Items tagged with "update" on the iVirtua Community

well I was hear for years under the name PYMUSi got a newer computer and another email address and found that there was no way to update my profile so I am now PYMUSi1 and starting over again

runescape update..rizisalble window.....but when u auto make sure u turn of ur reziseable window! or autowoodcutter wont wortk couse its not updated for reziseable window yet

Valve has released a new update for Day of Defeat: Source (PC),offering a new map, achievements and more for the company's multiplayerWorld War II shooter. To commemorate the new content, the companyannounced that Day of Defeat: Source will be free to play this holiday weekend for all Steam users.
Originally introduced last month as a beta update, the patch brings a set of 51 achievements to the game via Valve's Steamworks development suite, as well as the nemesis and revenge freeze cams as seen in Valve's Team Fortress 2 (PC).

Detailed player statistics are now reflected in Steam's communityfeatures, breaking down kills and other information in a team- andclass-based format. Also included is the new map Palermo, a new remixedversion of the title's popular community-created map dod_salerno.
Available free of charge, the update will downloadautomatically upon restarting the Steam client. Complete details of theupdate are viewable below

.
From the Palermo update page:

Palermo
Introducing Palermo, a new Day of Defeat: Source map from Magnar  "insta" Jenssen. This map's design was inspired by the Italian port city of the  same name and was also based in part on "Salerno", a popular community map.  Palermo features five capture points, four of which often flip back and forth between  teams during play. The central plaza's two-person capture point is the map's key strategic  area.
Steam Community Integration
Steam Community avatars will now appear next to each player name in the scoreboard, on the  end-of-round panel, and as part of the newly-added freeze cam. Also, when you have friends  playing with you in the game you'll be able to spot them using the new Friend icon next to  their avatar on the scoreboard.
Achievements
There are now 51 unique achievements that you can earn for your play in-game. We've  designed them to cover a variety of different play styles and specializations, and to  recognize some of the rare and amazing feats people pull off while playing. For example, Jack  of All Trades rewards players for earning a kill with a Machine Gun, Sniper Rifle,  Rifle, Sub-Machine Gun, and a Grenade all in a single life.
Player Statistics
Day of Defeat: Source players can now show off their own stats and achievement progress in  the Steam Community, using a method similar to Team Fortress 2's  gameplay stats. Detailed statistics including usage of each weapon and class will be  gathered displayed, giving players an at-a-glance view of each other's specific strengths.
Freeze Cam
Tired of getting killed by snipers without being able to tell where the fire is coming  from? Day of Defeat: Source now has a freeze camera of your attacker, which will let you  know where they are (or where they were when they shot you) and also allows you to take a  screenshot for posterity. Also, if you score three consecutive kills against another  individual player, you will be called out as "dominating" them.

I wrote a very simple program to read Minesweeper's memory anddisplay a grid showing where the bombs are. I used OllyDbg fordisassembly and reversing and CheatEngine for quickly finding knownvalues in memory.
During this process, I found out that Minesweeper CHEATS, onlyspawns about half the bombs, and moves bombs mid-game. (Sometimes towhere you are clicking, sometimes it will move a bomb that you clickon.) Regardless, I consider this project a success.
During this process, I found that Minesweeper will sometimes assist youand move bombs away from where you are clicking on. Originally, Ithought that Minesweeper was only "spawning" about half of the bombs,but as it turns out I misunderstood the way minefield was representedin memory and all bombs are generated at the beginning of the game and not first click or any later clicks.
My error was in thinking that minefield was stored in a 2-dimensional array (ie: minefield[x][y] = FLAGS) where max(x) (and max(y)) are the size of the grid (ie: 9x9 on Beginner) but as xumiiz on Reddit pointed out:

His program is buggy. It's not reading the grid incorrectly - it's a constant width of 32 bytes, but a window from thetop left is taken for the actual size of the playing field.
So, first bugfix to his source:
  for(DWORD grid_loc = 0; grid_loc < grid_height * grid_width; grid_loc++) {
should be:
  for(DWORD grid_loc = 0; grid_loc < grid_height * 32; grid_loc += ((grid_loc%32)==(grid_width-1))?(32-grid_width+1):1) {
And:
    if((grid_loc % grid_width) == (grid_width - 1))
should be changed to:
    if((grid_loc % 32) == (grid_width - 1))
With these fixes, it reads all the bombs properly.

