\"Playing computer games may actually be good for children, according to a government study that found no proof that even violent games triggered aggressive behaviour.\"\r\n\r\nThis is ironic...
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Magazine scans and video of Zelda: Twilight Princess\'s new look for the twilight realm have surfaced. No longer black & white, the area now has a hazy, over saturated look.
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An Xbox 360 faceplate is just a faceplate, right? Nothing but a $20 piece of plastic that spices up the looks of your console. If you subscribe to that school of thought you\'d be wrong. We take a look at 7 faceplates and what you get for your hard earned money. The results might surprise you.
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Veteran politicians more familiar with turntables and typewriters are enlisting twentysomething computer whiz kids to help them brave the digital world of blogs, podcasts and the Web as they look to connect directly with voters.
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Dave Chartier was wondering if Apple would produce a 12" MacBook Pro to replace the 12" Powerbook, and was told on the phone by Apple that "a 12-inch MacBook Pro ain't gonna happen."
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Physicists working in the United States believe they have cracked an important problem facing man-made nuclear fusion, touted as the cheap, safe, clean and almost limitless energy source of the future.
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Office max a nice little sale on western digital hard drives.
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An article from Popular Science Magazine 1964, Build Your Own Laser! "It may sound like science fiction" but it's really science fact: You can build a working ruby laser. A ruby laser is a source of coherent light. All of the light waves in the pencil-thin, bright-red ruby laser beam are in phase or in step with each other."
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Jook Leung famous VR photographer from New York was at the opening of the new Apple store. A new landmark in New York
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"spammers have hardly given up, network managers must still face down the pill-pushers, get-rich-quick artists and others who use billions of unwanted e-mail messages to troll for income. "For the end user, spam isn't that much of a problem anymore," said Matt Sergeant. "But for the network it definitely is."
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This site has a very useful tutorial if you have an old and slow XP machine with hundreds of programs and you want to re-install. This site will show you how to save your old partition in a virtual machine, and have a nice, new install of Windows.
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"To be able to run homebrews, emulators, backups and the like, you'll need two things. First you need a passkey to boot into DS mode."
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Microsoft's new Windows Media Player 11, released in test form last week, looks and works little like older versions of the company's music and video organizer -- starting with its front-and-center placement for Urge, a new music store from MTV, designed to compete with the iTunes Music Store.
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"Here's a tip for those of you that stay in Marriot hotels. Marriot has installed a PPV system nationwide called "On Command". As far as I can tell, there is a radio frequency module attached to the TV that signals some master hotel unit to order movies and add charges to your hotel bill." I'm sure this is illegal.
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Sony's stock continues to decline in the wake of E3, while Nintendo is flying high. Apparently investors are not impressed with the PS3.
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When I was growing up I had a keen interest in the sciences. Mostly because of the cool gear that scientists used. Well, not only did I not have the money for those sorts of thing but I had no idea where to even buy them if I could. One of the better improvisations I was able to do was to hollow out a light bulb and use it for other things.
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JustDIY proves that LEDs can be used for more than lighting, but also as an input device. "This is a collection of the work this user has done using the bi-directional properties of LEDs. he have also included links to information found on the subject and the project by an NYU research that inspired him."
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Includes such classics as Monty Python's Flying Circus, Futurama, The Jeopardy 'thinking' music, and the Super Mario Bros. show.
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MySpace's notoriety could be a turnoff for young people who are looking for an online community of their own, said Amanda Lenhart, a senior researcher for the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Lenhart has studied teens' online behavior since the late 1990s. "Teens will go where their friends go," she said.
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Have you ever looked at Activity Monitor and wondered what all those background processes are? This website has a nice list of each background process or dameon, and tells you exactly what it does. It's always important to know what's going on inside your computer.
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Browser World USA Canada
Microsoft IE 85.17% 82.47% 77.41%
Mozilla Firefox 11.79% 12.81% 16.00%
Apple Safari 2.02% 3.69% 2.61%
Opera 0.79% 0.67% 2.15%
Netscape 0.15% 0.26% 0.23%
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Launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour. This is a five minute exposure taken from about 7 miles away from the pad. Taken with a borrowed all-manual Nikomat camera, 24 mm lens, f/16, Kodak Royal Gold 100 film. When the exposure was stopped in this shot, the shuttle was approximately 229 statute miles downrange.
