iVirtua Community

End to End consulting

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New 60GB Xbox 360 announced, cheaper 20GB version

Editorial Team — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:08:29 GMT

Microsoft has announced that it willbe producing a new $349 60GB Xbox 360, and the 20 GB version that itwill slowly replace will be cut in price in the US to $299.
AlthoughUK price changes have not been published, the arrival of a new 60GBversion � giving users much more memory for things like movies,trailers and Xbox Live Arcade games � is in keeping with Microsoft'spush into downloadable content.
"We know consumers need moreand more space to store the amazing digital content Xbox 360 offers,and we're giving it to them at no extra charge," said Albert Penello,Xbox director of product management at Microsoft.
"No onedevice offers the depth and breadth of entertainment that Xbox 360 candeliver, and now you'll have three times the storage to manage all thatgreat content."
What does it mean for UK?
The20GB version of the Xbox 360 � normally known as the Pro � currentsells for �199.99, and it seems likely that the news 60GB version willretail for the same price when it hits UK shelves.
This meansthat the older 20GB version will be given a price reduction, althoughit remains to be seen how close that will be to the Arcade version(with a much smaller storage capacity) which is currently priced at�159.99.
Microsoft's support of the now-failed HD DVD drive has meant a shift of focus onto downloadable HD (and SD) content.
Thesuccess of Xbox Live Marketplace has buoyed the console, and the offerof extra storage to boost these services makes a good deal of sense.

Prices for all other models remain unchanged, so that�s $279(�141/�176) for the Arcade (that�s the one with a 256MB memory card)and $449 (�226/�283) for the Elite � the flagship model with anintegrated 120GB HDD.
Although the leaked email said the new machine would be called thePro, Microsoft�s official announcement of the 60GB model didn�t use anysuch uplifting title.
The bad news is that � at least for the time being � the 60GB Xbox360 will only appear in the US and Canada when it goes on sale nextmonth.

All-new look at SimCity Creator

Editorial Team — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:06:54 GMT

EA has released some more screenshots from its latest entry into the Sim game series, SimCity Creator.

The game retains the basic gameplay ofthe original SimCity titles, but presents itself in a manner akin tothe MySims game released last year.

Fans worried that the gamewill be dumbed down should take a look at the screens. Whilst there area few concessions (we've never seen our Sims panic that they've hadenough broccoli before, for example) overall it appears to retain thebasic formula present in other SimCity games.

SimCity Creator is due for release on September 19, 2008.

UK games biz demands closer ties with academia

Editorial Team — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:02:29 GMT

UK videogame industry leaders have demanded greater ties betweenbusiness and academia to ensure that Britain's games developers remainglobally competitive. But will any of them step forward to foster therelationship?
At games industry conference the Westminster Media Forum, held inLondon this week, Mary Matthews, Strategy and Business DevelopmentDirector at game developer Blitz, said that ineffective training isholding the industry back.
�We can�t do what we want to do because we can�t find the right people,� she said.
Yet, acording to Kate O�Connor, Executive Director of Policy andDevelopment at Skillset, an industry body for skills and training, UKuniversities already offer 80 videogame-related degree courses. Nonehave any industry recognition, however.
Paul Harris, Professor of Screen Media at the University of Abertay,Dundee, agreed that accreditation by game design firms is crucial. Hesaid it is the best way for universities to ensure that students�skills match firms� requirements.
Matthews also called for a similar frequent refreshment of the curriculum.
Matthews has other ideas too, such as recruiting potential gamedesigners from the age of 14. In her view, this would help kidsestablish much earlier a link between enjoying games and developingthem, thus steering more designers into the industry.

However, no one appears willing to take responsibility for theproposals. Instead, both industry and academia are hoping thegovernment will do the job for them.
Margaret Hodge, Minister for Culture, Creative Industries andTourism, said at the conference: �The games industry must do more toencourage students to choose the right qualifications [for videogamedesign], such as maths and physics.�
The government, she said, also has plans in the pipeline to createof centres of excellence for videogame development where gaming brainscould unite to develop the next smash hit.

