Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by radkliler

Weird HDD and CPU problems

radkliler — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:38:34 +0800

Okay....my Compaq Presario C700 is acting pretty strange lately.

I have no idea if its a virus or something, but my laptop's HD will suddenly start reading the disk so much that it lags badly.

I try accessing Task Manager to figure out what is going on, but it only appears on the right hand corner of the taskbar and shows me CPU usage 100%.

And this happens randomly with or without apps.

Whats going on?

Gamingdom News

radkliler — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 21:22:21 +0800

This thread is to compile present and future gaming news that does not fit into any game category. This is to prevent starting new one-off topics which will never be used in the future.

Today's news :
Will Wright Has Left Maxis

Will Wright's reply at Sporum

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

Hey everyone.

There’s a little press release going out today as we speak (well actually I’m not speaking, I’m typing… (and I guess you’re not even listening, you’re reading (unless you’re having your new Kindle read this to you in which case you are listening) but you’re definitely not reading this “as” the press release is going out, and I’m certainly typing this hours before the fact….) anyway. (I suck at writing)

The gist of the story is that I’m leaving EA (well, not really, I’ll explain) to start (well, not quite start, it’s actually been around for quite a while in a rather different form) … let’s say dive into a new venture, The Stupid Fun Club. The Stupid Fun was actually started many years ago by myself and my friend Mike Winter, we met while competing in Robot Wars and Battlebots. It was apparent to us that one day the robots would take over the world and we decided we wanted to be on the winning side, so our initial charter was to do whatever we could to usher in our new mechanical overlords.

Along the way we ending up building and prototyping a lot of… odd stuff. People would come by our shop and get interested in this stuff for various reasons. Some of this stuff sparked new creative ideas, even (*gasp*) ideas that may have “commercial, entertainment value” (this is how you talk when you’ve been around lawyers and MBA’s too long).

At some point we started showing some of this stuff to the people at EA. They got excited by the prospect of us pursuing these projects commercially (or that’s what they said anyway, I think they just want to be on the winning side of the coming robotic revolution as well). So we started talking to them (EA, not the robots, though we do talk to them as well, but the robot responses are cryptic at best) about getting involved and investing in The Stupid Fun Club (we asked the robots first but they’re all broke).

So as things worked out I decided to jump into my work at the club more or less full time. But at The Stupid Club we’ll be working on new games (along with EA) as well as other kinds of projects with different partners.

I can’t talk about specific projects coming out of SFC just yet (alas, the robots won’t let me), but as things develop I’ll find a way to keep those of you who are interested informed about what we’re doing (but not with a blog…I’ll never have a blog). A major aspect of the projects I’ve worked on has always been the player community, that won’t change.

-Will Wright

and he is now joining Stupid Fun Club which is an entertainment think tank in which people brainstorm new IPs for the entertainment media (be it games, movies, tv, etc...)

News Report as follow:

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - (Business Wire) Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) announced today that EA is making an equity investment in Stupid Fun Club, Will Wright’s new adventure. Stupid Fun Club is an entertainment think tank developing new Intellectual Properties to be deployed across multiple fronts including video games, movies, television, the internet, and toys. Will Wright is leaving EA to run Stupid Fun Club.

EA and Will each own equal percentages of Stupid Fun Club and are the principal shareholders. In addition, EA has the right to develop game concepts that spring from Stupid Fun Club projects. Will Wright is represented by Creative Artists Agency.

“The entertainment industry is moving rapidly into an era of revolutionary change,” said Will Wright. “Stupid Fun Club will explore new possibilities that are emerging from this sublime chaos and create new forms of entertainment on a variety of platforms. In my twelve years at EA, I’ve had the pleasure to work alongside some of the brightest and most talented game developers in the industry and I look forward to working with them again in the near future.”

“We believe in Will’s vision for Stupid Fun Club and we’re looking forward to partnering with Will and his team long into the future,” said John Riccitiello, EA’s Chief Executive Officer. “Will is a great designer and he’s been part of a great legacy of globally recognized game franchises like The Sims, SimCity and Spore. The teams that have been leading those franchises in recent years have a lot of exciting content coming.”

“Will has been an inspiration to our teams, and it’s been rewarding for us to bring his ideas to life,” said Lucy Bradshaw, VP and General Manager at Maxis. “In addition to legendary games, Will’s legacy at EA will be the many talented people who worked with him and will now continue to contribute their own vision to the art of game development.”

Will Wright created Maxis with Jeff Braun in 1989, which was acquired by EA in 1997. Will is the visionary designer of blockbuster game concepts like Spore™, The Sims™ and SimCity™. Lucy Bradshaw, VP and General Manager at Maxis™, will continue to run Maxis and the Spore franchise. Lucy’s team is working on the upcoming expansion pack, Spore Galactic Adventures, as well as other game concepts including Spore Hero, Spore Hero Arena and Spore Creature Keeper. Rod Humble is head of the EA™ Play Label and his team will launch The Sims 3 in June of this year.

