The Zone

Just look at that smug smile on his face! Not to mention that the cameraman needs to learn up on his videography skills or that a Rube Goldberg device does not rely on speed, but rather, dramatics to make it more interesting. 1/5 from us, and thats just for effort!

Notebooks that you can actually game on? Asus says 'Why not?' and promptly came out with the Asus G1 and G2 notebooks. Now Asus has come up with a refresh of the G1 notebook series, the G1S, which comes with spanking new NVIDIA 8600M GT discrete graphics.

Starting prices? RM6988 for the 15.4" while the 17" model goes for a cool RM7988. Expensive? Terribly so. Highly desirable? Oh yes indeed. Click the jump for more wanton pics of the new G1S notebook in the flesh, along with Asus' Ultra Mobile U1F notebook and the oh-so-sexy Asus Lamborghini VX2.

With the upcoming E3 event, both Sony and Microsoft have undertaken some steps to sweeten their standings with gamers. On top of announcing US$1 billion for Xbox 360 repairs, Microsoft will be extending the warranty for Xbox 360 owners to a whopping 3 years.

Sony, on the other hand, is rumored to be slashing their prices for the 60GB PS3 by up to US$100 by next week, which would make it US$499. The price cut would allow their console price to be on par with the pricing of the Xbox 360 Elite. 

Nintendo? Well, they're still kicking back and counting their money, especially when the Wii is selling 6-to-1 to the PS3.

Microsoft plans over US$1 billion for Xbox Repairs

Rumor: Circuit City drops PS3 price by US$100 week of July 15th

Wii outselling PlayStation 3 'six to one' 

So you've got 23 level-70 WoW characters in your account. Big deal. Do you control 23 characters at one time? Now, that's a big deal.

Meet Xzin, probably one half of the the most hardcore dual-boxer/multi-boxer duo evar. This dude and his girlfriend controls 23 characters at a time - each - whenever they log on to WoW. Just take a look at their setup. It screams hardcore to the max. There's loads of hardware and it's all very neat as well, metholodically thought out before hand and arranged. I really dig those recliners the best. Note to self: Need to get one of those ASAP! 

So, just how do you really control 23 characters at a time? Honestly, I have no idea but you're interested, take a look at this guide to 5-boxing (controlling five characters at once) first. It's a good read on the hardware and apps that you'll need to get started. It's funny how that you don't really need that many monitors after all.  

First spotted at Kotaku & Dual-Boxing.com

For all of you folks out there who aren't lucky enough to have a computer running Vista, with a DirectX 10 (Shader Model 4) graphic card, and a copy of Company of Heroes updated to version 1.7, we present to you:

The differences between DirectX 9.0b / Shader Model 3 / HDR (High Dynamic Range), and DX10:

DX9...

...and this is:

DX10...see any differences? Here...let us help you narrow down the details... 

The topic to dominate most gaming blogs is undoubtedly the latest E3 2007 event. What used to be a carnival-like affair has been scaled down dramatically. While we're a bit disappointed of not being able to go, at least several online gaming sites have been doing a pretty good job in covering the event. Here are quick highlights of E3 2007 so far:

Nintendo

- WiiFit for health concious. I wouldn't mind picking this up once I get my Wii at the end of the year. However Nintendo says that it's unlikely it will be released for the American market this year, so that's kind of a disappointment.

- Super Mario Galaxy (November 12th) and Super Smash Bros (December 3rd) can't come soon enough. 

- Mario Kart Online is also gonna be neat but frankly speaking, that Wii Wheel just look like blah. Looks like one of those cheap third-party Wii peripherals you can find in some local game shop. Same goes for the Wii Zapper.

Sony

- The real Killzone 2 trailer actually looks pretty decent. While it doesn't top the E3 2006 trailer that got everyone so excited, it comes pretty close.

- The new redesigned PSP Slim is a letdown. Sure it may be slimmer and theoretically better on game loading time, but c'mon: it looks like the old PSP! It's like when they announce the new Sixaxis controller back last year. Total snoozefest.

- Cheaper PS3 by US$100. Yeah, everyone knows this already. So am I gonna buy one? Nope - it's still too expensive, and there aren't any games for it at the moment that I'm looking forward too. Assassin's Creed is coming out for the Xbox 360. The same goes for Silent Hill V. Tell me again why I want a PS3?

