There are different levels within the game with different things that you have to do.  For starters, there is Classic mode where there is no time limit.  Slice as many fruits as you can, but don’t let any drop and don’t hit any bombs.  If you hit a bomb or let more than three fruits drop, the game is ended.  There is also Zen mode where you have 90 seconds and no bombs.  You can drop as many fruit as you like and not get penalized.  Lastly, there is Arcade mode in which there are special things that you have to hit.  In Arcade mode there are still bombs, but they don’t end the game, they only take ten points off your score.  Also in Arcade mode, the bananas have special powers.  There is Frenzy where tons of fruit is thrown at you without any bombs.  Double Points is literally what it sounds like, when you slice the fruit you get two points for each piece of fruit that you slice instead of one.  Finally, there is Freeze in which everything gets frosted over, and it is in slow motion.  But be careful, because each banana only lasts for so long.

In Fruit Ninja you can unlock different backgrounds and blades by doing certain things.  My favorite blade is the Butterfly Blade.  To unlock it you have to get 40 combos with strawberries (trust me, it’s much easier than it sounds).  I also like the Disco Blade in which you have to slice 50 bananas.  My favorite background is the Yin Yang background.  To unlock this you have to slice 75 passion fruits.  There is also the Mr. Sparkle Blade, Old Glory Blade, Flame Blade, and Ice Blade.  For the backgrounds there is also the I Heart Sensei background, Great Wave background, and the Fruit Ninja background.

Fruit Ninja is a very exciting game.  It is a perfect game for people of any age and is available on the iPad, iPod touch, iPhone, and just about any smart phone with a touch screen for only $0.99.  If you were asking around for a new app to play, I would suggest Fruit Ninja.  Have fun and watch out for bombs.

Buck and the Coin of Destiny

The story mode is easy. Really easy. Beat it in one sitting easy. Arcade mode is much harder. All the obstacles and enemies are the same, but you start with far less life energy than in story mode.

There are just four levels and this game will not become your life-long obsession, but it is a fun little platform game the likes of which generally are not available for such a paltry sum. One feature that I enjoyed is the way the levels are generated randomly, so the layout is different every time you play.

The story itself is cute. Spoiler-that-no-one-will-care-about alert: There will be a sequel. After you fight your way through the pirates, monsters, and other assorted enemies, an unseen hand makes off with the aforementioned Coin of Destiny, leaving poor Buck no better off than when he started on his epic quest.

Buck and the Coin of Destiny is available from Apple’s App Store and is compatible with iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad. It is appropriate for all ages. The story mode is easy enough for my four-year-old, arcade mode is challenging enough to keep the nine-year-old’s interest. Their dad likes the winnability of the story mode more than the challenge of the arcade mode.

The Kinect system is a horizontal bar that is connected to a small base with a motorized pivot. It uses an “RGB camera, depth sensor, and multi-array microphone running proprietary software” that allows for facial recognition, voice recognition, and full-body 3D motion capture. Other systems such as the Wii do some of the things that the Kinect does, but the Kinect for Xbox 360 is the first of its kind to bring everything together to allow for natural user interface.

They first introduced the idea back in early June of 2009 as “Project Natal.” Microsoft had been trying to one-up the Wii and other interfaces when they stumbled upon the idea for the Kinect. It all fell into place when Microsoft hired Dr. Ilan Spillinger, VP of hardware and technology for Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business. He was in charge of developing an idea for Microsoft’s “next big thing” so they started looking into all natural user interfaces. At the same time, Microsoft was looking into 3D cameras and input systems. Everything fell into place when Microsoft started developing “Project Natal” around a design made by an Israeli company called PrimseSense. The PrimeSensor, as the technology is called, is made up of a CMOS image sensor, an infrared light source, and PrimeSense’s PS 1080 system-on-a-chip.  It is pretty much the guts of Kinect’s controller-free motion controls.

But does it work? Early results show that it is working and that it is almost ready to go. It is set to be released in the United States on November 4th, 2010 and it will run for about $150. However, you also have to have the Xbox in order to have this system.

It does seem like a fun thing to try though!

But that was then; this is now. With the introduction of more and more Kindle clones on the market, is the Kindle worth the premium price?

Sometimes, the original really is better than those that follow. It’s tough to argue that any portable music device that has followed the iPod can match the original in feature and function. But sometimes, the clones are every bit as good as the first entrant into the market, or at least offer a better value. A $400 DVD player is better than the $30 variety at Wal-Mart, but is it THAT much better?

Kindle is faced with competition on a number of fronts. The Augen Book Reader, for example, offers all the functionality of the Kindle and then some. Augen has bundled together a book reader and an MP3 player with a 7″ screen and a SD card reader.

Then there is the $29.99 Nintendo DS 100 Classic Books cartridge. Assuming you’ve already dropped the $150 or so for a Nintendo DS, there’s no better bargain than this on the market. Your thirty bucks gives you the software to turn the DS into a book reader as well as 100 all-time classic books like Great Expectations and Little Women. Such classic characters as Sherlock Holmes and Frankenstein’s Monster are included.

In addition to the 100 books included on the cartridge, there are ten more books available for download. Although Nintendo has not unveiled any expansion plans, the small number of downloads relative to the number of books pre-installed leads me to believe that there will be many more on the way.

