A New Level in Gaming

Those of us of a certain age can remember a time when computer gaming signified all the excitement inherent in a game of Pong, that toe-curlingly breathtaking game where one or two players hit a computerized ball against a computerized wall or between tow, you guessed it, computerized paddles. While those early days of gaming were exciting enough for a generation to whom all this technology was new, today’s gamers are merely bemused by what used to pass for a good time. But then they’re used to so much more, a fact exemplified perfectly by the 2005 pre-Christmas release of Microsoft’s Xbox 360.

Computer gaming has come a long way in the last twenty years. From iconic Atari Pac-man who chomped through a screen of varying two-dimensional foes, gaming today is now barely recognizable as the same species of fun. Today an enormous variety of games include graphics that are startlingly life-life and storylines complex enough to sustain film versions of the same plot, creating a leisure activity so immediate and thrilling that it satisfies the urges of the most dedicated adrenaline junkie.

The Xbox 360 exemplifies all that is possible in today’s gaming world. With powerful graphic and audio capabilities, this console offers a gaming experience that is second to none. And as developments in the world of technology allow functional lines to be easily crossed, the Xbox 360 also offers much more than those old Atari games ever could.

With the release of the Xbox 360, Microsoft also revamped their Xbox live, the service that allows gamers to connect to the Internet and thereby to one another, creating their own personal profile and gaming history and buddy lists that allow communication between fellow gamers. As well as this high quality gaming experience, and the ability to share it with others, the Xbox 360 also acts as a larger media center, allowing users to download movies, music and pictures, on top of playing movies on DVD and music CDs.

With the release of the Xbox 360, many reviewers argue that Microsoft has set a new standard for gaming. And with a variety of functions and an enormous array of games to choose from, there is little doubt that this new standard will not disappoint.

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Becoming A Game Tester

We have seen a record number of requests at Skeptic-Reviews from people wanting to know if this was for real and could any of these products really help someone to start making money while playing video games?

After doing our own independant research, joining some sites and reviewing the information, the truth is, there is a huge explosion in the need for game tester jobs. As video game sales skyrocket year after year, game developers need more and more game testers to go through levels, try out new characters and just play the game. Most games today have a multiplayer aspect to them and this requires extensive game testing to fine tune for release. For this, game developers will pay good money per hour to have these projects tested and re-tested again. The hard part is getting in with these groups to be a part of that labor force for the developers.

We discovered the game industry does these things in a certain way and they also have sources they go to for hords of game testers. Being a member of one of these clubs or joining a group of game testers is how you get your foot in the door to start making money for testing video games.

After some initial research we were able to aquire the information on dozens of products and clubs that claim to help you get started as a game tester. Only three made it to the review, the others were deemed to be scams and not worth any mention. We will save you the heartache and frustration of being ripped off by following our recommendation to one of the valid services we discovered below.

The following sites offer the best possible opportunities for becoming a full or part time "Game Tester".

We reviewed each one and the following is what we found:


Product 1 - Game Tester Guide

We were impressed by this program because the founder of this group is a game tester himself and has been making money doing this for some time now. His expert guidance was very helpful.

Game Tester Guide is a little different because it offers a one time membership fee of $44.95 but, that gets you in for life. This seems like a pretty good deal, then we dig further.

This program basically does it all for you! From the initial setup of your gamer profile to getting you submitted for the video game testing jobs. Then, you receive the games in the mail to play. Once you play them, there is a survey that you have to fill out and return. After you submit the review, they send you a check for your time!

We really liked Game Tester Guide because it had a lifetime membership, it was easy to get started and was realistic on the amount you will actually get paid to do this kind of job.

We gave them an 9 out of 10 score for their product. If you would like to sign up and take advantage of the lifetime membership, see if you qualify by viewing our full review at our site below.



Product 2 - Gamer Testing Ground

Gamer Testing Ground is a another great program that provides all the information, support and hook ups to get started at game testing in a short period of time. We liked the access to unreleased game titles and the broad selection of game assignments. The game copies are a nice bonus to the game tester job.

