Posted by: Jane Douglas

This just in: Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski is set to direct a movie version of last year's Bioshock game. Can he handle objectivist survival horror like he handles Disneyland kiddies' rides? (That is to say, quite well in the beginning but getting a bit loopy by the end?) Only time, as they say, will tell.

In all fairness, the guy did give us The Ring remake as well.

I've been all about the science fiction of late, without quite meaning to be: two friends lent me books that both happened to be sci-fi and I casually picked up another second hand - mostly because of the lurid front cover.

As a result, I finished Fire Upon the Deep, The Ghost Brigades and Blood Music this week. (Long train journeys give me a lot of time to read.)

[If you've read any of these (or have some great science, technology or sci-fi books to recommend), how about a Tech & Gadgets book club of sorts? If it looks like there's some interest, maybe we'll get a message board started.]

But enough about me, how was your week?

Best of Tech & Gadgets

Best of the rest (of the web)

Passive-aggressive notes and signage from passiveagressivenotes.com. Compelling, mystifying stuff.

Melt an Oyster card with acetone and you're left with just the surprisingly versatile wire antenna: video here.

You want geeky, graph-based humour? You want graphjam.com.

Posted by: Nik Taylor

Earlier this week I went along to the Grand Designs Live exhibition at the London ExCel centre. There's plenty to see there, but the stuff on building your own house/log-cabin/castle wasn't what interested me.

What I wanted to see was Sony's House of the Future. You can see the gadgets from there in our gallery on the main site - and if you want to check it out in person the show runs until this Sunday (11th May).

Anyway, several of intriguing gadgets on show had Electrolux branding, and it turns out they are previous finalists from the company's annual Design Lab competition.

This year's competition is running at the moment, and they're accepting entries until May 30th. As you can see from the blueprints of last year's finalists, you don't have to be a top-ranking scientist to take part. All you need is an idea and the ability to put it down on paper.

So here's the challenge. It would be great if a Tech & Gadgets reader could make it to the finals. Get your thinking cap on and submit your idea to the Electrolux Design Lab website before the end of the month. Then let us know how you get on and remember your favourite tech editors when you're an uber-rich inventor...

Posted by: Nik Taylor

Just time for a quick round-up of the week that was on T&G. (Not that I'm in a hurry to get home for more GTA IV, or anything...)Just click on the images below to go to this week's content.

Speaking of GTA...

(and scroll down for my blog on the first few hours' play)

Posted by: Jane Douglas

Loath as I am to push Nik's stellar GTA IV blogging down the page, it is time for a look at April's mailbag - where by 'mailbag' we mean the accumulated messages, comments and forum posts to and on Tech & Gadgets.

Yes, we do read the above - and though below I've just picked out a select few bits of feedback, there's plenty of great stuff to choose from.

Whether it's constructive or funny, positive or negative, we'll cast our editors' gazes over the lot. Keep it coming.

No mere coincidence?

Over on the gaming message board, commenter blabergeist had this to add on the subject of gaming lookalikes: "Has no-one else spotted Commander (John) Shepard from Mass Effect are Jack Shephard from Lost? Unbelievable similarity and not just the names!"

[I might have spotted it sooner, blabergeist, but I played through Mass Effect as Jane Shepard - and she didn't look anything like Matthew Fox...]

Best. Game. Ever?

This from 28GetReal, also on the message board, in response to Iain Lee's column declaring Elite the greatest game of all time: "I agree with the Elite verdict 100% - I played it compulsively (and daily) for more than a year when I was 8/9, forgot all about it for 20 years and then recently helped clear out my childhood home when my parents moved.

"I booted up the trusty Amstrad 1512 (with a floppy disc that was actually floppy), discovered that my Elite status was still in place and happily spent the remainder of my day attacking stuff and relearning how to dock without the ubiquitous computer.

"Didn't help much with the move (and was told as much) but how many games have that kind of lifespan and playability?"

British Broadband

On the topic of British broadband speeds, and relevant to this month's article on the threat of an 'internet overload', Osiris AM commented: "At present if we say that we are prepared to pay for a better service, the telecoms industry will try to make do with what they have to increase profits.

"The only way to get ultra-fast connections is a partnership between the government and the telecoms industry to put the appropriate cabling in the ground."

