Dante's Inferno Trailer

A trailer of the action-adventure game "Dante's Inferno", available in 2010 on the PS3, Xbox 360 and PSP:

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Video Games | Dante's Inferno | Cinematic Trailer HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Sony turns up the heat

More and more Sony ads are being aired on tv here in Europe, especially ones with LittleBigPlanet. This is quite a surprise, considering that Sony had previously been quite reluctant (or so it seemed) to spend big bucks on advertising, as the likes of Microsoft and Nintendo do. Anyway, here are some interesting (and short) ads of LBP:





More ads for Sony mean increased awareness of its products and, thus, increased sales. Seems like they want to turn up the heat in time for Christmas shopping, but that heat could (to be read, "should") have perhaps already been there by December to make for more buyers.

(and yes, I am very excited about LBP, it's actually being shipped to me as we speak...I mean write/read - so I can't wait :D)

Harry Potter 6 delayed

Warner Bros have announced some time ago (but I wasn't really paying any attention, so I just found out a couple of days ago) that the sixth movie in the Harry Potter series, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" has been DELAYED and will now be released next summer (July 17, 2009 to be more precise), instead of the 21'st of November.

Here it what they said about it:

"Our reasons for shifting 'Half-Blood Prince' to summer are twofold: we know the summer season is an ideal window for a family tent pole release, as proven by the success of our last Harry Potter film, which is the second-highest grossing film in the franchise, behind only the first installment," says Alan Horn, the studio's president and COO.

"Additionally, like every other studio, we are still feeling the repercussions of the writers' strike, which impacted the readiness of scripts for other films--changing the competitive landscape for 2009 and offering new windows of opportunity that we wanted to take advantage of. We agreed the best strategy was to move 'Half-Blood Prince' to July, where it perfectly fills the gap for a major tent pole release for mid-summer."

Oh, COME ON!!!11oneeleven :-(

- source: image:themovieblog.com quote: zap2it -

Harry Potter 6 new trailer

Here is the new trailer for Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince, the sixth movie in the series, and the darkest one yet. :X

Harry Potter 6 pictures

The Telegraph has posted the first pictures taken on the set of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince", the sixth movie in the Harry Potter series. It is said that it will have a darker tone than the other five, what with the threat posed by Voldemort growing and all...

Here are some of them:To view all of them, go to the gallery here.

Miorita - Euro 2008

Dupa cum sunt convins ca ati aflat cu totii, echipa Romaniei a fost eliminata din Campionatul European de Fotbal, dupa ce aseara a fost invinsa de o echipa alcatuita, majoritar, din rezervele Olandei, terminand asa-zisa "Grupa a mortii" pe locul 3, cu 2 puncte acumulate.

Unii romani au reusit sa faca haz de necaz (bravo lor!) scriind "Miorita la Euro 2008":

