 | | |
| | |
|
Spaces home  Altered SpacesProfileFriendsBlog |  Tools   |
|
July 14 How to hack your WiiIf you'd like to run homemade (aka homebrew) games and applications on your Wii, here's a quick and dirty guide: What you need
What to do
For more information regarding the homebrew channel, please refer to this link: Note: Although I have witnessed no problems with this hack, I cannot 100% guarantee it won't damage your Wii in some way. It's bloody good though! June 24 Any console gamers in here?If there are any gamers out there who fancy duking it out with me online on either the Wii or the XBOX 360, leave your friend code or gamertag in a comment to this post and I'll make sure I add you to my respective console's friends list (if I don't run out of space first). Wii Friend's Code: 4802 6220 0852 8446 XBOX 360 Gamertag: wideawakewesley I've only just got an XBOX 360 so bear with me while I increase my games collection, but if anyone has Mario Kart for the Wii, I'm always up for some blue shell action! June 18 A Story of Road RageYesterday when pulling out of the car park at work, I failed to notice a car approaching from my right. Fortunately he was far enough away from me that he didn't even have to slam on his brakes to compensate for me, just slow down, but as I drove past him he called me a "f**king w**ker", to which I replied, "sorry", but I doubt he heard. Anyway, me being me I wasn't happy leaving it at that, so I wrote this guy a note and left it under the wiper blade of his car (he works in the building next to us). The note read something like this:
I wasn't expecting a reply, but last night I received the following e-mail...
Road rage helps no-one and none of us are perfect drivers, so the next time someone makes a mistake on the road that doesn't cause you or your car any harm, consider for a moment all the mistakes you've made on the road and calm down. You never know, the next person you call a f**king w**ker might not be as polite as I am. June 02 New version of Windows Live WriterIf you're blogging from a Windows platform and you're not using Windows Live Writer, Mr. T has some wise words for you... "I ain't gettin' on no plane, Hannibal." Actually, I think this one is more appropriate "I pity the fool!" Anyway, there's a new version out, more info can be found here: May 22 Improv Everywhere - Milton Keynes (UK)Not sure how many of you are aware of Improv Everywhere, but I'm trying to start a group here in Milton Keynes. Improv Everywhere can best be described as a group of random people who want to get together to cause scenes of chaos and joy in public places. Sounds weird I know, here are a few examples of what we do: For more information on Improv Everywhere see the FAQ: To join the fun in Milton Keynes, sign up here (it's all free): May 20 Nintendo WiiWare launched in the UK todayNintendo have launched their WiiWare service in Europe today. WiiWare is available via the shopping channel and is a method of buying and downloading games similar to the virtual console. However, this service is for new games only. Games can be bought with Wii Points (and points can be bought in the shopping channel or in retail stores, £7 = 1000 Wii Points) and games cost anywhere between 500 and 1500 Wii Points. You can also buy WiiWare (and Virtual Console) games as gifts for people on your Wii Contacts list, as one of my friends did today (as a birthday present). The two most anticipated WiiWare games released today are LostWinds and Dr. Mario. The latter even features online play against people on your Wii Contacts list and only one of you needs to own the game as you can send a "demo" version to them so they can play against you. Also, when buying licensed Nintendo products, you get a registration card in the game box that contains a scratch panel. Underneath is a code that will give you a number of Stars on the Nintendo website. Those Stars can be traded for Wii Points, which in turn can be spent on WiiWare (or Virtual Console) games. The process is a bit convoluted, but it works. April 18 How to link your IM, Facebook & TwitterI've never been a fan of Twitter, I always felt it had very limited uses (and still do). However, when I became aware of ways to link things like Twitter with my Windows Live (MSN) Messenger status message and my Facebook status message then the whole thing because a much more interesting proposition. So right now, I can write a new twitter message which in turn is picked up by the add-in to my messenger client and my facebook application which in turn updates my Facebook status message. So instead of two status messages, I now have one and I'm also twittering. My life just got a marginally easier! Although I haven't investigated any further, I believe the same effect can be achieved with Yahoo Messenger, but to do what I've done with Windows Live Messenger, you just need the following: and Now I just need to feed this into my blog and be very careful about what I put in my status message from now on. April 09 