And also this comment from Anonymous:

Sorry but your program is reading the grid incorrectly.Minesweeper uses a grid with a fixed width of 32 bytes and the playingfield is takena s a window of that grid from the top left. e.g.beginner mode uses bytes 0 to 8 and skips bytes 9 to 31 per every 32byte row.* Fixing the program to read based on that patten shows thatMinesweeper only moves the mine if it happens to be the first squareyou click on. Apart from that, all mines are randomly placed at thestart of the game.
(* Actually it would use bytes 0 to 10, where bytes 0 and 10 are0x10 which is to indicate the border of the mine field, and bytes 1 to9 are the actual squares. but that's not really relevant to theanalysis if you're just &ing with 0x80 to find bombs.)

The source of this program is available here: (This is the original and still requires an update, my code will be fixed soon.)
http://www.room641a.net/files/projects/minehack/minehack.cpp
Sample program output:
Minehack - Reverse Engineering and Coding by Sub <sub@room641a.net>
---
Fairly simple program to display already-placed bombs in minesweeper.
---
PID: 2836
Height: 9
Width: 9
---
[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
And now, probably the most important comment block of my entire program (I have updated this information here to be current, but the source file still needs updated):
/* Did you know?
*
* Minesweeper stores its minefield in an array char-sized (1 byte) multi-dimensional array. Each byte
* in memory corresponds to a specific location on the grid. It appears to use
* simple bit masks. (This section needs updating, but the information below is current.)
*
* 0x10 "Border" - Appears to mark the beginning of a row, which means my offset is off by +1
* 0x40 Button has been pressed already
* 0x80 Bomb is in place. These can move mid-game if clicked on
* Bit-wise OR with:
* 0x00 The square is exposed
* 0x0X X is 1-8 -- # on square (number of mines neighboring this square)
* 0x0D Square is marked with question mark
* 0x0E Square is marked with flag
* 0x0F Blank squares are all 0x0F
*
* AND THEN THERE'S 0xCC WHICH MEANS YOU CLICKED A DAMN BOMB AND LOST!
*/

A Los Angeles film production company sued Nintendo on June12th, alleging that the console manufacturer used a tune from the movieTrue Romance in a commercial for the GameCube.
Thesuit, filed by Morgan Creek Productions in U.S. District Court for theCentral District of California, was voluntarily dismissed by theplaintiff on June 18th.
The 1993 film was directed by Tony Scott and written by Quentin Tarantino.
The song in question is You're So Cool, composed by Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer. The suit claims:

Sometimewithin the past three years, [Nintendo] used the sound recording of"You're So Cool" without authorization in a television advertisementfor the Nintendo "GameCube."

Plaintiff is informed andbelieves and thereon alleges that [Nintendo] also used the soundrecording at issue herein in other forum in order to generate sales fortheir product.

It is unknown why the suit was dismissed less than a week after being filed. GamePolitics is seeking comment from the plaintiff's attorney as well as Nintendo.
The complaint does not make reference to a specific use of the song by Nintendo. However, this 2004 post from the Toon Zone forums makes reference to You're So Cool being used in an ad for Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door.
UPDATE: Also, courtesy of comments left by GP readers Orange Soda and Anonymous, we've added the video of the commercial which apparently sparked the copyright claim.
Read the lawsuit here.

We could've filled the entire list withantique Game & Watch titles alone (they're manna from heaven forcollectors), but for the sake of balance here's a list of some of themost valuable games across Nintendo's entire portfolio.

So before you throw out any 'junk' boxes from the loft, best check they don't contain any of these 25 rare classics.

Harvest Moon (SNES, US) - £60
The SNES version of Harvest Moon is still considered the best amongfans of the whimsy-heavy farming/courting sim. It doesn't come up veryoften on eBay, and when it does you can expect to pay at least £60 fora good boxed copy. The N64 version was released soon after, accountingfor the SNES game's initial lack of popularity.

Banjo-Tooie (SNES, PAL) - £60
Rare's first Banjo-Kazooie game was extremely popular, but Banjo 2 gotstuck in development and ended up coming out towards the end of theN64's lifespan. Although you may be able to pick up a copy cheaper, agood boxed version will set you back at least £50, and sealed copieshave been known to go for as much as £100. You'll probably see theseprices rise when more news of Banjo-Kazooie 3 on Xbox 360 emerges.

Dracula X (SNES, US) - £70
The final Castlevania game released on SNES wasn't as popular asprevious iterations, but the series has gained great cachet with gamersmore recently, especially since prices for Castlevania: Symphony Of TheNight skyrocketed on PS1. Dracula X is unlikely to go down in value.

