WONDERED why someone was outside your house recently taking pictures?
Well you don’t need to use Google’s search engine to find out why.
Google has just announced an extension to its Google Street View feature which will cover more than 95 per cent of UK roads.
From today, 360-degree pictures from Penzance to the Shetland islands will go online, encompassing nearly a quarter of a million miles of British roads.
Google’s Street View service has been available in 25 cities since last March, but the increased coverage makes an additional 210,000 miles of detailed mapping public.
Tomorrow’s launch means the UK will catch up with other European countries - such as Spain, France, and Italy – which already boast nationwide coverage.
Street View images are captured by Google’s car, fitted with a special panoramic camera on its roof.
Pedestrianised areas were shot with Google’s tricycle, including Stonehenge and the banks of Loch Ness.
Despite featuring images visible only from public roads, Street View has attracted critics who believe the detailed street-level information could be exploited by criminals.
And rightly so. While you can’t (yet...) zoom right in towards the front door of every property in the country, who’s to say it will stop now.
Google has taken some steps to preserve anonymity.Its technology automatically blurs number plates and faces and users can ask for their homes or cars to be removed.
But will everyone in the UK be checking the latest feature to check? I think not.
In the words of Fred Astaire: “There may be trouble ahead...”
Here's the latest game reviews:
Title: Alice In Wonderland
Platform: Wii
Genre: Adventure
Price: £29.99
Hit count: 4/5
A 3D big-screen outing, and Tim Burton directing one of the best-loved children’s stories of all time – it has been quite a renaissance for Alice In Wonderland in 2010.
And the video game is another welcome addition to the bundle as Lewis Carroll’s much-loved characters bring another dimension to what would otherwise be your run-of-the-mill action adventure title.
Hopping between characters such as the White Rabbit and the March Hare is as easy as pie.
Each boasts a range of magical powers, such as rewinding time and telekinesis, to help you solve various surreal puzzles in a range of ingenious and cleverly designed Wonderland levels.
Countless collectables, unlockable extra talents and, at its heart, a darn good storyline, with some familiar voices lending their acting prowess to proceedings, Alice is one amazing family adventure you won’t want to miss on Wii.
Title: Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Platform: PS3
Genre: Shooter
Price: £49.99
Hit count: 4/5
Epic shooters don’t come any bigger than another recent release with a 2 at the end of it, so Battlefield: Bad Company 2 has got a pretty hefty challenge to make a name for itself so soon after probably the best FPS we’ve ever seen – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
And, it does a remarkably good job.
An engaging, if a little short, single-player campaign serves as the perfect entree to where the real action’s at – online.
While you may be afforded a little time to gape and coo at the truly stunning environments and vistas you’ll encounter on your single-player run-through, you’d better be on your toes when you team up.
It’s brilliant large-scale battling at its best, with vehicles coming into play, as well as the creation of mini-strike forces tasked with specific objectives that all feed into your side’s masterplan.
And, with the fully destructible environments creating all sorts of opportunities for mayhem masterminds, Bad Company 2 actually provides good, tactical company to its Modern Warfare competitor.
Title: Final Fantasy XIII
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: RPG
Price: £49.99
Hit count: 4/5
OK, if you’re already a big Final Fantasy fan, it won’t really matter what you read in this review, you’ll have already pre-ordered it and be rubbing your hands at the prospect of hour upon hour of new Japanese role-playing action.
For everyone else, what do you need to know?
Well, in FF13, you’ll embark on an epic journey through the cityworld of Cocoon and the outerworld of Pulse, mixing fantasy weaponry and the might of magic to progress, and finally face, your destiny.
It’s all played out in classic over the top J-RPG style, with truly stunning production values – the graphics, sound and storyline all reach epic proportions, and it’s a captivating single-player experience.
Whether you’ll go back for another bash after completion is another matter, but it’s still a must-buy title for anyone with an RPG obsession.
Title: Yakuza 3
Platform: PS3
Genre: Action
Price: £49.99
Hit count: 4/5
Modern-day Japan once again proves to be an engrossing backdrop to the next cinematic chapter in this well-received gaming saga, which continues to offer players an authentic, gritty and often violent story to absorb themselves in.
The city you explore lives and breathes as much as any sandbox title you might have seen since GTA IV, such as the ever-changing menus at street restaurants - it’s attention to detail to the nth degree.
At its core, though, is an extremely enjoyable and adult story that once again proves that the line between cinematic experiences and gaming experiences is too fine to see anymore.
It’s easy to be distracted by one of the 100-plus side-missions, or the fantastic mini-games from Mahjong, but when you return to the main game, it’s still as impressive as ever.
This game proves that exploration and combat in a thriving, detailed environment remains a potent recipe for gaming success.
Title: The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces
Platform: Wii
Genre: Aerial combat
Price: £34.99
Hit count: 4/5
Anyone who’s a fan of the Ace Combat series should be rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of getting the Wiimote and nunchuk in their hands for another dose of flight fun and frolics from the team who brought you those great air combat experiences.
Taking inspiration from five manga novels, Innocent Aces is fab, sending you out on a variety of missions to bomb targets or take part in some monumental dogfights with enemy planes.
Control-wise, the traditional method may give you a touch more finesse, but using the nunchuk is so much more realistic, if a little harder to master. Graphically, it’s a bit below par, but this shouldn’t put you off taking your place in the cockpit for Japanese anime aerial action.
Title: Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition
Platform: PS3
Genre: Action
Price: £49.99
Hit count: 4/5
The Resident Evil series has rarely disappointed, so the prospect of a fifth outing on next-generation consoles unsurprisingly sparked excited twitching in the thumbs of gamers ready to engross themselves in the next biohazard threat - this time in Africa.
Here, the latest bioterrorism threat is literally transforming the people and animals of the city into mindless, maddened creatures and, joined by a new partner, Sheva Alomar, you can bring Chris some much-needed assistance, by using a revolutionary new two-player co-op mode of gameplay.
Gone are some of the creepy spine-tingling jump-out-of-your seat moments that lingered in the darkness of the early versions – they are replaced by a greater emphasis on the action.
However, there are still more than enough thrills and spills to keep the franchise going strong, and you shouldn’t miss out on this African adventure, which also includes access to eight new characters for play in the game’s Mercenary mode, as part of its gold edition bundle.
Title: Sonic Classic Collection
Platform: Nintendo DS
Genre: Action
Price: £24.99
Hit count: 3/5
Still one of the best-loved video game characters to ever be created, it’s time to dip into Sonic’s archives in this classic collection which allows fans both old and new to speed through the much-loved zones of the four original Mega Drive adventures.
They’ve been optimised to take full advantage of the Nintendo DS system, and feature a new ’save anywhere’ capability, which means you don’t need to glue yourself to your DS for hours on end to get through certain levels.
Extras video and collectable pictures add the obligatory additional content to the cartridge, while the games themselves still play pretty well, save for a spot of screen squashing here and there to emulate SEGA Genesis visuals.
Hours of fun for new and old blue hedgehog fans alike.
GAMES CHART: ALL FORMATS FULL PRICE
1. Battlefield: Bad Company 2
2. Just Dance
3. Aliens Vs Predator
4. Heavy Rain
5. Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing
6. Wii Fit Plus
7. Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
8. Wii Sports Resort
9. FIFA 10
10. New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (c) ELSPA (UK) Ltd
ends
Thursday 11 March 2010
Tuesday 2 March 2010
Returning to a time without consoles
Something very strange happened last night. Within seconds I was taken back to a forgotten time... a time when I went to primary school, had a silly haircut and enjoyed playing sports on the moors with other kids my age.
This was also a time when my household didn't have a games console or the like.
Last night Sony's PlayStation Network decided it didn't want to work anymore. Along with the thousands - if not millions - of gamers across the world, I was suddenly lost. I didn't know what to do.
In the last couple of years I have given up on watching TV because it's just pants (with the exception of Horizon and strangely Masterchef if only to see that bald dude keep the spoon in his mouth for an obscene amount of time), I don't really play a lot of sport and I'm not a big drinker.
