Rockstar Table Tennis – Wii Review

What is it?	Baby tennis action hits the Wii
Price	£35
The good	More depth than Wii Sports tennis, can be masses of fun in multiplayer
The bad	No online mode, adding spin feels odd, hitting the ball doesn’t feel ‘right’

The big potential pitfall for the Wii has always been that development teams will merely try and port their already much loved titles from other formats. Might not sound too bad in theory, but who wants to play the same old games with the added bonus of sore forearms? Not us.

Rockstar’s Table Tennis on the Xbox 360 was a heck of a surprise. Lacking any real build up until incredibly close to release, most were dismissive of a video game example of the kind of sport that doesn’t exactly see us all crowding round the TV on a Saturday afternoon.

But with its stunning analogue stick based control system, allowing you to smack shots into any corner of the table with unnerving accuracy, it shot to prominence as a online multiplayer favourite. This Wii version however attempts to cram in a similar control method to Wii Sports tennis, and manages to become a much less enjoyable game for it.

Purely and simply, the Wii Remote controls have essentially broken Table Tennis. Two of the three available control methods allow you to swing the Remote as you would a real table tennis racket, conceivably smacking the ball to the exact spot on the table you wish to aim for, all with a devilish hint of spin to make your opponents return all the more difficult.

Sadly, it just doesn’t really work. Though it doesn’t stumble into the trap of neglecting to register half of your strokes, the hit you conceived in your head rarely seems to correlate with what occurs on screen. All too often that deep hit right to the back of the table, just hitting the back left hand corner will drop easily dead centre, opening yourself up to yet another lost point.

Admittedly this big problem is negated by the last control method, which allows you to choose the placement of each shot with the Nunchuk, and the power with a swing of the Remote. But that one simply feels ridiculously odd. It’s actually quite difficult to grasp that the simple swinging action that your character on screen has initiated has had to be created by both your hands.

The control method isn’t the only major miss in this version of Table Tennis. Graphically the game isn’t half as crisp and lacks the absolutely beauty of the Xbox 360 original. There may be merely two characters on screen, but the Wii has still had to contend with a port that’s certainly lacking in comparison to its older sibling.

It gets worse too, with the online multiplayer option ripped completely out. Online Table Tennis was an absolute joy, and one of the very few sporting titles (we’re looking at you Pro Evo) that didn’t possess any kind of crippling lag that ruined the nuances of control. Such a huge miss when you consider the massive multiplayer potential the Wii has with so many owners.

Plus points are few. For fans of Wii Sports tennis that crave a touch more depth, then Table Tennis certainly out strips its Nintendo developed compatriot. But considering this is a full priced title rather than a mere bundle addition, that was always to be expected.

VERDICT
Wii based ports have consistently hovered around a poor standard, with cut down aesthetics combined with a horribly included control method. Table Tennis is no different.

The controls are essentially broken, and rip out almost every ounce of enjoyment of those long rally’s. The lack of online multiplayer steals away another huge amount of potential. All in all, Table Tennis on the Wii is one to avoid.


Source: http://www.gamesdog.co.uk/reviews/review.phtml/2188/3212/rockstar-table-tennis-nintendo-wii.phtml

Wii causing a bit of pain

If you got one, you know what it looks like when people are playing.

It is the gift making people look a wii bit crazy.

Firefighter Paul Dezzi says, "I try to last longer than the kids, but that doesn't happen."

He admits it's leaving him a wii bit beat.

"I played two games, and I can feel my arm... look my shirt is soaked"

It's called wii...

It's a gaming system by Nintendo that uses digital sensors so you are virtually playing the sport.

"It's a lot different than atari pong I'm used to."

Dezzi works out regularly, and says he's got it.

In fact, a lot of people are now complaining about... wii soreness.

"I can attest to wii soreness."

The urban dictionary even has a term for it.

They call it wii elbow, and define it as "the pain experienced from playing any wii game for extended periods of time."

Dezzi says, "these guys were complaining their shoulders were hurting but sometimes maybe their hurt was good."

But besides a few calories burned, your only prize for all this work is bragging rights.

Dezzi said he's feeling the wii soreness in his arm and his lower back.

"I'm thinking these guys, they're hopping around a room, can't be that bad. it taught me a lesson."

Yes, the lesson this holiday season - sometimes it's a wii bit less painful to just sit on the couch.

Source: http://www.mysuncoast.com/Global/story.asp?S=7550156&nav=menu577_2_1

Don't Fool Yourself, Playing Wii Tennis Won't Keep You Fit

Think working up a sweat playing Nintendo Wii Tennis is a substitute for exercise, think again. Wii jocks will have to hit the treadmill like everyone else if they want to stay fit.

According to a study by the British Medical Journal, while the Wii provides more activity than passive videogames it is still no replacement for getting some good old fashioned exercise.

Wii is unlike other video game consoles out there. A standard videogame only requires players to move their thumbs and index fingers, whereas the Wii actually requires players to move their hand or occasionally their entire arm to interact with the game. The Wii console has done much to get couch potatoes off their duff and playing video games – but apparently not enough.

For the British Medical Journal study boys and girls between the ages of 13-15 were selected to play both an Xbox 360 game (Project Gotham Racing 3) and Wii games (Wii Sports). Later the Journal would compare calories burned by the kids while playing each of the games.

The results were unsurprisingly. The Wii used on average 51 percent more energy than playing a sedentary Xbox 360 game. The Wii Sport game Wii Tennis demanded the most energy from study participants with an energy expenditure of 750 kilo joule (a kilo joule is an international system unit for measuring energy). Wii Boxing expended 730kJ and Wii Bowling at 700kJ. By comparison, playing Xbox 360 games had a mean energy expenditure of 450kJ – a measurement just slightly higher than resting (300kJ).

For me, a lifelong console game junkie, there was no surprise when I read the study's results. It's a big "duh" that playing Wii uses more energy than a standard videogames. I also was not surprised when the study looked at real world sports like tennis and compared it to playing Wii Tennis.

I was surprised by one thing however. The one exception seems to be bowling. According to the study actual bowling uses only slightly more energy than Wii Bowling.

Sorry to break the bad news to all you folks whose New Year's resolution was stay fit by playing more Wii Sport games.


Source: http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/006128.html

Scotland Using Xbox 360 Games To Combat Drunk Driving

Scotland's Transportation Ministry is planning to spend £10,000 to subtly insert ads into Xbox 360 titles warning players away from driving while drunk.

This new advertising tactic comes in the wake of claims made recently by Transportation Minister Stewart Stevenson saying, "statistics showing that road deaths, particularly among young people, are continuing to rise."

Targeted games include Need for Speed: Carbon, Project Gotham Racing 4 and Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 and according to the Ministry, the ads would be non-intrusive and would only be visible to Scotland's online players.

While we're always in support of people not dying, oddly Stevenson's words contradict data gathered by his own administration.

This government-published statistics sheet (published in November of this year) shows that road deaths in Scotland fell by 12% last year, and that the number of people killed on Scottish roads in 2006 was the fifth lowest amount in the last half-century.

Then again, it takes an unhealthy amount of paranoia to try to find shadowy conspiracies in government efforts to prevent people from killing others or themselves. Until Stevenson is unmasked as a Freemason or member of The Illuminati, we're going to applaud his efforts to prevent drunk driving.


Source: http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/12/scotland-places.html

Devil May Cry 4 bundle pack for Xbox 360 announced

With Sony announcing two Playstation 3 Devil May Cry 4 special bundles, Microsoft scrambled to churn out a sweet deal of its own with DMC developer Capcom in order to boost its sales in Japan.

