The Zone

Pli, a wholesome furniture online store with more soul than your humble IKEA had debuted their first furniture model made out of recycled consoles (in other words, the PlayStation 2). Named the Reee chair, its an environmentally friendly chair that's "designed for disassembly and further recycling. The modular design means it's easily repaired or refurbished. Every chair makes a new home for 2.3kg of used plastic."

Even more outstanding is that "The seat and back are made from 100% recycled computer games console casings. That's it." Wow. The catch is that to park your bottom on one of these chairs is going to cost you a whopping 99UK Pounds, which costs more than a PS2 at its current price! Anyone up for a Xbox 360 chair? We heard that a couple of local boys have had the red rings of death.....

The inevitable has finally happened. In a move that has been a long time coming, any Xbox 360 that is detected to be modded while logged on to the Live service will be permanently banned. Microsoft did not reveal how the checks are made but there are reports of "innocent" owners being accidentally banned at this point in time (see here). Also, there are numerous reports by modded users across various forums that their 360s are unaffected... yet.

According to the infamous 360 community rep Major Nelson (see here & here), the reason of Microsoft wielded the banhammer was to stamp out the hackers and cheaters, but don't rule out software piracy as one of the driving reasons as well. Piracy on the Xbox 360 is still relatively a "minor" issue for Microsoft in these parts of the world but perhaps there is more to this story that it appears to be?  

Could this mean that a local Xbox 360 launch in Malaysia (or in countries heavily ravaged by software piracy) is on the cards? Although it's too premature to assume such a move will happen and since we don't have any solid evidence to back our theory up - our theory will remain a theory.  

Our little birds inside the big M in Singapore and Malaysia concur that Microsoft currently has no plans to launch the 360 locally, but at the same time, they also said that the company is constantly and closely monitoring the situation. Now with this online ban in effect, there should be some positives changes to Microsoft's current stand.    

As much as we like to speculate about the situation, it could be just wishful thinking really. The ban on modded consoles to deny access to the Live service is great, but it doesn't really stop consumers from getting one to play offline exclusively. And let's face it, a sizeable portion of local 360 owners (modded or otherwise) do not take their 360 online. In a way, the ban doesn't really affect them at all.

Nevertheless, the online ban is still great news for the local 360 and gaming scene. By denying gamers the key component of the entire Xbox 360 experience, it could spur potential buyers to opt for an original unit instead. But then again, this is just round one. We expect the hacker/modder community to retaliate with updated hacked firmware or improved stealth modchips. The question is would you want to be part of this cat and mouse game?  

Times are achanging all right but we sure do hope that it's for the better.  

All the rumours were finally true - Blizzard Entertainment will be releasing the sequel to the highly-acclaimed 1998 Real-Time Strategy game, Star Craft!

If you're a gamer, you'll probably already knew about this yesterday - but if you were lurking under a tempurung, chances are you'll be rubbing your hands in glee over this news!

Called Star Craft 2, for obvious reasons, this also brings Diablo fans delight that there might be chances of a Diablo 3 in the near future - even if the Diablo story seems to be over.

Star Craft 2 started development in 2003, and after 4 years, in 2007 it's in Alpha stages.

Check out a screen capture of the upcoming game sporting familiar units but a new 3D engine:

How much are you willing to pay for the ultimate PlayStation collection, which includes nearly all games on the list as well as rare games, prototypes,  controllers, and consoles? RM1000? RM10,000? Try RM100,000. That's the asking price (USD30,000) for what looks to be the biggest PlayStation aunction ever on eBay. And shipping is free! But only in the US. International buyers will need to pay half of the shipping costs. And good luck explaining to Malaysian customs. 

But still, wouldn't it be cool beans to own a houseful of PlayStation games? At least it should make for some interesting dinner conversation to your guests when they come over to jealously eye your collection. ;)

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How cool can the Nintendo DS anymore get? From the 21st of May, All secondary schools in the city of Yawata in Kyoto, Japan will be using the Nintendo DS as a learning tool for English. The move was undertaken after a previous trial run with 3rd year students showed a 40% improvement in vocabulary. Now they'll officially introduce it to all 2nd year students in the prefecture.

Will any enterprising local game developer step up to introduce an SPM/STPM version? It would probably sell like hot cakes here.

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Okay, so the Zune's not really high on the list of "must buy" for everyone out there, but this Zune is different (well, not a whole lot different actually). Special Halo 3 graphics adorn the black exterior, but what's really cool is all the stuff inside that comes preloaded with it. There's a whole bus load of content like music, video and art from Halo, Halo 2 AND Halo 3. Of course, if you hate the Zune or never heard of Halo 3, this piece of new is probably rubbish. But for fans, start scouring the net on how you can get your paws on one already!

The Halo 3 Zune is going to be only available exclusively at GameStop stores in the US from 15th June onwards. One of these babies will go for US$249.99. 

Via kotaku.   

Maxis Hotlink just launched their latest mass multiplayer mobile card trading game, Master of Maya! Hotlink and Maxis customers will be one of the first consumers worldwide to enjoy the game and it's already available! The card game is steeped in Mayan culture, which explains why the lovely ladies above are dressed in such garb. :3 Click the jump for more pictures of the event.  

Was it ever even a suprise? Last Tuesday (29th May), a news posting on xboxscene.com announced that the much talked about iXtreme firmware for the Xbox 360 is now available. Barely two weeks after Microsoft decided to ban modded 360s from its Live service, the modders have struck back with a new firmware which reportedly enables modded 360s to log on to the service once again. But there is a catch though. Actually there are lot of catches.

First of all, the new firmware only works with Toshiba-Samsung drives. Hacked firmware for other drives are "in the works." Also, it only boots "Stealth Xtreme" backups. We're not really sure how this works but we understand that the media you burn your "backups" on must be done in a particular way.

