The modern day technologies in entertainment have transformed the gaming world completely - people are no longer interested in the old Terminator game consoles, the simple 2D games or the brilliant for their times Super Mario games. Children nowadays have their first touch with gaming while playing super modern, full 3D games and, to some extent, this is quite unfortunate since they will never see the genius of the previous generations of video games.

In the 80s and 90s the console games were quite simple, with not many games compatibale. Eveen though the computers were already advancing in the gaming world, still games like Super Mario and James Bond 007 were total hits among players of all ages. The Sega Mega Drive consoles then were much more prefered than PCs and children were actually playing simple 2D graphics games for hours fascinated by the gameplay.

To be honest, I have never played a game with such love and dedication as when i played Super Mario (luckily there are plenty of cheap sofas for sale once you’ve worn a hole in yours!) This game, at the first glance, has nothing better to offer than the games of the 21st century but somehow, for its time, this was a total revulutionary game - with so many levels to complete, with a shaped plot (quite unimportant though) and with extreme difficulty when you reach the final several levels.

This is the reason why it is quite unfortunate that children nowadays will never see the gradation of games - from simple console games to the most advanced 3D PC games. I saw the gradual transformation of the game industry and still games like Super Mario remain my total favourite for the best games ever.

Share This

After the first amazing game that was released 10 years ago, Blizard came up with a second part of SC -the first expansion pack is called Star Craft II: Wings of Liberty. With stunnig graphics and 3D images, remarkable soundtrack and fascinating gameplay, the product flew off the shelf like they were selling gold and was anticipated by millions of fans, now enjoying the high quality gaming experience.

The plot of the game is probably one of its best features. The story is about a terran groun of rebels (the terran race is the whole of the humanity inhabiting the galaxy) that were betrayed by the terran Emperor and now seek the way to both protect mankind from the alien invaders ( Zergs and Protoss) and to dethrone the false Emperor. Using different techniques and cinematics, Blizzard have created not only an amazing strategy game but a whole new world inside -the main characters'actions outside the battlefield, their feelings and relationships are well presented making this game not only a tactical and massive battles product, but also a game that turns to the personalitites of the main leaders in the universe.

Another feature that is crucial in the game is the story about the terran rebels commander who lost his love to the Zergs -the brutal creatures adopted her and made her their Queen of Blades -nothing to do with humans creature that is devoted to the Zergs. Thus the commander, with the help of the Protoss artefacts will have to both fight the Terran Emperor and save his love. Truely an amazing game, Star Craft II is the best the game market can offer now.

Share This

There are some pretty neat features, most notably the gigantic screen. The Super AMOLED screen, one of the phone’s key advertising and selling points, is indeed super. It’s really a cut above the screens found on most of it’s competitors (and is an easy competitor for the new iPhone 4) and places this phone into a leage of it’s own.

Combine with that the general lack of traditional buttons (it operates mostly using touch sensitive buttons), and you have something that many people will inevitably compare to the iPhone. But that’s no bad thing! The strength of this configuration is that there are considerably fewer buttons than, for instance, the HTCs (which also run on Android), and as such the Galaxy is much less unwieldy.

Despite the huge screen, the Galaxy weighs in at a meager 119g - much much lighter than most smartphone competitors. It does suffer for battery life however.

In terms of software, Samsung have never been strong themselves. This has meant some slightly clunky homegrown “widgets”, and an occasionally unwieldy menu structure, but the hardware of the phone (including a 1 GHz processor) is great and so Android, and the various third party apps, run excellently.

Clocking in at a fairly decent £400 for a PAYG phone (or £30 pm on contract) the Samsung is just cheap enough to make it a strong rival to the HTC range, and even the iPhones. Impressive stuff from the folks over at Samsung.

Share This

It can sometimes be difficult to find a video game that is actually worth what it costs. Many games claim to have great graphics but, end up letting you down. Ratchet Clank Future Tools of Destruction for Playstation 3 is not one of these games. It has great graphics and awesome sound effects. It is well worth every penny.

