Reviews of the Games I’ve Been Playing

Remember the time I got Eddie?

Yeah, so let’s come to the point. I’ve used it to play a lot of games. And here are short reviews of each, in the order I played them.

Burnout Paradise (The Ultimate Box)

The Burnout series of games by Electronic Arts is hailed as one of the most innovative and fun games ever made. With Burnout Revenge!, and Burnout 3: Takedown hitting it big across the world, and Burnout Dominator failing to, emulate that success on a large scale, EA returned with Burnout Paradise. And boy what a return it was. Brilliant visuals, superb car modelling and even bikes as a DLC!

The entire game is set in the fictional Paradise City, named after Guns ‘n’ Roses‘s hit song of the same name from Appetite For Destruction. The game always starts with this great song, but the soundtrack does remain a problem for the rest of the games, as it recycles tracks from earlier Burnout games. In Burnout Paradise, you’re supposed to take up challenges like takedowns, races, burning laps, etc. to climb through the achievements and earn your “driving licence”. Despite awesome crashes and challenging races with fiery opponents, the game starts to feel repetitive and you soon get bored with it. Climbing from a Class E to Class A requires more than a hundred races to be completed, leaving you bored midway. It’s like a toy you’d play for a while, and throw it away.

Rating: 8.6/10

Call of Duty : Modern Warfare

Image via Wikipedia

Call of Duty has always been about gut-wrenching blowing up of bad guys and have plots which may be good for some B-grade war movie. Modern Warfare is only slightly different. Only engaging in bits, Modern Warfare does surprise you in some portions, especially in the ending. The graphics are pretty good, but nothing extraordinary to blow you away. I wasn’t very impressed by this over-hyped game. Although the game makes it up with an extra-ordinary ending, I was like “What Modern Warfare? What’s so special?” Trouble is, the single-player campaign gets over in a blink. I was able to do it in really short time of about a day.

But you know what really saves the day? Multiplayer. It has a great multiplayer mode which does make up for the single player campaign. It’s exhilarating, and fun.

Rating: 7.8/10

It’s not that short games can’t be fun. Especially if you’ve played…

Portal

When the Orange Box debuted, a small insignificant game based on the Source Engine was released, known as Portal, along with the much more anticipated Half Life 2: Episode Two and Team Fortress 2.

Portal was instantly the surprise favourite of everyone. It is easily one of the best games I’ve ever played in my life. I took about five hours to complete it, and that is quite long by any standards.

The great thing about Portal is the wacky sense of humour it packs in, along with an engaging gameplay. GLaDOS and the Companion Cube are lovable creatures too. Although the single-player campaign is short, it’s so enjoyable, that it has an immensely high replay value. Few minor bugs occasionally spoil the fun, but the mind-boggling puzzles make you want to come back for. Finishing the game may get you a “Portal hangover”, where you’d want to create portals to various places instead of traveling there.

Rating: 9.5/10

Call of Duty : Modern Warfare 2

One of the most anticipated games of all time, I finally got my hands on the reason I bought Eddie. After the disappointment that was Modern Warfare, it’s sequel takes the game to new heights where no game has ever been before.

Like it’s predecessor, it has a small single-player campaign, but it is much more sweeter, and has a darker and more powerful plot. The graphics are also significantly improved, and the controls seem much more easier to use. What makes it distinct from Modern Warfare is that it doesn’t feel repetitive at all.

The variation in gameplay is so amazing, it’ll blow your head off. Be it driving snowmobiles in freezing temperatures or “earning Makarov’s trust”, Modern Warfare 2 is a game that is sure to stay etched in your mind eons after you’ve played it.

Rating: 9.3/10

Assassin’s Creed II

There was no game ever like Assassin’s Creed, and boy there won’t be any like it. Upon it’s released, Assassin’s Creed II was called as the game the first one should have been. Based in the 1480s, you play Desmond Miles/Ezio Auditore da Firenze, who’s a total vagabond. He loves spending his dad’s money and enjoys with the girls. But his father and brother’s death changes him forever as he vows to avenge his death.

What makes Assassin’s Creed II distinct from any other game is its emphasis on non-linear gameplay and the importance given to character development. The graphics are superb, especially in the places where Ezio dives in the water. His clothes actually look wet.

The problem with the PC version of Assassin’s Creed II lies in its DRM protection. Skidrow claimed in his .nfo file that he thanked Ubisoft was such a challenge the game posed for him and his team to crack it.

Unfortunately, the game suffers from a really long plot length. Despite some awesome characters such as Leonardo Da Vinci himself (who makes a “flying machine” a.k.a hanglider), the game suffers from being very repetitive. It’s got its heart in the right place, but just gets a few things wrong. When you reach the end, and defeat the main villain, you’re really bored and don’t care any more. What could have been a spectacular achievement just ends up being fairly awesome.

Rating: 8.8/10

Mass Effect 2

Hardly ever has game been made which is so diverse, so imaginative, so… real. Commander Shepherd is back in Mass Effect 2, and Electronic Arts has done a marvelous job of putting together one of the finest games in recent times.

