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| Welcome to the New Combat-Arena.Net Gamer Center
Welcome to the Combat-Arena Game Center. This site will try to expand to report & Share information and files for different game types and platforms.
If you would like to help contribute please leave me a PM and I'll look into it.
Members can allready submit news postings and some can upload files to the website. So if you have something to share, please do.
Gen Halftrack [/center]
Thursday 07 August 2008  | Microsoft's "Mojave Experiment' | | | |
| Source: http://www.slate.com
In mid-July, representatives of Microsoft traveled to San Francisco in search of people who hated Windows Vista. The company recruited 140 Mac and PC users who thought Microsoft's latest operating system was slow, that it crashed constantly, that it was incompatible with various devices, and that installing it would be a pain. None of these people had ever used Vista; they'd only heard from others that it sucked. When they were asked to watch a short demonstration of a brand-new Microsoft operating system called Windows Mojave, the Vista-haters were blown away. The new OS was quick and pretty, it handled photos and videos and music with aplomb, and it never crashed. "Why didn't you guys release this instead of that Vista crap?" many wondered. But that was the trick. Windows "Mojave" was really Windows Vista. Microsoft filmed the focus-group sessions using hidden cameras, and when the company rep dropped the news to the Vista haters, many were pleasantly surprised. "I had no idea that you could do all this with Windows Vista!" was a typical reaction. The company has since posted the videos online as part of a new ad campaign dubbed "the Mojave Experiment" (the ads are running here at Slate). But the experiment is a strangely passive-aggressive way to sell software. "You were wrong—Vista totally doesn't suck as much as you thought!" is hardly a reason to pick up a new OS. Microsoft has sold more than 180 million copies of Vista in a year and a half; in surveys, the vast majority of Vista owners say they're satisfied with the software. But there are 1 billion Windows users in the world, and a lot of them seem terrified of adopting Vista. True, evidence for the Vista malaise is mainly circumstantial—retailers and PC manufacturers say that customers are still asking for good old Windows XP, big companies are choosing to wait for Windows 7, Mac sales are skyrocketing, and PC makers have been touting the ease with which customers can "downgrade" from Vista to XP. Every other day, the tech press has a new report on people's Vista difficulties. One recent headline: "Man gets Windows Vista to work with printer."
[ Read the rest... ]
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Tuesday 17 June 2008 | Is Microsoft going to copy Nintendo\ | | | |
| Rumor: Microsoft Copying Mii, Xbox E3 Plans Leaked Is Microsoft going to copy Nintendo's Mii idea? Moreover: Did a whole flood of information about the Xbox 360's lineup of announcements for E3 just flood out onto the Internets?Some sleuths at NeoGAF have dug up a marketing presentation that purports to spill the details on all manner of different major announcements, from Xbox 360 "Avatars" (right) to new details on Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero World Tour.And there could even be a video of Silicon Knights' game for Sega, if all this is true. Oh, it's just a maelstrom of intriguing tidbits today. Below, I'll run down the major maybe-megatons. Just take them all with a grain of salt. Microsoft will roll out "Avatars", customizable characters that you create and who represent you when you're online with Xbox Live. The next Tony Hawk game comes with a motion-sensitive stand-on skateboard controller that sounds a lot like the Wii Fit board. The big innovation for Guitar Hero World Tour's guitar controller is a touch-sensitive fretboard that lets you slide up and down for analog solos during songs. Forza 3 for Xbox 360 is so gigantic -- over 400 cars and 100 tracks -- that it will be sold as a two-disc game. There's a video for a game called Crucible, which some are speculating is Silicon Knights' game for Sega, which is rumored to be titled The Crucible: The Evil Within. Spider-Man vs. Marvel Zombies is headed to 360, PS3, and Wii. The next Call of Duty game is subtitled World at War, has no number attached. Disney is bringing out a 360, PS3, and Wii game called Ultimate Band, which will be compatible with Rock Band instruments or played with normal controllers and Wiimote motion sensing. There's video of this, too.Goodness! That's a lot. It's so much, and so intricately documented with cover artwork and videos, that it really does seem as if a major leak has just occurred. It'll be interesting to see how the publishers respond.  | |
Sunday 11 May 2008 | 
Overview
Information about the game:
- Rough Storyline: In a desperate, near future setting where controlling the planet's depleting fossil resources determines the ultimate fate of civilization. A global war for oil is being waged between two superpowers, the Western Coalition (US/EU) and the Red Star Alliance (Russia/China), and players will be instrumental in determining how the war is waged -- and won.
