G4TV

ORIGINALLY AIRED: 9/16/2004

The Sims' Will Wright, Bluetooth Range Record, LAN Party

Episode #2454

Will Wright, creator of one of the biggest time-expenders in video-game history, The Sims, talks about the long-awaited sequel. Our Dark Deal shows you how to track your PC's use and the stars of National Lampoon's Gold Diggers sit in on our LAN Party. Plus, a group of insanely smart computer guys set the world record for the range of a Bluetooth signal.

Tech Topics
After introducing tonight’s LAN Party from the new LAN Party Room, Alex jumped on a conveniently placed Segway (borrowed from the generous and tolerant Segway Los Angeles) and raced back to the studio. Fortunately, he did not actually collide with the slow-moving decorative plant in the lobby, though he did manage to scatter the important paperwork of an unlucky G4TechTV employee. Safely back on The Screen Savers set, Alex joined Kevin who also discovered a nearby Segway – and dared to do a bunnyhop off the elevated stage. (“I can’t believe you did that!” exclaimed a shocked Alex. “I think my balls just dropped.”)

Once they calmed themselves, the guys offered an update on The Screen Savers Firefox Throwdown, proudly announcing that TSS viewers have not only taken a vast lead in downloading the Mozilla web browser, but have also crashed the spreadfirefox.com site several times. So if the link is broken, please keep trying.

Next, Alex unveiled an eagerly awaited item that won’t actually be released to a slavering public until next Tuesday: the original Star Wars trilogy on DVD. Although they teased the audience with it, Kevin and Alex couldn’t actually give it away yet. (But they did pass out cool geek T-shirts from jinx.com.) However, they did engage in a lightsaber battle using replica sabers from Master Replicas – they’re way cool.

Our Special Guest Host
Chi-Lan Lieu from Fresh Gear filled in for an ailing Sarah tonight, and offered a couple of cool sites to check out:

PDF995.com lets you create PDF documents quickly and easily.

dealmac.com has got listings for all the best new and used Mac deals on the Internet.

TSS Live Calls
Gerry from Ann Arbor, Mich. is a long-time PC gamer from the days of text-based games. Although he loves cutting-edge graphics, he’s not so fond of video-game violence. What can he play that doesn’t require alien or human bloodshed?

Fortunately, there are heaps of games available that don’t require heavy machine-gun fire. (Though you probably won’t find them on the LAN Party.) Kevin and Alex recommend:

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004
Fly! 2k
Myst 10th Anniversary Edition
Syberia series
Any Sim game (including The Sims)
Rollercoaster Tycoon
Mary Kate & Ashley Sweet 16

The Sims Creator Will Wright
The sequel to the best-selling game of all time is about to be released: The Sims 2. Creator Will Wright sat down for an interview with Alex, who asked him whether the concept of a game about interior décor and toilet-flushing was a tough sell.

“When I was trying to sell the idea for the game, it didn’t do very well,” Wright admitted. “But people make a deep connection with the game and it becomes about them. The players can drive the experience wherever they want to go – it’s very open-ended.”

Does he ever get weirded out by some of the customizations that fans create?

“Actually, the coolest thing about the game is what the fans have created for it, taking it to peculiar directions like armadillos and nude Japanese politicians,” Wright said. “To me, that’s really cool – in a creepy way.”

The Sims 2 will include lifespans for its characters as they will grow older, and it will have different sets of behavior for different ages. Children may run away from home, while grandparents might help kids with their homework. But morbid players take note: babies can’t be killed in the game through mistreatment. Social Services will come and take them away.

For more info on The Sims 2, visit EA's official site or the Maxis site.

Bluetooth Snarfing
The team from Flexilis visited the set to further reveal the security holes associated with some Bluetooth cell phones. In a taped segment, they attacked and manipulated a phone from over a mile away. (Read their account here.) Then they used their Bluetooth sniping gun to snarf phones in the audience, and were able to access the phone numbers of one unlucky guest. For now, the best security measure is to turn off Bluetooth on your phone because manufacturers are still working on fixes.

“Although there is this vulnerability, we don’t people to have to turn off Bluetooth – it’s an amazing technology,” said John Hering. “But we want people to be aware of this problem.”

Flexilis will soon be offering software that will allow you to test your Bluetooth devices’ vulnerability. Read about their scanning of the last E3 convention for vulnerable Bluetooth devices here.

Dark Deal: Spying on Your Own PC
Please note: Installing spyware on your own PC is legal – installing it on other people’s computers without their knowledge isn’t.

But if you’re a parent who wants to monitor their children’s web viewing, or if you want to know what people are up to when they use your machine, then spyware is a viable option. Kevin requires his spyware to not show up on your process list, and to not be detectable by anti-spyware software. Spector Pro and SpyAgent both qualify. They allow you to see screenshots of activity, lists of websites visited, IM addresses used, and keystrokes associated with different programs. Spector Pro is available from Spectersoft while SpyAgent comes from Spytech.

LAN Party
The Unreal Tournament 2004 LAN Party, sponsored by NVIDIA, was another rousing success. This week, the stars of National Lampoon’s Golddiggers stopped by to play. Will Friedle and Chris Owen play “two idiots who want the best things in life without actually working for it,” according to Owen. This apparently involves marriage and attempted murder. Don’t try this at home. Visit golddiggersthemovie.com for more info.