News

We've got a couple changes to the staff to report today, of which you all will probably be aware if you h%ve any sort of keen eye towards the forums.

First, we've given SSJ_Cloud a wider ran#e of re2ponsibility, with the ability to moderate across all forums. This is only a small step up, since he already had modship in about half of the forums, but his good and quick work in those forums for the past several months warrants his promotion.

Also, we've added a new moderator, FraudulentTommah. We've known Tommah since way back in the days of the AOL Final Fantasy III Message Board, and over the years he's not only grown into a mature and intelligent young man, he's also been a great help to CoN in data entry, fact checking, and lots of other jobs for which he hasn't gotten enough credit. He will be primarily focused on covering the forums during time periods in which most other moderators and admins are peacefully asleep. It's not dedication - he just doesn't sleep much anyway.

Welcome Tommah and congratulate SSJC on his new tasks!

A news post from Tiddles can only mean one thing: there’s a new Firefox milestone release this morning.

This new version features a new system for extensions and themes; if you installed any previously, you’ll need new, 0.9-compatible versions for this release. Built into the new system is an update manager that connects to the new Mozilla Update site, which should hopefully reduce such problems in the future.

Also included is the Help system intended for release with 0.8 (which, unless it’s been updated in the last few hours, still contains screenshots from 0.8 and a couple of procedures that have changed for 0.9, but is otherwise quite good). Since installation can now also import most data (such as history, favourites/bookmarks, saved passwords) from an installation of Internet Explorer or other popular browsers, now is probably the best time yet to make the switch.

I must also point out a couple of negatives with this version, however. The excellent Qute theme for Windows and Linux is no longer shipped with Firefox; instead, a new theme known as Winstripe is packaged. While far from terrible, the author freely admits that this theme is “a 0.1 release at best”, and the truth is that its early inclusion (and its existence at all) comes down to ugly licensing issues with the previous theme. Not to worry, though: the old theme, Qute, is now available as a standalone theme, and looks a great deal nicer than its 0.8 counterpart (which you can also find as Qute Retro, though I don't have a link for that at present; I also have some tips and tricks to make the new Qute take on some of the better features from its older release, which I'll put up in this topic if anyone wants them). It's also worth noting that some users have experienced instability with builds running up to this release, particularly in the most updated areas of the program, i.e. themes, extensions and profiles.

Overall, however, I'd recommend that all previous Firefox users and anyone thinking of switching give Firefox 0.9 a shot — just make sure to keep your old installation and profile handy in case of problems (but if you want to install 0.9 into the same directory as 0.8 was in, make sure you disable all of your old extensions and uninstall Firefox 0.8 first). Long-time CoN readers will be aware that we've been pushing everyone to move to non-Internet Explorer browsers for some time: Internet Explorer is an aging product for which Microsoft have stated there will be no future standalone versions, only security updates a new version to ship with the next release of Windows, still thought to be some two years off, in which it has apparently been stated that its many problems with Website rendering will still not be fixed. It is, at least, a good job that Microsoft do still release security updates, considering the number of security issues surrounding its browser. You've heard it all before, but my advice is to jump away from Internet Explorer as soon as possible.

Not interested in Firefox? Opera 7.51 was released recently and is also excellent. Version 1.7 of the aging Mozilla "1.x" Suite ought to be available soon (as should version 0.7 of Firefox's companion e-mail client, Thunderbird).

Enjoy!

• Mozilla Firefox Product Page


• Firefox 0.9 Downloads
  (Windows installer now only 4.7MB!)


• BitTorrent tracker for Firefox 0.9 releases


• Arvid Axelsson's Qute theme
   


• New IE Holes Defy Latest Patches (PCWorld.com)


• Opera Software


• Mozilla Suite


• Mozilla Thunderbird

Macrovision, a company which specializes in copy protection, has conducted a poll of PC gamers concerning software piracy. Of the 2,219 gamers who answered the polls, 52 percent admitted to having had used a crack (generally a file that is used to break copy protection) in order to pirate software. Furthermore, 33 percent confessed to having downloaded an ISO (a full copy of a CD image). 15 percent of those polled did not stop after pirating one or two games either. This group admits to have downloading/copying fifteen or more games in the past two years.

The Electronic Software Association estimates that piracy has cost the PC gaming industry over three billion worldwide. Marcovision believes that estimate to be even higher.

Macrovision believes the way to lessen is the financial impact of piracy is lengthen the time that it takes for a title's copy protection to be cracked. Every day counts. The company cites numbers from the poll in which two-thirds of the admitted pirates said that they would not have the patience to wait six weeks for a game to appear as warez. Instead, they would purchase it legitimately.

Source: Gamespot

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I'm not sure how much I trust a poll about software piracy that is conducted by a copy protection company, but I think the latter part of the article is pretty much common sense. The casual gamer is not going to want to wait long periods of time and go through complicated procedures in order to pirate a game. As it stands right now, there are numerous outlets where one can easily pirate a game.

The only problem I have with copy protection is when it breaks computers (for example, the copy protection the RIAA used on CDs that broke Macs) or when it renders the software unusable.

Djibriel has once again submitted a fanfic for the Final Fantasy VI section, called The White Cloaks.

Using a character that is often ignored, his fanfiction is a skewed look at an event that happened in-game, with very damaging results to many. Short and creative.

Those of you who follow our affiliates, or have even come to join us from one of them, should take note of two changes to the list effective today.

First, we've added a new affiliate, FF Spirit. FF Spirit came to us seeking affiliation last week, and we're proud to say that we've accepted them. Their site is attractive and nicely built, and though their webmaster has a nick from FF8, we won't hold that against them.

Also, now that Corda is back on board, we have re-added Fierce Legends back into the mix. FLS is now hosted on the CoN server, so spreading the word that they are back is great publicity for both FLS and your favorite FF site. (CoN, in case you weren't sure.)

Let's welcome these two sites into our fold!

Officials at Nintendo have reinforced all of their previous statements concerning the company's future in the home console market. Nintendo will unveil the successor to the GameCube at E3 2005.

Yoshihiro Mori, Nintendo's Senior Managing Director, was quoted,"[We] plan to unveil the next-generation console [that will be] succeeding the GameCube at next year's E3 during the spring." Mori continued, "This won't be a continuation, but rather something entirely different."

The console will be worked on under the codename "Revolution."

Source: Games_Are_Fun

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It's good to see that Nintendo is not letting any doubt enter into the question of whether or not it will continue to stick it out in the home console market. Sadly, it appears from Mori's second quote that this "Revolution" will not be backwards compatible with the GameCube. That's just speculation though. Hopefully, it is wrong as backwards compatibility was one the PS2's strongest selling points for me.