Your computer may be suffering from this malaise without you being aware of it.

Recently I noticed that my computer has slowed down considerably. The problem was particularly acute when I was playing a certain Facebook Flash game in Google Chrome. Blaming the problem on an unoptimized Flash game running on Google Chrome, I did not bother fixing it until it got more severe. Okay – until a cute female friend asked for my help…. that’s when I decided that it’s really a problem worth looking into

The Cause

So I ran the game in Firefox and Internet Explorer and found out that the problem is not any fault of Google’s. Investigating further, I finally followed the trail to some sites where people congregated and compared notes on Adobe Flash 9 and 10, like this one here.

And I found out that there are so many tormented souls like me out there!

Others have noticed this sluggishness running Youtube videos. These people have 3 GHz cpus and 4 GB memory but they have the same problem. Youtube is known to work fine in mobile devices running Firefox in only 256MB of available memory space – try googling Nokia N900 – so it cannot be due to people’s computer being old and unable to deal with Adobe’s Flash requirements.

Many have speculated that Adobe Flash’s resource hogging is due to Adobe Flash being a poorly written program, with unoptimized code. Some even say that this is a new version of the Microsoft-Intel conspiracy theory where these giant corporations worked together, to get us to fork out more of our hard-earned money so that we have to buy more computers and help the IT industry prosper.

The Fix:

1. Uninstall Adobe Flash

Really important! You can skip step 2 but not this!

2. Get the beta version, Adobe Flash 10.1 Beta.

If you don’t want to run this beta version, then reinstall the current version at http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/. Just remember NOT to get the free McAfee security app.

After the uninstalling and reinstalling, I find that my Facebook game is more responsive now – my friend says hers is playable now and my Facebook gaming life has improved – I get to spend as little time on it as possible

I won’t say that it’s 100% solved – I still notice that Adobe Flash leaks memory frequently in Firefox and Google Chrome. To resolve this, feel free to restart the slow responding browser or wait for my next article on how to identify and close the memory leak.

Hopefully, this short guide here can solve your problem. If not, then your problem may be a different one or is more severe than this and I can’t really help you but direct you to this article and see for yourself that you are not alone in this.

Happy gaming!

Nevertheless, before the actual tournament kicks off in June this year, you will be pleased to know that we can experience the interactive adaptation of this awaited tournament two months before the World Cup kicks off in South Africa on the 11^th of June.

The Game

I am talking about none other than Electronic Arts’ famed football series, the 2010 FIFA World Cup game that would be available on Sony’s PS3 and PSP, the Xbox 360, Nintendo’s Wii (in addition to mobile and computer platforms as well).

Date of release is currently set on the 27 April 2010. But keep your fingers crossed for an earlier release as demand mounts!

What’s New?

Improvements this time include enhancements on location information (for example players would tire faster when the pitch is at higher altitude as well as teams perform better on home soil), as well as an increase in the number of nations taking part in the game (199 in total from qualification matches).

Several other visual (red female fans in the crowd, players on the bench, improved lighting, fan emotions display etc) and game-play (read improved players, more variety of skills and tactics, quick free kick taking abilities, etc) enhancements can also be anticipated, so brace yourself for an all-new, outstanding version of EA Sports’ 2010 FIFA World Cup game that would serve as an excellent appetizer before the real tournament gets underway!

I have read/write access to the entire system memory, and HV level access to the processor. In other words, I have hacked the PS3. The rest is just software. And reversing. I have a lot of reversing ahead of me, as I now have dumps of LV0 and LV1. I've also dumped the NAND without removing it or a modchip.

3 years, 2 months, 11 days...thats a pretty secure system

The reaction from the hacker community is first that of disbelief, as there have been many such claims in the past that turned out to be scams. But Geohot’s reputation as an iPhone hacker made the news very believable although some remain skeptical until hard proof comes out of a successful hack.

The hacker remains cautious not to reveal too much info to Sony although he did state that the theory is unpatchable. If you own a PS3, I suggest not updating it any further in case the hack won’t work with newer firmware. A few other hackers close to Geohot have confirmed his hack on the website leading even more credence to the news.

Geohot’s objective of hacking the PS3 is to unsigned code which makes it possible for the homebrew community to have full access to Sony’s hardware. A side-effect to this would be that it would now be possible to run pirated games on the PS3, provided you have the money to invest in a Blu-ray burner and on the Blu-ray discs, both of which are prohibitively priced at the moment.

Some have expressed hope in having the hack allow running ISO games directly from the PS3’s hard drive, eliminating the need to purchase any expensive equipment. For all intents and purposes, the hack that Geohot will release will not feature any of these illegal copy-protection circumventions, although enterprising Chinese hackers will surely come in to fill this massive void.

