nintendo dsi

Nintendo DSi now available for Preorder!
Nintendo's DSi marks the next evolution for the all-conquering DS Lite handheld console. Slimmer, with a host of extra features that turn it into an impressive multimedia machine. The DSi will be available in either matt black or stark white, and already looks like being the best Nintendo handheld ever!

DSi Features

Skinnier than the DS Lite: The Nintendo DSi is 12% slimmer.

Two cameras: The DSi boasts a 0.3 megapixel digital camera for 640 x 480 pixel pictures, and a camera in the hinge that acts as a webcam.

You can even edit pictures on the DSi touch screens!

Downloadable DSi web browser: Surf the net on your DSi!

Play download games: Using DSWare, a new service for DSi owners that operates using current Wii Points.

DSi SD Memory Card: Replaces the GBA Slot of the DS Lite.

Improved audio options: The DSi features pitch & playback options.

Improved speakers: For better sound quality.

Extended DSi stylus: The DSi stylus is now 4.5mm longer.

halo wars

Halo Wars Vehicles part 1

Scorpion Tank

M808B Main Battle Artillery Tank (MBAT)
The Scorpion Main Battle Tank is a mainstay of UNSC forces. It is a flexible weapons platform that can take a beating as well as dish out a great deal of damage, although its main gun can have difficulty penetrating some heavy armor vehicles. Some would call it a jack of all trades, but a Scorpion can truly be the ace up your sleeve when it comes to breaking through an enemy position.
The Scorpion can be upgraded with a variety of technologies that allow it to pack more of a punch. Whatever flavor they come in, your enemy will learn to respect the Scorpion or end up under its treads.

Armament:90mm Main gun7.62mm Machine Gun
Crew:1 Driver1-2 Gunner(s)
Role:Main Battle Tank

Wolverine

Wolverine – MAAT-9 Wolverine Main Anti Air Tank (MAAT)
Wolverine is a fast moving maneuverable anti-air vehicle. In its arsenal are two pods of Argent V Missiles that are located on the left and right of the driver and gunner seats. These missiles are specialized to target and deliver their warhead to an aircraft with great speed and maneuverability. The missile pods are quite large and can be reloaded via a mechanical system in the Wolverine, which stores a small supply of missiles onboard.
The targeting systems and anti-air capabilities of the Wolverine are second to none, but it can also angle its missile pods to launch missiles at ground targets. Stationary targets and buildings are your best bets for actually hitting anything. Although air vehicles generally know to steer clear, the Wolverine is quite vulnerable to anti-armor attacks both from vehicles or heavily upgraded infantry. The driver has the use of a XM511 Heavy Grenade Launcher for defense from ground attacks, which can potentially wreck soft targets, but truly this support vehicle relies on heavier units to defend it from a determined attack.

Armament:Argent V Missile Pod X 2XM511 Heavy Grenade Launcher
Crew:1 Driver1 Gunner(s)
Role:Anti-Air

Cobra

Cobra – SP42 Cobra (MBT)
Although the Cobra has the ability to fill two roles, it is a specialized fighting vehicle. It has specialized armored panels that are designed to deflect hardened projectiles and absorb massive amounts of damage from explosive shells. Although it is not particularly fast, the Cobra is highly maneuverable. It totes around a pair of Rail Cannons on its turret that fire a high-density slug designed to penetrate enemy armor.
Alternately the Cobra crew can choose to lockdown the vehicle and deploy the larger Rail Cannon which fires a more high velocity explosive artillery shell. The sacrifice of mobility is made up for in the range advantage that elevating the big gun can offer. The artillery round is multipurpose and can cause a great amount of damage to just about anything it hits, including enemy fortifications.

Armament:2 X Rail Cannons Bombard Rail Cannon

Crew:1 Driver1 Gunner(s)
Role:Anti-Armor

Halo Wars

Image: The spirit of Fire

Halo Wars is an upcoming real-time strategy video game set in the Halo universe, developed by Ensemble Studios for the Xbox 360 game console. It is the last project to be developed by Ensemble Studios.

