techdeville.com

Tag: front

Antivirus Review: BullGuard 12 – Your Personal Cyber K9
- Performance
- Detection Rate
- Interface
- Ease Of Use
- Learning Curve
The PC Security World has evolved greatly. From there being just two of the majors, Norton and Mcafee, to an endless list of great products one after the other. Among the many awesome newcomers, we are reviewing one called BullGuard. As the name suggests, BullGuard is a take on your cyber K9 companion, we used this software on both new and old systems to see the amount of RAM it used and the number of threats it caught, to our surprise this is a pretty good piece of software. Not only does it provide protection, it has some fancy tune-up features as well as a backup hard drive in the cloud for every user! Sweet ain’t it? Read on.

It All Starts With A Shiny Interface

BullGuard sports a very minimalist and sleek interface. Very easy on the eyes, a combination of hot-red with silver, it is a very compact product with all of the main features easily accessible right from the main panel. It doesn’t add any extra load to the RAM or processing speeds either.

Under The Hood

The main control panel of BullGuard is not complicated either, bringing all of the main settings on the front for users to see and change. Everything is controlled by the user, you don’t have to waste hours finding the firewall to enable access to your favorite program.

Backup, You Say?

Yes, BullGuard comes equipped with its own cloud backup service called BullGuard Online Drive. The size of the disc varies according to the subscription, we received a 5GB backup drive with our review unit. It creates a nice little drive right in your My Computer window, observe:

A simple drag and drop system, much like DropBox. A very handy feature.

Wait, It Tunes Up My PC Too?

BullGuard could have developed a separate program for PC Tune Up but they’re not a greedy lot. They embedded a pretty nice Pc Tune Up feature right in their security program, it takes care of the basic tune-up needs and then some!

Safe Browsing, Enhanced

Remember those insane Facebook spam bots? When you click on a certain link they used to spam your entire friends list with weird messages? Well this saved me. BullGuard carries a fully loaded website blocker which integrates itself seamlessly to every browser, even a hint of an online trojan makes it block the website from opening, if you’re sure of the site being clean it still gives you the option of opening it. The online community at BullGuard is very active and keeps adding malicious websites to their database, you can help too by reporting websites.

Safe Searching

Search your favorite search engine with ease, BullGuard provides a pre-review of every website that comes up. This feature was first introduced by McAfee as a stand-alone program.

The Detection Rate

We performed the full-scan on one of our old computer systems, it picked up a huge number of Trojans and Spyware alike. The detection rate is immense and the full-scan took a total of 2 hours on a Pentium 4 PC with 160 GB of scanned data.

That Reassuring Green Tick

What does every computer user need at the end of the day from their security system? That reassuring green tick of safety and protection that tells us our computer is healthy and well. A little love doesn’t hurt. BullGuard really makes you feel you have a trusty K9 companion protecting you from harm.

Our Verdict, Is This Software For You?

We have seriously loved the inflow of awesome and minimal antivirus programs over the span of five years, BullGuard brings a few new and nice features to the table which I am sure will be followed in the 2012 versions of the other antivirus products. I am glad people are moving away from their Norton products, unless they create a less-of-a-system-hog they can’t join the league of awesome security products. BullGuard isn’t expensive, a fully loaded Antivirus license for a year is about $29, the online backup disc space is surprisingly cheap. We recommend this product as one of our favorite antivirus programs of the new year. After using it personally for three weeks, most of my review was done on a very old Pentium 4 and it did not cause any performance issues or start-up lags, I have no complaints whatsoever.

Try it for yourself for 90 days:

Download A Fully Loaded Trial Version
January 16, 2013
25 Awesome Facebook Timeline Covers For Valentine’s Day

So since it’s Valentine’s day and everyone’s busy writing mushy poems and collecting red roses, I decided to collect covers. If you’re one of the many who use Timeline on their Facebook, you might want to decorate it for the occasion, we searched for some of the most awesome looking Timeline covers for you to use.

To show my personal disinterest in Valentine’s Day, the first cover will be a little something I made. The rest of the covers are taken from various cover-makers. Check out 25 of the best timeline covers for Valentine’s Day below:

1. Indifferent (TechDeville Exclusive)

2. All Those Florals

3. Forever Alone

4. Stung

5. Guy Nerd

6. Apple-Inspired

7. Girl Nerd

8. Forever Alone 2

9. Sneaker-iffic

10. Awesome Typography

AND 15 OTHERS:

So there you have it, some of the best covers I could find. Be sure to share yours on our Facebook page.

