Yes, it will be bloody, and you'd have to be wily in order to survive in the PSP game Gangs of London. The game offers a challenging perspective in the life of gangsters, as they have to fight it out against each other for the prime spot in London's underground crime world. From petty thieving to big-time hits, the gangsters have to prove their worth with every battle that they face, pushing their toughness rating to the extreme.

However, what sets THIS gangster game from other titles of the same genre? Well, for one, it offers a reprieve from the gritty gang work that is the main focus of the story. Just like real life. Besides the fighting and the bashing, there are also lots of alternate game modes, as your gangster is able to take a break from being territorial and just chill out roaming free in the streets of London (when there's no gang work to be done anyway). The Free-roaming mode features a whole lot of activities, from sight-seeing and picture-taking to speed challenges, and a "four weeks later" scenario against hordes of zombies. If you're in the mood of just really taking off, the cabbie mode is there for you to just lose yourself in the heart of the city. Also incorporated is The Pub, a mini-game hub featuring simple arcade games, darts and multiple variations on pool. See, even gangsters need a day off.

Of course, the main drive of the story is that the gangs need to fight it out in order to wipe out the other through a string of scripted missions. Each of the five gangs in the game has a unique storyline, complete with voiced, comic book-style cinematic setups and outros. Having chosen your gang, you then have to work on the missions, picking up valuable experience along the way. Ofcourse, you can then use this experience to work your way up the gang-ladder, but as gang work is no one-man-show, coordination with the rest of the gang is also given highlight. At any time during a mission, you can also switch to any of your other members, who in turn are armed with a variety of weapons. On the other hand, you can just tell them to go ahead and take care of certain enemies and bask in the feeling of how it is to call the shots.

So gear up for the other side of London, as Gangs of London heads out at the end of September.

Since virtually all American manufacturing has gone to Asia, it's really not an American issue.

It is, however becoming a big issue in China, where rapid industrialization has resulted in precipitous increases in air pollution, in fact it was reported earlier that one third of China is suffering from acid rain. And helping to solve the problem may give the U.S. a chance to revitalize its own industries.

The production of steel requires the smelting of iron, which is a very dirty process. Traditionally, iron ore is combined with a coal derivative known as "coke." It reacts with the iron, producing CO#@%!8
9#@%! and carbon monoxide as iron in its pure form is left behind. The bottom line: every ton of steel produced releases an equal amount of CO#@%!8
9#@%! into the air.

Donald Sadoway, a materials scientist at MIT is working on a method to produce iron using electrolysis to extract the metal from molten iron oxide.  A solvent of silicon dioxide  and calcium oxide is heated to 1600°C. Iron ore is then solved in this solution, then an electric current passes through it. Negatively-charged oxygen ions migrate to the positively charged anode, and the oxygen bubbles off.  Positively-charged iron ions migrate to the negatively-charged cathode where they are reduced to elemental iron which collects in a pool at the bottom of the cell and is siphoned off.

This method has long been used in aluminum production. So far, however, the steel industry has had little reason to use it. The difference lies in the way oxygen molecules bond with these respective metals. Because aluminum oxide is very stable,  the ore cannot be extracted by any other method, whereas iron is easily extracted from ore through the traditional heating method.

However, if world governments start imposing punitive taxes on polluting industries (something unlikely to happen in the U.S. under the current Administration), the world's steel industry may find it more cost-effective to switch to electrolysis. According to Lawrence Kavanagh of the American Iron and Steel Institute, "Things are going to take 10 to 15 years to develop and get to a commercial scale. Now is the time to be working on them."

There are several challenges to overcome, mostly economic. Finding a practical anode material is a problem, since graphite releases as much CO#@%!8
9#@%! into the air as conventional smelting, and platinum is too expensive to be practical for large scale operations.  The amount of electricity required is also huge - about a kilowatt hour per kilogram of iron produced. "The economics are just not there under the present circumstances. Carbon is cheap, and there's no [financial] cost associated with venting carbon dioxide. And electricity's expensive. So if you put those three factors on the table, this just isn't economically viable," Kavanagh
says.

Carbon taxes could change this, of course. Kavanagh also points out that electrolysis would eliminate the energy-intensive coke-making process, which requires baking coal at high temperatures. More research and development is needed before the iron industry can determine the economic feasibility of this method, however.

