Posted by: Nik Taylor

Star Wars and golf? It’s an unlikely combination, but these new golf bags from Bridgestone Sports pull it off to genius effect. You won’t find an R2-D2 or C-3PO option – these are purely from the dark side.

The menacing Darth Vader effort is pretty good, but the slick stormtrooper design is my personal favourite. There’s also a TIE fighter design apparently – all of which are only available in Japan at the moment. The only thing better than this would be to have Yoda as a caddy. ‘Hmmm, use the eight iron, you will.’

Ah, another weekend beckons and so it's time to look fondly over the week that was. First, a leisurely saunter through this week's new content, then a selection of hand-picked links to help you while away the rest of your afternoon.

The Clymo Brief: The burglar-beating spycam

Online privacy; is this the end?

The menace of multi-purpose

Gaming Goss: Adult games for adult gamers

In-flight mobiles are plane wrong

The Byron Review: parental guidance

Top links from around the web

Some days you might be feeling rather pleased with yourself, thinking you're quite clever. Then you find out someone can make a robot out of a toothbrush and you realise you know nothing.

Take your FPS gaming to the next level with this vest that hits you in the chest when you get shot. Look out for a review on here soon.

Hopefully you won't need to plan for this any time soon, but you can now have your ashes sent to the moon.

Man accidentally kills wife by using gun to install satellite TV.

Cracked.com asked readers to create error messages you never want to see.

Yahtzee muses on old skool adventure games while reviewing Zack & Wiki for the Wii.

And lastly, one of those things that just makes you shake your head in wonder, muttering 'but why?' LG has released a mobile phone which has the chief selling point of feeling just like human skin.

Toodle-pip.

For the benefit of MSN UK readers and for my own personal edification*, I have taken it upon myself to playtest 'that Bimbo game' we've all heard so much about.

Funnily enough, with all the fuss kicked up in the media by concerned parents' groups, at the time of writing the British version of 'Miss Bimbo' is seemingly crippled by an massive influx of new traffic - people who, presumably, have found their way there after reading articles on how heinous this game really is.

The interesting thing is is that nobody really wins here. On the one hand all the hand-wringing coverage (of which my article was admittedly part) has driven more people to the site than Miss Bimbo's marketing could have hoped for by means of good publicity. On the other hand, the presumably unforeseen magnitude of public interest in the wake of all the bad publicity has actually all but crashed their site. For the time being, all their pages are sluggish and their registration page reads simply "not possible".

How then, you might ask, did I manage to play this most lofty of web games? I played the French version, which, but for being in French, is identical. Who would have thought that my (modest) French language skills would have ever come in handy when it came to writing about computer games?

The French version ('Ma Bimbo', naturellement) has been running for longer than the British version, which launched only last month.

The image above and to the left is of the Bimbo with whom you begin playing. She's wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and isn't nearly blond enough. She clearly needs my attention as a player. She's not even got shoes, people!

I'm introduced to my Bimbo avatar: she is five foot six and weighs 58kg (which actually, let it be said, makes for a healthy 20.5 body mass index). More worryingly, she has an IQ of 70, which puts her intelligence at somewhere around the level of a particularly smart cabbage. No matter - this, along with bosom size, will be something I can work on later.

I'm equipped with 1000 bimbos d'or - that is, 1000 units of French Miss Bimbo currency. The option to top this up with real, expensive text messages is one I will not be following up on. The slots for displaying 'mon petit copain' (my boyfriend) and 'mon appart' (my flat) sit empty for the time being.

It strikes me that with all the achievements available to me (sexy lingerie being only one of them), Miss Bimbo is selling itself short calling itself merely a 'virtual fashion game'.

It's much more of an all-round simulator - realistic or not - of a certain kind of fantasy lifestyle. It combines the nurturing and grooming aspects of Tamagotchi with the pink perkiness of Barbie, while attempting to channel the multi-faceted simulation of The Sims via the mind-numbing superficiality of your everyday WaG culture. It's actually not hard to see how it's done so well with little girls. Graphics are rubbish, though.

