I’ve been frustrated for a while trying to use various products and services. I thought I’d compress all of them into a single post.

Click through to read this collection of rantings…

(more…)

I got an email on the 17th of August announcing State of Play V was open for registrations. The conference is on… err, well now actually (August 19th to 22nd) - in Singapore.

That’s okay, I guess since State of Play IV was rescheduled from January 7-9 2007, to “June 2007″ - with less than 2 weeks notification (the change notice was sent out on the 15th of December 2006).

Without knowing the background on why such a major change was scheduled, it looks like someone needs to revise their idea of ‘timely notification’.

Ohwell - They didn’t have Neil Stephenson lined up as a speaker, so it’s of less interest to me anyway.

Just checking my email now and I see I got an invite to the LOTRO Beta.

(Looks like Paul did too… )

Beta Applications are now open for the Lord of the Rings Online - Shadows of Angmar MMO. (via Digg)

SecondLife has been getting a whole lot of press recently - even the “reputable” broadsheets and on the ABC too.

I think this UserFriendly strip sums it up pretty well.

BBSpot, always good for a laugh, has an article up about how Lesuire Suite Larry will use the wiimote.

…give it to Aeoth’s sister. (Seen here)

Sorry Aeoth… but you’ve gotta laugh (atleast, after your sister replaces it).

Although, the actual manual does have warnings telling you not to whack your friend in the face with the Wiimote, there is no safety warning for “whacking the Wiimote into the coffee table”.

Edit: Seems like Wii Have a Problem (…not sure what I can say about the domain… except that it’s easy enough to say)

Looks like there’s a small spree on Xbox 360 thefts — and not individual consoles, nope - they’re taking entire truckloads.

See Bit Tech for the story: Thieves pinch £750,000 Xbox 360 shipment

Best part of the article:

Allegedly the thieves also stole £750,000 worth of Playstation 3’s - they walked away with 10 consoles.

As mentioned before, Childs Play is spreading to Australia this year.

DStore has come to the party, and set up some Childs Play charity “wish lists” for Brisbane Mater Childrens Hospital, and Sydney Childrens Hospital, Randwick.
I’m assuming that the stock levels for each product are set at the quantities the hospital would like — so, if something is sold out, just pick another. Oh, and FYI -

For anyone wondering where their gift from me is this year - I suggest calling Sydney Children’s Hospital. (I havn’t done it yet, the stores only came up today! :P)

Your local Childrens Hospital not there? Then hurry up and contact the Hospital, and Childsplay. There’s not much time left.

Paul has a good writeup of his experience of the eGames Expo - a real pity about the no-cameras rule. Very stupid of them, imo.

If I wern’t going overseas (still not certain on when I’m doing that), I might consider getting a Wii… it’s the only console I’ve actually thought was really cool.
Other consoles have had lightguns and things like that, but the Wii Controller is… really interesting.