Tech News

Dreamcast And N-Gage Live On

Posted on August 21, 2007 7:17 AM by Rob Williams

When a console is discontinued, chances are fans will not be so quick to give up on it. In the case of the Dreamcast, it was killed off right in the middle of developing a huge fan base, so it’s no surprise to see games developed for it years after it was first introduced. At this weeks Leipzig Games Convention, RedSpotGames will be announcing two Dreamcast games, Dalforce, a shooter title and also Wind and Water Puzzle Battles, an action/puzzle game. There have been many great shooters released for the DC since Sega pulled the plug, so hopefully this latest release will be worthy.

The Dreamcast is not the only console getting some love though. Remember the N-Gage? Remember good things about the N-Gage? If so, then you will be pleased to know that I-play is offering a new games: World Rally Championshop and Super Mah Jong, for starters. I still have an N-Gage kicking around in my closet somewhere, and though I have no intentions of looting it, it’s neat to see that support still continues.

Source: Joystiq (Dreamcast), CrunchGear (NGage)

ASUS Prepares X38 Express Motherboard

Posted on August 20, 2007 10:57 AM by Rob Williams

It was revealed last week that Intel’s X38 chipset would be dropping next month, and DailyTech once again has the scoop on ASUS’ first entry, the P5E3. We’ve taken a look at many ASUS P5 boards and have been left impressed, so we expect no less of the P5E3 once we receive it in our labs. This version of the board requires DDR3, but it’s expected that ASUS and others will release X38 boards with DDR2 support, although it won’t be by Intel’s direction.

ASUS opted to implement two PCIe x16 slots for ATI CrossFire multi-GPU support. Unlike some other X38 Express based boards with three PCIe x16 slots, the ASUS P5E3 Deluxe is unable to take advantage of three-way or even four-way ATI CrossFire configurations. However, in exchange for less PCIe x16 slots, the ASUS P5E3 Deluxe has three standard PCI slots. The P5E3 Deluxe also has two PCIe x1 slots.

Source: DailyTech

Blame Windows For Skype Outage

Posted on August 20, 2007 10:38 AM by Rob Williams

Last week, the internet went absolutely nuts because Skype was down for a 24+ hour period. Who can blame them though? Some use Skype as their primary phone, so if it’s down, it could mean a lot of things to them. So what was the problem? Believe it or not: Windows Users.

The story goes like this. Windows Updates were deployed last week, which caused a lot of people to reboot their computers at roughly the same time. This in turn overloaded the Skype login servers. Blame Windows users and blame Microsoft for developing Windows in such a way that it needs to reboot whenever some minor update is installed.

Normally Skype’s peer-to-peer network has an inbuilt ability to self-heal, however, this event revealed a previously unseen software bug within the network resource allocation algorithm which prevented the self-healing function from working quickly. Regrettably, as a result of this disruption, Skype was unavailable to the majority of its users for approximately two days.

Source: Skype

Unreal Tournament 3 Will Be Available On Linux

Posted on August 20, 2007 9:27 AM by Rob Williams

It’s been assumed for a while that Unreal Tournament III would be available for Linux, but it’s now confirmed, thanks to a forum posting by Epic Games’ VP Mark Rein. I have to say, Epic is one game developer that has a clue. So many companies shun alternative operating systems like a plague, but Epic embraces the fact that everyone has different tastes, but everyone wants great games to play. Kudos to them for never giving up on non-Windows operating systems, even when sales numbers are not likely uber-impressive.

Mark Rein is the VP of Epic Games as well as being their forum administrator. He had stated earlier this week: “We’re a multi-platform company folks please come to grips with that. We like the PC. We like the 360. We like the PS3. We like the Macintosh. We like Linux. We will deliver UT3 for all of these platforms and it will rock on every one.”

