Slashdot Mirror

Thanks to VE3D for its article reprinting comments by Gearbox Software's Randy Pitchford regarding future Halo PC patches. Pitchford, seemingly irked at Bungie/Microsoft testing and approval delays, notes the enhancements Gearbox "...has generated between launch day and now is amazing in quality and volume. Thus far, just a fraction of that work has made it into the official updates." These prospective updates, mentioned last month, include the HEK (Halo Editing Kit), the lack of which is preventing substantial modding from taking place, and a waiting-in-the-wings "massive [graphical] performance boost... we call it 'fast shaders' - we're seeing a 30% to 50% [framerate] increase."

Jeremy Parish writes "Bungie has finally announced that Halo 2 will ship this Fall for Xbox, as relayed via 1UP. But to make up for this semi-distant release date, they've released the first Halo 2 multiplayer screen!" Over at Halo.bungie.org, they point out a Bungie development update noting the new screenshot is "...entirely representative of the lighting, polygon counts, bump-mapping and particle effects", and also refer to the original Bungie.net announcement, clarifying: "A number of people have been confused by the title of this news item. The game is NOT named 'Halo 2: In Reach of Fall'. This is just a reference to the title of novel The Fall of Reach.)"

We'll start this off with Ant's submission -- a hilarious story about The Endor Holocaust which no doubt follows the destruction of the 2nd Death Star. After reading something so clear, confuse your mind confuse your mind (thanks to The Musician). Now that you are adequately confused, cardoso sent us a ridiculous flash app where you can control dancers. This will put you in the mood to enjoy the most retro homepage ever, sent in by mvw Got some money to burn? Check out the Spinal Tap Guitar which features among other things, chrome exhaust pipes and a tachometer that (of course) goes to 11. If you're not a musician, maybe you'd be interested in Randy Rathbun's link to personalized action figures: I could send in my mugshot and be immortalized in plastic, standing forever atop my monitors with Darth, Goku, and Trinity! Or maybe you wanna buy a Dalek? If you're on more of a budget, Jay Novak sent us a great t-shirt from copyleft considering all the layoffs around the net companies. With all of these great things to waste cash on, you might need some cash: geekguy sent in a funny list of ways to cash in on Doom without wasting time making a game (like for example, Doom breakfast serial! Free BFG inside!) Just get id to license ya! For you do-it-yourselfers, mr100percent submitted what might be the most impressive automotive MP3 player ever. The Pathintosh is a beautifully integrated Mac complete w/ steering wheel controls, and a custom bezel. And finally, the eycandy. First up is davco9200's link to Daily Astronomy Astropix which is actually pretty sweet: today is Mars Dunes. Second and last of all, the pr0n: Jeff K sent in Unix-Sex which features sysadmins getting it on w/ Sun Hardware. Thats why we don't let them work 3rd shift.

Barbarian writes "This article at 3D Action Planet discusses the possibility of a Software regulatory body, with the power to impose fines on companies which release crashware. Although the article ignores Open Source, it is insightful in it's assesment of commercial software. The article pertains towards games, but it is intended to apply to the Software industry in general. " My only question: Much like the UN, where does the real power come from; how do the fines stick, and actually get paid?

Barbarian writes "This article at 3D Action Planet discusses the possibility of a Software regulatory body, with the power to impose fines on companies which release crashware. Although the article ignores Open Source, it is insightful in it's assesment of commercial software. The article pertains towards games, but it is intended to apply to the Software industry in general. " My only question: Much like the UN, where does the real power come from; how do the fines stick, and actually get paid?