- Konami reassures Sony fanboys that MGS4 will still be for the PS3 but you never know with Time Exclusives...

Xbox 360

- Halo Edition Olive Green Xbox 360. Ho hum, pass the salt. One interesting note is that although it has a 20GB HDD, it will apparently also sport an HDMI port. Is a 20GB Xbox 360 with an HDMI port in the works?

- Halo 3, and Halo Wars. Interesting, but I'm not too big a fan of the Halo series. Maybe I'll see what the fuss is all about once I finish the first Halo game.

- Resident Evil 5, yes! Great to see the ubiquitous survival-horror game for the Xbox 360. HD Zombies, here I come! :D

Other stuff

- Crysis looks like sex with its graphics and physics engine but unless you have a pimp rig, it's going to be a long time since I'll actually get to play this game. Maybe I can start abusing our uber test reference system... :p

- Rock Band and Guitar Hero 3 will be my chosen music games of the year. Don't know if I'll ever pick up the new DDR game: home console dance mats still mostly suck. Although Rock Band for the Xbox 360 is a given for me, I'm undecided as to which GH3 version should I get. Xbox 360, PS2, or the Wii? If they're all the same, I might as well get the Xbox 360.  

- Burnout Paradise without real-time lighting and weather effects is a bit disappointing. Will this be the same for the Xbox 360? *sigh* Well, the previous Burnout games had pretty much only one type of weather, so I guess I'm not too bummed over this.

What's your most anticipated E3 2007 game news? 

This morning the media was invited to a special Media Machinimasia workshop organized by Intel and Machinimasia, where we were briefed on some tips on making our own short movies through captured footage from games and basic film-making techniques. It was kinda interesting, though I wished they had prepared the presentation earlier so we could have more time to play around with the game and movie-making application. 

The good news is that the workshop is also open to the general public but only for today (Friday) at 5 p.m. and tomorrow (Saturday) at 10 a.m. So if you have an interest in making your own short movie clip of your favorite video game, go check it out! It's totally free of charge, and you might pick up some useful tips in the meantime.

Venue:
Horus Surfer iCafé
No.4, Jalan SS 2/61,
47300, Petaling Jaya.

Time:
Fri, 13 Jul, 5pm to 7.30pm
Sat, 14 Jul, 10am to 12.30pm

How was the weekend? For us, it was a fun experience as the grand finals of the CELgames were held at Plaza Low Yat. It was an action-packed two days which saw old rivalries heat up and new friendships made, and it was one of the 'bestest' days in Malaysian gaming as more than a hundred gamers cheered to another wild ride.

What a better way to start off than a classic FIFA 07 France vs. Brazil match!

More pics and the results after the break! 

Just a friendly reminder that registration for the World Cyber Games 2007 Malaysia is now open and it's FREE! That's right! It will cost you zilch, nada, niet to sign up so join the world's largest cyber game tournament and you stand a chance to win big prizes! Places are limited so point your browser to Multiplay.Lowyat.net and register today!

Until the end of this month, Gamers Dotcom, the exclusive distributor of EA games in Malaysia, is running a special next-gen console games promo on their website, offering various upcoming EA titles at attractive prices.

Wii titles are starting at RM119, Xbox titles are going for RM130 and PS3 titles are going for RM150. Only one copy per customer though and you have to cough up a non-refundable deposit to secure your purchase. Although some of the titles won't be out in August or September, the promo price still stands if you've made your deposit.

We've got our eyes on Army of Two and NFS: Prostreet already.

Direct link at http://www.gamers.com.my/nextgen or visit www.tsb.com.my

HWM Malaysia was down at The Apartment, The Curve earlier this afternoon to check out BenQ's new range of Joybook notebooks inspired by Pop Art, the S41 and S32! Click the jump for more pics and impressions of the new BenQ Joybooks that sports the latest Intel Centrino Duo chipset.

Our friends at Gamer's Hideout recently got their hands on possibly the first Asian Xbox 360 Elite in Malaysia. We had the chance to molest the Elite ourselves and we (or rather I) must say that we would gladly give up FatCatLim or zerotau in exchange for one. (So which one of you guys are willing to sacrifice yourself for the cause eh?) 

If you've been living in a hole for the past year, get the full specs of the Elite here. The bottom line is black is the new white. Black is cool. No, black is sub zero cool. Black rocks!

