Zune Suicide? Programmer reveals the problem

zune-30-fail

Okay, so the massive Z2K has come and gone, we have to figure out why such a widespread problem had such a simple fix - wait till it dies, then turn it back on. Wait….what?! Out of nowhere, the Zune’s started working again, so yeah, problem solved. Here is the explanation from itsnotabigtruck of Zune Boards:

The Zune’s real-time clock stores the time in terms of days and seconds since January 1st, 1980. When the Zune’s clock is accessed, the driver turns the number of days into years/months/days and the number of seconds into hours/minutes/seconds. Likewise, when the clock is set, the driver does the opposite.

The Zune frontend first accesses the clock toward the end of the boot sequence. Doing this triggers the code that reads the clock and converts it to a date and time. Below is the part of this code that determines the year component of the date:

Under normal circumstances, this works just fine. The function keeps subtracting either 365 or 366 until it gets down to less than a year’s worth of days, which it then turns into the month and day of month. Thing is, in the case of the last day of a leap year, it keeps going until it hits 366. Thanks to the if (days > 366), it stops subtracting anything if the loop happens to be on a leap year. But 366 is too large to break out of the main loop, meaning that the Zune keeps looping forever and doesn’t do anything else.

So, the massive Zune suicide was just a problem of the leap year, and can also be found in a few other portables such as Toshiba’s S series.HA!!! We can just hope that Microsoft has a fix for this before 2012, the next leap year.

Link

If you love Windows XP, you’ll hate Windows 7

microsoft_windows_xpWow, what the fuck is this all about? If you love Windows XP….you’ll hate Windows 7…interesting. The author of this article, Ed Bott, tells of a colleague of his that complains that Windows 7 is hard to migrate to if you’re on Windows XP. Here’s a little bit of the article:

The crux of Jason’s complaint is simple: “I learned how to use Windows in 1998. Don’t change a thing.” Here’s his main argument in a nutshell:

I find it difficult to believe that Windows 7 was created to be easier to use than Vista — if anything, they’ve introduced a number of UI changes that make the system much harder to navigate, particularly if you’ve never used Vista and are going direct to Windows 7 from Windows XP, which is the path that many users will experience.

Apparently “Jason’s” complaints are about the icons on the desktop not being there, and changes that apparently didn’t have to be made. So what the fuck? If you’re using Windows XP, and that’s what you’re used to, then fucking stick with it and don’t buy and upgrade to Windows 7. I use both Windows Vista and Windows XP on my desktop and laptop, and messing around with Windows 7, I think it’s perfectly fine.

Of course, you are going to have the people who bitch about the navigation that’s different, the different programs in locations that you don’t know of, yeah, that’s what you get when you upgrade your operating system, and that’s how it’s always been, and always will be.

I just don’t get what there is to complain about. When you upgrade your operating system on your computer, you should expect the graphical and user interface changes, as well as the navigation changes. There are obviously always ways to change the graphics back to the good ol’ Windows 97 style, but that’s obviously too hard.

I think this is a case of laziness, and if you want to upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7, then you’re going to have to rtfm (read the fucking manual), that will help you out immensely.

Link

Do People Really Believe that Sony is going to Cancel the PS3?

ps3-upright

Go to Google, and search “Sony Cancel PS3″, at this time of writing, it turned up 3,180,000 results. It seems that PlayStationGamerUk found this out, and is, well, pissed. I don’t think I’ve ever entered it, or even thought of doing so, because of how ridiculous it is. The PlayStation 3 is pretty much Sony’s last hope, and it’s not doing bad. Even though it has sold less than every other console out there, it has great games on it, and more with the release of Killzone 2 and more.

Without further ado, here’s a little snipped of the article posted:

While clearly the people entering these searches are most likely not that familiar with the gaming industry and clearly unaware that the PlayStation 3 has seen solid sales since its release and like all consoles isn’t going to go everywhere. It does peg the question why did they ask it in the first place. After looking into it there are some reasons why they may ask the question.

The first of which is the recent NPD data which has been released for November and a lot of the mainstream news outlets have taken this data and focused on how the PlayStation 3 sales were down on this time last year in the US. Now the average person may read this and come to the quick conclusion that this means that sony are going to stop making it which then makes them going on to google and see whats actually going on.

Read the full article here

OPM Scores Killzone 2, Street Fighter IV, Persona 4

OPM is the first website that I know of to review Killzone 2, as well as other games. The don’t really give much info other than a score, but yeah, can’t wait to review Killzone 2.

Killzone 2 (PS3) 5/5
Street Fighter IV (PS3) 5/5
Persona 4 (PS2) 4.5/5
PES 2009 (PS3) 4.5/5
Shaun White Snowboarding (PS3) 3.5/5
Sonic Unleashed (PS3) 3/5
EndWar (PS3) 3/5
Rise of the Argonauts (PS3) 2.5/5

Link

The 2009 Speacial From Valve

20090101-fjbpqam68c4f73ckicuk828r7d

That’s right just click on the link, and you can get every game in the Steam library for free! Or…maybe not. if you click that link you are directed to valveservers35.t35.com where you are asked to login with your Value information. Yeah, you probably don’t want to do that seeing as how you get:

20090101-qwkc8x12tkqbdsfpex4n2pkt9kValve has been informed of this, and we’re patiently awaing a reply. In the mean time, stay very, very far away from the site. IT WILL STEAL YOUR SOUL!!!

