The Chrome Tools you need

With more and more users switching to Google Chrome, Google’s open source answer to Mozilla Firefox, we have decided to feature some cool Chrome extensions this week to help you improve your browsing experience and save yourself some time in the process.

Adblock

Get rid of those flashy banner ads! These bandwidth suckers not only distract you but also make pages load slowly. Like Firefox’s Adblock plus, this Chrome extension is a perfect tool to block just about any annoying ad.

goo.gl URL Shortener

This extension shortens any long URLs with the Google’s new URL Shortener service. Once shortened the URL is then copied automatically to clipboard and can be shared with any supported services like Twitter and IMs where there are character limits.

Shareaholic

If you’re one of us who have to constantly sharing web pages over social networking sites then this extension is a must-have tool. It lets you share any web page on almost any social networking site and aggregators right from the website you are on.

IE Tab

Not all websites are compatible with Chrome, and some bummers force you to open IE. This extension solves this problem for once and for all by emulating Internet Explorer within the Chrome browser.

GMail Checker Plus

This amazing extension lets you manage, preview and delete emails without logging into your account on another tab. It also comes with sound notification service for new mail and also allows you to view the new Priority Inbox right from the current tab.

StayFocusd

Addicted to Facebook? This extension helps you focus while you work by blocking time wasting websites. It sets a timer for time-consuming websites you often tend to visit and then blocks them for the rest of the day when the time is up.

Google Translate

It gets quite frustrating when some websites link you to some other sites with information in some obscure language. For such occasions, this extension works its wonder by translating any webpage into any language supported by Google translate service.

Split Screen

Amazing for cross-reference study, this extension splits the screen and allows user to open multiple websites in a single tab. It is great extension for studying as it effortlessly enables the user to compare and contrast between different websites at same time.

Google Dictionary

With this extension, you can double click any word and the definition immediately pops on the screen. Alternatively, you can directly search meanings for the words by clicking the icon on the top right of the screen.

Chromey Calculator

This extension brings all the handy calculator tricks right at your fingertips. When Google fails to answer, it seeks help from the WolframAlpha computational engine. This extension also handles mixed unit calculations (like 300 inch+500 light years) with ease.

Geolocation - the new on Facebook

The web nowadays is getting increasingly interesting. After “What are you doing?”, it’s now come to “What are you doing, and where are you doing it?”.
Moving to challenge Google and other emerging location-based services, Facebook on Wednesday introduced Facebook Places, a way for users to expose their location to other Facebook users and applications and to locate their friends.

Places allows users to share their location in real-time using an iPhone or a Web page accessed through a mobile browser (http://touch.facebook.com) that supports HTML 5, geolocation(GPS enabled handsets) and you need to be in USA which a little disappoints me. However it is going to be available for all places as http://blog.facebook.com suggests.

With Places, you are in control of what you share and the people you share with. You choose whether or not to share your location when you check in at a place. When you check in, you can tag friends who are with you but only if their settings allow it. When you are tagged, you are always notified.

Happy Tagging Guys.

MotoGP 09/10 - Moto Racing Unleashed - Review

The MotoGP game franchise has been licensed to Japanese developer Capcom since 2007, and it released its first instalment of the series on the PS2 console. Starting from 2008, the game was shifted to the latest-gen PS3 and Xbox 360 systems. Having skipped 2009, the latest episode has just been recently released, and is branded as MotoGP 09/10. The idea behind this move is that the game will feature the authentic and official lineup of 2009, and will add new content via the PS3's internet connection as the 2010 season progresses. For example, the first update that will be rolled out this month (July) will contain the 800cc class and associated teams, plus the new Silverstone (UK) track. A future update will introduce the 600cc and 125cc series.

In franchises like this, each instalment represents an incremental upgrade or introduction of new features as compared to its predecessor, mostly for the better. MotoGP is no exception to this. New to this “season” is a timed Arcade mode, in which you have to complete a race before time runs out, with seconds being added for good racing, and time being deducted for making mistakes or getting overtaken. Also added is a spanking-new Career mode, which is the highlight of this game. More on this later.

Before we go any further, let me say this right out. I'm not really a fan of racing simulators, because as anyone who's ridden a high-performance bike will testify, playing in front of the boob tube does not even remotely capture the visceral experience of having your guts wrenched back as the bike accelerates like a rocket. Then there are a few other mundane considerations, such as the control scheme. A console's controller is nowhere near as intuitive as a bike's handle, so whereas in the latter you can keep the throttle open for long hours with little discomfort, having to keep the accelerator pressed with one finger in the former leads to your hand starting to ache from the tension after less than an hour of playing. And don't even get me started on the gear shifting. The way I see it, racing simulators actually offer the worst of both worlds — none of the adrenaline-pumping experience of a real sports bike, and all of the inconvenience of the console's controls. It therefore makes sense that if you really do want to play a bike game on a console, it might as well be one that lets you perform outlandish stunts and physically impossible speeds, while letting you bonk competing riders and roving cops on the head with a baseball bat. I'm talking of course of the all-time classic, Road Rash.

