our top picks of the steam sale until 18:00 GMT july 8th 2011

Posted on July 7, 2011 8:16 pm by lartens

Some top quality classics are lined up on their own or in the franchise packs. I’m looking at counter strike packs with 6 items and a quake pack with 8 items. Each pack costs £4.24 at 75% off each. There are loads more offers, just some were old street fighter for £9.99, and GTA IV: Complete Edition includes Grand Theft Auto IV and Episodes from Liberty City at £16.74

Counter Strike includes
Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat, Deathmatch Classic, Ricochet, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, Counter-Strike: Source

Quake includes
Quake, Quake 2, Quake 2 Ground Zero, Quake 2 The Reckoning, Quake 3 arena, Quake 3 Team Arena, Quake scourge of armagon, Quake Dissolution of Eternity

Posted in Games, General, lartens, Mac, News, PC | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Microsoft 5000 bluetooth mouse on a macbook sometimes fails to pair after update

Posted on July 7, 2011 7:09 pm by lartens

This is just a quick post on how some folks have made their microsoft 5000 mouse pair with their macbooks again after updates 10.6.6 -8 or at all, i just bought one and where it worked on the bootcamp windows partition straight off, it gave a pairing error on the mac. The answer is to reset the smc on a macbook, see http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964 for details but basically for a mbp at least, when the computer is off, but still plugged into the mains, press left shift + control + option and the power button simultaneously, and let go simultaneously then turn on the computer, i didn’t see anything happen, though i wasn’t looking at the light on the magsafe, but it did pair after the reboot, when adding the device again, not automatically. So some of you who already had it paired after an update may need to remove it in the bluetooth settings first, maybe not, i can’t comment on that, its just ideas bouncing around. For macbooks where you can take the battery out apparently you do exatly that, hold the power for five seconds then put the battery back in etc. None portables are just leave unplugged for 15 seconds. Its all in the link above anyway.

Posted in General, lartens, Mac, Quirks, Tech | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Minecraft whats coming up, notch recaps whats been leaked so far

Posted on July 5, 2011 11:17 pm by lartens

We know that notch has got a lot on his plate at the moment, the fellas getting married in August, he was cake tasting earlier and met a fan according to his tweet, but in his latest blog post over at http://notch.tumblr.com/post/7276719413/coming-soon he shows off the shiney new logo for the adventure update courtesy of @jnkboy and mentions a few of the 40+ features and things to add to the game before its release sometime in what was originally November, some of them are going to be in the Adventure update which he hasn’t mentioned when that is but only that they plan on hitting the target they have set, one of the features was a bit of discussion on his public status on google+ today, he mention the sprinting and then his followers chimed in with the risk ideas for it, like crafting trainers that are durable, or having a special slot for thins like that and so on.

Hopefully the Adventure Update is in plenty of time before his wedding as no doubt the crowd sourcing of bug testing will find a few of the nasty buggers which he’ll likely update in quick time to appease the fans. And we don’t want him in a panic right before his big day. We wish notch and his fiancee all the best for the future.

So the list so far
NPC villages
Randomly generated dungeons
New biome code
Fully working Creative Mode (and individual admins can enter Creative Mode on a Survival Mode server if they choose)
Critical hits
Sprinting
More farming options

The modding support is also happening still, though i get the impression this is not at the forefront, whisch is fine, i want to play more before i possible mod 🙂

We are waiting with baiting breath for the more fleshed out game, though the new pistons look like fun to explore, at grig we(i) havent really played with the redstone and circuits, but i shall devote time this week to play a little. But need to be learning some real web developer stuff to start looking for employement soon.

Posted in Games, General, lartens, Mac, News, PC | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Happy 15th Birthday NiGHTS into Dreams

Posted on July 5, 2011 4:13 pm by lartens

NiGHTS MemorabiliaHurrah, 3 cheers for NiGHTS, the original Sega Saturn NiGHTS that is, it was 15 years ago today that the inovative flying platformer by Sonic Team was released over in Japan. Lead by Yuji Naka, the creator of Sonic the Hedghog, NiGHTS focuses on flying round a course collecting orbs and flying through hoops which counts up links for extra score, the more links one has atained the less time there is to sucessfully continue the combo, the higher the score the higher the grade. If ever there was a game for online leader boards it is this, http://www.scoreattack.net/ filled this gap for a while but hasnt been updated or supported in a while, instead Charlie has moved things to http://nidscores.com/ and is now the place to compete with other fans.

