BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM

BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM , ...
BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM

Batman

Batman , ...
Batman

Wheelman

Posted by Xtrem Gaming

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Producator: Tigon Studios
Distribuitor:
Ubisoft
Platforma: PC Xbox360 PS3
Gen: Action
Data lansarii: 27-Mar-2009
Website:
Viziteaza
PC recomandat:
CPU 2GHz, 2GB RAM, Video Card with 512 MB









Wheelman is an apparent undercover mission in Barcelona starring Vin Diesel. I say "apparent" because the story is pretty much never explained with the exception of a short cutscene at the beginning of the game. Vin just meets some dude from an agency who hands him a folder of info and vaguely mentions a world-ending thing that's in Spain. From there, you're Vin's undercover persona Milo, a no-nonsense driver for all sorts of bad guys. Throughout the game, you'll tear through the streets of Barcelona chasing a document in a tube, a guy named Felipe and more, but you'll never have any idea why the hell you're doing this thanks to the nonexistent story this game packs.

Seriously -- I'm an undercover agent, but I have no idea what group I'm working with. I get profiles of characters from the RAI between missions but I causally told some dude I worked for the CIA at one point. Who am I really working for? Who knows! Why
would the CIA come to Barcelona? Who cares! All I know is there are three factions of bad people in the city and I need to work with them all to find the big thing. That's it. These are pretty big storytelling flaws.





Making this feeling of detachment even worse is the fact that this is a botched take on the open-world environment. See, you can get through the so-called story of Wheelman in about eight hours, but this is designed to be like the sandbox world of Grand Theft Auto. OK, that's a lie; it seems like this game is designed to be a direct knockoff of GTA. When you pull up the world map on your PDA, you'll see green icons for story-based missions and then a number of colored icons for the seven categories of side missions -- stuff such as driving people to certain places in a Taxi, taking out your opponents in Rampage and escaping your pursuers in Fugitive.

What makes this feel disconnected is the fact that these things just pop up without any rhyme or reason. When you choose to do a cabbie mission, you just teleport into a car that's already got a passenger. Why are you smashing into other cars? Just because you want to, I guess. Sure, the missions can give you upgrades and such, but how does that make sense in this world? There's no in-game economy, so you're not earning money for these tasks; you're just doing them to do them and get the best rank. You don't feel like you're a part of this city. It's just a bunch of random instances in a sun-bathed Spanish town.

One of the greatest things about any of the GTAs was connecting with the city you were inhabiting -- knowing shortcuts, tight turns, or where people lived. You'll never get this in Wheelman because you can just jump to any mission you feel like. You pull up the PDA, select the mission you want and you can be warped to that spot. You don't need to drive there; you can just travel through space and time. This leads to you not knowing or caring about the city, but honestly, there's nothing to know or care about. Barcelona is colorful and bright, but it's wholly forgettable. Every street looks like the one before it with a few notable landmarks here and there. Just about everything's destructible, which is a nice touch because you'll be smashing through all sorts of crap, but none of it looks that good. In fact, when I was tearing through a patch of dirt, the mud my rear tires kicked up was so blocky that I could've sworn it was pulled from a PlayStation 2 game.

Yeah, I wouldn't want the moped either.Still, Wheelman isn't a complete failure -- there are some fun parts once you accept there's no story and the city is dead. What the game actually has going for it are a few completely over-the-top, unrealistic elements involving its vehicles. When Milo's barreling down the street and coming up on a car, you can hold down the Airjack button and watch a red arrow appear over the vehicle in front of you. When that triangle turns green, you let go of the button and Milo will leap from your ride to the new car in slow motion. That's right -- he's jumping forward from a speeding car to another vehicle that's going slower. Either upon impact or (oddly) after he's already jumped through the window, you'll see some shattering glass and Milo will be behind the wheel. It's completely unbelievable and it looks hilarious, but this is the kind of goofball crap I was expecting in Wheelman. This is actually fun.

Another ludicrous idea the game employs but can actually be a cool is Vehicle Melee. Here, the right joystick acts as your car's hit stick. When you're rolling down the street, you can jerk the stick left, forward, or right to perform a body check in that direction; it's like your car's wheels turned 90 degrees and you're driving sideways. Sure, it could never happen in real life, but for a videogame starring Vin Diesel, I'm behind the moves. If you wear down a car, you can pull off a finisher where the camera will follow the rolling ball of flame that used to be your enemy.

