In this video, I interview Roger Hagarty (music dealer), Shaz Kelly (Avalon Guinea Pig Rescue) and Nicola Ross (music teacher). You also get to view a few very cute guinea pigs!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZ3lv0sVgBw

Very recently, Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 was SEGA’s chance to readdress the negative balance they themselves created and although attempting to play on our nostalgic sentiments – it failed to impress with its lacklustre graphics, uninteresting music and average level design.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvdmyKhYr_w

Now celebrating Sonic’s 20th anniversary, Sonic Generations aims to put all the past grief behind us by releasing not just a homage to our blue hedgehog, but also a true modern take of how Sonic the Hedgehog could and indeed should exist in the 21st century.

Well grab yourself a chair and prepare to be shocked, as Sonic Generations is nothing short of a miracle – hallelujah! It is by no means a perfect title, however the magic has most certainly returned with gusto in this latest offering that is a must purchase for even the mildest of Sonic fanatics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BF4qS9X9ZYI

Sonic Generations brings back classic levels from Sonic the Hedgehog 1, 2 and Sonic & Knuckles – while also delving into sections of Sonic Adventure 1 & 2, Sonic Heroes, Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Colors and even the game from the series we all try and forget, the 2006 version of Sonic the Hedgehog. Zones such as Green Hill and Chemical Plant will take you back to decades gone by, while others will take you on a trip through some of the most memorable selections that appeared within the long running series.

Sonic Generations is really a tale of two Sonic characters. The more traditional Sonic with a permanent 2D side view perspective and the later thrill ride of 3D rotations, insane speeds and crazy loops. Each of the 9 featured level designs include two Acts, Act 1 providing the classic look and feel while Act 2 all of the more modern associations we have come to expect including enemy homing attacks and boost features. Either way, both view points of Sonic Generations are simply astounding in both depth and complexity. The textures may look a little weak when you take that rare opportunity to admire the wonderment around you, however the level of complexity in both the environments and characters will stun you in to a state of absolute awe. Seeing the classic Green Hill Zone with such a shocking makeover could make you cry with happiness and even with the 2D perspective, the 3D elements pop out beautifully mixing the best of the old and the new. Even levels that were originally 3D and now appear as if they were created a decade earlier, adds to the fascination of this title. Sonic Generations also supports 3D televisions for those early technology adopters who don’t mind donning a pair of glasses for the ultimate experience of depth within the game.

Running along at frantic speeds, you will still notice all kinds of delicious details in the foreground and background – admiring every little aspect of the game. The backgrounds in particular with the terrain and moving objects that seemingly stretch out for miles are what Sonic fans have been dreaming of, without any realistic notion of it actually happening for years – until now of course!

The story brings the two Sonic’s together to help rescue all his friends that have appeared throughout the series, who have been sucked away into different times within Sonic’s history. This white and barren land is Sonic’s way of restoring life back to the worlds, while also giving us the delighted gamer the chance to rekindle some fond memories.

After completing three zones, you are presented with a range of mini-challenges, that have unique designs to expand the length of time you will be enjoying Sonic Generations. These include areas where you need to avoid many more enemies than usual, using Sonic’s friends to progress past obstacles, racing against another character and so on. By completing these side missions, you unlock extras that give you access to classic Sonic music which can be played within the game levels as well as concept artwork and character information. These will also unlock three keys that you will need to use to gain access to one of the three main bosses. Again these bosses bring back past experiences such as the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 ending featuring Dr Robotnik (or Dr Eggman) in his giant metal creation and Chaos from Sonic Adventure. Collecting all the chaos emeralds unlocks the very final boss, but I won’t spoil the surprise there.

You will also need to defeat Metal Sonic, Shadow the Hedgehog and Silver the Hedgehog in short but pleasing battles. You also earn points by completing levels, which can be spent on additional skills that aid Sonic’s abilities – reducing time taken to revive after being hit as one example, but many more are available. You can also spend some of your rewards and unlock the very first Sonic the Hedgehog for those seeking a blast from the past or for those who have never experienced where it all began – if you are the latter, where on earth have you been!

The typical jumping, spinning and sliding along rails remain, while hopping from one platform to another and avoiding mechanical enemies are extremely important if you wish to survive. In traditional Sonic fashion, falling off the edge still continues to frustrate yet these dangerous areas are at least now highlighted with signs to make it more abundantly clear that a single controller error will have you losing a precious life. Controls are very Sonic-like, but aren’t identical to the classic incarnations. That being said though, it’s still tremendously fun and shouldn’t take anything away from your enjoyment of Sonic Generations.

There is even a small Xbox Live element to the game that allows you to compete against friends and strangers from around the world. Really this is nothing more than a point and time comparison of scores rather than actual one on one exchanges, however the leaderboards provide incentive to increase your prowess as a Sonic veteran gamer. Personally though, it is the 30 second challenges where you see how far you can get in any of the levels compared to others that was the most enjoyable. Distance achieved is shown by posts within the zone featuring the Xbox 360 3D avatar to identify the culprit ahead of or hopefully behind you.

The music within the first acts of each stage feature a ‘slight’ enhancement that is subtle, yet adds a more pleasing soundtrack than the originals with better percussion (drums) representations in particular. The rest are full blown recreations that pound and pulse vigorously through your speakers. The 5.1 surround sound is out of this world, especially in the second acts as 3D plays more of a role. Pleasing additions include soundtrack adjustments that occur when you are under water akin to hearing music whilst your head is immersed under the water in the bath and also when boosting along at top speed results in a slight distortion.

The cut-scenes continue the usual cheesyness and the video quality is pretty terrible, but they do include a little humour while it mocks itself in a clever way from start to finish. The voice acting certainly hasn’t progressed much over the years, but hey they serve a purpose.

