The Geeky Ramblings of Bucko

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2012-01-28T16:32:00.001-08:00

Games On Net :: General News: New Jeff Minter Game Mocks Scientology, Panders to Bronies

tags: llamasoft bronies
Selling Digital Books

tags: sbi fortwt
150 Best Windows Applications Of Year 2010 [Editor's Pick]

tags: windows software applications freeware
QED Professional Component Video Cable CUSTOM LENGTH - FutureShop.co.uk

tags: cables newroom

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2012-01-21T16:32:00.001-08:00

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2012-01-14T16:34:00.001-08:00

Can-Am UK Online Order Inquiry

tags: storage newroom drawers
HLSL for Vertical Games on Horizontal Monitor Instructions - Screenshots

These are instructions how to get vertical games to look good (larger) on a horizontal LCD monitor using HLSL.

It will give the illusion of a vertical monitor tilted back.

tags: mame emulation hlsl

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2012-01-07T16:33:00.001-08:00

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2011-12-17T16:32:00.001-08:00

1UP2P.COM

Retrogaming clothes and merchandise

tags: videogames retrogames clothes

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2011-12-10T16:32:00.001-08:00

Armitage - Cyber Attack Management for Metasploit

GUI front end for Metasploit

tags: hacking hak5 armatage metasploit
int0x80/anti-forensics - GitHub

u mad bro?

tags: forensics anti hacking hak5

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2011-12-03T16:32:00.001-08:00

PC Skyrim is a frustrating mess and will soon be the best version

Skyrim might be a contender for game of the year, but it's also a clunky mess once you begin to level up your character, manage your inventory, or use your map. The good news for PC players is that a full suite of modding tools is on the way, and the community will take care of all the balls that were dropped by the original development teams. And boy oh boy, so many balls were dropped.

tags: skyrim pcgames videogames

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2011-11-12T16:32:00.001-08:00

Welcome to TV Lifts Product Showroom

tags: cabinets conservatory tvstands

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2011-10-29T17:32:00.001-07:00

Google (XML) Sitemaps Generator for WordPress

This plugin generates a XML-Sitemap compliant sitemap of your WordPress blog. This format is supported by Ask.com, Google, YAHOO and MSN Search.

tags: wordpress sitemap

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2011-10-22T17:32:00.001-07:00

Publishers « Tremor Video

tags: video flowplayer fortwt

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2011-10-15T17:32:00.001-07:00

What is NeTV - ChumbyWiki

"NeTV is designed to work as an add-on to video sources like Boxee, Revue, Roku, PS3, Xbox360, DVR, DVD, set top boxes, etc. It sits between these devices and the TV. NeTV's key benefit is adding push delivery of personalized internet news on top of all platforms in a non-intrusive and always-on manner. By being platform agnostic, NeTV enables you to add apps to any system configuration without having to throw away your existing hardware investments. "

tags: hdmi NeTV videogames htpc gadgets
Sony hacked again, 93,000 accounts breached - Edge Magazine
- massive set of sign-in IDs and passwords
  - Taken from where exactly?
Installing WordPress – Two Options at Domain.com | The Domain.com Blog

tags: wordpress Domain.com

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2011-10-08T17:32:00.001-07:00

Free WordPress Themes Preview

tags: wordpress
SBI Upload your own

tags: SBI fortwt

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2011-09-24T17:32:00.001-07:00

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2011-09-10T17:32:00.001-07:00

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2011-09-03T17:32:00.001-07:00

Windows 8: everything you need to know | News | TechRadar UK
- a reimagining of Windows, "from the chip to the interface"

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2011-08-20T17:32:00.001-07:00

Retrode

This web site is dedicated to the USB adapter for 16-bit games, the Retrode. Feed your SNES or Mega Drive / Genesis emulator with games from your original cartridges!

tags: retrogames videogames

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2011-08-13T17:32:00.001-07:00

shmups.system11.org • View topic - XRGB-3
- OK I did that. It fixed t
WTF: Microsoft praised by hacker for “spectacular” security approach | VentureBeat
- “Microsoft’s s

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2011-08-06T17:32:00.001-07:00

Jack of Kent: On capital punishment

tags: punishment politics justice deathpenalty

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2011-07-23T17:32:00.001-07:00

Troll The Web

tags: troll greesemonkey fuuuuu

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2011-07-16T17:32:00.001-07:00

CGC Vectrex Vecmania

Vectrex reproduction game cartridges and homebrew

tags: videogames retrogames vectrex
Spike's Big Page Emulation

tags: videogames retrogames vectrex
http://www.vectrex.biz

tags: vectrex retrogames videogames

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2011-07-02T17:32:00.001-07:00

Peninsula College of Medicine & Dentistry

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2011-06-25T17:32:00.001-07:00

Can You Run It?

tags: PC windows fortwt
Multi-protocol IM Showdown

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2011-06-18T17:32:00.001-07:00

A few new Radiant Silvergun details | xblafans.com

"Earlier this week Microsoft held an event to show off some of the upcoming japanese developed XBLA releases. Upcoming Sega Saturn port Radiant Silvergun was at the event and Treasure CEO Masato Maegawa shared some details on its development."

tags: radiantsilvergun xbox360 videogames
GameSave Manager

Looks like a great tool for managing PC save games

tags: videogames pcgames tools windows

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2011-06-11T17:32:00.001-07:00