Sadly, the AI you'll go up against in Wheelman will quickly drain the fun out of these nifty moves. See, everyone in Barcelona is mentally challenged. Let's look at a simple example: there's a Trophy/Achievement for surviving a five-star wanted level for five minutes (yup, they stole the star system and achievement type from GTA). When I first started my quest to get this, I'd shoot a civilian for a while to get my level up (you can't kill police or innocents in this game) and start driving when the cops gave chase. My first few times, the cops caught up to me and took down my ride in a hail of gunfire (Oddly, there's never a car to Airjack when you need there to be one in these situations.).

Then, I remembered that I was up against idiots and tried getting out of my car and running from them. This strategy worked for a few minutes because every time the cops would get close to me, they'd climb out of their cars to chase me on foot but that animation gave me enough time to get far enough away that they'd climb back in their car to chase me and repeat the process. Finally, I got cocky around the three-minute mark and tried backtracking and they shot me. On the attempt that actually scored me the honor, I just drove in a circle around a courtyard. That's right; for five minutes, I drove in the same circle around a Barcelona fountain and the game's AI couldn't figure out a way to stop me.

This idiocy bleeds over into the hackneyed on-foot combat as well. Yeah, Milo can get out of his car whenever he wants to and he's going to have to do it a lot seeing as how a ton of Wheelman missions are "drive to destination, get out of car, fight dozens of bad guys, get objective, fight back to base." These are the types of mechanics that grate on my nerves. It's not that these tasks were tough; it's that they're so goddamn boring. You start at the alley entrance, crouch behind some boxes and pop up to shoot. When you've cleared all the red dots off your radar, you move forward and suddenly some new dots materialize a ways in front of you. It's your job to just mow down wave after wave of these dudes and it's not hard.

Health's regenerative in Wheelman, Milo's pistol ammunition is unlimited and there are a few secondary weapons he can pick up such as the shotgun and assault rifle. Comically, Milo'll store the secondary weapon on his back, but there's no strap or anything to hold it in place. It's just inexplicably stuck to the small of his back like he's got double-sided tape back there. I guess this shouldn't surprise me because I've seen Milo do a number of flat-out amazing things in this game -- he takes phone calls in his head without holding a phone or owning a Bluetooth; when you tell him to jump out of a moving car, he'll sometimes phase through the seat and just be standing where he was driving a second ago; if you see a car you want in the distance, you hit the button and Milo telepathically stops the car and jogs over to jack it; and he walked away after getting hit by a car, where he got bent in half to the point where his heels touched the back of his head.




When the bad guys get in cars, the action isn't much better. One mission had me facing off against a gang in a circular construction site and I needed to take out the leader in five minutes. However, once the leader and his cronies climbed into their vehicles, they just drove around the site in a circle. It wasn't until the five minutes were up that the bad guys tried to leave the site. Why they felt like they'd toy with Milo for five minutes when they could just take off was beyond me, but I don't think the AI thinks out any of its plans in this game. Keep in mind that you're working for three different gangs in Wheelman so that you can... um... get info on this "device" or whatever.

Anyway, you're helping one gang kill another gang and then immediately turning around and helping the one gang you just hurt. During the one cutscene where a gang leader called Milo on this fact, the wheelman brushed it off by saying he was just a driver. That satisfied the leader, but I'm pretty sure that's not how it works in real life. This one boss who runs a casino didn't even know I was working with the other gangs -- even after I led a lone assault on the casino that killed dozen's of the boss' men. Did he think there was another bald American who runs like he pooped his pants killing people in the streets of Barcelona?

For lots of the missions, you'll be going after a certain car or trying to get away from a group. This means that you're in a match with a handful of other vehicles and you'll need to clean their clocks using your vehicle melee skills as well as the few super-moves you have via the turbo gauge. As you pull off moves like "speeding" and "handbrake turns," a gauge in the bottom left corner will fill with juice; you can use this power to boost or perform two types of trick shots. The first slows down the action, coats the screen in black and white, and puts you in the driver's seat so that you can shoot 180 degrees. Circles appear on the enemy vehicles during these moments so you can pull off some instant explosions and the results can be pretty satisfying.

The second move does everything I just wrote about, except this one spins the vehicle 180 degrees so that you're now face-to-face with the slow-mo enemies coming right at you. This is great for taking out bad guys who you've gotten a bit of a lead on. It usually ends with you whipping the car back to the front and crashing into some obstacle that's popped up in front of you, but it still can be cool... except for the times vehicles exploded before my bullets even got to the gas tanks.

Crrrrrazy taxi. Except not that crazy, fast, or fun.Problem is you won't get that many leads as the game goes on. For some reason, when you hit your boost, it always seems the enemies hit their's as well. This means you rarely get the chance to get way ahead of the pack and deal out some damage. Hell, in the final missions, you're just SPAMMED with enemies. You'll be on the trail to taking out these gang leaders who are holed up in one vehicle, but whenever you get the slightest chance at popping the boss, three fricking underlings will t-bone you or knock you out of your turn. It's infuriating.