Conclusion

Sonic’s 20 year history may be littered with far too many failures than would seem possible with such a rich heritage and winning formula, however SEGA have finally reignited my passion in ‘new’ Sonic the Hedgehog titles. They have released a game that not only captures your nostalgic heart, but also managing to bring our dear friend Sonic bang up to date by utilising the brute power of next generation hardware.

Everything about Sonic Generations oozes excellence and while some of the traditional annoyances remain, it is hard to deny the crazy speeds and pure enjoyment Sonic’s latest adventures reveal.

Let’s just pray on bended knees that it doesn’t take another set of poor incarnations before we see Sonic appear again with such splendour and delight. The foundations have certainly been laid for another epic return. Long live Sonic the Hedgehog!

My Rating: ★★★★½ 
Review rating definitions

You can also view your own captured or created content including music, photographs and home movies all on your television.

Below is a transcription with some of the highlights from the podcast, however in the audio version you can enjoy the full interview covering additional topics.

James: So before we begin to chat about Boxee, please tell us a little bit about yourself?

I am Wil Stephens, I am heading up Boxee’s international operations from London. I joined Boxee at the beginning of this year, before we officially launched in the UK in June. I’m heading up Boxee’s European operations to begin with, starting from London.

James: So who are Boxee and where did the name come from?

Boxee is a company which is headquarted in New York. The name came from our founder and CEO, whose had a Boxer dog – so the Boxer became Boxee.

Boxee is now a four year old start-up. R&D offices based in Tel Aviv, Israel. We are a pretty global company by now, we have around 30-40 employees and growing very rapidly.

James: Your main product is the Boxee Box, which claims to be the ‘One box your TV needs’. So what can you tell us about this product and how does it enhance our televisions?

A lot of people’s favourite stuff is already available on the Internet. Boxee is the best possible way to get all those movies, TV shows and clips from the web and on to the best screen in your house – which is the television. We catalogue over ten thousand shows, five thousand movies and we also have over 200 apps available on the Boxee Box – so you can browse for new video clips, movies and TV shows – in any format, any language or any territory you wish – all through your TV.

James: Boxee Box has a wide range of content providers, many we will recognise including BBC iPlayer – which allows us to watch many of their programmes that we may have missed. What can you tell us about BBC iPlayer on Boxee Box and many of the other services available?

We are thrilled to have the BBC iPlayer on the Boxee Box. It is probably the most recognised and appreciated service here in the UK. We are actually in partnership with the BBC developing the new version of iPlayer for the Boxee Box, which will be available very shortly. The benefits of the new version will be far better integration with our content library, which makes the TV shows available on the iPlayer searchable and more discoverable through Boxee’s well known and familiar interface.

We are building out other services, working with all the major broadcasters as you’d expect in the UK. We have already made announcements on film service ‘blinkbox’, which will be on the Boxee Box shortly. We are also building out with major European partners – from France, Germany, Sweden, Spain and everywhere else to make Boxee relevant and available to as most people as possible.

James: We have TV shows, movies and we have streaming music as well I believe?

Yes we do have streaming music. We actually have a number of music streaming services available on the Boxee Box already. We will be making further announcements and new services in the coming weeks.

James: So the Boxee Box unit itself, what sort of connections does it have to connect to a television?

Basically, we want Boxee to be a HDMI 1 on every television. We want it to be the first HDMI device you plug into your television and the only HDMI device your television needs. We also have audio outs to go into your audio Hi-Fi system to give you the best quality sound. We also feature USB inputs at the back, so you can also attach external storage.

James: It’s got built-in wireless and its also got a LAN port if you want to plug in with a wired Ethernet connection, but if you’ve got a Network-Attached Storage drive (NAS), which is basically just a hard drive you can plug into your router – you can connect to any media you have on there to stream directly to your Boxee Box and through your television.

It supports right up to 1080p, 24 frames per second and a whole host of audio playback features as well – so I think you’ve pretty much covered the vast majority of content requirements you may have?

I think the Boxee Box is probably the most versatile box out there in terms of content formats it can support and I think that’s probably the biggest benefit for people who have lots of local files and movies in various formats – they can all just play on the Boxee Box easily.

James: Boxee’s far more than just the hardware Boxee Box you provide, you also have various software options available as well for Windows, Mac and Linux – so what can you tell us about this area?

Boxee obviously started life with downloadable software on various platforms and we continue to support them. We have recently announced that we will be releasing a major update for our downloadable software in the next few weeks and we are very excited to bring our software up to speed with the recent developments on the Boxee Box.

James: So how does Boxee on the Apple iPad work?

It allows you to stream videos between the iPad and the Boxee TV, so it’s a way of curating content, flicking through your libraries, seeing what people are recommending to you and added to the Featured Lists from Boxee’s own editorial team. It’s also there as a way to stream content between your PC, so we have what we call Boxee Media Manager – which is a way of streaming all of the local files you may have that are not playable on an iPad for example flash video. We transcode those videos on the fly, so you can just watch them in real time without doing any extra steps on your part, so it’s a great way to watch any of your local files as well as all the web files in one place.

James: So how can we find more about Boxee and Boxee Box and all the other software iterations?

Log-on to boxee.tv and also follow us on Twitter @Boxee.

Well I couldnt resist an invitation to view their most recent developments – so after packing my audio and video equipment I popped along to view their latest release of RailWorks 3 – also known as Train Simulator 2012.

In the following video, we will find out all about the wonderful work created by these talented individuals as we delve into the delights of Train Simulator 2012.

I hope you enjoy this nearly 30 minute presentation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU_-7952wQ4

This episode is brought to you by CallBurner – Record your Skype audio calls and make them sizzle with CallBurner from Netralia. For a 30 day free trial, visit callburner.com/james

Also by VodBurner – Record your Skype video calls and edit them with ease using VodBurner from Netralia. For a 14 day free trial, visit vodburner.com/james

Brave New code are also behind the WordPress plugin WP Touch Pro, which adds powerful easy-to-use features to WordPress for mobile + tablet theme support. It’s also a powerful theming framework, perfect for creating awesome mobile & tablet optimised versions of websites. I interviewed Dale regarding WPTouch Pro in an earlier podcast.

