A new Nintendo advert for the DSi handheld has been unveiled from Wallace & Gromit creator Aardman Animations.

As well as advertising the device - with a little kid sticking it on his Christmas list - the video also showcases Fipnote Studio - a free downloadable application for the device - as that's what Aardman used to create the clip.

Hit play now to see the ad, and yes, you'll be pleased to hear, there is a happy ending.

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Tags: Gaming Nintendo DSi Video Aardman Advertising

VIDEO: Aardman makes Nintendo DSi ad with Flipnote Studio originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:16:41 +0000

Activision Blizzard, the publishers of the ultra-successful World of Warcraft MMORPG, will be launching a series of TV ads for the game in Europe. A series in the US a while back featured William Shatner, Mr T, Verne Troyer, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Willy Toledo.

Only one of the European ones has appeared so far, featuring the man and mohawk that is Mr T. He confirms in the ad that Europe will be getting a "mohawk grenade" that players can throw at people to turn their heads into a night elf with a mohawk.

There's a second, similar commercial too, which scan's Mr T's head and hair, before declaring it perfect. Both should be showing on British TV screens from now - in time to convince parents to buy their kids a subscription for Christmas. At least we assume that's the idea...

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Tags: Gaming World of Warcraft Mr T Advertising Adverts Video

VIDEO: World of Warcraft's Mr T ad originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:10:49 +0000

If you're a gamer, any money off a must-have title is a bonus, so today's tech deal will show you how to get a cheeky 9% cashback on all the goodies on offer at Game.co.uk.

To do this you'll have to join Quidco, subsequently when you click through to Game.co.uk via their website your account will be refunded within 8 weeks.

Just to whet your appetites some of the titles you can get discounts for include: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Assassin's Creed 2, Fifa 10, Forza Motorsport 3 and Lego Batman.

If you fancy it, click through on this link that'll take you through to the Quidco site, offer runs until the 2 December.

Tags: Gaming Quidco GAME Daily Tech Deal

Daily Tech Deal: Quidco offer discounted games at GAME originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0000

The Xbox 360 has been given a makeover by a group of Swedes that go under the Industri Repro moniker.

The Xbox Elegant Edition, or XBEE, takes a horizontal approach and adds three 120mm cooling fans.

The designers will make you one up - no doubt for a pretty price - but there's no plans to mass-make the machine.

Is the case mod an improvement? Have your say in the comments box below...

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Tags: Gaming Xbox 360 Industri Repro

Xbox 360 "Elegant Edition" mod revealed originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 26 Nov 2009 16:04:10 +0000

A 23-year-old man from Avon & Somerset has been arrested for theft of gaming accounts in the MMORPG RuneScape. The man is alleged to have "hacked and misappropriated" players' accounts, and was caught after developers Jagex reported the issues to the Police Central e-crime Unit.

The accounts are stolen by the use of phishing sites, which mimic official websites and ask players to input their usernames and passwords, which are logged. The thief then changes the password on the account to lock the original owner out. The problem is common in many online multiplayer games as players can have equipment and characters worth hundreds of pounds.

Jagex's CEO said: "Jagex maintains a specialist team to combat any law breaking within our games.?Where there is any evidence to suggest someone has committed a crime, as is clearly the case with any phishing or hijacking, we work closely with law enforcement agencies around the world to bring these people to account".

"Players invest years of time and effort into developing their RuneScape character so the theft of a RuneScape account shouldn’t be treated differently to the theft of any other valuable possessions such as a games console, television or car. Our internal investigations revealed that just a handful of individuals are responsible for over 95% of all account hijacking in RuneScape".

A police spokesperson confirmed: "A 23-year-old man was arrested in Avon & Somerset on the morning of Tues 24 Nov by officers from the Police Central e-crime Unit, following an allegation that a number of RuneScape gaming accounts had been hacked and misappropriated".

"People who seek to destroy others online gaming experience could be committing criminal offences, leaving themselves liable to prosecution. The PCeU will continue to work with the industry and investigate these allegations where appropriate".

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Tags: Gaming Online Runescape Jagex Security Viruses And Malware

UK man arrested for video game account theft originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:35:28 +0000

We're spreading the word of what looks to be a pretty decent PC games-bundle offer today - and one that is likely to appeal, in particular, to those of you who enjoy war as the driving theme.

Steam is offering 18 different titles to download - since all purchases are delivered digitally - all bundled together for a very reasonable ?26.49. With an individual price of ?209.82 and a usual package price of ?52.99 this "Early Holiday Sale" seems pretty decent.

Titles include Company of Heroes, Red Faction Guerrilla and various releases from the Warhammer 40,000 series.

The offer is for today only and there is a link here which will take you through to the deal - enabling you to have a good look at all the titles on offer and join up if you're not already a member.?

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Tags: Gaming PC games Steam Red Faction Guerrilla Daily Tech Deal

Daily Tech Deal: PC games bundle half price at Steam originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0000

We've already brought you the perfect gift guide for PC gamers but today is the turn of the console lovers and there are many, many, many of them out there. Quick show of hands? Yep. Many.

Each of the three big players in the field have all sorts of accessories all of their own, but what we've done here is to come up with a list as universal as possible. So, whether it's PS3,Wii or Xbox you'll find 10 excellent presents right here. Enjoy.

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Points & Subscriptions

Whether it's for downloadable content, new outfits for your avatar or for movie rentals, everyone needs virtual points for their console of choice, with their upkeep is probably one of the biggest bug bears for gamers. You can never have too many. So whether it's Nintendo Wii Points, PSN Live Cards, Xbox Live Points or even an Xbox Live Gold subscription, you can guarantee that it will be appreciated.

Memory

Slightly less exciting this one but nearly as important is getting more memory space to save all your gaming adventures and whatever content you may have downloaded and can't bring yourself to prune. As far as the Xbox goes, a nice big 120GB expansion pack for ?56 would be very well appreciated and you can get just about any kind of SD card for the Wii that you have the budget for. The PS3 involves a little more effort for your giftee than the other two, but present them a whopping great 2.5-inch 500GB HDD like this one and they'll happily work their way through a simple online tutorial of how to upgrade it themselves.

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Controllers

There are tonnes of these things for all three of the consoles and it really depends on what your gamer does and doesn't already have. For the Wii, the obvious new addition is the Wii Motion Plus for finer movement sensitivity or you might find that an extra Wii Remote and/or a Nunchuck could well go down well if they only have one already.

On top of that, the Nintendo console is an absolute magnet for all sorts of weird, wonderful and very game specific devices such as bowling balls, machine guns, babies, jogging devices and of course, the Balance Board.

Comparatively, it's all rather more sedate on the Xbox but a racing wheel for the 360 is available if you think that a more useful wireless controller might be dull. It's a similar situation on the PS3, but if you happen to know what game your loved one is into then something like the Modern Warfare 2 controller or the Street Fighter IV game pad would be a well chosen idea.

Battery Packs & Chargers

There's little more annoying than the batteries on your wireless remotes running out, particularly when in mid-gaming flow. Multiply that by 20 if there are no spares in the house.

With the PS3, you're rather stuck with what's inside, so the best gifts here are the docking stations with models like the Venom Pyramid and more standard look dual charger to choose from. Neither costs much, they get rid of the cables, they look quite nice and they generally encourage you to remember to charge up your kit.

There's some choice with the Nintendo Wii. The Wiimote power packs are, of course, removable and a two pack of spares will only cost around ?14. That's enough for a two-player change mid-contest which buys enough time to remember to put the next lot on charge. For an absolute bargain, you can even go for a four-way charging dock which even comes with four spare battery packs too. All for just over ?20.

For the Xbox 360, there's a few different schools of thought. Each works equally well. The unexciting but practical suggestion is to by a job lot of AA batteries. After that, the choice is between the completely wireless Quick Charge station for around ?17 or the Charge and Play kit for ?13. Both solutions are excellent and either way, make sure to pick up a couple of spare battery packs.

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Headsets

Online play is now a massive part of gaming, so a headset to communicate with team mates is a must. The more wireless the better and the one of choice for the PS3 would be the Logitech Vantage Bluetooth headset. It's got a noise-cancelling mic, delivers more than 12 hours of play time and recharges via USB or a wall adaptor. Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR and complete cordless freedom up to 30 feet. Yours, or theirs actually, for ?17.99.

For the Wii, it's arguably less important with a much smaller number of games that use the Nintendo headset Wii Speak. Nonetheless, it's a decent addition to the console and only ?14 as well.

Last of all, the Xbox 360. There are plenty available and you don't have to spend the cash if you'd rather go for the standard wireless ones but the best headset in town is the Turtle Beach Ear Force X3. It's got an excellent boom mic system eliminating bleed and background noise, really thumping bass and they look good too. Around ?80, but worth it.

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Gaming Chair

It's tempting to go with a suped-up stereo rocker seat for bum-buzzing game involvement but, in actual fact, a lot of these things aren't actually that comfortable which is rather the point in the first place. If you do want to go down this route though, then the Pyramat Game Bag 2.1 is more bottom friendly than most, but instead we'd rather recommend the pure massive cushions of the Sumo Omni bag or the IEX Game Bag. All three around ?100. If you can really afford it though, then it's all about a La-z-boy.

Slanket

Winter's setting in and sitting still under the hypnosis of the console can be a little chilly. The ultimate antidote is the Slanket. The fleecy half dressing gown, half blanket bundle of goodness gives you total body coverage while allowing easy access to your game controller and bio-fuels. There's even a double version out specially for this Christmas but the single will probably do.

Faceplates

No, this is nothing to do with the gamer's face but instead are a bunch of stick on fronts to personalise ones game controllers. You can get them for just about any big name games you could care to think of and the best part is that they don't cost much either. Perhaps not the best choice for the older gamer but they might just rock a kid's world.

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Bags

Sometimes, you want to take your machines round to some Luddite's place who doesn't yet have a games console. Now, it's easy enough to stuff your unit into one backpack or another but there's nothing quite like using a bag that's been specially built for the job.

The Enigma Wii bag isn't hugely exciting but it has excellent compartments for all the bits and pieces and is both highly competent in its task and pretty damn cheap at just ?12. Things get a little more stylish for the PS3 with the 4Gamers messenger bag but the Xbox is probably where it's at with slightly more colourful merch such as this one.

Games!

Yes, of course. We wouldn't forget the most important part. Now, make sure you find out what your loved one has already got, but new titles we'd recommend are: Modern Warfare 2, Dragon Age: Origins, Uncharted 2, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Battlefield 1943, DJ Hero, Left 4 Dead 2, Wii Sports Resort and Wii Fit Plus, amongst many others.

Or...

...of course, if you feel really flush and actually want to buy someone an entire games console or anything else for that matter, then take a look our Top Products section which will help guide you through to a suitable model and offer you only the best of the ones Pocket-lint's reviewed. And, as always, if you have any red hot tips for gift ideas of your own, then do let us know in the comments below. Good luck.

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Related links:

• Features - 10 perfect Christmas presents for...Apple Mac fans
• Features - 10 perfect Christmas presents for...laptop addicts
• Features - 101 life-saving Christmas shopping websites

Tags: Gaming Christmas Features Xbox 360 Xbox Nintendo Wii Wii PlayStation PS3 PS3 slim games hardware Controllers

10 perfect Christmas presents for...console gamers originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:33:39 +0000

Right, let's see how many 7s we can cram into this post. MSI currently offers 7 different series of laptop. The E, C, P, Wind, V, A and G series. The last one is for gaming, and has just been bolstered by the addition of the GT740 and the GT640.

Both are high-end machines, with Intel Core i7 processors, Nvidia GeForce GTS 250M 3D?graphics cards, 4GB of DDR3 memory, 640GB hard disks, Blu-ray drives and Windows 7 Home Premium. The 740 comes with the addition of 5.1 surround sound, and a 17-inch display, whereas the 640 has a 15.4-inch display and just two speakers.

The GT740 weighs 3.2kg, which is relatively svelte for a 17-inch gaming laptop. The GT640, with its smaller screen, is a little lighter at 2.7kg. Both come in black and red with brushed metal texturing.

The GT740 costs ?1400 and will be available in November, whereas you'll have to wait until December for the slightly smaller ?1349 GT640. We count 13 7s in this post, including the one in this sentence and in the title. Not bad.

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Tags: Hardware Laptops Gaming MSI MSI GT740 MSI GT640

MSI launches GT740 and GT640 gaming notebooks originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:34:58 +0000

Microsoft's latest software update that brought with it Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm, the Zune Marketplace and?Sky Player?in the UK is turning their gamers into social butterflies according to the latest figures released by the company.

Microsoft?has said that over 2 million Xbox gamers logged into their facebook profile on the console since the social network became available on the 17 November.

In a bevy of stats which suggest that gamers aren’t just gamers, Microsoft has said that users also made over 1 million Last.fm profiles, spending approximately 40 minutes using Last.fm on Xbox LIVE to discover music and customise radio stations, and have streamed more than 120 million minutes of music already.

Microsoft, who says it has around 20 million active members around the world also saw around 8% visit the new Zune video store, however they haven't stated how many actually watched anything.

They are still playing games though. More than 2.2 million unique gamers played "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" in one day on 10 November, the day of the launch, a new one-day record for Xbox LIVE the company says.

Related links:

• Link - Xbox.com

Tags: Gaming Xbox 360 Xbox Live Facebook Twitter Lastfm Microsoft Social networking

Xbox 360 gamers actually social butterflies originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:51:24 +0000

Razer has announced the new "Imperator" gaming mouse with "contours and grooves specifically crafted to enhance aggressive mousing movements made by gamers".

A right-handed ergonomic mouse aimed at palm and fingertip gamers, Razer promises "your grip stays locked and planted no matter how often you lift and swipe your mouse while playing".

Boasting adjustable side buttons that slide and lock into the "ideal thumb position", the new mouse also gets a 5600dpi Razer Precision 3.5G laser sensor.

Available online now, the Imperator will see a December retail debut for around $80 or 70 euros.

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Tags: Hardware Mice Razer Video Gaming

VIDEO: The Razer Imperator gaming mouse announced originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:46:54 +0000

A new football game instigates yet another opening paragraph proclaiming the state of sporting video game nation. With FIFA 10 being so damn brilliant, Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer series has a whole heap of catching up to do.

Most immediately striking are those almost unnervingly accurate player likenesses. Obviously a lot of time has been spent lavishing graphical goodness on some of the world's greatest players, as a chunky number of them look ridiculously close to their real life counterpart. Players like Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres and Lionel Messi appear almost identical to the players they’re trying to mimic.

Unfortunately things take a phenomenally rapid plummet downwards when these superstars of the footballing world decide they fancy a jog around. The straight backed sprinting remains intact, and continues to look comically terrible and startlingly unrealistic.

Similarly, while the 360 degrees of movement introduced in FIFA 10 was implemented with an incredibly high level of success, in PES 2010 things aren’t quite so impressive. Though more movement variations are possible, there’s no doubt whatsoever that the full 360 degrees simply can’t be explored to the maximum. Something certainly not helped by the computer's insistence to stick to the traditional 8 directions we’ve contended with for many years.

While in control of things out on the pitch, things continue to be hit and miss. Dribbling feels stilted and on rails, and passing still has the continued obsession with aiming towards a player nowhere near your chosen intention. Yet shooting, coming from someone who has extensively played the FIFA series over the last few years, feels fantastically weighty and packed with inertia.

The pace of each match up certainly feels a lot faster than its FIFA opponent, with local multiplayer games in particular absolutely jam packed with frantic penalty box action.

The AI however doesn’t exactly give a helping hand to proceedings, with some particularly dodgy goalkeeping spoiling the party. A number of long range efforts right at the keeper were simply "kneed in" by a flailing ‘keeper, seemingly oblivious that he has the opportunity to utilise his hands in stopping the ball.

Similarly, your fellow pros on the pitch aren’t too bright either. They’ll refuse to make the obvious runs, neglect to mark the opponent in their area of the pitch, and simply try and make it as difficult as possible for you to score.

It’s an odd situation for a series that always offered a decent single player experience, thanks to the (still included) Master League. All the options remain to really test your gaming metal long-term, but the AI you’ll come up against is so random, awkward, and seemingly lacking in any real quality and skill that Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 is essentially a multiplayer-only title.

Which makes the online problems all the more damning. Despite promises that this year we’d be back to the kind of smooth online experience the series enjoyed back on the original Xbox, lag still regularly ruins games and makes almost every online experience fraught with frustration.

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Verdict:

One day we’re sure that Konami will once again come up with the magic footballing formula, but once again we’re left lacking a next generation Pro Evolution Soccer experience that anyone could recommend.

AI is universally poor, animation is sometimes laughable, and every facet of the entire game is at least a step behind the FIFA series. A real shame as this year had looked to be a tight call.

Tags: Gaming Sports games PS3 Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 Konami

Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 - PS3 originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:01:44 +0000

A mobile phone gaming company has delivered a blow to the Android platform - in PR terms at the very least - by unfavourably comparing it to Apple's rival offering and revealing it is to cut funding for its Android products.

A senior executive from the French company Gameloft is quoted by Reuters whilst at an investor conference as revealing Gameloft sells 400 times more games on iPhone than it does on Android.

"We have significantly cut our investment in Android platform, just like ... many others", Gameloft finance director Alexandre de Rochefort said, suggesting other games companies were seeing similar results.

"It is not as neatly done as on the iPhone. Google has not been very good to entice customers to actually buy products. On Android nobody is making significant revenue".

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Tags: Phones Mobile phone games Android Gameloft Biz iPhone apps Android Marketplace Google Gaming

Gameloft: iPhone game sales 400 times that of Android originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:43:09 +0000

The Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards are back, letting you know what the best products of 2009 really are.

Now in its sixth year, the Pocket-lint Awards, thought to be the longest running in the UK, pick the best gadgets and gizmos from the last year from around the world.

Pocket-lint's vigorous vetting process means that all the gadgets up for nomination have to have been seen by a member of the Pocket-lint team (so far over 600) and have to have been available in the UK between December 2008 and December 2009.

The awards, voted by a panel of leading gadget journalists from around the world, including the staff from the Pocket-lint team, will decide the real must-have gadgets of the year, rather than those simply deemed cool or anticipated, being the definitive guide for consumers looking to buy gadgets.

Nominations for the award categories are being taken now and the final list of nominations (five per category)?will be announced on Monday 16 November with the winners being announced at the awards party on 7 December 2009.?

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TICKET DETAILS

You are welcome to buy as many tickets as you like, and can bring journalists and others from your company.

We will be providing drink and nibbles on the night.

Tickets will be on a first come first served basis.

So just to recap:

What:?The 6th Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards?
Where:?The Light Bar, E1?
When:?7pm Monday 7th December?
Dress:?Smart casual (not black tie)?
Price:??25 a ticket
Drinks/nibbles:?Included?

Any queries etc give me a shout on email or phone.

Stuart

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Tags: Audio Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 Pocket-lint Awards

Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards date confirmed and tickets on sale originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:13:14 +0000

Black Friday, the notorious shopping day from hell, is almost upon us. Akin to the first day of the January sales in the UK, it's the day where Americans across the land battle their way into the malls of America to get the best deals available from shops keen to kick start the holiday (read Christmas) shopping season.

Here is Louis Ramirez from Dealnews, a site that aims to bring you the best deals available on the hottest items on the Internet, 10 best tips to help you maximise your efforts when you hit the shops the day after Thanksgiving.

Start your Black Friday on Thursday

The "big-box" stores will have most of their Black Friday sales online on Thursday. Our number one Black Friday tip is to begin shopping online on Thursday, as early as possible (if you live on the West Coast, start Wednesday night at 9 pm).

Shop online on Black Friday too

Major online retailers like Amazon.com, Buy.com, and Overstock.com will have Black Friday sales. Expect to find aggressively-priced electronics from each store.

Don't buy Apple before you check Apple's sale ? ? ? ?

Apple hardly ever slashes its prices, but if you're hoping to pick up a new iPod touch, look for the Apple Store's Black Friday sale, a tradition that's been running for several years. Apple typically offers discounts of 10% off iPods and 5% off Macs during its Black Friday sale.

