It’s that time again, time to review some of my cherry picked smaller stories of the week for those that might have missed them. This time round we’ve got an Adobe Flash update that doesn’t suck. OK, sucks a little less. Flash 10.1 beta was unleashed to the willing public with GPU video acceleration for certain Nvidia cards on Windows, but perhaps more importantly reduced CPU usage across all platforms. What does this mean? YouTube that doesn’t make your Mac or PC red-line that’s what. A step in the right direction Adobe, maybe Flash isn’t a lost cause after all. I’ve certainly seen some improvements on my netbook and Mac. (more…)

You’re the proud owner of an Original or iPhone 3G, but you just can’t help but ogle your mates 3GS ever since he got it. With it’s fancy new compass, voice recognition and video recording, your Original/3G is starting to look a bit tired. Problem is, you’ve got at least another couple of months on your contract left and the networks are charging extortionate amounts for early upgrade. You could try buying a PAYG iPhone 3GS and sell your old and busted iPhone taking the hit on the difference, but that’s probably just as much as the early termination/upgrade fee O2/AT&T wants from you. So for the time being you’re stuck with an iPhone 3G.

OK, it’s not like that’s the end of the world, it’s still an incredibly capable device, plays some great games and can use almost all the apps that the 3GS can. But what about those features that set the 3GS apart? Well with a few apps and tweaks you too can get your 3G to do almost all of the new tricks the 3GS has and give your old trusty an extra burst of life. (more…)

Welcome to Pixelated Geek’s Weekly Tech Wrap-up, a quick and humorous run through of some smaller stories from the world of consumer electronics and technology.

First batter up is the hideous looking OpenOffice Mouse. This beast features a full 18 buttons, 63 programmable profiles and even an analogue joystick! What more could you want from an instant carpel tunnel surgery inducing monstrosity? How about a soon to hit street price of $75 (£45)? Obviously not a fan of the Magic Mouse, a World of Warcraft-loving gamer decided his mouse didn’t have enough buttons and went ahead and set up a company to do it better. WarMouse is aiming this at the OpenOffice, MMO playing crowd and they might go potty over it, but I think I’ll stick to my trusty Logitech thanks. (more…)

At 12.01 midnight GMT on the 10th November, HMV, Game and select supermarkets opened their doors to the hordes of eager fans aching to get their hands on Activision’s latest block buster Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. Sam Gibbs, representing Pixelated Geek, was on hand at HMV in London’s Trocadero to cover the carnage. With just under 1000 people expected, security was tight with a full team of door men were there to keep the piece. Competition winners were also on hand to collect their swag and of course get their hands on the game.

HMV laid on a full squad of military personnel complete with two army Land Rovers with which people, including myself, posed for shots (sorry again I just couldn’t resist).

First in the door was Chris from Surrey who had been queuing there since 1.30 am and managed to get his hands on MW2 at about 12.30 meaning he was one dedicated fan having queued a full 23 hours on the streets of central London. His hearty devotion to the game won him some favour with HMV who took care of him shipping him out with no less than three Prestige kits (a total sum of £360’s worth).

Shout out to Mr. Lai and Mr. Wood for braving the cold with me

[View with PicLens]

 

As all keen FPS gamers should know by now, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 launches tomorrow, 10 November, ending the social lives of a lot of gamers across the globe for a couple of months. Activision, deciding that the follow up to the wildly popular COD4 MW deserved the red carpet treatment and held a launch event with all the trimmings in London’s Leicester Square, the home to many a film premier. The Vue cinema in the main square was the venue with hands on with the game on the big screen, a VIP party and even a surprise concert to entertain a lucky few.

For the hard core fan however, the action was already building at the Trocadero HMV where a massive queue of just under 1000 or so eager gamers had already formed. Check back later for some coverage of the action at HMV including a guy who had queued a full 23 hours on the streets of London just to be first in line and a boat load of military action.

Shout out to Mr. Lai and Mr. Wood for braving the cold with me

I wish I could have been a fly on the wall to the discussion at Universal that lead to the formation of the Aliens Vs Predator movie. Here’s how I think it would have gone:

Ideas guy: ‘Dude, what about Aliens and Predators in one movie?’

Producer: ‘Man, that would be sick! But they’re not even in the same story universe’

ID: ‘Meh, so what? They did it in games in the 90s. Two of the best and biggest monsters in one movie, it would be epic!’

P: ‘Yeah but we can’t make a movie without a story can we?’

ID: ‘What about: Predators breed Xenomorph Aliens for sport hunting? Make it some sort of Right of Passage or something’

P: ‘Yep, that’d probably work. Game on, I’ll put a writing team together’

And so, the Aliens Vs Predator movie was born and a reboot to the series was initiated. Two of Universal’s biggest monster franchises, combined together into an all out action fest. Yeah, there was a story, well kind of, but the original AVP movie and it’s subsequent sequels have all been about glorious action. I think of them as the balance to all those period dramas and romcoms, which helps me come to terms with spending money to see a film with basically no narrative.

Of course, both Aliens and Predator have seen game-movie tie-ins that predictably have been a little weak. Probably the best of the lot was Alien 3 back in the 16bit era, but the latest in the long list of  franchise game spin offs, Sega’s new Aliens Vs Predator (AvP) is attempting to change that and it’s multiplayer was on show at the Eurogamer Expo in London for hands on. (more…)

The follow up to the wildly popular Xbox 360 and PC game Mass Effect is set to hit the streets in January 26th in America and 29th 2010 in Europe. Mass Effect 2  is set two years after the conclusion of the original having stopped the Reaper invasion, Commander Shepard must join forces with Cerberus, recruiting some of the galaxy’s most dangerous operatives in a bid to find out what’s causing the miraculous vanishing of entire human colonies. (more…)

So you’ve heard that the God of War 3 collectors edition is going to steam roll you wallet ($100 for the privaledge) and you’ve noted that the demo will be available on the District 9 Blu-Ray (available 29th December) if you’re not too keen on buying the first two games again on Blu-Ray with the God of War Collection, but what does God of War 3 handle like? Should it have been an FPS? Is it more of the same? Does it deserve your hard earned rent money? Well Pixelated Geek is on hand to find out.
(more…)

As a massive fan of the original, I’ve been waiting for the next instalment ever since I stepped out of the Animus. Landing on American shores on the 17th November and PAL regions 20th November, thankfully we don’t have long to wait. Assassin’s Creed II is set in 15th century Italy between 1476 and 1503. The story follows the exploits of a new assassin by the name of Ezio which has him running around Venice, Florence and Tuscany in the same ‘open-world’ type game play as the original. (more…)

By now you must no the score, Zipper Ineractive’s PS3 exclusive MAG (Massive Action Game) is both massive and full of action. Hitting American store shelves on the January 26, 2010, it’s one of the most ambitious online FPS games ever tried, featuring a total of 256 simultaneous players in one game, 128 versus 128. Zipper Interactive, the first developer to bring online gaming to the PS2 with SOCOM, is attempting to bring a new kind of war type FPS to the world, where whole battalions face off against each other in real-time combat. Hundreds of organised and well trained soldiers (that’s you if you hadn’t guessed) facing off in real-world type scenarios like those portrayed in Black Hawk Down. (more…)