Pe-un picior de plai
Unde habar n-ai
Iata vin cu tot
La aeroport
Jucatori - vedete
Cu cercei si plete,
Ghiuluri, celulare,
Si cu girofare
Cu gagici frumoase,
In toale bengoase.
Se vor imbarca
Cu toti vor pleca
Spre un campionat
De toti asteptat
Cam de vreo opt ani
Sperante si bani,
Ni s-a implinit
Pohta ce-am pohtit
Ne-au aruncat sortii
intr-o grupa a mortii,
Cu darzi olandezi,
Cu cocosi francezi
Si italieni
Iuti si cam vicleni.
Cu toti am crezut
De la inceput,
Biata Miorita
Va fi chisalita,
Vom fi niste miei
In groapa cu lei,
Cu toti ne gandeam
Si ne planuiam
De la inceput
Nu-i nimic pierdut,
Sa jucam frumos
Si spectaculos,
Orice gol marcat
Sau punct castigat
Va fi pretuit
Si sarbatorit...
Umpluti de emotii,
Am infruntat sortii
Jucand primul meci
C-o echipa - terci,
De cocosi francezi
Ce ai nostri iezi
De se-nvartosau,
Sigur o bateau.
Dar am remizat
C-un zero barat
Intr-un meci inchis
De mare plictis...
Apoi a urmat,
Meciul asteptat,
Mare tevatura
Cu echipa azura,
Ce fusese incinsa,
Umilita, invinsa,
De niste batavi
Aprigi rau si bravi.
Dumnezeu din cer
Si c-un tusier
Mult ne-au ajutat,
Gol le-au anulat,
Si-un italian
Putin cam plavan,
S-a cam balbait,
Direct l-a servit
Pe al nostru Mutu,
Care a dat cu sutu'
Le-a bagat-o in plasa
Si mortul in casa.
Dar nu a tinut
Decat un minut,
Ca ne-au egalat
Dintr-un gol ciudat,
Caci un brav fundas
Zis Gabi Tamas,
Da pe langa minge
Si meciul se-ncinge.
Nenea fluieras
Cu capul golas,
Ne face cadou
Ca la anul nou,
Un pinalti mare
De calificare,
Numa' gol sa dai,
Ca noroc tot ai...
Intra iar in scens,
Vedeta eterna
Tot Mutu suteaza
Si normal, rateaza!
in toata splendoarea
Si calificarea...
Acum olandezii
Au batut francezii,
Facand cu ei bors
Zeama de cocos.
Bietii nostri iezi
Spun la olandezi
S-o lase mai moale,
Capul nu-i mai doare
Sunt calificati
Si-ar fi castigati,
Meciul lor sa-l dea,
Atunci ar scapa
De italieni
Care sunt vicleni,
Sarmanii francezi
Vad doar stele verzi,
Sunt imprastiati,
Descalificati.
In al treilea joc,
Nu mai era loc
Ss se speculeze,
Ss se parieze,
Miorita laie
Iese la bataie,
Ca e favorits
De lume iubita,
Temutii batavi
Nu mai sunt chiar bravi,
Vor sa se conserve
Au bagat rezerve,
Sunt buni de batut
De la inceput.
Joaca relaxat,
Rateaza distrat,
Ai nostri stresati
Cad ca secerati,
Cu fundul pe jos
Si joaca fricos.
Dica parca doarme,
Mutu are toane,
Contra n-are treaba
Tot cade prin iarba,
Banel tot aleargs
Mingea s-o culeaga,
Si face marcaj
La kilometraj,
Iar bietul Piturca
E satul de turca,
Schimba disperat
Dar s-a terminat!
Meciul s-a sfarsit,
Rau ne-au umilit,
Jucand cu rezerve
Iar noi cu conserve.
Vor veni in tara,
Pentru a cata oara?
Spunand raspicat:
IARASI AM RATAT!

- sursa: Ziua -

1 TB Blu-ray compatible disc announced

An optical disc capable of holding up to 1TB of data (1 TB = 1000 GB) has not only been planned, but has already been successfully tested in March 2008, the suggested date of availability being around 2010-2011.

"An article on The Register tells the news of an announcement of a new 1TB optical drive and disc that will be backwardly compatible with Blu-ray discs. The technology, developed by Call/Recall in partnership with Nichia, uses a rhodamine-type dye in a 200+-layer recording medium that gives off light when excited by a laser beam, along with a single fluid-filled lens to read multiple layers by varying the amount of fluid to change the focal length. The technology is designed to work with Nichia's blue-violet laser diodes, which are already used in Blu-ray drives."

Full article here.

- source: N4G -

Two Harry Potter 7 movies

"In the end, there can be only one!" - NOT!

The seventh Harry Potter book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" will be made into two movies, the Los Angeles Times reported, to the probable dismay of hardcore Highlander fans (yes, that's where the quote came from!).

The first part of the film is to be released in November 2010, with the second part coming in May 2011.

The reason for making two parts of the adventure are "purely creative". As producer David Heyman says, "Unlike every other book, you cannot remove elements of this book.".

Finally, parts of the book won't be cut out! Perhaps there will be a Harry Potter movie comparable to the book it represents... (although I don't really believe that will happen, I sure hope it will)

Giving up Harry Potter harder than giving up smoking

A study found that about 10% of Harry Potter fans show symptoms of withdrawal "in just the way that drug addicts do" following the writing and publication of the seventh, and final, book.

