Mio stuns at CeBIT with ultra-sleek Moov V780 MID originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 22:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

PlayStation Network down, so are lots of PS3s (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 20:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

After a three-week run, we’ve come to our final installment of our MAG Developer Tip series. To close it out Zipper’s training, vehicle and environment designer Ben Jones walks us through the biggest responsibility in the game: being the OIC. As always, we open with a video:

Howdy, Ben Jones here! With all the great tips that have come from other Zippers over the week (particularly all of the leadership-oriented bits that have come out over the last few days), I’m going to impart this small list of tried and true techniques that build upon earlier strategies and maximize your effectiveness as an OIC. Some are obvious, some aren’t, but all are helpful.

Basic Tips:

• Your OIC abilities can be accessed by using the TCM through the D-Pad or the CNI by pressing SELECT.
• These abilities are best used while trying to make a push as either an attacker or defender, so try and time their use with changes in the battle! If attackers have opened up their forward spawns try blockading them to give your team time to regroup.
• Communicating with the Squad and Platoon leaders below you is essential. Maneuver through the comms channels by using the D-Pad and guide your team to victory.

Advanced Tips:

• If most of your platoons have fallen back from their frontline defenses, consider using “Signal Jamming” to keep the enemies from using their own CNI effectively, while also using the “Blockade” ability to decrease their spawn times. Finally, use “Rapid Redeploy” to increase your own spawn time and finish the job.
• Speaking of Blockade and Rapid Redeploy, if Blockade is used on you, you can use Rapid Redeploy in return to move the timer to normal.
• “Tactical Strike” is essential for full-on attacks. With it, you can eliminate immediate wait times on any and all cooldown bars for command abilities within your entire army.
• Team Broadcast is one of your available comms channels on the D-Pad. Use it sparingly to bolster the morale of your troops and praise them for decisive actions!

Thank you very much, Ben. More importantly, though, thank you to each and every one of our fans who has helped make MAG a big success for us. We hope you enjoyed our tip series and invite you check back again with us in the coming weeks for even more news from 2025.

Congratulations to all of the LittleBigPlanet community, as we hit another big user-generated milestone with over two million levels created and posted on the “Share Planet.”

What’s New?
For all of you looking for new levels to play, check out our new widget thingy on LittleBigPlanet.com. We’ve added an “Mm Picks” section highlighting some of the best community levels around. And don’t forget about the Mm Picks page, RSS feed and Twitter feed.

Community Levels
On the PSP side of things, our friend JHKthree has been uploading tons of great levels for all to see. Check out some of them over the weekend:

Scenic of the Leaves by Spark151

Zen by jeffcu28

The Shipwreck of Captain Skull by Lleonard

Workshop of the Week
On LittleBigWorkshop.com, our fans have been holding a “Sackperson Clone Contest.” Great contest guys! We can see y’all had fun with this.

For the Weekend
“A Tale of the Sea” level creation contest at LittleBigNetwork.com – Our friends have started a new contest and have put together a little promotional level, which is pretty cool on its own.

LittleBigPodcast is at it again with a new PS3 commercial spoof…too funny!

We were the first to break the news that the Sanyo Xacti VPC-CS1 super slim full HD camcorder was coming to the UK, and we’ve just got official word of when, plus a pricetag too boot. Read on to find out!

We first got to grips with the Sanyo Xacti VPC-CS1 pistol 1080i camcorder back at CES in January, but now the imaging guru tells us it’s hitting UK stores from this Friday, priced around £249.

Sanyo Dual Camera Xacti VPC-CS1: hands-on photos!

You can pass the time between now and the 5th by checking out our Sanyo Xacti VPC-CS1 hands-on gallery, and stay tuned for a full review.

Out 5 March | £249 | Sanyo

Related posts:

1. Sanyo Xacti VPC-CG100 pistol grip HD camcorder outed
2. Sanyo Xacti waterproof HD camcorder hands on and first impressions
3. Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD2000 camcorder review

The Bowers & Wilkins P5 headphones, its first set of super cans, quietly slipped out into officialdom late last year, but now they’ve finally hit UK shelves. Neighbours unhappy with the noise from your Zeppelin? These might just be the solution.

