Quote:By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet Writer

NEW YORK - Web surfing has belonged almost exclusively to Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer ever since it buried Netscape's pioneering browser. That doesn't seem to have bothered the developers of the Mozilla Firefox, a feisty new kid on the block that's worth a serious look.

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Officially released this week, Firefox packs security protections and other welcome features that emphasize just how little Microsoft has innovated its aging Microsoft browser in recent years.

True, Microsoft made significant security improvements to IE when it released Service Pack 2 for Windows XP (news - web sites) computers in August. But the improvements aren't available for older Windows systems. Nor does the updated IE offer a versatile search box, a pop-up blocker, feeds of frequently visited Web pages or the ability to open windows within windows. More on that later.

The biggest reason to consider Firefox is security.

To its credit, Microsoft is trying hard to address that. But as long as IE commands more than 90 percent of the world's computers, malicious hackers will continue to target it. The very IE features that Web developers love are also exploited by virus and spyware writers.

That's not to say you can't get spyware or other malicious code using Firefox, but risks are greatly reduced.

Firefox also offers protections against phishing — those e-mail scams that pretend to be legitimate notices from banks and service providers. A few scams did slip through during my test, but I was warned about others.

Still not sold? Then check out Firefox's non-security features, which are available on IE only by downloading third-party toolbars or plug-ins, some of which carry a fee:

_Search. From a toolbar up top, you have instant access to several search engines and can easily switch among them. You can also customize the browser so that typing "book" followed by a title automatically performs a search at amazon.com.

_Pop-up blocker. It does the job, while letting you open pop-ups you want.

_News feeds. Firefox supports Really Simple Syndication, or RSS, a technology for pulling headlines from news sites and Web journals so you won't have to keep checking them.

_Tabbed browsing. Instead of constantly opening new windows to browse, cluttering your Windows taskbar, Firefox lets you open new pages as tabs within a single window. Click on the appropriate tab to switch among the pages.

The latest version of Netscape, which shares much of Firefox's core technology, also has many of these features, and Norwegian browser Opera offers all four — and more.

But both bundle e-mail and other tools that can get in the way. When viewing a Web page on Opera, for instance, clicking on an e-mail link calls up Opera's own e-mail software — not Microsoft Outlook, which my company requires me to use.

And did I mention that Firefox is free? Opera costs $39 for an ad-free version.

Despite being a "1.0" release, Firefox is mature. And the breeding is good. It's the product of more than a thousand full-time engineers and volunteers and is based on the open-source Mozilla suite, which in turn has its roots in Netscape.

Plus, Firefox is available for Linux (news - web sites) and Mac computers as well. I tried the Mac version and found all the major features available right away.



The browser was also available in more than a dozen languages on its first day — a commendable feat.

Of course, no good product comes without a catch. I ran into trouble with a few Web sites designed specifically for IE, mainly those requiring ActiveX controls or the portion of JavaScript in which Microsoft departs from published standards.

So you can forget about watching movies on CinemaNow or Movielink. You also won't be able to update your Windows operating system relying on Firefox alone (Good thing Microsoft bundles IE with its operating systems).

Plug-ins designed for Netscape or Opera should work with Firefox, but you won't be able to use any of the IE toolbars, including Yahoo's spyware scanner and e-mail checker, or fully take advantage of Google's new desktop search software.

Nevertheless, some companies, including Amazon.com, are starting to adapt their tools for Firefox.

Some Web pages won't display correctly — among the ones I encountered were spam stats from Postini Inc., stock indices for the Bombay Stock Exchange and one AP internal site.

And Firefox mysteriously froze the first time I checked America Online mail. Closing the browser and restarting it fixed it on two different computers.

As for the RSS feeds, though I was impressed with how easy it was to add feeds for sites that let machines automatically detect them, manually adding feeds was overly complicated. I also found the tools for reading feeds quite clunky and inflexible. Opera has much better RSS tools.

In fact, I see little reason to switch from Opera, unless you'd prefer to drop the e-mail integration. The features are comparable.

As an alternative to IE, Firefox is a strong contender. And for the few sites that don't work with Firefox, you can always launch IE.

___

On the Net: http://getfirefox.com

Just 6 more days!!! Woo!!!

Where's the excitement here?? Am I the only one here who's dying to play this game?! Come on, people, wake up!

OMG it's so realistic!!!!

I am promising you guys this: If I--no, when I become a professional game designer, I promise that I will do whatever I can to get permission from Bo Jackson to make an awesome game about him! Mark my words, you will live to see the day when Bo Jackson rules the video game kingdom! I already have a bunch of Bojacksome game ideas.

Quote:The massive programme of legal action against alleged infringers of a series of patents covering graphics and other computing techniques has been extended to console hardware vendors Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo.

The news follows yesterday's revelation that 18 PC hardware companies had also been targeted, alongside 12 games software publishers.