Appy 1000mg (enhanced version)

Fantastic Flash platformer

tags: indiegames videogames

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2011-06-04T17:32:00.001-07:00

chipzel ON ITUNES! | Free Music, Tour Dates, Photos, Videos

tags: chipmusic videogames music

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2011-05-28T17:32:00.001-07:00

Nitrome - Play Free Games

tags: videogames indiegames nitrome

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2011-05-14T17:32:00.001-07:00

lindsey coast radio

tags: radio skegness happyhardcore

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2011-05-07T17:32:00.001-07:00

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2011-04-30T17:32:00.001-07:00

konjak.org - First hit for excrulimicatination on google!

tags: indiegames videogames

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2011-04-23T17:32:00.001-07:00

Secunia Personal Software Inspector (PSI)

tags: windows security utilities fortwt

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2011-04-16T17:32:00.001-07:00

Pokemon Tower Defense

tags: games indiegames flashgames snossage

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2011-04-09T17:32:00.001-07:00

crashfaster

tags: videogames music chipmusic
The Metagame by Local No.12 by Mike E, Colleen M, John S, & Eric Z — Kickstarter

tags: videogames cardgames
Play Interlocked, a free online game on Kongregate

tags: videogames indiegames
Supergiant Games | Official Web site of Supergiant Games, creators of Bastion, an original action role-playing game

tags: videogames indiegames rpg
Play Fotonica, a free online game on Kongregate

tags: videogames indiegames
Super Treadmill - Nitrome - Play Free Games

tags: videogames indiegames
IDM Computer Solutions, Inc. Forums • Search and Delete text between two different search words

tags: regex ultraedit html
- (?s) allows searches to span multiple lines
- . matches any character (including newlines, thanks to (?s) above)
  * allows for any number of matches (including zero)
Why 3D doesn't work and never will. Case closed. - Roger Ebert's Journal

tags: 3d film technology

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2011-03-26T17:32:00.001-07:00

Outbrain - Get a Free Related Links Widget

tags: fortwt web2.0
nGlide - Glide wrapper | Zeus Software

tags: glide nglide videogames pcgames
Soluto – Anti-Frustration Software

tags: pc fortwt windows
Nifflas' Games

tags: games videogames indiegames
I-Hacked.com Taking Advantage Of Technology

tags: hacks technology hacking hak5

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2011-03-19T17:32:00.001-07:00

memes-fry-can-never-tell.jpg (JPEG Image, 360×270 pixels)

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2011-03-12T16:32:00.001-08:00

Catena Comics - Archives

tags: comics furry webcomics

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Preowned games - How and why are videogames are the only entertainment product that supermarkets sell second hand?

2011-03-09T11:00:00.000-08:00

Game, a much vilified high street retailer of videogames here in the UK, just announced that you can now pre-order pre-owned games. Yes, you read that correctly, for a £16 discount and an additional one week wait, you can pre-order a game that someone else has opened and played. It's a depressing state of affairs to walk into a Game or Gamestation store today, where once there was a fantastic selection of games for all current consoles, now there is now row upon row of pre-owned games and a tiny selection of new ones. Pushy sales assistants will constantly remind punters that they can trade in their old games and consoles. Preowned has become such a lucrative market that even supermarkets have announced that they want to get in on the act too, making games the first and only commodity that you can buy second hand in a Tesco or Asda supermarket. Games publishers and developers are furious, some even going on the record to say that pre-owned games are worse than piracy. Of course, that's really not true, if I own an item I'm entitled to sell or give it away to whomever I please. However, I don't imagine Tesco or Asda wanting to buy my old DVDs, Blu-Rays, Books or CD's any time soon, so why are games singled out? How have pre-owned games become such big business that even supermarkets want in on the action? What the industry really needs to ask is “how did we get here and what can be done about it?”

Of course, when you ask this question there's all kinds of finger pointing that will go on. Game argue that pre-owned is providing a valuable service to gamers, who can afford more games thanks to them. The management at Game will argue that there's no profit in new games because the publishers are too greedy. The publishers will tell you that games are cheaper now than they have ever been and blame spiralling development costs for tight profit margins. Developers will blame retailers like Game for syphoning money from their pockets to line their own. Is it fair to blame Game and other retailers? Maybe, but in all probability if Game took a stand against pre-owned and decided to stock only new games, it would go out of business. If there is money to be made buying and selling legally in any commodity, there will be someone who will legitimately exploit that opportunity. Perhaps the industry needs to take a look at the bigger picture?

Those critical of the second hand retailers viewpoint are quick to point out that you certainly can't buy pre-owned books in specialist bookseller Waterstones, nor pre-owned CD's in entertainment stores such as HMV. Rental specialists Blockbuster video have a small selection of pre-owned DVD's and Blu-ray's, but even this selection pales in comparison to their range of pre-owned games. The fact of the matter is that Games are not like other types of entertainment.

Why aren't games like films? When a film is released, if it is a film that you really want to see, you can buy a ticket and see it on a huge screen, with high quality sound. Effectively, you can see a new film on a huge screen with a (hopefully) fantastic sound system for between £5 and £10. If you miss the film at the cinema, you can still have the option of renting the movie a few months later. Miss the rental and you can pay to stream the film on pay per view or through your computer. If you miss this opportunity, you can purchase the film and keep and watch it as often as you like, or you can wait and see it, ad-supported, on Television. Now, at each one of these delivery points, the film can make money.