BBC iPlayer now on Nintendo WiiOriginal source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/latest/ Last month we made BBC iPlayer available on Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch devices, the first of many mobile platforms that we hope to support. The theme for this month's iPlayer release is "iPlayer in the living room"- i.e. watching BBC on-demand programmes on your big-screen television set. Today, most people watch iPlayer programmes on their computer. That's great - you can watch your favourite BBC programmes curled up in bed with your notebook PC, or on your study desk while you check your email, or (if you downloaded our programmes) on the plane or away abroad on holiday. But have you tried hooking up your computer to your TV set? iPlayer programmes, particularly downloaded programmes, look great on a TV. The video quality is usually even better when iPlayer programmes are played back on a TV than on your computer screen. Most newish computers, particularly notebook computers, have an S-video output, which, with a suitable S-video to SCART cable, can connect to most modern TV sets. If you have an LCD or plasma TV, chances are that it will have a VGA input which will give even better picture quality when connected to the VGA output of your notebook PC. If you have a Nintendo Wii, it's already connected to your TV, and now you can play BBC iPlayer programmes directly on your Wii. On your Wii, you'll first need to install the Internet Channel, which costs 500 Wii points, or approx. £3.50 (unfortunately there's no alternative to having to buy the Wii Internet Channel for iPlayer web site access at this time - but later we hope to be able to get iPlayer on Wii without this purchase being needed). After you've installed the Internet Channel, browse to www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer, find your favourite programme, and hit Play. The programme should play immediately. For a smooth playback experience on Wii you'll need an internet connection that can give you 1Mbps or better. If you're experiencing buffering issues, try turning off any P2P or other downloads that are running on other computers around your home. iPlayer on Wii is still in beta, and over the coming weeks we'll tweak the video encoding rates and playback window size to get the best possible video quality. Wes says, "This is great news. The majority of the public won't have a PC connected to their TV, but they may well have a Wii, which means they instantly get access to all of the BBC's content via the internet and through iPlayer. I'm sure this will become a very popular way for people to catch up on shows they've missed in future. Well done to the beeb!" March 03 I'd love you to sponsor me in a space hopper race!Tomorrow, myself and three other colleagues will be mounting their Sport Relief branded Space Hoppers in search of glory against other businesses. The event takes place in Milton Keynes shopping centre in the UK, but the charity supports vulnerable people across the globe. For more information please read this: If that sounds like a worthy cause worth contributing too, please sponsor us here: Whether it be £1 or $1, it would be greatly appreciated and I absolutely promise to provide pictures and video to brighten your day! February 19 HD DVD is canned, Blu Ray is now the only HD formatOn the 19th February 2008, Toshiba announced that they're no longer going to manufacture HD DVD players, effectively ending the HD format war between themselves and Sony (makes of Blu Ray players). What does that mean for the consumer?
If anyone wants any advice on what Blu Ray player to buy, apparently the PS3 contains the best Blu Ray player on the market, it's also fully upgradeable and costs little more than a standard Blu Ray player. February 11 The best thing you'll read todayIt's Monday, which automatically means I'm grumpy, so to lighten my mood and everyone else's, please enjoy the awesomeness of the London Branch of Anonymous vs The Cult of Scientology London Division... And the picture of the day award goes to...  I would have quite honestly paid to be there, especially after reading about it, but I had more important work to do as a god parent at a Christening for a "real" religion. February 06 Liverpool FC Supporters Union"Sons of Shankly" You may or may not have heard of us. But here's a little bit about who we are. To do exactly as it says on the tin. A Union for all Liverpool Supporters. A voice that represents us all. A platform for us all to stand together and fight for what we believe in. It is early days, and more details of how the organisation will grow will appear over the next few weeks and months. But the catalyst for our formation..... We want Tom Hicks and George Gillett out of our club - why? THEY LIED & HAVE JEOPARDISED OUR CLUB FOR THEIR PERSONAL GAIN They promised that all loans would be would be secured against their own personal assets. THEY LIED
THE STADIUM
WHERE WILL THE FUNDS COME FROM FOR TRANSFERS?
