Notebooks are no longer a device, which is limited to a certain group of individuals (mainly the professionals). Now, their portability and designs are attracting a common man into buying them. They have become a status symbol for most individuals in the society. You should not be amazed, if a person buys notebook not for other functions, but only to show off. Continuing the XPS series, Dell has come out with Dell XPS M1730, which has mainly been launched for hardcore gamers. The most recently launched Intel Santa Rosa Platform has been incorporated into the Dell XPS M1730. This gaming notebook also includes graphics card from Nvidia GeForce SLI for supporting high-end games. When it comes to the weight of the device, it is on the heavier side with the whole system amassing 10.6 pounds.
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Mixture of two or more geeky franchises always ends up in getting a cataclysmic result. If you’ve been around for some time, there’s very little chance of you finding movies and video games making way to a friendly blend. If we take into consideration the inclusion of Darth Vader and Yoda in Soul Calibur 4, who are undoubtedly the two most ill-reputed characters ever created, we are always left with a question that why they are a part of the game in the first place.

Now, another WTF connected with style has hit the scene, but this product is worthy of a purchase. Creators of Burnout series of racing games (not the creators of ultra special DVD quality), Criterion games, have already released a car image which is going to be given prominence in their forthcoming “Legendary cars pack”. This is nothing but a DLC for the game that will soon feature new cars, which also includes the “Jansen 88 Special.”

Jansen 88 has a very close resemblance to Marty and Doc’s ride from Back to the future. The car might not take you to the ultimate decade of the second quarter of the 20th century, but it definitely leaves flames in the rear of the tires and can easily get converted to the hover shape from the very regular shape at the push of a button.

The Jansen is a package of three other cars – “The Cavalry Bootlegger, GT Nighthawk and Manhattan Spirit.” If Jansen is a Deloreon in the background, then in order to know about the other three, we have to keep our finger crossed till the coming year when the game would finally hit the retail market. Till then, the only option left being is to imagine driving the machine, which has been described by the programmers of the game.

Some people might have found the latest commercials of Samba De Amigo that featured a chimp to be annoying. However, it didn’t give any indication of being sinister, at least for the naïve. Apparently, it has been uncovered that history of ‘chimp actors’ are filled with abuse and mistreatment.

This discovery has led PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) to request gaming companies for pull the ads involving these species. SEGA, one of the leading companies in world of gaming, has decided to do the same and has promised to stop the usage of any simian in their future commercials.

PETA has called this move to be a ‘compassionate’ one. However, more cynical ones might see it to be a functional move, as companies nowadays do not want any trouble from such organizations, especially when it comes to animal cruelty allegations. Sales of Sega Games have been on a decline in the recent times. This might be more of an attempt from the company to avoid further trouble.

Meanwhile, cash cow of Konami, also referred as ‘Metal Gear’, has hit a major milestone. This week, they have accrued one million subscribers. This mark will be celebrated by the company through an online event. They have named the event ‘Metal Gear Online: Commemorative Campaign’ and it will be running between November 25 – December 9 2008.

As an incentive for joining the campaign, participants will be getting 10,000 points after the event concludes. They will also be offered a lottery for additional 100,000 points. It seems a nice method that Konami are using for giving back to their members, who’ve followed the series faithfully. Again, such things should be done often in online gaming world for increasing the popularity amongst online gamers.

When companies provide their fans with unexpected bonuses, it’s expected that they will get devotion in return, which can help in generating needed revenue.

Initially I got a feeling that this whole game of LEGO might well catch on and will be successful in selling just a few games with its release. But, I was proved wrong as it is way ahead of my expectation. Star Wars and Indiana Jones have completed a blocky transition with a huge effect as these have been really popular and well greeted by the film and game fans. The LEGO Batman series is leaving curious gaming minds wondering which property will be put next.

The most certain thing about these LEGO games is that they are unable to fix what is clearly working. The fact which has remained faithful dogmatically compared to its previous iterations is gameplay. There are small tweaks which have been carried out here and there at the mechanical level but what has remained squarely intact is the LEGO formula. The small tweaks which have mentioned are really subtle, such as the inclusion of the camera angle that has made targeting easier and separating enemies visually quickly compared to the previous games. The other notable feature is making the combat a little bit more responsive and fluid when compared to the rest of the series.

This new package of LEGO has been presented in a much more refined and polished manner and it is really tough to find a fault in lack of innovation in this highly successful series. Users find that the graphics and sound are flawless but the potential problem lie in the gameplay. You also find combating being made exceedingly simple as it consists of a one-button melee system and the inclusion of a ranged attack by the use of the same button. Some new variations have been brought to prevent monotony which includes cannons, vehicles, and puzzle and platform sections. Although the game offers some new changes, people who demands depth and complexity in games will be disappointed with the new LEGO.

In Mario Kart you can see six iterations with over 100 tracks and spawning millions of players worldwide. With its name in top the list, you’ll get as many diverse responses are there are gamer types. And yet, most Nintendo fans will agree that the Kart games are enjoyable single-player experiences and addictive multiplayer ones. Mario Kart Wii offers apparently never ending amount of experience like some of you’ll have to play through a second time

So here are the Top 10 Mario Kart Wii Tricks:
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Gaming notebooks have become quite popular with hardcore gamers. Their convenient size and advanced configuration along with trendy designs is what lures a gamer towards them. Alienware Area-51 m15x is another gaming notebook, which has very recently hit the market. With Alienware Area-51 m15x, the display you get is provided with a glossy coating with antiglare features. With adequate viewing angle from either side, you can notice crisp details and vivid colors, while viewing images on its displays. Its display can be tagged as appropriate for gaming, as the images (apart from being clear) are not found to be harsh on your eyes. Area-51 m15x has enough real estate with its 15.4 inch screen (TFT active matrix) to open multiple windows for multitasking. The same feature has minimized side-by-side scrolling for viewing websites.