January 16, 2013
10 Biggest Reasons Why Your Computer Is Slow

Looking at some of the infographics of this year, it came to my attention that most people still don’t understand how to keep their computers in top shape. It’s not always about the hardware, it’s how people use their computers and understand what harms it in the long run. Here is a list of the ten most common reason why your computer might act slow:

1. Ever Heard Of Defragmenting?

Perhaps you’ve had the computer for quite a while now (a year or so) and you still haven’t tried defragmenting the hard disks. You don’t need to install any third-party software or fancy defrag tools to do so, the Windows Defragmentation Tool is the best there is. Try it, it’s going to take a while but it’ll make sure your computer can easily identify the files it needs to read from. Defragmentation basically reorganizes your files, think of it this way, you have an office with a lot of folders which are not organized according to letters or numbers, it’ll take you a while to find every single file, you need to do some sorting out in order to get them faster, that’s what defragmentation is for a computer. DO IT!

2. Too Afraid To Use An Antivirus

Please understand that at today’s day and age, no computer is safe from the “Evil clutches” of the hackers. Install a good antivirus program to make sure your computer is protected, but DON’T OVERDO IT. Install one of the recommended programs and you’ll be alright.

3. Too Many Icons, Not Pretty Bro

It always starts with one desktop shortcut which slowly becomes the motherload of all shortcuts. The lesser icons you have in your desktop the better, delete all unnecessary icons ASAP.

4. Installed Every Software Known To Man

This has been a personal experience of mine when I turned on a friend’s computer to find a slew of useless software installed all over that poor helpless computer. Only install programs that you will DEFINITIVELY use! Have some mercy on yours RAMs.

5. No Idea What Windows Update Is

Most people avoid updating Windows, I agree with them to a certain extent. I don’t update Windows fully, because I don’t NEED every single Windows software to be updated, I only make sure the critical updates and the security patches are always installed as soon as they are released, DO THAT!

6. Mediocre PC, Heavy Games

Some people still try playing the next-gen games on their old-arse computers. It won’t work, buy a souped up PC that matches the requirements of the new games or buy a console if money is an issue.

7. Not Aware Of Bad Websites

Yes, bad websites do exist – a LOT of ‘em too. Make sure your browser and antivirus are fully updated and avoid visiting the obviously malicious websites.

8. Never Used Scandisk Before

Scandisk or “chkdsk” is a Windows utility which is vital to keep your disks safe and healthy. If your PC has ever been abruptly shut down due to power outage or otherwise, be sure to perform Scandisk on all of your partitions.

9. Torrents

This is actually one of the most increasing causes of PC threats and infections. Most people aren’t aware of how safe a torrent is and continue downloading it, not aware that the 900 mb file they just downloaded is actually a virus. Avoid downloading obviously malicious looking torrents.

10. YOUR FRIEND’S USB IS YOUR WORST ENEMY!

NEVER, and I mean NEVER, take your friend’s USB and use it before properly scanning it. 99% of the time, they’re infected and will leave the infamous “AUTORUN.INF” in your computer.

So there you have it folks. Share your worst experience below. To make your PC stronger, follow a little guide I wrote a few months ago here. If you liked the article, share it. Peace.

January 16, 2013
HTC One X Review
The HTC One X is part of HTC’s new One series of phones along with the HTC One S and HTC One V. The HTC One X is HTC’s current flagship phone coupling a high quality polycarbonate industrial design along with a NVIDIA Tegra Quad Core processor which reminds us of the age old tale of the Beauty and the Beast. Can the One X bring back HTC to its former glory? Find out in our review below.

Unboxing

Box

HTC is using a new kind of box which although we’re not sure what its made of resembles a mixture between foam and recyclable paper which makes it very easy to recycle. Tearing off the paper with all of the phone’s specification and other information gets you to the two piece box, removing the top of which presents you the phone sitting in the middle.

Below the phone you can find the charger, earphones which unfortunately are not of the Beats by Dr. Dre variant, instruction guide, SIM removal tool with a guide on how to cut down your normal SIM to microSIM specifications, all the relevant warranty information and instruction manuals.

