Silly/Odd News Stories from around the World

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by ttdestroy

*packs bags*
I'm going to Japan!!

Ok I'm done, but seriously, does this mean I'm in high demand, like girls will be fighting over me?

Actually, I'm getting the impression that, statistically, the females and males there don't really like *each other* that much so foreigners have an instant edge (gender equity gaps, retrograde values, nascent feminism, plummeting marriage and birth rates, etc).

[Kaijo]

Don't pick on Gamer Nerds!

Best Quote: "I mean we're gamers, we've been immersed in that culture where like we all want to Superman, you know we're missing something partial in our brain that says yeah this might be dangerous," said Hays.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Starcraft II: So hot, it melts GPUs

Irvine, California (Aug 1, Sun): StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, the first game in Blizzard's highly anticipated real-time strategy sequel trilogy was launched on Tuesday. Unfortunately, the blockbuster PC title — which is expected to sell 10 million copies or more — had since suffered some bumps.

There were a number of minor bugs, but nothing show stopping at first. Then the reports of melting GPUs hit.

Among those affected was Adam Biessener of Game Informer whose card melted while he was live blogging about his game experience. He bemoaned: "Three hours of cursing later, I'm posting this from my wife's laptop because both my graphics card and my work laptop appear to be fried."

The problem appears to be located in the main menu, where an uncapped frame rate maxes out the GPU, in some cases pushing it to overheating and potentially permanent failure.

Blizzard has issued a response on its support site, acknowledging that it was aware of the issue, and offering a quick fix. The company writes:

Certain screens make your hardware work pretty hard.

Screens that are light on detail may make your system overheat if cooling is overall insufficient. This is because the game has nothing to do so it is primarily just working on drawing the screen very quickly. A temporary workaround is to go to your Documents\StarCraft II Beta\variables.txt file and add these lines:

frameratecapglue=30

frameratecap=60

You may replace these numbers if you want to.

For eager customers who already lost a graphics card, though, that fix may prove too late. Blizzard has not announced any plans to replace the lost hardware of victims who experienced the bug.

DAILY TECH

[Skane]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Starcraft II: So hot, it melts GPUs

About time they upgraded their video cards.

Narf.

[0utf0xZer0]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Starcraft II: So hot, it melts GPUs

You know, I'm as much for efficient software coding as the next guy... but a computer's cooling system really should be built to handle being run hard. Anything else is simply begging for trouble in my opinion.

[Vexx]

This story of the melting GPUs turns out to be a fair percentage bullshit (no offense TRL ) according to a number of technical analysts -- many games run on uncapped frame rates. I'd be asking when the last time the user dusted their box or is it being cooled properly in the first place (i.e. putting an upscale video card in a store-built box without upgrading the cooling, etc).

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Starcraft II: So hot, it melts GPUs

Silicon has a melting point of over 1000 degrees celsius. Someone tell me how the cards melt at room temperature, taking into account the zeroth to third law of thermodynamics, the principle conservation of energy, and internal resistance of high-current carrying circuits.

In short : someone tell me why didn't the users die or get free skin grafts when their cards melted.

[MeoTwister5]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Silicon has a melting point of over 1000 degrees celsius. Someone tell me how the cards melt at room temperature, taking into account the zeroth to third law of thermodynamics, the principle conservation of energy, and internal resistance of high-current carrying circuits.

In short : someone tell me why didn't the users die or get free skin grafts when their cards melted.

I assume this works in much the same way those videos on YT on how to make Athlon processors literally melt and burn.

[Langus]

Originally Posted by ttdestroy

*packs bags*
I'm going to Japan!!

Ok I'm done, but seriously, does this mean I'm in high demand, like girls will be fighting over me?

Japan is the magical place where mediocre looking guys land smoking hot J-girls like it's normal. I swear, when I am old and bald I will return my twice-divorced ass to Japan and marry a smoking hot J-girl half my age. You see it everywhere.

