TechNama

Its been 10 years since we first saw the record breaking THE SIMS, and ever since we have seen a number of expansion packs and subsequent releases of SIMS2 and SIMS3.

That’s right Sims, it’s been 10 years of simulation and Simlish rocking your world. Join us to celebrate and win one of 10 copies of the hottest, latest expansion pack – The Sims 3 World Adventures, simply by following the instructions below;

Win one of 10 copies of the hottest, latest expansion pack – The Sims 3 World Adventures.

Upload your Sim as your profile picture on Facebook, Myspace or Twitter and then, in your status, tell us in 25 words or less why your Sim deserves to go on a World Adventure…

Take a screen grab of your page and send it to thesims3@deccommunications.com.au to enter. Only the 10 most creative entries will be notified! Entries close at the end of January 2010. Good luck! From Team EA.

DiRT 2 will feature a roster of contemporary off-road events, taking players to the most diverse and challenging real-world environments. This World Tour will have players competing in aggressive multi-car and intense solo races at extraordinary new locations, from canyon racing and jungle trails to city stadium-based events. To be powered by the third generation of the EGO Engine’s award-winning racing game technology, DiRT 2 will benefit from tuned-up car-handling physics system and new damage engine effects. It will also showcase a spectacular new level of visual fidelity, with cars and tracks twice as detailed as those seen in GRID. So here we have the  game demo for you to download and play;

File Size: 1.3 GB

Download Now

Tonight at the Spike TV Video Game awards we had a look at a trailer for the new Medal of Honor game from EA. The new installment in the series was announced last week.

About Medal of Honor

Medal of Honor is a modern military first person shooter from Electronic Arts being developed by both EA DICE and EALA. Medal of Honor is a “reboot” of the best selling Medal of Honor franchise that has until now been exclusive to the World War II setting. With more than a dozen titles in the franchise, across all gaming platforms, Medal of Honor is the first game that is not set during World War II. Set in modern day, war-torn Afghanistan players will take on the role of a soldier in the Tier 1 Operator which is group of highly trained military soldiers under the direct command of National Command Authority.

The single player and multiplayer modes will have separate development teams, with EA Los Angeles tackling the single player game and Battlefield series developer EA Dice taking on the multiplayer portion. As of the initial press release on December 2, 2010, Electronic Arts has set a target release date of sometime in the Fall of 2010. More information, screenshots and links will be posted as they are made available.

About the Footage:

It’s no secret that this game is looking to compete with Activision’s Call of Duty series, and the imagery in the trailer was more than a little bit familiar. One segment showed a black and white view in a gunship, then a night vision segment where the laser sight glows in the dark. There was also a section where players drive an ATV through the desert and have the ability to perform close quarters kills with a knife. The trailer closes out with players checking on a hostage tied to a chair and realizing that he’s wired with explosives. The hostage is kicked out of a window just as he explodes.

Most of the geeks are shifting to new Windows 7 and instantly installs new softwares and desktop applications on it. The problem is that these softwares gets heavy on your RAM and hence slows down your computer. The end result is not a very good experience of the users with the new Windows7. To solve this problem, i recently came across a very efficient Windows 7 Memory Cleaner software that free up memory on windows 7 OS based machines and at the same time does not corrupt your windows files.  It is worth adding here softwares made for Windows Vista might corrupt your memory files and hence should not be used on Windows 7.

MemoryCleaner is considerably better because it uses functions built into Windows to judiciously free memory – with no performance impact whatsoever. There are other amazing memory cleaners available in the market but this one is a relatively new addition and I think you should give it a try and see for yourself that is a worthy competitor and above all, its FREE

Interesting Features of MemoryCleaner

1. Trims processes’ working set.

2. Clears system cache.

3. Monitors RAM usage and reports minimum, maximum and average (true average, not (min+max)/2).

4. Reports Pagefile and virtual memory usage.

Download MemoryCleaner for Windows XP/2003/Vista/2008/7

Atari has revamped its site and one of the most interesting features is the new arcade section. The Atari Arcade section allows its classic fans to play the classic titles. I hope the atari fans remember the famous Atari Arcade titles Asteroids, Adventure, Battlezone, Crystal Castles, Lunar Lander and Yars Revenge. Each of these titles have been retro fitted with leaderboards so you can make your mark among the fans from across the globe.

Beside the Atari Arcade Games section, Atari has also added few other features to its website. According to Kotaku

The new Atari.com represents phase one of the company’s internet re-launch, allows fans of the company’s works to browse the latest Atari titles, buy games from the Atari Store, enter contests, and most importantly, play six classic Atari games for free as long as you;d like, unless your boss is watching

The company new vision to focus on its online business has been very well defined by the remarks of Jim Wilson, President and CEO of Atari, Inc

“Today commences the first stage in Atari’s ongoing commitment to growing its online business with the re-launch of Atari.com. Our online roadmap contains a multitude of enhancements and exciting new features which over time will redefine how people play and connect with Atari.”

Atari BattleZone

Atari Yars Revenge

Electronic Arts has unveiled its Fifa 2010 for its fans that use an iPhone. The game is surely going to give a great joy to all its fans who can not spare a minute to get it finished. Priced at $9.99, it offers a lot of features and game play camera views. According to a blog site:

If Real Soccer 2010 just isn’t cutting the mustard for you, FIFA 10 for iPhone might be your answer. In the latest edition of the soccer game from EA, you can play as one of 570 teams in 30 leagues from around the world. 12,620 players have also been licensed for inclusion in the game, and you can try your best to take down one of 20 tournaments and cup competitions.

Game controls are actually quite easy and intuitive. You can even control the ‘tempo’ of the game with the accelerometer. Game play is viewed from 6 different camera views, each in full 3D.

Of course, there’s a cool WiFi Multiplayer Mode built-in as well that allows for head-to-head matches for you and your friends. There’s also a ‘Be a Pro’ Mode that lets you create your own star, and track play through multiple seasons. Earn skills, score goals, and advance your career!

I wonder if $9.99 is going to stop the fans from buying one for their iPhones? What do you think? Fifa 10 is available in App Store here

Final Fantasy XIII is the much awaited game for 2009 and everyone is looking forward to it. According to a website, the latest trailer for it has been released. The site adds:

The Japanese site for Final Fantasy XIII has been updated with a brand new trailer from TGS 2009! Based on earlier reports this seems to be the same trailer shown at GamesCom this year, but the fact that it has been released to the public, and in the same year as it premiered no less, is surprising. Head over to the site to check out the trailer for yourselves!

Although not much news came out of TGS this year, the new trailer definitely makes up for it.

The new trailer can be found on the site Square Enix but the problem is that trailer is in Japanese and hence if anyone can get hold of an English version, please feel free to drop a comment so that we can update the post accordingly.

Till then, click here to Watch the Third Trailer for Final Fantasy Xiii.

According to PC Magazine:

The tearful romantic prelude against a Roger-Dean-inspired backdrop, the draconian sovereign barking orders with hands compulsively clasped behind back, the spasmodic battle clips teeming with stunts, spells, summons, and servo-mechanical enemies. Characters plead, conspire, sulk, reminisce, taunt, beg, and occasionally freak out. Patently illogical actions (see the protagonist’s sword-tantrum two-thirds in) occasionally yield improbable results. The laws of physics are subsumed by the maxims of stagecraft, allowing passengers to endure vehicles slung round like toy tops, then leap deftly from them onto soaring perches like circus hotshots with anti-gravity belts.

Be warned, there’s a supremely annoying Japanese pop song halfway along that soundtracks the visuals like something time-warped from a glittering disco-ball lounge (From Bach to Bacharach, the Circle of Fifths remains sentimentally indelible.) That aside, the opening bit with ol’ blonde and do-ragged romancing a disturbingly young-looking girl plays over a dissonant a cappella piece, presumably by composer Masashi Hamauzu. Promising stuff. For every cornball ballad in these games, there’s an avant garde piece (or three) lurking

I just came across these pics of Sony PlayStationGo and decided to share them with out readers. Special thanks to Jim Merithew of Wired Magazine for taking these pictures and sharing it with all the enthusiasts of PSPGO.

Enjoy!

Ferrari Gamepads for PlayStation 3 and PS has been unveiled by Thrustmaster and are expected to be released as limited edition. They come in four different editions i.e

- the Ferrari Wireless Gamepad 430 Scuderia Limited Edition,
- the F1 Wireless Gamepad Ferrari F60 Limited Edition,
- the Ferrari Motors Gamepad F430 Challenge Limited Edition
- the F1 Dual Analog Ferrari F60 Exclusive Edition

According to Thrustmaster press release:

To make these gamepads even more unique and worthy of collectors, an individual numbered plate is affixed to the front face of the three Limited Edition controllers. Their owners will be prouder than ever to consider them their own!

The packaging has been designed to offer these devices a box worthy of a gem. The gamepads are fully visible, placed in a highly “aggressive” racing position. The whole packaging is reminiscent of the world and values of Ferrari. Truly different gamepads boasting incredible packaging in the world of video games – further proof of the incomparable uniqueness of Ferrari-licensed controllers by Thrustmaster!

Guaranteeing an even more immersive experience in the Ferrari racing world, these controllers are a gamer’s dream come true.

Prices start at $49.99 for the wireless versions, and there is also a wired version which will retail for $39.99, they will go on sale in October, 2009

[via PR Thrustmaster]

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has launched $134 million marketing campaign for their new version of PlayStation 3 titled PS3 Slim. The new campaign is set for the upcoming Christmas season to rival Xbox360 and Nintendo Wii. Even Sony has decided to part ways with its previous style of ads and the new ads are more straight forward and bright that focus on the capabilities of the PS3 instead of games only.

According to GamaSutra:

The TV portion of the campaign is breaking away from the abstract nature of earlier PS3 ads in Europe, instead going for a more straightforward, bright approach that explains the game console’s home entertainment capabilities, according to a report in the Guaurdian. The TBWA agency handled the TV ads, which debut this evening.

It will be the first major PS3 ad campaign in Europe since Sony launched the original PS3 two years ago, the report said.

“Two years after launch, PlayStation 3 is realizing its full potential. The console is moving beyond gaming and gaming is moving beyond discs,” said Alan Duncan, UK marketing director for SCEE.

The new ad campaign comes a week after Sony announced a redesigned PlayStation 3 that is both cheaper for customers, and cheaper for Sony to build. The new console dropped to £250 ($408) from £299 ($488) in the UK, where SCEE is committing £6 million ($9.8 million) towards marketing.

According to Guardian story, the forecasts for gaming industry as as following:

SCEE is desperate to win the Christmas sales battles against Nintendo and Microsoft this year. The campaign comes on the heels of a price-cut announcement at the European games trade show Gamescom.

Screen Digest has forecast that Sony will sell 4.3m PS3 consoles in Europe this year and a total of 11.16m across the lifetime of the product to date.

Nintendo’s Wii will sell 7.5m consoles in Europe this year, bringing its total sales to date for the region to more than 21m, according to Screen Digest. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 will hit just below 3m this year, a total to date of just under 11m across Europe since the console went on sale.

I am obviously waiting for the MW2 beta , and there is lots and lots of weird news on the internet, like there won’t be any beta. Digging in hard, i found an official word on the status of the Public beta on the Infinity ward forum; so listen to this – they are still working on testing the beta internally and after that stage , they would love to release the public beta;

I wanted to clarify the supposed “news” coming out of GameCom this morning regarding no MW2 Beta.

First, nothing has technically changed by this news. As I’ve told you many times in the past, expect no Public Beta unless we announce otherwise. That is still the case. We would never say something as definitive as “No Beta Ever!” as that’s simply not how we work. We’ll do an internal beta, if we feel a public one is needed, we’ll explore that route as well.

It is true that we have not announced a Public Beta for MW2, and that remains true unless I announce otherwise.

However, while no Public Beta is currently announced we do plan on running an extensive Closed Beta among Infinity Ward, Activision, and possibly 1st party partners worldwide. The internal beta will allow us all the benefits of a public beta test without the impact it takes on the time required to prep, distribute, & manage a public beta during this crucial time in development.

Remember, Multiplayer has been in development since Day 1 of working on Modern Warfare 2, and this is the essential run up to launch when we’re playing everyday, hammering away on it to make sure it’s as polished as can be by launch. As always, our internal QA team has daily multiplayer tests in addition to company-wide nightly MP tests we hold from the moment MP is in a running state throughout development.