Sin & Punishment (N64, jpn) - £70
While the version released on Virtual Console has adversely affectedthe original's price, this N64 classic is still a jewel in the crownfor any Nintendophile. This Treasure shooter was designed for the N64analogue stick and is always best played on its host hardware. A goodinvestment and a collectable game you'll actually bring out from timeto time.


Naruto: Clash of Ninja (GameCube, PAL) - £75
Although it's worth very little in America and Japan, the PAL releaseof Naruto Clash Of Ninja didn't see wide distribution and it's beenknown to fetch up to £75 on eBay. Expect other GameCube titles such asChibi-Robo and Baten Kaitos to increase in price because of theirlimited numbers.

Earthbound (SNES, US) - £80
This Japanese hit was released in the US but failed to make much of animpression. Now it's lauded for its RPG in-jokes and humorous take onAmerican culture. Again, rumours abound that EarthBound is to bere-released on Virtual Console, which may bring the price down on thisUS import.

Paper Mario (N64, PAL) - £80
Another rare PAL gem. Though Paper Mario continues to be one of themost popular titles on Wii's Virtual Console, collectors will stillfork out good money for this great mix of platforming and puzzling inits original guise. Until recently, copies of this SNES classic couldstill be found in many second-hand game stores.

Bakuretsu Muteki Bangaioh - (N64, jpn) - £80
If you thought the Dreamcast version of Bangai-O was good, you shouldcheck out the original N64 version with its sublime analogue controls.Only 10,000 copies were released in Japan and it's been going up inprice ever since. Find a mint, boxed copy and you'll have collectorsknocking your door down.

Chrono Trigger (SNES, US) - £90
Chrono Trigger isn't rare by any standards - indeed, thousands ofcopies are on the market. However, the game is so good, and has builtup such a reputation, that people are willing to pay upwards of £100for a sealed, boxed SNES copy. You can even get it as part of FinalFantasy Chronicles for PS1, but still the collectors pay big money forit. Rarity isn't really the main consideration, we guess.


Ninja Gaiden Trilogy (SNES, US) - £150
Even though this comprises all three of the Ninja Gaiden games releasedon NES with a graphical update, it didn't sell very well when it firstcame out in 1995. But since the next-generation Ninja Gaiden games werereleased, Tecmo's star has risen, enhancing the price of this cartconsiderably.

Final Fight 3 (SNES, PAL) - £180
The PAL version of Final Fight 3 is a hidden treasure waiting tohappen. Let's face it, unless you're a collector you're unlikely toknow its true value and this is your best chance of picking up a gem atthe local car boot sale. A naked cart is probably only worth £40, butif you can find a good boxed copy then you're likely to achieve £180 to£200. And it's a decent game, too, containing two extra characters inDean and Lucia Morgan.

Space Invaders (Virtual Boy, jpn) - £200
A good boxed copy of Space Invaders on Virtual Boy can now fetch £200.It's notable because it's one of the better games on the system, and solong as you don't play it too much (giving yourself a much-warned-aboutmigraine) you'll get some fun out of it. Virtual Boy games have shot upin price in the last five years and this trend doesn't look likeabating. It may be a good investment for the future...

The Flintstones: Surprise at Dinosaur Peak (NES, US) - £200

As the NES drew to the end of its lifespan, publishers began releasingtheir games exclusively to game rental companies, bypassing traditionalgame shops. The Flintstones II is typical of this, and although it's alittle easier to track down in Europe than elsewhere, it can stilldemand high prices. United States copies can go for £200, thoughfinding ex-rental games in good condition is like finding a joke in anepisode of My Family.

 Starfox Super Weekend/Donkey Kong Country Competition Carts (SNES, US) - £200

These two separate carts were manufactured specifically for use inBlockbuster in-store competition promotions. Only about 2,500 were madeof each but they were initially sold off in stores for a knock-downprice. Because of their rarity you can expect to see them sell on eBayfor around £200, depending on what kind of condition they're in.

Rendering Ranger R2 (Super Famicom, JPN) - £200
This run-and-gun classic came from the makers of Turrican, so Lordknows why a game of such pedigree was only released in Japan. It'sunusual for a rare game in that it's actually very playable today. Acart-only copy might still sell for £80, but find it boxed and completeyou're looking at a sum of £200.

