The N750 DB is the latest Wireless Dual-Band N+ Router from the company that dominates the networking marketplace; Belkin

The N750 has the ability to pump out Wireless data at speeds of up to 900 mbps, making it perfect for online gaming, home-theatre HD video streaming and super speedy file transfer between your computers.

The full specifications for the N750 DB can be found below:

The N750 looks like something from the future, for a wireless router it is great to look at and will complement whatever it sits on! Finished on the outside with a finger print prone glossy black and not shaped like any other conventional router, it makes the N750 stand out from the crowd; the only downside is the flimsy plastic base which makes it very easy to topple over because of its vertical stature, especially when you are using lots of the Ethernet ports.

With a wireless router though, the thing you want most of all is functionality. One of the best things about the N750 are the dual USB ports on the rear of the router, this means you can plug your USB or extern hard drives into the rear of the router and allow anyone on your network to instantly access the data on the drives! Coupled with the 900 mbps speed, it is a great way to share your music, movie or photo collection with your whole house / network.

Setting up and using the N750 DB could not be easier, once you have plugged everything properly your wireless network will be up and securely running straight away, unlike other router which require you to manually create the wireless network. The N750 DB’s wireless SSID, password and other credentials are printed on a sticker attached to the side of the device, so you can quickly and easily connect without lots of initial setting up. We recommend however that you do change your SSID and password since the ones provided with the device are just random character / number strings which are pretty hard to remember.

To change the settings of the device, you need to log onto the router via your internet browser by tying “192.168.2.1” into the URL bar. Alternately Belkin software is provided on the disk included to guide you though some features and areas of the router you may wish to change in a step by step format. Users who know what they are doing and know what they are trying to achieve will be better of logging onto the router via an internet browser.

Other features the N750 boasts are Self-Healing, Video Mover, Print Zone and Memory Safe.

Self Healing: Belkin routers automatically detect and resolve network problems and run routine maintenance scans to give you the clearest wireless channel. If attention is required, a notification will appear right on your screen—no more blinking lights under your desk.

Video Mover: Watch videos from your movie library on your TV—wirelessly. Connect an external hard drive to the router and move stored videos to your TV through devices like a Blu-ray™ player, Xbox 360®, and PlayStation® 3.

Print Zone: Printing has never been easier. Just connect any compatible printer to your Belkin router, and print from any computer in the house—wirelessly.

Memory Safe ^TM: Digital files are time-consuming to keep track of and vulnerable to loss. Now you can automatically back up precious photos and important files to an external hard drive attached to the router—you choose what to back up and how often.

The most interesting of the four above is the Self Healing which is unique to the N750, the official website has touted it up to make is sound greater than it is though, basically the router will restart automatically in the early hours of the mornings to make sure everything is always running smooth, a simple feature yet makes the whole router so much easier to work with.

One thing to note, if you are going to plug a USB or hard drive into the back of the router, make sure you trust everyone on your network as anyone connected to the router will have full control to read and write to the device.

Overall the N750 is a great router to be used at home, if you are going to use all the extra features that the N750 has available such as the wireless printing and wireless file transfer then it will work great for you. Although if you feel you won’t be making good use of the 5GHz band or the extra features then opt for a cheaper router of a similar or greater speed.

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With the huge success that is “Angry Birds” it is clear that physic based games are fantastic to play and complement mobile gaming wonderfully. iBlast Moki is a physic based game which is like no other. Ithas a type of gameplay which we have never seen before in which you have to plan and time all your actions to progress.

The graphics of  iBlast Moki are simple but good to look at, the levels are challenging and best of all it is great fun- so lets take a deeper look at this  game.

The basic idea of the game is to get your Moki’s (spherical characters with faces) into the level exit portal.  At the first stages of the game you are required to plant bombs in order to blast the Moki’s so that they will reach the portal. At the beginning of the game You set up your bombs and the exact time when they are set to explode and then hit the Blast / Play button which begins all the events and the game. As the game progresses you’ll have to use more bombs to blast more Moki’s into the portal and as the game gets more difficult, you have to precisely time the bombs so they explode at the exact second you require them to.

You rewind or restart the level at any point and tweak your bomb placement and timings as usually it will take a little trial and error till you get everything working perfectly so that  your Moki’s can be blasted in the portal.