Uncover the secret deals

Want to score a deal no one knows about? On Thanksgiving Day, retailers like Walmart and Best Buy are expected to advertise additional Black Friday deals that weren't in their circulars. These "secret" deals will only be found online (e.g., at BestBuy.com), so the trick is to uncover them on the Web on Thursday so you'll know about them when you get to the store on Friday.

Ask for gift receipts

Nothing is worse than giving a gift on Christmas morning and realizing it's the same sweater you gave them last year. In those cases it pays to have your receipts so you can exchange your gift for something your loved ones really want. Better yet, attach gift receipts with your presents so that they can return their gifts themselves while you kick back and relax at home.

Be wary of mail-in rebate hassles

If you never remember to fill out rebate forms in time, then that $1000 item with a $300 rebate costs $1000, not $700. Also be wary that some manufacturers and store chains are still struggling in this bad economy. If they go into bankruptcy, you won't get paid.

Buy highly-sought after items ahead of time

Afraid a product is going to sell out? Find out your store's return policy, and if they honour Black Friday prices and offer price matching, buy your item there before Black Friday. That way when Black Friday comes, you'll already have the item you want and can leisurely look for deals on that item (which, naturally, your store will have to match).

Do your homework

No one wants to sit in traffic on Black Friday, so make sure to map out the stores that you want to hit. Know when they open, when they close, and if applicable, what hours during the day their best sales will take place. Plan on buying a massive flat-panel TV? Make sure your car has the space you need to store it so that you don't waste time shuttling purchases back home.

Be first in line

Some stores will hand out first-in-line vouchers for shoppers who wake up at the crack of dawn and stand in line outside their store. These deals are typically substantial, but very limited. The only way to get them is getting up early so you can get a leg up on the competition. Hey, there's a reason we listed that sleeping bag/tent bundle last week.

Be wary of extended warranties & in-home installations

These services are a big source of profits for the stores. Add them, and you may spend much more than you initially bargained for. Don't be talked into buying a long, pricey warranty if you know a 1-year or 2-year plan will do the trick. And it's cheaper to buy a geeky friend dinner in exchange for help than paying for in-home setup.

You can check out more Black Friday deals at Dealnews's Black Friday homepage?

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Tags: Gadgets Home Cinema Audio Gaming Black Friday Features

How to: Shop Black Friday originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0000

Sony's latest advert for the?PlayStation 3 Slim?will push its Blu-ray credentials in the US by telling consumers, possibly looking to buy the console, that really you're paying for the gaming bits and the Blu-ray player is free.

"You get the best Blu-ray player around built in for free", says the Sony man to some punk ass whiny teenager complaining that his grandma is watching Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

In December, consumers will have access to the first ever hybrid disc that will feature Sony Pictures' District 9 movie and a demo of God of War 3.

The ad airs in the US next week.?

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Tags: Gaming PS3 Adverts Sony PS3 slim Blu-ray Video

Sony: "PS3 Blu-ray built in for free" originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:12:59 +0000

Asus has announced the launch of the world's first Nvidia 3D Vision notebook, the G51J, that offers a 3D experience on the small screen with the help of special glasses.

A niche offering to say the least, it's notable for offering a 120Hz 3D Vision-capable display for on-the-go 3D, although how much the bragging rights to owning that tech will cost when it goes on sale in December is still TBC.

The Nvidia 3D Vision set-up comprises of wireless glasses, a wide-range IR emitter, and what's said to be "advanced software that transforms hundreds of PC games into full stereoscopic 3D experiences".

Owners of the laptop can get boggle-eyed with more than 400 PC games that work out of the box with Nvidia system including such titles as Resident Evil 5, Borderlands, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, Batman: Arkham Asylum, and Star Trek D-A-C.

Other features of the G51J, aside from its obvious USP, include an Intel Core i7 processor, 64-bit Windows 7 and Altec Lansing speakers.

Nvidia says it's also working with the likes of LG ad Samsung on 3D displays with both companies promising products coming soon, while in the wider 3D laptop market, Acer has gone down a different route with its Aspire 5738DG 3D notebook.

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Tags: Hardware Laptops Asus Nvidia 3D Nvidia 3D Vision Gaming

Asus G51J Nvidia 3D Vision notebook announced originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:26:18 +0000

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Welcome to day 3 of the Pocket-lint Christmas gift guide bonanza. So we've got photographers covered and laptop addicts, but today is the turn of the gift guide for the PC gamer in your life. If you can coax these people down and away from COD or their meaty World of Warcraft habit, then you might want to give them one of our suggestions for the perfect gifts for PC gamers. Do go easy on them though. They probably won't actually realise it's Christmas Day.

Novint Falcon & Pistol Grip

How do you make Left 4 Dead even better than it already is? The answer: play it with the Novint Falcon pistol grip mouse controller complete with authentic recoil action. There's a school of purists that don't believe these items can compete with a trusty mouse but then there's a whole load of added fun they're missing out on. The tricky part is that these things are really quite difficult to get hold of. You can get the standard Novint Falcon shipped over from the States for $190 but the $20 pistol grips are very often out of stock. Keep your eyes on eBay and one might just come up.

Logitech G9X/Razor Naga mouse

Failing the Falcon, or if indeed your gamer is not a first person shooter fan, then a high quality mouse can also be worth its weight in gold. The Logitech G9X is a solid classic but, if you really want to impress, buy the 80 euro Razor Naga which has been specially designed for MMORPGs. It's got a whopping 17 buttons - left and right click, scroll wheel, the regular forward and back buttons on the sides, and also a pad consisting of another twelve buttons on the left hand side.

Naga, in case you're wondering, is Sanskrit for "snake", and is also the name of a prominent group of baddies in World of Warcraft. Best of all, it comes with an add-on for WoW that shows a grid and allows you to dynamically pick which spells correspond to the side buttons.

Logitech G110 Keyboard

If they've already got the perfect mouse covered, then the next port of call is the keyboard. Again, the Logitech is a good way to go with the Logitech G110 gaming keyboard. It has media controls, illuminated keys and 12 macro buttons but it adds a number of features of its own, too.

There's an integrated USB audio device in the unit, which will allow you to use a headset that has 3.5mm jacks as a USB audio device, providing clearer sound. Many gamers find that the plugs in their cases will "buzz" due to electrical interference, but this should solve that issue. There's also an extra USB port on the rear of the keyboard, and a "gaming mode" toggle switch that will disable the windows and menu keys so that you don't accidentally press them while mid-match. Very useful. You can pick one up for ?70 and make any gamer's day.

Logitech G13 Advanced Gamepad

Without trying to sound too Logitech sponsored all of a sudden, the US peripherals expert does offer a combi solution in the shape of the Logitech G13 gamepad. It's got three game modes, 25 programmable keys and a programmable analogue stick with 87 ways for you to control your game. You can even set up custom button-profiles and create macros without having to pause the game. There's also a 160 x 43 pixel GamePanel LCD for live game stats and system info, and backlit keys, with hundreds of colours to choose from. Finally, they've also crammed in some onboard memory, which enables you to program up to five ready-to-play profiles, and pre-configured settings for all the PC gaming faves. Days of over-complicated fun for just ?51.

Acer V193WBb Monitor

Monitors are one of the major keys to the whole experience and as much as we might recommend the likes of the stunning LG W2353, it is rather on the expensive side at ?170. Instead, at around the ?90 mark you can still get something very decent indeed like the Acer V193WBb 19-inch TFT-LCD display. It's got a 5ms response time to cut down on ghosting, a 1440 x 900 resolution and a nice vibrant contrast of 10,000:1. If that's going to break the budget still, you can get smaller version for more like ?60, just remember to check resolution, contrast and response times and the rest should follow.

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Creative Inspire T6160 speakers

Soundwise, there's two options for excellence and this is one of them. The Creative Inspire T6160 speaker system is particularly aimed at gamers and movie fans, and offers vivid 5.1 cinematic surround sound. Creative has a very good name of late in the PC speaker department and, best of all, for such an impressive audio array, you only have to fork out ?55. Plenty of bang for your buck.

Sennheiser PC151 headset

Of course, if you happen to live with said PC gamer, you can actually spend around the same amount of money for your own personal peace and quiet. Sennheiser provides two, high quality level, on-ear, closed-cup headphones designed for gamers. Both sets are wired, for better and more reliable sound quality, and come with built-in booms for easy team talk. The PC151 you can pick up for as little as ?26 while the PC161, although definitely better, probably don't quite represent the same level of value at ?67. It all depends how much you love your gamer.

4GB DDR3 RAM

More memory. You can never have enough of the stuff. The good thing here is that you're already buying something that you know the other person has got and they'll still welcome it with open arms. The tricky part is getting the right stuff. If you buy any old RAM module for them, it simply isn't going to work. So, sneak into your friend/loved one's place in the dead of night and note down the make and model of their PC. Then head over to sites like this one and it'll tell you exactly what you need to go and get. DDR3 is the preferable choice at the moment.

Corsair H50-1 CPU Watercooler

Overheating is a serious issue for gamers, especially if they've started over stuffing their machines full of memory that they just got for Christmas. One excellent solution that's recently got a lot cheaper to get hold of is watercooler systems to keep your CPU temperature down. The added bonus is that they're a darn site quieter than the less efficient air cool fan systems too. Probably the best budget option is the Corsair H50-1 which delivers great performance at just under ?70.

Games!

Obvious one really but there have been so many good releases recently that there's a very good chance that your gamer isn't going to have them all. Ones we recommend include Modern Warfare 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Borderlands, Batman Arkham Asylum, Dragon Age: Origins or even a few months subscription for WoW. While we're on the subject. A year's worth of a good gaming magazine might be nice as well.

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Or...

...of course, if you feel really flush and actually want to buy someone a computer - lucky old them - then take a look our Top Products section which will help guide you through to a suitable model and offer you only the best of the ones Pocket-lint's reviewed. And, as always, if you have any red hot tips for gift ideas of your own, then do let us know in the comments below. Good luck.

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Related links:

• Features - 101 life-saving Christmas shopping websites
• Features - 10 perfect Christmas presents for...photographers
• Features - 10 perfect Christmas presents for...laptop addicts

Tags: Gaming Christmas Features PC gaming PC games PC accessories Hardware

10 perfect Christmas presents for...PC gamers originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:09:41 +0000

In Japan, Sony has outlined basic plans for a new online store that, if the plans pan out, will manage to rival iTunes, Amazon, YouTube and Flickr - at least for Sony customers.

Sony Online Service, as it's been dubbed at this early stage, will offer digital content including music, movies, and books as well as other downloadable applications for Sony's entire range of products and will be based on Sony's popular PlayStation Network offering for the gaming side of its business.

A movie into this kind of software - if done well - is seen as a clever way for Sony to improve its fortunes: "Sony has been too focused on hardware", Tokai Tokyo Research Center analyst Osamu Hirose told BusinessWeek.

"It has to focus on networked products [and] delivering digital entertainment to consumers".

Sony will try one interesting way to try and differentiate its service from iTunes, or other such offerings, by giving users the chance to also upload media, such as home made video, photos and "other digital content " to their personal online accounts.

We will keep you posted on this one.

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Tags: Software Sony iTunes Audio YouTube Home Cinema Gaming Playstation Network Sony Online Service

Sony Online Service iTunes rival announced originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:44:02 +0000

Want to know what's been hot in the world of technology and gadgets today? Of course you do. The news roundup always aims to bring you a nice mix of the stories from the last 24 hours and today is no exception as we have a myriad of news as well as a cheeky review creeping in there.

First up is the story that Sony Ericsson's Nexus Android skin - designed to give a? more graphical user interface - might be available on devices other than the Xperia X10. Keeping with the Xperia X10 theme, if you're keen to find out some initial thoughts on the new handset you'll want to check out our First-Look review.

There's also news that the Apple tablet has been delayed due to the introduction of an OLED screen, the Nokia N900 goes on sale in the US minus a carrier for $649 and the Sony Reader Daily Edition is now available for pre-order.? Here are the top stories from the last 24 hours:

• NEWS:Sony Ericsson's Nexus Android skin promised for more devices
• NEWS:Apple tablet delayed by late decision to add OLED display
• NEWS:Nokia N900 goes on sale in US
• NEWS:PS3 Remote Play for Android "makes sense"
• NEWS:MS Office 2010 beta now available
• REVIEW:Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mobile phone - First Look
• NEWS:TomTom for iPhone updated
• NEWS:Sony Reader Daily Edition available for pre-order
• NEWS:Want a big TV? Don't move to California
• NEWS:WEBSITE OF THE DAY - Fingertips

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Tags: Audio Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness

Daily news roundup: Xperia X10, Apple tablet, Nokia N900 and more originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:29:22 +0000

It is perhaps testament to the wacky world of Wii that we're not entirely sure if this is a spoof, or if it is in fact a new religion-themed game for Nintendo's games system due Easter next year - but if it is real and we've offended anyone in our confusion, we're sorry.

As you'll see from the video above "Mass: We Pray" is presented as a new family Wii game that brings the church experience to your living room with appropriately themed accessories such as a crucifix-shaped controller and a Kneeler accessory.

"A family shouldn't have to wait until Sunday to worship the Lord. Now you can go to church every day without leaving your home", says Prayer Works Interactive, supposedly a new game development company founded in Boston in 2007.

Too bonkers to be true? Or perfectly plausible for the American Bible Belt market? Have your say in the comments box below.

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Tags: Gaming Nintendo Wii Prayer Works Interactive Mass We Pray Video

VIDEO: Mass: We Pray brings the fun of church to the Wii originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:45:16 +0000

Microsoft has announced that its Xbox festival - Xtival - will be returning in late November. Running across 27 to 29 November - Friday, Saturday, and Sunday - the festival is a celebration of gaming, movies and music that takes place on Xbox Live.

For the duration of the weekend, anyone with a free Xbox Live silver account will see it temporarily upgraded to the Gold version, so you can play with the recently launched Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm and Sky Player functionality. It'll also mean that you'll be able to play online games with other Xbox 360 owners.

On the music side, the Xtival will be showcasing a live gig from DJ Ti?sto, along with interviews and the chance to download excerpts from the forthcoming Metallica DVD. There'll be classic concerts from Run DMC and ZZ Top, as well as a video EP from the Prodigy.

And lastly on the cinema stage there'll be a 4-minute trailer from James Cameron's forthcoming "Avatar" available for 5 days. Alongside, there'll be various free downloads, competitions, and Xtival themed backgrounds and gamerpics.

Xtival runs from 27 to 29 November on Xbox Live.

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Tags: Gaming Microsoft Xbox 360 Xbox Live Xtival

Xbox 360's Xtival weekend returns originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:33:23 +0000

Sony Ericsson has hinted that it could launch a "PS3" app similar to that found on the Sony Ericsson Aino handset launched earlier in the year for the Android OS, when the company's new?Xperia X10?handset launches in February.

"It makes a lot of sense for it to be on other handsets", said Christopher David, head of developer and partner engagement at Sony Ericsson, before backing up that statement with an "it should be expected".

It is not certain at this time whether an app, if developed, would be restricted to the X10 and Nexus UX platform or be available to all?Android?handsets, but could mean that phone users opting for devices sporting the Google Android OS could access their PlayStation 3 and stream content to their phone from around the world, in a similar way to the Sony Ericsson phone or the PSP console.

The phone, which packs the same DLNA and wireless connectivity as the Aino, before building on the specs with a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset and 4-inch screen, would be a perfect hardware device for such an app, something that David acknowledges.

"For it to work you would need wireless and DLNA connectivity," said David, after we tried to lure more than an "it's possible" answer from the man, when asked to engage in the new Sony Ericsson Nexus UX platform for the X10.

As for other apps to expect in the future? David was keeping quiet, however we did get a chuckle and acknowledgement of a "good question asked" as to whether Sony Ericsson's Play Now store, that allows users to download movies and music, would get an Android app of its own.

"You never know", was the official response with a wry smile.?

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Tags: Gaming Phones Mobile phones Mobile phone apps Sony Android PS3 Sony Ericsson Xperia X10

PS3 Remote Play for Android "makes sense" originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:23:13 +0000

A new Apple job advert is leading to all kinds of speculation around the Web as to what the consumer electronics giant is up to.

The Cupertino-based company is currently recruiting for a "Game/Media Software Engineer", a full-time position based at its Californian headquarters.

Apple wants the new staff member to work on "interactive multimedia experiences on the iPhone and iPod touch".

With being a "passionate gamer" a must, Apple is requesting that the candidate have experience of working on at least one "AAA title".

Is Apple about to branch wholesale into games development for its iPhone platform?

This seems unlikely considering the wealth of top quality games available from developers happy to do the hard work for a lucrative slot in the App Store.

Wilder speculation suggests the company needs an in-house bod to develop games for the much-rumoured iPad for its on-stage demo debut, as tasking a third party with such a job would leave the famously secretive company's future plans open to a leak.

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Read

Related links:

• Link - Apple

Tags: Gaming Apple iPhones Phones Hardware iPad iTablet Rumours Software

Apple advertises for mystery games engineer originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:15:40 +0000

The Vodafone Pocket-lint Awards 2009 public vote is now live, letting you - our valued readers - have your say in which gadgets you think should be crowned top for 2009.

As you will see over on the voting page, each of the nine categories has five products that have been nominated as the best of the year.

We need your help to narrow the five down to one overall winner for each category, the result of which will be announced at our Awards ceremony on 7 December.

The public vote will count towards 10% of the overall scores, with the other 90% weighting from the official Pocket-lint judges (a panel of industry professionals from around the globe) so your vote will make a real difference to the final winners.

Head over to the voting page now where there's simple instructions on how to cast your vote and stay tuned for the results on 7 December.

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Tags: Audio Pocket-lint Awards Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness

Vodafone Pocket-lint Awards 2009 public vote is now live originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:30:29 +0000

The countdown to?CES 2010, the biggest electronics trade show on the planet, has begun, but what can we expect from the show, and what should we start to get excited about? Here are six areas that are going to dominate the news come January.

Don't forget, Pocket-lint will be bringing you all the news, reviews, comment, photos and video as it happens in the run up to CES and live from Las Vegas for the duration of the show.

You can bookmark our CES coverage at pocket-lint.com/CES2010

Digital Living

Technology has gone mainstream supposedly, so that means the halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center will be filled with technology launches that embrace all of us rather than just a select few. In real terms that means everything from gadgets for kids, gadgets for mums and dads that look after kids, and gadgets for the silver surfer. Expect new toys for health, parenting and higher education.

Apple

Don't get too excited,?Apple isn't attending CES, regardless of how many rumours you hear, but that doesn't mean companies that work in the Apple eco-system aren't going to be in Vegas launching new gadgets. With a whole area dedicated to the iPod,?iPhone?and Macs, expect a fair share of iPod speakers, cables to connect to something else in your life and the usual array of cases to protect it all.

eBook readers

If you're planning on getting an ebook reader for Christmas you might want to think again. The ebook market has exploded in the US with Amazon,?Barnes & Noble?and?Sony?all fighting over each other to offer you the digital reader you supposedly need. Plastic Logic has already confirmed that it will be launching a new ebook at CES and there is bound to be other manufacturers like?Spring Design?and iRex offering new models.

3D

Riding on the wave of euphoria that Avatar will no doubt give the industry, consumer electronics manufacturers like?Sony, Toshiba, LG?and?Samsung?will be likely to be pushing?3D TV?hard at CES 2010. IFA 2009 already showed us the concepts, CES will show us the reality. Expect new televisions, announcements from the Blu-ray Disc Association, television makers, graphics card companies like Nvidia and movie companies all trying to get in on the action.

Netbooks

While most people have surely moved on from the popularity of netbooks, CES organisers CEA believe netbooks are going to still be big news at CES 2010. What that means is a barrage of computers that don't do much but let you surf the Web and write the odd document. Of course manufacturers will be trying to tell us otherwise with improved graphics courtesy of Nvidia and ATI. You should also probably expect a barrage of tablet devices with touchscreens allowing you to surf the Web around the home.

Green

With the economy making a comeback, manufacturers can once again turn their eyes to saving the planet. Although the idea of being green for green's sake is still very niche, generally manufacturers will be trying to tell you to ignore the thousands they are spending on lighting their booths and the sheer carbon emissions the show creates, by concentrating instead on how they've made advancements in the glass they use or the boxes your favourite gadgets go into. At least you can sleep at night knowing that we haven't had to chop down any trees to let you read this.

