Charlie Miller to reveal 20 zero day security holes in Mac OS X

“It’s been too long” said legendary computer hacker Charlie Miller as he sat down to talk with engadget.com Darren Murph. Apparently he’s back to his old ways of hacking OS X mainframe for flaws like, how to steal you credit card info emails, and other personal important documents on your Mac. The Famous former Apple security expert has already hacked the Macbook Air in under two minutes at the PWD event at CanSecWest. He reveal more than 20 fatal security holes within OS X , and said “OS X has a large attack surface consisting of open source components, closed source third-party components and closed source Apple components; bugs in any of these types of components can lead to remote compromise." He also reemphasize what he has been saying for years about Mac and Pc’s, “Mac OS X is like living in a farmhouse in the country with no locks, and Windows is living in a house with bars on the windows in the bad part of town." This mean’s that Apple user are safer for the time being, but less secure.

Nintendo Would Be "Embarrassed" to Be in Sony's, Microsoft's Position

Nintendo’s fame CEO Reggie Fils-Aime had stern comments for it’s competition's Sony and Microsoft. Both recently announced motion based control Sony’s (dubbed "Move"), and Microsoft ( “Project Natal”). Project Natal was announced last year, but recently at GDC the “ Game Developers Conference” Sony unveiled the “Move” which looks eerily similar to the Wii motion control. Reggie is quota saying "I think we would have been embarrassed to do what our competitors are currently doing," Fils-Aime said to Kotaku, stressing that for Nintendo, it's of vital importance to innovate rather than follow. "So, all I can tell you is that we will innovate. We will provide something new. Something that the consumer and the industry will look at and say, 'Wow, I didn't see that coming. Also Reggie is the third person in the higher ups at Nintendo to confirm they have a Wii successor in the works. He also so stated that it won’t just be an HD based console saying “For us high definition by itself is not the next frontier. For us we need to provide a whole new compelling experience in our next generation," he continues. "When Mr. Miyamoto goes to Mr. Iwata and says, 'I have this great idea and I can't do it on the Wii,' that's when there will be a next generation console," he said. "What that includes we'll see. I think Mr. Miyamoto himself has said that he is very interested in a high-definition experience, but to be 120 percent crystal clear, HD by itself in our view is not enough to go for a new console past the Wii." What could all this really mean? maybe Nintendo is planning a 3D,and HD based console. Or is Reggie blasting of Sony and Microsoft a scare tactic, because they are catching up.

Intel to debut 6-core gaming chip

It’s was previously indicated during the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco on Wednesday that Intel had a little monsters in the work’s. That’s truly an understatement there’s nothing little about the first of it’s kind six core processor. The Core i7- 980X Extreme chip is based on Intel’s 32- nanometer processor technology unlike previously i-Cores that use the fatter 45-nanameter processor, this will boots speeds. Like all iCores the 980X feature’s Hyper-Threading technology that can handle up too 12 thread’s at once, and it’s not offered in previous generation Core Duo chips. Bar none the 980X is the fastest desktop out now, in a HotHardware.com reviewer said "Factor in support for AES-NI, Hyper Threading, and bump the shared L3 cache up to a cool 12MB, and you've got the makings of one seriously fast CPU." (AES-NI, or Advanced Encryption Standard New Instruction, is a technology for boosting security, available on Intel "Westmere" 32-nanometer processors). Motherboards that support the chip set are available from vendors such as Gigabyte (e.g., the EX58A-UD5) and Asus can take the new 980x chip. The first few glimpses of the core running graphic intensive Napoleon: Total War, and Crysis really shows why it’s best processor out. Intel said “ It’s designed to crunch through the most 3D-intensive games”, and with a price tag around $1000 just for the chip gaming box won’t come cheap. PC makers like Alien Ware Falcon Northwest, and Velocity Micro offer the high-end gaming boxes for little under $3000 for the cheaper models. So if you have the cash to buy it, you should be set for the next three to four years before you run into a program this CPU can’t handle.

OnLive Launching June 17, $14.95 Per Month

San Francisco morning during the Game Beats portion of the Game Developers Conference, OnLive CEO Steve Perlman finally announced a launch date for the cloud computing gaming service. Good news after a year long hiatus since the service was first unveiled at last years GDC 2009. Perlman set the launch date at the same time as E3 “Electronic Gaming Expo” on June 17. The service will be up and running in all 48 contiguous United States at that time. The price point was also revealed, monthly fee’s starting at 14.95 a month with different options available for people who sign up for longer term commitments. Perlman, mention that the first 25’000 subscribers will get three months of service free of change. However eyebrows are being raised over the subscription fee, because it is unclear to what other features it offers besides your gamer tag, friends list, spectator viewing, free demos, etc. The actually game’s will have a separated change for renting and buying through the service, and Perlman didn’t specify any details either.

One thing Perlman failed to mention was rather or not the OnLive MicroConsole (the box you plug into your TV) will available? On July 17. Or does the launch date just refer to the service being up and running for Macs and Pc’s. What about the rest of the world ? Perlman replies “that more details will be available later this year”. With so many question left unanswered at least there is a launch date to look forward to.

No Wii Successor "Anytime Soon," Nintendo Says.

Nintendo believes the Wii console have’s more room to grow, and shot down any persisted rumor’s about the Wii’s successor aka “Wii HD” that have been circulating. Speculation begin after a sharp drop in sale’s, and lost of the number one selling console spot according to NPD sales figures. Nintendo’s executive vice president Cammie Dunaway spoke with GameSpot during the Nintendo Media Summit. She urged gamers not to hold there breath’s for the so called Wii HD saying "I don't think it'll be anytime soon. Even though our install base is, at this point, five million households larger than the PS2 install base was at the same point in its life cycle, it still has a lot of room to grow." She continued on, "If you think PlayStation 2, there's been about 50 million sold -- Wii close to 28 million sold -- so it says to me there's still a big audience out there that we can access with Wii." In other words, she said, "We'll have it ready when we think the time is right." All seems too true, and from the look of the titles announced for the Wii at the Media Summit Nintendo is releasing the big gun’s Metroid Other M, Mario Galaxy 2, and Legend of Zelda so it’s doubtful at best to believe they will release a new system anytime soon. But then again E3 “The Electronic Gaming Expo” is just around the corner, what Surprise’s does Nintendo have in store? Ignition's Shane Bettenhausen Expects DS 2 and PSP 2 to make an appearance at E3, but who really known’s all we can do now is speculate till then.

A Stone in Google’s Shoe

Larry Dignan’s blog, Google: EU opens investigation with Microsoft prodding, focuses on investigations on Google by the European Commission. The article also mentions how Microsoft plays a part in the investigations. According to the blog, Dignan states that the European Commission has, “opened an investigation into the company’s power over the advertising industry”. He also states that, “Google also said that Microsoft is the driving force behind the company’s regulatory headache”. In the Google blog posting it is suggested that the, investigations may be the result of the company’s growth. There will most likely be “heavy fines and more investigations”, according to the article.

My media of choice.

I have and will always consider myself a gamer, but for the longest time I did not really have an outlet for gaming news. I tried reading different publications such as Game Informer, Game Pro, IGN, ect, and never particularly cared for the articles. They always seemed biased and favored larger companies, such as Montreal, Epic Game, and Capcom because these companies paid more advertising dollars. As a result, when independent developers such as Altus, Level 5, and Silicon Knights released a title they did not get the ranking they deserve. I grew resentment towards these game magazines, because they would rant and rave about how great a title was, and I would buy it based off this information. I found myself wasting money and time on products I really did not like. In addition, these magazines never really had intellectual discussion that I was searching for in gaming news, they readied on an eight-grade level. In addition, when other readers would submit questions or comments to these publishers they would make a joke out of it. A perfect example is the time my friend Justin mailed a letter to Game Informer regarded article he readied. I won’t go into the details of what my friend asked them, but he had very strong points and facts. Game Informer took his letter butchered it and made him sound like a fool. I felt this way until early 2007. That is when a former friend told me about a Podcast. A Podcast is a digital medial file released episodically and downloaded from the Internet.

The first Podcast I ever listened to was 1Up Yours, after that I was hooked. I started reading the magazine published by 1Up called, Electronic Monthly Gaming or EGM for short. This caused me to branch out towards specialty Podcast such as Retronauts, which caterers towards old school games. An important fact to bring up is that I was working at Laurel School as a prep cook. I hated everything about the job, the people, the work environment, and the redundant arguments I would get into with coworkers. The only thing that kept me sane was listening to these Podcasts. Whenever I was having a bad day at work, I could just throw my headphones on, and it was as if I was in a different world. What I like the most about the Podcast, like 1Up Your, and Retronauts, is how realistic, understanding, articulate and intellectual the conversations are.

A perfect example of what I mean, was when Assassin Creed came out, every other game publication over glorified it to be this spectacular gaming experience. Game informer, Game Pro, IGN, and other magazine companies gave this game a perfect score. EGM, on the other hand, spoke the truth, and said “it sucked!” “It was repetitive” and a terrible game. I bought it. I played it, and they weren‘t lying. Another good example of 1up’s non-biases views is the argument over Street fighter Vs Blaze Blue. Both excellent titles in their own ways, but when I would read reviews or articles by IGN or Game Pro. It felt like they would makeup an opinion for whichever game they like the most, or whichever one paid them the most money. Don’t me get wrong it’s not necessarily a bad thing but the topics they would choose to base their arguments on were redundant? By redundant, I mean one editor would argue one game has more characters’ while the other would argue one game has too much of a repetition of the same character. Not that these aren‘t good facts it’s just that they’re irrelevance facts. Because Street Fighter is a game that’s made to cater towards the hard-core fan base and the casual fan base vis-à-vis Blazed Blue caters only towards the hard-core audience. Instead of them building their arguments on these kinds of facts, they keep the conversation on something insignificant such as character size or which game has the most levels.

EGM is now my main source when it comes to any gaming news, and I will not go to any other web site or buy any video game without reading a review from 1Up.com. After a while, I started to go to 1Up for other related news that was going on around the world. 1Up did not change my life until late December. At my job, I got into the argument with a coworker about dishwater, (yes dishwater). The coworker’s name was “The Cornel”. I became so upset, I went off yelling and cursing him out in an ignorant tangent. My boss sent me on break early to cool down, and I remember sitting down, listening to the 1Up Yours. Listening to them talk not just about video games, but something they were passionate about, helped me out of this psychological nightmare. I thought, here I am making nine dollars an hour, and arguing with a man named “The Cornel” about Dishwater.And here every day I listen to the members of 1UP faithfully as they make more money than me, arguing about something that’s important to them. I thought to myself you couldn’t take that away from them even if you kill that person they would die doing something they care about, something they were passionate about.

I remember listening to episodes, they would go so off-track, from video games, movies, TV shows to books and really degrading the conversation down to someone making a joke about “Boners” and the entire time they have my undivided attention they managed to keep me engaged in the conversation.The most influential episode I ever heard was between 12-19-2008 and 01-22-2009, and was by far was the best six hours I have ever listened to anything in my entire life. I did not realize the company was bought out until the very last episode. It was the most memorable episode ever heard in my life. I felt like I was their. As if I personally knew these people, I listen to it every week. Though they lost their jobs the entire time doing that Podcast, they all sounded so damn happy. Sometimes I wish I was there so I could ask them if they could go back in time would they do it all over again. I always believed they would say yes, because even though they lost their jobs they were doing something they were so damn passionate about. I had epiphany that morning, while listening to that final episode.

As the final episode reeled towards the end, I had a heightened sense of reality, and stop wiping off that damn table. I started looking out towards the sky and asking myself what I am doing with my life. The members of 1Up Yours I listened to on a weekly basis, had lost their jobs. They were still happy; they knew things would work out because they had something they were passionate about. I realized what I was missing from my life, and the following day I put in my two-week notice. I decided to go back to school so I could find the happiness I heard listening to those Podcast and reading the reviews off the web site. That’s how a small blog site change my life.

Dezmond Mitchell

New Nintendo Hardware

Nintendo’s senior game designer Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed at the “Japan Media Arts Festival” that Nintendo is developing new hardware. Miyamoto didn’t discuss any details about the new hardware, but he did reveal that he’s currently working on a Wii Motion Plus Zelda game. 1Up editor Garnett Lee and Dustin Quillen have strong reason to believe the hardware announcement to be the Wii HD or a possible successor to the Dsi handheld system.