Bee.Bits.News

This week in 1959: Heralding a Triumph

2009-04-30T21:05:00.023-07:00

Here, The Engineer reports on the birth of an icon. Designed by an Italian and built in Coventry by the Standard-Triumph company, the Triumph Herald is one of those classic cars that is loved and derided in equal measure. However, the number of vehicles still on the road almost 40 years after it rolled off the production line for the last time is testament to its enduring appeal, if not its design.

The Engineer wrote that one of the primary objectives in the development of the vehicle was 'redressing the increase in the cost of upkeep compared to the cost of original manufacture that has occurred in recent years'.

Hence, the Herald had a separate chassis rather than being of monocoque construction. 'The new car is not of integral construction but has a backbone frame onto which the sections of the body are bolted,' the magazine reported. 'The cost of accident repairs also should be reduced by the construction of the body in sections, which are bolted to each other and the frame: six out of seven body sections are common to both saloon and fixed head coupé.'

'In addition, those parts of the body which, in the absence of bumpers are most likely to suffer damage, are arranged to be accessible and can if necessary be removed by drilling out the spot welds securing them.'

The article continued that the use of a new universal joint packed with enough lubrication to last through its service life means that routine repair should be less costly since the car would only require servicing every 12,000 miles.

Jon Excell

This week in 1959: Heralding a Triumph

2009-04-30T21:05:00.021-07:00

This week in 1959: Heralding a Triumph

2009-04-30T21:05:00.019-07:00

This week in 1959: Heralding a Triumph

2009-04-30T21:05:00.017-07:00

This week in 1959: Heralding a Triumph

2009-04-30T21:05:00.015-07:00

This week in 1959: Heralding a Triumph

2009-04-30T21:05:00.013-07:00

Tech giants form open cloud standards group

2009-04-30T21:05:00.011-07:00

A major systems-management standards body has formed a group dedicated to developing open management standards for cloud computing.

The Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF), whose board includes representatives from companies such as VMware, IBM, Microsoft, Citrix and HP, announced the creation of the Open Cloud Standards Incubator (OCSI) group on Monday.

"Cloud computing will have a major impact on IT management," said DMTF president Winston Bumpus in a statement. "With the DMTF's track record for leading the industry in the development of proven standards for management interoperability, along with its extensive network of Alliance Partners, this Open Cloud Standards Incubator provides an ideal setting for initiating work on specifications to enable interoperable cloud management."

Cloud computing is a field of technology where resources, ranging from application platforms to processing power, are remotely provided over the internet. The field takes in public cloud providers, such as Amazon, and private clouds such as those that might be deployed within an enterprise, but there are currently no standards for interoperability between the two. It is this lack of standards that the OCSI is seeking to address.

The group will also try to develop specifications for cloud service portability and management consistency across cloud and enterprise platforms, the DMTF said in its statement.

Companies sitting on the OCSI leadership board include AMD, Cisco, Citrix, EMC, HP, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Novell, Red Hat, Savvis, Sun and VMware. Many of these companies were also signatories to a recent Open Cloud Manifesto, with Microsoft being the notable exception.

Amazon and Salesforce.com both major cloud players have not yet signed up to either initiative.

"For many years, IBM has advocated common, open and consensus-based technology standards from reputable standards bodies, and cloud computing is no exception," Erich Clementi, IBM's general manager of enterprise initiatives, said in the statement. "Open technical standards are integral to enabling the delivery of everything from healthcare to business services and consumer entertainment. IBM is committed to working with its industry peers to make it easier for clients to manage emerging cloud environments that include technology from multiple vendors."

In the statement, AMD's general manager of servers and workstations, Pat Patla, said open cloud standards would aid IT managers who "like to take advantage of new technologies to benefit their companies [but] also need to contain datacenter management complexity and IT costs".

Simon Crosby, Citrix's chief technology officer for virtualization and management, said in the statement that the OCSI group's work would be "crucial for ensuring interoperability and management consistency across cloud platforms".

According to the OCSI charter document, the group will "develop a suite of DMTF informational specifications that deliver architectural semantics to unify the interoperable management of enterprise computing and cloud computing".

"This may include extensions to existing DMTF specifications including the Common Information Model (CIM), Open Virtualization Format (OVF), WBEM Protocols, member submissions and investigation of opportunities for collaboration with other industry standards bodies," the charter continues. "The scope of this activity is focused on mainly cloud resource-management aspects of infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) with some work touching on platform-as-a-service (PaaS) including SLAs, QoS, utilization, provisioning and accounting and billing."

This article was originally posted on ZDNet UK.

Tech giants form open cloud standards group

2009-04-30T21:05:00.009-07:00

A major systems-management standards body has formed a group dedicated to developing open management standards for cloud computing.

The group will also try to develop specifications for cloud service portability and management consistency across cloud and enterprise platforms, the DMTF said in its statement.

Amazon and Salesforce.com both major cloud players have not yet signed up to either initiative.

This article was originally posted on ZDNet UK.

Tech giants form open cloud standards group

2009-04-30T21:05:00.007-07:00

A major systems-management standards body has formed a group dedicated to developing open management standards for cloud computing.

The group will also try to develop specifications for cloud service portability and management consistency across cloud and enterprise platforms, the DMTF said in its statement.

Amazon and Salesforce.com both major cloud players have not yet signed up to either initiative.

This article was originally posted on ZDNet UK.

Tech giants form open cloud standards group

2009-04-30T21:05:00.005-07:00

A major systems-management standards body has formed a group dedicated to developing open management standards for cloud computing.

The group will also try to develop specifications for cloud service portability and management consistency across cloud and enterprise platforms, the DMTF said in its statement.

Amazon and Salesforce.com both major cloud players have not yet signed up to either initiative.

This article was originally posted on ZDNet UK.

Tech giants form open cloud standards group

2009-04-30T21:05:00.003-07:00

A major systems-management standards body has formed a group dedicated to developing open management standards for cloud computing.

The group will also try to develop specifications for cloud service portability and management consistency across cloud and enterprise platforms, the DMTF said in its statement.

Amazon and Salesforce.com both major cloud players have not yet signed up to either initiative.

This article was originally posted on ZDNet UK.

Tech giants form open cloud standards group

2009-04-30T21:05:00.001-07:00

A major systems-management standards body has formed a group dedicated to developing open management standards for cloud computing.

The group will also try to develop specifications for cloud service portability and management consistency across cloud and enterprise platforms, the DMTF said in its statement.

Amazon and Salesforce.com both major cloud players have not yet signed up to either initiative.

This article was originally posted on ZDNet UK.

Researchers develop micro-robot

2009-04-11T14:02:00.001-07:00

A flying micro-robot has been developed by researchers at the University of Waterloo in Ontario.

A research team lead by professor Mir Behrad Khamesee manipulated magnetic fields to levitate and move a robot weighing less than one gram around three axes, according to a paper seen by ZDNet UK MechMN: Design and Implementation of a Micromanipulation System using a Magnetically Levitated MEMS Robot.

An array of electromagnets is used to create a three-dimensional parabolic magnetic field. The robot is magnetized itself and sits on top of the parabola, supported by the interaction between its own magnetic field and that created by the electromagnets. Altering the flow of current in the electromagnet distorts the field and moves the robot, Khamesee told ZDNet UK in an email interview on Thursday.

"We develop a focal point of a magnetic field in space, which the microrobot hangs on," wrote Khamesee. "By changing the location of the focal point (through current control in several coils), the micro-robot is consequently moved."

The micro-robot has pincers which can be opened by heating them with a laser. When the laser is turned off, the pincers cool and close. Lasers are also used to detect the position of the robot, Khamesee said. "There are three sets of laser sensors for detecting the position of the microrobot in three-dimensional space. The robot is an obstacle for the laser beam in space, and its position can be read."

The robot is monitored by the laser sensors and a camera, which create a feed-back loop to a computer. When the robot grasps an object, the magnetic field is automatically adjusted so the robot can maintain its position while supporting the weight of the object.

Khamesee wrote that the micro-robot could be used in clean rooms or hazardous environments.

"Since there is no wiring, and the robot freely floats in air, it can operate in an enclosed chamber while the whole setup is outside," wrote Khamesee. "It can work in hazardous environments, toxic chambers, and it can be used to conduct bio-hazardous experiments. Also, since there is no mechanical linkage, it has a dust-free operation, suitable for clean room applications."

The research team, which includes Khamesee and graduate students Caglar Elbuken and Mustafa Yavuz, submitted the paper to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers for consideration for publication in September last year.

This article was originally posted on ZDNet UK.

Hydro-electricity schemes

2009-03-13T14:56:00.003-07:00

British Waterways has inked an agreement with The Small Hydro Company to generate 210,000 MWhours of renewable energy per yearfrom its 2,200-mile waterway network.

The initiative will invest around £120m of private capital over the next three years to develop approximately 25 small-scale hydro-electricity schemes generating enough power for around 40,000 homes.

Backed by Climate Change Capital’s Ventus Fund, the process of gaining consents for the first five hydro schemes alongside river weirs will begin later this month.

The partnership with The Small Hydro Company follows British Waterways’ announcement in October 2008 of an agreement with Partnerships for Renewables to bring forward wind turbines on canal-side land over the next five years.

Income that British Waterways generates from both initiatives will be reinvested towards maintaining the nation’s historic waterways.

Energy and climate change secretary, Ed Miliband, said: 'By committing to build small hydro power stations and wind turbines, British Waterways is playing an important role in generating renewable energy from the UK’s natural resources.'

The Small Hydro Company funds and develops small-scale hydro-electric generation installations making use of the available energy in lowland rivers and tidal estuaries. The objective of the company is to harness this source of renewable energy at suitable locations, providing direct benefit to land owners and sustainable long-term benefits to the wider community.

The company will now start to discuss its proposals with local communities as it seeks the necessary environmental and planning consents for the schemes.

Microsoft gives discounts on software licenses

2009-03-13T14:56:00.001-07:00

Microsoft has cut the price of leasing software by as much as 25 percent.

Companies can sign up for discounts on SQL Server, SharePoint and other Microsoft software, or two bundles of client-access licenses, according to notices posted on the Microsoft Incentives website.

One special promotion is 'Simplify and Save', which offers savings of 15 percent for those who consolidate at least two existing license agreements into an Open Value agreement. Microsoft said the discount will run for the entire length of a three-year license deal.

Another offer is for between 15 percent and 25 percent off the price of the licence and the Software Assurance costs of running Exchange Server, Office Communications Server, SQL Server, Office SharePoint Server, Visual Studio, Office Project and other Microsoft software.

It is a condition of some Microsoft licence agreements that companies take out schemes such as Microsoft Software Assurance in order to keep their software properly licensed, and therefore eligible for upgrades and promotions. Industry estimates suggest this situation can add as much as 100 a year per PC to the cost of running applications.

The cuts are similar to those that Microsoft has made on the cost of licensing specific products. The Microsoft Office Project Assurance Pack's price has been cut by 25 percent, and Microsoft Project Server 2007 has seen a similar price fall.

According to one analyst, when it comes to special offers, Microsoft does not tell enough people about them. "This is good news for users but Microsoft should be shouting about offers like this," said Tony Lock, analyst with Freeform Dynamics. "Software Assurance is not widely recognized and deals like this, which seems pretty much across the board of Microsoft software, should be better known."

Lock said that, while Microsoft has good market share, it is "not nearly as good as it could or should be, given offers like this".

This article was originally posted on ZDNet.co.uk.

HP services go ala-carte to beat downturn

2009-02-11T13:58:00.001-08:00

SINGAPORE--Hewlett-Packard has announced a new service initiative that it claims provides flexibility to customers during the current economic climate.

The company unveiled Proactive Select on Tuesday, a new component in its strategy to help midsize and large businesses keep their systems and technology running. Under this initiative, customers purchase pre-defined levels of credits and customize the services they require from a menu of 85 mission-critical services including those tied to security, software and virtualization.

Proactive Select customers will also have access to a dedicated account support manager to help assess business objectives and then translate them into IT objectives and deliverables. These HP agents hold HP mission-critical certification on top of ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) certification. Globally, HP employs more than 5,000 HP mission-critical experts and some 12,000 ITIL-certified professionals.

Proactive Select provides value to HP customers given the current economic climate, Romel Papali, director for enterprise server and storage mission-critical services in HP Asia-Pacific and Japan's Technology Solutions Group, said in a media briefing Monday. "In tough times like these, one of the things that typically happens is businesses will try to protect their margin. So what they do is, they knock off capital expenditure.

"But they do have a need to run their business on their existing infrastructure, and they need to change to [meet] the dynamic market [conditions]," he added. "So what they need are services.

Even though customers have to buy credits upfront for Proactive Select, the option is still more attractive than making capital investments, said Papali.

The menu of services, which covers not only technology but people and processes, is based on standardized methodologies and can be replicated worldwide with the same consistency, Papali noted. The broad offerings, he added, were necessary as research from Gartner, had indicated that 20 percent of unplanned downtime on average is due to hardware failure, but 80 percent is due to people and processes.

Customers can purchase 30, 60 or 180 credits with a validity of up to five years. A performance analysis measurement for Windows systems is equivalent to 10 credits, a data migration for open systems would take up 43 credits, and 120 credits would provide a comprehensive thermal assessment for data centers with a floor area of less than 10,000 sq feet.

According to Papali, customers can top up or roll-over credits and even change the services they require. Organizations that choose to purchase 30 credits can expect to pay about US$9,000 in the United States, but rates will be localized within the region, as labor rates for example, differ.

HP hopes the initiative will lead the company to the "next 10 percent of addressable market" in the region, Papali noted, but declined to provide a market size.

OCZ Apex 120GB SSD

2009-02-09T19:08:00.005-08:00

Manufacturer:OCZ
UK Price (as reviewed):£344.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$376.99 (ex. Tax)

With SSDs looking like they’re on the rise this year, it’s certainly starting to get a whole lot more interesting in the world of storage. While most of us will continue to stick with cheaper and more voluminous mechanical drives like Samsung’s excellent Spinpoint F1 1TB hard drive for the time being, those looking for the speed boost that an SSD can bring to the general use of your PC now have a lot more options.

The new generation of SSDs based on Samsung MLC NAND flash memory and using dual drive controller chips, such as the G.Skill Titan 256GB drive we looked at a few weeks ago, are really shaking things up. So far, we've been impressed by these drives, as they offer excellent read, write and copy speeds while finally packing in reasonable amounts of storage – Intel’s X25-E might have been fast, but 32GB is a laughable amount of storage for a modern system.

The threat from these new Samsung MLC NAND flash based drives is obviously being taken pretty seriously by Intel, who has since dropped prices of its line of SSDs in recent days from wallet destroying to merely wallet melting.

Click to enlarge
It’s another of the recent crop of Samsung NAND based MLC drives we’re looking at today in the form of OCZ’s Apex 120GB. Boasting read performance of up to a heady 230MB/s and write speeds of up to 160MB/s, let’s see if the Apex is able to further build on what seems to be a very solid SSD platform.

Just like the G.Skill Titan 256GB drive, the OCZ Apex 120GB uses dual JMicron drive controller chips to significantly increase performance above and beyond the previous generation of disappointing Samsung based SSDs, without the need for companies to research their own expensive in house drive controller as Intel has done.

Click to enlarge - On the inside the drive is almost identical to the G.Skill Titan we looked at a few weeks ago
In fact, cracking the 2.5" drive open reveals an almost identical PCB to that of the G.Skill. There are the exact same twin JMicron JMF 602 drive controller chips, connected to the same JMB390 SATA multiplier to produce a setup that’s similar in approach to a traditional RAID0 array. Physically the only real difference between the two PCBs is the size and number of NAND flash chips, with the OCZ Apex 120GB dividing the storage between sixteen 7.5GB NAND flash chips on the top and underside of the PCB.

Click to enlarge - Yet despite the similar hardware, the drive's firmware changes the way each handles data, with the G.Skill Titan on the left and the OCZ Apex on the right
However, what is different here is the drive’s firmware and the way it handles the distribution and access of data, although it’s only really noticeable if you compare HD-Tach graphs. As you can see above, there’s a big difference between the speed of data access across each drive, despite the near identical architecture and hardware in use.