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Tags: Audio Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness CES2010 ebooks Televisions Netbooks Sony LG Samsung Toshiba Apple iPod iPhone 3DTV Laptops Eco Amazon Barnes and Noble Spring Design

CES 2010: What new gadgets will be announced? originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:00:00 +0000

Video-on-demand (VOD) is all the rage in TV and games. The BBC’s Project Canvas should initiate open platform set-top boxes in 2010 with elements of IPTV and video on demand streaming services. Sky needs a plan.

Similarly, Xbox bosses desperately need to combat the PlayStation 3 upcoming movie on-demand service that will sit alongside its existing BBC iPlayer interface. It’s expected to include streaming and downloading of 2000+ movies and many more TV shows.

Step forward the ultimate solution: Sky Player on Xbox 360. You’ll find it in the Video Marketplace on your Xbox 360. Once downloaded and various subs paid, (though it will let you watch a random live TV channel as a demo), the interface works in exactly the same way as its host’s dashboard.

That is, quite brilliantly. Spacious and uncluttered, ducking between the live TV channel slots and those for on-demand content is so easy, and so familiar. There’s rarely any delay, save for an occasional wait for the movies homepage to load.

As for live TV, if you pay your subs and go for the entertainment and sports packages, respectively, you’ll get Sky Screen 1 and Sky Screen 2, and ESPN, ESPN Classic, Sky Sports 1, 2, 3 and Xtra.

However, it’s unlikely viewers of the basic package will make much use of the live channels provided; iPlayer-envy is sure to set in. Sky channels include only Sky Real Lives, Sky Arts 1, Sky News and Sky Sports News (so no Sky One), plus third-party channels – GOLD, MTV, Eurosport UK, Nat Geo, Nat Geo Wild, History, Eden, Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr and the Disney Channel.

The video on demand library is just as easy to navigate, and includes material from Sky One. As usual with Sky, content goes from the sublime to the ridiculous. On one hand there’s exclusive Premiership football and rugby aplenty – as on-demand re-runs, too – while a few flicks away are a stack of Gladiators episodes that cost 98p each. And a lifetime’s worth of Ross Kemp-related material.

For live TV only, it’s possible to watch in a virtual living room. Your avatar, along with your friends’ avatars (if you’ve invited them), sit together on a huge couch staring up at a bigscreen that shows the action. Get a headset and you can talk to your chums, or just click the Emote and you can make your feelings known, albeit in a rudimentary way; for sports TV your avatar can wave, shout, clap or remonstrate over a bad decision, while for movies can express love, fear, or even boredom. Pointless, yes, but fun.

The service works well on a 2Mbps broadband line, though if others are using the bandwidth live channels and VOD do buffer and cut out. There is an option to watch in medium or low quality too if your broadband line is shaky, but this is a last resort; make sure your broadband line is well over 2Mbps meg – 3Mbps should be fine – before considering Sky Player on the Xbox.

Content-wise, Sky subscribers get a similar service to their satellite feed, plus VOD. And if you’ve no Sky subs, there’s a taster trial before you commit to paying a considerable sum: for ?29.99 you an get a Sky Player retail bundle pack that includes a month’s access to Sky Sports, a media remote and a 3 month Xbox LIVE Gold membership card.

Verdict:

For non-Sky converts, you get what you pay for; an expensive though an excellent IPTV solution that fits seamlessly into the Xbox experience. For existing Sky subscribers, it’s a must-have no-brainer; grab yourself Sky in the bedroom, or even in another property, for the cost of Xbox LIVE Gold.

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Tags: Gaming Home Cinema Sky Microsoft Sky Player Xbox 360

Sky Player on Xbox 360 originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:16:03 +0000

An enterprising games programmer named Eric Ruth has built a NES-style 8-bit demake of last year's zombie co-op shooter Left 4 Dead. It's being announced on the same date as the official sequel to the title, but won't be available until 4 January 2010.

It runs in 256 x 240 resolution and features 16 colours and four sound channels. Characters can move in four directions, and all special infected are present. The first mission - No Mercy is complete, and other levels are currently in progress. There's no official blessing of Valve - the original game's creators - but they generally take a fairly relaxed view of fan creations like this.

All the original four campaigns will be present in the final release of the title, and all coding, debugging, SFX, music and art have been done by Eric Ruth. Quite a bit of work, and judging by the video above, executed admirably. There's a brief playthrough report on the Web, but stay tuned for more details. If you can't wait, then try out similar Left 4k Dead.

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Tags: Gaming Valve Left 4 Dead NES Retro Video

VIDEO: Left 4 Dead coming to the NES originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:33:24 +0000

The latest episode of Pocket-lint's Tech Week In View has hit the small screen as a moustachioed Stuart Miles brings his unique take on the big tech stories of the last week or so.

Miles considers Rupert Murdoch's threat to build a pay-wall for News Corp's online content to stop everyone "stealing" it and there's the old faithful of the debate over violent video games as Modern Warfare 2 heads to the top of the charts.

Future tech also goes briefly under the microscope as Miles muses the technology he's seen of late and its implications for the near future.

Finally, has the Twitter bubble burst? An 8% dip in Twitter use in the States during October has seen nay-sayers suggesting that the micro-blogging site has peaked. Hit play on the video above to see Stuart's take on all this.

Tags: Audio Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness Video Comment

VIDEO: Tech Week in View - Murdoch, violent games and the Twitter bubble bursting originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:18:15 +0000

We had a look at the PS3 yesterday and the news that Sainsbury's were selling the Slim version for ?200.

Today we thought we'd give Sony's rival a chance and take a look at an Xbox 360 Elite bundle, which includes COD: Modern Warfare 2 and is on sale at Play.com for, what seems, a rather reasonable ?200.

The Elite version of the console comes with a 120GB hard drive, allowing you to store a variety of content from the Xbox Live marketplace. In the bundle you'll also get a black Xbox Live headset for playing online and a 1-month subscription of Xbox Live Gold membership.

This link will take you to Play.com where you can take a look for yourself and we'll have another tech deal for you tomorrow.

Tags: Gaming Xbox 360 Elite Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare 2 Play Daily Tech Deal

Daily Tech Deal: Xbox 360 Elite with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for £200 originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0000

Following the screenshots unveiled recently, Sony is now offering an early peek at PlayStation 3 v3.10 firmware update.

Keepin' up with the Jones, the update incorporates Facebook into the PS3 experience with the option for the PS3 to automatically update Facebook News Feeds with Trophy and PlayStation Store activity.

Other 3.10 highlights include the photo category on the XMB getting revamped, a modification to the PSN Friends List and the option to choose a colour for a PSN ID on the XMB.

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Tags: Gaming Sony PS3 Software updates Facebook Video

VIDEO: Sony unveils 3.10 PS3 update that brings Facebook originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:34:08 +0000

Here is the full list of nominations for The Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009.

The following products were chosen because we feel they represent the best of the best in the category, and ones that given the money we would recommend you buy or at least try. All have gone on sale in the last 12 months that are available in the UK.?

The nominations are:

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Best Music Gadget 2009

Sonos S5 ZonePlayer

Monitor Audio Airstream 10

Etymotic/ACS hf2 custom fit headphones

Griffin myPhones headphones

Apple iPod touch 3G

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Best Car Gadget 2009

TomTom XL Live

CoPilot for iPhone

Navigon 8410

Jabra SP700

TomTom One IQ

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Best Digital Camera 2009

Olympus Pen E-P1

Canon PowerShot S90

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1?

Nikon D5000

FujiFilm FinePix F200EXR

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Best Laptop 2009

Apple MacBook Pro

Sony VAIO VGN-Z21ZN/X

Dell Adamo XPS

HP Envy

Toshiba NB200

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Best Software, Service, or App 2009

Spotify

Windows 7

Tweetie 2

Dropbox

Sky Player for Xbox

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Best Video Game 2009

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Guitar Hero 5

Battlefield 1943

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

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Best Home Cinema Device 2009

Philips 56PFL9954H Cinema 21:9 television

Panasonic DMR-BS850 Freesat Blu-ray recorder

LG 37LH7000 television

Sony PlayStation 3 Slim console

Humax Freesat+ FOXSAT-HDR recorder

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Best Mobile Phone 2009

HTC Hero

iPhone 3GS

Palm Pre

BlackBerry Bold 9700

HTC HD2

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Best Gadget 2009

Dyson Air Multiplier

Eye-Fi

Livescribe pen

Logitech Wireless Guitar

Sony Reader Pocket Edition

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Product of the year 2009

HTC Hero mobile phone

Spotify

Apple Mac Book Pro

Eytmotics HF2 Custom Fit headphones

Canon PowerShot S90 digital camera

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Now in its 6th year, the Pocket-lint Gadget Awards, thought to be the longest running in the UK, pick the best gadgets and gizmos from the last year released in the UK.

Pocket-lint's vigorous vetting process means that all the gadgets up for nomination have to have been seen by a member of the Pocket-lint team (so far over 600) and have to have been available in the UK between December 2008 and December 2009.

The awards, voted by a panel of leading gadget journalists from around the world, including the staff from the Pocket-lint team, will decide the real must-have gadgets of the year, rather than those simply deemed cool or anticipated, being the definitive guide for consumers looking to buy gadgets.

Winners will be announced at an Awards evening in London on Monday 7 December.

If you would like to order tickets to the event please visit our awards event page.

Public voting will start on Wednesday 18 November.

Related links:

• Link - Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009

Tags: Audio Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness Pocket-lint Awards Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009

Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 Nominations in full originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:00:00 +0000

Here are the nominations for the Product of the Year in The Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009.

The following products were chosen because we feel they represent the best of the best, and ones that given the money we would recommend you buy or at least try. All have gone on sale in the last 12 months and are available in the UK.

The nominations are:

HTC Hero mobile phone

Spotify

Apple Mac Book Pro

Etymotic/ACS hf2 custom fit headphones

Canon PowerShot S90 digital camera

Now in its 6th year, the Pocket-lint Gadget Awards, thought to be the longest running in the UK, pick the best gadgets and gizmos from the last year released in the UK.

Pocket-lint's vigorous vetting process means that all the gadgets up for nomination have to have been seen by a member of the Pocket-lint team (so far over 600) and have to have been available in the UK between December 2008 and December 2009.

The awards, voted by a panel of leading gadget journalists from around the world, including the staff from the Pocket-lint team, will decide the real must-have gadgets of the year, rather than those simply deemed cool or anticipated, being the definitive guide for consumers looking to buy gadgets.

Winners will be announced at an Awards evening in London on Monday 7 December.

If you would like to order tickets to the event please visit our awards event page.

Public voting will start on Wednesday 18 November.

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Related links:

• Link - Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009

Tags: Audio Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness Pocket-lint Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009

Product of the Year 2009 nominations originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:00:00 +0000

Here are the nominations for Best Gadgets in The Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009.

The following products were chosen because we feel they represent the best gadgets on sale in the last 12 months that are available in the UK.

The nominations are:

Dyson Air Multiplier

Eye-Fi

Livescribe pen

Logitech Wireless Guitar

Sony e-reader Pocket Edition

A notable commendation should also go to the Messless charging station.

Now in its 6th year, the Pocket-lint Gadget Awards, thought to be the longest running in the UK, pick the best gadgets and gizmos from the last year released in the UK.

Pocket-lint's vigorous vetting process means that all the gadgets up for nomination have to have been seen by a member of the Pocket-lint team (so far over 600) and have to have been available in the UK between December 2008 and December 2009.

The awards, voted by a panel of leading gadget journalists from around the world, including the staff from the Pocket-lint team, will decide the real must-have gadgets of the year, rather than those simply deemed cool or anticipated, being the definitive guide for consumers looking to buy gadgets.

Winners will be announced at an Awards evening in London on Monday 7 December.

If you would like to order tickets to the event please visit our awards event page.

Public voting will start on Wednesday 18 November.

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Related links:

• Link - Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009

Tags: Gadgets Dyson Cameras Livescribe Eye-Fi Logitech Gaming ebooks Sony Pocket-lint Awards Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009

Best Gadgets 2009 nominations originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Russia has reacted with anger to the infamous "No Russian" level in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, by banning it outright and recalling all copies. In the level, you infiltrate a Russian terrorist's gang while they undertake a massacre at a Moscow airport.

It's proven very contentious, with the Daily Mail and Labour MP Keith Vaz claiming it allows players to "plot terror attacks". In defence of the title, and other video games, Labour MP Tom Watson formed a "Gamer's Voice" pressure group. However, Russia has taken things a step further.

The country has recalled all copies of the game from stores, and effectively banned it, after both Russian gamers and politicians reacted angrily to the portrayal of Russia as aggressors. Russian site GotPS3 criticized the game as catering to a largely American audience with disrespect towards other cultures.

Developer Infinity Ward has released a patch for the PC version of the title that removes the mission from the game entirely, and a new version of the game for consoles, which has the "No Russian" mission removed too, is expected to be released within a month.

UPDATE: Activision has issued a statement saying that reports of a ban are erroneous. The company said: "Activision only released a PC version of the game in Russia which went on sale on Tuesday, Nov. 10". Presumably then, everything else in the story remains true - a patch has been released, and a censored console version will be coming out soon.

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Tags: Gaming Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare 2 Russia Politics

UPDATE: Russia has not banned Modern Warfare 2 originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:19:41 +0000

Here are the nominations for Best Video Game in The Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009.

The following products were chosen because we feel they represent the best video games on sale in the last 12 months that are available in the UK.

The nominations are:

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Guitar Hero 5

Battlefield 1943

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Now in its 6th year, the Pocket-lint Gadget Awards, thought to be the longest running in the UK, pick the best gadgets and gizmos from the last year released in the UK

Pocket-lint's vigorous vetting process means that all the gadgets up for nomination have to have been seen by a member of the Pocket-lint team (so far over 600) and have to have been available in the UK between December 2008 and December 2009.

The awards, voted by a panel of leading gadget journalists from around the world, including the staff from the Pocket-lint team, will decide the real must-have gadgets of the year, rather than those simply deemed cool or anticipated, being the definitive guide for consumers looking to buy gadgets.

Winners will be announced at an Awards evening in London on Monday 7 December.

If you would like to order tickets to the event please visit our awards event page.

Public voting will start on Wednesday 18 November.

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Related links:

• Link - Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009

Tags: Gaming Xbox 360 PS3 Nintendo Wii PC games Sony Activision Warner Bros EA Pocket-lint Awards Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009

Best Video Games 2009 nominations originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:22:07 +0000

The PSP Go comes in as another reworking of Sony's handheld gaming platform, the PlayStation Portable. As such it is quite a drastic reworking on the original format, but in essence little has changed.

The biggest shift is the placement of a sliding 3.78-inch screen where previously the PSP saw a straight slab-like device. The screen retains the same resolution at 480 x 272 pixels, so despite the change in size, it still looks sharp. The changes mean the unit can shrink down to approx 122 x 66 x 15mm, meaning it is easily pocketable, where the previous versions weren't.

The PSP Go is dependent on the sliding screen which has a precise sliding action with plenty of pop. It feels like a quality device and is free from twist of lateral movement: when open, you don't need to be scared it is going to break off. The same goes for the rest of the build – it feels well constructed.

The exterior finish is mostly glossy, which will attract fingerprints, whilst the inner deck is a matte finish, where you'll find the main controls. These controls are ringed in silver, matching the edge of the unit, giving it a distinctive and premium looking finish. It's a fetching design for sure, and one we like.

One of the effects of moving the controls around is that the bumper buttons now sit behind the screen, with the screen brightness, volume control and mute buttons sitting right behind the screen so in-use they are more difficult to get to. It perhaps doesn't matter, but it does at least keep the device looks clean on the front.

Otherwise we found that we preferred the new layout of controls, with the PSP Go lying in a different grip on the hands, we found it easier to play for longer periods without feeling the thumbs cramp up, which was always a problem for previous editions. But this will come down to personal preference, the size of your hands on so on.

The new design also sees the removal of the UMD drive, so it no longer accepts the discs of previous versions. If you are already a PSP owner, this may be a serious consideration if you are looking at an upgrade – you won't just be able to slap in your existing games.

Those upgrading don't get left totally in the cold – there is an upgrade reward scheme that lets you register your old and new PSP on PSN, then you get access to three reward downloads to get you started. Three? Yes, that's right. Your past loyalty is rewarded with three downloads, rather than the conversion of every UMD you already have.

The move to download also kills the secondhand market so for those on a budget who like to play the trade, you are effectively stuffed.

Sony instead are moving gamers over to a download system using PlayStation Network. It's relatively simple in truth and something that people are now familiar with, especially on the music front. Here you simply visit the PlayStation Store, either on the device itself, your PS3 or a PC (using Media Go) to download games and install them on the PSP Go.

It's not a great process however, especially as you can't download in the background on the console itself, so you'll be sitting there looking at it slowly dripping in, rather than listening to music or playing something else.

To accommodate these games you now have an internal "16GB" of memory, although brand new out of the box you only get to use 14GB of it. An M2 card slot lives around the side for further expansion.

The PSP Go offers the same Wi-Fi as it did previously letting you connect to the Internet, now a core concern for the PSP. The Wi-Fi also lets you dive into Remote Play of your PS3, so you can access content, configure PlayTV or whatever whilst you are on the move. Wi-Fi on the PSP has never been great, compared to the simplicity of modern mobile phones, which will happily dive in and out of connections intelligently, something the PSP Go doesn't seem to want to do.

The new PSP Go also rocks out with Bluetooth, so you can connect to a Bluetooth device, or a new PS3 controller. This means you can tether your PSP Go to a mobile phone to access the Internet on the move using your phone's data connection, or simply go for Bluetooth headphones. We tried the data connection, but it didn't work, so don't get too excited.

There is a standard 3.5mm headphone jack sitting on the bottom of the PSP Go, alongside a new bespoke connector. In the box you'll find a new USB cable, providing your power and PC or PS3 connection. It's a shame to see another bespoke connection, as you'll have to carry around yet another bit of cable.

The PSP Go, with its new format really lends itself to being a PMP, albeit an expensive one. The screen looks fantastic and with the 16GB storage capacity, you can fill it with music and movies to take with you on the move. You'll be more likely to slip into a pocket for listing whilst on your commute, something that the old PSP didn't really excel at.

But in terms of overall functionality, the PSP Go isn't a revolution. Little has changed from previous versions. You still get the XMB interface which makes it easy to get around, but essentially the PSP Go offers you an external format change and little else. For this reason, it is unlikely to appeal to existing users, who will still be able to download games and can use the memory card slots on their existing device to expand storage.

The overall gaming proposition of the PSP Go remains the same as before, which might come as something of a disappointment for some. With the PSP Go closed it is begging to be tapped on the screen, but there hasn't been a move to touchscreen here.

Purists will argue that the screen looks better without touch which is probably true, but with the iPhone and Nintendo DSi enjoying successes in gaming with a touch-interface, it seems like Sony is holding back on something.

Verdict:

Overall we can't fault the handware on offer with the PSP Go. It looks excellent and is a pleasure to play with. The compact format means it slips into a jacket pocket more readily than before, but the removal of UMD means a whole stack of games are sitting in the corner, unloved.

And then there is the price. Launched at ?225, you can pick it up for just under ?200, but it is seriously undercut by the Nintendo DSi, with the iPod touch also offering an alternative. Sure, the PSP Go may be better for pure video, but from a gaming point of view, the Nintendo DS range has been storming.

For those who were just about to put a PSP on their Christmas list then overall they get a better looking device, with expanded memory, but for us we'll be sticking to the old hardware and our old games.

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Tags: Gaming PSP Go PSP Gaming hardware Sony

Sony PSP Go console originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:21:37 +0000

The news that Sainsbury's is cutting the price of the 120GB PS3 Slim by 20% - now available for ?200 - is admittedly pretty widespread, but the fact that it's a pretty decent offer, and just in case you weren't aware, meant that it deserved a slot.

A quick look, however, on the Sainsbury's website will show that Sony's sought after console is now out of stock. Your best bet, therefore, is to click on the "email me when in stock" button, so you can be right there to order when it comes back in.