NiGHTS into Dreams came with the 3D aaolog controller, which has a different feel than current analog pads out there, and is far better for the control of NiGHTS, at the time analog controllers were very new, the n64 was the first console to come with it and that was released less than a few weeks before NiGHTS.

Complementing the visual appeal of nights and its fluid gameplay was an incredibly delight of music, composed mainly by Naofumi Hataya, Tomoko Sasaki and Fumie Kumatani and changing acompanyments depending on the mood of the Nightopians that enhabited the level, NiGHTS into dreams used a the A-Life system where by nights could hatch nightopian eggs and release a new friendly nightopian into the world, sometimes they would have their own little actions like singing or sleeping etc, if NiGHTS paralooped near them though it would be very bad, and they would be unhappy an the Background music would change to reflect this, not in a cinimatic piece way just as a slight change in the melody of the BGM until they were happier.

In celebration of the 15 years of NiGHTS, http://www.nid15.com/ is gathering votes to get the original ported over to modern consoles, much like Guardian heroes and radiant silvergun are getting a second chance real soon. Though NiGHTS had a second chance in Japan only in 2008 with an updated graphics release for the ps2. We’re hoping this could make it easier to port it to XBLA.

As a NiGHTS fan i have collected some err colelctables? including some soundtrack cd’s released in Japan, some and the japanese versions of the game, including the special Christmas promo which is the bestest Christmasy feeling game EVER. Love it.

the picture above starting in the top left has the dreampack collection for ps2 which comes with a book below it and the ps2 gameto the right, above that is the sega saturn christmas nights japan release. to the right of that is the original 1996 release of the soundtrack and the other below is a 3 disc set titled “perfect collection” which was released in 2008 at the same time the ps2 version of the game was released. Top right is the Uk origianl game packaged with the 3D controller, my original christmas nights game from when i purchased Daytone cce from electronics boutique, and a spare. Below is the japanese sega saturn game and UK saturn game, the version from the anolog box set and a version that came as just the game in the regular tall box. Moving left is one of the japanese guides to NiGHTS, thenthe english guide, and finally a classic sega saturn magazine with a nights feature. I also have the japanese white analog controler for nights, and the christmas nights disc that came with sega saturn magazine one year.

Further more to my boring insights into what stuff i have are the unboxing videos dibbs ahoy took when i opend up some of my nights music cds recently purchased from ebayers in Japan.

Posted in consoles, Games, General, lartens | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Steam daily sales are goooood, magicka, super meat boy and half life and valve sets on the cheap

Posted on July 3, 2011 1:25 am by lartens

half life sale on steam
The steam summer sale is now on hehe. Those of you with a steam account will no doubt know there’s a good deal to be had most days, but today is a particualrly good day, there’s a valve pack of 24 games which includes the likes of portal 2, left for dead 1 and 2, counter-strike, half life you name it, all for £24.99, that’s 82% off fool. if that’s too rich how about just the half life games and team fortress classic for £6.74, if you’ve never played any of the half life series how about shelling out £1.49 to see how it began with half life 1, as that didnt come with the orange box i haven’t even played it, and i’m gonna get it, there’s just one catch, the site isn’t currently letting me, maybe it’s falling over and by morning it’ll be sorted, it wants to be sorted, i want my bargains, i’m also thinking magicka, packages of 66% off, there’s just the game at £2.71, a four pack so you can give your friends it as a gift for £8.15, or you can get a pack with a load of addons for £5.75. Bargains the lot of them, there’s plenty more on offer so go check it out, it looks like some end at 18:00 hours tomorrow. Also Note that although super meat boy is on sale, it’s best played with a control pad, so for that reason i recomend purchasing it on xbox.