Fire Emblem Thracia 776 Collectors' pack (Super Famicom, JPN) - £200

Thracia may sound like a disease you'd pick up in a Bulgarian brothelbut this is actually a super-rare Fire Emblem collectors' pack. As itwas only released in Japan in limited numbers, you're unlikely to findit at the local car boot, but it shows that you should always keep youreye out for limited edition releases - and keep all the gubbins thatcomes with them.

Bubble Bath Babes (NES, US) - £250
Panesian was a company that produced several adult titles for the NES,including Peek-A-Boo Poker, Hot Slots and Bubble Bath Babes. Forobvious reasons the games didn't get Nintendo's seal of approval andended up being distributed via mail order catalogues or rental shelves,hence their scarcity. Interestingly, they didn't come in NES boxes butVHS-style cartons, so many are still undetected. The limited graphicsmake the sauciness factor rubbish, though.


Mountain Bike/Speed Racer Combo (SNES, US) - £300
This SNES combo underlines the fact that combining two or more gamesonto one cart for a limited print run is always going to have raritypotential. Good boxed copies have generally only come out of Nintendo'sown warehouses and if you can find one with the strange LifeFitnessBike peripheral then you're looking at a price in excess of £1,000.It's a cart that will always go up in value, but it's worth around £300today.

Myriad six in one (NES, US) - £350
This is the rarest unlicensed NES game and consists of six titles:Bookyman, Adam And Eve, Cosmos Cop, Magic Carpet 1001, Balloon Monsterand Porter. Its rarity is due to the fact that Myriad Games put outfewer than 1,000 carts and they were individually numbered. Gamescollectors speculate that there are only 100 left in existence, butonly 15 have ever surfaced.

Virtual Bowling (Virtual Boy, JPN) - £400
Only 22 games were ever released on Virtual Boy, although somecollectors believe there could be rare prototypes hidden away thatdidn't make it to retail. Virtual Bowling is actually a pretty goodbowling sim, offering practice and tournament modes, but the lack of asave battery means your scores are wiped when you switch off.Fortunately, passwords save the day. Not to be mistaken for Nester'sFunky Bowling, which is much more common.


Flagman (Game & Watch) - £450
There are plenty of rare Game & Watch titles we could have listed,including the obvious competition-only Super Mario Bros YM-901 (justtrips off the tongue), or the eminently collectable The Legend Of ZeldaGame & Watch, but it's likely to be the less well known titles thatwill surface down at your local flea market. A boxed Flagman could bagyou a small fortune.

Stadium Events (NES, US) - £500
Though common in PAL territories, Stadium Events is one of the NES'smost collectable games in America. Although it's a terribly averagefitness game, its value is due to Bandai printing a test run of thegame that was sold in Woolworths stores for a very short period beforeNintendo bought the rights. Rumours suggest there are only 10 completecopies on the market, and even unboxed Stadium Events carts can sellfor £400.

Virtual Lab (Virtual Boy, jpn) - £500
It's all too easy to look back on the Virtual Boy debacle and laugh,especially at the poor souls who thought it looked cool to wear a pairof heavy, red goggles and bellow, 'come on Mario, you can do it!'. Butwho's laughing now? Some Virtual Boy games are fetching massive prices,including this J-Wing developed Japanese puzzle game. The fact'Nintendo' is charmingly spelt 'Nintenndo' on the back of the box onlyadds to its value.

Balloon Fight Crystal (Game & Watch) - £600
This has to be one of the rarest Game & Watch titles, and boxed,good condition units have been known to fetch up to £600. Releasedtowards the end of the series' run for the Crystal Screen range,Balloon Fight's simple gameplay is reminiscent of Williams' Joust andhas since gone on to make an appearance in Animal Crossing.

Adobe seems to be hard at work at Adobe Creative Suite 4*. In May, they releasedpublic betas of CS4 versions of Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and Soundbooth.Existing CS3 owners are able to continue to use these applicationsbeyond the initial 48 hour window.

One of the most obvious changes in the new CS4 applications is the userinterface, and this change will also be carried over into the nextversion of Adobe's Photoshop. This decision is describedin detail by Adobe's John Nack. Nack describes how Adobe has beentrying to make the interfaces on their apps more consistent and showsoff a screenshotof the new Mac Photoshop "application frame". This application framecontains both user interface elements as well as documents themselves.Despite expressing his own initial resistance, Nack explains theadvantages to the consolidated window:
- It facilitatesN-up (2-up, 3-up, etc.) document layouts that adapt as you adjust theinterface. Think "live window tiling"--great for comparing,compositing, etc.
- It makes it easier to move the entire application and its contents, including from one monitor to another.
- It prevents documents from getting obscured by panels (palettes).
- It blocks out the contents of the desktop, minimizing visual clutter.(A number of Mac users have requested this option for many years. I'veknown quite a few people who open a small blank document, hit F to putit into full-screen mode, and then put it into the background to hidethe desktop. Willingness to live with that kind of hack demonstratessome genuine desire for a real fix.)
ForMac users resistant to the change, Nack assures readers that the newinterface is optional, and users can easily disable the consolidatedview, or you can use choose to use elements of both methods.