I quite happily see my girlfriend, but other than that I like to immerse myself in something other-worldly.
The way I see it I spend all day every day talking and communicating, so the last thing I want to do is talk some more. This is my release and my down time.
So last night, when that joy was taken away from me like someone blowing out a candle, I struggled to cope.
All of a sudden I began to suggest alternative things to get stuck in to - like reading a book or doing the hoovering.
Jeez, my existence is questionable.
So thankfully today that technical problem has been fixed.
The bug hit at midnight on Sunday as the clock in the "fat" model of the console tried to recognise 2010 as a leap year.
Fans saw the console’s date reset to January 1 2000 and were unable to connect to the online gaming system PlayStation Network.
Sony had urged owners of the model to stop using the machine as it could result in errors in some functions or the loss of data.
The problem did not affect the newer slim PS3 model.
Patrick Seybold, spokesman for Sony, said on the PlayStation blog: "We are aware that the internal clock functionality in the PS3 units other than the slim model recognised the year 2010 as a leap year.
"Having the internal clock date change from February 29 to March 1 – both GMT - we have verified that the symptoms are now resolved and that users are able to use their PS3 normally."
In the hope that the problem doesn't resurface, why not try these latest releases?
Title: Heavy Rain
Platform: PS3
Genre: Adventure
Price: £49.99
Hit count: 5/5
If Heavy Rain is likely to teach you two things about video games, they will be: 1) Games have come an incredibly long way from the days of Space Invaders and Pac Man; and 2) We’re entering a strange territory in this world, where the boundaries between video game and movie are truly being transcended.
Heavy Rain is an outstanding, adult adventure, which puts you in control of the four protagonists on the tail of a serial murderer called the Origami Killer. Why is it so amazing?
It makes you genuinely care, for one, and graphically the facial animations of the characters are so lifelike you could be forgiven for thinking you were watching a film.
This is a stunning looking game, which serves to only ramp up the immersion further as you make your way through a story that will twist and turn according to your own decisions, and provide almost everyone who plays it with a unique experience they won’t forget for a long, long time.
Title: Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: Racing
Price: £39.99
Hit count: 4/5
There’s no doubt that Mario Kart in its various guises on successive systems has been celebrating atop the cartoon racer podium for many years now.
Now, there’s a serious challenger on 360 and PS3 to rival Nintendo’s diddy racing dominance, as you enter the frantic battle to the chequered flag with Sonic and friends, speeding around tracks set in medieval castle ramparts, lush rainforests and bustling cities, all taken from the familiar universes of Sonic and SEGA.
All the tricks, twists and turns are there, in the shape of custom-built vehicles for different characters, secret shortcuts, swift handling and specific All Star moves – such as Super Sonic, Banana Blitz and Tails Tornado – that allows a quick way for you to get back into the race!
There’s no doubt this is a worthy adversary to Mario, and certainly the best kart racer you can buy on either of these systems, but in the grand scheme of things, the plumbers remain in pole position.
Title: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
Platform: Wii
Genre: Survival Horror
Price: £34.99
Hit count: 4/5
The Silent Hill series has been around for more than a decade, so now is probably a good time to go back to its roots, and at the same time, ’re-imagine’ the world that we were first introduced to all those years ago with a car crash on the outskirts of a strange town.
The first thing to note here is the superb Wii gameplay mechanics that feel as natural as they are effective.
Point the remote around the screen and you have your flashlight, independent of your character movement with the nunchuk. You can also take mobile phone calls through the speaker of your Wiimote too – it may look stupid, but it feels so right. And you’ll need these devices, as there are no weapons to help you through this eerie, adult story, which serves only to heighten the feeling of helplessness.
That’s only to the credit of the writers, who provide a nightmarish succession of psychologically disturbing scenarios that will thrill and chill in equal measure. The series, it seems, is in safe hands.