Over 160 games for the iPhone, reveals Jobs

Editorial Team — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:33:06 GMT

Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, has revealed that over 160 games will beavailable to download for the iPhone upon launch of the devices AppStore, in a phone call with the New York Times.
Intotal 500 applications will be available when the store launches in theUS today, 25 per cent of which will be free, 90 per cent will be soldfor less than USD 9.99 and one third of the applications will be games.
Jobs also revealed that that Apple doesn't plan to make much money offof the applications, including games, by giving developers a 70 percent cut of the sales.

"We are not trying to be business partners," said Jobs.

How to be a Internet Cafe Ninja

Editorial Team — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:31:12 GMT

First Half-Life 2: Episode 3 Concept Art Revealed by E3

Editorial Team — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:27:38 GMT

he first widely available piece of concept art for the final episode of Valve's Half-Life 2 saga has been uncovered via the 2008 IntoThePixel E3 art gallery.
The piece--created by Valve artists Ted Backman, Jeremy Bennett, andTristan Redford--appears to show Half-Life hero Gordon Freeman within alarge Citadel-like environment, a Combine Advisor looming ominouslyoverhead.
IntoThePixel's website labels the art as related to "Half Life EP3," with platforms listed as PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Valve has been mum about the final episode in the trilogy since therelease of Episode Two last year. Episode Three will reportedly not beappearing at E3, though Valve will be making an appearance at the eventto show off its zombie shooter Left 4 Dead.

Valve: PC Market is Not Dying, PC Retail in America is

Editorial Team — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:25:00 GMT

While talking to TGR, VP of Marketing and Development at Valve DougLombardi touched on the PC market in general and what Valve thinks ofthe stories regarding the fate of PC gaming. Lombardi told us:

�We have really been outspoken lately about that. There is this brokenstory about the PC being on the decline, right? And that is one ofthese things like that we are really sort of being cranky about rightnow and being outspoken about and saying, it is not the PC market thatis dying, it is the PC retail in the states that is dying.�

Doug backed up this claim with comments regarding the state of PCgaming in other countries. �If you look at the revenue that we aremaking from Steam and the revenue that Blizzard is making from World of Warcraft,"he told us, "and you look at the sales of retail products in placeslike Germany and cyber caf� business in Korea, etc., there is moremoney now being made from PC business then ever before and it isactually dramatically increasing. I mean our Steam year over yearrevenues are up over 190%.�

Translation: with the increasing popularity of MMO games and the hugePC growth in Korea, PC gaming is here to stay for a long time yet. Anystory claiming PC gaming is dead hasn�t researched the facts or, justlooking at the sales chart in America.

AMD sticks four two-GPU cards into gaming PC

Editorial Team — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:23:20 GMT

AMD is working on eight-way GPU co-operative rendering, the chip maker has revealed.
In an escalation reminiscent of the way disposable-razor maker areforever upping the number of blades built into their products, AMDspinner Chris Hook told Indian site Techtree: "AMD has already built a computer that has four 4870 X2s in it. So it has eight GPUs."
What he said next isn't recorded, but we can imagine a 'beat that, you f*ckers!' followed by an air-punch.
Competitive willy-waving aside, the two-GPU Radeon HD 4870 X2 boardwill go on sale in August, Hook said. It'll be made available in acouple of versions - sporting different clock speeds and/or memoryconfigurations, presumably - to allow AMD to hit different price points.

So will you be able to buy four of them and stick 'em in yourcomputer? You can try, but don't expect success: "Drivers will not besupporting eight GPUs at this point of time," said Hook.
Whether they will when the 4870 X2 goes on sale remains to be seen.And quite apart from a suitable driver, hooking up a quartet of 4870X2s is going to require some serious power supply technology, not tomention a very good cooler.

Yahoo! for In-Game Ads

Editorial Team — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:22:49 GMT

Yahoo! hassigned up with in-game ad firm Double Fusion and Nolan Bushnell'sNeoEdge to help deliver free ad-supported, downloadable games.
Yahoo!Games' website will feature over 400 ad-supported downloadable gamesfrom "top casual games publishers" by the end of the year, the companysaid Thursday.

Double Fusion and NeoEdge will sell and integratevideo ads into Yahoo! Games titles. Double Fusion will implement itsfusion.runtime tech, while NeoEdge is offering its NeoARM ad-enablingsolution, along with the NeoAds ad network.

