According to Microsoft-watch.com and reliable sources, MSN are planning to release Messenger 7 into beta testing on BetaPlace as early as next Tuesday. We exclusively revealed the new client yesterday amongst a lot of hype and anticipation. MSN were due to encorporate some added features into MSN Messenger 7 but it seems like these are delayed until a later "wave". For those wondering, a "wave" is a release (be it .1 or major).
MSN Spaces integration: Blogging straight from MSN Messenger Window
Personal Information Management: Intergration with MSN Explorer to truely manage your contacts and build lots of information about them.
Since MSN Messenger 7 is now due to beta next week, the public preview will follow in November and an earlier final release is now expected.
The latest build is 207 and we'll keep you updated as always :)
View: Exclusive: MSN Messenger 7.0 Revealed
View: New MSN Instant-Messaging Client to Go Beta Next Week
MSN Spaces integration: Blogging straight from MSN Messenger Window
Personal Information Management: Intergration with MSN Explorer to truely manage your contacts and build lots of information about them.
Since MSN Messenger 7 is now due to beta next week, the public preview will follow in November and an earlier final release is now expected.
The latest build is 207 and we'll keep you updated as always :)
Gamespot interview with Rooster Teeth
GameSpot: Burnie, how much have you had to change your usual MO, given that you are no longer creating video for the heck of it, but for largest game publisher in the world.
Burnie Burns: Well, going from the largest software company in the world, Microsoft, to working with the largest game company in the world is not that big a change. It’s not like we’re having any new challenges or anything like that.
GS: But the games are worlds apart; Halo and The Sims 2.
BB: Yes, the biggest thing, as far as what changes, is that The Sims 2 is a Teen-rated game, whereas Halo is a Mature-rated game. And so to keep in tune with the game itself, we’ve agree to make [the videos] Teen rated. But that fits with the humor anyway. Whenever we write stuff, we like to have it fit in with the audience that already likes the game.
GS: Are you still doing work based on the Halo universe?
BB: I want to make it clear that we’re still doing Red vs Blue. It’s not like we’re stopping. In fact, we’re about to start season three.
GS: What's it been like working on The Sims and with EA?
BB: Everything so far has been great. Everything we’ve done so far has been lots of fun. When we first started talking about [The Sims 2], they had seen Red vs Blue. EA were fans of Red vs Blue. That helped a lot. It wasn’t just like somebody told them that they should get in contact with us. They contacted us because they liked Red vs Blue. They’ve been very, very cool to us.
GS: How are you approaching the creative challenge? And what are your goals with this new project?
BB: Well, with Machinima, you have to work within this limited world. We can’t really go in and make The Sims characters fight with guns or anything like that. That’s something we can do in Halo, but in Halo you can’t put them on a couch or things like that.
When we were writing Red vs Blue over the last year and a half, we’d come up with things that were funny that we wanted to use, some concepts we wanted to make fun of, things that we wanted to parody, but that we just weren’t able to do.
Now, with the strangerhood, we can make fun of sitcoms, make fun of reality shows, poke fun at stuff that we were just not able to in Red vs Blue.
GS: Sounds good.
BB: The project is a really good fit. We actually have a lot of stuff already written out. Hopefully, as we start to work with The Sims 2 engine, we’re going to be able to use that. But the way Machinima works, you never know. The game’s not built to make movies, that’s what the creative process is…we try to milk all that out of [the limited palatte]. Some things you can do and some things you can’t, but that’s part of the fun challenge.
GS: Besides posting the movies that you make using The Sims 2 engine, are you going to be providing any other sorts of content gamers can read or watch?
BB: If there’s any inspiration, it’s going to be inspiration by example I think.
We don’t have a problem talking with people on our forums about how we do things, but we have a commitment to not to do too much stuff that’s outside of the game engine. We try to keep it so that anybody can replicate what we do in the game engine. That’s the really cool part about Machinima.
GS: In general, what do you hear from your fan base?
BB: We get a lot of email from young filmmakers who are wanting to tell a story but who don’t have the money to go out and buy even a video camera. But they may already have a PC game or an Xbox game so they can sit down and create. With The Sims 2, the cool thing is, they’ve already got all this stuff built in. You just hit a button and you can record your gameplay footage. You don’t need any kind of external video capturing equipment…anything like that.
GS: Do you end up answering lots of reader mail that poses "how-to" questions?
BB: We answer questions as they come up but we don’t really put too many tutorials out there because there’s lots of great Machinima sites like machimina.org…they talk about how Machinima works and they offer free tools and things like that.
GS: How many Strangerhood episodes are planned?
BB: Our goal is always to try to treat any series like a TV series, so we try to do 22 episodes in a season. That’s what we’re planning to do here. As far as continuing seasons and things like that, as long as the game company will put up with us then we’ll be happy to do more.