There's been no public timeframe for the release of this next version of Adobe's Photoshop, but there were some contested claims of an October release target. The next Mac version of Photoshop has been announced to remain a 32-bit application. 64-bit support is expected on the subsequent version for the Mac.

* Note that Adobe has objected to labeling this next version of Creative Suite as "Creative Suite 4" or "CS4", but for consistency's sake with the rest of the world, we are using that designation until Adobe officially announces otherwise.

Update: Video of the new interface in action.

The new version of the Xbox 360could launch at the E3 games event next month in a bid to halt theprogress of Nintendo and Sony in the console wars.
According to Trusted Reviews, the new Xbox will be unveiled around 15 July, then scheduled for launch mid-August this year.
Down the Arcade
Atthe moment, this means the future is unclear for the current Premiumversions of the Xbox 360, which have just 20GB of internal memory.
It'slikely that this update will be badged as a new product, but willeventually replace the 20GB version, because the cost differencebetween the two consoles is pennies.
Jon Hicks, editor of Xbox 360: The Official Xbox Magazine says: "It's only a rumour at this point, but it's a sensible one.
"Withmore and larger content being released on Xbox Live, it makes sense forMicrosoft to offer a bundle that takes better advantage of it.
"Thereal news, however, would be if it meant the end of the hard-drive-freeArcade version. If Microsoft started selling all Xbox 360's with a harddrive as standard, it would make life easier for the game developers -but with such a huge install base already, I'd be surprised if theywent down that route."
Microsoft also has the Elite 120GBmodel, and given the push the company is giving HD downloads, we'd haveto assume this will be the one to promote for that function, as HD anda few game downloads will eat up space faster than hungry, hungryhippos.

Motherboards.org is reviewing CoolIT’s Eliminator Liquid CPU cooler and it’sso easy even your granny could hook it up. This piece of kit has everythingbuilt-in and you needn’t stick stuff outside the case. The whole unit justlatches onto your CPU socket (and weighs less than most high-end coolers) andall you need to do is screw it in and connect a power molex. Self-contained andeasy to setup – we weren’t expecting that. Downside? Don’t expect to daisychain stuff into the water cooler - it’s for the CPU and that’s about it.Coolit here.
German website Notebook Journal has managed to capture a Puma in the wild andput it to the test in the lab. It’s a pre-sample sample based on the Pumaplatform, with a ZM-84 (2.3GHz Turion X2 Ultra) and it uses an HD3400 part with256MB of DDR2. While specs aren’t final, the performance numbers do give us anidea of what to expect. In this case, the new Puma does outperform the previousTurions, but it still has a lot of catching up to do with Intel’s Core 2s. PowerXpress seems to be going well, tho’.Here forthe original, orherefor Googlenglish
Benchmark Reviews is poking around inside a Silverstone Kublai KL03B-W midtower case. Silverstone is usually known for its outrageously expensive HTPCcases, but now they seem to have taken the battle to the desktop PC’s arena.It’s spacious enough to handle even the freakiest of cooling setups, and you caneven stick a redundant PSU inside. It’s also very quiet, we hear... or not. Readabout the casehere.
Samsung is moving forward in its HD storage business with a couple of unitsbased on the F1_3D design. The company has sent off a 750GB and 1TB unit toSilent PC Review where Mike the Chin. They are both 32MB cache units and offeridentical read/write speeds – which pretty much sums up the review – identicalperformance through and through. Good performance, that is, and some pretty goodacoustics. The price is right, too...readit here.
OCC is testing the ZEROTherm Zen FZ120 CPU cooler; that’s a really tallheatpipe+cooler, but with a smaller fin surface to which they hook up a 120mmfan. It’s got a 4pin header, meaning you get PWM (a bit more control over thefan) and copper base and heatpipes. For $39.99 this seems pretty affordabletoo. The temps are pretty hot if you don’t plug in the fan, though. Catch thecoolerhere.
After Gigabyte’s slight mishap with Asus, the Gigaboys gave TweakTown a tourof the Nan Ping factory while they were attending Computex 2008. Now, it isn’tusual for manufacturers to let hacks like us take photos and vids of theirfactory’s entrails, but that was the case. So now you too can get an inkling onhow a P45 mobo comes into existence. It seems Gigabyte has put the Asus incidentbehind it.Catchthe tour here.
If you’re relatively new to the rat race and are trying to set up your owngaming rig on a budget, you might want to take a look at this articlehere.Bit-Tech, together with Scan, compiled an article on the subject. The secret isto find the right components, put them all together and then tweak them abit... that’s value for money. Cheap CPU... check. Cheap mobo... check. Cheapgraphics card... check. OC all round... check. Yes, that’s an E2160 running at2.9GHz with a 9600GT running at 775MHz (75MHz above spec) – the whole systemracked up a sub £400 bill at Scan. Not bad.
What do you get when your marketing department gets behind productdevelopment and forgets to talk to the engineers? An Intel DX48BT2. Why? Becauseit is the upper high-end of single-CPU desktop mobos, warranting the “Extreme”branding and it won’t let you overclock decently. That’s what XBit found out, atleast, and we can’t say it’s surprising. Despite Intel’s claims of being thegreatest chip show on Earth, they haven’t (or won’t) had the will the let youtake their CPUs to outrageously high OC values. Xbit considered it might be thecrappy BIOS (1521) but after a quickie update (1523) the OC problems were stillthere. No fun.Readabout the hole.