There are different modes for you to play in. You need to travel from different worlds trying to find different things. You get to use many different types of creative weapons to kill the different robots and creatures on the different planets. Some are in water, some in air, and some on land. You get to use all kinds of different kinds of modes of transportation too. This game is so creative and leaves you in awe of the amazing features. You will have so much fun going through all of the doors and caves throughout the different levels. You get to fight boss monsters at the end of the levels that are difficult and require you to use all of your different weapons. It is so much fun to battle them and win. Once you have found all of the secret rooms you will have all of the tools you need to beat the game.

This is not a game that you will be able to breeze through. You will have to figure out puzzles. There are a lot of different things that you are going to have to master in order to beat the game. There are many different maneuvers that you have to perfect and take the time to learn. In the end you will be so happy that you bought this game. It is so much fun to play and completely worth the time, effort, and money. No only if getting rid of lines and wrinkles would be as easy.

Share This

1. URL Control. Drupal CMS offers greater advanced control of URL structures. Unlike WordPress, Drupal CMS can create a custom URL alias. With WordPress, you are stuck with only one URL, but with Drupal you can customise each post.

2. Custom content types. With Drupal’s CCK (custom content kit), you can create custom content types and advanced views without creating a new code. These content types can come in the form of blog posts, forum posts, tutorials, as well as podcasts and advertisements. With the others, you must create a new code for each content type, but not with Drupal.

3. Better control for revisions. With Drupal CMS, you can save a new version of the file every time it is edited. As a result, you have more freedom and control the revision as you return to previously written pages.

4. User management. As with the others, Drupal is designed for high control by your users. With Drupal, you can create many different types of users, including “anonymous visitor”, “moderator”, “editor”, “webmaster”, “authenticated user”, and “admin”. This gives you more options when assigning roles to your users, not to mention it is quite easy to integrate online information with external business programs, such as hr software.

5. Documentation. Drupal offers a large amount of support for your users, including handbooks, API Reference, numerous tutorials, blogs, and podcasts. It also includes the new Pro Drupal Development to increase your skills.

6. Large user community. Drupal is growing incredibly quickly, with many new websites choosing Drupal over WordPress or Joomla. The Drupal forum has a large following that can help you increase your skills as well as finding like minded websites that also use Drupal.

Share This

Between the ages of ten and sixteen (many years before a Touring caravan insurance quote was the highlight of my day), pretty much the only thing I did (besides annoy my sister) was play computer games and eat too much food and annoy my parents. Every day after school, me and my brother hanging out trying to beat each others scores, that was the best part of growing up. The tragedy was that I was the older brother, yet I was never able to beat my brother’s scores. It was a tragedy which I remember eclipsing most of my childhood. It seemed extremely serious at the time, no joke! (With hind-sight it seems just as serious.)

Different games brought different rage. If my brother beat me at a role-playing game, for example, I would be quite angry, but that was nothing compared to the all-dominating Hulk-like anger that erupted out of me when I lost to him at a fighting game. I remember one particularly serious incident following him beating me with Ryu at Streets Of Rage. The entire street knew about it. The argument eventually turned in to a fight, with both neighbours complaining that they thought something terrible was going on in our house. Which it was, of course. More terrible than their old-fashioned minds could ever imagine–

We never did resolve that conflict. To this day my brother still believes that he beat me fair and square. Though that may be the case, my pride won’t let me admit that he was right.

Share This

Words mean a lot. Take chemical skin peels for example…Does that sound good to you? Names mean even more. They are part and parcel of why people and brands become successful. I take Tom Cruise as my example. Imagine the following scenario playing out at an audition (in a world where Tom Cruise wasn’t called Tom Cruise) and you’ll see what I mean:

Actor walks in to audition and introduces himself:

“Hi, my name is Jared Heemaroyd.”

Director shuffles nervously in his seat: “Did you say Heemaroyd young man?”

“Heemaroyd, through and through.”

Now, Jared recognizes the worrying expression on the director’s face. He has seen it a million times before. He’s good looking (if you like short men who smile too much, that is) and not bad as an actor, but he just never seems to do enough to land the job.