We’re a little concerned though, at the price currently being asked for the OCZ Apex 120GB. At £345, or £2.87/GB it’s only £127 cheaper than the G.Skill Titan 256GB, yet offers less than half the amount of storage. It’s also worth remembering that that £345 can net you four Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB drives with plenty of change left over, although four mechanical drives will obviously draw more power, have a higher failure rate, create more heat and be much noisier . Let’s hope the OCZ Apex 120GB's performance is enough to justify this hefty price tag.

OCZ Apex 120GB SSD

2009-02-09T19:08:00.003-08:00

Report: China's IT spending remains strong

2009-02-09T19:08:00.001-08:00

Boosted by government initiatives and green spending, China's IT market in 2009 will only be minimally affected by the global economic slowdown, according to a new report from Springboard Research.

IT spending in the country will reach US$51.2 billion in 2009, a year-on-year growth of 11 percent, the research firm said in a statement Friday. This is only 2 percent shy of Springboard's previous estimate of 13.1 percent growth, or US$52.1 billion.

China's IT market growth, noted Springboard, has largely been protected by the financial crisis as its export industry, the country's worst hit sector, is not a key buyer of technology. China's huge domestic market and its "almost closed financial system" also play a part in helping the country cope with the market conditions, said Bryan Wang, Springboard's country manager for Greater China.

"Moreover, a strong government investment plan will boost spending in various economic quarters and help the Chinese IT market sustain its place as a shining star in the Asia-Pacific region in 2009," he added.

Last November, the Chinese government announced a RMB 4 trillion (US$585.2 billion) stimulus package, which includes plans to invest over US$290 billion on railway network expansion from 2009 to 2011. This, Springboard noted in its report, highlights the market opportunity for IT products.

IT expenditure in key verticals such as government, education and telecoms will grow on the back of the government stimulus package, said Wang. According to the report, government-driven infrastructure spending will bolster a large portion of investment in the country in 2009, while IT expenditure relating to 3G wireless networks will also be a big area of spend for telecom operators in China in 2009. The banking and finance sector's IT spending will remain firm, but IT planners will exercise more caution in their purchases.

In addition, green IT will be fast-growing in China--the market for green IT products and services is expected to have a five-year compound annual growth rate of 71 percent to reach US$447 million in 2011.

"Springboard Research believes the green data centers and related green IT services will become a hot area for these organizations in 2009," the report noted. "Enterprises will look to rapidly build out investments in green-field data centers, and this will also bring out the concept of virtualization and recycling with existing infrastructure, which is increasingly becoming a critical part of the investment moving forward.

Outsourcing hardest hit
Players in the business process outsourcing (BPO) market, particularly small and midsize independent software vendors, may be the most affected by the global financial crisis, Springboard said in its report.

Many Chinese BPO companies located in cities including Dalian and Shenzhen, have a majority of their businesses from overseas banking and financial institutions, it explained, adding that these providers' businesses would be impacted in 2009 as a result of "very few" contracts secured in the second half of 2008.

Hong Kong and Taiwan, having been part of the global financial system for decades, would also be more affected by the global slowdown, Springboard added. The impact on Taiwan's IT expenditure would be more severe, as Hong Kong is expected to gain financial support from mainland China.

According to Springboard, the Chinese government's plans and policies will lead to a more stable IT market from the second quarter of 2009.

This article was originally published on ZDNet Asia.

BFG Tech GeForce GTX 285 OCX 1GB

2009-01-30T15:19:00.011-08:00

Manufacturer:BFG Tech
UK Price (as reviewed):£367.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$405.99 (ex. Tax)

Core Clock: 702MHz
Shader Clock: 1,584MHz
Memory Clock: 2,664MHz (effective)
Memory: 1GB GDDR3
Warranty: Ten years (parts and labour) in Europe

Just a few short weeks ago, Nvidia launched the GeForce GTX 285 and while it’s the fastest single GPU-based graphics card we’ve ever tested, we felt that it was priced in a rather awkward manner. Nvidia set its price point at not that much less than the flagship GeForce GTX 295, which means there isn’t that much wiggle room for partners.

Nevertheless, board partners whose bread and butter is delivering factory overclocked parts have taken the GeForce GTX 285 with open arms and today we’ve got another one in the labs from BFG Technologies. The BFG Tech GeForce GTX 285 OCX is the US-based board partner’s flagship GTX 285 and it comes with some fairly impressive frequency increases as you’d normally expect from a card carrying the OCX label.

Click to enlarge
The stream processor clock – the defining performance characteristic for the G80-derrived GPUs like GT200b – has been boosted by over 100MHz and represents a seven percent increase in shader throughput. The memory has also had a seven percent clock speed increase as well and while that doesn’t sound impressive, when you consider the raw frequencies, it really is.

The memory on this card is humming along at over 1,330MHz (2,660MHz effective), which equates to more than 170GB/sec of memory bandwidth combined with the GTX 285’s 512-bit memory bus.

As for the card itself, it is understandably a reference design card with a sticker on the heatsink shroud. Don’t let that distract you though because the cooler is effective and quiet – something that we’ve come to expect from Nvidia in recent times. Moreover, the down-sized GT200b GPU is much more frugal than the 65nm version when it comes to power consumption and heat – this is part of the reason why BFG Tech has managed to crank the memory clock so high.

Click to enlarge
It’s worth noting that the whistling problems we encountered during our original review were still apparent on the two BFG Tech GeForce GTX 285s we’ve got (we’ll be looking at GTX 285 SLI performance very soon). According to Nvidia, the problem is only apparent on 220V mains connections and there will be a fix for this – in the form of a cable attachment – coming soon, but we don’t have an official ETA for it yet.

In the bundle, there is a DVI-to-HDMI converter, a DVI-to-VGA dongle, a single six-pin PCI-Express supplementary power connector, an HDTV breakout adapter and an S/PDIF cable. There's also a driver CD, a quick install guide and a couple of case stickers. It's disappointing that BFG Tech has only included the one PCIe power adapter, but we understand why these days – just about every power supply in the last four years includes at least one six-pin PCI-Express power connector.

Click to enlarge
It also comes as no surprise to see that there's no game bundled with the card – BFG hasn't done that on any of its recent cards, and it chooses to instead focus on providing a better warranty for its customers. Overall, the bundle is characteristically light and follows what we’ve come to expect from BFG Tech. That’s fine though, because the major attraction to BFG Tech’s cards is not its bundle – instead, it is the warranty.

Warranty

The company offers a ten year warranty on its products in Europe (because of EU legislation) and a lifetime warranty across the Atlantic in the USA and Canada. The only downside is that the warranty does require activating directly with BFG within 30 days of purchase in order to get the full term, otherwise you'll just be limited to a statutory one-year warranty – that's a fair shake in our opinion, but it's something you need to be aware of.

In addition, BFG also offers its customers free 24/7 technical support via a free 1-800 number, (it's a USA number, you'll need to use SkypeOut to call it free of charge from elsewhere), or via email. The RMA process itself is all handled by UK/USA based RMA centres, so don't worry, you won't have to pay for a FedEx to the States should you have problems with your card.

BFG Tech also has a 100-day trade up programme, but it's only available in the United States at the moment. We're told that it is coming to Europe, but when, we don't know – it’s been talked about for a long time and we haven’t had an update on progress recently. All we know is that the logistics of the programme are still being worked out for the European market.

Flaw exposes Chrome, Firefox to clickjacking

2009-01-30T15:19:00.009-08:00

Security researchers have discovered a flaw affecting Google's Chrome browser that exposes it to clickjacking where an attacker hijacks a browser's functions by substituting a legitimate link with a link of the attacker's choice.

Google has acknowledged the flaw and is working towards a patch for Chrome versions 1.0.154.43 and earlier when running within Windows XP SP2 systems, according to SecNiche security researcher Aditya K Sood.

Sood disclosed the flaw on January 27 and has since posted a proof of concept on the Bugtraq vulnerability-disclosure forum. "Attackers can trick users into performing actions which the users never intended to do and there is no way of tracing such actions later, as the user was genuinely authenticated on the other page," Sood said within the disclosure.

While Google is working on a fix, a spokesperson for the Australian arm of the company pointed out that clickjacking affected all browsers, not just Chrome.

"The [clickjacking] issue is tied to the way the web and web pages were designed to work, and there is no simple fix for any particular browser. We are working with other stakeholders to come up with a standardized long-term mitigation approach," they said.

However, chief executive of Australian security consultancy Novologica, Nishad Herath, told ZDNet.com.au that after running Sood's proof of concept he found that Internet Explorer 8 (release candidate 1 and beta 2 versions) and Opera 9.63 (the latest version) were not exposed to the flaw. But, like Chrome, Firefox 3.0.5 was exposed.

Google's security researchers had not found any attacks in the wild that exploited the specific vulnerability, said Google's spokesperson.

Clickjacking is a relatively new type of browser attack. The attack broadly fits within the category of cross-site scripting forgery, where an attacker uses maliciously crafted HTML or JavaScript code to force a victim's web browser to send an HTTP request to a website of their choosing.

"Clickjacking means that any interaction you have with a website you're on, for example like clicking on a link, may not do what you expect it to do," said Herath.

"You may click on a link that looks like it's pointing to a picture on Flickr, but in reality, it might first direct you to a drive-by-download server that serves malware. These types of attacks can be used to make you interact with web services you're already logged on to in ways that you would never want to, without you even knowing that it has happened."

Credit: Chrome, Firefox get clickjacked was originally published on ZDNet Australia.

BFG Tech GeForce GTX 285 OCX 1GB

2009-01-30T15:19:00.007-08:00

Warranty

Flaw exposes Chrome, Firefox to clickjacking

2009-01-30T15:19:00.005-08:00

While Google is working on a fix, a spokesperson for the Australian arm of the company pointed out that clickjacking affected all browsers, not just Chrome.

Google's security researchers had not found any attacks in the wild that exploited the specific vulnerability, said Google's spokesperson.

"Clickjacking means that any interaction you have with a website you're on, for example like clicking on a link, may not do what you expect it to do," said Herath.

Credit: Chrome, Firefox get clickjacked was originally published on ZDNet Australia.

Postal 2 displayed in Nobel Museum

2009-01-30T15:19:00.003-08:00

Controversial developer Running with Scissors has announced that Postal 2 is to be included in a new art exhibit at the Nobel Museum in Sweden that will focus on free speech.

According to MTV the gory and totally-NSFW game will be included in an exhibit about free speech titled How Free is Free?

Postal 2 attracted much attention when it was first released, giving players the chance to stalk and torture passers-by, as well as urinate on enemies (or allies). The game was also heavily negative in it's portrayal of Muslims and was full of swearing and exorbitant gore. Postal 2 featured weapons like anthrax-filled cows heads and machine guns that could be silenced by putting live kittens over the barrel.

As such the game is being included in the exhibit, asking the question of "What happens when freedom of expression is used as protection to spread prejudices and messages of hate?"

"Having something something of a heavy crush on freedom of speech ourselves, RWS was only too happy to co-operate," the developer said in a statement, adding that they'd worked closely with the Nobel Museum on the exhibit.

Running with Scissors is current hard at work on a third title in the Postal series, which will this time be a third person shooter and include new weapons like rabid badgers strapped into harnesses. The franchise has also been adapted into a film directed by Uwe Boll.

The exhibit opens in Stockholm on the 12th of February - let us know in the forums if you're going to pop along.

BFG Tech GeForce GTX 285 OCX 1GB

2009-01-30T15:19:00.001-08:00

Warranty

Flaw exposes Chrome, Firefox to clickjacking

2009-01-30T15:18:00.045-08:00

While Google is working on a fix, a spokesperson for the Australian arm of the company pointed out that clickjacking affected all browsers, not just Chrome.

Google's security researchers had not found any attacks in the wild that exploited the specific vulnerability, said Google's spokesperson.

"Clickjacking means that any interaction you have with a website you're on, for example like clicking on a link, may not do what you expect it to do," said Herath.

Credit: Chrome, Firefox get clickjacked was originally published on ZDNet Australia.

BFG Tech GeForce GTX 285 OCX 1GB

2009-01-30T15:18:00.043-08:00

Warranty

BFG Tech GeForce GTX 285 OCX 1GB

2009-01-30T15:18:00.041-08:00

Warranty

Flaw exposes Chrome, Firefox to clickjacking

2009-01-30T15:18:00.039-08:00

While Google is working on a fix, a spokesperson for the Australian arm of the company pointed out that clickjacking affected all browsers, not just Chrome.

Google's security researchers had not found any attacks in the wild that exploited the specific vulnerability, said Google's spokesperson.

"Clickjacking means that any interaction you have with a website you're on, for example like clicking on a link, may not do what you expect it to do," said Herath.

Credit: Chrome, Firefox get clickjacked was originally published on ZDNet Australia.

BFG Tech GeForce GTX 285 OCX 1GB

2009-01-30T15:18:00.037-08:00

Warranty

Motorola ditching Windows Mobile?

2009-01-30T15:18:00.035-08:00

Rumour has it that Motorola is ditching the Windows Mobile platform for its smartphone handsets in favour of Google's new Linux-based Android.

As reported over on BetaNews, the company has announced to the State of Florida that it is to shut down its Windows Mobile development centre in Plantation, Florida – with 77 jobs for the chop as a result, added on to the 4,000 jobs the company has already 'restructured' this month.

With the Windows Mobile development nixed, it's clear the company is hoping to concentrate on another mobile platform. While Motorola has experience with Symbian-based handsets, comments from an executive in the company's Spanish division claimed that Symbian production was to be greatly reduced this year to pave the way for a new handset based on Google's Android platform.

With no completely official announcement forthcoming from the company, it's hard to guess exactly where the future of Motorola smartphones lies – but that isn't stopping industry types speculating that Android will become the company's exclusive platform, with both Symbian and Windows Mobile ousted in favour of the open-source marvel. Whether that's the best move the company could make – especially when its financials are looking a mite peaky – remains to be seen.

With companies like HTC and General Mobile already committed to the platform, it's clear that – despite a somewhat shaky start in the T-Mobile G1 – Google's Linux-based open-source system is making waves in the industry. With Motorola clearly planning to produce Android devices – even if not exclusively – 2009 could well be the year that mobile Linux really starts to make an impact in the mainstream.

Are you hoping to see some impressive Android implementations come out of Motorola in the coming months, or should the company keep concentrating on its Windows Mobile handsets and not take the risk on a new platform? Share your thoughts over in the forums.

Motorola ditching Windows Mobile?

2009-01-30T15:18:00.033-08:00

Flaw exposes Chrome, Firefox to clickjacking

2009-01-30T15:18:00.031-08:00

While Google is working on a fix, a spokesperson for the Australian arm of the company pointed out that clickjacking affected all browsers, not just Chrome.

Google's security researchers had not found any attacks in the wild that exploited the specific vulnerability, said Google's spokesperson.

"Clickjacking means that any interaction you have with a website you're on, for example like clicking on a link, may not do what you expect it to do," said Herath.

Credit: Chrome, Firefox get clickjacked was originally published on ZDNet Australia.

Flaw exposes Chrome, Firefox to clickjacking

2009-01-30T15:18:00.029-08:00

While Google is working on a fix, a spokesperson for the Australian arm of the company pointed out that clickjacking affected all browsers, not just Chrome.

Google's security researchers had not found any attacks in the wild that exploited the specific vulnerability, said Google's spokesperson.

"Clickjacking means that any interaction you have with a website you're on, for example like clicking on a link, may not do what you expect it to do," said Herath.

Credit: Chrome, Firefox get clickjacked was originally published on ZDNet Australia.

Kyrgyzstan under cyberattack

2009-01-30T15:18:00.027-08:00

Central Asian country Kyrgyzstan is under cyberattack, according to Information Warfare Monitor.

The attacks bear similarities to attacks launched by Russia against Estonia and Georgia.

Since last week Kyrgyzstan has been under a "massive denial of service attack", according to Information Warfare Monitor. Three out of four ISPs have been put out of action, while upstream providers in Russia and Kazakhstan have refused traffic due to the scale of the attacks.

Credit: Kyrgyzstan under cyberattack was originally published on ZDNet.co.uk.

Flaw exposes Chrome, Firefox to clickjacking

2009-01-30T15:18:00.025-08:00

While Google is working on a fix, a spokesperson for the Australian arm of the company pointed out that clickjacking affected all browsers, not just Chrome.

