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Why WildStar's name reservations were screwed up
So WildStar's name reservation system didn't work quite right. It's working now, but when it went live it wasn't working at all, and for a first-come-first-served thing that's kind of a catastrophic problem. Compensation has been announced, but why did everything go wrong? Carbine's director of operations posted in the forums about how things went from bad to worse and where the breakdowns in communication took place. The short version is that it started when a big information drop introduced a lot of new assets to the site, causing even more load than was expected for the page when the name service went up. After that was handled, however, another problem surfaced with the site's feedback, leading to what is described as the server performing what amounts to a DDoS attack against itself. And once that was fixed, another problem surfaced. If you'd like to see the whole breakdown in detail to understand how everything got messed up, take a look at the full post on the official forums.
Apple //e running source code loaded from an iPad
Stick with us here -- this is complicated but cool. So, Stewart Smith happened to see online that the Panic Software guys had an old Apple IIe (sorry, //e) sitting around their office, and he emailed to ask them if they could possibly use it to run an old text animation that he'd created for a song a while back. Being the considerate guys that they are, they agreed. There was a problem, though: Stewart's code was meant to be played on the old cassette deck source, and they didn't have one. "What did we have?" they ask, and the answer is, "an iPad." You can see the results in video over on their site, and they are magical. There are a couple of amazing things here: one, that the old source code can be "read" just as easily coming out of the iPad's audio port as it was when coming out of cassette tapes back in the day, and two, that the //e runs it so well. Let's also remember that we're watching it happen across the Internet in full audio and video quality, possibly even on an iPad itself. For all of the new and shiny that Apple has brought us recently, you almost forget how much history is building here, and it's somewhat surprising that a connection can be made between then and now so easily and elegantly.
New shots of X-Blades, Things on Wheels, and Roogoo
Southpeak has released some new screens from their upcoming lineup of 360 titles All told, there are new screens for X-Blades, Roogoo, Things on Wheels. A quick refresher: X-Blades is an action game starring a typically sexy heroine with big weapons. Roogoo is a colorful, intriguing puzzle game. Things on Wheels is a racer featuring RC cars racing through household environments. X-Blades is a retail release, while both Roogoo and Things on Wheels are Xbox Live Arcade titles. Check out the galleries after the break for all the new media.
It's Sunday and the Second Life grid is behaving badly [Updated]
We shouldn't be surprised really, but after a few good weeks of shopping, rezzing, teleporting, sending money, group IMs and the rest, many of Second Life's In World Services are acting up. There are about 57,500 people online at the moment (depending on exactly when you try to log in and get the numbers) which is a slight increase in the peak concurrency from last week, and it appears just enough to make the asset cluster scream in agony for the first time in a few months.No word on the official blog as yet, but be warned your Second Life experience may be rather poor at the moment. Update: The official blog has been updated to say they're experiencing a temporary interruption of In World Services and, "Please refrain from land and L$ transactions until we give an all clear."Update #2: Though Linden recently gave the all clear, they're now reporting there are still some functionality issues. We don't have any specifics, only, "We are looking into this and will update you as soon as we have information."Update #3: As of 5:19 PM EST (2:19 SLT), "In world services are beginning to resume. Some transactions were delayed and are catching up."Update #4: As of 2:47 SL Time the problem is re-opened. Do not conduct land or L$ transactions.Update#5: As of 3:15 SLT it is meant to be fixed again. Some caution might be in order, but back in the pool everyone!
Crisis Core loads infinitely faster on PSP-2000
The PSP-2000 didn't produce improved load times for us, but it looks like new PSP software, like Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, will fare differently. As showcased by this user video, this action RPG runs quite smoothly on the new hardware, but chugs along at an almost painful pace on the PSP Phat. This demonstration is quite possibly the most convincing we've seen that the PSP-2000 is a worthwhile upgrade for old owners. But, are you ready to buy a new system? Or will you simply wait it out? [Thanks, J!]
Mad Tracks hitting XBLA next week?
It was revealed just over a week ago that Mad Tracks, from developer Load Inc., had passed certification and had been priced at a cool 800 points. According to GamingTalkHQ, Mad Tracks may be coming out sooner than expected. How much sooner? How about next week? It seems that Xboxic reported yesterday that "anonymous sources inside Microsoft" had confirmed that the game will arrive on Xbox Live Arcade next week. Following up on this report, GamingTalkHQ decided to IM Load Inc. VP, Denis Bourdain. It was then that GamingTalkHQ noticed Bourdain's away message: "Save Your MS points for next week." It may not be official confirmation, but it's as close as we're going to get before Microsoft decides to send out the press releases.Have any fanboys out there been looking forward to Mad Tracks?
XBLA's Mad Tracks passes certification
Mad Tracks, the arcade racer by Load Inc., has passed Xbox Live Arcade certification according to the company's website. GamingTalkHQ has confirmed that the title will be 800 points ($10 USD). According to Denis Bourdain of Load Inc. the game currently has no expected release date.If you're looking to get a taste of what Mad Tracks has in store for XBLA, you can always test drive the game on Load Inc.'s website. Another great little multiplayer independent title for XBLA can't hurt.
Is 3.0 accelerating the PSP?