The console makers are accused of infringing two patents, 5,109,520 and 4,734,690. The latter essentially covers representing a dynamic 3D environment and objects on a 2D display, and is the same patent the games publishers have been alleged to have violated. The former is entitled 'Image frame buffer access speedup by providing multiple buffer controllers each containing command FIFO buffers', and is cited in the action against the PC makers.

In each case, the plaintiff is seeking a jury trial, and wants it the defendants to cough up legal costs, damages and both pre- and post-judgement interest on the damages.

With patent applications stretching right back to the mid-1980s, why has it taken so long for key hardware vendors and games software publishers to be sued for alleged infringement of a series of patents covering 3D graphics? Because the current owner of the intellectual property in question only took possession on 16 June 2004.

The current owner is one American Video Graphics, of Marshall, Texas. It's the company on whose behalf Dallas-based law firm McKool Smith - the name most associated with the current litigation - has filed complaints with the District Court for Eastern Texas against HP, Dell, IBM, Gateway, Acer, Sony, Toshiba, MPC, Systemax, Fujitsu, Micro Electronics, Matsushita, Averatec, Polywell, Twinhead, Sharp, Uniwill and JVC.

Games publishers on the receiving end of a writ include Electronic Arts, Take-Two, Activision, Atari, THQ, Vivendi Universal, Sega, Square Enix, Tecmo, Lucasarts, Namco and Ubisoft.

All these companies are charged with violating AVG's intellectual property rights by allegedly transgressing one or more of 25 separate patents originally filed by and granted to Tektronix. The patents were assigned between 1987 and 1992, and all were sold by Tektronix to a number of third-parties.

Patent number 4,734,690, for example, the patent the games publishers are alleged to have infringed, had two owners between Tektronix and AVG: David G White and Research Investment Network, inc. Others have longer ownership routes from the inventor to AVG.

The patents were sold by Tektronix at various points between 1999 and 2004. It's not clear whether any of the patents' previous owners pursued Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft and the others, but their swift sale suggests they were purchased for sale rather than exploitation.

AVG clearly feels differently and its mass-action suggests it believes it has a strong chance of success. Typically, IP owners pursuing large companies will chose one to fight and potentially make an example of in the hope of persuading others to sign up in the meantime and to limit their exposure should the action fail.

Right, a game that a lot of people are highly anticipating, and some.. not so much. I'll post a few review scores, and some very nice impressions by someone who I post with on another board who got the game a week early.

Gamespot - 9.4

IGN - 9.8

Team Xbox - 9.9

Famitsu Xbox - 37/40

Famitsu - 34/40

OXM US - 9.7/10

OXM UK - 9.9

EGM - 10, 10, 10

XBGamers - 9.8

Game Informer - 10

GameRankings

Quote:On the Covenant side, I haven't noticed any drastic differences.
Elites really take advantage of cover this time around, and seem to be a bit more careful when their shields are down. They press their backs to the wall when their shields are down sometimes, with their weapon facing the corner.

Elites and Grunts(I think) can scale small objects like crates or fallen vehicles in order to get higher ground on you or surprise attack you if you're taking cover near them.

Jackals dart out of the way if you're very close to them and pressuring them. You'll have to make sure you don't give them too much time to recover if you're close, or else they'll dash behind you and light you up with their Plasma Pistols.

Grunts, unfortunately, are still stupid cannon fodder. No real change, except they seem to take more damage than before... But then again, all the Covenant enemies do. So nevermind.

And your helpful NPCs, Marines, they're actually worth keeping alive this time around. In all honesty, sometimes you won't have to work to keep them alive because they work much better with you in HALO 2.
Marines also take cover much more often, pressing their backs to wall and dipping in and out very quickly to take quick shots at the enemy.

They now have the ability to drive. Honestly, they aren't the smartest bunch when driving, the 'hog usually ends up smoking by the time we're done with a quick skirmish. They aren't really conscious of how much damage your vehicle has taken. But still, sometimes they can get the job done just fine.

You can switch any weapon with your Marines. This proves very helpful in a mission involving the Prophet of Regret, you'll know what I'm talking about when you get there. I described this scenario at GAF, but I'll run it down again: I had these two Marines following me throughout this entire level. They can die, but because of the weapons I gave them, and the way we looked out for eachother(instead of me just protecting them and fighting the Covenant at the same time). The male Marine was given a Covenant Carbine, while the female Marine was given a Covenant Particle Beam Rifle. Male Marine went head-on with me to take on Elites, while the female Marine took out Jackal Snipers and sometimes wore down the shields of the Elites ahead. They were great support, and no matter what weapon I gave them in this scenario, they used them properly... Well, I haven't tried giving them the Energy Sword or Rocket Launcher yet, but I'm working on it.

