iand.net

It’s gone. I’m really surprised it was up as long as it was - I thought it would be easier to shutdown. I’ll return to newsgroups using newzBin. At this rate we’ll soon have to pay for stuff.

I have it. It plays wonderfully. And yes - that’s far too gushing for what is a mere game, but there you have it. Oh…and I have it for the ps2 even though I swore I would wait for the Xbox version.

What did it for me was a visit to Graham’s. He had picked up a Slide Tool and was playing Winning Eleven Soccer 8. It was superb. Graphically a step up from Pro Evo 3 and with much better gameplay. To top it all it had been patched with English menu’s and custom music and graphics - absolute class (and if anyone is interested it was the Ole mix of Winning Eleven 8 - check out Evoweb for more info.) So I ordered a slide tool, got the Ole mix and waited patiently for Mr Postman to deliver. Then I saw a Pro Evo 4 torrent.

2 days later (1 seed for the torrent and 2000 people downloading) and I’ve been playing pro evo for the last couple of hours. Some notable improvements:

• Player animations are increased and more life like. Players themselves look a lot more realistic
• Improved AI - the off the ball movement of other players opens up the game. Console games are also a lot tougher than previous versions. If you are winning you can see a noticeable step up by the opposition - they really hustle you for the ball.
• Free kicks harder (maybe just different rather than harder)
• Speed - its fast. Really fast.
• Referee giving you a warning and not a booking
• Referee is now visible during play
• Proper use of the advantage rule. If you don’t gain an advantage from it the whistle is blown and you get a free kick.
• No slowdown at corner kicks (unlike Winning Eleven)
• A better attempt at real player names. Team names still mince though - Old Firm Blue vs Old Firm Green? Still, there will be an option file soon enough to sort that, or you could import a PES 3 one while you wait.

There’s probably more to add to this, but you get the drift. All it needs is online support (Xbox this November) and a wide-screen option (hopefully Xbox this November…but I have my doubts).

*Update* - there is some slowdown with certain stadiums. The old ps2 just isn’t up to it. Select 50Hz at the start of the game and you should have no problems at all.

Much has been made of the source code being stolen from Valve by hackers - story can be read here. Most ironic is that most of the users making a fuss probably have a copied Windows XP, Office XP (maybe even 2003 by now) and who knows what else. Fools.

Missed this over the last week. Album sales are up on last year as seen in this article from the Guardian. Also worth mentioning is this article which mentions that 87% of people who download music tracks are likely to buy the album on CD. Both of these are in contrary to the perception from the music industry that the internet is destroying its business.

For years people have copied music. In days of old tape decks were used to copy music and more recently cd-writers. But now if I buy a cd chances are I can’t copy the music to my Ipod and I can’t copy the album as mp3’s to my car mp3/cd player. Some of the albums don’t even play in the car. This forces me into downloading the tracks from the net so that I can listen to them on all my devices. Farce. Its time for the law not to side with the minority in the music industry but the majority which is the buying public - if I buy music I should be able to use on any device I own.

Wired has an article on the RIAA subpoenas that are currently being filed. To check if the RIAA want you, visit the EFF. If theres one way for the music industry to alienate its customer base, this is it.