBI targeting the German hacker suspected in the leak, even setting up a fake job interview in an effort to lure him to the United States for arrest.
The gambit ultimately failed, and Axel "Ago" Gembe remained safely in Germany. He was indicted last month in Los Angeles on new charges of creating the Agobot malware, and sharing it with a crew of U.S. hackers who used it to stage denial-of-service attacks in 2003.
In September 2003, the source code for the much-anticipated Half Life 2 game turned up online, and Valve's managing director, Gabe Newell, revealed that the company's network had been breached. In a post to the company's Web forum, Newell asked for gamer's assistance in finding the hackers responsible.
"If you have information about ... the infiltratio... More »
Back in September, it was ruled that an indexing Web site operated legally as it didn't host copyrighted material and linking to infringing material is permitted under Spanish law.
Now it appears as if this notion has gained extra support as a court has decided that a torrent site which was previously shut down by authorities actually operated legally.
To quote: In July 2007 we reported on the case of TodoTorrente.com, one of Spain’s largest BitTorrent sites. After a year long investigation by Spain’s Anti-Piracy Federation, an announcement was made by the Directorate of Police and Civil Guard - the site had been raided and closed by judicial order while the administrators arrested.
According to Spanish police, the site caused the entertainment industries 535,000 euros in losses and made 30,000 euros in profits. Unfortunately the authorities didn’t have the benefit of foresight, which would’ve given them an understanding of how Spanish l... More »
Hexus (linked above) is reporting that hackers are 'bamboozled' by the security on the PSP-3000. They discuss whether a hack will be found, and explore the possibility that Sony has won its battle against PSP piracy and homebrew.
To quote: It's still early days in the life of the PSP-3000, which was released approximately 3 weeks ago, but Sony will be happy to hear that hackers have so far failed to exploit the latest hardware revision.
So far hackers have only been able to swap its CPU with that of a PSP Slim, but haven't been able to exploit the hardware in the same way as previous models.
Dark_AleX, one of the most popular PSP sites for the hacking and homebrew community, has been unable to find a work around to hack the hand-held and the community as a whole appear to be stumped as to whether it will even be possible.
If it can't be hacked then Sony will have finally won its long battle against piracy and the homebrew comm... More »
Many users live with boot problems or re-install Windows and start again, but there is a better way. If you learn what happens during the boot process then you'll be able to diagnose and fix any issues that might arise.
The BIOS
The boot starts with your PC's BIOS, which grabs its settings from CMOS RAM before initialising your video adaptor and any expansion cards. A Power On Self Test does basic hardware checks, tests your RAM if required and usually delivers a single beep to indicate that everything is working.
If there's a problem at this point then the BIOS will display an error message or issue a number of beeps; check your motherboard manual to figure out what they might mean. If it's accessible, launch your BIOS setup program to confirm that no settings have been changed. If they have, this could mean that your motherboard's CMOS battery has failed, in which case you'll need a replacement.
Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) program aims to deter the use of illegally copied versions of Windows, but it may end up helping hackers in China.
Microsoft's WGA program tests Windows installations to determine whether they have been legally purchased. As implemented in some countries, like China, WGA turns the user's desktop background black when it detects an illegal copy of Windows. The goal is to encourage users to pay for legitimate software.
According to a BSA-IDC study, 82% of PC software in China is pirated.
The so-called "black screen of death" -- which doesn't impede computer function like Microsoft's "blue screen of death" -- has prompted an outcry against what Chinese users... More »
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