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Weekend Review: this week's software
Grab a cup of coffee and get your downloading mice ready ladies and gents; this week's software review is coming at you:Shareware AppZapper 1.5: minor fixes and improvements ChatFX: spice up your iChat video conferences TextExpander 1.3 (formerly Textpander): an essential utility gets even better QuarkXPress 7 (yawn): but the Universal is still in beta SubEthaEdit 2.5: the much loved collaborative text editor and code-ninja tool receives AppleScript-ability, bug fixes Videator: be careful when using it to spice up your videos iComment 4.1: maintenance release and compatibility with iWeb 1.1.x DivX 6.5: Universal (and free) player along with a retail price encoder for indie video codec Donationware/Freeware Bricksmith (donationware): virtual legos on your Mac. I dare you to name something cooler Safari Tidy (free): plug-in to check sites for XHTML compliance CoreDuoTemp 0.8 (free): maintenance fix for utility to keep track of temp, CPU usage and frequency on Intel Macs MappingService (donationware): get a map from any app SmackBook (free): hilarious hack for multi-desktop management utility Proxi 1.0 (free): broader app support for application automation utility from Griffin Open Source Maintenance 3.5: minor updates to fantastic Automator action/AppleScript Password Assistant: hook into Keychain Access to easily create complicated passwords Books: feature-rich book catalogging Free Updates iWeb 1.1.1: hopefully those publishing woes have been vanquished Xcode 2.3: Apple's premiere code-ninja tool receives enhancements and bug fixes Logic Express 7.2.1: maintenance release Universal Binary Delibar 0.8 (donationware): My personal favorite del.icio.us menubar bookmark utility
Warning to reporters: "Get new cellphones -- now!"
In yet another twist to the unfolding telephone spying story, two reporters from ABC News were apparently told by a "senior law enforcement official" that their cellphones were being tapped so that the government could track down their confidential sources. The reporters were warned to get new cellphones as quickly as possible if they wanted to maintain their sources' anonymity. We, of course, follow that advice and get new cellphones all the time. Not because we think anyone is listening in, but because we just have this compulsion we can't shake. However, if the Feds want to listen in on our calls and find out who's been leaking all of that juicy Treo info, they can feel free. Trust us, they'll be very surprised by what they learn.
NBA 2K6 update fouls out
2K Sports continues to test their bugged-out games the way Shaq shoots free throws, which is to say poorly. Reader Trevor complains:I loaded up NBA 2K6 for the 360 earlier this week and it prompted me for a forced update. After the update I played a game and the crib points (rewards for in game acheivements to buy in game stuff) were totally messed up. For example, I got one rebound and got the 10 rebound reward, I scored 10 points and I got the 100 point reward, made 2 free throws and I got the 15 free throw award etc.....Obviously the patch screwed up the stat recording by a factor of 10. Dozens of people have been complaining on the 2k forums The question is why wasn't this caught. It's blatently obvious in the first 10 seconds of playing the game. No testing what so ever.A road trip to the forums finds plenty of complaints and no answers. How many fouls does 2K get before people just stop buying their products?
Replicate this dashboard bug
No, that's not a modern art masterpiece, it's a dashboard bug you can replicate by doing the following: make sure the screensaver on the X360 is activated start any download from live marketplace that takes longer than 10 mins. to download (to let the screensaver kick in) leave the download going and don't touch the controller. the screensaver will dim the screen after 10 mins. unplug the ethernet cable or end your internet connection from your router/modem you'll see the screen graphics scramble on the screen when it tries to tell you that the connection has ended. However, when you hit the controller the dashboard screen goes back to normal (at least that is what happens to mine) Smashing your console with a cinderblock works pretty good too. Seriously, reader Critical3rror is having issues with the scrambled screen pictured above when downloading (at least he was when he first emailed me about it a while back). As mentioned, it goes back to normal when he hits a controller button. Anybody else run into this issue?
Play ball: MLB 2K6 patched
I used up every baseball metaphor in the record book complaining about the flaws in MLB 2K6, so I'm duty-bound to report an auto-update has been released:2K Sports has finalized a solution that solves the issue found with Xbox 360 HDD systems when playing Major League Baseball 2K6. The 2K Sports QA team pinpointed and confirmed with Microsoft a cache issue with replays that users with the HDD systems may encounter. The cache issue has been limited to less than 10% of the Major League Baseball 2K6 Xbox 360 users. When these machines are powered down during gameplay, the cache on the HDD may become corrupted and may result in the system “freeze” issue. 2K Sports has isolated the cause and has created a Title Update to correct this issue that is now available.Now all we need is an update for the rest of this mediocre game, not to mention the entire disappointing batch of 360 sports titles (sparing FNR3). If the 2K7 line-up isn't vastly improved, I may stick to Uno.
Are We All Just Beta Testers?
GameDaily has an interesting article up about how game developers seem to be using players as beta testers. Buggy code is released as a final product to the public with the thought that it can always be fixed with a later patch. And, while the article specifically discusses single player games, the argument is perhaps even more applicable to large MMO's in which regular patches to add content (and fix old bugs) are the norm. While it's understandable to an extent - World of Warcraft is a massive game, and it would be impossible to test every race, class, and talent spec in every situation - some of the bugs are sufficiently obvious that they make one wonder how much testing happens at all. However, perhaps MMO's are so expansive that it's imposible to give them the full quality assurance treatment in the traditional sense - which is why we've ended up with test servers and a regular patch cycle. What do you think - are we beta testing the software we're paying for? And should we be?