This program provides a ton of inside resources that will help you become a game tester in short period of time. The insider contacts and information here are invaluable to someone seeking a tester position. This information is impossible to aquire by yourself and with the right contacts and resources this plan gets you the job! We liked it and within a week, with a little effort, we were actually playing games for money!

This one also seemed to have access to some very popular game releases and the most unreleased game titles out of the three. If your in it for game diversity, then this one is for you.

We gave them a 8 out of 10 for their product. If you would like to sign up and take advantage of the special offer they are running, please follow the link at the end of this article.


Product 3 - Only For Gamers

The initial reaction was good. We thought the webpage was good and we were excited to see what the difference was with this one.

Once signed up and looking for how this one compared, we were hit with a decent 3-step plan to get paid to play games. We followed the steps and sure enough we started getting in on some unreleased games that needed game testers, we followed the plan and we were hired on to test a game that has a new version coming out next year. After a week of testing, we got our first check!

Only 4 Gamers had a different approach than some of the others and is geared to the person wanting to start right now. We found the information great and it did help us get some awsome gigs playing games. We also made some nice cash doing it.

We gave them a 7 out of 10 score for their product. If you would like to sign up with this one, and get started in this business right away, please click the link to our site below.

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Beginner's Guide to Casino Bonuses

Beginners who want to get a head start on online gambling should go online and check out www.casinolistings.com. Casino Listings has great articles about anything and everything related to online gambling and a Beginner's Guide to Casino Bonuses. Are you planning to try out a new game? Check out the mechanics in Casino Listings’ wide range of gambling-related articles to see how the game works and what the potential rewards are. Are you thinking of going to another online casino? See if there are bonuses in store for you when you sign up or transfer.

Casino Listings, true to its name, has a comprehensive listing of casinos including bonuses, promos and rakebacks. What’s more, each listing comes with a rating for that casino as well as a review so you know how good that casino is beforehand.

Casino Listings also features a user forum where other online casino players share their experiences, tips and advice. And you can, too! Just register (don’t worry, it’s free) and start posting away.

Online gaming is all about refining your style and technique to a point that your winnings comfortably exceed your cash output. However, doing all that refining, testing and practicing yourself could turn out to be a costly process. Here’s where Casino Listings can help you save your money for free.

Casino Listings features articles and feature pieces that discuss many topics related to playing in online casinos. On Casino Listings, you can find articles about different kinds of online casino games, how they work and how to make the most money from each of them. Considering that the articles are free to view, a visit to Casino Listings could probably save you more money than a week’s worth of practice.

You can also get tips and advices from other players who’ve already refined their own styles and techniques in the game and succeeded. Veteran players and rookies alike post their experiences and opinions on the Casino Listings forum, so you’re sure to learn what and what not to do.

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Best Online Shooting Games

Shooting games are games where you shoot at things and people. You either have a mission to accomplish or you just have to pile up your kills and blow things up. Games can offer you shooting in planes or tanks, or just face to face shooting spree. Most of the online shooting games today are for free for you to enjoy. You will be surprised how many free online shooting games there are today. Shooting games are one of the many games created and played online.

Final Defense 2 is one of the most popular shooting game online. Like other games, it is for free. It is a simple yet fun and addictive game. In the game, you have a base where you have to defend it against a swarm of wave of enemies. Other than it is a shooting game, it is also a strategic game. When you kill your enemies, you are rewarded with money for you to be able to repair and build more effective defenses as your enemies get harder.

Black Sheep Acres is another simple and fun online shooting game, which is free. In the game, you are farmer Pat who is attacked by almost all animals from the forest. The animals that attack you are gophers, deer, rabbits, and big sized red eyed nasty rabbits. Some people would not like this type of game since it involves shooting and killing animals. There is a wide variety of cool weapons and extras for you to be able to effectively protect your wall. You have a dog named Pj, a tractor, flamethrower, nailgun, and many more.