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world’s leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, cellular handsets and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA™,EA SPORTS™, EA SPORTS Freestyle™ and POGO™. In fiscal 2008, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.67 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA’s homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA’s products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.

I hope Will Wright the best in his future endeavors

Blizzard Organising Fan Fiction Writing Contest

radkliler — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 02:12:09 +0800

QUOTE

Fanfic writing just got a little less thankless and potentially more rewarding with a creative writing contest just announced by Blizzard. Winners get a sword, lunch, and a peek at Blizz HQ.

Fans of Warcraft, Starcraft or Diablo are invited to write 3,000 to 10,000 words, set in either of the three franchises. The grand winner gets a trip to Irvine, Calif. to meet and dine with the Blizzard lore staff. He or she (but, since this is fan fiction, I mean, yeah, probably a he) will get a Frostmourne sword. Runners-up, and there will be seven, get prize packages comprised of signed copies of the Blizzard novels.

The contest is open worldwide, so, if the winner happens to reside in Ulan Bator, guess that means Blizzard will spring for the airfare and lodging. And since this will be judged by the Blizzard folks, I'm reasonably sure entries should keep it all fapfree and all the characters should belong to Blizzard IP. So, no weird crossovers with Sailor Moon or Stargate: SG1, and no hot orc-on-elf action either, no matter how good you think you are at describing such passion. More details at the official contest entry page.

Sauce here

Its open WORLDWIDE PPL!!

Start writing ur epic dramas based on Blizzard's universe and u may have the chance to see Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2 before its released

Royal Air Force Hiring Gamers As Drone Pilots

radkliler — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 23:18:20 +0800

Since the economy crashed, the Britain RAF decided to cut back on spending big bucks on training UAV pilots.

Their logic?

Well...ace combat pilots are well-trained to fly real fighters but not as good in flying UAVs through a computer.
So they hire gamers who have massive experience in games such as Ace Combat.

Thou shalt put sauce here

So what are u waiting for...train up ur HAWX or Ace Combat skills, cause u may never know that one day

You'll join the army, meet interesting people, pilot a Mega Death Dealing Drone , and bomb the living heck out of third world countries

Post Your Screenshots Here! V2

radkliler — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:50:23 +0800

Share all your screenshots which would make people wonder : "Why the hell didn't I get that game?"

Rules & Regulation on posting screenshots are :-
===============================
1. 640x480resolution and below
2. by using thumbnails wink.gif

Just cruisin' to anime tunes

Man and wife jailed for selling pirated games

radkliler — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:05:08 +0800

QUOTE

A game pirate who funded $10,000 for his wife's breast enlargement and his own weight-loss op has been handed a three-year jail sentence following investigation by West Midlands Police and ELSPA.

Dudley-based Raymond Adams, who's said to have "lived in luxury" by selling illegally copied games and DVDs, spent thousands of pounds from his game-copying deeds on weight-loss surgery for himself and breast enlargement for his 33 year-old girlfriend.

What's more, the silly bugger bragged about losing his belly, which the ELSPA press release bravely refers to as his "greedy bulk", as well as his wife's new baps in The Sun. To be fair, he has lost a lot of weight there.

Unfortunately the Old Bill weren't so impressed by Adam's girl's jubblies, and brought his illegal activities to a painful halt when they discovered his fake game stall, called 'Midland Console Modifications', at Wolverhampton racecourse.

On November 21 at Wolverhampton Crown Court Adams was jailed for three years, and his busty girlfriend handed a 12-month sentence, suspended for 18 months.

The two admitted charges relating to the illegal copying and Adams pleaded guilty to 44 counts related to offences under the Trade Marks Acts 1994. The Dudley pirate is reckoned to have made over £180,000 from his counterfeit operation that cost the games, film and music industry an estimated £1million.

Hilariously, Adams was kept on remand until sentencing "at his own request", to prevent him from going out and making further breaches of the Trade Mark Act.

"This is one of the most unusual cases ELSPA has ever been involved with," said ELSPA boss Michael Rawlinson. "The sheer persistence of Adams... selling illegally copied video games, film and music is staggering. So was Adams' own insistence that he be remanded to prevent further illegal activities!"

Sauce here...this is perhaps the most awesome thing I had ever read

Syndicate 2 in the works by EA

radkliler — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:17:47 +0800

QUOTE

EA is set to reveal a brand new entry in Bullfrog's cult classic Syndicate series, CVG has been told.

Cast your mind back to when Starbreeze struck that deal with EA to resurrect one of the publisher's "classic franchises" and Syndicate was hotly tipped. Starbreeze definitely sounds like a good fit for the gritty cyberpunk universe as well.

