Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Review

The newest game in the Battlefield series is Bad Company 2. Despite Modern Warfare 2's supremacy, can BC2 put up a fight? Read on to find out.
Storyline:
The story of BC2 is nothing new: there's about to be World War III, and a small group of soldiers need to stop that from happening. But this is not why you would buy this game. Multiplayer is where it's at.
Gameplay:
As I mentioned, Campaign is nothing to be excited about, but Multiplayer is the bomb! Great maps, weapons, and a huge selection of vehicles. The HUD is good, and the health system is quite balanced.
Weapons and Vehicles:
Weapons are cool and there are different classes for each type of player:
Medic: a Light Machine Gun and a Defibrillator
Assault: an Assault Rifle and a barrel-mounted grenade launcher or shotgun
Engineer: a Sub Machine Gun and an RPG
Recon: a Sniper Rifle and C4
Vehicles are extremely varied. There's pretty much everything except jets or planes. There are a lot of vehicle scenes in campaign.
The Verdict:
This seems like the FPS of the year (if SOCOM 4 doesn't beat it out). If you think Modern Warfare 2 is all you need, you're wrong. Both games are completely different experiences, and both are a must buy.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Review

The game that everyone was waiting for! That's the easiest way to describe Modern Warfare 2. Read on for more info on the game.

Storyline:
MW2's storyline focuses on 2 characters that you can play as. One character from the Army Rangers (Sergeant Ramirez) and another from Task Force 141 (Roach, and later, Captain MacTavish). The storyline is very action-packed with a lot of plot twists. But, the game seems too short. Gameplay:
The gameplay of MW2 is extremely fun, for a lack of a better word. From the moment you pick up the controller, you feel like you've been playing for years. Your partner CPU characters are very responsive and work well with you. Spec Ops is another thing to look forward to. Spec Ops focuses in being able to play various missions via splitscreen or solo. But by far, Multiplayer takes the cake. With immense customizability and numerous killstreaks, you never have to play under the same setup for any two games. Multiplayer is very rewarding, allowing you to unlock perks, weapons, killstreaks, badges, titles, and even weapon camo. 3rd person mode is an added bonus for multiplayer.
Weapons and Vehicles:
The vehicle sequences in campaign are also very intriguing, and no two of them are alike. You control a Humvee, a snowmobile, an armed Stryker, Predator Missiles, and many other vehicles throughout the course of the game. On Multiplayer, the only vehicles you can control are killstreaks, and occasionally, turrets. Weapons are extremely responsive and realistic on both modes of gameplay.

The Verdict:
MW2 is an amazing game for players of all skill levels. Campaign feels short, but Spec Ops and Multiplayer make up for it, and then some. If you are looking for a fun FPS, this is the game for you. Every Xbox 360 or PS3 owner should own this game.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Review

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves was game of the year 2009 for many gaming websites. But why is it so good you ask? This review tells all.

Storyline:
The storyline of Uncharted 2 is great, to say the least. The main character, Nathan Drake, is a treasure hunter who hears about the Cintamani Stone and it's awesome power. He goes after it, with his hopes set high. Unfortunately, he isn't the only one after it. This creates the epic fight scenes in the game. If I say any more, I'll spoil the game.

Gameplay:
The overall gameplay of this game is amazing. The HUD is extremely simple, yet effective. The weapons are perfectly balanced. Ak47s are powerful and inaccurate, and M4s are more accurate, just as they should be.

Weapons and vehicles:
As I mentioned, weapons are perfectly balanced. Vehicles on the other hand, are not very fun. There are barely any vehicles in campaign and none in multiplayer. You can't choose which position on the vehicle you want to play in, and it seems rehearsed. Speaking of multiplayer, It is spectacular. That doesn't mean it'll ever replace Modern Warfare 2.
The Verdict:
This game deserved the title of best game 2009 for a reason. Campaign mode is near, if not, perfect, and multiplayer rounds out the deal. If you are looking for a great 3rd person game which has an amazing campaign and a great multiplayer mode, this is for you.

PS3 Mini-Review

I have just gotten my hands on an 80 gb Playstation 3. This is a mini-review on it.



Looks
The 80 gb console does look really more suave than the new PS3 slim. The glossy finish looks a lot better than the matte. It doesn't really matter about finger prints because no one really touches their PS3, except to change the disk. The touch sensitive buttons on the PS3 are really cool. Unfortunately, they have been replaced by physical buttons on the slim.

Game Titles
The PS3 really does have quite a good selection of cool games. Unfortunately, Halo is not one of them (Sony, Microsoft, DUH!). But, games like Warhawk and Killzone 2 are simply irreplaceable.

Graphics
The graphics on the PS3 are amazing (Try playing Killzone in 1080p!). Not just games, but bluray movies are awesome, too! There is generally no lag, and images are amazingly crisp.

Online Connectivity
The online connectivity options for the PS3 are great. The internet browser is really helpful and Youtube XL works great. PSN is really intuitive and is free (unlike Xbox Live). Something great that the PS3 has and the Xbox 360 doesn't is Wi-Fi. This is a huge factor in terms of browsing. With an Xbox, you have to get a huge ethernet cable for internet.

