Posted by: Jane Douglas

The week’s top tech stories?

According to you, our beloved readers, the unveiling of the Hero, HTC’s re-skinned Android touchscreen mobile, has been the hottest news, alongside Microsoft announcing the Windows 7 prices and a virtually resurrected Woolworths doing a roaring (initial) trade.

We’re also psyched over the kick-off of first-round voting for the T3 Awards 2009, the veritable Oscars of gadget gongs.

As for gaming, there’s sadly been little quality time with the consoles – but I’ve been thinking how multiple reviews of Transformers 2 sell the general medium of games short by likening the film to “a video game transposed to the big screen”.

For plot and drama, I’d rather watch someone play BioShock or Half-Life for two hours. Even Gears of War is positively cerebral by comparison.

And with the weekend very nearly upon us, how about a catch-up on some of T&G’s finest offerings?

Meet the Joggler, your new fridge door


Tech that changed sport forever


Killer tech: 10 inventors killed by their inventions

Posted by: Jane Douglas

MSN Tech & Gadgets is proud to to be partnering with T3 for the magazine’s annual gadget awards. The T3 Awards 2009 site has just launched, kicking off the public longlist voting.

If you know your MacBook from your ebook reader or want to get behind your games console of choice, head on over to awards.t3.com and cast your vote for your favourite gadgets. (There’s a bunch of award-worthy gadget prizes up for grabs.)

We’ll be following the awards as the longlists are whittled down to final nominees and then, later in the year, reporting from the glittering gadget gongs ceremony itself.

Posted by: Nik Taylor

The more eagle-eyed among you may have noticed there’s been a recent addition to the gaming section of MSN Tech & Gadgets.

You can now use the site to play PC games on demand, or download full versions of the latest games to your computer. Games available include The Sims 3, Far Cry 2 and GTA IV.

We currently have a special offer running, where you can try the on-demand service for 14 days for free.

Read our article on the service to find out more information.

Elsewhere this week on Tech & Gadgets

Must-have downloadable games

Gadgets to make work fun

30 great Father’s Day gadgets

Will we pay for the web?

Posted by: Nik Taylor

If you’re currently in the market for a new mobile phone, you’ve got a whole heap of choosing to do. It would also be worth waiting a while, as there are some serious handsets just around the corner.

Apple surprised no-one when it announced a new iPhone model at the start of the week; although many people had thought there may be a slightly more radical update than what’s on show with the speed-boosted iPhone 3GS.

Still, it’s desirable enough that many iPhone owners are up in arms that O2 isn’t going to give them a free upgrade when it comes out next week. I don’t get why they’re so surprised; that’s what 18-month contracts are for, isn’t it?

Anyway, the competition for iPhone’s crown is getter stronger than ever, with the Palm Pre now on sale in the States. When we’ll get a date for a UK release is anyone’s guess, but I hope it’s sooner rather than later as the Pre looks the business.

Meanwhile, Nokia has the N86 and N97 on the way, while the number of Android handsets will soon be bolstered beyond the existing G1 and the excellent Magic.

It all adds up to a shedload of handsets to choose from. In fact, with mobile technology dramatically improving on an almost monthly basis, it seems there’s more choice than ever before.

Perhaps it’s small wonder that consumers are getting unhappy about being forced into keeping their phones for 18 months – even 24 months in some cases. Could it be time for the networks to have a rethink over how their contracts work?

Also on Tech & Gadgets this week…

Iain Lee joins the T&G editors for the latest gaming podcast. Go listen now! 

Great gadgets you can’t have

10 of the best OLED gadgets

Show stoppers: the best of E3

Video: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves trailer

Posted by: Jane Douglas

This year’s spectacular E3 left our heads spinning, visions of must-own upcoming games dancing before our bloodshot, jetlagged eyes. 

Besides the barely teased games such as Team Ico’s The Last Guardian (of which we saw no more than a gorgeous trailer) and the bound-to-be-blockbusters in our E3 round-up, there were countless future gems to be found on the Los Angeles Convention Center show floor. Among them:

Brink
Format: PC, PS3, X360
Out: Spring 2010

Brink is a fresh-faced first-person shooter set on the Ark, an artificial floating city built as a green initiative and now surviving as the last refuge for humans on a post-apocalyptic planet.

Game director Paul Wedgwood, of British developer Splash Damage, talked us through an impressively polished extended demo.

