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Droid Bionic mod brings HDMI mirroring and Webtop to your car, please drive responsibly
You're cruisin' in your sweet ride when all of a sudden you realize exactly what your set of wheels is missing: Webtop. While the vast majority of us may shrug off the thought, convincing ourselves that our 3.5mm jack or cassette player is plenty to keep us mindlessly entertained through the morning commute, one man with the know-how dared to be different. All of that blazing-fast LTE pumping out of his Droid Bionic was being wasted, after all, so why not outfit his car's AV setup with Webtop and HDMI mirroring capabilities to blast Netflix on his dash and multiple screens in the back for the kiddies? It's a clever mod, but we don't condone the use of Netflix whilst driving, of course; just keep the movies out of sight, please. Head to the source link for the full step-by-step.
Music from the MPQs
Want to listen to the music of World of Warcraft without actually playing the game? It's possible -- anyee has posted a quick how-to over on the WoW Livejournal. The music is sitting on your computer in MPQ files, which are a proprietary Blizzard archiving format for their games. But there are a number of MPQ extractors and editors out there (the two recommended are MPQ Extractor for the Mac and MPQ Editor for Windows), so download one of those, use it to break open the MPQ you're looking for, and then find the music you want in that folder. Extract it out, and voila, you've got Warcraft music to listen to whenever you want.I know what you're saying -- this might be against the Terms of Service. But actually, it's not -- the ToS only mentions "modifying" game files, and since you're simply extracting them from their archives, you're not actually modifying them. Plus, Blizzard actually authorizes the extraction of this music for use in noncommercial machinima, so as long as you use this music and any other assets for personal, noncommercial use, Blizzard has no problem with it. Of course, you'll be stuck listening to the music in bits and pieces designed for looping rather than a snazzy CD set. But if all you want to do is taking a listen to some of the tunes out of game, there you go.
Mutating the MMO
Over at Eurogamer.net, Rob Fahey has been taking a hard look at some of the conventions of MMOs and considering how recent innovations in non-MMO games development could act as a wake-up call. Using Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare as a focus point, Rob points out the parallels between that game and conventional MMOs - a persistent player character, experience gained through tasks and through defeating adversaries, new weapons acquired, new abilities unlocked. Evidently, core gameplay elements characteristic of MMOs can be transplanted into different gaming contexts without making the new entity into a traditional MMO, and also while leaving some of the arguably less desirable elements behind, such as the grind. Rob recognises this evolution as much more important than it has so far been given credit for. Designers and fans have debated how to break the MMO model out of its entrenched conventions: CoD4 has (Rob argues) already done exactly that, while nobody was looking.
Take-Two acknowledges Manhunt 2 hack
After word spread throughout the internet of gamers hacking the M-rated version of Manhunt 2 to unlock its censored content, Take-Two has now confirmed the diabolical deed. "Multiple edits were made to revise Manhunt 2 for its M-rated version. Hackers apparently have altered one of those edits to produce an illegally modified version of the game that can only be played on an unauthorized, modified PlayStation Portable handheld system," a Take-Two rep wrote to GamePolitics.com. "All of the game material, and especially these specific edits, was submitted to and reviewed by the ESRB in accordance with requirements regarding disclosure that were enacted two years ago and any contrary suggestion is inaccurate and irresponsible."Because the ESRB approved Rockstar's edits of the game, it will probably be safe from any actual lawsuits, but that probably won't stop some uneducated media members from blowing it out of proportion. We just can't wait to hear from dear ol' Jack.
