The Walking Dead Episode 1, subtitled “A New Day,” is the latest adventure game outing from Telltale Games, although the degree to which it is a game may be up for debate.  You play as a felon named Lee who survives a car crash during the zombie outbreak.  Lee meets up with a little girl, a group of survivors, and a few characters from the comic as he tries to find a safe haven.

There isn’t a lot of freedom in Episode 1.  As one might expect in a zombie apocalypse, the majority of the game is spent barricaded in small areas with only a few rooms.  This time consists mostly of talking to the other survivors and solving the handful of puzzles.  The writing and voice acting are certainly up to snuff, so getting to know everyone that you’re stuck with is entertaining and feels worth the effort.  I’m sure Mass Effect fans would be pleased.

The puzzles aren’t quite at satisfying, though.  You basically just wander around in the couple rooms you have access to, pick up the two or three items that they game will allow, then find the one or two places where the game will let you use each item.  It’s all very quick and straightforward, so perhaps puzzle isn’t the right word.  Overall they mostly felt like they were just some minor roadblocks put in the way of the player to help prevent them from missing out on all of the dialog opportunities.

Players may also be put off by how much time is spent watching the game rather than playing it.  The entire story is only about two hours long and you will often spend several minutes at a time having no interaction with it.  At other times you’re picking dialog options during a conversation or walking around a room in search of the one object that will trigger the next cut scene.  Much of Episode 1 feels more like a semi-interactive episode of The Walking Dead than a full game, though it’s certainly a good one.  There are several moments where the game indicates that your decision will be significant later, but that is something that cannot be judged until future episodes are released.

Some of the game’s best moments are when Lee is forced into a confrontation with a zombie in close quarters with no particularly apt form of defense.  Through mashing quick time events and rapidly searching the environment for something that can be used the game does a great job at capturing the desperation such a situation would bring about.

There are also some engaging scenes where Lee and his companions are trying to figure out how to clear an area of zombies without being seen.  These parts are mostly just more of the same linear and simple problem solving that happens behind the barricade, but the context serves to make the activity more interesting.  My main issue with these segments is that they seem to require the zombies to be nearly blind to an extent that doesn’t quite match up with the source material.  I mean, since when does crouching in a clearly visible manner behind some bars make you invisible to zombies?

Visually, Episode 1 is a mixed bag.  The hand-drawn art style matches the comic in a novel way, but the textures don’t render at very high resolutions.  Characters look fine, but there are some rather distracting moments where the camera zooms in on a low resolution texture in the environment as you move to pick something up.  It’s just strange to suddenly see something look so pixelated in an otherwise heavily stylized world.  Aside from this small issue the game looks great.

While I do criticize Walking Dead Episode 1 for being shallow and less interactive than one might expect, I did enjoy it quite a bit.  I found myself caring about the characters, the zombie scenes were sufficiently tense, and I’m genuinely looking forward to future episodes.  This may not be a great title for everyone, but fans of both the comic and the show should be pleased with the experience.

We take a hands-on look at the Bose Quiet Comfort (QC) 15 Headphones on video for you!

Legend of Grimrock is an old school dungeon RPG that is more than capable of standing on its own as a modern game.  You take control of a party of four as they are thrown into pit to repent for their crimes.  Plenty monsters, loot,  and secrets await.  I was hesitant at first when I saw that the game forces the player to navigate via a grid system even though the game moves in real time.  It seemed like it would be overly restrictive and tedious, but the grid system is actually perfectly implemented and serves as the foundation for all of the game’s puzzles and the personalized combat system.

Another surprise came from how Legend of Grimrock handles the loot and monsters.  In most dungeon crawlers the player simply plows through hordes of inept enemies and then needs to sort through a mountain consisting of mostly useless vendor trash.  Most of Grimrock‘s horrors pose an actual threat, and fighting more than one enemy at a time can often prove fatal.  The player must carefully use the grid system to their advantage by keeping themselves outside of their opponent’s immediate range as abilities recharge.  Once ready, you leap in and strike with all you have before returning to your evasion.  Being able to maneuver in such a way requires an effective knowledge of one’s surroundings in the maze of tunnel and chambers, and is further complicated as later foes gain more troublesome attacks.

When compared to other dungeon crawlers Grimrock‘s loot is scarce.  Many monsters drop consumable items that can be used to keep your characters fed, but armor and weapons are rare.  A lot of the best finds are hidden away by the game’s many puzzles, serving as a powerful incentive to explore.  Between the four characters I was given I found myself swapping out equipment and weighing my options with what I had right up until the end of the game.  Because the player spends the entire game in the dungeon useless loot is simply thrown away, which is perhaps my favorite part of this system.  No more of that business where you horde every shiny object within a square mile so that you sell it all for a ton of gold that you’ll never spend.  If an item ceases to be useless you have no reason to keep it, and the game is all the better for it.

If you’re going to find powerful equipment though you’re going to need to get acquainted with the dungeon’s many puzzles.  Many floors of the dungeon have as much as half of their floor space hidden away behind secret passages and locked doors, so solving riddles takes up a large portion of Grimrock‘s play time.  There can be a bit of a learning curve, but before long you’ll hunting for pressure plates and hidden switches like a pro.  The developers seem to have known exactly when this transition takes place because the difficulty of each trial only gets higher.  Nearly every puzzle can be solved with patience, keen observation, and lots of experimentation.  There were a handful, however, where I had to find the solution online in order to progress and even then the answer made no sense to me.  These instances were thankfully exceedingly rare.  The vast majority of the puzzles in Grimrock felt very clever and were satisfying to overcome.

The way Legend of Grimrock handles puzzles, loot, and monsters serves to create a very important distinction from other games in the genre.  While I still enjoy similar games, I often play them while multitasking and can never really get all that invested in the experience.  Click on enemy to kill, grab useless garbage, run around until quest is completed, return to town.  Grimrock got me to care about what was going on in a way similar to that of Dark Souls and Demon’s Souls.  Each encounter is a credible threat, new equipment can mean the difference between life and death, traps are anything but a joke, and all progress through the game’s world feels earned.  I actually found myself looking through the maps of previous floors, marveling at how far I had come.

The dungeon in Legend of Grimrock is claustrophobic, impressive, and terrifying.  Caution is the only option as any room or hall may erupt with a fatal trap at a moment’s notice.  Between the traps, the quakes, and the sounds of not-so-distant creatures slithering about you never really feel safe in the dungeon.  I was put off by the constantly repeating wall textures at first, but noticing minute differences in the environment turns out to be a vital skill for puzzle solving.  Without some degree of sameness in the environment this would have proven overly difficult.  This choice also should be a perfect fit for the incoming level editor, which is certainly something I’m looking forward to.

The game takes a Portal-like approach to storytelling.  You receive occasional communication from a source you have no access to, and this one-sided conversation becomes increasingly relevant as you progress through the game.  I won’t spoil anything about the story, but I was both surprised and satisfied by where it went.

Legend of Grimrock knew exactly what it wanted to be and accomplished its goal in spades.  This is a must play for any lovers of dungeon crawling and deserves to be a part of 2012′s game of the year discussions.

Just save often.

We take a hands-on look at the Beats by Dr. Dre Wireless Bluetooth Headphones by Monster and record our experiences on video for you!

Check out my hands-on video review of the Verizon Wireless branded Samsung Stratosphere below.

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City is a disgrace to the franchise. I have heard many people say that it is not worth playing very much without online multiplayer, and I agree with them. The story itself is engaging and interesting, and had brilliant promise, but it is so poorly executed that you find yourself not even caring anymore.  Even on the easiest setting, some of the campaigns can be difficult to clear unless you have other real-world people helping you out. The AI teammates are completely useless, never coming in for a heal at the proper time and NEVER getting out of your way when you need to dodge some bullets or (even better!) grenades.

Gameplay: 4
The gameplay on its own is fine enough. It is a third-person shooter, you have controls to shoot, reload, and pick stuff up. That’s about the only thing that this title has going for it, is that if you want to pick up a controller and shoot things, you can. There is an auto-cover mechanism that in theory is a great idea, taking less of your time and concentration to get to cover, but I found myself constantly wishing that there was a button to command my chosen player to crouch, and sticking to walls when I was just trying to pick up some ammo or some damn “green herb” for healing because Bertha wasn’t doing her job.

The AI is simply insufferable in this game. Bertha, the medic, is rarely around when you need her to do her thing. You can be on the brink of death and she will be running around pretending to be useful somewhere else, and more than a few times, I found her running up to me when I was only down to about three quarters of my health, and she would run up and “rescue” me. When you are trying to get away from a grenade that is about to blow, or run away from a zombie that is about to eat you, your teammates will get in your way. You can COUNT on it. Sure, they will scream their heads off about “Grenade! Take cover!”, but then they will stand directly in your way and watch as you get blown apart by it. Fantastic. More often than not I found myself wanting to turn around and kill the bastards on my team as soon as I was done avoiding infection. The AI for the monsters isn’t any better. Hunters jump in front of you, then run away without doing any damage, ‘humans’ walk right past you and team members, and many times you have to chase down a BOW, and beg it for some damage.

Story: (theoretically) 7 or 8, in execution: 5
The storyline for this game had so much promise, which I think makes it even more tragic that it is such a monumental failure. Many players were looking forward to this title because the idea was that it would shed some light on what was happening in the background of the events of Resident Evil 2 and 3 (therefore the name Operation Raccoon City. Get it? Clever, eh?) Your objective, as a member of the Umbrella Security Service, is to go in and gather virus samples while simultaneously destroying any evidence of Umbrella’s involvement in the disaster. For game developers to turn a storyline that had so much promise into something that is so thin it would be admitted to the psych ward for anorexia, is pitiful and sorry indeed.

Graphics: 7
The graphics of Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City aren’t bad, per se, but they are nothing to gawk at, either. With decent character models and well-rendered scenery, the game’s graphics are still sub-par considering what is attainable on these next-gen consoles of ours. I recently played a PlayStation 2 title that seemed to have a comparable level of graphics. For an XBOX 360 game, that is extremely sad. In Heroes mode, you have some interesting and recognizable faces (Ada, Claire, Leon…) but they hardly matter in comparison with the scenery. Every campaign setting in RE: ORC is much like the last. There is nothing that will stand out as at all memorable, and if it weren’t for the objective markers pointing the way, I am sure you would find yourself occasionally going around in circles.

Replayability: 0
With only decent graphics, a floppy story, awful co-operative play and terrible gameplay value the first time around, there is absolutely no incentive to play Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City through a second time.

Overall: 4.5
The Resident Evil team tried. (I think). But they failed miserably in Operation Raccoon City. Resident Evil is a pretty heady title to live up to, after all. It certainly wasn’t the first in the genre, but it was one of the most beloved. Even Resident Evil 4 managed to provide for suspenseful and entertaining gameplay. This iteration of Resident Evil doesn’t have any “jump out of your seat” moments, let alone any mild and lasting tension. I can remember when it was fun to close yourself off in the house with friends, cover all the windows, and turn the lights off, really “getting into” the game. I tried that with ORC. I honestly did. Instead of being at all scared or even having the tiniest bit of adrenaline rush, I turned it off and went to play Ar tonelico, a PlayStation 2 game from five years ago. I’m sorry, Capcom, but you’ve officially lost another Resident Evil fan.

So I got my hands on this little device from Akitio called the MyCloud Mini. This device basically lets you host media on your network and share it anywhere you would like. So basically it lets you have your own mini cloud at home for media and document sharing. Pretty cool right?

Well, I got to thinking what if I could attach a hard drive to the unit and load it with a bunch of videos to share to my Boxee on my TV? The MyCloud Mini supports the attachment of USB hard drives and storage expansion via eSATA (RAID 0 or RAID 1). The MyCloud also supports streaming to any media device that supports UPNP and DNLA support as follows:

Supported UPnP Clients

• Xbox 360 (JPG, MP3, WMV, XviD)
• PlayStation 3 (JPG, MP3, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, XviD)
• iTunes (MP3)
• DLNA certified UPnP clients
• Windows 7 (Windows Media Player)

The device does not require any special networking knowledge because you manage it from a remote server by visiting myakitio.com and entering the Mac address and login information. When you log into the web interface you are greeted with something like a normal computer desktop.

The MyCloud Mini can access your social networks and pull down your videos and pictures directly. It can also download your YouTube videos to the MyCloud Mini. There isn’t much more about it, if you like what you have read so far, you will like the box. The box sells for around $100 USD and can be found at various outlets.

The MyCloud Mini from Akitio has got some decent specs which I have laid out below for your reference:

Are you paranoid that the Xbox Kinect sensor might be staring at you while you aren’t using it? Well there is a solution for that called Pritect for Kinect. Basically this little invention is a piece of bent plastic that perfectly fits over your Xbox Kinect to block the camera sensors yet still show the logo. The Pritect does not impede audio recognition at all it just does not allow the Kinect sensor to pick up any video. The Kinect sensor starts up normally while covered it just cannot get its bearing and adjust itself. This inability to adjust itself does not affect its performance.

I tried out the Pritect and I think it is helpful for the times when you are sitting in front of your tv and the Kinect sensor accidentally misinterprets movment in the room for commands. This misinterpretation was happening to me frequently when I was near my Kinect sensor but just out of range for it to track me accurately. Once you put the Pritect over the Kinect sensor you get rid of the erroneous inputs and are left with just voice.

So basically the Pritect works as intended and I have no complaints. If you think that this device can help you, go ahead and order it from the Pritect website. Oh, there is also a PS3 model.

So I was asked to take a look at the Techinline Remote Desktop application that allows you to remotely assist customers or friends. Basically a customer or friend just goes to a website and gets a code then all you need to do is enter the code into your screen to start a session.

First you go to https://techinline.net/Client/Application.aspx and you get a code if you want to join as a client. You will then need to send that code to the person that is going to help you out. The code will look like the picture above.

The person doing the remote assistance will need to visit the link at https://techinline.net/Expert/Application.aspx and make sure you are logged in and you can enter the code given to you by the guest as shown above. Once you have established a connection with your guest and they have also accepted the connection on their screen you are good to go. Next you will need to press the buttons on the top of the screen that say either share your desktop or view and control the other desktop.

Overall the service runs okay, I didn’t do extensive testing but I did make sure it worked as intended. You can start out with a 15 day trial at http://techinline.com/TryItFree or pay for the full subscription for only $30 a month starting. Full pricing details are available on this page.

