10 Best Laptops for Gamers (2010)

courtesy of admin at hewreck.com

Playing PC games on your laptops is the best way to have gaming fun when you’re not able to use a console and don’t have your PSP or other hand-held gaming devices. Laptops for gaming tend to be very different from those favored by a business man. You’ll have to decide what aspects are the most important to you – a long battery life, sound, mobility or great 3D graphics.


Here is my Top 10 Best Laptops for Gamers released in 2010




Sager 9280
World first Intel® Core™ i7 Desktop Replacement featuring NVIDIA® GeForce GTX 285M Graphics, Triple Channel DDR3 memory, RAID 0/1/5 capable, 3.0M built-in camera, and HDMI output, the 9280 delivers unrivaled gaming. performance!



MacBook Pros with NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M
The Mac is designed to provide the best computer experience you can have. 15-inch: Processor and memory 2.4GHz or 2.53GHz Intel Core i5 processor with 3MB shared L3 cache; or 2.66GHz Intel Core i7 processor with 4MB shared L3 cache. 4GB (two 2GB SO-DIMMs) of 1066MHz DDR3 memory; two SO-DIMM slots support up to 8GB. NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M graphics processor with 256MB of GDDR3 memory on 2.4GHz.




HP ENVY 14 series
Discrete graphics and Intel i-core processors for great gaming, multimedia, and creative projects, plus premium support. Beats audio, an eye-popping display, a precision-etched metal alloy case. Battery Life Up to 3.75 hours,





Lenovo IdeaPad Y460 0633
Very fast CPU
- Blazing fast GPU + Switchable graphics, 5 hour battery life using Intel graphics, 2.1 kgs only, Super DVD drive, Mini ExpressCard54 slot. If you’re looking for extra gaming power on the road, the Lenovo IdeaPad Y460 can meet those demands.




iBuyPower Battalion Touch CZ-10
It’s a touch screen gaming laptop (15-inch), media files, playing games, or creating a digital masterpiece with your fingertips, the possibilities are endless. blazing fast Intel CPUs, the Battalion Touch series gaming notebooks are among the fastest notebooks around.




NV5929u Notebook
Breezing through multiple applications without fear of drag is simplified with the 15.6-inch Gateway NV5929u with Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium. Cram all of your important data onto the 320GB hard drive, and store more multimedia with 4MB DDR3 RAM. Plus, when you’re in the mood to chat, the built-in webcam and wireless will ensure a flawless connection.




Pavilion DV5-2073NR Notebook
HP Pavilion dv5-2073nr Entertainment PC immerse yourself in videos, games and 3D graphics on the high-definition 14.5-inch diagonal LED BrightView display. Treat your ears to vibrant Dolby Advanced Audio through Altec Lansing stereo speakers.




Alienware M17x
If price is no object and you want the best gaming laptop on the market, reviewers say the Alienware M17x is the one to get. Cosmic Black 4GB Dual Channel Memory (2x 2GB DDR3) Intel Core i3-350M 2.26GHz (3M cache) 15.6-inch WideHD+ 1600×900 (900p) WLED 250GB SATAII 7,200RPM Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW – CD-RW).




Asus G53JW
Asus Republic of Gamers G53JW gaming laptop, has the latest Intel Core processor and an Nvidia Geforce “Fermi”” 400M series video card. The 15.6-inch G53JW come with the GeForce GTX 460M with 1.5GB of DDR5 VRAM, Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 processors, including quad-core i7, dual hard drives providing up to 1.5TB of capacity, up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, and a DVD burner, Blu-ray Combo drive, or Blu-ray writer.




ASUS G60Vx
The ASUS G60Vx is a 2.13GHz Core 2 Duo P7450-based gaming rig that you don’t have to feel guilty about purchasing. With a 16” display, up to 4GB of DDR3 1066MHz memory, a 320GB 7200RPM hard drive, and Nvidia GeForce GTX 260M graphics, resolution of 1366×768.

LOST: The Point and Click 3d Adventure Game

Canceled Halo MMORPG?!?

courtesy of incgamers.com

Monk revealed to IncGamers that, from 2004 to 2007, he spent all of his time working on a project codenamed Titan, which you might know better as the cancelled MMO set in the Halo universe.

"It was going to be the Halo MMO, and it was absolutely going to compete against WoW," reminisced Monk.