[thevil1]

Originally Posted by Langus

Japan is the magical place where mediocre looking guys land smoking hot J-girls like it's normal. I swear, when I am old and bald I will return my twice-divorced ass to Japan and marry a smoking hot J-girl half my age. You see it everywhere.

Well when I was younger, I thought that Japan was just like anime... Big boobs, and bubbly chicks. It wasn't until later that I realized my stupidity.

[MrTerrorist]

Ads Streamed with Hugh Laurie's House, Tezuka's Black Jack

Well, that was a disappointment. I kinda wish Hugh Laurie was dubbing that ad.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by Vexx

This story of the melting GPUs turns out to be a fair percentage bullshit (no offense TRL ) according to a number of technical analysts -- many games run on uncapped frame rates.

Mea culpa. I offer another hot-air story in atonement.

New gadget may help 'heat up' gaming experience

Cambridge, Mass. (July 28, Wed): Touch interfaces and haptic feedback have long been a part of how users interact with computers, and are now commonly found in devices ranging from iPads to rumbling video-game controllers and even 3-D joysticks.

Now, an experimental new game controller has been developed to add the sensation of hot and cold to a user's experience of a simulated environment. The gadget makes use of thermoelectric materials, solid-state devices that are easy to incorporate into objects of reasonable size.

At the 2010 SIGGRAPH conference, a pair of thermoelectric surfaces on either side of a controller were rapidly heated up and cooled down to simulate appropriate conditions in a virtual environment. The temperature difference wasn't large, less than 10 deg heating or cooling after 5sec.

But the researchers involved in the experiment discovered that just a little sensory nudge can be enough to convince participants in a virtual environment that they are experiencing something like the real thing.

Imagine, for example, racing through a snowy climate; the controller could cool down to chill a player's hands. It could also help keep his hands toasty when a nearby Firebat from Starcraft II flares up.

The research was conducted by researchers at Tokyo Metropolitan University, in collaboration with the National Institute of Special Needs Education. Not surprisingly, they listed temperature-transmitting interfaces for the blind as one of their aims for the device.

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW

[Xellos-_^]

and the japanese otakus show themselves as a bunch nuts once again.

Aya Hirano’s confessions about her sex life have seen her otaku fandom collapse overnight – one particulatrly creepy Aya otaku even took matters to extremes and began destroying his collection live on camera:

http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/0...e-at-betrayal/

i agree with some of the commenter, whether or not her new career works out she is better off without such a bunch obsess creeps as fans.

[Roger Rambo]

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

and the japanese otakus show themselves as a bunch nuts once again.

i agree with some of the commenter, whether or not her career works out she is better off without such a bunch obsess creeps as fans.

Sorta makes all the obsessions with moemoe innocence you see in anime kinda creepy.

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by Roger Rambo

Sorta makes all the obsessions with moemoe innocence you see in anime kinda creepy.

that how 99% the recent harem anime male leads are all nice guys losers.

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

that how 99% the recent harem anime male leads are all nice guys losers.

What,
there's 1% than isn't ?

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by ganbaru

What,
there's 1% than isn't ?

well, just because i can't think of any does't mean it doesn't exist. so i figure, go with 99%.

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

and the japanese otakus show themselves as a bunch nuts once again.


i agree with some of the commenter, whether or not her new career works out she is better off without such a bunch obsess creeps as fans.

These are the same branch of fruitcakes that went nuts over the "Kannagi rumors" --- these are no longer fans but really are deluded obsessed stalkers, the kind who need to be roughly handled by the other fans.

[AnimeFan188]

"A group of Hong Kong filmmakers have started shooting what they claim will be the
world's first 3D pornographic film, a report said Sunday."

See:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100808...9uZ2tvbmdmaWxt

[Jinto]

Originally Posted by AnimeFan188

"A group of Hong Kong filmmakers have started shooting what they claim will be the
world's first 3D pornographic film, a report said Sunday."

See:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100808...9uZ2tvbmdmaWxt

Just one google search proves them wrong... then again they are used to use a heavily filtered baidu/google... so their claim makes sense somehow.