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• Neowin.net / Software (312 unread)

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• Neowin.net / Gamers (175 unread)

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Neowin.net / Gamers

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  18 Hour Epic Battle in FFXI MMORPG

  Posted: August th, 2008, 3:45pm UTC by toadeater

  How far will you go for an MMORPG? A group of MMORPG gamers played for 18 hours straight just to try and kill one boss-mob. Tried, because they failed to do so -- an 18 hour, non-stop, effort gone to waste. Final Fantasy XI's Pandemonium Warden was the mob in question. The boss of this mob goes through some 20 different forms, some of which regen to 100% health, each of which spawns along with minion monsters.
  
  "...After you kill all of the above [20 forms of the boss] he will pop with "hatched" lamps -- smaller chair dudes", posted Sylphet, chronicling their experience in frustration. "We killed all of the Lamps and at 75% he popped another 8 and regened to 100%. We attempted again but the lamps were faster this time and we wiped after killing just one." The group started playing at 3:30 pm EST, U.S, and finally ended at 9:00 AM the next morning: "People were passing out and getting physically ill," Sylphet continued. "We decided to end it before we risked turning into a horrible new story about how video games ruin people's lives."
  
  Screenshot: Pandemonium
  News source: Tech Tree
  
  Read full story...

  

  

Neowin.net / Software

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  Pidgin 2.5 released

  Posted: August th, 2008, 12:39pm UTC by Marcel Klum

  Thanks Maikel for posting this on our forum.
  
  Pidgin is a multi-protocol Instant Messaging client that allows you to use all of your IM accounts at once.
  
  Pidgin is free software. It is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2. This means you are free to use it and to modify it, but if you distribute your modifications you must distribute the modified source code as well.
  
  News source: Pidgin website
  View: Release notes
  Download: Pidgin 2.5.0
  
  Read full story...

  

  
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  Backup4all 4 BETA Released

  Posted: August th, 2008, 12:56pm UTC by Softland

  Backup4all is a backup utility that allows you to easily backup to any local or network drive, backup to FTP (with support for SSL encryption, proxy server, passive mode), backup to CD/DVD, or other removable media (such as USB drives).
  
  This is BETA software!, please use caution when installing it on your system
  
  
  
  Read full story...

  

  
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  NetGong 6.6

  Posted: August th, 2008, 10:32am UTC by tcl

  NetGong is a sophisticated network monitoring solution that allows network administrators, webmasters, and Internet service providers to monitor any networked device on the Internet, corporate intranet, or TCP/IP LAN and receive alerts immediately via audible alarm, message, e-mail, or third-party software when a connection fails. It is a powerful personal monitoring product delivering low cost, simplicity of operation, and round-the-clock coverage. An essential addition to any network administrator’s personal toolkit, NetGong allows users to tailor it to their particular area of responsibility, from a single server to a small-office LAN to hundreds of devices within a large corporate network. Corporate network managers can use NetGong to distribute responsibility among IS staffers and complement existing network management systems. Small businesses can afford to employ NetGong for monitoring critical e-mail and Web servers.
  
  
  Read full story...

  

  
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  SyncToy v2.0

  Posted: August th, 2008, 10:29am UTC by mad_onion

  SyncToy 2.0 for Windows is available as a free download from the Microsoft Download Center. The easy to use, customizable application helps you copy, move, rename, and delete files between folders and computers.
  
  There are files from all kinds of sources that we want to store and manage. Files are created by our digital cameras, e-mail, cell phones, portable media players, camcorders, PDAs, and laptops. Increasingly, computer users are using different folders, drives, and even different computers (such as a laptop and a desktop) to store, manage, retrieve and view files. Yet managing hundreds or thousands of files is still largely a manual operation.
  
  Now there is an easier way. SyncToy, a free PowerToy for Microsoft Windows, is an easy to use, highly customizable program that helps users to do the heavy lifting involved with the copying, moving, and synchronization of different directories. Most common operations can be performed with just a few clicks of the mouse, and additional customization is available without additional complexity. SyncToy can manage multiple sets of folders at the same time; it can combine files from two folders in one case, and mimic renames and deletes in another case. Unlike other applications, SyncToy actually keeps track of renames to files and will make sure those changes get carried over to the synchronized folder.
  
  Download: SyncToy | 1.1MB - 9.6MB (Freeware)
  
  Read full story...

  

  
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  1st AutoRun Express 3.0

  Posted: August th, 2008, 10:27am UTC by Green Parrots Software

  Let your CD or DVD automatically open your documents or display a menu when your disk is inserted into the user's computer. Create autorun disks in a few clicks, no design or programming required! All you need to do is to specify your documents, web pages and presentations in this easy step-by-step wizard. You can create autorun disks from scratch or add autorun capabilities to the files already prepared for your CD.
  
  You can ensure that your users will read your documents! If your user does not have the necessary software to open your documents, then your autorun disk will let the user know where to download a viewer software or even install the software automatically.
  
  Your menus will automatically adapt its look to user's operating system and font settings. You don't need to manually position your buttons, just drag your documents to the wizard and let it do all the hard work for you!
  
  
  Read full story...

  

  

Neowin.net / Gamers

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  No PS3 Price Cuts Planned for Leipzig Game Fair

  Posted: August th, 2008, 4:37pm UTC by Bezhou Feng

  Sony does not plan to announce price cuts to its flagship PlayStation 3 games console at Europe's biggest video games fair in Leipzig, Germany next week, Sony Computer Entertainment spokesman Nick Caplin said on Friday. "It's not going to happen. If you're coming for that you'll be disappointed.".
  