- Development for PC and Xbox 360 on Unreal 3 Engine
- Windows XP & Windows Vista compatiable.
- Urban Warfare.
- Set in the Near-Future.
- Objective non-linear gameplay - You get to choose your own path to victory.
- Frontline Mechanic: Each map is composed of multiple series of objectives that are either neutral or owned by either the Western Coalition or the Red Star Alliance. Each of these series represents a frontline, and only objectives contained within the current frontline are active and can be captured. Capture all objectives within a frontline, in any order, and the front will advance deeper into hostile territory, revealing the next frontline. Push the front all the way back to the enemy's base and capture it, and victory is yours!
- Squad based teamplay (Optional).
- Tactical Fuel Air Bombs.
- Players will be offered around 60 weapons and vehicles.
- Vehicles ranging from Assault Tanks to experimental RC Drones along with Jets, Helicopters, Off-Road Vehicles.
- Strong focus on Single-Player and Multiplayer modes.
- Will support Widescreen Monitors.
- Roles define your abilities and strategic role on the front. These abilities unlock during a single match based on your actions and have auto reload timers for use. Your loadout defines your primary and secondary weapons. There are 6 loadouts and 4 roles. You can combine any loadout with any role.
- Ability to call in Air Strikes. All air strikes are player targeted (Air Support Role). Although the airstrikes can be defeated by the countermeasure role.
- Destructible Environment
- Xbox 360 will see 50 Players.
- PC will see 64 Players.
- No support for Live Anywhere at this time.
- 8 planned multiplayer maps each including different objectives. With more content planned after release
- Objectives range from capturing points, destroyble objectives, active (use key to capture), stealing, etc.
- Delayed Sounds. Example: You are standing 100 meters away from a bomb being exploded instead of hearing the sound on instant explosion, you'll receive it after certain amount of seconds.
- All weapons are skill based, only the sentry gun is automatic. Example: the Rocket launcher (Javelin) allows you to fast straight fire or lock. If you lock, you can pick a trajectory for angle of attack (Vehicles have weak spots). If you straight fire, it's based on your aiming skills.
- Target sharing, a second person is needed in a vehicle to "mark" the target. Then only the gunner can see it.
- Missile defeat is also player controlled; you have to spot the incoming rocket, aim at it, and shoot it down. It's not that easy, though if you master it, your vehicle will be stronger. That said, you need two people in the vehicle for it to be useful. (Driver \Gunner, Counter measure \ Targeting)
- Will contain a Single Player campaign. - The single player campaign will focus on this powerful storyline as players' execute missions focused on non-linear gameplay, moving their frontline through enemy held territory.
- Single Player contains eight theaters of war.
continued
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Sunday 04 May 2008 Sunday 20 April 2008 |  It's been a while since California based developer/publisher Novalogic has released any new game products; the last game they released was the PS2-Xbox port of their military shooter Delta Force: Black Hawk Down way back in the fall of 2005 (their last original game, Joint Operations, was released even earlier in mid 2004). So we were happy to see that the company is still alive thanks to a teaser image on their main web site that seems to be a big hint that yet another Delta Force game is in the works.
The image, which shows two well armed soldiers, a Delta Force insignia in a red background and the words, "Delta Force: Angel Falls", reveals next to nothing about what the game will be about. Hopefully the words "Coming Soon" below the teaser is a promise rather than a hope for the future
Comments are welcome
Submitted by Gen Halftrack
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Thursday 17 April 2008 | Flash ads bearing malware plague popular sites ( Windows Secrets ) | | | |
| Due to the importance of this information This news article has been reprinted in it entirety. The source is from Windows Secrets WindowsSecrets.com. I recommend the Windows Secrets news letter very highly and they produce a free and paid version. Reprint permission is underway
TOP STORY
Flash ads bearing malware plague popular sites
 | By Scott Dunn
A Flash-based advertisement that appeared last week on the USA Today site downloaded malicious code to users' computers, generating erroneous warnings of a malware infestation and offering a phony solution.