GS: Any fear of losing your core fan base?
BB: We got emails as soon as we put the strangerhood videos up; people were real positive, they were liking it. We thought perhaps the change from a first-person shooter to a more sitcom’y looking cartoon might [alienate] some people, but so far they’ve been real excited about it.
GS: Burnie, that character you call Tovar, he looks a bit like Sims creator Will Wright. Is that intentional?
BB: [laughs] I don’t know, I don’t think so! I might be a little colored by the fact that I know what Tovar’s character is really like. Trust me, if he looks like Will Wright, I don’t think he acts anything like Will Wright. And if he does act like Will Wright, I definitely want to get a job working for Will very, very soon.
GS: Thanks, Burnie.

thanks for the heads up btw, cream.
Can someone PM me the download link? thanx bye
http://forum.mess.be/index.php?showtopic=4...t=60entry4541
lol
http://www.creamhackered.com/404
then again maybe i wont be invited to test msn messenger 7
Last edited by 73476 on 01 Oct 2004 - 01:57
Nothing, son.
Is it a dead bird?
No son,
Is it a piece of dog ****?
No son,
Well mommy what is it then?
It's crap MSN 7, now just ignore it and walk around it.
Last edited by 62209 on 02 Oct 2004 - 08:10
Last edited by 1798 on 01 Oct 2004 - 03:16
Why is everyone so excited? It's just your Messenger 6.2 but with a few new panels (e.g Wink/Nudge)..
Thats just my 2 cents.
Winks? I've been waiting for them to put that into MSN...Who use 3 Degrees anyways?
Will this be a Mac feature update as well? (jks)
xDude
Last edited by 1798 on 01 Oct 2004 - 15:11
xDude
If so PM me..
Thanks...
I'm using a laptop with a 1400x1050 SXGA resolution, and I find it bloated... Most desktops only run 800 - 1024 resolutions... WHY would I want a "buddy picture" that take up a HALF of the conversation window because of it's width, and has empty unusable space under and above it? AIM doesn't do that, AIM just has a nice buddy icon snug in the corner... WHY would I want a bunch of tabs I can't remove, like "LavaLife" or "Sympatico special offers"...
Yea, add all the features you want, I'm not saying there shouldn't be tabs or games or custom backgrounds at all... I don't use them, many other people do... And fine, even make them enabled by default for those old grandmas that wouldn't find them otherwise... But WHY make it so that it can't be disabled properly, or atleast make it space-efficient and graphically appealing, so that I may not even want to turn it off...
Microsoft really needs better GUI engineers... It all started when they replaced the Whistler beta skin with that butt-ugly Windows XP (or Windows FP, for Fisher-Price) GUI... I don't get it, do all Microsoft employees run LCD screens with QUXGA resolution? desktop realestate is KEY... Take an example from OSX - minimalistic beauty... Take an example from Photoshop - no unremovable toolbars, and a full screen mode to maximize your work area... Even look at Google... The page has under 30 words and is probably the number one homepage for internet users worldwide.
Edit: And WHY don't you make the program more efficient? Why in heck would an IM program need 35MB of memory to run even with no conversation windows!!! And why is Windows Messenger not disabled from constantly running even with MSN messanger installed?? Regular users can't remove it from the registry...
If you're wondering where I got the 35MB memory, open your task manager, click to View > Select Columns, and enable Peak Memory Usage and Virtual Memory Size.. My msnmsgr.exe takes 14MB physical memory, and 22MB Virtual memory (with no conversation windows)... In addition msmsgs.exe takes up 3.5MB memory and 12MB Virtual memory in the background (without the app even running in the taskbar). This means that alltogether, without someone computer savvy fixing Microsoft's flat-out-STUPID default installation, your computer dishes out OVER 50MB of better-used-elsewhere memory when you run MSN...
Last edited by 64539 on 01 Oct 2004 - 18:25
You can choose not to see yours or the other users display image in the options, or just click the little tabs to hide it.
Tabs can be removed.
The bars in the convo windows can be removed.
And so much more. You can make it look as simple as you want.
Also I'm using an 800*600 resolution, and I don't see where it's "Taking up half the screen"
starts with an i and ends the an a.
Last edited by 89 on 02 Oct 2004 - 22:26
that should be 205
Now let's just hope somebody can quickly figure out ways to get rid of the ads and useless tabs (I can't find the setting for hiding those as in 6.x, assuming they've removed that option). Maybe an updated version of MsgPlus! will do that as they're already talking about it on their forums.
Now let's just hope somebody can quickly figure out ways to get rid of the ads and useless tabs (I can't find the setting for hiding those as in 6.x, assuming they've removed that option). Maybe an updated version of MsgPlus! will do that as they're already talking about it on their forums.
Well try mess.be and download tab enabler/disabler
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