"Depression, loss of appetite and sleeplessness" were experienced by one in every ten fans examined after finishing the last book in the series.

A further 20% admitted being on the verge of addiction and, considering the number of volumes that have been sold in the series (400 million), this could have quite an impact.

Professor Rudski, of Muhlenberg College, Pennsylvania, said: "An addiction to a drug is no different from an addiction to Harry Potter or the Internet or pornography.

"It's not always a bad thing. There's a community that you get with Harry Potter that you don't get with heroin. "

"After finishing the series, ten per cent of fans spent over four hours a day on Potter-related activities, experiencing interference with appetite and sleep, engaging in less physical activity, having a lower sense of well-being and being more irritable." Wait! Aren't they describing your normal, day-to-day, Harry Potter geek?

Some even said: "I have nothing to live for now" or "I feel like someone close to me has died". Wow! I thought the same thing when I finished "Deathly Hallows" last summer (the part with someone close dying)...

But hold on, I don't see myself going out in the middle of the night and selling "Potter dope" to under-aged people, fueling their ever-increasing need of... "Pot"...get it? Pot - Potter...Oh, never mind...

- source: Dailymail -

Hackers manage to run PS3 retail games through a HDD

"PS3News have been successful with running PS3 Retail game back-ups on a PS3 Test from both Internal and USB HDD (along with DVD). Unlike PS2 and PS1 development systems, a PS3 Test won't play a 1:1 copy/scene release.

It only plays development copies, so the executables (EBOOT.BIN) had to be decrypted and rebuilt for them to load. However, as mentioned previously, the executables also had to be patched to eliminate some disc checks.

VERY cool being able to run PS3 Retail Games via HDD though, and now PS3News can tinker with game data to find a potential flaw in how a game handles included files!"

And so it begins...

More information here...

- source: N4g -

Yahoo! CAPTCHA Cracked!

Although it has been previously stated that it would only be a matter of time, few truly expected the defeat of the CAPTCHA system used by Yahoo!.

First of all, a CAPTCHA is defined as a "Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart". It is a way to distinguish humans from machines, especially useful for avoiding spam and other unwanted automated processes.

A team of Russian reverse-engineers (or, simply, hackers) have managed to crack the aforementioned CAPTCHA with an accuracy of 35%, even though it is considered to be one of the most complex and elaborate types of CAPTCHA.

Here is what the Russian team had to say: "The CAPTCHA has a vulnerability we'll discuss later. It's not necessary to achieve high degree of accuracy when designing automated recognition software. The accuracy of 15% is enough when attacker is able to run 100.000 tries per day, taking into the consideration the price of not automated recognition – one cent per one CAPTCHA."

It's a hard blow for the CAPTCHA system in general and especially for Yahoo! itself...

Here is a list of characteristics of a solid CAPTCHA system, as written by Jeremiah Grossman (here):

1) Test should be administered where the human and the server are remote over the network.
2) Test should be simple for humans to pass.
* Humans should fail less than 0.1% on the first attempt.
3) Test should be solvable by humans in less than a several seconds.
4) Test should only be solvable by the human to which it was presented.
5) Test should be hard for computer to pass
* Correctly guessing the answer should be less than 1 in 1,000,000, even after 24-hours of analysis.
6) Knowledge of previous test questions, answers, results, or combination thereof should not impact the predictability of following tests.
7) Test should not discriminate against humans with visual or hearing impairments.
8) Test should not possess a geographic, cultural, or language bias.

For more information and details on the means used by the Russian hackers, go here.

First Harry Potter 6 set pics

Photos of the set of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" have surfaced on the internet.
Here they are (courtesy of Just Jared):


The movie, planned for release in November 2008, will feature the entire returning cast from the previous Harry Potter installments, including (besides the trio, of course they're returning) actors as Natalia Tena, Evanna Lynch, Helena Bonham Carter, David Bradley, Robbie Coltrane, Warwick Davis, Tom Felton, Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Julie Walters, Matthew Lewis, Bonnie Wright, and David Thewlis, along with new additions.