Google's security researchers had not found any attacks in the wild that exploited the specific vulnerability, said Google's spokesperson.

"Clickjacking means that any interaction you have with a website you're on, for example like clicking on a link, may not do what you expect it to do," said Herath.

Credit: Chrome, Firefox get clickjacked was originally published on ZDNet Australia.

Motorola ditching Windows Mobile?

2009-01-30T15:18:00.023-08:00

Postal 2 displayed in Nobel Museum

2009-01-30T15:18:00.021-08:00

Postal 2 displayed in Nobel Museum

2009-01-30T15:18:00.019-08:00

Kyrgyzstan under cyberattack

2009-01-30T15:18:00.017-08:00

Central Asian country Kyrgyzstan is under cyberattack, according to Information Warfare Monitor.

The attacks bear similarities to attacks launched by Russia against Estonia and Georgia.

Credit: Kyrgyzstan under cyberattack was originally published on ZDNet.co.uk.

Postal 2 displayed in Nobel Museum

2009-01-30T15:18:00.015-08:00

Postal 2 displayed in Nobel Museum

2009-01-30T15:18:00.013-08:00

Kyrgyzstan under cyberattack

2009-01-30T15:18:00.011-08:00

Central Asian country Kyrgyzstan is under cyberattack, according to Information Warfare Monitor.

The attacks bear similarities to attacks launched by Russia against Estonia and Georgia.

Credit: Kyrgyzstan under cyberattack was originally published on ZDNet.co.uk.

G.Skill F3-12800CL8T-6GBHK Tri-Channel DDR3

2009-01-30T15:18:00.009-08:00

Manufacturer:G.Skill
UK Price (as reviewed): TBC
US Price (as reviewed):$209.99

Specification

Kit: 3 x 240-pin DDR3 Double Sided DIMM
Module Size: 6GB Triple Channel Kit (3 x 2GB)
Module Code: F3-12800CL8T-6GBHK
Rated Speed: 1,600MHz
Rated Timings: 8-8-8-24
Rated Voltage: 1.6-1.65V
Memory Chips: Samsung HCF0
XMP: Yes

Just a few days ago we took a look at the Corsair DHX+ triple-channel DDR3 kit for Core i7 CPUs and today it's G.Skill's turn. Matched to the Corsair modules at 1,600MHz CAS-8, they feature a standard profile package with blue "HK" heatspreaders compared to the more elaborate DHX+ heatsinks on the Corsair.

Click to enlarge
The HK design incorporates a standard profile heatspreader and differs only slightly from the PK and NQ series in its construction and that it's a dark blue instead of sky blue or red. It may lack the extra fins of the Pi series or Thermaltake fan aided heatpipes of the GT1s, but because these DIMMs are designed for just 1.60-1.65V, they don't need much in the way of cooling.

Click to enlarge
The heatspreaders have been cut from a single slab of aluminium, anodised and brushed on the surface underneath, before the elevated surfaces were cut and textured. The effect is very well done, affording a professional finish that looks great. Top down, where it'll be seen once installed in a case, the memory has no particular identifiable feature other than circles from top to bottom.

The company still uses the same boring green PCB like all its products; it's not colour matched blue like Corsair or OCZ do with their premium parts.

Click to enlarge
G.Skill's modules are based on the Samsung HCF0 ICs, unlike the Corsair modules which used Elpida. We're quite familiar with the HCF0s from our previous DDR3 reviews, and with enough voltage these should do 1,900MHz, although the limitation is getting that voltage without killing the CPU, and finding a Core i7 that can generate this kind of frequency.

G.Skill F3-12800CL8T-6GBHK Tri-Channel DDR3

2009-01-30T15:18:00.007-08:00

Manufacturer:G.Skill
UK Price (as reviewed): TBC
US Price (as reviewed):$209.99

Specification

Kit: 3 x 240-pin DDR3 Double Sided DIMM
Module Size: 6GB Triple Channel Kit (3 x 2GB)
Module Code: F3-12800CL8T-6GBHK
Rated Speed: 1,600MHz
Rated Timings: 8-8-8-24
Rated Voltage: 1.6-1.65V
Memory Chips: Samsung HCF0
XMP: Yes

G.Skill F3-12800CL8T-6GBHK Tri-Channel DDR3

2009-01-30T15:18:00.005-08:00

Manufacturer:G.Skill
UK Price (as reviewed): TBC
US Price (as reviewed):$209.99

Specification

Kit: 3 x 240-pin DDR3 Double Sided DIMM
Module Size: 6GB Triple Channel Kit (3 x 2GB)
Module Code: F3-12800CL8T-6GBHK
Rated Speed: 1,600MHz
Rated Timings: 8-8-8-24
Rated Voltage: 1.6-1.65V
Memory Chips: Samsung HCF0
XMP: Yes

G.Skill F3-12800CL8T-6GBHK Tri-Channel DDR3

2009-01-30T15:18:00.003-08:00

Manufacturer:G.Skill
UK Price (as reviewed): TBC
US Price (as reviewed):$209.99

Specification

Kit: 3 x 240-pin DDR3 Double Sided DIMM
Module Size: 6GB Triple Channel Kit (3 x 2GB)
Module Code: F3-12800CL8T-6GBHK
Rated Speed: 1,600MHz
Rated Timings: 8-8-8-24
Rated Voltage: 1.6-1.65V
Memory Chips: Samsung HCF0
XMP: Yes

G.Skill F3-12800CL8T-6GBHK Tri-Channel DDR3

2009-01-30T15:18:00.001-08:00

Manufacturer:G.Skill
UK Price (as reviewed): TBC
US Price (as reviewed):$209.99

Specification

Kit: 3 x 240-pin DDR3 Double Sided DIMM
Module Size: 6GB Triple Channel Kit (3 x 2GB)
Module Code: F3-12800CL8T-6GBHK
Rated Speed: 1,600MHz
Rated Timings: 8-8-8-24
Rated Voltage: 1.6-1.65V
Memory Chips: Samsung HCF0
XMP: Yes

C&C: Red Alert 3 Uprising Preview

2009-01-27T13:54:00.003-08:00

C&C Red Alert 3 Uprising PreviewPublisher:Electronic Arts
Platform:PC Exclusive
Release Date: TBA

I’m not sure exactly why it is, but human beings have a remarkable sixth sense for determining how malicious and evil a company might be based on its name. It’s one of those mysterious of nature, like twins who can sense when the other is too close to a shark or alligator. We hear these company names and we just know they are evil.

Just look at some of the most dangerous companies ever conceived of; Cyberdyne Systems, Weyland Yutani, Wolfram and Hart – their names just ooze malevolence.

Now, we can add a new name to that list too; Futuretech.

To recap, in Red Alert 3 the Tim Curry-led Soviet forces used a time machine to travel back in time and kill Einstein. In the super-camp Red Alert 3 world the Soviets hoped that killing Einstein would disrupt the technological advances of their enemies enough for Russia to gain the upper hand.

Returning to the present, Tim Curry and Co. were delighted to find that their plan had worked to a degree; nuclear power is still in infacy and the Allied forces are near defeat. The excitement was scuppered somewhat though by the arrival of the Imperial Army of the Rising Sun – an Eastern coalition fronted by an army of transformers and mecha. Then, as time goes on, the Allies are revealed to have advanced weapons of their own still, many of which focus on time travel.

This begged the question then; in a world without nuclear power, how come all three armies have such advanced weapons? An Einstein-less world still has Chronospheres, lightning tanks and giant robots? It makes little sense.

It’s this issue that Electronic Arts is focusing on resolving in the new Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 expansion, Uprising. Put simply, one company has been supplying all these technologies to the various armies. That company is the mysterious Futuretech, which was shadily alluded to in the prior game.

Futuretech has been getting this dangerous new weaponry from sources unknown, doling it out and profiting from the sales to all three sides in the war. It’s despicable and irredeemable – and we knew it all just from the sound of the name.

Uprising then does the standard for the Command and Conquer series and follows on from the Allied campaign of the main game, electing that storyline as the canonical one. The Allies have vanquished their enemies and conquered the world in the name of freedom, liberty and lots of pictures of Gemma Atkinson in a low-cut top. Lovely stuff.

Unfortunately, Gemma’s wardrobe might be a bit too distracting for the Allies, as the Soviets and Imperials start to revolt against their new leadership...with the aid of Futuretech, of course. Slowly but surely the two Eastern powers bring their armies back and unveil some powerful (and slightly demented) new units which they hope to crush the Allies with.

Civil uprising is a nice enough excuse for war of course, but the real driving point behind the new campaigns in Uprising is Futuretech and what it is hoping to gain from the impending conflict.

Nikopol: Secrets of the Immortals

2009-01-27T13:54:00.001-08:00

Nikopol: Secrets of the ImmortalsPublisher:Lighthouse Entertainment
Platform:PC Exclusive
UK Price (as reviewed):£14.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$26.99 (ex. Tax)

We’re big comic book fans at bit-tech, but even we have to admit we’ve never heard of Enki Bilal, the writer and artist upon whose work Nikopol is based. We don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing.

Regardless, the Serbian-born author has apparently hit it big with his French-language comic trilogy; there have been multiple runs of the comic in different languages, a digitally shot feature film and now a computer game all based on the same world. Now it’s even stranger that we haven’t heard of it.

Nikopol itself isn’t based directly on the comic book series or the film, but draws inspiration from them both and borrows aspects of the setting and the story to create a wholly new experience. The good news then is that if you’re a fan of the comic or the film then you’ll find something familiar, but new here.

The bad news though is that much of the story is poorly explained and more difficult to get your head around than baking a cake underwater.

Here’s what we do know; it’s the year 2023 and you are Alcide Nikopol, an artist living in the slums of Paris. There’s an election coming and the city, which has similarly dirty technology to Blade Runner, has been thrown into confusion by the appearance of a floating pyramid above the centre – a pyramid which promptly disappeared.

As it goes, that might seem enough at first, but the world of Nikopol is convoluted and complex. There’s a lot more going on in this world of religious fanatics where the President of Paris is referred to as the Director-Prophet and where fleshy abominations walk the streets arresting people.

The first problem that Nikopol faces then is that much of this isn’t explained to the player overtly, not even in the manual – which serves only to complicate matters with talk of aliens and politics. Worse, the limited interaction offered to the player means it’s hard to even search for precise explanations.

With a game world this deeply set in a niche you’d have thought that the first thing the developer might do is try to explain to players where and who they are, but apparently not. You are Nikopol, you have joined an illegal religious group even though you are apparently not religious and that is all you’ll know for the first few hours.

As time goes on however some details do begin to creep in and you start learning more about the group you’ve joined and what exactly has happened to the world you’re in, but the further you go the more questions get raised. Why are Egyptian gods walking the streets and why has the world become one of secretive religious groups and coded letters?

It must be a French thing, we think. Or a Serbian thing. Or just a weird thing.

The sense of disorientation players feel isn’t entirely without merit in games of course, especially if you want to think of it as a sympathetic game mechanic. In games like Half-Life 2 players also have very little idea what’s going on too – who is the G-man and why is Gordon back? The difference however is that while Half-Life 2 is fast-paced and lets players ignore the plot if they want, Nikopol is not.

Nikopol is an adventure game and by nature it is slow, thoughtful and introspective. The narrative directly affects the logic of the world and how you approach the puzzles – when the story is lacking the entire game starts to suffer as a result.

Razer Mako 2.1 speakers

2009-01-19T21:10:00.007-08:00

Manufacturer:Razer
UK Price (as reviewed):£241.49 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$354.98 (ex. Tax)

Contrary to what Richard says every time a set crosses his desk, speaker systems are one of the most fun things to review. Mainly all it involves is playing your favourite games, watching some high-quality videos and listening to some music. Then you fiddle with the settings, try the other connectors and try it all over again.

The only downside to the whole malarkey is that fiddling with the connectors and setting up the speakers, re-positioning them and so forth, usually requires a lot of crawling around on the floor. That’s not much fun when you’ve got a bad knee and the frustration of getting all your identical cables tangled for each of your 7.1 surround system doesn’t help much.

Those psychic-snake designers over at Razer have obviously been reading our minds though and have attempted to create a set of 2.1 speakers that provide the same experience as a 7.1 set up. The company has even done some interesting things with the cables too, which we’ll get to in a bit.

The Razer Mako 2.1 system (left) and Subwoofer close-up (right), click to enlarge
The basic premise behind the Mako speakers is simple. Rather than doing a Saturn impression and surrounding yourself with a ring of satellite speakers, the Makos use a pair of 2.1 speakers to fill the room with noise [i]by aiming the noise away from you. The sound is actually aimed downwards. Simply, the idea is that you bounce the noise upwards and try to fill the room with it.

It’s that unusual approach which is the reason behind the rather distinctive design of the Makos. This is why they look more like obsidian doorstops than £250 speakers. They don’t need to have speakers facing the user, they don’t need to be tall and they don’t need to follow the rules of conventional design.

All they do need is a white base and a matching colour scheme, though Razer has also made sure that the top of each speaker, and the similarly designed sub-woofer, is flat and adorned with an embossed Razer tri-snake logo. That’s pretty handy if you want to put a cup of water on top of a speaker, turn the volume up and re-enact that bit where the T-Rex escapes in Jurassic Park. Don’t pretend you weren’t thinking about it.

The control disc (left) and Razer Mako speaker(right), click to enlarge
A distinctive, almost bulbous speaker system can’t be let down by its volume control either, so Razer has included wide and flat control centre with the Makos. Sturdy and heavy, like the speakers themselves which weigh in at around 500g each, the control panel is completely touch sensitive.

On the left it has a touch-sensitive section which you can slide over to control both volume and bass, while extra toggle between Line 1 and Line 2, as well as muting the output. Holding down on the Razer logo for a few seconds turns the speakers on or off. At the front the control disc has a headphone and line in socket too, which is handy if you want to avoid plugging your headphones in at the back of the PC when discrete gaming is required.

The real question though is; does this innovative new take on audio design actually work, or does the desktop reap all the benefits of this downward facing sound while we have to cope with muddled ears and an empty wallet? Read on to find out.

Razer Mako 2.1 speakers

2009-01-19T21:10:00.005-08:00

Novelist hired for 'Doom 4'

2009-01-19T21:10:00.003-08:00

The original Doom didn't have much in the way of story. Players took control of a space marine on one of the moons of Mars, where scientists have accidentally opened up a portal to Hell. The bulk of the game consisted of running around shooting all the demons that came through that portal.

That was more than 15 years ago, and it seems series developer id Software is looking to grow the series at least a little beyond those simple roots. In an update to his personal Web site, British author Graham Joyce announced that he is now working on id's upcoming Doom 4.

Joyce is a decorated scribe, having four times won the British Fantasy Society's Award for Best Novel. Other famed authors to have claimed the annual award include Stephen King (who also won the honor four times) and Neil Gaiman. Joyce also won a World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 2003, when his book The Facts of Life shared the designation with Patricia A. McKillip's Ombria in Shadow.

Joyce did not reveal any of his plans for the game in his blog post, saying only that he has "been hired to contribute to the storyline" of the game. A representative for id Software had not returned GameSpot's request for comment as of press time.

Novelist hired for 'Doom 4'

2009-01-19T21:10:00.001-08:00

'Zork' returns to the gaming world

2009-01-18T15:10:00.001-08:00

When it comes to old school adventure games, it doesn't get much older than Zork, the Infocom franchise that started as a series of text-based adventures on the Tandy Color Computer, Apple II, Commodore 64, and all manner of personal computers.

Now Jolt Online Gaming is dusting off the franchise--dormant since 1997's Zork Grand Inquisitor--and reviving it as a Web browser-based massively multiplayer casual online game (casual MMO).

The Irish browser-game maker Wednesday announced that it will be publishing Legends of Zork, a persistent online game that will be playable on computers as well as iPhones.

No release date has been announced, but Jolt has said it will be accepting applications for beta testing on the game's official Web site.

Legends of Zork will cast players as a treasure-hunting traveling salesman in the recently collapsed Great Underground Empire. Of course, the journey promises great riches as well as great danger (possibly in the form of a grue).

Founded last year, Jolt already operates a number of free-to-play online gaming properties, including the truck driving-themed Trukz, and geo-political sim NationStates 2.

