If 3D is going to take off in the UK, then it will the games industry which pioneers the technology in the home.

There’s simple logic to it: if you are happy to play a fake guitar, sing into a fake microphone and wield a controller like it’s a tennis bat, then it is more than likely you won’t mind putting on a pair of plastic specs to play a game.

Toshiba’s foray into 3D gaming is with the Satellite A665 3D laptop. The Satellite A665 comes bundled with a pair of Nvidia 3D Vision active shutter glasses, which means you can have out-of-the-box 3D playback.

Nvidia has been pushing the merits of 3D gaming for a good while now, so this means there are a number of games on the market that utilise 3D. We had a go at Prince of Persia and there was a certain amount of immersion you got that is missing from the game when played in 2D.

To power 3D content you need a fair amount of back-end chug and the A665 certainly has this in spades.

Beneath the chassis is Intel’s powerful i7 processor. This is backed by up to 4GB DDR3 RAM and there’s also a 500GB hard drive on board which is fairly capacious for a portable computer.

An 15.6-inch TruBriteHD display (running at 120 Hz) with LED backlighting makes sure that the 3D content you view sparkles.

The A665 is not just about gaming, though. On board is a Blu-ray player which has been spec’d up to play 3D content. It also moonlights as a rewriteable drive.

This will be a big draw for those looking to bring Blu-ray 3D into their home. The supplied HDMI connection means this will double as a 3D Blu-ray player. As long as you have a compatible 3D TV, then you are all ready.

When it comes to other connectivity, the A665 houses 3 x USB 2.0, 1x eSATA / USB combo port with Sleep-and-Charge and a Multi-Card Reader.

Internet connectivity comes in the form of WLAN, Gigabit Ethernet LAN and there is also good ol’ Bluetooth inside.

The A665 has certainly been built with the 3D enthusiast in mind. The machine wants you to view as much 3D content on it as possible, which is why there is also a 2D-to-3D converter inside, which will add another dimension to movies and games in real time. It’s not perfect but it does fill the current content gap.

Couple this with some meaty audio courtesy of Harman Kardon stereo speakers and Dolby Advanced Audio and this is one desirable piece of kit.

The Satellite A665 is available now. And if you have already purchased one without all the added 3D goodness, then you can download a software update from www.toshiba.co.uk/computers.

IFA 2010: Hands on: Toshiba Satellite A665 3D laptop review via http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/techradar/gaming-news/~3/VzolkZMIBAo/story01.htm TechRadar Games

Related posts:

• IFA 2010: Hands on: Toshiba Satellite A665 3D laptop review If 3D is going to take off in the...
• Toshiba Introduces Its Satellite T210 11.6-inch Notebook There are already so many notebooks and netbooks in...
• MWC 2010: Hands on: HTC Smart review HTC has been grabbing headlines with its new range...
• Toshiba NB305 netbook gets new N455 Atom processor Toshiba’s NB305 netbook will be getting a minor upgrade...
• Exclusive: Hands on: SideWinder X4 keyboard review The QWERTY layout of the standard keyboard was designed...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

If 3D is going to take off in the UK, then it will the games industry which pioneers the technology in the home.

There’s simple logic to it: if you are happy to play a fake guitar, sing into a fake microphone and wield a controller like it’s a tennis bat, then it is more than likely you won’t mind putting on a pair of plastic specs to play a game.

Toshiba’s foray into 3D gaming is with the Satellite A665 3D laptop. The Satellite A665 comes bundled with a pair of Nvidia 3D Vision active shutter glasses, which means you can have out-of-the-box 3D playback.

Nvidia has been pushing the merits of 3D gaming for a good while now, so this means there are a number of games on the market that utilise 3D. We had a go at Prince of Persia and there was a certain amount of immersion you got that is missing from the game when played in 2D.

To power 3D content you need a fair amount of back-end chug and the A665 certainly has this in spades.

Beneath the chassis is Intel’s powerful i7 processor. This is backed by up to 4GB DDR3 RAM and there’s also a 500GB hard drive on board which is fairly capacious for a portable computer.