Specification
- Quad-band GSM and dual-band 3G support
- 21 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
- 4.7″ 16M-color Super LCD 2 capacitive touchscreen of HD resolution (720 x 1280 pixels) with Gorilla glass “Infinity Display”
- Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich with HTC Sense 4.0
- 1.5 GHz quad-core + 1 Cortex-A9 CPUs, ULP GeForce 2 GPU, Nvidia Tegra 3 chipset
- 1GB of RAM and 32GB of storage (26GB usable)
- 8 MP autofocus camera with LED flash; face detection and geotagging
- 1080p and 720p video recording at 30fps with stereo sound
- 720p front-facing camera for video-chat
- Wi-Fi b/g/n and DLNA
- GPS with A-GPS
- Stereo FM radio with RDS
- Accelerometer, proximity sensor and auto-brightness sensor
- Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
- microUSB MHL port
- Stereo Bluetooth v4.0
Hardware

The HTC One X measures in at 134.4 x 69.9 x 8.9 mm and weighs in at 130g which is very light for a phone this big, for comparison the Galaxy Nexus weights in close at 135g.

The HTC One X is a GSM only phone supporting quadband UMTS (850/900/1900/2100) which helps it support AT&T’s network in the US among others all over the world. AT&T’s One X sports a Snapdragon S4 processor instead of the NVIDIA Tegra 3 variant we have here, the prior supports LTE but our only goes up to HSPA.

The One X features a beautiful 4.7-inch Super LCD 2 720p screen with Gorilla Glass which HTC likes to call an “Infinity display”, also note that the One X’s display is a RGB pixel arrangement offering better viewing angles and image reproduction as compared to Pentile displays. One X’s display is THE best screen you can get on a smartphone. There’s also the 1.5-Ghz Quad Core processor +1 companion core which help improve battery life when extra performance is not needed.

We also have 1GB of RAM, 32GB of non-expandable on-board storage, WiFi b/g/n, DLNA, FM Radio with RDS, Bluetooth 4.0 and a whole set of sensors including an accelerometer, proximity sensor and auto-brightness sensor. The phone’s 1800 mAh battery is charged through the phone microUSB MHL port. The battery lasted us just over a day with heavy usage.

The camera on the back of the One X is a f2.0 8MP 1080p sensor while the one on the front is a 1.3MP shooter mainly intended for video calls. The image quality is pretty g00d but certainly not the best; the colors can be a bit bland, the autofocus has problems focusing in at the right spot and the images have a lot of noise in low light. This is a shame since the One X’s camera application is really good.

Design

The HTC One X is one bea-u-ti-ful device and easily one of the best looking devices on the market. The One X is a much needed refreshment to HTC’s last year’s design portfolio.

The phone is available in two colors, white and the black one which we have here. The front of the phone features the huge 4.7-inch “Infinity Display” which is basically the glass wrapping around the edges of the body of the phone, do note its just the glass that wraps around not the screen itself.

The earpiece is built right into the phone’s unibody design instead of the standard metal grill, and it looks much better this way. Right to the speaker grill we have the 1.3MP front facing camera with all the front sensors just below it. The HTC One X brings with it many firsts from the Taiwanese company including a three button layout instead of the four they’ve used previously. Although we would have preferred no buttons at all, the three button combo is certainly not bad, although Ice Cream Sandwich requires a menu button so older apps will have a software menu button at the bottom of the screen taking around 80 pixels which can be a hindrance for some.

On the top of the phone we have the power button to the right and removable SIM card tray and 3.5mm headphone jack to the left. On the left hand side of the One X we have the microUSB port while on the right side we have the volume rocker. On the back of the phone we have the 8MP shooter on the top along with the single LED flash, the speaker grill is at the very bottom just below the Beats Audio branding and finally to the top right is the five pin dock connector.

Overall the phone feels really nice in the hands but the smooth backing doesn’t really allow you to get a firm grip on the phone. The polycarbonate backing might also pick up stains very easily although cleaning it isn’t too hard.

Software

Like previous HTC phones, the HTC One X too comes with HTC Sense albeit a new and improved version called HTC Sense 4.0. Although Sense has been known for being a bloated mess and always offering eye candy while sacrificing performance. Luckily Sense 4.0 is a much need improvement and has been toned down a lot.

The widgets have been improved a bit but they still consume a lot of battery life and have problems updating at the right time, hence its better to manually update them. A new function in HTC Sense 4.0 which should’ve been added way back is the ability to add or remove homescreens unlike the previous versions which limited you to having seven screens. The notification has also been revamped and resembles stock ICS a lot as now it only displays notifications instead of a list of previously used apps.

HTC has greatly improved its Email client which is much better than the stock ICS client. You can have threaded conversations and even use Smartsync to improve battery life. HTC has also revamped the multitasking in Sense 4.0 making it much similar to WP7 Mango offering an over the top view allowing you to choose between multiple windows at once.

Although HTC didn’t pack in any Beats by Dr Dre headphones in the box the HTC One X does have the in-built Beats audio enhancer but to use it you’ll have to buy separate Beats audio hardware. You also get 25GB of Dropbox storage free with the phone so that’s definitely worth a mention.

