http://www.thetechlounge.com Recent News: General en-us Sat, 7 Nov 2009 15:44:53 -0600 Sat, 7 Nov 2009 15:44:53 -0600 General news Copyright 2009, TheTechLounge, Inc. 60 http://www.thetechlounge.com/templates/thetechlounge/images/88x31_ttl.png http://www.thetechlounge.com 88 31 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13956/For-Every-Obama-theres-a-Biden/ "The internet chapter of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret copyright treaty whose text Obama's administration refused to disclose due to "national security" concerns, has leaked. It's bad. It says: * That ISPs have to proactively police copyright on user-contributed material. This means that it will be impossible to run a service like Flickr or YouTube or Blogger, since hiring enough lawyers to ensure that the mountain of material uploaded every second isn't infringing will exceed any hope of profitability. * That ISPs have to cut off the Internet ...]]> Recent News: General Tue, 3 Nov 2009 20:22:06 -0600 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13956/For-Every-Obama-theres-a-Biden/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13955/The-Princes-Movie-Trailer/ " As a fan of the ridiculous acrobatics in the games, one of the aspects I was specifically watching for in the trailer was the stuntwork. As expected, the action is heavy on the CG, but as a result the free running in the trailer is as unbelievable as in the games, if not more so. Some specific moves shown off in the trailer will be familiar to fans of the games, while others are so fantastic that a game would be hard pressed to replicate them outside of a cut-scene or quick time event. Suffice it to say that I was pleased with the quality and density of acrobatic stunts in the trail...]]> Recent News: General Tue, 3 Nov 2009 19:14:10 -0600 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13955/The-Princes-Movie-Trailer/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13953/PSA-to-Hoard-Yodas/ "In terms of data on current human scales, a yottabyte is nearly infinite (though I'm sure the NSA will manage to fill the thing in like 2 weeks, and iPods will come with yottabytes in just a few months). To be fair, the yottabyte figure is just one estimate generated by a Pentagon think tank. The facility could hold a mere hundreds of petabytes. But either way, the prospect is as unsustainable as it is frightening. This one facility will burn through as much electricity as the entirety of Salt Lake City. All of this data comes from the book The Secret Sentry: The Untold Hi...]]> Recent News: General Mon, 2 Nov 2009 23:58:29 -0600 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13953/PSA-to-Hoard-Yodas/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13950/Free-Mechwarrior-Coming-Along-Nicely/ "Well, triple resurrections, if you also include the upcoming sequel/relaunch. For the purposes of this post though, it’s vintage Mechwarring. Not been able to try this myself yet – mainly due to the torturously slow proprietary bitorrent client necessary to download the thing – but there’s a whole lot afoot in Mechwarrior land. First, a major new version of a free remake of Mechwarrior 2 made in Blitzbasic. It’s called Assault Tech 1: Battletech. Tech tech? Tech. Tech! Apparently, it now looks better than the original, thanks to a revamped DirectX7 engine. Oh, mighty seven. Decide fo...]]> Recent News: General Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:12:10 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13950/Free-Mechwarrior-Coming-Along-Nicely/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13949/Mollynoo-Apparently-Doesnt-Play-Video-Games/ "Speaking at BAFTA’s Annual Video Games Lecture last night, Lionhead boss Peter Molyneux revealed what he believes to be the 5 most revolutionary games from the past 20 years. In a typically passionate and engaging presentation, Molyneux spoke of the need for designers to defy perceived wisdom and custom, saying, “The best innovations come from challenging the foundation stones of conventional wisdom.” The 5 games selected by Molyneux were specifically chosen for their success in doing just that. The first title Molyneux highlighted for discussion was Dune 2, an early RTS. Molyn...]]> Recent News: General Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:24:49 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13949/Mollynoo-Apparently-Doesnt-Play-Video-Games/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13946/Make-Way-for-Spam/ "The Internet is set to undergo one of the biggest changes in its four-decade history with the expected approval this week of international domain names — or addresses — that can be written in languages other than English, an official said Monday. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN — the non-profit group that oversees domain names — is holding a meeting this week in Seoul. Domain names are the monikers behind every Web site, e-mail address and Twitter post, such as ".com" and other suffixes. One of the key issues to be taken up by ICANN's boar...]]> Recent News: General Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:48:37 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13946/Make-Way-for-Spam/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13943/Are-Video-Games-the-New-BMovies/ "I’ve been playing a lot of Killzone 2 this week — which, by the way, I highly recommend — and, in many ways, it’s really just an interactive B-movie. The scripted bits that carry along the in-game action consist almost exclusively of tough-guy cliches pieced together from the last forty years of action movies, comic books, and war films. It’s silly, outrageous, over-the-top, and incredibly entertaining — just like a good B-movie should be. Metal Gear Solid 4 makes the case even more. Like previous MGS games, it’s highly cinematic, with long, relatively complex cut scenes driving...]]