Game makers on board for today's launch include Big Fish Games, MumboJumbo, PopCap, TellTale Games, I-Play and several others.

Gaming:The WTF World of Wikipedia - 15 unbelievable "tr

Editorial Team — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:21:26 GMT

You. Your friends and family. Your classmates and coworkers. In thebrave new world of the internet, everybody has power. Information isinteractive, knowledge is collaborative and history is open source. Thenerdy kid next door has just as much influence as a high schoolteacher; the dorky dude at the comic book shop has just as much voiceas a college professor.
Problem is, the nerds and dorks tend to have a lot morefree time - and passion - than the teachers and professors. The endresult? A hilariously skewed, terrifyingly twisted view of the world inwhich all the wrong things are deemed "important" and worthy of seriousacademic discussion.
Here are 15 mind-boggling examples.

See what we mean? When the deadliest, costliest war in the history of mankind has been trumped by a videogame franchise about that war,you know something's off. One involved over 50 countries and took over70 million lives; the other involves button mashing and tea bagging.
On an encouraging note, we did have to add all the Call of Dutygames' individual pages together to reach the crazy number above. On adiscouraging note, we didn't have to add Call of Duty 4 and itsnon-WWII setting, which would have brought the total word count to aneven crazier 18,927.
Oh, and on a simply ridiculous note? Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare beats "modern warfare"... 5,858 to 2,873.
Also less important than Call of Duty!
� American Revolutionary War = 8,078
� American Civil War = 11,729
� English Civil War = 8,030
� Napoleonic Wars = 7,951
� Hundred Years' War = 7,992
� War on Terrorism = 10,674
� War on Drugs = 7,628
� Cold War = 10,117
� "War" = 9,233
While the magic menagerie of super-powered, frilly-maned, sparkly-eyed, rosy-cheeked wonder beasts might make for slightly more exciting cards than a Three of Spades, the emphasis here is still extremely wonky.
Poker has been around for longer than anyone can remember... the Pokemon Trading Card Game was invented in 1996. Poker has created millionaires and forced bankruptcy... the Pokemon Trading Card Game might have resulted in some lost lunch money and a temper tantrum or two.
Also less important than Pokemon Trading Cards!
� Baseball cards = 4,686
� Blackjack = 5,228
� Roulette = 5,492
� Checkers = 2,326
� Pool (Billiards) = 621
� Bowling = 407
� Wheel of Fortune = 4,521
� "Trade" = 3,038
� "Games" = 2,830

Before you get the wrong impression, no, the Master Chief does not win in a Wikipedia matchup against George W. Bush... though his approval ratings are undoubtedly higher.
The truly astounding thing, however, is that he does emerge victorious against not one, not two, but TENof this country's past commanders in chief. Yes, 23% of the men whohelped make the United States the strongest nation on Earth are easilydefeated by a fictional and faceless videogame character who barelyknows how to speak and takes orders from a naked hologram. Go America!
The orange word count above is an average taken from the USPresidents beaten by the Master Chief. Here's the full, patheticbreakdown:
Leaders of the Free World less important than Master Chief!
� James Monroe = 2,820
(5th President)
� John Quincy Adams = 3,457
(6th President)
� John Tyler = 3,431
(10th President)
� Zachary Taylor = 2,235
(12th President)
� Millard Fillmore = 3,631
(13th President)
� Franklin Pierce = 4,203
(14th President)
� James Buchanan = 3,888
(15th President)
� Rutherford B. Hayes = 2,686
(19th President)
� James A. Garfield = 3,915
(20th President)
� Chester A. Arthur = 3,078
(21st President)




In the future, when Captain Kirk is battling tribbles and Data islearning how to love, this lopsided comparison will make completesense. Why wouldn't the entries for the glorious Starship Enterprise dwarf that for a dusty museum piece like the automobile? We expect the pages for hoverboards, robot maids, personal time machines and giant laser death rays to do the same.

For the present, though, why does a make-believe spaceship deserve more words than the planet's principal mode oftransportation? Also, why does that make-believe space ship deserve noless than nine separate pages, including unique entries for six different models of the NCC-1701? Seriously?!