Camera Samples

Video Samples

Performance

The HTC One X is the first Android phone to come with NVIDIA’s quad core Tegra 3 processor and we expected huge performance improvements over dual core processor, unfortunately that wasn’t the case. The One X can lag quite a bit in daily use, especially when opening folders and navigating through menus. Casual users won’t notice that much though.

Benchmark performance was really good, the One X scored 4413 in Quadrant, 12834 in CF Bench and 48.571 MFLOPs (1.73 secs) in Linpack.

Overall

The HTC One X is a brilliant phone but still has room for improvement. The Quad core Tegra 3 processor is pretty new and powerful but fails to offer lagless performance we all want from Android, we hope HTC fixes that with the S4 version of this phone.

TechDeville awards the HTC One X 4.5/5 stars.
January 16, 2013
Borderlands 2 Review
The original Borderlands was a game that I thoroughly enjoyed. It’s quite uncommon to find RPGs with shooter elements and a very vast world filled with loot. Borderlands felt… different. It had it’s flaws, but it was a unique experience. Borderlands 2 is quite similar, and just as fun.

The sequel is a large improvement over the first game. Correcting many of the problems that were associated with the first game, and adding some new features of it’s own, Borderlands 2 offers a wonderful experience; one that will keep you glued to your seat for quite a while. I suggest you take a break from work or school before getting started with this adventure.

Borderlands 2 has four classes namely the Commando, Siren, Assassin and Gunzerker (pictured below).

As you can notice, the first four are more or less like the classes offered in the first game. They’re different in appearance and action skills this time though. Another class, called the Mechromancer, will be available for download later on October 16th for $9.99 or 800 MS Points for PSN and XBL respectively, unless you pre-ordered the game, in which case you have obtained her already.

The story picks up where the first one left off. Oh, you don’t remember the first story? It doesn’t matter. Borderlands 1 had a very weak and boring story. It’s definitely not worth remembering. This sequel has improved on narration and story-telling, but the core story is still not worth it. Who cares about stories in most loot-driven Western RPG’s anyway? Remember the story to Diablo 3? Yeah, nor do I.

Speaking of Diablo 3, I believe that Gearbox could have learned something off of Blizzard’s game: Independent loot. In Diablo 3, every player received his/her own loot. This, however, is not the case in Borderlands 2. This game goes back to the old ways when loot was shared amongst the players. When you kill an enemy, it’s a race against time to rush towards the dropped weapons and grab them before your enemy does. This can be problematic as most people online tend to pick up whatever loot they find, without caring about whether it’ll be useful to them or not. Beware of Ninjas and lag on this one.

But the amount of loot in this game is just so incredible that you wouldn’t really care who took what. Loot drops very often and it’s easy to find new things. No gamer exaggerates when he/she mentions how much loot there is in this game. Trust me, it is more than enough to drive you and make you go crazy. And just like the tremendous amount of loot, the other content of this game is pretty large too. The entire area is quite diverse and vast, with a variety of enemies and bosses. Quite unfortunately though, there is not much to do except gain loot and kill. I spent most of my time just shooting. Obviously this is what you would expect from a first person shooter RPG, but I was expecting the gameplay to be overhauled in many aspects. But I guess that’s not much of an issue as this point relies heavily upon my personal opinion. Despite gameplay being repetitive, there are various side-quests to enjoy when you don’t feel like following the main story line. Although these side missions are hardly different as they too involve a lot of shooting, they are still fun and rewarding.

Each class is unique and fun to play. Their action skills are quite important and can be improved as the character levels up. These skills are crucial when playing with friends as the enemies get harder and each player has to play his/her part to survive and help others to live as well. Without team work and co-operation, this game can be immensely tough online. But if you play with the right people of the right level and experience, you’ll have a lot of fun. Team co-operation and seeing everyone use their action skills in dangerous moments is fun and adds to the overall fun. I mean, who wouldn’t want partners while shooting everything you lay your fixed eyes on?

One thing Borderlands 2 failed to do was give freedom in customizing character appearances. This feature was not available in Borderlands 1 either, where you could only change the color of the clothes, but Borderlands 2 should have improved on this. After all, when you play online, do you not want your character to look different? Agreed that this is not an MMO and nor is it a Fantasy RPG where armor matters a lot, but even simple appearance changing options would have been appreciated. On the other hand, skill trees are very intriguing. You could spend hours on a skill tree only to restore your skill points and start all over again. This keeps continuing until you’re comfortable with a set of specific skills.

One important aspect of every game is it’s sound. The sound effects were pretty good, but nothing extraordinary. The same goes for the soundtrack as I did not notice anything special that is worth praising. But at the same time, it wasn’t bad. Lets just say it suited the game. Lastly, this game has a lot of humor and this is one of the reasons I enjoyed it. The story was not worth my time, but the humor definitely was.

It all comes down to the final verdict then. Borderlands 2 is a great improvement over it’s prequel. Period.

The Good: The visuals are updated and enhanced, several flaws have been fixed, the online gameplay is fun, quests are rewarding and the amount of variety in loot and enemies is enough to keep you playing for weeks, maybe even months.

The Bad: The game’s story is not of any importance, there is hardly any freedom and character customization and loot sharing is a pain.

In the end, my point is, if you enjoy RPGs which can cause you to lose your job or get bad grades in school, then Borderlands 2 might just be the game for you. Seriously speaking though, fans of the original Boderlands and other Western RPGs will certainly enjoy Borderlands 2. I would personally recommend buying the game on the PC as it looks better (though it leeches a lot of power from your hardware), but purchasing it on the Xbox 360 or the PS3 won’t make much of a difference since the game is entirely the same.

TechDeville awards Borderlands 2 4.5/5 stars.
January 16, 2013
DmC: Devil May Cry Review
When DmC was first announced, the first thing that came to mind was: What the hell have they done to Dante? What happened to the bad-ass character we’ve come to love? Why replace him with a teenage punk?

Well, first we need to realize that this game is set in a parallel universe, and the story does not pick up from where the previous games left it. Think of the previous Devil May Cry games as Sam Raimi’s Spider-man movies, with the new DmC being the ‘Amazing Spiderman. Bad example, I know, but that’s how it is. It is like an unwritten rule these days that when a franchise undergoes a reboot, a new character is needed. That’s how it is with DmC.

So the question is, does the new Dante suffice? I personally believe he does. He’s obviously not as bad-ass as his predecessor, but he manages to do the job, and that’s good enough. He’s a punk, and behaves like all punks do, trying to be all cool and stylish. The previous Dante did not have to try though.

As I stated before, this game is a reboot, with a new story. Some of the basic plot points are the same though. Dante is brother to Vergil, and they are both sons of Sparda, a demon. Throughout the story, Mundus, the demon king, wants Dante killed. Meanwhile, Dante is fighting his way through demons in Limbo city where he meets Kat, a member of the Order – an organization fighting against the demons of Limbo city. The leader of the Order, Vergil, expects Dante to ally himself with them. Along the way, Dante learns that he is a Nephilim, son to a demon and an angel.

Of course, the Devil May Cry series has never been famous for it’s story. It’s the gameplay where it shines. And guess what? Ninja Theory has actually done an unexpected job of delivering great gameplay mechanics. The game is fun throughout, with each battle being fast paced and interesting. Like previous games, the player can use Dante’s sword, called Rebellion, and his dual pistols, Ebony and Ivory. New to the franchise are the Devil and Angel modes. These can be activated by holding down the triggers on your controller. The Angel mode allows Dante to use a scythe, called Osiris. This scythe is speedy, but does light damage. On the other hand, the Devil mode allows Dante to use Arbiter, a huge axe that does heavy damage. Apart from the weapons, the Angel and Devil modes allow Dante to pull himself towards enemies, or pull enemies towards him, respectively.

Switching between these modes swiftly can allow the player to exercise combos in a bewildering array of ways. The objective of producing combos is to get a higher battle rating, like in previous games. I personally found it easier to rank up my battle rating and keep the combos going in DmC, as compared to previous games, especially since the ‘pull’ feature of the Devil and Angel modes allows me to get to enemies quicker so I can continue my combos efficiently.

Boss fights were fun and interesting, sometimes posing a nice challenge and pushing the player to their limits. Items were hidden throughout the game which can be collected to improve Dante’s stats and unlock challenges. Challenges throughout the game offered a diversity to the regular gameplay, awarding the player with items if completed successfully. To take a break from the regular fighting, Limbo city would sometimes try to kill Dante through means other than employing demons. These would include trying to close the walls on him, or making the ground disappear beneath his feet, cases in which Dante has to dash through the area quickly. All these instances were fun and quick-paced, just like a hack and slash game should be.

Despite this diversity, sometimes the game would feel repetitive. But then again, this problem persists with almost all games in this genre. If the player experiments with different types of combos and fighting techniques, the game will obviously feel fresh throughout.

Accompanying the gameplay is a great soundtrack, consisting of screams and metal music. Who doesn’t love that in a Devil May Cry game, right? The soundtrack lets the adrenaline rush through your veins throughout the game, creating a unique atmosphere found only in DmC. The combine this music with the fast-paced gameplay and you’ll get a game that is bursting with energy.

I would like to say that everything about the game’s sound is great, but I can’t. The music is perfectly fine, but the voice acting isn’t. As I said, Dante is a punk, so he speaks like one too. Sometimes, his voice can be horrible, and the dialogues get annoying and stupid. I don’t know if Ninja Theory meant for them to be humorous, but they’re not. Some of them were downright awful. Some of the bosses, like the one featured in the demo was a pain listening to.

Lastly, the graphics were neat. There was the occasional frame-tearing in cutscenes and some areas did not feel polished. But the overall look of the game was good enough. A few glitches were present here and there though. Perhaps a future update will fix these, but then again, they were negligible. The game isn’t something that you’ll feel inspired after looking at, but it does justice to the distorted Devil May Cry universe. There’s enough twisted-ness to go around.

The game is great independently, but is it better than the previous ones? Maybe. That depends on why you liked the previous games in the first place. If you’re looking for one of the best hack and slash gameplay mechanics, a soundtrack that will make you feel pumped and a twisted setting, then you’ve come to the right place, and you’ll feel right at home with DmC.

TechDeville gives DmC: Devil May Cry 4/5 stars.
January 15, 2013
Assassin’s Creed 3 Review
The Assassin’s Creed franchise has been around for quite a long time. The first Assassin’s Creed game displayed the magnificence of the next generation consoles and was positively received at the time. Fans have followed Altair Ibn La-Ahad in the first game, and then Ezio Auditore da Firenze in the second, third and fourth game. Practically, Assassin’s Creed 3 is the fifth main game in the series, with Brotherhood and Revelations being the third and the fourth. But, since Brotherhood and Revelations continued with Ezio, they are somewhat considered as side parts of the second game. Assassin’s Creed 3 features a completely new assassin: Conner.

Conner is a nice addition to the series, but one cannot admire him as much as Ezio with his sweet Italian accent and wonderful way of saying “Futrovelli”. Nevertheless, Conner isn’t half-bad. His outfit could use a few tweaks, but that’s fine. So, is Conner enough to make this game shine like it’s predecessors? Read on to find out.

First of all, Assassin’s Creed 3 enjoys it’s fair share of bugs and glitches, but that’s nothing that can’t be fixed. A patch is expected to cure these ailments ASAP. These bugs made my experience horrendously problematic and I was highly disappointed with Ubisoft for not having fixed these beforehand. But with the plethora of content and a rich story, this game is hard to hate and ‘ragequit’. Just like the previous games, Assassin’s Creed 3 packs an amazing story, once again continuing with Desmond Miles and taking place during the American Revolution. Obviously, you’ll also be taking the role of Desmond and, since this is the final game and the fate of the world rests in Desmond’s hands, you will be exploring Desmond’s character even further and ultimately using his skills, hence finally getting to assess what he has learnt from his ancestors via the Animus.

Also like the previous games, what makes the story of this game so amazing is it’s ability to interweave it with real historical events such as the Boston Tea Party and the Battle of Bunker Hill. You’ll also see famous American personalities that you thought would only exist in your school text books. All these elements contribute and work together to deliver a thrilling story and a wonderful experience that you won’t be forgetting any time soon. Obviously, I cannot tell you much about the story without spoiling too much, so I’d recommend that you try it out yourself, or read a short summary on the internet if you’re still curious. But let me tell you this, the ending of the game will have you pondering over it and possibly even obsess over the nature of humanity. The game seems slightly slow and boring at the start, but that’s only because some character development was needed before the story could be set on it’s way. The ending isn’t that surprising, but it’s a good conclusion to one of the best video game franchises of this generation.

Something completely new for the Assassins Creed franchise are the naval battles featured in this game. When I originally saw these sea battles at E3, I wasn’t sure what to say. They looked great, but I didn’t assume that they’d be a lot of fun. I mean, we all like to battle with different vehicles… but ships?! I was wrong, of course. Sea battles are one of the best things about Assassins Creed 3. They feel absolutely tense and one can have a lot of fun with them. They’re quite realistic and the mechanics are, well not entirely smooth, but quite good. I personally felt like a real adventurer as I sailed through those raging waters and wreaked havoc on the other ships. Simply put, it’s ecstatic.