Dale also announced new features that are coming soon, including Facebook integration with WordTwit Pro and much more.

I hope you enjoy our interview…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwiVNYU_aUg

You can find out more about WordTwit Pro by visiting their website at Brave New Code and by also watching Dale’s overview video.

While we discuss many of the E3 highlights – the video displays trailers and gameplay footage from the event including:

• Nintendo Wii U Announcement
• Nintendo 3DS coverage
• Sony PlayStation 3 content and apology
• Sony PSVita (formerly Sony NGP)
• Microsoft Xbox 360 presentation
• Microsoft Kinect overload!
• Various highlights of the event

I hope you enjoy the video…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmW4eINVK_o

Console Monster is an Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation3 specific website with news, reviews, previews, forum, achievements and trophies database. They even have a very sleak iPhone app, which is downloadable on the Apple iTunes Store.

Console Monster is an Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation3 specific website with news, reviews, previews, forum, achievements and trophies database. They even have a very sleak iPhone app, which is downloadable on the Apple iTunes Store.

Topics include:

• Nintendo Wii U Announcement
• Nintendo 3DS coverage
• Sony PlayStation 3 content and apology
• Sony PSVita (formerly Sony NGP)
• Microsoft Xbox 360 presentation
• Microsoft Kinect overload!
• Various highlights of the event

Below is a transcription with some of the highlights from the podcast, however in the audio version you can enjoy the full interview covering additional topics located at the bottom of the article.

James: Please tell us a little about yourself?

Andrew: I am from Canada. I have always worked in online marketing, worked accross Canada and then moved into Australia which is how I hooked up with the team at Auslogics. As people can tell from the name ‘Aus’ stands for Australia, which is where most of the team is.

Most of my work is focused online because that is where a lot of our customers are. Right now I am working on promoting our latest product which is BoostSpeed 5.

James: So how did Auslogics begin?

Andrew: They started in 2008, in Sydney Australia. Like a lot of advanced PC users, they saw that Windows wasn’t doing a great job when it came to helping users maintain their systems – especially system management tools. They are either too complicated or too hard to find or they just weren’t there.

Take Windows Disk Defragmentator for example. To start it is super slow, I have been using Vista and it’s taken up to a full day just to ‘defrag’ one hard drive – plus they thought that the built-in defragmentor wasn’t doing a great job. Another example is the registry repair, it is long proven that Windows is built in a way that the registry does need cleaning from time to time and yet there is no built-in way to do that with Microsoft, so Auslogics thought that they could create a software package that was faster than Microsoft’s tools, had more features and was more user friendly.

James: What is BoostSpeed?

Andrew: You can make the analogy that computers are like cars, without the proper care they start slowing down, experiencing problems and breaking down. BoostSpeed 5 is like taking your car to the garage – we can help you tune up your computer and diagnose and fix problems before they become really big issues. Let’s face it, most Windows computers are built in a way that they do need maintenance and we provide the necessary tools and functionality to do that.

James: What kind of problems could we expect without software such as Auslogics BoostSpeed?

Andrew: Slowness is really one of the main issues we try and address and that really comes from the registry. Basically, the registry is the core database of any Windows operating system and it stores and manages all the settings for pretty much everything on the computer – all of the hardware, all of the operating system software, all of the applications and user settings. New registry entries are made every day when you are using a computer, especially when you are trying out new software. I am sure you find, after you un-install software – your computer is never quite as quick as it was before and that is a problem with the registry. Ideally, configuration settings should be deleted from the registry automatically when you remove an application or device but often that doesn’t happen. To put it simply, registry errors slows down your computer and that is why registry clean-up is so important.

The register cleaner deletes redundant entries from your registry, but there are bits of free space all over the registry and that’s where Registry Defragmentors come in. Registry defragmentation slows down your computer sometimes more than the errors and that is why we put both Registry cleaner and a defragmentor within BoostSpeed 5.

James: What is Disk Defragmentation?

Andrew: Microsoft provides the tools sometimes, but they are never perfect and that is a classic case with the Disk Defragmentor. It is painfully slow and it doesn’t do anything more than defragment the files, but really that’s not quite enough. The free space also needs to be ‘defragged’ so the new files aren’t split into dozens of fragments and file placement needs to be optimised for faster access.

Basically our software fights all the fragmentation and file placement problems. We are actually quite proud that it’s the fastest defragmentor available on the market today. We get fantastic reviews.

Oded: I have been working for Microsoft UK for the past four years and recently moved to work on the launch of Windows Phone, the new set of phones in the UK since October 2010 and currently working together with our partners in the UK, all the network operators on launching the new set of phones in this country.

James: Microsoft have released updates to their mobile platform ‘Windows Mobile’ for many years, but more recently Windows Phone 7 has entered the market with a bold new design, so why is this sudden revamp so important to Microsoft and indeed the consumer?

Oded: We took a step back more than a year and a half ago to look at what people want to get out of using smart-phones and new phones and part of that process of rethinking phones in general – we came with the ideas behind Windows Phone 7 that really look extremely different from any other phone in the market currently.

The design or the way we call it ‘user interface’, the menus and the software that the phones are running is very much different from other phones. The menus are very sleek, with the introduction of things like ‘live tiles’, motion and animation in a way that is really un-similar to anything else on phones today.

Another thing that we really wanted to focus on was to bring a really consistent, familiar and simple experience to phones. For many of your listeners who might not know what a Windows Phone exactly means – you can just imagine that you can just go to any network operator in the UK and ask them to buy various phones from various brands including Samsung, HTC or LG and ask for a Windows Phone so that the look and feel of the phone and the software it is running is very similar and you get to choose the phone hardware that you wish to choose.