Also less important than the Starship Enterprise!

� Planes = 5,132
� Trains = 2,850
� Boats = 1,884
� Bicycles = 5,112
� Motorcycles = 5,446
� Shoes = 3,241
� Lunar rovers = 1,844
� Space shuttles = 6,217
� Space stations = 1,830
� Outer space = 3,000

You think Hideo Kojima's cut scenes are long? Try reading Leo Tolstoy's epic tome. War and Peace waspublished in four books over five years, covers nearly a decade ofhistory and includes more than 1,400 pages, more than 560,000 words andmore than 3 million characters. It's generally considered one of thelongest novels - hell, one of the longest things - of all time.

Somehow, though, the writers on Wikipedia managed to summarize thewhole plot in 1,922 words. Well done! Now we'd be really impressed ifyou guys could squeeze the plot of a single damn videogame - even therambling old man that is Metal Gear Solid 4 - into less than 2,548 words.

The top numbers (in orange) are for the entire entries.The numbers in the preceding paragraph, as well as the list below, arefor the subsections entitled "plot," "story," or "synopsis."

Also less important than Metal Gear Solid 4!
(by plot, story or synopsis)

� Romeo and Juliet = 770
� Hamlet = 780
� Moby Dick = 845
� Of Mice and Men = 288
� A Tale of Two Cities = 1,341
� Atlas Shrugged = 673
� The Hobbit = 465
� Citizen Kane = 430
� Casablanca = 834
� Chinatown = 854

We won't get jealous and play the competition card here. EGM isimportant, a veritable titan of the industry with a massive and devotedfollowing. Many of us here at GamesRadar include ourselves in that camp.

But come on... do the latest screenshots of Chun-Li'sthighs really carry more weight than the 2008 election? Do you reallyneed to know the review score for Turok more than you need to know thereasons for the recession? Is the dropping price of the PS3 morecritical than the rising price of gasoline?

Yes, Electronic Gaming Monthly - and any videogame publication - is totally worthy of 4,429 words. We just wish that Time and other vital news sources received the same attention.

Also less important than EGM!

� Newsweek = 1,393
� USA Today = 2,685
� National Geographic = 1,949
� The New Yorker = 3,874
� The Washington Post = 2,449
� CNN = 4,281
� Fox News = 3,758
� "Magazines" = 842
� "Newspapers" = 3,537
� GamesRadar = 201

We love, love, love the soundtracks to Final Fantasy... but someone put way, way, way too much effort into this Wikipedia page. The intro alone is nearly 700 words, lengthier than the entries for many singers, bands and genres. Rock and roll, the biggest genre of them all, doesn't stand a chance.

Of course, the vastness of the web was made to hold such exceedinglyniche minutiae, but even the fan who owns all of these compilationalbums probably agrees that they could have fit onto the page forgeneral Final Fantasy music. Unless that fan is the one who wrote this obsessive love letter to begin with...

Also less important than obscure Final Fantasy music!

� Beethoven = 6,268
� Mozart = 6,331
� Frank Sinatra = 5,743
� Kelly Clarkson = 5,849
� Amy Winehouse = 7,269
� Rihanna = 2,977
� Kanye West = 4,713
� Jay-Z = 6,658
� Nirvana = 4,157
� Radiohead = 6,495

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Jeffrey Dahmer was a cannibal, Charles Manson was a deranged cultleader and John Wayne Gacy, worst of all, dressed up like a friggin'clown. Yet the complete list of these horrible, horrible murderers -together with dozens of depraved others - is apparently about 3,000words less significant than the list of Maverick boss characters in the Mega Man X series.

And that's compared to the list of serial killers by country. Look up the list of serial killers by number of victims andthe difference grows to 6,000. Go ahead and add the two lists togetherif you want - at 8,000 words total, they still fall short of the sheerterror and infamy inspired by Cyber Peacock, Blizzard Buffalo,Overdrive Ostrich and Armored Armadillo. Ooh, we're getting chills justthinking about them!

Above: The true face of evil

Let's be honest. Who doesn't love Gardulla the Hut? Who didn't havea poster of Cole Fardreamer or Elan Sleazebaggano hanging on theirbedroom wall as a kid? Who wouldn't beg their parents to buy them thatKlaatu action figure for the holidays?