One major drawback that I found with their service was that it did not work on Mac OS. I tried to launch the client on my Mac and got an error that said “Your operating system is not supported” so I can only assume that it is not. The service can also allow a user to just view the client desktop and not actually control it. The remote service seems to be a 1:1 connection meaning that it does not support more than 2 users at any given time.  Try out this Remote Desktop Software and let me know what you think in the comments below.

The Broadway by Hauppage! is a pretty neat little device. It is a small box designed to be hooked up to your home television broadcast method of choice, and stream a live feed of your channels to your desired alternative watching mechanism. I had the opportunity to try one out this past week.

Broadway is a networked TV receiver which features a built-in cable ready TV tuner and set top box connections, a high definition H.264 compressor and a network connection with support for Ethernet and Wi-Fi using 802.11B or 802.11n.

Broadway converts and compresses the live TV signal to a Apple compatible H.264 video format (or Flash when transmitting to a Mac, PC or an Android phone) and streams it wirelessly to Apple® mobile devices via a home router. The Broadway router connection can be Wi-Fi or Ethernet.

The device comes to you in a fairly large box, which might give one pause when checking it out at the store because the packaging makes it seem like it might be a less than compact device. However, it’s snugly ensconced in a little cardboard nest inside and is only about half as big as the packaging makes it seem. Inside is an AC Adapter unit that comes with a prong adaptation unit which can be switched out depending on your country of residence, the Broadway itself, a couple of extra rubber feet, an “IR Blaster Cable” for receiving remote frequencies, and some simple, easy to follow instructions.

I had experienced a small amount of trepidation about installing this device, because I have not been so good with some audio/visual installations in the past, but getting the Broadway up and running was a breeze! All you have to do is plug in the wall adapter, screw in the coaxial cable for your TV, and (*for purposes of setup only) hook up the broadband connection. Switch it on and head to your computer to navigate to Distan.tv, and you’re essentially all set up! Select a password and username, and the Broadway begins programming the channels. For initial setup, it is necessary to have a hard line to your modem or router, but after that, you can move the Broadway to anywhere in the house and it will broadcast over WiFi.

There is no software to install for using the Broadway. This is an advantage, and also, in my opinion, a mild drawback. You simply navigate to the Distan.tv web page on whichever device you choose to watch from, and select the channel you want from a menu on the left side of the screen. If there were software necessary for operation, I am sure that they could have worked in a TV guide program. This is mysteriously absent from the operations of the Broadway. You select your channels from the list in the left hand column, and begin watching. The channels have obscure names linked to the broadcasting signal, as opposed to displaying the name of the network, so it can be a little confusing trying to navigate to exactly the channel you want. Since one of the purposes of the Broadway is to watch television on the go, it seems like it should have some sort of TV guide programming with it because it’s not likely you are carrying around a copy of TV Guide during your travels.

It’s a very handy tool. I like that I can stream live TV to my iPad anywhere in my home, or even if I am away from home. No extra setup steps required there, once you access the Distan.tv site on your mobile device at home once, it will automatically remember the IP address to access your specific Broadway device when you are out and about on another WiFi signal. In the home, it’s great for being able to move from room to room while keeping an eye on the news, and particularly useful in the kitchen when following along with recipes on Food Network. I don’t have a TV in my photo studio, so it worked particularly well for me to have my iPad set up right next to the computer screen while editing photos, keeping me up to date on the weather and news.

Overall, I think the Broadway is an excellent product for people who don’t want to miss a minute of their favorite programs regardless of where they are or what they might be doing. It was incredibly simple to set up, and pleasant to use. I never had any issues with lag or freezing screens, though the Broadway’s signal does run about two seconds behind actual TV broadcast. I give this product 4 out of 5 gears. It would be nice if there were an additional coaxial jack for the purpose of output so you don’t have to forfeit having cable in the room where Broadway is set up. Another smart addition would be some method of naming the channels and/or a TV guide widget.

Sony’s PlayStation Vita is a console that has been received with many mixed feelings. After a weak start in Japan, the sales took a sharp drop, and there wasn’t much about the North American sales to redeem it. It has a gorgeous screen and a pretty solid lineup as far as games are concerned, but abysmal battery life and an exorbitant price tag. I pre-ordered the “First Edition Bundle” and received it a week early. From what I have played so far I enjoyed it for a little while, but I lost interest fairly quickly.

The First Edition Bundle came with the game Little Deviants. It is an interesting puzzle game that fully utilizes all of the new controls the Vita has. You tilt the device to roll the deviant around, use the rear touchpad to manipulate the landscape to move him along, or tap on the touchscreen to knock bad guys off of their perches in a barn-type building. The game is fun up to a point, but is difficult to stay interested in. When I couldn’t take it anymore I bought Touch My Katamari and Dungeon Hunter: Alliance. So far I have been fairly impressed with both titles although Dungeon Hunter lacks the utilization of new controls that Little Deviants and Katamari have.

This thing has a brilliant screen. There have been quite a few times when I have favored playing some of the arcade games and PlayStation games via the Remote Play feature on the Vita rather than on my TV. It is capable of a very respectable color range and the brightness levels accommodate both sunny days and dimly lit indoor lounging. Touch controls are very responsive, to a point where it isn’t altogether difficult to have accidental entries. The graphics for Dungeon Hunter and for Katamari look very similar to graphics that you’d expect to see in a PlayStation 3 title. This is no doubt the Vita’s crowning glory.

As far as the form factor goes, the system is a little big and perhaps could be considered bulky as well, though it is very lightweight. The Vita is both wider and taller than PSP, but is about the same thickness. The developers obviously gave some thought as to how the Vita should be held in your hands, because it fits mine very comfortably. I have found the best way to hold it is with pointer fingers resting on the L and R bumper buttons, middle fingers on the indentations in the back on either side of the touchpad and ring fingers free to manipulate the controls on the touchpad. From this position, all buttons on the face of the device are easily accessible.

By now it shouldn’t come as any surprise that the Vita has it’s own proprietary memory cards. You can’t use regular SD cards with it, nor can you use the PSP Memory Stick ProDuo. Sony had to create a whole new breed of memory for consumers to buy. The prices on memory for the Vita are not much higher than what one would expect to pay for GB on other devices, which is nice, but because many games require the use of a memory card, it is still rather an obnoxious ploy.

Battery life is a huge disappointment. While it is understandable that it takes a lot of juice to power portable PlayStation 3 comparable graphics on a high-res screen, it would be nice to have a portable game console that is actually PORTABLE as opposed to tethered to an outlet. After about three hours of solid gaming, a low battery warning is imminent. In my tests, it lasted about this long without 3G engaged and with the screen turned down to a relatively low brightness setting. I expect that future versions of the Vita will have an improved battery because this will no doubt be gamers’ chief complaint about the device. For now, early adopters will have to settle with the Vita car charging cable, at $17.99.

Overall, the new handheld is a pretty little powerhouse. It has state-of-the-art graphics capabilities, a large, gorgeous capacitive touch screen and innovative and intuitive controls. The games that are currently available provide for a multitude of gamers’ tastes, and more games are coming soon in the future. I am particularly looking forward to Little Big Planet. It’s not a bad choice for your next handheld gaming purchase if you don’t mind the investment. Perhaps Sony will wake up to this like Nintendo did with their swift 3DS price drop and cut the price to raise their sales figures. If only they could  make the dismal battery life a bit more substantial. PlayStation Vita: Never. Stop. Playing. Until your three hour battery dies. Then let it charge for a while. Wash, rinse, repeat.

This year at CES 2012, Newer Technology decided to show off the Power2U AC/USB wall outlet. This outlet is a combination of 2 standard AC ports and 2 full powered USB ports. It is designed to offer more ports for you devices with no need for adapters.
The Power2U features:

• Smart Power feature only outputs enough charging power required by the attached device
• Energy-efficient, spring-loaded Safety Shutter design turns USB ports off when connecting cable is removed
• Uses standard four-pin type-A jack USB cables
• Installs on standard 15A electrical circuit
• First and only UL/CUL Listed (E339607) device of its kind – For use in United States & Canada
• Includes mounting screws with white plastic covers and matching white wall plate

The dual USB ports charge at 5.2V which is enough to charge you phone, camera, tablet and many more devices. If you are remodeling or building a home this is a must buy. Even if you are not doing that it is still a must buy. Before you install the Power2U make sure to check the size of your receptacle box. You must have an outlet box that is at least 16 cubic inches in size. The Power2U come with installation instruction and is easy enough for anyone to install and use.You can purchase the Power2U for $22.99 through Other World Computing. Great buy and I can not understand how no one has developed this before. This saves so much hassle of having to find those AC to DC converter bricks to change my devices. I definitely recommend this to everyone who reads this review.

Aluminyze is a fairly new company that offers very unique printing applications for photographers and photo-enthusiasts. After logging in with Facebook or creating your own Aluminyze account, you can upload your own high-res image file and create a print. You choose your background, whether you want it to be white or silver, and then the surface finish, glossy or matte. By default, the images come with an easel for display, though you can choose a clear acrylic pedestal for an additional fee. Once the print is designed, it will then be embedded in an aluminum plate and shipped to your door with whichever pedestal you deem fit during the ordering process.

This new product offers modern-day photographers the ability to print on something that has the unique aesthetic of antique tintypes. I was very excited about the opportunity when I was offered a review, and I chose to print the same image using different surfaces and finishes so as to analyze the product’s suitability for different types of photography. I also wanted to evaluate the contrast and color difference between the two. One photo was printed on the silver surface with a glossy finish, and the other was printed on a white surface with a matte finish. Both of the images are beautiful, but they each have distinct properties.

The silver surface with a glossy finish punches up the contrast of the image. The colors really, truly *pop* on the silver background. This blows out the highlights, and makes the darks deeper. The glossy finish, I think, only serves to accentuate the coloring even more. For photographers that like very high contrast, punchy images, the silver with gloss is a great choice. It would also be very well suited for photo enthusiasts that are unfamiliar with how to color balance their digital images on the computer, because more often than not when color balancing and editing photographs, people will find themselves increasing the contrast and saturation. The Aluminyze process with the silver background and glossy finish seems to do this naturally.

In the photo that was printed with the white background and matte finish, there is more detail because the highlights are not blown out. As a result of it’s lower contrast, there is a greater spectrum of color present in the image. The marble pillars and wall tiles have a brown cast in them instead of being stark white in areas, there is more depth in the shadows, and the graffiti is a little bit less distinct. There is also less noise. Of the two, this is the image that I prefer. The details are more crisp and clear, and the graffiti serves as less of a focal point because it is less saturated and therefore somewhat less distinct.

If color accuracy and image integrity is of high importance, I would suggest lowering the contrast and saturation on the image file before submitting it to Aluminyze for printing on the silver background with the glossy finish. There is nothing at all wrong with the print, it is absolutely gorgeous. I couldn’t take my eyes off of it when I first received it, I literally said “Wow! Look at that!” when I opened it and saw it for the first time. It definitely has it’s own distinct aesthetic though. It is a more stylized piece that becomes more about the vibrant colors and the graffiti at the end of the hallway. Some people enjoy having this effect in all of their photos, and it would be especially well suited for them. It would also be well suited for people who aren’t going to do any color balancing before submitting their image to Aluminyze for printing. If you are a professional photographer like me, and color accuracy and detail integrity are what you are looking for, I would recommend printing on the white surface with a matte finish. It looks like a beautiful C-print from a color wet lab, but with striking tonality afforded to it by the metal it is embedded in.

The aluminum is a good thickness: not so thick that it is garish, and not so thin that it is fragile. The acrylic stand that I ordered with my images is the perfect way to display my Aluminyze photos on top of the bookcase in my studio. I tried to mar the surface of the print out of curiosity to see how durable it is, and was unable to scratch the image with my fingernail or keys, so there is no question as to the fact that these photos are built to last. I also tried bending the aluminum by hand but I could not. The company delivers on exactly what they promise: durable, high quality, beautiful photographic prints. I am so thrilled with the quality of this product that I will probably order more in the future. I give this product 5 out of 5 gears as I simply cannot give it high enough praise, though the prints differ in detail and contrast I love them both equally as they each have their own unique aesthetic. The only improvement I could suggest is offering different sizes, and they have already stated that those are forthcoming.

The Casio Signature XJ-M145 and their other projectors in Casio’s new “Signature” line use their new hybrid LED light source. Casio’s new light source can essentially last for the life of the projector also it is mercury free. The XJ-M145 is just over the $1,000 price point, so it is a little expensive for your average Joe. Casio had a little brother called the Green Slim, for under $1,000 but it contains more features. Read on for the nits and grits of the projector.

Lens
The XJ-M145’s light source is rated at 2,500 lumens. It lacks in resolution at only 1,024 by 768. The projector produces red color with LEDs, blue with lasers, and green by shining the blue laser light on a phosphor. This light is then directed through the DLP chip then out through the lens. An outstanding advantage of the hybrid LED light source is its gigantic 20,000 hour lifetime. And that is long enough to run it 8 hours a days, 5 days a week for 10 years. For comparison for a standard lamp can last from 2,000 to 5,000 hours, and costing up to $500 per bulb to replace. The projector has an intelligent brightness control which automatically controls the brightness of the output of the lens. The lens is able to project a nice image even in a decently lit room.
Size and Connectivity
The XJ-M145 measures 3.3H by 12.2W by 9.6D inches weighing in at 8.2 pounds which is on the large side of today’s projectors. It comes with a soft carrying case, with pocket for your cables. Some of the great hookup capabilities include USB connectivity. It is able to read JPG and AVI files from a USB memory key. Which is great if you need to show a presentation at work but you do not want to bring your laptop. All you have to do is plug-in a USB stick and it automatically switches to USB input. The feature that made me really smile was its capability to connects wireless to Wi-Fi-enabled Android, iOS, and Windows Mobile devices. This also includes computers running the MobiShow software. Other connectors include a HDMI port for a computer or video source; a VGA port for a computer, S-Video, composite video; audio in, audio out, a serial port, and an Ethernet LAN connection. With the built-in 5-watt mono speakers you can get a decent amount of volume. For the use of the 3D projection you will need active-shutter DLP-link compatible 3D glasses.
Conclusion
This is a great projector. It is a little pricey but you get a lot of new features that will make you not regret making this purchase. I give the projector 4 out of 5 gears

Plot:

The Darkness 2 picks up loosely where the first game left off. I say loosely because unlike the previous game, Darkness 2 decided to focus more on the storyline from the original comic series, namely the main villain, Victor, who is leader of the Brotherhood, a secret organization dedicated to harnessing the power of the Darkness.