No more details were offered by our secret agent, but to see a current-gen remake of the PC and PSOne RTS - which still has a cherished place in many a veteran gamer's heart - would no doubt please many.

In case you're wondering what we're on about, the original Syndicate was released in 1993 and later followed up in 1996 by Syndicate Wars.

The game put players in charge of a militant global corporation, and tasked them with leading cyborg agents around a gritty cyberpunk world rescuing captured allies and assassinating rival syndicate executives. It was awesome.

We'll let you know if our deepthroats are on the money. In the meantime, which genre would you like to see a modern day Syndicate sliced into?

Sauce

For those who are too young to remember this game....allow me to enlighten u...

QUOTE

The Syndicate series is a series of isometric science fiction computer games created by Bullfrog Productions. There are two main titles in the series: Syndicate (1993/1994) and Syndicate Wars (1996), with an expansion pack for the former, Syndicate: American Revolt.

Both games put the player in charge of a militant global corporation - for which the player chooses a name and logo. Syndicate Wars, a later game, also provides a second playable entity, the 'Church of the New Epoch'. Gameplay involves ordering a team of 4 cyborg agents around gritty cyberpunk-themed cities, in pursuit of mission goals such as assassinating executives of a rival syndicate, rescuing captured allies, "persuading" civilians and scientists to join the Corporation/Church, demolishing buildings, or simply killing all enemy agents. The player must also collect funds to finance the research and development of new weaponry and cyborg upgrades, by means of taxing conquered territories in the original game, or robbing banks in Syndicate Wars. The cyberpunk megacorp in Syndicate is called 'Eurocorp'. Unlike some games, which either punish the player for civilian deaths or reward them for violent actions committed, Syndicate remains indifferent.

The Syndicate series, particularly Syndicate Wars, is noted for its attention to detail and the intricacy of its narrative. Syndicate Wars' standard manual addresses the player as a newly-hired Executive. The entire manual was designed to pull the player into the story and atmosphere as much as possible. Notable features of both games are the use of context-sensitive background music which changes to suit the mood of the on-screen action, and a high degree of interactivity, in that many objects in the first game and nearly every object in the second game can be destroyed. The visual aesthetic of both games borrows heavily from films such as Blade Runner.

Sauce
Technically...its the GTA game before GTA was out...so it r big news for me at least

Take Two might be taken over by EA

radkliler — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 08:46:06 +0800

QUOTE

Take-Two says it expects to sign a confidentiality agreement with EA allowing EA to enter into Take-Two's formal process to evaluate strategic alternatives. Which basically means they're about to settle into some sort of talks.

Strauss Zelnick, chairman of Take-Two, said, "We welcome EA into our formal process and look forward to demonstrating to their Board the significant strides made by Take-Two since they last undertook a detailed review of our business in early 2007.

"Our Board remains unwavering in its belief that EA's unsolicited conditional tender offer of $25.74 per share was inadequate and undervalued Take-Two's world-class entertainment franchises and our strong operational and financial performance."

Ben Feder, CEO, added, "We are continuing to consider all alternatives that will maximize value to our stockholders. As part of that commitment, we are engaged in discussions with other parties as part of a formal process to generate greater value and will act quickly to assist EA in moving expeditiously through our process.

"In the meantime, we remain focused on executing on our business goals and creating value for stockholders and consumers of our products."

Has Take-Two caved? Could a deal be on the cards sooner then we thought? Do you care? Thoughts below.

Teh sauce is here...

any thoughts?

Personally...if this deal goes through...I'ma say buh-bye to GTA 5

Microsoft announce DirectX 11

radkliler — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:30:36 +0800

QUOTE

We've only just bought our DirectX 10 compatible video cards and already this morning Microsoft's lifted the lid on DirectX 11 - but don't worry, it's completely compatible with DX10 hardware, says MS.

Speaking at its Gamefest 2008 event last night, MS said that DX11 will introduce new shader technology that "lays the groundwork for the GPU to be used for more than just 3D graphics, so that developers can take advantage of the graphics card as a parallel processor."

The company also revealed that DX11 will sport multi-threaded resource handling to exploit multi-core machines, support for tessellation and full Vista support. We're sure that's getting video nerds somewhere excited.

Of course most interesting to the majority of PC gamers is that you won't have to buy a new video card to run DX11, unlike DX10 which was only supported by new, top-of-the-line video cards upon release. MS said that both DX10 and DX10.1 hardware would support DX11.

There's currently no release date for DirectX 11, but we'll keep you posted.

Jesus f*cking Christ...thats fast! At least this time we don't need to splurge through our noses...but still mid rangers are gonna do a upgrade when it enters the fray

Sauce anyone?

