Archive for July, 2008
Runescape – The HD Update
The popular Runescape game, created by Jagex in 2001, has been going quite strong until recently. On December 10, 2007, after years of botters, gold sellers, and hackers messing with the game, Jagex decided to impose a horrifying rule. The rule stated that you could only trade within the market prices set by the Grand Exchange. For example, you cannot trade a certain item of x value for another item of y value if the difference between those two items is greater than 5000 gold. They later repealed this and allowed you to trade up to 30000 difference based upon your quest points. This update made it so you could not give items away, or even worse, you could no longer use botting programs on wimpy characters and then transfer the money to your main character.
This update, along with the destruction of the wilderness, was a huge blow below the belt to all Runescape users. Jagex lost a lot of its players, nearly cutting its attendance every day in half. They needed something big to strike back, and they delivered! On July 1, 2008, a High Definition version of Runescape was released to members only in the beta stage. The graphics are noticeably different from the previous version. On July 14, 2008, it was released to free players as well as members. This has not returned Runescape to it’s full glory, but it is a step in the right direction. Runescape has never been on “par” so-to-say with games such as World of Warcraft, and has gotten much criticism for it’s so called childish gameplay, but with recent updates Runescape has turned into a more mature game.
So, if you have quit Runescape because of recent updates, or are looking for a versatile MMO to play in your downtime, it’s definitely worth a checking out.
Here are some pictures from the HD update(click on the image to enlarge it):
ProcessQuickLink Is the Perfect Addition to the Task Manager
Process Library has long been a popular website to check on what processes are doing on your computer. The creators of Process Library have made it easier than ever to figure out which processes are doing. ProcessQuickLink adds a button next to each process in Windows Task Manager that, once clicked, take you to the process’ profile page on Process Library. Here is a feature list taken from ProcessLibrary.com:
You can download ProcessQuickLink from The Pxl Lab, and there is a mirror from the offical site also.
Enkin Brings GPS Devices to the Next Level
At this point in time, finding your way around town has been limited to using a program like Google Maps, searching for the place you are looking for, and getting directions there. However, Enkin is going to revolutionize how we use our GPS systems. With Enkin, you can instantly change between the standard sattelite view and a “live” view. The live view takes advantage of mobile devices built-in camera, allowing users to view find where they are going in 3D. The live view displays the name of your desination(s) and how far away you are from them, which makes it really easy to get to where you want to go. The creators of Enkin made a video showing off all of the great features in Enkin:
You probably noticed that the creators said that they entered Enkin into the Google Android project, and even though Enkin didn’t make it into the Top 50 Android Apps, Google personally contacted the makers of Enkin to discuss the “future of Enkin.” Hopefully Enkin will be on our Google-powered phones sooner rather than later.
ATI Catalyst 8.7 WHQL Drivers Released
ATI released the new version, 8.7, of their drivers today. The Catalyst 8.7 drivers bring enhancements to the Information Center in the Catalyst Control Center and support for Linux. The Linux versions currently supported are:
- Ubuntu 8.04 production support
- SLED 10 sp2 production support
As usual, the update is for all versions of XP and Vista. You can download the drivers here:
Keep Your Bookmarks In Sync Across All Your Computers
Have you ever wanted to find that one site or another, only to realize that the link is stored on your other computer? Foxmarks, currently for Firefox and IE, makes it easy to syncronize your bookmarks. If you save a couple bookmarks on Computer A, then save a couple on Computer B later, Computer A and B will both have the same bookmarks. Foxmarks works in the background, going as unnoticed as possible.
Maybe you only want to have some of your bookmarks on your work or school computer, while keeping others saved only on your home computer. With Foxmarks, you can create profiles that will only have certain bookmarks saved on them. One of the recommendations of the profiles system is keeping a shortlist of bookmarks for your phone/PDA, and there are plenty of other uses, too.
What if you can’t install Firefox at work? Foxmarks saves the day again, because you can view all of your bookmarks on their website.
Are you ready to download Foxmarks yet? Here are some download links:
Half Life 2 Modder Hired By Valve
Half Life 2 has long been the modder’s choice game to work with. Adam Foster, creator of the very popular singleplayer mod Minerva: Metastatis, finally gets to live out his dream of working alongside the creators of Half Life 2 themselves. Valve hired Adam, to begin working in October, because of his work on Minerva. Here’s a bit of what Adam had to say about the whole thing:
What does this mean for MINERVA? Right now, I don’t know – I’ll initially be working on Valve’s own Episode Three, but after that, who knows? I seriously suspect this isn’t the end for this particular chain of experiments in designing single-player Half-Life 2 maps, all conducted for fun in my spare time.
If you are looking to get into Half Life 2 modding yourself, there are some great tutorials over at Moddb that teach beginners how to mod HL2.