Title: Way of the Samurai 3
Platform: PS3
Genre: Action/Adventure
Price: £39.99
Hit count: 4/5
A cracking prospect – take the role of a samurai and choose your own path, blazing a trail of honour, loyalty and respect or one of villainy, corruption and greed. In a series best known for its high level of freedom and play style, fans won’t be disappointed here, as the slick sword-fighting combat system combines superbly with the open world exploration akin to the Grand Theft Auto series.
Wrapped around all this is a storyline that will take you down many different paths, with 15 different endings, giving the decisions you make during the game even more significance. Yes, the graphics could do with a bit more polish here and there, and some of the menu navigation aspects are a little frustrating, but overall, this visit to Japan’s Sengoku period is one well worth making. An excellent adventure all round.
Title: Lips: Party Classics
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: Music
Price: £24.99
Hit count: 4/5
Lips is the real deal for karaoke-style gaming on the 360, with wireless microphones allowing you to not only prove that you’re a Leona Lewis or Dizzee Rascal in the making, but also groove to the tunes without getting yourself all tangled up.
There’s no doubt you’ll get in a spin over the staggering collection of tracks on this Party Classics disc, as around 40 tunes span genres and generations to ensure there’s more than enough to cater for all music tastes.
From The Righteous Brothers to Right Said Fred, Nancy Sinatra to New Order, the whole family can get involved, as Xbox 360 controllers double up as a variety of percussion accompaniments, too, rather than you just sitting there watching the tune pass by.
It’s a nice touch that adds to the party experience and overall, this is a fab development of the Lips series.
GAMES CHART: ALL FORMATS FULL PRICE
1. Aliens Vs Predator
2. Just Dance
3. BioShock 2
4. New Super Mario Bros. Wii
5. FIFA 10
6. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
7. Wii Sports Resort
8. Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Winter Games
9. Wii Fit Plus
10. Army of Two: The 40th Day
Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (c) ELSPA (UK) Ltd
This was also a time when my household didn't have a games console or the like.
Last night Sony's PlayStation Network decided it didn't want to work anymore. Along with the thousands - if not millions - of gamers across the world, I was suddenly lost. I didn't know what to do.
In the last couple of years I have given up on watching TV because it's just pants (with the exception of Horizon and strangely Masterchef if only to see that bald dude keep the spoon in his mouth for an obscene amount of time), I don't really play a lot of sport and I'm not a big drinker.
I quite happily see my girlfriend, but other than that I like to immerse myself in something other-worldly.
The way I see it I spend all day every day talking and communicating, so the last thing I want to do is talk some more. This is my release and my down time.
So last night, when that joy was taken away from me like someone blowing out a candle, I struggled to cope.
All of a sudden I began to suggest alternative things to get stuck in to - like reading a book or doing the hoovering.
Jeez, my existence is questionable.
So thankfully today that technical problem has been fixed.
The bug hit at midnight on Sunday as the clock in the "fat" model of the console tried to recognise 2010 as a leap year.
Fans saw the console’s date reset to January 1 2000 and were unable to connect to the online gaming system PlayStation Network.
Sony had urged owners of the model to stop using the machine as it could result in errors in some functions or the loss of data.
The problem did not affect the newer slim PS3 model.
Patrick Seybold, spokesman for Sony, said on the PlayStation blog: "We are aware that the internal clock functionality in the PS3 units other than the slim model recognised the year 2010 as a leap year.
"Having the internal clock date change from February 29 to March 1 – both GMT - we have verified that the symptoms are now resolved and that users are able to use their PS3 normally."
In the hope that the problem doesn't resurface, why not try these latest releases?
Title: Heavy Rain
Platform: PS3
Genre: Adventure
Price: £49.99
Hit count: 5/5
If Heavy Rain is likely to teach you two things about video games, they will be: 1) Games have come an incredibly long way from the days of Space Invaders and Pac Man; and 2) We’re entering a strange territory in this world, where the boundaries between video game and movie are truly being transcended.
Heavy Rain is an outstanding, adult adventure, which puts you in control of the four protagonists on the tail of a serial murderer called the Origami Killer. Why is it so amazing?