Qwi Xux, Plo Koon, 2-1B, Chief Chirpa, Yarna D'al Gargan, BaronSoontir Fel, Meewalh, Oola, Commander Cody, Baron Soontir Fel, TraskUlgo, Gartogg, Wam "Blam" Lufba and, of course, little Windy... all ofthem are forever entwined in our dreams and imaginations.

Clearly, the list of minor characters in the Star Wars universe should be seven times as large as the page on the Founding Fathers of the United States. Clearly.

Also more important than the Founding Fathers!

� Minor Star Wars droids = 10,105
� Minor Star Wars villains = 9,648
� Minor Star Wars bounty hunters = 5,236
� Minor Sonic the Hedgehog characters = 12,595
� Minor Mortal Kombat characters = 6,286
� Minor StarCraft characters = 5,640
� Minor One Piece characters = 17,446
� Minor Sailor Moon characters = 7,251
� Minor Gundam Wing mobile suits = 3,584
� Minor recurring characters in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine = 5,097

Heed our warning - Wikipedia is only the beginning. Soon, textbookswill have entire chapters devoted to fairies and fishmen. Languagestudents will learn Goron instead of Greek. History class will forgothe Romans for the Rito, while anthropology discards the Spanish andSwedish for the Subrosians and Skull Kids.

Nonsense, you say? Tell that to the 730 million residents of Europe, whose deep and diverse ethnic backgrounds just got pwned by a bunch of elves, gnomes, talking twigs, golden frogs and mutant chickens.
Oh yeah, and Tingle.

Also more important than the population of Europe!

� Elder Scroll races = 8,489
� Pokemon types = 4,362
� Final Fantasy monsters = 6,637
� Halo aliens = 5,478
� Middle-earth orcs = 4,845
� Fictional cats = 10,248
� Fictional dragons = 8,651
(there are non-fictional dragons?)

No surprises here. After all, Superman (10,641 words) has been known to survive a nuclear explosion... inside his own ass. And Batman (10,818 words) invented his own damn brand of shark repellent Bat spray!

Obviously, these guys are far superior to the rest of us. End of discussion.

Above: Holy sardine!

Both the fictional Umbrella Corporation and the real world National Human Genome Research Institute studythe mysteries of genetics. Both engage in the cutting edge field ofbiomedical engineering. Both are located in small towns. Both haveseemingly harmless, yet somehow creepy names. Both have seeminglyvague, yet somehow menacing logos.

Wait a second - are these two organizations actuallyone and the same?! Has Umbrella been a front all along, a clever ployto distract us from the true zombie overlords? We knew that tiny word count seemed suspicious...

Above: Oh shit.

According to Wikipedia, Kirby is "a small, pink, spherical creature with large red feet."

Exactly. Done. Enough said. Oh, if only that were the case...instead, that is merely the first sentence of a 1,512 word subsectionentitled Characteristics, which goes on to describe - in disturbinglydetailed sub-subsections - the Personality, Abilities and Species of Kirby. Yes, species.

The dog hasan overall longer page, sure, but the fact that Kirby's"characteristics" actually overcome those of man's best friend isabsolutely insane. They shouldn't even be close.












As expected, Jesus whoops Mario byquite a large margin in total Wikipedia word count. In a miraculousturn of events, however, Mario's Legacy section is actually longer thanJesus' Legacy. Yes, you heard right - a pixelated plumber is consideredto have had a bigger impact on the world than the central figure ofChristianity and, to some, the physical embodiment of God. Wow.

Then again... Jesus can walk on water and heal the sick,but Mario can shoot fireballs out of his hands and turn into a raccoon.Jesus has an awesome beard, but Mario's got a super sweet mustache.Jesus ushered in much of modern religion, but Mario ushered in much ofmodern gaming. Both can come back from the dead, though to be fair,Jesus only did that once.

Dunno, seems like a tie to us

Also less important than Mario's legacy!

