Waving goodbye

Google is halting development on Google Wave, to me this is a sad day.
Wave is a very useful tool for managing projects and I myself was looking forward to developing something with a few others and using Google Wave to communicate, I might not get that chance sadly.

Google has stopped developing Wave but they will continue to run it through the end of the year, they have said they will “extend the technology” for use in other Google projects.

Wave is truly ahead of it’s time, hopefully we will see something similar to it in the future, perhaps it will return.
If there is any more news about this I will update this post.

RIP Google Wave, we will miss you.

Source: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/update-on-google-wave.html

August 4, 2010 · Lone0001 · No Comments
Tags: Google, Google Wave, Wave · Posted in: News

Unboxing of Starcraft 2

Since I haven’t made a post for a while and since I just got Starcraft 2 Wings of Liberty and found some interesting things, I thought I’d do my first unboxing post!

Starcraft 2 Wings of Liberty (Terrans) is the first Starcraft 2 game, two more will be released, Heart of the Swarm (Zerg) and Legacy of the Void (Protoss), each game’s campaign focusing on one race.

On to the unboxing, Images are thumbnails, click the image to see the full resolution version.

Front Starcraft 2 Wings of Liberty’s box, featuring Jim Raynor, very purdy looking in my opinion.

Back of Starcraft 2 Wings of Liberty’s box, covered with screenshots.

Inside the pullout cover… more Jim Raynor.

Wait there’s more! Inside the pullout cover… more screenshots!

Close up shot of the first two panels of the pullout, scary eyes!

Close up shot of the 3rd and 4th panels, look to the right for more Jim Raynor!

Finally we look into the box, first thing you see there is the CD case followed by the manual or “QuickStart Guide” behind it.

Contents of Starcraft 2 Wings of Liberby, from left to right starting on the top: two World of Warcraft Guest Passes (good for 10 days), two Starcraft 2 Guest Passes (good for 14 days or 7 hours, whatever comes first), Starcraft 2 Wings of Liberty box, Starcraft 2 Wings of Liberty CD case and CD (Dual Layer DVD to be exact), QuickStart Guide, Notepad (I thought it was odd also, more on this later).

Close up shot of the Guest Passes.

Close up shot of the Notepad, what it says from top to bottom: Wanted Jim Raynor, [Dominion Security Directorate], DEAD or ALIVE, Mass Murder, Terrorism, Sabotage, Rebellion, Grand Larceny, Piracy, Sedition, $500,000 Reward

This DID NOT come with Starcraft 2 Wings of Liberty, since I preordered it I got the choice of getting this or a poster, I figured I have enough posters so mousepad it was.

And that is it, if I left any small or big mistakes anywhere let me know.

You can find all of these images in gallery form here.

Thanks for reading!

PS. What do you think of the Tag Globe on the left, too slow, too fast, do you just simply hate it? Leave a comment.

July 28, 2010 · Lone0001 · No Comments
Tags: Blizzard, SC2, SCII, Starcraft, Starcraft 2, unboxing · Posted in: Uncategorized

Secret Vault of Westwood stuff

Louis Castle’s son, Tony, takes Youtube user TheDonaldHarris (who is an employee of InstantAction, where this room is located) on a tour of an awesome room full of past Westwood Studios games and random items. Sadly though , I only saw 4 or 5 copies (I think, it was sorta hard to count) of my favourite game of all time, C&C Renegade but I did see quite a few copies of my other favourite game: Red Alert 2.
This was too good to not share with all of the C&C fans out there, enjoy!

PS. Long live Westwood Studios! <3

July 5, 2010 · Lone0001 · No Comments
Tags: C&C, Command&Conquer, InstantAction, Westwood Studios · Posted in: Uncategorized

Canada Day

As many of you should probably know, today is Canada day! My new avatar (top left corner) already advertises the fact I am Canadian (and my domain), yes those red things are leaves, not hearts (as some people have thought they were hearts).

Now, today being Canada Day (have I mentioned that enough? ) I thought I would write up a post about some of the great video game companies (and their games) that were founded in Canada. So here goes, I’ll mainly just list the three big ones to keep it short.

