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Ufc Undisputed 2010 Patch to Fix Online Multiplayer Issues

Lambert Varias — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 11:09:00 +0000

Initially I bought UFC Undisputed 2010 for its career mode, but I ended up being disappointed with it, and so are a lot of other gamers. To make things worse, the online multiplayer is even worse than the career mode. Fortunately, THQ is going to address the online multiplayer issues in an upcoming patch, while also making a few in-game tweaks in the process.

Here’s the announcement from the official UFC Undisputed forum:

Personally I don’t care about the online multiplayer aspect of most games, since I have a dodgy Internet connection, so I don’t even bother checking them out. But if you’re liking the details of this patch, just keep an eye on the official UFC Undisputed forum for more updates. Or we could all just wait for the patch to be released.

Sugru: Mod Your World

P. Blandino — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 00:39:00 +0000

Sugru might look like normal everyday clay but actually it’s a silicone polymer that cures at room temperature. Why is it so special? Well it can be molded in to any shape and stuck on to metal, ceramic, wood, leather and plastic! It sticks on to the object like it was applied with super glue! Since its made with silicone it’s water proof, keeps rather stiff with a bit of flexibility and its grip.

Some example uses for Sugru pulled from their gallery shows it being used to fix the heel of an old pair of shoes, make a bike handle better or just make a new handle all together! Fix a wobbly chair. The uses are endless with Sugru! Its meant to repair and make stuff work better for you. This product could replace duct tape in your toolbox.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

You can order some packs of Sugru at their website. It goes for £7 GBP (appx. $11.18 USD) a pack. There are options for large, medium or small lumps of Sugru if you don’t want to deal with one big blob of the stuff. I’m picking up a pack just to keep in my tool box.

Clearview: One Software to Fix Them All

Lambert Varias — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:45:53 +0000

Ah, software problems. We’ve all experienced them in varying degrees – sometimes it’s just a stupid online video that won’t load, and sometimes the operating system itself gives up. Now imagine a future where programs can still be compromised, or attacked, but will no longer crash or hang. A group of MIT researchers, led by Martin Rinard and Michael Ernst, are working to make that future possible. They’re working on ClearView, a program designed to fix other programs. According to the Technology Review‘s Erica Naone, ClearView doesn’t fiddle with a program’s source code; instead it “monitors the behavior of a binary: the form the program takes in order to execute instructions on a computer’s hardware.”

ClearView makes a list of rules based on a program’s “normal” behavior. When something causes the program to deviate from those rules, ClearView “comes up with several potential patches designed to force the software to follow the violated rules… If additional rules are violated, or if a patch causes the system to crash, ClearView rejects it and tries another.” And it does all of that without any human intervention. As a test, ClearView was tasked to babysit Firefox while the browser was attacked via ten different methods. On average, ClearView came up with a patch within 5 minutes of exposure to an attack. How’s that for customer service. If you’re tired of having programs die on you, read the full article at Technology Review. It may just make your day.

[via Slashdot]

Sony Fixes PS3/PS2 Backwards Compatibility Issue

Technabob — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 16:37:08 +0000

Since the Sony PlayStation 3 hit shelves back in November, it’s been racked with complaints about a huge bug with PS2 backwards compatibilty. Specifically, the PS3 would screw up the graphics on non-progressive scan PS2 titles (of which there are many), by creating odd artifacts on every other vertical line of images. This issue rendered many PS2 games nearly unplayable, especially on HDTVs.

Well early reports are that today’s firmware update to version 1.5 fixes this issue once and for all. I’ve already downloaded and installed the update, and it seems to have fixed the issues that I’ve encountered with some 480i games like Okami. While 480i games never look great on a large HDTV, at least they’re now playable and no worse than they looked on an original PS2.

[via Kotaku]

Wii Wrist Strap Gets Silently Beefed Up by Nintendo

Technabob — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 13:51:01 +0000

After a number of concerns about easily broken wrist straps on the Nintendo Wii’s “Wii-mote” controller (and Nintendo’s denial that anything was wrong other than aggressive game play), it appears that Nintendo has started to include improved straps with recently shipped consoles.

From this comparison image posted on GoNintendo, it’s clear that there are much thicker cords on these controllers than were in the initial shipments. While there’s no absolute confirmation that the new cords are actually more durable, in most cases a thicker cord should mean a stronger cord. Nintendo continues to tow the line that there was nothing wrong with the design of the straps to begin with, but I’m glad to see they worked on a solution anyhow. There’s no word from Nintendo if these upgraded straps will be available for purchase to improve the original Wii-mote.

[UPDATE: You can now order a replacement strap from Nintendo for just $1.00 here. From what we've heard, the one's they're shipping are the new version.]

A Quick Fix for the Xbox 360 Red Rings of Doom

Technabob — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 22:33:52 +0000

Some crafty Xbox 360 owner in Brazil has come up with the Occam’s Razor approach to fixing the console’s “red rings of doom” failure.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

When in doubt, the simplest solution is usually the right one… simply smack the crap out of your hardware. Perhaps Microsoft will begin recommending this to their customers.

(Now is it just me, or does the guy in the video sound a bit like Greedo from Star Wars?)

[via digg]