February 2007

GRAW 2 First Look Review: Ghost Recon Advanced Warfare 2: Wow (Pt 2/2)
Following on from yesterday’s introduction to the multi-player version of GRAW 2, today, we’ll dig a bit further into the detail.
Spawn Camping tackled
Players of multi-player will be very glad to hear that it has an updated version of spawning. In previous games, after death, players were brought back at set spawning points, which lead some naughty-types to sit at these points, just shooting people before they had a chance to escape. These rotters will be frustrated to hear that they’ll no longer be able to do this.
Spawning is now to a region rather than a set point. The spawn algorithm looks at the number of people who have previously been killed there, numbers of enemy soldiers present, etc. On spawning, the player is invulnerable, but able to fire. As soon as they fire a shot, they lose their invulnerability.
Customisation and clans
Building and managing a clan – of up to 100 people – is now built in thanks to Ubisoft’s tool that has been incorporated.
There’s lots of customisation of your player possible with a tremendous selection of clothing and headgear. Ubisoft tells us that lots of clans that have been on the beta have created a ‘uniform’ that all members must wear. Some may be sad to hear that there’s no face-mapping, but it had to go because of the customisation.
One new feature that should provide an extra dimension to multi-player games is the addition of the medic function, giving you the ability to get players back to full health when they’ve been hit with a round that has incapacitated them.
Maps
The developers have spent a lot of time on the multi-player maps, improving not only the quality, but also the details. In their words, they’ve “tried to create spaces that aren’t just normal.”
Examples of this are jungles that aren’t just jungles, but ones that have had a C130 aircraft recently crashed within it, still smoking and a village that has just been ravaged by a Tsunami.
The largest map is now a significant 500 x 500m.
Shhhh, listen to the audio
If you want to get that edge on your opponents, you’re going to have to listen hard, as sound has been brought further in to successful playing of the game. By turning your HiFi and ears up, you’ll be able to track other players simply by listening to their where their foot steps or gun shots are coming from.
To build your adrenaline, the music in the multi-player game changes as things get more difficult.
__Conclusion
The hour or so I had with it, doesn’t give you the opportunity to really get your teeth into a game like this. The real delight of it will be exposed after many hours of button and trigger jiggling, playing via xBox Live.
What I can tell you, is it looks very special with the realistic lighting heightening an already impressive experience.
They’re going to have to do something pretty disastrous between now and the launch to muck this up. To me, this has all of the makings of a hit game.
Buy it on Amazon UK or Amazon US
Have a listen to our exclusive audio interview with Christian Allen, Creative Director of Red Storm.
GRAW 2. Demo of the single player available.
15 February, 2007
Samsung ML-2510 Laser Review (87%)
After one battle too many with our ever-flaky Epson printer (see: My Printer Hell), we elected to get ourselves a cheap laser printer for knocking out black and white documents (and those annoying PDF manuals that now keep coming with new products).
The printer was a cinch to set up, and for a laser it’s a compact jobbie too, measuring a reasonably modest 14″ x12″ x10″ (378 x 299 x 227 ) – perfect as a desktop printer for the home/small office.
The Samsung ML 2510 hooks up to the PC via USB, although Samsung have also included a parallel port for users still trundling on with steam-powered desktops (but there’s no Ethernet port for networking, unfortunately.)
We were certainly impressed with both the Samsung’s print quality and speed. Text came out every bit as crisp as you’d expect from a laser and our test prints managed to just surpass Samsung’s claimed 24 pages per minute, peaking at an impressive 26ppm.
Capable of 1200 x 600 dpi output, the ML-2510 handled text cleanly and crisply, although – as with most lasers – photos weren’t too hot.
The printer tray at the bottom stores a useful 250 sheets, so you can let it get on with big jobs unattended, with the printer fairly quiet in operation.
With just a combined toner and drum to replace, maintenance is something of a no-brainer task, taking less than a minute.
Replacement toner cartridges can be picked up for fifty quid or so and should be good for around 3,000 pages; working out at around 1.6p per page (not including the paper).