BioWare

BioWare was Founded in 1995 by Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, and Augustine Yip in Edmonton, Alberta. With great games such as Baldur’s Gate, Jade Empire, and Dragon Age Origins.

Relic Entertainment

Relic Entertainment was Founded in 1997 by Alex Garden and Luke Moloney in Vancouver, British Columbia. Some games Relic Entertainment has developed are: Homeworld, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, and Company of Heros.

Ubisoft Montreal

Of course who can forget Ubisoft Montreal, originally founded in 1997, Ubisoft Montreal was founded as a subsidiary of Ubisoft. It started out with developing low-profile projects and now the studio is one of the largest in the world. Developing awesome games such as Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, Donald Duck: Goin’ Quackers (just kidding, they did develop it though), and finally more recently, Assassin’s Creed.

Well, there you have it, three great video game companies founded in Canada, for a list of some more Canadian video game companies visit this wikipedia page hope you enjoyed this brief history lesson of one thing that makes Canada so great.

Massive Steam Sale!

Before I end this I thought I would just mention that Steam is having a massive sale on A LOT of games (hence massive ), check out their main store page for the best deals of the day but hurry, it’s only until July 4th!

And finally… that’s it! Thanks for reading and Happy Canada Day!

July 1, 2010 · Lone0001 · No Comments
Tags: canada, canada day, canadian video game companies, canadian video games · Posted in: Holidays

Games from E3

Well I thought I’d just mention the games and things I’m looking forward to from E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) in no particular order, I’ll provide a few links for each game.

Please note that if I list which platform it’s on it probably is not the only platform that game is for, it’s just the platform I will probably buy the game for, visit the links for more details. Also note that clicking on the name of the game itself will take you to the official site of that game.

Star Wars: The Old Republic – Wii (Gamespot | IGN)
GoldenEye 007 – Wii (Gamespot | IGN)
Donkey Kong Country Returns – Wii (Gamespot | IGN)
Portal 2 – PC (Gamespot | IGN)
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II – Wii (Gamespot | IGN)
Conduit 2 – Wii (Gamespot | IGN)

I am also looking forward to the Nintendo 3DS, it’s the sexiest handheld console I’ve ever seen to be honest.

Press Conferences

I’ll provide you with some links to the Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony press conferences also, all links for the press conferences are to Gamespot. Personally I thought Nintendo had the best press conference.

Microsoft

Nintendo

Sony

What things are you looking forward to from E3? Leave a comment!

PS. Anyone like the new image/avatar I have in the top left corner?

Well that’s it for now, I’ll leave you all with the Star Wars: The Old Republic “Hope” Cinematic Trailer, thanks for reading!

June 15, 2010 · Lone0001 · No Comments
Tags: E3, GoldenEye, Nintendo, Nintendo 3DS, Portal 2, Star Wars, Wii · Posted in: News, Uncategorized

Random post of Awesome

Well, instead of focusing on one thing in a blog post, this time I thought I’d just put some things together that I found. First up, two videos…

7×13=28

A great video which proves 7×13=28!

No This is Patrick!

An entertaining and funny mix of the movie 300 and Patrick from Spongebob Squarepants.

Quantum teleportation achieved over ten miles of free space

A fantastic and quite interesting bit of news…
Scientists have had some success teleporting information (between protons) over a distance of nearly 10 miles! Here’s a small quote from that article:

Quantum teleportation has achieved a new milestone or, should we say, a new ten-milestone: scientists have recently had success teleporting information between photons over a free space distance of nearly ten miles, an unprecedented length. The researchers who have accomplished this feat note that this brings us closer to communicating information without needing a traditional signal, and that the ten miles they have reached could span the distance between the surface of the earth and space.

You can read the rest of that here.

Freebies!

What’s a good blog post without some good free things?

Portal
Although this is old news, I will mention it anyways. On Steam right now you can get Portal for free! In celebration of the launch of Steam for the Mac, Steam is giving away Portal for free until the 24th of May, get it before this great deal is over!

Altitude
Another limited time freebie… Steam is having a free weekend for a game called Altitude. Altitude is fast-paced cartoony aerial fighter, it features Seven games modes and online multiplayer between the PC and Mac! Altitude is also 50% off, $5 (regular $10), I strongly suggest you try this game before the free weekend is over. More information including screenshots and a video can be found on its Steam store page.

