Blog Posts from "1337pwn Development Team" - Gameriot.com

Welcome Verizon Droid Owners!

no.spam@gameriot.com (borocouncilman) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:31:27 -0500

It's an exciting day for Android fans as Verizon launched two new phones. I'm happy to report that the 1337pwn.com XBOX Live Friends application runs like a champ on both of them.

Behind the scenes, we've been working on a completely new Android app. We look forward to showing it off!

Thank you and don't pwn alone(tm)

1337pwn.com Halo 3: ODST Firefight Night

no.spam@gameriot.com (borocouncilman) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 13:54:27 -0400

The 1337pwn.com team will be playing Halo 3:ODST Firefight mode tonight as part of Microsoft's ODST til dawn event. If you'd like to join us, please send an XBOX Live Message to borocouncilman.

Thank you and don't pwn alone(tm)

Google Wave Test Users

no.spam@gameriot.com (borocouncilman) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 11:49:33 -0400

1337pwn.com is looking for some members of our community with access to the Google Wave Sandbox. We're putting together something "cool" for Google Wave and need a few Alpha/Beta Testers. Send a wave to detansinn@wavesandbox.com if you are interested. (No email, just start a wave with me).

This is a completely new kind of application for the XBOX Live community and we're excited at how it is coming together.

Thank you and don't pwn alone(tm)

1337pwn.com Featured in BusinessWeek!

no.spam@gameriot.com (borocouncilman) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 17:27:04 -0400

If you pick up a copy of BusinessWeek Smallbiz on newsstands or get one in your mailbox, you'll find an article on 1337pwn.com and our use of Google App Engine. Be sure to check it out!

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_68/s0908060315092.htm

We're proud to be recognized for our work and use of cloud computing.

Thank you for your support!

AndroidGuys.com Podcast

no.spam@gameriot.com (borocouncilman) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:37:48 -0400

If you're an Android user, be sure to check out the recent Android Guys podcast available here.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/AndroidGuys/2009/07/28/AndroidGuys-Podcast-11

Right at the start of the podcast, you'll find an interview with yours truly discussing Android, iPhone, and what it takes to run 1337pwn.com behind the scenes.

I hope that you enjoy the interview. Thank you and... don't pwn alone(tm)

Spamming the Blog

no.spam@gameriot.com (borocouncilman) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 07:13:48 -0400

Please don't post your spam here. If you post it, it will get deleted. We don't care about your stupid R0bl0x, keyboard software, or whatever crap you're trying to sell.

If you want to talk about video games, we're all ears.

Unless it's got the borocouncilman header and author, we didn't post it.

Ad Free XBOX Live Applications

no.spam@gameriot.com (borocouncilman) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:11:50 -0400

You might have noticed with the latest updates that our XBOX Live applications are completely free of advertising. We experimented with advertising for a while, particularly with the iNXES application, but failed to find an media company with the inventory and clients to make it worth our time. Without ads, we are faster and frankly, better.

Feed Thieves and Scrapers

no.spam@gameriot.com (borocouncilman) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:26:38 -0400

We have received a number of angry messages from folks that were scraping our old server data feeds without permission. While we appreciate the frustration that their web sites and applications no longer function, these folks were stealing bandwidth and slowing the system down for our legitimate users.

It costs us a considerable amount of money to deliver these FREE 1337pwn.com XBOX Live Friends applications to the community. While Microsoft is VERY SUPPORTIVE of our efforts, their support is not financial. We're the ones paying the bills -- a handful of gamers that do this out of passion for gaming.

If you're scraping our feeds, you're stealing hosting/bandwidth money out of our pockets -- gamer pockets. It's not possible to serve data for 3 million XBOX Live gamers for FREE. Frankly, our investment is huge and irrational which makes it all the more irritating when this stuff has happened.

So, if you are feed thief, don't expect a shoulder to cry on. We've been writing the big checks to keep this site running.

If you're just a loyal 1337pwn.com user, thank you! We appreciate your support and hope that you appreciate the insight into what it takes to run our infrastructure.

Thank you and... don't pwn alone(tm)

Running in the Cloud

no.spam@gameriot.com (borocouncilman) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:28:17 -0400

If you haven't run your 1337pwn.com application in a while, you may have been presented with an upgrade message. Our old data server farm has been replaced with a new high performance backend built on Google App Engine. What does this mean? All of our applications run faster. Slowdowns caused by heavy use are a thing of the past.

With the new backend changes, we updated our iPhone/iPod Touch XBOX Live Friends list applications to make them faster and address some open issues. We're now easily the fastest way to view your friends on the iPhone or iPod Touch.

