Playstation Plus
They said a while back that we'll all get a month's free PSN+.
Posts by Greg J Preece
2481 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Jun 2009
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Sony restores PlayStation Network parts
Monday 16th May 2011 10:46 GMT
I can finally buy Dead Nation!
Been wanting to buy it for weeks now.
Glad they took the time to fix it properly though, rather than leaving the system vulnerable and just bunging it back online. That for me is actually far more reassuring, though of course it should never have happened in the first place.
Impatient punters trade PS3s for Xbox 360s
Friday 13th May 2011 13:01 GMT 
Keeping mine
Sure, PSN is down, and that sucks ass, but the console still works, the online play will come back, and I didn't pay for PSN in the first place. Was thinking of trialling PSN+, and now I get a free trial when it comes back online.
The data loss was what really pissed me off, but how would trading in the hardware that I enjoy using solve anything? And given MS' previous track record, I've seen no evidence that X-box Live is any more secure. That it's not been broken yet doesn't mean it doesn't have holes.
This attitude is granting three things:
1) I don't play all that many online games. I have no desire to play shitty FPS games with a shitty controller, while teenage morons call me a n00b and take every opportunity to show me their testicles.
2) If I do play online games, I'm generally playing them on the PC, which I regard as a platform superior to all others. </fanboy_baiting>
3) I have other consoles, and failing that, other things to do in my life.
Aaaaand...FLAME ON! :-)
Reg ed rattles the Red-Headed League
NASA restores Pluto to league of planets
Wednesday 11th May 2011 10:21 GMT
The argument is done, Pluto is not a planet
Just because the Yanks have to be so obsessive about anything ever said, done or seen by a fellow Yank, doesn't make Pluto a planet. We have 4 terrestrials, 4 gas, and one...ball of half-rock, half-ice, whose "moon" isn't even a moon, as the orbital centre is outside Pluto's mass.
If they'd have discovered Ceres first, they'd be calling that a planet, but it isn't, and neither is Pluto. The IAU recategorised the solar system so that new discoveries made sense - science does that. It's a trans-Neptunian dwarf in the recently* mapped Kuiper-belt. Get over it.
*By astronomy's standards
Microsoft poised to make biggest ever buy – Skype
Wednesday 11th May 2011 09:23 GMT
Linux already lags
The Linux client is already behind the Windows one by a long way, but that's a good thing! The Linux users still get a simple, unbloated client that sits there and does as it's told. The Windows client has become a monster, and the Mac client is no better. I can't think of any features I've ever needed to use that weren't in the Linux version, so I say let it stay that way, and leave the bloat out.
Important breakthrough in mole-cruiser technology
Elite coder readies £15 programming gadget for schools
Friday 6th May 2011 18:49 GMT
I love this!
Don't teach it as primary learning - the majority of plebs will still need those Excel skills - but keep it around the labs, and let people know it's there. The nerdy kids will attend to the rest.
We had Win98 machines at school, and it was still the old BBCs I loved to code on. If this had been sat in the corner of the lab, I'd have certainly had a play.
Woz snubs Paul Allen, praises pea soup
Arcam FMJ BDP100 Blu-ray Disc player
Monday 2nd May 2011 22:53 GMT
A thousand quid??
There seems to be a lot missing for that amount of money. The reviewer seemed to be apologising for a lot of missing functionality, when I would certainly expect a player costing this much to be missing nothing.
OK, the ultimate output quality might not be as perfect, but you can get 4 or 5 PS3s for the price of this thing, and look at how much they do (state of PSN jokes aside).
Is iPhone data collection legal?
Monday 2nd May 2011 06:19 GMT
Oh man...
I'd love to uae that in court.
'No, your honour, that law doesn't count, you see, because it was written more than 5 years ago.'
A well researched and written law should be able to defend the rights of the public on an extended timescale, especially with regard to future developments.
Natty Narwahl: Ubuntu marine mammal not fully evolved
Sunday 1st May 2011 00:49 GMT
OpenSUSE
I am also considering OpenSUSE. I ran it for a very short period on one of my machines, as it got working official ATI support before Ubuntu, but I'm just so used to my Debian/Aptitude environments that I'm more productive on Kubuntu, so when that got support I installed Maverick.
Might be time to give SUSE another try. I'll be keeping Ubuntu Server on my development rig though. No matter how they try to cock up their desktop spins, their server release has never let me down.
Friday 29th April 2011 02:02 GMT
Kubuntu's no better
Some nice tweaks in the UI, but it's the random X lockups that are bothering me. Tap the power button to shut down, instant lockup. Leave the machine in standby for 10 minutes, lockup. What the hell, guys.
And Plymouth is STILL broken, a year after release. It kinda-sorta works on shutdown now, but startup is just as broken as it ever was.
Might try a fresh install. But if it's still this bad, I might try Mint.
Barnes & Noble answers Microsoft's anti-Android suit
Acer Iconia Tab W500
Boffins pull plug on SETI alien-seeking antenna array
'Anti alpha' mirror-matter made from gold in atomsmasher
Computer glitch opens un-staffed supermarket to happy Kiwis
How I learned to stop worrying and love SSDs
Monday 25th April 2011 12:14 GMT
I'd have one as a boot drive
But I'd still have a fast mechanical (I currently use 15k rpm SCSIs) for my code projects to be stored on. Load NetBeans from the SSD, but compile to the mechanical. Compiling something the size of our system on an SSD every day would reduce it's life, without question.