Most levels have an optimum solution.  Towards reaching the optimum solution the Moki’s must collect flowers in the air, as these are good hints about how to complete the level. Collect all the flowers on the level and you’ll have completed it the optimum way and gain extra points.

Once you’ve mastered multiple bombs and timing you’ll be really thrown into the deep end. The game adds in new items such as balloons, ropes, iron bars, wheels and screws, all of which you will have to use in order to get your Moki’s into the portal!  As with all the previous levels, you only have a certain number of all items at your disposal to work with.

• Balloons can be attached to other items or Moki’s and it will float them upwards.
• Iron bars can be used with balloons to push something upwards or with ropes to create bridges.
• Wheels can be attached to other items to make carts to carry Moki’s or cars to crash through bigger items.

It may seem quite overwhelming reading about all you are going to have to deal with but each item is introduced individually so you have time to learn how they work and use them to their full advantage.

Did I mention there are also levels which are underwater so the behaviour of objects is completely different? iBlast Moki is guaranteed to keep you busy for hour on end, reaching the end of the game will take a huge amount of time and effort as some of the levels are so challenging.

The problem with the game, although usually fun, is when you encounter a level you really struggle with as there are literally so many different ways to approach a level, especially at the later stages that you could sink hours into a single level trying to figure it out. Depending on how patient you are, once you are seriously stuck on a super hard level, the game doesn’t remain fun and just becomes frustrating which is usually when you stop playing the game all together! Either that or it’s time to find some tutorials online on how to complete it.

Overall iBlast Moki is great fun, it is a game which is like no other out there today so you definitely have to try it to see if you like it before dismissing it all together. Although occasionally difficult levels can put you off, powering on through is usually the best solution and you’ll feel great afterwards and have a great sense of accomplishment! If you have played Angry Birds to death then iBlast Moki is the more challenging and new physics game to try. iBlask Moki costs $2.99 and is available from the Windows Phone Marketplace.

Assassins Creed is a game like no other from game developers Ubisoft. The world of Assassins Creed is completely unique and has no rivals in its class. The visuals are absolutely stunning and the game play is one of the best I’ve ever seen.

What’s different about Assassins Creed is why you are totally immersed in the game world. The outside world of the game is set some point in the future where a scientist has found out that humans’ DNA carriy memories as well as other genetic information. The scientist has built a machine which can access a person’s genetic memories and re-live them. He wants to gain access to a memory at a certain point but you cannot access it before re-living the events up to that point or else the subject’s body will reject it. You play as the subject whose memories are being accessed and are reliving your ancestors past.

As the game progresses you find out why this technology is being used and such but I won’t spoil any of that for you. If you think of the memories a bit like “The Matrix” then it might make more sense as it’s essentially the same idea as that but in a completely different environment.

The game is set in the Holy Land in the Middle East during the 12^th century where you’ll visit 3 historic cities: Damascus, Jerusalem and Acre. Each city is unique and differs greatly in terms of the buildings and inhabitants. The game really does well to portray the Middle Eastern theme, you feel like you are connected with the ordinary town folk who you are protecting and consequently feel hatred towards your assassination targets and the guards.

What Assassins Creed does with its game environment is they make it feel alive, the city isn’t just full of static buildings and the odd person wandering around aimlessly from time to time, it is full of life and atmosphere. There will be literally hundreds of different characters walking around the cities doing their own business from normal town folk, to beggars, drunks, informants, merchants and of course, guards.

Characters like beggars will come up to you and ask you for money as you carry out your tasks around the cities and the drunks will happily start fighting you for absolutely no reason! Just like parts of London on a Saturday night!

What Assassins Creed is and always has been highly praised for is its freedom and ability to have your character to mount and climb literally anything that he can grab onto. You make your way around the cities by climbing the buildings and towers like an extreme parkour. You have to find different ways to access higher ground and innovative ways to get around obstacles and such which has never been seen before in a game. So much for mobility.

The combat in the game is definitely one that you will remember. It requires skill and concentration and at times can be tricky to master but at the same time it’s not too hard for it to be unenjoyable, yet not too easy to be boring. It really is spot-on, but what makes it totally brilliant are the finishing moves and cinematics that occur during combat. Thismakes it much more engaging and give it a “wow” pazazz factor.

