Little Bad Boy!

Ever been to a LAN and think to yourself “Jeeeze I wish I had a kick ass PC that was like, a quarter of the size of this bad boy”? Well your prayers have been asnwered! Shuttle have unveiled it’s newest liquid-cooled SDXi Carbon Extreme gaming solution.
Featuring a top of the line Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770, dual Nvidia GeForce GTX 280’s, and with enough room for up to 16GB of DDR2 this machine will easily keep up with, or dominate other PC’s in the room.

That being said it is bound to produce a bunch of heat right? That’s where Shuttle implement their new liquid cooling solution, custom built for small form-factor systems, keeping things ice cold and whisper quiet.
Price is unknown, all we know is we’d like a few here in the office The company claims this new liquid cooling solution delivers the most efficient performance in an extreme small form-factor system, while at the same time keeps it quiet even during the hottest gaming session. Cosmetics-wise, the SDXi Carbon looks decent as it’s painted in a unique-looking premium automotive level finish.

Legendary Cars Pack Drops Feb 19th

Burnout Paradise surely isn’t short of fantastic cars to roam that streets in. The Cagney pack brought the Hippie Wagon and the Steel Oval Racer to our streets, and the bikes back gave us some 2 wheel action. These packs were free for the masses, but that hasn’t stopped the ideas flowing over at Criterion.
Mere weeks after the launch of the first paid downloadable content, the Party Pack (review over here) Criterion are launching the Legendary Cars Pack on Feb 19th.
Inspired by classic cars from movies, the pack will bring to us The Jansen 88 Special, which seems to be inspired by Back To The Future, why with all the hovering an all. We also get behind the wheel of the Manhattan Spirit, the Carson Nighthawk and last but not least The Hunter Bootlegger.
The pack will be live on the Burnout Store on Feb 19th for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, no word on a PC release yet.

Gears of War 2

I’m going to be that annoying cousin that comes out once a year to see the family for Christmas. Don’t pretend like you don’t know who I’m talking about, he’s loud, obnoxious, drinks a little too much and always says inappropriate things when your elderly grandmother is in the room. I’m going to come out and say Gears of War is the new franchise for Microsoft to hide behind and pretend it was all their idea. Gears of War instantly became the must have title for the Xbox 360, and really has been overshadowing Halo 3. Now we have the inevitable sequel at our doorsteps, the question is did they get it right?

 

Gears of War 2 (GoW) is what I would call a perfect sequel. It builds on the first one, and while not changing too much that people came to love and respect, still moves ahead in leaps and bounds that make you sit back and think how you lived without these new additions.

 

First thing that makes me happy to see is more development in the story and the characters. The story this time has the feel of an epic movie, of urgency, and I actually care about the characters unlike first time around. The game feels and plays like an action movie, with memorable characters, which is becoming harder and harder to find in games these days. Sure it’s no Bioshock, but GoW 2’s story definitely makes the first GoW mean a lot more which is great, it compliments its roots.

 

Controls are more refined, and while it still offers a nice little training exercise for new comers, if you have played the first GoW then nothing has changed in way of controls. The covering system is more refined, and using tables and desks as cover is really cool as now Marcus will flip them down and hide behind them.

 

Nice to see some new weapons, and more refinement in the old favourites, the Lancer is as badass as ever! The new Locust machine gun is a nice touch, the Longshot has a better scope and there are some very nice new weapons for you all to enjoy. Of course, all of these weapons are used by the Locust, and there are no shortage of new spectacular enemies.

 

Technically the game is great. The sound has been totally re-worked. The guns actually feel like they have weight and substance, the shotgun is a booming thunder of death, and the grenades wouldn’t be out of place at a rave club they sound so meaty. Graphically the game is stunning, but I wouldn’t say it’s 100% improvement on the original’s already fantastic graphics. Acheivements are put to great use here, with continual pop-ups at key moments to see how far along you are to obtaining it, for instance when I hit the 15 active reload mark it popped up stating “Once More With Feeling 15/30” which is nice to know when you are working towards them.

 

One of the scenes in the single player campaign is one of the most memorable I’ve ever played, so much blood, I seriously think the kiddies should be kept away!

 

All in all Gears of War 2 is Microsoft’s next big title, and it deserves to be the face of the Xbox 360. Improving everything from the first classic, but still feeling exactly the same in a strange new world, this is the must have title of 2008

 

9/10

Fracture

Original ideas in gaming these days are few and far between, and while it seems every title is claiming to offer us something never seen before, usually I end up being disappointed, like a kid who waits all day to buy a chocolate ice-cream to have a stranger steal said ice-cream, eat it and then crap it back out into their cone. It’s sad, depressing and makes you never want to trust anyone again.