Despite knocking around for no fewer than 45 years, the Bowers & Wilkins P5 headphones are the British audio company’s first foray into over ear sonics. They certainly look the part, and promise audio quality to match with neodymium magnets and noise isolation with sealed leather pads for your lugs.

The Bowers & Wilkins P5 headphones are even “Made For iPod” so you can pop it straight into your Apple PMP and skip tracks on the cord, or use a regular top notch audio cable with gold plated plugs.

Read our Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Mini review now

The Bowers and Wilkins P5 headphones are out now, but only in Apple stores until the end of March, when exclusivity ends and they hit independent stores.

Out Now | £249 | Bowers & Wilkins

Related posts:

1. Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin
2. Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Mini
3. Etymotic hf2 custom-fit headphones exclusive to Apple

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

YouTube: Amnesia Gameplay Teaser
Frictional Games
Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Final Fantasy XIII is the second game that has placed claims on Avatar inspiration. Previously, a group of gamers said Avatar looked too much like Halo, which is an assertion that director Cameron later refuted.

Final Fantasy XIII 's Motomu Toriyama and Yoshinori Kitase [Tech Digest via はちま起稿]

Fret Nice will be available this Wednesday for 1200 points.

Update: Greed Corp (800 points) and Lazy Raiders (800 points) will also be available on Wednesday.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 release date, Warioware DIY info and a few other bits from today's shindig.

Yesterday Nintendo showed off its latest wares to the US press - today it was Europe's turn. At its London event this afternoon, the company had playable Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Metroid: Other M code (more on that later) and a handful of announcements.

So here's the quick guide. Super Mario Galaxy 2 has a UK release date – the second title in the plumber's latest platform adventure opus is out on June 11. Metroid: The Other M is slotted in for a slightly more vague Q3 arrival, while Montser Hunter Tri, the latest title in the hugely popular creature battling RPG comes to Wii on April 23. The Big N confirmed that online play will be available for all European players with broadband Internet access at no additional cost. You'll be able to form teams with up to three other players, in order to scuffle with the vast array of beasties, all with abilities based on real animals. Apparently, there's also a text chat function and online voice chat via the Wii Speak microphone (which will be part of a special bundle pack, available when the game ships).

Then there's WarioWare: Do It Yourself, which has been out in Japan for a while, but will saunter in the direction of your DS on April 30. Not only are there 90 typically madcap micro-games to plow through, but as the subtitle suggests, you also get to design your own via a simple editor that handles everything from graphics and sound to rulesets.

Naturally, players are able to share their creations via the Wi-Fi connection, and Nintendo also says it'll be running regular design challenges in which users have to create a cool game based around a set theme. Alternatively, it's also possible to draw your own four-panel comics and foist those on friends too. Plus, there will be a WiiWare version which adds 70 more microgames and a multiplayer mode and another mini-game based on the old NES title Balloon Fight.

Operating in a similar landscape of user-generated content and offbeat retro gaming, Photo Dojo was available for hands-on fun. The game requires players to take several photos of themselves indifferent positions, then record ten sound effects. These personalized elements then provide the basis for a side-scrolling fighting game in which the player quite literally (sort of) is the lead character. It's smacking the DsiWare store this spring.

For hardcore fans there's the news that Nintendo will be partnering with Square Enix to publish Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies in Europe this summer. The DS game has already shifted 4.15 million copies in the Japan, where the Dragon Quest series is something of a national obsession. It'll be interesting to see how it fares here amid the eternal Final Fantasy hype storm. Furthermore, there was official confirmation that Sin and Punishment: Successor of the Skies, an updated Wii version of the cult N64 game from Japanese developer Treasure, will get a Euro release on May 7. Working with the Wii Remote, Classic Controller, GameCube controller and/or Wii Zapper, it's a typically mind-blowing on-rails onslaught from the legendary shoot-'em-up master, complete with co-op mode and an international leaderboard. Which I will be at the bottom of. Or thereabouts.

Is that it? No, Nintendo also showed off FlingSmash, a sort of cute version of the PSN download Pain, in which you fling and smash a ball-shaped character through a series of side-scrolling levels using the Wii MotionPlus accessory. "[combines] the precision of racket sports with the unpredictable fun of pinball," says the press release. It's being flung at Wii this summer.

So yes, some interesting stuff on there, and I'm particularly looking forward to WarioWare: DIY having spent many happy bus commutes frothing at the mouth through earlier iterations of the series. How about you?

