E3 07: Unreal Tournament 3 Hands-On
As part of Sony’s annual press conference here at E3 2007, the company revealed that Epic’s Unreal Tournament 3 would be coming exclusively to the PlayStation 3 this November. While that sounds like a real bummer for PC owners, you need to remember that, for whatever reason, the console makers seem to forget that the PC exists. So the game will be releasing on the PlayStation 3 and the PC this November. Regardless of all that, Midway brought the PlayStation 3 version to Sony’s press conference, and we got a chance to play this long-awaited first-person shooter on its new console home.
This first-person shooter appears to be running quite well on the PlayStation 3, with plenty of graphical detail from top to bottom, all running at a good, firm frame rate. The demo station we saw was running a standard deathmatch against bots, allowing us to get a good feel for the controls. R1 and L1 handle your primary and alternate fire. R2 is used for dodging, something that required you to double-tap the movement keys on the PC. Epic’s Jeff Morris, who was on hand to talk about the game, commented that he’s been dodging much more frequently on the PS3 because of this easy-to-use controller mapping.
Aside from the PS3 version looking to be on par with the PC version, the other key thing to know is that the PS3 version of the game will have support for mods and other user-created content, in a way that sounds like it will be a first for consoles. Mods built for the PC version will work on the PS3 version of the game. Right now, Epic is testing this functionality by copying the content onto a memory stick and then copying that to the PS3 hard drive. But they’re hoping to get the PC removed from that equation to make mod and map downloading a part of the PS3 version. To speed up the loading process overall, the game can be completely installed to the PS3 hard drive, but you’ll still need to have the disc in the drive for copy-protection purposes.
To hear Epic describe it, there are only a few differences between the PS3 and PC versions. And aside from the controller differences, the two versions do look quite similar. For one, the game will implement Sixaxis tilt control for steering the hoverboard or piloting the redeemer missile, which is a superweapon that you can steer into targets. Game speed and the size of collision areas are also being adjusted a bit to better tune the game for gamepads.
Overall, the PlayStation 3 version looks impressive, and the idea of mod support just might make it a viable alternative for a series that’s primarily thought of as a PC franchise. It’ll be interesting to see how the two versions stack up when they hit stores this November.
GameSpot.com

If you need to install it – there is one less panfull way. You can install it in just a two minutes

We’ll teach you!

Paper Shredder
The new employee stood before the paper shredder looking confused.
“Need some help?” a secretary asked.
“Yes,” he replied. “How does this thing work?”
“Simple,” she said, taking the fat report from his hand and feeding it into the shredder.
“Thanks, but where do the copies come out?”

Mutt Gets $3 Million for Saving Drew Barrymore
On Dec. 10, celebrity Drew Barrymore, 27, followed through on her promise to reward her life-saving pooch with a new dog house. That’s the understatement of the year; Ms. Barrymore placed her entire Beverly Hills home, valued at $3 million, in trust with her Yellow Lab mutt “Flossie”.
Feb. 18, 2001, Flossie had awoken Ms. Barrymore and her husband Tom Green just in time to escape a devastating fire.
At around 3:00am, the dog barked and “literally banged on their bedroom door,” stated Ms. Barrymore’s spokesperson.
Some viewed the heroic act as payback for an act of kindness years ago. A friend of the family described, “Drew rescued Flossie from a flea market in Pasadena years ago and Flossie returned the favor.”
Thanks to the alert canine, everyone made it out safely before the inferno gutted the home, causing $600,000 damage.
22 months later, with the 3,600-square-foot home rebuilt, Ms. Barrymore thought it would be fitting to give it to Flossie.
“Drew and Tom love that dog more than anything in the world,” said a family friend. “They want to know she’ll always have a roof over her head.”
[Source: DogsInTheNews]

Norwegian kids make a roller coaster loop on the train tracks

Funny commercial

Roller coaster world records These are the tallest steel continuous-circuit roller coasters in the world. Parentheses indicate when that coaster was tallest.
1. Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure, Jackson Township, New Jersey, USA, 139m / 456 feet (May 2005 - Present)
2. Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point, Sandusky, Ohio, USA, 128 m / 420 feet (May 2003 - May 2005)
3. Steel Dragon 2000 at Nagashima Spa Land, Nagashima, Mie, Japan, 97 m / 318 feet (August 2000 - May 2003). Note: this coaster was not active May 2003 - September 2006. It has been reopened since September 3, 2006.
4. Millennium Force at Cedar Point, Sandusky, Ohio, USA, 94.5 m / 310 feet (May 2000 - August 2000)
5. Thunder Dolphin at LaQua Korakuen Park, Tokyo, Japan, 80 m / 263 feet
6. Fujiyama at Fuji-Q Highland, Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi, Japan, 79 m / 259 feet (July 1996 – May 2000)
7. Eejanaika at Fuji-Q Highland, Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi, Japan, 76 m / 249.33 feet
8. Titan at Six Flags over Texas, Arlington, Texas, USA, 74.7m / 245 feet
9. Silver Star at Europa Park, Rust, Baden Wuerttemberg, Germany, 72.8m / 239 feet
10. Goliath at Six Flags Magic Mountain, Valencia, California, USA, 71.6 m / 235 feet
Source: Wikipedia

