DirectX November 2008 Update Released

Microsoft put out the newest version of DirectX, the newest release since August 2008. DirectX, for those of you who don’t know, is what developers use to help power games on Windows-based computers. DirectX 10.1, which is the latest version on the market, allows things in-game like motion blur, god rays, and other sweet effects. If you are currently having any problems with your games or would just like a little speed boost in-game, upgrading to the latest version of DirectX is always a good way to try and fix it.

DirectX Runtime Download (this download installs any versions of DirectX you may not have)

November 2008 Only Download (just get the latest version)

Free Rock Band 2 DLC Released

Harmonix announced on October 21st that they would be giving 20 free songs away to everyone who had purchased new copies of Rock Band 2 (on any platform), and now today they have released the songs for everyone to enjoy. To get the songs, you must register your code found in the game manual, and another code will be emailed to you with that will allow you to download the songs. Have fun with your new free songs!

* The 88 - “Sons And Daughters”
* Authority Zero - “No Regrets”
* Between the Buried and Me - “Prequel To The Sequel”
* The Cab - “Bounce”
* The Chevelles - “Get It On”
* The Cocktail Slippers - “Give It To Me”
* Dealership - “Database Corrupted”
* Endeverafter - “I Wanna Be Your Man”
* The Ghost Hounds - “Ashes To Fire”
* Hollywood Undead - “Young”
* Kutless - “The Feeling”
* The Len Price 3 - “If I Ain’t Got You”(Please Drink Responsibly)
* Lesley Roy - “I’m Gone, I’m Going”
* Opiate for the Masses - “Burn You Down”
* Semi-Precious Weapons - “Magnetic Baby”
* Shaimus - “Like a Fool”
* Thenewno2″ - “Crazy Tuesday”
* Tickle Me Pink - “The Time Is Wrong”
* Underoath - “Desperate Times, Desperate Measures”
* X Japan - “I.V.”

Bob’s Game - 15,000 Hours of Work for a DS Game

Bob’s game is a new game to come out for the Nintendo DS sometime in the next year hopefully. Robert Pellini has spent 15,000 hours on his game, all done on his home computer with C++. He plans to find a publisher and send the game through to stores near you sometime in 2009 if a publisher can be found.

The basic concept behind the game is “Who Is Yuu?” Yuu is your character. You control the sprite and do different puzzles and other interactions around a fairly large city.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Robert explains the game on his site, quoted below:

Hello.
My name is Bob, age 25.

This is my game for Nintendo DS, a 20-hour-long retail-size,
retail-quality adventure title by a single human being-
the largest game ever made by one person.

“bob’s game” is a simple 2D adventure game, with focus on
story, puzzles, item collection, and communication instead
of repetitive battles with palette-swapped enemies.

Many characters (over 200 completely unique characters!)
have deep personalities that evolve, and many things
depend on the in-game time, day and weather.
It’s the game I wanted to play when I was younger,
a vision I’ve been following since then.

Track Your Computer Program Usage With Wakoopa

Seeing what programs you or your employees are running and actively using is valuble knowledge. For one, you can find habits in, say, how long you really sit down and play a short game of Team Fortress 2, or how much time StumbleUpon is really wasting away from your life. You could also find newer, better programs to replace your current ones; for example, upgrading from Internet Explorer to Firefox. Wakoopa gives you the power to do that and more with its easy-to-install and monitor application for both Windows and Mac (Linux coming soon) to help you track your apps.

Wakoopa recently began to track web apps as well as desktop apps, so websites like Zoho will show up in your tracked software. Funnily enough, the guys who run Wakoopa noticed that web apps seem to slowly be overtaking their desktop counterparts, likely because of laptops that have limited hard drive space and peoples’ attempts to speed up their computer by running less software.

So if you’re looking for a free desktop and web tracking application that comes with a pretty interface, give Wakoopa a try.

Portal: Prelude Trailer, Download, and More!

As Portal comes to its first anniversary today, the one of the first full mods for the game releases in its full glory. Portal: Prelude puts players into the pre-GlaDOS era of Aperture Science where real scientists did the dirty work, not that cake-promising machine. This story has great potential, so great in fact the Valve announced back in June 2008 that they were working on a prelude to Portal themselves, but the man behind the mod, Nicolas “NykO18″ Grevet, continued to create and now release his vision of the game.