MLB 2K6 freezing bug drives ballers batty
Just released MLB 2K6 is batting .000 with angry baseball fans due to a freezing bug that literally strikes you out of game. Already tagged by reviewers as an uninspired port of the Xbox version with minor graphical improvements, the title is now being grand slammed in the 2KSports forums for product testing that failed to cover the plate. Here's a typical post minus the expletives:I mean not to be rude, but I paid hard-earned Money for this game ($60) and not to mention the system ($400) just to have it freeze-up. In my version of the freeze happens after striking someone out. It doesn't happen after every strike-out, but when it does my screen goes all black and the only way to get a picture back on my screen is to completely restart my system. Perhaps aware that opening the season with a broken game isn't the best way pitch your newly exclusive Major League Baseball license, 2KSports has issued an official response with the usual mumbled apology and promise of a fix.Folks, we've been Charlie hustled. This problem was not mentioned in any of the reviews that I read. Now we're supposed to sit on the bench and wait for a patch. According to one forum poster, the issue is related to the 360 hard drive and can be worked around by using a memory card. But people paid $60 to hit home runs, not half-assed hardware solutions. (He also says the same bug was present in NBA and NHL 2K6).I loved MLB 2K5 like Barry Bonds loves shrunken nads, but so far 2KSport's Xbox 360 efforts have been one of the console's most disappointing foul balls. No company is more guilty of slapping some polygon paint on a port, rushing it out the door, and calling it next-gen. Now that their quality control has swung and missed, it may be time to send this developer back to the minors until they figure out what we demand out of a next-gen sports game, particularly an exclusive license. Three games, three strikes.On the plus side, freezing time may be the only way to keep the Phillies from sucking this year.[Thanks JB]
Help the revolution: submit feedback
This is more of a public service announcement and reminder than anything, inspired by TUAW reader Jer's comment on my .Mac syncing UI silliness post. Jer asked whether we were submitting feedback to Apple concerning gripes like the one I blogged, and the answer is 'most definitely yes.' This brief dialog inspired me to take the opportunity to urge all Mac users everywhere to do the same.If you have a complaint, a feature request, or maybe you just found a bug in Mac OS X, or another piece of Apple's software, apple.com/feedback is a great place to go and tell them about it. Most of Apple's apps are categorized there, and it's a simple process for submitting your comment. While I don't believe it's in their policy to reply to anything submitted there, you can rest assured that it's one of the best places Apple uses to collect the information they use to keep tabs on how we like their software, especially when it comes to creating all those official bug reports you'll find sprinkled throughout their support and knowledgebase articles (besides, who wants to take bets that their engineers have TUAW in their newsreader?).So remember boys and girls, when it comes to feature requests, UI gripes and bug squashing: ask not what Apple can do for you... but submit some feedback so the world's best operating system can get even better.
Dude, Where's My Corpse?
Ok, usually I don't spend much time complaining about bugs, and I know we just went through a major update & there are bound to be some, but this is just downright annoying. Both my teammate & I got jumped by a couple of slightly-higher level Horde in Stranglethorn Vale, and when we awoke as ghosts, our graves were nowhere to be seen on the mini-map, and when we finally found & reached our corpses, there was no option to rez; we had to high-tail it all the way back to the spirit healer. Now I remember why I hate death penalties so darn much...A few other people on the server are having the same problem; any of you guys out there unable to return to the land of the living?
Bugs, ghosts, and standard responses
Ever died and woken up somewhere... else? AFK Gamer describes a strange bug in which death in Silithus meant becoming a ghost in Westfall--now that's a corpse run and a half.I've experienced something similar, randomly arriving in the Barrens after a death in Tanaris.. another time I died in Hillsbrad and stayed dead, the game refusing point-blank to bring me to life for any price. Somehow bugs involving death are the most frustrating, thanks to the limited number of things you can do when dead. Ever experienced any of these bugs? How did it turn out?
My iMac Core Duo's odd behavior
There are a few odd behaviors on my new iMac Core Duo that keep reappearing. One of the most noticeable has been a switch of the ColorSync profile of the machine to a non-native profile, followed by a complete inability to change the profile back or to create a new profile. I don't know if everyone with iMac Core Duos are experiencing this issue, if it is an odd bug brought on by my use of an external 24-inch Dell monitor as my main display and monitor spanning turned on, or if it's something brought on by the numerous Rosetta and Universal Binary programs I'm running. For all I know, it could be a side effect of playing World of Warcraft for hours on the machine.In any case, the fix for the problem would seem to be to run OnyX or Cocktail, repair all permissions and flush all the caches on the machine. This returns the ColorSync profiles to their defaults and allows me the ability to switch between the different profiles. Anyone else seeing this problem with their Intel-based Macs? It seems to recur about once a week for me. Any other peculiar bits of recurring odd behavior that you have noticed?
Dashboard silently updated, but bugs still abound
Noticed anything funny with the 360 Dashboard? While it has a couple of problems, it looks like Microsoft have already taken some steps to update the Dashboard, with most people running version 2241 instead of version 1888 which the 360 shipped with. This "silent" updating is a little unnerving, especially as we don't know what was fixed, but it's nice to know something is being done about the various bugs and problems.[Thanks, Scott]