Yahoo! appoints new CEO

2009-01-17T13:54:00.005-08:00

Yahoo! has announced that Carol Bartz has joined the Internet giant's board of directors and has been named Chief Executive Officer with immediate effect.

This signals the end of Jerry Yang's 18-month tenure as CEO and he will return to his former role as Chief Yahoo. He said he "couldn't be more pleased with the board's choice" in a company statement.

Bartz, 60, was most recently Executive Chairman of Autodesk and, prior to that, she was CEO of the company for 14 years.

During this time, she increased the company's revenues from $300 million to more than $1.5 billion a year, while the share price increased by a factor of ten in the same period. This transformed Autodesk into one of the market leaders in computer-aided design software packages.

In addition to her successes at Autodesk, Bartz has worked at Sun Microsystems, Digital Equipment Corporation and 3M and has had extensive hands-on executive experience at these companies.

What's more, Bartz is also Lead Independent Director at Cisco Systems and serves on the board of directors at Intel and NetApp.

Do you think this is a good move for Yahoo! and will we see the company return to its former glory? Discuss in the forums.

Nvidia (Zotac) GeForce GTX 285 1GB

2009-01-17T13:54:00.003-08:00

Manufacturer:Nvidia
UK Price (as reviewed):£294.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$349.99 (ex. Tax)

Core Clock: 648MHz
Shader Clock: 1,476MHz
Memory Clock: 2,484MHz (effective)
Memory: 1,024MB GDDR3

With the launch of the GeForce GTX 295 last week, Nvidia has started to roll out its 55nm GT200b GPUs onto the market. Today the company is rolling another new graphics card – the GeForce GTX 285 – but unlike the GTX 295, the 285 utilizes just a single GT200b GPU.

We spent some time going over the minor changes made in the GT200b during our GeForce GTX 295 review, so we will not spend a lot of time going over them again here. The best way to think of GT200b though is that it's just GT200 on a finer manufacturing process with a few small enhancements.

The GeForce GTX 285 is coming to market to replace the GTX 280 which has been Nvidia's flagship product since last June. Like the GeForce GTX 280, the GTX 285 features a full 240 stream processors arranged into ten stream processing clusters, 80 texture units (eight per cluster) and 32 ROPs backing out onto a 512-bit memory interface.

What Nvidia has done is increase the clock speeds across the board. The core clock, at which the setup, texture units and ROPs are clocked at, is set to 648MHz, while the stream processor and memory clocks are 1,476MHz and 2,484MHz respectively. This results in some pretty impressive single GPU theoretical throughputs – there's 51.8 GigaTexels per second of texture throughput and 159.0 GB/sec of memory bandwidth available. It also takes the maximum theoretical compute throughput to just over 1.06 teraFLOPS as well, making this the first Nvidia desktop GPU to break through the teraFLOPS barrier.

However, rather than just stick with the existing design and just replace the GPU, Nvidia has done some work on the PCB to optimise it in a number of ways. The first of these optimisations is to move all of the 16 memory chips onto the top side of the PCB, meaning that they're now all actively cooled by the heatsink that also cools the GPU core – this should help with overclocking and it's also why Nvidia has managed to hit such a high GDDR3 memory clock speed for its reference frequencies.

Click to enlarge
Like the original GT200 chip, the display processing is still handled by the NVIO2 chip and has support for dual dual-link DVI ports (with HDCP) and an HDTV out connector. In addition, it includes support for 10-bit-per-colour outputs, but there's no direct support for DisplayPort – partners will have to add in their own DisplayPort controller chip should they wish to adopt the new display interface technology.

Another area where Nvidia has made some fairly significant changes is to the power layout on the board. A number of our sources have confirmed that there were some problems with the GTX 280's original PWM circuitry layout and that was what prompted Nvidia to redesign the board. The issues cropped up with a large proportion of power supply designs and caused resonation that was conducted back up to the power supply, causing it to whistle in certain load scenarios.

The new design features a six phase PWM design for the GPU and a further two phases for the GDDR3 memory – these allow the GPU to switch between its various operating modes while maintaining good power efficiency. What's more, the 55nm die shrink also means lower power consumption – Nvidia has lowered the maximum quoted board power from 236W to 183W and this means the board no longer requires both six and eight-pin PCI-Express power connectors. Instead, the GeForce GTX 285 features just a pair of six-pin connectors and both need to be connected for the card to function.

Unfortunately though, we experienced some whistling on the three samples we have in house that are all based on the new Nvidia reference PCB design so it doesn't look like the problem has been removed completely. However, it could be that the issue is limited to our samples or to the small number of power supplies we've tested the card with so far – we'll be conducting further investigations with a number of sources who we've been working with on the aforementioned GeForce GTX 280 issues that we still haven't got to the bottom of.

Nvidia has thus far denied that there is an issue, saying that it has not been able to replicate the problems we've encountered – the company has said it is working to try and replicate our test system and power supplies but we haven't heard any progress on getting to the bottom of the problem yet. Should the two issues (GTX 280 and 285) be related though, the whistling may not be limited to just a couple of power supply units that we happen to have struck it luck with – the 280 whistling has been replicated across a large number of different power supplies so far in the testing that has been completed behind closed doors in conjunction with the graphics card maker.

NASA hacker pleads to Bush for pardon

2009-01-17T13:54:00.001-08:00

Self-confessed NASA hacker Gary McKinnon is appealing to outgoing president George W Bush to halt McKinnon's extradition from Britain to the United States.

McKinnon's legal team has requested that UK foreign secretary David Miliband press for a pardon from Bush, McKinnon's solicitor Karen Todner announced at a press conference on Thursday. "We have asked David Miliband to seek consent to ask for a pardon," said Todner.

The solicitor added that McKinnon's defense team had already applied for a pardon from Bush, but had been rejected on the grounds that McKinnon was not a US citizen.

McKinnon is also hopeful that president-elect Barack Obama will drop the extradition after his inauguration on Tuesday 20 January. "A lot of us have looked at Obama as a new hope," McKinnon told the press conference in London.

The U.S. government has accused McKinnon of "the biggest military hack of all time". U.S. prosecutors claim that between 2001 and 2002, McKinnon accessed over 73,000 army, navy, air force and NASA computers, causing $700,000 (430,000) damage by deleting files.

McKinnon has admitted hacking US military systems, but denies causing damage. He claims he was initially searching for data about UFOs, and also found evidence of anti-gravity projects.

The appeal to Bush coincides with an attempt by McKinnon to halt his extradition by pleading guilty to UK computer offenses. Todner sent a confession signed by McKinnon to director of public prosecutions Keir Starmer on December 23. In the confession letter McKinnon gave assurances that he would plead guilty to offenses under section 2 of the Computer Misuse Act (CMA) in an attempt to secure a UK jail term. Section 2 of the CMA deals with "unauthorized access with intent to commit or facilitate commission of further offenses."

McKinnon told ZDNet UK on Thursday he was hopeful Starmer would agree to prosecute in the UK.

"[The confession] makes [Starmer's] job easier," said McKinnon. "It gives him a home run."

Starmer will reach a decision within four weeks, Todner told ZDNet UK on Thursday.

In addition, on Tuesday January 20 the High Court will hear oral evidence from McKinnon's legal team. McKinnon's defense contend that McKinnon's diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome in the summer was not taken into account by the home secretary Jacqui Smith when she rejected McKinnon's second appeal against extradition in October.

Lian Li announces crazy PC-888

2009-01-07T13:54:00.003-08:00

CES 2009: For those who’re always moaning that every modern case designs are always just another turn on the familiar black/silver box, Lian Li is here to shake things up with its newly announced PC-888 case, set to début at CES this week.

Inspired by the design of the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, it looks set to continue Lian Li’s tradition of occasionally producing off the wall cases unlike anything else on the market. We think you’ll agree that there’s nothing else on the market that looks anything like it.

Some of you may remember Lian Li’s “Snail” case, the PC-777, and the PC-888 is in very much the same vein, chucking traditional case aesthetics in the bin with a unique chassis design that’s pitched firmly at those looking for something a little bit special to house their beloved system in.

However, it’s not just a pretty face, with room for a full ATX motherboard, four hot-swap hard disk drive bays, three 120mm speed controlled cooling fans and pre-stealthed drive bays. In fact the insides are deceptively compact for what is, externally , quite a large chassis.

But the most eye catching thing about the PC-888 must be that ocean blue anodized aluminium used in the construction. It looks absolutely gorgeous and is a great change from the usual sea of black, silver and gun metal grey we would normally see chassis ship in, although we're sure the design itself will a bit like Marmite: you'll either love it or hate it.

We’ll be bringing you a full review of the PC-888 next week, but for now we’ll leave you with a few tasty pics to drool/hiss over.

Got a thought? Share it with us in the forums.

Click to enlarge

NCSoft sued by MMO patent holders

2009-01-07T13:54:00.001-08:00

This is a little late and that admittedly owes a lot to the extended Christmas holiday, but MMO publisher NCSoft is being sued for patent infringement by Worlds.com, a virtual world platform.

The lawsuit is based around a patent that was filed way back in 2000 for a suitably vague "system and method for enabling users to interact in a virtual space". The wording of the patent means that it could pretty much apply to any MMO or online world in existence.

The lawsuit itself was filed against the NCSoft Texas offices on Christmas Eve and targets all of the publishers previous games, which isn't a small number. The Korean-based NCSoft has been behind pretty much every decent non-Blizzard MMO out there, whether it be Lineage or City of Heroes. The company also published Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa, though that didn't do so well.

Interestingly however the patent owned by Worlds.com, which could also be used to sue Blizzard or Sony Online Entertainment, was filed only after some of the first MMOs, such as Everquest, were published.

Stephen Roth, lead attorney for Worlds.com, disputes this issue however by saying that the patent was first filed back in 1995. If true then that would mean that Worlds.com does indeed own a pretty valid patent on the MMO model - one which predates even Ultima Online.

NCSoft has said that it will vigorously defend itself from these claims, but if the patent is as valid as it looks then it may not make much of a difference.

Is this a valid claim from Worlds.com or is the legal system just being further abused by money-hungry shareholders? Let us know what you think in the forums.

Midway closes studio, cancels games

2008-12-18T13:53:00.005-08:00

Midway has taken further efforts to reduce costs and minimise losses today with the closure of its Austin studio and the cancellation of all its projects that were projected for a 2010 or 2011 release date, all of which were unannounced.

Midway has announced redundancies across all territories also, losing staff in San Diego, Austin and Chicago according to GamesIndustry.biz. The move sees the total workforce of the company being decimated with more than 25 percent of the publishers total employees being terminated.

The historic publisher and games developer has been facing hard times as of late, with rising losses and spiralling debts leading to a possible de-listing from the New York Stock Exchange. The publisher is currently in danger of defaulting on debts of around £150 million GBP.

Shareholders have been desperately trying to distance themselves from the company too, with majority shareholder Sumner Redstone selling his controlling stake for just $100,000 USD - a move which caused the share prices to drop another 40 percent.

"The cost-reduction measures are vital for us to rationalise our operations and provide the resources necessary for our core properties to succeed," commented Matt Booty, president and CEO of Midway.

"These initiatives, along with the other steps we have taken this year, are a response to the specific challenges we are facing at Midway, many of which have been amplified by the current economic conditions."

Midway seems to have been pinning all its hopes on its latest title, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, but reception to the beat-em-up has been luke-warm at best. Tell us what you think about the game and the company in the forums.

Spore coming to Steam?

2008-12-18T13:53:00.003-08:00

Electronic Arts may finally be taking advantage of the Valve's Steam platform it seems, with rumours that Spore is set for release starting to circulate after the EULA for the title is spotted on the Steam storefront.

While not immediately shocking to many, if Spore does see a Steam release then it'll be the first time that Electronic Arts has even tried to release a game on Steam.

Electronic Arts and Valve currently work together on many other projects, with EA publishing retail copies of The Orange Box and Left 4 Dead as well as working with Valve to port the games to other platforms such as the PlayStation 3, but EA has never published on Steam yet. Instead, the mega-publisher has traditionally favoured it's ironically less-favoured EA Store system, which many gamers complain is difficult and restrictive to use.

That said though, Electronic Arts has been trying to turn over a new leaf lately with development moving away from yearly sports titles to more innovative and exciting games such as Mirror's Edge and Spore - could EA finally be moving towards the light?

For now the issue is all just speculation and hear-say as, though the appearance of a Steam EULA for the game is interesting, it is by no means a confirmation of release. Looks like we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed.

If you want to know more about Spore then you can check out our full Spore review and graphical analysis for more details - and be sure to let us know what you think of the game in the forums.

Myst MMO Uru Live goes open source

2008-12-18T13:53:00.001-08:00

Cyan Worlds has announced that the Myst-based MMO, Uru Live, will be going totally open source in the future in order to avoid closing totally.

Uru Live has led a troubled existence, much to the frustration of players, having been cancelled twice and recently closed before being driven to open source in and effort to stay online.

Cyan Worlds had previously tried to keep the game afloat after closure through a Myst Online Restoration Experiment (MORE), but that too has gone under according to RockPaperShotgun, forcing the game to go open source as a last resort. You certainly can't fault Cyan Worlds for trying again and again though - the team apparently just can't afford to carry on working on the project.

"Cyan has decided to give make MystOnline available to the fans by releasing the source code for the servers, client and tools for MystOnline as an open source project. We will also host a data server with the data for MystOnline. MORE is still possible but only with the help from fans," said a news post on the official site.

How exactly the open source system will work is a bit confused and, as Cyan Worlds admits, more than a little scary for players. Theoretically this approach could lead to a whole set of different Uru Live servers, each with different worlds and rules. Cyan however is hoping that the dedicated fans will rally to keep the project as close to the original vision as possible.

Cyan is handing over everything from game code and server architecture, with the releases starting in the next few days apparently. Let us know what you think in the forums.

The Best Gaming Moments of 2008

2008-12-16T13:53:00.001-08:00

The Best Gaming Moments of 2008The end of the year is always a dangerous time for tech journalists because it’s the time when we have to start putting together our ‘Best Of’ lists. Not only does that lead to plenty of in-office arguments but it also means that we get swamped with (hate-)mail no matter what games we include or leave out.

So, we’re doing things a bit differently now. From now on you get to choose the best games of the year, leaving us to find other ways to vent our own thoughts on the matter, safely.

Over the next few pages we’ve broken down what we thought were our best single gaming moments of the year and why. We’ve each tackled the topic in a different way, each focusing on something different. While Harry talks about online gaming and multiplayer griefing, Joe’s discussed how one specific game changed the way he thinks about games. Richard shares some of his favourite co-op gaming stories, while Andy stays fixated on singleplayer experiences.

Where did we find the best gaming stories of 2008? Read on to find out!
And as for Tim, well as we write this little intro he still hasn’t decided what he’s going to talk about and will typically fill in the last page at the last minute! Tsk, Editors! They think they run the place! Rest assured though that whatever game he settles on he’ll be sure to talk about it at length.

So, these are our stories – the ones which have stuck in our heads and made 2008 another great year for gamers. They aren’t necessarily our favourite games of the year, just out favourite bits.

We hope you guys join in and pipe up to tell us what experience, single player or collective in your clan/LAN/work buddies/bunch of intoxicated mates was also the best gaming moment of 2008 as well - after all, we play games for fun, right? So why not reflect on what makes this past-time so great!

If you managed to win a particularly epic multiplayer battle against the Hoard, or want to tell everyone about the time you melee’d a Tank to death in Left 4 Dead then we want to hear about it – tell us about it in the forums.

A Vampyre Story

2008-12-15T14:06:00.001-08:00

A Vampyre StoryPublisher:Crimson Cow
Platform:PC Exclusive
UK Price (as reviewed):£14.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price as reviewed:$35.47 (inc. Tax)

At bit-tech, we have a well-known love of adventure games and the old LucasArts adventure games especially being especially important items in our gaming histories, but the sad reality is that the age of the adventure game is considered by many to be deader than the main character of A Vampyre Story.

The so-called death of adventure games is hotly debated. Was The Curse of Monkey Island or Grim Fandango the final nail in the coffin? Is the genre really dead, or just hibernating? Does it really matter? One thing that’s generally taken as fact is that the genre was greatly injured by LucasArts' decision to focus almost exclusively on making Star Wars games.