Likewise with music, when a new song is released, I can hear it on the radio for free, either ad-supported or license fee supported. If I like the music I can listen to it on Spotify or buy the CD or Mp3. Again, at each delivery point there is potential to make money.

Perhaps games are most like books? There's no cinema release for books and very few are read on the TV or Radio. However, a book requires the skill of one talented writer and perhaps several proof readers and editors for QA. In short, books are a lot less labour intensive to bring to the market than most games. The second hand book market is rife, but it's rare for a store to sell both second hand books and new ones under the same roof.

Considering the above, games are really not like other media. While blockbuster games take millions to develop, there's no cinema release for games of course. Game rental services are gaining in popularity, but again, games are different to other types of media. When you rent a movie, you can put aside a couple of hours to watch the film and be done. Predicting how long it will take to exhaust a game is a wholly different matter, especially when multiplayer is taken into consideration.

The simple fact is, the market for preowned games is so huge because there is customer demand. People buy games, get tired of them and then naturally want to sell them to make space and money for new games. Only the most fanatical of customers want to keep all the games they buy, for most users, the games they buy and then play simply become clutter when they have tired of them. The same thing happens with books and the same thing would happen with films, only Hollywood has more than one delivery point to capitalise on.

This is what needs to happen with games, the industry needs to find more delivery points. A boxed, retail copy of a game is perfect for a core gamer. This type of individual will happily spend extra to get special editions of games he/she loves. They will then proudly display the game on their shelves, along with the rest of their other collection.

Rather than pitching digital downloads as competition to this, why not simply delay the digital version by several months? This allows your first-wave customers (equivalent to the cinema audience for a film) to buy and cherish their copies of the game. Next, release a digital download version of the game for around half the price, allowing those users who simply want to play the game to obtain it more cost effectively. At this point, the game could be released to the rental market too, on a one-in one-out basis allowing customers to rent the game for extended periods of time (just like how the Lovefilm/Netflix system works).

Much later, the game could be re-released on budget, in cost-reduced packaging with minimal marketing spend, and also on the digital download channels, giving the game another shot at making money. This does happen already, of course, but Publishers should enlist the help of websites and magazines to re-review budget titles for free promotion and use digital store-fronts to help push bargain new titles over newer, pre-owned ones.

Finally, for games more than three years old, perhaps entirely new entry points are possible. Once upon a time, there was a system called EDOS, which stood for “Electronic Distribution of Software”. Now, this was before the internet was a widespread phenomenon. It worked by having a computer in a store with a duplicating machine. Customers would simply pick the game they wanted and the machine would record their media while they waited. The system and the company behind this product went bankrupt, yet there are publishers now on the internet that work similar systems and can produce boxed products at minimal cost (around $1 or less). Wouldn't it be great if Steam or other distribution platforms offered something like this, allowing you to buy boxed versions of all popular steam games for gifts or keep-sakes?

What about an ad-supported gaming channel? Something like Spotify for games. Imagine turning on your console and checking this months free, add-supported games line-up. While the game loaded (or even streamed, though I still don't think the idea of game streaming is practical), adverts could be displayed or even overlaid. Annoying? Possibly, but then the player would be getting this content for free and could hit a “keep it” button at any time to remove the ads and keep the game permanently. A game 'channel' like this with rotating content would not only be a fantastic way of introducing people to new types of games they wouldn't normally play, but yet another way to monetise older games.

Now, I'm not saying all the above ideas are workable, profitable or even sensible (my instant-boxed copy idea particularly is a fantasy that caters more to my videogame collecting fetish than any real mass market). If big-budget games are to survive however, companies need to look at how to maximise return on investment and this means getting games into more peoples hands, not just those who are fanatical about playing them from day one. Bundling exclusive content or creating online pass systems is one way of fighting pre-owned by adding more value to the new copy, but it still leaves a massive chunk of the market who are only interested in the single player campaign. For them, pre-owned allows them to obtain the game at a price they consider value for money and until the industry finds ways to compete with this (or until everything goes digital only, which will have it's own consequences), the pre-owned problem is never going to go away.

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2011-02-26T16:32:00.001-08:00

Newgrounds.com — Everything, By Everyone

tags: comics games webcomics humour
Manga Fox: Read Free Manga Online!

tags: anime manga

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2011-02-19T16:32:00.001-08:00

Zipplet's Stuff - Electronics -> Sega Megadrive (Version 1) PAL 60hz modification

tags: sega megadrive genesis retrogames

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2011-02-12T16:32:00.001-08:00

Corstat Transit Packs with Foam Insert | Boxes For Electronics

tags: storage boxes arcade
Bing Setting the record straight - Search Blog - Site Blogs - Bing Community

Microsoft denies copying Google.. I like Bing and I like Google.. but which is better?

tags: bing google search technology

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2011-01-29T16:32:00.001-08:00

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2011-01-15T16:32:00.001-08:00

Company Formation - Online Company Formation - Limited Formation - Company Registration

tags: business acel

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2010-12-25T16:32:00.001-08:00

Red vs. Blue · Immersion Video Game Inventory Systems

tags: videogames satire

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2010-12-11T16:32:00.001-08:00

The First-Person ObserverBreaking News From Inside Video Games

tags: videogames satire

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2010-11-27T16:32:00.001-08:00