Following some good snooping by a Team Fortress 2 fan, word of new, Pyro-based achievements for Team Fortress 2 slipped early and have since been confirmed by Valve. In addition to achievements, Valve has revealed that some "significant changes" to the Pyro class will be included in the upcoming update.

After paying close attention to the reception of the Medic release, Valve has worked hard to make some changes to the Pyro class for players across the board. Unlockable items will also help to mix things up: one such item, which can be unlocked by gaining the new Pyro achievements, is the "Axtinguisher." The new melee weapon guarantees a critical hit on any opponent who is on fire.

While there's no exact date on the update launch, Valve notes that the development team has "almost completely wrapped" it up. Now the only question left is which class is next for the update treatment.

Appletook the wraps off version 2.0 of its iPhone firmware at WWDCtoday.But it didn't send thousands of iPhone owners scurrying away toclickon 'Check for Update' in iTunes.
The 2.0 firmware, and by associationthe new iPhone3G, are due to be rolled out worldwide on July 11.
Thenew iPhone 3G is undoubtedly theheadline act – it updates Apple'spioneering smartphone withtri-band HSDPA connectivity, GPS and improvedbattery life. If theiPhone was hard to beat before, it's even toughernow. But the new2.0 firmware that's being rolled out with it is equallyimportant.
Enterprise, SDK and 'new features'
Availableon both the 3G and original2G iPhones, version 2.0 adds a several newfeatures to the iPhoneplatform. There are those that we've alreadyseen: push email andcalendaring (via MS Exchange), Cisco VPN supportand downloadablethird-party applications via the forthcoming App Store.
And there are those features we didn'tsee coming: a pushnotification service, a scientific version of Calcand a nifty ContactSearch. These hardly make compelling front pagenews. Apple has improvedthe iPhone in very subtle ways.
When it hits on July 11, version2.0 ofthe iPhone firmware won't offer a major overhaul of theiconictouchscreen interface. Why should it? If it 'aint broke... AsSteveJobs explained in his keynote, there are three elements to theiPhone2.0 software – enterprise, the SDK and 'new features'.
SinceApple firstrevealed the iPhone 2.0 software back in early March, we'veknownabout its enterprise plans. Apple's support for MS Exchangewillenable the sort of push calendaring, push email, push contactsandremote wipe capabilities that businesses have been crying outfor.Ditto the built-in Cisco VPN client.
What we're reallyinterested in is thepersonal apps and games. With 250,000 softwaredeveloper kitsdownloaded since March, Jobs revealed that Apple hadadmitted 4,000applicants to its iPhone developer programme (from25,000applications).
With access to the iPhone's coreAPIs(shared with Mac OS X), plus its accelerometer, cameraandlocalisation features, we now have a better idea of what theiPhoneis capable of.
Super Monkey Ball for $9.99
Just as it did back in March, Segashowed off an updated cut of its GameCube favourite Super MonkeyBall.This game will be available on the App Store for $9.99 when itlaunchesin July. That's about £5 or £6 in UK money,although expect thereal-world exchange rate to be avoided in favourof $1=£1. At least it'sa lot less than the rumoured $25 pergame that was swirling around techwebsites pre-keynote.
In comparison, the rest of the earlyAppStore line-up at WWDC seems a little simplistic – anuninspiringselection of games, medical applications and prettied-upnews feeds. Butthere are some bright sparks.
The mobile version of TypePad,forexample, has been designed to tie in with the iPhone's camera,enablingyou to take shots and upload them to a website. Looptoffers a mix ofsocial networking with location-aware intelligence,while the AssociatedPress plans anapp that will map your whereabouts to deliver relevantnews.
Apple itself has developed a pushnotification service,designed to keep a persistent IP connectionopen that can notify you ofnew emails or instant messages. And itdoes this without the relevantapplications running in thebackground. It's a big deal, but pencilSeptember in your diary forthis one.
Like the iPhone 3G, the AppStoreshould launch on July 11th. 2G and 3G iPhone owners will be abletodownload apps less than 10MB over 2G/3G, Wi-Fi or via iTunes.Anythinggreater than 10MB will be limited to Wi-Fi connections anddownloads viaiTunes.
The 2.0 upgrade will be free for iPhoneusers, but it will cost iPod touch owners $9.95.