For any young lady out there who wants a cutesy pink game, look out for the equally free, equally online Hello Kitty multiplayer game, set to launch in the near future. It'll be better made, more fun and it won't have your parents squirming with discomfort.

***

Over on the message boards, 12 year old dawnyp says the game is neither fun nor interesting, and in fact 'having a game about boob jobs and diet tablets is terrible and very unpleasant!'

Rocking21 astutely adds that there are 'TONS' of games similar to this around but they don't make the papers because they aren't as popular. This is true: whoever thinks this is the worst of the web (or even the most popular among the worst of the web) is living a very sheltered life indeed.

Have your say over on the message board. Perhaps we can compare Bimbos, if you've already played...

***

*Though I'll point out here I could have spent the same time playing any number of better conceived, better designed, more fun and marginally more socially responsible games in the same time.

Well, there are now two editors on Tech & Gadgets, so I guess the new one – that’s me – should introduce himself. I’m Nik and I’m going to be working alongside Jane on T&G as we look to propel this great site onwards and further upwards. It’s a bit of a dream gig for me, to be honest, as it means I get to spend a lot of my time researching and writing about gadgets and games, which seems just dandy.

When it comes to games, I’m still fully into Call of Duty 4 at the moment, and although the new Rainbow Six looks great I honestly can’t see COD4 getting shifted out of the disc tray until the new GTA comes out. Having said that, despite spending far too much time in various Deathmatches, I’m still taking a royal thumping online most of the time. Keep an eye out for me on Xbox Live if you want a few easy kills – Gamertag:  Yakbite.

But before you do that go take a look at my first article, which has just gone live. Of course, this is the time of year when every shop is packed with giant chocolate eggs, which got me thinking about the other type of Easter eggs – the kind you find hidden away in games. So the piece is all about the 10 greatest gaming Easter eggs. I’m guessing not everyone will agree with the choices in there, and if you have any other suggestions it would be good to see them on the message board.

Anyway, enough rambling for now. On with the show...

Another week, and another new Tech and Gadgets editor! Nik Taylor is joining me on the channel. Look out for his first article and blog tomorrow.

It's also been a gaming-heavy week here on T&G, and quite rightly so, in honour of our newly launched gaming tab - see it up there on the navigation bar?

Following my time at the massively multiplayer online gaming event Connect 2008 (for the blogging of which see below), I turned out a handful of pieces, and Iain Lee gave us his already notorious* console column.

*We really didn't ask him to say those things, I swear. Stick around and you'll see that he is allowed to say whatever he likes.

Now for a carefully selected clutch of Friday fun:

Yahtzee delivers an important lesson for first person shooter makers in his Turok review

Why is this (incredibly impressive) quadruped robot so spooky? I think it has something to do with its opposing knees: video of the BigDog quadruped robot

Slashgear makes a very astute observation about this Samsung vacuum cleaner: the Master Chief helmet vacuum cleaner. I'm holding out for the Weighted Companion Cube dishwasher.

How about a seemingly infinite depth of LED lights embedded in your glass brick walls? Trippy: LED glass bricks

If you thought gaming and shoes were two non-intersecting circles in the Venn diagram of life, you were wrong: these Gameboy boots are stylin'

Spent an evening in the company of the folks from Codemasters, Turbine, NetDevil, as well as fans and other press types at the Connect 2008 after party, and chatted with the charming Fredrica Drotos, who represents the Tolkien estate and manages the license that allows Turbine to make a game based on Lord of the Rings.

This post will get blogged fairly late thanks to the hotel's poor wireless internet connection. I'm heading back into the Connect 2008 fray shortly - Saturday is the bigger community say, it seems; Codemasters sold out on the tickets for today's event. I'm hoping for more cosplayers this time around...

Pictured above is a match from the Connect 2008 Sensible Soccer tournament. The cash prize is £1000 - how I wish I was better at football video games...

To the right, some of Connect 2008's Live Action Role Players (LARPers). The fellow on the left of the shot, Saul, was unnervingly dressed in a full Ringwraith costume for much of the day, but shed the spiky black headgear later on. It is, apparently, very hot in there.