In an earlier post, I listed old application versions that have been retired. The list includes the browser-based applications and old Dashboard widgets. If you are running one of those applications, you will be prompted to upgrade. As always, be sure to restart your iPhone or iPod Touch after installing an update to a network enabled application.

Android users on v1.3 have been on the new backend for a while. If you are running a pre-1.3 version, it's time to upgrade to the new version.

Lastly, our once very popular Warhawk leaderboard application and forum signatures have been retired. The Playstation 3 Warhawk community lost a lot of players to Killzone 2. It made little sense to commit so much bandwidth and CPU resources to such a small user community. With that, we haven't abandoned the PS3. We are just working on something bigger.

Thank you all for you patience in the transition.

Check Status on our New Data "Servers"

no.spam@gameriot.com (borocouncilman) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:49:37 -0400

The new 1337pwn.com data servers are hosted in Google's App Engine cloud. It promises to be more reliable and provide the scalability that we need. As long as the Google App Engine is running properly and XBOX Live isn't down, 1337pwn.com should be running properly.

You can check on system status using this link: http://code.google.com/status/appengine

As always, please send a message to borocouncilman on XBOX Live with any questions.

Thank you!

Old 1337pwn.com Data Servers Retired

no.spam@gameriot.com (borocouncilman) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:26:06 -0400

By the time you read this, our old data server farm has been taken offline. This will render old XBOX Live Friends application versions inoperable. If you are running one of those applications, please visit http://pwndata.appspot.com for the latest 1337pwn.com downloads.

Which applications have been retired?

Browser-based Applications (winbrowser.php, mobile.php)
Web (HTML/AJAX) Applications (iPhone, iPod Touch, Android)
MacOS Dashboard Apps (v1.x, v2.x) -- ALL PRE v3.x versions

If you use our popular Mac OS X XBOX Live Friends Dashboard widget, simply download the latest 3.x version using the above link.

All of our browser-based applications have been put to rest. The vast majority of users have moved on to our native iPhone/iPod Touch and Android mobile applications. If you've been holding off, it's time to download and install. The new versions in the AppStore are the fastest we've ever produced.

Why did we have to take these applications offline now? Our old data server farm was costing us more than $100/day. For FREE applications that do not include advertising, that's not a sustainable model and we needed to shut it down ASAP. It's a change that had to be made to keep the site going.

Our new cloud-based servers deliver better performance and give us the ability to support a much larger community. We also soon be releasing native applications for other devices. We are currently developing versions for Palm Pre, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, and Sidekick. Cool stuff is coming.

Thank you all for your support and...

don't pwn alone(tm)

AppStore Updates

no.spam@gameriot.com (borocouncilman) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:37:34 -0400

As you read this, the updated 1337pwn.com iPhone and iPod XBOX Live Friends applications are starting to appear in the iTunes AppStore. If you're a current user, this is a "must upgrade" performance improvement. Check it out!

Thank you and... don't pwn alone(tm)

The Ad Free Cloud

no.spam@gameriot.com (borocouncilman) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:55:36 -0400

With the recent updates to our applications, you'll notice that our experiments with advertising within the iPhone applications have come to an end. Personally, I think that our apps are better for the change. I'm confident that there won't be a community revolt with the disappearance of the advertising.

Why did we have in app ads in the first place? It costs us an incredible amount of money to maintain the 1337pwn.com server farm. You can't support over 3 million gamers on a hobbyist setup and while Microsoft is very supportive, they do not permit us to cover the cost through sales of XBOX Live applications.

Earlier this year, we had hit a wall at 1337pwn.com. You might have noticed frequent outages back in February and March. During peak evening hours, applications had become slow and unresponsive -- our server farm could no longer meet the demands of the community and ad revenues were not substantial enough to expand. The size of the community had grown to where it was no longer fiscally viable to support it.

Back in March/April, we began the process of re-engineering the back end to take advantage of emerging cloud based hosting services. After some testing and experimentation, we decided to utilize Google App Engine to power a completely new back end for 1337pwn.com.

Google was very supportive of our efforts -- our Android XBOX Live Friends is quite popular. When we ran into challenges, Google provided invaluable help to ensure that we were successful. In recognition of this assistance, we moved our Android users to the new cloud-based 1337pwn.com first. With that act, the 1337pwn.com application became the first third-party application to utilize both Google's mobile and cloud platform. We're proud of that!