Sony revealed earlier that it would be offering a 40 GB console (in either Ceramic White or Clear Black) with the game and a Blu-ray disc with video content. Each bundle costs ¥47,800 (that's comes out to $422).

On the other hand, the Xbox 360 Devil May Cry 4 Premium Pack includes a Japanese Standard Model 360 (like our Premium Edition, minus the headset) and a copy of DMC4 (oh darn, no Blu-ray). At ¥37,800 ($330), Microsoft's bundle pack costs ¥10,000 less than the Playstation 3 offers.

The highly anticipated prequel to the DMC series is scheduled for release February 5, while Japan will be seeing these deals hit shelves a bit earlier, in late January.

Source: http://www.neoseeker.com/news/story/7481/

Xbox Live Arcade - Hail to the Chimp Preview

I recently visited the offices of Sandbox Strategies to get a first hands-on glimpse at "Hail to the Chimp". The game basically starts off as a satire to the presidential election process. The "King of the Jungle" is ousted from his post and the animal kingdom decides to hold an election to crown a new king. You will be able to play with four people with each one choosing a character. The election process commences as four participants battle it out in a free-for-all in one of the various battlegrounds. Collecting clams is what you'll want to do in each of the different game modes. At times you'll find it necessary to team up with an opponent to knock one of the other particpants out thus forcing him to fumble his clams. Each map has its own unique atmosphere and at times you'll find the action hot and heavy as you try to avoid various obstacles on your way to winning the battle.

At the end of each round, everyone will get a score and they will be tallied up until a winner emerges. With each map, you'll be able to select from every game mode so the battles should last you for quite a while before you have to play the same one twice. Aside from the party style games, the game will toss you into the newsroom where all things will be discussed pertaining to the race. The tongue and cheek humor from the newscaster along with newsbits that scroll on the bottom portion of the screen ala CNN are hilarious. Also the developers have thrown in various commercials to break up the action that can only be described as comic relief in the form of pop culture spoofs.

It's an interesting take on the party game genre but one that seems to offer a fresh look. Think Mario Party but with a cel-shaded, high resolution look that encourages you to win by any means necessary; and that includes PAIN.

The game is slated for a Spring 2008 release as a downloadable title for the Xbox 360 and PS3.


Source: http://www.411mania.com/games/previews/65935/Hail-to-the-Chimp-(Xbox-Live-Arcade)-Preview.htm

Xbox 360 Getting Motion Controls

If what we’re hearing out of Saratoga, California is true, Xbox 360 owners can expect to be playing motion sensing games, much like that of the Wii or PS3, by the end of next year. The details are still sketchy, but it appears a first-party add-on to existing controllers may be the delivery method of the technology. More after the jump:

Hardcore gamers have known for sometime that it’s not too difficult to add motion-sensing functionality to the 360. With homebrew add-ons being worked on for the last year or so like the Xilt mod , it seemed only a matter of time before MS decided to release their own peripheral.

It appears Microsoft has contracted the Saratoga, California firm, Gyration to handle the peripheral. If that name sounds familiar, it’s for good reason. Gyration is the company responsible for the prototype designs of the Nintendo Wii-mote, which we all know has become a huge success. Most recently, the company was in the spotlight for creating a motion-sensing remote for Microsoft’s Media Center.

While details are still a bit thin on when “exactly” we’ll see this technology, we’re still excited at the prospect of new interactivity with our Xbox 360 games. There's also no word on whether or not the new add-on will incorporate the motion-sensing technology that MS successfully patented last year.


Source: http://xboxfamily.com/xf/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1107&Itemid=1

2007: The best in video games

1. BioShock (PC, Xbox 360)- In what surely will be called one of the greatest years ever for video games, this stylistic, first-person journey through art deco universe gone mad is a high watermark for originality, game play mechanics and brilliantly-displayed art direction. The player scours through an underwater city plagued with terrifying psychotics at every corner. From beginning to end, it's a creepy tale told with expert pacing and top-notch voice acting reminiscent of melodramatic radio dramas of the 1940s. The best gaming had to deliver this or in recent years.

2. The Orange Box (PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) - Five titles in one. Five outstanding shooting games. One in particular, "Portal," is a mind-bending puzzle/first-person shooter that could make this list on its own. The best deal in gaming - ever.

3. WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Nintendo Wii) - The best game for the hot system with the gyrating controllers is one of the first to come out. A rapid succession of mini-games, "Smooth Moves" is a game play masterpiece.

4. Call of Duty 4 (PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) - War is hell. . .or should we say a helluva lot of fun if it's behind the controller of this first-person combat game in the dusty sphere of the Middle East.

5.Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo Wii) - Mario returns in this dizzying trip through space that breaks all the former Mario conventions to bring something new and fresh to the platform game.

6.Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (PlayStation 3) - The striped furry hero and his robot sidekick return in this beautifully rendered game that looks as close to playing an animated movie as it gets.

7.Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (PlayStation 3) - Part "Tomb Raider," part "Indiana Jones" and part "Gears of War." All gaming heaven, and one of the most gorgeous titles out there.

8.God of War II (PlayStation 2) - Who said the last-gen system was on its last legs? This epic and involving action game proves there's still a lot of life in the ol' PS2.

9. Peggle (PC) - The casual game of the year goes to this colorful, simple action/puzzle game that plays like a magical Japanese Pachinko game.

10. Flow (PlayStation 3) - This elegant title of a simple-celled creature evolving in primordial ooze proves that gaming can be a subtle work of art in addition to a thumb-twitching exercise.


Source: http://www.sltrib.com/entertainment/ci_7822438

The (electronic) Handy Bible

Electronic Handy Bible

If for some odd reason, you’re more interested in a digital version of the bible, instead of the actual books, maybe the HandyBible made in Korea is what you’ve been looking for.

The portable device comes with 66 books of the bible, and thanks to a special “search engine”, the content can be easily found by chapter, or verse. The best part is that you can either read, or listen to the content.

The HandyBible costs approximately $177, and comes with the usual extras, such as a MP3 Player, FM radio, a voice recorder, and a SD memory card slot.


Source: http://www.gadgetizer.com/2007/12/26/the-electronic-handy-bible/

iPhone marriage proposal warms even the cynical heart

Maybe we just turn a bit sentimental during the holiday season, but damn it, we'll admit to getting a little choked up over reader Claude M's well-planned, uber-geeky proposal to his girlfriend -- even if his method of choice did happen to employ the totally overexposed iPhone. Being the romantic fellow that he is, Claude spent what must have been numerous hours producing a video proposal in the style of those ubiquitous commercials -- as you can see after the break -- and then screened it for his sweetheart (probably on his or her you-know-what) while they were strolling around the area where they'd first met in college. We'd like to congratulate the happy couple -- she said yes, duh -- and encourage them to race over to our Christmas contest post, where they have decent odds of scoring a pair of round trip tickets for the honeymoon.


Source: http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/26/iphone-marriage-proposal-warms-even-the-cynical-heart/

JVC gives HP-FX500 earbuds the classy wooden touch

So you like wooden headphones, and you're down with JVC's offerings, but you don't have a thousand bucks to spend on the company's swanky HP-DX1000 over-the-ear cans. Before, you might have had a problem. However thanks to the new HP-FX500s earbuds, you can proudly sport the dead tree look and have your Victor sound for only ¥15,000 ($131). These buds tout a sensitivity of 100dB/1mW and frequency response of 8Hz to 25kHz and , which is not quite as good as their bulkier big brother, but what can you expect for around ten percent of the price, right?