Another change in the game is the loss of the health bar. You now have regenerative health, but that’s neither good nor bad. Since there was never a problem with the health bar in the previous games as it would regenerate the last block automatically, and you could find medicine on any dead guard, survivability was not that hard, and it’s quite the same with Assassin’s Creed 3. You now also have trees in the game. Trees that you can climb on and jump to. This may seem easy, but it can get buggy at times and you may not land where you intended to. On the other hand, the streets and buildings of the cities such as New York are yours to roam about, jumping from roof to roof, killing the redcoats and what-not. Coming over to the battle system, it’s quite the same. You still have to block and counter as you always have. Conner’s tomahawk is quite good though. I’m guessing Ubisoft will have a replica made and sold with some future super-expensive collectors edition.

Of course, battles can be completely avoided if you play the game stealthily like a real Assassin, which isn’t really hard. Conner automatically crouches when moving through long blades of grass, and you still have the other regular ways of hiding from your enemies as in the previous games. Either way, you have your advantages and disadvantages.

The game looks gorgeous, from the fierce water effects to the calm snow on the trees, everything looks beautiful. Maybe not highly detailed in terms of textures, but still admirable nonetheless.

When taking a break from the main story or the game’s many side missions that reward you in numerous ways, you could always try to develop your homestead which is similar to the Villa that Ezio had in Assassins Creed II. Simply seeing the homestead grow gives you pleasure and satisfaction.

Lastly, the multiplayer. I’ve never quite enjoyed the Assassin’s Creed Multiplayer because the players hardly ever act as Assassins. Instead, they run around rooftops, exposing themselves to their enemies. And this is the same with Assassin’s Creed III. The gameplay is the same: you have to hide among crowds and then identify and assassinate your target. Hiding and waiting for another Assassin to approach you is quite tense as you begin to worry about whether or not he has identified you as his target. However, the multiplayer is only fun if the players are playing properly. Otherwise, it’s a random ‘kill-on-sight’ affair. As you continue playing, you level up and get to use new skills. Also, you can use your real money to enhance your character’s basic look and gain other perks.

Assassin’s Creed III might not have the best Assassin in the series, and it might be incredibly buggy and it might not be perfect, but it still offers you a lot of content, provides you with a rich story and a great conclusion and gives you a lot of satisfaction as you progress through it.

TechDeville gives Assassins Creed III 4/5 stars.
January 14, 2013
The Internet Goes To War – SOPA Strike Begins

Months in the making, hundreds of thousands of voices heard, the war is finally on! SOPA/PIPA have their day on January 24th, they will either be passed or delayed. In order to stop this catastrophe from happening, the big names have joined hands ignoring their traffic and business and stand against a single big threat. January 18th was announced as a strike against SOPA by Reddit, it was supposed to be the day when major websites were going to go dark and display words against SOPA/PIPA. When it was announced, most of the big sites weren’t sure of making the move. All of a sudden, the entire controlling for of the internet got involved in the strike, companies like Google, Wikipedia, WordPress, Reddit, Mozilla, Minecraft, Tumblr are JUST a few of them.

I was shocked when I opened up Wikipedia this morning to see this gorgeous screen:

Google did its part too:

This is what it all comes down to. All of the internet’s big names, no matter how different they may be, stand together against this unjust law. Reddit and Google have nothing in common, 4chan and WordPress don’t come together on any front, but here everything is forgotten and only one thing is in mind, stopping SOPA/PIPA from happening. And this is just the beginning, a lot of teachers tweeted about Wikipedia being down so that their students could finish their projects earlier. Twitter is filled with hashtags like #stopsopa and #sopastrike in the thousands by today!

Innovation will not stay quiet anymore, people even designed plugins for WordPress to let bloggers install them and have their sites blacked out. Apart from the hundreds of big and notable names joining in, thousands of blogs and websites have taken part as well. Now the big question is, will this stop SOPA? There is no clear answer, the bill can still pass because the powers behind it surpass the power of the internet. CBS, Disney, NBC, ESPN, these are just some of the names supporting SOPA/PIPA. We will keep you updated on the strike and whatever happens on January 24th.

List of blacked out sites

November 20, 2012
Top 5 Stereoscopic 3D Games

Technology is evolving at a rapid pace, as game developers continue to discover innovative new means of enhancing the experience for the end-user. High-definition was once touted as the next big thing at the beginning of the seventh console generation. A higher level of on-screen detail paved the way for immersive experiences, not only for gaming but the entertainment industry in general. Now that it as become a standard affair, the newly commercialized stereoscopic 3D is seen as the technology that can potentially take gaming to the next level. While it has already made its mark in Hollywood, it remains to be seen if it can gain similar prominence in the gaming industry.

