Ironspike - Bonesnap

The end of an era – no more Window’s Gadgets

Posted by Ironspike on Oct 4, 2011 in General | 0 comments

The end of an era – no more Window’s Gadgets.

Years ago when I first got Window’s Vista – I fell in love with the sidebar gadgets. Sure, they took up a lot of memory and they didn’t do anything spectacular. However, they did one specific function and did it pretty well.

You could have a clock that showed when a video game was coming out or a quote from the bible. They were easy to install and uninstall.

I was soon developing my first and most complex sidebar gadget. It was a Texas Hold’em gadget that provided statistical information to the user. I uploaded it to the Window’s Live Gallery and it was accepted into their program.

I was so excited!

It was downloaded about 1500 times and I felt like I actually created something useful. My next gadget was the Norrism Gadget. This little guy would load a list of Chuck Norris jokes from a remote web server and the user could cycle through them. It had funny little graphics and sound.

This gadget was download more the 40000 times. The interesting part was when I searched for it last night on Google I found other sites that were hosting it also. Some sites, took credit for it too which was a little disturbing.

I really couldn’t top the Norrism gadget. At that time I was really excited about Modern Warfare 2 coming out so I made a little count down timer. I used the same architecture as I did when I created the Norrism gadget. The gadget would contact a remote server and download an xml file. The file contained release dates and new version information. This way, if a release date changed (like they always do) I could make a change to one file on the my server and all the folks who downloaded the gadget didn’t have to do anything. It would automatically update.

My MW2 gadget was downloaded over 15000 times. It was interesting to see folks liked these count time timers. I created a C++ program that would created these gadgets automatically and all I had to do was provide the graphics.

Not sure exactly how many of these gadgets I made but they all were downloaded no less than 12000 times.

I had created some custom landing pages on my blog for each gadget and provided various game updates.

Last year I decided to update my blog and in the process I blew away those custom pages. I didn’t get around to fixing them until a few days ago. Let me tell you, trying to remember what you did a year ago in a php page is not an easy thing to do.

I finally fixed my site downloads and game information pages work right (sorta).

Over the past two weeks my server was getting pounded. I created a Gears of War 3 gadget and the dates got shifted. I changed the dates on my server and folks were updating (hence the pounding). Once the release date is passed I go to the Windows Live Gallery and disable the download of the game gadget.

That’s when I found out – as of October 3^rd the Window’s Live Gallery was retired.

No more gadgets.

I don’t even have access to my account any more.

From my understanding Microsoft is going to focus on it’s Metro Applications development. Is this a gadget replacement? I’m not sure.

Will there still be folks who want countdown timers and the such? I’m not sure of that either.

All I know is – I have a lot of clean up work to do now.

Video Game Disc Replacement (Activision)

Posted by Ironspike on Sep 30, 2011 in General | 0 comments

Video Game Disc Replacement

Ever break a game disc?

Pissed you have to go buy a new one?

Read this before you go blow your money on a new copy.

I have a XBOX360 and when Modern Warfare 2 came out – I was playing that game night and day. However, when I wasn’t around my kids would play other games. After about three months of ejecting, loading, inserting the CD – it became unreadable.

I went to the store to looking for a used copy. A gently used copy was $10 bucks cheaper than a brand new copy (around $55 bucks!). Almost two years later a used copy of MW2 is still running almost $30 bucks.

I did some digging around and found out that Activision has a disc replacement program.

However, it’s not widely advertised and just a little cryptic.

Here’s the scoop for an Activision Disc Replacement:

Call 1800-225-6588 (Activision support line between 7:00am and 7:00pm (Pacific Time)

You will need to request a RMA (incident number). They will quiz you to figure out if it’s really the disc or the console. I’m under the impression that any child past the age of five can determine that. So, pretty much you already know the answer when you call the number.

If your disc is messed up with-in 90 days of purchase

You’ll have to have the RMA #, receipt, and explain why the disc isn’t working. If it has scratches or anything like that on it – then it will be treated like the “After 90 Day warranty period”.

After 90 Day Warranty Period

No receipt is needed. You will still need an RMA # and send a brief description of why the disc isn’t working – plus check depending on the game type. For the XBOX 360 it’s $20 bucks.

Here’s the list:

Game replacement prices are as follows:
$10.00 USD – PC/MAC CD ROM game ($10.00 per disc replacement)
$15.00 USD – PC/DVD ROM game ($15.00 per disc replacement)
$20.00 USD – Sony PlayStation 2 /PlayStation 3
$20.00 USD – Sony PSP
$20.00 USD – Microsoft XBox 360
$20.00 USD – Nintendo Wii
$15.00 USD – Nintendo DS

Systems no longer supported:
Microsoft XBox
Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo Game Boy Color
Nintendo Game Boy Advance
Nintendo 64
Sony PlayStation (PS One)
Sega Dreamcast

When you call and get the RMA you will get an email with a link to a form to fill out.

Here’s an example form.

Activision Disc Replacement Program

Mail the form, the disc, and (since the instructions are little ambiguous) a note with your name, address, and brief explanation of why you’re mailing all this in the first place to the address below:

ATTN: Replacements

100 N. Sepulveda Blvd. Suite 900

El Segundo, CA 90245

Microsoft has a Disc replacement program also. I’ll post it on here in the next few days.