Source: http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/26/jvc-gives-hp-fx500-earbuds-the-classy-wooden-touch/

Wii bowler beats real bowler in senior videogame tourney

Hal Winters’ perfect bowling stance and years of experience on the lanes couldn’t hold off his opponent, Nancy Davies, even though she was a novice who only took up the game last year.

The difference may be that Winters mastered the game chucking 12-pound balls down oiled wood planks and Davies learned her bowling with the joystick of a Nintendo Wii.

Davies is 84. Winters is 79. And like many older Americans, they love the game system, with its lifelike motions and mild workouts.

Both are residents of the Riderwood retirement community, where the Wii has become all the rage among the community’s 3,000 residents.

Riderwood, on the eastern edge of Montgomery County, got its three Wiis in March, spokesman Daniel Dunne said. It became so popular that the community now hosts the occasional tournament in the system’s sports games, including hockey and shooting, for residents.

Riderwood residents are part of a national trend among seniors who are picking up the Wii. For most, it’s the first time they have ever actually tried video games — a medium that has, until recently, been the domain of teenage boys.

Tiffany Lundquist, spokeswoman for the Maryland chapter of AARP, said the organization’s biggest feature at its annual members meeting in Boston this summer was a Wii booth. They’ve picked up on the health aspects of the Wii, in which users physically act out the game while holding a joystick in front of a television.

“People were just streaming in all day to try it out,” Lundquist said. “As technology and the Internet and all of those things became more and more [part] of our daily lives, the 50-plus cohort is plugging in almost as fast as any other group.”

It’s also helping to bring people together. Virtual Wii bowling leagues are popping up in retirement communities. Davies said she may even begin playing against her grandsons over the holidays, though she’s not sure she’ll be able to continue her winning streak at Riderwood, especially since her competitors were starting to wonder where she got her skills.

“You’re a ringer, that’s what you are,” Winters said to Davies, as friends surrounded them, teasing him over his 202-182 loss. Winters was champion of a bowling tournament earlier this year, after all.

“I got lucky,” the novice player shot back.

Sure, but she has seen her grandsons play.

And, she used to work at a Bethesda bowling alley.

Source: http://www.examiner.com/a-1123493~Novice_beats_bowling_champion_in_seniors_tournament_____on_Wii.html

Hello Kitty gets Swarovski-studded again on the NEC LaVie G laptop

When you really love Hello Kitty, it's safe to say that one of anything featuring her image is never enough. If you know what we mean, you may want to check into the latest high-end entry in the canon: the NEC LaVie G Hello Kitty edition -- a follow-up to this Summer's LaVie -- once again featuring images of the ubiquitous cat studded in breathtaking Swarovski crystals. Underneath the glitz you'll find a 15.4-inch WXGA display, an AMD Turion CPU, 2GB of RAM, a 120GB hard drive, plus a DVD+RW and a handful of USB ports which will allow you to plug in your Hello Kitty flash drives and the like. Right now this sweet puppy kitty is only available in Japan, and will run you around ¥210,000 ($1,840) -- but we don't think that will stop you.

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/26/hello-kitty-gets-swarovski-studded-again-on-the-nec-lavie-g-lapt/

sQuba, the driving, diving concept car from Rinspeed

Our old friends at Swiss tuning, restoration, and general ride-pimping expert Rinspeed are back with perhaps their most ambitious project to date: a fully-submersible concept car dubbed the sQuba that's equally at home on the road or under the sea. Set to be unveiled next March at the Geneva Motor Show, the multi-faceted, electric motor-powered vehicle reminds us somewhat of the Gibbs Aquada and Hydra Spyder, except the sQuba is actually able to dive and navigate up to ten meters underwater thanks to jet drives in the bow and propellers in the stern. A self-contained, on-board system inside the carbon nanotube-based body structure provides occupants with fresh air while submerged, although the engineers probably let down more than a few folks by omitting a weapons system of any kind. No release date yet -- or even production plans -- for this one-off supercar, which, might we be so bold to suggest, would make a hell of a better-looking crime-fighter than you, Mr. Knight Industries Three Thousand.

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/26/squba-the-driving-diving-concept-car-from-rinspeed/

The All new Nokia... Bike??

Product placement goes mad once again, as the biggest name in mobile phones gives its name to a… well, a pushbike. Looking the pics shown on Just Another Mobile Phone Blog, it appears to be one of those magical folding bikes, that can fold down to fit into… well, actually I have know idea how big it folds down to. Bikes aren’t my thing, since I fell off one, aged 9, cracked my head open, and vowed never to touch the damn things again.

However, I do think they’ve missed a trick. It’s a bike, it has the Nokia brand… it should be Bluetooth! I mean, they can do it with cars, how hard can it be to do it with a bike?

Ok, so that great Bluetooth-bike-scheme doesn’t have much point to it, but that’s not the point…

Source: http://www.mobileshop.com/blog/mobile-phone-news/the-all-new-nokia-bike/

4G inches closer with Nokia Siemens tests

The fourth generation of mobile broadband has moved closer to reality, following fresh trials by Nokia Siemens Networks.

Nokia Siemens Networks' tests, announced last week, involved Long Term Evolution (LTE), a potential successor to 3G. Offering theoretical data rates of up to 173 megabits per second, LTE is in something of a race to market with mobile WiMax, only promises which around 70Mbps but has a significant head start. The fastest currently available mobile broadband, HSDPA, offers around 7.2Mbps.

Both LTE and mobile WiMax use the OFDM modulation scheme and multiple-input multiple-output (Mimo) technology, which is based on the use of multiple antennae. Mobile WiMax's recent inclusion to the 3GPP family of standards has raised the possibility of both technologies becoming part of what will be known as 4G.

In its announcement, Nokia Siemens Networks said it had completed the world's first multiuser field trial of LTE in an urban environment. The trial, which was in Berlin, utilized 20MHz of bandwidth in the 2.6GHz spectrum, which is set for a hotly contested auction in the U.K. next year.

"(The trial confirmed) that LTE performance requirements can be met using 3GPP standardized technologies and it realized data rates of more than 100Mbps over distances of several hundred meters, while maintaining excellent throughput at the edge of typical urban mobile radio cells," the company's statement read.

Calling the trial an "important initial proof of concept for LTE," Nokia Siemens Networks' chief technology officer, Stephan Scholz, said that LTE would further the company's goal of connecting 5 billion users by 2015, due to LTE's efficient use of spectrum.

"We can demonstrate that LTE meets the high expectations set for this new technology," said Matthias Reiss, head of LTE at Nokia Siemens Networks. "Most importantly, we now have evidence that future LTE networks can run on existing base station sites and mobile operators can build LTE networks without requiring new antenna sites."

U.K. telecommunications regulator Ofcom announced the keenly anticipated auction of the 2010-2025MHz and 2500-2690MHz bands on Wednesday. The auctions will take place in mid-2008, and the deadline for applications by mobile operators is January 16. It is expected that the use of these bands will pave the way for a multitude of new mobile broadband services.

Although it is theoretically slower than LTE, mobile WiMax has the advantage of currently being in existence, albeit in just a few products. Fixed WiMax, which is in some cases upgradeable to mobile WiMax, is available as a commercial service in some parts of the U.K. today.

Source: http://www.news.com/2100-1039_3-6223917.html?part=rss&tag=2038-12_3-0&subj=news

Super chips make computer games lifelike

A new generation of "super chips" is being designed to make computer games more lifelike than ever before.

Scientists say the silicon chips that power computers and games consoles have reached their peak in terms of speed and ability.

Now experts from Glasgow University and the Semiconductor Research Corporation in the US are working on a £1.2 million project to build a new breed of microchip that will allow more complex, realistic graphics to be created.