Commander Shepherd is back, and immediately killed due an attack on his ship, the Normandy, but soon resurrected at an astronomical cost by pro-human organization Cerberus, that has some shady origins…

The game is placed well into the future, giving you the liberty to navigate your spaceship to different galaxies, and explore new planets, and even mine them for new minerals. These minerals help you research new technologies for your weapons, or armour or biotic powers.

But what really separated Mass Effect 2 from the rest is the extreme emphasis on non-linear gameplay. As Shepherd you decide how the game should go ahead, and the game travels willingly based on your decisions alone, seriously impacting the story line. This is managed by a well established (though occasionally tedious) planet exploration activity to mine minerals.

While certainly one of the best games ever made, Mass Effect 2 suffers from an awkward and slightly unbelievable plot line. The wide variety of missions did put me off on many occasions, but that’s probably only me. But one thing’s for certain: Mass Effect 2 has an immensely high replay value.

Rating: 9.2/10

Batman: Arkham Asylum

I thought I had seen it all with Mass Effect 2, when Batman: Arkham Asylum came over and swept me off my feet. Batman: Arkham Asylum is that kind of game that you’ll hardly ever see.

Such a superhero game has probably never been made before. Ever. Superhero games don’t actually have a history of doing great with the critics and the masses (remember Superman 64?)

Following its release. Batman: Arkham Asylum has received massive critical acclaim and does so from me too. Set in Arkham Asylum, the institution set up for the mentally insane, the game starts off with Batman transporting the Joker to Arkham (who submits too easily). What Batman realises is that the Joker planned to be caught, and there was a much darker plot afoot.

The boss battles, though numerous, never bore you for once with the sole exception of Poison Ivy. You’ll face the Scarecrow thrice, and the others like Killer Croc, the Joker and Bane as well.

The tone and color of the game is so well set and the graphics are so beautifully merged with the storyline and gameplay, that it is difficult to set your hands off the keyboard. You’ll always be hungry for more and will come back all the time.

Be it Joker’s crazy sense of humour, Batman’s brilliant martial arts assisted with fluid controls[video], or gliding seamlessly over Arkham’s dark landscape with the skyline of Gotham in the view, Batman: Arkham Asylum is one of the most perfect games ever created. I’m only disappointed with the font in which “Batman” is written on the box art. Looks a bit weird, if you ask me.

Rating: 9.8/10

So what did you feel about my views on these games? Let me know in the comments section.

Stabilizing the Blinking ADSL Light

Remember the post on boosting your MTNL broadband I had written some time ago? It was written in a time of blissful ignorance, and my early days as a blogger. Why I didn’t take it down, you ask? Because of hilarious comments. Do read the comments page.

So this post is equally ridiculous. I don’t know why it works, but it works. And Indians have an in-built feature to do so many jugaads.

Cables were stolen in my neighbourhood few weeks ago, leaving me with twenty days of no Internet. When they reinstalled it, the connection was highly erratic. The main problem, the freakin’ ADSL light used to blink on and on.

This wasn’t new. It used to happen when I first got broadband about five years ago. I had developed a jugaad back then. And it’s time I publish. The secret to making *drumroll* that ADSL light *nails biting* stable *music reaches to crescendo* is…

Unhooking the phone.

Huh?

You heard me! Unhooking the phone! So next time, when your ADSL light begins to blink periodically, and it appears that it is never going to be stable, simply unhook the phone. Hear the dial tone, keep the phone aside, the ADSL light will be stable in about a minute or less.

I  this is ridiculous, I know it shouldn’t work, but hey it does. And that’s what matters. I even tried it at Mridul’s house. He was as surprised as you were.

Poof. Try this at home. And then hurl abuses at me. I’m off to reading chemistry.

Download And Install All Software You Need On A New PC

Apologies for a really long (and lame) title.

We’ve all faced the problem of a crashed computer. (Thank you, Windoze). And almost always, once in half-a-year your Windows machine will crash. And mess stuff up to such an extent, that you have to reinstall Windows.

After you’ve done that, you reinstall all drivers necessary, and you proceed to download all the other software you are used to. At bare minimum, you’ll need a browser (Firefox), a media player (VLC), media codecs (K-Lite), software bloatware for your iPod (iTunes), and so on. It’s highly impractical to download all setup files one-by-one (but that is what you do anyway).

What I had planned initially, was downloading all these files once, and storing them on a DVD. But again, it will be outdated soon. Then you’d install all those apps, realize they’re outdated, and update them manually again.

Here comes Ninite Easy PC Setup. This brilliant initiative by Patrick Swieskowski and Sascha Kuzins ensures that you don’t need to do all that manual download and install stuff. Just download a custom installer, and leave your PC overnight. There are ~75 applications to choose from, and it’s really, really simple. Below is a screengrab of the website. Notice the clutter-free design and clear cut objective – select, download and enjoy. As you can see, nearly all popular apps exist. Four browsers, twelve media players, and even important stuff such as .NET Framework, Java and Flash.

