The JDRGaming Minecraft server has finally been upgraded to version 1.5.2. Sorry for the delay.

Microsoft has finally answered some of the nagging questions about the next XBox:

• "every Xbox One owner has a broadband connection" - In other words, a high-speed Internet connection is a requirement for using this game console, despite the fact that the vast majority of console games have no specific requirement for network connectivity. People who live in areas with poor or no Internet service are simply out of luck, the same as if they had no electricity.


• "your system, games and apps are always current and ready to play - no more waiting for updates" - Many people (myself included) are happy to wait a few minutes for an update if it means they have control over what their devices are doing when they're not watching. This sounds like a nice feature except when you consider that every XBox One will be constantly updating itself, even games that the owner is no longer playing. This will increase bandwidth use unnecessarily. Hopefully this feature can be disabled.


• "Access your entire games library from any Xbox One - no discs required" - Not having to swap discs constantly is definitely a good thing. The only reason discs are always required for the XBox 360 is copy protection. Microsoft is shifting the copy protection to a network-based model; hence the need for always-on Internet. Convenient, yes - but at what cost?


• "buy disc-based games at traditional retailers or online through Xbox Live, on day of release." - This is a welcome break from traditional (and senseless) release windows. No more need to push through crowds at GameStop.


• Improved networking - Gigabit Ethernet (as opposed to 100 Mbit on the XBox 360), and better wireless (802.11n, 5 GHz, two antennas). Good stuff.


• "While a persistent connection is not required, Xbox One is designed to verify if system, application or game updates are needed and to see if you have acquired new games, or resold, traded in, or given your game to a friend." - Okay: strictly speaking, an 'always-on' Internet is not required, but in practical terms, it amounts to the same thing.


• "With Xbox One you can game offline for up to 24 hours on your primary console, or one hour if you are logged on to a separate console accessing your library. Offline gaming is not possible after these prescribed times until you re-establish a connection, but you can still watch live TV and enjoy Blu-ray and DVD movies." - Yes, your shiny new game console is about as useful as a brick if you lose your Internet connection. Because, um, piracy!!!


• "Anyone can play your games on your console--regardless of whether you are logged in or their relationship to you." - Well, that's a relief. With the technology already in place on the new console, Microsoft could have required a separate license for every user. Don't laugh: if Microsoft thought they could get away with it, they would do this.


• "game publishers can enable you to trade in your games at participating retailers. Microsoft does not charge a platform fee to retailers, publishers, or consumers for enabling transfer of these games." - So Microsoft won't charge a fee for trading in games, but individual game publishers may or may not enable trade-ins, and may or may not charge a trade-in fee of their own. That is extremely lame, and likely to hurt overall game sales.


• "game publishers can enable you to give your disc-based games to your friends" - Sounds good, until you realize that again, the publisher has to enable this. Also, you can only give a game to someone on your XBox friends list. And a game can only be given once. Lameness, you have found your pinnacle.


• "You are in control of what Kinect can see and hear" - Well, that's a relief.

My prediction: when XBox One sales tank immediately after the initial buying frenzy, Microsoft will scramble to backtrack on some of these restrictions.

Ars Technica and The Verge have their own analysis.

More fallout from the disappointing reveal of the XBox One: Playstation fans are mobilizing to push Sony to avoid XBox One problems on the new Playstation.

Followup: Sure enough, by merely avoiding doing something really dumb, Sony has scored a major PR win over Microsoft.

You may have noticed that TPU, and the JDRGaming BF2 and Minecraft servers, were down for an extended period yesterday. There was a long power outage in the neighbourhood due to some unscheduled maintenance issues. That's the first time anything like that has happened here - the power is generally excellent.

Sorry for the delay in posting here. When the power came back on my main PC stayed off; I had to install a new power supply.

In the recent unveiling of its next-generation gaming console, the XBox One, Microsoft utterly failed to put an end to rumours of an always-on Internet requirement and used game fees. While it's still possible that Microsoft will see the light and avoid those 'features', it seems unlikely at this point. Given the overwhelmingly negative reaction to these possibilities by the gaming public, if Microsoft was in a position to deny the rumours, they would surely have done so at the product launch.