The new chips could also be used to increase the battery life of mobile phones and digital cameras.

Prof Iain Thayne, the lead researcher from the university team, said: "A lot of computer games still feel very unrealistic and flat. What gamers want is to develop games that make you feel as though you are part of the synthesised world.

"It is the silicon chips installed in games consoles which are holding this development back."

The "super chips" could be available for games manufacturers within three years.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/12/26/eachips126.xml

Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare: Complete Review

It took awhile, but Infinity Ward finally got the message that World War II is played out. With modern times and international affairs becoming more and more, shall we say, interesting in recent years, the 1940s just don't carry as much weight as they used to. Perhaps that's why Call of Duty 4 has a new subtitle, Modern Warfare. By bringing things into a fictionalized story that still seems fairly plausible, the developer has made a much heavier game. But COD 4 is more than just an updated setting. It's also an amazing multiplayer first-person shooter and a great but brief single-player campaign with the visual chops to make it a standout shooter in an era filled with seemingly dozens of standout shooters.

The only real catch is that the single-player is almost shockingly short. If you've been keeping up with this style of game, you'll probably shoot your way to the credits in under five hours. While you can raise the difficulty to give yourself more of a challenge, the main thing this does is make the enemies frustratingly deadly, which sort of detracts from the fun.

While it may have a lack of single-player quantity, it makes up for most of it with its quality. The game tells its story from multiple perspectives, and you'll play as a new British SAS operative as well as a US Marine. The campaign takes you from a rainy night out at sea on a boat that's in the process of sinking to a missile silo where it's on you to save millions from an unsavory nuclear-powered death. Along the way, there are plenty of jaw-dropping moments where you'll look around the room for someone to whom you can say, "I can't believe that just happened." In a world filled with war games in which the good guys come out unscathed and the world is left at total peace, Call of Duty 4 will wake you up like a face full of ice water.

The action in the campaign is usually very straightforward. You have a compass at the bottom of your screen, and the direction of your current objective is very plainly marked. But getting from point A to point B is never as simple as running in a straight line, as you'll be conducting full-scale assaults in Middle Eastern countries by moving from house to house, taking out what seems like a never-ending stream of enemy troops along the way. You'll also get an opportunity to raid Russian farmhouses in search of terrorist leaders, disguise yourself as the enemy, and, in one sequence, don a brushlike ghillie suit and crawl through the brush as enemy troops and tanks roll right past you. It's a breathtaking moment in a campaign filled with breathtaking moments. Unfortunately, it's about half as long as the average shooter, and there are plenty of sequences where you wish there were just one or two more hills to take.

Of course, if you're looking for longevity, that's where the multiplayer comes in. Up to 18 players can get online and get into a match on one of 16 different maps. Many of the levels are taken from portions of the single-player and they offer a healthy mix of wide-open, sniper-friendly areas and tight, almost cramped spaces where grenades and shotguns are the order of the day. There are six game modes to choose from. The old standby is team deathmatch, though you can also play in a free-for-all deathmatch, which isn't as much fun as the team modes. The other modes are more objective-oriented, and a couple of those have you lugging bombs across the map to blow up enemy equipment, or preventing the enemy from blowing up your base. Others have you capturing control points. Lastly, you can change up the game rules a bit with a hardcore setting that makes weapons more realistically damaging or an old-school mode that puts weapons on the ground as pickups and generally moves away from the simulation side of things.

In addition to just firing your weapon or tossing grenades, you earn some more interesting tactical moves for skilled play. If you can shoot three opponents without dying, you're able to call in a UAV drone, which basically is an upgraded radar that makes enemy positions show up on your onscreen map for 30 seconds at any time. Normally, enemies blip up onto the map only if they fire their weapon to make their location known. If you can go on a five-kill streak, you can call in an air strike, which brings up a shot of the entire level map and lets you place the air strike wherever you like. When combined with a UAV sweep, this can be really devastating. If you can make it all the way to seven kills--which is actually easier than it sounds--you can call in a helicopter for support. It'll buzz around the map and automatically open fire on enemies, though enemies can shoot it down, too. These additions to the normal first-person shooter gameplay really open up the game a lot and make it superexciting to play.

You'll also always have something to work toward, regardless of mode, because in standard, public matches, you earn experience points for just about everything you do. Capturing control points, getting kills, calling in support, all of these things give you points that go toward your rank. Ranking up unlocks most of the game's multiplayer content.

The class system in Call of Duty 4 is also very interesting. Each class has a different weapon loadout and different traits, called perks. As you rank up, you eventually unlock all five of the preset classes and the ability to create your own class. This lets you pick your own main weapon, your sidearm, attachments for both weapons, what sort of special grenades you want to carry, and three perks. The perks are broken up into three groups to help keep things balanced, and as you continue to level, you'll unlock additional perks. These class traits are one of the game's neatest tricks and, again, really helps to set COD 4 apart from the pack.

Perks in the Perk 1 group are more focused on explosives, letting you get more flashbangs if you like, or letting you lug around a rocket launcher, which is great for taking out enemy choppers. The other two perk groups have traits like juggernaut, which increases your health. There's also last stand, which activates when you are killed by dropping you to the ground and switching you to a pistol, giving you a moment to kill the guy who took you out before he realizes you're still squirming around and finishes the job. Our current favorite is martyrdom, which causes you to drop a live grenade when killed. It adds a healthy dose of mayhem to the proceedings. The perks and other unlockables feel nicely balanced, too, so you probably won't run into situations where one class is just better than the other. As it should be, your ability to point the red dot at the head of your enemy and squeeze the trigger before he does the same is still the deciding factor.

While there are a ton of compelling gameplay reasons to play Call of Duty 4, it also has top-notch presentation. The graphics are fantastic throughout, and they do a great job of rendering wide-open fields, tight buildings or houses, smoke-belching silos, and lots more. Some of the multiplayer maps look like they've already seen a lot of action, with blast craters, destroyed tanks, and other things that you can hide in or behind. It also has terrific lighting, so everything looks as it should. Everything sounds right, too. When you hear a battle raging in the distance, it sounds appropriately muffled, and up close, the crack of an M16 or the full-auto barrage from an AK-47 are appropriately loud and angry sounding. There is also quite a bit of voice work throughout the game, and it's all nicely done. The music, for the most part, is the typical sort of action-movie music you've come to expect from a first-person shooter, except for a rap over the end credits that seems to simultaneously detail the game's story while also acting as a subliminal diss record with some slick talk about how this is the third chapter by Infinity Ward, perhaps lightly inferring that you should ignore Treyarch's contribution to the series, Call of Duty 3. It's great.

COD 4 is available on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC, and each version holds up admirably. The differences between the two console versions feel mostly negligible. Both systems deliver good frame rates and have good, easy-to-use multiplayer setups that most closely resemble Halo 2 and 3's party system and matchmaking playlists. The PC version of the game uses a more traditional server browser to get you into games. Both systems work just fine on their respective platforms. The PC version has the ability to run in a higher resolution, if you're equipped with a PC that can handle it, but it seems to scale quite well. You can also create servers that allow up to 32 players to play at once on the PC, as opposed to a limit of 18 in the console versions, but given the size of the multiplayer maps, putting 32 players in them makes things a little too crowded. Despite listing 1080p support on the back of the box, COD 4 appears to prefer 720p on the PlayStation 3. The only way to get it to run in 1080p is to tell your PS3 that your TV doesn't support 720p or 1080i, but the difference seems minor. Either way, you'd be hard-pressed to tell it apart from its Xbox 360 counterpart. And all versions control just fine, making the decision over which version to buy totally dependent on which controller you like the most.

