At last... the news every office-bound worker has been waiting to hear!
A new report has found that banning workers from using the internet for personal use could actually be hitting productivity because staff need a break to help reduce stress.
A study of 1,700 employees by computer games firm PopCap Games showed that people felt refreshed if they had an 'ebreak' during the working day.
Most of those questioned said they would rather spend some free time surfing the internet to unwind rather than having a cigarette or tea break.
And I have to agree. The company pays for the internet service in any case and besides, smokers are in the minority now - and they smell.
The report said that taking five minutes off to make a cup of tea was accepted, but using social websites (such as Facebook and Myspace) was frowned upon.
Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic of London’s Goldsmiths University, who helped with the research, said: "Tea breaks and fag breaks have long been the most common types of break within office culture but the report shows that ebreaks are fast becoming the most popular choice of break for British workers.
"The report proves that a 10 minute ebreak a day can have significant benefits but, despite this, many bosses are banning them in the fear that they distract employees.
"By factoring in a dedicated slot for an ebreak bosses are fostering a more trusting working environment, boosting productivity and ultimately increasing their profit which surely makes good business sense."
In other news GTA IV is still firmly holding the No.1 spot in the gaming charts. No. 2 is the new Wii Fit title which - as I've said in previous blogs - I can't quite get my head around.
While I can appreciate, to a certain degree, women (and I guess some men for that matter) working out to an Elle Macpherson DVD, the thought of interacting with a computer game is still so so weird to me!
While I am a certified fan of the Wii (it does make for a killer night in with a bunch of people), I still can't quite get to grips with the whole image of people peering in through your lounge window and seeing you do star jumps or stretches. It's just weird!
Maybe I'm just vain or nervous. I guess people do go to the gym and work out in front of people...
Anyways, here's the best of this week's new releases:
Title: Race Driver: GRID
Platform: PS3
Genre: Racing
Price: £49.99
Hit Count: 4/5
Fans of racing games are often disappointed if a game proves to be either too arcade-y or too much of a plodding simulation.
Race Drive: GRID does a fantastic job of juggling both balls, offering over-the-top thrills and spills for the casual racer, coupled with an intense on-track experience that looks as good as anything on the market right now.
It may be jostling for space with the likes of Gran Turismo, Burnout and Project Gotham, but this baby qualifies pretty high up the grid, even if the car count feels a little on the low side.
Title: WSC Real: 2008 World Snooker Championship
Platform: Wii
Genre: Snooker
Price: £34.99
Hit Count: 3/5
The simulated sports keep on coming on Wii – this time the world of snooker gets the motion-sensing treatment. With 32 of the world’s greatest players on offer, you can grab a Wii Cue extension and start doing impressions of Rocket Ronnie and er... Steve Davis on your dining room table.
It handles pretty well and does give a good feeling of the real sport. Graphics handle well in 3D as you’d expect on a next-gen console, but there’s nothing really out of the ordinary here beyond the initial novelty of having another piece of plastic stuck to the Wii controller.
Title: Sherlock Holmes: Nemesis
Platform: PC
Genre: Adventure
Price: £29.99
Hit Count: 3/5
Step into the world of the eponymous sleuth and his assistant Dr Watson as you puzzle your way through the game to protect five of the country’s most valuable treasures.
This is a traditional point-and-click adventure that will offer up some pretty challenging logic puzzles – even for hardcore adventure fans – and it’s all presented in an engaging and carefully constructed 3D world.
It’s not going to set the world of interactive PC puzzling alight, but for fans of the character and those looking for a retreat into 19th century London, this could be a real find.
Title: PDC World Championship Darts
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: Darts
Price: £39.99
Hit Count: 3/5
Gaming can be considered a pretty sedentary pastime, and darts has never really been known as the most physically demanding of sports either.
The two combine reasonably well here for pretty entertaining simulation of the classic pub game. It’s fairly easy to pick up but tricky to master.
Working your way through the various game modes that take a twist on traditional darts is fun enough, but the best way to see an evening shoot by is to get some mates round for multiplayer.