The Flash vulnerability is so widespread that such "malvertisements" may be present on thousands of sites, but there are measures you can take to reduce your exposure.
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Just opening the page puts you at risk
Visitors to USAToday.com last Thursday got more than they bargained for. A hacked Flash advertisement meant that merely viewing a page in your browser was capable of triggering a malware attack on your PC. According to an alert on the security site Websense, the ad can take control of the browser without any user interaction at all.
Two days after the ad appeared on the USA Today site, two prominent Utah-based news sites, DeseretNews.com and SLTrib.com, were found to have similarly dire banner ads. These ads directed users to various unexpected locations, including the site for AntiSpywareMaster. This destination has been called a "corrupt anti-spyware parasite" and a "fake program" by the RDV Group, a safe-computing organization.
News sites aren't the only victims of what Sandi Hardmeier, who authors the blog Spyware Sucks, calls "malvertisements." The ads themselves may appear perfectly harmless, notes Hardmeier, who's been recognized as an MVP (Most Valued Professional) by Microsoft. "The criminals behind such malvertisements . . . have no shame," she writes, "impersonating everything from WeightWatchers to Oxfam."
Advertisements are not the only source of the problem. The principal conveyors of this malicious code are Flash animations (or .swf files), which are commonly used to create intro screens, online video, and other Internet content in addition to Web ads.
Of particular concern are Flash files that are vulnerable to insertion of malicious code using a technique called cross-site scripting, or XSS.
This vulnerability was widely publicized earlier this year by Google researcher Rich Cannings and his co-authors in their book Hacking Exposed Web 2.0: Web 2.0 Security Secrets and Solutions. According to a report in the U.K.–based tech-news site The Register, a Web search revealed more than 500,000 vulnerable files on major Web sites.
A permanent fix is a long way off
Makers of Flash-building tools, including Adobe, Autodemo, TechSmith, and InfoSoft, quickly updated their development environments to patch the holes, according to a March story in The Register. But because many of the vulnerable files have to be regenerated from scratch, a titanic number of high-risk Flash files remain online.
Speaking at last month's CanSecWest security conference in Vancouver, B.C., Cannings estimated that over 10,000 sites host the risky files, The Register reported.
But that estimate may be low. In his security blog, Jeremiah Grossman, founder and chief technology officer of WhiteHat Security, writes that "potentially hundreds of thousands" of Web sites could be at risk. "Reasonably workable fixes are going to be a long time coming," he adds.
Even diagnosing the problem can be a challenge, notes Spyware Sucks's Hardmeier. She points out that advertising commonly appears on Web sites in one of two ways: either the Web site's staff handles its own advertising and posts the ads directly, or the site is served ads from an advertising network, which typically manages the content.
Unfortunately, it isn't always easy for sites or advertising networks to detect problem ads. "Malvertisements are coded to exclude particular IP addresses, cities, states, and even entire countries," Hardmeier explains. "It is standard operating procedure for a malvertisement to be coded so that it will not trigger a redirect if displayed on a computer within the IP range of the victim Web site or victim advertising network."
What you can do to protect yourself
continued
[ Read the rest... ]
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Wednesday 16 April 2008 | ShocknAwe Joint Operations Mod Approved | | | |
| | ShocknAwe Joint Operations Mod Approved | | Posted by Webmaster on 02 JAN 2008 |
| The ShocknAwe JO MOD for Joint Operations has been approved and released.
The mod adds hundreds of new terrains, Buildings, Decorations, and Vehicles to the existing Joint Operations game that you already play and enjoy. We at TeamTXD.com will be adding more content including several custom weapons to the first patch which is already being built we will also be releasing a map pack very soon.
The mod is available for download at http://www.teamtxd.com/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownload&cid=12
All support issues for this mod will be handled at www.teamtxd.com in the SNAJO section of the forums. We will post any and all additional download mirrors as they are supplied to us.