Burnout Paradise’s Big Surf Island announced

Posted by Xtrem Gaming

Burnout


Criterion just released a trailer for Burnout Paradise DLC Big Surf Island. It shows some cool improvments and stuff such as massive jumps, unique cars and there seems to be alot of cool-looking challenges as well.. the add-on is out on June 11th.. Check the map of the Big surf Island…

Burnout

Trailer


More Screenshots.....
Burnout


Burnout

New Modern Warfare 2 Screens

Posted by Xtrem Gaming

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Modern Warfare 2 has been the talk of the hour and Game Informer has snatched the exclusive first look of the game. The magazine features a 10 page article detailing some of the game’s new features along with plenty of new screen shots which haven’t hit the net just yet. From the looks of it Modern Warfare 2 will be taking place in Russia, Brazil and Afghanistan.Sorry fot the quality

So check em out he



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sf IV

Call of Duty: World at War map pack 2 out

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After its stellar E3 demonstration, it's had for us to find room in our heart that's not being occupied byModern Warfare 2. But those of your with bigger hearts than ours (yeah, that's most of you) will be able to welcome a second chunk of DLC for call of duty 5 into your home tomorrow.

For $9.99, you'll get Banzai, Corrosion, Sub Pens and a new zombie battling map, Shi No Numa. If you still haven't made your purchasing decision, you can see a trailer for the pack after the break..

CryEng.3=CryEng.2 medium settings

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CryEngine 3 equal to CryEngine 2 'medium' settings, comparison video listed below

CryTek's newest, shiniest piece of tech is CryEngine 3, which will be put to use in the upcoming PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Crysis 2. While the first footage of the console versions looks remarkably similar to what you'd get from a PC, a closer examination reveals how top-end gaming PCs are still capable of rendering better graphics with CryEngine 2. According to tehdaza on YouTube, "CryEngine 3 running on console hardware is about the same as CryEngine 2 running on 'medium' settings." The look of the console versions can be recreated on the PC by using low textures, high shaders and object geometry and medium on all other settings.
You can check out the video after the break. In it, you'll be able to compare the draw distance of the two engines and see the change in physics, texture work and more.



EA states PS3 version of L4D 2

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EA official site lists PS3 version of Left 4 Dead 2

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It's no secret that Valve isn't a big fan of the PS3. When the company revealed Left 4 Dead 2 as an Xbox 360/PC exclusive, no one acted surprised. However, PS3 may be getting its own version of the multiplayer FPS if the official EA website is to be believed. Not only is PS3 listed in the "Coming Soon" section of the site, but a quick glance of EA's games page reveals placeholder box art for the game as well. This could be a sign that EA is working on a PS3 port; the company did work on the PS3 version of The Orange Box.

Or, it could be a database error. A PS3 version of the original Left 4 Dead was rumored after an accidental listing was placed on retailer HMV's website. That, for those of you keeping track, didn't come to fruition.

Max Payne 3 coming this winter

Posted by Xtrem Gaming

mp3

For all the things Mark Wahlberg has killed in his life -- The Happening, The Funky Bunch, The Happening Funky Bunch (short-lived kids show, don't ask) -- he's brought at least one thing back to life: The Max Payne series. His non-hit film adaptation will be followed by Max Payne 3, which Rockstar said will arrive in winter of this year on the 360, PS3 and PC.

Here's what Rockstar boss Sam Houser had to say about the sequel: "We're starting a new chapter of Max's life with this game. This is Max as we've never seen him before, a few years older, more world-weary and cynical than ever. We experience the downward spiral of his life after the events ofMax Payne 2 and witness his last chance for salvation."

We think we speak for everyone when we ask this. ... More cynical? Really? Like, is he just stealing candy from babies and choking them to death with the wrappers?

Max Payne 3 details out

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Leaving the gritty film noir New York City of Max Payne and its sequel behind for a more tropical environment (though still a major city), Max Payne's next game takes him to São Paulo, Brazil. According to the latest Game Informer scans from the magazine's July issue cover story, the "disrepute" Mr. Payne has fallen into can be attributed to 12 "lost years" between the events of the first two Paynes and the upcoming game.

Rockstar confirmed to Game Informer the addition of multiplayer as well, though -- big surprise! -- the company is keeping mum on too many details regarding whether it'll be co-op, versus, or the always mysterious "something else." For all the details, you'll want to check out the magazine when it hits your mailbox or local brick-and-mortar.

