It seems Kevin Trudeau can't stay out of trouble with the law. His entire history with the federal government comes from investigations of crookery. Basically he knowingly hocks products on television he knows to be fake, and most importantly "cures" for just about everything that he knows do not work. Every time the man is on television he is trying to steal your money.

So to this I say HOW DARE YOU media for even calling this criminal a "pitchman". If you think Trudeau is pitchman, you have no idea what a real pitchman is.

That being said, look for this criminal to continue to be a crook despite even more jail time.

Some really cool history for anyone interested. ABC7 out of Chicago recently did this story explaining the origins of the now popular snowboard. Definately check this one out!

The long awaited care package glitch fix has arrived via the Modern Warfare 2 1.09 patch. The patch rolled out to the UK and EU regions first, followed by the US the day after. I haven't heard word yet from the asian community on whether or not this patch hit them yet, but I can bet it has.

Patch 1.09 carries with it the fix for the "care package glitch" which has pretty much ruined the atmosphere of games since it was discovered. I'm kinda perturbed that it took them this long to get a working fix out, but hey, what can ya do, right?

Anyways, here are the official 1.09 patch notes:


We've updated the PS3 & Xbox 360 version of Modern Warfare 2, including the following fixes:
- Care Package, Emergency Airdrop, and Sentry Gun marker grenades sprint speed normalized.


- Fix for "infinite care package" exploit.


- Sentry Guns: Improved placement detection, preventing cases of Sentry Guns inside geometry.


- Model 1887: Bling using Akimbo and FMJ combination now has same range and damage as non-Bling Model 1887s.


- Fixes to prevent various XP hacks (including the prevention of negative XP)
Note to PS3 Player: The PS3 still needs to receive one additional fix, regarding the infinite care package exploit which is going out today (Feb 16th 2010). EU Players should be receiving it first, with Sony NA going out later.

Something struck me as completely odd the other day, when comparing the review round-up both on StarTrekOnline.com and on MetaCritic. Now, I understand that developers want to keep the game image clean and fresh, and that unfavorable reviews aren't usually showcased (such was the case with Age of Conan). However, in this case, Cryptic has posted their negative reviews.

Of course, the featured reviews on the main page are not the unfavorable ones, like GameSpot and IGN's reviews for example. But they did indeed list them. The problem at hand is not whether or not the negative reviews were given screen space, but instead the average review percentage.

On the STO website, they list a "Total Adjusted Score" of 72% out of 100%.

This doesn't match up with the same exact round-up on MetaCritic, who estimates an average "meta score" of only 63, and a user rating of 6.4.

So, are the folks at Cryptic fudging the numbers a bit? Is the MetaCritic scoring system just weird? What would YOU score the game personally? Let us know in the comments thread below, and stay tuned for my "review" of Star Trek Online coming over the weekend.

A small "fix-it" patch came down this morning for the Star Trek Online community. Not a whole lot to say about this one as it stands, so I'll let the notes speak for themselves.



Some issues were found after last night's patch that were preventing some players from turning in missions or viewing some remote contacts.

While it is our goal to help clean up your remote contacts list so that at higher levels you do not see every repeatable mission at every level, there was some confusion about how this worked and led to many people thinking they could no longer do missions (when in many cases - but not all - they still could).

We're reverting the remote contact changes for now, as it was blocking progression for some players, until the system is working as intended. So temporarily - no restrictions at all on remote contacts.

A few other bug fixes were resolved today, and we're taking this opportunity to include them as well.

Thank you for submitting bugs and for the many detailed threads in the Bug Forums. They are invaluable in helping the dev team track down corner cases.