It gives the game more of a down-the-pub social feel – and, let’s be honest, who wants to play darts on their own?
Title: Commando: Steel Disaster
Platform: Nintendo DS
Genre: Shoot ’em up
Price: £29.99
Hit Count: 3/5
As the heroic Storm you’re out to put an end to an evil organisation called Rattlesnake in this side-scrolling shoot ’em up that reeks of the classic Metal Slug series.
You get to tackle this challenge with a range of heavy weaponry and pick-ups - each with its own attack method and power.
Games in this genre generally deliver on the button-bashing to nullify the incessant wave after wave of enemies, and Steel Disaster doesn’t disappoint, with some top boss battles to boot.
It’s a stylised shooter that requires no small measure of skill.
Thursday 29 May 2008
Tuesday 20 May 2008
(Web) surfing versus sailing
Now this may come as a shock to some but not really to many, I don't really have much of an interest in sailing.
Ok, I hold the post of Maritime Reporter (and in the past yachting types have laughed at the fact I can list my sailing experience on the back of a postage stamp) but it's not really my bag.
For me it's too involved. There's too much to do, hoisting sails, twisting this and turning that... I'd much rather be in the water (surfing) than on it (sailing).
With that in mind a website dedicated to sailing would have to be pretty special to tempt my gaze. So ladies and gentlemen... let me introduce you to the Artemis Transat's fab website www.theartemistransat.com.
The site's developers have gone all out to create something which will be appealing to the masses and not just the sailing enthusiast.
As well as race news updated throughout each and every day, the site provides breakdowns of all the teams competing in the race (which started in Plymouth on May 11), as well as pictures and videos from the skippers.
However, by far the most appealing are the two live race tracker features which allow visitors to pinpoint exactly where each competitor is, how far they have travelled, how far they have to go, the speed of which they are travelling, and the route they have taken.
You can also zoom in and out to show the distance between the competitiors on a map of the Atlantic.
It really is fascinating and provides a unique overview of the race.
Sadly which ever way you look at it the French are still likely to beat the Brits but hey, you can't have everything can you?!
When you consider Sir Francis Chichester's Atlantic crossing in 1960 with little or no technology, and no means by his followers to contact or pinpoint him, the technology is simply staggering.
Another website worth looking at is The Biographicon (www.biographicon.com).
Unlike Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.com), which insists that featured people must reach a certain level of fame before they can be included, the Biographicon isn’t fussy. It's a web site for biographies of anyone and everyone.
Anyone can write a bio about anyone else – or about themselves. The site is based on wiki software, which means anyone can edit it. Go on, add yourselves!
In the meantime here's the best of the week's releases:
Title: Boom Blox
Platform: Wii
Genre: Puzzle
Price: £39.99
Hit Count: 4/5
It’s a pretty rare thing for Oscar-winning film directors to get involved in console games, but Steven Spielberg has obviously got some new interests beyond the movies.
If this is anything to go by, let’s hope there’s more in the tank!
Building on the premise that everyone loves to build things up and knock them down again, Boom Blox offers action-packed interactive activities that takes Wii play to a new level of creativity and fun with single player, co-op, and head-to-head gameplay.
Through brain-twisting challenges and the ability to virtually build anything you can dream up, it’s just the kind of creative title the Wii was made for.
Title: Dragon Quest Swords
Platform: Wii
Genre: RPG
Price: £39.99
Hit Count: 3/5
The Dragon Quest series has always been great at thowing gamers headlong into an interactive adventures that get the pulse racing, and Swords contains a familiar line-up of mad monsters to hack your way through, using the Wii remote as your own personal sword.
Additional mini-games add to the fun as you do things like catching darts with your shield and time-attacks on slime monsters in order to win bonus items and weapon power-ups.
A good-looking, solid RPG title to keep you entertained.
Title: Universe At War: Earth Assault
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: Strategy
Price: £44.99
Hit Count: 4/5
Real-time strategy titles have often best performed on PC, simply because they lend themselves best to traditional mouse and keyboard.