First you begin at a nice diner as Jackie Estacado, two years after the events from the previous game. While at dinner you are interrupted by a van driving through the window and burning your leg to which causes your friend Victor to drag you out from the restaurant, but before you can get out of the kitchen, it is blown up causing you to release the Darkness once more and begin to go onto a killing spree.

Throughout the game you spend your time trying to find the people who came after you at the restaurant before finally figuring out it is the brotherhood, whom have come to collect the darkness on the debt your father promised them once they found the syphon needed to separate the Darkness from its host. After fighting your way to Victor through henchmen after henchmen you finally get to the final fight which ends with you killing Victor and using the Syphon to kill yourself so you can save Jenny’s soul which has been trapped inside the Darkness.

After fighting the Darkness and reclaiming Jenny’s soul, you come to find she has been possessed by the Angelius which had been previously trapped inside the Darkness along with Jenny’s soul.

Personally, I find this story to be a lot better than the previous game, there were more moments that got my immersed into the game than the previous and although the ending felt like a gimmick to make another one (it just seems to convenient to have her soul trapped, freed and then possessed) but otherwise, the plot felt more deep than just cardboard people doing horrible things to your cardboard girlfriend.

There was also more understanding brought to the players attention than the previous ones. While there was an attempt to explain the Darkness in the first game through the memories of your great grandfather while you were trapped within the Darkness this time around there was a greater understanding of how much of an impact the Darkness has had over history overall, even including relics you find within levels that have lore to them.

Aesthetic:

The game had a different look to it this time, mostly cel-shading. The game had a very unique visual style, attempting to create the look and feel of a comic book; the game was made by having the games main assets hand-painted instead of relying on computers to emulate a comic style.

As usual the graphics are a step up from the previous game, with a new look and feel to the Darkness and Darkling. There were also a few new faces on your team as well as some you might remember which have all seamlessly blend in perfectly with the new cel-shaded look.

Gameplay:

One of the things that made the Darkness unique was its constant dual welding, in the first game, you were given two pistols for your birthday, pistols that seemed to be your very life and soul in the game since you couldn’t seem to use anything else, nor did anyone else in the world for that matter. Pistols seemed to be the only thing everyone in the previous game used.

In Darkness 2 there are a range of new weapons you can equip, ranging from pistols, SMG’s, shotguns to assault rifles. The new mechanic also allowed you to switch between a one or two weapons depending on your ammo or what type of gun you were carrying.

The newest feature included quad-wielding, which allowed you to hold an object with one of the Darkness hands, two guns in yours and whipping enemies with your other Darkness hand. This made murder all the more manageable as the game puts you in more complex fighting situations where you might be forced to fight a guy with a shield and another running at you, so while you take the shield away with one of the Darkness hands you can shoot another running at you then whip the guy you just stole the shield from.

Another feature is ‘dark essence’ which are points you can use to unlock skills or powers for the Darkness to bring greater devastation unlike the previous game where powers were unlocked during certain parts of the campaign. The skill trees were broken up into 4 parts; Execution powers, Gun Powers, two separate Darkness powers.

This added skill tree made your preference in combat more fit to how you play, so if you personally don’t use certain attacks or skills you are not forced to dump points into them, it also made eating hearts or performing certain execution kills worth the effort.

Multi-player:

The coolest feature added to the game was Vendettas which is a multi-player mode where four hit men who each have specific Darkness powers go on missions for Jackie which take place behind the main story, so they fit together with what was going on during the single player campaign. The main story behind Vendettas is securing certain Darkness relics that the Brotherhood is trying to use to bring down Jackie. The campaign can be played offline alone or online co-operatively with other people; however there is no option for local co-op.

There is also a spin-off of Vendettas called Hit List where you can replay previous Vendetta missions or new mission’s specific for Hit List mode. However, some of the levels in Hit List can only be played with two or more people while the others can only be unlocked after beating certain Vendetta missions.

Overall the Vendetta campaign only takes around an hour to complete and each character has their own skill tree they can upgrade as well as special skills only certain characters have.

Overall:

While the game features a more in-depth and creative storyline, it does suffer from some typical flaws. One being that light in the game used to be an environmental element, where you had to look where you were walking where Darkness 2 decided to make lights more of a hassle than they needed to be, everywhere had lights, cars, lamps, and even enemies. Instead of taking that element and making it into a tactical option where you had to choose between hiding in cover where lights were or fighting the onslaught of enemies but instead you are forced to take time away from fighting enemies to take out certain people who run at your holding lights on their shoulders which just hamper both your ability to see and fight which can be overwhelming and overly frustrating when it doesn’t need to be.

Boss fights were a nice addition as well as the skill tree which made the option for a ‘New Game +’ all the more enticing. The multi-player also added a nice sense of replay value as well as a fun option to share your bloodlust with your friends or random people. While the campaign was a tad short and most of the levels a bit too linear, but overall the game definitely felt like a sequel and it lived up to its previous game even with a new development studio and game engine fueling it.

Judgment:

If you were a fan of the previous game, I would suggest playing the game, either by renting or purchasing the game, there is a lot more depth to the story and the new Darkness powers are worth checking out.

If you are new to the series, it is worth renting just to get some murderous bloodlust out of your system, but unless you are really into cel-shading or the story itself there might not be much for you here, there are a lot of exposition so whether you like it or not.

The GreenSmart Puku is an earth friendly messenger style laptop bag made out of 30 recycled plastic bottles, which is promptly displayed on the bottom right corner of the bag. The bag itself measures H 13”xW 15”xD 4.5” It has a zippered top closure with padded bay that can fit up to a 15.4”

laptop in it as well as two mesh pockets measuring H 5.5”xW 8”. A quick access half flap front pocket held closed with a magnet, inside it has three slots to put either business or credit cards, two pencil slots, and a H 4.5”xW 9.5” mesh pocket.  A zippered pocket of the bottom front that is approximately H 6”x W 12” I couldn’t get a perfect measurement due to the fact that this pocket curves slightly on either end. There is also a pocket located on each side of the bag both of which are large enough to fit a standard size water bottle, and finally a back pocket that is the full width of the bag.

If you’re looking for a bag with lots of pockets for storage then this one is great, you can fit so much in it, and it also has an adjustable shoulder strap that at its smallest is 29.5” while at its largest is 54.5”. This particular bag comes in three separate colors; black with a burnt orange interior, olive green with a grey interior, and burnt orange with a grey interior.

The Puku Messenger Bag is available now for $49.95.

The next product I received from them was the Kimono, a 10” netbook, tablet, or e-reader sleeve. It is black with a grey printing of the ‘green cred’ on the front left and back right side of the sleeve, as well as, the GreenSmart logo and the word ‘neogreene’ on the front right bottom corner.

This sleeve has a specially designed gusset and mesh interior to help your laptop breath and cool down quicker. It is made of neogreene which means the outside of the sleeve is waterproof, so if you accidently spill something on it, no problem, just wipe it off and you’re good to go. Neogreene itself is an ecofriendly version of neoprene, which is the most commonly, used fabric in wet/dry suits.

The zippered opening isn’t just at the top either it goes half way down each side of the sleeve giving you a wider opening and easier access to your item. Another thing I really liked about this sleeve is that it has two zippers, unlike most other sleeves you’ll find on the market, the pulls on them also have a good wide opening so if you’re super paranoid you can lock the sleeve closed so people can’t get to it.

The Kimono Netbook Sleeve is available now for $24.95.

Both of these products are named after endangered animals. In fact all of GreenSmart products are, and they support these animals by donating 10% of their profits to the WWF and other organizations.  This company also stands behind their products they will repair or replace any bag if you are to find a defect in the materials or the workmanship when you receive your item from them.

To find these products and more just go to http://www.greensmart.biz/

I dove right into Final Fantasy XIII-2. My expectations were not high. I try to make sure that my expectations are never high when a new game comes out in one of my favorite series, and considering the fact that most long-time fans consider X-2 to be an abomination, I didn’t have much hope for this -2. That, coupled with the experience given from the demo, kept my expectations low enough for this newest game that it was simply natural for me to be pleasantly surprised. Those of you who read my “First Impressions” article will know that I had reservations about the soundtrack and distaste for the voice actor used for Mog (my favorite character in the entirety of the video game universe. I have a 32-bit pixel Mog tattoo from Final Fantasy 3 on the inside of my left wrist.) Me not liking the Mog character in a  Final Fantasy game is like a sure sign that the end times have arrived.

Please be advised, that while I will do my best to keep from unveiling any important story points, there will be some spoilers in this article as discussion of the plot is essential to my analysis of enjoyment of the game.

Entirely to my surprise, the game starts out with Lightning narrating, and for a brief period of time the player is dictating Lightning’s actions, as though we will be playing as her for this adventure. The opening cinematics are gorgeous. If it was possible to improve upon Final Fantasy XIII graphics, Square Enix has done so. Lightning is fighting against an antagonist named Caius, and there is a cut scene showing him lowering a body into the water on what Lightning calls the “shores of Valhalla”. As the body touches the surface of the water, it disintegrates into dust and spirals away. Fans that have played Final Fantasy VII will feel an eerie familiarity with this scene, excepting the body’s immediate cascade into dust. We don’t know who the person is, but we will see her again later in the adventure.

Battle rages on between Lightning and the Bahamut summoned by Caius until Lightning subdues the Bahamut and a portal is opened. Through the portal falls a body that Lightning, and players that have been doing their research about this game, recognizes as Noel Kreiss. Lightning surges up to rescue him out of his freefall and they begin to talk. Eventually, Noel is tasked by Lightning to bring Serah to him. Thus begins our adventure into the world of Final Fantasy XIII-2.

The opening sequences serve as a tutorial for how to battle in the XIII universe, how to successfully complete “Cinematic Actions” and they lay the bedrock for the storyline in an engaging way. We move onto the settlement of New Bodhum and see several familiar faces, including Serah of course, and then begin learning about the controls of this new iteration of Final Fantasy. We have the first few decisions to make in “Live Triggers” where the player decides how to respond in a social interaction by choosing from four options with corresponding button presses, and we take on our first mission. The game also begins to familiarize players with the objective system, doling out goals for the player to reach and then giving rewards or progressing the storyline when one is reached.

From New Bodhum, there is only one destination to travel to. People who played the demo will immediately recognize the content in Episode 2, though there is an extra cinematic that was not shown in the demo. Once things have been taken care of there, however, a few more options open up in what is called the “Historia Crux”. The transition between Episode 1 and Episode 2 gives a glimpse into the possibility for the open-ended storyline that the game developers have been touting since details about the game were released. After completing Episode 1, the player is taken into the Historia Crux and taught how to select their next destination. Each destination in the Historia Crux is separated by region and/or time. There are multiple times of some regions, and some regions have an undefined time.

The chief complaint about Final Fantasy XIII was that the storyline and play were far too directed and rigid. It seems that Square Enix took this into account when developing XIII-2, because there are multiple endings in store and a myriad of different ways to traverse through the Historia Crux, the system or “web” of time that must be worked through on the way to story completion. The idea is that the choices players make in the timelines will affect the eventual outcome of the game. Since I have yet to complete the game, I cannot give testament to how great an effect individual actions have on the eventual outcome, but it is a compelling mystery each time I must make a choice as to how to progress.

In Episode 2, and as we were shown in the demo, the player opens up the Crystarium where Crystogen Points earned from battles will be spent on character development. Crystals are also awarded at the end of some battles, and added to the possibilities for the “Paradigm Deck” that is completely customizable. When I read about the demo and finally got a chance to play it for myself, I was sincerely concerned that collecting monster crystals for inclusion as “party members” would end up being a lot like Pokemon. I am happy to say that I needn’t have worried. The act of collecting the monsters itself is nothing like Pokemon. While you can aim for certain types of monsters by “farming” in certain areas where they are prevalent, it is random as to whether or not your efforts will be rewarded with a monster crystal at the end of battle. Monsters have their own Crystarium, as well. Instead of leveling the monster up as you would in Pokemon, it fights alongside you in battle and as you collect components you can unlock crystals in it’s Crystarium.

Monster evolution is not as flexible as character development. Each monster has it’s own set of skills that it can learn within it’s lifespan, you simply need to collect the right type of components to level it to the point of unlocking them. Whereas developing Serah and Noel has diverging paths because of the roles, the monsters learn their abilities at certain levels regardless of what type of component you use to level them. With Serah and Noel,  it makes a difference what role you choose to level on which crystal. The large crystals in their crystarium represent opportunities to aim for specific bonuses, for example adding a rank in Commando on a large node will net you a +2 strength modifier. Monsters will gain a bonus at each level they gain based on the rank of Monster Material you use to upgrade them, and extra growth with the use of “potent” materials or  large nodes.

Development in the crystarium for Noel and Serah is a little bit different, and a lot more confusing. Large nodes represent extra bonuses like with monsters, but instead of adding a percentage of growth to the focused stat, each role comes with it’s own bonus points when affixed to a large node. Commando provides +2 to strength, Ravager +2 to magic, Sentinel +6 to HP, and Saboteur, Synergist and Medic each give their own bonuses dependent on whether the level is even or odd. In my opinion the best strategy, however you want to level each of your characters in their roles, is to use the small nodes for Sab/Syn/Med and save leveling the Com/Rav/Sen for larger nodes, dependent upon which stat you value the most in your character. For those of you who are wondering, I have found that Serah is better with magic, and Noel is better with matters of strength: making her a better Saboteur, Ravager, and Medic, and him a better Commando, Synergist and Ravager. He makes a fair back-up medic, as well.

In the Historia Crux, there is a number below each “gate”, indicating how many fragments have been collected out of the fragments available in that area. Fragments are key items throughout the story that serve as a sort of benchmark for how far you have progressed. Some are awarded to you as part of the storyline, and others require a bit of extra effort to find or earn. The acquisition of each fragment comes with an award of Crystogen Points, and later on in the game once the Casino area is unlocked, the number of fragments you have translates into unlocking additional special abilities referred to as “Fragment Skills”. The number of fragments you have collected in a certain area is a good indicator of how much progress you have made in that area. When going back to the Historia Crux, if you find an area that has less fragments earned than fragments possible, it would be a good idea to go back and look in that location if you want to sidetrack yourself with some side quests for a while.