Gameplay

Units are built, buildings upgraded, and special abilities utilized by using resources that are simply known as supplies. Supplies may be found on the battlefield and claimed, but the bulk of supplies are generated by building special structures at bases. The more supply pads (for the UNSC) or warehouses (for the Covenant) a player has, the more income. Some buildings and upgrades may also require additional tech. When playing the UNSC, tech is acquired by building Reactors. Each reactor gives 1 tech level, however reactors can be upgraded to provide 2 tech levels. The Covenant gain tech by advancing ages using the structures called Temples. Ages are advanced just like any other technology with the use of supplies.
Each base has only a limited amount of building space, so players must balance their resource buildings with other facilities, like those used to create vehicles. The number of units and vehicles a player can bring to the field is constrained by a population limit; more powerful units cost more than one population unit. Upgrades can increase the maximum population.
Combat in Halo Wars is balanced by a "rock-paper-scissors" mechanic common in many real-time strategy titles. Ground vehicles are powerful against infantry, infantry is stronger against aircraft, and aircraft are exceptional at destroying vehicles. Each unit has a special ability accessed by using the Y button; for example, human Marines throw grenades while vehicles called Warthogs run over enemies. Each faction can also bring in special hero units, which impact what abilities and units players can access. The humans also have access to their ship, the Spirit of Fire, and its special abilites; these include a powerful coilgun, the Magnetic Accelerator Cannon or simply the MAC. The Covenant have more powerful units led by Leaders who command units on the battlefield and have special abilities of their own they can use to turn the tide of battle.
Built from the ground-up specifically for console, Halo Wars uses the Xbox 360 controller's A-button primarily for selecting units and the X-button for moving to or attacking a target. Selecting a unit gives the player the option of commands and selecting certain buildings brings up a "circle menu", the most important menu in the game, which is used for creating units and buildings and researching upgrades.

Setting

Halo Wars is set in the 26th century in the year 2531, about 20 years before the events of Halo: Combat Evolved.

Development

Halo Wars was first announced at X06. Announced during Microsoft's X06 media briefing on September 27, 2006, details of the game first appeared on 1UP.com.
A small demonstration of Halo Wars was revealed to gaming media at E3 2007 on July 10, 2007 and a demo video narrated by Halo Wars' Lead Designer was released on the Xbox Live Marketplace on August 27, 2007.Because previous console real time strategy games have been criticized for their control schemes, Ensemble developed the controls six months before approaching Microsoft. An update on January 30, 2007 stated that the developers were considering using motion capture. Photos of the test posted on the website show mocap being used, however it was not confirmed whether it would be included in the final release of the game. Weekly playtests are held within Ensemble to provide both the art and design teams with feedback on developments. Microsoft employees were spotted on Xbox Live playing the "Halo Wars Alpha" in April 2008 sparking speculation and jealousy among the gaming community. Ensemble later confirmed that the Alpha version was a tutorial and multiplayer version with limited features. Ensemble employees frequently played against others seeking aspects of the game to improve. In the October 2007 issue of Official Xbox Magazine, it was mentioned that there will be a playable demo of the game before it is released.
Bungie Studios has had little involvement in the making of Halo Wars. Since the splitting of Microsoft and Bungie Studios, Bungie will only be helping Ensemble Studios, the main developers of the game, and Microsoft in areas including the environment and the general "feel" of the Halo universe.

The Elites as depicted in the X06 Halo Wars trailer, with Banshees flying in formation overhead.
The game was announced at X06 with a pre-rendered trailer. The trailer was created by Blur Studio and shows a group of Warthog vehicles searching for a missing unit of soldiers. The recon patrol is killed by camouflaged Elites who de-cloak and advance into battle supported by Banshees. The battle has various human and Covenant vehicles and foot soldiers and ends displaying Spartan Group Omega wearing their MJOLNIR armor.
A video of gameplay footage narrated by Graeme Devine, the lead designer was shown at E3 2007 and later made available online. Controls and other gameplay features such as vehicles, user interface and special weapons were highlighted, along with new creations. The footage also showed off a UNSC base consisting of an airbase, vehicle depot, missile silo and several other buildings that can be created while playing Halo Wars.
On September 10th, 2008 it was announced that Ensemble studios would close after the completion of Halo Wars. A new studio formed by Ensemble employees will not only continue to support Microsoft Game Studios, but will also provide post launch support for Halo Wars.
Devine described the main challenge of the game being to get real-time strategy players to play a Halo game, and Halo fans to play an RTS.
Early in development, Ensemble considered making the Flood a playable race, but this idea never made it past the concept stage. According to Devine the main issue was that in order to balance the Flood with the UNSC and Covenant, the Flood would have to have been similar to StarCraft's Zerg, which did not mesh with the Flood's role in the games, to be "the single scariest thing in the galaxy."
The playable demo for Halo Wars is now available to the public, which became available for download on February 5. Also, redemption codes were handed out for early access to the demo starting January 29.

The ship

Exitus Acta Probat

CFV-88

Constructed: 2473

Class: Phoenix

Captain: Cutter

A.I.: On board - "Serina"

The Spirit of Fire was originally a colony ship, transporting equipment and colonists in the UNSC's expansion efforts. In 2520 the ship was refit with a Magnetic Accelerator Cannon and other armaments to serve as a warship. Huge storage bays that used to house machine parts now carry everything from Warthogs and Scorpion Tanks to construction supplies for fire bases in hot spots in front line engagements or in rearguard actions.
The campaign in Halo Wars follows the Spirit of Fire and her crew as the UNSC deals with the first deadly encounters with the Covenant.