The Android users helped us work out the kinks with the new cloud-based services. Dashboard widget users can start using it today. In the coming weeks, iPhone and iPod Touch users will experience the improved performance and reliability of our cloud-based infrastructure. Look for the 2.0 versions of both applications to be approved by Apple soon.

Now that we're "running on Google", we don't have to worry about spikes in usage and slowness. The cloud scales in a manner simply not possible with any server farm that 1337pwn.com could afford. We can now confidently add support for new devices like Palm Pre, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile without the fear of "can the servers take it".

The team at 1337pwn.com appreciates your patience as we've been making these changes and looks forward to sharing with you the applications made possible by our new back-end.

Thank you!

Updated 1337pwn submitted to the AppStore

no.spam@gameriot.com (borocouncilman) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:29:05 -0400

We have submitted an update to our classic 1337pwn XBOX Live Friends List application for the iPhone/iPod Touch. The update brings with it considerable performance improvements making for a quicker and more robust application. Like other recent app updates, the revised application uses our new cloud-based server infrastructure.

The application is currently "In Review". We look forward to announcing availability when Apple approves the update.

Thank you for your support and feedback!

Dashboard Widget Updated

no.spam@gameriot.com (borocouncilman) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:25:38 -0400

We have updated our Mac OS X XBOX Live Friends List Dashboard widget to use the new 1337pwn.com backend. The result is a faster and better performing widget. If you are current user, be sure to upgrade. If you didn't know that we offered a widget for your desktop, check it out!

Download the XBOX Live Friends List MacOS Dashboard Widget

Thank you and don't pwn alone(tm)!

iNXES v2.0 submitted to the AppStore

no.spam@gameriot.com (borocouncilman) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:58:41 -0400

We have submitted an update to our popular iPhone/iPod Touch iNXES application. This is a big update. It's all about making the application faster and easier to use.

Release Notes:

Application launches right to friends list in seconds - FAST startup
Avatar updates now work properly under all conditions
Utilizes the completely new high performance 1337pwn.com backend for faster data updates and future push support
Registration screen has been eliminated for new users
Game Section and Welcome area have been retired

The application should be available as soon as it clears Apple's review process. Thank you all for the great feedback that made this important update possible. Push support and more is now possible with these changes.

don't pwn alone(tm)

Finished Prototype

no.spam@gameriot.com (borocouncilman) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:30:44 -0400

I finished Prototype last night. Between Prototype and inFAMOUS, I've been doing a bit of gaming lately. Now that Prototype is done, I can focus on code. With the Palm Pre and iPhone OS 3.0 released, we have some excited releases planned in the month ahead.

Thank you for your support!

Back in action

no.spam@gameriot.com (borocouncilman) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 22:10:33 -0400

This XBOX Live update proved to be painful, but I am happy to say that services seem to be completely restored in time for the weekend. Thank you for your patience.

XBOX Live Aftershocks

no.spam@gameriot.com (borocouncilman) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:59:52 -0400

We're still dealing with some Microsoft feed issues following Tuesday's update. It's not a code issue on our servers or with our applications. Thank you for your patience.

Fortunately, these extended service disruptions are not common.

ROBLOX Sucks

no.spam@gameriot.com (borocouncilman) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 01:21:52 -0400

We've been getting spammed by users in the GameRiot community with ROBLOX stuff. It's off-topic and lame as heck. It's more than likely spyware as what would motivate someone to spam it all over the place. If your post even mentions ROBLOX, you're going to get bounced.

Thank you for your patience with this crap.

Palm Pre XBOX Live Friends List

no.spam@gameriot.com (borocouncilman) — Thu, 21 May 2009 20:42:36 -0400

We just wanted to give the community an update that the 1337pwn.com Palm Pre XBOX Live Friends list is under development. We hope to share our efforts soon.

Performance Improvements and more...

no.spam@gameriot.com (borocouncilman) — Sun, 17 May 2009 21:26:44 -0400

If the development posts seem infrequent lately, it's a function of us being busy on the new backend infrastructure for 1337pwn.com. We're proud announce that our efforts have paid off.

Earlier today, we posted an update to the Android Market for v1.3 of our XBOX Live Friends list. When you install this update, your application will now utilize our much improved data backend. If you haven't installed the update, be sure to grab it -- the data is more timely and you'll find the application more responsive.

As a side effect of the migration of our Android users, iPhone/iPod Touch will experience some short-term performance improvement as well. I emphasize short-term, because those users will soon reap the benefits of our new architecture. Yes kids, a new iPhone/iPod Touch application is coming.

It's been a lot of work to get there. The objectives for the data architecture was simple -- better performance and ability to support new features. We believe that we now have an architecture to meet those goals.