"You have to remember that Ensemble came from a standpoint of being really good at competing against Blizzard Entertainment," he noted, drawing comparisons between the success of the Warcraft series and the success of the Age of Empires series. "We had a pretty good history of knowing the types of stuff that Blizzard put into their games to make them really successful, and the kinds of things we'd need to put into an MMO to compete against Blizzard."

"Just to give you a couple of examples," Monk elaborated, "we were using a heroic stylised artform. This heroic stylised artform is exactly the artform that you see being used in Star Wars: The Old Republic right now. It's timeless. It doesn't age itself like a game that's built with a strictly realistic artform does."

"We were developing a cover system. This cover system is in Star Wars: The Old Republic. We had the idea of quests - and like I said, this was between 2004 and 2007, before Warhamer Online had been released - but we had this idea of quests where you could participate and pull them together without having to be on the same team. This would be a public quest that everyone in a particular area could work on. That idea went into Warhammer Online."

Monk also notes that, since Ensemble's closure, a number of Ensemble staffers have since moved to Blizzard - not least of all Greg Street, known to World of Warcraft fans as Ghostcrawler.

"We had all this incredible talent, we had the right people, the right passion, we had a phenomenally successful IP - the Halo IP. We were going back in time for the Halo franchise to broaden the story a little bit, in the exact same way that Star Wars has gone back in time so they can tell a more broad story, and we had a company that had our back when we started and the funding to put together that type of project."

So what happened to the Halo MMO? "There was a bit of a changing of the guard at Microsoft at this time," explains Monk. "Microsoft, from its gaming division, was really changing directions. They were looking really hard at the Nintendo Wii and they were really excited by the numbers that the Wii was turning. This was about the time that Microsoft decided that its Xbox platform and XBLA really needed to go more in the direction of appealing to a more casual, broader audience."

"So part of this changing of the guard at Microsoft came along with the changing of the attitude to this very expensive, very long and very protacted $90 million USD project we were working on, which was Titan. To cut a long story short, Titan was closed down."

Today, though, Monk is still optimistic about the chances the MMO would've had.

"Even though a lot of people talk about how you just can't build a WoW killer, I absolutely believe that we could have built an MMO, if Microsoft had maintained their commitment, that if it hadn't been a WoW killer it certainly would've competed."

Stay tuned for our full interview with Dusty Monk later this week, with plenty of discussion about gaming, MMOs, Ensemble, and - of course - Monk's own Windstorm Studios.

Red Dead Redemption Video Game Trailers

Introduction to Gameplay

Video Games | Red Dead Redemption | Gameplay Series: Introduction

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Weapons & Death

Video Games | Red Dead Redemption | Gameplay Series: Weapons & Death Doc

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Life in the West

Video Games | Red Dead Redemption | Life in the West Featurette

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Life in the West (Part 2)

Video Games | Red Dead Redemption | Exclusive Life in the West Part II

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Multiplayer Free Roam

Video Games | Red Dead Redemption | Gameplay Series: Multiplayer Free Roam

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Trine Review from GameTrailers

Trine is a game that is supposed to come out on XBLA sometime in the near future, but for now is only available on PC and PS3. Trine is a sort of modern day take The Lost Vikings. What is The Lost Vikings? It was one of the first games that was ever released by a little software company now known as Blizzard. *video below*

Video Games | Trine | Review

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Use Your Own Number With Some Google Voice Features

courtesy of PCWorld

Google Voice users can now use their existing phone numbers with the service, which will come as good news to people who don't want to give out a new number to all of their existing contacts. But there are some catches.

First off, this isn't quite the same as transferring a phone number from one carrier to another; your number still works with your cell phone or landline. Instead, Google Voice will intercept calls going to voicemail, thereby providing you with transcription, e-mail integration, and the other goodies that Voice users have come to rely upon. Secondly, if you want to use call screening, forwarding to any phone, or other features of the service, you'll still need to give out your new Google Voice-assigned number.

In either case, all Google Voice users can place outgoing calls, free to the US and Canada, and cheap elsewhere (but you'll still burn cell minutes if you use your handset).

You'll need an invite to get access to Google Voice, but invites have gone out to many existing subscribers, so ask your friends. If you want to use Google Voice voicemail, check Google's supported carriers to make sure that yours is included (all major providers are).

Google has published a help page with details on how this will work after you activate the feature. Sadly, iPhone users won't be able to use the handset's Visual Voicemail feature if they activate this service, but apparently, you can turn the feature on and off on the fly, in case you find you prefer your phone's integrated voice messaging.