The story inside the game world is equally as engaging as the rest of it; you begin as a respected Assassin called Altair who breaks the creed’s rules and gets demoted back to the lowest rank possible.  In the game you try to progress from the bottom all the way back to the top.

As well as the main story of the game there are literally hundreds of extra, bonus missions to complete to keep you occupied with the game for hours of extra fun. Extra missions include killing all Templar enemies in the game, collecting flags dotted around the landscape and synchronising with the world at the top of special viewpoints.

Overall Assassins Creed is a fantastic game-one of a kind. Everyone should experience and play this game at least once. The environment and gameplay of the game is one that will keep you coming back for more. The superb combat, stunning visuals, freedom and ability to mantle (is this the right word? Check it in the dictionary- I’ve not come across it before) and climb anything are what this game is all about and it does it perfectly. The game is available on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

The Portal series by Valve is a game literally like no other, it is so unique and mind-bending, it just all fits together perfectly. The original Portal game was released as a sort of “Mini-Game” as part of valves hugely successful Orange Box series which included many of their brilliant titles. The original was a shock to everyone thanks to its fantastic graphics and gameplay. Due to the huge success of the small campaign,  a full Portal game was developed called “Portal 2”. However, will it be able to maintain to the high standard and emulate the brilliant  campaign we saw in the first one?

Portal 2 takes place almost directly after the events of the first game( which I won’t go into detail about as to not spoil it for those who haven’t played it yet). In the Aperature labs they are developing all sorts of wacky and awesome technology, and most important of them all is , the portal gun. You play the same character as apopears in the first game too. That’s a thumbs up for continuity.

The portal gun allows you to shoot two portals, a blue one and an orange one which are connected together. Through the use of this awesome device you are able to solve the challenges you face ahead of you to reach your objectives. Both portals act in the same way, you can enter or exit either one.

In the first Portal game, the campaign was captivating, engrossing and awesome, it had so much to offer and was so much fun but at the same time was a little creepy. Both the old and new games include the head computer at Aperature called GLaDOS who has taken control of the facility.

The majority of the game revolves around a small, spherical droid named “Wheatley” who is voiced by the brilliant Stephen Merchant who most famously played the role of Darren in Rickey Gervais’s “Extras”, and also who appeared in one or two episodes in “The Office”. The Wheatley character is arguably what makes this game so great, he adds comedy and heart to the game with his witty remarks and is a welcome and  unconventional partner in a video game.

Visually, Portal 2 is even more stunning than the original as the factory has fallen into disrepair and foliage is growing all around the facility. The surroundings and environment  in the game just work really well together and the destruction you see looks so believable. There are moments in the game where you will likely gasp at the beauty of what Valve has created, it complements the compelling story vividly. You really are drawn in to the proceedings.

Like the original the main idea of the game is to complete challenges to get you from section to section of where you need to go. The different levels or rooms vary in size dramatically and always offer a different puzzle that you need to solve.

The puzzles themselves are extremely well thought out and will require some mental power and time to work out the more complicated ones. I  have spent huge amounts of time working out how to get past certain levels as they are so intricate and difficult yet seem so simple and obvious once you complete them, That’s a sign of good depth in game design and scenario production. Most importantly,  the problem solving never seems to be a chore… it is fun all the time!

Breathing fresh air into Portal 2 is the vast array of new items which the player has at their disposal to complete challenges. In the original you had to deal mainly with placing cubes onto buttons and occasionally directing energy spheres into the correct sockets. In Portal 2 however we now have the following for us to use:

• Blue Light Bridges: You can use these to create a path to areas across the map or block certain objects.
• Aerial Faith Plates: When you stand on it, you’ll be flung like catapult!
• Orange Propulsion Gel: Running on this gel will cause you to gain a huge amount of speed!
• Blue puddles of Repulsion Gel: Think of the blue gel like a trampoline, the higher you jump on it from, the higher you will go! (Sounds like a good name for a Punk Band: Blue Puddles of Revulsion Gel!)
• White Gel: This can be used to make any non-portal surface able to have portals placed on them!
•  Excursion funnels are blue tubes of anti-gravity: These funnels allow you to force yourself or objects along the path of the funnels gravity which you can re-direct using your portal gun.

Don’t worry if this all seems a little daunting though, Portal 2 does an excellent job of introducing you to each of these new items slowly with puzzles of increasing difficulty, rather than throwing you right into the deep end. Even if you have not played the first game you’ll still be taught from the beginning how the Portal gun and other items from the first game work.

In conclusion Portal 2 is a brilliant game, it has so much to offer. Its game play is unique like no other, the story is truly epic. Whether you’ve played the first one or not, you need to try this game! You get drawn into this game so much as it is so captivating, this is a game that will go down in video game history as one of the best and most innovative.  Now if you’ll excuse me I have to get back to try that next scenario again!!

There is an old expression “The worst things happen at sea”. This trailer for the Summer blockbuster movie, Battleship, proves it! The tag line is “The Battle for Earth Begins at Sea” and boy, it sure does!

Battleship is an epic action-adventure that unfolds at first across the seas, then in the skies and over land, as Earth fights for its survival against what clearly appears to be a superior force. It stars Taylor Kitsch as Lt. Alex Hopper, a naval officer assigned to the USS John Paul Jones; but in her first major acting role there’s Rihanna as Petty Officer Raikes, Hopper’s crewmate and a weapons specialist on the battleship.

The big name star is Liam Neeson as Hopper and Stone’s superior, Admiral Shane. Mr Neeson always brings gravitas to a role, and is likely to be the anchor-stone of Earth’s water-based alien deterrent. And presumably Rihanna doesn’t sing for her supper, and judging from the picture, is going to be one hell of a kick-ass heroine!

The video takes us through the main parts of the film, from discovery of something fishy in the water, to the big battle showdown for the human race at the end.

The film was made by the producers of Transformers, and that shows in the alien technology- you can’t see any joins in the CGI, and in HD the big baddies, and their weapons, look awesome. Until you see the film you won’t be able to judge whether the futuristic machines will outplay the actors, which is always a danger in big budget blast-em-up movies.

It could be said that this is a sort of “AquaTransformers”, as a lot of the key action takes place at sea. But given that two-thirds of Earth’s surface is water, and that there’s many deep water chasms that are unexplored, it makes sense to me to have an alien threat emerge from the sea.

The thing that is curious is that the film is said to be based on the infamous Hasbro classic naval game.

I still have my copy somewhere but I remember it as a two-player face off of equal strength fleets, whereas the film appears to be the entire planet versus aliens, so the connection might be a little tenuous. But who cares? This is going to be a jaw-dropping epic action movie. I guess my money is on the human race surviving at the end – but who knows?!

Watch the Battleship trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpoabtbEJOI

Overclocking, simply stated, is the process of increasing the processing speed of a computer component beyond its factory value it was designed for. Clock speed is defined as “The operating speed of a computer or its microprocessor, defined as the rate at which it performs internal operations and expressed in cycles per second (Hertz). E.g. A computer processor running at 2 Gigahertz will carry out 2 billion instructions per second. Overclocking is commonly undertaken by technology enthusiasts who want to squeeze as much power out of their components as possible as an increase in clock speed will make your computer carry out tasks faster.

Basic Overclocking is a cheap way to increase performance without hardware upgrades. It is not without its risks though; Overclocking (if done incorrectly) can lead to long term damage or unreliable performance increases.

The most common components that Overclocking takes place on are the Central Processing Unit (CPU), Graphics Cards and Memory since these components yield the best performance increases when overclocked. We’ll be focusing here on the CPU  since this is the most commonly overclocked component and a good starting point. Overclocking the CPU can make your whole system faster, boot faster, increase loading times in applications and games will be increased and frame rates can also be increased.