It is about time the real picture was painted for all Liverpool fans out there. They promised to respect the club's heritage, history and traditions. THEY HAVE LIED AND LIED. They asked to be judged on what their actions. Well they have failed to make a start or produce the funding on the stadium, the major reason why David Moores looked for investment, they have failed to back the manager in the transfer market, They have not put one single cent of their own money into this club and they have undermined the traditions of the football club and the office of manager. They have, however, managed to create huge debt for LFC to pay off without any end product. After the Sunderland game, we staged a 15 minutes stay behind protest at the end of the game. We intend to do the same again. During the protest, Steve McManaman commented on Setanta that the Americans had backed the manager in the transfer market, secured their new loan bringing money into the club, and we should all forget about it and move on. We don't blame McManaman, a fair number of good Reds have been won over by their spin, so why shouldn't a blue? So it's time to spread the message and get the real goings on from within Anfield to a wider audience. It's about time the truth was exposed. Hicks and Gillett have to be forced out of Anfield before they wreak more havoc. Keep a look out for www.sonsofshankly.com which will be going live in the next few days. We'll be handing out flyers at the match with details of any future events.We'll announce any future meetings on our website, everyone invited, all opinions welcomed. Please send this announcement on to everyone you know. And keep an eye on our website for further updates and how to get involved. The next meeting is scheduled for The Olympia at 12pm on Saturday 16th February – before the Barnsley game. The Olympia Everybody welcome - See you all there. "Liverpool Football Club, Is In The Wrong Hands" "The socialism I believe in is everyone working for each other, everyone having a share of the rewards. Liverpool FC Supporters Union "Sons of Shankly" December 06 Nintendo Wii release schedule for 2008 (Q1)Super Smash Bros Brawl has been delayed in the UK and will not be release until Q3 (July) at the earliest. January 2008
Q1 but no firm date
Wes says, "The delay of Super Smash Bros Brawl is a real disappointment for the gamers gamer in the UK. Fortunately for Nintendo, the majority of their customers won't have the first clue about the game, so they won't even notice the delay. However, the rest of the release schedule for those first three months is reasonably promising. Zack & Wiki is by far the stand out title, with Pro Evolution Soccer 2008, Worms, Battalion Wars 2, NiGHTS, No More Heroes and Ghost Squad providing strong backup. Outside of those titles, there's definitely a few others that could prove worthy purchases if they manage to hold to these release dates. So while I'm incredibly disappointed in the Smash Bros delay, this list of titles, plus the slew of titles released in the last couple of months should keep everyone busy." December 05 The Politics Show States Hillsborough caused by Ticketless fansNot content with lying about Hillsborough on Eastenders, the BBC is now spewing it's lies on The Politics Show. Here's the link to the programme in question: The following is a letter highlighting the lies/issues with the content of the program... Dear BBC, As somebody who has been campaigning for over three years to see the introduction of safe standing within our football stadiums, I was pleased that a programme as prestigious as The Politics Show gave the issue coverage yesterday. I was, however, deeply disappointed about two comments made within the programme. The first one implied that the installation of fences in our grounds was a direct result of Heysel. This is not the case; may I refer you to a book entitled In Red Army General by Tony O'Neill in which it is very clear that the main reason for the fences going up in the late Seventies was domestic football hooliganism. The Heysel tragedy was in 1985 something a quick look on the BBC's own website would have confirmed! Secondly, it was stated that Hillsborough was as a result of supporters arriving late at the ground. Again, even a cursory check would establish that there were countless contributory factors to the disaster; some had built up over the years (for example, the Safety Certifcate was ten years old, and the club ignored police advice to reduce capacity) and many actions on the day were far more contributory than "fans arriving late". It suits the agendas of many to continue to distort facts and peddle myths about the Hillsborough tragedy; indeed, part of our campaign concentrates on ensuring that Hillsborough is not used