Tomb Raider review

 

It's been four years - almost a generation in video game years - since Lara Croft embarked on a "Tomb Raider" expedition. The unenviable task of rebooting the well-known and well-worn series seemed impossible, but with a gritty and focused approach, it's one developer Crystal Dynamics got almost completely right with Croft's latest adventure."Tomb Raider" (for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC, $59.99) finds an inexperienced young Croft shipwrecked and separated from her crew on a mysterious island in Japan's brutal Devil's Triangle. This isn't the savvy, sexy and sassy Croft that hunted down relics in the previous eight games and two films starring Angelina Jolie.
This is a vulnerable Croft, one who's never had to resort to killing another person. Over the course of the lengthy single-player experience, this Croft must survive the elements, amass an arsenal, rescue her friends and battle a cult of castaways. It's the tale of her transformation from thrill-seeker to superheroine. It's "Batman Begins" for Lara Croft.
"Tomb Raider" is mostly a story about survival, so Croft begins with almost nothing, eventually accumulating some firearms, as well as climbing tools like an ax and rope. It's the first weapon Croft finds, a silent but deadly bow and arrow, that's the most satisfying to employ. This "Tomb Raider" does for the bow what "GoldenEye" did for the sniper rifle.

The game's winding trails, claustrophobic caves and perilous cliffside formations created by lead level designer Jason Botta and his team are some of the most imaginative and thrilling platforming elements crafted in recent years. Some tombs that Croft comes across are optional excursions, but they're all so well done, it shouldn't be a choice to skip 'em.
"Tomb Raider" also sounds as good as it feels. Jason Graves' powerfully tense score and Camilla Luddington's performance as Croft hit the right tone, and the conversations Croft overhears between many of the island's all-male goons are so enlightening and humorous, players will want to let the reticle linger a bit longer to eavesdrop on all the chatter.
"Tomb Raider" isn't perfect though. Sometimes it's sloppy. Croft falls - off cliffs, through roofs, into the ocean - more than those dwarfs in "The Hobbit," and that's not even including the moments when the X button isn't mashed quickly enough. Surely there must be more creative ways for Croft to go from Point A to Point B on the mythical Yamatai island.

The weakest link is Croft's laughably underdeveloped shipmates. Each is a cliche bespectacled geek, gentle giant, angry black woman, wise old man. It's difficult to sympathize with Croft for putting herself through hell to save them, or understand why the writers couldn't create multidimensional supporting characters like in the "Uncharted" games.
Speaking of that epic treasure-hunting franchise, while the developers have clearly borrowed some of Nathan Drake's moves, they've created more than an "Uncharted" clone. The tone is darker, and the levels are less linear. This is not just "Uncharted" or "Assassin's Creed" with Lara Croft, it's "Tomb Raider" for a new era. Three-and-a-half out of four stars.

Sleeping Dogs game review

 

You've just planted a surveillance bug on orders from your superior officer. As you sneak away you receive a text message. Your connection at the chop shop needs a high-end sports coupe. You spot the car and tear the driver from the front seat, kicking him in the midsection before speeding off to claim your money.The line between hero and villain is wonderfully blurred in the action role-playing game "Sleeping Dogs" (Square Enix for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, $59.99; for PC, $49.99).
As undercover mole Wei Shen you are tasked with infiltrating the Sun On Yee triad in a fictionalized and fantastically rendered version of Hong Kong. This simple premise sets up a series of moral dilemmas: Can you push yourself to the limit to gain trust and rise in the triad's hierarchy? Or will you waver and risk blowing your cover?
"Sleeping Dogs" is played in the traditional over-the-shoulder view of similar sandbox games such as "Grand Theft Auto" and "Saints Row." While I could stoop to calling this a "GTA" clone - the similarities are legion - the fluid combat, a few nice touches in the shooting mechanic and the exotic locale help it stand out quite a bit.
Finding the right balance to help the story progress is key, and the great voice acting - including Tom Wilkinson and Emma Stone, among others - and a solid script keep you engaged through a few clever twists and turns. Wei Shen's moral ambiguity and his personal stake in taking down the Sun On Yee begin to weigh on him as the game moves forward, making him one of the more well-drawn characters in the genre.
The role-playing elements consist of upgrades that fall under both police and triad skill trees. The more police tasks you complete, the more experience you gain to improve those skills; the same for triad tasks. This design forces you to choose certain skills at the expense of others, but you also need to maintain balance to throw off suspicion on both ends.
Completing minor tasks builds your "Face" meter, which determines how people respond to you and earns you passive abilities such as hints on the minimap and a lackey who will bring you a car whenever you want. Increasing your face level unlocks new apparel and vehicles, giving you great incentive to bolster your street cred and bag that sweet ride.

