Gadgetoid

Words and pictures by Johnus Maximus

“Believe”

The tagline attached to the advertising campaign of the most eagerly awaited game of the year/decade/millenia (delete as appropriate). And the sheer amount of hype behind this game was going to be a lot to live up to. So does it?

YES - believe it!!!

Many a fine citizen of Norwich turned out to get their hands on their copy of Halo on Tuesday night, myself and the gadgetoid included. Despite the cold and the rain, we queued anxiously in the cold and the rain, and at midnight our wait was finally over. Read the rest of this post »

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It’s crunch time, ground zero and various other phrases indicating that now is the time to act. It’s mere minutes before I set out to the local Game and Gamestation to grab a couple of copies for myself and the missus, who has to stay behind and hold fort (read: look after the baby) and is none too happy.

What more can I say? Watch this space for coverage of our mediocre local launch events if you’re into that sort of thing.

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Wow. This is one decidedly impressive Halovertisement… will the madness ever stop!

Not bloody likely! For anyone who never goes to those console/game midnight launch events but wants to know what all the fuss is about we’ll be bringing you pictures/video from the local Gamestation and possibly Game. Given the… uh… popularity of Halo 3 however I imagine most of these pictures will either be the backsides of people leaving with their copy of Halo or blurred faces as we streak past the line in a rush to get home and play.

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The Ricoh Caplio R6 is, in my humble opinion, one of the best looking low-end cameras on the market. Available in Black, Red and Silver with the former two very tastefully combining their primary colour with silver accented styling it’s almost certain to impress. Of course looks aren’t everything; the Caplio R6, successor to the R5, packs some admirable specifications in its stylish, diminutive body. Ricoh have cheated somewhat, however, to get the “thinnest-point” thickness claim of their camera down leaving the Caplio R6 with a number of irksome protrusions.
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Review by Johnus Maximus

Excitedly, I bought this game yesterday, and aside from a few hours sleep, I have been playing it solidly for about 17 hours. After prising my hands away from the 360 controller, I felt it was time to express my joy and sorrow using words.
I’ve been a fan of the Dynasty/Samurai Warriors franchise, and owned every game released since Dynasty Warriors 4, a game my wife introduced me to. When I first played it, the game took me back to my youthful days, where games like Final Fight and Streets of Rage were part of my staple diet, so I was instantly drawn by the repetitive hack’n’slash gameplay.

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Firmware hacked PSP. Check.
A wealth of homebrew software, games and emulators. Check.
A stash of backed up games so you can leave those delicate UMDs at home. Check.
A couple of ripped DVD movies for in-flight entertainment. Check.
And a few dozen albums for good measure. Check.
Somewhere to put it all? D’oh!

There really isn’t anything more important in a PSP than storage, and with the new PSP Slim out with no flashy onboard micro-drive or any such thing the only way you’re going to get that storage is with a somewhat pricey Memory Stick Pro Duo. Complain all you want about SONYs proprietary storage formats, but if your PSP had an SD slot you would be stuck fast with a pitiful 2gb of storage now and would have to sacrifice some of the above. Hear that SONY? You win, this time.

I’ll be taking a look at some 4gb Memory Stick Pro Duo offerings soon to see if flashy brand names and speed ratings really do make a difference.

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Meet the NOXON2 Audio from Terratec. It’s a Wifi and Ethernet enabled beauty of a streaming audio solution. It may not look much but under the diminutive mac-mini-esque hood is a smart bit of hardware that can stream your favorite internet radio, podcasts, and mp3s to anywhere in your house from USB storage, networked computers and the internet of course.
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Get your Forza 2 on this weekend because 10 brand new racers and muscle cars are hitting Xbox LIVE Marketplace this weekend in a downloadable car pack for Forza Motorsport 2.

The 2007 SEAT Leon Cupra is offered as a free download to whet your appetite, and the complete list of all 10 cars can be found below:

• 2007 SEAT Leon Cupra (FREE DOWNLOAD)
• 2006 Audi R10 (#8 Audi Sport Team Joest) Prototype
• 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T Hemi
• 2006 Dodge Challenger Concept
• 2006 Honda Civic Si Coupe
• 2007 Honda Civic Type-R
• 1967 Lamborghini Miura P400
• 2006 Lamborghini Miura Concept
• 2007 Porsche 911 GT3 RS (997)
• 2007 Saturn Sky Red Line
• 2007 SEAT Leon Supercup

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The humble headset is, perhaps, one of the most important tools in a gamers armada. Without sound we are deprived one of our key senses and have no way of detecting enemies or communicating outside of our field of vision. I have looked at a diverse array of headsets from the simple, compact, laptop-friendly SteelSound 3H to the built-like-a-brick-outhouse, surround sound emulating Terratec Headset Master. All of these headsets have one thing in common; they possess a microphone. With todays VOIP software and broadband connections not having a half decent microphone available to communicate with your team mates is unforgivable. And if you’re the kind of gamer who uses a weighted mouse to gain the edge you should already know this.

So, without further ado click the link below to meet the good, the bad, and the ugly.
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Pink & Blue for her and you!

Well, we’ve come back from the Xbox Christmas Showcase Event with a warm fuzzy feeling and a whole bucketload of anticipation for the fantastic array of titles Microsoft and their third party developers are throwing our way up to this Christmas and beyond.

One of the obvious titles was Halo 3 which is hitting stores in just a few days, we experienced the jaw-droppingness which is Forge; it brings back fond memories of the insane things one could do in Half Life 2 with a little explosives. A quick word on the Gravity Hammer: LOVE IT! Halo finally has a weapon designed specifically for me… suffice to say I beat down my enemies in a gravity hammer match and lead by some 10 kills… alas a couple of rocket matches later I was toast.
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