Need help with courses...

radkliler — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:17:09 +0800

I'm about to enrol into a college very soon and I need some advice...

I'm interested in doing jobs like a translator or stuff that has things to do with languages and I need to know which college should I go to and what courses should I take (suggest a Pre-U program if possible).

Thx for the help

Video games causes England the Euro Finals?

radkliler — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 09:53:14 +0800

AS reported on the Star today...West Ham goalkeeper Robert Green claimed that video games have ruined England's hope in the Euro 2008 finals....

He goes on saying that if England players were to throw away all their games console or such....they would be be able to qualify for the Euro.

What do you guys think?

I personally found it downright hilarious.

Most Memorable Villians Of All Time

radkliler — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 15:43:12 +0800

There used to be a topic like this...but since 2007 is almost coming to a close...it's time to update the villain-o-pedia.

Since 2007 has been a joy for gaming...lets put down our guns and swords (and what not) to pay respect to the most memorable villains of all time.

It does not matter if the villain is 50 years old or just recently. For they will be eternally feared (?) or pwned.

Second Expansion Announced: Wrath Of The Lich King

radkliler — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 18:46:40 +0800

For those who don't know...Blizzard have announced that the second expansion to the World Of Warcraft is the Wrath Of The Lich King. The new features are as follows:

1. Level cap raised to 80
2. New profession announced : Inscription
3. New Continent in Azeroth : Northrend
4. New class : Death Knight
5. New dual-faction city : Dalaran (Levitated in the skies of Northrend)

The release date is not known...so till the...discuss....

Need help for Windows XP

radkliler — Wed, 30 May 2007 09:15:31 +0800

Alrite...

The other day , my parents use my old Comp. for spreadsheets and other stufff...

Upon booting windows...A dialog box pop out and said something abt illegal .dll relocation for the AVG 7.5 and I have absolutely no clue abt the reason behind this...

Can some1 help me plsss???

The How Much U Hate DotA Quiz...

radkliler — Sat, 26 May 2007 09:55:46 +0800

This thread is made solely for fun and not as a thread to boycott DotA (coz that will never work anyway...) .

To count how much u hate DotA...just rate the following criteria from 1-10. 1 means that u never witness this b4 and 10 means that u wish u could choke the living hel out of DotA players

1. The amount of times you've been to a CC (cybercafe for those who r blur) and
see most if not all computers are on DotA.

2. The amount of time u heard DotA players swearing at the top of their lungs.

3. The amount of time u find urself unable to concentrate on the game u r playing
because of the ruckus caused by them.

4. The amount of times u couldn't find anyone to play a LAN game of ur choice
b'coz they are to interested in DotA.

5. The amount of times u find urself crestfallen knowing that the Malaysian gaming
since ha been hit by a plague

Rate those from 1 to 10. Once u rated , add the numbers of the rating and divide it over 50. Then times it by 100%.

The following percentages are what u think abt DotA

0%-10% : DotA is the original WOW (World Of Warcraft)
11%-20% : DotA is like crack. Once u start, u can't stop
21%-30% : DotA should be a bestseller
31%-40% : DotA is quite a clever mod
41%-50% : DotA gets tiring for a while but it is still fun
51%-60% : DotA is just like any other mod...just glorified
61%-70% : DotA is the most surprising thing to be popular
71%-80% : DotA is the reason u can't go to CCs anymore
81%-90% : DotA makes u cry out in rage
91%-99% : DotA should be banned from all CCs nationwide
100% : All DotA loyalist should be sent for psychiatry evaluation and sent to
rehab if needed.

Jack Thompson (Saviour or Pain In The Butt)

radkliler — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 21:20:11 +0800

I wanted to start this thread long ago but time forbids me...

Now I have spare time , I plan to see how Malaysians would treat this attorney...

As most of u noe , Jack Thompson is a Christian lawyer who hates violent videogames and has made his live a non-stop crusade to ban all such games...

His famous exploits are as follows:

1.He accused a kid for killing another person under the influence of GTA 3
2.Same as above except that is for GTA : Vice City
3.To ban Bully before it was released and called it a 'Columbine Simulator'
4.Tried once again to ban Bully on the base of it having homosexual content...(yes...you
CAN kiss a guy in Bully...)
5.Actually banned Bully from coming to the Xbox (yeah...that was a succesful ban as
you may have noticed)

So, u may show him support or write as much hate mail as u want here...but I will be in the hate mail group as long as I am a gamer.

Need ppl to form Quake 4 clan

radkliler — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 15:23:32 +0800

Plzz..

If you live around the area of USJ 2 and know where E-Extream is (new CC) plzz...reply in this forum coz I wanna form a clan for Quake 4...

Why? Coz I'm tired of seeing DotA everywhere