You can travel to various martial arts schools scattered throughout the city to fight, join the street racing circuit or just drive around listening to one of several radio stations. Kerrang Radio, featuring British alt-rock, was my personal favorite.
There is money to be earned betting on cockfights, and you can visit a massage parlor to, um, ease the tension. (Yes, this game is rated Mature.) And then there's a hysterical karaoke minigame: Let's just say there's nothing like a heavily tattooed mob enforcer belting out Air Supply's "All Out of Love."
The melee action, which borrows heavily from the free-flow combat of Rocksteady's Batman games, will make you feel like a martial arts master as you unlock skills such as spinning heel kicks and flying roundhouses. And without question the coolest outfit you can earn is Bruce Lee's yellow jumpsuit from the film "Game of Death."
The shooting is tight and features some John Woo-inspired touches, including an upgrade that gives you the ability to leap from a moving car in slow motion with handguns blazing. "Hard Boiled," indeed.
"Sleeping Dogs" is not breaking any new ground in the action-RPG genre, but with an engrossing story line and plenty of wild things to do around Hong Kong, it's an excellent title that shouldn't be missed.

Ratings: Three and a half stars out of four.

LG Optimus G review

LG has finally launched its Optimus G smartphone in the Indian market. The phone boasts of a quad-core processor, and a 13-megapixel camera, among other specifications that make it the company's flagship phone in the Indian market, at least till it launches the Optimus G Pro. Although the launch is little late compared to other regions, we try to find out if the Optimus G will enable LG to gain a foothold in the Indian smartphone market.

Hardware
Our review unit was the black coloured variant of the phone. The first thing that we noticed about the LG Optimus G was its industrial design. While it looks like a large rectangular brick from distance, the phone exudes a premium feel and finish with its clean edges, a shiny black front, and a Nexus 4-like glass back with more or less the same crystal pattern. The front and back of the phone are layered with Corning Gorilla Glass 2 making them durable, and comparatively more resistant to scratches.

The phone has a unibody design so there's no removable cover at the back. It has rounded corners. The phone weighs 145 grams and feels a little heavy.

The front is all glass with no hardware buttons, dominated mainly by the 4.7-inch display. There are three capacitive buttons for navigating through the interface below the screen, while the lens of the front camera is located above the screen towards the right side along with a notification LED light, with the LG branding at the middle and sensors towards the left. The earpiece is located at the top, bang in the middle. A really thin chrome frame contours the screen, while there's another chrome layer visible in the middle when you are looking at the phone from sides.

The back is made of glass with a crystal pattern. LG has used premium quality materials in the phone that is evident once you take a closer look. The back also features a rectangular camera lens that is also braced by a chrome frame, with the flash located just below it. There's LG branding towards the upper part of the back, and a small speaker grill towards the lower part.

The power button is located on the right side of the phone, while the volume rocker sits at the left side. Both these controls offer good tactile feedback and follow the same black and chrome colour scheme. The SIM card tray is also located on the left side along with a pin-hole to eject it.

The bottom edge has a micro-USB port and a microphone, while the 3.5mm headset jack sits on the top along with a secondary microphone for noise cancellation.