It’s worth noting that although the ML-2510 comes with a free cartridge, it’s a bit of a cut-down number and can only handle 1,000 pages.
Still, that’s really nitpicking when you consider that you can pick up this fast, cheap-to-run and excellent printer for around £70. As cheap as cut-price chips!
Our verdict
Features: 82%
Ease of Use: 87%
Build Quality: 88%
Overall: 87%
SPECIFICATIONS:
Monochrome laser printer
Format A4, 76 x 127 mm, Legal (216 x 356 mm)
Paper Classic paper, Transparencies, Labels, Cards, Envelopes
Resolution 1200 x 600 dpi
Speed Up to 24 pages per minute
Computer Interface Compatible USB 2.0
Optional Exthernal Ethernet box
Compatible Platforms Windows 95/98/Me/NT4.0/2000/XP/2003 Server,
Divers Linux including Red Hat 8~9, Fedora Core 1~3, Mandrake 9.2~10.1 et SuSE 8.2~9.2,
Mac OS 10.3
Cartridges Monobloc toner catridge
Dimensions (mm) 378 x 299 x 227
Weight (Kg) 5
Other 1st page printing time: 8.5 s
Sound level: printing 50 dB /35 dB on standby
Max monthly prints: up to 10 000 pages/month
Integrated memory: 8 Mb
15 February, 2007
GRAW 2 First Look Review: Ghost Recon Advanced Warfare 2: Wow
GRAW 2 or Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfare 2, to give it its full name, will run on XBox 360 and PC when it’s released in March (the PS3 should be arriving late-spring) but I was able to get to play it at a small, exclusive First Look event.
I’ll fess-up straight away. I’m a huge fan of the original Ghost Recon that first came out on the original Xbox. The game looked great, the missions were compelling and the co-operative multi-player via xBox Live! was like no other game I’d played. So much so, that you actually cared about the random strangers that you were playing with.
The single and multi player versions of the X360 were available for our willing hands. Both were highly impressive, but most of my comments will apply to the multi-player version.
The work on GRAW2 started during the closing stages of the development when the original GRAW was completed. GRAW being their first game on the then-next-gen consoles. Although united within the game, the two versions were developed separately – the Multi-player by Red Storm and the Single by Ubisoft’s Paris office.
The over-riding brief was to improve the customisation, ramp up the detail even further and to expand the weaponry to include the leading edge of killing things that the US military and special forces use.
The selection of arms is massive, stretching to include a new unmanned ground-drone called ‘M.U.L.E.’, giving the player mobile cover and ground reconnaissance, while also serving as a mobile weapon station.
The Look
Frankly the game looks stunning. A real visual feast with amazing detail.
The screen shots give you an idea, but won’t tell you the full story, as the real-time effects are what really bring the impressive dimension to this game.
The light and shade are dynamically generated, so anything passing between you and the sun, will cast its own accurate shadow. During missions, realism is heightened by the changes of lighting conditions as they would in the real world, with smooth transitions between the four lighting scenarios.
That sort of detail is also extended to the incidentals. Smoke is effected by changes in wind direction, so you can imagine the kind of complexity that is created when helicopters get involved and blow the smoke around. It’s details like this that can’t fail to impress.
While effects like this will be heighten realism, you’re also able to do things that aren’t possible in the real world. When you’re in the single player game you guide your team buddies around to different locations, but … and here’s the really cool bit … you’re able to disconnect your retainers and see though your team mates eyes using CrossComm 2.0. This isn’t a poxy mini view, but a full screen view, really letting you see the details.
When you select this feature, the transition is a neat pixilation of the screen, that sharpens when you join your buddies eyes.
This visual switch is also available with the M.U.L.E., the ground drone.
It’s full of superb detail, even in the transition between missions. Almost to prove the power of the X360, the transition isn’t just a dull static loading screen, but interactive scenes. The example we saw was a helicopter trip over a wrecked city that could be scanned around, while the next section is loading.
