Google maps out its street plan

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