Codemasters FUEL Preview - IGN

Posted by Xtrem Gaming

February 20, 2009 - The idea of driving a crazy souped-up vehicle at breakneck speeds across hundreds of square miles of open landscape is instantly appealing to gamers. And France-based developer Asobo Studio and Codemasters are working hard to deliver just that experience this summer in the form of Fuel, an over-the-top multiplatform racing title that promises some of the largest open-world environments on consoles to date.

At its recent Gamer's Day event in San Francisco, Codemasters rolled out some big numbers in support of Fuel, which is set in a world that's been ravaged by the results of climate change. There are more than 70 different races in the game, and they'll take place in 19 separate areas, all of which feature unique landscapes, weather systems and landmarks. In all, there are more than 100,000 square miles of landscape to explore in Fuel. I'm no geographer, but that sounds pretty big.

Luckily, you'll have access to a wide variety of vehicles to help you tame that vast wilderness. There are six vehicle classes in Fuel, including motorcycles, buggies, ATVs, SUVs, monster trucks and muscle cars. Each is suited to different the types of terrain in the game, and you'll want to tap into each class's strengths as you move from race to race.

Yes, by all means, drive into the lightning storm.


But wait, there are more numbers. Codemasters says there are at least 100 separate challenges in Fuel, from raids and straight circuit races to helicopter chases. And those huge environments? Codies and Asobo claim that you'll be able to see the equivalent of 2,500 square miles into the distance, which is pretty impressive if true.

But draw distances and pretty vistas will only take you so far if there's nothing exciting to do on the ground, so Asobo has focused on adding some specific objectives into the open-world environment. And while many races will allow you to find your own path from start to finish, others are tightly controlled circuit races or checkpoint-based point-to-point events. It's a good mix of events that looks like it will keep things interesting.

But navigating your way through the backwoods of Central Oregon or the vast plateaus of the Grand Canyon is no easy task. But you'll have a handy Global Positioning System that updates your position every frame as you race. It's a pretty cool system that adapts to your environment and vehicle on the fly. So if you're racing across the desert in a muscle car, your GPS knows you're better off sticking to the asphalt than the dirt. If you're in a buggy, however, it won't hesitate to direct you off the beaten path.

Zen and the art of not breaking your neck.


GPS or not, tearing around the planet at top speeds is not an easy proposition, so it's a good thing the vehicles in Fuel have more of an arcade feel than a strict off-road simulation vibe. Despite that, I still had trouble controlling my vehicle in a checkpoint-based race on a wooded mountainside. I spent a bit more time picking bark out of my teeth than I did feeling the wind in my hair. But it takes some time to get used to the handling in any racing game, so I'll reserve judgment until I get the chance to experience the full Fuel experience.

If you want a break from racing and just want to go for a Sunday drive, there's a free ride option that'll be right up your alley. Just hop in your ride, hit the throttle and head for the horizon. But you might want to cancel your dinner plans, because it will take you four hours to drive from one end of the map to the other. But you weren't doing anything anyway, right?

Multiplayer will likely be one of Fuel's main draws, and up to 16 players can hop online to face off against one another. As an added multiplayer feature, Asobo plans to offer cross-platform online play between the Xbox 360 and Windows-based PCs.

Fuel has made progress since the last time we laid our hands on it, but there are still a lot of questions that can only be answered once we spend more time with this expansive and ambitious racer. Currently, Fuel is set for release in May 2009, which is fast approaching.

TonyHawk Ride board limited to 300lbs.

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Bad news for Ricky "Steel Knees" Chamberlain, the world's only 350-lb. pro skater: The proprietary Tony Hawk Ride board is limited to folks 300 lbs. and under, according to Robomodo.

It's kind of a moot point though. We're not sure how to put this in a kind fashion, so we'll just come out with it. If you're over 300 lbs., the board's weight limit probably isn't the reason you won't be jumping around and kick flipping your way through the new Tony Hawk. You know, you're right, we don't know you, that could be all muscle. Just pretend we didn't say anything.

Crysis 2 Announced for PC,Xbox & PS3

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crysis

Ea partners & Crytek has announced the Crysis 2 for PC as well as for consoles… no media no details are surfaced yet.. stay tuned for more..

"Next Installment of the Critically-Acclaimed Crysis Franchise will be First Game Built on Crytek’s Multiplatform CryENGINE 3 Technology"

Full Press Release:
Redwood City, Calif. – June 1, 2009 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) announced today that it has agreed to a deal extension with Crytek GmbH, the award-winning developers of the Crysis® universe, to publish Crysis 2. Renowned for their technical excellence, artistic craftsmanship and commitment to quality, Crytek is building Crysis 2 on their new state-of-the-art multiplatform game development solution CryENGINE®3 for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system, the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, and the PC.