If you simply can't wait, we had a look around and the next best deal seems to be from Tesco -? selling its 120GB PS3 Slim with Fifa 10 for ?249. Obviously only suitable if you were going down the Fifa route anyway, the deal means you'll be around a tenner down on the Sainsbury's offer - with Fifa being sold separately for ?40.

Click here for the Sainsbury's deal if you're of a patient disposition and don't mind waiting, alternatively there's a link here to the Tesco deal. Before you make a your decision, however, you might want to click through to our full review of the PS3 Slim, which received a whopping 9/10 score.

Tags: Gaming Gaming hardware Sony PS3 PS3 slim Sony PS3 Slim Sainsburys Tesco direct Daily Tech Deal

Daily Tech Deal: 20% off Sony PS3 Slim at Sainsbury's originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0000

It was 2 months ago today, that Rock Band let us play, a truck load of Beatles songs, so that we could all sing along. Now may I introduce to you, the pack we've all wanted for years - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band!

Yes, Harmonix and Apple Corps. have been generous enough to let their adoring fans spend more money on more tracks for The Beatles Rock Band. It's the second such downloadable album for the game after Abbey Road was announced at launch and became available last month.

The album pack will be out from 17 November on Xbox 360 and Wii, costs ?7.49 and consists of:

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band singles: “Fixing A Hole,” “She’s Leaving Home,” “Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!,” “Within You Without You,” “When I’m Sixty-Four,” “Lovely Rita,” “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)” and “A Day In The Life.”

The individual tracks are also available for 99p each.

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Related links:

• News - BlueBeat claims it owns copyright in Beatles tracks
• Review - The Beatles Rock Band - Xbox 360 review

Tags: Gaming Beatles Rock Band Music games Harmonix Audio

Sgt. Pepper coming to The Beatles Rock Band originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:29:06 +0000

An interesting tech deal for you today, which should suit gamers, as SwapGame.com has announced its new online trade-in service, giving you credit - not cash - for unwanted games, thereby reducing the price of your next purchase.

The launch comes on the back of a SwapGame poll that suggests that, here in the UK, people have around ?1.8 billion of unused video games with a third of those having "over ?100". Thankfully, SwapGame is coming to the rescue with its timely service.

Despite some reports suggesting the average game trade-in value at SwapGame.com is around the ?25 mark, on typing in a few game titles, it turns out the site will give you ?5.18 for Grand Theft Auto IV on PS3 with the Xbox 360 version getting a little more at ?5.44, whereas Modern Warfare 2 will end up banking you around ?20 on both formats.

Postage is free, the site has plenty of titles to choose from and there's no traipsing around the shops - so you'll have to weigh up the pros and cons yourself if you feel trade-in prices might be on the low side.

There's a link here so you can make a full investigation - please leave your thoughts below - and we'll have another tech deal for you on Monday.

Tags: Gaming Online Websites SwapGame Daily Tech Deal

Daily Tech Deal: SwapGame launches game trade-in service originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0000

Since we announced the Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards, nominations have been flying in to Pocket-lint headquarters at a rate of knots.

With a lot of lists, flow charts, pie graphs, copious amounts of coffee and a fair few, shall we say, heated discussions, we're almost ready to reveal the final lists for each category.

The numerous nominations have been narrowed down to five products in each of the categories, which will then see the sparks really start fly as our panel of judges whittle those down to the one winner from each.

Check back on Monday when we will reveal the five finalists for each of the nine categories, one from each which will ultimately be crowned best of 2009.

Tags: Audio Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 Pocket-lint Awards

Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards nominations to be revealed on Monday 16 November originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:49:33 +0000

The BBC has announced that its catch-up iPlayer service will shortly be available as a native channel on the Wii. The service has been available through the Wii's internet browser since April 2008, but the addition of a native channel should improve the user experience considerably.

The new channel will be made live on 18 November, but only consoles with a broadband connection in the UK will be able to access it. It'll be free, but you'll have to download it from Nintendo's online shop - search for "iPlayer" and you should be able to find it without much trouble.

The iPlayer is also available on the PS3, but not the Xbox 360. The BBC is competing with rival broadcaster Sky to try and get its services on as many consoles as possible, but has - in the past - labelled Sony and Microsoft as too "controlling". Sky Player is available only on the Xbox 360.

Meanwhile, Channel 4 has concentrated on making its 4OD service accessible through YouTube, which can be accessed on a range of devices, including mobile phones. But given that the Wii is present in 6 million homes across Britain, this could give the BBC the lead, despite the lack of high-definition support in the console.

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Tags: Home Cinema Wii Nintendo BBC iPlayer Gaming

Nintendo Wii gets BBC iPlayer channel originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:44:59 +0000

If you're thinking about picking up a second-hand Xbox 360 in the next couple of months, be very careful. As a result of the mass banning of about 3% of the console's userbase from Xbox Live, many unlucky gamers are attempting to offload their consoles through eBay, Gumtree and Craigslist.

Some users are being honest about the fact that their console has been banned - after all, it'll still play games, it just won't connect to Xbox Live. Others, however, are likely being shadier about it. So if you're planning to buy a used Xbox, be sure that you grill the owner on whether it's been modded in any way.

If, however, you're after a console that'll play games and watch movies, but won't connect to Xbox Live to get updates or access multiplayer functions, then now is a great time to get yourself a deal. Banned consoles are going for as little as ?100 with a pile of games.

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Tags: Gaming Xbox 360 Microsoft Xbox Live eBay Gumtree Craigslist

Banned Xbox 360s flood e-commerce sites originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:58:42 +0000

Microsoft has announced that the Xbox 360 has hit the 10 million consoles sale mark across Europe, the Middle East and Africa in 4 years.

Reaching that milestone means that Xbox 360 is the only console to achieve year-on-year growth across the region this year, says Microsoft.

"Xbox 360 continues to pull ahead of the competition when it comes to delivering on a complete home entertainment experience and we think that Xbox Live currently is about 12 to 18 months ahead of its main rival PlayStation Network when it comes to offering service and content beyond traditional games", said Martin Olausson, director of digital media research at strategy analytics.

"By introducing innovative new services and content such as Natal, instant streaming of full 1080P HD video, and integrating social media features such as Twitter and Facebook, Xbox will likely attract a wider audience than its rivals and is in a great position to maximize sales in the next few years".

Microsoft has also revealed there are more than 20 million Xbox LIVE active members worldwide with over 1 billion downloads of gaming and entertainment content, with movie downloads doubling in the last year.

Meanwhile, Xbox staffer Major Nelson has announced via Twitter that a new Xbox LIVE record has been set - "over TWO MILLION people connected to the service at once".?

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Tags: Gaming Xbox 360 Microsoft Statistics

Microsoft reveals 10 million Xbox 360s sold in EMEA originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:14:10 +0000

Microsoft has confirmed that it will be releasing its latest Xbox 360 update on the 17 November to all LIVE members.

The new update, which was first announced in June, will bring with it Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm and Zune video to the console.

The Facebook integration will be through Facebook's Connect sign-in programme and will see users able to see their Xbox LIVE buddies as well as their Facebook friends.

Microsoft says: "Using Facebook Connect, you can share your greatest moments in gaming by posting updates and screenshots from supported games directly to Facebook".

The Twitter application will allow Xbox gamers to sign into the popular service via their console.

Sony has also today said that it will be adding Facebook integration to its console.

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Tags: Gaming Xbox 360 Twitter Facebook Microsoft Zune HD Lastfm

Xbox 360 social update dated originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:40:03 +0000

After Infinity Ward’s sublime Call of Duty: Modern Warfare astounded all with its representation of up-to-date combat, expectations have continuously soared for the always inevitable sequel. With predictions of multi-millions day one sales (which incidentally proved to be perfectly correct) a raised RRP, and a mass of gamers desperate to get their grubby mitts on the final game, these talented developers have had a lot to ponder.

The single player campaign unsurprisingly fails to deviate too far from the path trodden by its elder sibling. The campaign lasts a mere 6-8 hours; the breakneck speed that the majority of this time flashes past, due to the hectic action on screen, leaves it feeling much less than half that.

Once again you flit between two intertwined stories, one involving US Army privates fighting in their own backyard, with the other starring the group of British favourites you’ll remember from the last Modern Warfare. In terms of an overall story it’s certainly affecting and brutal. But it does force you to take a few liberties with what’s actually possible in the real world.

It plays from the same first person perspective as before, and retains the obsession with cover from the last game. The pace is almost universally set to absolutely frantic, and even on the Normal difficulty settings you’ll regularly find yourself in an area where you suddenly seem completely surrounded, the screen a horrible red blur (with what appears to be strawberry jam smeared on screen in an awful design decision) as you take hits, and achieving an untimely death in order to give it another try. If you tired of the previous game's addiction with urging you to learn enemy routines a few times before passing through with life intact, then you’ll suffer the same fate here.

Though things may not sound as stellar as we’d expected, they’re no better or worse than the original Modern Warfare. With the rose tinted specs removed, even the last game packed a certainly solid single player campaign with some stunning set pieces (which are multiplied tenfold in Modern Warfare 2) but didn’t offer enough to let that offering sell a game all on its own. That was left to the multiplayer component.

Safe to say that Modern Warfare 2 is an absolute joy online, at least on the Xbox 360. The PC version is, by all accounts, obliterated by the lack of dedicated server support, and the PS3 iteration is already approaching its third patch. But for Xbox 360 owners, we’ve had an absolute riot.

Not much has changed but instead multiplied to offer more depth, more customisation, and a whole new level of fun. A large number of your favourite perks from the last game remain, to be added to be a whole new fresh batch looking to spice up the battlefield. Kill Streaks remain with included new flavours, but new Death Streaks, allowing the frequently killed a chance to immediately bite back, really do add a lot to proceedings for both newcomers and rubbish gamers alike.

The 16 new maps are unsurprisingly a mixed bag, with early favourites already obvious with those who’ve already settled in for the long play. All, however, seem to pack much more in than the counterparts. Even for us, who have spent a quite unhealthy amount of time with the multiplayer component already, we still keep finding new nooks and crannies to hide, exploit, and be killed from.

One major new addition is the Spec Ops missions. Played in either single player or two player cooperative, well over 20 short missions are offered up to play through. These are all wildly different, ranging from holding a tower against waves of enemies, through to slowly and methodically sniping your way through great snowy landscapes, and award you stars after completion. This isn’t a last minute gimmick, as it could certainly keep a whole lot of people away from multiplayer for quite a while as they attempt to bag every last star.

As for the mission that’s been so heavily publicised in the mainstream press, we’ve little to add to the debate that hasn’t already been said. Playing through that particular 5 minutes did become a touch difficult, and it’s certainly not something you’ll come back to once you’ve had a go yourself. But the sheer fury levelled towards the game itself and its developers has been on such a ridiculous level, that you’d believe that violent games/films/music/books hadn’t ever existed before. More violent things have appeared in the past, and they will in the future.

Verdict:

While the multiplayer component does deserve a full score (on the Xbox 360 at the moment, anyway) the single player campaign is a step below that level.

It’s a rip-roaring ride while it lasts, but it’s a touch too short, too hectic, and overly reliant on forcing you to learn enemy routines in order to bag the best piece of cover right away. But the multiplayer is by far the best in the business, and it’ll keep you hooked until well into next year.

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Tags: Gaming Action Xbox 360 Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare 2 Call of Duty Activision

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Xbox 360 originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:24:09 +0000

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, not content with annihilating UK video game sales records, has done the same trick across the Atlantic, by shifting 4.7 million copies in the United Kingdom and North America combined.

That firmly puts it at the top of the chart of first-day sales for non-bundled video games, which was previously topped by GTA IV and the two expansions for World of Warcraft. The achievement has seen cash roll in to Activision to the extent of $310 million in the first 24 hours.

However, the game's launch on Xbox 360 and PS3 has been dulled slightly by the rocky entry of the PC version of the game. Before its release, fans were already protesting that dedicated server functionality had been taken out, and the PC launch had to be delayed 2 days so that retailers could get exclusives, but also so that pre-orders could be served.

The whole maelstrom has been covered in great depth by PC gaming blog Rock, Paper, Shotgun, who posit that it would be entirely possible if the next instalment of the game didn't come to the PC at all, despite the series originating on the platform.

What do you think? Are you a happy Xbox 360 or PS3 owner, or a distraught PC user? Should consoles get exclusives over PCs? Tell us in the comments.

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Tags: Gaming Xbox 360 PS3 PC Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare 2 Statistics Activision

Modern Warfare 2 breaking US records too originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:31:18 +0000

Pocket-lint has teamed up with video news site TechVi to bring you a weekly show analysing the biggest stories of the week.

Hosted by Randall Bennett and featuring members of the Pocket-lint team, we'll be giving you our opinions on what we think is going on behind the stories that are hitting the headlines each week.

This week Duncan and Dan discuss Rupert Murdoch's move to remove his content from Google, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, the iPhone being rickrolled and Palestinian streets.

Hit the play button above, or for a more interactive video, where the web page jumps around the Web as the stories are discussed, head over to Techvi.com.

Tags: Gaming Software Biz Gadgets Phones Video TechVi

Pocket-lint on TechVi: Murdoch, MW2 and streets in Palestine originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:47:33 +0000

Some images have emerged of a forthcoming firmware update for the PS3 that introduces Facebook functionality to the games console. The integration with the world's biggest social networking site is already available on the rival Xbox 360, but not on the Nintendo Wii.

Also in the images is the option to change the colour of your gamercard, as well as a new interface for looking through photos that are stored on the console. Not quite as exciting as the Facebook integration, but may be of some interest to those who just aren't satisfied with the default gamercard colours.

It's not clear exactly when the next firmware update will be issued - right now these are just screenshots found on Sony's PlayStation website. What's clear, though, is that Sony needs integration with web services - and soon - to compete with the Xbox, which is rolling out similar features at an ever-increasing rate.

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Tags: Gaming Sony PS3 PlayStation Facebook Rumours Software updates

PS3 update bringing Facebook integration originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:25:51 +0000

Zune HD?owners have been given a treat on Thursday; a selection of free 3D games to download and play.

The new games, available for users who have updated to the new 4.3 software, will offer music listeners the chance to race around the streets of London, go bowling, play the piano and opt for a quick game of checkers.

The games will show you an advert before loading (they are free after all) but then give you a full 3D experience thanks to the?Nvidia Tegra chip?onboard.

Top of the pile is PGR: Ferrari Edition that according to the blurb will let you:

Tear through the streets of London, Tokyo, and New York using intuitive tilt and touch controls.?Choose from 12 Ferrari cars and test your skill in 33 events in Career Mode. Go head-to-head against three other players in a wireless network race. Share your records with your friends and race their ghost cars in Time Trial mode. Earn kudos for racing with style—it's not just winning, but how you win that counts.?

Other titles are:

• Lucky lane bowling
• Vans Sk8: Pool service
• Piano
• Audio Surf: Tilt
• Checkers

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Tags: Audio MP3 players Zune HD Microsoft Gaming

Zune HD 3D games released originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:33:15 +0000

Activision's?Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 2?has smashed the previous record set by Grand Theft Auto IV for opening weekend sales for a video game.

Modern Warfare 2 sold an estimated 1.23 million units in its first day on sale, grossing Activision, the games publisher, around ?47 million, according to official figures by Chart Track, the body that tracks sales in the UK.

The figure, which doubles the previous record held by Grand Theft Auto IV, shows how far the video game market has grown to be an entertainment powerhouse.

“These first day sales figures are astonishing and clear evidence that video games are now mainstream in the UK", said Michael Rawlinson, director general, Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), in a statement.

The game has come under heavy fire from pressure groups complaining about its tone and violence.

Although the 1.23 million makes it the biggest UK opening weekend, the title is still a long way from being crowned?Biggest selling video game?of all time.

Developers are already working on a?third instalment.?

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Tags: Gaming Xbox 360 PS3 Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare 2

Modern Warfare 2 smashes UK games records originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:23:19 +0000

Details have emerged regarding Microsoft's closely guarded Project Natal motion gaming add-on for its Xbox 360 games console.

While all we previously really knew was that the system would hit the shelves during 2010, games site MCV has heard from industry sources that November 2010 - so in time for Christmas - is the worldwide launch timescale.

In addition, information from a "behind-closed-doors Microsoft tour of UK publishers and studios" suggests the Project Natal add-on will cost "under ?50" when sold as a standalone device, with one source even suggesting a ?30 price point.

Other snippets leaked from the meeting suggest Microsoft is planning to manufacture 5 million units for the launch and that 14 games will support the motion-controlled device as it debuts.

We will keep you posted.

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Tags: Gaming Microsoft Project Natal Xbox 360 Rumours

Project Natal to cost less than £50 originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:24:43 +0000

Sony's PlayStation 3 hadn't quite enjoyed the success it deserved, thanks to lofty launch prices for the original version and strong competition on the gaming front from the Xbox 360. Both consoles have evolved over time, with the PS3 Slim following Sony's trend of trimming down.

The PS3 Slim now measures 290 x 65 x 290mm, so it is more compact overall, especially in height. The overall design is still instantly recognizable as a PlayStation 3, but it is leaner and meaner. The construction materials have changed too: gone is the elegant glossy, to a matte black finish. It is perhaps less showy than the previous edition, but you don't have to spend your time polishing it either.

The redesign brings with it a new price point, which some will credit with its success: a 120GB PS3 Slim retails at ?249, a new entry point for the console. Considering what the PlayStation 3 offers you, it is something of a bargain in its new guise. Those wanting more storage can opt for a 250GB version, currently available for around ?285.

Those who jumped in for the original console will find changes: the lift-up flap housing and array of memory card readers is gone, as are the four USB connections, the PS2 emulation and the ability to install a different OS. These niceties are perhaps not worth premium prices that the older PS3 model asked: whatever you are trying to do, the two USBs on offer will pretty much handle it.

Internally the big guns are still here. You have a Blu-ray disc drive and you have Wi-Fi built-in, something that the Xbox 360 cannot boast. Perhaps this accounts for the current price contrast: the Xbox 360 120GB version comes in at under ?200, but you don't get the benefit of a Blu-ray player, and you'd have to fork out for the Wi-Fi adapter too.

This is one area that makes the PlayStation 3 look like a tempting offer. Now you have your high-definition TV wall-mounted in your lounge, it deserves to be fed a diet of HD content. Blu-ray looks fantastic on the PS3 and it is widely regarded as one of the best Blu-ray players out there, thanks to the easy updatability and connectivity that the rest of the box offers. If nothing else, the PS3 Slim saves you buying a standalone Blu-ray player, which might be ?100 alone.

Before you even approach gaming, the PS3 slim is screaming in with media from all corners. Connect it to your home network, either by Wi-Fi or through the Ethernet connection on the back and it opens a world of media possibilities. It not only lets you take advantage of BD-Live functionality on Blu-ray discs, but it will also find media servers (or other DNLA devices) on your network so you can stream media into your TV. We hooked it up and it instantly found our Cisco Media Hub to stream video, music or photo content into the TV, or you could stream direct from a PC or Mac.

It's blissfully simple, and again, it saves you forking out for some sort of media bridge. File format support isn't fully comprehensive with MPEG4/H.264, MPEG2, AVI (MJPEG), AVCHD, DivX and WMV video support. If you have a diverse collection of video you'll find that there are holes in codec support for some of these file types, but some sort of conversion software will cure those evils and save you repeated "This file is corrupted" messages. Music support gives you WMA, AAC and MP3. The PS3 now offers BBC iPlayer access direct from the XMB too.

In terms of connectivity, besides the networking features we have mentioned, around the back you get an HDMI connection, which will satisfy most users, an optical out, for connecting into your AV receiver to take advantage of the PS3's Dolby True HD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding. Finally you have Sony's AV Multi connection which, with the cable bundled in the box, will allow you to hook up to TVs which don't have HDMI.

All that, and we haven't yet mentioned games. For many people gaming is the PlayStation 3's primary calling, but it stands its ground as a home media hub in a way that the Xbox 360 really can't compete with. The PS3 is a hulking great power house of a gaming machine and now is a better time than ever for PlayStation 3 gaming, with the likes of Uncharted 2 receiving rave reviews.