Release Notes
•Repeatable missions are again no longer level restricted and will show up on your remote contact list at all levels if avaialable
•Fixed an issue where teams could not switch instances in Deepspace maps. Note - this only fixes the instance button on the map screen. The mini-map instance button will be fixed in a later update.
•Players should be able to complete the Badlands and Treasure Trading Station missions regardless of the order they complete certain objectives in, and regardless of dialog options at the end of the mission.
•Addressed an issue where a full list of remote contacts would appear when you first map transfered, but would then prune down to only a few contacts. Remote contacts should now be visible regardless of the progress made on the mission thus far.
•Prior to last night's update, some players were able to take and progress Borg sector missions before completing the intended initial hand-off from Quinn to 4 of 10. This put some players in an odd mission state when we then required the hand-off mission from Quinn before you could talk to any other contacts. We've made some fixes to help alleviate this issue. For now, if you feel you are still in this state, drop the mission from Quinn in the Omega Fleet, go back to Risa and retake the initial hand-off mission from Quinn to rendezvous with the USS Victory where you will talk to 4 of 10 and put yourself back to the intended mission flow. In addition to fix people in this specific state, we've updated DVak, 4 of 10, and Karbo so that players can contact them to turn in a complete Borg sector mission even if they hadn't completed the initial handoff mission.

In an interview recently with the Wall Street Journal, James Cameron revealed the release date for Avatar on DVD and Blu-Ray, and detailed a second release for the 3D version later in the year.

"It's all right on schedule," Cameron claimed. "We'll do the Blu-ray and the standard def DVD April 22nd, that's our plan as of right now, and that'll be pretty much bare bones. And then we'll do a value-added DVD and a 3D Blu-Ray in I think November sometime."

Fox would not confirm or deny these dates, but I will take Cameron's word for it. Look for more on this as it breaks!

Funny and weird news today out of the Palestinian protests of Israel. It appears several Na'vi have come from Pandora to join the fight! WTF? Are these idiots serious?

Let me put this in perspective. Imagine showing up to a protest dressed as Spock, Darth Vader, Garfield the cat, or Charlie Brown...GOOD GRIEF!

On the bright side, the brightly painted idiots managed to get front page exposure on the biggest news site on the net. No, not mine silly lol...CNN.com.

James Cameron, are you seeing this shit?

ABC recently revealed the secret behind the "flash sideways" scenes in this season of LOST. According to ABC, "A flash sideways is not a flashback, flash-forward or an alternate timeline. It posits what would have happened if Oceanic flight 815 didn't crash on the island but instead landed in Los Angeles".

So basically, the "flash sideways" scenes imagine what the islanders' lives would be like had Jacob not meddled in their futures. This is a big reveal from a company that is usually tight lipped about such things. However, this is the last season of the show, so closing as many threads in the quilt as possible is a welcome thing.

Stay tuned for more on LOST's final season!

In a surprise move, Cryptic has already initiated a buddy key trial program. This is in the face of massive gold spam already present in the game and in the forum mailbox. According to reports, Cryptic claimed over 1 million players in the retail head start. This is a pretty nice starting number for ANY fledgling MMO, so why they would feel the need to increase it further this early on is beyond me.

For example, complaints flood the forums about the queue system and how the server is always full at prime time in the US. One would think the company would take the time to increase ppulation flow through and stability before initiating a buddy key/trial program.

Besides that, other companies that have offered early buddy key systems or "invite-a-friend" programs have also offered rewards for converted accounts. Not the case here. It's just a 5 day key, and you must have a retail copy to claim the key, which you will pass on...hopefully not to a gold seller/spammer.

I don't mean to be so critical about this, as it may turn out to be good in the end. It just had a couple of points that rubbed me the wrong way, and I thought I'd share. Let me know what you think in the comments!

Today we bring you the patch notes to this morning's huge bug fix update for Star Trek Online! Lots of performance and bug fixes in this one, definately a nice patch!

There are a few key things missing of course, but if they keep patching with this consistancy, the game should clean up nicely and in a timely manner. Cryptic, thanks for listening to the community's bug complaints! KUDOS!