Oscar winner Jim Broadbent will play Horace Slughorn (picture 1), the roles of Narcissa Malfoy and Lavender Brown (hmm, lucky Ron!) also being given to actresses Helen McCrory and Jessie Cave, respectively (pictures 2-right and 3-left).

- source: Aceshowbiz -

World of Warcraft reaches 10 million

On the 22'nd of January 2008, Blizzard announced that the number of (active) subscribers to their World of Warcraft reached ten million.

The critically-acclaimed video game, launched on the 23'rd of November 2004, is host to more than 2 million players from Europe, 2,5 million from North America and more than 5,5 million from Asia.

The game has also spawned an expansion pack, "The Burning Crusade" (TBH), which is the best-selling PC game of 2007 in North America and Europe, holding the record for fastest selling video game of all time, with 2,4 million copies sold in its first 24 hours and more than 3,5 million in its first month. Another, second, expansion pack, named "The Wrath of the Lich King", has been announced and is slated for release in 2008.

It should be also noted that Blizzard has explicitly stated what they mean by "subscribers": "those who have paid a subscription fee or have an active prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their free month of access.". So, those who have free promotional subscriptions, expired or canceled subscriptions or prepaid cards were not counted.

I am myself a proud WoW player -warlocks ftw!-, if only new on the official servers (one month). However, I have been playing it for some two years now on private servers, so don't call me a "n0ob"...I 4m t3h pwnz0rx!!11!oneone!!

- source: Gamasutra -

Microsoft makes an offer for Yahoo

Microsoft has made a 44 billion dollars offer to purchase Yahoo!

"In a conference call, Microsoft's Kevin Johnson said that the combination of the two companies would create an entity that could better compete with Google."

"Yahoo confirmed that it has received an unsolicited offer and said that its board would evaluate the proposal, "carefully and promptly in the context of Yahoo's strategic plans and pursue the best course of action to maximize long-term value for shareholders.""

"Yahoo shares have fallen 46% since reaching a year-high of $34.08 in October. They opened 51.2% higher."

"Ultimately this corporate marriage was forced by the rise of Google, which has grown into a serious competitor for both Microsoft as a software company and Yahoo as an internet portal," said Tim Weber, business editor of the BBC News website.

"It is a shotgun marriage, but the person holding the shotgun is Google." "

You can read more about it here...

50 Years of Lego

Today it's the 50'th anniversary of an event which has influenced most of us, mostly during our childhood. Lego turns 50!

"It was at 1:58 p.m. on January 28, 1958, that then-Lego head Godtfred Kirk Christiansen filed a patent for the iconic plastic brick with its stud and hole design. Since then, the company has made a staggering 400 billion Lego elements, or 62 bricks for every person on the planet. And if stacked on top of one another, the pieces would form 10 towers reaching all the way from the Earth to the Moon.

But Lego's legacy lies less in numbers than in its creative influence. The colorful bricks have littered playroom floors for generations of families. But they have also spurred ingenuity among children that few toys can claim before and since. The company has always emphasized the importance of free-form play, and Lego's popularity can be attributed to the amount of imagination children use to build with the bricks.

The Lego company was founded in 1932 by Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen, a carpenter from Billund who had a sideline in wooden toys. He named the company after an amalgamation of the Danish phrase 'leg godt', which means "play well"." ....

"The group itself is only planning low-key celebrations of the patent anniversary: a special-edition of its 1950s-style Town Plan set with three gold bricks, and a worldwide building contest with a grand final at Legoland Billund. And for most Google users Monday — itself a website which keeps building and growing in size — the homepage spelling of the company name in Lego blocks will come across as just another of the web giant's quirks. But for the millions who grew up on the brick — and the millions more still fitting them together — that lunchtime visit to the patent's office proved priceless."

Read more about Lego's history here!

Federer eliminated in the semifinals of the Australian Open

Yep, Roger Federer, leader in the ATP world rating system, has been eliminated in the semifinals of the first Grand Slam tournament of the year by 3'rd seeded Novak Djokovic.

After three straight sets won (7-5/6-3/7-6), the Serbian player got closer to winning the first Grand Slam trophy of his career.

"It's amazing, an indescribable feeling to beat the number one player of the world, probably one of the best players this sport has ever had, in straight sets," Djokovic said.