Space Junk pictures

Nik's gallery of Space Junk garnered some heartening positive feedback, and also this from Ian: "I have spent the last few days looking through my £8000 telescope to try and find those free range satellites you have reported... With that in mind, I think your pictures are on a time lapse exposure and you may have over-embellished 'just a tad'.

"We mere mortals are not all idiots, so come on, do the honourable thing and tell the truth."

The truth is, Ian, that we didn't produce the images ourselves - they were released by the European Space Agency. They are not 'real' photographs but computer-generated representations; it does say as much in Nik's text. Hopefully this clears things up?

Posted by Nik Taylor

12.00pm

The missions are starting to get really good now. I've just been chasing down some lowlife across rooftops, leaping across buildings to keep up with him. Then I had to hijack a van full of TVs and fly off a massive ramp just to stay clear of the police.

But that's about it for me today, unfortunately. I'll definitely be back on GTA pretty sharpish. As expected, this is a game that is going to finally oust COD4 from my disc tray.

Some of my favourite little bits from the game:

• Improved handling of the cars. Pulling a 180 turn is a joy.
• Ducking for cover behind a wall and then popping out with guns blazing.
• Super slo-mo cam when you make a massive jump.
• Driving aimlessly just to watch the sunset over the skyline.
• The comments from the Russian woman who runs the clothes shop.
• Being able to get around the city so quickly in taxis.
• The brilliant usage of the mobile phone feature.
• Cars that pack up when damaged instead of just blowing up.
• Choices within missions that change the path of the game.
• That moment when you realise you're starting to know your way around like a local.

I hope you've enjoyed my ramblings on the opening stages of GTA IV and that it's whet your appetite for getting stuck into the game. Do let us know all about how you get on and what secrets you find on the GTA IV message board thread.

10.50am

I've taken to being chauffeured around the city now. Trains are in the game again and by hopping on one you a great view of your surroundings. Taxis are my favourite though. Pretty quickly you get in with your cousin who will send a cab over whenever you need one. You choose where you want to be driven to, and then decide whether to appear there instantly or watch the world go by as you're driven there. It's a neat way to save time, but if you're not in a hurry it's also good fun to watch the city unfold while listening to the comedy banter coming from the cabby.

9.59am

I've been having a quick blast around the multiplayer maps, and - as you would expect - this part of the game is going to be huge. Just opening up a simple Deathmatch is awesome. You're pitched into the middle of Liberty City with up to 15 other players and from there it all goes off. All the NPC characters are still wandering about and the traffic is still flowing, so you can jack a car and go burning down the road to take on one of your competitors. Just as you're catching up with one, someone else will pop out of nowhere, take out your tyres and you're a sitting duck. It's top stuff, and there are plenty of game modes to choose from, so you can team up, take the top motors out for a race, and so on. You're not going to be running out of missions in single player any time soon, but multiplayer is a great extra.

9.07am

Ah, you can't beat a bit of GTA over breakfast. I'm loving the gun-fighting in this version. They've built in a proper covering technique which feels a bit Rainbow Six-ey. You can hug the wall and peek out whenever you want to take a shot, which makes shooting far more tactical and satisfying. Previous games often left you with little option that to run blindly into a hail of bullets. Here  you can really think through your strategy.

Posted by: Nik Taylor

1.59am

Time to call it a night, I reckon. I'll be back online tomorrow morning for another blast around Liberty City. Hopefully there will be plenty of you who will have received your copies and developed a tactical cold in order to get the day off. Get in touch in the comments section or on this thread on the messageboard thread and let us know how you're getting on.

1.39am

The airport is a great place to go for some car chases. The gates are wide open - so it's possible to drive straight onto the runway. Doing that instantly gets you a four-star rating, so the cavalry aren't far behind. Once the rozzers turned up, I started weaving in and out of a taxiing jumbo jet. As they followed me they were mistiming it and getting crushed under its wheels. Great stuff.

Have settled on driving the Patriot (4x4) while on the first island. The steering is a bit twitchy but they can take a lot of punishment and are practically impossible to flip over.