Applications I Download Using Ninite

The best part is that the entire process is unattended. Only one window is open – the Ninite Installer Window. You won’t even have to restart your computer. Be warned though. Ninite will install everything in the default path Windows installation path.

Amazingly, each installer you make gets a unique link, which you can share with others, or even keep with you for downloading the online installer for all these apps again. Of course, you can always store the installer…

Applications Download Page

There’s also a Pro service Ninite provides, known as Ninite Pro (how innovative!). It’s a paid service and costs $20 (Rs 950) per month. That is, in my opinion, quite steep. I still recommend it for use if you are an administrator in a school or office. Ninite Pro offers an offline installer, which works just like the one in the free edition – unattended usage. You can download a set of software on the offline installer, copy it to each computer’s hard disk, and sleep while they all install away.

Ninite

Ninite Pro

Link to my customized installer (the software in the image above).

Do tell me about your experiences with this service in the comments.

Send .jar / .sis / .sisx Files Over Bluetooth

Ever tried sending an installation file over Bluetooth, and got this message?

Still thinking that you can’t send such files over Bluetooth?

Now you can!

Nokia has a strict policy of sending installation files (such as .jar / .sis / .sisx) over Bluetooth. This is understandable, as some applications have been paid for, or some may even contain viruses (my old N72 has been infected with CommWarrior in the past). CommWarrior was one of the first known mobile viruses targeted at S60 mobile devices and spread over Bluetooth and MMS.

Now CommWarrior did use an ingenious method to transfer the .sis file itself over Bluetooth. It is not impossible, as even trusted and popular applications such as Lonely Cat Games’ SmartMovie have done it in their older versions. I have no idea how to transfer them directly, but there exists a trick so simple and brilliant, that you will laugh at the mere simplicity of it and curse yourself for not discovering it earlier. It requires no third-party software at all. Keep in mind, though that this trick works only on Symbian Series 60 devices. I have tested it successfully on the N72 (S60 2nd Edition FP3), the E63 (S60 3rd Edition FP1) and the E72 (S60 5th Edition FP2). For some reason, it does not work on S60 3rd Edition devices, the non-FP ones (such as the N73).

Right, so you have to understand the principles first. Basically, the Symbian platform allows the exchange of only certain types of files on over Bluetooth. The most important one (which we’ll use here) is music files. You know, that standard .mp3 ones. The reason you can exchange songs easily is because even if you bought a song, it is likely to be DRM protected anyway, and the receiver cannot play it unless he has the certificate on his phone as well. But the primary use of Bluetooth today is still to exchange (non DRM-protected) songs, because everyone on this planet likes songs. This is what we can exploit.

Step 1: Open the File Manager and locate the installation file you want to send.

Step 2: Press the left softkey (Options) and chose Rename.

Step 3: With the help of the joystick, navigate to the end of the filename and rename the .jar / .sis / .sisx part to .mp3. Hit the center button (or the softkey which corresponds to OK).

You will get a message that changing file extensions may bring about devastating problems, some of which include a) another Roland Emmerich movie; b) Rakhi Sawant deciding to have lunch with you; and c) the answer may no longer be forty-two (OMG!).

Step 4: Send the file normally over Bluetooth. Do all that usual stuff–check whether Bluetooth is enabled on the receiver’s device, and it’s not “hidden” and it’s in range, et cetera. (Fun fact: Did you know that the call button also doubles up as a shortcut for easy access to the send menu?)

Step 5: Here’s the fun part. The recipient’s device will have a notification that a message has been received (you know the drill).

Now when you open the “song”, Symbian’s Music Player will open up and refuse to play the file, claiming it to be “corrupted”.

But what happens next, is the most important part. You will actually have the option to save the darn file on to your memory card!. Why is that awesome? You’ll see.

Step 6: Close the player and delete the “song” from the Inbox (if you wish to). Open the File Manager and navigate to Attachments in the Phone Memory/ Memory Card (depends on where you saved the file in step 5). The folder may vary in older Symbian versions (it is Music in S60 2nd Edition devices).

Step 7: You’ll find that file there, with a tiny musical note beside it.

Hit the left softkey (Options) and rename it.

Navigate to the end of the file name, delete the .mp3 part, and rename it to .jar / .sis / .sisx whatever the extension was before.

Click OK, and…

… you can open the file, and begin installation normally.

Congratulations! You have successfully sent an installation file over Bluetooth! Now since this method is file-specific by no means, you can use it to send other files as well, such as the .avi ones to be played on SmartMovie. You see, although you can send .avi files over Bluetooth, you won’t be able to save them, as Symbian will not have any default application to run those .avi files. If you still watch movies on your phone in the .mp4 or .3gp format, you don’t deserve to own a phone.Seriously.

Please try this method out, and do tell me if it worked (or didn’t) in the comments section. Also, I would really, really appreciate it if you mention the devices you tested this on.

P.S: Didn’t the first line sound like those TVC Sky Shop commercials?