Whenever a new game is announced for the Wii, one of the most frequently asked questions that is inevitably heard all around the gaming community is, "How will it utilize the Wii controller?" Well, THQ is just about to answer that very question - for some of their Wii titles, at least.

What follows is a rundown of how controls will be handled in THQ's upcoming Wii games Spongebob Squarepants: Creature from the Krusty Krab, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Disney’s Pixar Cars, and Barnyard. Read on, guys.


SpongeBob Squarepants
• SpongeBob fans will get to fly using the Wii controller as it becomes an aircraft’s control stick in unique, fast-paced flying sections.
• Players will experience racing as they grip the Wii controller like a steering wheel for a whole new and intuitive virtual driving experience.
• Rampage through Bikini Bottom as a 50 foot Plankton using the Wii’s unique accelerometers by sweeping, swiping and shaking the controller to punch, stomp and roar through a path of destruction.

Avatar
• Melee attacks using the Wii’s controller in sweeping gestures allow players to create combo-moves.
• Players perform Bending moves by moving the Wii controller left, right, up or down.
• Focus Moves allow players to draw symbols, using the Wii controller, from the "Avatar world" in a time based series in order to generate special moves.
• Players can use the Wii Nunchuk to control the game camera with tilting action.

Cars
• Players will race rotating the Wii controller like a steering wheel.
• Control jumps with the Wii controller.
• Enhanced mini games will use the unique control features including tilt mechanics in Tractor Tipping and motion mechanics for the Pit Stop.

Barnyard
• Swing the Wii remote like a club to tee off for a game of golf.
• Simulate a pool stick with the Wii remote in a game of Barnyard Billiards.
• Swing and strike with the controller to whack weasels in the Whack-a-Rac game.
• Utilize the Wii controller like a steering wheel to take the farmer’s truck on a joy ride.

OK, maybe not all of our readers here will be playing the above titles since they're geared more towards little kids, but we think it's an interesting insight into how game developers are using the new control options provided by the Wii controller.

If you feel like dropping a comment, don't hesitate to do so.

A fine Monday mornin' to you lads and ladies of the fairest kind, we're here with  a mammoth interview that sheds some light on one of my 15 most anticipated PSP games, Dead Head Fred.

QJ: When we last saw Dead Head Fred at E3 it was already looking pretty polished, what improvements and additions have been made since then?

Peterson: At E3 we demonstrated a level know as Zombietown.  What you were able to play was approximately 30 minutes of gameplay within a level that was strictly built for E3 – almost as a tutorial or intro to the mechanics that players will see at the end of our development cycle.  This demo gave the player a vertical slice of what the final product will eventually become.  Zombietown in the actual game is much larger than and not as linear as the E3 version.  We intentionally blocked off roads and passages so that E3 players could get a good idea of what the game was about in a short period of time.

What has happened since then?  A lot! We’ve been working on mechanics, level design and generation, enemies and mini-activities.  Dead Head Fred is a very ambitious game and we plan to deliver on all fronts.  We want people to buy a PSP just to play Dead Head Fred.  

We are currently heading into final geometry and texture stages of the levels, completing second and third passes on the mini-activities, like pinball, Dirty Pool (billiards), the Feather Dome (mutant rooster arena fighting), fishing (you fish for what else – mutant fish!  And some unique items are also found while fishing), and so on.  As we head into our final portion of development, we will wrap up with game balancing tweaks and cinematics.

       

Come on in and read the rest of the interview after the jump!

Jaws are one of the most common weapons for animals. Lions use it. Crocodiles use it. Hell, ants use it as well, but in a slightly different way. Instead of just biting their preys (they may not have any because they're so little), the Costa Rican ant snaps its jaws shut with such force that it propels itself backwards to be out of harm's way when the "prey" fights back.

It's interesting to note that the little crawler, scientifically know as Odontomachus bauri, was recently declared to have the fastest jaws in the animal kingdom. This declaration was based on scientific findings by the National Academy of Sciences.