Before you decide to overclock you’ll need to check a few things:

• First you need to be sure that your motherboard will allow you to change settings which will allow you to overclock. Manufactures like Dell and Hp block users from tweaking these settings.
• Check your CPU temperatures at idle and when being stressed (ie undertaking a number of tasks that will tax the PC to its limit). Use a downloaded free tool such as cpu thermometer. Overclocking will increase your CPU temperature so if it is already running high then it would be dangerous to proceed. Under stress it’s not wise to exceed around 80 ^oC
• Download a program to test the stability of your CPU once overclocked. I recommend Orthos.
• Most warranties do not cover damage caused by Overclocking. You’re on your own if you muck up!
• Most of all you need to be a bit tech savvy and know the fundamentals of a computer system, Overclocking is an advanced technique and should not be attempted by everyone!

The CPU Clock speed is usually determined by the CPU Multiplier and the CPU FSB (Front Side Bus). The CPU Multiplier is the ratio between your CPU and the FSB on your motherboard. The FSB connects the CPU and the memory or RAM and other components on the motherboard.  Increasing the FSB will increase the speed of your whole system as well as the CPU. Increasing the CPU multiplier will increase the CPU speed but it is harder to fine tune clock speeds with the multiplier since they have to be whole numbers. The principles of Overclocking go down the very technical fundamentals of how a computer system works this is why you shouldn’t undertake extreme Overclocking until you really understand what you are doing.

To demonstrate the benefits of Overclocking I have put together two benchmark scores. One before and one after Overclocking. The processor used is a “TripleCore AMD Phenom II X3 Black Edition 720, 2800 MHz (14 x 200)” It is currently running at 2.8 Ghz, has a multiplier value of 14 and the system FSB is 200. (14 x 200 = 2800) Below are a table of my results and a graph to show the improvement that has been achieved. I used a benchmark tool to test the CPU speed called “CPU Free Benchmark 2.2” Follow what I have done below as a guide only, do not copy it exactly since every CPU is different in its own ways. I accept no responsibility for any damage you may cause to your hardware.

1) I started with my control, the stock CPU speed (test no 1) the average time was about 48 seconds to complete the benchmark tests. So once I had that I could start the Overclocking. Always proceed in small steps, I decided to jump from 2.8 to 3.0 Ghz, an increase of 0.2 Ghz as this is a pretty small Overclock.

2) I conducted the tests at 3.0 Ghz twice, first time increasing the FSB to 231 and decreasing the multiplier to 13. This instantly showed improvements to the test score and no signs of system instability occurred. I then changed the multiplier back to 14 and the FSB to 215. The speed was roughly the same so I know the FSB is not bottlenecking the speed yet. I then proceeded to increase the speed further.

3) In order to demonstrate how the variation between the multiplier and the FSB work I have conducted multiple tests at 3.2 Ghz. Tests 4 & 5 & 6 were extremely similar because they had fairly low multipliers and increased FSB. Test 7 shows the bottlenecking effect come into show that is created between the CPU speed and the FSB. The multiplier was set high and the FSB left as standard but as you can see, even though the clock speed was the same throughout the 3.2 Ghz tests, the time is increased on test 7. This is why you need to get a good balance between CPU speed and FSB and later the CPU voltage.

4) Again with another 0.2 Ghz increase, the clock speed was set to 3.4 Ghz. When you start getting to higher clock speeds you will eventually need to increase the voltage to the CPU to deal with it. It will become apparent when the PC stars behaving erratically or not booting properly. The two 3.4 Ghz tests show two different voltages and how the voltage change does little to the speed of the benchmarks when it is not needed.

5) It was when the 3.6 Ghz mark was hit that problems started to arise. As you can see from test numbers 12 to 15, the PC would not boot at all . The clock speed had been set to high and the voltage needed to be increased in order to cope. Through trial and error, 1.4 volts was the magic number and boosted the speed to a whopping 3.6 Ghz, a 0.8 Ghz increase on the stock speed and cut over 10 seconds off the benchmark times. You have to be really careful when setting the voltage on your CPU or any components since upping it too much will completely kill the component, likely costing you hundreds to replace.

6) An important factor to note also is the increase in temperature once the CPU has been Overclocked. Consistently throughout the tests with more speed comes more heat, especially once the voltage has been increased. After Overclocking check your temperatures all the time and stress the computer for long periods to ensure that it will be stable. I could have gone further as I know some have reached up to 4 GHz on the same processor but I am happy with this result. Pushing it any further will start to increase temperatures much more dramatically and upping the voltage further is risky. But overall a 0.8 GHz increase is really good! You have to not get carried away with it otherwise it will go bad unless you start using special cooling equipment.

