Ace Combat 6 is not a must-have game. It's not a system seller, and it probably won't win game of the year. That said, this is a great game and easily the best flight sim/arcade games ever to appear on any console. Ace Combat 6 is the first game in the series to make the leap to a next-gen console, specifically the Xbox360. The results are simply stunning. The graphics are clean, detai...

Jumping around is fun. Not in real life I guess, but in video games there's nothing better than being given an entire city to run, jump, and generally mess around in. This was always the secret of the Grand Theft Auto series; it wasn't the violence, but the total freedom the game provided that kept people coming back. Assassin's Creed isn't as immersive or open as those games, ...

In video games, choice is often a lie. Perhaps it's a case of art imitating life too closely, but whatever the reason it's usually a good idea to do the right thing. Overlord tries to buck this trend by offering incentives to follow an evil path, but after playing a while you find just as many incentives to be good. At the end of the day, the choice to be good or evil isn't really a...

This is an awful, awful game; let's just get that out of the way right now. From the achievements, to the gameplay, to...well everything really, this game screams slapdash cash in. It's incredible, but the NES TMNT from 20 years ago is superior in almost every way. Sure the graphics are light years better (and the only redeeming part of the game), but that's it. I would take hours t...

Unless you work for a video game company, odds are you'll never get a chance to play an unfinished version of a game. If you've ever longed to (and I don't know why you would), Crackdown is your chance. Crackdown is yet another sandbox game, but it sets itself apart with a unique premise (a superhero cop assigned to save the city) and then squanders that potential. When you first st...

Apparently I fit in a small niche of laptop buyers. For one, I don't like widescreens; they're far too bulky and heavy to lug around. I also don't care to watch movies on my laptop; I have a very nice TV for that. What I want is a solid computer that with the size and durability to go everywhere with me. The laptop that fills those requirements is my IBM R51 Thinkpad. The R51 should...

Rock-solid, high-performance, cutting-edge; just a few of the words I'd use to describe my new IBM x60t Thinkpad. This is by far the best laptop I've ever owned in terms of build quality, specifications, and innovation. I can't recommend this PC highly enough. First the build. This computer only weighs about 4 pounds, but every piece of it is strong. I feel like I could push and pro...

Something's missing. I can't really put my finger on it, but this game just doesn't satisfy the way it should. I usually like games like Mass Effect; a sprawling RPG where you can literally wander the galaxy sounds like the kind of thing I could spend a few days playing without sleep, but it just didn't turn out that way. It's not the story that's the problem, I actually...

It's rare that I'll buy a game I can't play by myself. With the advent of Xbox Live that's getting less true, but Scene-It was meant to be played the old fashioned way: in a room full of people. For a game like that to be successful, it doesn't need the best graphics or sound, but it better be accessible and fun. Scene-It hits the mark on both accounts. The accessibility is ...

A lot has been said about this system, and it's clear from my rating that I fall on the side of those who love it. Rather than go through a general review that you've probably read a thousand times, I'd rather address some specific points. First: the reliability issue. Much has been made of the "Red Ring of Death," and the 360's tendency to fail. I've owned this sy...

Guitar Hero 3 was never a sure thing. With Activision taking over the franchise, it could have been a disaster. Fortunately that's not the case, although they don't bring much new to the table. Having played Guitar Hero 1 and 2, I was able to step into this immediately. The characters and set-up are all the same for the most part. Even better, all of my old peripherals work still worked...

Everyone likes the iPhone, and who can blame them; it's sleek, small, and on the cutting edge of technology. What's not to like right? Well, how about price, or the fact that it's locked to one carrier, or maybe the lack of 3rd party applications? Capitalizing on these weaknesses is the T-Mobile Wing, a Windows Mobile 6 based phone with plenty of bells and whistles. The most strikin...