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A driver that allows to use the XBox 360 controller with Mac Os X.
Allows to use Force Feedback, comes with source, universal binary and a Preference Pane.
As I don't have 360 I didn't test it. Can some of you comment on it's usage?
-- Note to self, I searched for a copy of this story and didn't find any... read it first on TUAW.
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A chip start-up that created a high performance, low power processor compatible with existing Mac software had been working closely with Apple for many months. Why then did Apple pick Intel instead?
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Presenting the world's first hard drive, first introduced in 1956 -- IBM's 5MB Random Access Memory Accounting: RAMAC
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Man drove home with wife while watching DVD on MBP, burned women's leg, Picture included.
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Preliminary studies suggest that some types of nanoparticles might pose a health hazard.
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The newest version of the 50 MB Linux Live CD has been released. Get it!
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MP3 Surround enables high-quality surround sound at bit rates comparable to those currently used to encode stereo MP3 material. It is backwards compatible to stereo MP3; a legacy MP3 device plays back MP3 Surround as high quality stereo.
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A new IM hijack that installs its own browser called (as you might have guessed) the "Safety Browser" which is anything but! Changes your homepage, loops music on your desktop every time you boot up and spams the infection link via IM and IRC. Oh, and enables popups by default...!
Intel Corp. shares fell to a three-year low Friday after No. 1 personal computer maker Dell Inc. said it would begin using chips from smaller Intel rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc., whose shares surged.
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Months ago I wrote an article on starting your own game company for Download Squad. I finally got around to a follow-up, this time more focused on the business end of things.
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Ars Technica reviews the 2.0GHz white MacBook: "Apple has thrust themselves back into a state of competitiveness when it comes to the consumer laptop space, and even offers prospective users features that other computer manufacturers cannot."
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a random gnome's random lair: An old Sam & Max video
This is a rather simple post. It's all about the canceled Lucasarts game, that used to go under the name of Sam and Max: Freelance Police. It would have been great. It would have included dozens of mini-games. It even had a trailer (which I uploaded for your viewing pleasure). Now it's dead. Not quite? Well, let's just wait and see....
a random gnome's random lair: Oh no! More hand-picked free games.
The last time I presented you with my favorite free games, I strived to achieve collage-perfection. This time I tried something easier. Photo-manipulation, using the most advanced digital tools. You can see the results on the nice hand-crafted (ahem) pic, that's right above this paragraph. But, I digress. Nobody is here to read about my artistic and/or technical endeavors. You are all here for the games.
Well, the games that made it to this list, were carefully hand-picked in my rather picturesque cyber-garden. They are not shareware titles, trials or mods. They are all full free (100% legal) games, and each and every one of them has given me at least a few hours of clean-godly-gnomish fun. (America's Army is not included, and no matter how many of you moan, it will never be. I hate this game). Well, without further ado then, on to the list...
Videos of PSX games being played on the Linux based GP2X portable gaming system. Very cool!
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Massivly Multiplayer Online Hide and Go Seek!!! SWEET!!! Details inside.
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A how-to that shows how to use a remote access program called UltraVNC and a USB thumb drive to bypass school and work PC restrictions. Also includes a pre-made portable app. setup for your thumb drive.
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XM Radio basically tells the RIAA to shove it! They won't be bullied around by the RIAA and they'll fight them!
"We will vigorously defend these radios and your right to enjoy them in court and before Congress, and we expect to win."
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Parallels Desktop (known before as Parallels Workstation) hit the release candidate !
Again fix some issues like USB, networking or sound.
Go get it !
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A mountain near the Montana-Wyoming border once moved 62 miles in a half-hour in a catastrophic scenario that could be repeated elsewhere, scientists say. Rock at the summit of Heart Mountain is 250 million years older than at its base. That suggests the top and the bottom have not always been together.
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Handbags at the ready - Nintendo UK boss lashes out at Sony's new motion sensing controller
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A zero-day flaw in the ubiquitous Microsoft Word software program is being used in an active exploit by sophisticated hackers in China and Taiwan, according to warnings from anti-virus researchers.
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A couple of months ago nobody, but the most hardcore of Nintendo fans and the most extreme of the free thinkers (i.e. crazy people) thought the Revolution could take any other spot than third place in the console rat race.
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The football players who beat up the "nerd" for using a laptop in a restaurant have been charged with assault. Revenge Of The Nerds!