“The development of Crysis 2 marks a major stepping stone for our studio,” said Cevat Yerli, CEO and President of Crytek. “This is not only the next game in the Crysis franchise, it’s the first title we are developing for consoles and the first title being built on CryENGINE 3. We are excited to have the support of EA Partners again as we work together to make the launch of Crysis 2 a huge event.”

“Nothing speaks more to the success of the EA Partners program than when a studio the caliber of Crytek continues to work with us,” said David DeMartini, Senior Vice President and General Manager of EA Partners. “Crytek is already one of the elite PC development studios in the world and we are excited to have the opportunity to partner with them in bringing their award-winning technology and gameplay to more platforms and a wider audience with Crysis 2.”

The Pirate Bay founders sentenced to prison, website soldiers on

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In what's being described as a landmark verdict, four men responsible for assisting throngs of dubious internet users to download all sorts of copyrighted material are being ushered off to prison cells for twelve whole months. The Stockholm district court in Sweden found the defendants guilty not of hosting materially illegally, but of "providing a website with sophisticated search functions, simple download and storage capabilities, and a tracker linked to the website [that helped users commit copyright violations]." As expected, the foursome seems unaffected by the ruling, with Peter Sunde (shown) tweeting that "it used to be only movies, now even verdicts are out before the official release." After jail, the crew will be forced by pay 30 million kronor ($3.56 million) to a number of entertainment companies, which is far less than those firms were hoping for. Curiously, we're told that the verdict didn't include an order to shut down The Pirate Bay website, and you can pretty much bank on an appeal being filed in record time.

Sony PSP Remote Controlled Car

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Sony Patents PSP Remote Controlled Car
OK, it’s only a patent, so don’t let your head spin too much just yet, but Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has filed a patent that would turn your " PSP into a device that could see and control a small car remotely.

The car has a camera mounted atop its hood and video feed can be seen on the PSP. "


The car and PSP would communicate via a wireless link.

You may be wondering why anyone would want a camera on top of his or her remote controlled car. Well, according to the patent, “a user may control the car… so as to spy on their friends… then upload the stored video images to a website.”


Among other specifications, the car has the ability to create “augmented reality zones,” which are areas outlined with virtual markers that players physically place. If a car leaves the zones, it freezes, safely allowing one to build a racetrack near, say, a flight of stairs.


This is only a patent and most patents don’t see light, so don’t go planning any Christmas lists just yet. Still, it's definitely an interesting direction Sony could go with its PSP if they followed through.


Nintendo releasing Black Wii

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Our bingo card was off by just a couple of days. Nintendo didn't bother to introduce a new color for the Wii system during its E3 press conference ... or anywhere else in North America, for that matter. Japan got its own mini-megaton tonight in the form of a new black Wii system, which will release in Japan on August 1. In addition, accessories including the Wiimote, Classic Controller, and Classic Controller Pro, will also be released in black to coordinate with the new system and extract money from people who already have Wiis.

Street Fighter IV Benchmark Results & Screenshots

Posted by Xtrem Gaming

Street Fighter IV PC
Benchmark Results
& Screenshots.
A few days ago the Street Fighter IV PC Benchmark was released. Street Fighter IV is superb on consoles, but I have been very interested to see what the game plays like and looks like on a PC. Fortunately with this new benchmark I have been able to test this and it looks incredible.

I have used the benchmark a total of 24 times. Each time has been very impressive. I have not experienced any slowdown and the animations have been even smoother than what I have experienced on the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions. Considering how great this game is on consoles, this is spectacular news for PC gamers.


The PC Settings in the menu consists of a plethora of graphical options to tweak. You can set the antialiasing from
none all the way to C16xQAA. There are also a number of resolution, framerate, texture, and shadow settings. There is simply tons to tweak if you are not getting the FPS that you desire.

The benchmark consists of 3 different fights and one scene of the original Street Fighter gang spinning in a circle. All of the fights are very exciting. Many of the moves which are shown can be very difficult to reproduce when actually playing the game. Thankfully there are some awesome accessories available for purchase that work on the PC. Especially I would recommend the
Official Street Fighter IV Tournament Edition FightStick. It is really nice that these fantastic arcade sticks are finally in stock at many online retail locations. Kudos to MadCatz for finally having the supply to meet the unprecedented demand.

My test setup for the benchmark included the following:

OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad 9650 @ 3.0GHz
Memory: Corsair Domainator DDR3 1800 4GB
Graphics Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 280 SSC
Display Setting: 1920x1080 60Hz
Graphic Settings: All Settings Maxed

Certainly not the newest setup, but powerful nevertheless. In case you are concerned if your PC will be able to handle this game you may want to checkout the
Street Fighter IV PC Requirements.