Finally, the hack was accomplished without using any modchips. However Geohot did not mention whether the complicated setup he has on his PS3 is necessary to execute the hack, or is merely there to help him find the vulnerability that allowed for the hack to happen.

Better still. A video game.
A chance for Avatar fans to personally participate in the magical wonders and adventures of planet Pandora. Developed by french company Ubisoft, the game, also titled Avatar, has been released on Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PC, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, iPhone, PSP and PC.

Breathtaking scenery

The game is set on the same moon as featured in the movie, with the same beautiful but hostile environment and the same inhabitants. It starts off with the player controlling Abel Ryder, a newly recruited RDA soldier assigned on a mission to locate a traitor within the team. But soon after, he is forced to choose either to continue fighting against the indigenous Na’vi tribe for the highly priced mineral called Unobtanium, or to transfer consciousness into a Na’vi avatar and defend Pandora from her human invaders.

View playing as RDA soldier

According to most reviews, the player would gain an upper hand playing the role of an RDA soldier due to the multitude of advanced military weapons and vehicles available. You will be spoilt for choice with the wide selection of rifles, guns, grenade launchers, flame throwers and also have access to AMP suits, ATVs and missile-equipped aircraft. If you are on a trigger-happy, destructive streak, the RDA will be the undisputed option.

View playing as Na’vi

On the other hand, playing a Na’vi will leave you with primitive weapons such as bow and arrows, knives, clubs, staffs, and a relatively progressive machine gun. Also, close range combat adopted by the Na’vi can be a wee bit disorienting. The cool thing however, is their ability to instantly heal and teleport within short distances. The environment is also not as hostile to a Na’vi as it is to an RDA, thus making it easier for the former to navigate through the dense terrain.

Conquest Mode

Multi-player Mode

Whether playing for the RDA or Na’vi, the goal and tasks remain the same.  Both sides are able to unlock new skills and level up as they successfully accomplish specific missions. Conquest, a strategy mini-game inspired by Risk is also implemented within the game. Conquest mode lets the player accumulate points to enhance their skills by capturing new territories. There is also a multi-player mode available, enabling head-to-head team battles once having completed the main game twice.

What makes Avatar stand out from the other video games is its 3D capabilities. Hardcore gamers who appreciate equally hardcore graphics now have a valid excuse to invest in a 3D enabled monitor, or maybe they should consider waiting for leading television manufacturers like Sony and Samsung to launch the 3D TV by end of 2010. Avatar in 2D already boasts stunning and impressive effects, what more in 3D!

The decision to ban dedicated offline server caused a huge community uproar, with many people arranging for boycott of the game, canceling pre-orders and making their vocal dissent felt on forums. Infinity Ward responded by deleting and removing all negative comments on the game.

The following are the major changes brought as a result of switching to Steam and disabling private dedicated servers:

• VAC instead of Punk Buster
• IW.net matchmaking instead of server browsing
• Players of similar ranks will now be playing each other
• DLC will cost money on the PC
• Mods are probably unlikely
• The game will be fully integrated in to Steam (even retail copies it seems)

On top of that, the price of the game has been raised to be $10 more expensive on the PC, making it the same price as console games. Furthermore, the effort to ban dedicated server is obviously a power play designed to fight piracy of the game. Previously, pirated games can still play multiplayer with other players via LAN and cracking the copy protection of the game. However with Steam integrated into the game, players can only play multiplayer if they own original copies of the game, regardless of whether they are doing it online or offline. Furthermore, the game requires an active connection to the Internet in order to play (it uses the connection to verify you are running a legit copy of the game).

These changes, in trying to fight piracy, hurt most of the hardcore gamers who purchase the game expecting it to work offline for their competitive clan’s matchmaking capabilities. As a result of these changes, most websites that review the game saw an interesting trend: the official reviewer’s score is often high, but the user-generated scores range from the low 2’s to 0 on a scale of 1 to 10.  As a result, although IGN PC game gave the game a near-perfect score, 314 users gave the game an average of only 2.0. Is this justified? Well, as a way of expressing the community’s rage, perhaps things are not as black and white as it seems.

Nevertheless, a week after the game was released, TeknoGods have released a crack that allows players to play Co-op using the game’s dedicated server. You see, all the required information to host your own games are available in the game, but Infinity Ward has simply disabled them. Their tool allow you to host your game and other players can connect to it, although because of the way the tool works, you still need to be connected online and have a valid Steam account (which can be created for free) to play.