An 15.6-inch TruBriteHD display (running at 120 Hz) with LED backlighting makes sure that the 3D content you view sparkles.

The A665 is not just about gaming, though. On board is a Blu-ray player which has been spec’d up to play 3D content. It also moonlights as a rewriteable drive.

This will be a big draw for those looking to bring Blu-ray 3D into their home. The supplied HDMI connection means this will double as a 3D Blu-ray player. As long as you have a compatible 3D TV, then you are all ready.

When it comes to other connectivity, the A665 houses 3 x USB 2.0, 1x eSATA / USB combo port with Sleep-and-Charge and a Multi-Card Reader.

Internet connectivity comes in the form of WLAN, Gigabit Ethernet LAN and there is also good ol’ Bluetooth inside.

The A665 has certainly been built with the 3D enthusiast in mind. The machine wants you to view as much 3D content on it as possible, which is why there is also a 2D-to-3D converter inside, which will add another dimension to movies and games in real time. It’s not perfect but it does fill the current content gap.

Couple this with some meaty audio courtesy of Harman Kardon stereo speakers and Dolby Advanced Audio and this is one desirable piece of kit.

The Satellite A665 is available now. And if you have already purchased one without all the added 3D goodness, then you can download a software update from www.toshiba.co.uk/computers.

IFA 2010: Hands on: Toshiba Satellite A665 3D laptop review via http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/techradar/gaming-news/~3/VzolkZMIBAo/story01.htm TechRadar Games

Related posts:

• IFA 2010: Hands on: Toshiba Satellite A665 3D laptop review If 3D is going to take off in the...
• Toshiba Introduces Its Satellite T210 11.6-inch Notebook There are already so many notebooks and netbooks in...
• MWC 2010: Hands on: HTC Smart review HTC has been grabbing headlines with its new range...
• Toshiba NB305 netbook gets new N455 Atom processor Toshiba’s NB305 netbook will be getting a minor upgrade...
• Exclusive: Hands on: SideWinder X4 keyboard review The QWERTY layout of the standard keyboard was designed...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I’m not sure about you, but my Treasure Isle island is brimming with construction projects. The newest one that I’m adding to my already lengthy ‘To Do’ list is the new Treasure Isle Dragon Sailboat.

When you login to the game, you’ll get a pop-up notifying you about the Dragon Sailboat, and you’ll have to option to place it in the water or put it into storage. Once you have the docks for the boat in place, you will spend a total 20 energy building the frame:

Create Frame (5 Energy)
Build Support (5 Energy)
Mount Posts (5 Energy)
Clear Deck (5 Energy)

Once the frame is ready, then you’ll need to start begging friends for parts. The ship requires the following materials:

• 5 Planks
• 5 Rope
• 5 Cloth
• 5 Resin
• 5 Nails

You can collect these materials in several ways:
1. Ask friends to send them via a Facebook Wall post
2. Receive them as Free Gifts from friends
3. Buy them using Island Cash

Developing..

Need supplies for your Dragon Sailboat? Leave a note in the comments below.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Treasure Isle Dragon Sailboat: Build a new boat and sail away via http://blog.games.com/2010/09/04/treasure-isle-dragon-sailboat-build-a-new-boat-and-sail-away/Games.Com

Related posts:

• Treasure Isle Dragon Sailboat: Build a new boat and sail away Filed under: Treasure Isle I’m not sure about you, but...
• Treasure Isle Pirate Ship: Everthing you need to know Filed under: Treasure Isle Yarrrr, Maties! There’s pirates in those...
• Treasure Isle Chinchilla: New adoptable animal looking for an island home A new lost animal has been found roaming around Treasure...
• Replay maps in Treasure Isle for less with new discounted fragments Filed under: Treasure Isle Map fragments were released over a...
• Treasure Isle: What’s going on with the new Mysterious Egg? Filed under: Treasure Isle If you logged in to play...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I’m not sure about you, but my Treasure Isle island is brimming with construction projects. The newest one that I’m adding to my already lengthy ‘To Do’ list is the new Treasure Isle Dragon Sailboat.