as even partial reason not to introduce modern, safe standing areas in this country or have a proper, informed debate on the issue, something that we've hitherto being denied. For the BBC to glibly portray as a main contributory cause of a disaster in which 96 football fans lost their lives because some arrived late is disgraceful and unfortunately serves to perpetuate mistruths about the day. I hope that you return to this topic on the Politics Show and give the story the justice it deserves. I look forward to hearing from you. November 27 Kop will give its backing to Rafa BenitezLIVERPOOL FC fans are expected to make a mass show of support for their beleaguered manager Rafael Benitez at tomorrow’s crucial Champions League game at Anfield. Is the fate of the manager continues to hang in the balance after a public falling-out with the club’s American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, supporters’ groups and fans’ websites have pledged to stand by Mr Benitez. This will take the form of pro-Benitez flags and banners being waved at tomorrow’s game against Porto, which Liverpool must win if they are to progress in the UEFA competition. Independent Liverpool FC website Red and White Kop is calling on fans to stage a show of support for Mr Benitez outside the Sandon pub, in Oakfield Road, before the start of tomorrow night’s game, and to sing and chant his name during the match. Wes says, "If the board of Liverpool FC decide to sack Rafa Benitez it'll go down as one of the worst decisions ever made by a football club. Removing the man responsible for bringing the club it's greatest success since the "glory days" would be suicide. So if you live in or near Liverpool, I urge you to go to the The Sandon pub at 6:30pm on Wednesday evening, prior to the Porto match, where an official support demo will be held. Also, if you're going to the match, learn your Rafa Benitez songs in advance, you're going to need them!" November 21 The crusade for The Fun (TM) and spooky scrabbleA couple of weeks ago, I started a crusade to bring The Fun (TM) back to my office. Ever since we were acquired by a massive company two years ago, the amount of fun we've had has been in steady decline. The company we now work for won't even finance a Christmas meal for us, nevermind anything more extravagant like a party! Anyway, as Children in Need was fast approaching I decided that would be the best place to start, so we had a School Theme day, complete with dressing up, tuck shop, school dinners and games. Suffice to say it all went really well and although we didn't raise Earth shattering amounts of money, I'm still proud of what we achieved and how many people took part and enjoyed themselves. The next organised event will probably be a self-funded Christmas meal and hopefully that will keep the ball rolling until the New Year. So where does spooky scrabble come into all this? Well, a several months ago, my wife spotted a scrabble advert in the window of a shop and it was so cool that I just had to take a picture. However, I'd forgotten all about it until the other day, when I was transferring pictures off my wife's old phone onto her new one. Here's the picture in question and considering my current crusade at work, it's just a little spooky. November 14 Move over iTunes, Zune is here!Original Source: Mike Torres
Ok, I take back every disparaging thing I ever said about the clunky old Zune device and buggy player software. The new software (oddly named just Zune - not Zune Player) is without a doubt the most aesthetically appealing client application I've used in a long time. Maybe ever; although Windows Vista's Media Center has to be up there. They just got so many little things right. I mean LOOK at the thing:
See that huge transparent image of Chris Brown behind the tracks? The player has those kind of touches everywhere, even for the most obscure artists. Along with subtle animations that make the thing feel "alive", six great artistic themes, the coolest type-down search I've seen yet, and a super-simple sync model with the Zune device.
I don't know if I'm going to use this all the time for playing music as it's still missing some of the basics like mini-mode, smart playlists, advanced metadata, and visualizations. But I do love looking at it. I'm holding out for the Zune 80 and it looks like it's not in stock anywhere yet, so it will be a few more weeks before I can really put things through their paces. But according to the reviews I've been reading, the Zune under-promised and over-delivered overall this time with a lot of people saying they prefer it to the iPod classic and nano. Personally, I'm just looking forward to watching Smallville (for free Apple!) and listening to TWiT on the Connector bus in the morning.