James: When we first turn on a Windows Phone device, what can we expect?

Oded: The first thing that strikes most people when they turn on a phone is just how easy it is to start setting it up after just choosing the right time and date. The user can for instance really simply with just their Facebook details, within a few seconds their address book will be updated with the pictures and names of their own friends and any other information they share with them through Facebook – it is almost like the phone comes alive.

It’s also very easy to add your Hotmail, MSN or Windows Live email address (we call it Windows Live ID) – in order to download applications. There’s little bits of software that make phones even more useful and interactive then they used to be to download apps, music etc. The key focus for us again was around the simplicity – people know how to use Office or Internet Explorer on their PCs, we wanted to bring that simplicity also to Windows Phone 7.

James: What is a ‘Live Tile’?

Oded: Live Tile is a new way of using information on your phone. If you look at different phones today, you have two types. Many phones follow the icon type of menu structure software and icons are very nice and colourful, but they also are not as personal and they are pretty static and don’t change with information, so the weather icon on your phone may always tell you it is always 23 degrees outside and sunny – it will not update with the real information out there. Android and Google went ahead with widgets, but some people when they use a widget may find them a bit more complex, not as easy to use and not as consistent. Live Tiles really take the best out of both worlds, they are very simple and intuitive so the text messages icon is a large icon but it will update automatically with the number of unread messages and will even change from a smiley face to a sad face if you have too many unread text messages. Your weather icon for example would update with the weather and temperature near where you are or if I take another example from an application such as a train travel app, instead of just showing you a logo of your train company, it will actually tell you that your train would be leaving from a specific platform at a specific time.

So the idea of Live Tiles is really to enable you to glance quickly at your phone screen and not necessarily to open the app or the setting itself to see what is underneath it. The best example I can give is probably the alarm clock. How many of you currently need to every night when you go to sleep, click on the alarm icon just to open the alarm application – see whether the alarm is set and what time the phone will wake you up. On Windows Phone 7, the tile immediately tells you your alarm clock is on and what time it will wake you up tomorrow.

James: For gamers, one of the most exciting additions is that of Xbox Live integration, so what can you tell us about this area?

Oded: This bit is really something that when we see Xbox hardcore gamers get their phone, they absolutely fall in love with it for a few reasons. First it’s the only phone with Xbox Live, so that means you get to see your own avatar, you can send and receive messages to your Xbox friends straight from the phone and you can even gain achievements and increase your Gamerscore by playing games on the phone.

We also introduced other elements such as online multiplayer, where at least a few games currently offer that functionality. That means that if for instance I am playing Chess, I can invite another friend to play Chess against me and when it is time for my friend to have their move they would be able to get a message on their phone alerting them that it is their turn.

It also means for any gamers that they can start interacting with their gaming life, not only from their Xbox 360 game console in their home, but from wherever they are.

James: Windows Phone 7 comes with Microsoft Office Mobile built in for ‘working on the go’, but what can be created using this software and how usable is it on a mobile device?

Oded: Users of Windows Phones can create or edit documents with Word, Excel and Powerpoint. The most important thing that we worked on is to really make the Office version of Windows Phone extremely easy to use and extremely loyal to how the Word document that you’re editing or the Excel spreadsheet that you’re opening looks on the PC. That is a real problem on some of the experiences users had to have in the past few years, where they would open up a document and it would not look exactly like they would expect it to look on their phone. It might not have the right font, graphics or any other element which would have made it very hard to rely on your phone to use it for work purposes.

They have created a plugin for WordPress called WPtouch that gives your website or blog a mobile theme that decreases loading times and optimises for a touch-screen device.

Topics include:

• Who is Dale Mugford and how did Brave New Code begin?
• Why did you specifically choose to support WordPress?
• Why would someone who has a website or blog powered by WordPress need WPtouch?
• WPtouch install process
• Free versus purchasable versions available
• WPtouch celebrity endorsement from Stephen Fry
• WPtouch Web-App mode
• The opportunities with HTML5
• WPtouch Apple iPad support
• Supporting other tablet devices
• Considering interface and screen sizes on a tablet
• Options within WPtouch
• Disabling plugins specifically for mobile themes
• Prioritising content
• Possible future developments for WPtouch
• Dale reverses roles and interviews James on his experience of WPtouch on James Woodcock’s blog

To find out more information about WPtouch and their other plugins, visit the Brave New Code website.

Console Monster is an Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation3 specific website with news, reviews, previews, forum, achievements and trophies database. They even have a very sleak iPhone app, which is downloadable on the Apple iTunes Store.

The title of the latest podcast is Monster Cast #10 – Kinect Launch.

Topics include:

• New Xbox 360 Dashboard Update
• Microsoft Kinect – The verdict!
• Gran Turismo 5 gone gold at long last
• Racing games and a little nostalgia
• Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 impressions
• Fable 3
• Fallout New Vegas

They were kind enough to invite me to their offices at the Chatham Historic Dockyard to preview some of the new features and interview many of the team associated with RailWorks 2.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYH_0GqeYKM

Topics include…

• Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
• Gran Turismo UK Release Date
• Virtua Tennis 4 to support PlayStation Move
• EA Sports announce FIFA 11 ‘Be A Goalkeeper’ feature
• Kinect dated for UK
• Rock Band 3 track list
• Final Fantasy XIII advertisement breach
• Realtime Worlds company problems
• Resistance 3 – little news
• Fable 3 and Halo Reach

In this audio interview, Paul tells us about many of the exciting updates that have either just released or will be coming to us in the very near future. These include a brand new career system, challenging you to perfect your locomotive skills or feel the pain of losing crucial points and a discussion regarding an upcoming set of interface changes that will push rail simulation far further than ever before.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPoIlhOijqk

Transformers War for Cybertron lovingly grabs the very best elements of the original cartoon generation and the more modern up-to-date atmospherics of the latest Micheal Bay movie blockbusters. All your favourite Transformers will make an appearance including Starscream, Ironhide, Bumblebee, Ratchet, Soundwave and even Omega Supreme, all slightly redesigned. The voice acting as you might expect is quite cheesy at times with the inevitable dialogue that creates an uncomfortable sensation within your bones, however Optimus Prime features the wonderful vocal talents, by the one and only Peter Cullen, so fans will certainly recognise the resonating impact of this classic leader.

After watching an impressive introduction video, you hop over to the main menu showing Cybertron in all its glory. Here you select the campaign mode, which begins with Megatron attempting to unleash the power known as dark energon, within the very core of Cybertron itself. This powerful and very dangerous form of energy has the potential to destroy everything the Autobots hold dear and luckily for you, you will be the one who controls both sides of the war. The engaging plot fills in some of the back story of how many of the Transformers first met and how their roles within the entire conflict were forged.

The fairly lengthy chapters are split into two sections, starting with five controlling the Decepticons and a further five with the Autobots. Each individual chapter features a choice of three Transformers. You can quite happily play on your own with two A.I. accomplices, although the A.I. isn’t exactly the brightest. There are times when enemies run straight past you and your so called helpers have a tendency to get in your way, but at least they have infinite health, so no need to put yourself at risk, darting over every 30 seconds to revive them. A three player co-operative mode is also available with the option to invite your online friends.

Each Transformer features two modes, which you admire from a third-person perspective. Fighting as a robot offers agility, which is perfect for when you are avoiding those pesky attacks. The vehicle mode will give you speed and very powerful weapons, although targeting is far more difficult. One of the nice features of the game is that both the robot and vehicle modes offer different weaponry, so you will find yourself switching fairly often. As your skills improve, mastering the fine art of what mode works best in your current circumstances is surprisingly easy. Transforming is achieved by pressing the left analog stick and although this can be triggered by accident on occasion, it is a handy method when you need to be moving constantly and dodging bullets and then suddenly transform on request to escape a swift death. Alternatively triggering the right analog stick will unveil an axe or similar weapon, ideal for close range combat.

Watching your health and ammo levels is absolutely crucial. If they begin to run low, you will need to locate and smash crates that are carefully placed around the battle, which are in fairly generous supply. Your fellow team-mates can also give you a health re-charge if they happen to notice your ailments. Weapons are also collectable, including huge stonking ones you can literally transform into and if you wish, detach to avoid enemy fire. That’s not all though, as part of your ensemble are the special attacks, which are unleashed with the ‘RB’ button. Spin like a crazy bot, raise a shielded barrier or release a devastating pulse, however which attack you feature depends on the transformer you are currently using. There is no cover system, but as you are in the middle of a war zone, finding debris isn’t exactly a challenge.

Online Multiplayer consists of a selection of familiar game types, including the customary Deathmatch and Team deathmatch, plus others that include carrying a bomb into enemy territory and so on. Here you can also create your own Transformer, well to a point at least. Selecting different abilities you unlock by playing online, weaponry, customising the two colours that are covered over your instrument of destruction and a few other little niceties. There are also four classes ranging from a simple soldier right up to a leader and this offers some incentive to continue levelling up all of their individual statistics.

Another mode available is ‘Escalation’, which is wave after wave of enemy A.I. that come crashing down on you and a few friends, until you are all vanquished or you somehow manage to reach the end. You can also revive fallen comrades, but be quick as the time will soon run out.

Transformers War for Cybertron uses the Unreal 3 engine and by golly it certainly shows. There are times when your jaw will literally drop at the on-screen wonderment and transforming animations. With a well known shared heritage, there are certainly times when you for a moment feel like you are instead enjoying Gears of War. The same dark surroundings, lack of colour and texture loading are indeed prominant, but if you are going to compare graphics with any title, hey why not be one of the greatest Xbox 360 titles of all time. The sound is equally impressive, with many of the auditory cues copied over from the latest films and of course the more faithful transforming samples.

Conclusion

I don’t mind admitting to everyone that I am a Transformers nut and although Transformers War for Cybertron may not be the finest example of gaming excellence, it does achieve one very important thing. You actually enjoy transforming and kicking serious metal backside from start to finish. It isn’t a faultless experience and there are certainly issues with the sometimes questionable A.I., yet you can forgive many of the failings for what it offers in return.

If you are a fan of either the original cartoon series or the latest cinema blockbusters, this title will be sure to delve straight into your passion zones, tickling them with ease. It is a wonderful nostalgic trip harking back to the 1980′s, while also strapping on the modern sound effects and atmospherics we are used to today. Can you really ignore this chance to take control of Optimus Prime in this amazing backdrop of Cybertron itself? No I didn’t think so.

My Rating: ★★★★☆ 
Review rating definitions

Topics include…

• Pretty shoddy E3 Microsoft presentation
• Natal now known as Kinect
• Kinect official price still not totally confirmed
• Kinect launch titles
• Kinect concerns
• New slimmer Xbox 360 S
• No rings red of deathhhhhhh
• Very few games…
• Sony presentation
• 3D gaming with glasses
• PlayStation Plus
• PlayStation Move
• PlayStation Move pricing
• No PSP2 announcement
• James and Marty agree on almost everything!
• Nintendo 3DS
• Xbox Live Family Pack
• New Downloadable Content

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g7t2SE1Ht0

Here are a few details for Yamaha keyboard enthusiasts…

• Style: MallorcaDiscoBeat (A Preium Style available from www.yamahamusicsoft.com, with a slight voice change adding a pad sound)
• Voices: Right3 – PWMLead (Lead voice), Right2 – ButterStrings, Right 1 – BrightPadBell, Left – BigOctavePad, Left (Last chorus) – HahPad (from the Choir and Vocals Premium Voice Expansion Pack
• Multipad: TechSeq1
• Tempo: 122
• Left Foot Pedal: HDR playback trigger, playing a couple of *.wav sound clips from the Windows version of Lemmings (Also triggers Harmony/Echo on registration 4)
• Right Foot Pedal: Style Fill Self trigger

All of this performance is live with no audio altered or added after recording.