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2010-11-20T16:32:00.001-08:00

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2010-11-13T16:32:00.001-08:00

Super Mario Bros. Crossover

tags: videogames retrogames mario
Sonic Fan Remix

tags: videogames sonic retrogames
Twitter joke trial: Paul Chambers loses appeal against conviction | UK news | The Guardian - Annotated
- Any ordinary person reading this would see it in that way and be alarmed
  - Err, no, any normal person would see it as a joke, this judge is disconnected from reality in my opinion and I'm not alone.
- Any ordinary person reading this would see it in that way and be alarmed
- Any ordinary person reading this would see it in that way and be alarmed
- Any ordinary person reading this would see it in that way and be alarmed
NEC Grafx/Duo AV Pinout

tags: pcengine nec turbografx

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2010-10-30T17:32:00.001-07:00

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2010-10-23T17:32:00.001-07:00

God hates console fanboys image by GHammo on Photobucket - Annotated

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2010-10-16T17:32:00.001-07:00

Hot-swapping drives in Windows 7 « Tech That!

tags: sata hotswap

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2010-10-09T17:32:00.001-07:00

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2010-10-02T17:32:00.001-07:00

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2010-09-25T17:32:00.001-07:00

Sheriff Sam | Armor Games
Forget Red Dead Redemption, here's a much more realistic Wild West shooter

tags: videogames webgames
Mikengreg Games Co. | Solipskier

tags: videogames webgames

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2010-09-18T17:32:00.001-07:00

Gainward GeForce GTX 460 1GB Goes Like Hell (GLH) Edition in SLI Introduction and The Package :: TweakTown USA Edition

tags: pc hardware videocards gtx

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2010-09-04T17:32:00.001-07:00

shmups.system11.org • View topic - GD: XBox 360 Shmup Achievements
"Shmup"

tags: Shmup videogames

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2010-08-28T17:32:00.001-07:00

XSelect-D4 D & Component/RGB Selector Unit

tags: xrgb xselect-d4 videogames

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2010-08-21T17:32:00.001-07:00

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2010-08-14T17:32:00.001-07:00

ToToTEK Multi Media Company

tags: videogames retrogames joypadadaptors

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2010-08-07T17:32:00.001-07:00

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2010-07-31T17:32:00.001-07:00

Consolegoods.co.uk :: Nintendo 64 :: SNES :: Sega

tags: videogames retrogames

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2010-07-17T17:32:00.001-07:00

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2010-07-03T17:32:00.001-07:00

Transformice !

tags: games videogames transformice

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2010-06-26T17:32:00.001-07:00

What’s Taking So Long? How to Fight Slow Startup Times in Windows 7 « IT Expert Voice
tags: windows, troubleshooting, windows7

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2010-06-19T17:32:00.001-07:00

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw/theadventuregames/download/cityofthedaleks
tags: videogames, drwho

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2010-06-12T17:33:00.001-07:00

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2010-05-22T17:33:00.001-07:00

Viva Piñata : Franklin Can't Dance Video Episode - 4KidsTV.com
tags: vivapinata, videogames, cartoons

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2010-05-15T17:33:00.001-07:00

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2010-05-08T17:33:00.001-07:00

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360 vs PS3 - My take

2010-05-05T02:52:00.000-07:00

So I've owned a PS3 as well as a 360 for a few months now. The PS3 isn't a terrible console, despite some of the questionable design decisions Sony took with it, but it has to be said that the 360 still seems to be on top of the game, as far as games are concerned anyway. Here's a run-down of the features of both, detailing what I liked and didn't like. Of course your mileage may vary from mine (for example, I have no need of Wi-Fi but some folks do).

Hardware:-

Much has been said and argued about which console has the most raw processing power, so I won't dwell on that. What I'll concentrate on are the hardware features that made a difference to me. The PS3 is a lot quieter in operation, especially when accessing a disc. This is most noticeable when watching films (yes I watch films on the 360, fire-sale HD-DVD's were too tempting to turn up). Newer model 360's are quieter, but still not as quiet as the PS3.

The PS3 has Wi-Fi and wired networking built in and includes a Gigabit network adaptor rather than the standard 100mbit one in the 360. While this won't make any difference to gaming it may make a difference on your home network. I think most people would prefer a wired connection for lag free gaming but I guess the Wi-Fi is nice for people who can't get an Ethernet cable down to their TV.

Display wise both consoles support up to 1080p potentially (though most games fall back to the less demanding 720p or lower) The 360's scaling chip is regarded as being better though being limited to a 720p screen I can't really comment. For me the big plus is that the 360 supports VGA, which means I can get 720p on my old Hitachi TV. To get VGA fully working on the PS3 requires a very expensive (£100 or more!) HD Fury adaptor, so a definite win for the 360 on this category.

Storage wise the PS3 wins for value, using a standard hard drive which can be upgraded using any compatible off the shelf drive. Microsoft on the other hand, force you to buy hard drives from them else risk getting banned from Xbox live. Expect to pay extortionate amounts for 360 hard drives (and most Xbox peripherals). One advantage of the 360's hard drive design is portability. You can unclip the 360 hard drive and take it with you easily, not so the PS3's drive. Both consoles let you use USB to store save games and data, though the 360 imposes a 16gb storage cap, presumably to protect the sales of those ultra-expensive hard drives.

