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God Of War III sees cursed anti-hero Kratos, the fallen God Of War, finally getting his bloody revenge against the rest of the Greek gods. The last in the trilogy of action games is the first for the Sony PS3 – and lays out its key features early on.

Kratos opens the game ascending Mount Olympus on the back of a Titan; essentially a moving environment our anti-hero must cling to as he and it are assaulted by their mutual enemies. As opening sequences for games go, it doesn’t get more ludicrously over-the-top than God Of War III. And from there, the game turns it up a notch…

Very soon, Kratos is dividing his time between killing Greek gods in gigantic boss battles, wading through hordes of more standard soldiers with his swords-on-chains swinging every which way and, in the rare moments he’s not covered in gouts of red stuff, he’s solving huge environment puzzles by leaping, swinging and clambering around Olympus and the Titans clambering up it.

By the time the game is over, Kratos will have bathed in the blood of tens of thousands (at a guess) of enemies, brutally eviscerated a heap of gods and clambered up and down through the bowels of a huge mountain.

Along the way, he’ll have gathered up a slew of weapons (at least some of which, unlike previous games, do actually prove useful in different situations). It’s a fairly classic formula, followed closely – with you picking up new abilities or weapons regularly (and mostly after having just bested another god), to keep your interest levels up.

Full review MSN

It has been 10 months now since Intel unleashed its Nehalem architecture and we showed you the Core i7 920, 940 and 965 Extreme Edition. Not much has changed in the high-end sector during this timeframe, as Core i7 processors are still brutally fast and equally expensive.

The most affordable option debuted as the Core i7 920 at $280 and that is exactly how much it costs today. The Core i7 940 has been replaced by the 950, offering a small performance bump and the same ~$570 charge, while the flagship Core i7 965 Extreme Edition was superseded by the even more potent 975 Extreme Edition in the $1,000 price point.

Although the processor front has remained much the same, there is now a serious range of X58 motherboards on offer with more than fifty products available from half a dozen manufacturers. If you know where to look, it is possible to purchase one of these for as little as $170, with the more luxurious models costing upwards of $400.

Another big change has come with the decrease of DDR3 memory pricing. When we tested the Core i7 processors last November, a triple-channel 6GB kit would set you back at least $250, today you have to spend no more than $100. This means you can get yourself a Core i7 920 with motherboard and memory for under $600 today. And while this may sound like a killer deal to some, not everyone needs the processing power of Intel’s enthusiast-grade platform or is willing to pony up the money for it.

The Core i5 750 is the first release in a series of processors based on a mainstream version of the Core i7 platform. It is a quad-core part based on the "Lynnfield" architecture, fabricated using a 45nm process and will use a new LGA1156 platform. This new chip is set to cost just $199, it will operate at a healthy 2.66GHz and feature a whopping 8MB L3 cache, but no Hyper-Threading support will be present.

When we first heard about the upcoming release of a mainstream version of the Core i7 we were excited about the idea except for Intel’s decision of using multiple platforms. That said, the new LGA1156 socket will support a number of new Intel processors, including the Core i3 and Core i5 series. There will also be a range of Core i7 processors designed for the aforementioned socket.

In order to cut the cost of this processor and the LGA1156 platform, Intel has removed one of the memory controllers and replaced the high bandwidth QPI link with the slower DMI chip-to-chip interconnect.

Full Product Review

T-Mobile teased us at CES 2009 by introducing the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8900 but denying us any details on availability date and pricing. Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait too long as the carrier has released the final details and has given us our own review unit.

In short, the BlackBerry Curve 8900 is a solid addition to T-Mobile’s smartphone lineup and one of the company’s top offerings, in our opinion. It replaces the Curve 8300 series, and brings several notable improvements, including a sleeker design that’s bolstered by a more solid construction and an amazingly sharp display, a faster processor, a full HTML Web browser, and a 3.2-megapixel camera. It also has integrated Wi-Fi with UMA support so you can make unlimited calls over a Wi-Fi network. However, our one big disappointment is the lack of 3G support. It’s a feature that could really have given the 8900 an edge over its competition.

Despite this omission and some other minor issues, we would absolutely recommend the BlackBerry Curve 8900. It’s a solid device that will appeal to both consumers and mobile professionals, offering a nice balance between work and play and all wrapped up in a sweet little package. The BlackBerry Curve 8900 is available now through B2B sales and will be in retail stores nationwide starting February 11 for $199 with a two-year contract.

Design
The RIM BlackBerry Curve 8900 holds the distinction (though who knows for how long) as being the thinnest full QWERTY BlackBerry to date. The smartphone measures 4.2 inches tall by 2.3 inches wide by 0.5 inch thick and weighs 3.8 ounces compared with the BlackBerry Curve 8320, which comes it at 4.2 inches high by 2.4 inches wide by 0.6 inch thick and 3.9 ounces. It feels comfortable to use a both a phone and messaging device and fit into a pants pocket. We do appreciate the Curve 8900’s sleek profile but even more than that, we’re fans of the phone’s more solid construction. Though the phone’s body is still made of plastic, RIM used different finishes and paint applications to make the handset more durable and you can notice the difference as soon as you pick it up. Our only complaint would be that the battery cover can sometimes shift a little.

The BlackBerry Curve 8900 offers a sleeker and more solid design compared with the Curve 8300 series.