BioWare's Flash-based Dragon Age Journeys Available Now!

courtesy of Matt Peckham of PCWorld

This was unexpected, a freebie Flash-based role-playing aperitif from BioWare that's part Diablo, part Baldur's Gate, part "free prize inside!" It's called Dragon Age Journeys, and it's a tactical RPG with stylish cartoon-style art squeezed between the margins of your average-sized browser window. Who says these guys aren't taking it the extra mile in the run up to Dragon Age Origins, their Godzilla-sized PC and console roleplaying game due in a few weeks?
(See PCWorld's three-part interview with Dragon Age: Origins lead designer Mike Laidlaw.)

So the premise is kind of dull: You're a hero as opposed to "just some guy" (you're heroic because…well, because) exploring the underground dwarven kingdom of Moria…I mean Orzammar. Along the way, you'll uncover a "dastardly" plot that "threatens to unleash a great evil that won't stop until it destroys all living things."
I know. Flash-based browser game. "Depth not included."
On the other hand, the non-story stuff comes off as unusual for its complexity in this particular delivery medium. You can role up a gender-specific character, play as a human noble, dalish elf, city elf, dwarf noble, or dwarf commoner, and try for work as a warrior, mage, or rogue. You can tinker with hair styles, skin tone--even recolor your clothing.
And that's just the creation bits.



Once you're moving--literally moving by clicking your mouse around a two-dimensional display that harks back to the genre's halcyon years--you'll discover the wraparound interface looks like something you'd more expect from a full-featured RPG. The character record chronicles advances in stats like willpower and cunning. Health, stamina, fatigue, weapon strength, and mental resistance variables are represented along with several others. Spell and talent trees offer progression paths with allocation allowances, abilities with actual tactical import, like "dirty fighting" (stun target) or "advanced stealth" (reduce spotting) or "riposte" (dual-weapon attack with countering). An inventory screen lets you fiddle your accoutrements and combat handedness or view accessories and quest items, and a journal tracks your quests and keeps you oriented. Pretty impressive.



You can drill on any of this stuff by way of tooltips that appear when you mouse over something. You can also save your game online--you can access up to three saves total--by logging into (or signing up for) an EA account. Gather a sufficient number of achievements by completing quests and you'll unlock special items that'll transfer over to Dragon Age Origins when it's released on November 3 for Xbox 360 and Windows PCs (the PlayStation 3 version follows later in November).
When you bump into enemies (literally bump, that is) the game switches to a Heroes of Might & Magic style hex grid. Tactical combat ensues in turns, allowing for ranged maneuvers (weapons, spells) and up to six angles of attack. It starts off simplistic enough--you move, they move, you swing, they swing--but as your character develops, it starts to exhibit the sort of nuance you'd expect from a full-blown tactical RPG.

Depending on how much fiddling around you do, it takes an hour or two to complete. Then there's the remaining two installments--arriving in the next few weeks--to think about.
Have a look over your lunch break or later this evening, if for no other reason than to see what's possible in a browser-based game: One that installs nothing, lets you save online, and loads in a matter of seconds.

Gamer Freaks the EFF Out

When you first click "play" on this video you will just think it's some stupid video of a guy playing a crappy game. But by the end of it, you will realize just how Eff-ed up some people are when it comes to videogames. Watch it till the end so that you can see all the damage the guy did in his room (due to videogames). WOW *video below*


via videosift.com

Google to Release a Free Operating System titled "Chrome OS"

Ever heard of Microsoft Windows? How about Linux? These are operating systems, also known as OS's, that the computer needs in order to accept input (keyboard, mouse) from the user (you) to manipulate the hardware (computer components) to run programs and output them to an interface that you can see (monitor). In other words, an OS is one of the essential components of a working computer. That is why Microsoft is constantly battling anti-trust and monopoly lawsuits from countries (and losing some of them).

Another way to look at it is if you wanted to build a computer, then you can use any central processing unit (CPU) from Intel, AMD, or Cyrix. You can use any motherboard (mobo) from Gigabyte, MSI, etc. When you look at all the components that make up a working PC (in the sense that we are familiar with), the list goes on and on. You can use any graphics card, monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc from any manufacturer and they would all work the same, BUT you can only use one OS. Microsoft Windows. That is how Bill Gates became the richest person in the world and Linux was such a threat back in the late 90's. (Linux was a free OS that ran well on low-end computers and offered many of the same features as Microsoft Windows but didn't have the help and support needed at the consumer level... which is why it was ultimately unsuccessful with dethroning Microsoft from King of the Hill.)