Coming back to the present, judging from the limited popularity of simulators, I'm not the only one who feels that way. Therefore, any racing title tries to increase its potential audience by “easing up” on the player, giving him the option to tone down the realism and have a more forgiving race environment. MotoGP is no different in this regard. It pleases the hardcore fans by giving them an authentic official race experience, complete with real-world riders and race gear. More importantly, it lets you adjust every single aspect of your bike, right down to individual gear ratios. For the majority of us who couldn't be bothered with these things though, it has varying realism levels, starting from the lowest Gentle setting, which simplifies the learning curve.

For the most part, MotoGP succeeds in this respect. The most obvious way is through the display of a dynamic “racing line” on the track. For those not in the know, the racing line is the optimal route that the rider has to takes across a bend so that the running speed of the bike is maximized. The better you stick to the racing line at the fastest possible speed, the bigger the edge you have over the competition. While in older games, the racing line would be represented by a simple white line across the track, recent games have made it “smarter”, one of the earlier examples being with Forza Motorsport 2 for the X360. MotoGP too has borrowed this concept. What you now have is a racing line that changes colour to act as a speed guide as well. Dark green indicates a “safe” or low speed, which gets lighter as your speed increases, with white indicating that you're at the fastest possible speed level. If the line is red, you're going too fast and unless you brake, will wind up overshooting the turn, sliding across the gravel, and breaking some bones. This feature is thus your friend, philosopher, and guide on the track (not necessarily in that order).

Coming to the game modes, the standard Championship mode lets you race a full season as one of the real-world riders and teams in the MotoGP. Sensibly, the higher 250cc and MotoGP bikes are restricted until you've first proven yourself in the lower 125cc class by finishing third or better. You'll see why this is such a good idea when how realize how much more difficult it is to handle the higher-performance beasts. Championship mode is the perfect way to get a good feel of the controls. The AI (Artificial Intelligence, or computer opponents) are at their most forgiving here, and it is not too difficult to overcome this obstacle. Things get a lot more challenging in the Arcade mode, which as mentioned earlier, throws in the added challenge of completing a track in a given time.

The toughest of the lot though has to be Career mode. Here, you begin as a rookie racer in the 125cc class, gradually working your way up the MotoGP ladder. Each race you play pays you money according to how high you finish. With this money, you can hire a publicist, who will scout for sponsors. These sponsors impose certain conditions, say finishing the race in 11th position or better. Achieving these objectives gives you a bonus payout. With this money, you hire engineers, who begin researching better technologies to make your bike run faster and handle better. Which area the research is conducted in (engine, brakes, suspension etc) is totally up to you. Another aspect is added through Reputation Points. The skills you display while riding (overtaking opponents, not overshooting turns, and so on) translate into points. Once you achieve a certain number of points, you move to the next “level”, which lets you hire an additional employee (PR or engineer) and take on an additional sponsor. Essentially, as long as you make enough money to pay your employees' salaries, you're in the game.

The problem with Career mode is in the sudden rise in difficulty levels. After a bit of practice, I comfortably won the 125cc Championship in the lowest difficulty level. Buoyed by this victory, I decide to plunge into a full-time race career. Boy, was I in for a shock. Suddenly I found myself all at sea, stuck with a bike that was far inferior to the competition. I needed to research upgrades to make the machine faster, but to do this, I had to win races first, which in itself became a near-impossible task. From winning a Championship by a 100-point margin, I now found myself routinely finishing eighth or lower, barely struggling to make ends meet. I did manage to end the 125cc season in fifth place, but it was depressingly clear that I had little resources left to survive the even more challenging 250cc season. Come on, this is the easiest difficulty level we're talking about! I'm supposed to be enjoying the game at this level, not crying out in frustration! Multiplayer mode was an equally disappointing experience. Normally, it's really difficult to go wrong with calling a few buddies over and playing console games with them over a beer or several. No such luck here though. The extreme difficulty of the Aracade-style race, again at the lowest difficulty level, meant that none of us could finish even a single race, each time having to listen to an annoying “Game over, yeah!” voiceover. Not cool.

I have little to say about the graphics and sound, mostly because there are few complaints on that front. The graphics quality, as with any title from a top developer like Capcom, is top-notch. I especially like the rain effects and the way drops of water splash on your helmet visor as you race under a grey sky. The music tracks are well matched to a game of this kind, having a good mix of Rock and Techno numbers that keep playing in your head long after the TV has been turned off. My only complaint: I would have preferred a few more tracks though; the quantity seemed to be a little on the lower side.