"I'm very, very proud of myself.

"It's very difficult to play against a player who is so dominant on any surface and he's been so successful for the past couple of years.

"I'm just so amazed at how well I coped with the pressure, in the most important moments I played my best tennis."

"I think he made the more important points today, it was a bit unfortunate for me," Federer said. "It depends a lot on day form, you can't always play your best. There is no doubt I have played better before.

"I've created a monster that I need to win every tournament -- still the semifinals isn't bad."

In the other semifinal, played yesterday, Rafael Nadal (2'nd in the ATP race) was eliminated by unseeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga after a perfect match from the Frenchman.

"I was playing fine," Nadal said. "He played unbelievable. Congratulate him."

"It is just amazing, unbelievable, nothing could stop me today," Tsonga revealed. "I tried to hit everything and everything went in, so what can I say?

"I was moving on the court like never I move. Everything was perfect!"

"My family said it is like a dream for them, everybody in France is happy for me. I will try to do my best for the final."

Tsonga will compete with Djokovic for the title of champion at the Australian Open, at a date yet to be announced.

Here are the winners of the Australian Open for the past 18 years:

YEAR	WINNER	FINALIST	SCORE
2007	Roger Federer	Fernando Gonazlez	76 64 64
2006	Roger Federer	Marcos Bagdhatis	57 75 60 62
2005	Marat Safin	Lleyton Hewitt	16 63 64 64
2004	Roger Federer	Marat Safin	76 64 62
2003	Andre Agassi	Rainer Schuettler	62 62 61
2002	Thomas Johansson	Marat Safin	36 64 64 76
2001	Andre Agassi	Arnaud Clement	64 62 62
2000	Andre Agassi	Yevgeny Kafelnikov	36 63 62 64
1999	Yevgeny Kafelnikov	Thomas Enqvist(u)	46 60 63 76
1998	Petr Korda	Marcelo Rios	62 62 62
1997	Pete Sampras	Carlos Moya(u)	62 63 63
1996	Boris Becker	Michael Chang	62 64 26 62
1995	Andre Agassi	Pete Sampras	46 61 76 64
1994	Pete Sampras	Todd Martin	76 64 64
1993	Jim Courier	Stefan Edberg	62 61 26 75
1992	Jim Courier	Stefan Edberg	63 36 64 62
1991	Boris Becker	Ivan Lendl	16 64 64 64
1990	Ivan Lendl	Stefan Edberg	46 76 52 Ret

Heath Ledger is dead

Heath Ledger, the Australian-born actor famous for his role in Brokeback Mountain, was found dead today, the 22'nd of January 2008, in a New York City apartment.

"The Academy Award nominated actor was 28.

"Pills were found in the vicinity of the bed," police spokesman Paul Browne told CNN.

"This is being looked at as a possible overdose, but that is not confirmed yet."

The pills appeared to be over-the-counter sleeping medication, said police spokeswoman Barbara Chen.

Ledger was unresponsive when he was found by a housekeeper who had gone to wake him for an appointment with a masseuse in the Soho apartment, Browne said.

The apartment is owned by the actress Mary-Kate Olsen, The New York Times reported.

Ledger was declared dead at about 3:30 p.m., Browne said."

A big shame, I liked him in A Knight's Tale, Cassanova and The Brothers Grimm. He had a lot of talent...R.I.P.!

- source: CNN -

Not meet Darth and Yoda will...mmmh!

The recent announcement that characters from Star Wars are to feature in the latest installment of the Soul Calibur series (Soul Calibur IV) comes with a twist: there are two characters that will be available for play, but each one will be featured exclusively on a platform.

The two characters are the infamous Darth Vader, formerly known as Anakin Skywalker, and the Jedi Master - Yoda.

The catch is that the PS3 version of the game will have Darth Vader (and not have Yoda), and the 360 one the other way around.

Quite interesting, because the PS3 looks like Vader, with a black and glossy finish, while the 360 resembles Master Yoda, in a greenish and cute kind of way.

This does mean, however, that a confrontation between the two would be practically impossible, unless the other character becomes available for download (for a couple of bucks, of course) on the respective system. Who wouldn't want a fight featuring the two Jedi?

