Playstation 2
By Paper or plastic
A
recent survey among computer owners produced the following results
a massive three quarters of the interviewees claimed to have come
across Jordan Mechnar's PRINCE OF PERSIA during their initial years
of purchase of a computer. Yep. That's right. Most of us have maneuvered
the prince through his diverse adventures and endured a decade or
more waiting for successive addendums. An abortive effort was made
to satisfy our craving for the prince but unfortunately PRINCE OF
PERSIA 3D was not sufficient, abandoning us in abysmal despair.
However gamers can now breathe again
for after an excruciating hiatus, the prince has returned once more
determined to mesmerize gamers ranging from old-schools to newbies
and pay homage to its classic originator. The prince introduces an
impressive repertoire of acrobatic moves and ornate scimitars and
an arcane dagger hosting some of the notorious sands of time, which
presents its owner with the throne of command of the delirious forces
of time - nice. The fluidity and finesse with which the prince performs
his somersaults and 'wall-runs' are nothing short of outstanding crediting
his awe-inspiring (if not ridiculous) techniques with none other than
the renowned PS2 game-pad. The sarcasm and humor the prince provides
gamers is perfectly compatible with his affable personality and often
reduces tension during intense situations (it was not without reason
that it gained laurels amongst other voice-acting nominees).
THE SANDS OF TIME once again finds
the prince in a formidable situation he would rather not be in; of
course the problem is his own doing. Mom always said, 'If you
release the sands of time, which turns everyone within a palace into
vicious monsters, because you were gullible enough to believe what
some treacherous Vizier told you, then you deserve what you get!'
right so to speak. However the prince is not alone a devious
Farah aids him in his quest for redemption. And Farah is (?) the princess
of a conquered Kingdom where the Dagger of Time once resided. And
she's in dire need of a makeover so that's one heck of a reason not
to purchase the game I mean where's the fun if the princess has more
facial hair than the prince? (incase confusion arises - Farah's the
one in red).
The
visuals are an absolute delicacy for the eyes. The labyrinth gothic
palace and the engraved hieroglyphics on various structures are gorgeous;
and the gigantic rooms and intricate Persian furniture are amazing.
Although the character models are not among the greatest (since when
did UBISOFT give kindergarten kids the responsibility of drawing characters
in their games?), the pace of the game more than compensates for the
graphical deficiency. Of course SPLINTER CELL was a game under UBISOFT
and as Sam Fisher changes his outfit ever so often - so does the prince
(kinda). The prince's attire doesn't change but instead converts into
a beleaguered combat-endured outfit, which gives him a more 'Hero'
appearance. THE SANDS OF TIME presents gamers with multiple camera
angles. However, their efforts have been in vain for getting around
certain situations is difficult and time-consuming often intimidating
gamers to perpetrate some depraved acts on their PS2s something to
regret in the future.
The FINAL FANTASY series are renowned
for presenting some of the greatest unrivaled audio in gaming. However,
the audio in THE SANDS OF TIME definitely provides strong competition,
accurately punctuating every situation whether in a confrontation
against monsters, or during solving a brain-teasing puzzle an apt
addition to the game inspiring gamers to purchase the soundtrack.
THE SANDS OF TIME possesses the ingredients
for a great game a blend of romance, drama, irony, betrayal and a
load of monsters beggin' for a whoopin'. So what else do you need?
ALl you Batman fans out there have
something really cool to look out for except you gotta wait for about
a year. The new movie is coming out on June 17th, 2005.
Synopsis: A new beginning
for the Dark Knight, focusing on his younger days and pitting him
against the international nemesis Ra's Al Ghul, as well as the nefarious
Dr. Jonathan Crane, known to comic fans as The Scarecrow. This film
examines 
Batman's
origin, and circumstances lead him
away from Gotham City and off to London, utilizing his skills as a
detective as he tracks down the shady but brilliant Al Ghul.
Starring: Christian
Bale, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman, Liam
Neeson, Ken Watanabe, Cillian Murphy
Directed by: Christopher
Nolan
By Niloy
This mobile proves that the value
of beauty is almost worthless. This very phone is alleged to be "the
best looking phone out there" by most critics. However, as with
most other beautiful things, its beauty is only skin-deep. The phone
comes with a host of reliability and reception problems.
Features:
Colour screen
WAP 1.2.1 (GPRS)
MMS & EMS
2 Games plus Java downloadable games
10 Polyphonic ringtones (16-voice) + facility to download more
Infrared modem
Voice control and voice recorder
Weight: 79g
Size: 82 x 45 x 22 mm
Standby Time: 200 hours
Talktime: up to 3 hours
Pros: The best looking
phone in the world. You would probably agree about this too. And the
ring tones aren't so bad either. After pressing a key, the mobile
does seem to response, although after a few seconds.
Cons: Absolutely
everything else. The software frequently crashes, deletes everything
in it (address book entries, messages, pictures, downloads etc.),
bad reception, faint colour display, agonizingly slow key response…
and many others. No camera (you can buy an attachable one, though),
no radio. Games take ages to load.