Buy it on Amazon UK or Amazon US
The second part of the GRAW 2 review, will be going into the details that really make this game special. Also listen to our exclusive audio interview with Christian Allen, Creative Director of Red Storm.
14 February, 2007
‘Red Ring of Death’: BBC Watchdog Highlight XBox 360 Issue
Last night the BBC Consumer TV programme, Watchdog, had a pop at Microsoft and the XBox 360 over its reliability.
Many of the people who had purchased X360’s were finding that their machines were failing a short time after one-year warranty period had expired. The BBC say that 250 of them had contacted Watchdog to complain.
The most common cause of failure? The “Red ring of death” that indicates that their Xboxes have become Ex-boxes. The name comes from the front panel of the X360 which shows three flashing red lights, where normally there are green. If all of the lights but the first section are flashing, this indicates a general hardware failure has occurred.
When Xbox fan-boys contact Microsoft, they’ve been told that they have to shell out £80-85 to get their little dream machines fixed, as they out of warranty – even if it is just a little.
Many are attributing this failure to the machines running too hot. Anyone who has played the X360 will know that those babies run _loud_, due to the significant amount of fan-age they require to keep them running cool enough.
Microsoft have issued a statement, the first paragraph of which is
“The vast majority of Xbox 360 owners are having an outstanding experience with their systems. That being said, we have received a few isolated reports of consoles not working as expected. It’s important to note that there is no systemic issue with Xbox 360 – each incident is unique and these customer inquiries are being handled on a case-by-case basis.
The BBC are a little slow on the uptake with this as the problem has been debated on bulletin boards for a mighty long time. Having said that, getting it on broadcast TV is about the best thing that can happen in resolving these problem.
As is usually the case with this type of thing, people who have had their plight discussed, (not so) mysteriously get their machines replaced, after fighting with the companies for ages. A case in point is Alex Ainsow, who has now not only been offered a replacement console, but has had the deal sweetened with some new games.
Rumours of Xbox 360 ver 2.0 have been circulating, with one of the items being that the fan has been made much quieter. This would point to the chips having been reworked to get their operating temperature down.
Previously, Watchdog was fronted by Anne Robinson who later went on to present The Weakest Link. At that time, it struck us that Watchdog was the most aptly name programme on TV.
BBC Watchdog on Ring of Death
Microsoft: Xbox 360: Three red lights flash on the Ring of Light
14 February, 2007
Virgin ‘iTunes for Games’ Announced
Virgin have announced their intention to create an iTunes for Games. The service, to be called, A World Of My Own, will offer video games for download.
As with the majority of The Bearded One’s businesses, this is a partnership with another company, in this case, Game Domain International, who will be providing the technical know-how. The marketing and sizzle will come from Virgin.
They’ve decided to abbreviate A World Of My Own, AWOMO.
Knowledge of their intentions dates back to June last year.
Downloading games isn’t new. Services like Steam have been working since 2004, but while these services have appealed to the hard-core of gaming, they’ve never really broken out to the general public.
Virgin chucking their marketing muscle behind is likely to change that. Beyond that there’s the great cross promotional opportunities, between Virgin Media (NTL/Telewest cable as was) and even their airlines.
AWOMO are taking a different approach to the plain-looking Steam, as the environment will be 3D, with different areas – think Second Life meets games distribution.
We hear that the Koch Media Group, Europe’s largest PC games distributor who work with major brands such as EA, Ubisoft and Deep Silver are in discussions with Virgin about the service.
Virgin used to be pretty big in games during the BBC Micro days, but fell out of love with it and sold it all off before the ’90’s got going.
It’s planned that the service will start in March this year. Let’s just hope they come up with a better moniker than AWOMO.
A World Of My Own
14 February, 2007
Google Breaching Belgian Copyright: Judge
Belgian courts have ruled that Google is in breach of copyright.
The case was brought by Copiepresse, a copyright protection organisation that was representing 17 [UPDATE (thanks Michel) French-speaking] Belgian newspapers, complaining that both Google’s search and News service were in breach.