Posted in Games, General, lartens, Mac, News, PC | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Toot toot, Sonic worrier!

Posted on July 1, 2011 11:11 pm by Dibbs Ahoy

‘I take one step forward, I take two steps back.’ So go the lyrics derived from the wisdom of countless ages that will transcend the generations and that great theologians will muse contemplatively over for years to come (Paula Abdul, Opposites Attract circa 1988).

So the Sonic Generations demo has landed as reported earlier in the week and by all indications it looks like the hog is finally getting his act together. Things are seeming positive, and aside from the peculiar button-lag-infested PS3 demo, there’s not much you can see as going wrong thus far.

But Sega can’t have that!

In the peculiar absence of any news regarding part 2 of shamed series wrecker Sonic 4, a new project is surely called for in order to plumb the darkest depths of the chunder-barrel once again! Thus in typical Sega fashion, they have to go and ruin things by claiming that the Sonic ‘storybook trilogy’ is still incomplete. But pray tell, what the Grig is the Sonic storybook trilogy, I hear you cry? Well, remember Sonic and the Secret Rings and Sonic and the Black Knight? The Wii games? Yeah, the Wii. That dusty thing under your nans 1975 dial TV that she played that time? Oh forget it.Clearly having not fully suppressed the traumatic memory of that particular Sonic avenue, we cower in the wake of the promise that there’s more to come. Unless you hadn’t realised otherwise, the ‘trilogy’ reference sadly means there’s one more episode in this sorry tale of woe. Not content with having dragged Sonic thoroughly through a valley of excretion in the previous two outings, Sega Mexico (famed for… being part of Sega?) claim Sega are strapping Sonics raw and bloodied ankles well and truly to the Sega emblazoned turd-tractor once again just to drag him through one more time to finish the job.

Sonic Crying

But that’s not all folks!

Just as Sega clearly seem to hope that we’ve forgotten about their recent promise to cease pumping out excessive numbers of Sonic games in a bid to try and focus the series and stop smearing him all over everyone’s life, the Sega rep has also thrown news of a new Sonic and Sega Superstars game into the mix. Quite what this future travesty will be is anyones guess with previous titles humiliated in the genres of Tennis and ‘Kart’ racing. Seldom ones to learn a lesson, could Sega be readying Allstars Racing 2? Technically not a Sonic game per se, we know, but the previous outing certainly made sure it didn’t deviate from Sega’s road map to the low quality software of recent years. As for a Tennis sequel, it’s hard to get much hype for the thought of Amy Rose hitting the courts again when we’ve all spent the week watching Maria Sharapova grunt her way to the Wimbledon final. Add Cream the Rabbit to the mix however, and then we might be talking. Anyway…

Now we’re not ones here at Grig to judge games before they’re out – at least, we pretend we’re not – but the chances of Sega having some quality up their sleeve is far outweighed by the probability of them having something of a clay-like consistency sliding down their inside leg. No other Kart game has ever even equalled Mario Kart, yet the failed attempts have done little in stopping people from trying. From Sega’s side of the fence, Sonic Drift couldn’t do it back in the day, and likewise Sonic and Sega Allstars Racing can’t do it now. Heck, even Mario Kart isn’t as good as Mario Kart – and by that I’m talking about the REAL Mario Kart on the SNES. Those blue shells of the modern games can go and suck a… er… Birdo propelled egg! That’s right! Pwned by Grig again! Sigh… But please Sega, no more! And please acknowledge that there was a reason Sega Superstars Tennis had it’s price cut in half within days of launch – more is not required! Alas I fear the wisdom of Grig doth fall on deaf ears.

Anyhoo, we can but live in hope. As we say, Sonic Generations is looking mighty fine, and until we get our hands on that finished bad boy Sonic can go to the FIFA, Cricket, Darts and shove penny World Cups, fight every Capcom, Tekken and Dead or Alive character, be a fitness instructor, bald space marine, or soldier in a modern day conflict, or any other such absurd nonsense that Sega could potentially speedy-boot shoe horn the former hero in on, coz I don’t care! Just one good Sonic game Sega, and make it Generations! That’s all I ask for!