Very interesting it is! Choose a version you must, mmmmh!

- source: Kotaku -

Warner goes Blu

Quote:

"[Updated] In a move that could have serious implications for the movie format war, Warner Bros. has suddenly thrown its exclusive support behind Sony's Blu-ray format - making the PS3 even more appealing to hi-def movie watchers."

"Original story:

The next-generation movie format war may have just taken one step closer to being over, as the Blu-ray camp has secured the exclusive support from major studio Warner Bros. Entertainment. Warner up until this point had effectively been neutral, offering its movies in both HD DVD and Blu-ray. Now, "in response to consumer demand" the studio will begin releasing its HD library later this year in Blu-ray only.

Owners of HD DVD players will still be able to pick up HD DVD titles from Warner through this May. Warner Home Video said that "after a short window following their standard DVD and Blu-ray releases, all new titles will continue to be released in HD DVD until the end of May 2008."

"Warner Bros.' move to exclusively release in the Blu-ray disc format is a strategic decision focused on the long term and the most direct way to give consumers what they want," said Barry Meyer, Chairman & CEO, Warner Bros. "The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger. We believe that exclusively distributing in Blu-ray will further the potential for mass market success and ultimately benefit retailers, producers, and most importantly, consumers."

"Warner Bros. has produced in both high-definition formats in an effort to provide consumer choice, foster mainstream adoption and drive down hardware prices," noted Jeff Bewkes, President and Chief Executive Officer, Time Warner Inc., the parent company of Warner Bros. Entertainment. "Today's decision by Warner Bros. to distribute in a single format comes at the right time and is the best decision both for consumers and Time Warner."

Added Kevin Tsujihara, President, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group: "A two-format landscape has led to consumer confusion and indifference toward high definition, which has kept the technology from reaching mass adoption and becoming the important revenue stream that it can be for the industry. Consumers have clearly chosen Blu-ray, and we believe that recognizing this preference is the right step in making this great home entertainment experience accessible to the widest possible audience. Warner Bros. has worked very closely with the Toshiba Corporation in promoting high definition media and we have enormous respect for their efforts. We look forward to working with them on other projects in the future."

This comes as a pretty big blow to the HD DVD camp, as movies from Disney/Pixar, Warner Bros., Fox, Sony, MGM and Lionsgate are now all Blu-ray exclusive. HD DVD is supported by Paramount/Dreamworks and Universal. For gamers interested in high-definition movies, however, Sony's PlayStation 3 just got another feather in its cap."

- source: GameDaily -

Santa casts his vote

I was wondering, some time ago, "What console shall Santa choose?".

Well, Santa's come and gone, and it's time to see what has happened to the console-wars during this period.
Here are the long-awaited (by some) results of the console-wars in the period of the Christmas Holidays (well, actually, Dec 2 - Dec 30):

Console	Wii	PS3	X360	PS2
Total	3,869,926	2,081,432	1,894,335	1,958,444
America	1,505,926	728,434	1,169,933	904,540
Japan	885,678	211,931	32,743	77,251
Total Others	1,478,322	1,141,067	691,659	976,653
UK	412,114	206,017	274,454	144,126
France	387,149	148,265	73,981	99,997
Germany	224,068	169,023	41,672	134,139
Spain	88,394	170,757	19,309	134,380
Italy	58,396	119,413	31,932	146,761
Scandinavia	90,556	57,117	47,427	66,438
Other Europe	112,171	119,623	45,258	91,157
Australia	74,171	45,818	55,158	38,768
Other	31,303	105,034	102,468	120,887

Very interesting, what's noticeable (except the fact that the Wii is thrashing everyone else) is that PS3 has overall defeated the Xbox360 in total sales, overcoming the gap caused by the American buyers (the Xbox sold 1.6 times more consoles than the PS3) with bigger sales in Japan (PS3 : X360 = 6:1) and Europe (PS3 : X360 = 1.6:1).

We can notice that the PS2 is still holding on, still selling quite a few consoles, even more than the X360, after last Christmas when it was the nr.1 best-selling console (yes, better than the wii).

- source: VGChartz -