Combining diverse (that is, not all grey-brown) environments with class- and mission-based gameplay, Brink values single-player, co-op (with up to seven friends) and multiplayer modes equally – all types of play add to the progression of your highly customisable player character.

Left 4 Dead 2
Format: X360
Out: November 2009

We had wondered if the rumours were too good to be true - a new Left 4 Dead so soon after the first game? The Xbox E3 conference set us straight.

Chet Faliszek of Valve pointed out key changes as we played through the fifth of five campaigns, The Parish, set in New Orleans. Besides the new Survivors, there are three new special Infected, such as the Charger (speedy, with a huge, deformed arm) and some semi-special Infected, such as a fireproof hazmat suit zombie.

There’s also a new multiplayer mode yet to be announced, new items (including chainsaws, axes, frying pans and incendiary ammo) and both daylight and after-dark campaigns, some lashed by storms. More importantly, the moreish, tight gameplay of L4D hasn’t been unnecessarily tampered with.

Wet
Format: PS3, X360
Out: Autumn 2009

Wet is a slick, stylish and self-consciously over-the-top action adventure starring the foxy Rubi (voiced by Eliza Dushku, formerly Faith of Buffy the Vampire Slayer).

The developers (Artificial Mind and Movement) have channelled grimy grindhouse flicks and heavy Tarantino influences into a hacking, slashing, shooting, acrobatic action game with an accessibility that quickly had us rampaging like Uma Thurman in Kill Bill.

One standout early set-piece, triggered by blood splashing across Rubi’s face, transformed the game world into one of black silhouettes against a vivid red backdrop. In this stylised mini-level, a supercharged Rubi slices her way through yet another mob of gangsters – offering minimal challenge but maximum fun.

Mass Effect 2
Format: PC, X360

As with Left 4 Dead 2, all we really needed to know about Mass Effect 2 was that it would have more of the stuff we loved about its predecessor, epic sci-fi RPG that it was (and tidy up that clumsy inventory system, which it has).

Better yet, director Casey Hudson says that importing your Mass Effect savegames will bring the consequences of key decisions from your playthrough into the sequel – along with your customised Shepard, who is evidently not dead after all.

There are heavier weapons this time around (missile launchers and the like), along with an improved, more dynamic dialogue system and ‘richer’, more varied locations. “Exploration is going to be more fun,” says Hudson. Sold, we say.

Posted by: Jane Douglas

As this year's E3 draws to a close, here are just some snippets of video taken around the LA Convention Center and on the show floor. By all accounts it's been a spectacular show, much more so than in recent years, with publishers going all out on big, flashy booths.

  
Video: View from E3, part I

  
Video: View from E3, part II

Posted by: Jane Douglas

Sony Computer Entertainment of America president Jack Tretton began the Sony conference at E3 by joking about the show's biggest leak, the PSP Go.

"We consider ourselves at Sony an industry leader and with press leaks that's no exception," he told the assembled press.

Unsurprisingly, the PSP Go, the new sliding-screen, UMD-free iteration of Sony's handheld console, was later officially confirmed.

Sony Computer Entertainment president Kaz Hirai came on stage to introduce the Go as a device "specifically designed for the digital lifestyle."

"It's size is really built for the digital consumer," Hirai said, with the Go some 40% lighter than the first PSP.

The PSP Go will be available in October in the US for $249 and in Europe for €249.

As for the most exciting games on PlayStation's extensive games roster:

1) Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
On the Shrine auditorium's giant 40 by 80 foot screen, Uncharted 2's astounding graphics drew whoops from the crowd. These are the kind of looks that are only possible on PlayStation, we were told.

The live code revealed Nathan Drake scaling buildings, dodging helicopter fire and kicking ass alongside co-op partner Chloe.

2) MAG
The E3 conference featured the first public unveiling of live action gameplay from Sony's Massive Action Game (MAG), a massively multiplayer military FPS for the PS3 that supports up to 256 players divided into squads, platoons and companies on opposing sides across an enormous map.

The squad leader was shown assigning objectives to his squad (destroy a bunker) and so earning bonus points, as well as securing forward locations to create new local spawn points from which friendly players would deploy.

3) Gran Turismo PSP
The wait is over: Gran Turismo PSP will "help celebrate the launch of PSP Go" on October 1. It won't be a scaled-down version for the handheld, either, featuring 800 cars and 35 tracks for "a full-sized Gran Turismo experience".