Overall, with its inconsistent difficulty levels, MotoGP 09/10 is not a title that can be considered friendly towards the casual gamer. This game requires sincere dedication and commitment on your part to master the dynamics of controlling various high-performance bikes. For hardcore simulator enthusiasts who love nothing more than tweaking the minutest settings to get that much more out of their rides, the game will provide a challenge that they will relish for quite some time to come.

What We Like: A great-looking game that has seen a lot of effort go into it, MotoGP provides enough goodies for the racing enthusiast, while also keeping the casual gamer occupied. The brand new Career mode is engaging enough to let you imagine yourself as a MotoGP team owner.
What We Dislike: The inconsistent difficulty levels will have you swearing in frustration at certain points. The gameplay experience is tilted far more towards the hardcore enthusiast than the casual player.

Rating: 7.5/10
Price: Rs 3,345
Platform: PS3

The game of Lifetime! - GTA Series

The Grand Theft Auto series defines the times we are living in. Most people in their right minds would not plan to spend their weekends committing auto thefts or getting into fights with strangers. In that sense, Grand Theft Auto (GTA) redefined virtual entertainment for these same acts. Some critics and parent groups call it—quite justifiably—downright insane; some enthusiasts call it the biggest gaming revolution since Mario and Doom.

This best-selling series has become a modern-day cultural icon and is listed as a top game on most charts more dominantly than any other game today. The core reasons for this immense success are perhaps the great gameplay plots of the GTA franchise—which have been given more focus after GTA II—and the freedom provided by the genre, in which a player enjoys a non-linear flow of the plot and has choices like free-roam and non-mission activities.

In the GTA games, the protagonists who gradually rise through the echelons of the crime world are often forced, pushed back or pushed into a life of crime because of tragic events. GTA does not, as opposed to the common notion about it, glamorize crime. In fact, it lets the players see how dirty crime is. The game would be clean of controversies if only parents and some obstinate children really understood the significance of the ratings and leave GTA for grownup gamers. GTA is not mindless gore and not solely about thefts and shootouts; it is about emotions; the problems of underprivileged communities (hoods); families and friends (e.g. your ‘homies’ in GTA San Andreas); of love—lost and found; and above all, the lifestyle we are still strangers to.

In GTA, gameplay progresses with missions, side-jobs and bonus activities which are unlocked serially excusing the series the need to have a separate training module for novice players. The player and the character both grow from being a newbie to an expert in driving and shooting skills, and in newer GTA games, flying, and even wooing girlfriends!

With releases like the GTA Chinatown Wars on the Nintendo DS, PSP and the iPhone, GTA is now available on all gaming platforms. Nevertheless, I have had better experiences on the PC because only a keyboard and mouse combination justifies the rich array of controlling options provided by the games. However, the controls are intuitive on all platforms.

The first GTA releases, GTA I and II, came around in the late 90’s. Their 2D graphics were poor by the standards of other games. However, the release of GTA III marked a new era in sandbox action genre with the introduction of the interactive, alive and breathing New York-like ‘Liberty City’ with crowds, cars and buildings, and the freedom to do just anything that you wanted to. The third person view was introduced and the seamlessly-rendered environment was complete with excellent lighting and sound effects of a busy city. The next release, GTA Vice City, brought a new city based on Miami, the ‘Vice City’. The next instalment, GTA San Andreas, had a graphics engine with an unparalleled performance. This version introduced the whole state of California with cities like San Fierro (San Francisco, Los Santos (Los Angeles, Las Venturas (Las Vegas), the surrounding towns and areas of desert, water, woodlands, and the countryside of Nevada. San Andreas redefined GTA gameplay with a wealth of new features like hunger, exercises for bodybuilding, dating, and licenses for life skills like driving, boating and flying.

However, in terms of animations and physics, GTA has continued to be weaker than most games of the genre. Cars still crash like toys and damages are not always convincing. Collisions, braking, drifts and motion simulations are getting better with new releases but have still not been meticulously taken care of. Characters look funny after they get shot and act stupidly when they have to climb into your car stopped right next to them—they often seem to not spot you.

The award-winning music and the voiceovers are the best features this franchise has to offer. The GTA games have parodied many components of Western culture but, most ridiculously, they have successfully made the US look like a place where stealing others’ cars is just as easy as entering into one’s own. GTA has itself been parodied in the spoof movie Meet the Spartans.

GTA allows you to witness the crime world by immersing yourself in it. It will take some time for crime-based games like GTA, which are actually about the human inside criminals, to get acceptance among sceptics. For everyone mature enough, this is a must have.