Widget!

So here’s the new Opera Widget for Shadow Line! You can get all new posts delivered to you right at your desktop. And once you install the widget (assuming you have Opera 10.50), you can run it even without Opera running! Sweet!

I’m even adding a link in the sidebar, so in case you re-install Opera, or recommend this blog and widget to someone (which you will!), the widget link will always be there.

P.S: I’m finished with Social Studies. Forever.

Of svchost.exe And Problems

Quite recently, I began facing this really irritating svchost problem on my computer. I’m running Windows XP Service Pa(ni)ck Two, and really haven’t had this problem before. A certain process called svchost.exe began eating up most of the CPU power, and here I was, unable to do absolutely anything on my computer for the next five minutes to five hours.

Yes, the problem never had a defined period of time, and often came and went randomly. And if I decided to end the process from task manager, Windows reverted to the good ol’ Windows Classic theme, and convinced itself that it didn’t have any sound devices installed anymore. This was too much, and I decided to explore.

What is svchost.exe?

svchost.exe, as defined by Microsoft themselves

… checks the services part of the registry to construct a list of services that it must load. Multiple instances of Svchost.exe can run at the same time. Each Svchost.exe session can contain a grouping of services. Therefore, separate services can run, depending on how and where Svchost.exe is started. This grouping of services allows for better control and easier debugging.

For a quick check, click on Start and then, click on Run. In the Run dialog box, type cmd and smack enter. Congratulations. You are now in primitive, but more powerful, DOS mode.

Type tasklist /svc and hit enter. A long list of processes currently running will follow, along with the services it is taking care of. The svchost.exe entry is so prominent, that it’ll catch your eye when you scroll down the list. But contrary to what the movies force you to believe, typing something and getting a list of results is not hacking. (I’m talking about you, Swordfish).

Tasklist /svc

Whoa.

Okay… Now what?

You’ve seen for yourself that ending that svchost.exe process will cause unprecedented and irrevocable damage to your computer, thus angering Lord William Henry Gates the Third, who will ensure that you rot in the bowels of hell forever! ^{[Citation Needed]}

Don’t worry. I have a solution. In fact, Mr Important, I have four simple solutions I have for you. You will, I know, make the right choice.

I was elected to lead. Not to read.

What’s the name again?

It is possible that the process you noticed in the task manager was not svchost.exe but scvhost.exe. The latter is a spyware, which will allow users to access your computer remotely. You must get rid of it at once by installing an anti-virus RIGHT NOW. You can also choose not to react to this situation, if you are totally okay with Ho Chi Minh’s grandson in Vietnam enjoying a holiday in Bermuda, with the money he stole from your bank account with the help of the net banking passwords he found on your PC.

Linux rules.

If you use your computer primarily for browsing the web, watching movies, playing music, or basically anything that does not involve gaming, you can switch to Linux. If you simply love orange colour, start with Ubuntu. If you’re a fan of black ‘n green, start with Linux Mint.

Best of all, Linux is free.

The real (temporary) solution.

It’s alright. It’s okay. You can keep that gun on the table. Heh. *wipes sweat off brow*. I was just joking. I know what the solution is. Heh. Right here.

So here’s a temporary solution. Basically, what I figured out was, that if you have a really old computer with automatic updates disabled, then Windows will try to get them by itself. So it forces you to update your operating system, if you don’t want to. And all this Nazi stuff is managed by one single process. You guessed it. svchost.exe.

So here’s what you do:

1] Open Task Manager, right-click on the svchost process, and click End Process. The process is gone. What follows is complete disruption of your computer’s sound capability. This is definite. Sometimes, even the themes may get messed up. To verify this, you can open that the Volume Control by clicking on the tiny speaker in the taskbar. Instead of getting a sound mixer, you’ll be greeted with this.

Greetings

2] Click on Start button in the taskbar. Right-click on My Computer and click on Manage in the drop-down menu which follows.

Manage

3] In the right pane, double-click on Services and Application. Double-click on Services. If you get this, you’re on the right track.

Services

4] Scroll down, and you’ll find something known as Windows Audio. When you select it by single-clicking, you’ll see its description on the left-hand side. Not the left pane. To the left of the list of services. The service is currently stopped.

Windows Audio

5] To the immediate left of the services list, you’ll see Start the service. Click on Start.

Starting the Windows Audio Service

You may follow the same procedure to restart the Themes service as well, if you want to.

But the problem is that this is still a temporary solution, so you’ll have to do this all over again when you restart your computer. So I suggest you Hibernate Windows, rather than restarting it or shutting it down.

The permanent solution

I suggest you do this after you’ve attempted the previous one. That will speed up work.

In the same Computer Management window in the above solution, search for Automatic Updates. Double-click it. You should see this.

Automatic Updates

See that Startup type: dropdown box? Yes, that one. Click it, and choose Disabled.

Automatic Updates Disabled

Then you click okay, and you can close all open windows now. Congratulations, sire, you have now fixed your computer.

I would be extremely grateful if you leave a comment below, or rate this post. Please let me know if this worked or not. Thank you!

Review: Nokia E63

I really, really needed a new phone. I missed my good-old. gun-metal, chick-magnet Nokia 7610 Supernova, which decided to swim in the washing machine.  It was a slider phone, with great features. Most of all, I missed Opera Mini and mobile web. So I got this new phone from HotSpot in Ashok Vihar, about which I will be making a blog post soon (which means “in the next three months”) . Also, if you notice in the pictures which follow, my E63 is red in color. It is how I publicly display my love for Manchester United. And hatred for Chelsea (the E63 is also available in Blue).

Er, this may seem like a long post (it is). So if you want, you can skip to various parts of the review: Design, Camera, Operating System and Software, Security, Connectivity, Music, Battery Life and the final summary.

Nokia E63

Nokia E63

Network: 2G and 3G (with UMTS)

Dimensions: 113 x 59 x 18 mm

Weight: 126g

Screen: TFT, 16 Million Colors, 320 x 240 Screen Resolution

Storage Memory: 120MB Internal, 1GB MicroSD card included, Supports upto 16GB

RAM: 128MB

Processor: ARM 11 369 Mhz Processor

Camera: 2MP, 1600 x 1200 resolution

Video Recording: QVGA at 15 frames per second

Wi-Fi: 802.11b/g

Battery: Lithium-Ion 1500 mAh (BP-4L)

Price: Rs 10,500

Review

Design

Once you hold it, you get a nice feeling of power with the E63. The buttons are ergonomically placed, and the spacebar is convenient to use. It also doubles up at a flashlight key!  Only problem is the function key and the shift key are at the bottom right corner of the phone, and those with large thumbs will end up pressing both sometimes. The keys are rubbery to feel, which is good. The call buttons are large, and so are the soft keys. The D-pad is also easy to use. Three out of the four one-touch buttons you see can be programmed to do anything (other than cook food), irrespective of what the icons on them suggest. A short press and a long press have different functions. The screen is also quite large with a weird resolution of 320 x 240. This may be a drawback, as you’ll find it hard to search for games and themes (speaking of themes, I did find an excellent brushed-metal theme). On the other hand, the screen is very bright, a treat to watch videos on. The keyboard is really well laid out. A few minutes of practice, and you’re good to go. A problem I faced was the absence of the _underscore_ key, which should be an important part of any business device because of the plain fact that many e-mail addresses contain underscores. It can only be accessed by the Character key, which spawns open a menu.

Moving on the the back of the phone, we see the camera lens, the flash and reflecting mirror. The case is also really easy to remove – the slide that black slider upwards, and tada! The SIM card is a little difficult to push through, though.

On the sides, is a port for a hot-swappable memory card, and a port for connecting the mini-USB cable (which isn’t proprietary).

There’s a navi-light which blinks when you have a new mail, message or missed call.

Camera

The camera is a huge disappointment. I didn’t expect any dSLR-type quality, but the 2 megapixel camera is utterly worthless. It gives mediocre pictures even in very bright sunshine. The flash looks powerful, but the quality of the image itself cannot be improved. Looks like Nokia didn’t think that business guys would need a camera. Video recording is pathetic. Lets just not talk about it.

Operating System and Software

The phone runs Nokia’s very own Symbian OS (3rd Generation) with Feature Pack 1. Symbian OS seamlessly handles all the applications. Multitasking is an added bonus. There are some problems, though. You cannot disable the camera sounds, and even the flash. There is a “Flash Off” option, but doesn’t seem to work.

The E63 comes pre-loaded with some Tetris game called GlobalBloxx. But the games are not important – its the software. You have a licensed version of QuickOffice (with Word, Excel and Powerpoint support). Unfortunately, it doesn’t work with the new Office 07 extentions (*.***x), but reportedly does so with a free update, which is a whopping 6 MB and will set AirTel users back by a whopping thirty-seven bucks. There’s also this superb call manager called Advanced Call Manager, which handles all your calls and rejects the ones you don’t want. It also has an inbuilt answering machine! The E-mail set up wizard is really easy, and you’re hooked up with your mailbox in about five minutes. It supports a large number of e-mail providers and has pre-configured settings for all. You can also key in setting for your e-mail provider if it is not listed. New mail, missed calls, and text message notifications appear on the homescreen itself. So you can see who the message is from without reading it.

You all know how Symbian is. Many feel it is slow and lags dreadfully, but that is because it often doesn’t have any adequate hardware to do well. Symbian ran quite perfectly on my E63 (which has a 369 Mhz processor). But the main problem with all those third-party apps any Symbian user installs (and loves) is that they all need to pass through an application-signing test. Certain functions the app needs to access can be granted easily and any developer can self-sign them. But some of those advanced APIs which software use require mandatory signing. This is done to prevent viruses spreading in your phone and wreaking havoc. But it only turns out to be plain irritating. If you’re a bhakt of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and everything on your phone (except the OS, of course) is pirated, then you’re in for a disappointment. You. Cannot. Install. Those. Cracked. Applications.

