Product Features  

SCRABBLE SLAM is a fast-paced word game where anything could happen! Race against each other to change the existing four-letter word and get rid of your cards. “Game” could become “fame” and “fame” could become “fate”—you never know where it’ll go. Be the first player to get rid of all of your cards to win!




 

Technical Details

• The fast-paced word game where anything can happen. Fast-playing, card-slapping word-changing fun

• Scrabble Slam is a high-speed four letter word game, race against each other to change the existing word and get rid of your cards

• Game could become fame and fame could become fate you never know where it will go with Scrabble Slam

• Play this game with your family and friends.

• Vacation fun or perfect stocking stuffers. Either way you win. 

Halo 3: ODST or formerly known as Halo 3: Recon is an upcoming game for Xbox 360. It will be a standalone expansion for Halo series. You can call Halo series as the best FPS (First Person Shooter). Halo 3 will be based in the same fictional universe of Halo. The character you will take on will be of an UNSC Orbital Drop Shock Trooper (ODST). Just like the other Halo games Halo 3 is developed by Bungie. The game will be published by Microsoft Game Studios. It will be released in five playing modes as Single player, co-op, online co-op, online multiplayer and multiplayer. Halo 3 will use the proprietary Halo engine mixed with Havok Physics. Combination of Halo engine with Havok will give it a different look from other Halo games. Release date set by the Microsoft Studios for Halo 3 is September 30, 2009.

Halo 3: ODST resembles previous Halo games strongly. However players will not assume the role of Master Chief as in the Halo trilogy. In its place the player will take on as alone UNSC soldier in the city of New Mombasa, Kenya. Players this time are forced to act more cautiously, because the trooper you are assuming will not feature the reflexes and strengths and advanced armor of the Master Chief. The ODST trooper will be more vulnerable to gunfire. Although, the game is not focus on stealth gameplay, it will have some stealth elements will be incorporated. One of the new and exciting feature will be inclusion of open world environment.



 

Game server hosting

Primary objective of ODST is to lead the soldier through the ruins of New Mombasa. While doing so the soldier has to discover what happened to his teammates. The game starts when the soldier founds a piece of evidence left behind hanging on lamppost. After discovering the evidence a flashback is triggered and the player assumes the role of the missing soldier. After the fist signal for the player, the choice of the direction will be on the player. Multiplayer of ODST is same as like Halo 3. There are total 24 maps. Halo 3 ODST is set during the events of Halo 2 in the fictional city of New Mombasa. Games protagonist is unnamed and is refereed as “The Rookie.” He serves for UNSC Marines’ Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (ODSTs) or “Helljumpers.” ODSTs often position in small, one-man Human Entry Vehicles (HEVs), launched form spaceships in the upper atmosphere. The rookie is separated from his four teammates Romeo, Buck, Mickey and Romeo. He must find out what happened to them, he assisted by an city maintenance AI known as the Superintendent. Just like for the previous games of Halo Martin O’Donnell (Bungie Audio Director) is contributing music for ODST. O’Donnell anted to create new music that was redolent of Halo but in branched in a different direction.

  


Development for the game began in March 2008. in the Bungie community Brian Jarrard stated in an interview that ODST “is a labor of love to the Bungie fans” who want more and more Halo related content. After Halo 2 fans were excited about what is happening on Earth and how humanity is defending it. ODST is more about action on Earth then story elements. Bungie wanted something different from Halo games, that’s why main character of the game was made an ODST. Fans were not happy for Halo 2 leaving Earth settings early in the game. With in an interview with MTV, Microsoft cleared that Bungie is working on new Halo game independent of the franchise spin-offs Halo Chronicles and Halo Wars. A year after Halo 3 was released on September 25, 2008 Bungie debuted a teaser for the game. During Tokyo Game Show on October 9, 2008, officially unveiling the game’s name as Halo 3: Recon and release date Autumn 2009. The trailer was created on pre-rendered graphics instead of using game engine. In the unfinished elements of the game includes dialogue delivery by voice actors.

Nintendo have announced the latest addition to the DS family of handheld consoles, the Nintendo DSi. The DSi is the third generation of the hugely popular DS range which include the DS, DS Lite and now the DSi.