Facebook forced to reinstate snogging men pic
Calling all readers: Want some new icons?
Sony ships 50m PS3s
Friday 15th April 2011 15:51 GMT
Over here!
I've got one, my boss has, at least three of my colleagues have, my brother is thinking of one and so is my girlfriend. The original 60GB PS3 is a great piece of kit. Backwards compatible to TWO generations, Blu-Ray playback, network playback from my server upstairs - the list goes on. It still amazes me that it was slagged off for being expensive @ £425 RRP, when the iPhone and iPad sell for over £600 a piece.
Friday 15th April 2011 15:34 GMT
Wrong on so many levels
"Plus, Mario Kart + Wii Wheel > any other driving game. Ever. I just wish they'd release Pro Evo and have you strap a Wiimote to each foot. That would be awesomes."
Not played a lot of racing games, huh? I loved Mario Kart back in the day, but compared to F1 Championship Edition, GT5, and just about any game from the Burnout series...welll...no. And do you really think no-one's invented a wheel peripheral before? I can think of three different models for the PS2 alone off the top of my head.
Can't stand the Wii Wheel if I'm honest. Tried playing Mario Kart with it and had a GameCube controller in almost immediately. And as soon as I plugged it in, I started winning every race. ;-)
YouView mandates Linux, HD content encryption
Friday 15th April 2011 13:43 GMT
Whut, no gigabit?
Can we please stop tacking piss-cheap 10/100Mbps ports onto kit that should really be using an almost equally piss-cheap gigabit port by now? Never mind that these specs are for an IPTV box! It's not like gigabit Ethernet just rocked up or anything. 802.3ab was ratified in 1999 for Christ's sake.
White iPhone 4 'in production'
Winfrasoft touts pattern-based password alternative
Obama gets personal V-22 Osprey tiltrotor
Wii price cut coming
Thursday 14th April 2011 09:49 GMT
GameCube controllers are your friend
"-the gimmicky controllers. If I could just use a PS3/Xbox controller, I'd probably getting those last few Mario Kart wins. Plugging a "classic controller" into a Wiimote doesn't count."
Just pick up a GameCube controller or 4 for £2 a piece and use those. They're ten times better in a lot of games than the motion controller. If you have to bring out an accessory to nail onto the bottom of your controller to make it actually work properly, you're taking the piss.
My Wii generally gets love for light gun games. I love light gunners, and naturally the Wii has a few. Ghost Squad, the incredibly OTT House of the Dead: Overkill, etc. Aside from that....Nights into Dreams II? And do any of these light gun games support the Motion+? Of course not, because Wii games don't get patched.
If you even attempt a comparison with my PS3, the Wii really is a piece of shit, and the Move I got last weekend makes their motion control look like it was made by disabled chimps.
Wednesday 13th April 2011 13:40 GMT
Don't tell me they're going to make something new!
The Wii was a repackaged GameCube and half the shit on it was repackaged content, with the rest being shovelware. A few good (and in some cases really good) games occasionally appeared, but much like the DS, looking at the range in the local games store is just depressing.The number of games I have for my Nintendo consoles pales into insignificance besides my other, better machines.
I wonder what gimmic-sorry, innovation they have for us this time...
Microsoft breaks own world record for IE nonsense
H2O water-powered shower radio
Red Dwarf to blast off on new adventure
GNOME 3: Shocking changes for Linux lovers
Monday 11th April 2011 22:04 GMT
KDE also
"The "drag to top of screen to maximize" is also a feature of Windows 7."
You'll also find this in modern versions of KDE, along with the half-screen snap-to-sides behaviour. Personally I use them all the time, especially on multi monitor systems. Grab window on one screen, start dragging, and it comes out of fullscreen to follow you. Drop it on the other monitor and it restores itself. Neat and efficient.
iPads mooted for Qantas flight manuals
Friday 8th April 2011 22:08 GMT
@peter 45
"So why do I get told that it is because electronics can interfere with landing systems?"
They tell you to turn off your mobile phone on petrol station forecourts in case it causes an explosion. You don't seriously believe them, do you?
Scratch and sniff
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/10/30/
Cisco CEO: 'We have disappointed our investors'
Photoshopped image scam used in rogue Facebook app trap
Mozilla puts squeeze on slow Firefox add-ons
Monday 4th April 2011 08:40 GMT
Pot, meet kettle
"Good ol' Firefox leading the way, because this is nothing like the new IE9 performance tab for plugins showing how they've affected the browsers load times."
Erm...is Internet Explorer really in a position to claim leadership? Really? Given that IE7 was a massive Firefox rip-off, right down to the layout and keyboard shortcuts, accusing them of stealing from IE is a bit rich...
Sunday 3rd April 2011 14:55 GMT
In fairness to Firebug
It's a much more complex add-on than most, and the people that install and use it in a day-to-day basis probably aren't fussed about the startup hit, given that they're not end users. I use it everyday and I'd rather have it around than have Firefox boot faster.
But it's good to see Mozzy addressing this issue, especially with regard to add-ons dropped in by other installers. That is infuriating.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