Its 14.6 in x 10.7 in x 1.3 in body is supported by black color, which is the only one used in the model. Alienware Area-51 m15x weighs 7.1 pounds and has a full-size keyboard with a separate pad for numbers. It has more of a silent keyboard, which is necessary for gaming notebooks, as the user might require nullifying every sound for concentrating on strategy games. Again, the touchpad of this notebook is fairly simple and very much sensitive. The battery backup of Alienware Area-51 m15x’s 6-cell lithium ion battery is slightly above ninety minutes. However looking at the load that it undergoes with 200 GB hard drive, 15.4 inch display and a video card, the backup seems to be adequate.

For supporting high-end games, Alienware Area-51 m15x is provided with an Intel Core 2 Extreme X9000 Processor (800 MHz FSB). The speed of the processor is 2.4 GHz supported by a 4 MB L2 Cache. The gaming notebook is also provided with NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GTX video card. The video card is provided with an SLI enabled 256 MB DDR3 RAM to give a better configuration for high resolution games. Area-51 m15x has 200 GB hard drive for storing as many games as you desire without giving it a second thought. Its 200 GB SATA disk space is complemented with a 4 GB DDR2 RAM (667 MHz), extendable up to 8 GB. The standard operating system for the model is MS Windows Vista Premium Ready. Again, you have the scope of playing games on the web with Area-51 m15x. It has several wireless connectivity options including Ethernet, Intel Pro/Wireless 4965AGN WLAN and an Internal Bluetooth. The standard for WLAN followed in the model is IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n, whereas Bluetooth standard is 2.0.

At $1,499, Alienware Area-51 m15x is worth making an investment in, especially for hardcore gamers, as they will get a perfect environment to play high-end games.

Alienware Area-51 m15x Specifications:
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Notebooks are currently topping the list of almost every professional, when it comes to ranking the electronic gadgets that they use everyday. These gadgets work as an imperative tool for carrying out all the tasks of these professionals with minimum or no hassle. HP Pavilion dv9500t is one of the newest notebooks to have arrived in the market. Refreshed with a Centrino Duo mobile platform, HP Pavilion dv9500t is available with distinct web cam and fingerprint reader. The Pavilion dv9500t weighs 7.9 pounds (9 pounds with the model’s AC adaptor) and has a 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 processor. However, the model lacks HD DVD drive and discrete graphics card, which do not allow high definition files to be opened on the system.

HP Pavilion dv9500t has a glossy display that features 1,440 x 900 native colors. With high resolution, screen of this model can produce sharp details and rich colors. Dimension of dv9500t is 15.5 x 11 x 1.6 inches going along with a relatively large screen, which is 17 inches in length. It should give enough space to you for carrying out your tasks with minimum scrolling on either side. HP pavilion dv9500t lacks a TV tuner card, but has Lansing Stereo Speakers, which deliver modest sounds. The model has 8-cell Lithium Ion battery that can last for over 150 minutes after given a full charge. HP Pavilion dv9500t has an integrated VGA-resolution webcam that gives better frame-rates during web conferencing in lowered light conditions. It also has 2 inbuilt microphones on its display bezel, which has eliminated the requirement of external microphones during video conferencing.

The keyboard of the Pavilion dv9500t is a full size one and has 10-key numeric keypad. On its keyboard, Pavilion dv9500t has a series or light touch buttons for launching media player, providing volume and controlling playback. These keys produce an annoying beep (high pitched), which can be enabled/disabled using BIOS, signaling that they have been pressed by the users. This compact touchpad has a scroll zone too. You are also provided with an array of connections and ports with the dv9500t. With dual headphone jack, the notebook has simplified the sharing of music and movie files with your friends. The current model has a DVD burner (dual layer) that allows you to include your own label on to your compatible disc. There is news that the newer model of HP Pavilion dv9500t will be having HD DVD drive with an added $400 in the current price. However, the model might always lack a DVI output.

HP Pavilion dv9500t Specifications
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All the gamers and enthusiasts are familiar with the term Graphics Card. Graphics Card allows you to enjoy gaming on your PC with stunning visuals. As times passes by, our PC’s get older and so does a graphics card and thus it is unable to cope up with high definition visuals provided by the latest games. This leaves Graphics Card owner with only 2 options – either to buy a new graphics card or extract the full juice from your current graphics card. In this post, I will show you how to overclock your graphics card so as to extract the maximum power from it!

First of all head over to ATI Tool and download ATi Tool. The size of the application is only 1.3Mb, so even dial up users don’t need to worry much. Even though the same says ATi, this tool works for Nvidia graphics card as well. So just follow these 5 steps and overclock your graphics card to extract the maximum performance from it:

1) After installing ATi Tool, the first screen will be something like this

As you can see from the above pic, my default clocks are 600 and 900Mhz for Core and Memory respectively. Also note that the 58C and 42C in the bottom are my GPU Temps, and GPU ambient temps.

2) First increase the clock speed by 25mhz and then click on Scan For Artifacts and let the tool run for 5mins, if you don’t see any artifacts then increase the clock speed by 10mhz and then again run the Artifacts tool. Keep on following this process till you see artifacts on the screen, then just decrease the clock speed by 5 MHz

3) Now click on New and then save this profile with any name
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