True multiplayer is still missing, however. Currently the trick is to put a space in your in-game nickname to get Multiplayer working without getting kicked by Steam, but Valve is expected to close this loophole quickly. As it is, the tool works only for Co-op, with true multiplayer dedicated hosting still being worked on. But given the progress of the crack, it’s only a matter of time before Infinity Ward’s terrible decision is rendered useless by the dedicated programmers hell bent on making sure their game does exactly what they expect from it.

I for one, will be waiting for the game to be patched to support Garena.

HD Quality Games

The problem is mainly due to the claim that OnLive is able to deliver ‘HD quality’ games in real time over the Internet. Many write this off as impossible due to the size of the video stream that has to be pushed though the Internet. It is a complex problem because traditionally, video streaming sites build up a ‘buffer’ of video before they start playing them, so that any hiccups on the Internet such as lost or dropped packets can be smoothed over with the buffer. With video games, no such buffer exists as everything on screen is a result of the user interaction.

Video Compression

The first method to try and tackle this problem is using video compression, which essentially squeezes the information so that it can transfer faster. The problem with this approach is that video games is one of the types of content to compress due to the fast-changing camera angles, explosions and other effects which makes it difficult to compress very well. Common techniques that work well for film, such as analyzing the differences between frames then only sending the information of changes between the frames cannot be adapted for video games.

Latency

The second problem is latency, or lag. Interestingly, even if you have the fastest connection on the planet, there are still some inescapable physical limitations which will increase the lag of the signals (the game video stream, the time between when you click on the mouse and that information reaching the server, etc). First is of course distance; the further you are from the server, the longer the information has to travel and the higher the lag. Furthermore, the signal processing inside the modem is finite and measurable. Then there is lag from having to compress and decompress the video, and finally, as the information travel from the server to you and visa versa, it will be routed through switches which also introduce some lag.

Chaotic Internet

Another problem is the inherent nature of a chaotic internet. Packets of information arrive to your computer in a disorderly manner, sometimes later than another, sometimes out of order and this disorganization mean that there can be a time when the game absolutely needs the information in order to display the next frame, which simply isn’t available. The way OnLive plans to solve the problem is to provide an adaptive compressive technology which changes the compression algorithm depending on network conditions. The technology provides some great streams that look great in motion, but might not look as nice when paused. However, some people would want to pause their games, for instances like taking a picture of a great achievement or reviewing sometimes. Therefore, when the server compresses the video stream, it is actually doing two different types of compression, one is the adaptive compression and the other does a high quality compression for each frame which is then simultaneously recorded if you need to recall it.

The technology is great because it allows you to play great new games without having to own very powerful gaming PCs, as all you need is an OnLive microconsole. With the trend of computers getting smaller and less powerful like netbooks, OnLive is a great service.

Of the next generation consoles, PS3 remains the most expensive and the tough economy have made sales of the much cheaper Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Xbox 360 brisk while Sony struggles to regain market dominance. However, the ‘bombshell’ released during E3 was not the much anticipated price cut but a new motion control device, which was rather interesting but didn’t really translate to people going out to streets and buying a PS3.

Well it appears that the price-cut rumor is true after all, just a few months over due. And the best part is its not ‘just’ a price cut but a completely new redesigned PS3 called the PS3-Slim, which in line with its name means a smaller package which looks sleeker along with the much expected $100 price cut for the two models currently available, bringing it to $400 and $300 for the 160GB and 80GB system respectively. The more expensive model also comes bundled with an original copy of Uncharted, a popular game for the console.

The new console, similar to the PSone and PS2 Slim before this, is redesigned using more efficient manufacturing processes allowing Sony to squeeze the chips and motherboard into a smaller package. It retains the same general curves as the older, fatter sibling, but the smaller size and more efficient manufacturing process means it’s going to consume less power, put out less heat and as a result, be quieter in your living room when turned on, not that you will notice it with the volumes cranked loud during your gaming sessions.

The exterior of the console is a big difference though; the PS3 used a more expensive-looking, lustrous and fingerprint-loving outer casing whilst the new one uses the more normal/common matte plastic, which may or may not be a good thing depending on your tastes.

If you ask me, all you need to go is get the cheapest model of PS3 and slap on your own 1TB 2.5-inch hard disk into it, for basically about the same cost as getting the most expensive model. Performance wise, everything remains more or less the same, so you can hold on to the older PS3 if its still working fine. Sony’s strategy of showing off a new hardware at E3 then releasing the console price cut seems to be working, and hopefully it will allow PS3 more breathing room as more people start unlocking the true potential of the PS3. It took them roughly 4 years to redesign the PS2, which was nearing that console’s life and way past its prime. Let’s hope this is not the case for the PS3.