“Ok then boy,” says the director. “Let’s see you act. Read the script, let’s go.”

Jared acts away. He’s good, the director knows this, but already he’s ruled Jared out. He just can’t risk it. He can’t have someone on his cast who makes people nervous about sitting down, it just won’t work.

There we have it, Tom Cruise’s career didn’t even get off the ground in that alternative universe. He had to live with his wife Nicole and watch her get all the parts and it became a real drag real quick. Names are important, you see. So have a heart and look through them to the person behind–And give people called Heemaroyd an easy time of it for once, will you?

Share This

I was ecstatic when the all-dominating Avatar lost out to the relatively miniscule by comparison The Hurt Locker on a slew of awards at the 2010 Oscars. Not because I particularly disliked Avatar or enjoyed The Hurt Locker, but because there’s a lot to be said for real acting and real directing, just as there is to be said for Tattoo removal if you have a big fat one on your forehead; after all, with it being almost entirely CGI, how can a film like Avatar be considered a film by traditional standards?

Recently I had this debate in the pub. There was my Hurt Locker representing team on one side—small and comprising of only my friend and I—and a whole pub-full of people. The situation, I felt, accurately reflected the status of the two films: over the course of that evening my friend and I bought about four drinks, and the rest of the pub bought about 60.

Their collective argument was this: “It must have been a nightmare to direct, that Avatar, what with so much going on. That’s why it should have beaten your tiny film with ease!” And our argument went like this, and was, I felt, approximately 3000% more solid: “Yes, but The Hurt Locker was a real film, and the award was for best director–all the awards were about real film–therefore it had to win, don’t you see?”

They didn’t see, and we didn’t desire to make them see (big Terry wasn’t on our team and could get pretty het-up over film debates). But in the end the dust settled and we won: at least in my mind that is. Here’s the thing: real film should be awarded for its hard work. As good as CGI can be, it’s no substitute for some good old-fashioned acting.

Share This

The cut-scenes specifically are stunning to watch, and usually centre on Kratos’ hatred of his father Zeus, who in the last instalment of the game banished him. And vengeance is indeed what he gets. However, at the beginning of the game, the cut-scenes seem repetitive: Kratos is stopped on his quest for Zeus by numerous foes that get in his way.

But the game begins to open up in later in the game. We start to see more to Kratos than just his bloodlust and hatred of his father, so we get to see another side.

The key to the captivating visuals is the combat itself. The many ways to destroy your enemies are presented in some brutal gore and carnage. This fascinating game definitely embraces its violent side.

In terms of game play, there are not many additions from God of War II, although there is one notable adjustment. Now, you do not have to always use your trusty Blades of Exile, because now your secondary weapon is quite useful. There are four alternatives that, although not much different from the Blades, are still visually stunning a lot of play. And now that you can switch over weapons quickly in game means you can start using more alternatives during combat.

It’s also nice to see that each Boss is unique. You must use different techniques against different Bosses. During tough times against some creatures, it will give you a prompt to attack the boss in a very extravagant way, which always finishes with a brutal slay.

Gods of War III didn’t expand very much from its predecessor, but instead offers an easy to pick up combat game with some well presented fight sequences and cut-scenes.

Quick thing, I have just looked at the design for this human resource software page, the one that Suzie just got a job with. It looks like a great company, well done little sister!

Share This

If girls in beach party dresses are your thing, and you also love online gaming websites more than almost anything else, then this site could be for you. It has a large variety on the home-page to choose from, and even better your girlfriend won’t hassle you if you spend an inordinate amount of time looking at them all. Why won’t she? Well, no promises, but this site has a lot of girly stuff which will keep her happy, too. There are also articles on all kinds of things, so there’s something for everyone.

But best of all, this site is just packed with games stuff, period. You’ll find all the old classics here, plus tons of new ones which are dying to be played! In fact, there are so many games—quite a few of them for the female of the species—that you may find your girlfriend uses this site more than you. Which could become an issue. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Share This