Pop’n Music
Pop’n Music (ポップンミュージック), commonly shortened to Pop’n or PNM), is a music video game in Konami’s Bemani series. The game is notable for its bright colors, upbeat songs, and cute character graphics. Although Pop’n Music was originally intended to be played by couples on dates, it has greatly escalated in difficulty since early iterations, and has since then attracted many players of beatmania and other Bemani games. Originally released in 1998, the game has had 15 home releases in Japan as well as many arcade versions.
Console versions
The following games have only been released in Japan and Asia.
Pop’n Music and Pop’n Music 2 were released on the PlayStation and the Dreamcast, and for both consoles two further append discs were released: Pop’n Music 3 and Pop’n Music 4. These latter two versions required a “key disc”, i.e. one had to already possess Pop’n Music 2. A special controller featuring the nine colored buttons of the arcade version of the game was released for both consoles.
Pop’n Music 5, Pop’n Music 6, Pop’n Music Animation Melody and Pop’n Music Disney Tunes were then released for the PlayStation, but there were no further releases on the Dreamcast. Pop’n Music 5 and 6 could be used as “key discs” to play the append discs mentioned above.
Pop’n Music 7, 8, 9, 10,11,Iroha (12), and Carnival (13) were released on the PlayStation 2, as well as an anthology version, Pop’n Music Best Hits. A revised controller was also released for the PS2, though it is also compatible with the original PlayStation. Pop’n Music Fever (14) is set to be released in the Summer of 2007.
The Game Boy Color also had three Pop’n Music games: Pop’n Music GB, Pop’n Music GB Animation Melody, and Pop’n Music GB Disney Tunes.
Soundtracks
You can even google for “Pop’n Music Original Soundtrack” - and you’ll find it - on audio CDs!

Note form author
Basically, the house was our university house (they crammed 12 of us into the one end terrace), and often in middlesbrough they have troop parades up and down the street which is quite a big thing and requires alot of policing. So we set up the camera opposite our house while all the police were there, opened the window ajar and three of my friends looked like they were breaking in a stole a empty cardboard box, just to prove that the police were too caught up in themselves to do anything about it. Of course if they did talk to us we could just say that it was our house and we were making a video for uni or something. So it is real insofar as there were police with the opportunity to arrest us there, but didn’t even notice. Also, there is absolutely no editing gone on in it.

Parrot facts
Some species of the parrot have become endangered. Thousands are brought to Europe and North America as pets. Many of these die making this journey.

Parrots have a wide range of articulations. Wild parrots do not imitate. Only pets will mimic people and noises they hear. The African gray parrots are the best mimics.

Parrots are hole nesters. They build their nests in holes in trees, termite mounts, rock cavities, or ground tunnels. A few exceptions will build stick nests.

More than 90 percent of the parrots imported into the United States are probably wild caught.

It is thought that two million parrots alone are legally or illegally traded each year.
More than 1.8 million parrots legally entered the international trade from 1982-1988 of which 80 percent were imported into the United States.

Recent figures suggest that 40 percent of these species are threatened primarily by habitat destruction, 17 percent primarily by trade, 36 percent by a combination of the two causes and 7 percent by other factors.

At least 30 percent of the 140 parrot species found in the Western Hemisphere are now threatened with extinction.

An additional 25,000 parrots die of suffocation, starvation, inhumane treatment while being transported to the Texas border.

An estimated 25,000 wild parrots, caught or plucked from their nests in Mexico, are smuggled across the Texas border each year.

Every year, approximately 250,000 parrots are imported to the United States to satisfy a demand for exotic birds as pets.

In 1990 there were 11 million pet birds living in 5.1 million households in the US
By 1996 the number of pet birds had grown to 40 million while the number of homes remained fairly consistent at 5.9 million.

In the wild, Macaws and Cockatoos can fly 500 miles per day in search of food!
Some parrot vocalizations can be heard for up to 1 mile!

Wild parrots live in the forest of tropical zones including South America, Australia, and New Guinea. A few live in Africa and mainland Asia.

Larger parrots such as the macaws and cockatoos live more than 75 years.

Smaller parrots live 10 to 15 years.

Parrots have large heads and short necks.

Some American parrots are mostly blue or yellow.

Most parrots are predominantly green, especially the ones from South America.

Parrots weigh from just a few ounces to 3½ pounds.

Parrots range in size from the pygmy of the South Pacific which is only 3,5 inches long to the hyacinth macaw which is about 10 inches long. Much of its length is in its long tail.

Parrots are divided into groups such as cockatoos, lories, lovebirds, macaws, and parakeets.

Three hundred and twenty-eight different species of parrots live on the Earth.

There are 315 species of parrot in the world.

Parrots cannot eat chocolate because it is poisonous to their body.

Source: ThinkQuest

Why do they bark?
It’s cat behavior in the context of hunting–telling other cats (in effect) “Shh! I’ve seen a bird, I’m going to to try to catch it.” Depending on how close the bird (or other prey) is, the sound can be a whisper. It’s not the usual cat meow, it’s not meant to be, as that might alert the target. I’d like to be corrected if I need to be. If you own a cat and a garden frequented by birds, try to be around your cat in the presence of birds to test what I’ve just said here.

WII-mote facts.
One of the big questions about the Wii-mote has remained how it will be powered. Official documentation on the topic offers some answers. The pointer will accept two AA alkaline batteries, which will keep it going for a considerable amount of time. If the precision aim functionality of the pointer is being used in games, the device will run for approximately 30 hours. If only the accelerometer functionality is being utilized, the Wii-mote will operate for 60 hours on two AA batteries.

The controller communicates with the Wii console via Bluetooth technology on a 2.4GHz band.

The Wii-mote features 6KB of “non-volatile” memory, whose exact purpose remains a mystery. IGN Wii speculates that this throwaway memory could possibly be used in conjunction with the Wii-mote’s recently revealed internal speaker. It’s also possible that this memory could enable players to store custom settings for the controller. However, official documentation does not specify one way or the other. In fact, Nintendo is currently offering developers no means to interact with the controller’s internal speaker despite showing off games such as The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
[Via: IGN]