The UpStream

By now you are well aware of the recent attacks on Google and others originating from inside Chinese borders. What you might not be aware of is that the Zero-Day Flaw that primarily effected Internet Explorer 6 and was used to exploit those companies didn't just spring up out of nowhere. Last September, Meron Sellen, a BugSec security researcher, reported the security vulnerability to Microsoft and they immediately realized the severity of the flaw but did not address the issue immediately and instead decided to include the fix in a cumulative update sometime next month. Microsoft stated,

I apologize for the Death to Smoochy reference, but I have been thinking about it since I read this report. Aside from the hippo, though, when was the last time you heard the term rickets? Maybe in health class? Or even history class? I can't recall for myself, but it must have been a long time ago and mostly in passing. It is a long-gone disease from Victorian England, right?

Apparently not. As a health class reminder, rickets is a bone softening issue, caused by a significant lack of Vitamin D and Calcium. Well, guess what - it's back, and we might be the reason. Vitamin D is introduced into the body through sunlight, which gamers traditionally do not get a lot of. Obviously, being here in Florida, we get enough sun for most of the rest of you, but those of you living in, say Tennessee, should probably spend some extra time outdoors, or at least take a multi-vitamin.

The British study that I eluded to at the top of this article, says:

The BBC has been in the dark ages for most of its existence, but seems to have seen the light recently. They are currently shopping out developers to bring some of the biggest names, including Doctor Who and Top Gear, to the gaming world. They are considering all platforms, from Facebook and iPhone to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Their preferences are the DS and Wii for the family-friendly titles and the big boys for the more adult games.

Several months ago on PLuGHiTz Live! Radio we had a discussion about the future of used games in the industry. Several executives from some big game companies have called used game stores, such as GameStop, the reason why sales and profits are down. We have seen publishers come up with some ways to make gamers want to purchase new rather than used. Electronic Arts has a new process they are trying in Mass Effect 2.

We all know how crazy, kooky, and just all around outrageous American Idol can be, but 62-year-old Larry Platt took a whole new approach this year as the tour hit Atlanta. Caution: you may want to grab a belt to avoid the problem of "Pants on the Ground," a song written by the singer himself.

His performance on American Idol has given him celebrity status, and although it may not not the type of fame he was looking for, the 1 million fans on Facebook and over 1 million views on YouTube are astounding. This video has even sparked many spoofs from Jimmy Fallon to Brett Favre. In fact, the editor of the social-media blog Mashable, Adam Ostrow, declared the spectacle "the year's first mega viral hit." Pretty impressive for such an old American Idol contestant. We just can't get enough "Pants of the Ground."

The New (if you can call him that) Mario is ground-pounding his galaxy-venturing counterpart into another universe, with sales of New Super Mario Bros. Wii having already eclipsed Super Mario Galaxy in the US. According to the NPD, Galaxy has sold approximately 4.1 million units in the two years since its November 2007 release, while NSMBW has sold 4.2 million sales in about 45 days! For those of you that are number crunchers, if the game kept selling at this pace it would sell at least 10 million copies by the end of this year!