Universe At War blows that theory out of the water with an excellent sortie onto the futuristic battlefield to tackle the single player scenarios set before you and the myriad of multiplayer options for those ready to take the battle online.
It looks great, plays even better, and really should be high on your list of games to try if PC-battling was once your thing before consoles came along!
Title: Chessmaster: The Art of Learning
Platform: PSP
Genre: Chess
Price: £19.99
Hit Count: 3/5
Chess is never going to be the most adrenalin-charged gaming experience, but for fans of the classic board game, the opportunity to hone their skills on PSP is likely to raise an eyebrow.
It’s a pretty sterile effort, devoid of any personality, but it certainly offers an insight into chess through 24 lessons brought to you by an incredibly dour man on-screen.
Once you’ve battled your wits through the 34 computer challengers on offer, you can take on a friend who also owns the game, although you may be all chessed out by then.
Title: Jackass: The Game
Platform: Action
Genre: Humour
Price: £29.99
Hit Count: 2/5
They may be getting older but the Jackass crew are still letting alligators nibble at their privates and throwing themselves into holly bushes in the buff.
So why not do more of the same on the Nintendo DS?
I’ll tell you why not: because this is an unbelievably contrived money-making effort with boring and unrealistic stunts that only bears a resemblance to the TV series because of the branding.
It’s nowhere near as funny, outlandish or controversial – it’s just rubbish, and buying this game is where the only wince-inducing pain will arise.
Ok, I hold the post of Maritime Reporter (and in the past yachting types have laughed at the fact I can list my sailing experience on the back of a postage stamp) but it's not really my bag.
For me it's too involved. There's too much to do, hoisting sails, twisting this and turning that... I'd much rather be in the water (surfing) than on it (sailing).
With that in mind a website dedicated to sailing would have to be pretty special to tempt my gaze. So ladies and gentlemen... let me introduce you to the Artemis Transat's fab website www.theartemistransat.com.
The site's developers have gone all out to create something which will be appealing to the masses and not just the sailing enthusiast.
As well as race news updated throughout each and every day, the site provides breakdowns of all the teams competing in the race (which started in Plymouth on May 11), as well as pictures and videos from the skippers.
However, by far the most appealing are the two live race tracker features which allow visitors to pinpoint exactly where each competitor is, how far they have travelled, how far they have to go, the speed of which they are travelling, and the route they have taken.
You can also zoom in and out to show the distance between the competitiors on a map of the Atlantic.
It really is fascinating and provides a unique overview of the race.
Sadly which ever way you look at it the French are still likely to beat the Brits but hey, you can't have everything can you?!
When you consider Sir Francis Chichester's Atlantic crossing in 1960 with little or no technology, and no means by his followers to contact or pinpoint him, the technology is simply staggering.
Another website worth looking at is The Biographicon (www.biographicon.com).
Unlike Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.com), which insists that featured people must reach a certain level of fame before they can be included, the Biographicon isn’t fussy. It's a web site for biographies of anyone and everyone.
Anyone can write a bio about anyone else – or about themselves. The site is based on wiki software, which means anyone can edit it. Go on, add yourselves!
In the meantime here's the best of the week's releases:
Title: Boom Blox
Platform: Wii
Genre: Puzzle
Price: £39.99
Hit Count: 4/5
It’s a pretty rare thing for Oscar-winning film directors to get involved in console games, but Steven Spielberg has obviously got some new interests beyond the movies.
If this is anything to go by, let’s hope there’s more in the tank!
Building on the premise that everyone loves to build things up and knock them down again, Boom Blox offers action-packed interactive activities that takes Wii play to a new level of creativity and fun with single player, co-op, and head-to-head gameplay.
Through brain-twisting challenges and the ability to virtually build anything you can dream up, it’s just the kind of creative title the Wii was made for.
Title: Dragon Quest Swords
Platform: Wii
Genre: RPG
Price: £39.99
Hit Count: 3/5
The Dragon Quest series has always been great at thowing gamers headlong into an interactive adventures that get the pulse racing, and Swords contains a familiar line-up of mad monsters to hack your way through, using the Wii remote as your own personal sword.