Of course, there are ways where you can sign the apps yourself, and they’ll be specific to your IMEI. But zat is hacking, isn’t it? A post on that coming soon. I promise. No! Seriously.

You know Opera Mini? You don’t? And you own a Java-enabled phone? Throw it away.

You know Opera Mini? Good. In my E63, a single press of the spacebar triggered of a series of spaces for no clear reason. So I cannot type properly in Opera Mini. The original Symbian browser is pretty good, but nothing can beat Opera Mini’s eye candy. I have to, unfortunately, switch to the normal text editing mode. However, typing messages and e-mails in Nokia’s inbuilt applications are a treat. Predictive text accurately guesses which word you’re going to type almost every time, saving you much hassle. The spelling correction is superb too, letting you add words to the phone’s dictionary. You can even tell the phone to read you messages in your inbox.

Security

Since a business person (or any of us, for that matter) is concerned about privacy, Nokia has done a decent job of it. You can set the time for an automatic keypad lock or even a phone lock. In case of theft (or pesky people), a predefined SMS sent to your phone will lock it immediately, rendering the user unable to access any data at all. There’s even an encryption feature which will encrypt your memory card and/or phone memory with a key. Surprisingly, however, there isn’t any antivirus bundled! This is surprising, since it is a business phone. And there’s also that Symbian Signed limitation mentioned above.

Connectivity

Call connectivity was good. The call quality was not bad at all, though there was initially some lag while answering calls, but its fixed now. WLAN works pretty well. The OS allows you to use a WLAN access point for any application that demands a web connection. Rejoice, Skype customers! And a special pat-in-the-back to those Fring fans too! I still haven’t tried 3G, though. You know why.

Music

In one word: disappointing. The music quality is seriously not good at all. Symbian’s Music Player tries its best by adding some standard settings such as an equalizer, loudness and stereo widening, but the problem here is the hardware itself. The loudspeaker is not very loud, so you can forget playing your favourite track to your friends and expect them to catch every syllable. I tried Hotel California by Eagles and Stairway To Heaven by Led Zeppelin, both of which have some excellent guitar work. The instruments are not clearly audible over the speaker, though this improves considerably over the bundled earphones. The earphones are decent, but not good enough. They are strictly fro call purposes. However, Nokia has provided a standard 3.5mm jack, so you can use those $400 Bose headsets (yeah, you bought the cheap ones) with the phone.

(A note here. The best music quality in a phone I’ve ever seen is that of the iPhone and Nokia’s N91. Yeah, that old fat phone which is now obsolete.)

Battery Life

This is the big one. The E63 has a standard Li-Ion 1500 mAh BP-4L battery, which supplements the business phone. Businessmen always on the move will need their device always ready, and the E63 does just that with its battery. I had installed iON Batter Timer, and it displayed about two days till the battery discharge, which is quite good. It is definitely made for people on the go. In the real world, the phone managed about eighty hours with full brightness while I was playing Java games, browsing the web on Opera Mini (not on Wi-Fi, though), and listening to music via the bundled earphones.

Summing Up

The E63 is an excellent cheap business phone for those who don’t want to disconnect from the outside world. An ergonomic keyboard, bright screen, excellent battery life and the good ol’ Symbian help as well. Social network fanboys will be addicted too. But if you’re looking for decent music quality or a decent point-and-shoot camera, avoid.

Detailed Ratings (Out of 10)

Design: 8

Features: 9 (a mark cut for poor camera and no GPS)

Security: 8 (two marks go down for the absence of an antivirus solution)

Value for Money: 10 (You cannot get such a device at Rs 10, 500!)

Battery Life: 9 (Very Good, but could have been better)

Overall Rating (Out of 10): 8.8/10 (Superb!)

Also, do tell me how the new look is. iNove had become too old.

http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_n91-1154.phpBattery

Review: The Hangover

The Hangover

Director: Todd Philips

Producer: Todd Philips

Daniel Goldberg

Cast: Bradley Cooper (Phil)

Ed Helms (Stu)

Zach Galifianakis (Alan)

Justin Bartha (Doug Engelbart)

When you first see the trailer for The Hangover, the first thought which will occur to your current will be “Damn. When will Hollywood learn to make original concepts? This is just another bachelor party gone bad.” And the average Douglas Adams fan will say “Poetry! They deserve poetry!“

But The Hangover stands out as a movie completely different from what you’ve expected. Directed by director Todd Phillips, The Hangover is the story of Doug’s bachelor party in Las Vegas with his friends Stuart, Phil and brother-in-law Alan. Stu had a bossy girlfriend and for her, he’s going to Wine County in Nevada, not to Vegas. Phil is a school teacher.