Display
The LG Optimus G sports a 4.7-inch IPS+ display that has a resolution of 1280x768 pixels and a pixel density of 320ppi. The screen is bright and vivid, and text looks crisp while app icons and images look sharp. Our only gripe was that the screen was highly reflective affecting sunlight legibility. The viewing angles were good thanks to the IPS+ display, and colour rendering was accurate.

Camera
The LG Optimus G sports a 13-megapixel rear camera with auto focus and face tracking. It can also take pictures with voice commands like 'cheese', 'kimchi', 'LG', 'Smile' and 'Whisky'. The camera also supports a time catch shots mode which starts taking pictures even before the trigger is pressed and displays 5 best shots till that time.

The camera UI includes a customisable quick menu which features controls for enabling voice commands, time catch shots, switching between Normal, HDR, Panorama and Continuos shot modes, and for tweaking other settings (including settings for Focus, Zoom, brightness, image size, scene modes, ISO, white balance, colour effects, timer, geotagging, shutter sound, auto review). As we mentioned, the quick menu can be customised selecting any of the settings options as the ones displayed in the menu. The continuous mode takes six continuous pictures at a time. The camera app also offers a shortcut to the gallery.

It offers 8X zoom, which can be controlled by pinching in and out. The volume buttons also double up as shutter keys when you're in the app, although there is a virtual shutter key as well.

The phone takes good quality pictures and we found that the colour rendering was pretty accurate. At times the images miss out on fine details, but you won't notice it with casual use.

The phone is capable of shooting full-HD videos with a frame rate of 30 frames per second. You can also take still photos while shooting videos. In our tests we were satisfied with the quality of videos shot with the phone.

Software/ User Interface
The LG Optimus G runs Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean and LG has added its own Optimus UI layer on top, majorly changing the look and feel of the interface and enabling users to customise the phone.

LG also adds several tweaks including Smart Screen that keeps the screen on if the phone detects the user's eyes looking at it - a feature we first saw in the Samsung Galaxy S III. LG also allows users to choose the phone's default font and font size, change how long the capacitive keys backlight stays on, and customise the events that trigger the notification light to flash.

You can select from 4 different visual themes, each with a different icon set, home screen wallpaper and app drawer background. You can have up to 7 screens that can be populated with widgets and app shortcuts. LG even allows you to choose between various animation effects when you swipe from one home screen to another or when you unlock the phone.

We're glad that LG has placed the Back button on the left side in line with the Nexus phones. The Home button doubles up as the task switcher on long press. The contextual Menu button offers various settings when pressed in the home screen mode, and invokes Google Now on long press.

LG has also skinned the notification tray including toggles for various settings including for sound, data, NFC, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Hotspot among others. It also features shortcuts for invoking QSlide apps, and a control for changing screen brightness.

As we mentioned, the phone comes with a 4.7-inch display, and LG has included some additional features to make use of the screen real estate. Firstly, there are special apps that LG likes to call QSlide apps. These include a web browser, Memo pad, Calendar, Calculator and a Video player. Users can run two of these QSlide apps simultaneously and there's a slider that allows you to focus on one of them. This is similar to what Samsung introduced with some of its devices including the Galaxy Note II.

LG also offers a QuickMemo app that lets users scribble notes on a blank page or on top of a screen shot. The app also has an overlay mode allowing you to take notes while running another app. We're not sure if people with big hands will find it useful as LG doesn't offer a Stylus with the phone.

Talking of apps, the phone includes additional ones for Backup, Cell Broadcast, File Manager, File sharing, a Dictionary, a Memo app, a Notebook app, Polaris Office 4, a Quick Translator app, LG's service related apps, LG's own app store (SmartWorld), a Task Manager, and apps for video editing. The phone also allows streaming content to other devices via the DLNA protocol.

LG has customised nearly all stock-apps including the Gallery and Music apps, adding more functionality in addition to just bringing eye candy. For instance the Music app features a button for locating the video of a song on YouTube. Even the system settings menus have been skinned and are pleasant to look at.