Lead by Assistant Professor of Integrative Biology Sheila Patek, the pool of researchers from University of California, Berkeley recorded the strike of the ant by using high-speed cameras. They found out that it indeed is the fastest, surpassing the record set before by the mantis shrimp. According to them, "the average time for a strike was 0.13 milliseconds, some 2,300 times faster than the blink of an eye."

It's finally arrived!

Drums of War, Patch 1.12 for World of Warcraft has just been released, featuring the talent review for rogues, cross-faction battlegrounds and more!

For a full listing of 1.12's features, just click after the jump, or you could just download it straight and worry about the details later. Regardless, we'd like to extend thanks to rev_lucifer and superstardjrev for helping us get the patch. If it weren't for some technical problems, we'd have had the patch and thank you not up for everyone hours ago, so we apologize for that. In any case, have fun, and go fight for honor!

Download: [Drums of War: World of Warcraft Patch 1.12]

Watching a big football game in your lowly 21-inch TV set isn't really going to give you the ultimate viewing experience. But let's face it, big game tickets sell out fast. That and the fact that the Panasonic 103-inch Plasma display is just way over your budget. And even if you are rich enough to secure one, you'd have to worry about it being hit by bouncing objects (i.e. a ball) when the kids play in the living room.

Well, Smarthome has a solution in the 8-foot Inflatable Home Theater. Yes, you read that right, the operative word is inflatable. As such, it can easily be set up in the backyard or near the pool area, or on the grass. What's more, you don't have to worry about your home theater being too "fragile" as it's made of durable PVC frame and screen. The full-size screen comes with a pair of 100-watt amplified speakers to give that "drive-in" experience. It can connect to any projector and has room for additional outdoor speakers.

The Inflatable Theater with speakers retail for $899.99 over at Smart Home. It's probably the next best thing to watching big games in a jam-packed stadium.

Xplosiv revealed today the newest addition to their new PSP range: a wickedly wild party game called KAZooK. To become a KAZooK superstar you have to make your way through the ultimate party games collection that can take you anywhere and bring to life your wildest dreams, or weirdest nightmares. Face killer zombies, pilot out of control UFOs, fight with mad sweaty Sumo wrestlers, cause mayhem at an outrageous pool party and encounter many other thrills and oddities.

There are 16 playable characters in KAZooK, ranging from goth girls and skate kids to all-star rappers. The solo game has 3 modes: Normal, Survival and Party where the player can take on the challenge of completing all mini-games to become the ultimate party superstar. Of the 30 mini-games (which include shoot-em-ups, dance, fighting, and racing games), 27 can be played by 2 player using the PSP's Wi-Fi feature and 6 can be played hot-seat on one PSP. Also, 5 of the mini-games can be shared with other PSP’s using only one game UMD.

KAZooK is set to hit PSPs on the 20th of October 2006 for a suggested retail price of £19.99.

US gamers may have had the chance to play the game, The Hustle: Detroit Streets, but most people outside the country have yet to try out the game for themselves. The PC title, which will grace the London scene in early October 2006, promises to bring the experience of pool gangsta style to the English market.

In case you don't know this game and your kinda interested, The Hustle: Detroit Streets lets players take on the role of either Jack Stone or Kat Hudson as they make their way through the pool halls and clubs of Detroit. Players hone their pool skills and work their way to the top of the pool circuit through two different game modes - story mode, playing as either Jack or Kat in their quest for respect and cash, or single games, where they can practice their skills by playing one-off matches against AI opponents. Full Wi-Fi multiplayer is also supported.

For those who have yet to play this game, here are some of its screenshots for you to see and consider. Although we doubt that these screens are indeed for the PSP, but then again, it could help make us imagine more how the handheld version will look like.

 

More of the screens after the jump!

Ever wonder what happens to Earth after we humans have become extinct? According to RF Online, three races will emerge from our gene pool and battle for control over the rare minerals. The war begins with the Imperial Army of Accretia and the Imperialist Bellato Union whose modest ambition includes owning the entire galaxy. The Accretia Race sides with the Cora armed forces against the Union only to turn on each other later. The game is centered on the conflict between three races in their bid to control precious resources, and their desire to advance rule over the others through any means necessary. In short, Future, Post-Human Earth is pretty much the same as Present Earth. Oh, well, it's only science fiction.