So off they go to Vegas in Doug’s father-in-law’s Mercedes. They rent a villa in Caesar’s Palace (which, for the record, is $4200 for the night). The script mysteriously cuts to the morning, where the four three wake up – without Doug – only to find the villa in complete mess. Not to mention a baby in the closet, a tiger in the bathroom and a chicken in the house. Stu’s missing a tooth, has a receipt of $800 from the Bellagio, and Phil has evidence that he’s been to a hospital. And they cannot remember the single thing. Now this is a premise many movies have used in the past as well, but what makes The Hangover different is that the trio tries to piece together the events in the reverse order, thus guaranteeing the screenplay writers a definite Oscar nomination.

Without revealing too much, I can safely say that the plot is unpredictable and never bores you for a single minute. There’s spice in every single scene and superb performances by all three leads make it even better. You can imagine the shock on their faces when they receive a police car instead of their Mercedes for the hotel’s car parking. Or Stu’s feelings when he realises that he’s given his to-be-engagement-ring post marriage to a stripper. In the end, they manage to find Doug in the wackiest of twist plots.

More than the plot, it is the movie-going experience you’re going to enjoy so much. The director focuses on the troubles of the actors, and not tryin to capture the tempting night-life which many other directors tend to do more often than not. The trio battle the Chinese mafia, a couple of police officers and have a trip down to a casino. The scene in the casino where Alan plays Blackjack is probably the most hilarious scene in the entire movie. There’s a cameo by boxing champion Mike Tyson as well, who does what he does best – punch out!

Bradley Cooper as the playboy Phil is excellent and so is Ed Helms, who plays a disgruntled Stuart Price. But the real star of the show is Zach Galifianakis who plays immature Alan Garner. His stupid one-liners and crazy acts (including one where he slices off his palm) are hilarious and done with effortless sincerity. The constant bickering and hilarious insults thrown at each other will leave you in splits, and there’s no surprise you’ll end up on the floor, rather than on the chair you’re sitting while watching The Hangover.

To sum it up, I can say that The Hangover is the best comedy film this year, and deserves all the awards it is getting. Sharply written, surprising, exhilarating, unpredictable, hilarious and mind-blowing to leave you flabbergasting (and rolling on the floor), The Hangover is an amazing film. A few explicit scenes puts me off though, but overall, I recommend The Hangover for every (teenage) person . It’ll help forget all your worries and will go down in your memory as the best comedy film. Ever.

Detailed Ratings [Out of 10]

Plot: ∞

Acting: ∞

Screenplay: ∞

Direction: ∞

Feel: ∞

Overall Rating: 5∞/10

Oh, and don’t give me that nonsense about not being able to multiply with infinity and all that. Chuck Norris can do it, Jack Bauer can do it, and so can Todd Philips. Once you’ll The Hangover, you’ll agree with me.

http://totallytop10.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/the-hangover.jpgDi

Review: Avatar

Avatar Release Poster

Director: James Cameron

Producer: James Cameron

Jon Landau

Writer: James Cameron

Cast: Sam Worthington as Jake Sully

Zoe Saldana as Neytri

Stephen Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch

Review

When was the last time you saw a film which had you awed, and you thought about it even days later? When was the last time you saw something so divine, and saw flawless, that you felt like applauding? Probably, the last time that happened for me was when I saw Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Never. Ever. Before. Has a movie been made like Avatar, which combines an extremely high budget ($230 million plus $150 million for promotion), great acting and a fairly good plot along with a message to make a thundering impact on the souls of all viewers? I doubt it.

Avatar has taken India by storm. Tickets had been booked a day in advance, and watching the current show in 3D is out of question, unless you plan it a day in advance. I saw Avatar at PVR Plaza in Rajiv Chowk, and the cinema hall was jam-packed.

The main character, Jake Sully, is a crippled US Marine who signs up for an Avatar programme which involves mining this mineral called Unobtanium, so that an energy crisis gripping the earth can be solved. (For those who don’t know, Unobtanium is a name given to any material which is “un-obtainable” to run anything. For example, an unobtanium-made-pulley may be frictionless, which is pretty impossible). This wicked stuff is available on a moon (Pandora) which orbits a planet which further orbits Alpha Centauri. This stone can be obtained only with the cooperation of the Na ‘vi, tall, blue-skinned inhabitants of Pandora. They’re primitive as compared to the humans, but more physically capable. They also have these USB ports in their hair, which they can plug into trees and horses. Badass, this.

Basically, the main character, Jake Sully, is on Pandora to control an “avatar” of himself, and become a Na ‘vi mentally, when physically wired up in a bunker. He’s got to convince the Na ‘vi to give him the Unobtanium, but finally realises that the humans are wrong. And he fights (in the end; this was inevitable) for the Na ‘vi against the humans.

You’ll notice that the plot is simple, and even predictable in some parts. But it’s not the plot you’re basically concentrating on here. It’s the visual effects. Of course, there are movies in the past which have made exactly the same blunder, thus compromising on other aspects and some who focus more on the plot, and not just visual effects. But Cameron does both, and makes a surprisingly good balance between both. The fact that Avatar is so visually pleasing, makes you forget the plot and think more about how Cameron made the environment? Remember: it’s a whole new world, and all new creatures, so it has to be made from scratch. Hundreds of people cannot by physically dyed blue, so that had to be CGI as well. What James Cameron has created and visualised is not mere scenery – it’s an entire universe, like the Middle Earth in LOTR, and unlike it as well, as Avatar cannot simply be shot in New Zealand. Cameron attached probes to all of his actors and used revolutionary new motion capture technology.