It makes you genuinely care, for one, and graphically the facial animations of the characters are so lifelike you could be forgiven for thinking you were watching a film.
This is a stunning looking game, which serves to only ramp up the immersion further as you make your way through a story that will twist and turn according to your own decisions, and provide almost everyone who plays it with a unique experience they won’t forget for a long, long time.
Title: Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: Racing
Price: £39.99
Hit count: 4/5
There’s no doubt that Mario Kart in its various guises on successive systems has been celebrating atop the cartoon racer podium for many years now.
Now, there’s a serious challenger on 360 and PS3 to rival Nintendo’s diddy racing dominance, as you enter the frantic battle to the chequered flag with Sonic and friends, speeding around tracks set in medieval castle ramparts, lush rainforests and bustling cities, all taken from the familiar universes of Sonic and SEGA.
All the tricks, twists and turns are there, in the shape of custom-built vehicles for different characters, secret shortcuts, swift handling and specific All Star moves – such as Super Sonic, Banana Blitz and Tails Tornado – that allows a quick way for you to get back into the race!
There’s no doubt this is a worthy adversary to Mario, and certainly the best kart racer you can buy on either of these systems, but in the grand scheme of things, the plumbers remain in pole position.
Title: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
Platform: Wii
Genre: Survival Horror
Price: £34.99
Hit count: 4/5
The Silent Hill series has been around for more than a decade, so now is probably a good time to go back to its roots, and at the same time, ’re-imagine’ the world that we were first introduced to all those years ago with a car crash on the outskirts of a strange town.
The first thing to note here is the superb Wii gameplay mechanics that feel as natural as they are effective.
Point the remote around the screen and you have your flashlight, independent of your character movement with the nunchuk. You can also take mobile phone calls through the speaker of your Wiimote too – it may look stupid, but it feels so right. And you’ll need these devices, as there are no weapons to help you through this eerie, adult story, which serves only to heighten the feeling of helplessness.
That’s only to the credit of the writers, who provide a nightmarish succession of psychologically disturbing scenarios that will thrill and chill in equal measure. The series, it seems, is in safe hands.
Title: Way of the Samurai 3
Platform: PS3
Genre: Action/Adventure
Price: £39.99
Hit count: 4/5
A cracking prospect – take the role of a samurai and choose your own path, blazing a trail of honour, loyalty and respect or one of villainy, corruption and greed. In a series best known for its high level of freedom and play style, fans won’t be disappointed here, as the slick sword-fighting combat system combines superbly with the open world exploration akin to the Grand Theft Auto series.
Wrapped around all this is a storyline that will take you down many different paths, with 15 different endings, giving the decisions you make during the game even more significance. Yes, the graphics could do with a bit more polish here and there, and some of the menu navigation aspects are a little frustrating, but overall, this visit to Japan’s Sengoku period is one well worth making. An excellent adventure all round.
Title: Lips: Party Classics
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: Music
Price: £24.99
Hit count: 4/5
Lips is the real deal for karaoke-style gaming on the 360, with wireless microphones allowing you to not only prove that you’re a Leona Lewis or Dizzee Rascal in the making, but also groove to the tunes without getting yourself all tangled up.
There’s no doubt you’ll get in a spin over the staggering collection of tracks on this Party Classics disc, as around 40 tunes span genres and generations to ensure there’s more than enough to cater for all music tastes.
From The Righteous Brothers to Right Said Fred, Nancy Sinatra to New Order, the whole family can get involved, as Xbox 360 controllers double up as a variety of percussion accompaniments, too, rather than you just sitting there watching the tune pass by.
It’s a nice touch that adds to the party experience and overall, this is a fab development of the Lips series.
GAMES CHART: ALL FORMATS FULL PRICE
1. Aliens Vs Predator
2. Just Dance
3. BioShock 2
4. New Super Mario Bros. Wii
5. FIFA 10
6. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
7. Wii Sports Resort
8. Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Winter Games
9. Wii Fit Plus
10. Army of Two: The 40th Day
Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (c) ELSPA (UK) Ltd
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