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We did hear more about its tech specs though. While the 1.1Ghz PowerPC CPU doesn't compare to the PS3's Cell processor in terms of power, it is much faster than we initially expected.
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It looks like a group of programmers has already stepped up to the plate to resurect Blue Frog. They've already applied on SourceForge, and are talking about having P2P components. Let's see if we can't lend them a hand!
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"Any time we lose a species it diminishes us all."
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With all the commotion surrounding the Wii and PS3 controllers at E3, it's hard not to get the feeling that motion tracking is the only new controller innovation out there.
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Firefox extension Stealther lets you browse the web without leaving a trace of your browsing session on your computer.
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What are Sony thinking?! £425, with no core console available. And Sony still describe it as a 'bargain'!
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Analysts at Merrill Lynch believe that the Xbox 360 will win the next console war, because of pricing. The report states: "The PS3 will not only be significantly more costly than Xbox 360 at launch, but will continue to operate at a cost disadvantage for several years..."
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"In an announcement that you can probably expect to be repeated by rival Pakistan in the next few days, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has claimed that his Southeast Asian nation will be the latest country to pursue technologies for developing a robotic army." - credit engadget
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"It got too fake," 18 year old Summer Stoker said. "You have all these people saying they want to be your friend. It's just a waste of time."
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The 12" iBook G4 was $999; the new MacBook starts at $1,099. I thought it would be interesting to see just what that extra $100 gets you. Short answer? A *lot*, although you actually lose a few things as well.
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The much anticipated Episode 6 is now out.
"The 2006 Maker Faire presents the do-it-yourself community with thousands of finished projects and inspired ideas."
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The motion detection found on the PS3 is heading to the PS2 and PC. Gamers can combine the control options of a mouse, keyboard, joystick and more onto a single multi-functional controller.
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We have created a rating system which is based on various factors and ratings you may find individually for a domain name. This system is called a CVS (Combined Value Score). The CVS is created by compiling a score derived from several different factors and running them through our formula to end up with a number. This is your score.
OpenOffice 2.0 the free, open source office suite -- has many features that are very similar to Microsoft Office. The trick is knowing how to use them.
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AMD today introduced the Turion 64 X2 series mobile processor, a dual-core mobile processor featuring 64-bit technology.
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Apple's latest models feature something new! The ability to right-click using the trackpad. But what about the MacBook Pro?
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RealAudio - An annual competition of robotics expertise presents high school students with real-life scenarios and obstacles to overcome in the design and use of robotics technology. (5.16.06)
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May 10, 2006 - BF2 came onto the scene mid-last year and proceeded to dominate the PC multiplayer gaming arena. Almost a year and several expansion packs later, DICE and EA look to repeat on their success with the Battlefield franchise. Although it was the first multiplayer game we saw at E3, it has overshadowed all others (that we have seen so far). To be fair to its competition, we should have seen other titles first. In a nutshell, BF2142 is everything BF2 was…and then some. All the familiar tactics, gameplay, and all-around multiplayer gaming goodness is back. This time around, we embark in futuristic combat.
Set 136 years in the future, the game is based on the premise that the world has entered into a "New Ice Age." Politics and religion are no longer the basis for conflict. Rather, opposing nations must now compete for limited land and resources (as much of the world is now frozen over). The two opposing sides to choose from is the European Union (EU) and the Pan-Asian Coalition (PAC). Removing the United States from the equation, the game focuses on the conflict between Europe and its neighbors of the East. Both vie for control of what little land is still left. As the people of both continents are pushed into smaller and smaller pockets of land, the fight becomes one for survival.
May 11, 2006 - We were very excited to see what the Petroglyph guys were going to do with their recent Star Wars RTS Empire at War. And while the title scored big in terms of offering an authentic Star Wars feel, the nature of the license limited some of the variety that can be achieved in a completely original property. Thankfully, the developers have decided to add loads of new units and an entirely new faction for the expansion pack. Additionally there are quite a few gameplay additions that are sure to shake things up and add a little more variety to the experience.
Beginning after the destruction of the Death Star, Star Wars Empire at War: Forces of Corruption introduces the Underworld. This new playable faction is led by Tyber Zann, one of the worst criminals this side of Jabba the Hutt. Leading his hordes of scum and villainy, he'll try to capitalize on the power vacuum created by the destruction of the Empire's most powerful weapon.