Well, guess who is coming out with an OS now? Google is releasing their free Chrome OS this August (actually, only the source code) and computers will supposedly be shipping with it in the second half of 2010. Even though Linux still has it's place among internet servers and databases, it was suppose to be the OS that knocked Microsoft after it's perch, but (as mentioned above) eventually failed. Maybe Google's Chrome OS will be the one to finally place Microsoft into the fair realm of free enterprise.

StarCraft II may not support LAN!

courtesy of Mike Smith of Yahoo

Although Starcraft is one of the most-played competitive games in the world, its developers revealed in an interview this week that its sequel will lose a particularly valued multiplayer feature -- and the game's millions of fans are not pleased.

At issue is whether the game should support computer-to-computer connections (known as LAN networks) without also having to be connected to the developers' servers via the Internet. The original Starcraft could -- and, partly as a result, became the game of choice for gatherings that ranged from a few friends to stadium-filling, championship tournaments.

LAN parties a thing of the Starcraft past?

Starcraft II, developer Blizzard revealed this week, will need to "check in" with remote servers, so if you're not online, there's no multiplayer for you. This is expected to make the game much harder for contest organizers, net cafes, and gaming parties to embrace, and many longtime fans have sworn to boycott the sequel unless Blizzard backs down.

Twitter remains abuzz at the news, with fans variously describing Blizzard's surprise move as "totally insane," "just...wrong," and, worst of all, "EPIC FAIL." An online petition has amassed over 25,000 signatures so far.

Although Blizzard's keen to emphasize the features of their online service -- which will track player stats and provide rich community functions -- it's seen as a preemptive strike against potential Starcraft II pirates, as those with illegal copies of the game would be banned from connecting to Blizzard's servers. A somewhat similar move by EA last year resulted in its massive hit Spore racking up thousands of one-star reviews on Amazon, and being slapped with a class-action lawsuit. It remains to be seen how (or if) Blizzard will address this controversy.

Mass Effect 2 heading to PC, Xbox 360 early 2010

BioWare has recently confirmed that Mass Effect 2 will be heading to PC and Xbox 360 in "early 2010". No mention of a PS3 version was announced.

Mass Effect sold over 1.6 million copies in just 6 weeks of its release. Calling it a success is a bit of an understatement. Bioware has confirmed that Mass Effect 2 has an "in-development" status while Mass Effect 3 is in "pre-development". Not much is known yet about Mass Effect 2, but Casey Hudson, the Project Director for BioWare, has said that players should keep their Mass Effect save-files, because decisions made by the player in the first game will continue to have influences on their character in the sequel.

BioWare has a long history of successful games with titles such as Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. There is no reason to believe that Mass Effect 2 will be any less of a blockbuster title.


On a side note, another soon-to-be-released (Q3/Q4 2009) game from BioWare is Dragon Age: Origins. It is described as a spiritual successor to the Baldur's Gate series, but not set in the Dungeons & Dragons universe. Though Dragon Age: Origins is a single-player game, it will include a toolset that will allow for user-created content.

People who assume that Dragon Age: Origins will just be Mass Effect with a medieval setting will be sorely mistaken. What race and class you pick will determine which 1 of 6 paths you take from beginning till end and also what options and quests will be available within the game. Dragon Age: Origins is scheduled for a Q3/Q4 2009 release.

Halo Wars sells 1 million units

Most people by now know that Ensemble Studios went the way of the dodo bird, but their final game has proven to be a success. According to Microsoft, over one million units of Halo Wars have been sold and over 2.6 million multiplayer matches played on Xbox Live. Seems as though Ensemble Studio's swan song has been well-recieved by the gaming masses despite the comments from gamers at message boards and forums stating how "average" the gameplay is and how RTS doesn't work on a console. The numbers don't lie.

Halo Wars IS an average RTS when compared to a PC RTS, but if you think like that - then, Halo 3 is also "average" due to the fact that the game is played using a game controller instead of a keyboard and mouse.

The bottom line... is even though Halo Wars is not the most advanced, next-generation RTS game, it is still enjoyable and lets you experience the Halo universe from a different perspective. I personally enjoy the game. It refreshing, and the online co-op is a blast. Plus, everyone is hindered by the awkward controls, so no one is at a disadvantage. Just relax and play the game, or relax and don't. Stop the hate.