Source: Phoronix

Jack Still Has Nothing Better To Do, Goes After Bioshock

Posted on August 20, 2007 8:53 AM by Rob Williams

Jack Thompson is a modern-day Superman… nothing will stop him! Seriously though, it’s rare to see someone so stubborn with so much ambition to get things done, so you have to hand it to him for trying. Since not much is going on with Rockstar lately, he’s decided to file a complaint with the FTC regarding Bioshock’s TV commercial, for being shown in the same timeslot as a WWE program.

God knows there’s nothing violent about the WWE, so for the commercial to be shown during it’s commercial’s break is completely inappropriate. Will anything become of this? Hard to say, really, since the program is indeed rated for >17-year-old audiences. Should I sue because I’m forced to watch Viagra commercials during a sitcom? Clearly, no one under >17yo should have to put up with that crap.

Hey, we had no idea Rockstar had anything to do with BioShock … oh wait, that’s right, they didn’t. The FTC has already stated they think the industry is doing a relatively fine job handling itself; however, the FTC does say the movie and video game industry are both guilty of marketing R and M rated content during shows with inappropriate demographics. That’s all good and fine of course, but we’re just way too busy bathing in the irony of a FTC violence complaint being brought upon the airing of BioShock ads during an episode of WWE Smackdown.

Source: Joystiq

Nikon D3, Canon 40D, EOS 1Ds Mark III, Oh My!

Posted on August 20, 2007 8:27 AM by Rob Williams

Today must officially be “Camera Rumor Day” because they are all over the place, regarding both Canon and Nikon. First up is a rumor that an Australian site is reporting on, regarding the Nikon D3. This to-be professional camera has been in rumor-ville for quite a while, but apparently invitations to a “very special launch” have been passed out to the press. If rumors prove true, this is an amazing camera. It will best Canon’s Mark III by offering 51 auto focus points, but is a tad slower at 9 frames per second shooting. It bests everything else on the market (that I know of) with it’s 3.0″ LCD capable of displaying 920,000 pixels.

Thanks to Amazon, Canon’s upcoming 40D mid-range DSLR camera has had it’s specs leaked. According to the specs (which have now been pulled), the camera will feature a 10.1MP sensor, 3.0″ LCD display with Live View (a la Mark III), 6.5 FPS shooting for bursts up to 65 JPEG/Fine or 17 RAW, 1.6x crop factor and also integrated 802.11b/g WiFi transmitter. For whatever reason, the amount of auto-focus points seems to have been left out, but this camera looks to be a true winner with it’s $1,299 body-only price.

Lastly, Engadget spotted yet another Amazon leak, this time for a Mark III on steroids, the EOS 1Ds Mark III. Included is a staggering 21.1MP sensor (almost hitting Hasselblad territory here), a slower 5FPS continuous shooting, 45-point auto-focus, 3.0″ LCD with Live View, CF and SD/SDHC options, sRAW support and also a hefty $8,000 price.

Update: Canon’s cameras are no longer a rumor. DPReview has a preview of the 1Ds Mark III and 40D.

Source: Livingroom AU (Nikon D3), CrunchGear (Canon 40D), Engadget (Canon 1Ds Mark III)

Is JavaScript Slowing Down The Web?

Posted on August 20, 2007 8:10 AM by Rob Williams

Read/WriteWeb has posted another interesting article, this time focusing on JavaScript and how it is slowing down the internet. At first thought, this is not too surprising, considering JavaScript powers everything from ad-servers to pop-ups to drop-down menus to fancy web effects to… well, you get the idea. If you wanted to learn more about why JavaScript is slowing things down and explore a few ways to fix it, you can read the article. According to R/WW, blog widgets are a few of the biggest offenders. I guess we can blame apps like FaceBook and MySpace for popularizing it.

<script language="javascript">
document.write("<p>Harro, I be slowing down ze web!</p>");
</script>

The irony of this is that JavaScript was envisioned and designed to be a lightweight language to support minimum interactivity and quick manipulations of HTML documents, on the client site. But because of the twisted paths that our technology trails have taken us, JavaScript evolved to be the programming language for the web. From Ajax to Widgets, JavaScript is being used in a lot of cutting edge projects these days. But the truth is, JavaScript has its issues.