Twenty hours isn’t a lot in the scope of most Final Fantasy games. I can remember sinking one hundred and twenty into Final Fantasy XII alone. That being said, after only spending twenty hours on XIII-2, I am already at the end of Episode 4. From what I can tell, the game only extends to Episode 5 and a Final Episode, so I am very concerned about the value based on time playable. I will admit, however, that I have not spent a significant amount of time on side quests and that I have only 40/160 fragments. I have barely begun to scratch the surface on Chocobo Racing, also, so hopefully those two elements will translate into being able to get many more hours of enjoyment out of the game. I have grown used to the soundtrack by now, and I even like some of it. The only part of it that I still hate (and probably always will) is the semi scream metal aesthetic used for BIG boss battles. Mog’s voice has started to grow on me, too. I began thinking about it and reasoned that the voice I had associated with moogle dialogue in the past was rather young and squeaky sounding, and the voice sounds less high-pitched in later game sequences, so I am now decidedly okay with it. That’s all for now, but further analysis to come upon game completion. I will also be writing a “Help!” article to address some of the places where I was stuck in an attempt to help you, our reader, progress through the game. Leave a comment for me if there is something specific you would like me to address.

I recently received my review copy of Final Fantasy XIII-2 for PlayStation 3. After playing Square Enix’s new Final Fantasy installment for about two hours, I have been able to form a pretty solid opinion about things that I find to be improvements, and aspects that I do not like about the game. I will attempt to delineate these without giving away any storyline elements that were not present in the downloadable demo.

After playing the demo, I was left wondering who this Noel character was, and why he was running around the “wilds” of the world with Serah, and what the time rifts were all about. These questions were answered in the very beginning of the game, with a lot of flair, and I couldn’t find anything to complain about in what I think of as the “Prologue”. It sets Noel up very nicely and connects him to Serah in a manner that is unquestionable, leaving no mystery as to their association once it is revealed in the storyline.

Unlike XIII, for the first two hours of XIII-2, the player is learning about the world and what is going on in it, rather than getting “visions” and clips of storyline that only begged more questions. With where I am in-game right now, I know who I am, what I am supposed to be doing, and the exact motivations behind it. The teasing mystery a la Vanille from XIII is completely absent, and I love this factor. It feels like I have taken the first few steps on a journey that will be the building blocks of a complex journey with a compelling storyline, and I know more about the world of Final Fantasy XIII than I feel like I ever learned from the original game.

Cinematic Actions are unquestionably a large element in the game thus far. I haven’t quite decided whether I like them or dislike them. On the one hand, it keeps your mind actively engaged during cut scenes. On the other, if you are a little distracted during a cut scene you could miss the button prompts and be forced to do everything all over again. Unlike some Final Fantasy games in the past, you will find that everyone has a voice in this one; not just in cut scenes or “Cinematic Actions”, but even just passersby have spoken lines. The voice acting is pretty good, though I have a very high amount of distaste for the voice they chose to use for Mog. He is a fairly important character, onscreen all the time after his introduction, and he’s a HE. Why, then, does he sound like a female toddler?

I admit, I had some trepidation about this game because of the legacy of X-2 (the game that some Final Fantasy fans refuse to even acknowledge as a Final Fantasy game), but so far, what I see is pretty positive. The one glaring flaw to me is the soundtrack. I was worried about the soundtrack because of the new team working on it, and apparently my worries were justified. The battle music, in my opinion, is just awful, and they have done away with any semblance of the victory melody that has been present thus far throughout the entire series, and even eluded to in Advent Children via a cell phone ringtone. One part of the soundtrack during regular gameplay sounds like something that came out of Bollywood, which I am not particularly opposed to on a regular basis, but Final Fantasy soundtracks used to be about melodic symphony music WITHOUT muddled wording. The singers sound like they are speaking in Simlish.

So far, I like everything I have played, some of it to an even greater extent than I enjoyed the beginning of Final Fantasy XIII, because it lacks the rigidity of said former title. After a directed introduction to the game that is basically a tutorial/refresher course, I am already running around a seaside town speaking with people and taking on missions. There is no twenty hour “play in a straight line” so you can get the payoff of exploring a little. Aside from an atrocious soundtrack thus far, I see a lot of promise in this game, and a myriad of improvements that it seems Square made based on listening to people’s complaints about XIII. More to come later as I finish the storyline.

It can be incredibly easy to both overestimate and underestimate the famed difficulty of Dark Souls and its spiritual successor Demon’s Souls.  Rather than fitting nicely on the usual scale Dark Souls aims for a different sort of challenge altogether.  The truth is that action RPG fans have become accustomed to loose and silly combat that tends to boil down to flailing away at enemies with a lightning sword until someone dies.  In such encounters character stats tend to decide the victor while difficulty merely refers to the damage output and toughness of the world’s hostile creatures.  A boss is considered to be “hard” when it kills you quickly or is difficult to take down even if it behaves in exactly the same way as your previous dozen adversaries.

Dark Souls throws convention out of the window and instead forges an experience where every single action has both immediate and long term ramifications for the encounter.  Much of this can be attributed to the slower than usual combat speed and the emphasis on the stamina bar.  Stamina is your lifeblood.  You need it to attack, move quickly, evade, and defend yourself, and players must constantly be aware of which of these actions their character is capable of at that particular moment.  The only effective way (excluding consumable items) to regenerate stamina is to stop attacking or blocking, which means that trading blows too furiously with your opponent can leave you completely unable to act.  The player must instead remain in constant motion and always be looking for openings and weaknesses in order to survive, and thanks to the slower pace you are given the opportunity to think about what you’re going to do.

Fighting to the death feels visceral and solid.  You can feel the weight of your weapon as your character forces himself into each attack, and it is easy to tell the difference between a swing that lands properly and one that is deflected harmlessly away.  Rolling clearly has more of a mass to it when wearing thicker armor and the more realistic animations help keep the player engaged in the consequences of the conflict.

All it takes is a moment of carelessness while running down a hallway to die in Dark Souls, but the boss encounters are where the game’s take on combat truly shines.  Each of these big baddies feels unique and enters the battlefield with a fresh arsenal of methods for ending your life.  Smart players will immediately engage in an evasive defense to patiently learn how the creature will behave while perceptive ones will spot glaring weaknesses to exploit.

I'd be angry too if I was missing a leg...and a head.

An excellent example is a foe known as the Titanite Demon.  As you approach he fires off unblockable lightning attacks that must be avoided.  He carries a massive polearm weapon that gives him an absurd amount of melee range and loves to chain his swings into crushing combos.  As he drags himself across the floor though you are likely to notice that he is missing a leg and awkwardly lies on his stump in a manner that pushes his tail toward the remaining appendage.  Bingo!  Just like that you’ve got a nice spot to stab away at that puts you out of the range of his tail and is only threatened by the widest of swings.

I’ve seen numerous hardcore gamers quit Dark Souls in a fit of rage, but the challenge offered here is far from unfair.  Instead the greatest obstacle that most players will face is their own patience.  The key to victory is training yourself to look for targets like the one described above and having the willingness to rethink strategies that don’t seem to work.  I had a particularly rocky start with bosses, but after the first few hours I noticed that I was dying significantly less and was even defeating several of them on my first attempt.

I tend to get excessively annoyed with people who defend games like Final Fantasy XIII against naysayers with phrases such as “it gets better x hours in” because I find myself asking why the developers couldn’t just make the beginning as good as the rest of the game.  For this reason I hate to say the same about Dark Souls, but to some extent it’s true.  This isn’t another title that mysteriously lacks quality at the beginning of the experience and magically improves at later points in the story, though.  Dark Souls just needs a bit of time to train you into thinking the way it needs you to.

One of the ways Dark Souls conditions you is by punishing consecutive deaths rather than all failures.  When your character bites the dust all of your souls (the game’s currency) are dropped to the floor and a second death will cause them to disappear forever.  By raising the stakes in such a way the game encourages the player to think out their actions carefully in order to reclaim their souls and progress further in the area.  Dying often is actually rewarded if the player is able to reclaim their lost souls each time as the total grows larger with each attempt.  This serves as a very effective encouragement for you to get progressively better at the game.

What you should really be worried about is his cousin. He's behind you.

One of the most satisfying moments comes from its cheeky tendency to throw early bosses at you later in the game as regular enemies.  You can’t help but smile at the realization of how far you have come when you fight your way through a room that contains not one but four Titanite Demons.

You may have heard of Demon’s Souls’ unique take on multiplayer, a trend continued in Dark Souls.  Both competitive and cooperative play exists, but there is no explicit matchmaking feature or voice chat.  Players who are stuck in undead form can opt to be summoned by others to help take down tough bosses, or if they’re feeling more mischievous they can invade another’s world and attempt to assassinate them for the ability to become human again.  Roaming the world as a human enhances your ability to survive and find useful items while allowing you to bring others into your game to help out, but it also leaves you wide open to being attacked by invading players at the worst possible times.  It’s ultimately up to you to weigh the risks and decide what approach to take.  Unfortunately this can be occasionally marred by connectivity issues.

Being attacked by another player is one of the most terrifying moments Dark Souls has to offer.  You are given so much freedom to customize your character to suit your playstyle that you end up having no idea what to expect from others.  No two fights play out in quite the same way and you never really get over the tense feeling caused by the knowledge that you are actively being hunted by another being of consciousness.  Things get especially interesting when one particular NPC defends its lair by secretly summoning enemy players to get rid of you!

Castlevania fans will be excited to find familiar level design.  Every area feels massive and imposing the first time you explore it, but an elaborate network of unlockable shortcuts and hidden passages serve to make the world feel smaller and smaller when it needs to be at later points in your progression.

Deadliest Fetch

As much as I love to praise it, Dark Souls is a far from perfect game.  Many headaches arise from the game failing to properly explain elements to you.  Much of the dynamic combat system detailed earlier in this review must be discovered through either practice or research because you aren’t told much of it.  The first main area in particular allows you to take three potential paths, two of which will be far two advanced for new players (I fell for both).  A lack of information can make exploration particularly gripping and scary, but frustrated players should visit a helpful wiki or an active chat room if they want to keep moving forward.  Several items are poorly explained in a way that might have something to do with poor translation and must be looked up online to prevent any major mistakes.  As fun as it can be to trade secrets and tips with others online, it can hardly be seen as a point in Dark Souls‘ favor.

The visual style does well at setting the uneasy and threatening mood, but textures often lack detail and the rag-doll physics are comically unrealistic.  I did not experience this myself but many have complained about frame rate issues in certain areas of the world.  The music is similarly functional but entirely forgettable.

Many will be turned away by an experience that feels so alien while others will dive head first into what I rank as one of the best RPGs of 2011.  Dark Souls is a tough and punishing game that clearly appeals to a niche audience, but it’s a tough and punishing game that you can certainly beat.  Never before have I felt so much like I was doing just that: not defeating the storyline, but the game itself.

Many users are constantly searching for either premium or free video converters online for tons of different tasks. Some people want to convert content to playback on their respective portable devices such as tablets and smartphones. Others may want to bring content back and forth from physical media to digital media or the other way around. Movavi Video Converter attempts to bring video conversion to the masses in an easy tool that is has some sour points and some pluses based on our experience with the trial version.

We were happy to see a wide selection of compatibility with reading various video formats that include AVI, WMX, MOV, MP4, MPEG, MPEG4, DVD, IFO, VOB, AC3, 3GPP, 3GPP2, ASF, FLV, and WMV. We found this could be very useful for our video editing work for our YouTube videos. Some of the camcorders we use only record videos to formats that our video editing program will not read. So we have had to use other third-party solution in the past for converting our files into a format that would play nice with our video editing tool. Movavi actually had a better interface than what we had been used to, in terms of more choices and fast navigation.

There were some very useful tools that we found in this converter such as the ability to capture still images from video content that would be helpful, especially to a technology website like TekGoblin where we review tons of stuff on video and could use a bunch of good still shots of the products we reviewed. We would not have to take more time shooting actual stills with a camera as we could just capture them from the video we recorded already. While I think the video conversion time could use a bit more speed, it still completes a good rendering.

The converter also allows for some basic editing functions in addition to conversion that may allow users to ditch having to use another program for editing if they just need some simple stuff done to the video or audio being converted. Users will be able to cut, merge, crop, apply filters, rotate, and even watermark content. This is a far cry from what you get with Microsoft Windows Live Movie Maker that comes stock with most PCs. There is support for Multi-GPU NVIDIA CUDA technology to allow users to take advantage of an SLI setup with this application and will allow users to do the unthinkable by being able to convert more than one video at a time. We are on the verge of building a new Extreme PC build over here at TekGoblin and we are glad to see that Movavi will also support hyper-threading technology that comes packed on Intel Core i3, i5, and i7 processors that allows more than one process to run just as smoothly as another simultaneously.

Users can purchase a full license for Movavi Video Converter on a per computer basis for the normal price of $49.95. Currently, Movavi, has a sale that ends on January 22, 2012 that has the personal license for a discounted price of $39.95. Consumers that would like other license options can check out their link below for more choices.

Movavi

Samsung promises that the Galaxy S II is thinner, lighter, and faster than the Galaxy S. They were able to make that correct with the Galaxy S II. The Galaxy S III runs Android 2.3 with TouchWiz. This phone is similar to the Galaxy S but much more powerful. Read on for all of the juicy details.

Hardware
The Samsung Galaxy S II is 8.49mm thick. The measurement grows a little at the phone’s bottom. Even with the bulge it is still under 1cm. There is a small  crevice between the phone’s frame and the screen that is extremely prone to gathering dust if used in dirty environments. The phone packs a 4.3 Super AMOLED screen with a front facing camera and an ear-speaker above it and 4 capacitive buttons below. On one side you have the volume rocker and on the other you have the power button. On the Top you have a 3.5mm headphone/mic port and on the bottom you have a micro-USB port.

Display
The Galaxy S II’s screen is spectacular. Blacks are darker than imaginable. Colors just pop right out, and viewing angles are almost endless. The Galaxy S II’s screen only has a resolution of 800 x 480 which is behind the average leading smartphone. But with the excellent colors you don’t even car about the lack of pixels. No matter what you are doing from a Movie or a game the Super AMOLED but you will be amazing at the quality. And yes I am going to say, this screen is better than the iPhone 4/4s’s screen. One think that I did not like was the auto-brightness. It is a little bit to corrective. It likes to jolt around to a better brightness level which got annoying. I ended up just having it set to a position.

Battery Life
The battery life of the Galaxy S II is on the same par with any other leading smartphone. From some various website I heard that the Samsung Galaxy S II is run by a 1.2GHz ARMv7 dual-core processor. Also these sites stated that they have seen the phone down-clocking the CPU to under 500MHz. That would explain how such a large and power full phone has a good battery. I was then surprised that I did not notice and performance lags because the phone is supposed to be boosted up to normal when needed.

Camera
Samsung gives you the standard Android Camera application with a few of their own customizations. The Galaxy S II contains a rear-facing 8 megapixel camera that includes a LED flash and is 1080p video capable, and a 2 megapixel front-facing camera. Samsung also includes some extra settings for your photos and a photo editor application.