Their complaint is that their news pages are being cached by Google, thus, in their view, offering free access to their valuable content. Google’s argument is that they only display a headline and a short part of the content and also point out that they drive huge amount of readers to the newspapers Web sites.
This action was first launched last August in the Belgian courts. Google lost the case and was directed by the judge to remove the offending articles from the Google.be site and corresponding news service and post messages to their home pages. Google appealed the decision and lost yesterday.
Copiepresse is also pursuing similar action against Yahoo and MSN and it’s reported that they are in touch with copyright groups in Norway, Austria and Italy.
It is understood that Copiepresse is pursuing Google for payment for access to their content. Google has stated that this will not happen – not surprisingly as _every_ other publication, worldwide, would be asking for the same.
Google respect both robots.txt and metatags that enable any Web pages publisher to exclude them from being included in the Google index. As Google’s Rachel Whetstone, European Director of Communications and Public Affairs, points out, if asked, Google will remove content if requested.
Confused
We’re very confused by the ruling. How do these publishers think people are going to find their content without a search engine pointing them? Sure, their regular readers will still visit their home pages, but their potential readership will not be aware of the quality of their writing.
Copiepresse
14 February, 2007
Toshiba G900 WVGA Smartphone Guns For The iPhone
A cavalcade of new phones are continuing to spew forth from the 3GSM World Congress bash in Barcelona, and one that has especially warmed our toilet seats of desire is the ‘G900’ smartphone from Toshiba.
When it comes to the world of mobiles, Toshiba traditionally makes less noise than a mute mouse in a cotton wool box wearing marshmallow shoes, but their new G900 certainly looks like it might make a bit of a splash.
Sporting a horizontally sliding out QWERTY keyboard, the silver handset comes with a thumping great 3-inch WVGA screen serving up a huge 800 x 480 (WVGA) resolution – big enough to make web surfing a really practical proposition.
To ensure that the vast display is topped up with fast and fresh web pages there’s ultra-nippy HSDPA connectivity onboard (take that, iPhone!), with 64MB of internal memory and a miniSD card taking care of storage duties.
The main camera isn’t going to get mobile Muybridges salivating into their viewfinders at just 2 megapixels, but it should be good enough for general snapping duties, while the G900 also comes with a bog standard front mounted camera for video calls.
Extra security comes in the form of a rear biometric scanner, and there’s also Bluetooth with A2DP support, Wi-Fi, USB On-The-Go and Microsoft’s new Windows Mobile 6 OS.
We’re liking the cut of Toshiba’s jig here and reckon that the G900 may even be tough enough to take the iPhone around the back of the bike sheds for a bit of a duffing up, but we’ll be holding back the love until we know how big it is and how much it’s going to cost.
Toshiba UK
13 February, 2007
Samsung’s Ultra Edition II Range Is The Thinnest Yet
There may be controversy on the catwalks, but thin remains in with the design bods at Samsung, who have just unleashed a trio of anorexic handsets in their Ultra range, the U300, U600, U700 and ultra-thin U100.
Samsung Ultra Edition 5.9 (U100)
Making the phone in your pocket look like a pie-scoffing lardarse is the Samsung Ultra Edition 5.9 (U100), which claims to be the slimmest phone in the world.
Getting just a tad carried away with the hyperbole, Samsung reckon that the U100 employs some sort of Romulan cloaking device, insisting that it is, “thin enough to disappear if turned on its side.”
Back to the real world, there’s no denying that the U100 is an impressive piece of engineering – and purdy as a picture too – packing in a 3 mega-pixel camera, a 1.93″ color TFT screen and 11 hours of music play time into its 5.9mm wide frame.
Ultra Edition 12.1 (U700)
The second phone in the Ultra Edition II range is the U700 slider, a comparative porker at 12.1mm, offering HSDPA internet connectivity up to 3.6Mbps, video telephony and a 3 mega pixel digital camera with auto focus.
The phone comes with Bluetooth, a “cool wheel” for zipping around the menus, a bundled MP3 player and a rather stingy 20MB onboard memory, expandable to 1GB via a MicroSD card.