Link

The best. Headshot. EVAR!!!

fallout-3-headshot-1-1

Check out this amazing video here

New Mac Mini at Macworld, Will Look Like iMac + Time Capsule

horriblemacminiThat’s…interesting to say the least. This wildely rumoured device will have the iMac-esque black plastic instead of white, and have a lip like Time Capsule. The lip conceals the Mac mini’s optical drive slot, and the hard drive is now a SATA, so you could possibly swap it out for another hard drive if you want.

No other information has been given out yet, but look forward to it at the Macworld conference, and yeah, stop asking for blu-ray!

Link

Happy New Years Everybody!

new-year-imageHappy New Year to all of the Default Prime visitors today on behalf of all of the authors and contributers here that don’t do anything! We had a great year in 08, now it’s time for 09, and time to screw up on all of your checks that your writing. I hope we can continue the momentum that we’re gathering here, and hopefully we can continue the stream of great games that have been coming out!

Welcome Bad Ass Gamer to the SlackrMedia Gaming Blogs!

What a recent turn of events. I’ve been talking to the owner of Bad Ass Gamer, and we discussed a deal on a link exchange. This soon turned into a deal where he would join my SlackrMedia network of blogs. He is now a part of the blog network, and we’re helping him out with costs, and trying to push some traffic his way. Go over there right now - they have some great articles, and leave a comment and show that you’re not just trolling around. Thanks a lot Bad Ass Gamer, I am extremely happy to have you as a part of the team. ;)

Go To Bad Ass Gamer Now!

To The Media: Stop The Playstation 3 Bashing, Now

Yeah, fuck. Like I would ever say something like that. Now don’t get all pissed off if you thought I was fucking serious cause I’m not. GameGazette.net is pissed about all of the PS3 bashing, and is ordering all game journalists and bloggers to stop it…NOW. Here’s a little excerpt of the article - click over to see the whole thing, and the flame war that is going on between 360 and PS3 fanboys.

It actually all started when CNN Money.com, a place that shouldn’t even be talking about this subject like they know anything about gaming, reported about the Playstation 3 having one bad month. Someone should’ve told them about the eight consecutive months that the Playstation 3 outsold the Microsoft XBox 360 in this same year beforehand, or that Microsoft wasn’t able to sell more 360s in January or February of 2008 than they did during those same months the year before. At that time, the sluggish sales of the 360 was claimed to have been “shortage of the system”. Of course, the portable pubic chorus never did question it, much like they never have questioned much about anything about the 360 or Microsoft this current generation (and when, by some stroke of God, they actually did, it was pitiful at best). There was nothing like the phenomenon we now have.

It is a shock to what CNN actually started. Every person under the sun with a gaming blog and a hatred for everything Sony suddenly decided that since CNN got the hits to their website that they wanted by a flame-bait article, they would have as much luck, and suddenly, they come out with a post about how doomed the system is, then others see two, three, four, TEN articles, within half a week, repeating everything that CNN and everyone else said beforehand, so much so that you could probably win a case against them plagiarizing the articles that came before hand, and delivering suggestions such as “take out the Blu-Ray player”, suggestions that may make the person who suggested it needing a defense for a sanity hearing. No matter how many times someone calls out the person that wrote it, or say that it’s nothing new, no one is there to listen, or they hear it and don’t care.

Link

WATCH OUT! Massive Zune Suicide!

microsoft_120gb_zune-218-85You better not shout, you better not cry, you better not pout I’m telling you why….cuz your Zune is going to die…tonight! Anyhows, away from the Christmas esque song, an unspecified number of Zune 30’s died at the exact same time accross this US this week. It’s a massive Zune suicide. We all knew it was going to happen.

Gizmodo reports that “the players began freezing at about midnight last night, becoming totally unresponsive and practically useless” and that the “crisis has been dubbed by Zune users ‘Y2K9′, due to the apparently synchronized faceplantings across the country.”

An anonymous tipster from Gizmodo explained that the Zune’s appeared to “either reset, or were already off” and that “when turning on, the thing loads up and… freezes with a full loading bar… it seems everyone with a 30GB HDD model has had this happen to them.”

Wow, good thing I don’t own a Zune…..or have ever touched one for that matter. Hope Microsoft gets this problem fixed….and that it’s not in the Xbox 360’s as well. Yeah, that would be bad.

Link

Add Free WiFi Capabilities to Your Xbox 360!

xbox-router2

DIY Wireless for Your Xbox

Time: 30 minutes
Cost: $15-$50

  1. Before buying a router for this project, check dd-wrt.com to make sure the specific model is supported. If so, download the right version of the software to your computer.
  2. Follow the installation instructions on dd-wrt.com for your specific router model. This may require you to change your computer’s network settings. Connect the router to your modem and your computer with Ethernet cables. Update the router’s firmware with the DD-WRT software.

Check out the rest of the instructions here

Page 2 of 35«12345678910»...Last »