� Albert Einstein's legacy = 153� John F. Kennedy's legacy = 436� Susan B. Anthony's legacy = 252� Princess Diana's legacy = 196� The Wright brothers' legacy = 175� Mother Teresa's influence in the world = 117

At last, we reach the ultimate showdown. In this corner, we have God, who Wikipedia describes as:

"... the principal or sole deity in religion..."
"...the creator and overseer of the universe..."
"... omnipotent and eternal..."
"... the source of all moral obligation, and the greatest conceivable being existent..."

His opponent? Knuckles of Sonic the Hedgehog fame, who Wikipedia describes as:

"... a red, teenage, anthropomorphic echidna..."
"... the fourth most popular character in the series..."
"... shy around girls..."

And, uh, yeah. How did this guy beat God by more than 4,000 words again? Well, to reach Knuckles' number, we did have to add two pages together, one for his game character and one for his comic character. To level the playing field, we should probably give God the Bible or something, right? Of course, we'll also have to give Knuckles his comic books and two videogames (Knuckles Chaotix and Sonic & Knuckles) to keep things even...

Damn! Sorry God - you lose again. Looks like we have a new omnipotentoverseer in the universe... or at least in the strange, silly, scaryand seriously skewed universe that is Wikipedia.

E3 2008 Coverage and Events

Editorial Team — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:15:06 GMT

Monday, July 14th:
9:30am (PST): Microsoft Press Conference (LIVE blogging)
2:00pm (PST): Electronic Arts Press Conference (LIVE blogging)
Tuesday, July 15th:
9:00am (PST): Nintendo Press Conference (LIVE Blogging)
11:00am (PST): Sony Press Conference (LIVE Blogging)
2:30pm (PST): Ubisoft Press Conference (LIVE Blogging)
4:30pm (PST): Capcom Press Conference (LIVE Blogging)
E3 Showcase floor and developer meetups throughout the day. Publisher meetings include:
Warner Bros. Interactive
Atari
SEGA
Wednesday, July 16th:
9:00am (PST): E3 Keynote
2:30pm (PST): Konami Press Conference
E3 Showcase floor and developer meetups throughout the day. Publisher meetings include:
SouthPeak Interactive
Harmonix/MTV Games
Sony Online Entertainment
Gamecock
Thursday, July 17th:
E3 Showcase floor and developer meetups throughout the day. Publisher meetings include:
Midway Games
Bethesda
LucasArts
Capcom

1.8GHz SSD MacBook Air Drops $500

Editorial Team — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:11:14 GMT

Apple has quietly dropped the price of the high end MacBook Air by $500.

The high end MacBook Air comes equipped with a 1.8GHz upgrade (from1.6GHz) and a 64GB Solid State Drive (SSD). The total price for thehigh end laptop is $2598. Compare this to the original price of the1.8GHz/SSD MacBook Air at $3098 just last week (Google Cache).

The base price for the 1.6GHz 80GB Hard Drive MacBook Air remains at$1799. The difference in price appears to be a combination of pricedrops in both the processor upgrade ($200 vs $300) and SSD ($599 vs$999).

Apple has emailed customers who have outstanding orders that are affected by the price drop:
To Our Valued Apple Customer:

Apple has announced a price drop for a component(s) of the MacBookAir that you recently ordered. We have automatically adjusted yourorder to reflect the new lower price.

For up-to-date information on your order, please visit our Order Status website at <http: www.apple.com="" orderstatus="">. After your order is shipped, you can also obtain tracking information on this site.

Thank you for your shopping at the Apple Store.

Sincerely,
Apple Online Store Support</http:>

Civilization Revolution PS3, Xbox 360 PREVIEW [video]

Editorial Team — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:18:44 GMT

Pick a nation, farm your land, dispatch settlers to start new towns, discover science, start wars and knock up the Hanging Gardens of Babylon in Norwich... here the world is your fun-sized cartoon oyster. Winning means perfecting one of a series of disciplines, from building wonders of the world to fostering the rise of great people to science-ing up until you can launch a mission to Alpha Centauri - a goal that in past games was so lofty it would only ever be seen by a minimal elite. For fans of the PC game, Revolution's massive simplification of the game's systems and options, along with its insistence that you go to war with your neighbours (seeing Gandhi issue threats of violence if you don't hand over a newly researched technology is just one treat that awaits) may jar, but for everyone else this is accessible and hideously addictive.

TF2 goes all female - best chicks in gaming.