When you login to the game, you’ll get a pop-up notifying you about the Dragon Sailboat, and you’ll have to option to place it in the water or put it into storage. Once you have the docks for the boat in place, you will spend a total 20 energy building the frame:

Create Frame (5 Energy)
Build Support (5 Energy)
Mount Posts (5 Energy)
Clear Deck (5 Energy)

Once the frame is ready, then you’ll need to start begging friends for parts. The ship requires the following materials:

• 5 Planks
• 5 Rope
• 5 Cloth
• 5 Resin
• 5 Nails

You can collect these materials in several ways:
1. Ask friends to send them via a Facebook Wall post
2. Receive them as Free Gifts from friends
3. Buy them using Island Cash

Developing..

Need supplies for your Dragon Sailboat? Leave a note in the comments below.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Treasure Isle Dragon Sailboat: Build a new boat and sail away via http://blog.games.com/2010/09/04/treasure-isle-dragon-sailboat-build-a-new-boat-and-sail-away/Games.Com

Related posts:

• Treasure Isle Dragon Sailboat: Build a new boat and sail away Filed under: Treasure Isle I’m not sure about you, but...
• Treasure Isle Pirate Ship: Everthing you need to know Filed under: Treasure Isle Yarrrr, Maties! There’s pirates in those...
• Treasure Isle Chinchilla: New adoptable animal looking for an island home A new lost animal has been found roaming around Treasure...
• Replay maps in Treasure Isle for less with new discounted fragments Filed under: Treasure Isle Map fragments were released over a...
• Treasure Isle: What’s going on with the new Mysterious Egg? Filed under: Treasure Isle If you logged in to play...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

It’s official: Zynga has a fever, and the only cure for it… is more Labor Day specials. The company’s next title to catch wind of the discounts is YoVille.

While the price reductions and new items don’t appear to be live yet, log in anytime this weekend and enjoy the savings and new swag, according to a YoVille blog post by Platinum Ninja. Just enter your room in YoVille, click the chair icon titled “Edit Room” and then click “Go Shop.”

After that, click any given store and look for the “New Items” tabs. This is where the new items should be when they appear. If this sale is anything like the lot of them in Zynga’s other social games, expect discounts on YoCoins and YoCash.

From what’s visible in the blog post’s promotional banner, expect some new cars and, ambiguously enough, collectibles. Can someone say, “grilling gear?” Stay tuned to the YoVille fan page for when these deals go live for a limited time.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

YoVille Labor Day Weeked Sale: Limited edition items and discounts coming soon! via http://blog.games.com/2010/09/03/yoville-labor-day-weeked-sale-limited-edition-items-and-discoun/Games.Com

Related posts:

• YoVille Labor Day Weeked Sale: Limited edition items and discounts coming soon! Filed under: YoVille It’s official: Zynga has a fever, and...
• YoVille Cars guide: Everything you need to know Filed under: YoVille Cars are coming soon in YoVille! This...
• More Sailing Items In YoVille The yacht furniture line continues in Yoville. A collection of...
• New Decorating Game On YoVille Earns You Rewards The decorating feature has arrived. This is a great way...
• New Pool Party Items Arrive To The YoVille Furniture Store Filed under: YoVille Head on down to the Furniture Store,...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

It’s official: Zynga has a fever, and the only cure for it… is more Labor Day specials. The company’s next title to catch wind of the discounts is YoVille.

While the price reductions and new items don’t appear to be live yet, log in anytime this weekend and enjoy the savings and new swag, according to a YoVille blog post by Platinum Ninja. Just enter your room in YoVille, click the chair icon titled “Edit Room” and then click “Go Shop.”

After that, click any given store and look for the “New Items” tabs. This is where the new items should be when they appear. If this sale is anything like the lot of them in Zynga’s other social games, expect discounts on YoCoins and YoCash.

From what’s visible in the blog post’s promotional banner, expect some new cars and, ambiguously enough, collectibles. Can someone say, “grilling gear?” Stay tuned to the YoVille fan page for when these deals go live for a limited time.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

YoVille Labor Day Weeked Sale: Limited edition items and discounts coming soon! via http://blog.games.com/2010/09/03/yoville-labor-day-weeked-sale-limited-edition-items-and-discoun/Games.Com

Related posts:

• YoVille Labor Day Weeked Sale: Limited edition items and discounts coming soon! Filed under: YoVille It’s official: Zynga has a fever, and...
• YoVille Cars guide: Everything you need to know Filed under: YoVille Cars are coming soon in YoVille! This...
• More Sailing Items In YoVille The yacht furniture line continues in Yoville. A collection of...
• New Decorating Game On YoVille Earns You Rewards The decorating feature has arrived. This is a great way...
• New Pool Party Items Arrive To The YoVille Furniture Store Filed under: YoVille Head on down to the Furniture Store,...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

The pointy hatted wizards at the Microsoft FUSE studio have conjured up Team Crossword, a cool mix of a standard crossword puzzle and social gaming staples — friend invites, chat options and Facebook sharing. If you don’t know 25 DOWN you can post that to your Facebook stream and have your friends join you in the game. Still having trouble with the whole puzzle? Share the link via email and your friend can join you in real-time to work on the puzzle.

The interface is not perfect — It took a while to figure out how to type the answer into the correct box, in the correct direction. Despite that one small quirk, anyone with a knack for crosswords will want to give this new Facebook game a go.

Click here to play Team Crossword Now >

Here is the official information about the game from the about section:

About Team Crossword

Team Crossword was primarily developed by 3 members of the Microsoft FUSE Labs team during the semi-annual creative week. The inspiration for the project comes from the weekly inter-family tug of war that occurs at Matt’s house with the paper version of the Sunday crossword puzzle. And Jeff wanted to finally build some software his mom would like.

Technologies used to build Team Crossword include:ASP.net MVC 2, jQuery, SQL Azure, Visual Studio 2010, and it’s hosted on Windows Azure. Crossword puzzle data is provided by uClick LLC.

To provide feedback or report an issue, please visit our support/feature ideas forum, or else email us at xwrd AT microsoft dot com

Happy (team) puzzling!

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Team Crossword: Your new Facebook gaming addiction via http://blog.games.com/2010/09/02/team-crossword-word-games-microsoft/Games.Com

Related posts:

• The hottest new game will be Team Crossword I have seen the future of Crossword puzzles and exciting....
• Pissing Contest on Facebook: Social gaming meets first-person peeing If you’re offended by bathroom humor, then you won’t...
• Portrait of a Facebook game fan As an avid social gamer, I always feel a twinge...
• Social Gaming Execs Discuss Growth, Monetization, And The Future Of Facebook Games Today at the Inside Social Apps conference in San...
• New addiction centre for ’screenagers’ opens A London doctor has started a new rehab programme...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

If you don’t know 25 DOWN you can post that to your Facebook stream and have your friends join you in the game. Still having trouble with the whole puzzle, you can share the link via email and your friend can join you in real-time to work on the puzzle. This is the first interactive synchronous (playing at the same time) crossword puzzle that we have seen.

The interface is not perfect and I did have a hard time figuring out which question I was answering. Typing the answer into the correct box, in the correct direction took me a minute to understand. I would recommend anyone interested in crossword puzzles give the game a chance.

–>>> Click here to play Team Crossword Now

Official game information after the jump

Here is the official information about the game from the about section:

About Team Crossword

Team Crossword was primarily developed by 3 members of the Microsoft FUSE Labs team during the semi-annual creative week. The inspiration for the project comes from the weekly inter-family tug of war that occurs at Matt’s house with the paper version of the Sunday crossword puzzle. And Jeff wanted to finally build some software his mom would like.

Technologies used to build Team Crossword include:ASP.net MVC 2, jQuery, SQL Azure, Visual Studio 2010, and it’s hosted on Windows Azure. Crossword puzzle data is provided by uClick LLC.

To provide feedback or report an issue, please visit our support/feature ideas forum, or else email us at xwrd AT microsoft dot com

Happy (team) puzzling!