Source: Read/WriteWeb

Mac User? Make Sure You Have These Apps

Posted on August 20, 2007 8:00 AM by Rob Williams

So you just picked up a fresh iMac and have no idea what the heck to install. No worries, as this is the reason “BestMacSoftware” exists. This website has one purpose… to tell you what you should be downloading and installing. I don’t even use a Mac, but I can tell this is a great list, since many applications are also available for Linux. Included is VLC (of course), Quicksilver (which we looked at here), Miro video player, Handbreak video-ripping, Parallels and so much more.

Best Mac Software .com is a simple list of applications that will make almost every Mac user really, really happy. We aren’t trying to be a complete listing of every mac app, and there are obviously some hugely significant pieces of Mac software (like Final Cut Pro) that aren’t included, usually because of their cost or their specificity. We made this page to be a handy reference for all the folks who are buying new Macs and don’t know about all the great stuff that doesn’t come pre-installed.

Source: BestMacSoftware

Help Acquire English Soccer Club With MyFootballClub

Posted on August 20, 2007 7:48 AM by Rob Williams

If you enjoy sports to a large degree, you’ve probably pondered owning a team. Sure it’s just a dream for most of us, but what a great dream it would be. The problem? You don’t have that kind of money, but startup MyFootballClub wants to change that. The idea is that enough money is gathered to purchase an English soccer team and have thousands of “owners”. To get in, you pay £35 ($69USD) and once the team is bought, you are officially a club co-co-co-(recurring)-owner.

I am a big fan of English soccer, especially the Premier League, but in my opinion, this has bad idea written all over it. All you need to do is pay attention to any sporting forum to know that opinions can differ vastly. How will this be combated? It will be mighty difficult with THAT many owners. So with that, it seems like more of a joke than anything, but I’m hoping to be proven wrong. It’s an interesting concept, I’ll give it that.

The legal side is fairly simple. Contributors become members of the MyFootballClub Trust for £35 ($69). £27.50 goes towards purchasing a soccer club, buying new players and other club expenditure with the remaining £7.50 going towards administration. The Trust will acquire a soccer club only on the basis that the purchase provides a controlling stake (51%+) of the club and where the club is either debt free or has a manageable level of debt.

Source: TechCrunch

PC Mag Editor in Chief Hates Vista, Steps Down

Posted on August 18, 2007 1:25 PM by Rob Williams

I’ve been accused of being a Vista-basher in the past, many times. I agree, sometimes I rant and rave about how much I dislike the new OS way too much. But it’s too difficult to keep my mouth shut when many other people are doing the same thing. The latest ‘victim’? Jim Louderback joined PC Magazine in 2002 as Editor in Chief and has just stepped down because of his distaste for Vista.

He mentions, “So why, nine months after launch, am I so frustrated? The litany of what doesn’t work and what still frustrates me stretches on endlessly.” I agree. Vista has been out since the beginning of the year, and when I go to install it, it is STILL as buggy as it was last year when I first installed the RTM. Microsoft doesn’t seem to be pushing too hard to have things fixed, or pushing for anything it seems. Nine months later, and Ultimate owners still have nothing to show in way of ‘Extras’. I want to like Vista… I just wish Microsoft would give me a reason to.

I could go on and on about the lack of drivers, the bizarre wake-up rituals, the strange and nonreproducible system quirks, and more. But I won’t bore you with the details. The upshot is that even after nine months, Vista just ain’t cutting it. I definitely gave Microsoft too much of a free pass on this operating system: I expected it to get the kinks worked out more quickly. Boy, was I fooled! If Microsoft can’t get Vista working, I might just do the unthinkable: I might move to Linux.