General

•Power trays were acting strangely and not remembering what you had placed in your first slot. Code has gone in to address this and should now remember what power you place there.
•Work towards improving game performance when the shard is at peak capacity.
•Fleet Bank Updates - Options are now grayed out and disabled for players who don't have permission to change them. The Limit field is now filled with the current limits set. And restrictions should now be working properly. They were not updating until you switch tabs and then back. Fixed a bug where players could circumvent limits that were set.
•There were many areas where if you logged out, you would not log in to the right location. We've gone through the maps and hopefully addressed these so that you always log back in on the last safe static map you were on.
•Renaming should now work properly if you and your Bridge Officer share the same name.
•Fixed an issue where -maxfps was being ignored and always reset to 60 regardless of user options.
•Players can no longer escape to their bridge if they are engaged in combat in a Deepspace encounter.
•Fixed an issue where battle damage was showing up as white or grey blotches on some ships.
•Added space station ambient audio to Deepspace K7 station.


Missions

•Daily missions now start their cooldown from the time the mission was taken instead of from when the mission was turned in.
•Rank up missions complete now if you get your free ship at any time, not just once you have spoken to the ship vendor. This was causing an issue with some characters getting stuck if they talked to the ship vendor contact with odd dialog choices.
•Players who were teamed where not able to complete missions because other teammates where completing mission dialogs and warp before they had completed turning in their mission. This has been addressed so that all players can progress dialogs at their own pace while teamed.
•Level 43+ players entering the Borg Sectors now need to hail the USS Victory and complete the hand-off mission from Admiral Quinn before they can talk to other remote contacts to access Borg related missions.
•Removed some additional Borg Star Cluster missions that were deemed un-Borg-like.
•Added more missing translations of mission dialog and other localized text updates.
•Addressed an issue where players were getting stuck on the Seeds of Dissent mission by sprinting after enemies and ending up behind forcefields.
•The dialog with the Klingons in the PJem System no longer jumps immediately to "Care to repeat your threat, Captain?"
•Fixed the display text on some KLG cardassian missions.
•Sulu is now a remote contact once the player is level 2.
•Fixed a crate on the Sierra Outpost II station in Romulan space that was spawning inside of another crate.
•The crate on the Iconian ground map is no longer giving out too many items.
•Repeatable Star Cluster missions are now set so that they are only offered when you are neary the cluster if you are above the mission level.
•Moved anomalies on Danteri V and Beytan V that were impossible to scan.
•Under the Cover of Night: Den of Thieves: Commander Teleb was becoming unkillable if hit with an exploit. Teleb is now smarter and will hopefully no longer let himself get put in this situation.
•Fixed an issue where the Diplomat could not be rescued or selected in the Diplomatic Solution mission if the player logged out/disconnected and then re-entered the map.
•In the Minefield mission - all of the crates can now be interacted with.

Powers and Combat

•There is now a Commander version of Dampening Field to correct the issue where some officers were receiving it at LT Commander, and removed LT Commander version from the power store.
•Updated display name for space version of Dampening Field to Starship Dampening Field for clarity.
•Dual Bank Antiproton weapons now do antiproton damage instead of phaser damage.
•Science Team, Security Team, and Engineering team can now be activated while your ship is held.

UI

•Corrected the Klingon version of power trays to use appropriate colored borders.
•Updated the UI to select a reward to make it clearer what you are selecting and help alleviate issues where you might not have received the reward you were expecting.
•Contact headshots now have a border around them to make them stand out better against the background.
•Minor layout tweaks to the disabled weapon trays during the Fed tutorial.
•Made it clear in the UI that the first Ship and Bridge Officer rename is free.
•Made it clearer in the UI that changing your Captain's short name (the one used for character identification purposes) requires a micro-transaction.
•When changing fields, UI will now always be enabled so that you can see how much changes cost even if you can't afford them.
•Unconscious away team members will now stand out better on the team UI.
•Disabled away team control buttons for unconscious bridge officers.
•Added some missing Klingon away team UI designs.
•Added the instance number to the map name above the minimap if it's a static map.
•There are now clearer notifications when you've received a new Officer, or Leveled-Up.
•The Run recovery bar is now hidden if you are being held.
•C-Store - Special Unlocks - "One unlock per character" message was not being display until after the item had been unlocked but is now shown sooner.
•Special unlocked costumes were not showing up properly on the log in screen and should now display correctly.
•The log in message now displays appropriate rank instead of level.
•Players are now prompted if they would like to disable the proxy after 2 failed connection attempts

Today, we bring you the awesome behind the scenes look at Halo Reach, "Once more unto the breach". I'm excited to see more of where Bungie is taking this franchise. I think we all have our fingers crossed that this one will be redemption.