Also, while style is subjective, we have to say we dig the look of the Curve 8900 over the previous Curve 8300 series. It has tapered edges like the BlackBerry Storm and the metallic paint gives the 8900 a fresh, modern. It’s a lot less corporate and masculine looking than the BlackBerry Bold, so it should appeal to a wide variety of users.

Full Review

The good: The LG enV Touch has two beautiful displays, a nice touch-screen interface, and a great QWERTY keyboard. It has impressive features, such as a 3.2-megapixel camera, EV-DO Rev. A, and a full HTML Web browser.

The bad: The LG enV Touch’s touch-screen interface could use some refinement, and the Web browser experience is not as smooth as we would like. Visual Voice Mail and corporate e-mail support costs additional monthly fees. The lack of Wi-Fi is disappointing.

The bottom line: The LG enV Touch’s combination of great design and top-notch features makes it one of the top Verizon Wireless Wireless phones we’ve ever seen.

Specifications: Band / mode: CDMA2000 1X 1900/800 ; Talk time: Up to 260 min ; Combined with: With digital camera / digital player ; See full specs

Review

The LG enV Touch was a surprise to us. We thought all of the enV line of phones would be in the style of the LG enV VX9900, the LG enV2, and the more recent LG enV3.Those phones had numeric keypads on the front, with QWERTY keyboards behind their flip designs. But it appears that the LG enV Touch is actually a successor to the Voyager VX10000, due to its full touch screen-interface. Perhaps Verizon and LG are going back to the enV name to reinforce its association with high-end messaging phones.

We gave the LG Voyager VX10000 an Editors’ Choice award when it first launched, but it has been almost two years since then, so it’s about time for an upgrade. The LG enV Touch definitely offers better design and features. Both the touch-screen and internal displays are bigger, the keyboard has a better layout, the 3.2-megapixel camera has more advanced settings, the 3.5mm headset jack accommodates your own headphones, EV-DO Rev. A offers faster Web browsing, and more. The enV Touch doesn’t have V Cast Mobile TV like the Voyager did, but that’s about the only thing missing with this upgrade. Perhaps our only complaints were that the touch-screen interface and Web browsing could use some refinements, and the lack of Wi-Fi was disappointing.

The LG enV Touch is available for $149.99 with a $70 mail-in rebate and a two-year service agreement, which isn’t too expensive for what you’re getting.

Full Review

Prototype is an open world action game from Radical Entertainment, the studio that brought us the excellent Hulk: Ultimate Destruction and in many ways this game is Hulk’s spiritual sequel. Throughout its protracted (and oft troubled) development cycle, Prototype rose to become one of the most hyped games of 2009, with promises of unrestricted freedom, unlimited choice and unparalleled high action combat. Now finally released, it’s time to see if Radical delivers on these promises.

Prototype’s mission statement was laid out like this: make the player the ultimate badass and let them loose in Manhattan to do as they saw fit. The main conceit here is that you play as a shape shifter who goes by the name of Alex Mercer; a character that we are told can “consume and become anyone”. He also has a number of abilities from vicious claws, to a defensive shield and later on, a vision mode that allows the player to see who has been infected by the virus that is spreading through the city. Alex can “hyper parkour” over any object, run over walls and even glide through the air… like a squirrel. Consuming particular soldiers even allows him to gain the ability to pilot helicopters and drive tanks. Beyond that taking the form of a soldier grants Mercer access to airstrikes and the very entertaining patsy. This particular action involves outing a nearby soldier as the chameleon and watching with grim satisfaction as his teammates gun him down. The combat continues this sadistic trend… a single claw sweep rending not just your target, but anyone unlucky enough to be caught within a five foot radius of your blades. However, the satisfaction comes not just from the bloody mess Mercer’s wrath leaves behind but also from how he controls. One of Ultimate Destruction’s main criticisms was that, when fights became particularly intense, it became a battle not just with your enemies, but with the camera as well as everything got lost in the chaos. In Prototype, every time you lock on or switch target and every time you call up the power select wheel, the game slows down. This gives you plenty of time to assess the situation dodge an incoming rocket and choose the power best suited to dealing with whatever is attacking. It also allows for some spectacular moments, though more by accident than design. For example while running down the street, I locked on to a tank in the distance, as the game slowed down, a rocket shot past me and hit a car- which exploded just as I flipped over it. It was a real wow moment and the beauty of it is that these moments are unique to each player as it’s completely unscripted and more down to chance than anything else. If there is one problem with the controls it is that, with a move list as diverse as Prototype’s, it was inevitable that some would end up with awkward combinations. Pressing X and B at the same time requires real manual dexterity and can be difficult to pull off in a pinch. However the majority of commands are relatively simple and after a few minutes getting to grips with the nuances in control, you’ll rarely find yourself doing something you didn’t intend.

Proof that Mercer is worse for your lungs than smoking

It would be very easy to write this review, focus solely on the action mark it a nine and call it a day. However, Radical have attempted to give us something more than simply just an open world and a character who can break apart tanks with his bare hands. While the story is your typical government conspiracy cover­-up + protagonist with amnesia, the game offers up an interesting mechanic in the form of the web of intrigue. At any point during the game, both on missions and in free roam, you may encounter a person marked with a symbol.

Full Review