1337pwn.com serves up data for around 3 million XBOX Live gamers. We're continuing to grow and will be announcing new mobile platforms in the coming months. We want to thank everyone for their feedback and support!

Thank you and... don't pwn alone(tm)

Speed and Updates

no.spam@gameriot.com (borocouncilman) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 18:46:17 -0400

We've noticed some greater latencies and errors with the Microsoft feed lately. Unfortunately, this manifests itself in slow data updates, crashes caused by bad data, etc. Of course, these circumstances are beyond our control. We are doing our best to workaround the problems, but those workarounds don't necessarily result in faster updates.

Part of our initiative with the iPhone OS 3.0 application is to completely redo our backend infrastructure. The changes will lay the groundwork for new functionality and improve performance/resilience of the platform. This work is coming along and we will problem make it available to our Android community first (around 25k users) before pushing it out to iPhone folks.

As you know, the 1337pwn.com does this stuff out of love for gaming and we appreciate your patience. Thank you so much for your support.

Quietly Coding on our new iPhone Friends List

no.spam@gameriot.com (borocouncilman) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 07:33:14 -0400

We're working on a major update for iPhone OS 3.0 to take advantage of new platform features and improve performance. We will keep you posted!

Thank you for your support!

don't pwn alone(tm)

Technical Issues this Morning

no.spam@gameriot.com (borocouncilman) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 07:38:06 -0400

Microsoft was having some technical issues last night and it looks like that has caused us some problems this morning. We are working on it and services should be restored soon.

Thank you for your patience.

Android v1.2 Update

no.spam@gameriot.com (borocouncilman) — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 21:00:53 -0500

We deployed an update to the Android Market today that should address problems that some users were having with their notification preferences being lost. It also includes a couple of other fixes. We encourage everyone to install the update.

Thank you for your feedback and support!

SERVICE ADVISORY: Data Services under the Weather

no.spam@gameriot.com (borocouncilman) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:31:01 -0500

SERVICE ADVISORY

With the major storm that has rolled through the Northeast, some users are unable to get to our servers or are experiencing erratic behaviors related to poor network connections. We ask for your patience as the storm finishes its tour of the northeastern United States. Obviously, circumstances are beyond our control.

Thank you for your patience and support!

1337pwn.com Killzone 2 Dev Clan [337p]

no.spam@gameriot.com (borocouncilman) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 09:00:32 -0500

Killzone 2 will be the game that Playstation 3 owners play until the Playstation 4 comes out or Killzone 3 sees the inevitable light of day. While the game does nothing radical with the shooter genre, everything that it does, it does right and looks amazing doing it. The developers/designers clearly played a lot of Halo, Call of Duty, and Battlefield -- you can feel that "love" in the multiplayer experience. If you are an FPS fan, you shouldn't be missing out on this game.

XBOX 360 owner? If you don't have a PS3, it's time to pick one up. Don't worry, you won't love your 360 any less -- you're just giving it a shiny blu-ray buddy. Expense? You can justify the $399 + $59 to your spouse/significant other as stimulating the economy. If you're in the eastern US, you can probably even pick one up before the snow gets really bad.

PC owner? You can buy a PS3 for less than the price of a graphics card. It's time to buck up.

Thank you and don't pwn alone(tm)

The game really earns its M ESRB rating so parents accustomed to the lighter fare violence of Halo 3 and Call of Duty may be in for a little shock. Then again, it does say "KILLZONE" on the box -- truth in naming. If you're letting your child play Gears of War, they won't find anything shocking in KZ2. If you never bothered to watch them play, take a few moments to know what they're doing.

Killzone 2, COD4, WRUP this weekend?

no.spam@gameriot.com (borocouncilman) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:39:19 -0500

With last weekend dedicated to getting the Android update out the door, I will be spending some quality time with Killzone 2 this weekend. MonstroCromo will also join me in giving the multiplayer some exercise.

With the COD4 event this weekend, members of the 1337pwn.com team, including myself, Cromo and others, will be spending time there as well. It should be great.

If you're going to be online, post a message here or contact borocouncilman on XBOX Live or PSN.

Thank you and don't pwn alone(tm)

1337pwn.com is a "Featured Application" on the Android Market web site

no.spam@gameriot.com (borocouncilman) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 09:54:33 -0500

As some folks have pointed out, our Android XBOX Live Friends application is now a featured application on the Android Market web site.

You can check it out here:

http://www.android.com/market/free-social.html

Thank you all for your feedback and support!