Features
The features are really the selling point for the PS3. It comes with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and , the coolest of all, a bluray player. Another great selling point is the accelorometer in the controller.

Final Words
The PS3 really is a great deal and an amazing gaming device. If you're deciding between the Xbox 360 and PS3, go for the PS3.

Here is a calculation chart for the price of an Xbox 360 to get the same features of a PS3 (using the Xbox 360 premium and Ps3 80 gb):

iPhone OS 3.0

I know I'm kind of late to review iPhone OS 3.0, but I just got it, so here is my review on iPhone 3.0! I have a 1st generation ipod touch, so I can not describe some new features, such as voice dialing on the iPhone 3GS, stereo bluetooth on the 2nd gen iPod touch, etc.

Upgrading is a cinch, that is, unless you are have a jailbroken iPod touch or iPhone. When I upgraded, I lost all of my Jailbroken apps, themes, plugins, etc. What was worse was that many of the apps I re-installed did not work!

Copy-Paste was pretty much the most anticipated feature in OS 3.0. But, as a jailbreak user, this is nothing new to me. As for other users, this is very useful. It is very easy to use, and works throughout the phone. Here is a screenshot of it in action.


Spotlight is also a useful new feature. There are apps to search your iPhone in Cydia, but none as quick or easy to use as spotlight. I generally use it to quickly launch my songs, apps, etc. It even searches your Safari history! Here are a few screenies of spotlight.
The landscape keyboard really makes use of the iPhone's large screen. It really adds to the ease of use of the iPhone OS. This was also a highly anticipated feature of 3.0. Here are some pics.

The final addition is a more powerful stocks app. This is useful, since after all, the iPhone is a smartphone. It has a new landscape format, too.

Overall, the new iPhone OS 3.0 is a worthy upgrade, but jailbreak users, you cannot unlock your iPhone if you upgrade (at least for now), you also need to reinstall all your apps, many of which currently do not work (such as Winterboard).

Custom Firmware on a PSP-3000

A couple posts ago, I showed you guys how to put Custom Firmware on most PSPs. Now, I am going to show you how to put Custom Firmware on PSPs that are not m33 capable. This will even work on PSP 3000s.

Before we begin, I would like to state that I am not in any way responsible if anything happens to your PSP. No matter what you do, there is always a chance of bricking your PSP. Please read through the whole tutorial before starting it.

Step 1: Update your firmware to 5.03. It MUST be 5.03 or it won't work.

Step 2: Use ChickHen r2 to enable homebrew. Place the h.bin file directly in the the root of the memory card, and place the folder with the pictures of eggs in the PHOTO folder. To use ChickHen, just go to photos on your PSP, go into the ChickHen folder and go to the bottom image which is a .tiff image. Your PSP's screen should flash in a different color and reboot into ChickHen. If it doesn't, keep trying again and again. Turning of UMD autostart and UMD cache speeds up the process. Having no images other than the ChickHen folder also helps.

Step 3: Connect your PSP to your PC and unzip 5.03 Gen-A.

Step 4: Open the LAUNCH-ME.exe file.

Step 5: Choose either PSP-2000 or PSP-3000 (PSP-3000s are the ones with the microphone next to the PSP logo below the screen) and choose mode FULL.

Step 6: Choose PSP install option YES, and press START.

Step 7: After the files are copied to your PSP, disconnect your PSP from your computer. Connect your PSP to its charger as a precaution.

Step 8: Launch the EBOOT.PBP/ loader from your PSP.

Step 9: Once the app has loaded, press L or R to flash the firmware to your PSP. You only need to do this ONCE!

Step 10: Press () to reboot into the new custom firmware.

Congratulations, your PSP should now have custom firmware!
For more information, visit this website.

Apple's WWDC 2009

The new iPhone 3GS was announced this morning at Apple's WWDC. It now has an auto-focus 3 megapixel snapper, 3G that is twice as fast, a faster processor, video recording, voice control, Nike+ support, Bluetooth 2.1 (rather than 2.0), a new oil and water resistant finish, and headphones with an inline remote to control your music. Another cool new feature is a magnetic compass. So now, you can tour remote areas without paying international roaming charges :P. But, the iPhone 3GS weighs 2 grams more than the iPhone 3G. The 8gb iPhone 3G is still being sold for just $99. Oddly, the babble on the lower end of the back of the iPhone 3G is gone (only in the pictures and 360 degree view)!

The unibody Macbooks are gone, but new 13-inch Macbook Pros are here, so there is not much to say, except that the 15 inch Macbook Pro does not have a removable battery anymore. We also get SD card slots and lose Expresscard slots in 15-inch Macbooks. Also, is it just me, or has Apple given the plastic Macbook Audio-In and excluded it from the 13-inch Macbook Pros? In my opinion, Apple should not have gotten rid of the black Macbooks. They were much classier than the white Macbooks. Also, Snow Leopard costs just $29 to upgrade to.