The PS3 admittedly beats the Xbox 360 on raw power, but we've seen over the last few years that this hasn't manifested itself in a mass of better gaming titles. Graphically, there is little to separate the two once you get into big name titles and there is little difference between loading times or response either: both offer a sublime gaming experience.

Exclusive gaming titles will always be a consideration the aforementioned Uncharted 2 being an example. With many big titles coming out cross-platform, exclusives are the exception rather than the rule in many cases, but the toughest decision you might have to make is which camp to set yourself in. There are some great exclusives on both sides and ultimately, if you are going to dive into online multiplayer, the decision might come down to what consoles your friends have.

Control of the PlayStation 3 now comes in the form of the DualShock 3 controller, which adds a little extra oomph over previous versions. The controller is, ironically, one of the points that divides the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3; when it comes to the crunch, we prefer how the Xbox 360 controller feels. This is common among those who have both consoles and if you are lucky enough to be in this position, you'll probably find yourself doing most of your gaming on the Xbox and almost everything else on the PS3. As we've just said, this has nothing to do with how the games look or play, it simply comes down to choice of controller.

Sony's XrossMediaBar lies at the centre of the PS3 and offers an easy to navigate interface. We like the Xbox interface, but the PS3 is more accessible overall. It also gives you access to the PlayStation Network, which isn't as slick as Microsoft's Xbox Live, but at least you don't have to fork out for membership to get full advantage, another cost of ownership that needs to be considered.

One of the biggest changes you'll notice with the PS3 Slim is volume. Not in terms of audio output, but purely in terms of fan noise. This is one area that the PS3 and the Xbox 360 both struggled in the past. The Xbox hasn't improved dramatically, but the PS3 Slim has overcome the heat and noise problem. It is perhaps a little louder than your average Blu-ray player, but it is no longer a distraction. You don't feel like it is pumping out heat into your room like a fan heater either, which makes it much better suited to slipping under the TV. It is more energy efficient too.

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Verdict:

The PS3 Slim makes a number of changes over its forebear, making this the best PlayStation to date. Being more compact and quieter makes it more appealing as a home media hub, reinforcing the solid performance that it delivers.

The new price, though, is really the killer blow. It is more affordable than ever and with stores pushing out game bundles with the new PS3 Slim, if you have been holding off, now is the time to step out and buy one.

The PlayStation 3 Slim is an accomplished piece of home entertainment hardware, with something for everyone from streaming media, to high-definition movies, to adrenaline fuelled gaming, and we love it.

Tags: Gaming Gaming hardware Sony PS3 PS3 slim

Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) Slim console originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:00:00 +0000

After revealing a net loss of $390 million for the the second quarter of 2009 (an even bigger negative than the loss of $310 million in Q2 2008) EA has announced cost-cutting measures.

Those measures include cutting its workforce by 17% - seeing a loss of 1500 positions - a move expected to save around $100 million per year.

This move is likely to be controversial among staff losing their livelihoods considering EA has only just announced a $300-$400 million buy-out of Playfish.

Playfish makes casual games for social networking and other digital platforms, a rapidly growing market in which EA it seems is looking to for the future in a changing games landscape.

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Tags: Gaming EA Biz Results

EA announces loss, 1500 jobs to go originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:55:04 +0000

It's believed that up to 600,000 gamers may have been cut off from Microsoft's Xbox Live online gaming service because they're running modded consoles that can play pirated games.

Microsoft has confirmed that "a small percentage" of Xbox's 20 million users had been banned. By our calculations, that'd be 3%, which seems quite a large number for a process that involves opening up the case of the console and - in many cases - soldering in a new chip.

Microsoft warned:"All consumers should know that piracy is illegal and that modifying their Xbox 360 console to play pirated discs violates the Xbox Live terms of use, will void their warranty and result in a ban from Xbox Live". That ban won't stop your console working, it just means that you won't be able to connect to the Web.

Are you running a modded Xbox 360? Drop us a comment - we won't tell anyone, promise - and let us know if you still have access. We'd be interested to hear whether this hits every modder, or just a selection.

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Tags: Gaming Microsoft Xbox 360 Piracy Xbox Live

Microsoft cuts off Xbox 360 hackers originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:41:11 +0000

"The new Sony PlayStation 3 Slim is about to receive a luxury treatment unlike any others before it". So says Computer Choppers, a US company that offers a line in blinged up consumer electronics.

A "sneak peak" of the Midas-touched console shows that the firm, instead of rather just say subtlety picking out the logo in gold, has opted for the all-out gold-plating.

Only five limited edition units are to be produced and pricing and availability is strictly on a get-your-butler-to-call-and-enquire basis.

Tags: Gaming PS3 Sony Computer Choppers

PlayStation 3 gets gold plated originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:31:20 +0000

Exspect is promising Wii owners "the drive of their life" with its Wii Motion Racing Wheel that's fully compatible with Wii MotionPlus.
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For those without the MotionPlus add-on, the wheel can be used without it and is available individually for ?6.99 from Play.com, or as part of a ?19.99 15-in-1 Wii accessory pack available at Tesco and Play.com.

As well as the wheel, the 15-in-1 pack offers golf, tennis, baseball, snooker and sword adaptors, among other bits and bobs.

"Racing games have proven to be one of the big success stories on the Nintendo Wii, so we are delighted to enhance the experience with our new Wii Motion Racing Wheel", said Mike Sanderson, head of development at Exspect.

"Racing games will be high on Christmas lists across the country this year and now they can be enjoyed with added accuracy, as the wheel is fully compatible with the Wii MotionPlus".

Tags: Gaming Nintendo Wii Exspect Wiimote Controllers Tesco Play

Exspect launches Wii Motion Racing Wheel originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:11:25 +0000

We've seen the?Xbox Wireless n adaptor on sale?in the UK, but now Microsoft has officially confirmed the launch of the Xbox 360 wireless n adapter in the US.?

Available on Amazon.com for $90, the new adapter promises faster connectivity over a wireless n network.

The?new?adapter?will?feature dual band 5 GHz tech and will be 2.4 GHz Wireless A/B/G home network compatible.

The device will be powered by the Xbox 360 to eliminate adapter clutter.

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Tags: Gaming Xbox 360 Microsoft Networking

Microsoft Xbox 360 wireless n adapter goes on sale in US originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:43:08 +0000

Call of Duty 6 aka Modern Warfare 2 aka Call of Duty 4 part 2 - whatever you want to call it, is one of the biggest video games of 2009 and today's release is looking to set some records. Reports coming in from online retailers such as Amazon and Play.com, as well as the queues already seen out on the high streets suggest that copies of the first person shooter are flying out the door at previously unseen rates.

What we do know, is that Activision's claims of "over 750,000 pre orders in the UK alone is set to surpass the 3 million copies mark in its launch week",

Until the first 24 hours are up and the official charts are out, the figures are going to be sketchy but the top first-day sales for non-bundled video games of all time to beat are:

1) Grand Theft Auto IV - 3.7 million copies
2) World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King - 2.8 million copies
3) World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade - 2.4 million copies
4) Halo 3 - 1.7 million copies

Of course, if Modern Warfare 2 is looking to become the biggest selling game of all time, then it's got one hell of a mountain to climb. Again, ignoring games that came bundled with consoles - eg: Super Mario Bros which effectively sold over 40 million copies - not only have the majority of them been for Nintendo machines but also none of them are first person shooters. They are:

1) Wii Play - 24 million
2) Wii Fit - 23 million
3) Nintendogs (all versions) - 22 million
4) Pok?mon Red - 22 million
5) New Super Mario Bros - 20 million
6) Mario Kart Wii - 18 million
7) Super Mario Bros. 3 - 18 million
8) Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day - 17 million
9) Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - 17 million
10) Pok?mon Diamond and Pearl - 17 million

In fact, the only non-Nintendo top seller has been GTA San Andreas and you have to wait until No.12 before the first PC game comes in as the original The Sims. What seems to be happening is that Nintendo expands the market with its consoles and has the power to create a larger phenomenon when the right games come along. It's well documented that systems like the DS and the Wii are targeted towards a broader and more universal family audience and can therefore pull in the numbers. The top 10 best sellers are quite some testament to the company's strategy.

At the same time, though, the majority of these titles made particularly ground-breaking first day sales. The titles that fly off the shelves are all sequels and all involve fighting. What seems obvious here is that is that it's the hardcore gamers market that supports these releases. Those consumers have had a taste of the original game, loved it and are ready with pre-orders and midnight queues to get the next installment.

There's also something more goal focused about the games, which leads users to need the next installment to continue to enjoy them at that same, intense level. One of the big sells of both WoW expansions is to raise the level cap and give something for players to aim at. Mario Kart and Brain Training players just don't have that same thirst to complete them or to put them down once they have.

Although more intense, this market is definitely smaller. It's more for the purist. The point to see, though, is that just because Modern Warfare 2 might well become the fastest selling game of all time, it's very unlikely it'll set many records beyond.

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Related links:

• Feature - Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 - gaming hardware
• Feature - Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 - games
• News - Modern Warfare 2 breaks Amazon pre-order records

Tags: Gaming Statistics Activision Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare 2 GTA Halo 3 World of Wacraft Features

Modern Warfare 2 looks set to smash records? originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:41:53 +0000

While excited gamers across the country unwrap the packaging of Modern Warfare 2, one of the most anticipated video games of recent times, The Onion has revealed footage of the next installment in the series.

Modern Warfare 3 will apparently offer the most true to life military gameplay ever created, whether it's hauling around equipment from place to place, chatting waiting with fellow soldiers, repairing equipment or completing paperwork.

With beta testers said to be "impressed" with what they've seen of the new title, you can hit play now on the video above for a sneak preview of what's in store for the war-themed shoot-'em-up with footage from the next version revealed here.

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Tags: Gaming FPS Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare 2 Modern Warfare 3 Video The Onion

VIDEO: Modern Warfare 3 revealed originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:35:37 +0000

Fancy being a part of one of the leading global gadget news and reviews sites in the world? Thought you did.?Pocket-lint is looking to fill positions in?New York and?San Francisco, the roving reporters joining the team will replace Stuart, who is heading back to the UK.?

Ideally you will be well connected within the gadget scene and be available to chase down briefings, meetings and attend events when needed.

You will have to be able to get into either New York city or San Francisco for meetings, come with your own computer and digital camera and of course be able to access the Internet without excuses.

Work amount and schedule is based on your ability to generate original stories and we are looking for you to take the lead rather than be spoonfed ideas.

Salary, etc., will depend on work and experience.?

The ability to file quickly at events is also a must.

To apply, email us via the feedback form with links to two examples of your work and the answers to the following two questions:

1. Why should we hire you?

2. If you were a product on a supermarket shelf what would you be and why?

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Tags: Audio Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness

Pocket-lint is hiring in US originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:00:18 +0000

Damn you, Sports Interactive. We’d just about managed to wean ourselves off FM09 and re-emerge into civilised society, one that doesn’t care about how well our under-18s did in the Youth Cup or whether a 4-2-3-1 formation is the way forward, when along comes the latest update of the footy management classic to again make its needy demands on our personal lives.

As football has its fierce rivalries, so too does football gaming. With FIFA and PES just having had their annual cockfight for supremacy, this year saw the renewal of the management sim scrap, with Championship Manager moving back into the market after an absence of 3 years.

Without any competition during that time, the FM series coasted a bit, with the only upgrades feeling only cosmetic or tweaky; only with the introduction of the 3D game engine last year did there seem to be a truly weighty improvement that piqued any curiosity beyond wondering what the new stats for FM legends Carlos Vela were.

So with CM to contend with again, the onus is on Sports Interactive to stay on top of their game and keep the franchise fresh. Having already revamped the graphics on such a grand scale last year, any changes this time round could have inevitably seemed less impressive in comparison.

One thing we like about SI is that they tend to leave what works and tinker with anything that could improve the package. FM10 sees a major attempt to overhaul the interface, aiming for a more intuitive experience that improves the flow between the vast number of aspects, and the gameplay itself, adding new touches and expanding key ones.

The interface is now less reliant on breadcrumb icons, which could have been harder to navigate for newbies, and instead uses a more logical tab system that allows each page to branch of into a number of other sections. For example a player’s page now has clearly visible links to his training, transfer, contracts – though stylistically similar to previous years, visually it packs in more info and links.

Perhaps the sheer weight of customisable views is a tad overwhelming, but it doesn’t hamper the basics. One of the neater customisable aspects is the newsfeed – this can now filter out unwanted mail, after all, updates on the England squad are of little use when you’re toiling away in the Blue Square leagues.

The tactics have also had a going-over. There’s now a tactics wizard that’ll help you set-up how you play and players can now be assigned more specific roles – strikers can now be poachers, deep-lying forwards, among others, hell, keepers can even be sweeper keepers. This really does make it easier for those who have neither the time nor the inclination to get ball-deep into it and prefer a less demanding game. Possibly the suavest tactical addition is the touchline instructions, which allow you to pick a number of standard tactical instructions which can be done without stopping the match.

The geekier gamer will heart the new post-match analysis, which offers a thorough Opta-stlye breakdown of each player’s performance, allowing you to pinpoint weaknesses. The backroom staff advice, introduced in FM09, has been made more humanistic too – your coaching team offer up handy suggestions, from tactics to scouting, meaning that you don’t have to be mindful of the myriad of tactical aspects the game has to offer.

That’s the key success to this version of FM – they’ve added a bewildering degree of new depth to a number of parts of game, but have also matched that with an attempt to make it as user-friendly as possible. Even last year’s improvements have themselves been improved. Neat touches have been added to the 3D match graphics – the crowd responses are more lifelike, while the state of the pitch is rendered in greater detail. Nothing, it seems, has been to chance in the fight to remain market leader.

Verdict:

Despite seemingly being less of a trumpets-blaring upgrade than last year’s 3D engine, this is actually the better version – the changes are more fundamental and positive, making the game more logical and realistic. The gamer is at the heart of the changes – as SI both expands the game while making it more enjoyable at the same time.

It may feel like the default setting to praise the series and others may have been playing it longer than this reviewer's 5 years, but due to the significant changes they’ve made and the ease with which they’ve been integrated, this very well may be the best Football Manager yet.

Tags: Gaming Sports games Sports Interactive Football Manager 2010 PC games Mac games Sega

Football Manager 2010 - Mac originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:22:29 +0000

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 has officially launched around the globe. But how, as a fan, do you show your love for the latest First Person Shooter? You get your favourite gadget laser engraved of course.

Gamers keen to help celebrate the New York launch in Union Square were treated to a free engraving service from Coveroo on any device they wanted (or more to the point had on hand).

Gamers could opt for seven designs, including logos for GameStop, Xbox 360, and Activision, although not PS3, even though the game is available on the Sony console.

Daryl, a gamer at the party, opted for a soldier on the back of his iPhone, while two other gamers we talked to opted to get their T-Mobile G1 and HTC My Touch 3G engraved losing the "with Google" logo at the same time.

Now that's dedication.

A quick straw poll of who was getting what engraved suggested iPhone users where keen to mark there Apple handsets.?

The game launches in both the UK and the US on 11 November?and is tipped to be the biggest selling title of the year.

So what gadget would you get engraved??

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Tags: Phones Gaming Apple iPhone T-Mobile mytouch 3G Activion Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare 2

Modern Warfare 2 engraves its success on iPhone originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:48:02 +0000

RIM, the maker of the BlackBerry handsets, is hoping to appeal to gamers in the future with an announcement that it will be supporting the OpenGL ES technology in its handsets.

The news, which was announced at the company's developer conference in San Francisco, means that games developers will be able to bring the latest 3D mobile games they've been making for the iPhone to the BlackBerry platform.

"With OpenGL ES support, Java developers will have the ability to build 3D games and graphics for BlackBerry smartphones running BlackBerry OS 5.0 and higher", RIM said in a statement.

EA?Mobile, has already started developing games for the platform, which is expected to be enabled on the new?BlackBerry Storm 2?first.

However more interesting to non-gamers, the average BlackBerry user, is that it should open up other applications like Google's newly announced Google Maps Navigation. At the recent Droid launch event in NYC, Google told Pocket-lint that it could be possible to port the GPS app to the iPhone because of the OpenGL support.

This announcement would mean that Google could add BlackBerry to that same list.

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Tags: Phones Gaming RIM BlackBerry iPhone EA Mobile phone games BlackBerry Storm 2 Google Google Maps Navigation

3D gaming coming to a BlackBerry near you originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:48:01 +0000

Amazon has announced that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has broken all of its previous records for pre-sales of video games. The title has eclipsed the previous record-holder, GTA IV, by 50% - quite a feat, considering how much hype there was around that title.

Modern Warfare 2 is due on 10 November, but many shops have begun selling it early, with Gamestop in the States getting special permission. A supposedly watertight embargo for journalists hasn't stopped reviews getting published early - most notably by Charlie Brooker on Twitter, who blasted through it in one sitting, and said: "it's very good, but it's not the flippin' messiah or anything. And it has the intellectual depth of Die Hard 4".

Amazon currently offers Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for the Xbox 360 and PS3 for just ?32 at the time of writing, with PC owners getting short shrift and having to stump up ?35. Still, they get superior graphics and performance, so perhaps that'll make up for it.

Which version are you getting, and are you excited? Let us know in the comments below.

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Tags: Gaming Statistics Activision Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare 2 Amazon GTA

Modern Warfare 2 breaks Amazon pre-order records originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:03:42 +0000

Electronic Arts has confirmed it is to acquire social games giant Playfish. Playfish will be incorporated into EA Interactive, a division of EA that produces games for the Web and mobile devices.

EA will purchase the company that specialises in Facebook and casual games for approximately $275 million in cash and $25 million in an equity retention arrangement.

"Social gaming, with its emphasis on friends and community, is seeing tremendous growth and this is the right time to invest to strengthen our participation in this space", said Barry Cottle, senior vice president and general manager of EA Interactive.

Meanwhile Kristian Segerstrale, CEO and co-founder of Playfish added: "The industry is undergoing dramatic transformation and joining EA is the ideal opportunity for us to push forward our goals to lead in the social entertainment evolution on a faster and much larger scale".

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Tags: Gaming EA Playfish Acquisitions Biz Online Software

EA acquires Playfish originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:29:22 +0000

Remember the 802.11n Wi-Fi adaptor for the Xbox 360, which appeared in an FCC filing in the States back in September? Well, it appears that it's real and it's on shelves in Asda, if the above picture from Engadget is accurate.

The pic puts the price at ?50, slightly less than the current b/g version which costs ?60 (though can often be found cheaper than that). The product can't be found online from any of the big supermarket retailers, though, so it seems like this could be just the work of an enthusiastic shelf-stocker.

The peripheral enables the console to connect to faster, more stable Wi-Fi networks, which should improve your online experience if you suffer from a slightly dodgy wireless experience on your console. For it to work, however, you'll also need a Wireless-N router - something that isn't yet in many people's homes.

We'll keep you posted of the wider availability of the device. If supermarkets are getting stock then that could be very close indeed.

Tags: Gaming Peripherals Xbox 360 Wi-Fi Rumours

Xbox Wireless-n adaptor on sale now? originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:24:23 +0000

2009 has been something of a glass ceiling for gamers. Yes, the software has continued to come and in more inventive ways than ever, but it's been pretty much the same kinds of consoles available on the shelves. At the same time, at E3 this summer, we saw some of the most ground-breaking and exciting projects for years with motion sensitivity and augmented reality the stars of the show.

Unfortunately, there are no prizes in the Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 Best Gaming Hardware category for anything still caught up in the ether. The fact is what we need is feedback from people and that's exactly what we hope you give us in the comments below. Which do you think are the worthy winners?

The Machines

With the major boxes and handhelds still in their place, 2009 was very much a year of upgrades. The bloated PS3 went slim, the Nintendo DS got itself an "i" and the PSP, controversially, ditched its UMD slot favouring digital downloads with the PSP Go. With rumours already of a PSP-4000, you wonder whether that's a move that Sony regrets. Even the new gaming conundrum that is the iPod touch/iPhone only got a minor perk in power and performance with the new iPhone 3.0 software, and 3rd generation and 3GS releases. But, with apps getting all the more sophisticated, it's no longer a platform we can ignore.