Boxhead is another free online simple shooting game. In the game, you are the man who has a gun and will try to kill the already dead zombies who are running about and killing everyone in their sight. Kill all the zombies you encounter. It is a simple and straight up game, but people have a hard time getting away from it.

War Rock is another free online shooting game. It’s a little more complicated than the other games above. It is better than a flash game. War Rock is one of the best exciting and thrilling shooting game, which has the graphics and gameplay. It is a big download and a multiplayer game. It is also considered as an MMOG. It can be put up with the best and is free. In the game, other than choosing to be an engineer, a medic, an assault, or a sniper, you can get in tanks, motorcycles, jeeps, and planes, and destroy the opposing enemy.

These are the best online shooting games right now, and they are free of charge. Even though these kinds of games promote violence, hey, its all for fun!

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Beginner's Final Fantasy XI Gil Guide

Having enough FFXI Gil is the most essential aspects of the game. Gil the major currency used when purchasing or trading items. To be a good player you will need allt he Gils you can get. No matter how great your game skills are you will need the Gils to get your equipments, armors, weapons and other items. Having the gears early in the game will help you advance to higher levels at a faster pace than others can. Here are some good tips to start your career in Final Fantasy XI.

Warp Quest
This method can get you about 10k gil within an hour. You need to start with 1k to purchase a slime oil. After you've purchased the slime oil, bring it to an NPC named "Unlucky Rat" in the Metal district of Bastok in exchange for a warp scroll. The scroll sells for about a good 7-10K. Seems easy? Well slight problem with this method is that you will need to have enough fame built up before the NPC will take your slime oil. You will be required to run around town doing low level missions to get your fame up. This is where it gets a little time consuming but 10k gil an hour for a lowbie is really good. You can also redo this quest by creating a mule account and transfering 1k gil to that character.

Just Badge Quest
The Justice Badge quest is located in Winhurt and will require 1 rabab tail and 4 onions to complete. you can buy the stack of rabab tail in the auction house for 50-100gil. Easy to do at low level. In the docks of Winhurst you will find an NPC that you can give the rabab tail to. He will give you the Justice Badge which sells for 500-2000 gil in the auction house. After receiving the bad, give him 4 wild ionions and you'll receive a scroll that sells up to 5000 gil. You can repeat this quest by using a mule.

Fire Crystals
A stack of first crystals can sell for 2000 gil easily over at the auction house. There are 2 good methods to collect fire crystals. The more commonly used method would be the usual beat the mob down and loot method. To start you need to be around level 7-10. You will need signet cast on you at your town gates. Head out North to Gusterburg where you will be able to find many vultures. You'll only want to kill the vulters and nothing else to conserve time. To the Northwest of San D'oria there is an area full of Orcs. The orcs drop a nice amount of fire crystals as well. You can probably average about 3 stacks in an hour. 6000 gil in an hour for a level 7-10 is not too bad.

The other method of farming fire crystals is by gardening. You start by buying a brass flower pot in the auction house, several vegetable seeds and some water crystals. You then plant the flower plot in your Mog house and put in the vegetable seeds. Feed it some water crystals, after 1-3 days you will have 17 fire crystals come out of it. You can have up to 6-8 flower pots per house, you can easily make 20-30,000 gils every 2-3 days. It only takes a few minutes to purchase the accessories and to plant them. It's a wealthy short term investment. Money growing on trees is the way I think of it.

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Backgammon Game Online

The history of backgammon, the oldest known board game, is an interesting one that began almost 5,000 years ago in Mesopotamia. Numerous variations of the game were adopted by other cultures throughout the history of backgammon. Archaeologists continue to discover many similar games in the ruins of ancient civilizations as they explore the intriguing history of backgammon.

