Star Citizen - RSI, from the makers of Freelancer etc.

from the makers of Freelancer ... THIS. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cig/star-citizen

• A rich universe focused on epic space adventure, trading and dogfighting in first person.
• Single Player – Offline or Online(Drop in / Drop out co-op play)
• Persistent Universe (hosted by US)
• Mod-able multiplayer (hosted by YOU)
• No Subscriptions
• No Pay to Win

Only thing missing from it is shiny MMORPGFPS gameplay on the planetary surface found in the likes of Precursors (which gameplay-wise was amazing =D).
What makes me so excited: MMO persistent universe, FPS elements, Ship combat which is like Freelancer and not MOBA-style (sorry DoTA2, D3, Torchlight, just not so into click click click =P).
Shameless plug for my favourite game of all time (Tribes 1) remade into an arcade style FPS: less gameplay complexity, and weird speed gain when skiing but nevertheless FUN.


BOARDING SHIP MECHANIC explained
Multiplayer and Single player instancing explained.
Because, FIREFLY for inspiration. =) - would love that job xD
Support Linux at the poll for stretch goals (click thru to RSI website for the poll), give CryEngine3 the incentive to go to the quickest growing gaming platform right now with Source, Steam, Unity supporting =) Linux. Speaking of Linux, Humble Bundle for Android 4 finishes in 6 days!


Final-week's (3 days left to pledge!) pitch:


FINAL WEEK PUSH from Roberts Space Industries on Vimeo.

So a few points of our next major stretch goal (from boarding ship mechanic post and RSI star citizen website):
$4.0 million Level Additions

• Melee & Heavy Weapons
• Zero-gravity Simulation
• Suit HUD Options
• Increased Customization
• Outside-the-ship combat (magnetic boots on a hull; think Moonraker)
• Pro MOD TOOLS FREE to players!
• Persistent Universe (forever instead of 30 months), 50 star systems
• More Squardron 42 campaign gameplay
• Increased community updates

- According to RSI website, we need $250k left till $4mil. Also, back on Kickstarter, your pledge will go towards stretch goals of BOTH kickstarter and the overall stretch goals at RSI.  
SO PLEDGE ON KICKSTARTER NOW =D.


I've always wanted to do Precursors MMO'd with friends. This is the closest thing I have ever seen. No amount of procedural universe generation, even if done by big industry pros would sway me. Just damn good gameplay with friends =).
That said, I've had my eye on Infinity Universe for years, because dang-it, its got great gameplay and scale, just without the FPS element >=| and definitely will be happily playing when it comes out.

WLM going down, MS proves once again games are its only strongpoint

and not support, end-user OS/applications or anything else =P
Although I must say I prefer the PC to XBox/any console for gaming as it doesn't lock you into a particular device/device family. FOSS ftw!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20222998
Didn't realise MS bought Skype 1.5 years ago at $8.5bn massive.
WLM aka MSN will be turned off "by March 2013 worldwide, with the exception of China.".
Bye bye MSN protocol in Pidgin. Over these 10 years, you have served me well ='/

Steam for Linux finally arrives! (in beta, x86, with more than a score of games)

HELLO new era of gaming, with Steam's big picture mode (finally, console experience on PC! wireless controller on wishlist! =D) saw it on steamforlinux's FB, post here: http://steamforlinux.com/?q=en/node/130

**Update: This pretty much means Steam's Big Picture mode pwned Ouya for me, PCs are more open than consoles, in terms of compatibility and you're not locked into a certain device anyway =P
Pictures of me playing World of Goo thru Steam on Linux soon in a post another time =)
***

Valve stuff:
Press release: http://store.steampowered.com/news/9289/
Hub (latest news): http://steamcommunity.com/linux or http://steamcommunity.com/app/221410
Game group page (not sure what this is used for anymore): http://steamcommunity.com/games/221410

Got so excited, downloaded the .deb, realised it was built for x86. And I also didn't have a 'key' but I heard there were ways of getting around that on the hub >.>
Just waiting for 64-bit release or source with lovely configure and make files =D
In the meantime, will CrossOver/WINE my Client/TF2 ^^

This news probably released just after/around the same time as this one, but nVidia's news travelled faster?? =S:

nVidia supports Steam Linux beta in latest drivers:
http://steamforlinux.com/?q=en/node/127

Also, all you friends out there, add me on Steam!! >=D

Now .. that I've got that out of my system .. time to study >=D

omg 150k/year making hats!!