The Peggle World of Warcraft Edition utilizes graphics from popular MMORPG game as its theme, and is a free standalone version of Peggle, playable independent of War of Warcraft, unlike previously released Bejeweled and Peggle add-ons for WoW. Features of Peggle World of Warcraft Edition including:

• Play 10 WoW themed levels with the new backgrounds from Blizzard artists.
• Compete against a friend or the computer in Duel mode.
• Quick Play levels anytime you want to hone your Peggle skills.
• Add to your Peggle Master rank with super-extra-hard challenges.

The 13.4 MB download contains ten new levels starring World of Warcraft alumni such as Ragnaros and Hogger himself, as well as ten new challenges. The World of Warcraft edition of Peggle can be downloaded here for free! Happy downloading!

Microsoft’s Project Natal

The most interesting technology to come out of E3 this year is no doubt Microsoft’s Project Natal. Project Natal is a name for a new type of motion sensing device which will be sold as an extension to the Xbox 360 providing a bevy of interesting, powerful and unique capabilities that augment the traditional notions of gaming and elevates it to the next level of awesomeness.

The Nintendo Wii is undoubtedly the leader when it comes to motion sensing controllers, and it has proven to be a wild success, selling anywhere up to 10 times as many consoles as the Xbox 360 and PS3 combined. It brought casual gaming to everybody, literally everybody as the controller’s are based on motion sensors which makes gaming an intuitive experience without the need to figure out that which button does what on a traditional gamepad controller.

World’s first controller-free gaming experience

Microsoft claims to have been working on a similar project at Microsoft Research for a “very long time” and they finally revealed it to the public during E3 a few weeks ago and it’s the birth of three things; an RGB camera (the motion sensor), a 3D depth sensor and also an array of microphones. These three combine into a homogeneous platform collectively dubbed Project Natal and they claim it will be the world’s first controller-free gaming experience.

They demonstrated the technology by having a person stand in front of the device (not sure what they will call it yet, beyond the term Project Natal) and they have to deflect oncoming projectiles with their body. The sensor automatically senses and recreates the person on screen and her whole body becomes the controller. Microsoft says the device is so powerful as it has to crunch a huge amount of data in real time, using the microphones to do voice identification and allow for voice-activated controls and commands possible while the depth sensor and motion sensor is used to accurately scan and interpret data so that the device knows exactly how your body is postured and the data can be sent to games to be used.

Lionhead Studios also demonstrated a short video of something they call “Milo”, where a gamer interacts with an on screen character called Milo. The ‘gasp’ factor came when Milo asks the player to draw something and once the picture is drawn, it is ‘passed’ to the camera sensor which automatically takes a picture and digitizes it for Milo to use, all in one seamless movement. However, I doubt the authenticity of the video, as it smells like a planned segment designed to show off the ’spirit’ of the technology rather than its actual limitations, similar to what PS3 did when they launched stunning videos of purported ‘real-time’ gameplay which are nothing more than pre-rendered 3D cut-scenes.

Microsoft refuses to give a timeline for Project Natal, falling back to saying “it won’t be out in 2009″. They also revealed that the Xbox360 has enough power to last until 2015, giving the console a 10-year lifecycle. This proposition is certainly welcome given the uncertain global economic conditions, but I doubt Microsoft will be sticking to an aging hardware especially when so many developers have already maxed out the console’s power and would like more, please.

The problem had something to do with the console overheating itself and causing the motherboard to warp and loosening the graphics chip. As a result, many aftermarket “modded” coolers were made available to try to rectify the problem, while Microsoft responded by basically reengineering the console’s innards.

Then there was another problem with the power adapter overheating if placed on carpeted floor.

In response to these problems, Microsoft launched back in 2007 a warranty program that guarantees the console against the infamous RROD for three years, or a replacement is yours free of charge. It was more of a marketing gimmick rather than a solid step in solving the problem though, as reports of RROD continue to pour in, although at least you can get a replacement for free so the only loss is time and effort. It was only recently that they have finally stamped out most of the problem.

With the latest Xboxes launching, it appears that the RROD has gone away. However, recently reports of a new problem, codenamed Error E74 has started emerging at a steady pace since last November.

Micrisoft reveals that the problem is a “general hardware failure” equivalent to the RROD and hence the 3 year warranty will cover this problem as well. Unfortunately, it does not bode well for the console’s infamous reputation. Other fansites have reportedly pinned the problem to a loose AV connector which can manifest in funny or weird scanlines across the screen prior to total failure of the console.

Do any of you have experiences with this latest problem on your own Xbox consoles?