The AI on both sides of the spectrum work together much better than before too. Running in when others take cover, and they communicate with eachother as well.


quote:
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How many levels are there in single player campaign?
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I'm not certain, but I think there are around 6 or 7 entire "levels", but these levels are broken up into campaign levels... Get me? No? Well... For example, the "Earth City" level is broken up into two seperate campaign levels. And the transition between levels isn't exactly made clear sometimes, you won't even know you've gotten to a new one. Heh.


quote:
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How are the new vehicles?
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Not many new ones...
Warthog - There are two Warthog variants present in the final game; the LRV "Chaingun" Warthog, and the LAAV "Guass" Warthog. The former is the 'hog we all know and love, and the latter is the new powerful variant we saw in the E32k3 Demo. I haven't had much time with the LAAV, but it seems to work best against vehicles. It's hard to hit opponents on foot because the shot isn't entirely accurate, and there's no splash damage unless you nail a vehicle... Concerning the Warthog in general: The thing feels very different. It just doesn't seem to have as much weight as the original Warthog. At first I didn't like it, but I've gotten used to it. I don't know how the rest of you will feel about it

Ghost - Not too much of a difference here. Unlike the 'hog, the new Ghost feels heavier. It rides lower, moves slower when not boosting, and when it does boost, you can't really adjust your path all that much. As you might have noticed in the videos from E32k3 and E32k4, the Ghost's weapons fire at a much faster rate than before. It can wear down people on foot quite easily, but the shots don't seem to freeze, and I think this goes for all plasma weapons, unfortunately...

Spectre - The only real new vehicle in HALO 2. Think of it as the Covenant's answer to the Warthog. It moves a bit slower than the Warthog at first, but when it boosts it moves at just about the same speed or a bit faster. It seats 4: Driver, 2 Passengers, and a Gunner. The Spectre's weapon is a very accurate rapid-fire plasma weapon that does pretty decent damage.

Banshee - It has received the most drastic change. The thing is just an aerial target now, IMO. It's so delicate, and the barrel rolls 'n' flips don't really serve much of a purpose besides avoiding the Rocket Launcher's Target Tracking feature. It's very fast when it boosts though... But that's it. You can no longer fly backwards up into the air, if you try to, the 'shee's engines will kind of turn off and you'll plummet to the ground. That causes damage too, by the way.

Scorpion - Better. Moves slower than before, like less than half it's original speed, but you can take more punishment in it than before, and it's weapons have been improved-- it's main and secondary weapons both fire much faster and accurately than in the first game. Even with these improvements, because of it's slow speed, it can be easily boarded if somebody gets close enough.

Wraith - The Covenant Mortar Tank that was unplayable in the first game. It fires it's mortar shots very fast, and the splash damage of these shots are incredible. While it moves about just the same speed as the Scorpion normally, it can boost for like 1-2 seconds. IMO, the superior of the two Heavy Vehicles.

There are also turrets that are considered vehicles in Multiplayer. There is a Human and Covenant variant. The Human one, most of you have already seen, but the Covenant basically fires projectiles just like the Ghost in an extremely fast constant stream. They both do the job just fine.

Quote:Gamespot's review is pretty much on target, I think they gave it the most reasonable score(though it is a lil' high by their standards). And it's good to see that they point out the lil' flaws in the story; everybody else sang praises of it without saying why.

Only thing I disagree about their review is the repetitious levels. While repetition does rear it's ugly head in bits and parts of later levels, it isn't nearly as bad as it was in the first game.

Quote:Thanks to vireland(confirmed by ferricide(EGM staff)) and skip(EGM staff)

MGS 3 9, 9.5, 10
NFSU 2 8, 9, 8
GTA:SA 10,10,10 (GOTM)
Halo 2 10,10,10 (GOTM)
MP:2 9, 9, 10
Killzone 7, 7.5, 8
Mario tennis 9, 7.5, 8
Outrun 2 6, 6.5, 8
Baten Kaitos 6.5, 8, 7.5
GODZILLA SAVE THE EARTH 6.0, 4.5, 5.5
FIGHT CLUB 2.5, 3.0, 2.0
Growlanser Generations 7,7,8

And yes, these are confirmed by EGM staffers themeseleves so don't ask for scans or stuff.

He's from GAF(gaming age)
http://www.ga-forum.com/showthread....2743#post582743
you can look at page 6 on that thread if have to see for yourself.

Plus there is thread where I collected all the info and put it out, and then EGM staffers put out some other
scores from the month.

http://www.ga-forum.com/showthread.php?t=22063

You know how Word points out spelling and grammatical errors, and offers suggestions for correction?

This shit is WACK.

http://www.scrotalsafetycommission.com/

(Psst read the small grey text at the very bottom of the page)

http://www.lucasarts.com/ep3/

It actually looks pretty cool, I'm surprised! I guess Nick Gillard's help really... helped. Now we just have to cross our fingers that it'll control as well as it looks! This could be cool.

Oh and beware of beginning-of-movie spoilers in the trailer. They give away the first 15 minutes of the flick.

And here are some screens: