Lost Planet: Extreme Condition held up well against competing titles like Unreal Tournament III and the original Gears of War. The game shined in its visuals and snow-themed environments along with addicting gameplay. It was an experience all in itself to simply get lost going through these lush backdrops with vibrant colors and aesthetically disturbing enemies. Lost Planet 2 stays true to the jaw-dropping visuals of the first game by including new types of environments to trek through. An unexplained rise of temperature in the plot accomplishes this. This gives way to areas such as jungles, deserts, and other diverse locations previously untouched by the series.

The enemies continue to look grotesque and it becomes a guilty pleasure to see what the next creature will look like in its own demented and beautiful way. The bosses will redefine epic for quite nicely. The most current generation of games coming out has put an emphasis on boss battles growing to immense proportions. Lost Planet 2 is no different. The demo boss alone takes up an enormous amount of space, traversing across the entire stage leading up to his encounter. Capcom assured me that each boss would be similar and continue to grow as you progress through the game and even informed me of one boss fight that you could go inside of to destroy due to its ridiculous size.

Besides the stunning visuals, the gameplay elements and new mechanics will keep you addicted and your controller busy. This time around even more character types are available and can all be customized as your experience progresses through the game. Along with the character adapting and becoming stronger, you also continue to unlock weapons and customize them in a similar fashion. Using a similar point system as its predecessor, Lost Planet 2 allows you to gain thermal energy and battle points as you play. Using these points also makes customizing your character and equipment a breeze. These RPG elements adds a lot more depth to this sequel and brings something for any veteran of any genre.

Outside the story, the multiplayer contains modes such as 4-player campaign, 16-player versus, and others included in the past Lost Planet games. With so many ways to play this game, competitive or otherwise, it’s a guarantee that you’ll be drawn into the world of Lost Planet. With Lost Planet 2 coming out this year, keep an eye on Skatter Tech for more news and a release date along with our review of the game.

Links: Capcom.com | Lost Planet 2 on Wiki

Best Overall Game: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is the sequel to the popular game Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. It’s been one of the most talked about games this year. After having already sold over 4.7 million copies on opening day and over 9 million copies in the first 5 days, it’s broken just about all sales records for video games.

Buy: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Second Choice: Left 4 Dead 2

Left 4 Dead 2 is the sequel to the very popular post-apocalyptic multiplayer game, Left 4 Dead. The game follows four individuals in the New Orleans area. They are trying to escape a zombie outbreak. It incorporates many new guns and melee weapons. In addition, it introduces us to several new special infected: Charger, Spitter, and the Jockey.

Buy: Left 4 Dead 2

Third Choice: Batman: Arkham Asylum

Batman has been gaining popularity since the movie Batman Begins was released in 2005. Batman: Arkham Asylum you continue the story after the movie The Dark Knight. You assume the role of Batman as he brings The Joker to Arkham Asylum. While in Arkham Asylum, the super-villians set a trap for Batman.

Buy: Batman: Arkham Asylum

This Gift Guide is a part of our ongoing Skatter Tech Holiday Gift Guide.

The latest wave of gaming consoles to hit our local retail shelves are Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360. While these two push the limits of graphic capability for a console, the lovable Nintendo Wii that has pushed on human interactivity in gaming. Gaming technologies continue to have the potential to keep advancing and impressing us. But what is in store for the PC will once again dominate all gaming consoles. Three Dimensional PC gaming has been introduced, once again, as the next advancement for this generation’s gamers to take bliss in.

Although 3D gaming has been mentioned over and over, this might truly be the year where it becomes widespread. At Nvision 08 I was able to sit down and enjoy a few upcoming PC games. Out of the five game demos available at Nvision, I was able to test out a few: Grid, Spore, and Unreal Tournament 3.  I can safely say that playing a shooter in 3D was an experience I will not forget. A whole new rush comes over a gamer when he or she jumps into an online shooter match in 3 Dimensions. It is quite exciting to experience and see the depth of bullets now literally flying by or the narrowness of halls closing in. Having a chance to play these games in 3D offers a fresh new experience and allows gamers to feel that they are a part of the game more than ever before.

Over 350 titles, which are already on the market, will become available in 3D as the new Nvidia cards begin to roll out. There won’t be any need to wait for updates or patches from developers since the new video card drivers, themselves, will support rendering those games in 3D. According to Nvidia even GeForce 8 GPUs, which are already widespread, will be able to run those games in 3D. We soon can begin to brag about owning computers capable of rendering games in 3 Dimensions; however I still have to figure out how to explain having to wear those 3D glasses.