Everything you see here, is computer generated.

The acting is also great, although there is not much scope of acting. The emotions do come out well, especially in those scenes when the Na ‘vi’s homes are felled cruelly by the army. Their cries will echo even after a long, long time. Its that brief period of emotional connections that probably sets the pace for the next hour of the movie.

Something else is the totally believable universe Avatar is set in. I mean, the technology is not something which can make you go “Come on!”. Its something humans are close to achieving. In the end, it also gives an important message about saving the environment, and not getting into energy crises (which is not very far). But all this is unimportant; where Avatar really trumps is the overall experience of it. Of how everything seems to be there in the movie. Love, action, drama, emotion, jealousy, power, and so on. It may not be the best film ever, but it’s certainly one of the most complete and entertaining film. Do watch it, and do so in 3D, as that is how Cameron would like you to experience it. Looks like the huge $230 million dollar gamble, like Titanic, paid off.

Here’s the theatrical trailer for Avatar. Do watch it in full screen HD.

Detailed Ratings (out of 10)

Plot: 8

Acting: 9

Visual+Sound Effects: 10

Direction: 10

Feel: 10

Overall Rating: 9.4/10 [Fantastic]

Happy Birthday, PlayStation

The King

Fifteen years ago, a company named Sony released a gaming console named PlayStation. They actually felt that a newcomer could take on Sega (which was the world leader in gaming consoles at that time) and Nintendo (which was riding high on the waves of success with the Nintendo Entertainment System).

They were right. Despite being the underdog, PlayStation went on to become the best gaming console of all time, and also an example for all those hard-work-can-help-you-succeed reality shows on TV.

But why do I call the PlayStation the best console ever? No. Not because of the looks or hardware, but because of the legacy it went on to inspire. It was almost single-handedly responsible for boosting the gaming market, even though Nintendo had successfully revived it after the Video Game Crash of 1983.

It paved the foundation for so many consoles such as the trendy PlayStation Portable, the best-selling and most successful console of all time – the PlayStation 2, and the mini-supercomputer, the PlayStation 3. The controls of the original PlayStation were so popular, that the entire layout has been copied onto Sony’s other consoles. With negligible modifications.

The Original PlayStation controller. Analog sticks were included later

See that? NO modification.

A slight change here, to minimise space But the overall layout remains the same. Start and Select are still there.

No change. Again. Except for the PlayStation button.

Games

Not only controller design, but, most importantly, the games released first for the PlayStation are now major money-spinners in the gaming market.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater

Tony Hawk is better known through the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series, than by his own, marvelous achievements. Activision brought us this superb skating simulation game which had everyone hooked on. Activision didn’t stop here. They released Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4 which also became critically and commercially acclaimed hits on its successor console, the PS2.

Metal Gear Solid

Metal Gear Solid

This time, Konami decided to teach a thing or two about stealth to PlayStation users. Metal Gear Solid came, and introduced us to Snake. A suberp story, well-built characters and breathtaking graphics combined with an excellent sense of stealth, made it a major success with the masses and critics as well. Konami was not new to the gaming scene – it had captured hearts with Contra – but this was something even better. The legendary Hideo Kojima showed that gaming is not only for kids. It has advanced to higher ages as well, as the plot for Metal Gear Solid could rival any Hollywood blockbusters’. Further, Konami released Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater for PS2 Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops for PSP and finally, the best of them all – Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots for PS3. All were instant hits, and continued Snake’s story which began at the PlayStation.

Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy VII

When you think about Final Fantasy VII, all you can say is… wow. Square brought us the best RPG game of all time, and Final Fantasy VII is regarded as the most influential games ever made. Rightly so. It used spectacular 3D Graphics, and brilliant character models. It also came with a gripping plot, even successfully incorporating drama into it, by showcasing the characters’ internal struggles as well as their road to defeat evil. Final Fantasy has run into as many as twelve titles, each being immensely successful.

Gran Turismo

Gran Turismo

No game has ever, or will, transcend the boundaries between professional racing and gaming like Gran Turismo did. Forza can try, so can Need For Speed. But Gran Turismo always gets it right. Even for the PlayStation, it had superb physics and marvelous simulation. The game also had many other games in the series, all of them being immensely successful. In fact, Gran Turismo was the most selling game for the PlayStation, emptying 10.95 million pockets all over the world.

Resident Evil

Resident Evil

Yikes. Resident Evil. Was. At its time. The most. Scariest game. It inspired other Resident Evil games as well, but none was so successful as the original, which first released on the PlayStation. It scared the living daylights off the most of us. But people still enjoyed it, and it became a best seller in the United States.

So that is all for now folks! If you like this article, please comment and/or rate it as well!