If we could offer just one piece of advice for the future, it’s that Sega – please just remember, as a great philosopher once wrote:

In the end, who’s on your side, Who can you trust, in the middle of the night? Where will you be, if ya can’t find you. There’s no place to go, nothing to do. If you gotta do something, gotta do something, believe in yourself, yourself, yourself, HEY!

10 Grig points for all those that get what the grig I’m going on about there!

Peace my Griggers!

Posted in consoles, Dibbs Ahoy, Games, General, HandHeld consoles, iPad, iPhone and iOs, News, PS3, Retro, Sega, XBox 360 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Fixing html 5 validation errors on a self hosted wordpress blog

Posted on July 1, 2011 5:51 pm by lartens

So it was bout a month ago when suddenly the validator at http://validator.w3.org/ decided that it was going to be picky about the values in the “rel” attribute. Although i fixed this for grigorig back then i didn’t have time to write a post at the time, what with exams happening etc, but with the latest update to WordPress overwriting some files i decided to make sure i catalog the events and tell you, our 2 or 3 readers where to edit what files. Incidentally as i type this i’m making my way through a bowl of vanilla ice cream with a broken up crunchy bar mixed in, delicious. for best results on the crumbling a crunchy bar just twist it inside the packaging from the end and let it fall in the ice cream.

Anyhoo, the html 5 wordpress fixes. You will need an ftp client like filezilla and a text editor that has the option to save files without the BOM (byte order mark). So if you are on windows i suggest notepad++ from http://notepad-plus-plus.org/ and read up on the post about bom from an earlier post here.
Non windows should be OK, i’m using coda on the mac which does the job of ftp and text editing 🙂

First in the root of the WordPress installation go to wp-includes directory and find the file category-template.php and around line 163 you should see ‘rel=”category tag”‘ : ‘rel=”category”‘
delete just the word category, you can leave tag, and leave the other one blank, this should reduce the majority of errors.

The final few are in default-filters.php which is also in the wp-includes directory

****update*****
Johan writes in the comments that the correct way to do the things i outline below is to remove them with some code in the themes functions.php instead of the core files, like the default-filters.php, it is at this point i should point out that i’m no expert, just a student about to graduate and be unemployed, so more of a bumbling baffoon if you will, anyway Johan writes “Editing WP core is NOT the way to do this as any changes will be reverted at the next update. Instead, use your theme’s functions.php

remove_action(‘wp_head’, ‘adjacent_posts_rel_link_wp_head’, 10, 0);
remove_action(‘wp_head’, ‘start_post_rel_link’, 10, 0 );
etc…”
it means this: remove_action( $tag, $function_to_add, $priority, $accepted_args );
$tag being the hook, some of the functions to remove might not need the last argument, see hollywoodgrind’s post here http://wordpress.org/support/topic/remove-feed-from-wp_head

**original***
Edit some of the add_action function calls by commenting them out, specifically those with rel link in them, the majority are under //actions at line 200
i’ve removed rsd_link, index_rel_link, parent_post_rel_link, start_post_rel_link, rel_canonical and wp_shortlink_wp_head. At one point i also had wlwmanifest_link commented out but have since left it active until i find where i thought it was invalid.

There’s another under // Misc filters called wp_rel_nofollow at around line 188

The rest of the fixes i’ve found were in the theme, i’m using the twenty-ten theme which came as default with WordPress when i installed

You may or may not have these, but they can be found in attachment.php, loop-attachment.php and footer.php
in attachemnt.php around line 18 should be rel=”gallery”. Delete just the rel=”gallery”

similarly in loop-attachment.php around lines 88 and 99 find rel=”attachment” and delete it from both lines

finally in footer.php around line 26 there’s rel=”home” which is invalid so delete that, and around line 34 is rel=”generator” also invalid so delete that too.