Perhaps more interesting on the hardware side was the advance in PC gaming that's once again on the rise owing to a clutch of hugely popular and painfully addictive titles. Asus came out with two turbocharged super-PCs with the W90 and G60 - both featuring over 1GB of memory on the graphics units alone as well as all the usual trimmings. 2009 was also the year that Dell decided to hand Alienware the complete set of keys to its gaming line and brought out both 17 and 15-inch laptops in the familiar sci-fi-look colour schemes, complete with Alien language and more chip ports than you could shake a stick at. Even budget specialist Medion took the time to get involved with the launch of the Erazer. Naturally, it's a lot cheaper than the others, despite impressive specs, but the catch is that she ain't much of a looker.

Game controllers

With the machine manufacturers taking a breather - relatively speaking - it's given the peripheral gang an excellent chance to both catch up and really push themselves to get inventive. Naturally, those unleashing the limitless potential of the Wii have been having a lot of fun. To add to the already brimming closet of unused plastic you can now bag yourself a Wii Bowling Ball, a slightly disturbing baby doll controller for Baby and Me, a series of machine guns - as well as one that transforms into a sawn-off - and some dumbells. Mercifully, there have been some serious technological developments with the Wii Motion Plus improvement to the original WiiMote, as well as the addition of the Jog for Wii controller for fitness fans everywhere.

Probably the most interesting developments in the field have been in the controllers for the software explosion that is still the Rock Band and Guitar Hero games. You no longer have to put up with having Fisher Price-looking toys in your arms when striking out on a solo. Logitech brought out some enviable wireless instruments plus, of course, Harmonix splashed out on making guitars and even a drum kit that ape those of the Fab Four for the release of The Beatles Rock Band. Just a shame we're still waiting on the availability of the Krator Orpheous WG-07. Beyond that, Activision broke the mould with an entirely new device for DJ Hero, however there are very few opinions on just how well that's worked out as yet.

Of course, for Logitech, there's nothing peripheral about peripherals and it wasn't just music games where the company spent some money. Naturally, there's a load of mice and keyboards with their logo stamped on, but the Logitech G27 Racing Wheel and pedals complete with VR3 racer was quite clearly a drool-fest for petrol-head gamers and the G940 Flight Simulator was equally well-received by the specialists.

Last of all was the highly entertaining Novint Falcon gun controller for the PC, riding on the back of the success of games like Left 4 Dead. Anything with a realistic sense of recoil is always guaranteed to get a smile out of gamers.

Keyboards and Mice

Of course, if it's all about PC gaming for you, then there's no more important tools than your keyboard and mouse and, as ever, 2009 has seen advances here too. Whether or not, they help you get more kills is another thing altogether but at least it might make it a little easier to keep up with the pack. Logtiech has been as busy as ever with the highly inventive G19 keypad as well as the full G110 board and the G500 mouse and headset too. Razor has honed in with the RazorNaga MMO mouse with more buttons and shortcuts than ever right where you need them - all very well if you can remember what they're for - and Sidewinder has stuck with wireless and produced the X8 mouse which the company considers to be the fastest in the world.

Audio

Audio is rarely top of most people's lists for gaming, but add the right piece of kit and it can add a profound finish to your experience. If you need to do things on the quiet Verbatim, Sennheiser and Creative have each come up with excellent value solutions at a respective price increase. Whether you're after a heavy sub, some in-ear isolation or on-ear noise cancelling, they represent something for everyone.

Of course, if you're happy to blast the premises, Creative and Logitech have sculpted and tuned several high quality and good looking options for serious desktop power and Altec Lansing have gone and invented something highly unique for the home in the shape of a stage-monitor type speaker for guitar console games. You can even put your foot on it like you're really there having underwear thrown at you. Hello Cleveland!

Displays

Last of all come the screens on which you get to enjoy your interactive entertainment, and 3D has been the new projector in 2009. Yes, the likes of Epson, Optoma and LG are still supplying some wonderful hardware to make your Street Fights 60 inches tall, but ViewSonic, Nvidia and Vuzix are working on the idea of your avatars actually leaping out and punching you in the face. Admittedly, this works with varying degrees of success, depending upon whether you're going for a goggles or traditional monitor solution but it's certainly a serious edge that can add to the fun.

What do you think?

But these are just some of the fantastic choices our readers have had in 2009. What would you like to see held aloft as the winner of Pocket-lint Best Gaming Hardware 2009? What have we missed out? Which are your unsung heroes and of those we've already mentioned, which would get your vote? Let us know in the comments below and you can help our panel decide which make the shortlist of nominees to be announced here on Pocket-lint on 16 November. We'll have all out coverage of the Vodafone Pocket-lint awards 2009 right here. Don't miss a minute of it.

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Related links:

• Feature - Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 - games
• Feature - Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 - software, services, apps
• Feature - Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 - laptops

Tags: Gaming Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 Pocket-lint Awards Features Xbox PlayStation Nintendo PC games Mice And Keyboards Keyboards Mice Speakers PC speakers Logitech

Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 - gaming hardware originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:30:00 +0000

UK Labour MP Tom Watson has formed a political pressure group called "Gamers' Voice", designed to "discuss how UK video gamers can find their voice in newspapers and government". The MP announced the creation of the group, which currently manifests itself on Facebook, via his Twitter account.

The group says, in its description: "Are you sick of UK newspapers and (my fellow) politicians beating up on gaming? So am I. The truth is, UK gamers need their own pressure group. I want to help you start one up. I don't know how it should work yet but please register your interest if you agree that gamers need their voice heard in the corridors of power".

An article in the Daily Mail prompted Watson to create the group after it claimed that Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 "allows players to plot terror attacks against civilians". The article has now been updated, to remove those claims, following outrage in the comments.

Tom Watson has a long history as perhaps the most geek-friendly MP. This move will no doubt further that reputation, depending on how successful it becomes.

(Thanks to Alan for the tip)

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Tags: Gaming Politics Tom Watson Facebook Twitter

MP Tom Watson forms gamers' pressure group originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:00:35 +0000

The Prince of Persia film trailer has just hit the intertubes and with it our hearts both flutter and sink at the same time as we realise that it's going to be terrible. It may sound premature but anyone who knows anything about either games, films or ideally both, will know that out of countless console to silver screen conversions there has been a sum total of no good ones whatsoever. Yes, some have had brushes with the acceptable - Tomb Raider and Silent Hill at a push - but the fact remains that history just doesn't lie. Not here.

So, why are they so bad? What's the deal? First and foremost game plots just aren't up to it. At the best we get some lengthy cut scenes between gruff-talking men in over-sized armour between levels of dealing death to any creature that gets in the way of Player 1 and the next room/access key/elevator/bigger weapon/mushroom. They may contain over 200 hundred hours of gameplay but you could probably condense the storyline into around 20 minutes.

Even if these plots do have any staying power, then they're rarely as sophisticated as what hundreds of years experience of stage and screen writing can produce, and the results are laughable. We laugh, usually around an hour in, well after our hearts have been broken in two because our favourite title is being ridiculed in front of the world. The trouble is that video games aren't designed to be stories. They're games. They're about skill and puzzles rather than a meaningful narrative. There are narratives, more and more, and they're better than ever these days, but they're still tertiary to the structure of the game beneath both playability and graphical appeal.

Then there's characters who are largely two-dimensional. We don't really want to know about Ryu's anxiety when taking on Zangief and fortunately Capcom didn't bore us to death in case we did. Even more involved RPG or adventure pieces only ever get as far as overt emotions like fear or anger at current events and only at the most complex might we see a flashback from the character's past, and only then if it's germane to the plot. The point is that it's up to us, the players, to form the deeper reaction in response to a series of ruthless/kind/good/evil and if we're really lucky, traitorous characters. The added colour simply isn't written in for a very good reason - that of personal subjective involvement.

So, here's how the situation works given the already shaky starting materials. First, a game gets big enough and a movie producer gets bored enough to decide that they're going to make a film out of it. So, they plonk it down in front of an upcoming writer and director, most likely still learning their trade or they'd probably have an original or more worthy project on the slate. Faced with a thin plot and characters that no one's going to care about, they then do their level best to add some colour to the proceedings which is inevitably flawed, most likely because they won't be big players of the game, and what they fabricate will not be in the spirit of thing. Either that or they don't add enough and it's dull as ditch-water anyway.

They then present the project to similarly aspiring actors who take it on because, hey, it's work whereby a few months down the line and several million on special effects later we have one film destined to disappoint.? What's worse is that this film will make more money than it cost and so the cycle repeats itself. Perhaps the only good that's ever done is that the artists involved might have graduated to the higher echelons of film making by then. Good luck to them.

There are, of course, minor exceptions. Dennis Hopper was in Super Mario Bros, Angelina Jolie was Lara Croft and now Jake Gyllenhaal has taken the lead in the Prince of Persia, but these stars alone aren't going to be enough to fill all the gaps. Incidentally, if you want a real laugh, watch the DVD extras on Dungeons & Dragons for the out take where Jeremy Irons storms off the set. There's the look of an actor regretting the fact they got involved with it in the first place.

So, what of Prince of Persia then? Is it as doomed as we make out? Well, it's got a stronger plot than some. They've integrated the use of the Dagger of Time really nicely (I'm a sucker for films with time travel). They've got an excellent director in the shape of Mike Newell and a star studded cast with class acts like Ben Kingsley and Alfred Molina supporting the adept and watchable Gyllenhaal, but a good game adaptation that's not necessarily going to make. What do they know about the Prince of Persia? Gyllenhaal has said himself that he's over-prepared for this movie by bulking up with five or six pounds in added muscle. Now, that doesn't sound like the right kind of training. How about a copy of the game, a dark room and bulking up with five or six pounds in added KFC?

Mercifully, the game's creator, Jordan Mechner, has been part of the team on the script, but time will only tell whether Jerry Bruckheimer listened to him or not. Still, most of you reading this will probably watch it, you'll probably hate it and you'll probably wonder why you fell for the same trick again. Thankfully, you'll probably have downloaded it for nothing too.

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Tags: Gaming PS3 Xbox 360 PC games Prince of Persia Films Movies Comment

Why are game-inspired films so terrible? originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:38:52 +0000

The date for the launch of the PSP version of LittleBigPlanet has finally been confirmed for the UK.

Sony has told gaming site CVG that the new title will be out in the UK on 20 November, a few days behind the US release on 17 November.

LBP PSP is a whole new adventure with new levels for Sackboy fans - hit play now on the video to see a teaser video of the game.

Tags: Gaming PSP Sony LittleBigPlanet Video

VIDEO: LittleBigPlanet PSP UK launch confirmed for 20 November originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:43:06 +0000

First off congratulations to Paul Story who won last month's comments comp for his comment on the story "Amazon Kindle UK import orders begin". For those who didn't win, don't fret, because the kind folk at TomTom have sent a TomTom XL Live IQ Routes Europe unit for us to dish out for our November comments competition.

The rules of the competition are simple, you can enter as many times as you like by simply commenting on any story. It doesn't have to be in depth, detailed or technical, but it does have to be useful, helpful or funny.

You don't have to sign up to comment on the stories, we just ask for your name, location and email address - that does not show up online and is not passed on.

The TomTom device measures 123 x 80 x 18mm and features 4.3-inch touch display, the screen being bright and a convenient size enabling ease of use whilst driving.

Along with Live HD Traffic, now with added support for Europe, the TomTom XL Live has excellent route guidance and with the added MapShare feature, it allows for easy updating of maps within the TomTom community.

To be in with a chance of winning this top-notch effort just comment on any story during the month of November. At the end of November the Pocket-lint team will take a look and choose what we believe is the best one.

Make sure you take a look at Pocket-lint's full review where it received a 9/10 score.

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Tags: Audio accessories Biz Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness TomTom GPS Competitions

Win a TomTom XL Live IQ Routes Europe originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:42:25 +0000

The Best Game nominees for the Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadgets Awards 2009 are likely to be much more of a fight than last year's cut and dry selection. Without quite such monumental hits as Little Big Planet, GTA IV and Wii Fit, the field is wide open and there are one or two more platforms of maturity to compete with the big three consoles. Who would you choose?

The Blockbusters

Somehow sequels are infinitely more respectable in video games than they are at the movies, which is fortunate for the industry seeing as pretty much all the big hits this year have been just that. The annual releases of FIFA 2010 and PES 2010 probably take the award for the longest running of the lot but with Resident Evil 5 and its slightly awry publicity stunt zombie hunt coming in close behind. Back from the dead came Street Fighter IV with all your favourite faces plus a few new ones just waiting to be pummeled by a few well placed Shoryuken and a cheap 100 hand slap.

COD looks like it might just squeeze in its sixth episode in time for the deadline with Modern Warefare 2 but it looks as if both Left 4 Dead 2 and the hugely anticipated Tony Hawk Ride have left it too late this time. Probably just so they can be hot favourites for our pick of 2010.

The Halo series has managed two releases on its own with its first person shooter and strategy lines - Halo ODST and Halo Wars respectively - and if it's shooters you're after, then there's the recent launch of both Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and the highly regarded Borderlands to consider - the latter of which comes with strong RPG elements and a gaggle of console players currently at its mercy.

The trouble with most big games is we hear about them 12 months before they arrive. By the time they get here, they're almost old news. There was a seemingly endless wait for a certain DC title in the dark shape of Batman: Arkham Asylum, but it didn't disappoint when it turned up at the end of the summer. Definitely another big title worth a shout for the award.

Rock Band & Guitar Hero

We were going to use Rhythm Games as a title but frankly these two warring factions pretty much eclipsed every other party in 2009, so between Harmonix and Acitvision it is. Both companies have world domination on their minds releasing multiple titles for multiple platforms. Probably biggest of all was the moment the Fab Four finally went digital with the release of The Beatles: Rock Band but the EA backed franchise has also remembered to think small with the launch of Rock Band for the iPhone as well.

The big release for Activision was a little harder to spot. You'd have to pick between Guitar Hero 5 and and DJ Hero for the largest splash, but with Band Hero out today, there's room for a third party in the debate. GH too went portable with Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits for the DS and brought another band their own version of the game with Guitar Hero Metallica too. The list for both dynasties is set to continue despite Rock Band's latest confession. We're told there's a version for The Who in the pipeline and we're sure there's plenty of acts to get through before they start scraping the barrel with Guitar Hero Color Me Badd.

Portable

Just when you think portable gaming has exploded, it explodes some more. According to one Steve Jobs, Sony and Nintendo have a new kid to worry about now that the app store is in full swing. Whether you believe it has the same potential as a platform or not is one thing, but what we have seen for sure this year is that there are a lot of big titles focusing on an iPhone release.

Rock Band we already know about but some of the other stand out serious titles for Apple have been the wildly addictive Championship Manager, Command and Conquer Red Alert, for those who just can't put the mouse down, and the return of a classic in digitised form with the Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone Fighting Fantasy role play series getting an app of its own.

As for the PSP and DSi, there have been hundreds of titles but the two standouts for our money are GTA Chinatown Wars, which brought the first 18 certificate to Nintendo's handheld, and the enormous cult success that is Monster Hunter Freedom Unite.

PC

Some games are still just too hardcore for a simple console interface and this year has seen Will Wright come back one more time with the latest chapter of his god game classic, the Sims 3 - even if it did arrive a little earlier than anticipated. But it wasn't just the one classic for 2009. Another season brings us another Championship Manager, but it was the people's champion who made the biggest splash in this field bringing the beautiful game to the Internet with Football Manager Live, and they weren't the only ones to do so. The seminal first person shooter, Quake also hit the Web and ruined worker efficiency everywhere with Quake Live as well.

Thankfully, we also had a few fresh starts in PC gaming or perhaps more accurately computer gaming in this case. Playfish brought out another of their social networking phenomenon games with Quiztastic - to challenge and annoy your friends with and there was also proof that Flash gaming is as strong as ever with the appearance of the Super Mario 63 web game for all to enjoy. Last of all though was another of the big hitters for 2009 in the small and cute form that is Plants vs Zombies. The game is set to take over the world on just about every level as soon as it hits the iPhone but for now you can enjoy it from the comfort of your own computer.

Wii

At the other end of the scale there's a certain brand of games that are only going to work on the Nintendo Wii. The fitness wave rolls on with Wii Sports Resort and more recently Wii Fit Plus but there's also been the resurrection of Punch Out, this time without Mike Tyson. Finally, though, one of the biggest storms in a d-pad was caused by the release of the dark MadWorld beat'em up from Sega, which received plenty of complaints given its launch on such a family minded console. It's unlikely to cause issues when it comes to other machines soon but it's the gameplay that counts and word is that it's one that certainly delivers.

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What do you think?

But these are just some of the fantastic choices our readers have had in 2009. What would you like to see held aloft as the winner of Pocket-lint Best Game 2009? Who have we missed out? Which are your unsung heroes and of those we've already mentioned, which would get your vote? Let us know in the comments below and you can help our panel decide which make the shortlist of nominees to be announced here on Pocket-lint on 16 November. We'll have all out coverage of the Vodafone Pocket-lint awards 2009 right here. Don't miss a minute of it.

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Related links:

• Feature - Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 - software, services, apps
• Feature - Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 - laptops
• Feature - Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 - digital cameras

Tags: Gaming Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 Pocket-lint Awards Features Xbox PlayStation Nintendo PC games

Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2009 - games originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:30:19 +0000

Of all the bands that have a difficult relationship with digital music, The Beatles stand above AC/DC, Metallica and Pink Floyd as the most troublesome. Apple Corps has a long-standing dispute with EMI that prevents the Fab Four's music from being available on services like iTunes, Spotify and Last.fm.

But after George Harrison's son Dhani met MTV's president, Van Toffler, in 2006, and suggested a Rock Band game based around The Beatles' catalogue, both parties worked to overcome logistical difficulties and the cult of protectionism that surrounds any use of The Beatles' image.

Harrison worked to win over Apple Corps, talking to McCartney, Starr and Ono about the idea. Toffler went off to convince Harmonix. In the end, following the production of a five-song demo, and an agreement that songs from the entire career of the band would be showcased, a deal was signed.

During development of the game, McCartney, Starr, Ono and Harrison all provided feedback on various aspects of the title, even down to demanding that The Beatles' hair blew about in the wind more when they perform on the roof of the Apple Corps' HQ, as it did on the day in 1969.

That sense of careful control of the image of the band is everywhere in the game. At no point is it possible to make The Beatles look bad, or affect the songs in any way other than to quieten a single instrument temporarily if you miss a note.

The ability to play drum beats before the start and after the end of a track are gone. So too is the ability to do wildcat drum solos in the middle of tracks to active "Overdrive" for extra points (which happens to be renamed "Beatlemania" in B:RB). The control is over every tiny detail, even down to the fact that attaining an extra star doesn't make the little "ding" sound it does in Rock Band 2.

But in its place is boatloads of extra content for Beatles fans. Attaining three and five stars on an individual track will unlock a photo and anecdote about the recording of that track. Each song is bookended by real studio chatter from the original recordings, all the way down to Ringo shouting "I've got blisters on me fingers!" at the end of Helter Skelter.

One benefit over previous versions of the game is that all 45 songs are unlocked from the start. You don't have to play through "Story" mode to get access to every track. If you do, however, you'll find an artfully crafted chronological journey through the band's history, starting at the Cavern Club, and ending on the aforementioned rooftop.

Between each chapter of the band's career, you get a lovely little animation depicting record sleeves, and covering famous episodes that occurred in that timeframe. The game is visually stunning, especially on a big HD display, and very in-keeping with the legacy of the band - particularly when it comes to the "Dreamscapes" that accompany several tracks from The Beatles' studio years.

In terms of features, though, there's very little difference between this game and last year's Rock Band 2. The only major addition is that of harmonies, which you'll need multiple USB mics for, along with a mic stand for singing and playing at the same time. Headset mics won't work, unlike in previous games.

The harmonies aren't easy. In fact they're doggone tough, unless you're a practiced vocalist in real life. Luckily, a trio of vocalists can sing any of the harmony parts without having to worry about who's singing what. As long as you're in tune with at least one of the melodies, you'll score well.

The enhanced plastic instruments are pretty awesome too. Well, the guitars are. The Rickenbacker 325, Gretsch Duo Jet, and Hefner bass are all fantastic representations of the original instruments, and will look great even if you're playing another game in the Rock Band range.