The most important catch of all though is that banned 360s cannot be "unbanned" even with this updated firmware.

Full details here.

More often than not, Taiwanese products are acknowledged as "affordable and bang-for-the-buck" alternatives in the world of IT, though sometimes their "design philosphopies" are rather questionable. Case in point, the Amigo R622AG Wi-Fi Router spotted at the recently concluded Computex Fair in Taipei, Taiwan. Looks familiar, doesn't it? 

Well, you don't get a prize if you guessed that it looked like Microsoft's Xbox 360 console. If Microsoft didn't come up with the Xbox 360 first, we'd say that this router looks dashing and rather sleek, although we're not so sure about the, uhm, large Xbox-ish size.

Like most Wi-Fi routers nowadays, the Amigo R622AG supports 802.11a/b/g and has four Ethernet ports for wired connections. It also has an additional two USB ports for connecting USB devices to the network. If you need to boost the range of the wireless connectivity, you can even stick a high-gain antennae on the back as well.

If you're interested in one, too bad. It's not on sale in Malaysia, yet. From the official website, www.amigo.com.tw, we think it's probably only available in Taiwan and the US for now.  

One question. If the thing breaks down, will it get the dreaded 3 Red Rings of Death just like the Xbox 360 too?

You know you want to...

DS Fanboy reader Dan has sucessfully quit smoking for 40 days now, thanks to Pokemon Pearl! While this is not due to the inherent addictiveness of the game itself, it gives you time to preoccupy your mind so that you'll not reach for that pack of pricey tobacco the next time you're lazing around. While the method varies with each individual gamer, you can also try playing Flow on the PSP - a relaxing method that will definitely soothe nerves at the same time. Then again, some gamers I know are able to play WoW and DOTA with a lit ciggie in their mouths, but that's another story for another day ;)

* If you've noticed the PG sticker on the box...........don't smoke, drink, or gamble kids! wait till you're mature in the head!

For all your Xbox 360 owners, you're probably aware that the new Forza 2 Motorsports racing game supports multiscreen display. You can play play up to 4 screens simultaneously but the only problem though is that you'll need 4 Xbox 360 and 4 copies of the game.

If anyone of you just inherited a large fortune recently, here's a quick and dirty option to get the ultimate Forza 2 rig. Feast your eyes on the VRX Triple Screen "Limited Edition 001". This baby is beyond words. Made up largely of aluminum and polished chrome, it's every couch racer's wet dream.

Plomp your overweight behind in the Sparco seat (two colors available!) and you'll be greeted with triple 37" LC-D62U Sharp Aquos 1080p displays and a nice 4" LCD for the rear view display. Don't be thinking that they'll be skimping on the audio now coz this rig is powered by a Bose Acoustimass 10 Seris surround setup driven by a Harmon Kardon AVR-144 Surround Sound receiver.  

In case you can't see in the pictures, all the 4 Xbox 360 are the Elite version too. Other goodies thrown into this package listed on the manufacturer's website include a HD DVD player, Zune, wireless headset, Live Vision, wireless wheel (duh!) and of course how can you not forget - a beverage holder.

Allright now. Enough with the talking already. Just go the VRX website here and daydream how you'll never be able to own this masterpiece of a toy for geeks and gamers.

Sigh.

PS: If you have to ask, you can't afford it.

Just a friendly reminder that tomorrow will see the start of Transformers RobotCon 2007. What's Transformers RobotCon 2007? Well if you love  the Transformers toys, cartoon, games and (soon-to-be-released) movie, you can't afford to miss out on this mega Transformer event at Cineleisure Damansara tomorrow. Autobots, roll out!

The day that gamers have been waiting for is finally over. The much-touted DirectX 10 (Shader Model 4) graphics that can only be available on Windows Vista and required a new graphic card from either the ATI Radeon HD2000 family or the NVIDIA GeForce8 series will finally be put to the test.

The Company of Heroes 1.7 patch is finally out - which supports DirectX 10.

Finally gamers can see what the hype is all about DX10 and if it was worth the upgrade - or if it's worth to upgrade.  Of course, this could only be the tip of the DX10 capability, and CoH 1.7 may not fully take advantage of what DX10 can do, when compared to other upcoming full DX10 games - like Crysis and Alan Wake.

If you have CoH and you haven't updated it before, you have to download the 1.4 patch (100MB) first, followed by the 1.7 patch (100MB). If you already have updated CoH before, you can see what patch you need to download first before updating to 1.7 from here.

If you're interested to see what DX10 adds to CoH 1.7, read on.

Remember Transport Tycoon (and its following Deluxe version)? It was a good DOS game back in those days. It was a digital replacement for guys who couldn't afford minature railroad models - or trucks, planes, and ships for that matter.

However, that only ran on DOS.  It's Windows successor, Locomotion, didn't fare too well as compared with its popular predecesscor.  Locomotion also used the Roller Coaster Tycoon 1 and 2 graphics engine - which was a far cry from Transport Tycoon's engine. So what's a Transport Tycoon lover to do in the Windows age?

Thanks to the miracle of Open Source, there's now Open Transport Tycoon Deluxe, which can take your DOS game graphics and port it over to run on Windows (even Vista)! 

You can get OTTD from here (3MB Zip file). Just make sure you have your DOS game as it needs the graphics.  OTTD comes with further enhancements like supporting RM currency:

There're also a host of other features you wished the DOS game had.  Now, you can get it all, in your glorious spanking widescreen Windows LCD screen too.

If you have 64-bit Windows XP or Vista, you can get the 64-bit version here.

If you have Linux or Mac OS (even Classic supported), you can also get their versions from here. There are also Handheld versions for Pocket PC (now known as Windows Mobile), but you can always search the Web for that.