sprites & bites

Gaming, iPads and a few biscuits on the side…

Monthly Archives: August 2008

Illegal Downloaders to Cough Up

There is an interesting article in the Times newspaper today. 

Five game developers - Atari, Topware Interactive, Reality Pump, Techland and Codemasters, have decided to get together to take legal action against people who illegally download their games.

The developers are to serve legal action against 25,000 people across the UK.  The people can avoid legal action and pay damages of £300 per person in out of court settlements.  If they decide to go to court it could cost the person up to £16,000 in damages.  The first 500 people who choose to ignore the letters demanding the £300 fee will be taken to court in the first wave of action.  It certainly is a lottery if people do choose to ignore it.

The regular line from people who download software/music illegally is that it does not hurt the industry.  But to cite a few figures from the article, Topware Interactive released Pinball 3D.  It sold 800 copies but was illegally downloaded an estimated 12,000 times.  

I fully support any action these developers want to take.  If people choose to be a “knock off Nigel” then they should pay the price. 

The lesson is to don’t be a knock off Nigel and do your bit into supporting developers and the game industry.

Fable II Pub Games

Fable II pub games was released on Xbox Live arcade this morning for quite an expensive 800 points. To me this is expensive and the reason being is the game has little substance to it. For those who do not know, these games will be part of the full Fable II game when it is released in a few months time. They are releasing the pack now so people who buy Fable II can get a head start and get some gold ready for the start of the real game.

The game itself has 3 pub games. One is a card game, one is a dice game and the other revolves around spinners. All 3 games rely on solely an amount of luck and there is no skill involved whatsoever. They are also pretty basic so you will be spending your time only pressing the A button to draw the next cards, spin the dice or spin the spinners.

Unless you want to rack up lots of gold ready for when you play Fable II there is no reason at all to buy this game, especially at 800 points. I will not be buying it, part of the fun of playing RPG games is getting enough gold through the game to buy your upgraded weapons or whatever. Why on earth would I want to go into the game being able to afford everything? Of course there is a negative to gambling early, if you rack up a huge debt then this will not reflect very well on your starting character.

Gamble wisely.

Screenshot Sunday

Yes I know, it is not Sunday, but I thought I would announce a little side project I am doing for Sprites & Bites which will be starting this coming Sunday. Every Sunday I will be posting a new post based on an up and coming game.

To improve reader content for the blog I would like everyone to create a screenshot for the announced game to be included in the Sunday post. Entries must be drawn by yourselves in whatever medium you choose and must reflect the game of the week. You can use Artpad, or Paint or whatever program you want to use. If using Artpad, please take a screenshot of your final work and send it over. You do not need to be good at art to send a submission. It will not necessarily be the best screenshot that gets placed into the post, it will be the one or two shots which reflect the game in question well.

The game announcement will be held midweek on a Tuesday, the closing time for entries for that week will be 12pm Midday on Sunday. For an example screenshot please see the post here

All entries which do not make it into the original post will enter the users gallery for everyone to admire, hate or even laugh at. :)

So get your artistic computer pens at the ready, the first game to be featured in the Screenshot Sunday will be “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed”.

Please send all entries to beck AT spritesandbites.net and put “screenshot sunday” in the title.

Recommend a Web Host

I am looking for a new web hosting provider. Currently I am using www.compila.com I must stress I have no problems with Compila at all, but my two year lease is up for renewal and I think I can get a better deal elsewhere.

First and foremost, security and reliability is of utmost importance. Because I need to install WordPress on it I also need a MYSQL database aswell. Unlimited bandwidth would be a bonus but not a requirement. Also, SMTP support would be a big bonus so I can have my own domain smtp server if I need to send emails away from my isp.

Finally they need to be UK based. I know there are some cheaper deals abroad but I want a UK company to deal with if there are any problems.

So does anybody have any recommendations of a supplier that would suit me please?

Polaroid HDTV Sky Remote Code

Looking at my web stats I see that people are still coming to my blog looking for Polaroid HDTV Sky remote control codes. So just this once I am posting the instructions again.

I cannot help with all box types but if you have Rev 6 remote or above then try the following with code 206

1. Select any channel on your TV.
2. Point your Sky remote away from the TV and press tv
3. Press and hold down select and the red button simultaneously until the red light at the top of your Sky remote flashes twice.
4. Input the Sky remote control code (206) and press select . The red LED at the top of the Sky remote control should flash twice.
5. Point your Sky remote at the TV and try the volume button. If this works try other TV functions. If these work then the correct code has been selected.

I have confirmed the code 206 works with the Polaroid FLU 26/32 and with Sky HD. I have also managed to get the code working on Sky+ remotes/boxes.

Google, Firefox and Security Measures

Last week I was horrified to find that both Google and Firefox had blocked this website to its users. The security measure did not affect users of Firefox 2, but new users of Firefox 3. If someone was using Firefox 3 they were presented with a worrying red and black screen saying “Reported Attack Site” – see screenshot below. Clicking through to the details to try and find what was happening it listed a rogue website “sum4count” as being on the domain. I was totally perplexed by this as I do not knowingly host malicious software or links. I decided to backup my posts and delete my wordpress installation and reinstall it, just in case there was anything on the server. I also took a quick look at the source of my index page and lo and behold there was a link in one of my posts to a sum4count website. I have no idea how it got there, but I deleted it and sent the site in for a second review.

This is the screen that Firefox 3 users would have seen.

If searching for Sprites and Bites on Google you would have been met with a link to my site and another link to say “this website may harm your computer”. Clicking on my link would have taken you to another google site blocking you out.
So the review I submitted had cleared my website and declared it safe, yet the tag of unsafe website was still attached to my domain. Yesterday I decided to delete every single post on Sprites and start afresh. All of the old has gone so now they can have no reason to think that any of my posts are dodgy. Today the block has finally been lifted and my domain is no longer tagged as being unsafe – not that it was unsafe in the first place. As reported by Google themselves, there was never any malicious software on this blog, there was never even a risk just by visiting the blog, it was purely a link to another website which may have harmed your PC. And I still do not know how it got there.

I hate Google and Firefox for doing this to my blog. But I cannot help but think they actually did me a favour – after all, had this not happened, the blog would have been the same old posts clogging up the worldwide web with no great purpose. I feel a resurgence coming on – Sprites and Bites MK II

Tiger Woods 09

The next iteration of the Tiger Woods series is nearly upon us. Tiger Woods 09 incorporates a new training mode involving Tiger Wood’s real life coach Hank Haney.

There will of course be the annual tweak of the controls, adding extra control methods for new players and die hard fans alike. With new modes and new courses added to the mix, will the new 09 beat the impressive 08 version?

There will be a downloadable demo of the new game available on Playstationnetwork and Xbox Live on 14th August so stay tuned.

Check out this amazing screenshot below