Five million hours– that’s right, five million. This, of course, is an estimate from companies that use a time-tracking software. This software, used at companies such as Rescue Time (a software firm), observes where workers go online and for how long. Apparently, the average Google search is 11 seconds long and most people conduct about 22 searches a day. However, when Google put Pac-Man up, that average length went to 36 seconds! Doing some extrapolating and assuming that there are about 500+ million users who use Google on a daily basis, then that is about 5 million hours of “Google’ing”! Putting that into more of a perspective for you, 5 million hours is about 550 years! Translating this into a money value, this 5 million hours of work equates to $100 million if you use a $20/hour salary!

Marcin Wichary and Ryan Germick are the Googlers who are responsible for this Pac-Man Doodle. It is the first interactive Doodle ever created by Google, and it probably won’t be the last. It was also pretty close to the original version of Pac-Man; this made it even better! To play you had to click the “Insert Coin” button that is usually the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button. You then controlled Pac-Man by using the arrow keys. You could even swipe using your iPhone or Android! To make things even better, the Doodle makers inserted some fun things in the game. One was that you could tap the “insert Coin” button a few times and then Ms. Pac-Man would show up for some two-player fun. Also, if you managed to get to level 256, you would be greeted by the infamous killscreen. Fun huh?

To play the Doodle Pac-Man, click here!

Now, my primary question about them only has been if they are worth buying.  They have a variety of ups and downs and look really cool, but they tend to be pricey and aren’t always worth buying.

Pros:

• They rumble or vibrate like a controller does, which is very nice, as it keeps you alert and prevents sleep when playing an all-nighter.
• The chairs normally have speakers in them, giving you a movie theater type experience and adding fun.
• They are very, very comfortable!  They recline (a nice feature), some rock, and they are padded.   Most gaming chairs are a leather type material.
• There are chair custom made for racing games with built in shifter, steering wheel, and pedals set up like a real car.
• The headrests are great!  They are padded and are nice to sleep in, too. (Trust me).

There are some cons, though:

• Gaming chairs are very costly!  They range from about eighty dollars (US) to seven hundred dollars.  This is a ton of money for a chair!
• How often it shall be used plays a big factor.  If you only use your gaming system for two hours every day, is a chair just for gaming truly worth it?
• Positioning is important, as the rocker styled ones are very low to the ground, so being near a TV may strain your neck.

So, in the end, is it worth it?  In my eyes, no.  If you have to spend two hundred fifty dollars (US) to buy a quality one, it isn’t worth it.  I could buy four or five new games for that!  Also, the room it would go in is not set up in a practical manner for one.  But it is your call, not mine, so you choose.

With the creation of laptops also came the creation of portable accessories to compliment those with an on-the-go lifestyle. Arguably one of the greatest portable assets is the portable and external hard drive. External hard drives provide an excellent way to store and transfer files between many different devices.

External hard drives can be plugged into all types of computers and used to transfer, but for the most part store, files. This means that any type of electronic device that can utilize the external hard drive’s interface (USB, eSATA, Firewire) can access the files on the device. You can store a large variety of files to transfer from one computer to another. You can store music and movies and then connect the hard drive to a gaming console and interact with the media on your TV. You even can backup important office or banking files and then copy protect or security protect the files so only one user can access them.

There are, of course, many ways to use an external hard drive. The biggest thing to note is that they provide many advantages. For the most part, everyone wants their important files to remain safe and backed up in the event of a hardware or file failure. After all, before computers most people knew to make copies of important documents and keep them in several places. The same holds true for computers and in many cases is very important. Even something just as simple as a power outage can cause serious problems in different circumstances, and thus ruin files stored on a computer.

The main technology behind the Wii Fit is actually the balance board. It can detect the slightest change in pressure and weight while you’re standing on it because of its sensitivity feature. Similar to its predecessor, the Wii Remote, the balance board is highly intuitive as soon as the exercise game is on. However, you should take note that the board can only handle 330 pounds in maximum capacity.

Fitness buffs shouldn’t think that Wii Fit is a weight-loss solution, though. This is because the technology focuses more on improving balance and muscle tone than weight loss exercises. It does let you know and keep track of your weight, BMI, and time spent using the game. With this type of feature, it becomes easier for you to determine your health status.

The board connects wirelessly to the Wii and uses four AA batteries. Its functionality is undeniable, and the manufacturers even integrated four rubber feet to prevent users from slipping on its surface. The Wii Fit is definitely a great alternative to going to the gym or joining an aerobics class that is 30 minutes away from your home. With this kind of technology at your disposal, there is no longer any excuse for you to put off exercising because it is boring or tedious.

Flash forward to 2008. While the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP now put console-quality gaming in your pocket, they represent quite an investment of cash. Instead, why not look into the VG Pocket Caplet?

The Caplet is a true heir to the pocket Donkey Kong of my youth, with a sale price right around $20 bucks. But instead of getting a single game that is about as compelling as your typical CSPAN broadcast, the Caplet bundles 20+ classic arcade games (of course, to save on licensing costs, many of the games are actually clones of the classics, much like the Vresace and Tommys Htilfiger goods you used to be able to buy in China).

The Caplet is a nifty way to relive arcade classics like Space Invaders and my wife’s personal favorite, Bust-a-Move. If you loved the old arcade games, or if you’re looking for a cheap way to kill time when you’re waiting for the train, check it out!

According to Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime: “It’s very gratifying to see gamers around the world continuing to show such enthusiasm and support for World of Warcraft. We’re always pleased to welcome new players to the game, and we’re looking forward to sharing the next major content update with the entire community in the months ahead.”