If you haven't tried it, download it at www.zune.net. Not only is it beautiful to look at, it's also light years easier to use than it was before. It makes iTunes look complicated. I dig. If the Zune Pass is really this easy to use, I may never buy music again.
Wes says, "I've never been a big fan of iTunes, preferring to use Windows Media Player instead, but I have to say I'm very impressed with this new Zune software (and no you don't need a Zune to use it). Download it and give it a try yourselves."
November 13 Beowulf - A must see 3D thrill ride!It's been a long long time since I wrote a movie review of any kind on my Space, but I feel compelled to tonight, because I've just seen Beowulf and it was one of the best cinematic experiences of my life! I should start by saying it's not the best movie I've ever seen, but it is probably going to be one of the most enjoyable experiences you'll have had watching a film for a long time (as long as you watch it at the cinema). I have no idea what's planned for the DVD release, but at the cinema it's in 3D and because it's in 3D you're not going to see a pirated version until it hits DVD because without the funky glasses below, the film is a blurry unwatchable mess. Anyway, about the movie. Well it's based on an old folktale (think Lord Of The Rings style), it's all rendered in the most realistic CGI you'll see (this year at least), it features the vocal talents of amongst others, Ray Winstone and Angelina Jolie. The plot is tight and is held together with a nice script and some excellent action sequences. The 3D isn't overdone and really takes the movie to another level. It's not played as a gimmick and you'll get a sense of depth in this movie that is unsurpassed. The sound quality in the film is also top notch, with a nice accompanying score. The only downside to the movie is that you often wonder if it would have been better to have been filmed with real actors, rather than CGI representations, as there are plenty of times where the CGI is just not quite up to scratch. However, on the flipside, there are times where the CGI is so good you have to pinch yourself. It's a bit of a mixed bag and I'm guessing budget and rendering time had something to do with how much could be of the highest detail. The film has been released as a 12A in the UK and I have to say that some of the lines in the script are quite blatantly sexual and quite possibly at a level you wouldn't be happy with your 12 year old hearing, so it's probably got the correct rating and as a parent you should certainly want to be aware of that. It also features a reasonable amount of nakedness, both male and female (naked 3D CGI Angelina Jolie!), and I swear this will probably be the first time many people get excited looking at CGI nakedness. As a guy, it's almost worth seeing for the Angelina Jolie segment, but throw in great action, 3D funkyness and an all round polished finish to all aspects of the movie and it becomes a must see for guys and girls of all ages. Rating: 4/5 Summary: An unmissable 3D cinematic thrill ride. November 12 Liverpool FC, Rafa, Rotation and the MediaThis season, has seen Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez come under immense criticism for his decision to rotate his starting eleven based on his own person tactical assessment of both the current opposition and the condition of his players. The reason of this criticism seems to be that the majority of the British media believe that you win league titles by playing the same eleven players for 42 matches, that the tactics of your opposition should not factor into your team selection and that when they do, it should be the players that cost the least that are left out of the most games. So it came as quite a shock when Rafa named only his second ever unchanged starting eleven against Fulham. In all probability, he did so because he had nothing to lose. If Liverpool lost (or drew), his rotation methods would be justified and if they won, he'd just be happy that they did. In the end, he got the best of both worlds, as Liverpool won, but only because of the substitutions, as his starting eleven proved reasonably ineffective. Surprisingly most of the media have acknowledged this fact and have taken a slight nibble out their hats, however, only a Premier League title is going to make them eat them all. The only downside, is that Torres scored the vital goal, which means that the next time Rafa chooses to leave him on the bench (which he will) and Liverpool fail to win (which they might), the media will once again get out the torches and pitchforks. At least for now, Gareth Southgate and Steve McClaren's plights might manage to divert the flaming red gaze of the media, if only for a month or so. November 07 The most depressing thing I've seen todayOfficials of Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo with the bodies of four mountain gorillas illegally slaughtered. Photo: Reuters |
|
|
Print