Design
Though the iPhone 3G is thinner at the edges than its predecessor, the phone measures a hair thicker (0.48 inches versus 0.46 inches) in the gut. The other measurementsare the same except that it weighs just the slightest bit less (4.7ounces versus 4.8 ounces). Otherwise, the iPhone 3G shows few cosmeticchanges from the front--same display size and resolution, and thesingle Home button sits just below the screen. We're very pleased tosee that Apple has done away with the irritating recessed headphonejack, which now is flush so that you'll be able to use any 3.5mmheadphones you like.
But turn over the iPhone 3G, and you'll see more significantchanges. A black, plastic skin replaces the current silver-aluminumback. The swap may cut the cost, but we worry about its long-termdurability. The 8GB model will come in black only, while Apple promisesthe 16GB version in back and white. The white model is a bit random--wewere expecting something in red--butcolor is a personal choice. The camera lens, volume rocker, chargerport, speaker, microphone, power button, and display locking switchshow no changes. Our News.com colleaguegot a hands-on with the new device and reports that it feels similar inthe hand to the current model, with the exception of the tapered edges.
3G
With support for three 3G bands (850, 1900, 2100) and bothUMTS and HSDPA networks, the iPhone 3G is well positioned for usinghigh-speed networks all around the world. Considering that Apple ispromising to bring the device to 70 countries, it had better be. Duringhis WWDC keynote, Jobs compared Web download speeds between the twoiPhones. On the original model, which runs on a 2.5G EDGE network, aphoto-heavy Web site loaded in 59 seconds, while the same site loadedin 21 seconds on the new device--impressive, but we take it with agrain of salt for now. After all, the demo iPhone in today's keynotewas the only iPhone in the room using AT&T's 3G network. Once amultitude of devices flood the same network, load times may change.
GPS
This is one feature that was on our original iPhone wish list.While the current iPhone location services find your position vianearby cell phone towers and satellites, the iPhone 3G uses Assisted GPS supplemented by satellites. It also offers live tacking so you canmonitor your progress as you drive (or walk) along. We're excited tosee this feature as well, as it fills in another gaping hole on theoriginal handset. You'll also find photo geotagging, but we're not sureyet whether the iPhone 3G or any third-party applications will supportturn-by-turn directions.
Third-party apps
Speaking of which, the iPhone 3G will indeed support the collection of appsavailable through the iPhone SDK--no surprise here. Apple promises toopen apps store in early July (Apple didn't release an exact date);we're guessing by July 11. Gaming apps should feature prominently; many will integrate with the phone's accelerometer.
Enterprise support
Worker bees will be pleased to know that the iPhone 3G will offer support for Microsoft Exchange Server.That will bring push e-mail, contacts and calendar, remote wipe, globalcontacts access, and auto-discovery. That's another welcome change asit puts the iPhone in the hands of a whole new class of corporate userswho now will be able to get their work e-mail on the iPhone.
Battery life
Last year Jobs said that Apple had not included3G in the first iPhone because it would have made too many compromiseswith the handset's battery life. But now it appears that Apple hassolved that problem. The iPhone 3G promises a solid 5 hours of 3G talktime, 10 hours of 2G talk time, 5 hours of 3G Internet time, 6 hours ofWi-Fi Internet time, 7 hours of video playback, 24 hours of audioplayback, and 12.5 days standby time. The audio and video times areunchanged from the original iPhone.
What else?
Since the latest iPhone will support the 2.0 software,additional new features will show up at launch and beyond, includingcontacts search, iWork document support, the capability to viewPowerPoint attachments, bulk move and delete, a scientific calculatorin landscape mode, parental controls, and support for 16 languages.You'll also be able to use a graffiti-style application for enteringcharacters in Asian languages.
What's missing?
Unfortunately, we hoped for an even largerbundle of features in this round. Apple still leaves multimediamessaging out of the mix along with voice dialing and video recording.We still don't understand why Apple can't include these basic features,many found in even the cheapest and simplest cell phones. We were alsohoping for a landscape keyboard, the capability to cut and paste, Flashsupport for the Safari Web browser, expanded memory, and additionalBluetooth profiles. Apple, you left us hanging in a big way. It's alsodisappointing to hear that the dock is now sold separately for $49, butwe suppose that helped cut the price. No, you don't needthe dock, but it's nice to have. Even the power adapter and the SIMcard removal tool that now come in the box won't make up for its loss.
Should you buy it?
If you're an iPhone fence-sitter, now'sthe time. The addition of 3G and GPS, the affordable price tag, andextra features from the iPhone 2.0 software update make the iPhone 3G aworthy prospect. Unlike the previous iPhone, which we liked andrecommended with reservations, we're much happier with what this newhandset has to offer. iPhone 3G isn't perfect, but there's a lot tolike here and we approach the device with much anticipation. We'llupdate this page with a full, rated review once we get our hands on thehardware.

