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Thursday, 02 April 2009 |
Mafia II will be released on October 31, 2009 but screenshots from the Xbox 360 version of the game have begun to surface across the internet. Here’s your first look at the game!
The sequel to Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven will be set in Empire City (a fictional setting based on a mix of San Francisco and New York City) during the 1940s and 1950s. I’m assuming we can expect some old-school gangster action which I think is a nice change from all the “modern warfare” type games available today.
In the game, players will have a lot of freedom since there are no restrictions and it will feature a completely open-ended game map of 10 square miles. That’s huge! The controls seem pretty straight-forward as well. There were will be two action buttons (one for standard and the other for violent action) but I’m not sure what to expect from the checkpoint system.
Weaponry will range from what was available in the previous game (Thompson M1928, Colt 1911 and a pump action shotgun) but it will also include new WWII-era weapons such as the MP40, M3 Grease Gun and the MG42.
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Tuesday, 31 March 2009 |
Earlier this month we saw patent problems hounding both Microsoft and Apple, where the former had bigger problems after being ordered by the court to pay $388 million dollars.
Microsoft patent infringement is against Uniloc, who claims that they own the patent on how Microsoft is activating Windows XP, Office XP, and Windows Server 2003. Microsoft is looking to have a favorable result after their appeal.
Apple on the other hands is being sued by Elan Microelectronics after two years of licensing talks have failed. The Taiwanese company argues that Apple has violated two patents on their touchscreen technology found on iPod/iPhone, MacBook.
It is always interesting to see whenever a smaller guy goes after the goliath. In the case of Microsoft, David won the first round. Would Apple prevail over this one?
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Sunday, 29 March 2009 |
GM CEO Fritz Henderson announced last night that Pontiac will be shut down indefinitely. Executives say that the move is just the first in many drastic measures needed to help the company survive the recession.
Pontiac is scheduled to be shut down next year after inventories are eventually cleared. This news comes as a surprise to many analysts who know that Pontiac was GM’s third best selling make. Other GM subsidiaries like Saturn, Saab, and Hummer are also on the razors edge as they too may be downsized or closed completely. The reason why Pontiac was chosen for the axe was due to profitability concerns. Pontiac was not making GM a substantial enough profit.
21,000 jobs are expected to be cut in the coming months when the company closes its doors. Pontiac was introduced by GM in 1927 with the Pontiac Chief and has been a symbol of power ever since.
Okay let’s talk frankly about this. The reason why the automakers are in trouble is not because their cars aren’t selling, Pontiac is proof of that, it’s because of bad inefficient managerial structuring. If GM were to hand over Pontiac to a small car company who can manage the profits better, they would thrive. But let’s face it GM would rather shut them down than admit their inefficiency and sell them off. Perhaps they are afraid that Pontiac would be profitable for someone else and become a strong competition. Instead they’ll get cut and with no intent of bringing them back in the future. Sad.
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Thursday, 26 March 2009 |
One benefit of e-ink is the fact that shining a light on it is enough to make low-light reading possible. That’s a reality exploited by the Periscope Lighted Folio for Kindle 2, which is basically a folio (well, duh!) with space for a notepad, pens, a swiveling twin LED light, and of course, a Kindle 2. That’s all for $50.
The Periscope Lighted Folio also has space for 3 “AA” batteries, which—as claimed by maker Periscope—can power the LED light for 40 hours or more. Periscope also made sure to highlight its Folio’s magnetic lock feature, which allows the user to keep the folio folded onto itself, compacting the whole she-bang “to faciliate one-handed use”. Surely you can spend $50 more, after you’ve spent $360 on the Kindle 2 itself!
You can visit periscopelight.com for more info on where to buy.
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Monday, 23 March 2009 |
Reality show, I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here, is back for another season and NBC has announced the new cast. The featured “stars” include newlyweds, Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt (MTV’s “The Hills”), NBA star and commentator John Salley (”Best Damned Sports Show Period”), former supermodel and TV star heidi and spencer on I'm a Celebrity Janice Dickinson (”The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency”), actor Stephen Baldwin (”The Mole,” “Celebrity Apprentice”), former American Idol finalist, Sanjaya Malakar, and professional wrestler and beauty queen Torrie Wilson.
Disgraced former Illinois Governor, Rob Blagojevich, is trying to work out an arrangement that will allow him to participate in the show despite having travel restrictions in place due to the charges pending against him (the show is filming in Costa Rica).
I’m not ashamed to admit that I have watched and enjoyed this show before. It’s summertime and there isn’t much on TV anyway so I end up watching this as I relax at night. You know that Janice Dickinson is going to be completely nuts, Sanjaya is going to be prissy and Heidi and Spencer will do anything for a little publicity. I hope someone surprises me and shows just how tough they are despite their (somewhat) pampered lifestyles.
The two-hour premiere kicks off on June 1, 2009 and will run Monday through Thursdays until the finale on Wednesday, June 24 (8-9 p.m.). If you miss it during the week, MTV will be airing a marathon of the week’s episodes each Sunday, starting June 7, 2009.
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