Once the internal beta is completed, if for any reason we feel we didn’t receive the feedback, address the issues, or have the result we expect. We would consider pushing forward with a public one, however at this point only an internal Closed Beta is planned.

That said, any fears that no Public Beta will result in any quality loss in the final multiplayer game is completely unfounded; Multiplayer has always been and will always remain a major focus for the team at Infinity Ward and we would never ship a product we didn’t feel lived up to the high standards we hold ourselves to.

While we love public betas for all the obvious reasons, an internal Closed Beta allows us the extra freedom and flexibility to give the entire multiplayer a chance to be widely beta tested without requiring excess development time simply to prep the game for public release instead of an internal beta test which is ran on dev kits / test kits. That fact alone, allows us to have a smoother and faster process of iteration when addressing issues and pushing fixes out to beta participants.

This decision allows us to deliver a more polished experience, which in the end, is what we all want.

Stay informed on Multiplayer

We’ll be filming plenty of Multiplayer videos for you to get a glimpse of new perks, features, killstreak rewards, and other additions you can look forward to in Modern Warfare 2’s Multiplayer. Keep an eye on our Twitter feed (@fourzerotwo) for when we post new videos and subscribe to the Official Infinity Ward YouTube channel.

In addition to the official multiplayer videos and features we release, we’ll be doing more and more multiplayer press from now until launch so you can get your fill of intel before jumping online day 1.

Battle of Little Bighorn…Tannenberg…Antietam, these are just a few of humanity’s darkest days. This hour-long demo lets players experience unrivaled carnage in two time-frames and experience what it is like to use futuristic weapons in period settings. See what happens when you alter history while fighting against hundreds of enemies during some of man’s greatest struggles in History! So here we have the  game demo for you to download and play;

File Size : 741 MB

TO Download: Click Here

The top 20 gaming list for july, 2009 has been released by NPD and i just came across it so thought to share it with our readers. The interesting thing about the list is that EA and Nintendo games got the maximum hits.  According to Gamasutra:

As previously revealed, Nintendo and Electronic Arts dominated the top 10 with six and four titles, respectively, and that strength continued throughout the expanded list.

On the Wii, Nintendo’s mini-game and peripheral combo, Wii Play, took the #11 spot and its update to the classic boxing game, Punch-Out!!, claimed #15. EA’s Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 for the Wii ranked 12th when sales of the standalone game and Wii MotionPlus bundle were combined.

In addition, Nintendo’s The Legendary Starfy for the DS returned to the chart for a second month in precisely the same slot, #19.

Two more EA titles made the list: Fight Night Round 4 for Sony’s PlayStation 3 at 13th and NCAA Football 10 for the PlayStation 2 at 20th, the ninth iteration of that series on Sony’s older console.

Other than EA and Nintendo, the publishers THQ, Activision Blizzard, and Take-Two Interactive filled out the remainder of the top 20 list.

Elsehwere, THQ’s hit brawler, UFC 2009: Undisputed for the Xbox 360, made the top 20 for its third consecutive month, this time at position 14.

Activision Blizzard’s movie-tie in game, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – Autobots, slipped in at #16 while Prototype for the Xbox 360 dropped from the #1 spot in June to #17 in July. Finally, Take-Two’s baseball sim Major League Baesball 2K9 (also for the Xbox 360) finished the month at 18th.

Nintendo platforms dominated with 12 titles in the top 20. Five titles on the chart were for Microsoft’s Xbox 360. Sony’s PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 each claimed 1 and 2 titles respectively.

The detail list is below:

In Order Of War , take control of the Second World War and lead an army to victory in this RTS from Square Enix. Order of War will challenge you not only to lead America’s finest to victory in the West, but also place you in command of German forces charged with repelling the Red Army’s seemingly unstoppable offensive in the East. Even the keenest military minds will find that it’s one thing to make history, but quite another to change it. Do you have what it takes to command in the ultimate test of military strategy. So here we have the  game demo for you to download and play;

Download Here – 545MB Space Required

In Republic the Revolution, you have a personal vendetta against the President and discontent spreading throughout the nation, so its your moment to seize power. Starting with nothing more than a small base of local support, you must build a nationwide faction powerful enough to start a revolution, and oust the president… by any means necessary. Time to start a revolution. So here we have the  game demo for you to download and play;

Download Here – 750MB Space Required