This new, dual-screen portable games console was announced by Nintendo at a recent press conference. Nintendo have announced that whilst the DSi will launch initially in japan, it will soon follow suit in Europe. The original UK launch of the DSi was planned for Summer 2009 but we initially suspected that they would hold off until the peak Christmas sales period. Shows what we know, the UK release date is now planned for 3rd April 2009 and several gaming retailers are already taking pre-orders.


Nintendo DSi Features

 

Nintendo have announced some key features to be introduced with the launch of the DSi following feedback from DS customers.

Whilst the DS Lite is slim and lightweight, customer feedback was that the portability of the DS was a key factor when buying that the DSi is even slimmer. In fact, the DSi is 2.6mm or about 12% thinner than the DS Lite but with no loss on durability. However, this means that there is no slot for GameBoy Advance software.

The next development is the challenge to increase screen size, but with no weight gain. The DSi screen is 8% bigger than the 3 inch DS Lite screen, making the DSi screen 3.25 inches. Nintendo have also improved both the speaker volume and sound quality but as we haven’t tested this for ourselves yet, we’ll just have to wait until we get hold of our pre-release copy to substantiate Nintendo’s claims.

Nintendo DSi Camera

Probably the most noticeable of developments over previous DS consoles is that the DSi has a Camera and Audio Player. Nice move Nintendo. However, don’t throw your digital camera away just yet as the DSi Camera is just 0.3 megapixels.

On the other hand, the DSi Camera software includes 11 types of special camera lenses. This means DSi can take pictures by utilizing a variety of special effects including black and white, colour the portions you touch or exchange the existing colour with a new one on the area you touch, make a composite picture using preinstalled frames or make the frames for yourselves, draw a variety of graffiti on the pictures, use the technology to recognize human faces and put glasses and moustaches on them, combine two people’s faces with different portions of one’s features, and confirm to what degree two faces are resembling by utilizing the face-recognition engine.

Nintendo DSi Sound Audio Player

Another addition over the DS Lite is the DSi Sound audio player. Functionality includes the ability to change the pitch and the speed by using the touch screen. You can fast-forward a Podcast and when you use the repeat-run function with the stylus, it becomes easier to copy the music, to play a musical instrument or to practice foreign languages.

Plus, as the Nintendo DSi has a microphone, the DSi Sound function utilises this to enhance the console even further.

Nintendo DSi Memory

An SD memory card can be inserted into the DSi for use with both the Camera and the Audio Player. To make use of Nintendo DSi Sound, you will need to store sound data in the AAC format on an SD card. As for the Nintendo DSi Camera, if you have stored its pictures on an SD memory card, you can view them on the Nintendo Wii by using Wii Photo Channel.

Nintendo DSi has internal memory, just like Wii. After storing the data there, you can choose to activate this data from the menu screen. The DSi Camera and the DSi Sound will be included in this internal memory of each DSi.

EA Games has suffered in the last few years, with its games getting less buzz and making fewer sales. So it probably comes as a harsh blow that the third installment of their hugely popular “The Sims” game has been leaked online a full two weeks before its official release date. Popping up on download and torrent sites, the game and its creators must now contend with fans who couldn’t wait to buy the CD, or just wanted to snag it for free and hope that their game fares as well as the also-leaked X-Men Origins: Wolverine film, which suffered little for the piracy. Of course, it’s a different ball-game for them: the Wolverine was a workprint and thus not at the level of the theatre experience, but being able to download the complete Sims 3 leaves very little reason to then purchase a copy.

The major changes to the Sims 3 can’t be found in the graphics, which, while streamlined, aren’t that different, but rather in the composition of the Sims themselves. No longer are they mechanical and relegating to feeling using a number system (e.g. A sim is 40% hungry, with a 90% need to pee), but rather they will be more intuitive, more responsive and emotionally layered–in a word, more human. Definitely an exciting prospect for the series’ millions of fans, who were frequently limited by the previous games’ rigidity.

Of course, time will tell whether the leak will affect sales and if the new system will offer the same amount of fun as the old, but the Sims 3 will be released June 2nd and we can all keep our fingers crossed that it provides a worthy entry to an awesome franchise.