Software
The Galaxy S II comes running Android Gingerbread 2.3.3 with Samsungs TouchWiz 4.0 which will be coming later. Samsung commented me and told me that Ice Cream Sandwich will be coming soon to the Galaxy S II. Is speed tests it excelled above almost every high end smartphone. Sprint also throws in some Sprint customizations that were nice.

Browser
Browser performance extremely fast until you need to render something. That is when it gets a little bit slow. The browser was able to power Adobe Flash fine tho, which is much needed.

TouchWiz 4.0
Android has become familiar to most people by now. And of course if you have used a Samsung Android device you are probably familiar with their TouchWiz. Personally I like how the lock screen is set up with missed texts ands missed calls. A long hold on the home button launches an app switcher showing 6 recently used apps and your task manager access shortcut. I like how this is used so you can easily shut down some applications that are running in the back ground. Samsung also has some motion assisted functions. Some people praise this functionality, but personally, I do not like it. The Galaxy S II’s touchscreen keyboard is modified a little from the default Gingerbread making me able to type on it even quicker.

Wrap-up
First off, after using the Galaxy S II now I want the Galaxy S III. It is definitely in the top 5 slot for best smartphone yet. Some people, like myself do not like huge screens. But some people like large screens, so this 4.3 inch would be great for them. Also with the device being so thin it makes the screen not feel like a nuisance. I give this phone 4.5 out of 5 gear. This is a must have if you are wanting a super-power-smartphone.

Video Hands-On and pictures within article are provided by Solomon Massele (Managing Editor)

The predictable and highly anticipated sequel to the blockbuster Final Fantasy XIII, is close to release. Only a couple of days ago did Square Enix release a prerelease demo for XIII-2, so I decided to kill some hours and have a try at it.

The new game comes out with a mountain of goodies depending on what edition you buy, if you pre-ordered the game and where you are in the world. These range from: a four disc soundtrack, a concept art collection, a one-disc soundtrack, six postcards, replica large-print art of Lightning, a t-shirt, lithograph cards, a novella, and the game itself.

The game (since its release in Japan) has also come with a DLC schedule, including a Colosseum which will let players battle through certain enemies and possible some colosseum-exclusive ones, more monster allies to fight by your side and more outfits for the main characters. From other news reports, it is likely to be a monthly release of content.

The demo itself starts out of context. Playing as Noel and Serah you arrive in Bresha ruins in 002 AF (after the fall of Cocoon), when a giant ghostly arm attacks the two. It has the similar mechanics and menu system as XIII, but now adds in Quick Time Events, named Cinematic Action, for certain boss fights. Pass these during a fight and you’ll gain a bonus. Pass all of them in one boss fight and you’ll loot a special item. I’ve almost never liked the inclusion of QTE’s particularly when used like this, but it doesn’t seem clunky or unintuitive. Though it means that I can’t just sit back and enjoy the over-the-top graphical presentation with a not-so-great-story.

After that fight, the two set out to explore Bresha Ruins and meet a woman by the name of Chocolina who wears garments that could only be fashioned by those who work for Victoria’s Secret. She is your travelling item store, and fixes the irrelevance of the last game of having many different stores and replaces it with one grossly annoying character who will sell everything. Of course, as you progress her stock grows but for the moment you are just limited to a few normal items. She will later sell upgrades, weapons, accessories, and level-up material for monsters; she can also craft some special items once you have the money and the materials

accessories and items work slightly differently this time around. Each accessory has an equip cost, the accessory will take up that amount of “space” the character can utilise. In the demo this is limited to a single item, but it can be upgraded to accommodate more later via levelling up.

Missions also make a return here too but are more varied this time rather than searching out a target and killing it. One of the missions in the demo asks you to find two items to bring back to an NPC. This is where Mog, Serah’s Moogle, comes in handy. Mog can find hidden items, obstacles and other things around the levels. This is a bit pointless as there seems to be no reason to have that ability to find hidden items while travelling rather than just putting items there to find. But the mission design is nice and varied and not as overly numbing as the previous game was.

While Noel and Serah are the two playable characters throughout the game, they can capture monsters after battles (randomly) and use them to fight alongside of them. A single monster has only one role between the standard six. Commando, a basic role that makes the character attack creatures for damage; Ravager, a role that is designed to increase the damage multiplier on enemies; Medic, a healer; Synergist, a role that provides offensive and defensive buffs; Saboteur, one that hits enemies with debuffs and debiliation abilities; and Sentinel, a tank that will take most of the incoming damage. Battle mechanics are similar to the game before, but have a few changes.

The most noticeable is ‘wounded damage’. When an ally is hit by an enemy in a battle with wounded damage, their maximum HP will drop for that battle and can’t be healed. While normal damage still exists, wounded damage is an advancement for your enemies, so long-winded battles now result in the enemies favor rather than your own.

Secondly is the lack of technical points or TP. These were used in the first game for all-round specials, such as gaining information on the enemy, a massive earthquake and most prominently the ability to summon your summon. While most of these are replaced in other parts of the game, summons don’t seem to be anywhere. Which is odd for a Final Fantasy game.

The next feature is how battles are initiated. Unlike XIII where the creature ran around in the wild and were easy to spot, here they can pop from almost anywhere. In these cases a timer will appear, make contact with an enemy while it’s in the green zone or hit and you’ll start the battle with a bonus akin to the “preemptive strike” from the last game. Make contact in yellow and a battle on even ground will happen. You can flee when you encounter enemies like this, but failing to do so will cause a forced battle which cannot be ‘retried-out-of’ and the battle will start with a slight penalty to you. I found this feature to be more annoying than useful, as enemies would pop up at a time that inconveniences me and the only way out of it was to stop whatever I was doing and fight head on.

Finally, along with the Cinematic Action sequences for certain fights includes minor differences to the datalog, but most notably are the disappearances of the elements Water and Earth. The game doesn’t seem as heavily reliant on that element any more, meaning that it is much less battle strategy and much more action oriented.

Levelling up now function differently to. Crystarium Points are experience points collected after winning battles and used to level up characters, this time Noel and Serah have one single Crystarium tree each rather than one for each role. You spend points on levelling up each role however you feel like it, as each role reaches certain levels you gain new abilities for the role, and as you spend more CP overall your tree will expand. When it does, further upgrades will cost more CP but you get a choice from a couple of bonuses such as making a current role better, learning a new role, increasing accessory capacity or increasing ATB (mobility and speed in battle). Levelling up captured beasts function a little differently, you can use items looted or bought from Chocolina to level them up. The item you use affects how they grow and like the humans, the higher levels unlock better abilities and increase to attributes.

These changes make a noticeable difference from the ridiculous amount of grinding experience and money that you had to do from the first game. But, to my liking, most of it is just flashy nonsense that’s stolen from Pokémon.

There is a break from normal adventuring. “Temporal Rifts” are logic-based puzzles you will get from time to time which you must solve (although there is an option to retire) to continue on. The ending trailer also showed an arcade like place with slot machines and VII favorite, Chocobo Racing.

The graphics are similar to XIII but at times seem unnecessary, blurry and confusing. There isn’t much to be said about it though, most of the game takes place within menus which stand out clearly. The same can’t be said for the sound. With most of the composers and musicians from the previous game having departed, Square seemed to have left the composition in the hands of people who can’t seem to create the right atmosphere at the right time. Most of the sounds were bland and annoying, and for a fleeting moment I thought I was playing one of the newer Sonic the Hedgehog games.

The story is my biggest concern. XIII was a story driven game, or a game driven story which ever way you look at it. And while most of it was drawn out, it was still interesting enough to watch cutscenes to see if anything happened. Granted, a demo that drops you in the middle of nowhere won’t give an anyone an objective view of the actual story, but it’s not nice to see that everything is so muddled up. There are a lot of elements introduced if you are paying attention that don’t make sense in the context of the first game, one time going to the point of contradicting what actually happened in the first one. Or was that purposeful? I couldn’t tell, and it wasn’t long that I lost my will to care and just kept skipping the cutscenes.

I have been following this game for sometime though and what was disappointing was the inclusion of “several endings”. Apart from Catherine, I can’t think of a single source that has ever used this plot device well. And for a game centred around one story? Several endings just seem pointless.

Overall, after looking back, I think I could have better spent the hour earning minimum wage. Unlike most demos though, it wasn’t unbearable or uncomfortable to play through. For most people, it will fix a number of things from XIII, but apart from the endless amount of work you had to put in, I couldn’t see what needed to be fixed this much to make this game. It is a mediocre game that, despite my prejudice hoping that this would be awful since the demo shown at Eurogamer was awful, was enjoyable enough to make me interested enough to write about it.

For those of you who prefer information in a visual format, I’ve cut together ten minutes of new features from the hour-long demo. It is available on Xbox Live now for free. The retail game hits stores in North America in January 31st and PAL regions on February 2nd.

Director David Fincher makes another version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo only three years after the original, but he does it better.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo follows the story of Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) and Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) as they hunt down a killer of women.  The plot opens up with Blomkvist being convicted of slander and stepping down from his position is his magazine company in order to preserve its image.  I was a fan of the novel that this film is based on but Blomkvist’s early scenes with his company and legal troubles felt tedious and unnecessary.  Similarly to the problems faced when George Lucas decided to make an entire trilogy about Darth Vader, it was an origin that would have been better off explained in a few sentences rather than being given so much time.  Fincher must have felt the same way because in this version Blomkvist is out in the snow and starting his investigation in only minutes.

A man named Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer) has been receiving flowers in the mail every year, a ritual performed by his niece that has long since disappeared.  Distressed by the thought that the girl’s murderer is going out of their way to torment him, Vanger hires Blomkvist and eventually Salander to reopen the case.

Anyone who has seen The Social Network knows what to expect here from David Fincher.  The editing keeps things moving at a brisk pace with no scene lingering unless it has a reason to do so.  Characters are well-defined from the moment that they step on the screen and everything is filmed in a manner that adequately captures the overall mood.

The most noticeable difference between the 2009 Dragon Tattoo and Fincher’s movie is in the presentation of the title character Lisbeth Salander.  In the earlier film she is presented as some sort of unstoppable force that shopped at Hot Topic.  When bad things happened to her you never doubted for a moment that she was going to take her revenge.  Noomi Rapace gave us a fine performance but her version of the character never showed us the kind of vulnerability that Rooney Mara has.  In the 2011 film Lisbeth Salander better resembles the source material as a mentally unstable woman with a legal dependency.  When observing her emotional detachment you can’t help but wonder whether one would find scales beneath her skin.  She shies away from eye contact, struggles to take part in conversations that she actively tries to avoid, and reacts to terrible acts with only silence.  The film does a great job at recreating the shock from the book when the audience fully realizes Salander’s deep capacity for violence.  As a result she becomes one of the most interesting movie characters in recent memory.

I want to recommend The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as one of the last great movies of 2011, but audiences should be warned that it does contain some highly graphical sexual and violent content.  Just be careful who you see it with and you’ll be in for a great time.

Google had been talking about an always on, always connected laptop which would be based around the Google Chrome browser for a few years now. Samsung is one of the companies that has created such a computer and it is dubbed the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook.

Look and Feel
The Series 5 appears to be less than a notebook while simultaneously giving the impression that it’s also more than a notebook. Falling between the cracks of convenient categorization, it is not a notebook, nor is it a netbook, and as such it has it’s own signature Chromebook aesthetic. The first noticeable detail is the glossy pearl white case emblazoned with the Chrome and Samsung logos. The screen, keyboard, and touchpad have a matte finish rather than a glossy sheen, making the Chromebook even better because it doesn’t quickly attract fingerprints. On either side of the device there are flaps that cover ports similar to those used for the Series 9. On the right, a tab hides the full SIM card slot. On the left are hidden a USB slot and monitor port, which accompany the charging port and audio input/output jack. The mildly irritating thing about the monitor port is that you need an included VGA adaptor when connecting to an external monitor. Curved contours and edges give the entire Chromebook a refined look and an attractive feel, and it’s non-removable battery being hidden underneath that smooth exterior allows the underside of the device to be unfettered by any lines or cracks. The one drawback is that it is a bit heavy, weighing in at 3.26 pounds.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard seems durable, feeling sturdy even when being typed on vigorously. Samsung customized the keyboard by replacing the function keys with special control keys that are signature to Chrome; volume, back, forward, refresh, screen brightness, to name a few. The touchpad is great. It is spacious, which accommodates large fingers well. Page scrolling is simply flawless and smooth, however, it is a little difficult to do a “right click” on this completely smooth, button-free touchpad. Sometimes it failed to recognize a right click on first attempt.

Display
The Series 5 contains a 12.1-inch (1280 x 800) display with a thin bezel which discretely houses a 1 Megapixel camera. The screen’s matte display truly shines when adjusting brightness, achieving levels that would dwarf displays on many $1,000+ systems. It maintains its visual integrity when observed from dynamic angles, even in bright environments or direct sunlight.

Chrome OS
The Chrome OS will feel familiar to anyone who has used the Google Chrome browser. When setting up the Chromebook, you use your Google account information so that it syncs with all of your Google data. While using the Chromebook, I have felt that it is more like the Kylebook because it is set up in such a way that it affords each user to have a personalized experience on the machine. For those who may not be familiar, Chrome OS is not an OS that is stored on the hard drive. It is an online, always on, operating system integrated with the Chrome Web Store. This affords the Chromebook incredibly impressive booting speeds. One simple yet eloquent feature of the interface is that if you are having a chat with someone in Google Chat, it will always be open no matter what tab you are currently viewing. You can also choose to minimize the chat interface, and it’s dock icon will flash when there is a new message. In the Web Store you can download apps or add-ons to further personalize your Chrome OS. At time of review, the store lacks the thousands of choices available in the Apple or Android marketplaces, but I am optimistic that the number of apps will climb with the browser’s popularity. The main drawback I found in having the Chrome OS rather than one built for Mac or PC is that some applications, i.e. Skype, are not yet adapted for it, so users must find alternative programs. The Chromebook comes with Cloud Print right out of the box, which is convenient, however I found that there are a few problems with Cloud Print because it lacks support for certain printers. Hopefully a fix is swiftly forthcoming.

Performance
I have already stated that the Series 5 is not a netbook, nor is it a notebook. This is particularly noticeable in the system specifications. Internally the Series 5 is similar to most modern netbooks. It is run by a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N570 CPU with integrated Intel graphics and 2GB of RAM. The Series 5 was able to easily handle the function and processing of multiple open tabs including Gmail, Docs, Netflix, and Hulu.