Microsoft is looking to reorganise Xbox Live content to make it easierfor users to navigate around the thousands of items that have beenadded since the console's 2005 launch.
"Longer term, we're looking to make the ability to find contentand organise the 17,000 pieces of content we have a lot better," AaronGreenberg, product management director for Xbox 360 and Xbox Live, toldMTV Multiplayer.
The last hint Microsoft dropped about an Xbox Live revamp was in a February job advertseeking someone to join the team "building the games, the consoleinterface and logic, and the server support for a totally new Liveexperience".

Microsoft has already taken steps to reduce the densityof content on Xbox Live, recently announcing plans to cull Xbox LiveArcade games that have under-performed - something that Greenberg has previously said would force other developers to "focus on game quality now more than ever".
Speaking to Multiplayer, Greenberg stopped short of confirming that anew version of Xbox Live is on the cards, but the platform holderrecently skipped over the traditional spring dashboard update and thosedevelopers are unlikely to have gone on holiday instead.

While libraries and church groups are increasingly turning to videogame events in order to attract teens, such get-togethers may havecopyright implications, according to the School Library Journal.
Check out this Q&A posted yesteday:

Q.

Lots of school and public libraries are hosting gaming tournaments, featuring popular video games like Guitar Hero and Madden Football. Since these games are intended for home use, isn’t that similar to purchasing a movie and showing it to a large audience?

A.
Everyoneseems to be asking that question! Video games come with licensingagreements, and before purchasers can play the games, they must agreeto their terms. The video-game licenses that I’ve seen are strictly for“personal, noncommercial” uses—not public ones. So when libraries hostgaming programs, they’re violating these agreements. Yet, lots oflibraries are doing just that—and they’re getting away with it. Andsome are even charging an admission fee to attend these events. Whatgives?

My guess is that video-game distributors neveranticipated their games would be used publicly. So when their lawyersdrafted the licenses, they simply used language commonly found insoftware contracts...

Librarians can: (1) continue tooffer video-game competitions and let the chips fall where they may;(2) contact the rights holders and ask if their licenses can bemodified to accommodate your programs; or (3) email the rights holdersand tell them you’re opting out of the portion of the contract thatallows only home use—and unless they tell you not to, you’re planningto offer gaming tournaments.

IVI:It's a fascinating question. Game publishers would look like bigmeanies if they tried to enforce this, of course. On the other hand, Ibelieve that Internet cafes pay for some type of multi-user license forsome online games.
UPDATE: A well-informed video game industry source dropped GP a line, offering some insight on this story:

Formotion pictures, schools, libraries, and other institutions getlicenses to exhibit the movies. It's pretty straightforward and no-oneseems to have a major problem with it. See http://www.movlic.com/ and http://www.mplc.org/aboutMplc.php. I'm not aware of similar services for video gaming. Probably should be.