Halo Reach is due out some time later this year, my guess is in the company's Fall line-up. Stay tuned for more!

Thanks to user Kakurenbo over at the official Star Trek Online forums for writing up this chart on XBOX 360 controller keybinds for STO. Make sure you stop by and give him your thanks!

The available buttons on the Xbox Controller are: Joy1 = Start Joy2 = Back Joy3 / Lstick = Left thumb depress Joy4 / Rstick = Right thumb depress Joy5 / LB = Left Bumper Joy6 / RB = Right Bumper Joy7 / Ltrigger = Left Trigger Joy8 / Rtrigger = Right Trigger Joy9 / Ab = A Button Joy10 / Bb = B Button Joy11 / Xb = X Button Joy12 / Yb = Y Button Lstick_(up/down/left/right) Rstick_(up/down/left/right) Joypad_(up/down/left/right) Combinations of buttons are possible, and just require a + sign with no spaces e.g. Joy7+Xb, Joypad_right+Yb. * Not sure about 3-button combos. To see what command you need to bind a specific power, if you go to the Options > Key Binds menu and hover your mouse over a command it will bring up a box indicating the command line you need to enter.   The basic binding command is /bind <command> <condition> which is typed into your chat window. Camera Controls: There are several options here, but the two I find myself trying are Free Camera (left stick controls movement, right stick controls camera), or Follow Target + Tab Selects Offscreen Targets (left stick controls ship, right stick freed up for my shields. Camera automatically pans to face the selected target, so can make maneuvering a bit tricky at times) Tray Bindings: Tray 1 = 1 to - Tray 2 = Ctrl+1 to Ctrl+- Tray 3 = Alt+1 to Alt+- Tray 1 = +TrayExecByTray 0 <button> Tray 2 = +TrayExecByTray 1 <button> Tray 3 = +TrayExecByTray 2 <button> BO powers don't seem to be bound to a keypress by default in Live, so you have to add them to an actionbar and then map that button to a keypress. (Press P to bring up the powers list, and drag the icon into an empty button slot). My bindings for Space are: /bind Yb throttleadjust .25 (increase throttle) /bind Ab throttleadjust -.25 (decrease throttle/ reverse) NOTE: you can change the throttle number for finer control. So .20 or even .10 would be possible. /bind Bb GenSendMessage Throttle_FullImpulse_Button FullThrottle (full impulse) /bind Xb GenSendMessage HUD_Root FireAll (fire all weapons) /bind Joy8+Xb genbuttonclick powerlevel_preset_0 (power preset Attack) /bind Joy8+Yb genbuttonclick powerlevel_preset_1 (power preset Defense) /bind Joy8+Bb genbuttonclick powerlevel_preset_2 (power preset Speed) /bind Joy8+Ab genbuttonclick powerlevel_preset_3 (power preset Aux.) /bind Rstick_up +Power_Exec Reroute_Shields_Forward /bind Rstick_down +Power_Exec Reroute_Shields_Rear /bind Rstick_left +Power_Exec Reroute_Shields_Left /bind Rstick_right +Power_Exec Reroute_Shields_Right /bind Joy7+Xb +TrayExecByTray 2 0(BO power 1) /bind Joy7+Yb +TrayExecByTray 2 1 (BO power 2) /bind Joy7+Bb +TrayExecByTray 2 2 (BO power 3) /bind Joy7+Ab +TrayExecByTray 2 3 (BO power 4) /bind Joypad_up InteractWindow (interact button) Ground commands are very similar, but there aren't as many options Commands you may find useful to add are /bind <key> ++run (one click toggles a full run cycle) /bind <key> ++aim (click toggles aim mode on and off) /bind <key> GenSendMessage Inventory_Root SwitchActiveWeapon (swaps weapons) /bind <key> +roll (tapping Lstick twice will roll you in the appropriate direction, but I like to keep a second single button ready just incase ) Saving your Keybind settings: When you have the bindings the way you like them, make sure to save the config. Use /bind_save_file <filename> and /bind_load_file <filename> to save having to type them in for every character NOTE: you need 2 seperate keybind lists. One for Ground, one Space. All /bind commands are local to that one list, so my /bind Joypad_up InteractWindow has to be in both.