Battery Life
The battery life of this device is nothing short of incredible. Samsung promises up to 8.5 hours and it seems they have delivered on that promise. The Chromebook does not appear to lose any battery life while it is closed and in sleep mode. When opened again after a few hours, the battery indicator displays no visible change.

3G
The Series 5 is available in two different versions: WiFi only for $429 and a WiFi/3G version for $499. The 3G version is currently only compatible with Verizon and the first 100MB every month are free for 2 years after Chromebook activation.

Conclusion
Chromebooks are not for everyone. If you’re thinking of purchasing this, you should remember that this computer is an online based computer which does not utilize any physical storage. Some would say that the price point makes it undesirable. I do agree that the price is a little steep, but for your money, you get incredible battery life, fast boot times (under 8 seconds) and access to a rapidly developing marketplace. A good test to determine whether it is right for you is to use only the Google Chrome browser for a day. This gives the experience as to exactly what the Chrome OS is. The Chromebook is solid, built with care, and with intent for longevity. If you are wanting to free yourself from the tethers and ties of physical memory and immerse yourself entirely in cloud storage, there is no doubt that you will be happy with this Chromebook. I give this 5 out of 5 gears for what it was made for.

Our good friends over at Zippy went ahead and sent us over one of their new Bluetooth Keyboards, the BT-500. The keyboard was initially marketed towards iOS products, more specifically the iPad.

The keyboard, right out of the box is quite small but that is to be expected for a keyboard that is made to be mobile and for smaller form factor devices. Lets get to the details and specs of the Keyboard first.

The Zippy BT-500 keyboard supports both Bluetooth version 2.0 and 1.0 and can also memorize up to 6 Bluetooth devices. The BT-500 also supports fast switching between those 6 devices with a max transmission range of 10 meters. The BT-500 does run on AAA batteries which can be a disadvantage unless you plan on carrying batteries with you.

I used the keyboard briefly and it is quite small especially when compared to the ZAGG Mate keyboard for the iPad. I did find myself pressing keys that i did not mean to due to my larger fingers. To me, the keyboard was designed for someone with more slender fingers than myself and would work better for someone that way. However, the keyboard functions very well and is also very responsive the only drawback is that I cannot fit my fingers on the home row. If that drawback does not bother you, then the Zippy BT-500 might be a good keyboard for you. Overall I would rate this keyboard at 3.5/5 for its usability.

Ghost Protocol is over two hours of action that doesn’t forget the importance of pacing and guile.

This time around the team is forced to operate independently after their organization is implicated in a terrorist plot, and they must work undercover to foil the plans of a madman that wants to spark global nuclear war.  Not having access to their usual resources leads to ever changing scenarios as they are forced to adapt previous plans at the last minute as unexpected details surface.  This creates a welcome feeling of tension when you can practically see the threads of their slipshod operation coming apart before your eyes, and the film is certainly not afraid of letting their plans fail.

Tom Cruise once again takes on the role of Ethan Hunt.  He’s clever and courageous if ultimately less interesting as a result of becoming such a familiar character.  Simon Pegg returns as lovable Benji, who manages to be both infinitely useful and wildly incompetent.  Paula Patton (Precious) makes a fine addition to the cast as Agent Jane and Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) joins in later on as the always indecisive analyst.

Brad Bird is the latest director to take the reins of the Mission Impossible series and has easily made the best entry so far.  Known for his work with The Iron Giant and The Incredibles, Bird’s affinity for action in animation transitions smoothly to the live action scene.  Dialog is both informative and entertaining, the locations are beautiful and well used, and the combat is visceral while remaining brief.  Ghost Protocol is excellently paced and entertaining to the point where I was shocked to later find that the movie was over two hours long.

I can’t emphasize that bit about brevity enough.  It has become far to common lately for films to feature extravagantly long chase scenes that flow into fight scenes and back again without ever taking a moment to catch their breath and contextualize the events.  Everything becomes a white noise when the stakes aren’t clear in films such as Sucker Punch and the audience might as well just skip to the end of the scene to see who wins so that they can start caring again.

It is precisely because the audience comprehends the meaning of events that every Ghost Protocol scene in Dubai is made of solid gold.  Even on a second viewing it remains captivating to follow all of the details involved the team’s operation in Dubai’s staggeringly tall Burj Khalifa building.  They attempt to simultaneously fool two parties with fake meetings in order to deal with both an assassin and a dangerous man seeking nuclear launch codes.  Complications lead to the now famous scene that involves dangling Tom Cruse over 100 floors above the ground.  The scene becomes hard to watch for all the right reasons.

CM4 recently sent me a package that contained a variety of different technological accoutrements. Amongst them were two cases for Nintendo DS systems, the 3DS and the DSi XL. Other products whose reviews are forthcoming are their Wii Remote jackets, and the Q Card Case for iPhone 4S. Though I already have ZAGG’s InvisibleSHIELD maximum protection on my 3DS, I installed the CM4 Slim Cover and have been using it with great satisfaction since the day that it arrived.

The CM4 Catalyst Slim Cover cases are composed of aluminum and a very soft fabric that feels similar to suede. It is made to fit the edges and contours of the DS consoles very snugly, and allow some of the beauty of the original device itself to shine through. On my 3DS, the case fits very securely. It was extremely easy to install and is not easily removed. While removal is entirely possible and achievable with a little bit of effort, it is nice to have the peace of mind that the case does not easily come off. There is no interior coverage with this case. It clips only to the exterior surfaces of the device, so a snug fit is crucial and reassuring.

The feel of the fabric that was chosen to cover the aluminum is incredible. It feels like the highest quality, softest leather. This makes the grip on the device somewhat “sticky”, providing a great grip for extended periods of gaming. I would find that in certain positions, such as lying down and playing with the 3DS held above my face, it was easy to lose my grip on the smooth surface. This is no longer a worry with the CM4 case covering it. Holding the device is now infinitely more comfortable and much less slippery.

The case covers the front and side edges of the 3DS, as well as the top and bottom. Careful attention to detail is obvious when looking at this product. Full access is provided to every feature of the 3DS. There are two holes to accommodate the camera in the top of the case, on the left side the SD card slot and volume controls are fully accessible, and the 3D slider and wireless switch are left open on the right side. On the front, the headphone port is open, and there is even a cut-out square so that the power indicator light shines through. The back hinges are left  unfettered and the L/R bumpers and game card slot are completely open. The case adds very little bulk to the 3DS. I have not measured it exactly but I estimate that it adds a mere 4mm onto the exterior of the 3DS.

With added comfort and durability, the CM4 Catalyst Slim Cover is a great choice for protecting your Nintendo DS. The aluminum encased in soft touch fabric is durable and does not feel at all flimsy though it is incredibly thin. The fabric that envelops it is soft to the touch and allows a comfortable, easy grip. I have been using this case on my 3DS for about a week now and I am extremely happy with it. The only criticism that I can offer is that perhaps in future designs the company could try and work in a way that the case also covers parts of the back of the device, such as the upper right and left corners, as not everyone will be installing their case over InvisibleSHIELD scratch protection. I give this product 4.5 out of 5 gears.

Recently, the ever-wonderful and kind people at ZAGG bestowed another gift upon me. With my excited news regarding the arrival of my new iPhone 4S, they sent along a little Christmas surprise that was very much appreciated. I eagerly awaited the package and when it arrived I discovered a ZAGGskin with a beautiful and simple rainbow design on a white background, perfect because of my artistic personality and the fact that I chose a white iPhone. Also very felicitous because these were not details that I shared with ZAGG. Anyway, onward past my impressed excitement and onto the analysis.

The ZAGGskin does not require any SHIELDspray solution for installation. I consider this a huge plus, as even though I am accustomed to dealing with the SHIELDspray when installing the InvisibleSHIELDs, it is messy and can be somewhat of a hassle to deal with. Very much like Gelaskins’ product, the ZAGGskin is simply peel and stick. Very unlike Gelaskins, however, is the fact that the ZAGGskin is very easily removed from the device and repositioned. It does not stick to the device right away, allowing the person installing it to pull it back and reposition it to the most meticulous specifications. Once the best placement has been achieved, you can press down firmly to distribute the adherent qualities of the skin to secure the bond.

After careful repositioning of the back piece, I pressed down on the skin in very much the same way that I would install an InvisibleSHIELD, starting from the center and working my way out to the edges. Once the installation of the back piece was finished, I began the installation of the side strips. Because of the nature of their small size, it was a slightly more difficult task. I found that the best method was to carefully align one end of the strip, and then tenuously hold it down with a fingernail while attempting to secure the opposite end of the strip to the right spot. Once that was finished, I pressed down along the full length of the strip to achieve maximum adhesion. The entire installation process was easy, quick, and left no mess whatsoever.

ZAGGskins differ from Gelaskins in that they have more layers. Whereas Gelaskins consist of an image printed on a material with an adhesive backing, the ZAGGskin consists of three layers. The first is the adhesive backing, the second is your image, and the third and final layer is the same technology that makes InvisibleSHIELDs such incredible scratch protection. All of this is packed into a layer that is just .3mm thin. ZAGG offers a number of pre-made designs on their site, but also offers a custom design tool so that you may upload your own images to make a design that is truly your own. I now prefer the ZAGGskin technology to Gelaskins because of the third layer added on top of the image. The only problem that I had with my beautiful Gelaskins was that they could become scratched. I feel that with the InvisbileSHIELD layer, my iPhone is more protected from harm.

I have been using my iPhone for about two weeks now with the ZAGGskin on it, and have encountered none of the problems that one might expect. Every piece is still securely adhered, even though some of them were repositioned a number of times because I insist on perfect alignment. There are no detectable scratches on the face of the skin, and I know that had I not had the skin on it, my phone would most certainly be marred now as it has taken a few “flying lessons” out of my pocket. I give this product a 4.5 out of 5 gears; I just wish that there were some more specific instructions included with it. It was only slightly difficult to discern which strip went where on the sides of my iPhone. Other than that, it’s perfect! I originally planned to use the skin only for the purposes of the review and then remove it to replace with clear InvisibleSHIELD protection because I love being able to see the original design of the 4S, but I’m so happy with it that I think I’ll leave it on!

The Adventures of Tintin is essentially director Stephen Spielberg’s latest Indiana Jones sequel, and we’re not talking about Kingdom of the Crystal Skull here.

We join the beloved French comic character Tintin (Jamie Bell) as he and his dog plunge unwittingly into a quest for treasure that will lead to violent clashes with the villain Sakharine (Daniel Craig). Along the way he is joined by the perpetually drunk Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis) and the dim-witted but trustworthy Thompson twins (Simon Pegg & Nick Frost). Written by Stephen Moffat (Doctor Who) and Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead), The Adventures of Tintin features a fairly straightforward plot that moves at a brisk pace and is peppered with all the witty and charming dialog you could wish for.

As the two parties quarrel over the items needed to find the treasure the entire story plays out as an extended chase sequence with occasional breaks for exposition and comedy. The hunt for the required objects mostly serves as an excuse to bring the cast to a variety of unique environments to sprint through and partially demolish, but the energy and pacing never made me feel like I was following some contrived sequence such as the one in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. The biggest criticism that I can give The Adventures of Tintin is that there are points where the action becomes overwhelming. A chase will occasionally drag on for too long or follow so closely after another that it causes the mind to shut off and the eyes to glaze over.

One of the major draws for this film is its remarkable use of motion capture technology in the animation of the characters. Many films such as The Polar Express and Mars Needs Moms have used similar methods in the past but the results dove head first into the uncanney valley with characters that ranged from plastic to creepy. The Adventures of Tintin solves this by exagerrating facial features in a manner that ironically makes the characters feel more human. This emphasizes the fact that moving like a real person is always more important than looking like a real person.

Any fan of adventure movies should take the time to check this movie out. It’s a clear return to form for Indiana Jones era Speilberg and a well made film that should appeal to most audiences. In my previous review I begrundgingly said that Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows functioned well as a silly popcorn movie, but that is a backhanded compliment that I would like to withdraw altogether. The very few things that A Game of Shadows did well The Adventures of Tintin does better.

Recent Review:  Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Munchkin- the card game where you can “Kill the monsters, Steal the treasure, Stab your buddy.” It is a hilarious and addictive card game from Steve Jackson Games designed for people who like the idea of playing an RPG with their friends, but don’t particularly like the more tedious aspects of playing tabletop games (such as Dungeons and Dragons); things like drawing up character sheets, actively role playing, or rolling dice to see whether or not your attack was a “hit”. The Munchkin card game practically creates your character for you, and eliminates all of the tediousness of paper character sheets and multiple dice sets. It’s also great for people that just want to sit down with their family and have a good time. The wonderfully nice people at Steve Jackson Games were kind enough to send me a set of the original full-color deck of Munchkin to try out with my friends and family so I could review it. I strongly recommend picking up this game for anyone, young or old, that you have yet to find that perfect gift for this holiday season! It is a seriously rollicking good time replete with ample opportunities for hearty laughter.

I have been playing Munchkin for about six or seven months now, but never had the opportunity to play the true “original” Munchkin set. You see, there are a variety of different starter sets available, like Munchkin Zombies, Munchkin Cthulu and Super Munchkin just to name a (very) few. A while ago I tried Space Munchkin at my local game store and immediately fell in love with the fast-paced gameplay. I decided to purchase the board game version of Munchkin, called Munchkin Quest, and proceeded to take it to friends’ houses whenever a big group of us were getting together. In Munchkin Quest, like in Munchkin the card game, you start as a level 1 human with no class. Heh-heh. (This joke is now required by law in all Munchkin games.) As you gather “treasure” cards and “door” cards, you will collect bonus items like weapons and armor to add to your strength, and hopefully a new class like a warrior or cleric, or a new race such as an elf or a dwarf. The turns are based on the premise that you and your fellow adventurers are progressing through a dungeon, which is why at the beginning of every turn you are “kicking down the door”.

In the card game, the first thing you do at the beginning of your turn is draw the top card from the door card pile. This is what is referred to as “kicking down the door” and usually, on the other side of that door is a monster you immediately enter into combat against. You add up your level and all of your bonus items and stack it against the monster’s level. If you tie, or are weaker than the monster, you must roll a d6 to determine whether or not you can run away, or ask other more burly players for help. If all else fails, you must suffer the “bad stuff” listed at the bottom of the card (which in the case of the Level One Potted Plant is nothing. Escape is automatic!) If your bonuses and your level exceed the monster’s, you smack him down and proceed, collecting a level and treasures on your merry way. Treasures that equal one thousand gold in value can be sold for an extra level, and various entertaining “Go Up A Level” cards are strewn throughout the deck, such as “Invoke obscure rules. Go up a level.” All of the cards are illustrated and titled in hilarious ways, with a few adult jokes that will fly right over kids’ heads to add to the fun for those older in body but younger at heart. Certain booster packs change the dynamic of play; the Fairy Dust booster pack comes with one “door card” that you shuffle into the regular deck, and then the rest become their own mini-deck which you can earn cards from by doing favors for other players or by encountering the Sparkly Good Fairy and defeating her.