Some first impressions of Jumpgate Evolution in the wake of my testing the pre-alpha version on show here at Connect: an impressive opening cinematic (impressively soundtracked, in particular - a mix of dramatic chorals and voice acting); pretty intuitive gameplay and controls, even for those generally averse to flight sims (like myself); and great-looking, colourful space vistas (it's all about saturation and contrast, says NetDevil's Hermann Peterscheck - they worked hard to avoid including enormous swathes of black, uniform vacuum).

Having interviewed Jeffrey Steefel of LOTRO developer Turbine here at MMO gaming event Connect 2008, I can tell you that today Turbine are launching a new website:

www.unlocktheminesofmoria.com

At which you can register for single and multiplayer web mini-games starting on the 31st March. If you are (or become) a LOTRO player in time for the Mines of Moria expansion, these mini-games will also let you unlock 'deeds' (game achievements) in the actual MMO PC game.

Steefel had some interesting things to say regarding his game in particular and multiplayer online games in general. He also told me that this first official expansion of the LOTRO universe will not demand higher spec PCs for decent graphics and gameplay - the system requirements will be the same as for the original game, which will be a relief for anyone thinking they might have to update their rig to keep playing...

For more on the interview, check out the Tech & Gadgets channel next week, when I've had a chance to write it up.

 Following a hands-on test of space combat MMO Jumpgate Evolution, I also had the chance to speak with Hermann Peterscheck of NetDevil, the developer behind the game. We spoke about, amongst other things, the different between realism and believability in games, and the importance of the latter over the former. Again, stay tuned for more from the interview.

There is LARPing going on upstairs, I'm told, and I'm not going to miss the chance to check that out.

Greetings from the neon wonderland that is Birmingham's Omega Sektor gaming centre. For today and some of tomorrow I'll be blogging live (ish) from Codemasters' massively multiplayer online (MMO) gaming event, Connect 2008.

So far I've been tagged (three times!) with various wristbands, been welcomed by by Codemasters head honcho David Solari and been treated to a couple of illuminating press talks: one from NetDevil, who will be launching space combat MMO Jumpgate Evolution later this year and one from Turbine, the developer behind Lord of the Rings Online.

NetDevil's talk was all, naturally, about getting the press pumped  up about Jumpgate, of which more later. Turbine's centred on the aforementioned global announcement: the immense Mines of Moria expansion to the Lord of the Rings Online universe, set to arrive in late 2008.

This first expansion for the successful LOTRO game will include Lothlorien (with Galadriel et al), the demonic balrog (remember him from the film?) and legendary items - weapons that can level in their own right and be assigned 'legacies' - histories, like that of Gandalf's Glamdring or Frodo's Sting.

The MMO community (it is a community event after all) are arriving any second now. I've seen Gandalf and a Witch King drifting around, too - I'm off to say hello...

Tomorrow I'll be hitting Connect 2008, game developer Codemasters' first ever massively multiplayer online (MMO) community event. Featured games will include Lord of the Rings Online, RF Online, Archlord, Dungeons & Dragons Online and Jumpgate Evolution, the new space combat MMO set for launch later this year.

I'll be blogging live from the event, which takes place at Birmingham's Omega Sektor - one of the largest gaming centres in the world. Highlights will include a first look at Jumpgate Evolution and a 'global announcement' for Lord of the Rings Online, as well as LARPing and (this one I can't wait for) a cosplay parade.

I promise pictures. Stay tuned!

Over the last few days I have been playing with the shiny gizmo you see to the left. It's called the Pacemaker.

The Swedish company behind the gadget, Tonium, call it a 'pocket-sized DJ system'.

And so it is. Or rather, it is 'pocket-sized' for those of us with particularly roomy pockets. But it is undeniably portable, and it is indeed a DJ system.

With a 120GB hard drive, the Pacemaker is a substantial music player - but merely playing your MP3s is not the point. The point is creating mixes of your favourite songs while on the move, beat matching, scratching and (should the opportunity arise) plugging the device into an elite sound system and demonstrating your DJing prowess to a club full of appreciative dancers.