The above screenshot represents the benchmark score I achieved the very first time that I tested. Not bad at all! Averaging at least 60 FPS the entire bench session. V-sync was turned on, but obviously that does not guarantee 60 FPS if your system can not handle it. Very impressive considering that I had all settings maxed. The benchmark was buttery smooth.


Now this interesting. This is the result I achieved by alt tabbing out of the benchmark and then returning after it was finished. Obviously this is an absolutely awesome result. Maybe it is an NVIDIA driver issue or pehaps alt tabbing throttles the graphics card.

Needless to say I am downright stoked for Street Fighter IV on the PC. It appears that it will be an incredible experience. Street Fighter IV PC will be available on July 7th. You can purchase Street Fighter IV in two different varitions. One with a Ryu fightpad controller bundled with the game and another that comes with the game only.

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Street Fighter IV MadCatz Bundle

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Street Fighter IV

Below you will find many screenshots which I took while running the benchmark.









Nero Liquid Television is TiVo for the PC

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Some of us can’t live without our TiVos, and DVR is still in huge demand for both the PC and the TV. Fortunately, Nero has made a low-priced DVR with Liquid TV, a program that can bring actual TiVo software to a PC.

Liquid TV comes with the entire kit to turn a PC into a TiVo including the software and a one-year subscription to the service. The software even includes the Season Pass and KidZone features, something that TiVo-ites will be very familiar with.

It even comes with a figure-eight shaped remote that resembles the remotes that come with most TiVo units, as well as a USB IR receiver. The HD-compatible USB tuner is a genuine Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-950Q, which is a high quality model that can access over-the-air digital signals, QAM channels, and analog channels.

So, not only can you get the TiVo experience on your PC, but it can be obtained cheaply. Believe it or not, the Nero Liquid TV is available for just $103.99. I have to admit that I sounded like some extended infomercial there, but a fully-functioning DVR for a tad over hundred dollars is a good deal in a lot of books. If someone sent you money for Christmas, this might be the item to get for yourself.

Flexicord bends for efficient cable management

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We all have our own ways of dealing with cable management and some are more thorough than others. I haven’t always bothered with organizing my cables neatly, that is until I got a puppy. Now all of my cables are tucked as far out of his reach as I can manage. Well for those of you that prefer your cables nice and neat, there is Flexicord. It gives a new take as to how you can keep all those cables from turning into a tangled mess beneath your desk.

Flexicord has a thick pipe cleaner that sits alongside the cable, which makes it possible to bend the cord. That will give you a better way to tuck those cables into the shape you need. If you wanted to, you could even wrap this around a couple of other cables to help out the ones that do not have the pipe cleaner inside. Flexicord comes in several different types, to name a few, they offer USB, S-video, networking cables and HDMI. Of course, since these are special cords, they’ll cost a bit more than a normal cord would. Which brings up the debate, as to whether to pay the extra, or just keep utilizing twist ties and whatever else you can manage to find. These will cost you about $25 for most of the cords, but the longer 10-foot cables will range at about $34. There isn’t a ton of purchase info on their site just yet, but you can check it out and keep an eye on it if you’re really interested.

Razer Carcharias headset for unrivaled audio clarity

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We took a look at the Razer Mamba earlier today, and apart from the fastest gaming mouse in the world, Razer has not forgotten about another key area in gaming - audio. This is where the Razer Carcharias comes in handy, offering uncompromised comfort and audio clarity. The Razer Carcharias is extremely comfort-centric, taking on a circumaural shape that will cover your ears fully without making them feel stifled or stuffy. The adjustable headband also helps to make it a perfect fit, even after your head has swelled to large proportions due to pride of being the best gamer in the area. Other features of the Razer Carcharias headset include :-

  • Frequency Response: 20 - 20,000 Hz
  • Impedance: 32 _ at 1kHz
  • Sensitivity (@1kHz, 1V/Pa): 102 +/- 4dB at 1 kHzMax.
  • Input Power: 200 mW
  • Drivers: 40 mm, with neodymium Magnets

You can pick it up for $79.99 in the US while those in Europe will have to fork out 79.99 Euros when it is released worldwide sometime in the first quarter of the year.

The USB Tank Missile Launcher

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There have been a few different types of missile launchers, yet this one has the ability to chase down your co-workers and friends. The USB tank is controlled on your laptop or PC and from there you can steer as well as make it shoot at whichever target you like. The little pink missiles will be great to take out anyone causing trouble. You can even change the angle it shoots, for those times when your target is up high.