The game will run at 60 frames a second and feature an ad hoc multiplayer mode. Another new feature for the PSP will be a system for trading and sharing cars between your garage and those of your friends, making it easier to collect to full 800-car set.

4) Meal Gear Solid Peace Walker
Hideo Kojima took the stage to introduce Peace Walker, a new PSP Metal Gear game set 10 years after Metal Gear Solid 3, making it "a true sequel of the Metal Gear franchise, not a spin-off or side story".

The trailer shows a game set in 1970s Costa Rica, with the private military force (Militaires Sans Frontieres) that would later become Outer Heaven brought in to defend the country.

Four Snakes appear towards the end of the trailer - could this be hinting at co-op multiplayer or something else?

5) Resident Evil Portable
Details were scarce, but Resident Evil Portable will be "a whole new game designed for the PSP platform" arriving next year.

6) Final Fantasy VII
50 original PlayStation titles will be coming to the PlayStation Network for download - including, from the time of the conference, - legendary RPG Final Fantasy VII.

7) Agent
A new Rockstar North property was announced, though not shown: a 1970s-set action game exclusive to the PS3 dealing with espionage and assassins.

8) Assassin's Creed 2
Creative director Patrice Desilets declared that Assassin's Creed 2, out this winter, is all about "diversity, giving players more options in all aspects of the game."

In our first look at actual Assassin's Creed 2 gameplay, hero Ezio infiltrated a gorgeously rendered Venetian ball while Desilets outlined some game details.

Leonardo da Vinci is the Q to Ezio's James Bond, furnishing him with gadgets such as the bird-like hang glider. Also new is the two-handed instant throat-stabbing double takedown and smoke bombs.

9) Final Fantasy XIV Online
Sony unveiled the PS3-exclusive Final Fantasy XIV, Square Enix's new massively multiplayer online game. There's little else to go on besides the spectacular trailer, but PlayStation recovering Final Fantasy as an exclusive is significant news, with Final Fantasy XIII being released on Microsoft's console.

10) Mod Nation Racers
Think LittleBigPlanet with racing instead of platforming: cute, customisable characters and an innovative, accessible track creator tool. In a live demo, a full-blown racing track was created from scratch in five minutes, showing off a track tool, terrain deforming tool, surface brushes, item brushes and sunlight and water level adjustment.

Look out for Mod Nation Racers in 2010, with more features to be revealed in the coming months.

11) The Last Guardian
We hadn't expected to see Project Trico at E3 but there it was, complete with a trailer (an extended version of the video leaked a few weeks back) and a final title.

Watch the E3 debut trailer.

12) Gran Turismo 5
Just a teaser trailer for now...

Watch the E3 teaser trailer.

12) God of War III
The game everyone had been waiting for came at the close of the conference.
The first few minutes of gameplay in God of War III were played out on stage, and what a glorious, brutal few minutes they were, revealing harpies, a centaur, a burning chariot, a chimera, a colossal rock and lava boss and graphic disembowelment.

See God of War III screenshots.

Posted by: Jane Douglas

These are the upcoming Wii and DS games highlighted by Nintendo at its E3 2009 media briefing, with the biggest surprise reveals being New Super Mario Bros Wii, Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Metroid Prime: Other M, a project from Team Ninja (Ninja Gaiden).

1) New Super Mario Bros Wii
A multiplayer side-scrolling Mario game, with the familiar look and feel of Super Mario Bros.
"The main mode of the game you can play in single player mode or in up to four-player co-op," Nintendo's Bill Trinen told the crowd.
In the on-stage demo, Mario, Luigi, Toad and Blue Toad collected coins and used warp pipes ("all the classic trappings of a Super Mario Bros game are there", says Trinen), as well as picking up new items: a propeller suit that shoots characters into the sky to slowly drift back down.
New Super Mario Bros Wii will be launched in the 2009 holiday season.

2) Wii Fit Plus
The inevitable Wii Fit follow-up will be coming out this autumn.
There are six new strength and yoga activities but they key improvement over the last game is how players are able "to mix and match individual elements", omitting interludes between exercises for uninterrupted play and chaining together exercises for custom workouts.