If you're new to the series, here's a quick primer. The Sims 3 is a virtual life simulator. In it, you take control of a character called a sim, or an entire household of them. Sims have needs; they need to empty their bladders, to eat, to sleep, to bathe, to have fun, to socialize. It's real life boiled down to simple mechanics, but within these mechanics lies an entire universe of possibilities. Your sims can have babies who will cry in the middle of the night, needing their diapers changed. You can manage their personal development by sending them to the gym to work out, or by telling them to fix a broken television, or by having them play chess, or by sending them to the park to play the guitar. Sims go to work to earn simoleans (money, of course) so they can buy better things for their homes and redecorate--or just buy a brand-new home. They make friends and enemies, they go swimming, and they clog up the toilet. In other words, they act a whole lot like real people, except that they yammer in a delightful gibberish called simlish and communicate via speech bubbles that appear over their heads. It all sounds terribly mundane, but balancing the needs of your sims and tending to your digital playmates can keep you happily glued to your monitor for hours at a time.

For experienced Sims players, the laundry list of new features in The Sims 3 is extensive, but the one overhaul that has the biggest impact on the game is how seamlessly you can now move around your virtual town. In previous games, the presence of various neighborhoods led to a disjointed experience, so you rarely felt like you were in a living world. Now, your burb is freely explorable, so traveling to the gym, the art gallery, or your place of work means walking, biking, driving, or taxiing to the location in question without any loading times to break things up. Want your sim to head to the library and read up on the latest mystery? Just zoom out to the city map and select your destination, and your sim will travel there automatically, using the most efficient means of transportation. You might even get the option to invite someone along with you, so you won't have to head to the diner alone if you've got a friend or acquaintance nearby who's available to tag along.

The effect of the open town has a profound influence on the community aspects of The Sims 3. You can call other sims and invite them over using your handy cell phone, but if you're feeling adventurous, just head directly to another sim's house and introduce yourself. Or travel to one of the many public venues: the beach, the park, even the graveyard. In these places, you will have a chance to interact with other sims, and there may even be surprises in store if you happen to be in the right place at the right time. For example, you might be able to join a picnic in progress, or a midnight visit to the cemetery may introduce you to some new see-through pals. The game also provides spontaneous opportunities for your sims to socialize. Other sims will call you on the phone; if you're growing a garden, they may ask you to bring some veggies over in exchange for a few simoleans; or perhaps they'll ask you to repair a broken appliance for them. Either way, these tasks send you out on the town where you'll run into other sims, which gives you a sense of being part of a society that exists outside of your realm of influence.

Those social opportunities often result from the traits that you assign your sims during creation. These social traits are another new feature, and they influence how your sims will behave in certain situations, the careers that they will most likely excel in, the conversation options available, and many other aspects of daily sim life. You can select up to five traits for your sim, and there are a lot to choose from. So if you'd like to re-create your insane, neurotic, kleptomaniac aunt within the game, then you can do that, and those traits in turn will influence various aspects of her virtual life. For example, a sim with the neurotic trait can increase his or her happiness level by compulsively checking the sink and stove, but will also be prone to random freak-outs during moments of stress. Not only will a sim with the neat trait automatically clean almost everything, but his or her fun levels will actually rise in the process.

Of course, when you create a sim, you're choosing more than just personality traits. The physical customization options are far more extensive than before. Sliders let you determine skin color and tweak various facial features, color wheels let you settle on exact clothing hues, and there are a number of accessories, hair styles, and so on to choose from. Although it would be nice to have had even more options in some cases (for example, men's available hair styles seem limited), there's a good chance that you can still create a sim that resembles your kleptomaniac aunt. There's also a good chance that you can outfit her in that crazy polka-dot dress she wears, thanks to the Create a Style feature, which lets you choose from a huge number of patterns (even those used for nonclothing items such as masonry and linoleum) and tweak their colors as you see fit. If you want to put your klepto sim in a beautiful, subtle ball gown, then by all means, go for it. On the other hand, if she prefers swimsuits made of bricks, well, no one's going to judge (except maybe the aunt she's based on).