The brilliant games festival begins its monthly discussion events this week. But should there be more of this sort of thing?

Tomorrow evening GameCity, Nottingham's wonderful videogame festival is starting a new monthly project. Taking place at the city's brand new Antenna centre for creative business, GameCityNights is essentially a series of 'talks' by leading gaming luminaries, followed by Q&A sessions, snacks and a, in typical GameCity style - a videogame trivia quiz.

This week's inaugural event will feature Hello Games, the indie gaming start-up behind forthcoming digitally distributed stunt bike sim, Joe Danger, which has already been enthusiastically embraced by the likes of Edge and Eurogamer - partly because the guys behind Hello Games have immense pedigree, coming from senior roles at the likes of Criterion, Sumo and Kuju; and partly because it looks bloody great. "They will be sharing secrets, anecdotes and show'n'telling this brilliant new game and they *might* even let you play," says festival director Iain Simons. It seems that From Software's lovely 3D Dot Game Heroes will also be making some sort of appearance.

Tickets are £3 on the door, and there's more info here. You can also follow the GameCityNights Twitter feed.

I think there should be events like this up and down the country on an extremely regular basis. Now that games are a mass market sociable proposition there just aren't enough opportunities to get together and talk about them in a, ahem, real-world setting.

On Gamesblog, we've often talked about the prospect of gaming versions of book clubs, while there are plenty of film clubs where indie cinemas show off new and forthcoming movies followed by Q&A sessions with the makers; this format can work just as well for games, as hopefully tomorrow evening's soiree should show.

Videogames have made it as a mainstream entertainment business, but they're yet to slip comfortably into the sociocultural milieu. BAFTA is making a lot of important strides in this direction, adding game-related events to its calendar of talks and discussion nights: just last week, Mark Morris and Chris Delay from Introversion were at the David Lean Room talking about Darwinia + (there's a review here).

What do you think? What would make a good videogame-related semi-cultural night out for you?

Two Worlds II Newsletter
Two Worlds II

Out Of Eight: New Star Tennis
New Star Games
New Star Tennis

Let's keep it simple shall we? The Assassin's Creed 2 guide has been posted, enjoy.

Full Walkthrough

Continue reading Here's that video of Jason carving a Big Daddy out of a tree you wanted

Here's that video of Jason carving a Big Daddy out of a tree you wanted originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 27 Feb 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Remade NES box art almost as awesome as our childhood memories originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 27 Feb 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Content: Secret Armory
Price: 800 Microsoft Points
Availability: Not available in Germany and Japan
Dash Text: Description: Borderlands goes to ELEVEN! You may have seen some games raise their level cap by 5, or maybe even 10, but with The Crimson Lance Assassination Squads wreaking havoc and Crawmerax the Invincible being all invulnerable and stuff we knew you'd need more than just 10. And that's why Borderlands goes to ELEVEN! The Secret Armory of General Knoxx is an addon pack for Borderlands that adds new guns, new Class Mods, new vehicles, new missions, new enemy types, and increases the level cap to 61. In other words…best addon ever. Of all time. Forever. The End. ELEVEN! There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see www.xbox.com/live/accounts.

Add Secret Armory to your Xbox 360 download queue

Content: Pure
Price: Check pricing for your region
Availability: Australia, Denmark, Finland, Great Britain, Norway, North America, Sweden, and Asia 
Dash Text: (Online Interactions Not Rated by the ESRB) This game supports English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish. Download the manual for this game by locating the game on http://marketplace.xbox.com and selecting “See Game Manual". PURE is an offroad trick-racing game featuring incredible tricks and massive, vertigo-inducing jumps. Leap hundreds of feet into the air - off mountains, over lakes and across gaping chasms in epic worldwide locations. Pull off over 70 different tricks and build over 100,000 different custom quad bikes. It's all about speed, air and incredible tricks. PURE Adrenaline! There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see www.xbox.com/live/accounts 

Add Pure to your Xbox 360 download queue

Content: RESIDENT EVIL 5
Price: Check pricing for your region
Availability: Australia, Europe and New Zealand Xbox LIVE regions
Dash Text: (Online Interactions Not Rated by the ESRB) This game supports English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish. Download the manual for this game by locating the game on http://marketplace.xbox.com and selecting “See Game Manual". The Resident Evil series continues with this highly anticipated sequel. Searing heat from the merciless sun scorches the earth, while a new evil draws closer. There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see www.xbox.com/live/accounts.

