Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

I downloaded and installed the demo of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed yesterday. Apparently Darth Vader had a secret apprentice that the Emperor didn't know about. And he wants to keep it that way. The game takes place in the era between Episodes III and IV.

In the demo you get to play as the apprentice as he raids an outpost hunting down a Jedi Knight. Unfortunately the demo is rather short and ends after you defeat an AT-AT which for me required several do-overs.

According to LucasArts their new technology allows them to have glass break like real glass, wood to splinter like real wood and metal to bend and dent like real metal. The character AI is suppose to be reactive so that their behavior will be different every time you play it.

Rated T for Teen.

Intel talks about programmable matter

Intel is apparently working on technology that can change shape. An example would be a device that could fit in your pocket and then on demand shape shift into a smartphone or maybe a laptop. Intel claims that that technology is still several decades away but imagine the possibilities.

Another technology that they are working on is wireless transmission of power. They provided a demonstration that had only a 25% efficiency loss over two feet. Not great but give it time and I bet that efficiecies will improve to close to 99%.

Have you tried Swagbucks?

I thought that I would give Swagbucks a try. Once you have signed up and then do searches from their search site you can win Swagbucks that can be redeemed for merchandise. Pretty cool for not doing anything special. It could take a little bit of time to win enough Swagbucks to redeem for a nice prize but what the heck.

Click the search & win logo to join Swagbucks. They give you 5 Swagbucks to start.

This morning I am up to 12 Swagbucks. Not a bad beginning.

Bought another new game

This time the new game for the PS3 is Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. I've only run a couple of races and have won them all. The last version of this game that I had played was GT3 for the PS2. Obviously the graphics are much better on the PS3 but I am still trying to get the whole "upgrade the car to make it go faster so you can win races" mentality out of the way. It doesn't seem to me to be part of GT5. Am I missing it? Like I said I've only played it a little bit.

That aside the visuals are very cool. Much more realistic than Motorstorm and Burnout Paradise.

Some features:

• 60 cars are available to win or buy.
  
• 12 different race layouts.
  
• Online racing against up to 16 other players.

Rated E for Everyone