I decided I’d try the “unofficial” version of Xine (unofficial because it comes with DeCSS) today. While I was at it, I went ahead and got a few other packages with it (real codecs, MPEG4, DivX and Windows Media Player etc). After uninstalling the version that comes with Mandrake 9.1, I had my new Xine back-up and running in less than 5 minutes. Now I can watch any kind of movie in the wonderful GUI that is Xine, including my legally purchased but CSS encrypted DVDs. So far, I’ve watched the Half-Life2 video, Doom3 video, The Fellowship of the Ring, and The Matrix.
I’ll post a tut. on getting everything to work in the phorums later.

Oh, and I went a little trigger-happy on the screenshot button during the Matrix. Here you go.

The Star Wars Episode III script is up here.

Enter the Matrix is indeed a good game (Kung-Fu vampires and lesbian kissing). If you’ve seen the movie, play the game. If you haven’t seen the movie, see it before you play the game.

In case I don’t get a chance to update again for a while, I’ll be at the Matrix tomorrow at 4:45, then I’ll be packing for my trip to the Army Ammunition Plant in Hawthorne, Nevada. I’m planning on taking my H2K2 Threat Risk card and see if they detain me, or at least give me funny looks (should I wear my DeCSS shirt?). I’ll also bring along my camera to take pictures of my ticket (so we can see what threat level I officially hold) and maybe some pics of the Plant.

Oh, and here’s an annoying thing: all my http queries are proxied through Japan and Italy so when I go to google.com, they redirect me to google.it. Now I can say “I’m feeling lucky” in Italian. Mi sento fortunato.

Have you seen the latest Animatrix? It shows the creation of the Matrix. Pretty cool.

I’ve zipped and uploaded all 6 chapters of FrontLine’s Cyber War. It’s 207MB, 56 minutes, .mov format (runs fine in mplayer). They call it “high quality” but it actually is pretty bad. Just watchable in full-screen (too bad Quicktime users don’t have a full-screen option).

As for the programming itself…well, it’s ok. The whole “cyber war” and “digital Pearl Harbor” is definitely exaggerated (not to mention that Richard Clarke is an idiot and they make him out to be a hero) but, hey, if it scares people into security, I’m not complaining. Watch the war game in chp5 and compare that to DefCon CTF.
It’s starting to become clear why the U.S. government is so insecure…

I almost forgot, they talk about both Moonlight Maze and Eligible Receiver. Moonlight Maze has not been proven to exist and Eligible Receiver was no measure of the real world. The NSA setup a dummy-electrical-grid and whatnot for them to play on.
You hear people concentrate on the rumor that they took out the 911 system, too. What actually happened is that they sent out a memo to everybody that the 911 system was down so that everybody would call 911 at once and the trunk wouldn’t be able to handle it. A simple DoS attack just like what happened on 9/11, not any sort of break-in.

PlanetHalfLife gave out the official word a week or so ago and the newest PC Gamer has the full story and exclusive screens. The graphics look ok (character modeling could use some work).
Oh, and the release date is Sept. 30 2003