Retro-plans for 2013 (or what remains of it)
This post was initially planned for January, then the blog restarted on February therefore my dense backlog of articles and things to do postponed it at the end of March. It happens, when you are erratic and discipline-less like me, and it doesn’t matter anyway: the post topic, ie my will to fill 2013 with many nice retro-video games and above all to play them all, is still valid for another 9 months at least.
Update to the guide for the Diablo III Starter Edition
The gates of Hell have been opened wide, and the Diablo III Starter Edition is finally open for everyone. The previously published guide has been updated where due, what I wrote is still sound except for a difficulty level that in the first phases of the full game seemed higher compared to the demo. Maybe it’s because I’ve started anew after having installed the Collector’s Edition? Anyway, Diablo III continues to be updated but the numer of players remains constantly low. And who developed this “on-line gaming service” is a complete idiot.
The tale of the wolves, the donkeys and the sheep
A log time ago, in a country far away placed at the center of the Mediterranean Sea, there were three different animal breeds: the wolves, the donkeys and the sheep. The sheep were the majority, 60 million docile and obedient specimens always in search of a shepherd to entrust with the administration of the entire national herd. Differently than the sheep, the wolves were a puny minority that just wanted to devour, consume, exploit the sheep and the country resources to eternally secure the status of superior beasts.
The battery that lasted just a quarter-hour
A late but due update on the lasting consequences of the failed upgrade to the laptop CPU: after two processors (X9100 and T9900), two memory banks, a fan and a cooling mat, that unfortunate attempt to install a 3 GHz dual-core cost me the replacement of the PC power battery as well. The battery was in fact replaced at the end of the past year, after months spent waiting to have a bit of extra money to put on the purchase.
Ok, now I hate Twitter a bit less…
It always happens like this: technology evolves, newer computer tools become more and more widespread and I am forced to change idea or conform my opinions to the present time rather than keeping them tied down to the past. I hated (Windows) Vista, now I use Vista (waiting to upgrade to Win7), I hated Twitter… And I still hate Twitter, in very truth, but I can’t help acknowledging its usefulness beyond the foolish use made by dickheads thinking with their smartphone instead of their brain.
So long Interfree, and thanks for all the fish!
I am used to bring along my “historical” Internet accounts even if they are actually useless, because for me one of the most important things is “retrocompatibility” and support of all the e-mail addresses opened in the past in the unlikely case someone would decide to contact me there. So I have learned with much disappointment the news about the change of Interfree’s free services into professional paid products, a transition that will take place from today and that will have the practical effect of disabling the mailbox and the web space offered at no cost to users thus far.
Giant purple blocks invade the world of Google Maps
I think that finding a visual flaw in an extremely popular service like Google Maps doesn’t happen frequently, but detecting something weird in a photographic view a few meters away from where you live must be even more rare. And yet it’s exactly what happened to me a few months ago, and the problem is still there today: the view of a street hereabout is simply bugged, with a giant purple block hiding the sight at one of the roadway sides - all along the street.
“Get Perpendicular” amarcord
What happens when a big company dealing in hard disks decides to explain the benefits of a new technology to the mainstream public in an unconventional manner? In such a case what can happen is that the aforementioned company ends up with something like the following animation, a lump of nerditude like few have been probably seen in the entire commercial history of consumer storage.
Happy new retro-year everyone!
Like the nachzehrer which lives a half rotten life chewing its own shroud in the grave, during the last six months Sir Arthur’s Den has been a half-dead blog - no “status update” or new post, but a non-stop attention by the owner to static management of the (few) legit comments and the (too many!) spam comments collected daily by Defensio quarantine. As 2012 comes, Sir Arthur has finally decided to come out of the grave - shroud or not - and try to put his hands on these pages again hoping to succeed.
Behold the power of nullDC!
NullDC, the Dreamcast emulator released with an open source license by its author after years of inactivity, remains a noteworthy example of what kind of results the community devoted to emulating the newest gaming machines can achieve. Although there is wide room for optimization and the implementation of still-lacking features, nullDC is a powerful engine which renders with ease - granted it run on a suitable hardware - several instances of the Sega console at the same time on a single PC.
Social engineering has sunk really low…
Someone could think that the strategies currently executed by cyber-criminals to extort personal information are sophisticated, dangerous and antivirus software-proof. Maybe it’s just like this, however it’s as much true that next to the fine technique the aforementioned criminals still use dirt cheap tricks against which there wouldn’t theoretically be any need for the antivirus at all. It would be enough to have one’s own brain always turned on when in front of the screen.