If you're interested in getting one for yourself, Gamer's Hideout is expecting their stock of the Elite to arrive sometime in this two weeks. Price? They haven't got a lockdown on the price yet but expect it to be slightly more than SGD799 after conversion. It's a bit pricey we must say, but that's the price you have to pay if you want 120GB storage, HDMI connection and of course, to rock out in black!

More pictures of the contents of the Elite after the jump.

*Ugly dude with lovely Elite pix stolen from here. To see the full post, go here but you do have to register first.

We can probably think of a few juvenile captions to go with this screenshot but we'd rather let you do the honors instead to warm up your creative juices for the YouGamers Screenshot Caption contest; YouGamers, Futuremark's Gaming community website, is having a Screenshot Caption contest where the funniest caption will nab himself 4 PC or console games of his choice! 

To participate, just choose a screenshot from any article, review, or preview from YouGamers.com, join their forums, and simply PM the caption along with the URL to the image to the username YG_Competitions, with the subject "YouGamers Caption Competition". By the looks of it the competition is opened to all gamers worldwide so get cracking and start checking out their site! Your entry must be received by 31st August 2007 so you only have 2 more days to go! 

Read 

Google has lovingly bundled in a flight simulator easter egg with their new 4.02 version of the ever-loved Google Earth. We seriously didn't know about this until reports of an easter egg surfaced over the Merdeka weekend. Upon pressing Ctrl+Alt+A (not Ctrl+Alt+Del!!!), you'll unlock the flight simulator shortcut under the 'Tools' tab. Here are the shortcuts to the controls, and while they aren't the most realistic controls around, it is still daunting for people who love an automatic transmission, not to mention that the planes behave like they're on steroids as they are as jittery as hell to maneuver!!

This is what happened when we were looking for the Twin Towers - we crashed out in the Straits of Melacca instead!!

Game reviewers are bashing Lair for the PS3 for its poor implementation of the motion controls while gamers who bought the game thinks the critics are full of bull, accusing them of not going through the tutorial stages or playing past the 3rd level. There are even theories that the reviewers received an early buggy review build, or that they were paid out by Microsoft. It's a full-out counterattack by PS3 fanboys, one that they're not willing to let it fade away without some resistance.

Usually most people read game reviews for two main reasons: one, they want to know if the game is worth a rental or buying. The other reason is to reaffirm one's preconceived idea of the game. It's a bit like self-wankery - you think the game is a good or bad game but you aren't really sure until you hear it from an authoritive voice. "I thought the game was pretty good and Mr. Game Reviewer also said it was good. See? I wasn't wrong after all", or "He said the game was pretty bad and I thought it was sucky too. I'm glad to see we had the same opinion". A higher authority's opinion that agrees with one's opinion feels good because it feels like both you and the reviewer are on the same wavelength.

Sony's initial decision to remove the dual shock controls from the Sixaxis controller in favor for motion controls had been an unpopular one among its fanbase and it took quite awhile for them to finally grudgingly accept Sony's argument that it was more 'next-gen'. Sony fanboys had also weathered much ridicule from game critics and rival fanboys that the PS3 controller was copying the Nintendo Wiimote motion controls and that it was hastily implemented. So if a killer PS3 title could come out with good motion controls, then they would have been able to recover some of the pride lost during the E3 2006 Warhawk demo fiasco.

Since its conception, Lair had been touted as the system seller for the PS3 due to its primary use of the Sixaxis motion controls which no other PS3 title had done. But game reviewers were frustrated by the game's implementation of the motion controls and promptly panned the game. The low scores that the game received were like a giant backhand slap to the fanboys faces, standing against everything they stood for the beleagued console's efforts for its acceptance of motion controls in the Sixaxis controller.

Hence the fanboy backlash.

But fanboys can't have it both ways. They can't say "Both IGN and Gamespot say Warhawk is good so it's proof that the game is awesome!" but then turn around 180° the next day and cry "IGN and Gamespot reviewers don't know jack shit what they're talking about!" when Lair receives a poor score. Game reviews take a lot of time, dedication, and most importantly, discipline. Game reviewers don't needlessly bash a game unless for good reason. And with the majority of game reviewers and websites complaining about the motion controls, fanboys will need to look past Lair's pretty bloom effects and see why the game's controls aren't all what they make out to be.