The good news for true adventure games fans however is that LucasArts' withdrawl from the market also saw a number of talented developers ejected into the market place. People like Tim Schaefer, Dave Grossman and the lesser-known Bill Tiller, who worked on everything from The Secret of Monkey Island to the ill-fated Full Throttle 2.

While what some of those developers have done in the meantime is well documented, what Bill Tiller has been up to hasn’t seen the same level of exposure, mainly because of problems finding a publisher. Finally though, Bill and Co. have released their game, A Vampyre Story.

Very much in the vein (sorry) of the old LucasArts games, A Vampyre Story tells a story in the familiar template of a somewhat geeky outsider following their dreams through a stream of devious puzzles and baffling illogic – except that most games in the framework aren’t about vampiric opera singers.

The undead singer in question is a young lady called Mona who, accompanied by her friendly bat Froderick, is determined to find a way to Paris so that she can resume her training as a world-class operatic talent – a plan that was disrupted when she was kidnapped and made a vampire by a Dracula wannabe called Shrowdy.

Admittedly then A Vampyre Tale sounds a bit too kitsch and tooth-curlingly cute for the average hardcore PC gamer, but if Pixar has taught us one thing it’s that some things can be universally likeable. That’s pretty much the story here then as, despite the eye-rollingly adorable sidekick Froderick, the game still manages to entice and interest players who give the game a chance.

It does have to be said though that there are some parts of the plot that are a little lacking and baffling. Mona is a confused and somewhat ditzy character by nature, but she also doesn’t seem to understand that she actually is a vampire. The self-delusion she’s spun around herself explains the blood she drinks as fine, soupy wines – though she doesn’t have a problem with transforming into a bat.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing admittedly as, if anything, it helps to make the character a bit more interesting and flexible, but we would have liked to learn more about her and what the backstory for the game is. A vampire setting may be universally understandable, but some fundamental pieces of the story (such as the curse which initially confines Mona to the castle) are slightly eclipsed in favour of the witty banter.

Grand Theft Auto IV PC

2008-12-14T13:52:00.009-08:00

Grand Theft Auto IV PCPublisher:Rockstar
Platform:PC
UK Price (as reviewed):£24.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$49.99 (incl. Tax)

There are obviously going to be problems with reviewing Grand Theft Auto IV on the PC, but we expected most of them to be raised by the fact that we’re essentially re-reviewing the same game again. We didn’t expect them to be a result of simply trying to get the game running.

Oddly though, the barriers that were thrown up when we first tried to play GTA IV weren’t anything to do with hardware issues or faulty drivers. They were thrown up by the huge amount of requirements that are bought up when you try to first install and then run the game.

Some of these requirements are understandable, like DirectX and Adobe Flash updates. Others are not, like having to install Rockstar Social Club so that it can have a constantly-running app on your system tray or that you have to create a Games for Windows Live login to be able to even play the game.

These things aren’t easily redeemed, despite how Rockstar has tried to ease it all by allowing players to link the Rockstar Social Club with Games for Windows Live accounts. The fact is that it’s just plain obvious that both Rockstar and Microsoft are using Grand Theft Auto IV PC as part of a greater plan to drive people onto Games for Windows Live and to gather gameplay data from players.

If it were just one or the other system in play here then we might not make that big a deal of it, admittedly. Fallout 3 featured Games for Windows Live too and we didn’t hate that, for example. The problem though is that there are just so many things with so little a benefit – SecuROM and Rockstar Social Club and Games for Windows Live? It’s too much.

And what benefit is there to offset it? Well, the only appreciable one from the player's perspective is that you’ll be able to save videos and upload them to Rockstar Social Club, play around with them and so on. There’s a community around the Rockstar Social Club and they’ll rate your videos and watch them and so on.

It’s nice if you want to use it and we approve of it on paper, but the problem is that it doesn’t honestly interest us all that much. It’s good for those people who want to use it, but we’re going to bet that the vast, vast majority don’t care. Those people still have to cope with constantly running bloatware and sign-ins though and It doesn’t seem entirely fair.

Equally baffling is the fact that the game has apparently swelled a bit since the Xbox 360 version. GTA IV PC comes on not one but two discs and requires a 16GB install as standard.

Speaking of requirements, it’s probably worth taking a look at the hefty minimum requirements for Grand Theft Auto IV PC too. The game requires a dual-core system for instance, either an Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 GHz or an AMD Athlon X2 64 2GHz being the models quoted. You’ll also need 1.5GB of RAM as miminum, a 256 MB graphics card (an Nvidia GeForce 7900 or ATI Radeon X1900 or higher), plus an Internet connection.

On the plus side though, if you can meet all of those minimum requirements then you’re probably able to take advantage of some of the enhancements for 64-bit and multicore systems. Swings and roundabouts, eh?

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky re-review

2008-12-14T13:52:00.007-08:00

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear SkyPlatform: PC Exclusive
Publisher:Deep Silver
UK Price (as reviewed):£17.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$32.99 (inc. Tax)

Maybe the stress of Christmas shopping is finally getting to us, but something about this article seems awful familiar. I swear I’ve done this before, though last time it didn’t seem as easy.

And, of course, we have. This is the second time we’ve put our critical little hats on and sat down at the keyboard to play Clear Sky like a flange of barely trained circus monkeys.

Last time I tried though the whole time was fraught with issues and problems. When the game didn’t crash to the desktop then it was freezing regularly, performing badly or corrupting savegames. The storyline, which is dense and sporadically told at the best of times, was less understandable than the talk of a man who’s caught his tongue in a toaster.

So, it was an awful game then, right? Well, it wasn’t that simple actually and even though the game was giving us enough headaches and heartbreaks to fill an entire highschool we could still see that the game underneath was pretty good. Like the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of ChernobylClear Sky may have been difficult to understand and decidedly flawed in some regards, but there was a gem of a game under all that muck.

Which is why we’re now revisiting Clear Sky to see if the game has been patched into brilliance, or if it still languishes at the bottom of our scoring system like a discarded banana peel. Last time we looked at Clear Sky it was practically unplayable even when we’d patched it up, but now we’re four months down the line things might be a little different.

Mercifully, the developers haven’t stopped supporting the game in the last few months and the version number for Clear Sky has steadily risen. The first time we played Clear Sky it was on v1.3, but now it’s reached v1.5.07 The patching process has been streamlined too and instead of adding one patch on top of another you just need one 50MB file.

So, if you’ve been waiting for a more stable and reliable version of the game to appear before you sit down to really play it then all you need to do is head to the official site and download the latest patch. Easy.

Even better, if you kept your savegames from any version of the game above v1.3 then those saves should still be compatible with the latest version. We know we weren’t the only ones who were somewhat irked to find that any savegames from v1.0 were rendered useless as soon as you patched up to v1.3. It’s yet another reason why the original Clear Sky review took so long.

The new patch also tackles most of the critical errors and crashes head on, fixing blue-screens and tweaking parts of the game that you could occasionally break, such as doors that would randomly refuse to open or guides that would refuse to take you anywhere. It also adds in new multiplayer maps and patches over a few connection issues. All good news.

It’s worth bearing in mind though that it really never should have been allowed to get to this point. The game should have just worked. A few crashes and issues can be overlooked, but Clear Sky was just plain broken. Let’s see if it’s been fixed.

Vote for your Game of the Year

2008-12-14T13:52:00.005-08:00

Vote for your Game of the YearIt's that time of year again, when we look back at all the games that were released in the last twelve months and try to arrange them into some crazy sort of order. It's just human nature - we want to know what the very best game was.This year though we're doing things a little bit differently.

In the past we've presented our own selection of the top ten games after much arguing and careful deliberation. This year however we're opening up the voting and letting you be the sole judges. Understand though, it's not that we're being especially gracious - we're just sick of getting hate mail because we didn't rank the latest Zelda or Sonic game above something else.

As usual too when we sit down to do something, we don't do it by halves. We've not just given you a list of the ten most popular or best-selling games to choose from, but we've listed all of the major releases for PC and consoles, as well as some prominent indie games. It's time to see how highly gamers value innovation.

Voting is simple and we've divided the process into two stages - the Best PC Games and the Best Console Games, which is on the next page. In order to vote you'll need to sign up to the bit-tech newsletter, but all you need to do that is an email address. If you want to vote but don't want to get the newsletter then you can easily opt-out during the registration process. We promise we'll never sell your details on or send you any spam you don't explicitly ask for.

Once you've signed up then all you have to do is select your top three games below. Voting will close at 9am GMT, 22nd December 2008 and we'll publish the results along with our typically self-indulgent commentary shortly after that. If you've got any questions then just let us know in the forums! PC Game of the Year

Please select 3 options

Age of ConanAssassin's Creed: Director's CutAudiosurfBrothers in Arms: Hell's HighwayCall of Duty: World at WarCrysis WarheadDead SpaceDevil May Cry 4Fallout 3Far Cry 2Grand Theft Auto IVLeft 4 DeadMass EffectRace Driver: GRIDRed Alert 3S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear SkySins of a Solar EmpireSporeThe Witcher: Enhanced EditionTom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2Tomb Raider: UnderworldWarhammer Online: Age of ReckoningWorld of GooWorld of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

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Prince of Persia

2008-12-14T13:52:00.003-08:00

Prince of PersiaPlatform:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Publisher:Ubisoft
UK price (as reviewed):£39.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$59.99 (inc. Tax)

This is something wholly new for the Prince of Persia franchise, using the title of the original game but telling a brand new story utterly detached from any of the other previous games.

In other words, this is the start of a new Prince of Persia. You don’t need to have played The Sands of Time trilogy or any other game. Just so we’re clear. There are still people on the bit-tech staff who seem to have trouble grasping that little fact despite being told repeatedly. Right, Harry?

In fact, even if you have played one of the older games then you’re not going to be any better off – though you should still go back and play The Sands of Time again anyway. It’s a particularly awesome game and very much worth playing even if the new Prince of Persia is a totally different game and one without the time-travelling idea.

A new story then needs a new character and while Ubisoft has kept the cast fairly small, the characters are more well developed than a Playboy bunny because of this. The focus of the script has been narrowed so that if players want to keep on hammering the ‘Talk’ button then they can make the game as much a character study as a platformer.

The characters in question are pretty different to anything we might have seen in previous Prince of Persia games too and while the titular Prince has had a rightful claim to the throne in previous games, that isn’t the case here. In the new game he’s just a simple adventurer who has stumbled onto one quest when returning from another. Realistic and earthy, the Prince is a man of steel and silver – a master swordsman who trusts action over words and plans over dreams.

Balancing out the Prince’s wit and realism then is the new character, the Princess Elika. Introduced to the Prince when she tumbles onto him in a sandstorm, Elika is being pursued by her fathers men as she rushes to a nearby temple – sweeping the Prince up in her wake.

With a powerful and holy magic coursing through her, Elika has lived a life of quiet dignity in her position as princess of the Ahura – a dwindling group of priests who guard the prison of Ahriman, God of Darkness. Abandoned by their own god, Ormazd, the Ahura are now but a few and Elika is the only one who retains the holy powers needed to protect the land.

Protect it from what, I hear you ask. Well, from the escaped God of Darkness, that’s what.

Partially freed by Elika’s father, Ahriman has corrupted the Persian kingdom and slicked the skyline over with shadows and malice. Oily ick is oozing from the earth as Ahriman’s corruption spreads and his minions run riot through the now barren and spoiled rooms of Elika’s palace. It’s up to you and Elika to claim the lands back, healing the earth like that whiny Brazilian kid in Captain Planet. The power of Heart really is the lamest power of them all.

Doing that won’t be simple though and you’ll need to reclaim the Fertile Grounds inch by inch, pushing back Ahriman’s generals one by one. He’s got more players on the pitch than there are in the major league, so even if you’ve got all the moves of Ronaldo then it still doesn’t mean this’ll be easy.

You’re in for one hell of a fight...

Trackmania DS

2008-12-14T13:52:00.001-08:00

Trackmania DSPublisher:Focus Home Interactive
Platform:DS Exclusive
UK Price (as reviewed):£17.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$29.99 Pre-order

Games like Trackmania shouldn’t really belong on the Nintendo DS. Super fast, ultra-precise racers with decent graphics and an emphasis on multiplayer challenges and huge environments? That’s just not something that sits well with the DS’ limited hardware and D-pad.

No, no. If Trackmania belongs on any handheld then it should be on the PSP, surely. A larger screen, more powerful innards and an analog stick – that’s what Trackmania really needs!

Yet, somehow, Trackmania DS manages to not only sit well with Nintendo’s handheld, but sits so comfortably you can practically hear the DS cart snuggling into it like a squirrel readying for hibernation. It’s tiny, cute and it works beautifully.

Not only does it work as its own game in fact, it actually works as a very good Trackmania game, successfully dragging the conventions of the PC game over to the DS like a squirrel bringing home nuts for supper.

The unpredictable and fantastically unrealistic tracks, the huge empty arenas, the crazy game modes and the easy to use editor – they are all here, condensed down to fit on the tiny dual screens.

As always though, Trackmania is a racing game that manages to polarise players into distinct groups. Those who want a deep and involving racing simulation, with car tweaks and worries about suspension will feel left out here because that’s not what Trackmania is about, even on the DS. Trackmania is more about insane speeds, huge jumps and playing the same impossible tracks over and over and over until you can avoid every pillar and pitfall on pure instinct.

That arcade focus, which has always been one of the main appeals of the series, can be felt everywhere. There’s no career mode option, no different cars to choose from, no trophies to win. There’s just three different environments, each of which only has one type of car in it, and a huge amount of crazy tracks.

Importantly, there’s not even any collision detection. In single and multiplayer your opponents are always ghost cars because the game is about skill and repetition, not damage physics and griefing.

To some people, the lack of collisions is a bit of a disappointment. It makes it seem that even when you’re playing with friends on the other side of the room that you still aren’t really playing with them, but it’s purely a matter of taste. In its defense, Trackmania requires a high-level of precision and speed out of players that would be damaged by cars that bounce off of one another constantly. The entire game is geared towards sheer speed and agility, like a squirrel scurrying around a tree trunk in the park on a temperate spring evening.

Y’know...we’re pretty sure that squirrels were a major design inspiration for the game.

EA to publish Brütal Legend

2008-12-13T13:53:00.009-08:00

Finally. Electronic Arts has stepped up and said that it will publish Brütal Legend, the latest game from Tim Schafer's Double Fine Studios, on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

The heavy-metal inspired game first fell into difficulty when Activision-Blizzard discarded a bunch of in-development titles after their merger. Games like Ghostbusters, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand and Brütal Legend suddenly found themselves without a publisher, though all have now found new homes.

While the last game of the lot to find a new publisher, it seems that Brütal Legend was never in any real trouble as a publishing deal with EA had been quietly on the card for a while. We can't say we blame EA for pursuing the game either - a heavy-metal inspired game starring Jack Black and from the makers of Psychonauts, Grim Fandango and Full Throttle is a tempting prospect for anyone!

"This is awesome news!" stated Tim Schafer in a press release. "The quality and creativity of the games EA Partners has been involved with make it a perfect home for our baby, Brütal Legend. Some people were starting to wonder if the saga of Eddie Riggs would ever see the light of day, but now I think it’s clear that this game, like Metal itself, cannot be killed!"

While the game is set to tell the story of Eddie Riggs, a roadie who gets sucked into an alternate demon-filled universe by an ancient rock icon, the gameplay itself has yet to be full unveiled. Jack Black has promised however that the first trailers for the game will be unveiled in the VGA Spike gaming awards in the US, which he's presenting.

Until then you can check out the original trailer below from when the game was being published back at Sierra, or let us know your thoughts in the forums.

Gears of War 3 rumours rubbished by Epic

2008-12-13T13:53:00.007-08:00

With Gears of War 2 recently released and already a firm contender for bit-tech's Game of The Year, it would only make sense that Epic would want to get to work on the next game in the hit series, right?

Wrong.

In fact, according to Epic's Mark Rein the company hasn't even started thinking about making Gears of War 3 yet, officially. Rein went so far as to tell Eurogamer that any rumours about the title were total nonsense.

What rumours, you ask? Well, the word over at CVG is that Epic is planning to have the third Gears of War game out in time for Christmas 2010, with the game definitely set to feature five-player co-op. Anything to outdo Left 4 Dead, eh?