Getting sims together is usually a guaranteed laugh. As before, you can just sit back and let things happen if you prefer, and the AI does a good job with automated behavior; sims will act in ways remarkably true to the personality that you've established for them. But directing social encounters often yields even more hysterical results, and your sims' traits allow you to direct conversations more easily than before. There's a wider array of conversation topics when meeting up with others, and you'll want to play around with all of them just to see how your friends react. Try jumping into a romantic interest's arms--he may not catch you! Take your weakling sim to the gym and watch what happens on the treadmill; kiss another sim in front of your husband and watch the slaps ensue. Or generate your own masochistic amusement by denying your sims the use of a toilet, or putting them in a room without doors. Watching the expressive animations and listening to the dramatic vocal inflections is always a delight, whether it's your toddler sim chewing on her xylophone mallets or the man of the house throwing a tantrum because there are rotting leftovers in the fridge.

The life of a fortune hunter can be pretty exciting. I mean come one the idea of getting rich quick because some old explore hid their treasure to only leave clues you can figure out has to be exciting, right? Well for Nathan Drake that excitement usually ends up with constant gun fights with other fortune hunters and mercenaries. Luckily for us Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is chock full of that with a little treasure scattered along.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves continues the story of Nathan Drake. This time around he is talked into going after the long lost treasure the Cintamani stone which was said to be something Marco Polo was after. We follow Drake through Central Asia as he tries to stop a war criminal from reaching the Cintamani stone and the great power that comes with it.

Pros

The Story

The Uncharted series has a way of making certain historical legends exciting. You are honestly excited to see how the characters are intertwined with the treasure they are after and all the little pieces uncovered about past expeditions to find it. Through out the game you find yourself caring about some of the characters and even questioning the actions of others. Let alone the fact that you learn things about the legendary treasure you never would have taken the time out of your day to. I give Naughty Dog a lot of credit for making such an exciting game, but also teaching people of all age’s new things.

The Graphics 

The first Uncharted game was visually stunning. You take time to stop playing the game and just look around at the vast landscapes. There is so much detail and color that you honestly might cry because of how beautiful the scenery is. Uncharted 2 is even more stunning especially with the help from the updated Naughty Dog engine.

Even the character detail has greatly improved since the first game. From facial expressions to overall character design you can tell a lot of time went into designing this game. Also, one of the most impressive things is that when your character swims or rolls in a puddle you will notice that their clothes have become wet and watch them dry off right before your eyes.

Multiplayer 

This is something new to the franchise. Naughty Dog was looking to expand the users experience with the game and they have done so. You can spend hours upon hours playing. Uncharted 2 features two different types of multiplayer. First is the co-op side that allows three players to take over the roles of Nathan, Sully and Chloe. You and your teammates must work together to complete objectives and survive through missions.

The second type of multiplayer is the traditional type with features Deathmatch, Plunder, Elimination and Chain Reaction. Deathmatch pits two teams (Heroes vs. Villains) of five against each other to see who can reach 50 points first. Plunder is basically capturing the flag except with treasure. Elimination is deathmatch with no respawning and best 3 out of 5. Finally Chain Reaction is capture the flag except you must do so in order.

No More Sixaxis! 

Uncharted 2 doesn’t feature the six-axis controls from the first game. That means no moving the controller up and down to arc your grenade throws and moving it left and right to balance on beams. Yes, that made the game more difficult, but it also got really annoying especially when you were in the middle of a gun fight and need a perfect grenade throw.

The Game Play 

The only time you are not in control of your character is during the cut scenes. Other then that you are sneaking, running, gunning, and parkouring your way through the entire game. Those four elements are what make Uncharted 2 so much fun to play and even a little frustrating. They also play a vital role in completing it. You have to use all of your abilities to solve some puzzles that will unlock secret doors that will lead you that much closer to that treasure.

Cons

THERE ARE NONE!

Overall, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is one of the most entertaining, fun, and graphically stunning games I have ever played. You will spend hours finishing the main story and then hours playing multiplayer. Naught Dog did an amazing job at making you want to revisit this game again and again. If you own a Playstation 3 then you must own this game no ifs, ands, or buts. Uncharted 2 has just become the par for video game development.