Crysis Mapping Contest Winners Announced
Crytek and Intel started a mapping contest, hosted by Crymod, in January 2008, and all the Crysis mappers attempted to create some special maps. The categories of maps to be made were:
- Intel® Performance and Visibility
- Fun and gameplay
- Creativity
- Best Cutscene
The best maps in each category were announced today, and here are the winners: (You can click on a picture to enlarge it and see the names of the winners.)
Intel® Performance and Visibility
Fun and gameplay
![[HP]'s Vulcano](http://pxlbuzzard.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/1p2.jpg "1st Place Winner - [HP]'s Vulcano")
Creativity
Best Cutscene
The winners will all receive a Crysis-branded T-Shirt and Lanyard, not including all of the great prizes they earned for scoring in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. Crymod will be hosting more contests like this in the future, and you can stay updated on them here at The Pxl Lab.
iTunes 7.7 Has Come With New iPhone Firmware
Apple recently released iTunes 7.7.0, bringing along its share of new features and bug fixes. The major update actually comes for owners of iPhones and iPod Touches, because Apple updated the firmware of both to v2.0. Version 2’s highlighted feature is the App Store, which has 500+ applications for your pleasure. Other features are support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, which keeps your contacts, calendars, etc up-to-date, GPS tracking, contact searching, Powerpoint and iView viewing support, direct screenshot capturing, MobileMe support, among other things. Sadly, current owners (i.e. not 3G owners) have to buy the firmware update for $20. It is worth noting that everything on your device will be erased after applying the update, so make a backup before you update.
If you have any problems applying the after applying the firmware update, check out this article at MyDigitalLife that talks about how to fix firmware errors.
HomestarRunner Is Still Going Strong
HomestarRunner is a wonderful site that caught my eye many years ago. When I first discovered the site, the graphics were on par with Pong. Over the years it has developed into what we it now is today. After a very long break from this site, I returned only to find a million new games, stories, and great new graphics! When I used to regularly visit it, there were a few games, extra videos, and a weekly Strong Bad email. The basis for this site is a group of 11 characters who are the only apparent residents of a town. The original producers Mike Chapman and Craig Zobel created HomestarRunner in 1996, and later in 1999 Mike’s brother Matt joined the crew to assist in the production of the site itself.
The site itself has 6 main sections: Toons, Games, Characters, Downloads, Store, and Email. Toons consists of a collection of random flash videos put together for any reason whatsoever. The videos range from exploits of an R-Rated movie by Strong Bad to the famous Teen Girl Squad episodes. But even more famous than TGS is the weekly Strong Bad Email. This is one of the original features of the website that many remember from years ago. There are also many games like Peasant’s Quest and Trogdor. Most of the games originated from previous Strong Bad Emails. A lot of these games are purposefully horrific looking, to impose an old school feeling to them. They are rather fun to play, however. Peasant’s Quest is perhaps the most famous of the games on HomestarRunner. You are a peasant whos cottage has been burninated by Trogdor. You must walk around and become a hero by acquiring items and typing “look” and “search”, etc, to be allowed up the mountain before your impending doom. The Character’s section just gives a video description of each character presented by themselves. Downloads is where you can get all of you Homestarrunner sounds for your computers and desktop icons and such. You can get into the “secret” section by clicking on the “0.00 dollars” in the “$” area, dragging the credit card into the slot at the top-right, and typing in 5675 as the pin code. The Store is an external link where you can buy t-shirts, hoodies, dvds, posters, and many more things to keep the website going! All of the merchandise also originates from toons on the site. The Email section is where you can email them with questions, or complements, and also for the F.A.Q. of the site.
HomestarRunner is a wonderful site that makes me laugh everytime I visit it. Its definitely worth checking out whether you have an hour or ten minutes. Most of the toons run under 3 minutes if you don’t have much time to watch.
P.S. Firefox users can view the site in full screen with the addon known as “Full Screen Homestar Runner“.
Warrior Epic Closed Beta Account Giveaway
Looking for an RPG that skips over the whole “talking with NPC’s” and “following a deep plot” and takes you straight into the combat part? If so, Warrior Epic is your new favorite game. An MMO designed to be played with up to 4 other people at a time doing quests and PvP matches, Warrior Epic promises to be the RPG that combat lovers will flock to. However, the game is currently in closed beta status, so you only have a mediocre chance of getting to play it before everyone else.
Lucky for you, I have 20 closed beta account keys, and I’m making it really easy to get them. All you have to do is:
- create an account on The Pxl Lab (this blog),
- create an account at the Warrior Epic site,
- then post a comment on this article with the name of your WE account.
That’s all there is to it! You can see a trailer for Warrior Epic below, otherwise hurry to get your free closed beta account!