Of course, the PS3 has Blu-ray, This allows it to play lovely Blu-ray movies and gives games a lot of storage space. It also keeps the cost of the console high, the PS3 is still around £100 more expensive than the 360.

As for other hardware, the 360 wins for me, though your mileage may vary. I like that the 360 has a built in infra-red receiver, meaning I can add it to my universal remote control. Trying to control the Blu-ray playback with the PS3 pad is frustrating. Sure you can buy a remote, but if it's Bluetooth, forget using it with your universal remote.

The 360 also has a very handy rear USB port, meaning you can attach something like the live vision camera or attach a USB hub without clutter at the front of the console. The PS3 does have Bluetooth, which it uses for its wireless controllers. This means you can use a Bluetooth headset just like you can on a mobile phone. I find my Plantronics Bluetooth headset very comfortable to wear for extended durations, more so than my big old Motorola 360 headset. The 360 uses a proprietary standard that makes it hard for third parties to manufacture controllers/headsets without a special licence, though you do get a headset included with the console when you buy a 360.

Regarding controllers, I really don't prefer the layout of one over the other. I find the 360's D-Pad slips into diagonals too easily, whereas the PS3's is a little too fiddly on diagonals. The PS3's controllers have rechargeable battery packs built in and will charge from any USB port, you'll need to shell out for the same thing on the 360, so that is a win for the PS3.

There's the thorny issue of reliability, PS3's are perhaps a little unreliable, but the 360 is a disaster. The failure rate for launch consoles must be close to 100% now, I do not know of anyone who bought their 360 at or around launch time that is still using the same machine. The 360 does have a 3 year warranty now, but after 3 years if and when your console breaks down, expect to pay a hefty price for a repair that will in all likelihood only be temporary anyway.

Software:-

The 360 has proven to be the console that is easiest to develop for and tends to have the best versions of most of the multi-platform games. The PS3 does have some attractive exclusives such as Little Big Planet, God of War, Heavy Rain and Uncharted 1 and 2. Of course the 360 isn't short of blockbuster titles either, with Halo, Gears of War, Forza and Fable springing to mind. The wonderful Bayonetta might as well be a 360 exclusive too, considering how poor the PS3 version is.

As for the overall experience, the 360 wins hands down. The PS3's interface might be easier to navigate and it does include a web browser, but the whole front end feels a lot less polished than on the 360. Being able to quickly access your friends lists, message box and achievements at any time is a huge plus for the Microsoft console. Go into the PS store on the PS3, for example, and you're completely locked out of your friends list. The only time this really happens on the 360 is when you have to apply a system update, which are far smaller and less frequent than they are on the PS3. It's also bizarre how content has to download, then install on the PS3, again locking you out of the rest of the dashboard/console while it installs. I've also had several failed downloads from the PS store. The files downloaded but would not install, leaving "corrupted data" on the system. Downloading them without doing background download did eventually solve the problem.

Of course, you already know there's no party play, cross game voice chat or Windows Live Messenger support on the PS3. I also found that sometimes the console failed to tell me what game/activity my friends were doing, presumably this happens when an older game is being played. Voice quality could be better on both consoles really, but considering Live is a paid service it really should be better. I've used voice on Skype, Yahoo and Second Life and all three provide vastly better quality than Xbox live does. Almost forgot to mention, the 360 has custom soundtrack support for all games and can even use MP3's and play-lists you have stored on your network in any game. Creating play-lists for your games on your PC then using them instantly is a really neat feature.

I also vastly prefer the 360's marketplace. Every game has a demo version, unlike on the PS3 where scant few seem to offer this option. After a rocky start, the 360 Indy channel is really coming along too, offering the kind of unique niche gaming that traditionally was only on the PC.

I don't use my consoles as media centres because they are not flexible or powerful enough for my needs. A PC running Boxee will always be better for this purpose but of course not everyone has the time, money or patience to build and troubleshoot one. The PS3 is supposedly the better media centre (again lack of infra red rears its head in this equation). I pointed both consoles at a media directory on my network storage box and they both came back with a big list and were only able to play a fraction of the files. If you do want a cheap media centre/extender, it's worth remembering that the PS3 has both iPlayer and Bluray playback of course.

So there you have it, if you want the best gaming experience the 360 is still the console to get in my opinion. Yes you have to pay for Xbox live and yes the reliability of the console is still questionable, but using the two machines it's clear the PS3 is still playing catch up to a console that was designed around social multi-player gaming from the start.

Xbox RROD number 3 and console reliability in general

2010-05-05T01:47:00.000-07:00

For the record, my 360 red ringed again (3rd and final time) about a week ago. Phoning Microsoft, they kindly informed me that the console was now out of warranty, even for the red ring failure. Not to worry though, they could fix my console for £90, including a whopping ONE MONTH of bonus Xbox Live access!

Needless to say I didn't exactly jump at this less than stellar offer and now I have a new Xbox 360 arcade, complete with HDMI socket. The new console is quieter, time will tell if it is more reliable.

In other news, I also modded my original Xbox with a bigger hard drive now that Xbox Live for the original Xbox has been turned off. It's very handy having access to all the best Xbox games just from the hard drive.