  In the 12 months ending March 31, Sony sold 9.24 million units, below its initial estimates of 11 million sales. But in an interview with Reuters on July 16, the company's video game chief said the firm was on track for the current year's target of 10 million sales. Cuts to the Playstation 3's original high price have helped boost its fortunes in Sony's three-way battle with Microsoft and Nintendo in the global video game industry.
  
  View: Full Story at Reuters
  
  Read full story...

  

  

Neowin.net / Software

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  SE-Explorer - portable alternative for Windows Explorer.

  Posted: August th, 2008, 8:16am UTC by se-soft.com

  SE-Explorer is a free simple and powerful file manager for Windows.
  
  New features in version 0.0.21.419
  

  • Size Scanner panel is added for quick search of large files by its type;
  • Video player for quick video preview with SWF Flash movies support is added;
  • ZIP archives explorer is implemented;
  • Search panel is greatly improved;
  • Web-based update system is launched.

  
  SE-Explorer is absolutely free for personal use. No registration or activation is required
  
  Download: Download Installation (~580 KB, EXE)
  Download: Download Portable Version (~352 KB, ZIP)
  Link: Product Home Page
  
  Read full story...

  

  
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  Axialis IconWorkshop 6.31

  Posted: August th, 2008, 7:36pm UTC by Axialis Team

  Axialis Software today announces the immediate availability of Axialis IconWorkshop 6.31, the newest version of its award-winning tool for authoring icons for Windows and Macintosh platforms
  
  New Plug-in for Visual Studio
  This release includes a plug-in which permits working efficiently with Visual Studio. The principle of this plug-in is to create a direct bridge between the VS IDE and IconWorkshop. Just open the icon in the Visual Studio resource editor and launch the associated plug-in command. The icon is automatically opened in IconWorkshop and you can work on it as necessary. When you save it in IconWorkshop, the VS IDE automatically refreshes the icon document. This feature is available in the Professional Edition only.
  
  Related topics:
  Introducing the Visual Studio plugin
  Modifying an icon in a solution
  Addin a new icon in a solution
  Compress an Icon for Windows Vista in a solution
  
  Axialis IconWorkshop has a Lifetime License: If you've purchased a previous version, you're entitled for a free upgrade to version 6.31.
  
  Download: Axialis IconWorkshop 6.31 | 22.4 MB (30-Day Tryout Version - $59.95 / $69.95)
  Screenshot: >> Click here
  Link: Axialis IconWorkshop product page
  News source: Axialis Software
  
  Read full story...

  

  

Neowin.net / Gamers

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  Fallout 3 granted Australia release

  Posted: August th, 2008, 7:32pm UTC by Marcel Klum

  Australia's Office of Film and Literature Classification has passed the revised version of Fallout 3, giving the RPG a rating of MA 15+ and revealing the reasons behind its decision.
  
  According to the censor board's report, acquired by IGN, the positive representation of drugs as power-ups in Fallout 3 was the main cause of concern. However, following the game's ban last month, Bethesda Softworks has toned down the depiction of drugs, earning the title an MA 15+ rating.
  
  The report says the drugs themselves have all been given new names, while images of drug-taking have been removed and replaced by icons: "The drugs depicted are fictional; drugs are depicted as stylised icons on a menu with the drug use itself not depicted," read the report.
  
  News source: Gamesindustry.biz
  View: Fallout 3 website
  
  Read full story...

  

  
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  Crysis Warhead Set for Release September 16

  Posted: August th, 2008, 7:26pm UTC by Marcel Klum

  Crytek has announced that Crysis Warhead, the follow up to last year's graphical stunner Crysis, is set for release in North America on September 16 and Europe on September 12. Moreover, if you're planning on purchasing Warhead, Electronic Arts (the game's publisher) has announced that you can pre-order it on their online store and pay $24.95, five bucks less than the normal price.
  
  But that's not all -- also announced was Crysis Wars, a new multiplayer feature in Crysis Warhead that'll come with three modes of play: InstantAction and PowerStruggle from the original Crysis, and the new TeamInstantAction mode that, obviously, adds teams to the mix. Crysis Wars will include 21 maps in total, including six new maps for TeamInstantAction and InstantAction, and one new map for PowerStruggle.
  
  News source: 1up
  View: Crysis Warhead website
  
  Read full story...

  

  

Neowin.net / Software

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  Quicksys RegDefrag 2.0

  Posted: August th, 2008, 10:02am UTC by BP8M

  Quicksys RegDefrag is a freeware utility to defrag registry.
  
  Registry data is constantly being written to and removed during a normal Windows operation. Over time this data becomes fragmented.It optimizes registry by removing gaps, fragments and wasted space in Windows registry files.
  
  This application will help you improve the whole performance of your PC and will boost the access to registry.
  
  
  Read full story...

  

  
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  Medieval CUE Splitter v1.1

  Posted: August th, 2008, 10:01am UTC by th3rEsa

  CUE Splitter is a freeware tool that split a single big audio track, mostly an album or a compilation, into the relative individual audio tracks, using informations contained in the associated "CUE" file. Sometimes you can find a big compressed audio file (for example MP3, APE, FLAC, OGG, WAV, WMA, etc...) equipped with a small "CUE" text file that contain informations about tracks title, artist and length. Usually these couple of files are generated by programs like EAC (Exact Audio Copy), CDRWin, BPM Studio, GoldWave or similar. With CUE Splitter you can split audio track files without burning to CDR or decode/re-encode any audio data! Moreover audio files are automatically named using a user-defined "file mask" string, it's tags are filled with information extracted from "CUE" file and, optionally, an M3U playlist file can be generated (option enabled by default).
  