3) Wii Sports Resort
Wii Sports Resort, an island-based collection of sports mini-games, exploits the Wii Motion Plus remote add-on, adding "an unprecedented level of physical reality by adding precision control," says Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America.
Bill Trinen also talked up the "depth and precision" added to a Wii sports game by the Motion Plus. He gave a convincing Motion Plus demonstration with the skydiving, archery and three-point basketball contest sections of the upcoming game.
Wii Sports Resort will be released in the US on July 26.

4) Final Fantasy: The Crystal Bearers
The first title in the RPG segment of the show, "an exclusive open-world adventure built specifically for the Wii.

5) Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
An action RPG for the DS, latest title in the popular Disney-Square Enix crossover franchise.

6) Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
Already out in Japan, this RPG for the DS (set in the innards of a giant Bowser) will be released in the US and Europe this autumn.

7) Golden Sun DS
A revival of a RPG franchise that went cold six years ago. 2010 "will bring a new dawn" with Golden Sun DS.

8) Women's Murder Club: Games of Passion
Aimed squarely at the mums with DS consoles, an interactive novel with puzzle mini-games and point-and-click style investigation.

9) COP: The Recruit
Another DS title: an open-world action adventure from Ubisoft in which an underground racer becomes an undercover cop.

10) Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again
A Lemmings-like puzzle games with miniature Marios, available as a DSi download from June 8.

11) WarioWare DIY
A DS game in which players can make and cutomise Wario-flavoured 'micro-games'. "This is as close to essential game design as any title has ever come," says Nintendo.

12) Facebook for DSi
An app feature rather than a game, soon photos taken and edited on Nintendo's newish DSi handheld can be uploaded straight to Facebook.

13) The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
The upcoming Zelda title announced at last year's E3 will be playable on the show floor at E3 2009, says Nintendo.

14) Super Mario Galaxy 2
One of the big crowd-pleasers of the conference: a sequel to the stellar Super Mario Galaxy and "the second full 3D Mario title on a single console".
The gameplay footage promises a spectacular game with new, varied environments.

15) Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles
An on-rails Resident Evil shooter for the Wii starring series veterans Claire Redfield and Leon Kennedy.

16) Dead Space Extraction
Another on-rails Wii shooter, this one taking place in Dead  Space's survival horror universe. Dead Space Extraction is set to an October release.

17) Metroid: Other M
This reveal drew the conference's biggest applause: a new, darker entry in the classic Metroid series developed by the makers of Ninja Gaiden.
"We invited one of the world's most celebrated development teams, with a proven record in the mature space, to take a fresh look at a storied franchise," says Reggie Fils-Aime.
Metroid: Other M is set for launch in 2010. Watch the E3 teaser trailer below.

Posted by: Jane Douglas

At its E3 media briefing, Sony introduced a new prototype controller for the PS3: a motion-sensitive wand-like remote with a glowing sphere on the end that is tracked by the PlayStation Eye camera.

The makers of the PlayStation 2's EyeToy came on stage to demonstrate the technology.

With the camera tracking the player's movement and capturing his image, the conference's 40- by 80-foot screen showed the player wielding and swinging various instruments: a golf club, tennis racket, sword, flashlight, desert eagle and electric whip.

Sony calls the technology "true 3D pointing", complete with "tracking at sub-millimetre accuracy."

In the tech demo, the control system was put to use in a painting application, a real-time strategy interface, a first-person shooter and a first-person action test game with swordplay and archery.

The unveiling of Sony's new controller comes a day after Microsoft presented Project Natal at its own E3 press conference, confirming pre-E3 rumours that both companies would be showing new motion-based control systems.

"Expect a launch in the spring of 2010," said Sony Computer Entertainment of America president Jack Tretton.

Posted by: Jane Douglas

At the Nintendo E3 media briefing this morning, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata revealed the Vitality Sensor: a Wii remote add-on that senses a player's 'stress' (heart rate and perspiration, most likely) through their fingertip.

The Wii Vitality Sensor add-on is a means to "achiever greater relaxation" through gaming, Iwata says. "Maybe everyone in our stressful society could use this to relax with a videogame."

Traditionally games were about about excitement or stimulation, Iwata says, but they cold soon be about unwinding or even helping you fall asleep.

The Vitality Sensor, then, will most likely be a device to enable relaxation games in the same way that the Balance Board enabled fitness games. (Although it would be interesting if a developer produced a 'lie detector' game that exploited the same sensor data.)