I would like to thank everyone on Digg for a successful release of version 1.3 a few weeks back - I have taken all of your suggetions and bug reports into consideration for this current version. The best news of all: Multiple Calendar Support!
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The most recent version, Desktop 3, released last winter, was maddeningly close to being very cool. It struck me that how Google addressed its shortcomings in Desktop 4 would say something about the maturity of the company.
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The PS3 is too expensive, the 360 isn't selling outside the USA, and 75% of homes don't have an HDTV. Could this spell disaster for the gaming industry? This article makes a good case.
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During tests of the prototype system, volunteers were surrounded by loudspeakers simulating the sound of a chanting crowd and were asked join in. But one speaker replayed the crowds chant with a short delay. When the delay was greater than 200 milliseconds the volunteers found it too difficult to chant coherently
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By the end of this year, we'll see exactly which next-generation optical media will be on our desktop computers. Or will we?
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Yes. It is really very, very free. There's no prepayment, no minimum use, no subscription, no monthly fee, no nothing. You just download and install Skype and then you start calling. Both the caller and the number called must be in either the US or Canada. There are no strings attached.
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"One really impressive peripheral on show today is the upcoming PSP camera. It's behind glass at the show, but the pic gives an idea of how cool this thing is gonna be when it arrives in September..."
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"I never thought I'd actually write those three words. However, I'm not talking about operating systems or Windows Media. I'm talking about games�and not just about the Xbox 360, but let's begin there, anyway."
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A short guide with pictures on how to put windows partitions on your desktop.
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To select your Mac boot drive with the Apple Remote simply press the remotes 'Menu' button just after you hear the startup chime of your Mac. Then when the startup drive selections appear use the 'forward/backward' buttons to select the corresponding volume and then press 'play' to boot from that volume.
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It will feature a download manager for 6 parallel downloads in the background. Also mentions that there will be a lot more features in there but it will be a surprise and he wont talk about it.
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GamePro sat down with Sony Computer Entertainment executive Phil Harrison at E3 earlier this week, where he re-iterated a sentiment made by Microsoft's Corporate Vice President of Interactive Entertainment Peter Moore, where he said that buyers of of a next-generation console should also buy Nintendo's Wii system.
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The article explains that most companies have been mislead to underestimate the technical capabilities of the Wii. The source for the article also makes a bold statement by saying: "the Wii will be visually on par with the Xbox 360 and may even exceed it slightly."
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Looks like Gtalkr will never make it out of BETA, it shut down yesterday. Guess what?! Its founders have joint Google!
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How much advertising is there on the Engadget.com site? And how much screen space demands Weblogs Inc.? Take a look at this comprehensive breakdown.
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As previously reported by Neowin, Word 2007 will support blog posting. To add to this, Microsoft has commited to having the HTML posted from Word be very very clean.In addition, Office 2007 will run both on Windows Vista and Windows XP. The article below gives a more detailed first look including screenshots of what Office 2007 currently looks like under Windows XP vs. Windows Vista. The new UI is a major departure from the past.Many developers are wondering whether this UI should be adopted elsewhere. Microsoft has begun using the orb-like UI (from the Windows Vista Start button) in other applications as well despite there being no mention of it in the Windows Vista UI guidelines.As previously reported by Neowin, Word 2007 will support blog posting. To add to this, Microsoft has commited to having the HTML posted from Word be very very clean.In addition, Office 2007 will run both on Windows Vista and Windows XP. The article below gives a more detailed first look including screenshots of what Office 2007 currently looks like under Windows XP vs. Windows Vista. The new UI is a major departure from the past.Many developers are wondering whether this UI should be adopted elsewhere. Microsoft has begun using the orb-like UI (from the Windows Vista Start button) in other applications as well despite there beingAs previously reported by Neowin, Word 2007 will support blog posting. To add to this, Microsoft has commited to having the HTML posted from Word be very very clean.In addition, Office 2007 will run both on Windows Vista and Windows XP. The article below gives a more detailed first look including screenshots of what Office 2007 currently looks like under Windows XP vs. Windows Vista. The new UI is a major departure from the past.Many developers are wondering whether this UI should be adopted elsewhere. Microsoft has begun using the orb-like UI (from the Windows Vista Start button) in other applications as well despite there beingAs previously reported by Neowin, Word 2007 will support blog posting. To add to this, Microsoft has commited to having the HTML posted from Word be very very clean.In addition, Office 2007 will run both on Windows Vista and Windows XP. The article below gives a more detailed first look including screenshots of what Office 2007 currently looks like under Windows XP vs. Windows Vista. The new UI is a major departure from the past.Many developers are wondering whether this UI should be adopted elsewhere. Microsoft has begun using the orb-like UI (from the Windows Vista Start button) in other applications as well despite there being no mention of it in the Windows Vista UI guidelines.