It's a shame that the single-player is so brief, but you should only skip out on Call of Duty 4 if you're the sort of person who doesn't appreciate great first-person shooter multiplayer. The quality of the content in the campaign is totally top-shelf, and the multiplayer is some of the best around, making this a truly superb package.

Source: http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/callofduty4modernwarfare/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssummary&tag=summary%3Breview&page=2
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/callofduty4modernwarfare/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssummary&tag=summary;review

Queen Elizabeth launches on YouTube

President Bush and Mrs Bush Hosting Queen Elizabeth II

LONDON - Just call her Queen e-Lizabeth.

The 81-year-old British monarch launched her own video site on YouTube Sunday, featuring old news reels and film snippets of daily royal life. Buckingham Palace said Queen Elizabeth II keeps up with new ways of communicating with people and was hoping to reach a wider, and younger, audience through the popular video-sharing Web site.

The palace began posting archive and recent footage of the queen and other royals on the official Royal Channel on YouTube on Sunday, with plans to add new clips regularly.

The queen will use the site to send out her annual televised Christmas message, a tradition that she began 50 years ago.

"The queen always keeps abreast with new ways of communicating with people," Buckingham Palace said in a statement. "She has always been aware of reaching more people and adapting the communication to suit. This will make the Christmas message more accessible to younger people and those in other countries."

The royal page — which bears the scarlet lettered heading "The Royal Channel - The Official Channel of the British Monarchy" — features a picture of Buckingham Palace flanked by the queen's Guards in their trademark tall bearskin hats and red tunics.

Palace officials said the queen's Christmas message this year will urge people to care for the vulnerable and those excluded from society. She will also pay tribute to the sacrifices made by the armed forces.

The queen chooses a different theme for each annual address, the one occasion in the year when she writes her own speech without government advice.

In a preview of this year's speech, the monarch is seen standing in Buckingham Palace, watching black and white footage of herself delivering her first televised broadcast.

Dressed in an apricot colored dress, the queen can be seen walking into the palace's opulent 1844 Room, which is filled with lights and production equipment, and preparing to start her address.

The speech remains confidential until it is aired, both on TV and radio, on Christmas Day.

YouTube, which allows anyone to upload and share video clips, was founded in 2005 and bought by Google last year.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071224/ap_en_ce/britain_queen_youtube;_ylt=AvYjR5Tc0TMTP0G9kDoNx3AjtBAF

HD DVD vs. Blu-ray: Still No Clear Winner

In an interview last month with Business Week, Sony's CEO Sir Howard Stringer acknowledged that the high-definition format war between Blu-ray and HD DVD has indeed been caught in a stalemate. While Stringer was merely confirming what had been obvious to most industry watchers for some time, his remarks caused quite a stir, given Sony's enormous investment to-date in the Blu-ray format.

For consumers who dislike choosing between two formats for their favorite movie content, the multibillion-dollar question is how much longer the stalemate between Blu-ray and HD DVD will last. While many potential buyers sit on the sidelines hoping for a clear victor, makers of the high-def players are doing their best to win them over with price cuts and exclusive content.

War Could Drag On

In anticipation of the holiday shopping season, Toshiba (one of the main backers of the HD DVD format) launched a sub-$100 sale of its second-generation player, the HD-A2. According to some estimates, the resulting run on units at Wal-Mart and Best Buy brought nearly 100,000 consumers into the HD DVD camp.

But Russ Crupnick, vice president and senior industry analyst for entertainment at The NPD Group, questioned whether a short-term sale would be enough to resolve the format war.

"I'm not sure we're at the point where either camp is near declaring victory," Crupnick told us, at the time of the price cuts. "The lower price and potential for some hot deals on HD players does invigorate the HD side, but Blu-ray has some compelling content coming out, like 'Spiderman.' We may be another year from seeing a victor, or the war could drag on."

Adding to consumer enthusiasm for the Toshiba sale was the fact that each unit came with a coupon for five free HD DVD movies, a value nearly equal to the sale price of the player itself.

Forced To Choose Sides

The offer of five free movies underscores the fact that, in any format war, content is still king. Indeed, the ongoing struggle over the industry standard for high definition has forced most movie producers to choose sides.

While Warner Brothers has demonstrated success in supplying content to both sides, the format war seems to be a lose-lose situation for many of the studios. Ultimately, studios run the risk of alienating a significant portion of their high-definition-watching customers, and movie fans either need two players (which is an unlikely scenario) or must forego content in the noncompatible format.

In the beginning, Sony and its Blu-ray format had the advantage with more movie studios on their side. But recently, Sony CEO Stringer said, the HD DVD coalition persuaded Paramount to issue content exclusively on the HD DVD format. Now, the major movie studios are roughly divided between the two formats, with only Warner Brothers successfully working both sides.

'High Definition Life'

Crupnick pointed out that another factor influencing both camps is the speed with which consumers are purchasing new high-definition televisions.

As high-def TVs become more mainstream, HD DVD and Blu-ray each have a better chance, he explained, "because without the TV, the player is of little use." The next step, he said, is that the people who buy HD TVs need to be connected to HD service so that they can "begin to experience the high definition life."

The real question, Crupnick suggested, is whether both HD DVD and Blu-ray will be overtaken by broadband delivery of content. That question, he said, will likely be answered over the next few years.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20071226/tc_nf/57386;_ylt=AkHX_uY9PXttGHupkZwalp8jtBAF

The hottest technology of 2007

What was the hottest technology of 2007? Was it the Apple iPhone? Intel's 45nm Penryn processor? Or how about the BBC's iPlayer? The Tech.co.uk team pick the products (or technology) that had the biggest effect on them this year...

How many votes for the iPhone?

Dean Evans, Editor: It's been a strong year for technology... AMD and Intel jockeyed for attention in an 'our quad-core's better than yours' contest; Blu-ray and HD DVD continued to exchange tit-for-tat sales stats (while few people actually gave a stuff); and, thanks to the Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and Sony PS3, it's arguably been the most exciting year for videogaming.

But our most popular story of the year is also the biggest story of the year - the Apple iPhone. Not because it's the best mobile phone ever produced. It's blatently not. But because Apple jumped ahead of Sony Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola (and Microsoft's Windows Mobile) with a superbly intuitive UI. I'm on record as saying that I'd never own an iPod. Ever. But the converged handiness of the iPhone simply won me over. That said, I'm looking forward to seeing what Google does with its Android platform.

I've also been impressed with HD DVD this year and I think it will be a travesty if the half-finished Blu-ray format (recently updated to Profile 1.1) wins out in the end. Ultimately, though, there's a good chance that both formats will be marginalised as broadband TV and movie services take off. Microsoft's Video Marketplace on Xbox Live might be full of old Warner Bros movies nobody wants to rent, but such HD digital downloads are a taste of things to come.

Nick Merritt, Editor-in-chief: This year's most exciting tech was the humble computer interface. Thanks to falls in the cost of processing, we're seeing proper multi touch interfaces. These put that power to proper use, rather than squandering it on UI eye candy (Vista, I mean you).

The whizziest tech? Microsoft Surface. Forget the coffee-table, this showed a host of excellent ideas: seamless linking of external devices, intuitive hands-on manipulation of objects, multi-touch, the life-likeness and speed of the response.

The coolest? Photosynth. Proper genius: this stitches together images from any source into a single coherent whole, viewable from any angle. Sound dull? Click the URL and be blown away. While it might seem more of a photo application rather than an interface, imagine every image on the Web being linked into this system. That's an interface.