Ok, file this one under "sad panda" folks. It seems the guys over at 2K Games could give to craps less about the FOV issue with Bioshock 2. PC gamers, particularly the 16:10 crowd (like myself), have been having widescreen issues non stop. 2K responded by adding a patch that "Fixed an issue where the resolution would change on its own if entering gameplay in a 16:10 resolution on a native 16:10 monitor", and by shooting down hopes of a FOV fix.

2K employee "Tech Kris" had this to say recently. "Please note the FOV will not change from 75, and we do not plan to change it". Highly dissapointing. Anyhow, for those wanting a workaround, there are a few methods out there. None of the methods are a perfect fix, however, and are to be used at your own risk.

In the meantime, feel free to head on over to the 2K forums and cuss the company out, and show your disgust in our comments.

Naughty Dog recently announced that as of today, MAJOR update patch 1.05 for the Playstation 3 game Uncharted 2 is now officially LIVE! As I glance over the changelog, I an happy with these changes. I can expect some whining from some people though. I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts, so sound off in the comments!

Title Update 1.05 includes the following:


Weapon damage and attributes have been rebalanced


On-screen display of medals awarded during a match has been updated


Implemented detection and removal of flagrantly idle players from the active matchmaking player pool


Cash penalty for leaving matches has been adjusted and is now tiered by player level as follows:
Levels 1 – 20 = -10,000


Levels 21 – 40 = -20,000


Levels 41 – 60 = -40,000


Updated player networking protocols to remove all occurrences of “error syncing player data,” Level resets and Ranked playlist Skill Level resets


Added crawling ticker display of leaderboard statistics to the multiplayer menu screen


Updated multiplayer menu screen to include a “Trophy” selection to enable players to display and track progress on the new Trophies included in the Drake’s Fortune Multiplayer Pack


Collision and geometry updates to various multiplayer maps


13 new medals have been added
Defender - Kill a player that is actively shooting one of your teammates


Finish Him! - Get the last kill of the game


First! - Get the first kill of the game


Fly on the Wall - Kill a player who is climbing


No Cigar - Kill the treasure carrier while they are about to score the treasure


None Shall Pass - Get 5 Kills while in the hill during a King of the Hill game


Protectorate - Shoot and kill 5 enemies that were damaging the treasure carrier


Put’em Down - Kill someone in the knockdown state with a pistol weapon


Retaliation - Kill the last player that killed you


That Was Embarrassing - Earn a shutout in plunder


Tip Off - Be the first player to grab the treasure in a plunder match


Tricky - Kill a player with a pistol weapon while hanging


Unlucky - Die 5 times in a row without getting a kill

Sigh Snookie...it seems EVERYONE wants to see you naked. So I bring you this update of sorts. Amid charges of "it's photoshopped" and the like, nakedsnooki.com has released another photo it claims is proof they are real.

Again, I'll let you all be the judge, but don't be surprised if it all turns out fake. Sound off in the comments and let us know what you think!

This week's free movie comes from Ubisoft. We bring you the awesome "Assassin's Creed: Lineage", a short film made to coincide with the AC2 release. It's totally awesome, so check it out!