Add Resident Evil 5 to your Xbox 360 download queue

I thought it was just my PS3 that was playing up as I’m still able to jump onto the Internet using my console, but not PSN. But the most annoying this is, I was just about to complete Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time on the challenge mode which would have given me my final trophy and unlocked my first ever platinum trophy, but I was stolen of the pleasure. Not only that, it seems to have wiped all the trophies I required for A Crack in Time so I’m probably going to have to go through it all again to get the trophies.

You might also find that your internal calendar has been reset to 31/12/1999, just like mine did. I input the right date and time before I went to the land of nod at about 00:48 and tried it this morning and the time hadn’t moved.

This doesn’t seem to be just a localised issue, but a worldwide issue with the older models of the PS3. So if you’ve got a PS3 Slim, consider yourself lucky as you look like you’re going to get away with this problem.

Are you having this problem? Has it wiped your trophies too? Let us know.

UPDATE: Sony has come out and said that they’ve “narrowed down the issue and have engineers working to restore service even as you read this.” There’s still no time as to when this mammoth issue will be fixed, but at least we know they’re working on it.

Via – IGN

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1. Playstation 3 ‘Hacked’ By iPhone Jailbreaker?
2. Cheap Playstation 3 (PS3)?
3. Playstation Home Released!
4. Playstation Home Review (BETA)

The last time we had a look at the Cyber-Shot camera range was just about this time last year when Sony were expanding the Cybershot digital camera range for 2009, and now Sony have added two more cameras to the already extensive range in the form of the multi-purpose H55 and the omni-weather TX5.

Sony Cyber-Shot TX5

Firstly we’ll look at the Cyber-Shot TX5 which is not only the first waterproof Cyber-Shot camera but also claims to be the world’s smallest and thinnest waterproof digital still camera out there, which is no mean feat but also not that surprising considering that it’s only 17.1 mm thick and weighs in at only 128g.

Obviously the main selling point of the TX5 is how durable it is: as well as being waterproof up to 3m in depth (which means not only will it survive splashes and spilt tea, but also drops into water and underwater photography) it’s also dust-proof, shock-proof and interestingly freeze-proof which means it should be able to survive anything a normal person would put it through.

Another nice feature related to this is that the 3” LCD touchscreen is easily usable even when underwater and wearing gloves (which is normally a complete pain if you are out biking/riding/boxing!) and come in a range of five amazingly sensibly named colours – black, silver, pink, red and green.

With regards to the specs go as you can imagine they have been somewhat compromised to accommodate for the fact they have to fit into a weatherproof case, but they are still far from poor. The Exmor R CMOS Sensor offers up to 10.2 megapixels and works along with a Carl Zeiss lens which provides 4x optical zoom and a 25mm wide angle allowing for both macro and expansive shots.

These two combine to allow for full resolution continuous burst shots of up to 10fps meaning you’ll always get the right moment, and failing that there is 720p HD movie shooting. There is of course also a whole range of other technologies to make using the Sony Cyber-Shot TX5 digital camera that bit easier such as the Anti Motion Blur and Intelligent Sweep Panorama both of which do exactly what they say on the tin.

Sony Cyber-Shot H55

Moving onto the Cyber-Shot H55 and we have a very different more traditional (in the digital sense) camera which offers high quality and zoom to offer a lot more versatility – although of course that’s not going to be a lot of consolation if you drop it in the pool, so this is definitely for the more relaxed casual photographer!

There is nothing particularly special about the styling (although again the two colours [black and silver] are sensibly named) and it does a good job of looking understated whilst maintaining an element of ‘suave’ – or at least as much as you can with a camera.

The first major advantage of the H55 is the resolution it offers with up to 14.1 megapixels available from the CCD sensor, with the high performance G lens being the second as it allows for a powerful x10 optical zoom which as you would expect makes it great for pretty much every casual situation.