1.01am

I really need to find a better car. I have a terrible problem with wanting to drive everywhere at top speed, even in a clapped out old Buccaneer. The trouble with that is that the slightest tap of the handbrake sends you into a huge spin. Driving more sensibly is the key, but where's the fun in that?

Have opened up quite a few more characters who are offering missions now. My favourite so far is Little Jacob - a slightly unhinged Jamaican drug dealer. Nico's a great character as well though - possibly the best central character from the GTA series as he really has a story to tell.

Hope those of you who've been midnight shopping have got what you wanted... :-)

12.04am

Well, I made it up to six-star wanted level - and it was a bit easier than I expected to be honest. I got hold of an assault rifle and used it to take down hordes of police in a stand-off. The new targeting system is very slick in these situations. That got me up to four star - then the SWAT teams got involved. Finishing off a few of those quickly got me up to the top level.

Escaping was also surprisingly easy. Maybe it's because I'm still early in the game, but I was able to stay comfortably ahead of the cop cars even in an average people carrier. There were no stingers on the roads, no road blocks and no FBI that I saw. I suspect it's a learning curve thing and the chases will get tougher later in the game.

11.46pm

Nico can't handle his drink. Have just been to a bar and, when you leave, his legs go to jelly. Very amusing (though not for the girl Nico was trying to impress). Try to get in a car and your vision goes haywire - which makes it very difficult to evade the cops if you happen to knock into one on the way back.

11.07pm

There's one thing that really transforms this game beyond the levels of San Andreas - and it's so simple. It's the fact that you never lose your weaponry when you've been killed (so no need to go find a nurse girlfriend).

It totally opens up the game as you can go belting around the city without worrying about whether you're going to get taken out. They've also added an autosave after every completed mission, so the frustrations of going back several levels after copping it have been removed.

Getting taken out has become REALLY cool as well. As the final bullet finds you, the whole scene goes into black and white and slow-motion. Even the voices are slowed down - very cinematic.

I'm getting in with the local gangsters now - looks like Nico is about to become a serious player...

10.03pm

There is so much to see in this game that I've spent the last two hours just driving around exploring and watching the city unfold around me.

Driving is a blast - there's a ring road that goes around the area where you get started. I've been finding fast cars and hammering it round that. Get a clear run and you can get up to speeds that almost feel as if you're playing Burnout. There's a roundabout near the Schottler area which has an enormous ramp before it - I've been quite happy for some time just getting massive air of off that and causing chaos. Crashes are great fun too, with the car flying about all over the place when you (literally) hit traffic. This gets some great chat from Nico: "I'm glad this is not my car..."

Winding up the police is as entertaining as ever - and tricky to deal with. Even at two star level, there are suddenly five or six squad cars on the scene, which you have to outrun rapidly. I'm going to need some serious weaponry to get anywhere near six star level, but will give it a shot before the end of the session.

It's about time I got stuck into the missions seriously so I can open up some more areas. Keep posting and let me know if there's anything you want to know more about.

Posted by: Nik Taylor

Here we go then folks, the wait is almost over. GTA IV goes on sale at midnight tonight, with many shops opening up in the wee small hours to provide wide-eyed gamers with their pre-order copies.

And although I should really be doing some work, I have no intention of being left out. So I've swiped Jane's pre-release copy of Rockstar's latest epic and will be embarking on a marathon session in a few minutes. After that I'm going to be playing through until 12pm tomorrow lunchtime (aside from a few hours kip once the caffeine supplies run low.)

Throughout the next 18 hours I'll be blogging my progress with the game - but most importantly I want to hear from you. What are you looking forward to in the game? What do you hope they've improved upon since San Andreas? Are you taking a sickie to get in a full day's gaming on the day of release? And, if you're also playing the game in its first few hours of release, what are you making of it? Post your messages on the blog or add your posts to the thread on our message board.

Right, I'm off to Liberty City. Back in a couple of hours with some first impressions.

7.06pm
Well, I'm a couple of hours in and I still feel like a newcomer. As ever the beauty of GTA is in the exploring. Grabbing a car and hammering round the streets is excellent fun. The car mechanics feel more fluid than before - the first time I threw a handbrake turn made me laugh out loud.

Some other things that have made me grin inanely...