***Update 7/11/2012 (yes, Aussie/UK date format)***

nVidia supports Steam Linux beta in latest drivers:
http://steamforlinux.com/?q=en/node/127
Yay! I'm on nVidia GT330M on my laptop (Samsung R580-JS02AU) but I didn't really care which manufacturer: ATI or nVidia I got, as long as it was Linux-supported well. 
And yes, this post is basically another Steam fanboying post =P

*************************************************


Yes, TF2 hats woooot! xD
And yes, another Steam on Linux post and windows is =/ post .. =P

http://gamingbolt.com/gabe-newell-windows-8-is-a-catastrophe-for-everyone-in-the-pc-space
Wish I could make $150k/year making hats!!!

Found the link from here:
http://gamingbolt.com/valve-engineer-drew-bliss-explains-why-they-favor-linux-over-windows

And I didn't know Gabe Newell worked 13 years on Windows o_O
Source: http://www.inquisitr.com/378666/the-battle-between-windows-8-and-computer-game-developers/

News post #11?

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/506466/given-tablets-but-no-teachers-ethiopian-children-teach-themselves/
Woot, u go, hacker children!!
Personally, I think humans are naturally hackers and makers, curious about things, tinkering with them, and wanting to make/create things. This bit of news kind of supports my thought =P
Also, good to see OLPC is doing stuff, their $100 XO-1 is pretty neat too, I've seen it in action before at ASSC, one of the guys from Lunar Numbat brought it along =)
Speaking of which, haven't heard much news from LN and White Label Space, but Canberra UAV had a pretty good year, and they presented at CLUG too! =D

Yep, lots of group dropping there =P Don't forget the hackerspaces I follow: MHV and HackJamHK@Dimsumlabs(-their FB page is pretty well updated) =D
Being a Melbourne boy, it's kinda sad I dont' follow these guys (CCHS) nearly as much (due to me not being around Melbourne -my fav city- as much as the other two places these days! ><") though some of them are LN and they've had some pretty cool projects. Their computer-in-car is especially cool =P and is part of the inspiration for Project Sheila (now much easier with mobile computing and Li batteries =D) which first requires a car and license (lol) xD Anyone get the project name reference? (Hint, my AI will be called Sheila).

----------------------------------------------------------------------

In other cool news:
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2012/october/carbon-solar-cell-103112.html
First whole carbon solar cell including electrodes (apparently some researchers as engadget points out, has made the energy transducer part before)
Pretty cool.

Don't link to dropbox folder in windows anymore!

ARGHHHH!!!
OK, so putting folders outside your Dropbox folder into your Dropbox sync by linking to said folders with ln -s works perfectly in Linux, but using mklink in Windows it fails miserable.
Bad Idea.

This is the 3rd time I've had to restore my files from Dropbox, after this somehow makes Dropbox delete all my files in them.
Another reminder to self.

Now to find a syncing solution between the windows Dropbox folder and those folders outside my dropbox ... Probably will just use synctoy.

