Audio Visual month - NVidia 3D Vision

In the spirit of Audio Visual month - NVidia 3D Vision

 

In the spirit of Audio / Visual month I will take a look at a new development in Visual technology:

NVidia recently announced their new 3D technology. I could not personally test because it is not available in S-A yet (you can import it for a lot of $$$ but I do not have a lot of $$$). However people that have tested it say it is – well, um, ok-ish.

All it is, is a pair of 3D glasses that work together with a NVidia graphic card to produce very life like 3D images while you are playing games.

People that have personally experienced games with this new tech say that the 3D is really good. It is a lot better than previous attempts where the 3D were just red and green shadows that looked more 2D that 3D. If you have recently seen the movie Coraline in 3D you would know what I mean. Objects appear to float in front of the screen and sometimes seem to come right at you.

Setting up the whole system is very easy. A wizard guides you through most of the installation and technical stuff. After the installation is done, the user can tweak a few of the settings on their own.

If the 3D is so good and it is so easy to use, why would they just give it a so-so rating? It is the fact that the overall experience is not very good.

First of all, prolonged used could give you headaches. Second it will only work with Windows Vista. The third reason, there is only a very limited amount of games that really work with this technology and than there is the price tag.

You need to buy –

• the glasses;
• a graphic card that can support the glasses;
• a screen that can support the card and the glasses.
• (and of course a game that will work with all of the above)

It is by far the best attempt yet to bring 3D to computer games and although there are a few snags, it is definitely a technology to keep your eye on.

A small review - Sims 3

A small review - Sims 3

Sims 3

The Sims 2 was the best selling game ever with more expansion packs than I have fingers and toes. Sims 3 was released recently and is topping sales charts everywhere. All over the internet you can see there is a lot of hype and excitement about the new Sims 3. I have never played Sims and was curious to see what the fuzz was all about. Boldly I ventured where I never ventured before and got the new Sims 3.

 

Almost immediately you get an idea why this series is so successful. Starting the game you are filled with a sense of wonder… There are so many things to see and do, you want your Sim to experience it all. Like a good parent you just want what is best for your Sim.

A few hours into the game I realize I am not a very good parent.

 

While my Sim was sitting and watching television I had some time to take stock. My Sim watch too much tv, hardly ever exercise, the kitchen is stacked with dirty dishes and he is always late for work. Long story short, the little Sim is living my life.

 

I was stunned to realize that I created my own version of the real world in the virtual world of the Sims. It’s like looking into a mirror.

 

So if you want a glimpse into your own life, play Sims for a while.

 

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If you have a mad scientist inside you, go check out how much fun you can have experimenting on these poor Sims - Exploring the Mysteries of the Mind with Sims 3.

Win some

Win some

 

Do you like free stuff? Of course you do.

www.justplay.co.za is a South African website trying something completely different.

In exchange for you answering a few questions about certain products you get the chance to win some cool prizes. It is a bit time consuming but if you win a large flat screen or a laptop, the 20 minutes spend answering questions is totally worth it.

 

There are lots of prizes to choose from – a car, a scooter, house hold appliances, holidays, etc. etc.

Personally I used all my entries on the Xbox competition.

A tale of two New York cities (part 2)

A tale of two New York cities (Part two)

Last week a described the hell that is New York, in ‘A tale of two New York Cities’ when I reviewed Alone in the Dark. At any moment in New York there is a monster waiting to kill you. In Prototype it is the same, living in New York is a death sentence.

Review: Prototype

Prototype is an open world type game like Grand Theft Auto, but unlike Grand Theft Auto you have awesome mutant powers.

 

Again, you are the victim of some terrible government experiment. You can’t remember what happened but you do know that you want revenge. Good thing the experiment left you with some kick-ass mutant powers.

 

To get your revenge you must find out what happened to you by completing some missions. Each mission you complete helps you to remember what happened to you.

A very unique feature of Prototype is your ability to absorb other people’s memories. Other people’s memories are essentially small movie clips with some information on what happened. Every memory you add to your own will add extra pieces to the puzzle. Completing a mission will give you new chunks of memory. When you are between missions you can hunt in New York for people with special knowledge (like high ranking army officers and scientists) and absorb their memories. How do you absorb somebody’s memories? By eating the poor bastard alive. Living in New York must really suck.

 

If you don’t want to complete missions there are lots of other tasks and sub missions to do. Some of these sub missions are really hard and they will keep you busy for a long time.

 

Every task / sub mission or mission you complete earns you experience points.

I really liked this RPG element they brought into this game. You can spend your experience points on upgrading your character, making him tougher, stronger and giving him extra skills like running up vertical walls or driving.

 

You can get extra weapons, offensive abilities and defensive abilities. You have a lot of different offensive and a lot of different defensive abilities. Combine them to create different attack / defense combos. The number of combos is only limited by your imagination. Couple that with the fact that you can use guns, tanks and a lot of other assault vehicles you really have lots and lots of options when you want to attack or defend yourself.

 

Prototype is an exciting new game that combines the open world game play of Grand Theft Auto with the RPG elements of games like World of Warcraft. Running around New York wrecking havoc is fun, you feel like Wolverine, nobody can touch you, and if they try, you throw a bus at them or you throw a tank at them or get in the tank and drive over them…the list of things you can do is endless. It is no wonder that this game is a best seller.

Remember to check out part one of this article – the Alone in the Dark review

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Confessions of a pirate

Confessions  of a pirate

I would never pirate games. Ok I have pirated a few games. Well Ok, I have pirated the hell out of a lot of games.

Recently I don’t pirate any more. Why? It is a hassle. Downloading the game takes forever, cracking the game usually makes your anti-virus go crazy because there is normally a virus / Trojan hidden in the crack and finally after going through all that, the game does not work. Buying the game is just easier. (And for the first time in my life a got a few spare $$$)

I mention this; because the guys over at The Pirate Bay have been found guilty of piracy and each have gotten a year in jail + some huge fines.

But you don’t have to pirate games, to get some free games. Here is a list of 25 excellent free games on gameplayer.com.au.

I am certainly going to check out Mech Commander.

Diablo 3

Titan Quest 2 is out of the question. Iron Lore the developers of Titan Quest have gone out of business more than a year ago. So the now all eyes are on Blizzard developing Diablo 3.

 

Unlucky for the people of Sanctury, hell is has broken loose again and their world is under attack. Lucky for us.

The art work for the game looks great:
http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/?rhtml=y

But. Blizzard is still looking for artists, software engineers and designers, it is still going to be a while before we see Diablo 3.

Maybe you got what it takes to work on Diablo? If you are working on Diablo - don't mess it up.
See if you got what it takes:
http://www.blizzard.com/us/jobopp/

Mutating Virus...

Mutating Virus...

The World Health Organization released a report stating that the H1N1 virus mutates frequently and could mutate into a very dangerous virus that will spread like wild fire across the globe causing panic everywhere.
Sounds familiar? Sounds like a story we all know and love.

The report does not say if people that catch the virus suddenly start to hunger for human brains, so I am forced to assume that they do.