The most effective? The iPhone. Forget the phone, it's the interface that matters. It's proof that Direct Manipulation works, simplifies the complex, is fun to use and makes money. Which means they'll be everywhere soon.

Rob Mead, Associate Editor: Without doubt, my first choice is the Apple iPhone. The hype and anticipation around it has dominated the year in tech. Even though it's not the best phone in world in terms of what it can do, it beats the competition hands-down when it comes to usability. No phone has ever been so easy to use.

It goes without saying then that the iPod touch takes second place. It may look like a watered down iPhone, but it's just as revolutionary in its way. Rival MP3 players - including regular iPods - just seem lame by comparison.

But the one piece of tech I couldn't have gone without this year is my 15-inch MacBook Pro - paid for with my own hard cash, it's proved to be reliable, fast, powerful and a delight to use. The only thing I haven't liked about it is that it runs very hot, so hot that the bottom case has started to warp. I couldn't have done half my work on Tech.co.uk without it.

How plasma got its groove back

Martin James, Reviews Editor:

Pioneer's Kuro plasmas have had technology journalists reaching for their thesauruses with ever increasing desperation as they look for yet another new way of saying: 'look, it's a bloody brilliant telly'. If you haven't already, audition one. And if you have the money, buy one. It really is that simple.

We all know that Macs are very good but very expensive, right? No longer. I surprised even myself by naming the Apple MacBook the best laptop under £1,000, and the new iMac may turn out to be my bank manager's best friend in the next couple of months.

A few weeks ago I had a session of Heavenly Sword on PS3 then switched over to some bowling action on the Wii. And if there was an Xbox around, I would have given that a whirl too. So I'm gonna say they're all great and they've made 2007 the year when having more than one console no longer makes you a geek.

James Rivington, Writer: Nvidia's GeForce 8800 GT graphics card has well and truly broken the mould when it comes to PC cards. It's almost as fast as the market-leading 8800 GTX and yet costs £230 less. Never before have we seen such a cutting-edge, powerful graphics card at such a ludicrous and fantastic price. Plus, its 65nm architecture means it's a much slimmer card that takes up less space inside your PC and pumps out a lot less heat.

You may have seen Pioneer's quirky Kuro adverts on TV, but until you've actually seen one in person you can't imagine how fantastic they are. LCD makers like to display their sets in bright showrooms to make the TV's blacks look more black. Pioneer showed off its Kuros in moodily lit rooms and the blacks are still deep and rich. You've got to see it to believe it. If you're in the market - and if you can afford one - the Pioneer Kuro is the TV to buy in 2007.

Sony's PlayStation 3 console may have gotten a lot of criticism this year, but it's still a fantastic bit of kit. It's unbelievably powerful; it runs smooth and silent (unlike my editor's Xbox); it starts up in just a few seconds; the interface is slick and easy to navigate; and when the big games arrive in 2008 it's going to be hot property. It's even affordable now - you can get one for under £280. So while it may have a tarnished reputation, the PS3 is on the way up.

Gary Marshall, writer:I'm nominating Windows Vista and OS X Leopard as my tech of the year. Not because they rocked my world - they didn't. But because they proved once and for all that operating systems really don't matter any more. Even the pirates can't be bothered downloading them.

The most useful thing was RSS. Not a glamorous choice, I know, but superb for keeping on top of stuff. Comments on my Flickr photos, new pics uploaded by my friends, tedious updates from Facebook... it's all in my newsreader so I don't have to go hunting for it. Excellent.

I thought the iPhone was proof that Apple could sell any old crap to fanboys. But then I used one... And then I bought one. For all its flaws, the iPhone gets right what so many firms have got wrong for years. So while on paper it's no smarter than an O2 XDA, in your hands it's a wonder gadget. EDGE is still rubbish, though.

Small is big in Japan...

J Mark Lytle, Contributing Editor: Living and working in Tokyo makes me spoilt for choice when it comes to new technology, however this year's standout is a no-brainer that gets the single recommendation I'll be handing out. RFID technology is nothing new and phone companies here have been sticking the chips in phones for a couple of years now, but it's the widespread acceptance of these 'wallet' phones as e-cash that won me over in 2007.

This year, the Java-based software phones needed to manage the chips properly really came of age - this, coupled with a rapid spread of RFID terminals from corners shops to supermarkets, has made them easy to use, flexible and incredibly useful.

So much so in fact, the thought of ever having to use a phone that can't get me on a bus or train and pay for everything from newspapers through to the Christmas shopping appeals about as much as going back to a 56K modem.

James Morris, writer: Intel is really back on form these days. First to quad-core processors by around a year, the company blew AMD even further down the river when it introduced its 45nm process - just as AMD was finally getting round to releasing its own quad-core parts. Codenamed Penryn, the 45nm Intel processors have a few minor architectural improvements, and 50 per cent more L2 cache. But the smaller process means they clock to high heaven. We've already seen the extreme overclocking community hit 6GHz with Penryn, and Intel launched a bona fide 3.2GHz quad-core version, the QX9770, soon after the first 3GHz one.

It may have had teething problems for some people, but the arrival of BBC's iPlayer is a huge leap forward for making Internet TV mainstream. Whilst computers still haven't found their way into many living rooms, the iPlayer brings TV you stream when you want to a big step closer.

Finally, after the Stanford Racing Team won the second Grand Challenge in 2005, Darpa upped the ante and moved the autonomously driving car competition to city streets. But at its first attempt Carnegie Mellon University's Boss has already managed to navigate Californian roads safely, winning its team $2 million in the process. Maybe robot taxis really are waiting just around the corner.

Jeremy Laird, writer: Call me predictable ( you're predictable - Ed), but it's Intel's awesome new 45nm Core 2 CPU that gets my gong for 2007. It may not lift stock-clocked performance by a huge amount. But with its sickeningly effective high-K, metal gate 45nm process technology, Intel has reversed the recent trend for spiralling current leakage and power consumption. The Core 2 Extreme QX9650 is an astonishingly parsimonious processor. Long live Moore's Law.

Elsewhere, I'm extremely pleased to see that large widescreen PC monitors have officially entered the mainstream. Hard to believe it, but 22-inch panels are heading inexorably for the £100 barrier. Even 24 inchers are sailing south of £300. And 24 inches is where really enjoyable, ergonomic computing begins - in my little world of 30-inch LCD luxury, anyway.

Finally, high definition video disks and players may not be new in 2007, but they did become affordable. For an incorrigible HD addict like yours truly, 2007 marked the beginning of major new content library - and a major new drain on my resources!

Source: http://www.tech.co.uk/computing/news/the-hottest-technology-of-2007?articleid=1481644502&page=3

http://www.tech.co.uk/computing/news/the-hottest-technology-of-2007?articleid=1481644502&page=2

http://www.tech.co.uk/computing/news/the-hottest-technology-of-2007?articleid=1481644502

Is multi-core the new MHz myth?

The PC industry is betting big time on a future built on multi-core PC processors. AMD recently launched its own affordable quad-core chip, Phenom.

Intel is already cranking out second generation 45nm quad-core CPUs. But do multi-core CPUs deliver real-world performance benefits? Or are they merely the latest marketing ruse, a respin of the age old MHz myth that crashed and burned with Intel's Pentium 4 processor?

Massively multi-core

These are important questions. Not just because quad-core processors have become much more affordable. But also because the momentum towards massively multi-core computing now looks unstoppable.

It was as recently as April 2005 that Intel wheeled out the world's first dual-core desktop processor, the Pentium D. AMD swiftly followed the Pentium D with its own dual-core Athlon 64 chip. Then Intel raised the bar again in November 2006 with the release of the Kentsfield revision of its Core 2 CPU, the first quad-core PC processor.