The home screen also features a landscape mode, and some of the apps, including LG's email app make use of it by offering a preview pane for emails in that mode.

In addition to all of these, the phone brings standard Jelly Bean functionality. Overall, LG has tried to make the phone as different from stock Android, as possible. While that may delight some, 'stock-Android' fans will be far from impressed.

Performance/Battery Life
The LG Optimus G is powered by a 1.5GHz Qualcomm S4 Pro quad-core processor with 2GB RAM onboard, and an Adreno 320 chip (400 MHz) for processing graphics. There is 32GB of internal storage, out of which 25GB is available to the user. Unfortunately, the phone doesn't offer a memory card slot for expanding the memory.

With Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, the overall experience of navigation through the interface was extremely impressive, thanks to Project Butter and all the power under the hood. We did not experience any lag at all while launching apps, playing games, scrolling web pages or switching between apps.

We were able to run all video formats including AVI and MOV through the native video player, and HD videos played without a hitch. The speaker on the phone delivers good quality sound at high volume levels but sound gets muffled when the phone lies on its back as the speaker is located on that side. The phone also supports Dolby audio when you plug-in the headphones, which offers a much richer sound.

The Optimus G offers Chrome in addition to the default browser. The default browser does not feature Adobe flash for viewing Flash content.

Call quality was mostly good barring a few instances when we tried to use the phone in low signal zone.

The phone comes with a 2100mAh battery, and in our usage, it lasted us a full day with medium usage, including 1-1.5 hours of phone calls, two e-mail accounts with push notifications, playing some music, Twitter notifications and WhatsApp chats. It's worth pointing out that we had turned off Wi-Fi and auto-brightness, and the phone was hooked to a 3G network with the screen brightness at the highest level. Altering these settings might help in running the phone for a longer duration, depending on your usage pattern. The phone also offers an Eco mode to optimise processor control to (theoretically) extend battery life.

The phone also includes NFC capabilities, and we were able to transfer and receive files through Android Beam, which combines Bluetooth and NFC for sharing data.

Verdict
The LG Optimus G comes to India at a time when LG has already released the Optimus G Pro in other market. LG Optimus G Pro features a 5.5-inch screen and a faster processor but we feel that not all users would be interested in a 5-inch+ phone (phablet).

It's also worth pointing out that LG has not been able to establish itself in the Android smartphone category of late, with Samsung ruling the Indian market. In fact, the Samsung Galaxy S III, which is also powered by a quad-core processor is the phone's closest competitor, and is very popular in the Indian market, selling at a price of Rs. 28,000- Rs. 29,500 depending on the retailer. The Galaxy S III has a removable battery and a memory card slot to expand memory but an inferior plasticky build. The LG Optimus G, on the other hand is based on a newer chipset, has a higher resolution camera and more RAM. The phone is available online for Rs. 30,990.

The HTC One X is another competitor in the same processor, albeit with less RAM and a lower capacity battery.

We would recommend the LG Optimus G to anyone looking for a feature rich Android smartphone over other offerings.


LG Optimus G: First look

Price: Rs. 34,500

Pros

• Good build quality
• Good performance
• Decent battery back-up

Cons

• No memory card slot
• Screen could have been less reflective

Ratings (Out of 5)
Design: 3.5
Display: 4
Performance: 4
Software: 4
Battery Life: 3.5
Value for Money: 3.5
Camera: 3
Overall: 3.5