The NVIDIA GeForce Stereoscopic 3D technology not only opens a 3 Dimensional gaming world that you can dive into, but a sharp and artistic world as well. After all, for all those Unreal Tournament players out there, imagine getting excited about having the Rocket Launcher all over again. The graphics allow for a sharp view of every shot you take, with endless weapons with different capabilities, to be clearly seen in a 3 Dimensional depth now. You can watch the bullet tear through the air and hit the wall that now appears “way out there” and still visually see everything. 3D Gaming has clearly added all new meaning to “diving into an online match” for computer games, but what about other genres of computer games, say one on the other side of the spectrum in this case, say a game that has redefined “a long time coming” gamers, and call it Spore. Playing Spore in 3D, let alone finally, was an amazing and outstanding visual experience above everything else. It truly was able to give you the feeling that you were holding a clay model of your creation, and you could tweak, move, expand, and add to it in any dimensions you wished. Playing this game in 3D, a game that requires a lot of graphical creating that is, gives the illusion that the mouse is able to move in an X-Y-Z plane rather than a boring old 2D plane that reality bounds. Playing Spore also allowed me to understand why it has been taking so very long for this game to arrive. This game, for those who are familiar with Sims, breaks the habit of just being a simulator genre game, and allows you to fully and compulsively create each creature, land, vehicles, weapons, and anything else to your personal artistic desire. I can safely say this game challenges an idea of “infinite gameplay” since you will never be done experimenting.

With all this potential for 3D gaming to expand on what we already love and only bring us closer as a part of the whole experience, aside from 350 titles already announced 3D capable, this is generation of videogames on the horizon of great things.  Soon we will be able to sit comfortably in our homes, play against friends across the world in a 3 Dimensional experience, and bring ourselves closer and closer to the new wave of entertainment known popularly as Video Games.

At first glance, Sony’s UX Micro PC is noticeably bulky. The first thing most people notice other than the touch screen include the fingerprint reader and the Motion Eye Camera on top. The buttons on the side of the screen function as the left-click, right-click, and mouse thumb pad. Due to the nature of the small touch screen, the other buttons allow access to the zoom function and the on-screen keyboard. Also included are hard-keys for disabling WiFi to save battery life as well as a power button. The bottom of the UX has a standard line in and line out (headphone and microphone), a power supply jack, and an expansion slot. The only other port on the machine is a USB 2.0 slot on left, however access to more USB and a Ethernet ports can be made available using the mini port replicator, which plugs into the bottom. In addition a button for snapping photos and a Memory Stick Duo slot are found above the unit.

Functionality
The HDD-based model we tested was quite fast for its size. It took roughly 50 seconds to reach the login screen after booting up, which is quite slower than a standard laptop. (runs Win XP) However the all new flash-based models will probably be much faster, in addition to being power efficient. The unit can have a max of 1 GB of RAM and a CPU of up to 1.33GHz (Intel Core Solo). Switching back and forth between the stylus and the keyboard can get quite annoying after a while. The battery life on this HDD-based unit is quite horrible, I could only get around 2hrs out of it with the WiFi enabled. (at least +4hrs needed) The device also has Cingular Wireless Internet (paid service) to compliment the Bluetooth and WiFi. The included features are quite powerful, but lacks true functionality.

Keyboard
The UX has a full QWERTY keyboard which slides out below the screen. The keyboard takes a little getting used since the keys are flat around the edges. The enter and backspace keys are quite hard to use since they are curved at the edges to go along with the style of the unit. Another drawback which makes it harder to get comfortable typing, is the unusual key placement. (they had to crunch them together) However a big bonus is the fully backlit keyboard (blue LEDs), which makes typing a whole lot easier in poorly lighted places. Typing for long periods of time gets quite uncomfortable and the extremely tiny spacebar only makes it worse.

Final Thoughts
With a small 30GB HDD and a very limited battery life, the device is lacking on many fronts. However newer batteries and the flash-based technology may have improved this device. A raised keyboard to offer touch feedback and possible predictive text entry can improve the device. Also for a device meant to be portable, 2 pounds is pretty heavy. If plan to use it for just web browsing, email, and other small functions, and are willing to spend around $2,000, this might be for you. However personally I would wait for an improved device with more HDD and Battery!