  Changes in this version:
  

  • Removed nag screen from main window
  • Added Belarusian language

  
  Screenshot: >> Click here
  Link: Website
  
  Read full story...

  

  

Neowin.net / Gamers

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  The Wii third party game story is not a pretty one

  Posted: August th, 2008, 6:23pm UTC by Marcel Klum

  Microsoft has hit back at claims made by Nintendo that the Wii sells the most third party games, saying instead that it's Xbox 360 sells the most.
  
  Last week, Nintendo of America's vice president of corporate affairs, Denise Kaigler, defended the Wii's third party sales saying, "We are selling third party games and they are doing very well, and better than our competitors."
  
  But according to NPD information obtained from Microsoft by GamesIndustry.biz, that Nintendo claim appears to be wrong:

  • Total third party sales for the Xbox 360 since launch is currently 67,929,999 units, followed by the Wii at 33,394,311 units and the PlayStation 3 at 19,976,325 units.
  • Third party sales for the Xbox 360 since the launch of the Wii and PS3 is 54,065,728 units, still almost double the Wii's 33,394,311 units.
  • If you take the total number of units sold and divide that by the number of titles released since November 2006, the Xbox 360 and the PS3 are selling more units per title on average than the Wii. This puts the Xbox 360 at 217,252 units per title, the PS3 at 156,065 units and the Wii at 132,517 units.

  
  News source: Gamesindustry.biz
  
  Read full story...

  

  
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  New Xbox 360 Dashboard Shown in Leaked Video

  Posted: August th, 2008, 6:19pm UTC by Marcel Klum

  Continuing the recent trend of leaks, a new video showcasing the revised Xbox 360 dashboard and its game installation functionality has appeared on the internet.
  
  In addition to game installs and Netflix streaming support, the new dashboard will pack customizable Avatars and the original blade interface when it arrives this fall.
  
  News source: Shacknews
  
  Read full story...

  

  
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  Alison Carroll is the New Lara Croft

  Posted: August th, 2008, 6:08pm UTC by Marcel Klum

  With Angelina Jolie tending to her ever-growing brood of children, a new woman has stepped into the role of Lara Croft - British gymnast Alison Carroll.
  
  Earlier today (August 11), Alison appeared before the media for the first time during a press conference at Pineapple Studios in London, England.
  
  For the new Tomb Raider game, slated for a November release, Carroll will be the face of Croft, joining the long list of ladies who have held the title, such as Karima Adebibe, Lucy Clarkson, Jill de Jong, Lara Weller, Nell McAndrew, Rhona Mitra, Ellen Rocche and Vanessa Demouy.
  
  The 23-year-old brunette babe is definitely fit for the part, with a stunning combination of beauty and athletic ability. She’s won multiple first place trophies in regional and national competitions and, well, she’s hot!
  
  News source: Celebrity-Gossip.net
  
  Read full story...

  

  

Neowin.net / Software

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  Livestation 1.0.77.3

  Posted: August th, 2008, 3:46pm UTC by Mihai Asmanow

  Livestation is a free software application that provides a range of live news television channels and radio stations (over 500) that can be received on a computer anywhere with a basic broadband connection. You can watch television on your desktop, or on your laptop, at home, at work, on the move, or in a hotel room, provided you have a broadband internet connection or wireless access.
  
  Livestation allows you to receive live TV and radio news from the world’s leading broadcasters on your PC, via a multi-channel interactive application on the desktop giving you a unique window on the world’s news. You can watch Livestation full screen or minimised to fit in the corner of your screen, enabling you to carry on with other tasks while also keeping an eye on the news. You can flick between channels just as you would on your TV set.
  
  Livestation is legal, safe, free and comes with no strings attached.
  
  Current features include:
  
  - High quality live audio and video
  - Channel selection and programme guide
  - Programme information overlay
  - Ability to scale player window from 50% to 200%
  - Always on top window setting
  - Full screen playback option
  
  Read full story...

  

  
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  Messenger Plus! Live 4.70.334

  Posted: August th, 2008, 3:37pm UTC by Mihai Asmanow

  Messenger Plus! Live is an add-on for Windows Live Messenger that adds tons of features and extras to the software. Extend the possibilities of Messenger and make your experience a lot more entertaining!
  
  Thought out end-to-end to improve and enhance your instant messaging experience without getting in your way, Messenger Plus! adds lots of capabilities to Windows Live Messenger. The new features can be accessed easily from the various Plus! menus and buttons you'll find added to all the main Messenger windows.
  
  Here is a short list of some of the features:
  
  - Tabbed Chats
  - Custom Sounds
  - Colors, Formatting and Commands
  - Quick Texts
  - Personalized Status
  - HTML Chat Logging
  - Contacts on Desktop
  - Account Polygamy
  - Event Viewer and Logging
  - Messenger Lock
  - Contact List Clean-up
  
  Read full story...

  

  
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  uTorrent 1.8 released

  Posted: August th, 2008, 12:34pm UTC by DaveBG

  uTorrent is an efficient and feature rich BitTorrent client for Windows sporting a very small footprint. It was designed to use as little cpu, memory and space as possible while offering all the functionality expected from advanced clients.
  
  Features
  

  • Multiple simultaneous downloads
  • Configurable bandwidth scheduler
  • Global and per-torrent speed limiting
  • Quick-resumes interrupted transfers
  • RSS Downloader
  • Trackerless support (Mainline DHT)

  
  Link: uTorrent Home Page
  Download: uTorrent 1.8 Final
  
  Read full story...

  

  
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  Contentteller Community Edition 1.0.0 RC1a

  Posted: August th, 2008, 11:39am UTC by Philipp

  Contentteller is a powerful open source content management system written in the PHP scripting language designed for sites of all sizes and types. The free Community Edition is licensed under the terms of the GPL v3.
  