The actual name for backgammon comes from a Welsh term meaning “wee battle.” However, the history of backgammon reflects many different names and versions. The aristocracy and slave population of Egypt and Greece played a similar game called, “senat.” The Romans changed the number of dice from two to three and called it “bac gamen” or “back game.” From the Roman civilization, backgammon moved to Persia, where it was again played with two dice in a game called “Takhteh Nard" or "Battle on Wood." During the time of the Crusades, the Anglo Saxon soldiers and traders played yet another version called “Tables” or “Tabula.”

Throughout the history of backgammon, the Church attempted several times to ban the game, but always failed. Cardinal Woolsey, in the 16th century, ordered all the boards burned, calling the game “the devil’s folly.” Burning the boards was useless, however, since any type of board could be drawn in dirt or sand and played with small pebbles. Dice were often handmade and were small enough to be easily concealed on a person or hidden in someone’s home. Furthermore, the English were very clever and decided to disguise the backgammon board as a folding book. Their innovative craftsmanship is still evident in the board we use today.

Edmund Hoyle, the famous writer and gamesman, documented the rules and the history of backgammon in the mid 1700’s. Colonists from England brought backgammon to their homes in America, along with chess and other board games of the times. Although the game of backgammon lost some popularity in the Victorian era, it quickly reappeared and gained strength in the 20th century. At this time, an unknown inventor devised the doubling cube, which offers players the opportunity to multiply their initial wager by the amount on the doubling cube. Of course, some strategy and experience is needed before using the doubling cube.

Tournaments, books, magazines, and clubs are now a part of the history of backgammon. The introduction of the game on the Internet has increased its popularity to an even greater extent. Backgammon is a fast-paced, challenging, and entertaining game of skill and luck.

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Christmas Day Games

Just because the gifts are opened and the paper strewn about the living room doesn't mean the fun of Christmas is over. Add some fun party games to Christmas day to extend the fun of Christmas.

If you have a large gathering on Christmas day, have fun with the hat game. When they arrive, give everyone a Santa hat. These are inexpensive and can be purchased for $1 at the dollar store, or even less in bulk, if you plan ahead. As everyone goes about their business of getting food, chatting with others and the like, the room will look very festive with everyone wearing their Santa hats.

However, the object of this game is to not have your hat on. As people forget about the hats, the object is to get rid of your hat and not be the last one wearing a Santa hat. Inevitably there will be one person so wrapped up in a conversation or the buffet table, they forget to take off their hat and will be left the game's loser. This is a game that can be played again and again as you head forward with the day's festivities.

One fun memory game that kids particularly like is to make everyone pay careful attention to all the gifts that are opened on Christmas day. After the gifts are removed from the room (or you remove yourselves from the gift room) have everyone try and remember every single gift everyone got. Include stockings and any food gifts. Tell people they only have to remember the items that were opened that day, not any gifts they received and opened prior to Christmas day. This can be a fun game that's particularly popular with kids because they love to relive the gift magic. In addition, if they were so immersed with their own gifts they didn't notice anyone else's this is a good chance for them to educate themselves about what everyone got that day.

If you need a game to keep everyone busy before dinner, try the "guess me" game. Buy some large heavy socks, not low-rise, but the type that are worn outdoors in the winter that are thick and come at least to the calf. Put several items in the socks. Make sure identical items are in each sock. These items should be related to Christmas in some way. You might include a small ornament, scotch tape, a pinecone, a Hershey's kiss, and the like. Have each person feel the socks (having two socks just makes the game go faster, but you can play with just one sock), and write down their guesses about what's in the socks. Be sure to tell everyone how many items are in each sock. The winner gets, you guessed it, one of the socks!

If you have a bunch of wanna-be performers in your group on Christmas day, how about playing a little game of "Christmas Idol"? Set up a small table for the "judges" and have teams of 2 people (or individuals, if they want) sing a Christmas carol. Tell them to have a lot of fun with the song, and even add a Santa hat or other dress-up items if they wish. The winners can take home a CD of Christmas music. This game is particularly fun if just the children want to perform and be judged by the adults, or if, conversely, the adults perform and are judged by the children.