In order to start Overclocking your system you need to enter your BIOS. Check how to enter your BIOS screen but it is usually pressing the Delete key during boot up. You’ll be faced with many options and every motherboard is different. Look under advanced settings or anywhere until you find something to do with CPU settings or “Jumper Free settings” as these are the most common places to find the tools to Overclock. If it is supported it will usually describe all the options in your motherboard manual. Once you have found the right page you can start tweaking the settings until you find ones that work for you!

It is a good idea to research your processor online before Overclocking because it is likely that others will have Overclocked it and posted their results so you can use their results to get an estimate of what you are likely to reach depending on your cooling techniques. There are special Overclocking competitions held around the world where teams attempt to get the highest speeds and scores they can. They go to the extent of using liquid nitrogen to cool their processors so it really can get extreme! Speeds of up to and above 5Ghz are achieved in these kinds of competitions.

This is only a basic guide to Overclocking though, to really get the highest speeds etc you’ll need to properly understand the fundamentals of how a computer system works together. Basic Overclocking is good for anyone interested in computers that already know the basics of computers. Just remember to take things slow and if you are unsure about settings in your BIOS don’t change them since it could cause all kinds of problems. Research your processor and motherboard BIOS before carrying out anything. I wouldn’t recommend any beginners change any voltage settings since it likely won’t be needed for small Overclocks and is dangerous if you get it wrong! If you feel your PC is lacking power and want an extra little boost then definitely give it a go!

The Logitech G11 Keyboard is one that differs from the  standard one that you probably use at home, due to its unique design and useful features.  At its heart it is still a standard QWERTY keyboard and will still function as one so you don’t need to worry there! Its pièce de résistance though is its 54 programmable buttons which are located on the right side of the keyboard.

Other features include the ability to disable the windows key button (something that will only be useful to people that play games on their PC) and the media playback controls at the top of the keyboard with its spiral volume control. Oh, did I mention it also glows in the dark?

Even with all these extra features you’ll be happy to know you still only have to plug one USB cable into your PC and install the software to manipulate the programmable buttons.

The programmable keys:

The programmable buttons will come in handy for just about anyone. You can either assign a macro or a text string to each key. For example gamers will be able to assign the special keys to special buttons in game; it will be a real benefit for games such as World of Warcraft because lots of keys need to be pressed during the game. However games such as Call of Duty will not benefit from the extra keys so it depends what kind of games you play.

Even if you don’t play any video games the feature still comes in very handy for other reasons, for example the ability to assign a text string to one of the keys. I use the buttons on a daily basis because I have my email addresses assigned to the keys so whenever I need to send someone my email address or enter it on a website I can do it at the click of a button. You can even go to the extent of assigning the keys your common username logins and maybe even passwords but this is not recommended for obvious security reasons. Macros also are a great help so you can bind commands which would ordinarily take more than one button click into one button. Such as copy (Ctrl + C) and paste (Ctrl + V), these can be assigned to the buttons, even save (Ctrl + S). These are all commonly used commands and assigning them to a key will make everything much easier.

There are 18 dedicated buttons on the keyboard for programmable keys which can be assigned commands or text. There are then 3 different set modes to choose from, so potentially you can have 54 different and separate commands assigned to the keyboard. The average user won’t make use of majority of these but it’s nice to know you have enough space if you need it.

The included software to create macros, text strings and assign them to the keys is very easy to use as it shows a picture of the keyboard so you can choose which buttons do what. So there will be no problem in setting up the keyboard.

Playback Controls:

Like listening to music? The dedicated playback buttons allow you to Pause, Play, Stop and skip your music. The nice thing about having a dedicated button is this means you can easily switch or pause your music without switching applications on your computer. You can even switch music while in a full screen application or game, it just makes everything much easier and saves you time! The disc pad which you turn to adjust the volume is also nice, it has a better feel than the standard two buttons some may be used to.

Overall the G11 is a fantastic keyboard if you are going to make use of the features that it includes. The illuminated keys really help when you’re in a dark room and the programmable keys definitely come in handy! Other than these features and the useful playback controls it’s a standard keyboard, and functions as such. If you could use the extra features the keyboard offers then definitely buy it since it really will help, if not then there is little point, unless you just like the cool glow from the keys!