Update: Download links are now available at Filefront, Fileshack, Mininova (torrent), and more.

FilePlanet managed to get 24-hour exclusivity rights from Grevet (a bad decision in my opinion, mods should be free to everyone at all times), and the mod is set for release to the general public tomorrow. You can watch the trailer below for the mod while the 775 MB gets onto your computer. If you are unsure of how to get a mod properly working on Steam, Planet Half-Life has a tutorial on installing mods.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Youtube Link

IntoSpace Gets Your Logo In Space For 2 Bucks

In a move that represents the Million Dollar Homepage, Arthur Stubbs is giving people the chance for cheap, creative advertising by offering them ad space for only 2 dollars a spot at IntoSpace.org. Arthur tells people his about his passion for the project and what it’s about:

This is my gift to everyone who has ever dreamt of space flights but has always been unable to make it become reality.
This project is about compiling a catalog of photos and logotypes to be sent into outer space aboard a space vehicle. Our catalog will consist of 300 sheets (300 “rockets”), every “rocket” will be able to deliver up to 1000 “astronauts” by occupying the place of 25×40 cm. on a single sheet. You can book your ticket for just $2.

If he ends up selling all the tickets, which he undoubtedly will, he’ll possibly make around 3 million dollars or so, at least before shipping costs to space. This seems like a good opportunity for everyone involved in the project, and major sponsors already show up on the homepage, which should help drive a lot of traffic both ways.

Scour+ Makes Search Results Pretty

Scour is a great concept for a search engine. Bring together the results of Google, Yahoo, and MSN along with user ratings and comments to make sure that the first page of results is the only page you’ll need. But the results are clogged with ads and extra spacing that you don’t need.

Scour+, developed by myself, solves two problems with one script. It makes Scour have a fixed width, meaning that widescreen users have an easier time reading the search results. It also removes any and every sponsored ad, making Scour better than every to search with.

Before and After:

To use Scour+, you’ll have to be using Firefox with the Stylish installed, which is an awesome addon that lets users customize the way their browsers view webpages, and it can modify Firefox itself too. You can view more styles at Userstyles.org, where Scour+ is hosted.

Left 4 Dead PC System Requirements

Left 4 Dead, Valve’s next big game, is coming on November 18 with the demo infecting players on sometime before the release. HalfLife2.net got ahold of the system requirements from Doug Lombardi, the Valve marketing man.

• OS: Windows Vista, XP or 2000
• CPU: 3.0 GHz P4, Dual Core 2.0 or AMD64X2 (or higher)
• RAM: 1 GB for XP / 2GB for Vista
• Disc drive: DVD-ROM Drive
• Hard drive: At least 7.5 GB of free space
• Video: Direct X 9 compatible video card (Video card must be 256 MB or more and should be a DirectX 9-compatible with support for pixel shader 2.0)
• Sound: Direct X9.0c compatible sound card

The only potential worry is the need for a 256 MB video card, as many people still run games with a 128 MB card, although you really should have upgraded to something better by now.

Black Isle’s Fallout 3 Demo

“Van Buren” by Black Isle would have been Fallout 3 if Interplay hadn’t closed down the Black Isle project in 2003. This is the tech demo that was leaked in 2007, which is freely available over on StrategyInformer. There’s not a great deal to it, but the very existence of an alternate Fallout 3 makes for an interesting compare and contrast. Also, since Bethesda has said there isn’t going to be a demo for their Fallout 3 and it’s still a long way till October 28th, it’s worth a try.

You can check out 136 screenshots of Fallout 3, gameplay videos, and more over at the Different Pixel Blog.

Peggle Nights Released With DLC in the Future

For those of you who haven’t already heard of Peggle, it’s a highly addicting game that has similarities to Plinko in that you fire a ball from the top and see what it does on the way down. The goal is to hit all of the orange pegs before you run out of balls. Peggle Nights expounds on the game by adding in a new character, 60 new levels, new style shots like “Double Long Shot,” and 60 new challenges to keep you playing all night. The cost of the game is $19.95, and hopefully the original Peggle will receive a price drop soon.

The most exciting feature about the new game is undoubtedly the downloadable level packs that Popcap is planning on creating, and hopefully they will even release a level editor for players to create their own levels, but that has not been confirmed.