  Key features:
  * Powerful but simple to use
  * Search engine friendly out of the box
  * Support for multiple websites
  * Caching for high traffic websites
  * Import and update everything from RSS feeds, POP3 email accounts, news servers, PAD, and CompatDB XML files
  * Powerful template and style system
  * Integration with 3rd party applications such as vBulletin 2.x - 3.7, UBB.threads 7.x, phpBB 3.0, MyBB 1.2/1.4, SMF 1.1/2.0, and IP.Board 2.x
  * Optional Windows installer to install Contentteller without the need of a FTP client.
  * Fully extendable with modules
  
  Download: Contentteller Community Edition 1.0.0 RC1a (Open Source GPL v3)
  Screenshot: >> Click here
  View: Product Website
  
  Read full story...

  

  

Neowin.net / Gamers

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  OpenArena 0.8.0 released

  Posted: August th, 2008, 11:25am UTC by Marcel Klum

  OpenArena is a Free Open content package for the id tech3 GPL source code package. But why is it a game? Well you see one of the great side effects of making content for a bunch of source code out there is that it becomes a playable game itself. This opens more opportunity for FUN to the end user because they have another option to play a game that you couldn't play without the data because now there is data made for it. And since this data created is also FREE, it's very redistributable. Meaning more people can play it with little effort on obtaining it. This is A Good Thing.
  
  The gameplay is identical to the game it's based on so fans of that other game should feel at home here. We do not intend to change the physics of the game. If you feel there is a change of physics of input smoothness, you can blame the ioquake3 team, not us; we just make MD3s and TGAs, compile the code and put it out there.
  
  News source: OpenArena website
  Screenshots: >> Click here
  Download: OpenArena 0.8.0
  View: Release notes
  
  Read full story...

  

  
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  Grand Theft Auto IV coming to PC on November 18

  Posted: August th, 2008, 10:07am UTC by Steven Parker

  Rockstar Games today announced the staggered arrival of GTA IV on PC, as has been the case with every GTA game in the past. "We are very excited to be releasing the PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV," said Sam Houser, founder of Rockstar Games. "The game looks and plays beautifully on PC, and we can't wait for people to play it."
  
  In addition to the already proven gameplay of PS3 and Xbox 360 versions, the PC port will feature a "newly expanded multiplayer" mode, said Rockstar. It is unclear what (if any) other additions will be made.
  
  Regardless, PC players hoping to terrorize Liberty City will have their chance on November 18.
  
  News Source: GamePro
  
  Read full story...

  

  

Neowin.net / Software

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  Microsoft's Webmaster Tools is finally out of beta.

  Posted: August th, 2008, 10:03am UTC by HappyAndyK

  There is a Big Update to Microsoft Webmaster Tools Center. This update includes several new features that provide webmasters more information about how Live Search is crawling and indexing your sites, as well as a few features to make the data more actionable.
  
  When you sign into the Live Search Webmaster Center, you are able to:
  

  • Discover potential issues affecting your site
  • Get more and better backlink data
  • Make the data more actionable.

  
  Link: MSDN Blogs
  
  Read full story...

  

  
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  Weather Clock v3.6

  Posted: August th, 2008, 9:56am UTC by Accord

  Weather Clock, an advanced replacement for system clock with world time and weather display, calendar and scheduler. Weather Clock will not only display the exact time in any destination in the world, but will keep you informed of weather conditions there in real time.
  
  World clock and weather conditions, customizable alarms, calendars, events and great looks will make the most demanding user happy! For a little more fun, configure Weather Clock to chime hourly with a customizable tune. Plan your time better, chose your clothing appropriately and organize your travel with a variety of alarms, reminders, world clocks and calendars. The handy calendar allows easy access to any date or event, while the skinned user interface allows a completely fresh look installed in just a moment.
  
  
  Read full story...

  

  
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  TweakNow WinSecret Professional v1.51 released (Freeware)

  Posted: August th, 2008, 9:54am UTC by priyo

  As a long time Windows user you might have heard about registry. The registry is a special file in your hard disk that hold most of Windows settings data. Wish to improve your internet speed or display message at Windows logon? No problem, those tasks can easily be done by simply editing the registry value. Unfortunately registry is not a friendly place for most people. Changing a wrong value in the registry may cause an unpredictable problem to your Windows. This is why novice users should not edit registry value directly using a registry editor by them self.
  
  In TweakNow WinSecret, we have gathered the most popular Windows XP/Vista registry settings and provide them for you in an easy and safe user interface. All settings are divided in the following sections:
  
  
  Read full story...

  

  
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  SQL Server 2008 has gone Gold

  Posted: August th, 2008, 8:46am UTC by Taimur Asad

  The wait is finally over. Microsoft has today released the long awaited successor to the 2005 version in the form of SQL Server 2008. The lucky MSDN and TechNet subscribers can now immediately download this latest edition to the SQL Server family while others can try Express edition for free at [www.microsoft.com]
  
  Excerpt From Microsoft PressPass:

  Microsoft Corp. today announced the release to manufacturing of Microsoft SQL Server 2008, the new version of the company’s acclaimed data management and business intelligence platform. This version of SQL Server provides powerful new capabilities such as support for policy-based management, auditing, large-scale data warehousing, geospatial data, and advanced reporting and analysis services. SQL Server 2008 provides the trusted, productive and intelligent platform necessary for business-critical applications.
  