The Bourne Legacy

The Bourne Legacy- but no Jason Bourne? Get over it! You may be forgiven for thinking that the Bourne series (Identity, Supremacy, and Ultimatum) had run its course, but such is its popularity that it is returning soon, as the Bourne Legacy.

The Bourne Legacy expands the Bourne universe created in the Robert Ludlum novels with a new story that introduces us to a new hero (played by Jeremy Renner). However, as you might expect, the plot thickens, and the events draw deeply on the previous trilogy.

This intriguing trailer opens with a little dialogue over some brooding music, and pictures of a recently scarred face…

“There’s nothing you wouldn’t do for this country…”

“Will you give yourself to this programme?”

“You have the strength that’s necessary…”

“Welcome to the programme…”

This is followed by some sequences that certainly don’t give anything in the story away, but show that it is undoubtedly an action movie!

For The Bourne Legacy, Renner joins fellow series newcomers Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Stacy Keach and Oscar Isaac, while franchise veterans Albert Finney, Joan Allen, David Strathairn and Scott Glenn reprise their roles. Renner was the charismatic lead in the Hurt Locker, the critically acclaimed 2008 war film by Kathryn Bigelow about 2008 about a three-man bomb disposal team during the Iraq War.

The story sets off after the conclusion of The Bourne Ultimatum with Tony Gilroy as the director, screenwriter of the first three films. Matt Damon, star of the first three films, did not return for this film but has not ruled out starring in any future films as long as Paul Greengrass, who directed the last two films, returns. Interestingly, before this movie was seriously considered, Paul Greengrass jokingly suggested that to make a fourth Bourne movie it should be called “The Bourne Redundancy”!

The film will not be a reboot or prequel in any way, but more likely a “sidequel” or full spin-off with a new character in the mould of Bourne dealing with the ramifications of the Treadstone conspiracy. Hence the “There was never just one” tag. That’s a risk, but it may be that if successful, excuse the pun, a new star will be bourne!

Comments on the trailer are inevitably about Jason Bourne/Matt Damon not appearing in this fourth instalment, but there’s a lot of support for Renner, and the apparently continuing Bourne formula of deals, counter-deals, amnesia, conspiracy and betrayal. These would seem to be all present and correct, along with the required excitement and action.

“The Bourne Legacy” is scheduled to be released in August.

See the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDrSA1gTuKc

Nearly four minutes of gritty, high octane, visceral action are unleashed in this video trailer for Sleeping Dogs™, a martial arts/maximum machismo cop drama set in the vibrant city of Hong Kong.

As the blades and the bullets fly, you would be forgiven for thinking this is a trailer for a new Andy Lau Infernal Affairs film: It seems to have the same tension, quality acting and action, not to mention the claustrophobic yet cinematic location of Hong Kong. But do a double-take- this is a game not a film!!

Developed by United Front Games in collaboration with Square Enix studios, London, Sleeping Dogs will be available in the second half of this year for the PlayStation3, Xbox 360, and Windows PC.

You want the plot? Under cover HK cop Wei Shen, is tasked with taking down one of the world’s most fearsome criminal organisations from the inside… the Hong Kong Triads. Not much at all then…

The advert says: “As players explore the bustling and crowded Hong Kong island, through its neon-lit side streets and sprawling street markets, an incredible story unfolds of loyalty and betrayal, where Wei begins to question his own motives as he is sucked in deeper than he could ever imagine.”

While the video concentrates on what you would see on the screen, and that is brutal and beautiful at the same time, one wonders how the game will play in reality. It says it has openworld gameplay, and a myriad of manoeuvres to take your opponents down.

The locations include seedy street corners, menacing market-stalls, low-down docks and sky-high skyscrapers. These become the scenes for intense shoot-outs, street races, martial arts combat, and use of some particularly nasty weapons, such as meat cleavers, kitchen knives, pans of boiling oil, and circular saws. Not for the faint-hearted, and that is why this video has an 18 certificate.