Quit Facebook Day

While I have your attention I thought I’d just mention this.

Facebook recently has gone rogue, with all of the privacy concerns and a certain Facebook founder, Facebook can no longer be trusted.

Quit Facebook day is on May 31st, 11703 (as of now) Facebook users have already committed to quitting Facebook on that date. I would too but I have NEVER and will NEVER have a Facebook profile. For more details and to commit visit quitfacebookday.com. Here’s a quote from there explaining why you should quit:

For us it comes down to two things: fair choices and best intentions. In our view, Facebook doesn’t do a good job in either department. Facebook gives you choices about how to manage your data, but they aren’t fair choices, and while the onus is on the individual to manage these choices, Facebook makes it damn difficult for the average user to understand or manage this. We also don’t think Facebook has much respect for you or your data, especially in the context of the future.

That’s all for now, thanks for reading!

May 20, 2010 · Lone0001 · 4 Comments
Tags: 300, 7x13=28, Altitude, Patrick, Portal, Quantum teleportation, Quit facebook day, Spongebob, Squarepants · Posted in: Uncategorized

Making of OK Go’s Rube Goldberg Machine

Leo Laporte over at the TWiT Netcast Network interviewed the people that made Ok Go’s Rube Goldberg Machine, I found it interesting so I just thought I’d share it. Below you can find a Youtube video of it or you can Click Here for a downloadable version.

Leo Laporte also did an interview with Damian Kulash from Ok Go about their “This Too Shall Pass” Marching Band Video, you can watch or download that here.

April 15, 2010 · Lone0001 · No Comments
Tags: Damian Kulash, Leo Laporte, Ok Go, Rube Goldberg Machine, This too shall pass · Posted in: Uncategorized

April fool’s day

Well it’s that time of year again… the time of year when all the clowns come out to play.
I don’t have any pranks up my selves (or do I?), though I have found some pretty good ones by other people/companies.

Google Jail

Google came out this year with “Google Jail”, in which Google plans on creating the next generation of US prisons, for more information on that see the quote below…

Google Jail for Communities

Google is planning to launch an experiment that we hope will make prisons better for everyone. We plan to test ultra high-tech incarceration facilities in one or more trial locations across the country. We will deliver Googleplex-quality services 100 times better than what most American prisoners have access to today, including fiber-to-the-cell connections. We’ll offer service to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 inmates.

From now until June 1st, we’re asking interested municipalities to provide us with information about their prison infrastructure and crime rates through a Request for Information (RFI), which we’ll use to determine where to build our jails.

Here’s a video also (video of a video):

Youtube TEXTp

Have you ever thought “Youtube must be very expensive to host, I wonder how I could help pay for it”, well now you can! With the TEXTp option you can view videos as text only, saving Youtube $1/second! See this blog post for more information: http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2010/03/textp-saves-youtube-bandwidth-money.html

Here’s an example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_xVXQCrPxQ&textp=fool (note that youtube has taken away this feature)

How to prank someone’s food

I found this step by step guide on how to prank someone’s food for April fool’s day by Howcast, enjoy!

That’s all for now, Happy April fool’s day everybody!

April 1, 2010 · Lone0001 · No Comments
Tags: April, Fools day, Google Jail, Prank Food, Youtube TEXTp · Posted in: Humor

NCL Cruise

I thought I would share with you all where I’ve been the previous week, I’ll keep this short as there are a lot of pictures for your viewing pleasure.

I went on a Freestyle cruise with Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) last week on the Norwegian Jewel. I went to Miami,Florida to get on the ship, from there I went South, to Roatan,Honduras. From there I went to Belize City,Belize (no pictures from here, forgot my camera on the ship that day, sorry), to Costa Maya,Mexico. While I was in Costa Maya I went on a tour of the Chacchoben Mayan Ruins.

Finally my trip ended with Great Stirrup Cay,Bahamas (a private island owned by a few cruise lines). Before I end this post I have one more thing to show, the Chocolate Buffet, words aren’t enough to describe this so check out the pictures, also be sure to check out the pictures around the ship. Lastly, below are some of my favourite pictures.

That’s all for now, thanks for reading!

[View with PicLens]