Source: PC Magazine

WinMerge Helps You Compare And Merge Files

Posted on August 18, 2007 12:50 PM by Rob Williams

Having the need to compare two files directly is not something just for server folk. Just recently, a friend of mine had two files he -had- to find the differences between in order to continue to do what he was working on, and it’s too bad I didn’t know of WinMerge at the time. Lifehacker takes a look at this program which can save you lots of time and probably headaches. For the Linux user, you can use similar tools, such as Diff (with Kdiff as a frontend).

When several people are updating and making copies of the same files, multiple versions easily blossom out of control. Figuring out what’s changed, what hasn’t and merging it all back together can be a huge pain in the ass, but it doesn’t have to be. Say your kids downloaded images from the digital camera repeatedly to folders all over your hard drive. You and your co-worker lost track of who made the latest changes to that PowerPoint presentation. You want to merge the changes between two updated files into one. Fear not. The free, open source, previously-mentioned WinMerge is a powerful utility that can help coders and civilians alike merge and compare data on their hard drives.

Source: Lifehacker

Convert YouTube Videos With vConvert

Posted on August 18, 2007 12:44 PM by Rob Williams

So you just finished watching an online video and would love to save it to your desktop. But can’t. If this has never happened to you, you must not be online that often. With new web service vConvert, you can paste the URL to the video, such as http://youtube.com/watch?v=aAaAaAaAaAa, choose whether you want the outputted file in WMV, MOV, MP3, MP4, 3GP or FLV, wait a few moments, and your download will be ready.

I gave the service a quick test and am quite impressed. It was rather fast, and reliable. The problem though, is that all of the conversion and file hosting is done on the vconvert server, so slow-down is not likely to be uncommon. The author is accepting donations to help keep things running smoothly, however.

There are tons of sites that let you save your favorite videos from the likes of YouTube and Google Video, but then you have a Flash video you can’t do much with. You can download converters that will let you transcode, but then you have to hope you can figure out how to run them and that they are good quality. There is now a site that will let you do everything in one quick step.

Source: vConvert Via: Mashable

Tabula Rasa Pre-Orders Open Up

Posted on August 18, 2007 12:28 PM by Rob Williams

I have mixed feelings towards Tabula Rasa, because the final game is -nothing- at all like the original screenshots. When a game goes through such a drastic transformation, it has to make you wonder how well it will fare when all said and done. Luckily, RPG guru Richard Garriott is the man behind the game, so it can’t be that bad.

NCsoft has just opened pre-orders for the game, which releases on October 2, and with it comes a slew of benefits. First, you get a full three-day head start on the live servers. Add to that, you get a code to unlock bonus in-game content, exclusive Shell Bot or Pine-Ock pets, two exclusive emotes (*sweet*) and of course, beta access.

Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game that takes you, the player, into lush forest planets, volcanic moons, and exotic alien civilizations. Face off against powerful xenophobe soldiers, armored mechanoids, and vicious predators! Use a wide range of weapons and unique LOGOS powers to help the Allied Free Sentients (AFS) in their desperate fight against extinction. Tabula Rasa combines a vast, persistent game world and ongoing storyline with fast-paced action, resulting in a striking new approach to the design of multiplayer online games.

Source: Tabula Rasa Official Site

EA’s Mac Games Finally Showing Up

Posted on August 18, 2007 10:29 AM by Rob Williams

Remember way back at June’s WWDC, EA’s announcement that they’d be bringing games to OS X? Whatever happened to that, you ask? C|Net relays an EA press release that reveals four titles that are now available for the platform: Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix, NFS: Carbon, Battlefield 2142 and C&C 3. All four can be ordered now, but shipping varies between three and ten days.

You might wonder about the exclusion of the promised EA Sports games, including Madden and Tiger Woods. Those are also en route, but will not be seen until September/October. The fact that we are seeing these advanced games at all is impressive and shows how far the Cider technology has come. Now, where the heck are these games on Linux?