With IntenseDebate, you can let your readers post comments using services like Facebook, Twitter, and OpenID. They can also sign up for an IntenseDebate profile or simply comment without one as a Guest. E-mail notifications alert you and your readers of new comments, encouraging return visits and additional commenting. You can reply to and moderate comments via email, while threading makes it easy to follow the conversation and many more features that are described in this podcast.

Podcast topics include:

• What is IntenseDebate?
• How did it all begin?
• Features of IntenseDebate
• Customisation
• Any slowdown when adding so many features to your own site?
• Rating comments
• Facebook and Twitter integration
• Reputation system
• The dreaded SPAM
• Additional plugins for IntenseDebate
• Automattic Inc. purchasing IntenseDebate and the effect of this transaction
• IntenseDebate future on WordPress.com blogs
• What can IntenseDebate offer over any rivals with a similar feature list?
• Looking to the future…
• IntenseDebate on Mobile devices
• HTML5 and VP8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oUdSaImLPk

We are creatures of habit after all and it would appear EA Sports are no different as they release yet another football title covering a major event. FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa may be considered a short diversion in between the typical yearly FIFA releases, but it isn’t quite as simple a decision as you may think.

FIFA 10 owners will notice very little change in terms of gameplay. Passing, throwing, crossing, tackling and shooting remain pretty much untouched except for a few minor tweaks here and there. You will notice a few more animations and a slight adjustment elsewhere, but actually FIFA 10 had it pretty much nailed anyway and these tournament releases often stay very close to their yearly counter-parts.

The clincher though for considering FIFA World Cup 2010 is not so much the gameplay, actually it is the overall presentation. You can’t beat stadiums full of fans dressed up in silly hats sporting their team colours among a deluge of excitement and confetti. If you were ever looking for a tug into the wonders of the World Cup, well this title has it all and it is absolutely plastered with atmosphere, oozing from the size of the stadiums, the roar of the crowds and the hype surrounding the event. It is impossible not to be caught up in it all.

Usually I find myself only glancing over the single player modes in World Cup based games as they more often than not feature very few enticements, which is why a lot of people will prefer a rental. At least here though you will be pretty satisfied with the selection on offer. By pressing the ‘Start’ button you can jump straight into a game with little fuss, however you will want the full experience by selecting the ’2010 FIFA World Cup’ option. 199 national teams are available obviously from all over the world, but only if you decide to head right back in the calendar playing all the far earlier qualification matches. If your team did make it into the finals though, you can jump straight past this section and hopefully into the knock-out stages.

‘Captain your Country’ will give you the opportunity to take control of an individual player on the pitch and prove your worth to the onlooking manager. Will you create your own player customising the look, weight, height and attire or select a well known footballer instead? If you have already created a ‘Game Face’ on the EA Sports website, you can even download this to the game so you can see your wonderful facial features applied to your character.

During a match your successful plays will give you an increased overall rating which are shown permanently on the screen. If you complete a pass, stay in position or score a goal, you will notice your section turn green and your rating rise from the ashes. You can just as easily lose these vital improvements though if you start to be a little sloppy, letting the opposition nab the ball right from under your nose. If you manage to continually impress the decision makers, you will eventually captain your country, but you have a lot to prove before you get to this stage.

It can be a little lonely wandering around the pitch, chasing the action while trying to remain in position, but you can encourage your team mates to pass to you if you hit the appropriate button when you don’t have the ball. The computer will then at least attempt to bring you into the manoeuvre, but do make sure you are in space first unless you want the pass easily intercepted by your opponents.

‘Story of Qualifying’ is a set of scenarios emulating World Cup matches, where you may find yourself jumping in at a certain point in the game a few goals down with various national teams. There will be a clear set of objectives to complete ranging from simply winning the game to scoring more than a few goals. What really makes this area exciting though is the currently locked section that will only open during the real-life World Cup tournament. Why relive past events when you can enjoy changing the fate of a real match that happened only days ago.

OK so the single player selections although interesting aren’t as in depth as FIFA 10, however online there is a couple of modes that may just swing it for you…

The appropriately named ‘Online FIFAWorldCup’ has you progressing through the finals again, but rather than playing the computer, you actually confront real people participating in the online gaming masses. If you can reach and then win the World Cup by competing against the often more masterful opponents here, you are doing very well indeed. Secondly you can compete in ranked head to head matches, where you start in a very low division, slowly progressing to the higher levels tracking your results every step of the way.

Both these modes offer a lot more incentive to play online and congratulations to the developers for embracing it the way they have. It doesn’t stop there though as your matches online will also earn points for your country. On the main menu you will notice the top three country ranks and you yourself can make a difference by winning games and elevating your entire nation up the leaderboard. You can’t get much more patriotic than that or worse feel the huge burden of a defeat knowing it affects so much.

The main change in the gameplay is the way you tackle the penalties and we all know how stressful those can be. A gauge appears on the screen and by pressing and holding the shoot button when the moving marker rests in the center, you give your player the best chance of shooting where you are aiming. It is not over yet though, as you also need to release in a precise manner to apply the amount of power. By adding a little direction with the left analogue stick, you have your new penalty shootout controls mastered, with a fair bit of practise. You can even add a little intentional hesitation in a bid to unnerve the goal keeper, but this also takes a bit of work. When the roles are reversed and it is your turn to be the goal keeper, you use both the left and right analogue sticks to move and dive. You can wait for the ball to be hit before making a decision, but as ever a lot of it is left to your instincts.

As far as presentation goes, FIFA World Cup 2010 is the business, with amazing representations of the newly built stadiums, instantly recognisable players that represent their real-life counterparts with ease and even the managers are there in all their stressed and cross-armed antics. The crowd chants are sublime and even the commentary seems to have stepped up a gear to match the magnificent graphics. The celebrations are certainly wild and I would love to see any football player attempt the moonwalk.

It isn’t a totally perfect story of course. Online matches show far too many cut-scenes, connecting to an online game can be a little bothersome with connection issues and the computer’s decision making skills of whom it thinks you are passing to are just bizarre.

Conclusion

It may be only a slight improvement over FIFA 10, however it is hard to ignore the magic that an event like the World Cup can bring to the title. You will feel all giddy with patriotism when you take your countries national team into historic battle, waving your flag and possibly shouting abuse at your virtual players. None of that matters though as FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa strives to push your dedication to its maximum and succeeds where other games have fallen short of the crowning achievement. If you, like many football fans around the world love to be encapsulated with World Cup fever, then look no further as this title shines in every department.

FIFA 11 may be only months away from appearing on store shelves, but can you really put off the chance to show the world your football skills and play for your country? Tough decision isn’t it!

My Rating: ★★★★☆ 
Review rating definitions

I also interviewed Jeremy in my very first Vodcast as we delved into the benefits of the Vodburner software in general.

Enjoy the YouTube video below, download the *.mp4 version for your portable video player or simply subscribe using the RSS MP3 feed or via iTunes…

All the recording and editing seen in this video is achieved with Vodburner, with no additional software required.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WH6g8EmJkY

To download a 14-day trial of Vodburner, click this link:
> Vodburner – Skype Video Capture and Editing

Topics include…

• Red Dead Redemption trailer and the bizarre 400 points gift?
• Achievements Versus Trophies
• The godly platinum trophies
• Dings, bings or bongs?
• PS3 Firmware update 3.30 and 3.21
• Halo Reach Editions revealed
• Collectors editions
• The Halo evolution
• Halo 2 multiplayer… Ahhh the memories
• Friends change the gameplay experience?
• Split Second demo impressions
• Bad demo, great retail game…
• Sonic and SEGA All Stars Racing
• FIFA overload?
• Scoring a purchase
• Our gaming recommendations

In this podcast we discuss the various rail simulations including Microsoft Train Simulator, Trainz, Rail Simulator and RailWorks.

Just Trains is the sister label to Just Flight, which began life in 1995 as a company named The Associates. The mission (that they had chosen to accept) was to supply the newly-emerging flight simulation enthusiast market with the latest and best software. Within three years the Just Flight name was firmly established as a brand and the company grew into the world’s largest publisher of flight simulation software outside Microsoft.

Also announced during our podcast interview is a piece of free content for Rail Simulator and RailWorks from JustTrains.net.

They will be making available a totally free ZZA snow plough to subscribers of their newsletter. This is a little wagon that has been in use for many years over the UK rail Network clearing lines of snow. When used in RailWorks, the ZZA takes advantage of the ‘Just Trains ActivScript’ to supply snow clearing sounds and visual effects. If you want to grab hold of this great free little add-on in roughly a couple of weeks, make sure that you subscribe to their newsletter – just follow the subscribe link on the front of their website.

In this audio interview, Paul tells us about his history with trains, the process of creating such a complex simulator and what exciting items of content and features are around the corner for those who like me love to try our hand at controlling steam, diesel and electric trains of all kinds from all over the world from the comfort of our own home.

You may have heard of earlier software released by the company designed for use with Skype, which include Skylook and Callburner.

Enjoy the YouTube video below, download the *.mp4 version for your portable video player or simply subscribe using the RSS MP3 feed or via iTunes…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zhgc9GSpEuQ

To download a 14 day trial of Vodburner, click this link:
> Vodburner – Skype Video Capture and Editing

It is very easy to spend hundreds of pounds buying the hardware and the software in one complete package for a fully featured Sat Nav, yet if you own an Apple iPhone 3G or later, you already own a powerful piece of portable hardware, so why not save some of those precious pennies and invest in just the software side alone.

The Apple Store currently boasts over 100,000 free and purchasable applications that you can download and enjoy. Sat Nav solutions are certainly not left behind as already there are a few options including one from the well known TomTom brand and also the maybe quieter release of CoPilot Live 8.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TCpt6Ov1Qw

Your Apple iPhone 3G/3GS has a very impressive hardware feature list that shouldn’t be ignored when considering whether you want to go down this route. Sporting an extremely clear and bright touch screen, while also incorporating a powerful processor to quickly calculate and present the information for your drive. In fact the iPhone can more often than not trounce the top end competition in the stand alone Sat Nav field with it’s specifications, so already we are off to a cracking start for our considerations.

Sat Nav in your Pocket

One of the main disadvantages with stand alone Satellite Navigation units is that it is yet another piece of technology you have to carry. We are often warned in television advertisements and with signs in car parks to not leave your valuable items in the car. How many of us in the past have flaunted our ignorance I wonder and stashed our Sat Nav in the glove box to save carrying it around on a hot summer’s day, particularly when you are a fella that doesn’t carry the treasure chest that is a woman’s handbag? Quite a few I would imagine!

One item you will always carry with you though is your trusty phone.  For fear of not being in contact with family, friends or work at the crucial moment, our phone sits in our pocket given pride of place among our other necessities such as our keys and wallet.  It therefore seems perfect sense if we purchase the software for our iPhone to add Sat Nav functionality.

There may also be occasions where you thought a Sat Nav wasn’t needed for your well travelled journey or you are relying on somebody else’s directions, only to find you are diverted off the course you remember or your friend has a panic and forgets.  With a Sat Nav in your pocket, you can whip out the solution to your directional nightmares and find your way back to civilisation.

A Small Budget

Currently available for a meagre £26.99 on the Apple iTunes Store, no doubt your first thoughts at this price point are of a cheap and nasty solution, however actually you couldn’t be farther from the truth. CoPilot Live is a wonderful piece of software boasting features you would find hard to match at anything like under £30.

Getting from A to B

CoPilot Live works very similarly to any other Satellite Navigation software out there and although the interface may be a little different, the process of selecting destinations, storing favourites, selecting your home and work locations all exist and many more features aside.

If you haven’t purchased one already, a dock for your iPhone to sit in while driving is a must and even orientation doesn’t matter as CoPilot Live will rotate and adjust the screen for whatever your preference is or simply for convenience. In both views the instructions are very clear to read although I am sure most will be tempted to choose the more Sat Nav traditional feeling landscape mode. Either way, the iPhone screen excels in its clarity and brightness. Another recommendation is of course to have an iPhone car charger, which you can have plugged in permanently if you so wish to avoid battery drain.

What we look for in every Sat Nav device of course is to direct us to our destination in the most intelligent way possible, without it sending you off the edge of a cliff. For the most part, CoPilot is very accurate and will not only know where you are at any given time, but will also lead you where you wish to go with the minimum of fuss.

It is extremely important with any Sat Nav device to have a sense of confidence in the route it offers you.  The temptation to ignore commands when you think you know better can be a result of a lack of faith in the electronic gizmo, but for the most part, CoPilot Live gives you precise and accurate routing.  It is only on fairly rare occasions you may have an issue, when in one instance I had a slight problem. The map wasn’t showing a left turn and instead thought it was one continuous road.  Every Sat Nav has limitations in this area and others, but overall I am very happy that for under £30 I managed to get to my destination without any stress along the way.

Lane guidance adds to your relief, indicating clearly with an on-screen image which lane you should be on when Motorways often diverge into two different routes and when you are about to turn off completely from the hustle and bustle of three lane travelling.

If you have an address of for example a friend’s home, you can either enter in the post code or the city and then select the road and house number. Even better you can select from your iPhones contacts if you have already added addresses to their profiles.

Like other Sat Navs, Points of Interest (P.O.I. for short) databases built into the software can be used to locate petrol stations, restaurants, hotels, major airports, attractions, parking and much more. The locations of those pesky speed cameras (or referred to as safety cameras on all sat navs) are also known to the software, giving you a little audible alert and a display on screen indicating the speed at which you should be cruising under.

You can even select whether you are in a car, walking or on a bike. If the light is dipping and becoming dark outside, your CoPiliot will switch to a less intensely bright night view, to make it easier on your precious driving eyes. Different views such as 3D (the default), 2D and even 2D next turn are selectable to allow customisation that configures the application to function exactly as you wish. You may also desire a change in the statistics it displays during your journey and of course CoPilot doesn’t let you down here either.

Dipping into the settings, you can configure the voice alerts to come in at 500yds, 1mile and even 2miles to give you plenty of preperation time. The downside is when you receive a call, which unfortunately disables your directions until the call is over or you decline instead of answering. On the plus side though, you can still control your music in the ‘iPod’ section, which gives you access to your chart favourites while running the software. Currently the music doesn’t pause when a vocal instruction is given, but apparently an update for this is on the way.

Expandability

Knowing where to go may not be enough to satisfy your lust for information, so CoPilot offers Live Services, which essentially translates as additional features you can access. The area that will offer the most temptation is the Live Traffic option. This will inform you of any delays on your route covering many of the major roads.

CoPilot has an extensive range of real human recorded voices you can select to read aloud the route instructions. As recorded voices, they will state the most basic information such as turning left and right and other such details you rely on. If you would like to go the whole hog though, you can also purchase a text-to-speech voice for a few pounds, that will not only increase the information given to you via the speaker, but also read aloud the road names which can always prove useful. With any computer generated voice of this nature though, the information can be read out in a most bizarre manner, stating locations with the incorrect pronunciations, or just the intonation is off adding to the confusion. All in all though, if you do want to avoid staring at the screen as much as humanly possible, this is the way to go.

Versus the Stand Alone

We may still be a little way off competing with the brute force of stand alone Sat Nav devices, however so many of the features are here right now on your iPhone for a very sensible and wonderful price of under £30. One day all phones will have some form of turn by turn navigation software pre-installed, but until that day arrives, you can’t ignore the amazing CoPilot Live for the iPhone. I will still use my stand alone device for the majority of journeys as I spent hundreds of pounds on getting the one with all the bells and whistles, but when you compare the two products and the price difference, you like me will be more than happy with the CoPilot software on offer.

Conclusion

I may have one of TomTom’s top specification stand alone units, however CoPilot Live for the Apple iPhone should be considered a wonderful achievement for both the iPhone itself and the creators of the application. Not only does it get you to your destination, but does so with an impressive feature set, clear instructions and for an extremely reasonable price.

Whether you are looking for your first Sat Nav system or simply an additional back up, CoPilot Live for iPhone is worthy of not just your consideration, but your hard earned cash as well.

My Rating: ★★★★☆ 
Review rating definitions

iTunes Store Link: CoPilot Live UK and Ireland

Wishing you all a fantastic New Year and I hope you will join me in 2010 for more reviews, articles and interviews. If you want to have a go yourself in creating your own elf Christmas video, make sure you visit the Elf Yourself website.

James Woodcock
Freelance Journalist

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4RD2p5BhlA

Hopefully this will be the first of many iPhone video reviews, so I hope you enjoy this latest offering. Please remember to subscribe to my YouTube Channel and Twitter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNw0rGKCves

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Spu0lk5r0TI

To read the full review, click the link below:
> Fight Night Round 4 HD Video Review for Xbox 360

I have only had this keyboard for a day and with 450 backing styles and over a thousand voices, I will be enjoying the delights of this keyboard for a long time to come.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OjfTBklQf8