The Ludwig drum kit isn't quite as good, though. It's the same kit as from Rock Band 2, but has a big Beatles logo that stretches across the back of the set, mimicking the bass drum skin, and new pearl-edged drum pads. It looks flimsy and fake compared to the quality of the other Premium instruments.

Difficulty is reasonable throughout - it's easy to see how tricky a particular song is and adjust accordingly. One criticism that could be levelled, however, is that the game is relatively short. The 45 songs can be played through in a couple of hours, making this more suited to perfectionists who'll want to 100% every single song.

More content is on the way, including songs left over from Abbey Road, Sgt Pepper and Rubber Soul that didn't make it into the game. The slow approach is due to the difficulty of splitting apart the content from the old 2-track and 4-track master tapes at Abbey Road. Music from The Beatles' various solo projects will not be included.

Verdict:

The Beatles Rock Band is a fantastic reminiscipackage of musical and visual content that should be firmly in the collection of any Beatles fan. But a question mark hangs over the value of this title for people who aren't so passionate about the band's catalogue.

Little niggles, like not being able to put in your own drum fills, grate considerably when compared to the relative freedom of Rock Band 2. The controlled, and relatively brief, experience puts a slightly bitter aftertaste on a game that is - in every other regard - fantastic fun.

The Beatles Rock Band is an absolute must for Beatles completists and Rock Band completists, but a music fan who hasn't yet dipped a toe into the world of music videogames like Rock Band and Guitar Hero would be better off starting with the excellent Rock Band 2 instead.

Tags: Gaming Xbox 360 Music games Beatles The Beatles Rock Band Rock Band Harmonix EA

The Beatles Rock Band - Xbox 360 originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Ever since games consoles came into our front rooms, both the hardware and software developers have looked for new ways to make their titles stand out from the crowd. One sure fire method is to reinvent the interface or design one with just your game in mind. With game controllers getting wackier by the minute (there is everything from skateboards,?baby dolls, to exercise bikes, to yourself and even replica guns), do the latest plethora of gaming?controllers have what it takes to make it to the ranks of these five great game-changers below?

1) Atari 2600 Joystick (1977)

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Boil all joysticks down to their most basic and this is what you get. The Atari 2600 broke a hell of a lot of ground, in fact, by the time it was through, it was pretty much surrounded by dust. One hugely important area was the game controllers. The paddles used in Pong and such are obviously legendary in their own right but it was the classic, stubby, heavy rubber knob and single red fire button that was the face that launched a thousand sticks. It wasn't the first such device. They'd existed for many years in more complex forms in aircraft and other serious applications, but it was Atari that came up with the electrical standard for gaming that took the design on through 16-bit computing and as far as the Atari ST and Amiga.

2) Nintendo Famicom Gamepad (1983)

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The seeds of downfall had long been sowed before the decline of the joystick in the mid 90s. The gamepads, joypads, thumbpads or however you wish to refer them were all inspired by the controllers of Nintendo's first gaming console, and original take on the NES, the Famicom. The classic d-pad and fire buttons combo was brought from the hugely popular Game & Watch series and ported onto separate paddles, the like of which we still use today.

3) Shooting Gallery (1968/1973)

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Invented as a prototype in 1968 by Ralph Baer, Shooting Gallery was the first laser gun controller for, in fact, the first ever home video games console - the Magnavox Odyssey. Somewhat less friendly looking than later incarnations, like Nintendo's orange NES Zapper, the Shooting Gallery was a scarily real, sober styled rifle that you had to cock between shots. The gun worked only by detecting light from the TV screen, rather than specific targets, which meant you could cheat by pointing the thing at a light bulb to register a hit. But, seeing as the Odyssey didn't show an on-screen score anyway, cheating was a little irrelevant.

4) Guitar Hero Gibson SG (2005)

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Harmonix was by no means the first to come up with the idea of a guitar controller, but it was the company that brought it to the games console when Guitar Hero was released on the PS2 in 2005. Games like Konami's Dance Dance Revolution and, more specifically, GuitarFreaks had paved the way at the arcade in Japan and it was Red Octane - who developed the controllers for the latter of the two - that approached Guitar Hero's creators with the idea of a console game that used a completely different type of device. The original game went on to sell 1.5 million copies and the rest, as they say, is history - well, until Harmonix went off and started Rock Band, but that's another story.

5) Nintendo Wiimote (2006)

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Whether or not you like the console, you have to admit that the latest game-changer is probably the biggest in video gaming history. Yes, there was a lot of work done by the likes of the Eye Toy but it was Nintendo who got it right. On the one hand, it's still very much based on the original Famicon gamepads, but it's taken the scope of what you can do to a whole different level and has been the first to help capture the minds of an entirely new section of the public. It works via Bluetooth connection with the console itself, rather than on light gun principles, meaning that it works equally well regardless of what kind of TV you have. It has a trigger, it rumbles, but what gives it its essence is that it has an accelerometer that can accurately sense movement on three different axes. It has since spawned tens of gun, racing wheel and music instrument controllers in its own right and has become the new standard by which the opposition are attempting to measure.

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Tags: Gaming Nintendo Tony Hawk Atari Famicom Guitar Hero Features Magnavox Odyssey Shooting Gallery

Five game-changing console controllers originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:55:10 +0000

In the States Thrustmaster has unveiled the T-Freestyle NW, describing it as the ultimate controller for snowboarding and skateboarding Wii dudes.

"Experience the extreme action of boarding this winter from the comfort of your living room", says Thrustmaster who is flogging the board at the arguably affordable price tag of $29.99 - but you'll need a Wii Balance Board to use it.

The claims for the new board is that it allows gamers to execute freestyle tricks and to control their boarding runs with the same "spirit of freedom" and the "sensation of no limit" as in real life.

Crafted from gen-you-ine maple the board gets a bad-ass skull design and attaches to the Balance Board for "endless hours of fun". We'll keep you posted on a UK launch.

Tags: Gaming Nintendo Thrustmaster Nintendo Wii Controllers Wiimote Sports Fitness Sports games

Thrustmaster announces the T-Freestyle NW originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:46:54 +0000

Viacom has admitted that its Rock Band series is still not making any cash - on the contrary, it's losing the company money. Viacom's chief financial officer, Tom Dooley, admitted in a quarterly earnings report that "Rock Band was a negative contributor to margins in the third quarter".

He added: "We expect it to break even or be slightly profitable in the fourth quarter from a margin point of view. It really depends on how many units we sell in the holiday season".

The big problem is that making the plastic guitars, drums and microphones is expensive. The company's plan, it seems, revolves around getting those controllers into as many into people's homes as possible, then selling them future games in the franchise that cost both the company and the consumer less.

To that end, both Rock Band 2 and Beatles: Rock Band are compatible with older controllers on the same platform, but it seems to be a pretty long-term strategy. Having said that, Beatles Rock Band is apparently doing reasonably well - "the economics of our Rock Band franchise are improving, though not as quickly as we'd like", said Viacom's CEO, Philippe Daumann.

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Tags: Gaming Rock Band Viacom MTV Biz

Rock Band is still not profitable, says Viacom originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:05:51 +0000

Play.com has announced that, despite the threatened Royal Mail strikes on Friday 6th and Monday 9 November, it will be delivering CoD:MW2 to its customers by an alternative partner on the official release date, 10 November.

The online retailer says that any customer ordering the game from Play.com before midnight on Sunday 8 November will see the game dispatched on time to get it delivered on the Tuesday release date.

Set to be the biggest selling entertainment product ever, pre-orders for Modern Warfare 2 at Play.com have been in excess of 150 a minute at peak times.
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"The strike coinciding as it does with the biggest selling entertainment product release ever has presented us with a challenge which we believe our new delivery plan will overcome", says Play.com COO Stuart Rowe.

UDPATE: We've been in touch with Play.com to find out what the situation is considering the comments we've seen on this story. We've so far received a brief statement, as follows:

"Play.com is taking this situation very seriously and is working with their mail carriers to ensure the fastest possible delivery of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to all customers".

We are hoping to hear more tomorrow (12th) and will update this post when we do.

Related links:

• Shop - Play.com

Tags: Gaming Play Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare 2 Royal Mail

Play.com guarantees Modern Warfare 2 deliveries originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:30:06 +0000

No Doubt, Gwen Stefani's band who had a hit with the song "Don't Speak", have sued the publishers of Band Hero, Activision Blizzard, over their likeness in the game. The band complained that they were breaching their contract by allowing them to be turned into a virtual karaoke act.

In the game, it's possible to unlock Gwen Stefani as a playable character and get her to sing the Rolling Stones' Honky Tonk Woman. The lawsuit says that this: "results in an unauthorized performance by the Gwen Stefani avatar in a male voice boasting about having sex with prostitutes".

The band are protesting "fraudulent inducement" and breach of contract, seeking unspecified damages and an injunction that would stop Activision from distributing the title. Back in September, Courtney Love declared that she was going to "sue the s**t out of" the company for similar reasons - allowing Kurt Cobain to sing Bon Jovi songs.

Meanwhile, rival franchise Rock Band has avoided similar problems by not featuring real rockers as avatars with the exception of the tightly controlled Beatles: Rock Band title.

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Tags: Gaming Audio Music Music games Band Hero Activision No Doubt

No Doubt sues Activision over Band Hero originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:12:59 +0000

In the States Sony has announced new "entertainment offerings" for the PlayStation Network from Lucasfilm, Cinetic FilmBuff, ContentFilm International, Image Entertainment, MPI Media Group and New Video.

The content, available now in the US for purchase or rent, includes Star Wars: The Clone Wars, TV series Leverage, feature films Powder Blue and Management, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and online mini-series Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog from New Video.

Additional content from these providers will be added over time joining the 10,000 hours of downloadable entertainment content that's currently pegged at over 2300 full-length movies for American consumers.

Tags: Gaming Playstation Network PS3 Sony Video on demand Home Cinema

PlayStation Network gets more video in the States originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:32:31 +0000

Parallels has launched a new version of its operating system virtualization software. Parallels 5 allows you to run Windows, Linux, OS/2 Warp, or whatever other operating system takes your fancy from the comfort of your Mac desktop.

The company reckons that there are plenty of enhancements. Aero is now available on Windows 7 and Vista, and the software is claimed to feature seven to eight times better graphics performance than its previous version. There's also improved USB functionality and speed, and the latest VT-x2 virtualization technologies.

Another intriguing new feature is "Crystal mode", which allows you to make Windows invisible so that you can only see the program. You can now copy/paste formatted text between operating systems too, and there's multi-touch support for gestures in Windows. The Apple remote can now control Windows apps too.

There's a "Safe Mode", for privacy and security, as well as DirectX 9Ex and Shader Model 3 support. If you prefer, you can turn off the Mac/Windows integration, giving a completely isolated virtual machine, if you're running insecure code.?Lastly, a feature called?Mac Look will allow you to skin Windows... er... windows so that they look like Apple ones, instead of the default XP, Vista or 7 skin.

Parallels 5 will be available shortly for ?60.

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Tags: Software Mac software Windows Linux Software updates Gaming Mac games Operating Systems

Parallels Desktop 5 software arrives originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000

The Wiimote has been strapped to some unusual items in the name of wacky gameplay but this latest concept takes the Wii weirdness to a new level.

The new "Baby and Me" game comes complete with a doll that - once hooked up with the Wiimote - becomes an interactive baby doll toy for little girls - or boys.

The game encompasses ten activities such as feed the baby or teaching it to walk and is aimed at those 3-years-old and up.

The doll will appear to be giggling, gurgling or crying through the Wii remote speaker and there's even Balance Board support to rock the baby to sleep.

Presumably unlike iPhone games in recent memory, shaking the baby will not be a suggested activity.

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Tags: Gaming Dad Nintendo Wii Kids games Wiimote

Nintendo Wii "Baby and Me" game comes complete with doll-mote originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:29:00 +0000

Movember is upon us once more and that means plenty of talk about moustaches, moustache gadgets and of course not forgetting the main reason for the facial hair growth - helping raise awareness for?prostate Cancer.

Over the next 30 days the Pocket-lint team and others will be growing a moustache for charity. It's a tough job that from experience means we will be ridiculed, stared at, and worse still not get many kisses.

But fear not my hairless friends (that's you), it is not too late to join our hairy(ish) team.

We will be keeping a mo diary on the site so you can see our progress and expect plenty of related features exploring everything "Mo".

Men of tech! (that's you) join our brethren.

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Tags: Gadgets Bathroom gadgets Movember Comment Audio Car And GPS Dad Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness

Gentlemen start your Mo originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:35:49 +0000

Footage of Nintendo's new DSi XL (or LL as it's known in Japan) has been unearthed that gives a good comparison of how much larger the new model is over predecessors.

It's considerably larger - and more expensive - than the DSi. The XL offers dual 4.25-inch screens and comes with a bigger, thicker, pen-shaped stylus controller.

Hit play now to see the brief video - the Nintendo DSi LL will go on sale in Japan on 21 November for 20,000 yen - about ?132 - while here in the UK it's due in Q1 2010.

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Tags: Gaming Nintendo Video Nintendo DSi XL

VIDEO: Nintendo DSi XL caught on camera originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:32:50 +0000

Valve is widely regarded as one of the best videogame developers active today. As creators of Half-life, Half-life 2, and Left 4 Dead, and buying up the mod teams responsible for Portal, Counterstrike, Team Fortress and Day of Defeat, the company has established itself a firm place in the pantheon of game creators, as well as in the hearts of gamers.

Valve launched its co-operative zombie shooter, Left 4 Dead, to a rapturous reception in late 2008. Gamers loved its balance, the way the game adapted to good or poor performance from the players, and its visceral combat. However, earlier this year, Valve pulled out a surprise - a prequel, less than a year after the original was released.

While many gamers welcomed the news, a minority were incensed. Why was Valve building another full-price game, when this was content that could have been put into a cheaper expansion? Or free downloadable content for the original? A full-scale boycott was called, with Valve eventually quelling the riots by flying out the leaders of the boycott to their offices to play the game.

It's not clear what happened to those kids in Valve's HQ, but they returned with smiles on their faces, gushing about how incredible the prequel was. Despite initial disbelief from their followers, eventually the mob subsided - trusting Valve to get things right. But was their trust misplaced? Is Left 4 Dead 2 more of the same, or a genuinely different title worth shelling out the extra cash for? Read on to find out.

Left 4 Dead 2 has a totally different setting to its predecessor. The original game was set all over the place - airports, farms, hospitals, and towns. L4D2, on the other hand, is set firmly in the Deep South, in the swamps of Georgia and Louisiana. We were able to get hands-on with a couple of levels of one of the campaigns - The Parish, which takes place in New Orleans - on both the Xbox 360 (including some co-op action) and the PC.

The environments seem to be better constructed than the original's. There are multiple routes to wherever you're trying to go, and you'll uncover extra rewards by exploring rather than hurtling full-pelt towards the exit. More difficult paths will be rewarded with better equipment, including new ammo types. Also of note is that there's now daytime settings - torches aren't as compulsory as they were in the first game.

As well as a different setting, there is a whole new set of "Survivors" who you can play as. There's Rochelle, a news reporter for a TV station, Coach, a high-school football coach who bears somewhat of a resemblance to Uncle Phil from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Ellis, a white-trash mechanic, and Nick, a professional gambler and con-man who mistrusts the other survivors totally.

One of the delights of the original game was the banter between characters that matched the situation you were in. That system has been expanded considerably, and your avatars - when not in the middle of combat - will joke, argue and snipe at each other with an alarmingly realistic uneasy tension.

But the real stars are the new zombies. In addition to the original game's cast of Hunter, Boomer, Smoker, Witch and Tank, there's now the Spitter, the Jockey and the Charger. The Spitter is a long-range attacker who shoots acidic phlegm that splatters over an area and hurts anyone standing in it. Not good when half your team are lying incapacitated on the floor.

The Jockey a tiny, dwarf-sized creature that skitters around emitting a horrible giggle. If it manages to leap on you, then you lose all control of your character - it takes over and steers you around - into traps and hordes of common infected. Lastly, the Charger is a mini-tank that moves very quickly, knocking you down, and can grab a survivor and slam them into the ground.

On their own, they're relatively trivial to deal with. But the problem is that they come in groups. A hunter might pounce on one survivor, while a charger grabs another, before a spitter then covers the ground with acid so that the other team members can't reach their buddies.

The regular infected have had a graphical upgrade too, and location-based damage has been added. If you shoot off an arm or a leg, that zombie's going to still be coming at you. Headshots are imperative, and when a particular infected goes down, you're never totally sure that they're not going to get up again.

As a result, battles seem considerably more intense. Instead of staying back and keeping the hordes at bay with assault rifles, it's now difficult not to get drawn into a scrabbly melee that you only just survive every time - and sometimes you don't survive at all. But it never stops being fun, even after the fifth or sixth attempt. The stories where you don't make it are almost more fun than the ones where you do.

Thankfully, the survivors get a few new tricks. There's the aforementioned ammunition types - incendiary rounds can set zombies on fire, and explosive rounds deal more damage. You can also pick up Boomer bile to throw on enemies (very useful against the tank) and resurrect fallen survivors with the defibrillator.

There's also a much wider range of weapons. AK-47s, scoped assault rifles, Uzis, silenced submachine guns and Desert Eagle pistols are available on the ranged front, and a whole pile of melee weapons can replace your pistol. Those deal considerable damage up close and include saucepans, baseball bats, machetes, and even, quite ridiculously, a guitar.

Verdict:

But, despite all the changes detailed above, Left 4 Dead 2 is still the same game as Left 4 Dead 1. There's piles of new content - weapons, enemies, levels, survivors, but if you didn't enjoy the first version then you'll almost certainly not enjoy the new one.

That said, it seems like everything that was great about the original (the characters, the pace of play) has been enhanced, and a few of the little niggles (like being able to stand in a corner meleeing and survive anything) have been removed. It's most definitely a better game than the already-excellent original.

It'd be even better if the two games were merged somewhat and you could get the original's maps with the new zombies and weapons, or the original characters in situations with the new ones, but it seems like Valve wants to keep the experiences separate.

Is it worth a full game's price tag? From our play-throughs so far, we'd umm and ahh, and probably come out on the side of yes - but only just. It's clear that Valve hasn't rushed L4D2 - it's just been able to build quickly on the successes of the original to create an even better zombie-slaying game. There's a whole tonne of new content, and a more focused experience, but this doesn't seem, in our time with it so far, to be a revolution. Just a (very large) content pack.

Tags: Gaming Xbox 360 EA Left 4 Dead 2 Horror

Left 4 Dead 2 - Xbox 360 / PC - First Look originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:15:30 +0000

For those too impatient (or too rubbish) to get there themselves, EA is taking the unusual step of offering a video game complete with six special gameplay unlocks good to go from the first load of the game, rather than being dependent on achievement.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 will see a "Limited Edition" version with unlocks that give players "a tactical advantage on the battlefield from the minute they fire up the game".

Due to be available while supplies last, the Limited Edition version of the game will be sold at the same price as the standard version of the game exclusively with GAME in the UK.

The six unlocks are improved vehicular armour, supreme vehicle firepower, a vehicle motion sensor, and a tracer dart pistol (pictured) as well as a M1A1 submachine gun and a M1911 pistol.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 will be available on 5 March 2010 for Xbox 360, the PS3 and the PC.

Tags: Gaming EA Xbox 360 PS3 FPS

EA offer "Limited Edition" version of Bad Company 2 with unlocks originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:12:31 +0000

DJ Hero, Activision's attempt at turning its Guitar Hero franchise over to the world of electronic music, has now been released in Europe and is available to buy. The game simulates some of the fundamentals of DJing using a plastic "deck" controller, allowing players to mash up a whole host of different bands.

There are 93 mixes in the game, complete with genres that cross rock, pop, dance, R'n'B, techno and hip-hop. Artists as diverse as Queen, Eminem, Daft Punk and Bloc Party are present on the soundtrack, which can be seen in full here.

The game costs ?110 with the turntable kit, so it's not cheap, though Amazon's currently selling it for ?90. There's also a "Renegade Edition" which comes with a premium controller, hardshell case, and a stand to put your deck on. There's also a CD from Jay-Z and Eminem that contains a best-of both artists and some unreleased tracks. That costs ?140.