Munchkin is appropriate for ages ten and up and any “adult” jokes are well-concealed in double entendre. Younger kids will enjoy it for the adventure while older kids will like it for the humor. I relished the opportunity to play the original set that started the Munchkin phenomenon with my family and friends this holiday break. There are a multitude of add-on packs available, no matter what starter style of Munchkin you choose to buy, so the play will never grow old. All styles of Munchkin are compatible with one another. For instance, you could have a Munchkin Bites Booty Cthulu (vampire, pirate, and, well.. Cthulu) night. There are smaller booster packs available as well. In each starter box of Munchkin there are 168 cards illustrated by John Kovalic and one Munchkin six-sided die which is unique to that set, for instance, regular Munchkin comes with an ivory colored d6 while Cthulu comes with a green one and a Munchkin silhouette is on every d6 as the number 1. With only one starter pack the game is ideally played with 3-6 players and can be over in as little as half an hour or as long as a couple of hours depending on your style of play. When you buy additional packs, you can play with a larger group and/or for longer periods of time. The game is over when a player reaches level 10. They are the winner and temporary “King of the Munchkins” for a day. Just don’t tell the level 20 Plutonium Dragon that.

You can try Munchkin for yourself by playing the Munchkin Rigged Demo here. Or, for those of our readers who happen to live near Battle Creek, you can try Munchkin out for free at Titan’s Entertainment Cafe on Capital avenue every Thursday night during Family Board Game time. It is with the help of Titan’s staff that my Munchkin addiction started. Warning: Once you start, you won’t want to stop! Now, thankfully including the original Munchkin starter set, I have three Munchkin sets of my own, as well as Munchkin Quest and the Fairy Dust booster pack. Once you have played every few nights for a month, a booster pack is the perfect thing to spice up the game and bring new laughs, and they are never in short supply! I give this product 5 out of 5 gears because the only way I could possibly think to improve it would be for the company to keep making more, and they do, so I’m happy! Order a starter set for your loved one for Christmas or stop in at Titan’s to play it today! You won’t regret it.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is a perfectly fun film if you can stop yourself from asking questions.

Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law are back once again as Holmes and Watson, and they’re just as effective in their roles as ever.  Because of this it’s a shame to see that the script isn’t up to snuff.  Anyone looking to see the movie because “Sherlock Holmes” is in the title will be disappointed to find nothing more than a silly popcorn action flick.  Remember those crime scene investigations from the previous films?  Guy Ritchie doesn’t.

A Game of Shadows is more interested in taking the National Treasure route of sprinting from location to location and having the quirky main character figure everything out just in time for the script to meet its explosion- or shootout-per-minute quota. Each scene is filled with flashy entertainment, but it all begins to unravel if you take the time to think about it afterward.  The overarching plot pushes the movie forward, disregarding any character traits, motives, or logistics that would get in the way.  Making sense of all this mess was not a priority.

The plot is centered around Sherlock Holmes and Professor James Moriarty (Jarred Harris) fighting it out in a deadly game of strategy.  Moriarty has a grand evil scheme for self-profit and Holmes is out to stop him.  But wait, what about Watson’s upcoming marriage?  Don’t worry, that would get in the way of the plot so it’s simply tossed aside as a result of nonsensical actions by the supposed genius Moriarty (more detail in the spoiler zone if you’re curious).

Jarred Harris immediately proves to be a worthwhile addition to the film with his subdued yet sinister portrayal of Professor James Moriarty.  One of the most frustrating things about all of the action is the knowledge that such things are getting in the way of having more Holmes and Moriarty scenes, which are easily the best parts of the story.  The air never fails to grow thick with barbed words and double meanings.

Noomi Rapace did a fine job in the original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but Shadows gives her nothing to do.  Aside from a subtly funny moment where she trips up Sherlock Holmes’ usual way of pre-thinking combat encounters she has little to no impact on the plot.  It feels like the Madam Simza Heron character was written into the script just so that  there could be a female character that stands around and looks pretty in the background in most of the shots.  Stephen Fry plays the similarly unimportant role of Holmes’ brother but at least managed to earn a few laughs.

Thankfully there is some good in there with all of the bad.  A Game of Shadows is a perfectly serviceable action movie if viewed on a more shallow level.  Fight scenes are interesting, there are plenty funny moments, and the climactic scene between Holmes and Moriarty is a lot of fun to watch.  One particular scene in a forest features so many camera and slow motion tricks to marvel over that it’s almost worth the price of admission just to see on its own.  There’s a good chance that your friends or family will want to see this with you, and you can have some good, forgettable fun if you can manage to ignore all of the stupid.

— SPOILER ZONE: A place for the reviewer to speak freely on plot points. —

Here’s a nice example of a flashy scene with an initially cool sounding idea that falls apart in retrospect.  At one point a sniper hides his murderous shot in an explosion.  When Holmes figures this out I assume the audience is meant to think this is clever but it just left me confused and annoyed.  If the bomb kills everyone in the room then what was the point of the sniper in the first place?  Oh, because Holmes needs a clue to follow in order to press the convoluted plot forward.

After the big forest scene Sherlock Holmes just sort of starts dying.  I have no idea why.  It just sort of starts happening.  Don’t worry, though, they save him with that adrenaline needle that they showed us in a seemingly pointless scene at the beginning of the film.

Some examples of how Moriarty becomes selectively stupid when he needs to be for the plot to work:  At the beginning of the film Watson is getting married, which would take him entirely out of the picture.  Moriarty chooses to attack him, but to what purpose?  If he goes off on his honeymoon then he is of no use to Holmes and is off the investigation, but when the murder fails it provides Watson with an incentive to join Holmes in the hunt for Moriarty.  The villain simply had no real reason to do any of this!  The so-called genius that is supposed to be thinking many moves ahead added a new opponent to the mix in a gamble where he had nothing to gain.

On a related note Moriarty has several scenes where he is alone with Holmes but makes no move to harm him.  How does the movie end?  Moriarty tries to kill Holmes with his bare hands.  Why wait until the end?  Killing Holmes would have certainly made the entire plan much simpler.  Moriarty certainly had no issue with killing Irene Adler minutes into the film.

It has been almost a week now since I received Portable Sound Labs’ iMainGo XP speakers for the Apple iPad/iPad 2. When I first received it I was so excited that I was fumbling to set it up. Even with my clumsy hands, it came together easily. Then I powered on the speakers and unlocked my iPad and was quite literally blown away by the sound of a game that I had forgotten I had left running, Big Fish‘s “Drawn: Dark Flight“. Because I am so used to adjusting the sound on my iPad with the music volume control setting, I had some difficulty turning it down. Once I used the physical volume control on the side of my iPad and adjusted it down to a comfortable listening volume, I switched over to the new remastered reissue of Siamese Dream by the Smashing Pumpkins. While listening to “Disarm”, my mouth quite literally dropped open as I exclaimed “WOW! Listen to that sound!”

The iMainGo XP is compatible with both iPad and iPad 2. If you are using it with the iPad 2 there is an attachment, which they refer to as a “skin”, that you add to the back of your iPad 2 in order to make it fit snugly inside the soft fabric-lined compartment of the case. This accommodation was very well thought out, there is an extension on the attachment that is situated just above the iPad 2 lock button, which helps the control to extend to the outside of the case. Without the attachment, the iPad 2 would fit in the case somewhat loosely and you would not be able to lock it while the case is closed. Your volume controls, headphone jack, lock button, camera lens and charging dock are all accessible while the iPad is in the case and the case is closed.

The form factor of the case itself is a trifold design, the iPad situated horizontally in the center of two sets of speakers. They are attached with hinges on each end that make the speakers fully adjustable to almost any angle, allowing you to adjust them to be completely flat and flush with the device, or even swivel a bit past a completely horizontal plane, which would allow the user to have the screen as the focal point while the speakers are fully open and extended back past the screen in an almost butterfly wing fashion. My preferred way to use the speakers is to set them at a 100 degree angle from the screen, allowing me to stand the iPad and speakers up horizontally. Though you can arrange the unit to stand on it’s own like this, it does also come with an adjustable easel-style stand for more comfortable movie viewing. Along the top of the left set of speakers there are three ports, a switch, and a charge/power indicator light. One port is for charging and two ports are headphone jacks for convenient and covert listening.

These speakers are fantastic. Not just fantastic considering their size, they are pretty great all-around. I don’t have an iDevice dock in my car, so the night that I received the iMainGo XP I decided to test it out on a car ride to a restaurant that is about twenty minutes away. Listening to my music on the iMainGo’s speakers was, surprisingly, a much more pleasant experience than listening on my car speakers. They were also powerful enough to provide just the right ambiance to a party that I was having the next night. When I was still attending Maine College of Art, I did work study in the photo department, meaning that I cleaned darkrooms a couple of days a week. I was also a photo major, so I basically lived in the darkrooms. The stereos that were supposed to be available for students to use when working in the darkrooms always disappeared or were otherwise misplaced, so I bought myself a set of Bose Companion II speakers. If iPad had existed then, and had these speakers been available, I would have opted for the iMainGo XP instead. Incredibly, the sound of these speakers is on a comparable level with my two Bose tweeters and separate subwoofer.

I have to admit that the Bose speakers are really my only means of personal comparison in terms of speakers for the iPad 2 or iPod, but  with a price tag difference of over $100, and with very comparable sound quality for listening to music and watching movies, I would have to say that the iMainGo XP is definitely the speaker set to get. On top of getting high-quality sound for your iPad, you also get a very rugged case. I have dropped my iPad a few times while it was in the case and didn’t even worry about it because the outer casing of the iMainGo XP is so sturdy. It is also in a nice matte finish that does not fingerprint easily, and if you happen to get something on it, is very easily cleaned. The speakers themselves are compatible with any device you might want to plug them into, even though the case is only for iPad. Portable Sound Labs also offers other iMainGo products for the iPod and iPhone if you are looking for fantastic speakers for your smaller iOS device. The only criticism that I could offer for this product is for Portable Sound Labs to see if perhaps they could devise a way to make the speaker compartments a little slimmer in future incarnations. Overall, I give this product 4.5 gears out of 5.

Over the summer, shortly after I got my iPad 2, I began to play the hidden object games available from Big Fish Games. My favorite of them was Drawn: the Painted Tower. It chronicled events in the life of a girl named Iris who is locked away in a tower to keep her safe from the tragedy that befell the rest of her family. Iris has the special capability of bringing her own drawings to life, and the main goal of the game is to utilize the drawings and objects within them to free Iris from the tower so that she can fulfill her role as princess of the land. Sadly, once you reached the end of the game, you were left with a bit of a cliffhanger after you helped her escape from the tower and into the town.

Luckily, Big Fish Games recently released a sequel, Drawn: Dark Flight. In this game players must solve the hidden-object and adventure puzzles, signature in Big Fish titles, in order to continue protecting princess Iris from the malevolent forces that seek to prevent her coming to power. Instead of being trapped inside a tower this time, Iris has hidden herself away in a book. The storyline opens with you buried underneath the tower you once freed Iris from, and in dire need of finding a way to gain access to the tunnel that will take you into town. Once there, the goal becomes lighting three beacons to ward off the evil King’s presence so that Iris can take her rightful place as Queen and (hopefully) banish the horrible intentions of the evil King permanently.

This game has the same beautiful style and rich storytelling inherent in every Big Fish Games title that I have encountered so far. The artwork in every one of them is absolutely incredible, and finding new ways to interact with those environments is an enjoyable and constant challenge. In order to work your way through this particular game, you must pay attention to your surroundings and pick up as many useful pieces as you possibly can. For example, in one instance, you enter the painting of a boat. Within this painting of a boat are many different objects that you have to first notice, then gather, and finally interact with in order to progress further into a drawing that is inside the painting of the boat. This ultimately ends in a situation with you on a ship with a pirate using the touch-screen controls to direct and fire a cannon at sea monsters that try to impede your progress to shore.

As with any Big Fish Games title, you can expect entertaining, challenging, and intriguing puzzles on your path to the end game. The atmosphere in the Drawn series is my favorite, because it is realistic and believable while at the same time being dark and mystical. It is not an extraordinarily long game in the scope of games in their entirety, but good for anywhere from a solid three to six hours of gameplay. I deeply enjoyed playing Drawn: the Painted Tower, and was pleasantly surprised to find that I enjoyed playing this new title even more. The controls and hint systems have been vastly improved upon, making them more accessible and user-friendly, and the environments have more to interact with in each frame than in the previous game. Every item you pick up and add to your inventory is an important cog in the grander workings of the game. Once you collect enough pieces, you will inevitably activate a puzzle that, while you have the option to skip it after a certain period, you will undoubtedly want to finish on your own because each one has been intricately designed to pull you in and entice you to keep trying until  you get it. I particularly like the addition of visual hints rather than written ones. When you get stuck and you need a little bit of assistance, you tap on the “Hint” button and it shows you a short animation of where you should be headed, very similar to the Sheikah stones in the Zelda series. This system of hints is unlimited, but you wouldn’t want to use it too often as it is far more rewarding to figure out the appropriate path on your own.

With it’s slightly dark and wholly intriguing storyline, Drawn: Dark Flight is a great game for just about anyone of any age who enjoys games that are intellectually stimulating. There is no swearing or violence present in this game, or in any other Big Fish Games title as far as I am aware. If you are struggling with ideas for what to get for a loved one this holiday season, perhaps consider getting them an iTunes Gift card and recommend the Drawn series to them. It keeps players entertained for hours, and with the objective tracker in the bottom left corner of the screen it is incredibly easy to stop playing whenever you need to set down the iPad to do something else and then pick up at a later time without losing track of where you left off. As far as I am concerned, Big Fish Games has another masterpiece on their hands with Drawn: Dark Flight. The only criticism that I can offer is that at times the controls for moving from screen to screen can get a little bit frustrating, though if you are having navigational issues you can tap in the center of the screen at an angle towards where you would like to wander, and convenient arrows will pop up on-screen to show you where you can go. Once you tap one, it takes you to the next screen of your choice. I give this game 4.5 out of 5 gears.