Parker got a chance to talk with Jiri Rydl from IDEA Games and got a hands-on demo of Armed Assault at E3 2006. Here is what he thought about it (build was 75% complete).
Operation Flashpoint fans have been waiting five years to get their hands on the next version of the popular combat game. Unfortunately, the tactical warfare game wont have a true sequel. At least not anytime soon. Fortunately, Bohemia Interactive Studios, the studio behind the original Operation Flashpoint (OFP) and the expansion Resistance, has a new modern warfare game in the works. Armed Assault (ArmA) will be the next warfare game from BIS featuring an enhanced VBS1 engine.
Armed Assault takes place on the fictional Atlantic island of Sahrani. The island is constantly under the threat of war due to the Communist northern region of the island. The single player game will attempt to provide a soldier's view of the conflict. You are a member of a small (around 100 member) detachment of U.S. soldiers keeping peace on the island. This is not a Call of Duty or Battlefield 2, where the player can perform tremendous feats of heroics. You are just a private waiting to be sent home when the island suddenly erupts in violence. In my talks with representatives from BIS it has been emphasized that the game is not about heroes, but about the average soldier and his experiences in a conflict he has no control over. It was also noted that even though the game provides drivable cars, boats, tanks, and aircraft there is no single super character that is expected to use all of them in the single player campaign. The game's focus - realism...
In a few short years, Google has turned from a simple and popular company into a complicated and controversial one. In depth article by the Economist.
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Softpedia has the download a few days before Microsoft will have it officially.
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While E3 is often thought of as a console gaming show, much of the show was devoted to new PCs, both on the show floor and at events like eFocus, held the night before.
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HEXUS had the chance to take a number of Wii games for a spin, and by the looks they had more fun than should be allowed. It looks like the fun-factor of Wii will easily make up for its lack of power compared to PS3/XBox 360.
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Our Bothan spies sent us some shots of a USB-key based Vonage SoftPhone that will be available in June. This thing consists of the USB key containing the software and a headset. You plug it into any PC-no Mac support, apparently-up comes your home phone and voicemail et al.
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The record for the fastest rise in temperature has just been topped.
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3D Realms' Scott Miller says he believes that Duke Nukem Forever will be so popular that it will make back the $7.5 million they've spent making it in the first day or 2 of it's release. "...once it comes out, if it's as successful as we think it'll be, we'll make that money back in the first day or two of sales."
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Effectively, each person in the household could have their own controller, which is tied to their own gaming preferences and will ensure that the Wii automatically customises the look or settings of various games, depending on which controller is used to switch the machine on or join a new game.
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The PlayStation 3: too late, too expensive and not enough horsepower?
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[Red Steel] definitely proves that FPS games can work well on a console; the Wiimote-nunchuck configuration is the first console control scheme I've seen that comes anywhere near the control of a keyboard and mouse...Guns are aimed and swords are swung with the Wiimote, and even actions such as opening doors require a gentle shake of the nunchuck.
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Quotes:
"I am working on a book right now."
"Six hundred bucks; that is a lot of money. I'm rooting for Nintendo."
"I am playing with my DS a lot. I am playing Brain Age and Sudoku."
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Video from the upcoming Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii featuring a boss battle on the scale of Shadow of the Colossus boss battles.
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A man-made, nanoscale structure developed by University of Akron researchers that could lead to new types of photoelectric cells, molecular batteries and energy storage options is being featured in the latest edition of the international journal Science.
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"The development team knew for awhile to expect something surprising from Sony with the new controller, and it came up with design ideas over a long period of time, but it was only in the past 10 days or so that it was able to actually physically implement the idea and get the game running with the new control scheme."
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today's advanced micromachining techniques give scientists the ability to fabricate complex objects on a scale never before possible. And things just keep getting more interesting. See for yourself in this gallery of tiny wonders, from miniature submarines capable of sailing through your blood vessels to tiny eyeglasses for houseflies.