Rein denies both of these points too though, saying that Epic is still too busy working on patches and tweaks for Gears of War 2 to yet start work on Gears of War 3. On the plus side though at least he isn't denying that there will be a third game!

If you've not played Gears of War 2 yet then you can read our full review for more details, which is as close as you'll get to the full game if you don't have an Xbox 360 - Epic have promised there'll not be a PC release of the game, ever.

Are you eagerly awaiting Gears of War 3, or are you more interested in other games over the next few years? Let us know what you think in the forums.

RadioShack to sell Acer netbook for $99 - with 2-year contract

2008-12-13T13:53:00.005-08:00

RadioShack will put an Acer Aspire One 3G Netbook on sale Sunday for $99. But there's a catch. You also have to buy a two-year AT&T DataConnect contract.

The Acer Aspire One grabbed 38.3 percent of Netbook market share in the third quarter, propelling it past industry pioneer Asus and its Eee PC 4G.

Acer's Aspire One normally sells for about $300.

The RadioShack-AT&T offer, as previously reported, is valid through December 20. The 2.44-pound, 9.8-inch by 6.7-inch Netbook includes:

Built-in 3G capability
802.11b/g wireless (Wi-Fi)
8.9-inch LCD screen
Built-in Webcam
Intel Atom processor
Windows XP Home
1GB memory
160GB hard drive
Built-in memory card readers (dedicated SD and 5-in-1)

Other players in the Netbook market include Hewlett-Packard and Dell.

Self-healing coatings

2008-12-13T13:53:00.003-08:00

Self-healing coatings developed by researchers at the University of Illinois can protect materials from the effects of environmental exposure.

Applications range from automotive paints and marine varnishes to the thick, rubbery coatings on patio furniture and park benches.

Paul Braun, a professor of materials science and engineering, said: 'Starting from our earlier work on self-healing materials, we have now created self-healing coatings that automatically repair themselves and prevent corrosion of the underlying substrate.'

To make the self-repairing coatings, the researchers first encapsulate a catalyst into spheres less than 100 microns in diameter.

They also encapsulate a healing agent into similarly sized microcapsules.

The microcapsules are then dispersed within the desired coating material and applied to the substrate.

Braun added: 'By encapsulating both the catalyst and the healing agent, we have created a dual capsule system that can be added to virtually any liquid coating material.'

When the coating is scratched, some of the capsules break open, spilling their contents into the damaged region.

The catalyst and healing agent react, repairing the damage within minutes or hours, depending upon environmental conditions.

The performance of the self-healing coating system was evaluated through corrosion testing of damaged and healed coated steel samples comparedto control samples that contained no healing agents in the coating.

Reproducible damage was induced by scratching through the 100-micron-thick polymer coating and into the steel substrate using a razor blade.

The samples were then immersed in a salt solution and compared over time.

Illinois researchers Paul Braun, right, and Scott White have created self-healing coatings that automatically repair themselves and prevent corrosion of the underlying substrate

The control samples corroded within 24 hours and exhibited extensive rust formation, most prevalently within the groove of the scratched regions, but also extending across the substrate surface.

In dramatic contrast, the self-healing samples showed no visual evidence of corrosion even after 120 hours of exposure.

Braun said: 'Our dual capsule healing system offers a general approach to self-healing coatings that operates across a broad spectrum of coating chemistries.

'The microcapsule motif also provides a delivery mechanism for corrosion inhibitors, antimicrobial agents, and other functional chemicals.'

The work was funded by Northrop Grumman Ship Systems, the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the Beckman Institute.

Eye-safe laser research

2008-12-13T13:53:00.001-08:00

A StrathclydeUniversity researcher has won the Thales Scottish Technology Prize for laser technology and applications for his work on rendering cheap industrial lasers eye-safe.

Dr Walter Lubeigt, from Strathclyde’s Institute of Photonics, won an individual prize of £2,500 plus £40,000 for the university for his work on eye-safe neodymium (Nd) diamond Raman lasers.

It was presented by David Lockwood, managing director of Thales’s optronics facility in Glasgow.

Lubeigt is researching a technique for changing the wavelength of inexpensive industrial Nd lasers from one micron to the eye-safe wavelength of1.5 microns.

At this wavelength, lasers cannot penetrate the cornea, thus protecting the retina from damage by the laser light.

Erbium lasers are currently used to generate laser light in the eye-safe range, but the technology is not as well established asNd lasers.

Lubeigt is working on a project to develop continuous wave (CW) Raman diamond lasers.

He has managed to get the wavelength to 1.2 microns using what is known as the Stocks effect, and will use the prize money to push the investigation forward into applying a second Stocks effect to bring it within the eye-safe range.

Lubeigt worked on the project alongside principle investigator, Dr Alan Kemp, and Dr David Burns, associate director of Strathclyde’s Institute of Photonics.

Competition runners-up were teams led by Prof Gerald Buller of Heriot-WattUniversity and Prof Deepak Uttamchandani, from StrathclydeUniversity, who won individual prizes of £1,500 and £1,000 respectively.

Nicholas Smart, a physics student at Aberdeen, won the £1,000 prize for the best entry from an undergraduate for his idea for a co-ordinated positioning and reconnaissance system using lasers.

Eight other finalists from the Universities of Glasgow, Strathclyde and Heriot-Watt each won individual prizes of £500.

The awards were co-sponsored by Scottish Enterprise.

Coffee power

2008-12-13T13:52:00.001-08:00

Researchers at the University of Nevada-Reno claim that waste coffee grounds can provide a cheap, abundant, and environmentally-friendly source of biodiesel fuel for cars and trucks.

The major barrier to wider use of biodiesel fuel is lack of a low-cost, high-quality source, or feedstock.

Spent coffee grounds contain between 11 and 20 per cent oil by weight - about as much as traditional biodiesel feedstocks such as rapeseed, palm, and soya bean oil.

The used or 'spent' grounds remaining fromcoffee production oftenend up in the rubbish or find use as soil conditioner.

The Nevada scientists estimate, however, that spent coffee grounds can potentially add 340 million gallons of biodiesel to the world’s fuel supply.

To verify it, the scientists - Mano Misra, Susanta Mohapatra, and Narasimharao Kondamudi - collected spent coffee grounds from a multinational coffeehouse chain and separated the oil.

They then used an inexpensive process to convert 100 per cent of the oil into biodiesel.

The resulting coffee-based fuel had a major advantage in being more stable than traditional biodiesel, due to coffee's high antioxidant content, the researchers said.

Solids left over from the conversion can be converted to ethanol or used as compost.

The scientists now plan to develop a small pilot plant to produce and test the experimental fuel within the next six to eight months.

The researchers published their work online in the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a bi-weekly publication.

Sonic Unleashed

2008-12-02T15:31:00.001-08:00

Sonic UnleashedPlatforms:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, PS2
Publisher:Sega
UK Price (as reviewed):£39.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$46.99 (inc. Tax)

This is a written review and not one of those fancy video reviews, so you’ll have to just imagine my disapproving tone when I ask: ‘Sega, Sega, Sega – what have you done to Sonic?'

There was a time, long ago, when Sonic the Hedgehog represented the height of gameplay. Fast paced, to the point and more colourful than a crackhead’s daydream, Sonic was a delight to an entire generation. We were part of that generation and we loved every minute of it, but since then things seem to have gone downhill a bit.

Part of it is just the natural advance of technology. The linear paths and split-second precision required for Sonic meant it was always going to have problems in the 3D world and when the world moved beyond the Mega Drive and voice-acting became attainable there was going to be an obvious dilemma for Sega too.

Another part of the problem of course was Sega trying to exploit the franchise too much, like Nintendo with Mario or Eidos with Tomb Raider. We knew it was a bad sign when the company got rid of the awesome ‘Seee-gaaa' introduction.

A huge issue for Sonic Unleashed though isn’t the over-use of the brand or that the game is struggling to find a niche in the world of 3D action-platformers, it’s that the developers have tried to really give Sonic a proper, cohesive story. They’ve tried to give it a logic behind it that ties the Sonic world together into something understandable – and, to be honest, they just haven’t done it very well.

The story for Sonic Unleashed starts off OK, with a suitably adrenaline fuelled CGI cutscene which sees Sonic once more defeating the evil Doctor Eggman and his fleet of spaceships. It starts to go shaky near the end though when Sonic is hit by a laser that corrupts the power of the Chaos Emeralds, using their power to create enough negative energy to awaken Dark Gaia – an evil entity that had lain dormant within the world.

Oh, and there’s an amnesiac winged-dog-thing called Chip that insists on following you around too for the oh-so-obvious identity twist later. Comparisons between Jar-Jar Binks would be a fair way to equate how annoying he is, by the way.

Not that any of that is story explained of course – all we see if a ghost-thing splitting the world apart, Sonic turning into a were-hog and Eggman laughing evilly. The manual explains much of this in more depth admittedly, but the fact that it isn’t overtly laid out for the player at the start is a tad befuddling.

Mercifully though, the plot is at least mostly ignorable and aside from the overwhelmingly tedious quests that appear in the free-roaming sections of the game the game tends to put a fairly firm divide between the gameplay and the exposition. You’re either running at break-neck speeds through the actually fun parts of the game or you’re dawdling between NPCs in the level-hub sections, uncovering more of the plot and contemplating breaking your own neck. The latter half of the game is definitely weak, but at least the fun parts of the game aren’t punctuated by more awful voice-acting for the most part.

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

2008-12-01T13:52:00.005-08:00

Castlevania: Order of EcclesiaPlatform: Nintendo DS
Publisher:Konami
UK Price (as reviewed):£24.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$27.99 (inc. Tax)

There are few games that are as long-running and widely respected as the Castlevania games. Ever since the first instalment, the weird clash of RPG and platforming mechanics has made the series instantly recognisable and massively appreciated.

And the latest title, Order of Ecclesia is now different; once again providing fans with a fix of impossible bosses and sprawling gothic architecture. It’s Metroid-vania at its best.

In many ways though Ecclesia stands out as a different title to anything before it and while the hallmarks of the series are here, like Dracula coming back to life and you having to explore his castle, there’s also a lot of very new stuff. The plot, the combat, the very interface – it’s all brand new.

There are new characters too and Order of Ecclesia casts you not as one of the whip-wielding Belmont clan but as a holy witch-in-training called Shanoa. Part of the secret Order of Ecclesia, Shanoa works with a young gunslinger called Albus and the two are sworn to eradicate evil wherever they find it by using magic glyphs and weapons.

All is not well within the Order though and when Shanoa is elected in Albus’ place to receive the power of the Order’s most powerful glyph, called Dominus, all hell breaks loose.

Albus goes rogue, stealing the Dominus glyph for himself and fleeing the order – leaving a weakened and amnesiac Shanoa in his wake. As Shanoa struggles to re-learn all her old abilities and skills, word reaches the Order that Albus has started kidnapping the inhabitants of the nearby Wygol village, using them in some strange ritual that involves stealing their blood.

Eager to find out what the rogue spellcaster is up to and desperate to get revenge, the order sends Shanoa after Albus once more as, even in her weakened state, Shanoa is still the Order's most powerful weapon. It’s here the game starts, with Shanoa beginning the chase even though she has absolutely no idea what the future might hold for her.

One of the most attractive things about the story though is the way it’s presented as, even though the plot as clichéd as a Dallas re-run, the new illustrative style adopted by Konami ensures that the game is always engaging on at least one level. It’s not a touch on the likes of Braid admittedly, but it does the job and makes good use of the DS’ fairly limited hardware.

It’s amazing how well the game fits with the DS hardware in fact, never requiring use of the touchscreen needlessly but allowing the option on the various menus that you have to go through as you upgrade equipment and swap attacks over. We consider it a huge plus point that we don’t have to mugfistedly draw a symbol on the screen at the end of every boss battle like we had to in Dawn of Sorrow.

The game even manages to make use of the DS’ online options too. Not only can players trade items between themselves if they want, but there’s even an online versus mode too. It’s rudimentary and nowhere near as good as a co-op mode might have been admittedly, but it’s still worth looking into if you know someone else who has a copy.

What’s more, if you’re a true Castlevania fan then you can even link your DS to Castlevania: Judgement on the Wii to unlock exclusive items in both. Given the fairly savage beating Castlevania: Judgement has had though, it probably isn’t worth going to any great length to unlock that.

Hackers boot Linux on iPhone

2008-12-01T13:52:00.003-08:00

Enterprising hackers have succeeded in booting a copy of Linux on Apple's iPhone – although it's a long way from being a usable alternative to OS X.

According to Hack a Day, the iPhone-Dev team have created a bootloader – dubbed openiboot – which has successfully loaded a copy of the Linux kernel alongside the Busybox toolkit on a jailbroken iPhone. By running the bootloader code and supplying it with a copy Linux compiled specifically for the ARM processor used within the iPhone, the software was able to communicate with a USB-to-serial device and be used as a very limited Linux console.

You may wonder why there's mention of a USB-to-serial adaptor in the above paragraph: as the iPhone-Dev team themselves point out, the software is very much a proof of concept with no higher functions of the handset currently enabled. By 'higher functions', I mean that the touchscreen doesn't work; nor for that matter does the wireless; or the sound; or the 3G connectivity; or the accelerometer; and currently the system is unable to write to the flash memory built in to the handset.

Despite these – rather serious – drawbacks, the hack is something that has caught a lot of eyes: many are seeing it as a way to bypass some of the more serious restrictions that the iPhone's default OS forces on its users. The Dev team are even hoping that it could lead to a bizarre Frankenphone hybrid running Android on unmodified iPhone or iPod Touch hardware – although such a goal is, clearly, some way off.

If you fancy checking the process out, the team has provided full instructions. If you'd rather just see the hack in action without risking your precious iPhone, there's the mandatory video.

Would Linux support make you rush out and buy an iPhone handset, or is the very thought of removing Mac OS X from the device bringing you out in a cold sweat? Share your thoughts over in the forums.

Motorola launches green D10 and D11 home phones

2008-12-01T13:52:00.001-08:00

Motorola on Thursday has announced the latest additions to its digital cordless home phones, the D10 and D11. The handsets are optimized to use as little energy as possible and are made with at least 20 percent of recycled materials. An eco mode will automatically adjust the wireless reception strength and therefore draw less power based on how far a phone is from its base station

Either model includes a digital answering machine with remote access and supports polyphonic ringtones. Their memories can hold 100 names and numbers, and include hands-free calling capabilities, three-way calling support and a built-in speakerphone. The D10 has a 2-line backlit display in orange, while the D11's full color lights up in blue and has the option of three wallpapers. The D11 otherwise distinguishes itself with the addition of three customizable hot keys, SMS messaging capability and an event reminder, among other detail changes. A room monitor function, which works like a baby monitor or lets the handsets be used as a two-way radio, is integrated into either model as well.

The new D10 and D11 are currently available, though pricing has not yet been announced. [viaPocket-lint]

Motorola D10

Motorola D11

Murray goes from scowling teen to grannies' favourite

2008-11-30T13:52:00.001-08:00

Mature Scot improves anger management to take deserved spot in gang of four

By Paul Newman, Tennis CorrespondentSunday, 30 November 2008

'The angry moments come out in the gym or on the running track rather than on court,' says Andy Murray

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Who would have thought it: Andy Murray, the pensioners' hero? "I get a lot of fan mail and a lot of it is from older people, from 65- or 70-year-olds," the 21-year-old Scot said last week before heading off to his winter training camp in Miami. "It's a mixture, but it's surprising that I get so many from grannies and grandpas. They say, 'It's been great to watch you.' It's just very supportive about everything I've done."

Not long ago, Murray was a scowling teenager whose on-court rants met with muttering disapproval from a nation accustomed to the gentlemanly conduct of Tim Henman. Maturity, however, has brought a change. The scowl may not have been replaced – yet – by a permanent smile, but the image portrayed by the 21-year-old Scot is of a young man wholly focused on his ambition to reach the top, his commitment underlined by his appetite for hard work.

Anger management has played a major part in his professional life. "It was something I always wanted to get better, and I did always say that around this time I would work on it and it would definitely improve," Murray said. "I think the physical side of things has made a huge difference. I find playing a tennis match much easier than before because the work off the court is much harder. The angry moments come out in the gym or on the running track rather than on the tennis court. That has made a big difference, especially in the long matches in the [Grand] Slams."