• Crash your car too hard and you go flying through the windscreen.
• Smash up an old banger too much and its engine cuts out rather than blowing up.
• Having sat-nav built in to the map system.
• Being able to call 911 and send the police out on prank calls.

It's a lot of fun so far and I'm really still in the intro tutorial section. A long way to go... :)

One other thing for now, for those of you who've said you're already playing the game. Is it just me or does Nico sound more than a little like Borat...?

Posted by: Jane Douglas

Things don't get much better than hooking a Nintendo Wii and a Wii Fit up to an enormous flatscreen television in an empty meeting room, then inviting the entire office to come and have a go on Nintendo's new fitness-training game.

Following the Life & Style channel's week-long diary of a Wii Fit beginner, MSN collectively had a bash on the sensor mat, showing off our yoga techniques. Evidently, some of us have better natural balance than others.

I was pleasantly surprised by the accuracy and sensitivity of the combined Wii sensor bar and Wii Fit mat, and I definitely will mull over the prospect of adopting this game as a fitness regime rather than getting down to finally joining a new gym.

Actually, when I say things don't get much better than an office- wide Wii Fit trial, I mean to say that it could possibly be topped by a trip to the Rockstar London pad and getting a three hour demonstration (and hands-on) with Grand Theft Auto IV.

Which is what I did yesterday. These are exciting times, people. You can catch Tech & Gadgets' first impressions on GTA IV over here: A first look at GTA IV.

Other highlights, as is custom:

I hardly need to refer to the rest of the web when looking to Tech & Gadgets' great content this week, but I will nonetheless...

Popular Mechanics gives us 10 genius inventions we're still waiting for. Are we really ready to convert from comfy hot water showers to sci-fi sonic ones?

More importantly, is the world ready for TETRIS: THE MOVIE?

The geektastic Wikipedia Vision (Beta) lets you see who is editing Wikipedia, what they're editing, and where they are - live, and on a world map.

Posted by: Jane Douglas

Nothing gets me through a long train journey like an immersive handheld console game and a set of headphones.

The game currently nestled inside my DS Lite is The World Ends With You, Square Enix's newest portable action RPG.

Dramatic though it is, the title doesn't give much away. This is possibly because no title could give much away. Unless you called it, I don't know, 'Urban Tokyo role-playing rhythm-based fashion-themed action game wherein sulky amnesiac protagonist is threatened with deletion should he fail to complete random tasks set by shadowy supernatural strangers.'

Which is the gist of it.

Oh, and it's played across two screens.

I don't mean there's a map on one screen and your character on another, or a helpful inventory of all your stuff on the upper screen while you run around on the lower.

I mean that you are controlling two Japanese kids at the same time, one top screen and one bottom, with your left hand/d-pad and right hand/stylus respectively.

I originally had my suspicions that The World Ends With You was designed for a putative next generation of super-powered mutant gamers. Their enormous brains, I presumed, would have evolved  to the point where each eye can independently focus on a different screen and each hand undertake completely different tasks with freakish dexterity.

Because - to me at least- gameplay at first seemed like 'rub your belly and pat your head' taken to a brain-melting new level.

And then I realised that it's more like a game of air hockey, with a glowing green power-up as the puck: you pass said puck back and forth between screens and the character to concentrate on is the one who needs to whack it back.

That'll teach me to pay more attention to in-game tutorials.

Posted by Jane Douglas

...and also for a Friday round-up! First up, the pick of this week's T&G features:

Next, in time-honoured T&G tradition, our favourite finds from the web:

Both tech and art in one: Boy of Blue Industries' unnerving but beautiful cameras. The first, named Untouchable, pumps HIV positive blood through its pinhole to form a red filter. It's not just shock value, either; the camera was designed for a photographic project, a geographic comparison of people suffering from HIV.

In case you didn't go and watch it on Wednesday, Yahtzee's Zero Punctuation review of Condemned 2: Bloodshot was top notch.

It occurs to me that I've never included one of favourite sites on here: icanhascheezburger.com, the one stop for all your lolcats needs. If you like funny captioned pictures of cute animals - and how could you not - it'll be well worth your time.

And finally, no matter how tangled the cables behind your PC get, they're never going to look as bad as this: Disturbed Wiring for the world's worst electrical set-ups.