Having said that it’s now time to look at Lucasarts newest game Fracture. Looking at it for a quick overview, it’s simple a run of the mill 3rd person shooter with not much to offer like that one plain cheerleader on the squad who always tries to hard to get somebody’s attention. What is Fracture’s claim to fame? Something they like to call Terrain Deformation (TD) but we’ll get to that in a moment.

So basically you play as Atlantic Alliance soldier Jet Brody, a slightly less manly and wimpy version of Marcus Fenix in the battle against the Pacificans. It’s the 22nd century and the Pacificans started altering DNA to keep up with the changing climate, while the Alliance put a ban on Genetic Engineering and chose to go with Cybernetic Enhancement. The Pacificans get pissed, cry to mum and then decide to say a hearty “Fuck You” and take over the world and have a tea party at the end with jam and scones and whipped cream. Standard story for any futuristic shooter these days

Fracture is a simple 3rd person shooter with some rather interesting weapons. You have your standard machine guns, rocket launchers and the like, but the real fun is to be had tth the TD grenades. You collect a set of grenades that can alter your terrain to your advantage on the battlefield. Let’s say you are getting pwned by a bunch of bad guys and need some cover, throw a TD grenade and boom there is a hill right there in front, giving you the cover you need to regenerate your health, reload and get ready for action. There are a multitude of these weapons that raise or lower terrain, create a gravity pull and the like, and while they are cool to see in action, they aren’t used enough. The puzzles that require TD to complete are simple and predicatble, and I honestly feel if the developers really pushed the boundaries with TD the game would have been much, much more interesting.

AI leaves a bit to be desired. All the enemies look the same, drab colours and not enough variety, and why they aren’t the smartest bunch and aren’t too difficult to dispose of, Fracture makes up in the number of them, they just keep coming and coming wave after wave, and often gameplay ends up being tired and boring, kill bad guys, get to checkpoint, move onto next area, kill bad guys and so forth

Controls are simple and easy once you get a grip on them, and once you have the TD functions down pat you will be out there ripping it up on the battlefield. Graphics are actually quite decent, and the TD effects look breath taking! Audio is also damn solid running through my 7.2 system (only running 5.1 though)

It’s true, Fracture does offer something that gamers haven’t seen in a game before until now, but instead of capitalizing on that idea, it was used in a boring and uninventive way. All in all I actually really like Fracture, it’s fun and while sure it’s run of the mill and not a game that stands out like Bioshock or Little Big Planet, it was a blast for the weekend I completed it. I hope Lucasarts takes some feedback, goes back and releases a sequel that utilizes the potential that this title really did have

6/10

iPhone 3G- To Jailbreak or Not To Jailbreak?

Well the iPhone 3G has been out worldwide for quite some time now, and many of you are surely by now wondering IF you should Jailbreak that monster or not. What I hope to do is help you make an INFORMED decision.

For those of you who have heard about Jailbreak but don’t know what it mean, basically it unlocks the phone and allows you to install a bunch of Apps that Apple have not released or created. Now for those who had a 1st gen iPhone or an iPod Touch it was beneficial, but now with Apple opening the App Store for us all to enjoy, most would say the incentive just isn’t there.

I tend to agree with these people. I Jailbroke my iPhone two weeks ago and I just restored it to the current 2.0.2 firmware today. While having the ability to have Quake and custom themes are appealing, there was not enough benefit for me to use the other apps that are available from a Jailbroken iPhone. I would suggest you do your research as to the type of software you are hoping to get, see if it’s available through Apple’s App Store, or the Jailbreak installer, and make a decision.

The process is easy enough, and I’d be more than willing to post up a step by step guide for you guys if you want one

So To Jailbreak or Not To Jailbreak? Research and if you will use enough apps that aren’t available with a non Jailbroken iPhone, go for it

Goodbye and Goodnight

I always hate to see Aussie bands fall, from Superheist to I Killed The Prom Queen but never has it hurt so much as when I heard the news that Antikeptic were calling it a day.

Nearly 1000 shows, spanning over a 10 year career with 2 albums and their newest release EP Monuments, the Melbourne rockers have decided it’s time to say Goodbye and Goodnight.

I remember the first time I heard Antiskeptic. I was sitting in Italian class in year 7 when the drummer in my band passes me a slightly worn earbud and whispers “these guys are from Melbourne”.