By early 2009, and perhaps sooner, Intel is expected to roll out eight-core CPUs based on its upcoming Nehalem architecture. What's more, each of those cores will have the capability to process two threads per core for a grand total of 16 logical processors. Whatever the truth about the performance benefits, there's no question the industry in general is in the process of betting its very future on multi-core processor technology.

With all this in mind, what are the pros and cons of the move to multi-core? In this first part of the article, we discuss the upsides to multi-core technology.

The argument in favour of multi-core

1. Instant multi-tasking performance boost
Without doubt, multi-core chips are killer for multi-tasking. It's virtually impossible to run out of CPU resources with the latest quad-core processors. A quad-core chip won't even break its stride if an application like Firefox completely hangs, soaking up 100 per cent of the CPU time of an entire processor core. The remaining three cores will be plenty for keeping that HD video decode running smoothly, in other words. In the future, the PC's role as a general-purpose digital workhorse is only going to expand.

2. Multi-threaded software is already quite common
With one or two notable exceptions, including gaming, many applications that require the most computational grunt are already coded to run in parallel on more than one processor core. Popular HD video codecs like VC-1 and H.264 are highly parallel, for instance. Likewise, several popular productivity applications including Adobe Photoshop offer multi-threading support.

3. Future applications will be increasingly parallel
If you don't believe us, take it from one of Intel's leading reasearch engineers, Jerry Bautista. As he recently explained to Tech.co.uk, the future of desktop computing will be all about compute-intensive parallel workloads. "Natural language queries, gesture-based interfaces, media mining, health monitoring and diagnostics - there are a huge range of upcoming applications that all lend themselves to parallel processing," Bautista says. And for that, Bautista confidently asserts, you're going to want a grunty multi-core processor.

4. New tools will ease multi-threaded software development
Today's computer science students are being trained to think and code in a more parallel fashion. For serial-minded dinosaurs, however, tools are being developed to help automate the process of producing threaded software. As well as conventional compilers, Intel is researching a new technology known as speculative multi-threading which could allow existing single-threaded code to be split across many cores.

5. Multi-core is the long term only option for increasing performance
Improved silicon process technology has allowed AMD and Intel to keep packing more and more transistors into CPU dies. However, chip frequencies levelled out below 4GHz over two years ago. Adding cores is therefore the only realistic way to keep the PC performance progressing and leverage the increasing transistor densities made available through process shrinkage.

6. Multi-core is perfect for mobile use
Lower operating frequencies and increased instruction throughput per clock cycle is the key to balancing performance with power efficiency for mobile computing devices. And that's exactly what multi-core delivers by shifting the emphasis away from sky high frequencies and towards performance per Watt.

7. Even games consoles have gone multi-core
Games have traditionally been one of the hardest application types to code for multi-core hardware platforms. But now Microsoft's Xbox 360 console sports a triple-core chip while the Cell processor in the Sony PlayStation 3 packs no less than seven floating point cores to go along with its heavy duty PowerPC core. The arrival of these multi-core consoles leaves game developers with no choice. Efficient multi-threaded code is essential for making the most of them.

8. The Beast of Redmond is backing multi-core
That's right, Microsoft has its multi-core boots on. According to reports, Microsoft has been busily snapping up the best minds in parallel computing from the supercomputing industry and from academia. Word is Windows 7, the follow operating system to Vista, will major on multi-core support and improved multi-thread management.

Indeed, according to Microsoft's main multi-threading man, Craig Mundie, the arrival of massively multi-core chips will enable a whole new paradigm in personal computing. Mundie envisages a future in which PCs interpret emails, "look at whether I've ever corresponded with these people, determine the semantic context and draft three possible replies." Scary stuff and only possible with serious processing power.

9. Build it and they will come
You can debate their merits for current applications. But a large installed base of multi-core CPUs is essential to encourage software developers to tackle paralleling coding challenges. It simply doesn't make business sense to invest in new software technology unless compatible hardware exists in significant numbers. AMD and Intel are now cranking out millions of multi-core chips. And developers are increasingly stepping up to the challenge.

But what about the challenges that multi-core processors present? For that you'll have to wait.

Source: http://www.tech.co.uk/computing/news/is-multi-core-the-new-mhz-myth-part-1?articleid=1613697116&page=2

http://www.tech.co.uk/computing/news/is-multi-core-the-new-mhz-myth-part-1?articleid=1613697116

The Year's Most Offensive Video Games

In one, you beat enemies to death with toilet seats. In another, you have to tear the squishy hearts from cooling corpses. And then there are the really gross games.

1. So You Think You Can Drive, Mel?

It has Mel Gibson! Booze! State troopers! "Hava Nagila"! And a Hasidic projectile-shooting rabbi! Beyond surreal, this little gem of a Flash-based game from GSN has players using the up and down arrow keys to maneuver Mel (who leers drunkenly from the window of a subcompact with the license plate WTFWJD?") around a nighttime highway. You tag bottles of hooch for points while simultaneously dodging flying Stars of David thrown by bearded men wearing hats, shawls, and dark suits. Hit five state troopers, and the game ends. Play this game too much, and so might the world as we know it.

For: PC; Developer: Unknown

2. Manhunt 2

Grand Theft Auto developer Rockstar doesn't deserve the publicity this mediocre sequel garnered, but publicity it nonetheless received in spades, mostly after sales of the game were banned in Great Britain and it was initially given an AO (Adults Only) rating in the United States. Players have to perform visually detailed executions (styled as "hasty," "violent," or "gruesome") using objects at hand, e.g. shards of glass to slit throats, toilet seats to bludgeon, and hypodermic needles to jab enemies in the neck. What's most offensive about Manhunt 2 isn't its violence but its cruddy gameplay: Poor AI, boring environments, and blurry execution animations make Manhunt 2 a shoo-in for the year's "Sound and Fury" award.

For: Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable; Developer: Rockstar Ga mes

3. V-Tech Rampage

"Attention angry people, I will take this game down from [casual games site] Newgrounds if the donation amount reaches $1000 US," designer Ryan Lambourn wrote to visitors who found his simulation of the shooting at Virginia Tech this spring offensive. Emerging shortly after Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people in a campus shooting spree, Lambourn's Flash-based game, which allows you to plug dozens of pixelated students, just feels like a shallow cry for attention. As a shooter, it's on a par with a crude 1970s game. As social commentary, it's numbly sociopathic and vacuous. Can games address national tragedies? Absolutely. Is V-Tech Rampage trying to? Absolutely not.

For: PC; Developer: Ryan Lambourn

4. Kane & Lynch: Dead Men

Kane & Lynch: Dead Men is pretty much your average bloody buddy movie: A mercenary and a medicated psychopath go on a violent and chaotic spree of redemption and revenge. But what really upset people was the marketing campaign. "We're hunting for a dangerously sexy vixen with the goods to make us moan," reads an ad for a contest sponsored by IGN, MySpace, and Playboy. The ad was illustrated with a topless model coquettishly clutching her naughty bits. Unfortunately, the quest for a pinup girl had nothing whatsoever to do with the game. Said respected game site WomenGamers.com: "The next time people say, 'The industry does not objectify women,' we will point to that picture and this contest."

For: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC; Developer: IO Interactive

5. Mario Party 8

A Nintendo game makes the list of the year's most offensive? Made you look! But so did Nintendo this summer when it voluntarily pulled its minigame compilation from UK shelves over the oopsy-inclusion of a single word: "spastic." Call me uncultured, but I had no idea this playground term for someone acting like Chris Farley in, well, pretty much any skit was actually a dictionary term for "a person affected with cerebral palsy," and was offensive overseas. Nintendo quickly changed "spastic" to "erratic" and rereleased the game.