Editorial Team — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:12:44 GMT

Team Fortress 2 girls version

Google's Street View comes to UK london and Inverness [PICS]

Editorial Team — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:57:41 GMT

Google has defended its controversial Street View photo-mappingtool, saying it will meet local privacy laws in European countries atlaunch.
Following the news that Google Street View image capturing cars havebeen spotted in London, it seems Google's plans to bring the service tothe UK is under threat.

It's time to lock up your daughters, and here's why: The rovingspycar of Google's Street View has been spotted prowling the meanstreets of London...

At london bridge:
T

Also
http://flickr.com/photos/rodcorp/2653406304/

Inverness:

That aside - my mate snapped one of these devices on a few lampostsin his street that turned up the same day the Google-mobile was about.
http://c.imagehost.org/view/0124/thing.jpg
A quick call to the Highland Council street lighting departmentconfirmed they knew nothing about it, and that it should definitely nothave been put there without their permission.
So, over to you, readers. What the hell is it ???

The tool, which matches real world photos to mapped locations, has drawn fire from some privacy campaigners.
In the UK, Privacy International said the tool could breach data protection laws if people's faces were shown.
Google has said it is using face blurring technology to preserve the privacy of individuals photographed.
"In our view they need a person's consent if they make use of aperson's face for commercial ends," Simon Davies, of PrivacyInternational told BBC News.
Street View has already been launched in the US and includesphotos of streets in major American cities. Photographing of areas inthe UK, including London, is believed to have started last week.
Mr Davies has written to Google asking for details of the face-blurringtechnology, saying he would ask the UK Information Commissioner tointervene if he did not receive a satisfactory response.
He told BBC News that he was concerned that Google's technology would not work.
Google's senior privacy counsel Jane Horvath has responded saying that the technology had already been deployed.
She wrote: "We actually launched this technology publicly in early May, when we refreshed our imagery in Manhattan, New York.
"Since then we have applied face blurring to all new imagery launches in the US, including a major launch in June."
Google has said it plans to launch Street View in a "few European countries" but did not give any more details.
In a statement, a Google spokesperson added: "We think this type ofprivacy-enabling technology is the best way of meeting the challenge ofcontinuing to respect people's expectation of privacy, while notstifling the development of new products and services that everyone canenjoy and benefit from."

Have you seen Google photographing the UK? Do you have any picturesof the cars Google are using to take photos?

Heres some US sights from the likes of
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/05/request_for_urb.html

Without any context or timeline, it's hard to tell exactly what you're seeingin the extraordinary panoramic images captured by Google's magic van. But inthe days since the service was launched, numerous blogs have appeared,linking to the most interesting sights. Here are a selection found at GoogleSightseeing, Steetviewr, and ThreatLevel.
1.Someone apparently climbing over a fence in San Francisco
2.Borat peeking out of a window in San Jose, California
3.The already infamous 'Hot Babes' poster van driving alongside the Googletruck in Las Vegas
4.A girl bending over, and two guys watching her...
5.Ambulance driver stops for a sandwich
6.A canine disagreement
7.Strange, headless figures next to what looks like a newly dug grave
8.Giant robot attack
9.The alien invasion begins
10The moment when the Google van stopped for lunch, and the road takes adetour in the McDonald's car park

GAME.co.uk Lists the 100 Greatest Games.. gets it WRONG!

Editorial Team — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:24:44 GMT

It's a List made by gamers with a short memory.
Call of Duty 4, Gears of War and Halo 3 in the TOP 10!??!?! Was this list compiled by a 10 year old?

http://www.game.co.uk/greatestgames/

Clearly just a marketing thing

Halflife 2 is only number 9 yet it is one of the most highly played games - CounterStrike is number 53? and the Sims only 52?? With Wii Sports at 51?

How can
Grand Theft Auto IV appear at number 4?
Assassings creed shouldnt even be on there and how can you miss SimCity?

AH, this confirms it:

The kid who won a 1,000,000 reward poinds voted KillZone 2 because...

Quote:

"Killzone for mewas the greatest game of all time because it was the first FPS I everbought and it had the right kind of story.

Here's youre link:
http://www.game.co.uk/greatestgames/