One last thing, some new and older posts may have rel=”attachment” still in the html of the post, usually in the src tag when inserting images, remove this from the html of the post from the editor.

That was all i found at the time, which seems to cover the main page, the single pages, archives, about page etc.

There’s a chance that some of you may have plugins installed that give errors, i’m afraid you’ll have to look elsewhere for fixes on that as i don’t have any problematic ones to give advice on. Sorry

The errors pertaining to this post are:
Bad value attachment wp-att-1509 for attribute rel on element a: Keyword attachment is not registered.

Bad value EditURI for attribute rel on element link: Keyword edituri is not registered.

…plication/rsd+xml” title=”RSD” href=”https://www.grigorig.com/xmlrpc.php?rsd” />

Bad value wlwmanifest for attribute rel on element link: Keyword wlwmanifest is not registered.

…wlwmanifest+xml” href=”https://www.grigorig.com/wp-includes/wlwmanifest.xml” />

Bad value index for attribute rel on element link: Keyword index is not registered.

Bad value canonical for attribute rel on element link: Keyword canonical is not registered.

//these next 2 are in the single page

Bad value start for attribute rel on element link: Keyword start is not registered.

…rel=’start’ title=’Hello world!’ href=’https://www.grigorig.com/hello-world/’ />

Bad value shortlink for attribute rel on element link: Keyword shortlink is not registered.

 

the rest are theme specific

gallary found in attachment.php line 18 ish

Bad value gallary for attribute rel on element a: Keyword gallary is not registered.

…mbat – The Review” rel=”gallary”>← Mo

Posted in General, lartens, Quirks, Tech | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

A re-Volt-ing SF4 cash-in?

Posted on June 30, 2011 11:08 pm by Dibbs Ahoy

Hey, did you hear about the new Street Fighter 4 that just came out? Oh, you did huh? Well hold your horses my dear Griggers, for I speaketh not of the disc release of SSFIV Arcade Edition that’s just hit the shops, oh no! Intrigued? Probably not! But read on regardless my friends!

Imagine if you will, an alternate reality version of the ‘Smell my cheese’ meeting from I’m Alan Partridge, series 1…

Partridge: What does this tell you? SF4 (original arcade), SF4 (console/PC 8 new characters edition), SF4 iTunes edition, SSF4, SSF4 3D Edition, and of course SSF4 AE?

Head of programming: There are too many of them?

Partridge: Yes… or, people like them – let’s make more of them.

Well I think Capcom must’ve been listening,  coz with this in mind my Grigs, I give you Street Fighter IV Volt!

Volt – possibly the stupidest name this year after Wii U – is the latest i-gizmo-of-your-choice incarnation of Capcoms portable SF4 and is gestating on iTunes as we speak!

Volt is the result of Capcom clearly having had enough of updating the iPhone/Pod SF4 for free, having ceased occasionally adding more characters to the very thin on the ground starting roster that we originally shelled out top i-dollar for. And so instead of continuing down that path, in time-honoured Capcom tradition they have decided that it’s time for a new injection of cash as they peddle what is essentially the same game once more whilst waving their upturned palms beneath our noses.

Naturally we here at Grig rage against all kinds of machines, sticking it to the man left right and centre and obviously won’t be taken in by such underhanded thievery. But… it is Street Fighter. Thus in the name of journalistic duty… oh, go on then!

So! Let us not focus on Capcoms Scroogery, nor the simplified controls customised for these i-devices that despite Capcoms best efforts to prove otherwise, are still useless, because we can all get hype over the inclusion of 4 new characters (One being hidden. Why?!)!

Joining the team this time are Vega, Balrog and Cody, while its being reported that the hidden character is Akuma (of course). Anyway, this brings the number of characters up to a total of 18, finally passing the roster of 1994 prequel Super Street Fighter 2. At last we’re getting somewhere! Other features boasted by this new handheld behemoth is mildly enhanced presentation (nothing to write home about, but since AE had NONE AT ALL this could be something of a Capcom-shaped revolution) and more importantly, Online play meaning you no longer have to bother with laggy blue-tooth vs battles with your friends. Heck no! Instead, we get to enjoy the wonder of laggy online matches with rage-quitting strangers instead! Woo hoo!