For: Wii; Developer: Nintendo

6. Resistance: Fall of Man

Insomniac's critically acclaimed post-apocalyptic sci-fi shooter was actually a late 2006 PlayStation 3 launch title, but it wasn't until this summer that the offensiveness hit the fan. That's when representatives of the Church of England got publicly huffy over a certain gun battle that takes place inside a realistic rendition of the Manchester Cathedral. Their argument? "The use of [the cathedral] as a backdrop for a violent computer game is an affront to all those whose lives have been affected by guns." You could argue that the church leaders are being a little touchy--after all, it's not actually a church, it's an unblessed, unconsecrated digital replication. Maybe they'll take comfort in this: At least in Resistance you're shooting aliens to save humanity, and not targeting churchgoers for sport.

For: PlayStation 3; Developer: Insomniac Games

7. Scrabble 2007

You might think that offending someone with a game based primarily on one's ability to spell would be tough, but, hey, words hurt, people. In the year's second quirky semantic controversy, in September publisher Ubisoft found itself defending the game's inclusion of the word "lesbo," a derisive abbreviation for "lesbian." Ubisoft's defense? "The game uses a word list [from over 277,000] based on the Chambers Official Scrabble Dictionary and all approved words contained in this dictionary are playable in the game."

For: Nintendo DS; Developer: Wizarbox

8. The Darkness

The Darkness is a game about a mafia hit man who ends up possessed by a bunch of snakes that pop out of his jacket like the love children of Medusa, Dracula, and a jack-in-the-box. Singapore banned the game for "excessive violence," and Germany delayed its release by a month. Personally I liked the game, but I can see how the relentless heart-masticating (your eely entourage gulps down hearts from fallen foes to bolster your supernatural powers) might unsettle some gamers, especially since there isn't really a moral corrective for the protagonist, who feeds, penalty-free, on bad and good guys alike.

For: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360; Developer: Starbreeze Studios

9. Lair

Lair is offensive not for its violent M-rated content, but for foisting on gamers one of the worst control ideas this side of Nintendo's hideous Virtual Boy. You're supposed to fly a dragon using the PlayStation 3's motion-sensitive SixAxis controls. Cool, right? Well, yeah, except for the parts were you have to twist and swivel, and shake-shake-shake, and hold some button while lining your soaring flame-throwing lizard up with some other dude's, and then stab your entire PlayStation 3 controller left or right, and pray that the invisible timer clocking the little screaming fire-bombed guys you're trying to protect down below doesn't expire and jerk you out of the moment with a hey and a "whoops!" and a "try again." Sony's misbegotten dragon-riding simulation is my most offensive-to-play video game of the year.

For: PlayStation 3; Developer: Factor 5

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140680-page,9-c,games/article.html
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140680-page,8-c,games/article.html
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140680-page,7-c,games/article.html
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140680-page,6-c,games/article.html
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140680-page,5-c,games/article.html
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140680-page,4-c,games/article.html
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140680-page,3-c,games/article.html
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140680-page,2-c,games/article.html
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140680-page,1-c,games/article.html

Pocket Perfect Compact Digital Cameras

These sleek point-and-shoots reach resolutions up to 12 megapixels and have fancy features such as image stabilization and face detection, plus snazzy colors. Better yet, some capable models cost as little as $200.

A cry for attention, or simply an exuberant display of personal style--that's the question provoked by the colorful looks we found in this roundup of compact digital cameras. The answer, though, is probably simple: For camera makers and camera owners, it's tough to stand out in a crowd where so many products have lots of megapixels, tiny bodies, and low prices--hence, many new point-and-shoot models come clad in electric blue, powder-puff pink, race-car red, or foreboding black.

But while camera makers are producing snazzier-looking models, they're not getting by on looks alone; they're also making better units. Of the 16 cameras we tested for this roundup, the lowest resolution we saw was 7 megapixels, and the highest was 12.2 megapixels. We saw some excellent shots in our tests, and unlike the compact cameras that we've tested in years past, nearly all models had strong, long-running batteries. The Casio Exilim EX-1080 held out for 500 shots--our test maximum--and even the most power-hungry camera in this group, the Nikon Coolpix S51, took 190 shots.

All but one of the units we tested had image stabilization features--some use hardware-based systems, while others can boost their light sensitivity to as high as ISO 6400, which allows the camera to use a higher shutter speed, thus reducing blur (but risking increased image noise). Many had face-detection features to help capture portraits with the proper focus and exposure. Fujifilm's FinePix F50fd, our top-rated model, had the company's newest face-detection circuitry, which helped it recognize people's mugs whether they were looking straight at the camera or at our feet.

None came with full-manual exposure settings, but a few had aperture- and shutter-priority modes--useful for challenging conditions and subjects. Still, all rely heavily on having lots of scene modes (the Exilim EX-1080 tops the field with an indecision-inducing 41).

The other significant trend among point-and-shoot cameras, even small pocketable models like these: big, beautiful LCDs. Screens in pocket cameras used to be tiny, but the latest units have ones measuring as large as 3.1 inches. A few have a wide screen--they capture wide-screen stills and, in a very few, video; Kodak offers an optional docking station for its EasyShare V1253 to connect to your HDTV.

The lenses on all the cameras in this review retract within their bodies when you shut them down, so you can carry them on your person easily. But some are more pocket-friendly than others: The Canon SD950 IS, for example, weighs 6.7 ounces--it easily earns a "chunky" label. The Olympus FE-280, on the other hand, weighs just 3.9 ounces, and it's as thin as a standard deck of cards.

The Fujifilm FinePix F50fd won our best buy with the top overall performance score, tons of useful features, and a fair price--but flashy, it's not.

The cameras that we also tested but that did not make our Top 10 chart include the Canon PowerShot SD870 IS, the HP Photosmart R742, the Kodak EasyShare M853, the Olympus Stylus 820, the Nikon Coolpix S51, and the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T70.


Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,139939-c,digitalcameras/article.html

Robot Learns to Serve Tea

Honda's Asimo humanoid robot may be headed for a lifetime of domestic chores: engineers at the company have taught the robot how to serve tea to guests -- and give a nice little bow when it's done.

The tea needs to be prepared by a human and placed on a tray on a cart. Asimo will then push the cart to the table, lift up the tray and place it on the guest's table. The robot then takes a couple of steps back and bows, as is the tradition in Japan.

Serving tea -- or any other drink -- is one of the new features in the latest version of the robot, unveiled earlier this month. The robots also try to cooperate on certain tasks. For example, one will push a cart with tea for two tables. When it comes to a stop and begins to serve the first table, another Asimo will take the second tray and serve the second table.

The Asimo robots are connected by a wireless network and information about the tasks and the location of each robot is shared between them. The information allows tasks can be assigned in the most efficient manner.

Asimo can also monitor its battery level, and when it gets low the robot can automatically head to the nearest recharging station. It backs into the charging stand and recharges standing up. It then walks off the charging station and resumes its duties.

New sensors also allow robots to monitor the path ahead of them and anticipate where humans will be walking. The robots will pause or change course automatically to avoid obstacles and keep out of the way of people.

Asimo is one of the most advanced humanoid robots ever developed, but there is a long way to go before Honda sees its dream of a humanoid robot that can do real work and coexist with humans. Indeed, is indicative of the amount of work to be done that the latest Asimo boasts as its top function the ability to do a job that children pick up at an early age: the ability to carry a tray.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140692-c,artificialintelligence/article.html#