**This mod has been approved by NovaLogic for release on NovaWorld, based on limited testing of functionality and content. NovaLogic accepts no responsibility for this mod and anyone playing it does so at his own risk. NovaLogic retains copyright and ownership of all NovaLogic created assets in this mod, but makes no representation and assumes no responsibility for this mod, including any copyright or intellectual property infringements in the mod, which are the sole responsibility of the mod creator(s). NovaLogic reserves the right to rescind its approval at any time for any reason or no reason. |
posted NL
Submitted by Gen Halftrack [/html] | |
Monday 31 March 2008 | The Associated Press is reporting that Amazon.com is claiming Vista SP1 will be released today, which will be in the form of “major package of updates and security fixes for Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Vista operating system”. Many of the fixes in Vista SP1 have already been released as part of regular monthly updates in the year since the operating system went on sale to consumers. Microsoft has said SP1 improves Vista’s reliability, security and performance. Some early testers of the service pack have noticed improvement in performance when copying files over a network and playing video games that weren’t designed for Vista. All is not happy news for some, as SP1 will block various software, such as BitDefender Antivirus and Internet Security, version 10; Fujitsu’s Shock Sensor hard drive protection, Jiangmin KV Antivirus software, Check Point Technologies’ Zone Alarm Security Suite, and Iron Speed Designer. | |
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Guests: 1, Members: 0 ...
most ever online: 26
(Members: 0, Guests: 26) on Jan 11 : 19:22
Members: 32
Newest member: SCREWQCR |
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 KilikJul 11 : 00:03Ah sucks. I have friends on the PC version and friends on the console version, and I am not about to buy both :/.
Gen HalftrackJun 25 : 20:43The Xbox360 and the PC version are NOT compatible and can't be played together. We play cod4 PC version only. I just am trying to expand on the news front to include console games
KilikJun 24 : 16:26So you guys are play Cod 4 now? Is that one of the games that can be played jointly with the Xbox 360 crowd? I really don't want to buy both versions of the game :/.
Gen HalftrackMay 07 : 12:24all servers are back up and working except the Cod4 server that server will be off-line till this weekend. I just didn't have enough ports to put this on back up
Gen HalftrackMay 04 : 22:06All CA servers are down to a failed switch, Ventrilo, JO & Cod4 It will be fixed very soon
Gen HalftrackApr 09 : 00:07combat-arena.com website has been fixed and is working correctly again
Gen HalftrackApr 07 : 06:23I am working on getting the dot com website back working again.
Till then I will redirect to this website. Please register here if you also belong to the combat-arena.com website. TY
joe11Mar 18 : 08:52thanx that work now just need to set up vent agaian lol
joe11Mar 16 : 20:11hi i'm having a hard time finding the update for jo/e so i can play again. the update i need is on other comp but that one r.i.p.
Gen HalftrackMar 12 : 20:06The JO-IC server will be back & running this weekend 3/15 also the Ventrilo Server will be restarted with the IP being posted in the forums
Gen HalftrackMar 05 : 06:17i have again opened the site back up to the public, it was down due to attempted attacks and to fix some areas
Gen HalftrackFeb 01 : 07:58This website still has some issues. Updates that have been done ar NOT showing up correctly if not at all. Some changes take up to 24 hrs to show. The combat-arena.com site IS working correctly and we can be reached there. I am trying to fix the code to get this site back running right again.
Gen HalftrackJan 23 : 22:03been working on the dot com website but now for some updates here :)
JinksJan 01 : 11:42Happy New Year all
JinksDec 27 : 22:33Happy Holidays to everyone.
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The war is officially over. After all the nonsense about HD downloads being the way to go, Pegatron an Original Equipment Manufacturer for Asustek Computer has been awarded a contract to build Microsoft Xbox 360 consoles equipped with a Blu-ray Disc (BD)-ROM drive. According to DigiTimes, Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) newspaper pegs the release to market date for third quarter 2008.We’ve haven’t heard “officially” heard from Microsoft that this is the case so I wouldn’t say this is a sure thing yet. However, I’d hope that a company as business savvy as Microsoft would be able to see this as inevitable.
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