In response to an inquiry about the delay for Madden NFL ’08, an EA representative said “we’ve shorted the gap between the Mac launch and other platforms to just a few weeks. This is a huge leap compared with past launches. Over time, as EA gains experience in completing and shipping Mac games, the gap will narrow.” The representative did not specifically address what caused the delay, but some Mac gamers think there could be problems with the Cider technology used to port the Windows games to Mac OS.

Source: C|net

Crimson/Black Nintendo DS Unboxed

Posted on August 18, 2007 10:07 AM by Rob Williams

There are very few companies out there that manage to excite their customer-base time and time again with rehashed products. Nintendo has that power, however. We first seen the Nintendo DS in late 2004 and then a revamped model last summer. Of course, everyone who owned the original, wanted the new model. It was better, after all. But then, they released a pure-black model, then pink and now, they have gone ahead and released a two-tone Crimson/Black model.

The color scheme is not all that’s important though, Included is a carrying pouch and also a copy of Brain Age 2. My white Nintendo DS is suddenly looking very, very boring…

Once you pry open the ultra-sticky packaging, you’ll find an array of delights, including the carrying case, Brain Age 2, a snazzy Nintendo catalog. Oh, and a DS Lite — almost forgot! …We have to confess that the “open faced” DS looks a little plain. Sleek, but plain. Crimson-colored buttons (or a d-pad!) would’ve been a great touch, but it’s still easy on the eyes.

Source: GamePro

UK Domino’s Pizza Accepting Orders Via SMS

Posted on August 18, 2007 9:48 AM by Rob Williams

Everyone likes pizza. Everyone has a cell phone. Everyone would rather text to order pizza than to talk to a real person. It was only a matter of time before this became a reality, which it now is in the UK thanks to Domino’s Pizza. The process is simple. Sign up for the service, send a “TXT” and then one of their 470 locations will deliver you your pizza. During the trial of the service, 2,000 people signed up, showing that there is big demand for such a service. Domino’s was smart by being the first pizza place to offer the service, though I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner. Everquest II beat everyone by two full years!

To use the service, you have to register your full details online, but from then on it seems dangerously easy to order. Once you’re registered you then need to set up your “favourite meals” by texting them to Dominos, and give them a code name that you’ll remember. So, you can set up lots of favourites depending on your lifestyle, a regular order for a whole pile of pizzas could be “Boy’s Poker Night Order”, and so on.

Source: Pocket-Lint

Are Digital Leaks Impossible To Stop?

Posted on August 18, 2007 9:31 AM by Rob Williams

If you plan to leak anything on the internet, you can relish the fact that it will stay out there. On the other hand, you can also feel confident that you will be caught, as one Sydney-area man discovered the hard way. The Simpsons movie was shown in Australia before the rest of the world, so he took advantage of the situation and recorded the entire movie with his cell phone.

Ahem. How many people are willing to watch a movie recorded with a cell phone instead of going to the theatre? According to authorities, over 110,000. This all despite the fact that they were on top of the case just hours after the movie first leaked. Indeed, if a movie is leaked, there is not much that can stop it. That still doesn’t mean you will not be caught and punished, however.

As it turns out, AFACT got a heads-up from Fox, which was monitoring P2P networks in search of the first Simpsons movie uploads. Yet even with this monitoring, it was too late to stop the leaks. AFACT said that in the short time it took to identify the leak, it had rapidly spread to other sites, and investigators even learned that it was rapidly re-edited into a French language version, and also transcoded into other formats and distributed via BitTorrent sites by two “organized release groups which facilitate file sharing.”

Source: Ars Technica

Dell & Lenovo Pre-Load Linux, Who’s Next?

Posted on August 18, 2007 9:04 AM by Rob Williams

Although Windows is still the dominating operating system, Linux and Mac OS X are steadily catching up for a variety of reasons. However, Linux has a few advantages over OS X, such as it’s open-sourced nature and also the fact that it’s free. While some versions of Linux can be complicated, there are others that are perfectly suited for the computer newbie. There is no doubt that Linux is a superb and fully-capable operating system, and it will continue to grow and have great success.