Uchuu Kyoudai dubbing from space =P

Haha, just watched the episode that aired today from Uchuu Kyoudai aka Space Brothers!
The dubbing part (aka 1st voice acting in space) was funny although he was a bit monotone ><
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com.au/news/2012-10-08/astronaut-successfully-dubs-space-brothers-anime-from-space
よく頑張ったな！
coughgetyourepisodesfromcyber12orwatchliveatkeyholetvmaybeandbuythestuffwhenitbecomeavailableinyourregion=Dcough

Watch him speak IRL in a google hangout with some funs =P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36zs0w1fEZA&feature=share&list=UUfMIdADo6FQayQCOkLYGhrQ
OMG at 1:25:35 you see the author of the Uchuu Kyoudai manga appear =O =D

For my Australian friends, the movie's screening in Sydney and Melbourne:
http://www.japanesefilmfestival.net/film-spacebrothers.html
Too bad I'm in neither city at the time it's being aired =(
Will have to wait for DVD to come out or go to Japan and watch it =P


-----------------------------

Again, ETA of Ubunchu -  out this week =)

Ohloh - track Open Source projects!

Ohloh - Wow, stumbled upon this through Linux Mint's tumblr. 

Contains really cool stats, go to a project page, and click the stuff under "In a Nutshell ..."
Especially under /factoids/, there's number of comments as a %!!! xD documentation ftw =P

=) =) =) =) =) =) =) =) =) =) =) =) =) =) =) =) =) =) =) =) =) =) =) =) =) =) =) =) =) =) =) =)

Also, what happens when closed-source stuff has nothing more to offer (both entertaining and informative!):
http://www.businessinsider.com/dear-apple-im-leaving-you-2012-11
 Includes the (only) apple ad I actually liked on youtube!



---------

P.S. I'm thinking I'll be able to push my lil Ubunchu project release out at the end of next week. =D

Troubleshooting on Windows >='(

I found this to be actually a lot more annoying than on Linux.
I usually haven't had to do much of this, but when I have had to really troubleshoot Windows, I always pull out my hair. Whereas Linux could range from: 10 minutes later done =D to, lol nope can't do it with my knowledge and resources online.

Situation/Problem
So I couldn't install a Libre Office package for a couple of days ... [lol, sounds Linuxy] I mean application package in the form of .msi
I kept getting this error: "Error 1935 ... missing dynamic link library ... policy.9.0.Microsoft.VC90.CRT ...".
I started using Libre Office exclusively about 3 months back when I reinstalled/upgraded Windows to 64-bit (the same Windows 7 license gives you access to both 32-bit and 64-bit versions!) And recently had to reinstall Windows just to get Steam service to run, so the client actually ran. It was after this most recent Windows reinstall (I usually don't reinstall Windows if I don't have to, went for like 2 years on the original install my laptop -a Samsung R580-JS02AU named Chopper- came with).

Research + Rant
I found the online resources in the form of forums answering questions lacking, and Windows documentation has always been horrible. Also, the Windows admin/system tools and settings is horrible to get to, I mean, who would know you had to right click My Computer to Manage it or msconfig.exe or services.msc or cmd.exe and THEN run some obscure command? Not to mention horrible network settings and internet options >_>
At least most Linux DEs provide pretty much all you usually require in usually two menus, System/Admin Tools and System Settings. And the only hardcore thing you'd have to do is custom scripts/configs in your home folder or elsewhere as advised from heaps of online resources. 

So after looking at http://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=10913 and http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_vista-hardware/error-1935-when-trying-to-install-anything/bf5c834a-6f79-4bd3-b1b4-d4fdd3fe4a28 and running sfc /scannow with no problems, as well as Windows' famous "NEVER WORKING DIAGNOSTICS/SOLUTIONS" (I mean, if a program needs to be ended/force closed/killed, just do it, don't be misleading and pretend to "FIND A SOLUTION" in your fictitious dreams.)
 


Final Solution
I finally landed on http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2438651#reso1
"Method 2: Make sure that the Windows Installer service is not set to Disabled"










And realised, while I did follow the openoffice forum advice of making sure my 'Windows Modules Installer' service was up and running, my 'Windows Installer' service wasn't, and I promptly set it to start on startup automatically, ran it, and my Libre Office msi worked like a charm.






The fix was so simple, I can't believe it took me that long to find the solution. If only the windows support(lol) website was easier to navigate.