By Cyrris , 3rd May 12:58 am
The past few years have seen me computing on a 17″ LCD from BenQ. It was priced reasonably and for the day it’s 8ms response time meant that it was a decent choice for gaming. Being a budget brand though, it had it’s fair share of problems - it’s viewing angles were terrible, the substandard contrast and colour reproduction meant the images were not fantastic, and most annoyingly for me was the incredibly uneven backlight.
As time progressed, I got used to the nuances of the BenQ, but at the same time I’ve grown more and more aware of the move to widescreen formats. Previously not very well supported by many games, this is now no longer the case. Seeing all of Blizzard’s StarCraft II demos in widescreen format, I knew I’d have to make sure I was able to play it that way by the time it was out. So, I got myself a new monitor.
» Read all of “Wider Pastures - The Samsung 2253BW“…
By Cyrris , 29th March 11:07 pm
Few consumer electronic products are given as little attention as the clock radio. They don’t make for interesting reviews, they’re difficult to get excited about, and unlike plasma TVs or lava lamps, they don’t really add much to the look and feel of a room. It is for this reason, I can only assume, that no-one has bothered to create a perfect clock radio yet.
What irritates me however, is despite the fact that they’ve been hugely common for decades now, you still can’t go out and buy a cheap one which has no glaring issues. Surely manufacturers have had enough experience over the years to iron out the bugs? The only way you can get a product approaching what I would deem an acceptable level of quality is to spend, spend, spend. So, being a very light sleeper and extremely fussy about the things I buy, that’s exactly what I did.
» Read all of “The Perfect Clock Radio - A Pipe Dream?“…
By Cyrris , 11th March 10:07 pm
The more observant of you may have noticed that January 2008 never actually existed. At least, not according to our definitive collection of recorded history anyway. Yes, things have been incredibly quiet on this online home of mine, but the real world couldn’t be more different. Things are in fact much, much noisier than ever before.
» Read all of “Back in Black: iPod Nano + Griffin iTrip“…
By Head881 , 24th February 12:28 pm
Portal.
No other game released in 2007 was quite the sensation that Portal was. Portal is a unique, puzzle-focused first-person shooter that clocks in at about three hours of length and, if my thorough reading of the internet is any indication, everyone and their mother has played it.
Portal has spawned a number of internet sensations since its debut. Probably the most significant, in terms of pop-culture, would be the wonderful end-credits song by Jonathan Coulton “Still Alive.” If you haven’t heard the song, you should find it and listen to it…now…and after you do, you should wait feverishly for the track to be released for Rock Band.
Another internet sensation created by Portal is the character of GLaDOS. GLaDOS is your malevolent benefactor-slash-tour-guide-slash-tormentor. She/it is a brilliantly personified, homicidal computer system that… conducts science… for those who are still alive. Also, she/it has cake. Which is another internet sensation… and a lie.
» Read all of “Dear Weighted Companion Cube, It’s not you; it’s me. “…
By Vermouth , 29th December 3:25 pm
It’s the time of year for the industry’s Game of the Year awards and all the usual suspects will be coming out with their usual honors and demerits for the best and worst of 2007. But I don’t have the editorial following of a big magazine or website so I thought a “i’m right and you’re wrong tone” wouldn’t be the right one to strike with my game of the year. So I enlisted the aid of my good friend Head881 to discuss the games and trends of 2007 in an email debate inspired by Slate’s Gaming club, which talked about the games of the year, rather than choosing one. What follows is our discussion.
» Read all of “Games of 2007: A Debate by Mail“…
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