Samsung’s Ultra Edition 10.9 (U600)
Once again, we suspect the Samsung PR may have been dabbling with funny dust when they were writing the press release for the U600, insisting that the phone was “inspired by the shine and shimmer of the crown jewels.”
Adjusting the BS output to ‘stun,’ the press announcement tells us that the handset apparently exudes “elegance and modern style… for the ultimate sophistication” and comes in a suitably daftly-named set of colours, including sapphire blue, garnet red, platinum metal and copper gold casing.
The slider phone comes with a 3.2 megapixel camera, 2.22″ wide TFT LCD widescreen, 60MB internal storage, Bluetooth and Smart Messaging all packed in a slim 10.9mm case.
The Ultra Edition 9.6 (U300)
Wrapping up the new line-up is the U300, a 9.6-mm clamshell with a 3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, TV-out capability and 70MB of onboard storage (but no MicroSD slot).
The 2.2-inch LCD comes with a large 240×320 resolution backed by an external 96×16 OLED.
The Ultra Edition II range should be taking up shelf space in UK and European stores during March/April 2007.
13 February, 2007
i-mate Lets Rip With Its Five-Strong Ultimate Range
In an advanced Hedge-Betting exercise, i-mate has announced its new range of Windows Mobile devices, with a set of designs mirroring just about every handset currently available on the market.
Working on a “Oooh! Suits you sir”, philosophy, it looks like consumers will be hard-pressed to not find a form factor they feel comfortable with, although the gold metallic and black styling may not be to everyone’s taste (we have to say we’re not feeling the love).
Christened the “Ultimate” range, the WM6-powered devices – all five of ’em – are numbered 5150, 6150, 7150, 9150, and 8150 (clockwise from the upper left in the compilation photo) – if you’re bored, you can play “spot the inspiration” and see if you match i-mate’s new offerings to current designs by other manufacturers.
Back to the new phones, you can’t knock the i-mates for lacking in functionality, with the handsets sporting a minimum of 256MB of ROM, beefy 262k VGA displays (480×640 pixels), tri-band 3G radios, Bluetooth 2.0, FM radios and, we assume, Wi-Fi.
Full details of the whole range are still dribbling through, but we’ve learnt that the Ultimate 5150 slider comes with an Intel Bulverde 520MHz CPU, VGA screen, 256MB ROM and 128MB RAM, Wi-Fi, microSD memory card slot and a 2.0 megapixel camera.
[Via]
13 February, 2007
Nokia N77 And E90 Communicator Announced
Nordic big-knobs Nokia have knocked out another two handsets for your delectation today.
First up is Nokia’s shiny new 3G N77 handset, packing DVB-H mobile broadcast technology in its boxy black and silver frame.
Running on the tried and trusted S60 3rd Edition OS, the handset is dominated by a beefy 2.4-inch, 16 million colour display, with what looks like a bit of a fiddly keypad below.
Lurking on the back is a 2 megapixel camera, with the N77 delivering on the multimedia front, offering visual radio and support for MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+ and WMA media.
For annoying bus passengers, there are integrated stereo speakers onboard as well as a standard 3.5-mm headphone jack for adding that extra “Tscch-tschh-tschh” sound to someone else’s journey on public transport.
The tri-band GSM / EDGE with UMTS 2100 MHz phone should start shipping to “countries were DVB-H services are available” in Q2 for around €370 ($481).
Nokia E90 Communicator
Nokia has also announced the official specs for their S60-series E90 Communicator.
As befits such a pocket bulging beast, there’s a ton of functionality onboard for sharp suit-clad corporate schmoozers, with this latest version of the Communicator range getting a mean, business-like, all-black retread.
Globe trotters will heart the quad-band GSM, WiFi, and HSDPA connectivity, and there’s a 3.2 megapixel camera (with flash) and a more basic camera upfront taking care of photo/video duties.
There’s also integrated GPS and Nokia Maps wedged into the chunky handset, but all those features are going to come at a wallet-whipping price, with the E90 expected to be priced at around a stratospheric €750.
Via
13 February, 2007