Much like the TX5, the H55 also has 720p HD recording, although unlike the other camera the H55 has Optical SteadyShot image stabilisation which is enhanced with the exciting sounding ‘Active Mode’ which promises to offer up to 10x more shake correction which means you should still get clear steady clips even when walking. With the Cyber-Shot H55, you also get the not-so-intelligent Sweep Panorama, Face Detection and Auto Mode all designed to make your life that little bit easier.

There’s no word on pricing yet, but expect to see that later this month when they are released, but I can’t imagine there will be that much difference between the two. In conclusion too solid additions to the Cyber-Shot range: one for those more active (or perhaps clumsy) and another for those more casual and stationary photographers!

Via – Sony & Gadget Venue

Related Pages:

1. Sony CyberShot Digital Camera Range Expands…Again!
2. Sony DSLR-A450 Digital SLR Camera Announced
3. Panasonic Digital Cameras (FS Series)
4. New Samsung Digital Camaras Announced (CES 2010)

Now being a Canadian, I’ve had the privilege of going curling and it’s surprisingly a fun game! However, from a spectator’s standpoint, I can see it to be a rather slow and boring game to watch (like golf), however, it seems as though the sport of curling has drawn some attention recently from male fans since most of the female curling athletes in Olympics are fairly young and surprisingly attractive. It looks as though many prominent female curlers have even created a calendar to promote their sport (warning, pictures are NSFW). As well, countries who are starting to become familiar with the sport (like Russia), are attracting more young people to participate (as opposed to the stereotypical mid-aged, retired person).

Apparently some sites have even rated some of the athletes in terms of attractiveness and I definitely have to agree that many of the female curlers are easy on the eyes. If you don’t believe me, take a look at some of the curling matches when you get a chance…you won’t regret it!

-Stephen

With the start of March, there are definitely a few titles which I’m looking forward to. The ones in particular for me are Final Fantasy XIII, Command and Conquer 4 and God of War III. However, when seeing some of gameplay for Yakuza 3, that’s starting to appeal to me as well (and my wallet is going to feel hollow for awhile). Thankfully games like Starcraft II aren’t released in March or else I won’t get any sleep or any work done! =)

-Stephen

A large number of console hardware devices failing all at once. This sounds familiar.

On December 31, 2008 at around midnight PST, Microsoft's first generation Zune 30GB portable device began to go kaput en masse. "Upon when turning on, the thing loads up and... freezes with a full loading bar," a tipster told sister site Gizmodo.

By evening later that same day, Microsoft had an official fix for the Zune issue: "By tomorrow you should allow the battery to fully run out of power before the unit can restart successfully then simply ensure that your device is recharged, then turn it back on". The problem was caused by an internal clock error, namely the way it handles a leap year.

Likewise, Sony is having issues with its first generation PlayStation 3 hardware. It was originally believed to be an issue with Sony's PlayStation Network, but now some are theorizing that this snafu is related to the console's internal hardware.

As previously mentioned, Microsoft was able to pinpoint the problem and offer a solution, and hopefully Sony will be able to as well.

I'll admit that last year, I didn't even know there *was* a Canada day; but as my social circle increasingly includes "out" Canadians, I'm learning more about who's Canadian (William Shatner! Peter Jennings! NEIL YOUNG), Canadian alcohol (Crown Royal, Seagram's), and days commemorating great events in Canadian history, such as ... Canada Day.

My close association with several Canadians qualifies me to be your interpreter, American reader, and your guide to Canadian culture. Below follow some important facts about Canada.

Did you know...

...that a Bloody Mary is called a Bloody Caesar? And comes with Clamato juice and a celery salt rim? (Of course some recipes for Bloody Marys suggest Clamato)?

...that Canada Day was originally called "Dominion Day"? and that in Quebec it coincides with "Moving Day"?

...that the "Maple Leaf" national flag was adopted on February 15th, 1965, a day that is now commemorated as National Flag Day?

...that Canadians (except those from Quebec) look and, in many cases, sound almost exactly like Americans?

In any case, remember to buy your favorite Canadian a refreshing beer this evening in honor of Canada Day. If you're not sure which of your friends is secretly Canadian, try this simple test: Announce, "I'm going to Tim's, want anything?"

If they reply, "Who's Tim?" they are American.

But if they say "Oh, get me a donut," they are TOTALLY CANADIAN. You're welcome.

O Canada! Happy Birthday to you!

Details for Star Trek Online's raid quests released originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 27 Feb 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.