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Aion Review

Most of the features you would expect to find in a game of this kind are here, and in a commendably polished state. That in itself is no small task, especially considering how much MMORPGs can mature after launch. Of course, Aion was available in Korea last year, so the game has already had some of the bumps smoothed out. Since the North American beta, a number of small but significant changes have been made, including the addition of an option to reverse the mouse axis, left mouse button camera control, and the removal of GameGuard.

Aion does not try to reinvent the RPG format. If you hate games with levels and quests, or you want twitch-based combat, there's nothing to see here.

The graphics in Aion are impressive and will appeal to those who like a high-fantasy setting with a dab of anime influence here and there. Character creation is very flexible, which is a good thing, although you will come across some unusually tiny avatars that look rather odd. While the two races in the game, Elyos and Asmodian, are both human-like, the sliders will let you build a character that could be a big-eared gnome. The model physique is clearly the most popular, however.

A quick thumbs up for a lot of conveniences you don't see in every game, like a transparent map, account banks, and the ability move stats to items of a different appearance.

Classes
In Aion you start out with a primary class, each of which leads to two sub-classes you choose between upon getting your wings and becoming a Daeva. The resulting 8 classes fit the customary tank, healer, damage dealer mold quite closely, while still being reasonably capable of soloing. RPGers are comfortable with this sort of class structure by now, and Aion has a sound implementation of it.

Combat
As I noted in my preview, Aion combat is quite typical for this genre of game, but there are interesting differences. Along with combination skills that trigger in a particular order, they've given movement certain stats bonuses. Moving forward increases your attack power and decreases your defense, strafing improves your evasion and parry rating, and moving backward boosts defense while lowering attack power. You also have Divine Power, which accumulates as you fight and can be used for very spectacular moves. Not unheardof in other games, but in this case it builds slowly and clears each time you log off.

Questing
There was a time when MMORPGs offered very little in the way of quests, and those quests were hard to find. These days players expect to see an abundance of quest-givers clearly marked with icons floating over their heads, and even explicit directions on where they have to go to complete the quest. Aion offers a set of quests that adhere to the central storyline, as well as secondary quests undertaken largely for the experience bonus.

The game has only one starting area per faction, and the early levels of the two sides mirror each other quite closely. There are just enough quests to get you from level to level, which isn't a problem on your first character, but on your second or third time through doing the exact same quests grows pretty stale.

Collection, delivery, and hunting quests are the mainstay of MMORPGs, but some recent games have managed to expand on this considerably. Unfortunately, Aion seems very short on imagination in this regard, so you'll rarely, if ever, be tasked with an escort mission, asked to lure an enemy into a trap, or man a ballista against hostile forces. Any game that features flying should at least have a few bombing runs to break the routine, but maybe they've saved them for the higher levels.

Aion currently has about 15 instances geared toward group play starting with Nochsana Training Camp at level 25. There are party (6-man) and raid (24-man) instances, but only 3 of them are available before level 50. Although it's clear that PvE raids are not the main focus of the game, they grant good XP and they're a nice break from solo questing.

Is It a Grind?
This is probably the most common question I get about Aion. "Grind" typically refers to the need to kill vast numbers of mobs, rather than quest, to get enough XP to level. Of course, quests often require you to kill mobs, so it's really about the additional XP doled out for completing the quest. So far I've found enough quests to get me from level to level, but higher level players assure me that once you reach the mid-30s that comes to an end. There is little debate that the pace of progress in Aion, at least without a group, is quite slow, and complaints about the grind at higher levels are not baseless. While some old-schoolers actually prefer this, it's almost certain that NCsoft plans to add high level content to the game.

Source : http://internetgames.about.com

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Free Realms Review

As you would expect, the world is very colorful, cartoonish, and cute. In fact, everything about Free Realms, from the Web site to the in-game GUI, is dripping with candy-coated visuals. Both the graphics engine and the artwork are impressive, making you want to explore the vast and largely seamless areas.