Additional mini-games add to the fun as you do things like catching darts with your shield and time-attacks on slime monsters in order to win bonus items and weapon power-ups.
A good-looking, solid RPG title to keep you entertained.
Title: Universe At War: Earth Assault
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: Strategy
Price: £44.99
Hit Count: 4/5
Real-time strategy titles have often best performed on PC, simply because they lend themselves best to traditional mouse and keyboard.
Universe At War blows that theory out of the water with an excellent sortie onto the futuristic battlefield to tackle the single player scenarios set before you and the myriad of multiplayer options for those ready to take the battle online.
It looks great, plays even better, and really should be high on your list of games to try if PC-battling was once your thing before consoles came along!
Title: Chessmaster: The Art of Learning
Platform: PSP
Genre: Chess
Price: £19.99
Hit Count: 3/5
Chess is never going to be the most adrenalin-charged gaming experience, but for fans of the classic board game, the opportunity to hone their skills on PSP is likely to raise an eyebrow.
It’s a pretty sterile effort, devoid of any personality, but it certainly offers an insight into chess through 24 lessons brought to you by an incredibly dour man on-screen.
Once you’ve battled your wits through the 34 computer challengers on offer, you can take on a friend who also owns the game, although you may be all chessed out by then.
Title: Jackass: The Game
Platform: Action
Genre: Humour
Price: £29.99
Hit Count: 2/5
They may be getting older but the Jackass crew are still letting alligators nibble at their privates and throwing themselves into holly bushes in the buff.
So why not do more of the same on the Nintendo DS?
I’ll tell you why not: because this is an unbelievably contrived money-making effort with boring and unrealistic stunts that only bears a resemblance to the TV series because of the branding.
It’s nowhere near as funny, outlandish or controversial – it’s just rubbish, and buying this game is where the only wince-inducing pain will arise.
Thursday 1 May 2008
Grand Theft Auto IV (do you need a better headline?!)
News just in... Grand Theft Auto IV has broken all previous records selling an estimated 609,000 copies since release on Tuesday.
While I don't really care too much about how many copies have been flogged, I do care about the fact I haven't been able to find a single copy!
I awoke on my day off on Wednesday with one task in mind for an otherwise wasteful mid-week day - buy a copy of GTA IV and do some serious sofa time.
The idea and enthusiasm was there... but sadly I was one of the many who were left disappointed.
First stop was Tesco at Roborough (because those Clubcard vouchers must be good for something other than a food shop).
Result? - sold out.
"We were sold out by lunchtime on Tuesday," one friendly member of staff told me.
"Tesco stores across the country have had to order more due to demand."
Ok, game on...
Game in the city centre. Result - sold out.
Zavvi: result - sold out.
By this time I had given up and returned home. Gutted. But at least my day was eventful - and I got out of the house.
And luckily a mate of mine managed to beat the queues and get in there and bag a copy on the Xbox 360. His verdict - absolutely awesome! (see his review below)
GTA may get a lot of grief for its make-up and brutal play but hey, how can so many people be so wrong?
It's fun (hilarious in parts), graphically superior and probably the most addictive thing ever invented.
So here I am, two days later still trying to find time to escape the office and get a copy.
Best bet is the web where you will find it cheaper if you can afford the wait.
In the meantime why not download some free music over the Bank Holiday Weekend?
A radio network is planning to give away the music it plays on air this Bank Holiday Monday free for listeners to download.
In what they claim is a first, GMG Radio’s network of Real and Century stations are set to go 'radio ga-ga' on May 5, with their Free Music Mayday.
The network of stations is one of several using Cliq, a mobile phone application which allows people to instantly buy music by pressing a button on the handset – even if they don’t know the name of the song.
Users normally credit their account online and tracks cost £1.25 to download.
But from midnight on Sunday May 4, Real and Century listeners across the five stations in the UK will be able to own any songs playing until midnight the following day.