So returning to the video, it’s clear from this that the game promises adrenaline-fuelled action all the way. But it may put you off cooking a stir-fry or going into the kitchen to see how good the hygiene is in a Chinese Restaurant! You have been warned!

Here is the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHIRceS-blA&list=UUJH6bCVMtGzPAhD2QfrOyXA

“Hey! I’m sure I paid for that cocktail!”

World of Warcraft is the biggest and most popular MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) in the world. Topping nearly 11 million subscribers worldwide, all paying a monthly subscription, the World of Warcraft franchise is absolutely massive.

The basic idea behind World of Warcraft is to create a player/character and increase their level to the top level which currently is capped at 85. Along your journey you’ll explore the massive world, partake in a wide array of different quests and story lines and fight great monsters. As you become more and more powerful , you learn new abilities and gain new equipment too.

The game is divided into two factions, the Horde and the Alliance. Both have access to the same types of playing classes but differ in terms of what character types they can play within those classes.

Throughout the game you’ll meet other, real, players who can help you with those quests that require multiple players to complete. You’ll partake in Battleground fights where the Horde and the Alliance fight each other in various locations or you’ll join up with a party and complete one of the hundreds of dungeons that feature in World of Warcraft.

The game is set in the world of Azeroth, populated by almost anything your imagination can think of! The game features characters and parts from fantasy and science fiction, so you can expect to find such monsters as trolls, serpents, dragons, steam-powered enemies, goblins as well as spaceships, time travel and even alien worlds! World of Warcraft really does have it all. The environments and maps that the characters popular are equally as impressive, they can vary so much from being a nice green hilly area to a gorge full of rock shaped needles and much more.

For those who get into World of Warcraft, it can become incredibly addictive since it’s a game which you can never totally complete, there is always something to keep you playing..

Unfortunately World of Warcraft is a game where first time players are dropped right into the deep end, no matter how much you may have played other MMORPG’s. The game has so much content in it and so many things you can do that it is just overwhelming for a new player which deters some people at first.

In order to learn how to play the game and properly understand it you’ll need the help of an already experienced friend who can help and guide you through the first ten levels or so. Around level 10 you should have a basic understand of the game, its features and what you can do.

Personally I still play it now and again and even being nearly level 70 there are still aspects of the game I have never taken part in or even understand as there is no published guide line to the whole game. Nor is there likely to ever be- it’s  just far too big! Not knowing parts of the game doesn’t ruin it at all though; the great thing about the game is you can do whatever you want in it. You can level out your character how you want, make money how you want and much more.

So what is the catch for a game that offers such a massive world of content? £9 a month. You can purchase a subscription 3 months, 6 months or 12 months at a time but you’ll have to remain subscribed in order to keep playing though.

For some this is going to seem like quite a lot of money as it’ll end up costing you more and the average game you usually play online. Last year, World of Warcraft had about 12 million subscribers to its game worldwide. Ass of today that number has dropped significantly down to around 10 million. Losing 2 million subscribers is a huge loss,  and many have put it down to the game’s constant playing that is required and (perhaps surprisingly), a lack of content! For some people there’s just never enough!

There are players out there who have reached the top level, purchased all 3 World of Warcraft expansion packs and have been left with nothing to do, a fourth expansion pack is set to be released sometime this year in an attempt to get the higher level players back online.

The game has also been desperately trying to recruit new players too, running TV adverts featuring the likes of Chuck Norris and Ozzy Osbourne (lead singer with recently re-formed Black Sabbath) all over the world offering new comers the ability to play the game up to level 20 absolutely free. If you make use of the free trial to its full potential, by the time you get to level 20, chances are you’ll be hooked and will sign up for the subscription. Crafty marketing technique that!

On the other hand, the way players are dropped into the deep end is still a big issue, the developers have tried to make the game more welcoming and understanding to new players, but it is still a daunting experience at first.  Unless players really stick with it and try hard to learn it they won’t be playing it for long.

At the end of the day, World of Warcraft is a fantastic game which everyone should try to see if they like it before passing judgement on it. Whether you want to start paying a subscription is up to you but you should visit www.trywarcraft.com and download the game to get a taste of what it’s all about. If it’s not for you then it hasn’t cost you anything, if it is then it’ll bring you days upon days of playtime. See you at level 85 some day!