It's interesting how consoles have become less and less reliable. I always considered the PS2 to be poorly made. I've been using my PS2 a lot recently for playing Final Fantasy 12. FF13 doesn't sound worth the effort from the reviews, but 12 is really superb. I'm around 80 hours in and there's still lots left to do. I noticed that my PS2's controller input seems to be wearing out however. Sometimes the console fails to recognise the pad first time and a restart is necessary. I do take the controllers in and out rather a lot because I also use them on my PC with an adaptor. Weird thing is that they don't always work well connected to the PC now either. Wonder if there's some sort of design fault on the connectors?

I'm on my 2nd PS2, the first one died and stopped reading disks altogether, this one struggles to read disks but most of my games I run from the hard drive. Moving parts are always likely to wear out, I noticed my Saturn isn't as good at reading disks as it once was and amusingly my Super CD-ROM2 (PC Engine) only reads some games when it is upside down. On the bright side my Mega CD seems to be fine.

Out of the really old consoles, the most notoriously unreliable was the NES, with its design fault on the cartridge slot that resulted in the red blinking LED problem. I'm on my 2nd NES and I only bought my first around mid 2005.

Nothing lasts forever I suppose. DVD players seem particularly prone to failure, the cheaper ones only lasting a couple of years. Strangely, I remember most VHS recorders lasting much longer than this. Anyway, this post has turned into a bit of a ramble so I'll wrap it up for now, may your games consoles forever stay functional!

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2010-05-01T17:32:00.001-07:00

AmigaSYS official page - Amiga Computers, WinUAE, E-UAE, Amithlon, PocketPC, XBOX.
tags: amiga, Winuae
White Russian Recipe
"A White Russian drink is a very popular cocktail. It has become even more popular after it was featured in the cult classic movie, "The Big Lebowski"."
tags: alcohol, cocktails, whiterussian
Final Fantasy XII Mob Hunt FAQ - IGN FAQs
tags: finalfantasy12, videogames

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Underexposed shooters - Episode 1 - Apidya

2010-05-01T06:34:00.000-07:00

I like bullet-hell shooters. I don't claim to be particularly good at them, I'd never have completed Ikaruga or Radiant Silvergun on a single credit, but nevertheless there's something extremely exciting about beating the odds for another split second as you try desperately to thread yourself through bright neon coloured globes of death.

Now, I've played a lot of games in my life and there's one or two shooters that never seem to get the credit they deserve. These types of game have always been more popular in Japan, which is perhaps why the pseudo Japanese yet German developed Apidya, released on the Amiga, never seems to get the respect or attention it deserves. It's not like there aren't lots of good shooters on the Amiga, but people tend to think of games like Blood Money, Agony or Project X when they think of classic Amiga shooters. Weirdly, Apidya seems to be often forgotten, even amongst people who were hardcore Amiga players back in the day.

Well, I am here today to tell you that if you love shooters, particularly horizontally scrolling shooters in the vein of Gradius, then you really must not miss Apidya. The games lead character is turned into a Bee (though the sprite always looked more like a wasp to me) in order to obtain an antidote for his girlfriend who's been attacked by the evil Hexaae's poisonous insects. Starting off in meadows edge, you'll be fighting your way past hordes of all kinds of creepy crawlies, as well as angry moles, a praying mantis, a huge screen filling fish (who's insides you can explore after killing him) as well as the more gruesome maggots who spring from the corpse of a dead rat.

The game is not only imaginative, it's also beautifully drawn and presented. Like most 2D shooters, visually it hasn't aged as badly as many of the early 3D shooters. Game-play wise there's little to fault, the theme of Bee vs other insect and animal life keeps the game feeling fresh, though only the most skilled players will make it past level 4 and through the boss-rush that follows. There's also some neat bonus levels to find too.

What most players remember from this game however is the soundtrack. Playing Apidya will certainly remind you just how completely ear shatteringly awesome the Amiga's sound chip was, especially compared to most other systems (Sega Megadrive, Atari ST) from around that era. Chris Hülsbeck's music is beautiful and lively throughout and fits in perfectly to the game.

This is one shooter you really must track down, it works just fine on UAE. Use your scaler of choice and set Cycle Exact mode to ON and sound emulated 100% accurate for best results. Set NTSC mode too for slightly faster game-play. Easily one of the best shooters on the Amiga, if you've not played it, buzz off and find a copy pronto.

The good - Presentation is fantastic, graphics are great, game-play is challenging and exciting, soundtrack is phenomenal

The bad - Death steals lots your weapons, if you're not some sort of shoot-em-up genius then on later levels you might find that dying once makes the odds of getting past the level just too high.

Check out this Apidya fan site if you want to find out more about the game - http://www.avians.net/~hawthorn/apidya/

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2010-04-24T17:34:00.001-07:00

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2010-04-17T17:33:00.001-07:00

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Videogame related birthday cakes

2010-04-16T12:05:00.000-07:00

Once a geek always a geek. Sadly, last year my Godmother passed away. She was a fantastic lady who always had a story to tell and was always happy no matter what she was going through. One of her amazing talents was sculpting in the medium of icing, marzipan and fruit cake. As such, every year on my birthday as a child, she'd ask me what I wanted on my birthday cake. Me being me, you can probably figure out it wasn't Action Man or Manchester United....

Of all the cakes I had made, I love this one the best. Dizzy is made out of an actual Easter Egg, really awesome work, here's another picture:-

Who would have thought an egg would make for such a well loved videogame hero? The C64 love doesn't stop there of course:-

Creatures was one of the all time great C64 games, Apex really knew how to push the little machine. The fuzzies on the cake look more like the ones in the actual game than those on the box, pictured next to the cake.