That difference has been there for all to see after an outstanding second half of the season saw Murray climb to No 4 in the world and earn more ranking points than any of his rivals. He reached his first Grand Slam final, won two Masters Series titles in succession and took his tally of tournament wins this year to five, more than any British man in history.

"Last year I finished at No 11 in the rankings after missing three-and-a-half or four months with my wrist injury," he said. "I didn't really feel right again until the indoor season. So if I had been injury-free there was a good chance that I would have finished around five or six in the world. I wanted to try to get back to that level.

"I didn't expect the end of this year to be as good as it was. I expected the start to be maybe a bit better, because I did start the year before very well. So it would be nice to just try to have a very consistent start to next year and take it from there."

While Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are well clear of the field in the world rankings list, Murray has put clear water between himself and the rest. Can he sustain his improvement to join the big three on the horizon? His recent record suggests that anything is possible.

Murray has beaten Federer three times this year (Nadal and David Nalbandian are the only other players to have done that in a season) and has turned the tide against Nadal and Djokovic, who held 5-0 and 4-0 head-to-head records respectively against him earlier this year. Having got the better of Djokovic in their past two contests, Murray beat Nadal for the first time in the US Open semi-finals.

The Scot combines a pleasing lack of false modesty with admiration for the consistency of his predecessors and the current top three, and he regularly stresses he still has a long way to go to match Henman's achievements domestically and those of Nadal and Federer on the world stage.

Does he now see himself as part of a gang of four at the top of the international game? "It depends how you look at it. Obviously in terms of ranking points I'm a long, long way behind the other three, but my results over those guys speak for themselves. I can win against them, though if I'm going to be right in amongst them I need to play consistently well for the whole year rather than just right at the end."

How does he expect the big three to perform next year? "I think Rafa will be fine come January," Murray said, referring to the knee injury that troubled the world No 1 in the closing weeks of the season. "I still think he'll dominate the clay-court season again. He did make a lot of improvements to his game this year.

"I'm sure Federer will work hard and try to get his No 1 ranking back, which he's definitely capable of doing if he plays consistently well throughout the year, because his form, for him, was a bit patchy at times this year. And Djokovic is going to be around there. He plays well pretty much every week."

Murray welcomes the weight of expectation on his own shoulders. "It's not a bad thing at all," he said. "I've always said I want to win a Grand Slam, so it's not as though there's any extra pressure. I've always wanted to try to do that. It gives me confidence that I'm closer now than I ever was. I can still improve on a lot of things and I believe I can do it, whether it's next year or in the next two or three years."

Success means it is harder for Murray to walk down the street unrecognised, but his shunning of a celebrity lifestyle would no doubt appeal to those older newcomers to his fan club. "I don't really go out that much," he said. "I spend a lot of time on Wimbledon Common walking the dog. Pretty dull, actually."

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Empire: Total War hands-on preview

2008-11-29T13:52:00.001-08:00

Empire: Total War hands-on previewPublisher:SEGA
Platform:PC Exclusive
Release Date: 6th February 2009

If somehow you’ve not yet heard of the Total War games, you couldn’t be coming in at a better time. The time in question is the 18th Century, which sees the Industrial Revolution, George Washington’s American War of Independence and the French Revolution; it’s the time of Napoleon’s European conquest and the rise of Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington.

We’re talking about tall ships laden with cannon fighting for naval supremacy, fields fogged with the smoke of thousands of muskets, and the fanatical endeavour to forge a global empire. The 18th Century was a time of near-constant strife, and Empire: Total War aims to give you full control over every aspect of command for the 12 playable factions.

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As we’re talking about global expansion, naval might is more important than ever, so for the first time in a Total War game you’re given direct command over naval battles rather than having to auto-resolve. The scope of Empire reaches from North America to Europe and the Middle East, and all the way to India.

The different environments and inhabitants of these continents will all play differently and pose different challenges too. A European army fighting another European army might be a straightforward affair, but native North American tribes will use guerilla warfare due to the large swathes of forest. Similarly, Indian armies will field rockets, imported European artillery and elephants for you to deal with.

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As gunpowder is the weapon of choice, land battles play very differently to the mostly melee combat of previous Total War games. In the ancient world ranged units rarely won you a battle – notable exceptions to this include the English longbowmen of Agincourt who slaughtered most of the suicidally arrogant French nobility, or the infamous unit of archers in the Shogun: Total War tutorial.

In Empire, the power of gunpowder means that almost every effective unit is a ranged one. Fields of fire need to be considered, cover should be hid behind, and buildings can even be garrisoned and fired from. And while bayonets may have been standard issue for most soldiers, committing troops to melee combat isn’t a decision to take lightly as it’ll bog troops down.

The developer, Creative Assembly, promises that the Grand Campaign victory conditions for Empire will be tighter and more relevant to the faction you’re playing. This will be especially true of the smaller factions which will have more manageable goals than having to conquer half of the known world as was the case in so many previous Total War games.

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For a more narrative campaign, there’s the new Road to Independence mode, which chronicles the founding of the British colony in Jamestown through to the French-Indian war and finally the American War of Independence.

CA wouldn’t say much about this beyond it not being a cynical inclusion to boost US sales, but the campaign will ‘introduce newcomers to the series to the incredible size of the Total War experience, as well as give Total War veterans a new way to experience the game.' Yep, it sounds like an extended tutorial mission to us too.

The developer has also introduced the notion of a Prestige win, where a faction wins because it’s just too awesome for any other to compete, much like the mechanism in Civ. CA has also teamed up with Valve to distribute Empire via Steam as well in the shops. This has the knock-on bonus of letting Steam handle multiplayer matches - a much better system than Total War games had previously - while freeing up CA’s time to actually develop the game.

Tomb Raider: Underworld

2008-11-28T17:12:00.009-08:00

Tomb Raider: UnderworldPublisher:Eidos
PlatformsPC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, PS2
UK Price (as reviewed):£24.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$39.99 (ex. Tax)

Lara Croft has been called a lot of things over the years. First she was a ground-breaking step forward for the way women are represented in games, then later she began an inevitable decline to being just a sex symbol and icon of Eidos’ past successes.

It’s only recently though that we’ve been able to legitimately refer to her as a believable, likeable and well-developed character and while she still has a lot of sway as purveyor of cleavage and sultry looks, it isn’t these that we’re most interested in nowdays. Not now that Crystal Dynamics has re-launhced the series anyway, giving Lara a mission anyone can sympathise with. She just wants her mommy.

Tomb Raider: Underworld picks up the story right where Legend left off. Lara is still coming to terms with the fact that her mother, who disappeared in front of Lara’s eyes when she was a child, might still be alive in the mystical realm of Avalon. Lara, armed with this knowledge, will stop at nothing to find a way to save her mother.

Of course, you could say the same thing about Lara’s father too. A talented archaeologist, he too was searching for a way to save his wife and dragged Lara back and forth across the globe in search of clues. His firm belief in Avalon saw him getting laughed out of the respected circles and as Lara continues the quest and ends up retracing his steps it becomes clear that he would go to any lengths to bring his family back together.

Unfortunately though, no story is complete without a nemesis or two and it’s no surprise to see that Amanda, Lara’s friend-turned-foe from Legend is back. We knew Lara shouldn’t have let her live.

What is a bit shocking though is the reveal that Amanda isn’t working alone this time, having rescued and teamed up with another old friend of Lara’s. Natla, the fallen Atlantean god who Lara had dealt with in Anniversary has returned with an agenda all of her own.

Three strong-willed women as main characters? It’s obvious this is going to get messy, with Croft Manor being the first victim when it’s burnt to the ground in the opening cutscene.

It’s this opening segment which perfectly encapsulates everything we love about the new Tomb Raider in fact. And as Lara runs through the flames, automatically shielding her face from the blaze as she goes, the drama is so rocking and tangible that we were worried it was going to fall off the desk.

Crystal Dynamics has changed a lot of the traditional Tomb Raider formula, creating a Lara who is realistic, tech-savvy and surrounded by a close-knit group of friends who support her from a distance. The new Lara has emotions, gravitas and the difference between how she is now and how she was in the old games is like the comparing Alyx Vance and the marine from Doom.

Things only get better then when Lara catches up to her crew and Zip tries to kill her. What could be going on here? The game won’t let you find out just yet, skipping the story back a whole week and leaving you on the edge of your seat.

It’s one hell of an opening act, though we’re still not sure what we think of the rest of the game...

Tomb Raider: Underworld

2008-11-28T17:12:00.007-08:00

Tomb Raider: Underworld

2008-11-28T17:12:00.005-08:00

Garmin Nuvifone still on track for a 2009 release

2008-11-28T17:12:00.003-08:00

The Nuvifone from Garmin is still due for an early 2009 release despite being delayed earlier this year. It will be a carrier-exclusive offering, though the company is not revealing its choice of partner network to the public. As Garmin is traditionally a portable navigation device manufacturer, the Nuvifone will bring many of the company's technologies to its GPS mapping functionality, as well as access to high-speed 3G data networks.

When it launches, the 3.5-inch touchscreen will be responsive and simple to use, as per a hands-on report from those who had a chance to review the device. A windshield mount will be available for use in vehicles, which will turn the Nuvifone horizontally and allow it to be used as a conventional portable GPS device.

The Nuvifone's exclusive UK carrier and other information is due to be released in the coming months, along with pricing information, though it is confirmed that the device will launch in the first quarter of 2009. In the US, the Nuvifone is expected to be carried by AT&T due to its support for HSPA-based 3G over the carrier's 850MHz band. [viaT3]

Garmin Nuvifone still on track for a 2009 release

2008-11-28T17:12:00.001-08:00

Need for Speed Undercover

2008-11-27T13:52:00.001-08:00

Need for Speed UndercoverPublisher:Electronic Arts
Platform:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, DS, Wii, PlayStation 2
UK Price (as reviewed):£39.99 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$58.99 (ex. Tax)

There’s a lot to be said for a game that understands what it is and doesn’t try to hide it; games which don’t try to over-reach themselves or are content to refine a specific formula without ever trying to push the boundaries of game design.

Despite how much we love innovation at bit-tech, some of our favourite games are the ones that follow this creed – games like Serious Sam, Painkiller or any of the Zeldas.

Need for Speed Undercover isn’t one of our favourite games, but it definitely fits this description. Undercover knows that it’s a racer and knows that it relies more on style and brevity than a heavyweight story or Hollywood acting talent, so it sticks to what it’s good at and that’s a good thing for the franchise.

The best of the Need for Speed games have always been about speeding through urban environments, dodging traffic and slamming into relentless hairpins with reckless abandon. Sure, the series may have lost touch with this idea with Pro Street, but now it’s back on the streets.

Style and brevity; these are the keywords for the entire game and pretty accurately sum up the entire game experience from the get-go. There are no boring cutscenes to skip through at the start of the game, no story that’s been awkwardly shoved in like an oversized suppository. There’s ten seconds of fast paced music and then – Quick! Run from the cops!

There is a story underneath (undercover, one might say), but it only really opens up to you when you want to tackle it by taking on certain races in the open, urbanised world of the Tri-Cities.

Even then, when you do get stuck into the story then it’s the same keywords that sum it all up. The story is predictable and to-the-point, but shot more stylishly than a team of murdered supermodels.

Undercover casts players quite simply as an undercover cop who must pose as a street racer and wheelman to insinuate himself as member of the criminal fraternity. You’re so far undercover though that the everyday cops don’t know who you really are and your only contact is the distractingly gorgeous Maggie Q who describes herself only as an ambiguous federal agent whose bureau isn’t interested in drugs and murder. Only stolen cars.

While there are truckfuls of races and events for you to get involved with, useful mainly for earning cash and distracting yourself from whichever impossible story-race is currently blocking your progress, you’ll get specific missions from Maggie to help move the plot along. As you work yourself deeper into the criminal underworld you’ll also start taking jobs from the very people you want to investigate – making it harder and harder to come out clean on the other side.

Each of the story missions is accompanied by a quick intro, and sometimes an outro, cutscene which is presented as a full motion video akin to Red Alert 3. Unlike Red Alert 3 though, which favours the camp and colourful, Need for Speed Undercover puts everything across in a slick mix of shadows and half-twilight which makes a lot of the game look as if it were being viewed through a mouldy bottle of Lilt.

Wait, can Lilt even go mouldy? I hope not. It’d be a totally tropical waste.

Shaun White Snowboarding

2008-11-24T16:26:00.011-08:00

Shaun White SnowboardingPlatform:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii
Publisher:Ubisoft
UK Price (as reviewed):£38.00 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed):$55.24 (ex. Tax)

We’ve always found it weird that PCs and consoles, despite being a form of home entertainment commonly associated with all the negative aspects of being a geek have always played host to such a large number of sports games.

After all, computer games could be used to let you experience anything – so why confine yourself to something realisitic, like playing football or snowboarding?

Regardless, there are hundreds and hundreds of sports games out there waiting for gamers of both the hardcore and casual variety to have a tinker with. And while some sports games do edge closer to the escapist fantasies, there are still those which play closer to real life, for whatever reason.

Of those two extremes, Shaun White Snowboarding plays very much like the latter rather than the former; it’s more Snow Boarding Simulator than SSX.

Keen to avoid the stodgy trappings of being a simulator title though, Ubisoft has bought a licensed face and name on board, lightened up the controls and gameplay just a little bit and tried to become the Tony Hawk of the gaming world. It’s a lofty aim to say the least – hasn’t Amped filled that gap even without the annoying and ever-so-punchable face of a teenage millionaire?

Still, Shaun White does have one thing going in its favour at least – and we mean the game, not the person who is made totally unredeemable from his first annoyingly-voiced appearance. That one thing then is the ‘Open world’ buzzword, which is here powered by the Assassin’s Creed engine.

It’s this focus on an open world that Ubisoft has sought to make the cornerstone of the Shaun White experience. From the outset you’re given total free reign to explore the multiple routes up and down the mountains, crossing over between paths as you go. When you reach the bottom you can either get a helicopter to drop you off back at the top or hop on a chairlift – freely able to drop back onto the slopes from whatever point.

This open mountain approach isn’t anything wholly new of course – some of the more recent Amped games have taken a similar tack. In previous snowboarding games though if you weren’t limited by invisible walls then you were limited by the gameplay; you wouldn’t be able to go back uphill for example. Here though, that’s not an issue. You can not only walk around at your leisure, but you can use the simple interface to set markers to warp back too.

Unfortunately though, getting around the mountain isn’t always a totally streamlined experience. You can shuffle up and down the mountain on foot, but doing so can be a fiddly and slow experience and on more than one occasion we saw physics bugs crop up in the process, sending our custom-made boarder flying across the treeline. Damn you, Havok!

The helicopters and chairlifts are handy and well-fitting mechanics too, but each has its holes, such as needing to wait until you get to the bottom of the mountain to use them. Speaking of the mountains, it’s worth pointing out that the game isn’t chock-full of levels either. There’re plenty of competitions to do and routes to explore, sure, but only four mountains. Each one is supervised by one of Shaun White’s friends and each one is referred to only by continent or country for the most part. The Japanese supervisor is especially eyebrow-raising he’s introduced using the subtitles “HERRO!"

The fact that there are only four mountains isn’t as big a deal as it might sound on its own, mainly because the ranges are truly quite massive and there’s at least five or six routes distinct trick-tracks down each slope, but it does unfortunately open the game to other flaws. Trekking out to certain points to start an event can be a bit of a chore for example and it isn’t eased by the lack of a truly detailed and helpful map.

Shaun White Snowboarding

2008-11-24T16:26:00.009-08:00

Shaun White Snowboarding

2008-11-24T16:26:00.007-08:00

Tom Clancy's EndWar

2008-11-24T16:26:00.005-08:00

Tom Clancy's EndwarPublisher:Ubisoft
Platform:Xbox360, Playstation 3
UK Price (as reviewed):£37.73 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$59.79 (inc. Delivery)

Predicting the future is a difficult thing – according to the comics that I read as a child, we'd all be flying around in hover cars, be waited on by robots and living on Mars by now. I can't begin to tell you how disappointed I am that none of this has come true yet.

