Monday, October 11, 2010

Samsung Omnia 7 first hands-on


Samsung's Omnia 7, ladies and gents. Equipped with the only Super AMOLED display in Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 stable, the Omnia 7 provides suitably vibrant and richly saturated visuals. To be perfectly fair, we didn't note a major advantage in using its display relative to the other WP7 devices, but that's more a mark of distinction for the other phones on show today. The hardware really is looking polished to perfection on all these devices, and the Omnia 7 isn't really breaking with that trend, showing off a remarkably lightweight body that combines straight lines with a nicely curved back that sits well in the hand. The power/lock button is curiously positioned on the side of the device, but all points of input seemed to perform very nicely once you know where they are. The depressed Windows key is basically identical to the iPhone's, dare we say it, iconic home button. As to performance, we've nothing to say that we haven't said about the other WP7 launch devices, it's blindingly, ridiculously, delightfully quick.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Microsoft "Who needs Blu-Ray?"

Microsoft has offered its most strongly worded prediction yet that Blu-ray will be extinct before it can become the de facto disc format of the video games industry.

MS has previously told CVG that it isn't interested in adopting Blu-ray for Xbox as it instead considers digital media the long-term 'future of home entertainment'.


Now UK Xbox boss Stephen McGill has claimed that the format will be "passed by" before it can make an impact.

"I think people may have spoken about [Xbox's lack of a Blu-ray drive] originally, but that's long gone," he told X360A.

"I think people now recognise what a smart decision it was to keep the pricing low, and actually Blu-ray is going to be passed by as a format. People have moved through from DVDs to digital downloads and digital streaming, so we offer full HD 1080p Blu-ray quality streaming instantly, no download, no delay. So, who needs Blu-ray?"

McGill's comments come after developers such as Capcom and Mercury Steam have discussed the "problem" of creating games on multiple DVD discs for Xbox 360.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Microsoft, AT&T set Windows Phone 7 date


Mark your calendars, smartphone fans, as the debut of the first Windows Phone 7 devices is nigh. Microsoft just sent out formal invitations for an October 11 press conference in New York to be co-hosted by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega. The event will begin at 6:30 a.m. PT, and will be followed by an open house, at which Microsoft will showcase its current portfolio of products.
It's no surprise that AT&T will take center stage with Microsoft, as the carrier was named a preferred partner from the very beginning and ads for the HTC Mondrian have already leaked onto the Web. However, according to the meeting agenda, T-Mobile representatives will also be on hand to show off that company's Windows Phone 7 handsets and services. Remember, LG, HTC, and Samsung have all received FCC approval for their smartphones.
The question remains of when the handsets will actually be available for purchase.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Bungie Punishes 15,000 Halo: Reach Cheaters

Players who exploited a workaround to gain cheap credits are now getting their credits wiped clean.


 If you think you've figured out a sneaky way to get ahead of the pack in Halo: Reach's multiplayer, be warned: Bungie may be on to you, and they don't take kindly to cheaters. The developer has announced that they recently discovered an in-game workaround many players have used to quickly accrue in-game credits, and they've since punished a whopping 15,000 players who exploited the glitch. "Specifically, we targeted an exploit that allowed players to complete a Challenge 20+ times via intentional network manipulation (i.e., disconnects.)," Bungie explained in a forum post announcing the punishments. "Spot checks have revealed the telltale signature of this behavior on every denier so far, so don't be fooled by the protests of innocence. We aren't."
As punishment, Bungie has wiped out the in-game credits of those found to be using the exploit. They also issued these players a one-day ban from earning credits, "mostly to ensure that recipients receive an in-game notification of the action taken." Bungie also insists that "as with any such measure, we have taken the time to carefully select our criteria to eliminate false positives."
And they're not done yet, so if you feel like trying to figure out this exploit yourself, be warned. "A more comprehensive pass will be occurring in the coming week as our automated Banhammer mechanisms grow accurate enough to satisfy our high bar for burden of proof," the post reads. "If you are thinking about getting an easy 50k credits by using this exploit, I would strongly advise you to reconsider."

Sunday, October 3, 2010

U.S. Navy: Video Games Improve Brains, "Fluid Intelligence"

The cognitive effects of certain video-game-style activities are not only impressive but can last a couple of years, a researcher for the Navy recently explained.
If gamers don't want to believe that video games have an effect on them — at least any effect that will cause them to do antisocial things — will they accept research that suggests games make their brains work better?
Here's Ray Perez, program officer for the Office of Naval Research's warfighter performance department:


"We have discovered that video game players perform 10 to 20 percent higher in terms of perceptual and cognitive ability than normal people that are non-game players,"
"We know that video games can increase perceptual abilities and short-term memory," he said. They allow the player to focus longer and expand the player's field of vision compared to people who don't play video games, he added. While there is empirical evidence of increased brain plasticity in video gamers, Perez said, the process behind it is not well understood. His belief, he said, is that the neural networks involved in video gaming become more pronounced, have increased blood flow, and become more synchro
Publish Post
nized with other neural networks in the brain.


Read the full story here http://kotaku.com/5457590/us-navy-video-games-improve-brains-fluid-intelligence


Saturday, October 2, 2010

Medal of Honour Gameplay

The latest video footage of MoH. Looks amazing so far, I am actually anticipating this game alot more then COD:Black Ops. Take a look and feel free to leave a comment about what you guys think.

Enjoy


Armory Pictures

As you can see Bungie has also designed the armory to be more user friendly along with many more options to customize the character models. You will unlock more armor as you progress through the ranks.

Reach Downloaded From Live

"Microsoft put the full version of Halo: Reach on Xbox Live Marketplace for media and reviewers to download with a pricetag of 99,999 Microsoft points to prevent the public from accessing it. A group of users on a game modding site called Game-Tuts.com took credit last week for cracking Halo: Reach.
A user going by the name Joakim posted: "So after alot of .xex cracking etc. Me and my team finally did it, we got Halo: Reach! This is not released for public, and we are not really planning on releasing either."
The file, however, found its way out within 24 hours of that post. The precise source of the leak has not yet been determined.
To play the game, an Xbox 360 hardware modification called JTAG is required. With this, users can install any size hard drive or launch unsigned games through a parallel PC connection."

Friday, October 1, 2010

Halo Reach.

Wow. Simply wow. What an amazing game. From visiuals to audio this game just hits the spot. Many people have been talking about the game.

Anyways I will be posting a more in depth review of the game shortly!