You play as either a human, or, oddly enough, a Bixie, which is essentially a pixie. This choice doesn't actually have any impact on gameplay; it merely determines your avatar's appearance.

The game's interface is outstanding, removing all sorts of barriers to learning an online RPG. Navigational aids are everywhere, including a fully functional mini-map, paths that take you to your next quest objective, and even a "Take Me There" button that will automatically run you where need to go. If you don't want to run, the world map offers instant travel between key locations.

Pick a Job, Any Job
Most of what you do in Free Realms is decided by what Job you are pursuing. Jobs are a bit like classes in other RPGs, except that you don't select one at character creation and you can switch Jobs at any time. A single character in Free Realms can reach the maximum level in all of the game's Jobs. Each Job has it's own quests, items, and experience bar, as well as a tutorial that shows you how to play that particular Job.

Perhaps even less conventional are the variety of Jobs offered. Right now there are about 15 of them, including such diverse engagements as Kart Racer, Pet Trainer, Card Duelist, and Postman. There are also fighting Jobs which entail bashing down monsters in the usual RPG fashion, albiet with a greatly simplified combat system. Some Jobs, such as Card Duelist, which involves a trading card game, are entirely unrelated to the other Jobs, making them more like separate games within the game. The combat Jobs, on the other hand, with more common roles like tank and healer, do encourage group play to some extent.

Of the 6 combat Jobs currently available, Brawler and Ninja are free, while Wizard, Archer, Warrior, and Medic are for members only. These Jobs play like a very simplified RPG; you can have a maximum of 5 skills and 4 consumables on your hotbar, and your basic attack needs to be mashed rather than toggled. Still, they make a nice introduction to RPG mechanics. All the combat is instanced and the majority of it seems to be solo-friendly, but there are dungeon crawls suitable for groups. It's a little odd that they require a subscription for Medic, the only healing class, unless they did it to sell more healing potions in the item mall.

Perhaps more impressive are some of Free Realms' non-combat Jobs, for the simple reason that they're not the sort of thing you expect to see in a game of this kind. How do you take a Job like Postman and make it interesting, even for kids? It's actually better than I expected, as you quickly learn to throw your mail at the boxes to save time, and you'll also have to drop bones to occupy dogs that will knock you down, keeping you from your deliveries.

Jumping from Job to Job, many of which entail their own 2D mini-games based on popular casual games, makes you realize each of Jobs in Free Realms almost warrants a review of its own. The Card Duelist Job tied to the trading card game, for example, is quite robust, and could justify a subscription by itself. They've even thrown in a few classics like chess and checkers. Free Realms is truly an online "theme park," and there's more on the way, including soccer, fishing, and housing.

The enormous variety Free Realms offers does come at the expense of depth, so if you want to spend most of your time at one Job, it will get a bit repetitive, and you'll reach the current level cap of 20 in that Job before long. Reaching the maximum in all Jobs, however, could keep you busy for months. Because SOE has concentrated on game mechanics that will appeal to the short attention spans of children, I don't think we'll see parents drawn into Free Realms the way they might be with other recent games of this kind. That said, fans of TCGs and casual games of any age should check it out, because it seems particularly strong in those areas.

Chat and Parental Controls
When you register for Free Realms it asks for your age, and those under 13 are limited to menu driven chat. Those over 13 have access to an open chat system, but even that has a heavy-duty filter on it which blocks plenty of perfectly innocent phrases. As has become the norm for games designed for youngsters, there is also a full compliment of parental controls.

Source : http://internetgames.about.com

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Sony PlayStation 3 Slim Review

With the original PlayStation and the PlayStation 2, Sony strode the gaming world like a colossus, knocking the mighty Nintendo from its throne and swatting away attempts by Microsoft to muscle in on its territory with the Xbox. It looked like Sony could do no wrong, until the PlayStation 3 arrived.