  “Microsoft developed this release of SQL Server with the customer in mind,” said Ted Kummert, corporate vice president of the Data and Storage Platform Division at Microsoft. “SQL Server 2008 is the only major database that includes comprehensive, tightly integrated functionality for data management as well as advanced business intelligence out of the box. By offering a complete solution, we save customers time and money and allow them to focus on deriving the most value from their data assets.”

  
  
  Read full story...

  

  

Neowin.net / Gamers

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  Meteor Games Announces New MMOG

  Posted: August th, 2008, 9:39pm UTC by Jessica Kelley

  Meteor Games, the creator of Neopets, has announced their new multiplayer game called Twin Skies. Targeted towards players of all ages, users will have multiple access points for the game allowing them to play when, where and for however long they would like to. Players will be able to interact with one another through web-based games, mobile applications on cell phones, and social networks.
  
  "We're excited to announce Twin Skies, […] a much more ambitious undertaking that aims to change the way gamers of all ages play and socialize in MMOs," said Adam Powell, CEO and creative director, Meteor Games. "Twin Skies' technology and design will allow players to access the game from anywhere and in any way they choose. The immersive world, advanced technology and accessible gameplay will be fun for gamers young and old, casual and hardcore alike."
  
  The website for the game has already been launched and provides forums and games to enrich the experience. The online games will eventually provide users points that can be used in Twin Skies to purchase everything from avatars to unlocking new parts of the game and website. For example, achieving a high score in the Web-based Hungry Junkworm mini-game might create a huge junkworm in the Twin Skies game world which will then head off and attack players.
  
  
  Read full story...

  

  

Neowin.net / Software

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  CodeLite IDE C/C++ v1.0.1928

  Posted: August th, 2008, 2:26pm UTC by Eran Ifrah

  The CodeLite team is pleased to announce the release CodeLite v1.0 - build 1928 is out. This release includes a bundle app for MacOS 10.5.2, Debian package and Windows® Installer. CodeLite is a fully functional, stable C/C++ IDE with all the features a developer needs to rapidly develop an application on multiple platforms.
  Some of CodeLite functionalites: Code Completion, Syntax Highlight, Code refactoring, Code generation, Code navigation, Subversion integration and much much more.
  
  
  Read full story...

  

  
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  Notepad++ v5.0.3 Released

  Posted: August th, 2008, 9:30am UTC by hayc59

  Changes:
  Here are v5.0.3 fixed bugs and added features (from v5.0.2):
  1. Fix crash bug while processing find in all opened files/find in files in a file contains a very long line.
  2. Fix the display problem in found results dialog while processing find in all opened files/find in files in a file contains a very long line.
  3. Fix not remembering the history file setting "Don't check at launch time" option bug.
  
  View: NotePad Forum
  Download: Notepad++
  
  Read full story...

  

  
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  BurnAware Professional 2.0.2

  Posted: August th, 2008, 9:25am UTC by x_Jack_x

  BurnAware is the ultimate disc burning software. BurnAware Professional is the professional’s choice for complete CD and DVD duplication and disc burning. It is permitted for commercial use and includes extra features essential for business and professional users including: parallel erasing and simultaneous disc writing.
  
  Key Features:
  * Create data, bootable and multisession CD/DVD/Blu-ray Discs
  * Create Audio CDs and jukebox CD/DVD/Blu-ray Discs
  * Create DVDs-Video
  * Copy and backup CDs/DVDs
  * Create and burn disc images, bootable images
  * Erase / Format rewritable discs
  * Supports all current hardware interfaces (IDE/SCSI/USB/1394/SATA)
  * Supports UDF/ISO9660/Joliet Bridged file systems (any combination)
  * Supports true, simultaneous image writing
  * Supports parallel erasing
  * On-the-fly writing for all image types (no staging to hard drive first)
  * Auto-verification of written files
  * Supports CD-Text
  * Clean, multilingual, easy to use interface
  * Supports unicode for multi-byte languages
  * Supports Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista (32 and 64 Bit), no drivers required
  
  
  Read full story...

  

  
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  New Deep Zoom Composer Released with PhotoZoom Upload

  Posted: August th, 2008, 8:51am UTC by Steven Parker

  On Friday, a new build of Deep Zoom Composer was released sporting some really neat new functionality including the ability to upload collections to Microsoft Live Labs PhotoZoom.
  
  Microsoft Live Labs PhotoZoom is designed to let users show off their photos with Deep Zoom and Silverlight by allowing users to upload their Deep Zoom collections to the web. To upload my collection, all I needed to do was login using my Windows Live ID in Deep Zoom Composer under "PhotoZoom Export".
  
  Before you are able to upload a collection, you must first go to the Microsoft Live Labs PhotoZoom website and login to create an account associated with your Windows Live ID.
  
  Download: Deep Zoom Composer - English | 7.6 MB (Freeware)
  View: Full Article @ Windows Vista Experience Blog
  
  Read full story...

  

  

Neowin.net / Gamers

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  Thai youth imitates Grand Theft Auto in cab murder

  Posted: August th, 2008, 7:46am UTC by Steven Parker

  A Thai teenager has confessed to robbing and murdering a taxi driver after trying to imitate scenes from the controversial "Grand Theft Auto" video game, police said on Monday. The 18-year-old high school student, now in custody pending further investigations and a trial, faces death by lethal injection if found guilty of robbing and killing a 54-year-old taxi driver with a knife at the weekend.
  
  Police said the youth, an obsessive player of the video game, showed no sign of mental problems during questioning and had confessed to committing the crime explicitly because of the game.
  
  "He said he wanted to find out if it was as easy in real life to rob a taxi as it was in the game," chief investigator Veeravit Pipattanasak told Reuters. The youth, described by his parents as polite and diligent, was arrested late on Saturday after he was found trying to steer a cab backwards out of a Bangkok street with the severely wounded driver in the back seat, newspapers reported.
  