Our good friends over at ThinkGeek have endowed us with this invention of wonder from Aperture Laboratories. Now with less than 1% Mercury a genuine Aperture Laboratories shower curtain!

I have spent a fair amount of time playing Portal 2 since it came out. Thanks to our friends at Nvidia with a GeForce GTX 570 3D Vision set, Portal 2 is even better. When I first saw this shower curtain I flipped and said I GOTTA have this!

The curtain is made of the finest materials and you can’t have the finest materials without a little risk. The curtain also comes with an ever so friendly message from Aperture Laboratories.

The Enrichment Center reminds you that the material emancipation grid will not emancipate dirt, oils, or body odor from your person. For the benefit of your fellow test subjects, cleanse your body in the provided bathing facilities. To avoid expenditures on eye bleach, please do your personal cleansing behind this curtain. Thank you for your cooperation.

This curtain is by far the best shower curtain I have ever used and deserves the 5/5 Gear rating that I have given it. If you would like to have one head over to ThinkGeek.

ZAGG’s InvisibleSHIELD technology is a revelation in protecting electronics, but the full body coverage can seem like a daunting task to install. A little while ago, I got it into my head that I could only get the 3DS Screen Coverage because the maximum coverage package looked like it would be too difficult to put on. Then I started thinking about which one would be the absolute easiest to install, and came up with my own little personal InvisibleSHIELD installation challenge. I pitched my idea to the kind folks at ZAGG and they were happy to send me a 3DS maximum coverage SHIELD as well as an iPad 2 maximum coverage SHIELD, so that I could compare and contrast the installation process, no doubt confident in the fact that I would find the difficulties to be similar.

I started with the one I thought would be easiest, the iPad 2. It took me about three minutes, all told, to install. I peeled the backing away from the screen protection first, and applied a liberal amount of SHIELDspray, then applied it to the screen of my (powered down) iPad 2. There was enough liquid between the screen and the SHIELD that it slid around just enough for me to be able to achieve perfect placement. I used the squeegee, moving from the center out to the edges, to press out any excess moisture and used the provided micro fiber cloth to dry up the edges. Perfect. No bubbles visible so far, and no hassle. I repeated the exact same process with the back portion of the SHIELD. Again, no bubbles and no hassle. I waited an appropriate amount of time (about an hour) before powering up my iPad 2 for a few seconds, just to inspect for bubbles or dust. Nothing. A perfect, flawless, crystal clear installation and in under three minutes.

Then, for the more daunting task. I opened up the 3DS maximum coverage to find that there were EIGHTEEN PIECES, some of them as small as a fingernail, and others only half as wide. I knew right away just by looking at it that this was not going to be as easy as installing the one on the iPad 2. I started with the largest pieces first, the screens, and then slowly worked my way down to the smallest pieces, going from the strips for the sides to the oval-shaped pieces that covered the top portion of the hinges. All told, it probably took me about seven minutes to install the 3DS SHIELD. While it took longer than the iPad 2, I didn’t have any significant problems with the installation process. It was just as simple as installing two large flat pieces; the only difference was the time it took me.

Overall, I can say that I am pleasantly surprised by my results. Both of my devices have been well protected for about a month now, and there is no sign of any scuff or scrape on either of the SHIELDs, and none of the pieces have begun to come loose. The installation is just as snug and secure as the day I put it on, and both devices have been under continuous use as, well, I rarely put my iPad down, but when I do it’s to play games on my consoles, and I was in the process of finishing Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3DS while waiting for Skyward Sword to come out. I am happy to say that I will never be scared of installing another maximum coverage InvisibleSHIELD ever again. The only advice I can give to those who are daring enough to try, is: PATIENCE. One thing that first-time installers may want to keep in mind is to be sure to not be too liberal with the SHIELDspray solution, especially on smaller pieces. This will only cause frustration as pieces that are too wet with the spray have no “stickiness”, they will just slide around on the surface you are trying to affix them to. The key is to learn how to use the SHIELDspray just right: not too much, and not too little. As long as you take your time and handle the pieces carefully, you will be well rewarded with an easy, if somewhat lengthy, installation.

With it’s sleek new style the Trident Kraken A.M.S. case for Apple iPhone 4/4S overpowers the original Kraken case. The creativity was definitely put into overdrive when it came to creating such a solid case that can perform in almost all adventures of your life.

If you’re hittin’ the bike trails with family or friends you can use the attachment (sold separately) to hook onto your handlebars, or if you are a photographer with your iPhone like myself and you want to capture a steady picture there is a tripod connection (sold separately), and if you get lost in the boonies and need a little GPS to help guide you back to main roads without taking your eyes off the road there is a window suction unit (also sold separately)  to use for securing the case to your windshield.

You’re probably wondering what does this beast of a case come with?!?!  It’s still got the handy kickstand which is now adjustable to two different positions. The kickstand option is nice because you can have your kids sit back, chill and watch a movie without distracting you from work or if you want to Facetime hands free. It comes with a cleaning cloth and a back screen protector (still comes with built-in front screen protector). The clip is a better design as well. It will take a minute or two to get used to but is a unique design. Also with an extended ear bud jack attachment to fit ear bud plugs in easier.

The case itself is actually a 2-in-1 case. For casual days you can hold your phone in the standard soft impact-resistant silicone case (a.k.a. Perseus case) or if you are headed out in rough terrain it is safe to say your phone is protected in the exoskeleton polycarbonate exterior shell. The A.M.S. stands for Adaptive Modular System and this case definitely adapts to the active animal inside you! The inside silicone comes in red, pink, light green, dark teal, surfer blue, and black. The exoskeleton comes in standard black.

Whether you’re an actor or an actor’s stunt double, this case is right for you! The pricing is around 50$.

Check out more at http://www.tridentcase.com/

Charlie Broker referred to L.A. Noire as “the triumphant return of the adventure game,” but is that really a good thing?

L.A. Noire is a modernized adventure game set in 1940′s Los Angeles.  The narrative is told in three interwoven parts: war hero Cole Phelps’ rise through the LAPD, memory flashes from the Battle of Okinawa, and the behind-the-scenes actions of one of his ex-comrades told through collectible newspapers.  Progress is divided into a series of desks as Phelps pursues his career.  Each desk contains several cases that are largely independent but are tied together by shady details that form the overarching story.  Players who pay attention to minutia will be rewarded with subtly flawed characters that only serve to make the unfolding plot more interesting with their actions.  Most will remain engaged throughout until they reach an ending that many are angered by but may later grow to appreciate.

In an industry that has grown obsessed with plunging head first into uncanny valley with high polygon counts and texture resolutions L.A. Noire shows us just how important movement is.  Scenes are brought to life by complex characters with remarkably realistic facial animations (made possible by Depth Analysis’ MotionScan).  Players who have seen Heroes, Fringe or Mad Men will instantly recognize actors not simply because someone plastered their face and voice into the game, but because their characters actually behave like those actors to a level of detail that is astounding.  Eye movements, twitches, furrowing brows, it’s all there.  Old Los Angeles was also impressively reconstructed, so aside from some texture pop issues there isn’t really anything to complain about with L.A. Noire‘s visuals.

Los Angeles isn’t exactly a circular city, and the elongated map can lead to some very long drives.  You can have your partner drive as a form of fast travel, but the developers included an achievement that requires you to drive almost 200 miles on your own.  The shape of the map also hinders the street crimes, a series of small side missions that appear while you’re driving around.  In many cases your next main objective could be a mere minute away when you get called about a street crime that will require a ten minute round trip.

A case is generally comprised of a mixture of clue gathering, action, and interrogation.  Searching for evidence has a certain novelty to it at first but it quickly grows tedious.  I soon found myself walking around at random while waiting for the controller to vibrate and indicate that I was near something that needed to be inspected.  I would repeat this ad nauseam until the music told me that I was done.  Environments are jam packed with useless clutter and many of the items you need to find are impossible to see in the regular third person view.

Once Phelps has fully inspected one or several locations there tends to be some sort of action sequence.  The simplest scenario involves pulling up to a gang hideout and shooting everyone on sight in competently implemented, cover-based third person combat.  A suspect attempt to escape in their car, leading to a chase scene where you need to run them off the road or at least stay within range until a scripted event ends the chase prematurely.  Every now and then you get to stealthily follow a suspect through the streets in hope of a lead.  A few of these segments are infuriatingly restrictive, causing the mission to fail whenever you round a corner to soon or lag too far behind someone that you can clearly still see.

These stealth, combat, and chase parts of the game often feel like an afterthought and directly contract the sense of freedom that L.A. Noire tries to create.  If you miss a clue or flub an interrogation the entire course of an investigation can be altered, but if you fail to maintain your cover or can’t keep up with a driver you’re simply forced to repeat the sequence until you either get it right or opt to skip it altogether.  The skip option also brings up an important issue because it serves as a clear indication that the developers cared more about the player experiencing the story over the gameplay.  I would like to take this moment to remind everyone that this is in fact a video game.

Interrogations were the biggest issue I had with L.A. Noire.  Topics are chosen from Phelps’ notebook based on clues that were found earlier in the case.  Once the suspect responds the player is given the options Truth, Lie, and Doubt.  This means that you can accept their words at face value, express your distrust, or call them out while using evidence to back up your choice.  This all sounds straightforward and intuitive until it is experienced in action.

As much as I would like to say otherwise, many of these conversations come down to guesswork while others simply do not make sense.  Take the following quote for example: “Blow it off, greenhorn.  You’ll get nothing from me.”  Now tell me, is that a lie or the truth?  What?  I’m sorry, you just screwed up the case.  I guess you’ll just have to replay the entire thing in order to achieve your five star rating.

Figuring out how to properly present evidence becomes a chore.  L.A. Noire often demands that you be exactly as smart as it wants you to be at any given moment.  I encountered many situations where I had already solved the case in my head and would later know that I was correct but had no idea how to convey this to the game.  You’re restricted to the generally short list of questions that the game gives you and when you call someone out for lying you can only site evidence by selecting an item from a list.  You could have a perfectly reasonable explanation for why you are referring to that item as evidence but there is no way to tell the game.  This means you have to try to guess what the developer’s reasoning was and then try to figure out what item has some tangential connection to that thought process.

Imagine that you’re locked in a dark room with your mouth taped shut.  You are being asked yes or no questions but can only answer them by pointing at one of the items on the table.  You are asked whether someone was in the bathtub ten minutes ago, so you begin to frantically point at the wet towel in front of you.  You can’t speak, but you desperately wish for the man to understand what you mean.  All attempts fail.  The items that would have worked was actually the rubber duck.  You now have a good idea of what interrogation feels like in L.A. Noire.  It’s just like the classic ‘adventure game logic’ scenario where you start rubbing random objects together to see if they’ll make something, except one of those objects is the suspect’s face.

Despite all of my complaints I have to say that I liked L.A. Noire.  From a gameplay standpoint the title ranges from mediocre to competent, but the story and characters really made the experience something special.  Ultimately L.A. Noire may have been best delivered through a difference choice in media such as a television series.  If you choose to buy or rent it you should have some fun experiencing the story that is told over the game’s expansive campaign.  Just don’t be afraid to use a guide online whenever you get stuck.  In games like Portal when they player finally sees the solution they say “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that!”  In L.A. Noire many of the solutions only made me think “…really?”

A few months back in August we received a relatively new product called the LifeProof case for the iPhone 4. We completed a written and visual review of the case where we received great feedback from the consumers about what they did or did not like about the case. We also had prospective buyers comment on how they review helped to make their decision on their purchase. There were also those who were unhappy with certain imperfections with the case that we ourselves noticed and then there were times where we could not reproduce the same issues others had that we had not originally noted.

LifeProof cases were originally offered on their online web-store and it was not much longer until they were offered in Best Buy retail stores. LifeProof representatives have responded to comments and questions consumers have had in our comment fields in our original review article and they also contacted us directly to inform us of updates they were adding to newer build generations of the case. We reached out to LifeProof shortly after the release of the new Apple iPhone 4S and expressed an interest on reviewing their updated version of their case. We received the case and did a side by side comparison/contrast video to show consumers how LifeProof has improved on some of their imperfections. We are sorry to report the price of the case has increased from $69.95 to $79.99. Check out video after the break for full details on all the difference and improvements.

Update 01/07/2012: Hey guys, I just purchased the belt clip accessory for the LifeProof iPhone 4/4S cases that is sold separately for $29.99. Instead of doing a separate review on it, I decided to add the video hands-on and my impressions right below this same article. Enjoy!

East and West clash under a setting sun.

In this Ninja Assassin meets High Plains Drifter action flick, Yang, a member of the Sad Flute ninja clan, is sent to slaughter all the members of a rival clan. When he can’t bring himself to murder their leader’s infant daughter and last member he must escape to America now hunted by his former clansmen. Once there, Yang finds himself in a broken town needing a protector. Audiences won’t be wowed by an original story here.  The Warrior’s Way instead relies heavily on the novelty of mismatched eastern and western elements.

Following in the footsteps of 300 and other such films, The Warrior’s Way employs a heavy use of Green Screen and CG backdrops to an often successful outcome. The settings are noticeably unrealistic, but the effects are gorgeously stylized.  Unfortunately some of the sets that were not generated digitally look too clean to have been filmed on location.  The action sequences are beautifully done and costumes are top notch.

The background music really helps to set the mood with a blend of everything from Opera to Metal. The voices were originally recorded in English, so this is one samurai action flick that doesn’t suffer from bad dubbing.  Every gunshot and sword clash rings out clear and on time.

The acting is serviceable enough but several important characters felt undeveloped. Kate Bosworth’s portrayal of the love interest Lynne is believable yet corny. Danny Huston really is a bastard in this film in a manner that suits the villainous character Colonel. Tony Cox is somewhat entertaining as the circus ringmaster Eight-Ball, who though small in stature would never be considered so in spirit. I was really hoping for more from Geoffrey Rush who spent most of the film in a drunken state hinting that he knew Yang was more than he let on.  When he finally did get his moment to shine it didn’t amount to much. Lung Ti’s Saddest Flute was basically a cardboard cutout of a typical evil ninja master, similar to the one in Ninja Assassin but with a smaller part.

The westerners are never as good with their guns as Yang is with his sword, which makes the entire encounter feel lopsided.  Any chances of something being at stake in the film are robbed away by Yang’s apparent invulnerability.  Heavy on the action and light on the characters, The Warrior’s Way can make for a fun viewing that you’re not likely to revisit often.

This Movie Review is the first in a line of Movie Reviews that TekGoblin will publish. We feel that Movie Reviews are another piece of information that our users might deem useful.