> Recent News: General Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:41:25 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13943/Are-Video-Games-the-New-BMovies/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13937/Family-Guy-7/ "In a statement, Microsoft and Fox said they hope to "bring the old 'Texaco Star Theater'-style sponsorships into the 21st century." MacFarlane, creator and primary voice of "Family Guy," and Borstein, voice of the series' Lois character, teamed with the folks from Microsoft, as well as Redmond's ad agencies--Universal McCann, and Crispin, Porter & Bogusky, to create the show. "While the way people watch TV has evolved, their desire to be entertained, and marketers' need to deliver compelling content, hasn't changed," the companies said. "Microsoft and...]]> Recent News: General Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:59:54 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13937/Family-Guy-7/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13930/Idea-Squatting/ "In July, John Big Dawg Thompson, who is the mask-wearing pack leader of Cleveland's Dawg Pound, filed a complaint against EA in the Cuyahoga Country Court of Common Pleas. He thinks EA used his Big Dawg persona in Madden NFL 09. An image of a bug-eyed dogface mask, orange hardhat, oversize dog bone, and a Browns jersey with the number "98” can be seen in the crowd in the game." App store name squatting latest craze "They spent months developing an app called 'Twitch', when it came to Atomic Antelope registering the a...]]> Recent News: General Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:42:30 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13930/Idea-Squatting/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13928/Jackie-T-Sues-Facebook-for-40M/ "None of these activities has made him many friends on Facebook, where there are literally hundreds of groups -- most with just a handful of members -- dedicated to him. The less-offensive sounding ones have names such as I Hate Jack Thompson, Stop Jack Thompson, and Disbar Jack Thompson. But Thompson says that some of the posts are dangerous and have caused him "great harm and distress." For example, he cites the group Jack Thompson should be smacked across the face with an Atari 2600 in his lawsuit. " I think failing to comprehend basic knowledge of the first amendment s...]]> Recent News: General Fri, 9 Oct 2009 22:52:00 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13928/Jackie-T-Sues-Facebook-for-40M/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13926/03-v/ "In the episode's opening scene, he's in crunch mode, just three months before his game is supposed to ship. His team consists of two dudes playtesting the game, one of whom observes "the code is a little janky". It's akin to "tightening up the graphics on level three". The episode sports typically implausible footage of the game itself, created for an audience who wouldn't know a videogame from a cutscene. This game is about a monkey, a lizard, and a catman fighting swarms of bats, ideally with a megablaster (pictured). It's played using a VR visor, a rifl...]]> Recent News: General Wed, 7 Oct 2009 20:11:33 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13926/03-v/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13921/Mechwarrior-Movie/ "Back in the pre-Joystiq days of 2003, cavemen spoke of preliminary plans for a MechWarrior movie, to be produced by Dean "Oops, I made Godzilla" Devlin who referred to the opportunity as "a real passion project" ... about giant robots. Of course, we know nothing ever came of that passion; however, with a reboot on the horizon, another MechWarrior film is "in development" at former Disney chief (and apparent Robot Jox fanboy) Michael Eisner's The Tornante Company, a trusted source told Joystiq. Eisner owned the rights to the franchise through a series of acquisitions, series c...]]> Recent News: General Mon, 5 Oct 2009 23:59:32 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13921/Mechwarrior-Movie/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13920/EA-Sues-Edge-Games-Its-Cool/ "EA and EA DICE are asking that the trademarks “THE EDGE”, “GAMER’S EDGE”, “EDGE”, “CUTTING EDGE” and “EDGE” (second registration covering a different range of goods), held by Edge Games Inc, be cancelled. EA explain their interest in the “MIRROR’S EDGE” mark and say that since September 2008 Edge Games has been continuously threatening to sue over an alleged violation of their “family of registered EDGE marks.” They explain that Edge Games Inc is the successor company to Edge Interactive Media Inc, and point out Langdell’s continuous role as CEO of both companies. They also poi...]]> Recent News: General Mon, 5 Oct 2009 23:53:35 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13920/EA-Sues-Edge-Games-Its-Cool/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13919/Zombieland-Follows-Old-Boy-in-Documentary-Series/ "13. Rock hammers Not to be confused with tremendous mallets, these things are faster to wield and don’t leave you exhausted after two or three swings. Used for busting rocks, they can easily be repurposed to bust zombies. Advantages: Combines all the best qualities of the 1911A1 and the pump-action shotgun. Disadvantages: None. Anyone who suggests otherwise eats babies. Tips: Oh, OK, these weapons do not make an appearance in Zombieland, but damn it, they were so darned effective in Streets of Fire — anything that works well in that movie is bound to work well anywhere!" ...]]> Recent News: General Mon, 5 Oct 2009 23:35:33 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13919/Zombieland-Follows-Old-Boy-in-Documentary-Series/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13918/Why-Does-Pystar-Exist/ "Mac clone-maker Psystar is a bit like the streotypical sitcom character that always comes up with wacky ideas, much to the dismay of the studio audience. Its latest brainstorm? Despite being sued for copyright infringement by Apple, going bankrupt, and changing lawyers midstream, the Florida-based company has announced that it’s licensing the virtualization technology that allows generic PCs to run Mac OS X. The technology—part of which is the company's Darwin Universal Boot Loader—would allow a computer to run up to six different operating systems, including Windows 7, Vista...]]> Recent News: General Mon, 5 Oct 2009 23:29:57 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13918/Why-Does-Pystar-Exist/