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

The hottest new game will be Team Crossword via http://blog.games.com/2010/09/02/team-crossword-word-games-microsoft/Games.Com

Related posts:

• Team Crossword: Your new Facebook gaming addiction The pointy hatted wizards at the Microsoft FUSE studio...
• Sega’s Vancouver 2010 game makes tracks on Facebook If you love the Olympics, but not enough to pay...
• Facebook Game Cheats & Tips: How to mass accept game requests If you’re anything like us, your Facebook requests page is...
• Game of the Day: Jump My Love It’s Saturday and the game of the day will...
• Game of the Day: Pearl Lover Sunday, a day of rest for most, but not...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Mafia Wars players have been extremely vocal about the game’s bugs and general sluggishness. So it seems very brave for Zynga reps to say that a better user experience is on its way in the most recent post on the official Mafia Wars blog:

“Our team has fixed a whole lot of bugs over the past 2 days. Some of these issues include fixing cross-promotional items that players weren’t receiving, replacing wonky error messages and stopping players from awarding themselves extra skill points when they complete jobs.”

OK, so we’re glad that some bugs have been fixed. Some is better than none. Perhaps more telling are the seemingly endless comments after the post, brimming with suggestions on other things that need to be fixed or changed in the game, including “overloaded’ servers, complaints about players using ’snag’ cheat apps, no more challenge missions and allow clans/all players to share loot… to name a few.

The post ends by saying “Our work is far from over.” Seems like a lot of fed-up virtual mobsters will agree with that.

Have you had trouble with bugs and sluggishness in Mafia Wars? What else (if anything) needs to be fixed?

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Mafia Wars promises ‘a better user experience’ via http://blog.games.com/2010/09/01/mafia-wars-promises-a-better-user-experience-is-on-its-way/Games.Com

Related posts:

• Mafia Wars promises ‘a better user experience’ Filed under: Mafia Wars Mafia Wars players have been extremely...
• Mafia Wars promises more rewards if you give up your email Filed under: Mafia Wars Mafia Wars on Facebook is pulling...
• Mafia Wars Tax Evasion Event promises special (and tax-free) rewards Mafia Wars wants you to blow off some steam...
• Mafia Wars London Challenge Mission kicks off in less than a week Filed under: Mafia Wars Pack your bags — a new...
• Mafia Wars Paris has ended: Did you complete your mission? [Poll] As of today, May 18, Mafia Wars Paris has...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Mafia Wars players have been extremely vocal about the game’s bugs and general sluggishness. So it seems very brave for Zynga reps to say that a better user experience is on its way in the most recent post on the official Mafia Wars blog:

“Our team has fixed a whole lot of bugs over the past 2 days. Some of these issues include fixing cross-promotional items that players weren’t receiving, replacing wonky error messages and stopping players from awarding themselves extra skill points when they complete jobs.”

OK, so we’re glad that some bugs have been fixed. Some is better than none. Perhaps more telling are the seemingly endless comments after the post, brimming with suggestions on other things that need to be fixed or changed in the game, including “overloaded’ servers, complaints about players using ’snag’ cheat apps, no more challenge missions and allow clans/all players to share loot… to name a few.

The post ends by saying “Our work is far from over.” Seems like a lot of fed-up virtual mobsters will agree with that.

Have you had trouble with bugs and sluggishness in Mafia Wars? What else (if anything) needs to be fixed?

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Mafia Wars promises ‘a better user experience’ via http://blog.games.com/2010/09/01/mafia-wars-promises-a-better-user-experience-is-on-its-way/Games.Com

Related posts:

• Mafia Wars promises ‘a better user experience’ Filed under: Mafia Wars Mafia Wars players have been extremely...
• Mafia Wars promises more rewards if you give up your email Filed under: Mafia Wars Mafia Wars on Facebook is pulling...
• Mafia Wars Tax Evasion Event promises special (and tax-free) rewards Mafia Wars wants you to blow off some steam...
• Mafia Wars London Challenge Mission kicks off in less than a week Filed under: Mafia Wars Pack your bags — a new...
• Mafia Wars Paris has ended: Did you complete your mission? [Poll] As of today, May 18, Mafia Wars Paris has...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.