Another picture of the Creatures cake, yes I believe those ARE flying saucers, yummy...

While usually my keyboard gets chocolate on it from my fingers, this time my fingers got chocolate on them from the keyboard. Perhaps the sweetest querty keyboard ever on this awesome Pac-Man cake!

A Pac-Man birthday cake is sweet in many, many ways. Moving on, next we have....

Lemmings must have been somewhat more difficult to render in icing and food colouring, nevertheless it's still a lovely job and instantly recognisable. Lemmings was a C64 game too, you know.

Another shot of the Lemmings cake. And finally...

Even though I am sure I had an Amiga at this point, I still chose the C64 game Mayhem in Monsterland to feature on my 15th birthday cake. This shows my impeccable gaming taste for choosing game-play over graphics once again. At 15, wasn't I getting a bit old for this kind of thing? Hell no of course not! Heck if someone offered to make me a Bayonetta Birthday cake I'd jump at the chance, so if you want to make me one just leave a comment and contact details and I'll get right back to you.

For those of you blown away by my amazing birthday cakes, you can get higher resolution versions from my flickr stream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/32165624@N04/

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2010-04-10T17:33:00.001-07:00

http://project64.c64.org/hw/1084s%20Monitor.txt
"X X "
tags: c64, c128, 2084s
Vesalia Online - The Amiga & Retro Computing Store (Est. 1987)
tags: c64, retro, c128, amiga
xum1541 firmware
tags: c64, retro, xum1541

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2010-04-03T17:33:00.001-07:00

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2010-03-27T17:33:00.001-07:00

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2010-03-13T16:33:00.001-08:00

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2010-03-06T16:33:00.001-08:00

WSUS Offline Update - Update Microsoft Windows and Office without an Internet connection
tags: updates, offlineupdate
BBC News - Lords force rethink of government's online piracy plans - Annotated
tags: no_tag
- I believe this is going to send a powerful message... that we do not believe in censoring the internet
  - - post by buckoa51
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl Game Guide - Game Guides at GameSpot
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl Game Guide
tags: stalker, videogames, pcgames
Chromium Browser VM project - The worlds most secure web browser.
tags: browser, chromium, internet

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2010-02-27T16:33:00.001-08:00

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2010-02-20T16:33:00.001-08:00

Deinterlacing classic videogame systems (to display them on LCD or Plasma screens)
"XRGB3"
tags: retrogaming, deinterlacing, hdtv

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2010-02-06T16:33:00.001-08:00

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A tale of three SATA caddies

2010-02-04T06:44:00.000-08:00

I'm a fan of removable SATA tray caddies for backup. These caddies slide into a special 5.25inch drive tray and being SATA, they can be hot swapped too (though getting the hot swap to work on some controllers, notably certain nForce models, can be quite challenging). Yes, you can just use external USB or even ESATA drives, but ESATA isn't particularly widespread and the caddies have several advantages over USB drives:-

They can use inexpensive 3.5 inch SATA hard drives without needing an external power supply, since the caddy tray provides power from the computers power supply.
They fit inside the computer, therefore they do not clutter up your desk or position themselves somewhere where they can easily be knocked or accidentally disconnected during a backup.
Because they are SATA, data transfer rates are higher, this is a major plus for bigger backups.

Until recently, I'd been purchasing my caddies from E-Buyer, a popular supplier of IT equipment here in the UK. The caddies were branded as "Plexus". Somewhat inconveniently, it's not possible to buy a caddy without buying the tray part (the bit that fits inside the 5.25 drive bay), however, at £4.59 plus shipping for both components, it was hard to care about the pile of unused trays.

Unfortunately however, E-Buyer suddenly stopped supplying the Plexus caddies altogether. This left me in something of a dilemma, at least USB and ESATA are standard parts, a Plexus SATA tray caddy is not. I'd invested in several of these drives for backup and data storage, so I set out looking for a compatible alternative.

Comparing pictures available on the internet yielded some interesting results. Caddies supplied by Lindy Electronics and by Pluscom looked strangely familiar, even down to the zig zag pattern on the side of the tray. I decided this warranted further investigation so I ordered a caddy from Lindy and a friend who had also adopted the caddy system ordered one of the Pluscom models.

Comparing the three, they do look very similar. There are some notable differences however:-

The (apparently discontinued) Plexus caddies have a ribbon cable to connect the SATA and power cables to the drive, whereas the other caddies simply have a connector that the drive must slide onto. This means that the Plexus caddies can accommodate non standard SATA drives including 2.5 inch drives. This is very convenient if you ever repair computers and need to inspect hard drives in another machine. However, since the physical dimensions of the caddy are designed for 3.5inch drives, a 2.5inch drive cannot be screwed in place so you probably wouldn't want to do this as a permanent solution.

The Lindy caddy has a different style of handle, but is otherwise identical, apart from the price which is as much as 4 times higher.

The Pluscom caddies are the most different. There's an extra plastic guide rail on the side of the caddy. The Pluscom tray has been redesigned slightly to use this. What this means is that the Pluscom trays are unable to accept the Lindy or Plexus caddies, but the Pluscom caddies fit just fine in the Lindy or Plexus trays.