It's got two output channels, two crossfaders, pitch control, equalizers and I'm sure a whole host of other charms that my amateur DJ efforts failed to coax out of it.

The upper circular panel you can see in the image to the right is the display screen, while the lower panel is the touchpad interface. Using the circular touchpad to scratch and pitch bend your music feels nicely authentic (says she who has never intentionally scratched a record in her life).

The strip across the centre of the Pacemaker is the touch-sensitive 'X-fade' crossfader, whose tiny white lights follow the movement of your finger - this looks awesome, and was the first thing I showed off to people whom I wanted to impress.

Retailing at around £400, Pacemakers hardly come at pocket money prices, but then Tonium isn't pushing their gadget as just an MP3-player-with-extras - the Pacemaker is a gadget of a different breed altogether.

The Pacemaker (official site)

The Pacemaker in action on YouTube

Continuing the venerable Tech & Gadgets tradition of a Friday link roundup, I present the following for your consideration, oh blog reader:

Free Rice - no, not for you, for the UN World Food Program. It's a bit of a worthy one but it's an addictive word game all the same.

Yahtzee gives Devil May Cry 4 a bit of a thrashing in Zero Punctuation, in case you haven't already see it.

Vectorpark is more of an experience than a game. It's enigmatic, it's engrossing - check it out.

Plus the best of this week's T&G:

Who's up for a free gadget?!

Okay, so it's not a PSP or an iPhone but hey, it is free: Ariel are offering free 3 minute shower timers while stocks last.

Apparently, the average shower uses 9 litres of water per minute - so cutting down on those half-hour showers could save some serious H2O.

Frankly, I'm not sure I can manage a shower in a mere 3 minutes. It takes me that long to get the right temperature. But I've sent off for my timer nonetheless, so I'll be seeing if I can beat the clock...

Secondly, glad to see people are pitching in over on the message boards, discussing Patrick Goss's first gaming column: How Half-Life changed gaming. Special credit goes to tjennings who tickled me with his three sentence Halo summary:

"Nasty aliens want to kill humans. They unleash even nastier aliens and try to destroy the universe with rings in the sky. Master Chief saves the day."

It puts me in mind of The Ten Word Review, in which people sum up movies in (duh) ten words. Thusly I am kicking off Tech & Gadgets' Three Sentence Game Review.

If you feel like defending Master Chief's honour, go hit the message boards. I feel a Halo v Half-Life brawl coming on.

(Thanks to Mr. Jason Christie for the free gadget tip-off!)

Good news for any gamers out there who aren't yet in possession of an Xbox but quite fancied getting their hands on one: TechRadar reported today that the price of the Xbox 360 is set to come down across Europe.

Also, I'd like to drop a quick credit to Michel, who left a comment on our 'Greatest talking computers' message board that reminded me of an old favourite Asimov short story: The Last Question. Have a read if you're not already familiar.

Laters,

Jane

Today has been Tech & Gadgets' first day (ever!) without Patrick Goss, channel founder, editor and gadget master extraordinaire.

Lucky for you people that Mr. Goss has taught me everything he knows. I have been as Luke Skywalker to his Yoda and am now fully learned in the ways of the force - that is to say, the ways of the Tech & Gadgets channel.

Even luckier for us all is that Patrick will be staying with us not just in spirit but also as our elite gaming columnist. Look out for his first column tomorrow!

It has been a fun first day behind the wheel of T&G but the time has come for me to don my iPod and head home. I would like to leave you all with a quick webcomic: xkcd's Anti-Mindvirus

For those of you who have come so far in life without hearing of The Game, the meaning of the comic will elude you without further reading. For those of you who do know The Game: you, like me, are now free!

(Also, I am waiting on a proper byline photo to tag my blog posts with, hence the cartoon rendering of yours truly above. If the prospect of a tiny photograph of a channel editor you've only just heard of doesn't keep you on the edge of your seats, frankly, I don't know what will.)

Your humble new Tech & Gadgets editor,

Jane