“Do you remember that day?
I said I loved you but now everything has changed
Thought you were off on holidays
Yeah, but I saw you in town laughing with what’s his name”,

The catchy guitar riffs, the intensly crafter bass hooks, the thunderous beats and the amazing vocals drew me in and at the end of that song I was left changed.

The next day I went down to the local music store, and much to my surprise they had a copy of Antiskeptics first outing “Memoirs of a Common Man” and I remember going home and spending the whole night in my room just listening to what I thought at the time was Australia’s finest talents. A week later I bought my first guitar and started learning my very first Antiskeptic song.

A few years passed by, I didn’t have the internet, so I couldn’t really stay in touch with the band’s outings, but at that same music store I found a copy of the newly release Aurora. Inviting me to a selection of breathtaking tracks, it was a slight change of direction, one that I didn’t understand right away, but slowly grew on me and slowly became my favourite album.

The band constantly toured, taking along with them some of Australia’s biggest acts before they were really known, such as I Killed The Prom Queen and Gyroscope, yet it always seemed that Antiskeptic were always just glossed over and forgotten about.

The band dissapeared for quite a long while, playing the odd show here or there and promising us a third album. Instead we were treated to the Monuments EP featuring the blistering track “Dancing On The Inside”, the affective “Helleujah” and the rockable “Hello Halo”. The boys were back in form

The fans were expecting the album to come out, but 2007 passed by with no release, and now the boys have handed in their resignation, effective from September 21th 2008.

Three major releases, all life changing, all amazing, and a backlisting of live favourites, Antiskeptic are truly Australia’s Music Treasure, and it hurts me to say goodbye.

I picked up my first guitar because of Antiskeptic, I started my first band because of Antiskeptic, my band is now playing shows because of Antiskeptic, and my goal was to one day support my heroes Antiskeptic. Unfortunately all dreams cannot come true my friends.

All I can say is, Goodbye and Goodnight to Australia’s brightest shining stars.

Best $10 Ever Spent?

$10 will buy you a lot these days, a pack of cigarettes, a large meal from McDonald’s, and depending on what part of town you live on it can probably get you a filthy street urchant to perform acts you’ve only seen on a scandleous video of a celebrity in a hotel room somewhere in Paris? What do all these things have in common? They all leave bad tastes in your mouth (or hers, even his if you’re into that kind of thing) and the same usually applies for games that only cost $10.

Trials 2 would be the exception to this rule. Trials 2 is this fun little game that has you riding a bike through courses that the Crusty Demons would be too shit scared to attmept, all while employing a realistic physics engine and online stat tracking worldwide. Each course slowly gets harder and harder and it’s one of those games that you can sit down to play for 15 minutes, and before you know it you have to get dressed to go to work as you haven’t been to bed yet.

Graphically it’s simple yet what it does have is done well. The flames, lighting and shadows are fantastic, sound effects are good and controls are simple. My favourite feature is the stats tracking and team competitions. Basically everyone who is playing trials 2 has an account, and every track they pass their time is recorded and placed on the worldwide rankings. This is great, I can see that while I’m not totally the best at number 1, I’m not the worst at 10424. But what you can do through the power of a friends list is create a TEAM to represent, and all of a sudden you are racing for your teams glory!

All in all want to spend a good $10 that doesn’t leave a bad taste in your mouth? Trials 2 is the way to go. Available for purchase through STEAM

Mario Kart: Wii

Mario has had a long career. Starting out over twenty years ago this middle aged, Italian plumber made a name for himself by stomping on mushrooms, saving a fine ass princess from a lizard/dinosaur/turtle shell wearing bad guy and eating mushrooms that made him grow. As with all careers Mario has changed jobs, starting out as a hero he then went into a deep depression of shitty assed games and spin offs titles after his last outing in the N64 days, relying on his sporting talents in Golf and Tennis, paying off some hookers and hosting party games for a certain white powdery substance.

 

Mario redeemed himself with the release of Mario Galaxy, a great outing that saw us go into the far reaches of outer space, once again to save the princess and the mushroom kingdom. I thoroughly enjoyed Mario Galaxy, but like having a third nipple, you are excited but already knew what to expect and while the implementation of gravity and story was good, it certainly wasn’t as mind blowing at Nintendo talked it up.

 

Once again we are hit with this syndrome with the newly released Mario Kart for the Nintendo Wii. As fate would have it while Mario spends a majority of his time trying to stop Bowser from taking over the Mushroom Kingdom, he also likes to spend three months of every year racing with him in the hills and remote sections of the kingdom. While not mind blowing, the most important ingredient to the game’s success is that it is fun and just works.