They will be sent straight to their computers to be added to their playlist without charge.
So, sorry to rub salt in the wound if you haven't got a copy yet, but here's what you're missing.
Title: Grand Theft Auto IV
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: Action
Price: £49.99
Hit count: 5/5
It’s no understatement to say that GTA IV is the most eagerly anticipated title that the gaming world has ever seen.
There’s no way you can sum up the amount of laugh-out-loud moments, adrenalin-fuelled car chases, ear-splitting shootouts and other jaw-dropping stand-out experiences that come bundled into the return to a living, breathing Liberty City.
Everything about GTA IV oozes class and that all-important attention to detail and there are few people – Mary Whitehouse characters aside – that can dispute this is the greatest videogame of all-time. Enjoy.
Title: Turok
Platform: PC
Genre: Shooter
Price: £24.99
Hit count: 3/5
Hunting dinosaurs hasn’t been high on the gaming agenda for a while, but it returns to PC with an assault on the first-person-shooter senses, giving gamers carte blanche to go on an all-out attack on the human and prehistoric enemies that lie in wait.
No shortage of fabulous weaponry and killing moves breathe new life into the well-worn genre, but slightly grubby graphics take the tarnish off what is an otherwise, if a little linear, solid shooter.
Rip off your shirt, paint your face, and go seriously native!
Title: Iron Man
Platform: PS3
Genre: Action
Price: £49.99
Hit count: 3/5
Robert Downey Junior has reprised the role of the classic comic character for the latest big-budget superhero movie and here, in this third-person action shooter, you’re thrown into stories from the original Iron Man comic books and given an array of high-impact weapons to annihilate any enemy force standing in your way.
It’s an entertaining attempt to give movie tie-ins a good name and will keep the comic fans pretty happy, but overall Iron Man doesn’t deliver anything to the action genre that we haven’t seen many times before.
Title: My Riding Stables
Platform: Nintendo DS
Genre: Horses
Price: £29.99
Hit count: 3/5
In an attempt to provide some kind of cosmic balance to the gaming world, titles like My Riding Stables take players as far away as they could possibly be from Liberty City, the home of Grand Theft Auto.
Forget the guns and get ahead as a stable hand, raising sweet little foals and taking excellent care of your guests.
Give outstanding riding lessons and prepare your horses and students perfectly, so that they become the riding stars of the future.
If you’re already snoozing, you’ll know this isn’t for you, but gamers too young for GTA may see things differently!
Title: Undercover: Dual Motives
Platform: Nintendo DS
Genre: Adventure
Price: £29.99
Hit count: 3/5
It’s just the kind of point and click adventure packed with puzzles and mini-games that DS gamers have been crying out for, and were probably expecting to have buckets to choose from when the system was announced.
As a prequel to PC title Undercover: Operation Wintersun, you take British scientist Dr. John Russell on a wild chase for a German nuclear bomb in the middle of the Second World War.
It’s classic adventure gaming style, with one particular game requiring you to blow into the DS microphone to fire weapons!
Good, inventive adventure gaming that the DS should do much more often.
While I don't really care too much about how many copies have been flogged, I do care about the fact I haven't been able to find a single copy!
I awoke on my day off on Wednesday with one task in mind for an otherwise wasteful mid-week day - buy a copy of GTA IV and do some serious sofa time.
The idea and enthusiasm was there... but sadly I was one of the many who were left disappointed.
First stop was Tesco at Roborough (because those Clubcard vouchers must be good for something other than a food shop).
Result? - sold out.
"We were sold out by lunchtime on Tuesday," one friendly member of staff told me.
"Tesco stores across the country have had to order more due to demand."
Ok, game on...
Game in the city centre. Result - sold out.
Zavvi: result - sold out.
By this time I had given up and returned home. Gutted. But at least my day was eventful - and I got out of the house.
And luckily a mate of mine managed to beat the queues and get in there and bag a copy on the Xbox 360. His verdict - absolutely awesome! (see his review below)
GTA may get a lot of grief for its make-up and brutal play but hey, how can so many people be so wrong?
