It's funny how whenever Marvel pull out a trick, that DC unashamedly pull out a similar one (or it vice versa?).

Take when Marvel killed off Captain America, possibly their biggest here, not just some small-time guy in tights. What happened? 2 weeks later Batman bit the bullet! Coincidence? Maybe, but unlikely.

In another coincidence (?!) Marvel's new Point One event is not unlike DC's New 52.

According to Marvel: "From the Amazing Spider-Man to the Uncanny X-Men, each of these special Point One issues serves a perfect jumping on point for Marvel's flagship series while dropping hints for each series' next year of stories. Each Point One issue is guaranteed to supply pure, high stakes action"

Think of each Point One story as self-contained launchpad into the Marvel Universe for new readers. It's a nice idea, but what exactly is the difference in concept between this and DCs version?

To be fair, and correct, it seems that once again it was Marvel who did it first. I do sway more towards DC myself, but credit were credit is due. Marvel are the idea factory, even if DC pull it off better. I'm kinda confused about how Marvel's Point One works (are they new stories? Reprints? Rehashes?) but DC are very obviously turning out new material, only the numbers have changed.

I'm still catching up on Marvel's New Avengers/Secret Invasion/Siege period (plus World War Hulk et al) and in the DC Universe I'm reading the whole Batman and Son/The Black Glove/Batman R.I.P./The Return Of Bruce Wayne plot, even though I know how it turns out and have being reading the excellent new Batman and Robin series, so it will be some time before I can investigate properly.

On Wednesday, August 31st, DC Comics launched a historic renumbering of the entire DC Universe line of comic books with 52 first issues.

As part of this, yesterday saw the release of BATMAN #1, the first time the series has had a #1 issue since 1940. With it, a new chapter in the history of the Dark Knight begins. Writer Scott Snyder caught up with a couple of major outlets to discuss what to expect from the series.

“To him Gotham is his oldest ally, his home, and his comfort zone,” Snyder said of Batman. “But the city is hundreds of years old, and Batman has only been Batman for a short while, comparatively, so what if the city belonged to another symbol before Batman? The idea is that a secret enemy has existed in Gotham for hundreds of years, and they’re going to bring the whole weight of history to bare against Batman.”

In addition to BATMAN, Snyder is also the writer of SWAMP THING. “It’s really about [scientist] Alec Holland wrestling with monsters, both external and internal: a guy who is haunted by this mantle of this monster that he used to be,” Snyder said. “So, I really try to write a story that brings him face to face with some of his big fears about how his destiny and fate might be tied to that of this vegetable creature, Swamp Thing.”

In other DC Comics - The New 52 news, MTV GEEK chatted with WONDER WOMAN artist Cliff Chiang about the series’ take on the iconic character. “I’m hoping what we do with Wonder Woman will be… pleasantly unexpected,” Chiang teased.

Dundalk Chamber and Louth County Enterprise Board recently hosted a very successful IT Training day and Seminar on software issues for small companies last Wednesday with guest speakers Paul Scollon, altFIRE Technologies and Andrew Clarke, Glyde Technology, who both gave talks on Open Source Software, an alternative to the familiar types of software we all know.

The workshop introduced powerful open-source alternatives to major commercial software that can help keep your small business afloat on a shoestring budget. Due to the success of this event, Dundalk Chamber hope to run another Open-Source training seminar in the new year.


If you interested in booking a place in the next seminar please contact Kathleen in Dundalk Chamber on 042 9336343. See http://www.opensourceireland.biz for more information on Open Source Software for business.

Get ready fraggers, version 7.52 of Alien Arena is about to unleash it's pew-pew fury upon an unsuspecting universe!

Yes, it's been quite a long time since you've heard any news about this game, but you'll find that it was well worth the wait. There is a good amount of new and improved content, and other changes for the better.

For some new screenshots, and some more information, view this thread on the forums.

Visit the official website for upcoming news and events, and media!

Tired waiting on SoundCloud to enable RSS for podcasting? Signed up for the beta program and got no response (like me)? Well here's a quick solution to get your SoundCloud tracks into a podcast format for iTunes, Amarok etc etc.

Cloud Flipper is a free SoundCloud to RSS converter by Adam Schlitt. Follow the instructions and paste in your SoundCloud URL. You will finish up with an RSS URL in the format

http://picklemonkey.net/cloudflipper/cloudflipper.php?feed=http://soundcloud.com/altfire&downloadsonly=1&forceext=1&sender=altFIRE

Now this would work, but it's a bit long to be giving out to people and asking them to subscribe to via iTunes. Wouldn't it be nicer to have something like http://www.altfire.com/podcast.php ?

For this second step, simply add a PHP redirect script to your domain, with the following syntax:

header( 'Location: http://picklemonkey.net/cloudflipper/cloudflipper.php?feed=http://soundcloud.com/altfire&downloadsonly=1&forceext=1&sender=altFIRE' ) ; 

replacing the url obviously with own generated feed URL.

That's it. Users can now subscribe to your SoundCloud podcasts by scbscribing to http://yourdomain.com/podcast.php (if their podcast software honours HTTP 301 Redirect, that is)

I tried originally to facilitate this by feeding the CloudFlipper URL into Feedburner, but iTunes just wouldn't accept the Feedburner URL as a podcast, even though it looked fine in browsers. Something was getting lost in translation obviously or maybe a feed of a feed was just a bit much! However, if SoundCloud got their sh*t together I'm sure Feeburner would help nice-ify those podcast feeds and make them more compatible with all readers, as it claims to do.

Just got the confirmation mail form Amazon that my pre-ordered Star Wars Blu-ray Boxset has shipped!

My dear people, you have no idea how happy this makes me. Not since the Star Trek Remastered Movies Boxset have I been so excited. I'm a big Trek fan and all, but this is Star Wars! It HAS to be even better. Check out the official description:

This nine-disc collection brings the wonder of the entire saga direct to your living room, where you can revisit all of your favourite Star Wars moments in gorgeous high definition and with pristine 6.1 DTS Surround Sound. Dive deeper into the universe with an unprecedented 40+ hours of special features, highlighted by never-before-seen content sourced from the Lucasfilm archives.

The comprehensive collection also features numerous deleted, extended and alternate scenes, new documentaries and a cross-section of the countless Star Wars spoofs that have appeared in pop culture over the past three decades.

Marking the first time ever that the full Saga is available in one complete collection, this Blu-ray box set also features a coveted peek into the making of the Saga with vintage documentaries, audio commentaries, behind-the-scenes moments, interviews, prop and costume turnarounds, retrospectives and more.

The Limited Edition Star Wars® Sentiype™ contains a unique 35mm film frame reproduced from the original film footage using state-of-the-art imaging and printing techniques. The film frame is mounted on premium quality paper and features original artwork from the Star Wars Blu-ray collection. Each Senitype™ is numbered for authenticity.


Cannot f*cking wait. Released officially tomorrow people. May the Force be with you, now get to your ships. I mean shops. Get to the shops. Of course I meant shops! Jeez....

The response to the new Quake 3 Domination server was favourable, but ppl want still want MORE teamplay enabled servers! Well, we listened.

Just brought up this morning is our new UT2004 CTF server at utctf.altfire.com and our new Quake 3 Team Arena server, running not one, not two, but THREE different team game modes!

That should keep the hordes happy for a while. Enjoy