 

Basically it’s the same format we have come to expect, there are a bunch of different CUPS that all have a set of four tracks in which we race along to become the victor and unlock new vehicles and characters until we finally finish the game. Funnily enough this gameplay was fun when I was six and still is now. Nothing has really changed to the game mechanics, minus the addition of motorbikes this time around. They do drive differently compared to the karts, but once you get used to them you will be racing around like Lindsay Lohan in the middle of a DUI.

 

Implementation of multiple control methods is fantastic. Being able to play with the Gamecube or Classic Controller is a godsend, and makes veterans of the game feel right at home. The WiiWheel works well, but the operator needs to get used to the movement and feel of it all, but after an hour I found myself turning like a pro and feeling right at home, yet I still preferred the Classic Controller. But unfortunately for those of us who don’t adopt the WiiWheel, like the government giving disadvantaged autistic penguins a payment, the WiiWheel players have a feature that cannot be used by controller wielding players. When going off jumps a simple flick of the remote makes you perform a stunt and upon landing you get a speed boost. This is unable to be performed by players not using the WiiWheel setup, which is total bullocks.

 

So controls are great, gameplay is nothing new but still has that fun formula that we have become used to, how is the online features? Well to say that this is the best Online game I’ve played on the Wii thus far would be an understatement. While you still need to use the broken and utterly retarded friend code feature, you can see which friends are online, what they are doing and if you can join them which is a bonus. I played a game worldwide, once the twelve players had joined the game, each player was shown on a world map telling me where they were from. I was racing against four members from Japan, two in Germany and the rest were from England. We launched into the game and I was expecting a little lag, but none WHATSOEVER. Finally a Wii game online that simply works lag free, and what is more it’s fun. I soon found myself ditching the single player component all together and spending hours online.

 

Mario Kart has always been about multiplayer, so not only can you jump onto WFC by yourself, but you can also bring a friend along on the same console, double the online fun.

 

So what’s the verdict? While just spewing out more of the same, but adding in a few features and keeping the fun factor to a maximum Mario Kart Wii is a great step forward for a timeless series that has been replicated by other franchises but none of which compare to this classic. I would recommend it to just about anyone with opposable thumbs, that enjoys having Fun and has friends to play this online

 

8/10

 

 

Iriver Enters Mobile Market

Yet another Iphone wannabe touch screen device was unveiled at the GSMA Conference, this time from Iriver, popular PVP and MP3 player company.

Looking quite similar to their Personal Video Player the Iriver W7, the phone features a Linux Operating System, a 3 inch touch screen, featuring multmedia functions and GPS which is always handy.

First impressions have been lackluster, and dissapointing. The device is planned for release in Europe later this year

Microsofts Buy Out Spells The End of Sidekicks?

 

With the recent news that Microsoft have bought out mobile developer Danger, while I thought it could make the future of Sidekicks/Hiptops uncertain, I didn’t think we would see the effects of this so soon.

One of the coolest features with Sidekicks/Hiptops was the ability to upload photos via email directly from the device to your own personal HIPALBUM via the site www.hipalbum.com (feel free to check mine out www.hipalbum.com/?hellerphant). The managers of said site have come out an closed the website down with the following statement replacing the homepage

Feb 11th, 2008- Due to following: 1) Changes in the wireless landscape 2) Danger’s lack of innovation to take it’s phone to the next level 3) Server resources vs Funding. It no longer makes sense to have a website dedicated exclusively to Sidekicks. FYI, Danger/Sidekick has been bought by Microsoft which now leads to uncertain future for the Sidekick, Zune Phone? Regardless, Sidekick’s days are coming to an end. As for myself, I have been WITHOUT a Sidekick for close to 3 years. I have moved on to newer and much more advanced products. Currently I have a Helio Ocean which emcompases the lattest technology including real GPS aling with Google Maps as well as ability to shoot video and uploading it to YouTube in real-time without the need of a computer, these are just of the few innovations that Sidekick has failed to maintain. We are considering upgrading website to include multiple wireless products or a Premimum Members Only website, until then, accepting new pics via email has been suspended .All photos that is already on the website WILL remain online for viewing indefinately as it does not require much server resources to do so. Thanks for your understanding in this matter. Peace, Ke Thoi

So there you have it, with grammar and spelling errors, not to mention that really big advert for Helio in there! So if you have been getting UNDERLIVERABLE message while trying to upload photos, this is the reason. This could be the end of the Sidekick/Hiptop as we know it, what are your thoughts?