Stereoscopic 3D is still in its infancy; one that is plagued with various issues. Crosstalk, for instance, is an undesirable effect that produces ghosting or allows you to see a double image on certain objects. However, on the other end of the spectrum, there are notable examples of games that do a remarkable job of showcasing the technology with negligible unwanted effects.

Below is a list of games that are currently the benchmark of stereoscopic 3D. If you’ve just bought a 3DTV, or are looking for a reason to get one, you’re in the right place.

5. Sonic Generations (PS3/X360/PC)

Sonic Generations’ brisk pace and sense of speed makes it a rollercoaster ride in 3D. Powered by the Havok physics engine, the set-pieces make way for some crazy environmental destruction. Hence, when it comes to stereoscopic 3D, the game is a natural with plenty of startling ‘pop-out’ moments during each level. There is a bit of ghosting here and there at higher levels of depth, but you’d be hard-pressed to notice as you blaze past your surroundings at top speed.

4. Shadow of the Colossus (PS3)

Just one glance at one of those enormously towering Colossi coming towards you in 3D will be enough to make a believer out of you. Shadow of the Colossus makes some clever, yet subtle use of stereoscopy. The 3D effect isn’t too intruding, but at the same time it servers as a fabulous complement to an already immersive experience. Subtle hints of ‘pop-out’ can be seen from emerging rubble that Agro leaves behind, as he trots around the vast open landscape. However, as already mentioned, the real stars of the show are the Colossi, who are perfect stereoscopic renditions of their 2D selves.

3. Trine 2 (PC)

A two dimensional platformer with three dimensional assets is the perfect specimen for a stereoscopic 3D makeover. Trine 2 is a natural when it comes to 3D, and hence makes some fine use of its stationary viewpoint. Depth is made distinguishable across individual 2D planes, and you can evidently see the difference between objects that are nearer and those that are farther away. Ultimately, it goes a step beyond the ‘staring through a glass window’ effect, almost creating the impression of a real life aquarium at first sight. Truly a remarkable sight to behold!

2. Child of Eden (PS3)

What better game to make use of stereoscopic 3D than one that is all about conveying a highly immersive and surreal experience? Child of Eden is a trance music fan’s dream come true, and the addition of 3D puts it on steroids, literally. It takes augmented reality to the next level, with some of the most immersive and visually enticing convergence effects ever. The on-rail nature of gameplay is highly beneficial for stereoscopy, allowing the game to ramp up depth and convergence during specific moments of rapture.

1. Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception (PS3)

The definitive stereoscopic 3D experience! Uncharted 3 accomplishes and retains a very natural and believable sense of depth at all times. More importantly, however, when things get exciting and those Naughty Dog trademark set-pieces begin to kick in, they bring with them some crazy ‘pop-out’ and parallax effects. Particularly outstanding is the way in stereoscopic 3D is used to enhance elemental effects, such as fire, smoke, and water. The Chateau level, in particular, makes for a remarkable showcase of the game’s stereoscopic 3D effects. Unfortunately, the game drops to a lower resolution when running in 3D mode, but it still looks great and the 3D effects are well worth the sacrifice in image quality.

Honorable Mention: God of War: Ghost of Sparta (PS3)

Ghost of Sparta’s PSP roots allow it to retain pristine image quality in stereoscopic 3D on the PS3, given that it isn’t very taxing on the hardware. The vast landscapes are brought to life in 3D, and the now well-known ‘staring through a glass window’ effect that stereoscopy brings is implemented quite well. In terms of ‘pop-out’, Ghost of Sparta uses a more subtle approach. Smoke and other particles appear to fade out nearer to the screen, adding to the overall immersion.

November 20, 2012
Pakistan Authorities Have Blocked Over 13,000 Adult Websites

Never have I seen a banning of this scale and caliber. The Pakistan Telecom Association, also known as PTA, has blocked well over 13 thousand inappropriate / adult / anti-government websites over the past two months. While no definitive list of blocked websites has been revealed, sources close to TechDeville say the banning has not stopped yet as the number of inappropriate websites is just beyond imagination.

I applaud PTA for taking a positive step for providing a controlled and safer environment for our children and youth to surf online. A lot of the major proxy websites have also been blocked. While the sad part still remains, there are still limitless ways to bypass these bans, but the efforts are still appreciated and it will continue in a positive direction.

While some people are calling this an attack on the freedom of speech, I simply don’t see how adult websites were contributing anything to “Freedom of speech”, freedom of clothes maybe.

Stay updated, Follow us on Twitter (@TechDeville), add us to your Google+ circles and like us on Facebook.

November 19, 2012