Anyway, if its your cup of tea its worth a look-in, especially since Capcom are using a strange price scaling method meaning that the game starts off cheap (59p), and gets more expensive over the next few days until it finally levels out at its full price on the 6th of July. It’s a bit like being held at gunpoint but having the assailant use the word ‘please’ when demanding your cash.So if you’re having trouble leaving your shiny new copy of SSFIV Arcade Edition at home – which by the way currently receives the overall Grig score of N/A, since while it’s undoubtedly brilliant, it’s frankly not a new game – then snap up Volt before the price hike!

Posted in 3DS, Arcade, consoles, Dibbs Ahoy, Fighting, Games, General, HandHeld consoles, iPad, iPhone and iOs, News, PS3, Retro, XBox 360 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Minecraft beta 1.7_01 is out with pistons and sheers

Posted on June 30, 2011 4:05 pm by lartens

So the adventure update is a little way off yet, put back to 1.8. but there’s still a few good introductions to 1.7. Pistons for one, though there is a piston mod out there, it is now part of the official minecraft. These pistons can be sticky, this means they can pull blocks as well as push, add this to some switches and redstone and there’s all sorts of possibilities, check out this short official trailer for 1.7 by hat films, then get building 🙂

Posted in Games, General, lartens, Mac, News, PC | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Xbox 360 and/or PS3 sucks! Come to us fanboys!

Posted on June 29, 2011 11:32 pm by Dibbs Ahoy

Two programming boffins have reportedly broken through Sony’s veil of falsified good graphics as the XBox 360 and PC square up to the PS3 while declaring ‘Anything you can do, we can do better!’

The team of two have enabled Sony’s rival machines to pull off the type of jaggy-smoothing graphical wizardry previously only deemed possible on the popular hack-targets flagship console, and as seen in games such as Killzone 3 and God of War 3. We here at Grig can neither confirm or deny that these two games have good graphics as we missed Killzone 3 on the grounds that the series sucks, and besides which, we were too busy playing Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball 2 which is infinitely better. As for GOW3, we’ll let you know as soon as it hits that £6.99 sweet spot! We’d happily take some of that for just shy of 7 big ones!

The graphical feature in question is some filter-related tomgriggery called MLAA anti-aliasing (probably with the AA part already standing for ‘anti aliasing’ if we cared enough to bother looking it up) and is something that has allegedly become something of a strong point for the PS3 in the eyes of many, smoothing the image over for a superior look, all the while leaving the MSAA techniques of it’s competitors eating the Playstations road, grit liver lips!

However, no more will this technique be isolated to the confines of one machine, as said developers have not only gotten it working on 360 and PC, but have actually bettered it with quicker rendering times! On PS3 the technique can be rendered at 3-4 ms, while they have been quoted as having had the 360 applying the same effect in 2.47 ms, ‘with still a lot of optimisation to try.’. Declaring aloud that their new toy had ‘raised the quality bar considerably’, Jorge Jimenez and Jose I. Echeverria certainly sound confident in their work!

Quite what all this claptrap means in the long run is anyone’s guess, and to be honest, it might as well be Greek to me. And while they go on about PS3 having such magical graphics, I will confess my PS3 might have a problem coz it looks like trash as standard for some reason while my 360 doesn’t, so I couldn’t even begin to know what the grig they’re prattling on about. But while I’m sure these new wonder-graphics are lovely, it would still need to get into the hands of other game makers, and who even knows what cost the two fella’s would be looking for to get that happening.

But let’s get down to business here. If there’s one thing that all this means, it’s that depending on your allegiance, either the PS3 sucks, or the XBox 360 sucks. The baskets lay before you comrades, feel free to start placing your eggs and tell us which it is!

Personally I think they both suck.

Sega FTW.

Posted in consoles, Dibbs Ahoy, Games, General, News, PC, PS3, Retro, Sega, Tech, Uncategorized, XBox 360 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments