I've been debating this last night as I reread multiple warning e-mails from friends as to whether I should log on at midnight tonight as April Fool's looms closer to the countdown kicks off on this supposedly massive and potently harmful virus will begin.
I say supposedly since electronic doomsayers say it's affected 10 to 12 million computers and even Microsoft themselves have offered a quarter of a million dollars to anti-hackers and independent computer tech teams to stop this virus.
But this is not the first time it's happened. 5 years ago in 2004 a similar even took place with the Mydoom worm virus. The virus' primary role was to simply infect millions of computers and all start attacking sco.com and microsoft.com by having them all log on to their respective sites and pretty much cause traffic bandwidth overload. And of course all premeditated attacks against the said companies in protest.
This new gem that's been gradually and discreetly "worm"-ing it's way (pardon the pun) into our computers since 2008 according to the experts is a quite nasty piece of work. Version A (yes this bugger has 3 versions of itself) embeds and copies itself by exploiting a vulnerability in Windows Server Service and acts like a harmless background service application. Version B will attach itself to Admin access points and copies itself over a network. And version B will infect removable media like USB's and use the Autorun feature to upload itself in another computer.
And the supposed initial result when April Fool's kicks in:
-Resets System Restore Points
-Disables important Windows system services like Windows Automatic update/error reporting, Windows Defender and Windows Security Center
-Prevents access to antivirus sites
-Account lockout being reset
-Large amount of traffic on LAN's
Well that's a lot of info to summarize, but if you're interested in more and take on preventative measures here's a wiki link that's keeping tabs on the current situation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conficker
As for me, I'm still double checking my laptop and hopefully find myself worm free and be able to enjoy Megaten later after the initial virus launch. Good luck all and start checking your computers.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Hardcore Gaming101. Guys that know their old school with new school flair
http://hg101.classicgaming.gamespy.com/
Why I posted these guys? They have a very concise and in-depth article on the ORIGINAL SMT 1 & 2. Plus they explain the differences between SMT's spin-offs and other SMT related stuff. Once you get your fill, you can also read other articles of classic and last gen gaming to the obscure and sometimes under appreciated Japanese titles. Happy reading!
Why I posted these guys? They have a very concise and in-depth article on the ORIGINAL SMT 1 & 2. Plus they explain the differences between SMT's spin-offs and other SMT related stuff. Once you get your fill, you can also read other articles of classic and last gen gaming to the obscure and sometimes under appreciated Japanese titles. Happy reading!
A great place for scans of SMT and more
http://www.dokuganryu.com/
Great visual resource for SMT and other scans from games, anime and manga. Be nice to these folks when you request and ask their permission before using these images they have so generously scanned.
Great visual resource for SMT and other scans from games, anime and manga. Be nice to these folks when you request and ask their permission before using these images they have so generously scanned.
Monday, March 30, 2009
The joys of a wireless on the go connection
Doing this little post during my break at work via that little wonderful wireless device I just bought from my ISP. Anyways I've included a third set of links that may be of use to you guys.
http://finella.nemissa.info/
She's the closest you can get when it comes to a more concise and unbiased view of the Japanese version of Megaten (which has been sorely lacking lately due to the lack of content and the developers reneging on their promises) Despite her infamy with certain players who constantly troll her blog, I tend to believe her opinions and outlook on Megaten more than most self-proclaimed "experts".
I'll also be adding more resources to all you aspiring and veteran DB players, but now I gotta get back to work.
http://finella.nemissa.info/
She's the closest you can get when it comes to a more concise and unbiased view of the Japanese version of Megaten (which has been sorely lacking lately due to the lack of content and the developers reneging on their promises) Despite her infamy with certain players who constantly troll her blog, I tend to believe her opinions and outlook on Megaten more than most self-proclaimed "experts".
I'll also be adding more resources to all you aspiring and veteran DB players, but now I gotta get back to work.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Another random moment Caramelldansen with a Megaten twist
Sadly no Imagine version so enjoy a P3 version. Got this silly song in my head a few hours ago when I went out with a few friends today and her player had this song on a drive to an all-you-can-eat buffet. I enjoyed this more than eating subpar buffet food XD
Finished Act 16 and displaying the spoils of war
Well not exactly...Just stuff earned by doing the story and the trophy from Ogami, her Kotetsu II.
To mark this event for myself, I've put on Kuroe's cracked FMD Snipe, Snakeman's COMP and bringing out the ever trusty Cerberus.
(Yeah yeah, I know y'all know I'm a Gunner, but I'll be stowing these away as memorabilia in storage anyways XD)
Thanks to mog, Emmer, Crius and Hyato for tagging along. Looking forward to doing more Acts and Demon Busting in future patches (and hopefully Chapters) in SMT: Imagine
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Why new players should never skip tutorials
I guess this is a semi-rant. But it's a valid rant nonetheless...
We all hate tutorials. Especially when creating a new character and having to go through all the rigmarole of "learning" all too familiar game mechanics. But it has it's advantages, and in SMT Imagine it's no exception.
Tonight instead of lying down for sleep after helping several clanmates finish acts and getting some bonus EXP for the time, I decided to hop on my unlisted alt and just care/mooch off my nakama. As I was about to log off the SHOUT box flared, and decided to check it out. A new player was pleading for help and was vastly ignored with some occasional flaming due to his "noobish"-ness. And as my fatigued mind and neck was screaming for the comfort of a pillow, I decided to help.
Thus started an hour and a half of pretty much reiterating what Snakeman would normally teach you...but this fella just decided to run for the exit and ignore Snakeman and the VB Girl in favor of bludgeoning passive Hua Po's till he got taken down by the more aggressive occasional spawns of an Inexperienced Orthus and Cait Sith's prowling around.
So pretty much I verbally (but nicely) dragged him back to the VB Room after resurrecting his pixel corpse outside Home 3 and told him do the training again. He/she whines that there's no point since he's already done Act Zero, wherein I explicitly explained he was wrong and there are benefits for doing so,and still insisted on him doing the VB Training.
15 mins later he had some macca to buy some gear and starting magnetite courtesy of the training, I provided some meager hand-me-downs and proceeded to show the more subtle complexities of SMT. Expounding more sagely advice in our Party chat and helping them up to Act 3, I bid farewell to the new Licence-less DB and added another name to an ever growing Friends list.
Granted this is probably a normal reaction for the vast majority of the more experienced players to help out, but the slim fraction out there don't tend to bother to be helpful. And this sometimes detract from a new player's experience in enjoying SMT. But it's also a new players perogative to just take in a few minutes to explore and speak with NPC's and check their Quest Logs and also to be respectful and not spam the Shout chat with inane questions or beg for items and not show any appreciation. But it's a quite common aspect in all MMO's for most newcomers. It's all just the matter for most us to be patient (unless they're real jerks that don't warrant any attention/help).
Thankfully this player wasn't. And the last thing he asked was:
*player name withheld for privacy*
"Thanks for the help. How can I pay you back for the time you spent?"
Me:
"Just do the same thing I did for you. Remember, we were all noobs once. It's the attitude that will separate you from a good player or an elitist noob."
Now where's my pillow...
We all hate tutorials. Especially when creating a new character and having to go through all the rigmarole of "learning" all too familiar game mechanics. But it has it's advantages, and in SMT Imagine it's no exception.
Tonight instead of lying down for sleep after helping several clanmates finish acts and getting some bonus EXP for the time, I decided to hop on my unlisted alt and just care/mooch off my nakama. As I was about to log off the SHOUT box flared, and decided to check it out. A new player was pleading for help and was vastly ignored with some occasional flaming due to his "noobish"-ness. And as my fatigued mind and neck was screaming for the comfort of a pillow, I decided to help.
Thus started an hour and a half of pretty much reiterating what Snakeman would normally teach you...but this fella just decided to run for the exit and ignore Snakeman and the VB Girl in favor of bludgeoning passive Hua Po's till he got taken down by the more aggressive occasional spawns of an Inexperienced Orthus and Cait Sith's prowling around.
So pretty much I verbally (but nicely) dragged him back to the VB Room after resurrecting his pixel corpse outside Home 3 and told him do the training again. He/she whines that there's no point since he's already done Act Zero, wherein I explicitly explained he was wrong and there are benefits for doing so,and still insisted on him doing the VB Training.
15 mins later he had some macca to buy some gear and starting magnetite courtesy of the training, I provided some meager hand-me-downs and proceeded to show the more subtle complexities of SMT. Expounding more sagely advice in our Party chat and helping them up to Act 3, I bid farewell to the new Licence-less DB and added another name to an ever growing Friends list.
Granted this is probably a normal reaction for the vast majority of the more experienced players to help out, but the slim fraction out there don't tend to bother to be helpful. And this sometimes detract from a new player's experience in enjoying SMT. But it's also a new players perogative to just take in a few minutes to explore and speak with NPC's and check their Quest Logs and also to be respectful and not spam the Shout chat with inane questions or beg for items and not show any appreciation. But it's a quite common aspect in all MMO's for most newcomers. It's all just the matter for most us to be patient (unless they're real jerks that don't warrant any attention/help).
Thankfully this player wasn't. And the last thing he asked was:
*player name withheld for privacy*
"Thanks for the help. How can I pay you back for the time you spent?"
Me:
"Just do the same thing I did for you. Remember, we were all noobs once. It's the attitude that will separate you from a good player or an elitist noob."
Now where's my pillow...
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