  View: Full Article @ Yahoo News
  
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Neowin.net / Software

• 

  Gamers.IRC 5.21

  Posted: August rd, 2008, 10:32pm UTC by th3rEsa

  Regardless of the decreasing user amount on IRC networks, the Internet Relay Chat is still a popular chat network. Gamers.IRC is a bunch of scripts for the well-known IRC client mIRC, written in the MSL scripting language. These scripts provide many useful extensions to mIRC's default functionality, such as a theme engine, *BNC support, and many more. Gamers.IRC extends mIRC with many special features for gamers. It has been created specifically for you, the gamer!
  
  Changes:
  • New/Bugfix/Changed: Some small things
  • Bugfix: Nickserv auth should work in all networks again
  • Update: mIRC 6.33
  • Update: servers.ini
  • Changed: More options for balloon tips
  • Changed: Improved installers
  
  Download: Gamers.IRC 5.21 (Open Source)
  Screenshot: >> Click here
  View: Full changelog
  Link: GamersIRC.net
  
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• 

  [webware] MyBB 1.4

  Posted: August rd, 2008, 8:40am UTC by Mamoun

  MyBB 1.4 is a major release of the most powerful, free PHP and MySQL forum software available. There's over 50 new features, many behind the scenes optimizations and a complete rewrite of the Administrator Control Panel. Take a look at the tour for a small snapshot of exactly what's new and improved in MyBB 1.4 or take a look at the full list.
  
  About MyBB
  MyBB (also known as MyBBoard or MyBulletinBoard) is a powerful, efficient and free forum package, developed using PHP and MySQL. MyBB has been designed with both the end user in mind (you and your subscribers) and the people who staff your message board. Full control over your discussion system is presented right at your fingertips, from the ability to have multiple themes to the ultimate customisation of your forums using the template system. MyBB presents a variety of features that make this bulletin board unique. Most important of all, MyBB is completely free to use.
  
  View: View features list
  
  Download: MyBB 1.4 Gold | 1.8 MB (freeware)
  Screenshots: User CP | Admin CP | Index page
  View: Announcement and changelog
  Link: Homepage
  
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Neowin.net / Gamers

• 

  id Software's Tim Willits Talks Rage

  Posted: August nd, 2008, 8:32pm UTC by Marcel Klum

  At last year's QuakeCon, id Software gave GameSpy a first good look at its latest major title, Rage. Using the new id Tech 5 engine, the game was presented with a setting of a post-apocalyptic wasteland, and gameplay that would be part first-person shooter and part vehicular combat. We haven't seen much since then, however, including this year's QuakeCon, where id showed off a new two-minute trailer but nothing more. So to dig a little deeper, we cornered id Software creative director Tim Willits, who offered some insight into the game's setting and backstory.
  
  "The game takes place in the near future after a comet destroys most of the Earth," said Willits. "You play a character from the past who wakes up in this new future world. There was supposed to be a plan to have been enacted to restart society but that plan has gone astray. It's first your job to survive the world, to learn about the world, and then to work with the settlers and different factions to fix the problem."
  
  Source: GameSpy
  View: ID Software
  
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Neowin.net / Software

• 

  WinSCP 4.1.6 released

  Posted: August nd, 2008, 12:16pm UTC by Marcel Klum

  WinSCP is an open source free SFTP client and FTP client for Windows. Legacy SCP protocol is also supported. Its main function is safe copying of files between a local and a remote computer.
  

  Fixed:
  • Failure when skipping error during ls command in scripting.
    
  • Unix-style paths on command-line were ignored.
    
  • Permissions to uploaded directories were set even when Set permissions was off, what caused problems on servers not allowing setting permissions to directories (Serv-U).
    
  • Misplaced sorting arrow was shown when file panel was sorted by hidden column.
    
  • Remote files were incorrectly moved to recycle bin even when alternative resume or append was selected instead of overwrite.
    
  • Overwritten remote files were not moved to recycle bin during resumable transfers.
    
  • Overwritten remote files were not moved to recycle bin if overwrite confirmations were disabled.
    
  • It was pointlessly offered to alternatively resume transfer when local and remote files had a same size.
    
  • Refreshing large remote directory tree took too long.
    
  • Workaround for failure on startup.

  Source: WinSCP website
  Download: WinSCP 4.1.6
  
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• 

  WinRAR 3.80 Beta 4

  Posted: August nd, 2008, 8:34am UTC by Mihai Asmanow

  WinRAR is an archive manager with support for packing RAR and ZIP archives and unpacking RAR, ZIP, ZIP64, 7Z (7-Zip), CAB, ARJ, LZH (Lempel-Ziv-Huffman), TAR, GZ, ACE, UUE, BZ2, JAR (Java Archive developed by Sun Microsystems) and ISO (ISO9660) archives. You may use it to backup your data, reduce the size of email attachments, decompress files downloaded from the Internet and create your own file archives.
  
  WinRAR features:
  
  * WinRAR introduces an original compression algorithm. It allows higher compression ratios than other PC archiving tools, especially for executable files, object libraries, large text files, etc.
  * WinRAR offers an optional compression algorithm highly optimized for multimedia data.
  * WinRAR supports files and archives up to 9,223,372,036,854,775,807 bytes in size, about 9000PB. The number of archived files is unlimited for all practical purposes.
  * WinRAR provides complete support for RAR and ZIP 2.0 archives and is able to unpack CAB, ARJ, LZH, TAR, GZ, ACE, UUE, BZ2, JAR, ISO, Z, 7Z archives.
  * WinRAR supports NTFS file security and data streams.
  * WinRAR offers both a classic interactive Windows interface and the command line interface.
  * WinRAR provides functionality for creating a 'solid' archive, which can raise the compression ratio by 10% - 50% over more common methods, particularly when packing large numbers of small files.
  * WinRAR offers the ability to create and change SFX archives using default and external SFX modules.
  * WinRAR offers the ability to create a multi-volume archive as SFX.
  