Buy: UX390N (NEW MODEL) | UX280P (this review) | Links: SonyStyle.com

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As Windows Vista is getting closer to launch, Microsoft has published a comprehensive guide to outline the minimum hardware requirements necessary to run their new operating system. Their new “Get Ready” program will help consumers, who are planning to purchase new machines, determine whether their new computer will be able to run Vista. According to Microsoft, to be able to run Windows Vista on the bare minimum specifications, your hardware must meet the following:

• Processor: 800 MHz / 32-bit or 64-bit
• System Memory: at least 512MB
• Hard Drive: 20GB (15GB free)
• Optical Drive: CD-ROM drive

However, to be able “To better experience Windows Vista,” (use the new “aero theme“) you must have the following hardware specifications:

• Processor: 1 GHz / 32-bit or 64-bit
• System Memory: 1GB recommended
• Graphics Processor: DirectX 9 capable
• Graphics Memory: 128MB or above
• Hard Drive: 40GB (15GB free space)
• Optical Drive: DVD-ROM or CD-ROM
• Others: Audio Out and Internet Access

Most new computer manufacturers such as Acer, Dell, Fujitsu, Gateway, HP, Sony, and more will begin to brand their machines with “Windows Vista Capable” logos. If you want to know whether your machine can run Windows Vista, visit Microsoft’s “Get Ready” website. Microsoft has also released a “Vista Upgrade Advisor” tool which will determine if the hardware on your machine is “Vista Capable”.

Links: “Get Ready” Information | Windows Vista | Microsoft
Other Links: Offical Press Release | Vista Upgrade Advisor
Related: Windows Vista Editions | Wikipedia: Windows Vista

2006 is a year full of high expectations from gamers. What with Xbox 360, Revolution, and PS3 all making their formal debuts, expectations have turned into demands. While taking a look at some games that would be released later this year, one of them in particular caught my eye: Spore. The game is made by the one and only Will Wright, the renowned creator of The Sims and Sim City. Spore is a new style of simulator game that lets you play “God” in more depth than ever conceived.

In Spore, you begin the game in a universe as a single cell. After swimming around and eating bits of food, your creature lays an egg. At this point you will be allowed to modify the creature that will be born by giving it new traits, abilities, and body parts. As the creature eventually starts to evolve, it leaves its area and enters a large ocean and eventually reaches land. As you may already see, this game has many stages making it nearly endless. The best feature in Spore is the variety of the creatures you will encounter. This is because the majority of the game is made by players just like you. Your Spore community will soon turn into full civilizations with technology starting. Even though these may have started out with primitive tools, some of these “Spore civilizations” may even end up surpassing those of today.

From what I can see, the possibilities are endless and game play will last a very long time. But then again, this is what I’ve been expecting from Wright’s team of masterminds. If you are interested you may be disappointed to hear that there is no official launch date set yet, however it is expected to be released sometime in Q3.

Links: Spore Offical Site | GameSpot Page
Video: Spore Video [via Google Video]

1) Google Calendar screenshots have been revealed by TechCrunch, a popular Web 2.0 blog. (Yahoo! apparently fed them the info) Anyways “to be launched” service is an online AJAX based calendar service, which is suppose to be called CL2. The service has a gmail-like user interface and will have plenty of colaboration features, including RSS. It should also become intergrated with many of Google’s other services.
Links: Tech Crunch | CL2 Login Screen

2) Comedy Central’s The Daily Show and The Colbert Report have been added to the iTunes Store. The “season pass” will cost only $9.99 and will download the current episode plus the next 16 shows when they become available. Epsiodes can still be purchased individually for $1.99.
Links: Daily Show | Colbert Report
iTunes Links: Daily Show | Colbert Report

3) Microsoft has announced that their code name “Origami” Tablet PC should be available by the end of April. This is a new line of products, influenced by Microsoft, which are ultra-portable machines that are powered by Windows XP. Samsung’s version has a 7″ touch screen display, an extendable keyboard, Bluetooth, and WiFi. They can also run standard apps such as MS Office as wells as support playing videos, listening to music, and viewing photos. (Pricing will be around $600-1000)
Links: Origami Project | Microsoft’s Preview

4) MSN Live (aka. Windows Live) has just gotten a full AJAX makeover. Although still in beta, the service looks simple and clean. It has support for custom RSS feeds, as well as a selection to choose from. (weather, horoscope, email, news, etc.) The interface looks much better than Google IG. One neat feature that other services don’t offer that MSN Live does is Feed Search. For example search for “CNN” and when the results appear, if a feed is available a “add feed” button will be displayed.
Links: Windows Live | LiveCom Offical Blog