The sims 3

The Sims 3 is the latest addition to the sims franchise, The game originally created by maxis is due for release on the 2nd of June 2009 a collecters edition will also be available. Compared to the previous versions of the sims the sims 3 will be much better as the neighborhoods will be seamless (In other words there will be no loading in between going to other places in the neighborhood)

Gameplay

Sim houses and neighborhoods will be entirely in one continuous map, and the developers state that "What you do outside your home now matters as much as what you do within." All the Sims in the neighborhoods age and live out their lives simultaneously, no matter where the player is in the game. Of the eight needs of The Sims 1 & 2, only six—hunger, bladder, energy, social, hygiene, and fun—remain (removing comfort and environment). These will be represented by moodlets—attributes which are acquired special events, such as minor events like tooth brushing and major ones like a wedding, and affect the Sims' behavior. The needs will also have only 3 stages—red (extremely low), yellow (moderate) and green (completely full.) Several minor features from The Sims 2 expansion packs appear in the original The Sims 3, such as the "young adult" life stage, personal inventories and mobile phones (University). Private cars and restaurants (Nightlife), fishing and gardening (Seasons), jewelry and beaches (Bon Voyage), toothbrushing and ceilings (Apartment Life) will be included, but none of the main features from expansion packs such as a sim going to college (University) will be available. Players will be able to buy into local businesses and, eventually, buy out other partners and own the business.
As in previous games, Sims can paint, but paintings will now be more unique to each Sim based on their traits. Other new features are set difficulty levels for each family. There are also hospitals where pregnant Sims may give birth, and bicycles for riding around the neighborhood.

Careers

Twelve careers are available to pursue (law enforcement, crime, military, science, politics, journalism, business, entertainment, culinary, medical, athletic, and gardening). Each career has a workplace building in the neighborhood, which Sims travel to for their shifts. Sims can also apply for jobs within these buildings. Though Sims are hidden inside buildings during the workday, the player can control their behavior at work to a certain extent. Like previous Sims games, the job yields "opportunities"—tasks that could be finished for a reward. There are also part-time jobs. Sims can also take actions to increase their productivity while not at work, such as bringing work home or working overtime. Each career has several rewards, instead of only one as in The Sims 2. Careers can also branch into several possible promotions. Children and teens go to school, just as before, but now they can do homework with computers.
Each career branches off into different jobs that branch off as well. For example, if there were two Sims in the Business career track, they may not end up with the same jobs or duties even if they were on the same level in their careers. Nonetheless, once the Sim(s) reaches the peak of his/her respective career they can still receive raises, rewards and additional payment if he/she keeps performing well at work.


Create-A-Sim


Create-a-Sim is the character (Sim) builder, where the polygon 3-D models of Sims can be modified by changing a wider variety of properties than what was available in previous installments. This opens the door to creating completely unique Sims with regard to weight, fitness, hair, and clothing, etc. Footwear and headwear can now be chosen individually. Players can customize nearly everything in the game, including furniture, clothes and shoes. Rod Humble described the new interface in Create-A-Sim as "drastically different". Prominent birthmarks such as freckles can also be added to Sims.
Individual fitness bars have been added to adjust the Sims' obesity and muscularity between extreme levels. Arm and legs are separate so players can create Sims with fat bodies and thin arms or thin legs with muscular arms. In The Sims 2, there were only three body types—fat, normal and fit. As in The Sims 2, body shape varies with diet and exercise, so that Sims created as overweight can become slim by exercising and Sims created thin may become fat by eating too much and not exercising. Skin color is also continuous, instead of the four colors of The Sims 2. When customizing hair, the player is shown a circle with all shades and hues of colors, and able to choose different main hair color, tips, roots, and even highlights. Texture for clothing follows a similar formatting scheme.

Sims' personalities

Personality configuration for Sims has also been made more complex, with the original 'percentage bar'-style personality points replaced by a combination of traits, similar to those in the personals section of newspapers. Toddlers have two traits, and a new one is added for each new life stage, until they reach young adulthood—so they will have 3 as a child, 4 as a teen, then 5 as a young adult, which are the five traits they will stay with for the rest of their lives.
Create-A-Sim now features over 80 unique traits to choose from. Some of these are Evil, Slob, Good Sense of Humor, Charismatic, Loner, Computer Whiz, Vegetarian, Frugal, Clumsy, Athletic, Hot Headed, Lucky, Insane and Flirty. It is not possible to give a Sim traits that contradict each other (such as Brave and Cowardly). The player can also edit many aspects of a Sims' personality, such as favorite hobby, color, music genre and food.