The USB toys can shoot 12 feet and you can control four different tanks at once. Which is far better than all of the missile launchers that just sit on your desk and don’t even chase anyone down. Sadly, there’s bad news for Mac users that don’t feel like running Windows. You have to be running Windows 2000, XP or Vista for this to work. They have a video showing the tank being operated and it’s incredibly simple. You can purchase it on Red5 for £40.00 or about $56.

The Santa Cruz USB SkateDrive

Posted by Xtrem Gaming


For those of you that when you’re not on your computer, you’d rather be out on your skateboard, there is now the Skate Drive. According to the site, it’s the first and apparently even the only authentic USB skateboard-inspired flash drive. Hopefully they even made it so that the wheels spin. That way when you’re particularly bored at either school or work, you can have something to fiddle with. That is if you aren’t using the drive for actual computer oriented tasks at that particular juncture.

The Skate Drive doesn’t have a ton of storage, it only has 2GB. However, it’ll at least work for smaller tasks. To create the drive they teamed up with the Santa Cruz skateboard company and used actual graphics from Santa Cruz skateboards. The USB drive also comes with a cord, or a leash as they call it, to make it easier to carry the drive around. One thing is for sure, this is one flash drive that it’d be highly disappointing to lose the cap of the drive. You can purchase this for $21.99 on Tiger Direct.

HP announces Pavilion Elite m9600 PC

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HP is right now enjoying its position as top dog of the computer industry, and the company has unveiled yet another desktop-based machine that will help cement its position even further - the Pavilion Elite m9600 series PC. Each purchase will be accompanied by a widescreen monitor, where the Pavilion Elite m9600 will deliver the speed, reliability and performance required for demanding multitasking in addition to handling graphic-intensive files and movies with aplomb.

Depending on your needs and budget, the Pavilion Elite m9600 can be configured with prices starting from $949 upwards, featuring an Intel Core i7 920 processor, a NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GS graphics card, a 500 GB hard drive and a SuperMulti DVD burner that is able to generate both DVDs and CDs with custom labels. For folks who want to play hard after a long day at work, you can throw in more cash into the final configuration by including a Blu-ray DVD writer and an ATI Radeon HD-4850 graphics card.

Just to make sure your viewing experience with all the power underneath the hood is enhanced even further, HP will also make available a quartet of monitors that offer a true high-definition experience with 16:9 aspect ratio, making them perfect for use with multimedia viewing, photo editing or gaming. You will be able to choose from the 18.5″ HP w1858 Monitor, the 20″ HP 2009m Monitor, the 21.5″ HP 2159m Monitor and the 23″ HP w2338h Monitor, depending on your needs and budget. While we’re sure you’ll enjoy the viewing experience of movies on this, your boss will also be happy that productivity can increase thanks to the ability to view a couple of pages simultaneously without having to scroll through them. Both the 2159m and w2338h monitors will come with HDMI inputs for a high-definition experience.

Samsung outs new 70 Series monitors

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samsung-p2370hdWith so many LCD monitors to choose from these days, what are some of the choices available to the common man? Well, Samsung has just added to your headache by compounding the “problem” with a trio of new 70 Series Monitors, and they are the P2070, P2370 and P2370HD. Two of these slim LCD monitors will feature a screen depth of 30mm, while the P2370HD is measured at 65.5mm. The three of them will also boast Samsung’s very own Touch of Color (ToC) design. The 70 Series of LCD monitors were meant to impart the performance capability of Samsung TVs onto the average desktop, as more and more people take up the option to view their TV shows on a computer in addition to using it for daily productivity tasks.

All three models of the 70 Series Monitors will come with a dynamic contrast ratio (50,000:1) for deep, rich colors, while the 2ms (GTG) video response time minimizes blurring for watching sports and fast-moving gameplay. The inclusion of its crystal-like bezel frame complete with ToC helps reduce the reflection of light and glare for a more comfortable viewing experience. Samsung designers also decided to make the monitor look as though it was floating in mid-air thanks to a clear, crystal-like acrylic neck.

Samsung has also integrated its very own Startlight Touch Controls in terms of the On Screen Display (OSD) buttons being merged into the bezel itself, making the entire monitor feel and look like one seamless device without any ugly obtrusive buttons on the front or sides. All it takes to activate these buttons is a single touch, where light illuminating these controls will disappear automatically after a determined period of time in order to minimize distractions while you’re engrossed in your favorite movie. There is no word on pricing or availability for all three 70 Series LCD TVs as at press time, but you’ll be pleased to know they come with a suite of eco-conscious features such as reduced energy consumption, making it sip around 33% less power to operate against standard monitors of similar size. Guess you can shortlist the Samsung 70 Series if you’re looking to upgrade your monitor in the near future.