Computers are one area where huge leaps and bounds were forecast and that has happened to an extent – just not in the areas that we were expecting. While computers have become vastly more powerful than most people could have imagined thirty years ago, the way we control them has remained basically the same.

Speech recognition has long been touted as a replacement to the traditional and long-standing mouse/keyboard combination, but it's never really lived up to the promise. Even with today's computing power, current speech recognition programmes still struggle to keep up with the spoken word, and most require a quiet environment to work properly – which most modern-day schools and offices most certainly are not.

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This need for a quiet environment makes voice control in games unlikely – if anything, a gaming environment is likely to be noisier than an office environment. Imagine our surprise, then, when Ubisoft announced that the next game in the Tom Clancy franchise would be voice-controlled.

The developer, Ubisoft Shanghai, has cheated a little though. Rather than use the software to recognise actual words, it is used to recognise the sounds that make up those words – the system used looks out for particular sounds that go to make up a word. This cunningly gets around the need for a large amount of training generally required with standard speech recognition software, and also gets around the problem of accents: the main sounds of a word are essentially the same, regardless of your accent. The problem has been simplified even further by only recognising a handful of words – about eighty or ninety, according to Ubisoft.

We've already taken a look at Tom Clancy's Endwar, and now it's time find out whether speech recognition in a game works, or whether it's all hype.

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Tom Clancy's Endwar takes place in 2020 in a world on the verge of all-out war. After nuclear war in the Middle East, Russia becomes the world's dominant oil and gas supplier, and the additional money goes towards increasing its military might and dominance on the world stage.

European countries band together to form an independent European Federation – although Daily Mail readers will be happy to note that the UK declines membership – and the relationship with the US falters. The US in the meantime builds a massive space station capable of deploying marines to any location in the world within 90 minutes. Needless to say, both Russia and the European Federation aren't happy, and the world moves closer to all-out global war.

Shaun White Snowboarding

2008-11-24T16:26:00.003-08:00

Tom Clancy's EndWar

2008-11-24T16:26:00.001-08:00

Left 4 Dead

2008-11-20T13:52:00.001-08:00

Left 4 DeadPlatform:PC, Xbox 360
Publisher: Valve (digital), Electronic Arts (retail)
UK Price (as reviewed):£19.97
US Price (as reviewed):$44.99

Zombies. Co-op. Steam. For those of us who like our action geeky, gory and varied, it’s like a dream come true.

Ever since the pre-order demo dropped onto Steam two weeks ago our lunch times, our evenings and our weekends (and in Joe's case his girlfriend's entire life) have been filled with zombie blasting, flash light flailing mayhem, and despite only featuring one and a half levels from the full game, Left 4 Dead has kept us, and many of those on our Steam friends lists, coming back for more time and time again.

It’s easy to see why Left 4 Dead is already so popular because in many ways it’s almost the holy grail of PC gaming. It’s made by one of the best developers around, who are pushing it on one of the best distribution platforms around, it’s playable in singleplayer, multiplayer and co-op and it’s very replayable.

Hell, it’s even built on the popular and constantly improved Source engine. While that does mean that the game can look a bit dated in places, it also means that it's perfectly playable on nearly all computers from the last five years and that the modding community can quickly latch on - even in the short time since the demo we're already seeing other Valve content converted in zombie massacring battlegrounds.

It’s the replayablity which is the most interesting factor to us though. The game uses a dedicated AI system to track the progress and ability of players, moving items and enemies around to provide a unique experience every time. More than that, the AI Director has a basic understanding of pacing so that the game can have lulls and peaks in all the right places.

That’s one of the most complicated things about Left 4 Dead though and while it is something all players will need to appreciate, it isn’t something many will need to understand.

So here’s what you need to know. The world of Left 4 Dead is set in that most easily explained of fictitious scenarios, the Zombie Apocalypse. The fast-zombie apocalypse to be precise (slow shufflers just wouldn’t be as entertaining would they?), with five more unique boss zombies tossed into the mix such as The Boomer, horribly obese and intent on vomiting on you to attract the zombie horde, or The Hunter, who can pounce long distances and pin you to the ground.

One thing that all the zombies have in common though is that they are between you and the next safe haven and that they’ll drop dead for a second time after a liberal application of lead. Thus the twenty-level stage is set as you and three other survivors, controlled by either AI or other players depending on what you want, begin an epic journey to rescue.

The game is divided into four campaigns split between five levels connected via safe havens, and while all are based upon the same premise of a trek through zombie infested territory each has a unique feel thanks to the surprisingly varied environments. One campaign begins in a green house on the ruins of a small town before climaxing on the tarmac of an airport runway, while another sees the survivors journey to the top of a sky scraper to reach rescue.

The zombies will come in mountains, hordes, swarms and waves all at once and you’ll have to keep a close eye on your team mates and ammo counts as you meet the gibbering menace and try simply to survive another day. Are you up to it? Of course you are, but are your allies? You’d better hope so because it’s going to take coordination and teamwork to win through this particular apocalypse and discover if the ending is a predictably bleak or a predictably hopeful one.

LittleBigPlanet

2008-11-19T13:52:00.001-08:00

LittleBigPlanetPublisher:Sony
Platform:Playstation 3
UK Price (as reviewed):£29.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$59.99 (inc. Delivery)

Physics is a funny thing. In games, I mean, not in real life. In real life, physics is a very serious thing, and should only be studied by serious people in lab coats, pocket protectors and thick glasses. Probably.

In games, though, physics is usually a take-it-or-leave-it affair. After all, modelling physics to make a completely realistic game environment requires a lot of computational power, even if you use something like a PhysX enabled graphics card.

This means that, at some point, developers have to be selective over which parts of the laws of physics they use – so while some things may react realistically, sooner or later you'll come across something that doesn't, and the whole illusion fails spectacularly.

Of course, an exquisite physics engine doesn't belong in every game. You wouldn't expect one in the latest The Sims expansion. Conversely, though, there are games where you'd expect physics to play more of a role – and platformers as a whole spring instantly to mind. We've all grown up believing that a mere plumber of Italian descent can jump many times his own height, and nobody's questioned that ability.

Until now that is.

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Developer Media Molecule has endured a huge amount of hype – and just a littlecontroversy – with its new game, LittleBigPlanet. And boy, has this game been hyped. It's been called everything from the next must-have game to the saviour of the PS3.

Looked at superficially, it just looks like another platform game – but the addition of physics and the ability for user-generated content gives Media Molecule the ability to turn LittleBigPlanet into something much more special than just another platformer. So, is this game really the panacea for the PS3 gaming blues? Is it a new entry in the very short list of must-haves for the PS3? Can it really prevent the country from sliding into recession?

Well, perhaps not the last one, but we've taken a look at LittleBigPlanet to see whether it lives up to the hype, or whether it just sinks in the mire of marketing bumf.

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You start LittleBigPlanet by wandering your way through the credits, accompanied by music that will bring back waves of nostalgia to those who remember Tony Hart or Vision On.

From then on, you are guided through a few short introductory levels by the dulcet tones of Stephen Fry as you are introduced to your sackboy and the deceptively simple controls. Besides the usual platform controls of left, right and jump, the right shoulder button is also used to make your little sackboy grab onto things. This is an important concept to understand, because unlike most other platform games, LittleBigPlanet requires your sackboy to interact with the scenery to help your way through some of the levels. This might range from just grabbing onto swinging blobs to help you over a gap, or you might need to rearrange some blocks to help you jump up to a higher level.

On Our Desk - 14

2008-11-17T13:52:00.001-08:00

On Our Desk 14Another month, another rising pile of bits and bobs in the corner and another burst of spring cleaning for us here in the office as we sift through all the things that slipped through the cracks and give them some coverage.

So then, what have we got to amuse ourselves with this time around?

Well, as ever we’ve got a USB drive to kick things off with. Round-ups like this just don’t seem to work unless you’ve got a thumb drive to fiddle with and dunk in water, but this time we’ve chosen something a little special. The Earthdrive 4GB from ATP is part of a project to create green tech made from recycleable material.

To achieve this, the Earthdrive is made from corn-based polyester plastics and biodegradable plastics – but more on that in a minute.

Touching base with the modding community, we’ve also got a set of aluminium and rubber case feet from MNPCTech which Tim has a look at. They should be a good choice for anyone who wants to do a touch of modding but lacks the equipment to cut their own metal.

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After that we’ve got something a bit more casual and accessible – a Nintendo DS game called Doodle Hex that casts players as young wizards and witches in training who must cast spells by drawing runes on the touchscreen. Our latest work experience placement will once again be providing a casual gamer's viewpoint of Doodle Hex, as well as helping to review some of the other products on show here.

All this reviewing is hard work though, so after that we’ll be taking a nap on a huge Sumo Omni beanbag and letting you know exactly how comfortable that is...and how ridiculous it feels to sit on one during important meetings with our new owners, Dennis Publishing.

Of course, just reviewing a beanbag is fairly boring work and we’re not the type who can just sit there idly for hours on end, honest. Luckily, we were able to keep ourselves occupied with a copy of Mass Effect: Revelation, a rather good tie-in novel which acts as a prequel to the game and is written by Drew Karpyshyn. We thought we may as well offer up our thoughts on that too.

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Then next we take a look at the latest peripherals and had a fiddle with Belkin’s new gaming speedpad. Belkin’s teamed up with Razer for the latest N52 Tournament Edition, and finally, a late entry was the Keysonic Intuition-XL ACK-5600 ALU+ keyboard that Richard has a look at. Its solid aluminium construction features fast laptop keys and a sharp (thankfully not literally) anodised black, brushed style. We’ve been having a go with these and are finally able to report back on whether or not they're any good.

So, that’s it for this month – but remember that if there’s anything in particular that you’d like to see reviewed then we’re always open to suggestions. You can contact us all through About Page, or leave us a message on the forums.

007 Quantum of Solace

2008-11-16T13:51:00.003-08:00

007 Quantum of SolacePublisher:Activision
Platforms:PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Wii, Nintendo DS
UK Price (as reviewed):£29.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$47.99 (inc. Delivery)

Believe it or not there was actually some hope for the Quantum of Solace game – a possible light at the end of the tunnel which hinted that maybe, just maybe, this wouldn’t be the feeble movie cash-in we were all expecting.

Unfortunately, that light at the end of the tunnel turned out to be a man with a flame thrower running in our direction. Followed by a high-speed train. All hope for Quantum of Solace is instantly demolished the moment you start the game and see what it looks like and how it plays.

Let’s be clear then. This is a game being developed by a studio with a reputation which, while not exactly sparkling (see Call of Duty 3), isn’t irreparably damaged. It’s built on a proven, modern engine and the team behind the game has had full access to the cast of the high-budget, Sony-backed film the game is based on. It has no excuses for looking this bad, but it does so anyway.

It’s looking bad for Quantum of Solace from the off in fact. Before you even get into the game and are subjected (subjected!) to the ultra low quality and heavily compressed cutscenes you’re faced with a grimy-looking menu with more holes in it than substance.

You’re made to sign up to Windows Live! before you’re allowed to really start playing (if you want to save your game anyway) too – and we’ve never known that to be a good sign. If anything, it’s an omen of future ills.

Once the game starts the graphics don’t get any better either and while it may be callous and shallow to focus on the graphics so much at this early stage of the review, we’re kind of forced to. The game looks that bad. It’s all washed out and static with no option to even tweak the gamma in-game. The environments are staid, bland, flat and dull. There are fancy effects like depth of field but they’re over-used and badly implemented, proving useful only for hiding the tragic case of ugliness that has infected Bond’s usually very pretty world.

Sigh. But we’ll come to all that in due course, we suppose. For now let’s focus on the story and the gameplay.

Quantum of Solace may sound like its just a tie-in for the latest film, but in reality it’s much, much worse than that. It’s a tie-in for both films, with the highlights and imaginary additions to the plot of Casino Royale getting explained in flashbacks.

The game actually starts where Casino Royale ends though, with Bond capturing the mysterious Mr White and bringing him in for some rather brutal question. Bond, all chewed up and dying inside after the death of Vesper Lynd, is out for revenge and blood. He brings Mr White in for questioning after a ferocious car chase.

Or that’s what happens in the film at least. In the game, instead of having a chase sequence White summons a few hundred men to swarm Bond as he...apparently slinks off somewhere and calls for a helicopter. Instead of just grabbing White and running, Bond proceeds to slaughter hundreds of people, steals some files from the White’s safe and then burns down the entire mansion.
Thus, one more guiding principle of computer games is gloriously upheld; in any James Bond computer game you will inevitably kill more people in the first level than die in the entire film it is based on.

Call of Duty: World at War

2008-11-16T13:51:00.001-08:00

Call of Duty: World at WarPublisher:Activision
Platforms:Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, Wii, DS, PS2
UK Price (as reviewed):£31.99 (inc. Delivery)
US Price (as reviewed):$69.99 (inc. Delivery)

Normally, we’d start a review of a game like this with an explanation of the story – but today we’re not going to. There are two reasons for that.

Firstly, this is World War II (again) and if you need the plot of that explained to you then you’d probably be better off using your time to learn something useful like how to tie your shoelaces. There’s really no excuse for not knowing the basic structure of World War II – especially at this time of year.

All you really need to know is that the game switches you between an American Marine fighting in the Pacific theatre against the Japanese and a Russian soldier who survives Stalingrad and follows the push into Berlin at the end of the war.

The second reason we’re not going to focus on the plot is that it’s much more interesting to think and critique the level of maturity the plot is handled with, mainly because there are several points where World at War seems to go out of its way to be controversial.

Here’s the weird thing about war games like the Call of Duty series – they set out to make some of the most damning and awful moments in all of human history into an interactive artform that people will actually pay to be part of. Viewed on that level it’s actually quite sick, which is why the games don’t generally get published unless they are handled in a mature way.

In brief; there is a line that these games don’t cross as a matter of taste and politic – especially when they are released on Remembrance Day.

Think back. Previous war games, especially those in the Call of Duty series have managed to provide an experience which is suitably gritty, bleak and at least semi-honourable to the sacrifices made by those who fought in the wars – but they never step over The Line. There are no concentration camps or Hiroshima bombings because these aren’t really appropriate scenes to put in a game. Basically though games can do Rambo, they can’t do Platoon just yet.

Call of Duty 5 however seeks to cross The Line immediately. The game opens up with in-game cutscenes of ever-loyal, American all-star types getting their throats slit and eyes burned out by the consistently demonised Japanese forces and it doesn’t stop there. In the needlessly flashy and fast-moving video cutscenes that punctuate the missions, the game displays real video footage of war time atrocities – smouldering bodies hanging from streetlights, mass graves and executions.

And, as human beings if not critics, we’d be at fault if we didn’t question the worth of these images in this context.

There’s an argument to say that art (if we’re judging games as that in even the lightest regard) should be provocative by nature and while we do think that’s true, there should at least be a reason for being that way. World at War doesn’t have that reason.

These images might be OK if the actual structure of the game in some way made them a relevant or important part of the design. If there was a reason for these images and if the game was trying to say something then we’d understand. But this isn’t Saving Private Ryan and there’s not even a basic lesson to take away from World at War other than ‘Don’t jump on grenades, m’kay?'

It’s an odd tack to start a review on, but we think it’s the right one. Despite whatever pleasures the gameplay may hold there’s a definite consensus here at bit-tech that World at War is a needlessly gratuitous and gory game and, given the subject matter and actual footage used, that just isn’t as ignorable as it might be with other games. These are real people the game is dealing with after all and, even if it wasn’t the intention of the developers, they come close to demonising the Japanese in a way they never would with the German army.

New leak expands on mandatory Verizon data plans

2008-11-14T13:52:00.003-08:00

A newly-leaked document has elaborated on earlier reports that Verizon will be removing the choice of low-end data plans for smartphones. All new smartphones sold on or after November 14th should indeed require a $30 data plan, the principal exception being Verizon's government clients, who will be able to continue on as normal. The restriction is expected to expand in 2009, when "Mobile Web 2.0" phones with a full HTML browser will be expected to have either a Connect or Premium Plan, or else the $15 VCast add-on.

Subscribers who already own smartphones will be able to continue with low-end data plans, however, whether data blocks, the 10MB package or Pay As You Go. Phones which were delivered to store before November 14th should likewise be safe, regardless of whether they are only sold later. Any move to a new phone will trigger the new minimums.