Wallpapers on the spotlight: Trine 2
Along with the official announcement of Trine 2 release, during the E2 2010 Atlus unveiled screenshots, a teaser trailer and some artworks of the game. All the stuff regarding the sequel to the marvellous puzzle-platformer developed by the Finnish company Frozenbyte has been collected for the latest post in the Videogames highlights series, while the topic of today’s post will be one of the aforementioned artworks which in my humble opinion is worth the evaluation by any fan of games and fantasy in search for a new wallpaper to decorate one’s own virtual desktop with.
Naruto: Shippūden episode 165 - Nine-Tails, Captured!
The clash between the enigmatic Pain and a Naruto completely changed by his last training on Mount Myoboku goes on tirelessly. The Konoha ninja is able to knock down almost all the bodies controlled by Pain by exploiting all of his most powerful and effective techniques (and tactics), killing another one thanks to the enormous potential of the nature energy he is now able to canalize and finally being neutralized by the last remaining Pain. This episode too doesn’t lack shocks, incredible deaths and big talks about peace and war.
Mercedes-Benz.tv: “Sorry”
I don’t like advertising, in any conceivable form and I try to keep it away from this site as much as possible. And yet I have to admit that exceptions to the rule of banality, mediocrity and stupidity celebrated by advertising do exist. Just take this TV commercial by Mercedes-Benz for instance, a very short cutting including black humor, tale snippets, suspense, poetry flashes. Of course it’s just an illusion, that in fact goes away at 32nd second just when the German car maker logo appears and the brainwashing commanding purchase, consumption, death begins. Bittersweet…
Marco Travaglio - Il Pompiere della Sera
In Italy journalism is long-gone, and that’s a fact. And so? So greetings to Marco Travaglio and his video-column Passaparola, which arrives at the 100th installment today by picking holes in that pathetic tool of the soft propaganda that is Corriere della Sera. Which would be the “most authoritative newspaper of Italy”. Just ridiculous…
Naruto: Shippūden episode 163 - Explode! Sage Mode
This week’s Naruto Shippuuden episode is really spectacular! 
The mephitic Pain attacked the Leaf Village with all of his frightening strength, killing many key characters of the anime and eventually tearing down Konoha with some sort of cold atomic explosion. This is when Naruto goes on stage, having just completed his training on Mount Myoboku and learning the secrets of the Sage Mode - the same one used by his defunct master Jiraiya. And the training results are immediately noticeable when Naruto attacks Pain with all of his usual, exploding rush…
The Mario Galaxy Orchestra performs Super Mario Galaxy 2 main theme
I don’t like (Super) Mario that much, but I respect and prize the creative genius of Nintendo and Japanese designers like Shigeru Miyamoto. Very likely the Wii will be the first Nintendo console I will purchase in my life once I will be relocated in my new house, and considering the musical score beauty showed by the following video clip I’d say that the first games to buy will just be the two Super Mario Galaxy.
The job of your dreams
No doubt here, I want to go work for Blizzard. I’m pleased with everything, even cleaning the toilets
It…could…work!
One of the things that more took my time, in all these days of guilty and unforgivable absence from the blog, was tinkering with hard disk cloning programs and tools to work with partitions. Actually it would have been better, considering my latest misadventure with magnetic HDDs, to deal with the matter way before - for instance at the beginning of the reinstallation process of my software after having purchased the new laptop. Anyway the fact is that I spent the last week (excluding the weekend) trying backup and partitions manipulation tools, and the previous one integrating the useful documentation already collected about the subject.
And after Dante’s Inferno… Renzo & Lucia
Not content to have delighted gamers worldwide and above all those of Italian origin with Dante’s Inferno, smart asses at Visceral Games/EA are ready to take the video games market by storm with their new announced “masterpiece”: Renzo&Lucia. Inspired by the historical novel I promessi sposi by Alessando Manzoni, Renzo&Lucia makes use of the most modern gaming technologies to bring back to life the dull novel we all forcedly read at the school times. And frankly speaking by looking at the following fake (author unknown) I don’t know if I have to laugh or cry. Anyway I hope EA won’t really pick up the idea, ’cause they have already proved to be capable of doing everything…
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