It's fun (hilarious in parts), graphically superior and probably the most addictive thing ever invented.
So here I am, two days later still trying to find time to escape the office and get a copy.
Best bet is the web where you will find it cheaper if you can afford the wait.
In the meantime why not download some free music over the Bank Holiday Weekend?
A radio network is planning to give away the music it plays on air this Bank Holiday Monday free for listeners to download.
In what they claim is a first, GMG Radio’s network of Real and Century stations are set to go 'radio ga-ga' on May 5, with their Free Music Mayday.
The network of stations is one of several using Cliq, a mobile phone application which allows people to instantly buy music by pressing a button on the handset – even if they don’t know the name of the song.
Users normally credit their account online and tracks cost £1.25 to download.
But from midnight on Sunday May 4, Real and Century listeners across the five stations in the UK will be able to own any songs playing until midnight the following day.
They will be sent straight to their computers to be added to their playlist without charge.
So, sorry to rub salt in the wound if you haven't got a copy yet, but here's what you're missing.
Title: Grand Theft Auto IV
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: Action
Price: £49.99
Hit count: 5/5
It’s no understatement to say that GTA IV is the most eagerly anticipated title that the gaming world has ever seen.
There’s no way you can sum up the amount of laugh-out-loud moments, adrenalin-fuelled car chases, ear-splitting shootouts and other jaw-dropping stand-out experiences that come bundled into the return to a living, breathing Liberty City.
Everything about GTA IV oozes class and that all-important attention to detail and there are few people – Mary Whitehouse characters aside – that can dispute this is the greatest videogame of all-time. Enjoy.
Title: Turok
Platform: PC
Genre: Shooter
Price: £24.99
Hit count: 3/5
Hunting dinosaurs hasn’t been high on the gaming agenda for a while, but it returns to PC with an assault on the first-person-shooter senses, giving gamers carte blanche to go on an all-out attack on the human and prehistoric enemies that lie in wait.
No shortage of fabulous weaponry and killing moves breathe new life into the well-worn genre, but slightly grubby graphics take the tarnish off what is an otherwise, if a little linear, solid shooter.
Rip off your shirt, paint your face, and go seriously native!
Title: Iron Man
Platform: PS3
Genre: Action
Price: £49.99
Hit count: 3/5
Robert Downey Junior has reprised the role of the classic comic character for the latest big-budget superhero movie and here, in this third-person action shooter, you’re thrown into stories from the original Iron Man comic books and given an array of high-impact weapons to annihilate any enemy force standing in your way.
It’s an entertaining attempt to give movie tie-ins a good name and will keep the comic fans pretty happy, but overall Iron Man doesn’t deliver anything to the action genre that we haven’t seen many times before.
Title: My Riding Stables
Platform: Nintendo DS
Genre: Horses
Price: £29.99
Hit count: 3/5
In an attempt to provide some kind of cosmic balance to the gaming world, titles like My Riding Stables take players as far away as they could possibly be from Liberty City, the home of Grand Theft Auto.
Forget the guns and get ahead as a stable hand, raising sweet little foals and taking excellent care of your guests.
Give outstanding riding lessons and prepare your horses and students perfectly, so that they become the riding stars of the future.
If you’re already snoozing, you’ll know this isn’t for you, but gamers too young for GTA may see things differently!
Title: Undercover: Dual Motives
Platform: Nintendo DS
Genre: Adventure
Price: £29.99
Hit count: 3/5
It’s just the kind of point and click adventure packed with puzzles and mini-games that DS gamers have been crying out for, and were probably expecting to have buckets to choose from when the system was announced.
As a prequel to PC title Undercover: Operation Wintersun, you take British scientist Dr. John Russell on a wild chase for a German nuclear bomb in the middle of the Second World War.
It’s classic adventure gaming style, with one particular game requiring you to blow into the DS microphone to fire weapons!
Good, inventive adventure gaming that the DS should do much more often.
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