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• 

  Driver Genius Professional 2008 8.0.0.316

  Posted: August nd, 2008, 5:29am UTC by Mihai Asmanow

  Driver Genius Professional is a professional driver management tool features both driver management and hardware diagnostics. Driver Genius provides such practical functions as driver backup, restoration, update and removal for computer users. If you often reinstall your operating system, you may not forget such painful experiences of searching all around for all kinds of drivers. If unfortunately you have lost your driver CD, the search will be more troublesome and time-consuming. Driver Genius can automatically find driver for a device that the system can't find a driver for it. It can recognize the name and vendor's information of the device, and directly provide download URL for the required driver. Driver Genius also supports online updates for drivers of existing hardware devices. There are more than 30,000 most recent drivers for such hardware devices as motherboards, video cards, sound cards, network cards, modems, monitors, mice, keyboards, digital cameras, video capture cards, etc. on Driver Genius web site. Besides, there are daily updates for many drivers on our site. Driver Genius customers can obtain information for latest drivers by Driver Genius's LiveUpdate program, which can synchronize to the database on Driver Genius site.
  
  Change log Driver Genius Professional 2008 8.0.0.316 -- August 02, 2008
  
  Bug fixes:
  1. Prompt file damage after open drivers downloaded by Drivers Download Manager.
  2. Program hang when downloading drivers update.
  3. Create Auto-installer fails if the backup file size is more than 100 MB.
  
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Neowin.net / Gamers

• 

  Next Doom Game Announced

  Posted: August st, 2008, 10:24am UTC by Marcel Klum

  Kicking off the festivities at QuakeCon, id CEO Todd Hollenshead took the stage during the keynote presentation and promised he would be showing off either Rage or the previously unannounced Doom 4. So which did they actually end up showing? Well, kind of both. Before a brand new Rage video, Hollenshead officially announced "the next Doom game."
  
  While id was not ready to spill any big details beyond a teaser, Hollenshead did promise some of the classic Doom elements: "There will be guns, blood, demons, and gibs." When one fan let out his desire for "flashlight tape" from the audience, Hollenshead joked that his Quake Live account should be banned.
  
  Later in the keynote, after the Rage video rolled, id's John Carmack promised that the next Doom game will "look like it's built on another engine" compared to the already amazing-looking Rage. Carmack said that the Doom project will use "three times the horsepower," and as such it will run at 30 frames per second compared to Rage's 60. Both Rage and Doom will be running on the id Tech 5 engine.
  
  Source: 1up
  
  
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• 

  Activision: PlayStation 3 Will Outsell Xbox 360

  Posted: August st, 2008, 10:21am UTC by Marcel Klum

  During a conference call today, Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith detailed the company's expectations for console sales across 2008, revealing its belief that the PlayStation 3 will sell more systems than the Xbox 360 this year.
  
  By the end of the current calendar year, Activision believes the consoles will sell:
  
  * PlayStation 3: 8 million units
  * Xbox 360: 6-7 million units
  * Wii: 15 million units
  * PlayStation 2: 4-5 million units
  
  Griffith also noted the company's expectation that handhelds will grow "in excess of 24 million," but did not provide a specific breakdown between PSP and Nintendo DS.
  
  View: Shacknews
  
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• 

  Station Voice Released for EverQuest II & Star Wars Galaxies

  Posted: July st, 2008, 5:53pm UTC by Jessica Kelley

  SAN DIEGO, Calif. - July 31, 2008 - Station Voice™, a service powered by Vivox® that allows players to talk to each other in online games, is now available in the role-playing games EverQuest® II and Star Wars Galaxies™, Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE), announced today. Station Voice, which is scheduled to be available next month in EverQuest, is available for players at no additional cost with their current subscription plan.
  
  "In-game voice chat is an enhanced new feature gamers of all levels can enjoy. Now, SOE's players can easily talk to one another and better enjoy the online gaming experience," said John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment. "The integration of Station Voice into these initial games was seamless, and we look forward to incorporating this added gaming experience into other SOE titles, as well as implementing the next phase of features to come soon."
  
  The initial launch of Station Voice will allow players to:
  
  * Talk person-to-person in game with any microphone and headset combo
  * Chat with their party, guild or any other group in game
  * Play and communicate without worry of a significant increase in game lag
  * Manage group/user participation with moderator controls
  * Individually mute and set volume per user
  * Set up easily without the need for separate software, accounts or registration
  
  View: The full story @ WarCry Network
  
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• 

  Next banned game "could be BioShock 2"

  Posted: July st, 2008, 5:27pm UTC by Marcel Klum

  Vincent Scheurer has issued a warning over the possible future of a BBFC rated games industry, at the Develop conference in Brighton.
  
  Scheurer, founder of the business consultancy Sarassin, said that the costs RockStar incurred in overturning the BBFC's ban on Manhunt 2 would have put an independent developer out of business, and further warned that due to the vague reasons given for the ban any game could be next.
  
  "The costs of the Manhunt 2 ban to RockStar were massive - an independent developer would be out of business," he explained.
  
  "It makes the business of making games that much harder."
  
  During his talk, he explained the stated reasons behind the Manhunt 2 ban, including the level of realism, the lack of a puzzle element and the lack of humour.
  
