The Nintendo 3DS

Nintendo have delivered again, with the long awaited announcement of the Nintendo 3DS & it's release date.

The 3-D handheld console will be released to the general public on March 27th, 2011 (US) and for Australian buyers, March 31st, 2011.

There is a lot of fanfare about this new hand held console from Nintendo, mainly due to the fact that it displays 3 Three Dimensional Images (3-D) without the need for any glasses.

Using a specialized refractive LCD Technology, the Nintendo 3DS is able to create the real-life 3-D effect, throwing users deep within the game.'Looking at the screen is like peering thought a window into a world where characters and objects have true depth," said Tiernan Ray from Business Wire.

The 3DS comes with two screens, just like the Nintendo DS & DSi consoles, with the top screen displaying in 3-D. In addition to the familiar analog control pad and button controls found on previous DS Models, the 3DS now includes a circle pad, which allows for 360 degrees of control, giving gamers the freedom needed to play games in 3-D

The suggest retail price (RRP) of the Nintendo 3DS will be $249.95 US. For our Australian customers, the Nintendo 3DS 's RRP is $349.95. Why Australian customers are asked for $100 more, when our dollar is equal to the US dollar is a question many people have been asking.

No doubt many people will take the opportunity to import the 3DS from the US, either for themselves or to sell on eBay for a small profit. Retailers may also sell below the RRP.

The 3DS has gone though rigorous hands-on testing, and Nintendo have major plans in the US to market the device, with with five thousand units in the field, and additional mobile units allowing people to 'try before they buy'.

In Australia we expect big chain stores like JB-Fi, Dick Smith Electronics, Games Warehouse & Big W to have the units demo'ed in store on the day of release.

Call Of Duty Black Ops First Strike Expansion Pack

The latest expansion pack for Call of Duty : Black Ops, has been released to the public on February 1st, 2011.
It's name : First Strike.
A quick glance at the Call Of Duty : Black Ops Expansion pack looks promising...

Activision announced today that the expansion pack was now available for the XBox 360, at a cost of 1200 Microsoft Points, or around $19 Australian.

This brings five new levels to the game, four multi player maps, and a special level featuring Zombie Monkeys, codename 'Ascention'

Berlin Wall's Checkpoint Charlie, an Antarctic research facility, an abandoned stadium & a special 'version' of Kowlook, Hong Kong, are the new locations contained in the four multi player maps.

Mark Lamia, Studio Head of game developer Treyarch said via PR : "Our fans mean everything to us, so we are thrilled to be able to provide the Black Ops community with exciting new gameplay that will extend their multiplayer and Zombies experiences.

The team has given it their all, as we crafted the maps in “First Strike” while taking into account our community to make sure that this content delivers compelling and unique experiences that will appeal to all different play styles.”

You have to find words found on a virtual board much like the Scrabble board, but you have to do this while working against a clock.

If you don't act quick enough, you lose.

How Scrabble Blast Works

Imagine a board of letter boxes reminiscent of your standard Scrabble board, except each box is filled with its respective letter. At first glance, the placement of these letters appears random. On closer look, you'll find there are word combinations placed up and down, across, and diagonally throughout the letter board.

Once you find these words, you can toggle the cursor to highlight the letter patterns you want to target. If the software is programmed to view this letter combination as a real word, it is highlighted and you get points. The longer the word you find the more points you receive.

There's a catch to Scrabble Blast, though. Occasionally, there is a bomb box placed on the grid. These bombs appear at the top of the board and moves down the board as the game goes on. When a bomb box reaches the lowest row of the game board, it presumably explodes and you lose the game. This is when you receive your final point tally. You have to build a word that uses the bomb square (it has a letter) to get rid of the bomb.

Scrabble Blast - Similarities to Scrabble

Like Scrabble, you'll occasionally find letter and word multipliers, which increase your score. Like Scrabble, the default board size is 100 boxes or tiles.

Scrabble Blast - Differences from Scrabble

There are a number of differences to traditional Scrabble, since there are multiple play modes in Scrabble Blast. The bombs are obvious differences. The most fundamental difference is you are given letters in Scrabble and must build a word with one or more of them, building off already existing words.

In Scrabble Blast, you must find words in a grid filled with letters and do so against a rigid time restraint, so the game is much different. At the same time, if you enjoy word games and online games, Scrabble Blast! is one of the most entertaining games you'll find, and it's got the blessing of Hasbro.

Scrabble Blast Tips

Like Scrabble, you want to build words using multipliers. If you can string a word over two or more multipliers, you should keep piling up points. But while you are doing this, you have to remain wary of the bomb tiles at all times. In fact, beginning players should always try to remove the bombs as quick as possible. That's because, if you leave it to build a good word, the tile can move down the board and quickly put you in a hopeless situation, due to the changes letter combinations as the bomb goes down the board.

Scrabble Blast is a fun game and a worthwhile word game challenge for most Scrabble players, which explains its popularity online. While Scrabble purists are going to roll their eyes and go about boning up on their Scrabble skills, if you are looking for a new word challenge that has a few reminders of the world's greatest word game challenge, then you should give Scrabble Blast a try. It's easy to learn how to play Scrabble Blast, so the time investment is minimal.

[box type="bio"]John Clifton blogs regularly at Scrabble Pages, a website all about the intricacies of Scrabble. He's even published an article there about Scrabble Blast. He's an excellent living room player at Scrabble, but not competitive enough for tournaments yet.

[/box]

We all know that college students are, by their nature, poor.

Sure, there are exceptions: the polo shirt-wearing Ivy League-er who probably doesn't have to worry about money, or that preppy kid down the hall who seems to have just about every gadget there is.

But you wouldn't have come to this article if you weren't at least questioning whether or not you should go ahead and take the leap, purchasing an Xbox 360 of your very own. Is it worth it? What use can you get out of it? Is it really a bargain if you consider all of its features?

These are the questions we'll be asking - and answering - in this article. If you've been wondering if you can afford the Xbox 360, here's a better question: can you afford not to buy one?

Putting the "Fun" in "Function"

Like the PlayStation of today, the Xbox 360 is not exactly a one-trick pony. You can play DVDs in your Xbox 360, which means you don't have to spring for that DVD player. If you already have a DVD player, you might consider selling it in order to put some more money into the Xbox 360 fund.

Xbox 360, of course, also can be played with the always-addictive Xbox Live - so long as you pay your subscription - and this means you don't necessarily have to wait until you roommate is home from the library to enjoy a nice multiplayer experience. If you're still worried about the cost, don't worry - it's really not that expensive to have Xbox Live, and you can always dump it if you don't find the experience worth it.

If you're really cheap, you'll also find that you can use the Xbox to download some sample games that don't come at any cost - these can make for nice little fun games between you and a friend when you're simply looking to kill time without spending any money.

Pricing

As we all know, pricing is one of the major issues we face when you're talking about the Xbox 360. Game consoles aren't exactly cheap when your main diet consists of Ramen noodles and cold pizza from your mini-fridge. Even so, if you don't already have an Xbox 360, it might be time to start saving for one, because most consoles will set you back a couple hundred dollars. Even used Xbox 360 consoles can cost this much, so be on your toes and accept the fact that you might have to do a little scrimping and saving in order to get what you want. (Note: CNet's overview of the Xbox 360 current lists available prices at around $300).

The main strategy you'll want to employ in order to find an Xbox 360 is to actually save your money. We know, we know: you don't have any money to save. But if you put aside a litle bit of your income in order to buy something later, you might be surprised to see what you can accomplish in just a few months. Even if you don't have a ton of money to spare from your part-time weekend job, you'll find that it adds up. And it really does: if you can write up a plan to automatically save some money in account like ING Direct's Orange Savings (where you'll be less tempted to spend it off), you may be shocked to see how quickly you can afford an Xbox of your own.

If you're not sure about an Xbox 360 for your dorm room, consider the fact that there are creative ways of buying one (such as selling your Blu-ray DVD player to help offset the cost of the Xbox, which comes with its own DVD player) and that you may just get enough enjoyment out of the console to justify your investment.

Despite how many different types of game consoles and games there are today, you may be surprised to learn that one of the major gaming companies seems to rule over the others with an iron fist -that is, as long as it comes to games.

That's right: Nintendo video games consoles were the biggest sellers of 2009, meaning the Xbox (from Microsoft) and the PlayStation (from Sony) were left behind.

Despite their huge backing companies, they were not able to outsell Nintendo.

Why is this, exactly? To help understand why, it will help to turn to the numbers.

First, be sure to check out this chart from Ars Technica, which displays the 2009 statistics visually: you'll find that Nintendo Wii is the highest seller. Guess what's next? The Nintendo DS. PlayStation 3 was a distant third, followed by the Xbox 360 and then the Sony PSP. The PlayStation 2 still made some noise but as a somewhat-outdated model, couldn't keep up with the current generation of systems.

The first thing you'll notice when reviewing that chart is Nintendo's dominance. Not only is the Nintendo Wii outselling the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 combined, but its brother, the Nintendo DS, appears to be doing the same thing. One has to appreciate the business model put together by Nintendo, which has found a way not only to differentiate itself from its sophisticated competitors, but has found a way to rapidly outsell them and dominate the market.

Of course, understanding the dominance of the Nintendo Wii means you shouldn't view it as a mere niche product: the Nintendo Wii is gaming central for millions of people around the world, and even though it seems especially suited for people of a younger age - think children - it actually has a wide audience amongst adults, as well.

There's something more mainstream about the ability to play simpler games, as well as incorporate the Nintendo Wii with fitness programs like Wii Fit. The Nintendo Wii has actually found an audience in just about everyone who enjoys a good bit of entertainment.

You won't, however, see 40-year-old housewives on the Xbox 360 or the PlayStation 3, for example, because these consoles are more for serious gamers who want a more in-depth experience from the video games they play. The target audience of Xbox and PlayStation continues to be younger males, even if the acceptable age limit of video games has only increased in the recent decades.

What else can you gleam from the top chart at Ars Technica? It's interesting to look at the amazing number of sales these consoles see during the holiday season. Sales skyrocket over Christmas, which means game consoles are still a major gift for people during the holidays every year. With Game Consoles far more expensive than the individual games themselves, one has to wonder how bad a global economy really is if game console sales continue to be so high!

Of course, just because Nintendo Wii dominates the marketplace doesn't mean the Xbox and PlayStation aren't doing well. The recent sales numbers of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is testament to just how popular those other consoles are these days.

In that sense, it's hard to say that anyone is "winning" the console wars: just about all three major companies seem to be doing something right! And with constantly-evolving technology and always-dropping prices on the older stuff, customers continue to be the winner year after year.

Nintendo seems to have the market cornered, but the market is large enough that everyone seems to be getting something out of game console sales, whether you're an executive at Microsoft or someone who just wants a nice game to play during dull hours at home.

If you're a serious gamer, you probably can't live without Xbox Live.

You love playing Halo 3 or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 with your friends so much that you find it hard to peel yourself off of the game console and actually do some homework.

For you, having Xbox Live bills to pay every month makes perfect sense: you probably get much more out of it than you put in.

But what about the rest of us, who have a more casual interest in the Xbox than that? Is the Xbox Live subscription really worth the investment, or is it just another bill that we don't need to see on our credit card statement every month? If we're going to answer that question properly, we're going to have to attack it from a few angles. Let's start with the most important one: price.

The Price For XBox Live

If you've looked at the Xbox Live website where it details the pricing options, you might have noticed a very attractive word: "free."

What's free about Xbox Live are a few of the features that you can use when you're connected to the internet via your Xbox, but you can't play games online without paying for the service. Since most people want to use Xbox Live in order to play games online, we're assume that's what you're going to be after, as well. Xbox Live Gold, which is what you're after, is a service that can cost a few different prices depending on the kind of service package you sign up for.

Which package should you get - short-term or long-term? If you're just trying out, you may want to think about getting a short-term package even though it has a higher cost per month. Why? Because even though it has a higher cost per month, there's a chance you may not want to keep the subscription going. If you had signed up for a longer package and didn't want to keep going, then you'd find yourself paying a lot more than you want.

If you are sure about Xbox Live, however, you can have it for just around $50 per year, depending on the package you get. That's a really good price and equals only a few bucks a month: you can swing that, can't you?

Will You Use XBox Live Enough?

Of course, if you're never using Xbox Live, then spending even a few dollars on it per month would be a waste of money. This is when we start to consider another question: is the Xbox Live really a good investment for you? Will you really spend enough time on Xbox Live to justify another expense in your credit card statement every month? There's a chance that the answer is no.

To gauge how much you'd use Xbox Live, try to consider how much you currently use your Xbox. If you find you only get on it occasionally - say once or twice a week - then you're probably not going to want to play Xbox Live a whole lot. There's always the possibility that you could develop a new addiction to it, but is that really what you want right now?

Luckily, Xbox Live is cheap enough per month that you don't have to worry a lot about how much you use it. If you just use it occasionally and find it fun, then that might be enough to justify the low cost.

Our advice: give it a try, as long as you don't have to make a hefty upfront investment like buying a new Xbox of your own.

If you enjoy playing a few of your favorite games online - and even connecting with your friends and family members - then you may want to get a longer-term subscription going. If not, you may want to just ditch the Xbox Live altogether and keep your gaming efforts offline.

Okay, so maybe the idea of using "cheat codes" in video games doesn't exactly strike you as an ethical dilemma: and maybe that's a good thing.

Your conscience deserves a lot of exercise, but it is best used in tackling the world's big problems. (Besides, even video game developers are more worried about real-world problems like creating games that are too addicting).

If you've never felt quite right using cheat codes in video games - even on the latest game consoles like Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii - then maybe this article will set you straight.

It's time to stop feeling bad about using cheat codes - even if you feel bad because you aren't able to honestly beat the game. After all, playing video games is about having fun, not necessarily always putting in the maximum effort to defeat every single enemy in the latest first-person shooter. There are indeed some real-world issues to think about - as Xbox Live will kick out players it catches hacking the system - but when it comes to cheat codes, you probably don't need to worry.

Reason #1: The programmers put the codes in!

How bad are cheat codes if they're inserted by the very video game programmers who created the game? Many times, you'll find that a quick Google search allows you to find a cheat code for a game you've been playing; it's not as if these cheat codes are always hacks that help you manipulate the game. Cheat codes are ways you can have fun with the video game. If you're playing with Tiger Woods' EA Sports video game, you know that you can break the "rules" by wearing an Elvis costume on the golf course. The silliness is part of the fun. If you decide to inflate your character's bank account in a game of "The Sims," then you shouldn't feel as bad as you would if you were to cheat your way into real money.

Reason #2: Good clean fun.

Even if your conscience doesn't feel bad, you might still feel like using a cheat code somehow circumvented the way the game was designed to naturally flow. This might be the case, but that's no reason you shouldn't use your cheat codes. If you want to have good clean fun, sometimes that means doing a little cheating. Go ahead, set the Madden difficulty level to "rookie" and have fun racking up 100 straight points.

Reason #3: You're not hacking.

Hacking is a very separate thing from using cheat codes: when you hack, you go against the game was it was intended and actually manipulate someone's product. Cheat codes are inserted by the game companies themselves to spice up the game a little bit and allow you to have a little extra fun. When you hack, and especially when you hack on Xbox Live, you will actually hurt other people's honest efforts by your own dishonesty.

Reason #4: It can be fun to win the game easily.

Sometimes, using the cheat code to win a game easily - when you're playing solo - is more fun than using the game the more "honest" way. That's part of the idea of gaming: you're not hurting anyone and you're not looking to do so, you're just looking to have some fun with imaginary characters on a computer screen. And sometimes, it's part of the fantasy to enjoy a totally lopsided victory.

Reason #5: Entertaining others.

When you use a cheat code, you can actually have some fun with it outside of yourself - you can have friends and family check out the cheat and have fun with it, too. If anything, spreading this kind of cheer around is a good deed.