Today, we bring you the amazing trailer for Neil Marshall's (The Descent, Doomsday) film about the legendary 9th Legion, "Centurion". This movie looks frickin awesome.

One of the best things about being good at COD: MW2 is being able to show off on YouTube. I have seen some cool stuff so far, from the epic knife throw kill to the funny (but obviously staged) stealth kills. Well it looks like the bar has been raised yet again for bragging rights in the video below.

This is an amazing video, and as it appears, a very lucky match for the player. A 6 in 1 kill is just one of the highlights of this awesome vid. If you know of a video of a mora amazing killstreak than this, please let me know.

HAARP, or "The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program", has been the target of conspiracy theorists for some time now. Even History channel did an episode about it. But one of my favorite exposes on the subject came from Jesse "The Body" Ventura, former governer of Minnesota. The basic theory right now is that HAARP was responsible for some pretty significant distaster event. People are buzzing about the earthquakes in China and Haiti.

So what is HAARP? Well watch the video below and see for yourself.

What would a Thundercats film be like? What if it had a huge big name cast? Well,I'm gonna let the trailer speak for itself. Really, it's one of the best fan made trailers I've seen in a while. Check it out!

Pirahna 3D is going to be funny. Not what you expected me to say, right? Well the looks of this trailer give this film a very 1980's cheese feel...and you know what? I like it! Plenty of gimmicky 3D, a great cast, and the return of the Pirahna franchise make this a must see for me this year.

Stay tuned for more on this film as it breaks!

Bioware has unveiled Taris as the next planet in their upcoming MMO "Star Wars: The Old Republic". Taris is described as a "post-apocalyptic swamp, abandoned but not forgotten by the greater galaxy for three centuries". From the looks of it, the planet has a very "Dagobah" like feel to it, even down to the murky look of the atmosphere.

Remember Darth Malak? Well he's the one responsible for the destruction of this world. The republic is attempting to recolonize the planet, but not if the Sith have anything to say about it. However, something resides there that will trouble both the Sith and Republic alike...the mutating rakghoul.



So far, this game is shaping up to be the greatest Star Wars gaming experience ever released. Bioware is really focusing on the atmosphere here, something "Star Wars Galaxies" sorely lacked. Stay tuned for more updates on this game, and be sure to check out Bioware's official website!

Discovery announced that they do in fact plan to have a tribute to Captain Harris of the Cornelia Marie. It's no surprise to me really, because it just seemed like that would happen no matter what. The bigger news though is that Harris will be a part of the coming season of "The Deadliest Catch" this April. They had just finished shooting the season when the tragedy happened.

Variety spoke with executive producer Thom Beers, who said "He'll be a big part of the season and the series, but this is a huge loss to the series. The fate and the future of the Cornelia Marie and crew (are) up in the air. I'm flying up to meet with his sons and figure out what to do going forward."

While the future of the boat and the show may be uncertain t this point, I feel everything will pull together. It is a fantastic show, and I am sure that Harris will still be a part of everyone's lives in spirit.

Following today's scheduled maintenance, the STO servers were hit with some unexpected downtime. Unfortunately for the game and it's players, this has been happening a bit often lately.

First, let's cover the first downtime. "No patch notes for tonight, no new patch. This is all performance and stability maintenance." said GM Destra on the official forums. Not even an hour after it came back up, though, the servers went critical and took a dump...

However, it only took a few minutes to get the servers back up despite all the rampant crying and complaining on the forums. God forbid they had to re-reboot the servers. The poor dev team gets ripped to shreds every time this happens. Of course, ALL MMOS HAVE STABILITY PROBLEMS WHEN THEY FIRST START!

Also what about the fact that WoW's downtimes are 3 times as long usually because of this very same issue? A patch that causes a crash or some sort of bug.

Anyhow, the servers are up, the game is running great, so give the devs a break, uh? And have a HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

UPDATE: Servers dropped again...perhaps it's a sign we should all be with our valentines instead of the computer...