DailyTech blogger Michael Hoffman agrees, and states that he believes Dell and Lenovo will in no way be the last companies to pre-load Linux for their customers. Dell has recently stated that demand for Linux-based PCs has been “overwhelming”, which is certainly a sign of things to come. With rapid adoption of the OS, things can only get better.

“I think it is about time the PC manufacturers started showing us some love,” one LinuxWorld exhibitor told me prior to the show floor opening. I hope to see Hewlett-Packard offer something similar in the future, though I am not sure if the company is working on anything internally. I tried to pry details away from HP public relations and engineers people, but no one wanted to confirm anything.

Source: DailyTech

What’s Coming Up On TG? Part 3

Posted on August 17, 2007 2:44 PM by Rob Williams

Welp, it’s been a while since our last “WCUOTG?”, so I figured it was about time we update you on what’s on our radar. Next week, you can expect a review of Logitech’s latest Wave keyboard. Rather than being ergo, it’s contoured in such a way that it’s supposed to feel completely natural to use. We’ll be the judge of that. You can also expect a review of their new G9 gamers mouse shortly after, which features a whack of tweaking ability for hardcore gamers.

This past week, we posted a review of Gigabyte’s 8600GTS card, but next week it will be time to focus on something even lower-end, Sparkle’s 8500GT. Kingston has also sent us two new memory kits which will be evaluated within the coming weeks, one DDR3 and their new 2GB DDR2-800 modules that feature the extremely tight timings of 3-3-3-8.

We’ve posted reviews of many P35 boards so far, but Greg has been dabbing with abit’s IP35 Pro board and will be posting his thoughts within the next few weeks. Our resident gadget geek Kiersten has been using Microsoft’s latest Ergo 7000 for the past few weeks as well, and you can expect her review next week. Sadly, as has been the recurring theme, Microsoft’s offering left us less than impressed. That wraps up this edition of WCUOTG?, so stay tuned as we get these articles in progress published. Of course there is a lot more on our plates, including a few interesting how-to articles, so stay tuned!

Blu-ray Outselling HD-DVD 2 to 1

Posted on August 17, 2007 12:30 PM by Rob Williams

Has there been a bad thing to be said about Blu-ray in the past few months? We just learned of the fact that Heavenly Sword uses 10GB of sound effects, and now we see that Blu-ray is outselling HD-DVD 2 to 1 this year, according to Home Media Research. The movie 300, for example, has sold 190,000 copies on Blu-ray while only selling 97,000 on HD-DVD. It may seem non-impressive from the HD-DVD standpoint, but that’s still quite a dedicated fan base.

Perhaps these two formats can seek peaceful coexistence, but as things stand right now, Blockbuster has gone Blu-ray and so have some retailers. We really don’t care who wins the movie format war, but we’d prefer people spending their money on a couple extra games instead of possibly throwing their money away on a console attachment for a dying not-selling-as-well format.

Source: Joystiq

Heavenly Sword Features 10GB Worth Of Sound Effects

Posted on August 17, 2007 12:22 PM by Rob Williams

As if the Blu-ray format needed even more bragging rights, here comes along news that upcoming PS3 action game Heavenly Sword includes a staggering 10GB worth of sound effects, in addition to three and a half hours worth of music and 4,500 lines of dialogue. That aside, the game looks quite promising, although I have yet to play the demo. Marcus from DailyTech has, however, and wasn’t left that impressed.

Sadly, experience with the game from the demo available from the PlayStation Store has left me just a bit cautious. On paper, in screens, and in making-of videos, it looks like a hit. But after playing it for just a few seconds – which is really all the demo allows – there just doesn’t seem to be anything compelling about it. Of course, this could be the fault of the demo’s shamefully short playtime, but that’s all I’ve got to base my opinion on right now.