Many gamers found the PS3's initial £300 high price tag hard to stomach and, as a result, the console quickly trailed behind the Wii and Xbox 360 in terms of popularity. Now, with the cheaper PlayStation 3 Slim, which costs around £250, Sony is hoping to make up some of that lost ground. But can this rejigged console really help the company reclaim the console crown?

Extreme diet
The new model isn't referred to as the PS3 Slim without reason -- it's significantly thinner and narrower than the original PS3. In fact, it's a completely different-looking machine. Sony has ditched the glossy black finish and sleek touch buttons of the original in favour of a duller-looking matte texture and more conventional push buttons. The whole device looks rather bargain-basement for our tastes, but we have to admit that, when you pick it up, it feels surprisingly well-built and much sturdier than the Xbox 360, for example.

Press the power button and you'll notice that Sony has also managed to make the Slim slightly quieter than the original PS3. This is quite an achievement, as the PS3's fan has always been whisper-quiet in comparison to the cyclone-like Xbox 360, and it's never really suffered from the noisy disc-loading mechanism that blights the Wii.

Sony has been able to reduce the console's noise level because the internal components have been completely re-engineered. Both the main Cell CPU and Nvidia graphics processor have been switched to a smaller manufacturing process, which means they run cooler and so don't need such aggressive fans. This also helps the console to be greener, drawing slightly less power both when in standby mode and when running games or playing movies.

Given the price drop, Sony has had to make a few cuts here and there. This version no longer supports Linux, and backwards compatibility with old PS2 games is absent, although that's also been missing from recent versions of the larger PS3. Similarly, this model only has two USB ports, and the multi-card reader has been given the push. But all of these are fairly minor losses that most buyers won't mind.

Media mogul
On the media front, the console remains highly impressive. When it comes to Blu-ray playback -- one of the console's key features -- picture quality is still on a par with that of most budget players. But the audio-handling has been changed slightly, so the console is no longer limited to decoding high-definition audio streams to the Linear PCM format. Instead, it can pass them to an external receiver via HDMI -- something which audio purists will be happy about.

Source : http://reviews.cnet.co.uk

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Nintendo DSI Review

The DSi is the third iteration of Nintendo's popular dual-screen handheld gaming system. It boasts a number of new features -- twin cameras and audio playback, for example -- that make it more of a personal entertainment device than a mere handheld games machine.
It's available now for around £150.

Design
On first inspection, the DSi looks almost identical to the DS Lite, but there are several key differences. Although slightly longer and wider than the Lite, the DSi is 12 per cent thinner. It also trades the Lite's glossy black finish (the Lite and DSi are also available in white) for a grainy, matte black that virtually eliminates fingerprint smudging and gives it an almost retro aesthetic.

The DSi sports two cameras. The first of these lives on the outside of the clamshell lid, facing away from the user, while the other lives on the hinge, facing the user. The left side of the device boasts a couple of digital volume adjuster switches, while the right sports an SD card reader. Gone is the Game Boy Advance cartridge slot that lives on the bottom of the Lite.

The speaker grilles on the Lite, which consist of six small holes on either side of the uppermost screen, now take the form of two single, oval-shaped openings, which help to deliver louder, clearer sound. The DSi's twin screens are 83mm (3.25 inches) across the diagonal -- an improvement on the 76mm (3-inch) displays on the Lite.

Features
The DSi sports a new, improved menu system, reminiscent of Apple's Cover Flow interface on the iPod touch and iPhone. The lower display shows a series of horizontally grouped icons -- each representing an application -- and a speech bubble above the centre-most icon, explaining its function. Icons can be browsed by swiping a finger, or the stylus, horizontally across the display.

The most useful icon will probably be the one for running whatever game you've inserted into the console's main slot, but other applications -- specifically designed for and pre-installed on the DSi -- will catch your eye long before you've launched any games.

The first of these, DSi Sound, allows you to record audio with the built-in microphone and then -- if it pleases you -- modify the speed and pitch of the recording until it either sounds like a chipmunk or a Dalek with a sore throat. It's utterly pointless.

Source : http://reviews.cnet.co.uk

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