We can only pray to almighty God that Siemens would actually test
their mobiles before marketing them.
By Niloy
Recently,
my dear readers were sending me requests, lots of them. They were
requesting sites about hacking, sites with more "mature"
content, sites about music, bands and hot celebrities, sites with
"illegal" downloads (warez sites, not porn) and surprisingly,
or maybe not so surprisingly, sites about O' and A' levels. And there
were more, a lot more, but they weren't requests that I cannot fulfill.
I must beg for forgiveness, as it's indeed a crime not to fulfill
requests, which people send by wasting their valuable time (and money:
internet is quite costly here at Bangladesh).
I've never liked hacking much. Yes,
I know that it's fun to hack into your best friends email account
and send a nasty email to his girlfriend. But I've never been tempted
to do anything like that (after all, he's my best buddy!). In my opinion,
Internet is the result of mankind's feeble attempt to create the satisfying
illusion that we're in control, that we are not weak, not pitiful
insignificant creatures without any reason or purpose. Hacking, on
the other hand, is an excellent way of destroying that illusion. Shattering
that illusion is one of the cruelest things we can do to ourselves.
As for the warez sites, they are illegal.
We here at the Daily Stars are not supposed to support anything illegal.
Well, of course, I can slip in a few warez sites at times, but I really
shouldn't. It's something like using the "F" word in the
Rising Stars. Recently, we carried out a small protest at the RS demanding
the right of being able to use the magic word (if Times and Reader's
Digest are allowed, then we should be allowed too). And naturally,
we were not allowed. Still, we can slip the word in at times without
detection, but we really shouldn't do that. Honestly though, I do
visit warez sites once in a while, although I hate being bombarded
by porn ads while looking for a piece of pirated software.
The
Internet is a world for people to cherish their dreams, to indulge
in their interests and, well, to seek information. But Internet isn't
for teenagers who wish to study (although, little kids and adults
will find the internet a nice place for learning). According to Mr.
Internet, teenagers are supposed to "enjoy the time of their
life" and not to study. Maybe that's the reason why there aren't
good sites about O' and A' levels. I faced this situation last April,
when trying to find sites that would help me with my exams at May,
I only found one "merely satisfactory" site: the official
EdExcell site. So folks, there won't be any helpful "study"
sites in the Sites Unseen, because there aren't any sites like that.
But if you know about any such site, please let me know. I would really
love to be proved wrong about this.
Stuff to discover
library.thinkquest.org/TQ0312238/
Our brains are possibly the most powerful computers in the world ("possibly"
because, any alien could have left his computer in earth). It provides
us with sensation, it governs our thoughts, and it drives us to explore
our desires; it is the human brain. This organ is so simple and yet
so complex, and at the same time embodies an unsurpassed fragility.
But most importantly, the human brain has a unique desire to learn
about itself and it endeavors never to rest until the ultimate truth
of its existence is revealed. Visit this site and satisfy your brain's
subtle desire of discovering itself.
Stuff to watch
www.notesfromtheroad.com
Here's what makes a site worth watching: excellent pictures, nice
interface and fast loading. This site has it all. So it's somewhat
worth watching. But what makes it more appealing is the fact that
all of the pictures in this site is taken on the go (on roads, in
journeys). And these pictures are accompanied with small notes jotted
down just after snapping them. Nice experience.
Stuff to download
www.download.com
I was shocked and surprised when I found out that so few people know
about this site. I mean, this is the best download site out there…
so why bother rummaging through random freeware sites and google's
pages when you can visit this site and find the required software
easily? This site has a HUGE collection of softwares, tons of user
reviews and discretions about them and, well, almost everything else
you would expect from the best download site.
Get
a break now
moma.org/exhibitions/2004/tallbuildings/
And learn about the tall buildings out there. All the skyscrapers
are detailed here, even the ones in the near future and past (World
Trade Centre). Brilliant photos marked by the slick flash interface,
makes the experience enjoyable. You should bookmark this site for
a while.
Then fell happy
www.crush007.com
This is one that would make you smile your evilest smile. It'll help
you to play an evil little prank on your friends. That's it. I'm not
saying anything more… I don't want to spoil your fun. Check out for
yourself!
Or get sad
www.johnfmartin.net
One man's desperate struggle against his kidney failure, neatly described
and photographed by a photojournalist. "When I learned my kidneys
were failing, I turned to the Web for more information. I was disappointed
in what I found. While there are a ton of sites filled with statistics
and jargon about renal failure and countless kidney organizations
and support groups, there was no detailed story of one person's battle
with kidney failure, dialysis and transplant. I was looking for someone's
complete story that could give me some idea of what was ahead."
That's all for this Sites Unseen.
Hope you enjoyed is as much as I did. Anyway, if you are interested
about any particular subject, let me know (niloyx@yahoo.com). I might
just have a good link for you.
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