  View: Gamesindustry.biz
  
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• 

  Successful Launch of The Sims Carnival

  Posted: July th, 2008, 9:10pm UTC by Jessica Kelley

  Tavant Technologies and Electronic Arts have announced the successful launch of their new website for The Sims Carnival
  
  The Sims Carnival aims to turn millions of online gamers into game designers with no programming skills required.
  By using the Wizard tool, users are given options to create their own games ranging from Action to Shooter style and customize and publish them when they are fully created.
  
  Once published, users have the ability to create online communities based on their games as well as share them through their favorite social networking websites!
  
  Easy and incredibly fun, The Sims Carnival is bound to succeed in not only turning millions into game designers, but in addicting much of the internet to new and exciting games!
  
  Screenshot: Screenshot of a published game
  
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• 

  Nintendo closing in on 30 million Wii sales

  Posted: July th, 2008, 2:48pm UTC by Kevin Horrocks

  Nintendo are closing in on 30 million sales for Nintendo Wii, with the company optimistic about future sales of their family oriented console.
  
  The Nintendo Wii has become a massive crossover success for the company, cornering the family market and opening gaming out into whole new areas.
  
  The motion-sensor driven gameplay has proven to be a massive hit with families – and the reintroduction of simple games that don't require hours of practices to play has inevitably marked it out as different from the more gamer specific PlayStation and Xbox.
  
  Total Wii sales are currently at 29.72 million units – and with Nintendo predicting a 34 per cent rise in the coming year, the landmark of 30 million will follow sooner rather than later.
  
  View: TechRadar
  
  
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Neowin.net / Software

• 

  KDE 4.1 Final

  Posted: July th, 2008, 1:23am UTC by James7

  The KDE Community today released KDE 4.1.0. This release is the second feature release of the KDE 4 series, sporting new applications and newly developed features on top of the Pillars of KDE4. KDE 4.1 is the first KDE4 release to contain the Personal Information Management suite KDE-PIM with its E-Mail client KMail, the planner KOrganizer, Akregator, the RSS feed reader, KNode, the newsgroup reader and many more components integrated into the Kontact shell. Furthermore, the new desktop shell Plasma, introduced in KDE 4.0, has matured to the point where it can replace the KDE 3 shell for most casual users. Like with our previous release much time has been devoted to improving the framework and underlying libraries on which KDE is built.
  
  Download: Download Page
  Screenshot: ~20 Screenshots of the Desktop and Apps with Links to Larger Versions
  
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• 

  SkinStudio 6.2

  Posted: July th, 2008, 7:07pm UTC by Island Dog

  SkinStudio is an application that allows you to design custom visual styles for Windows Vista and Windows XP. These visual styles (skins) can then be applied using WindowBlinds. When creating a new skin you can change the complete look of Windows by changing the start button, taskbar, buttons, titlebars, and pretty much everything in between.
  
  This update includes several major feature updates.
  

  • WindowBlinds Layer Support. The WindowBlinds layer system allows a skin author to provide multiple layers for a given section of a skin. This also includes layer support for per-pixel borders and glyphs. This opens up a whole new level of creativity for skinners.
  • Skin Color Feature. This feature allows Pro users to recolor a skin, or a specific sub-style by using the HSL sliders that is similar to coloring skins in WindowBlinds. This will make it even easier to create sub-styles of varying colors.
  • Animated "Please Wait" Support. The Please Wait screen has always been a static image, now it's possible to create an animation that can be seen while the Wait screen appears.
  • NWA File Support. NWA files are a way to reduce the size of animations that are used in WindowBlinds skins. These can be used on Start Menu and "Please Wait" animations and can help save considerable memory and hard drive space. SKS 6.2 also includes a tool to create NWA files from vertical .png/.tga image strips.

  SkinStudio 6.2 is available as a free download. SkinStudio is also available in a Pro version which adds a start-menu animation builder, sub-style syncing, code editor, and more. SkinStudio 6 Pro is also part of the Object Desktop Ultimate suite, and available stand-alone for $19.95 and $29.95 which includes WindowBlinds.
  
  Download: SkinStudio 6.2 | Free version, Pro started at $19.95
  Link: SkinStudio 6.2
  Screenshot: WindowBlinds Layer Example
  Screenshot: SKS6 Recoloring feature
  
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Neowin.net / Gamers

• 

  Nintendo Sues Over Game Equipment

  Posted: July th, 2008, 2:59pm UTC by Bezhou Feng

  Game company Nintendo announced today that it had filed a lawsuit against five Japanese firms for importing and selling equipment that enables illegal game programs to be played on Nintendo's popular DS portable video game player. The company, maker of the popular Wii game console, said it filed the lawsuit earlier in the day at the Tokyo District Court together with 54 other Japanese software makers. Details are sparse at the moment, and we will update as more information arises.
  
  View: Full Story at Reuters
  
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  Brutal Legend, Ghostbusters, more dropped by Activision

  Posted: July th, 2008, 11:09am UTC by Mystnight

  Earlier today, Activision Publishing announced a streamlining of its Vivendi Games operations, saying it would be bringing into the fold five of that company's franchises: Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Ice Age, Prototype, and one unannounced game.
  
  An Activision representative later confirmed for GameSpot that those would be the only Vivendi Games franchises coming out of the publisher. That leaves a number of high-profile projects in limbo, including Double Fine Productions' Brutal Legend, as well as Wet, Ghostbusters, Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, World at Conflict: Soviet Assault, 50 Cent Blood on the Sand, Zombie Wranglers, Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust, as well as several Xbox Live Arcade titles.
  
  
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Neowin.net / Software