Kingston rolls out HyperX Fan

Posted by Xtrem Gaming


kingston-fanKingston does not only offer memory products for your computers, notebooks and mobile devices, they also include accessories to keep those said products running at optimal level by being cool. Cool as in the temperature, and not according to what society deems as “in” at this moment in time. Their latest offering? The HyperX Fan that was specially designed to keep Kingston HyperX memory running cool.

The HyperX Fan is made of anodized aluminum and in the same familiar blue color as the HyperX heatspreaders. When turned on, the fan blades are illuminated by eight small blue LEDs. Power use is minimal and noise is not an issue as the fan runs at a whisper-quiet 25 dBA*. The fan is available as a standalone or bundled with Kingston’s 6GB 2000- and 1800MHz triple-channel memory kits with the T1 heatspreaders for Intel Core i7 systems.

Each purchase of the HyperX fan will come with a one-year warranty and free round the clock technical support. It will cost you $23 a pop, but you can get it in a bundle of memory included as well.

Press Release

Elecom’s new USB Fan keeps it simple

Posted by Xtrem Gaming


There’s never a shortage of people preferring their gadgets complicated and with lots of built-in features. After all, it does make things more convenient, since that’s one less thing you’ll have to deal with. However, sometimes it’s nice to keep things simple, instead of overloading your gadgets with things that you often never use. In some cases the added extras aren’t quite as well done when they’re combined with another gadget. This fan from Elecom is anything but complicated.

Just plug it into your USB port and it’s all powered up. Of course, that means one more gadget clogging up your USB ports, so you might need to start utilizing a hub if you want to keep this plugged in. The speed of the fan can be adjusted to what is comfortable for you. Although you might not get much use out of a fan right now since it’s only early spring. Soon the days will be getting hotter. You can pick this up for¥1,200 or about $12.

NVIDIA has new GeForce GPU

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NVIDIA is once again at the forefront of computer graphics technology, with the GeForce GTX 275 being the latest video card to be released for the masses. This model aims to offer first-rate graphics, physics, and GPU computing performance without breaking the bank as we’re all under pressure from the current economic crisis, so it is imperative for companies to be sensitive to the needs of the masses by rolling out value-for-money propositions. What can gamers expect from the new GeForce GTX 275 GPU? Well, head on right after the jump for more information.

The new GeForce GTX 275 GPU is based on the GT200 architecture and will come with 240 processor cores operating at 1404 MHz, 80 texture processing units, a 448-bit memory interface, and an 896 MB framebuffer. For those who want to know where it stands in the overall hierarchy without having to go through long and boring benchmark tests, the GTX 275 lies between the GeForce GTX 260 and the GeForce GTX 285. Among the highlights, the GeForce GTX 275 is placed comfortably within the affordable $229-$249 price range while offering the best performance in its class, incorporating NVIDIA PhysX technology for the most interactive gaming experience, boasts NVIDIA CUDA for accelerated desktop applications, supports NVIDIA 3D Vision for immersive stereoscopic gaming and is Windows 7 ready. It will roll out with new GeForce Release 185 software drivers for optimal performance and features.

The new GeForce GTX 275 will be out around the world on or before April 14 this month, with selected regions getting theirs first while others will have to settle for a pre-order. While there is nothing revolutionary about the GTX 275, at least it offers more bang for your ever shrinking buck – something that’s worth checking out if you’re thinking of upgrading your ancient computer.

Denon DP-200USB Turntable

Posted by Xtrem Gaming


Vinyl, you still got it. Granted, most people have their favorite tunes on their iPod, but some of the old school crowd still have their favs on the LPs. Unfortunately, turntables these days are about as rare as, well, CD players.

Yeah, basic music format is practically all digital these days, which is why devices such as the Denon DP-200USB were invented. The DP-200USB Turntable allows the user to convert their vinyl tracks into MP3s.

All you need to do is put on the disc, and insert a USB flash drive in front. Hitting the start and record buttons is all you need to do from there, and the entire album is stored on a convenient flash drive that you can plug into any PC, anywhere.

The DP-200USB includes a Trans Music Manager, which allows the user to obtain track numbers and information. Trans Music Manager detects silent spaces between tracks, and using a PC will allow the user to access the Gracenote music ID server and obtain track information.

Other features include a built-in phono equalizer which allows the user to enjoy the music on a mini audio system or radio cassette player. The DP-200USB is also a fully automatic player which will automatically adjust its arm for whatever size of record that you are playing.

If you’re one those types that still clings to your old vinyl collection, even though you might not have a turntable, then perhaps the Denon DP-200USB can bring you into the digital age. It costs about $300, and can be purchased on the Denon UK site.

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