From my observations, it seems like the caddies are all manufactured at the same factory, with minor modifications according to each resellers spec. Funnily enough, the best caddies (the Plexus ones) also proved to be the cheapest.

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2010-01-30T16:33:00.001-08:00

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Trials HD - Its lack of multi player is perplexing

2010-01-23T18:19:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to buying the excellent Xbox Live Arcade game, Trials HD. For those of you who have not played it, the game involves trying to ride a motorcycle across insanely deadly ramps and obstacles without falling to a grizzly death. Although the visuals are 3D, the gameplay is strictly 2D, so all you have to worry about is accelerate, brake and leaning backwards and forwards, making this one game that's completely trivial to play but challenging to master. The game is a riot especially with friends (and a few beers on hand). All the more reason why I don't understand why there was no multi player mode of any kind put into the game. Even if full on split screen or XBL multi player was outside of the budget of the game, it would have been trivial to implement a "hotseat" (take it in turns to beat your friends time) type of mode. Anyone who has played the excellent Trackmania hotseat mode will know what I mean. In spite of this oversight, I'd still highly recommend the game to anyone.

Trials HD is (to my mind anyway) a remake/re-imagining of the old 8 bit classics, Kickstart and Kickstart 2. It's great to see an old game concept bought back to life with new console technology, but with the core gameplay mechanics left in tact. I don't think Kickstart/Trials would have worked in full on 3D, lining up the jumps and ramps would just have been too frustrating.

I can think of a few other 8/16bit classics that should be given a fantastic new remake, but I'll save that for another blog post.

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2010-01-23T16:34:00.001-08:00

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New look for 2010

2010-01-18T14:51:00.000-08:00

So I've given the old blog a bit of a facelift for 2010, so my loyal readers (all two of them lol) hope you like the new look better.

You may have noticed I closed one of my websites, lets-play-ds.com is no more. I felt that trying to cover the entire world of Nintendo DS was simply too much for one person. I am considering another videogame related website but it will be on a more narrow focus. I did enjoy reviewing games for the site but I guess my standards are too high, I like to spend at least a day playing them :)

I kept a copy of the site and I'm considering doing more reviews on here, just because I like writing reviews, but of course it is all time permitting. Top-Windows-Tutorials.com is still taking big chunks of my time but it's really starting to roll now, soon I will be on minimum wage!

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2010-01-16T16:34:00.001-08:00

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2010-01-09T16:33:00.001-08:00

Pete's Domain
tags: emulation, psx, epsxe
HDTV Reviews – LCD TV & Plasma Television Display Rating
tags: hdtv
Time Machine for Windows - Recover Deleted Files with Oops!Backup - Software that allows you to go back in time to recover documents and files - Altaro
tags: backup, versioncontrol, fortwt
GDC: Why OnLive Can't Possibly Work Article - Page 2 | PC | Eurogamer
tags: no_tag
- Latency. I can only see one way to make this work and guarantee the necessary quality of service, and that's to adopt an IPTV-style model
- ut even in this scenario, practically, I still can't see it happening
Boot a USB Flash Drive in VirtualBox | USB Pen Drive Linux
tags: virtualbox, usbflash, usb
CONSOLLECTION
Amazing console collection (thanks @corrosive6809)
tags: retrogames, videogames, consoles
GAF's Wii Homebrew Tutorial: Welcome to GAF's Wii Homebrew Tutorial
tags: wii, hacking, nintendo
12 Days of Christmas Tab Rises to $21,465.56 - NYTimes.com
tags: Christmas, economy, lol
Is aviation security mostly for show? - CNN.com
tags: security, schneier, terrorism
Sense About Science
tags: science, climate
Edge Magazine - Video Games, Game News, and Gaming Jobs | Edge Online
tags: videogames, edge

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2009-12-26T16:33:00.001-08:00

"SecuROM Removal Tutorial" Revised
tags: securom, windows, xp, vista

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2009-12-19T16:33:00.001-08:00

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Do you have confidence in your SATA controller?

2009-12-08T16:03:00.000-08:00

I certainly don't in my J-Micron SATA controller which is the secondary SATA controller on my ASUS P5K motherboard. The screen shot below shows a CRC check done on a bunch of files. The CRC's were generated on the same drive and then verified back as soon as they were calculated.

Yes, in between taking the CRC's and reading them back, there are now 194 CRC mismatches. Maybe J-Micron consider that acceptable, but I certainly don't, the words "epic" and "fail" spring to mind.

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2009-12-05T16:33:00.001-08:00

PCSX2.net - News
PCSX2 is a working PS2 emulator that can play many PS2 games some even at full speed and with graphical enhancements
tags: ps2, playstation, emulation
Wireless Performance Issues with Vista and the ReadyNAS | The Bott Blog
tags: readynas, vista, windows7, wifi

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2009-11-28T16:34:00.001-08:00

Project Paradroid remake
tags: remake, paradroid, retro, c64

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2009-11-14T16:33:00.001-08:00

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2009-11-07T16:33:00.001-08:00

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2009-10-31T17:33:00.001-07:00

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2009-10-24T17:33:00.001-07:00

ShellExView - Shell Extension Manager For Windows
tags: shell, shellex, context menu, windows, troubleshooting

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2009-10-17T17:34:00.001-07:00

Welcome to Floodgap Systems' WWW server
tags: retro, computing, commodore, c64

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2009-10-10T17:34:00.001-07:00

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