DJ Hero is available on Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii.

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Tags: Gaming DJ Hero DJ Music games Music Activision

DJ Hero now on shelves originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:53:31 +0000

Wii Fit Plus hits shops across Europe today and brings new exercises for those that splashed out on the orginal Wii Fit system with its Balance Board accessory.

New Fit-ters can also buy the game bundled with the Balance Board to play the 15 new balance games and six new strength training and yoga activities.

New features include "My Routines" offering the option to customise routines and a calorie counter that joins the weight and BMI tracking of the original.

Wii Fit Plus is available now - a quick Google search for pricing reveals the game only can be had from ?13.99 while the game plus Board is priced at ?79.99.

Tags: Gaming Nintendo Nintendo Wii Wii Fit Wii Fit Plus Sports Fitness Sports games

Wii Fit Plus launches in the UK originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:43:44 +0000

Puma and Xbox have collaborated on some special edition shoes to celebrate the launch of Forza Motorsport 3.

The new trainers come in the form of the Speed Cat 2.9 FM3s, said to be "inspired by the pace-setter of the racing game genre and based on a classic Puma silhouette".

The game-themed footwear gets a Forza Motorsport 3 embroidered tongue while the rubber outsole is said to be inspired by real motorsport tyres.

In grey and red, Puma will sell only 324 pairs of the Speed Cat 2.9 FM3, available from London Puma shops priced at ?65 per pair.

Tags: Gaming Puma Xbox 360 Footwear Clothing Forza Motorsport 3 Racing games Sports Fitness

Limited edition Puma trainers mark Forza 3 launch originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:42:21 +0000

Nintendo has confirmed recent rumours as true by announcing the launch of a new version of its popular DS handheld with the introduction in Japan of the fourth-generation DSi LL.

The DSi LL will, as rumoured, and contrary to the usual trends in the handheld gaming market, take the form of a larger model than the current DSi offering dual 4.25-inch screens and come with a bigger, thicker, pen-shaped stylus controller.

Considerably larger - and more expensive - than the DSi, it's thought Nintendo might be offering such a super-sized device for its older (causal gaming) audience, who, without tiptoeing around and with a nice dose of generalisation, have poorer eyesight and a need for less fiddly gadgetry.

Alternatively, and less likely, the Japanese gaming giant could be planning a push into the pre-school educational gaming market, rivaling the likes of LeapFrog with coming-soon titles for little 'uns to be played on the chunkier console.

The Nintendo DSi LL will go on sale in Japan on 21 November for 20,000 yen - about ?132 - while here in the UK Nintendo tell us "a new Nintendo DSi XL console is launching in Europe in the first quarter of 2010. The retail price of the Nintendo DSi XL is expected to be higher than that of the Nintendo DSi. Further details will be released soon".

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Tags: Gaming Nintendo Nintendo DS Nintendo DSi Nintendo DSi XL Gaming hardware

Bigger Nintendo DSi XL caters to the older gamer originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:40:14 +0000

It's being rumoured that Sony will be announcing a PSP-4000 in 2010. Edge is reporting that the Tokyo Game Show this year was full of whispers that the PSP Go hasn't been selling at all well, and that Sony has decided to reverse the decisions made and return to the UMD format.

The PSP Go launched with a rather large price tag, and a limited catalogue of games, as well as a poor upgrade experience. Sales rocketed 300% in the first few days that the PSP Go was on sale, but appear to have fallen off just as quickly. As a result, is Sony stepping back from its digital-only strategy?

We won't know for sure until the company makes an announcement one way or another, and Sony Computer Entertainment UK refused to comment on this story. Until then, we'd be interesting in hearing your thoughts - do you have a PSP Go? Do you miss the UMD? Or have you refused to get one thanks to your catalogue of UMD games and movies?

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Tags: Gaming PSP Sony PSP-4000 Rumours

PSP-4000 rumours return originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:48:57 +0000

Whether you're a PC gamer or a console freak, it can't have escaped your attention that the dead have been rising from the grave in some serious numbers of late. Zombies have been springing up in shopping malls, tower blocks, in the future and even in space. Sometimes they're turned by disease or controlled by parasites but all will try to take that pink mushy stuff from between your ears if you let them get close enough.

So in celebration of the launch of Left 4 Dead 2 and the entire groaning, decrepit, slow-walking inspired shoot 'em up genre, here are our ultimate zombie awards for those most memorable moments and the pleasure they've brought.

Best Single Player Zombie game : Resident Evil 2

Face it, 2 was far better than 1. What about Resident Evil 4 though? Technically, they weren’t actually zombies were they? Merely parasitically controlled Spaniards. Resident Evil 2's superior graphics to the first version meant they could cram more zombies onto the screen and as the age old zombie mathematics state - the number of zombies is directly proportional to the amount of fear induced. As we all know, fear = fun in some kind of sick way and thus we have proof that this game was better than the original. It also added a couple of excellent features such as the A and B scenario systems meaning that you could guide both main characters, Claire and Leon, through the same level from different perspectives as well as the odd touch like the fact they would limp when they were nearly dead. The game sold 4.96 million copies world wide and has only been surpassed in the series by the release of Resident Evil 5 this year. Great puzzles, great sound, great suspense, great game.

Best Multiplayer Zombie game : Left 4 Dead

A zombie game stripped down to its core with its essence so fresh that it gleams. You, three of your mates, some hardcore firearms and a seemingly endless flow of the undead. There's no plot to get in the way. Just get from A to B and have a lot of fun while you do it. It's another truly professional title from Valve, selling 3 million copies to date. Even Hideo Kojima has admitted being hopelessly addicted to it.

Best Zombie Killing Spree : Dead Rising

While guiding photo-journalist Frank West on his three day survival quest in Parkview Mall, Colorado, it's been reported that you can get up to 800 zombies on the screen at once. Combine that with the existence of over 250 usable weapons and you've got yourself one hell of an inventive killing spree. In fact, the entire focus of the game is really just to keep killing as much as you can to stop yourself being killed. Time in the game goes 12 times faster than normal meaning that 6 hours of solid gameplay will see you from start to finish, but you can always unlock Infinite Mode where the fun lasts as long as you do.

Most Frightening Zombie: the Many, System Shock 2

When the crew of the Von Braun are infected by alien eggs and are taken over they become the many - truly horrifying, bloody-curdling nasties determined to tear you limb from limb as you fight from one deck to another. That'd be all very well and good but this bunch, as well as the usual brand of screams and gore, also have a go at you telepathically while they're not even in the same room. Their constant mind whispers try to persuade you to join their numbers. It either perpetuates a state of permanent terror or lulls you into such a false sense of security that when you actually encounter one of them, it nearly gives you a heart attack.

Best Zombie Noises : The Witch, L4D

The sound is generally top notch in all horror games. It has to be. We're used to hearing overlaid whispers, the odd shriek and heavy breathing following our every step but nothing quite prepares you for the weeping of a witch. It's something about the pathos of her cries combined with the absolute power to cause chaos. It's just wrong and that just makes it all the creepier.

Best Zombie Attack : The Hunter, L4D

The ninja of the zombie world, nothing puts the willies up a pack of survivors like the Hunter's scream when he pounces. The subsequent terror while he straddles one of your helpless party, tears at their abdomen and starts flinging their warm guts out in front of their screaming faces is perhaps the worst kind of death one could ever imagine.

Best Anti - Zombie Weapon : Shotgun

It probably started at the cinema and it's certainly in just about every single zombie video game in existence. In fact, there's a general rule of thumb that if there isn't a shotgun, then it ain't worth playing. Zombies are notoriously hard to put down with their general lack of vital organs, so the one sure fire way to make sure they don't get up again is to blow their heads of their shoulders with a 12-gauge from close range. It also happens to be the most efficient and most satisfying means of multiple zombie death. Pump action ideally but when the chips are down and you're out-numbered, we'll take anything we can get.

Best Dressed Zombie : Dancing Zombie, Plants vs Zombies

The classic red PVC Jackson lookalike who raises dancers from the dead before coming for your brains is basically a stroke of genius and wonderful homage to Thriller. It's also a guaranteed giggle the first time you see it. Of course, as the game says "any resemblance between Dancing Zombie and any persons living or dead is purely coincidental".

Most Educational Zombies : The Typing of the Dead

We're not sure whether it's the genius mind or the idiot's that creates a frantic zombie style shooter where one must ensure survival while improving vocabulary and touch typing skills at the same time. The fact remains though that The Typing of the Dead is a truly original one in concept. In implementation it's identical to House of the Dead 2 with the same gameplay and graphics with guns replaced by the keyboard and the need to type words that appear on the screen before the undead army overruns you. Silly and comedic, but then it's supposed to be. A truly bizarre game.

Best Zombies from the Future! : The Flood, Halo

Whilst the levels where the Flood appear in the Halo games might suck, the concept of the Flood is quite terrifying and silly in equal measures. As parasitic alien life forms that take over humanoid hosts, the behaviour of the the Flood was based around viruses and bacteria and their look was supposed to be as disgusting and nasty as possible. They must have been pretty serious for the Forerunners to have killed themselves and all other sentient life in an effort to starve them to death.

Best Unsung Zombie: Stubbs the Zombie, Rebel Without a Pulse.

The game was never as popular as it should have been but the plot and playable character in this title were highly original and immensely enjoyable. Rebel Without a Pulse, released in 2006, turned the idea of zombie games on its head by allowing the player to control the zombie on a brain eating killing spree. Stubbs was well dressed, funny, had an excellent backstory of revenge and used butt gas to kill his victims amongst a string of other weapons. Perhaps most amusing of all was the controversy he caused when US Senator Joe Lieberman accused him of cannibalism and said the game was harmful to under age children. He said:

"It's just the worst kind of message to kids, and furthermore it can harm the entirety of America's youth".

Better still was game developer Wideload's response:

"The current kerfuffle in the US media about Stubbs the Zombie can be summed up in one word: semantics. Stubbs, they say, is a cannibal. This is nonsense, as anyone with a working knowledge of cannibals can tell you. Stubbs fails all the classic litmus tests for cannibalism. He does not wear a bone through his nose. He does not help FBI agents track down serial killers. He has not written a cookbook. He is not named Jeffrey Dahmer. The list goes on and on. Stubbs is a zombie. Thus the title "Stubbs the Zombie." Zombies eat brains. That's what they do. Stubbs cannot just saunter into the cafeteria and order a plate of Freedom Fries. He has to fight for his meals. In fact, actual cannibals only make it harder for Stubbs to eat, which is why this "cannibalism" story is insulting as well as injurious. It's no surprise that the all-human media cartel resorts to distortions and name-calling; their anti-zombie bias has been evident for decades, and Stubbs is just the newest target. If you're a thinking adult, you're probably ready to hear the other side of the story. You'll find it in Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse, in stores now for Xbox, PC and Macintosh. Don't let the humanity-centric media tell you what to think about zombies. A free mind is a tasty mind".

Best Portable Zombie: Plants vs Zombies, iPhone

Currently available on the DS and soon on the iPhone, Plants vs Zombies is an excellent way to get your fix of undead bashing on the move. In fairness, there's not a lot of competition in the field but that doesn't stop this tower defence-style game from being both an excellent concept and hugely popular. Very good comic take on the world of zombie attacks and completely random of its use of killer plants as the weapons. Once you strip it all away, you'll find it's based on the Magic: The Gathering card game but that hasn't stopped it from being developer PopCap's fastest selling title to date.

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Related links:

• News - Left 4 Dead 2 announced by Valve

Tags: Gaming Left 4 Dead Left 4 Dead 2 Zombies Features System Shock 2 Resident Evil Plants vs Zombies Halo Dead Rising Chop Till You Drop

The ultimate zombie video game awards originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:18:55 +0000

Settlers of Catan is a board game that was once memorably described as "perfect". It's based on a tropical island that you and up to three other players have landed on and are exploring. The objective is to accrue 10 victory points by capturing settlements and building roads.

The game is now available on the iPhone. It lets players compete against other humans or an AI, though there's no wireless multiplayer, so you'll have to pass the phone around to allow multiple players to take part. It lets you follow the exact rule set of the original game.

You can adjust the amount of victory points required to win, as well as launch a "friendly" robber mode. It also includes a bunch of beginners' tutorials for those who aren't terribly familiar with the game.

It costs ?3, or $5 in the States, and it's available now in the App Store.

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Tags: Gaming iPhone iPhone apps Settlers of Catan Board games

Settlers of Catan comes to iPhone originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:29:21 +0000

Roger Daltrey, the lead singer in The Who, has revealed that his band will be the stars of the next edition of the plastic-controller music series Rock Band. The singer confirmed the move to the Republican in an interview.

Daltrey, when asked about Beatles: Rock Band, replied: "The game, yeah, yeah, they're going to be doing a Who one next year. There is one planned. (The idea) is fabulous. Anything that gets non-musical people interested in music is wonderful. In my opinion, music is our last true great freedom. They can burn our books, they can burn our paintings, but they can't stop us singing and making music".

He's changed his tune somewhat from the middle of 2008, when he said that he had tried Rock Band but that it "bored" him. He said that back in the 60s, "all we had was music". "There was nothing else. There was cinema, music and sex. Life was better". Perhaps seeing how much the Beatles are making off the game changed his tune.

Still, Who fans will be pleased to hear about the development, which remains unconfirmed by Harmonix. A spokesperson said, on the subject, ""We're working closely with The Who on what's next, but don't have anything new to announce at this time".

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Tags: Gaming The Who Music Music games Rock Band Harmonix

The Who: Rock Band on the way originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:20:38 +0000

Samsung and Handmark, a mobile apps and service company, have announced the launch of a new Global Venture Fund to invest in companies or individuals with "innovative, market-changing game ideas for next generation Samsung mobile phones".

Unlike rival manufacturer's similar schemes, this time round it's just about gaming. The companies say they are "searching for games that best showcase Samsung mobile phones and the advanced features they offer".

The fund is considerable - companies or individuals selected will receive up to $250,000 each to fund the development of winning ideas.

"We know there’s a wealth of great ideas out there waiting to be discovered", said Chris Barnett, senior vice president of global sales and strategic partnerships for Handmark.

"This is a fantastic opportunity for anyone, including big brands, mobile developers or any individual with a unique, creative idea to make it a reality".

To submit a proposal or for more information, visit www.handmark.com/company/samsungfund. The deadline for entries is 20 November, 2009.

Tags: Phones Mobile phone games Samsung Handmark Gaming Software Biz

Samsung and Handmark offer $250k for games for next-gen phones originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:53:08 +0000

Sky?and?Microsoft?will attempt to launch the new?Sky Player for Xbox 360?for a second time after the companies had to pull the service on the official launch day on Tuesday.

"The service has been suspended due to an unforeseen technical issue". Sky said in a statement. "Sky Player engineers are hard at work to resolve the problem. We expect to have the full service available on Wednesday".

The breakdown of the service on launch left gamers confused as to what had happened.

"How do i actually pull up sky on my Xbox, i have Sky Player account and an Xbox Gold Account. Confused... :S", said Sam in a comment on Pocket-lint.

"The Sky player system went "Offline" before I had a chance to try it! The current news is that it will be fully back online tomorrow (Wednesday) - so you're not alone, Jamie! Shame - I'm itching to give it a try...", said Doombar.

To access the player you'll need both an active Sky subscription and an Xbox Live Gold subscription. The former costs ?15 per month, and the latter is ?40 per year, totalling ?220 per year. The same channels will be available to you that are available on your existing Sky subscription.

Alternatively, Sky will be selling a bundle pack of a month's Sky Player subscription (with the Sky Sports pack), a media remote, and 3 months of Xbox Live Gold subscription for ?30. If you just want to try out the service without committing to a long-term plan, that could be an option.

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Tags: Gaming Home Cinema Xbox 360 Sky Player Microsoft Sky

Sky Player on Xbox 360 goes for second time lucky originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:17:23 +0000

It's official, video games are good for you. The NHS says so. Well, one videogame, anyway. Nintendo's hyper-successful Wii Fit has been granted the health service's "Change4Life" logo.

The scheme aims to try and get families to be healthy, and stop eating so many damn chips, given that the population is well on its way to an obesity epidemic. The NHS said that using Wii Fit can help players maintain a better shape and health as part of a "structured exercise scheme", which presumably means not taking pizza breaks between exercises.

A spokesperson for the department of health told The Telegraph: "Active video games, where kids need to jump up and down or dance about as part of the game, are a great way to get kids moving".

Nintendo's PR manage, Rob Saunders, added: "If you are worried about your bingo wings or your flabby bum, the game will give you specific exercises to target those areas".

Nintendo is the first video games company that has been issued the logo. Despite the game's ?75 cost, it's proved popular amongst Wii owners that don't want to play traditional video games.

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Tags: Gaming Sports Fitness Sports Fitness equipment Nintendo Wii Fit Wii NHS

NHS gives Wii Fit stamp of approval originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:18:57 +0000

A report in Japenese newspaper Nikkei appears to be claiming that the Nintendo DSi is getting larger screens. The handheld gaming device is coming up to 1 year since its Japanese release, but there's apparently been a few older gamers complaining that they couldn't see the screen properly.

As a result, the paper says that the screen's getting an expansion - from 3.25-inches diagonally to 4-inches, so quite a sizable update. It's due to replace the current model at exactly the same price, though it's not clear whether the device's screen resolution will also be increased to match.

Whether it'll make it across the seas to Europe and the USA remains to be seen. Nintendo doesn't have the best track record of bringing small console updates to their international users.

UPDATE: This has been confirmed by Nintendo.

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Tags: Gaming Nintendo Nintendo DSi

Nintendo DSi getting screen size upgrade? originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:28:13 +0000

Brit Bear Grylls is soon to get his own big budget video game as Discovery has revealed a "Man vs. Wild" (aka "Born Survivor") title will soon go into production.

Game publisher Crave will create the game, and is also confirmed to be working on turning another Discovery series - "Deadliest Catch" - into a game.

The titles, described as "action-oriented" will launch for the PlayStation 3, the Nintendo Wii and the Nintendo DS while the Grylls game will also be available for Xbox 360.

The "Man vs. Wild" game will see gamers use survival skills in various landscapes and climates and it's said to be "likely" that Grylls will voice the game.

The "Deadliest Catch" game will see players captain crab boats on the Bering Sea and follows a similarly-themed game that was launched for the Xbox 360 but is said to have not "stayed true to the action of the show".

"Deadliest" is due in the spring, while "Wild" will be out by the end of 2011.

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Tags: Gaming Action games PS3 Nintendo Wii Xbox 360 Sports Fitness Discovery Crave Bear Grylls Deadliest Catch Man vs Wild

Bear Grylls to get own video game originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:13:52 +0000

Ladies and gentlemen, Sky Player for Xbox 360 is finally here. The service, which allows you to access on-demand streams of Sky content and live broadcasting, has been long-trailed (see our coverage here, here, here and here), but has now arrived and should be accessible on your console.

Of course, to access the player you'll need both an active Sky subscription and an Xbox Live Gold subscription. The former costs ?15 per month, and the latter is ?40 per year, totalling ?220 per year. The same channels will be available to you that are available on your existing Sky subscription.

Alternatively, Sky will be selling a bundle pack of a month of Sky Player subscription (with the Sky Sports pack), a media remote, and 3 months of Xbox Live Gold subscription for ?30. If you just want to try out the service without committing to a long-term plan, that could be an option.

Tags: Home Cinema Sky Sky Player Gaming Microsoft Xbox 360 Xbox Live

Sky Player arrives on Xbox 360 originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:38:11 +0000

Stuart Miles brings us his customary comment from NYC with a look at the talking points from this week in tech.

Under the spotlight in this instalment is Apple's Magic Mouse and whether this is the beginning of the end for the button and the launch of Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system.

Miles also muses the rise of real-time search with the news that Google and Bing are due to integrate Twitter content into their search results as well as offering thoughts on Google's Social Search.

The fact that Nokia is suing Apple for patent infringement is the final topic under consideration - is the Finnish giant protecting its patents or looking for a quick cash injection? Hit play for more...

Tags: Audio Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness Comment Video

VIDEO: Tech Week in View: Magic Mouse, Social Search and Nokia sues Apple originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:05:00 +0000