Source: DailyTech

New iPods Could Be On Their Way

Posted on August 17, 2007 9:41 AM by Rob Williams

If you are planning to pick up an iPod and have patience, you might want to wait, according to Engadget. Their sources show that Apple has slowed down iPod shipments, which suggests that a fresh release is right around the corner. Other facts to go by would be that the iPhone is now released, as are the revamped iMacs, and also that there’s been a new iPod every year since 2003. Oh, don’t forget the fact that Apple fans will rush out to buy a new iPod even if their current model is fine. What’s Apple to lose when releasing a new iPod? Nothing!

Do we have inside dope from Apple on this one? No, none at all. Just a lot of retail reports and mounting evidence that suggests a pretty obvious conclusion. Yeah, we expect new iPods this year (seriously, why wouldn’t there be?), and if we were gamblin’ men we’d put our money on the September – October. Of course, we know Steve will totally read this and launch in November or December just to mess with us, but hey, as long as the masses get their music players before our annual present-opening ceremonies, everybody’s happy.

Source: Engadget

Break Out The Cheque-Book: Quad-Core Notebooks Available

Posted on August 17, 2007 9:13 AM by Rob Williams

According to Wired Blogs, Xtreme Notebooks is the first company to begin offering Quad-Core-equipped notebook computers to the masses, but they won’t come cheap if you want to deck them out. For their top-end 917V, included is a 17″ screen capable of 1680×1050, Q6600 processor at 2.4GHz, 512MB (yes really) of RAM, 60GB (yes really) hard drive and also a speedy 7950GTX graphics card. All that, for $3,359.00. Seems pricey, Quad-Core or not.

If you really have a strong desire to spend as much money as possible though, you could upgrade all the components to help you reach your goal. Throw in 4GB of RAM, SLI’d 8700M GT’s, 64GB SSD, RAID 1 250GB, Blu-ray burner and more. It will set you back over $10,000. Buy hey, at least they give you a ‘No Operating System’ option. That’s more than you can say for the rest of the competition.

Source: XtremeNotebooks

Ziff Davis $390 Million In Debt

Posted on August 17, 2007 8:47 AM by Rob Williams

I am not a fan of Ziff Davis’ publications per se, but it’s difficult to laugh at any company that has accrued close to half a billion dollars worth of debt. While they used to publish a fair amount of paper magazines, they are now down to three: EGM, PC Magazine and Games for Windows. These along with the numerous websites they have scattered about, including ExtremeTech and 1UP. As you would expect, they are looking at options to help settle the debt, and assure us that they are still in “very good shape”.

There is art here, despite what many would say isn’t possible with games, from Roger Ebert to game designers like Hideo Kojima. But it’s in BioShock–it’s in the gorgeously realized, watery halls of Rapture. It’s in a Little Sister’s expression of thanks when you choose to save her, or the utter silence if you harvest instead. It’s in the way the characters develop, in the testimonials of the recording boxes you pick up along the way.

Source: Joystiq

Bioshock Is An “Essential Gaming Experience”

Posted on August 17, 2007 8:28 AM by Rob Williams

It’s official. 2K Boston and 2K Australia know what they are doing, because Bioshock has wowed the collective press, with complaints difficult to find. This unique shooter has been hyped for quite some time now, and for good reason. It’s still a 3D-Shooter, but it offers fresh elements and a completely unique world. After looking through some reviews floating about, I am quite certain I will be picking up a copy as soon as possible. IGN awarded the game a 9.7/10, GameSpy a 5/5, 1UP a 10/10, TeamXbox a 9.5/10, Eurogamer a 10/10… well you get the picture.

There is art here, despite what many would say isn’t possible with games, from Roger Ebert to game designers like Hideo Kojima. But it’s in BioShock–it’s in the gorgeously realized, watery halls of Rapture. It’s in a Little Sister’s expression of thanks when you choose to save her, or the utter silence if you harvest instead. It’s in the way the characters develop, in the testimonials of the recording boxes you pick up along the way.

Source: IGN Xbox 360

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