Build and buy modes

The build and buy modes have been revamped. The square outlines that appear on the ground (often refered to as a grid or tile)—apparent when entering build or buy mode—are now four times smaller to give the player more liberty to place objects where they want. The square grid allows the player see where they can possibly place the objects in the game. There is now an option to turn off the grid. This feature will make objects easier to locate at the player's desired location instead of being restricted to a bigger tile. Objects can also be rotated freely. Certain pieces of furniture, such as chairs and tables, can easily be moved together.
The "auto-roof" function updates the roof when walls are rebuilt. Wide staircases can be built in one action. Basements are also easier to build. A "wall drag" tool allows the player to grow or shrink a room, moving the furniture with it. A new “slot” system gives several choices where to place decorative objects on surfaces, such as tables and dressers. Most existing objects can be recoloured and re-textured.

Neighborhood exploration

On March 19, 2008, EA revealed a new feature to The Sims 3 which was neighborhood exploration. Sims can now explore the world outside their homes without having to face strenuous loading times. Every lot is now synced to the main neighborhood time, whereas before the time of day (and weather) was different in each lot and would continue off from the last time it was played. Players can also interact with every building in a neighborhood. Players can also roam around with other sims while others in the family will take care of themselves more easily.

Development

The game is developed by EA Redwood Shores. The music to The Sims 3 was written by composer Steve Jablonsky, who recorded the score with the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Newman Scoring Stage at 20th Century Fox.
On January 15, 2009 EA invited the best custom content creators to their campus at Redwood Shores where they were hosting a Creator’s Camp. Creators have been invited to spend the week exploring and creating content like Sims, houses and customized content. The Creator’s work will be used to pre-populate The Sims 3 Exchange when the game is released.

Release

The game will be released as both a standard edition and a Collector's Edition. The standard edition contains the first release of the core game, while the Collector's Edition includes the Sims 3 core game, a 2GB The Sims Plumbob™ USB drive with matching Green Carabiner, an exclusive Italian-styled/Vintage Sports Car download for in-game, a Prima Tips and Hints Guide, Plumbob stickers,The Sims 3 Neighborhood Poster, and a quick start reference guide. A preview CD with more information about The Sims 3, such as music samples and career information, will also be released later. The preview CD does not include the actual game. It is still unknown which countries will be able to purchase the Collectors' Edition, so far the United Kingdom, USA, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Australia have been able to pre-order the game from certain websites.
In the seventh expansion pack for The Sims 2, The Sims 2: FreeTime, an event occurs in which a Sim-version of Rod Humble, the head of The Sims franchise, gives the player's Sim family an unopened gift box. When opened, the family gets a computer with The Sims 3 on it. The Sims 3 game cannot be bought in the catalog. Sims can then play The Sims 3 on their computers or console systems. Like all the other games that Sims can play in The Sims 2, The Sims 3 is a looping game play video shown on the player's Sim's computer screens when played by a Sim. On July 15, 2008 the first video preview of The Sims 3 appeared on the official website as did seven new screenshots and five Create-A-Sim screens. Four screenshots that appeared on the website and were then taken down soon after, leaked onto the internet by a member of the community.
Copies of the video game Spore also came packaged with fliers advertising the game, with information stating whole-neighborhood accessibility and endless possibilities on character creation. On October 31, 2008, two teaser trailers were released by Electronic Arts featuring a comical view on the 2008 presidential election in the United States. Candidates John McCain and Barack Obama were included along with John McCain's running mate Sarah Palin, and Barack Obama's running mate Joe Biden. In the eighth expansion pack of The Sims 2, The Sims 2: Apartment Life, new objects were added including logo posters and framed screenshots. The game was shipped with a code and an internet address, where the player could download clothing with The Sims 3 logo on it. Another developer walkthrough was released on November 6, 2008, featuring in-depth previews of the neighborhood and Create-A-Sim.


Requirements

Windows

CPU
Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent2.0GHz (XP)2.4GHz (Vista)
Memory
1 GB (XP)1.5GB (Vista)
Hard Drive Space
6.5GB of free space and 1GB for additional content
Graphics Hardware
DirectX 9.0c compliant card with 128 MB RAM (NVIDIA FX 5900/ATI 9500 or better) and support for Pixel Shader 2.0
Sound Hardware
100% DirectX 9.0c compliant card
Windows (using Built-in Graphics Chipset)

CPU
Intel Pentium D 2.6GHz, 1.8GHz Core 2 Duo, or equivalent
Memory
1.5GB (XP)2GB (Vista)