Various users on the 1UP, IGN and QJ forums have reported increased performance of games running the new 3.0 firmware. Some games are reported to have faster load times, while others simply run a lot more smoothly and quickly. To a few users, Vice City Stories supposedly features a huge performance boost, with a much better framerate and less draw-in. Web browsing is supposedly faster as well (although memory errors are still common). Popular opinion seems to be that Sony has increased the clock speed of the PSP from its default 222MHz (note: The PSP can go up to 333MHz, but this was restricted due to battery drain issues). Others have suggested that the coding of the firmware is simply much more efficient.While I've been running 3.0, I haven't noticed any significant difference in the games that I've played, meaning groupthink may be coming into play. Wouldn't Sony want to highlight or advertise such a potentially big performance increase? For users of 3.0, post a comment below, and tell the rest of us if you've experienced a speed boost in your gaming recently.
3.01 update? Blame Jeanne d'Arc!
According to Game Watch, the impressive-looking Jeanne d'Arc may be responsible for the insanely quick 3.01 firmware turnaround. 3.0 seems to have a glitch where the UMD load times were significantly increased for that game. Apparently, some users were experiencing game crashes, where players would be stuck at Loading screens. Strange. Could any other games be afflicted by strange 3.0 firmware glitchiness? [Via PSP-Vault]
Load times quantified by GameSpot
Gamespot recently wrote an impressive feature on load times for the three dominant handheld platforms on the market. They wanted to see how long it took for a game to become playable from a completely powered-down system (no standby mode, which is available on both the DS and PSP). Here are some interesting facts from the write-up: The three quickest loading games were Astonishia Story, Gradius Collection and Lumines. They took up to 55 seconds to load. The longest loading game is (unsurprisingly) WWE Smackdown!: more than four minutes for that game. Games with the highest ratings on GameSpot had the shortest load times. Joystiq asks "Does this show that reviewers appreciate short load times, or just that better games tend to be designed to load faster?" I'd say both hold true, but as games like GTA and Daxter show, developers that care about the PSP know how to get around load times. The average load time for cartridge-based DS? 24.5 seconds. The average load time for UMD-based PSP? 103.4 seconds. This shouldn't be surprising to any PSP owner, but it's fascinating to see the numbers. I hate load times a whole lot, and I will avoid games that have insanely high loads. That being said, I don't see one minute loads to be too bad at all. What about you? What do you think about load times?[Via Joystiq]
PSP load times analyzed
Long load times have been a concern for PSP owners ever since the system was released. But just how bad are those load times exactly? Gamespot decided to find out, measuring the time from system start-up to actual gameplay in more than 80 PSP games.The results show the average PSP game clocking in at a whopping 103.4 seconds of load time, compared with sub-30-second load times for the average DS and Game Boy Advance game. Sports games were the worst offenders while puzzle games tended to be quicker on the draw. At just over four minutes, WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2006 had the single worst load time in Gamespot's tests, a fact that should be unsurprising to anyone who's seen this video.Interestingly, PSP games rated 9.0 and above by Gamespot had shorter load times than any other scoring range. Does this show that reviewers appreciate short load times, or just that better games tend to be designed to load faster?While the tradeoff between loading times and storage space is always a tough one, we have to believe that a wait of close to two minutes is too long for a quick, portable game. What do you think? How long is too long to wait for a game to start?(Thanks, HaloBreaker)
Live play for Mad Tracks after all
Our friends at Xboxic delivered some good news today. Mad Tracks, the wacky pull-back car racer, has been delayed. The reason why a delay is good news: Load is delaying the game so that Live Multiplayer can be added. Some of you may recall from our earlier post that Live play was not originally planned for the game. See, boys and girls, sometimes delays can be a good thing.Does this news change anyone's mind about buying Mad Tracks?
An easier method to get Windows Vista to run with Boot Camp
Yes, before you fire off a flaming comment, we know this is The Unofficial Apple Weblog, but we thought it might be nice to post a tip for those of you who either want or need to play with the next generation of Microsoft Windows, reportedly due out within the decade (hey, it was originally due in 2003 - by its present 2007 date they'll be almost half a decade late already). This Apple Discussions forum thread details a slightly more appealing trick for getting Vista, now in a public beta (but overloaded with download requests as of this writing), to install and run with Boot Camp. Basically, you need to have Boot Camp already set up and installed with Windows XP. Then, burn a DVD of the Vista beta you just downloaded. And before you ask: no, unfortunately, Vista won't run on Parallels Desktop - yet. Parallels has publicly mentioned making this work with a future version, but there is no ETA for when this support will land.Now - and this is the 'at your own risk' part - you need to use some kind of partition manager (the forum poster used one from within XP, but I've heard you can use one that starts up from within the Vista installer when booting from the DVD) to delete an ambiguous partition that Boot Camp creates that is around 180-200 MB in size. Again, we can't stress this enough: this is done at your own risk - you are messing with your boot record and after this step, Boot Camp won't be able to adjust your partitions or blow away and reclaim your Windows partition anymore. Mac OS X and Windows will still boot just fine, but this isn't an ideal setup for the faint-of-heart Boot Camp user.if you take the plunge and nuke that partition, however, you should now be able to boot from the Vista DVD and use it to upgrade your copy of Windows XP - which in and of itself could spark a discussion as to whether one should upgrade or install clean new versions of Windows; it usually isn't recommended with Mac OS X, who wants to take bets on Windows' ability to have a smooth OS upgrade ride?If you try any of this stuff out, feel free to post your thoughts on the experience, and then go wash your hands of one of the dirtiest things you can do to a Mac.