Regarding the always-on Internet requirement, it's likely to be more of a "console must phone home every day or it stops working" arrangement. Only slightly better than always-on, this will make a console with power and single player games a totally useless brick without an Internet connection. No more gaming at the cottage or during down time at overseas military bases.

As for used games, despite plenty of evidence that the used games market is a boon to game producers, Microsoft is apparently going to kill that market by introducing new transfer fees. I wonder if they'll drop those fees once the damage is felt in corporate pocketbooks.

Given the ongoing success of the XBox 360, the inability of XBox One to play XBox 360 games, and the likelihood of anti-consumer features in the new console, I expect discerning consumers to stay away in droves. I know I will.

The Verge has additional details.

2022Aug28 - I've disabled the Paypal donation button due to scammers abusing it to check stolen card numbers. This abuse will be reported to Paypal and -- after I've completed my own investigation -- possibly to relevant law enforcement. Of course the chickenshit scammer assholes doing this are using VPNs, so tracking them down won't be easy. But I have lots of free time.

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I know, I know. I said I wasn't going to do this any time soon. Well, I changed my mind. JDRGaming now accepts donations via PayPal. PayPal takes a percentage of any donation, but it's worth it for the convenience. You can donate using your credit card, your PayPal account, or (in many cases) your bank account. All donations are used to offset hosting, ISP, and hardware costs, and are tracked on the TPU costs page.

I tested all the available FH2 maps on the new BF2 server and found a few that still cause server crashes, so I removed them from the rotation. Some of these are maps that worked before the move to the Linux server, and others worked before patch B. I'll be working with the FH2 developers to try to resolve these issues.

Maps removed:

• Battle of Keren: server crashes about five minutes in, consistently.
• Operation Hyacinth: server crashes immediately after first spawn.
• Mareth Line: server crashes about five minutes in.
• Port En Bessin: client crashes on join; server sometimes crashes during map load.
• Eppeldorf: server crashes on join if playing Allied side.
• Meuse River: server crashes about 20 minutes in.

If you notice any more problems, let me know.

A couple of notes on BG42: first, the change I made to prevent the map from restarting when the second player joins wasn't working for BG42. I finally realized that the file I modified to fix the regular BF42 maps is different for BG42, so I changed that one as well and it should be fine now.

Second, I noticed that the BG42 map 4302-faid_pass was crashing the server repeatedly, so I removed it from the rotation.

The Battlefield 2 server is now running on the new Linux server PC.

The server name has been changed, to distinguish it from the Battlefield 1942 server (TPU). The BF2 server was previously named "[TPU]BF2_AIX2_FH2_COOP". The new name is "[JDR] FH 2.45 COOP Patch B". The server's IP address has not changed.

Anyone who was previously an admin on the BF2 server should still have the same admin permissions on the new server.

The BF2 server is still running Forgotten Hope 2 (version 2.45), but it has been patched with a special, semi-official set of fixes for co-op play, provided by the co-op gamers on the FH2 forums. This patch is usually referred to as the "Singleplayer Patch B for Forgotten Hope 2.45". Here's a link to the announcement on the FH2 forum.

To join the BF2 server, you need to install patch B on your BF2 client. The patch B installer is in the Files and links section of this web site. WARNING: once you install this patch, you won't be able to join any servers running FH 2.45 unless they have also been patched. Since only co-op servers are likely to be running patch B, that means you likely won't be able to join any non-coop servers. If that's a problem for you, just copy your /mods/fh2 folder to a safe location before you install patch B. Then, if you want to join a non-coop FH2 server, rename the patched /mods/fh2 folder to something else (e.g. fh2b), and copy your backed up fh2 folder back to /mods. You can flip back and forth this way.

When you run the patch B installer, you need to install on top of your existing FH2 mod folder (e.g. C:\Battlefield 2\mods\fh2). This will overwrite some existing files and add some new ones. This is not a full installer; if you install it to an empty or nonexistent folder, FH2 will not work.