Roku 3 review

Roku is plugging headphones and several other new features into its latest set-top box for streaming Internet video to TVs, a move that amplifies its effort to upstage Apple's better-selling player.The Roku 3 box going on sale Wednesday also includes a more powerful search engine to find movies, TV shows and music more quickly and new menu for perusing the more than 750 online services available through the device. The new model will be sold for $100, initially only at Roku's website and Amazon.com. Next month, it will expand into other retail outlets, including Costco and Best Buy stores. Prices for older Roku models with less horsepower start at $50.
The new player is the first update to Roku's line of set-top boxes since July 2011. In the interim, Roku last year introduced a finger-shaped device that plugs directly into high-definition ports, much like a flash drive fits into a personal computer's USB drive.
The ability to listen to video and music on headphones will probably be the Roku 3's biggest attraction, especially for households that already own one of the company's earlier boxes. Ear buds are included with the Roku 3, although any pair of headphones can be plugged into a jack on the side of the device's remote control. Just as with the set-top box itself, a Wi-Fi connection is required for the headphones to work. It's a feature unavailable on the Apple TV player that poses the main competition to Roku's streaming devices.
The Roku 3 introduces new navigation tools that will be automatically sent to previous versions of the box in a software update later this year. The redesign displays more information by stacking the channels vertically in rows of three instead of in single, horizontal row in the middle of the screen. The makeover means nine channel choices can be seen at a time instead of just five under the old format.
The new box also boasts a faster processor than previous models, an upgrade likely to appeal to people who want to use the device to play online video games on their TVs.
Although it's still a small company, Roku Inc. has emerged as a significant player in the steadily growing market for Internet video since it introduced its first set-top box nearly five years ago. Originally conceived within Netflix Inc. as a cheap and easy way to get Internet video on to flat-panel TVs, Roku now offers a wide array of entertainment options. Besides Netflix's Internet video subscription service, Roku boxes also connect to alternatives from Amazon.com and Hulu.com, as well as a variety of online music stations.
Most of the top Internet video services can also be seen through Apple TV, a set-top box that's similar to Roku's device. But Apple TV is better known, largely because it's made and sold by a technology powerhouse that operates more than 400 stores scattered throughout the world while the Roku players are made by a small, privately held company.
Although Apple Inc. doesn't provide precise figures, CEO Tim Cook has indicated to analysts that the company has sold more than 10 million of its streaming boxes. That includes more than 2 million Apple TV players sold during the final three months last year, up from about 1.4 million at the same time in 2011, Cook told analysts during a January conference call.
Roku will only say it expects to sell the five millionth device in its history by the end of this month. The company, which is based in Saratoga, Calif., said its annual revenue was about $150 million in 2011. Management declined to provide a revenue figure for last year.
Apple's revenue topped $156 billion during its last fiscal year ending in September, with most of the sales rolling in from its line-up of iPods, iPhones, iPads and Mac computers. Company co-founder Steve Jobs considered Apple TV to be a "hobby," a description that Cook has echoed. Before he died in October 2011, Jobs told his biographer Walter Isaacson that he had finally figured out how to build a TV that "would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices."
Those words have spurred recurring speculation that Apple intends to sell its own big-screen TV that would connect to the Internet and run on the same software as its iPhones and iPads.
Cook also hinted during his January discussion with analysts that the company may be ready to move beyond the Apple TV boxes. "I tend to believe that there's a lot we can contribute in this space," Cook said then. "And so we continue to pull the string and see where it leads us."

5 Wi-Fi-enabled cameras you can buy in India today

Cameras have been a means to capture life's precious moment for over hundreds of years. However, in the recent times it is not just enough to click the pictures but also to share them with the world through social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. So, consumers are increasingly looking at camera that come with built-in wireless connectivity to instantly share what they click.In the last couple of years, many leading camera makers have launched Wi-Fi-enabled cameras and some of these cameras have trickled to Indian shores as well. Here's our list of top five Wi-Fi enabled cameras (in no particular order) that are available in India today.

1) Samsung Galaxy Camera
    Price: Rs. 26,520
The Samsung Galaxy Camera was unveiled at IFA 2012 and reached India by November 2012. The camera features a 16.3-megapixel sensor with a f/2.8 aperture and 23mm-480mm lens that has 21x of optical zoom. Under the hood, the camera is powered by a 1.4GHz quad-core Exynos processor, as found in the Galaxy S III smartphone. Samsung Galaxy Camera runs on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean).

It features a 4.8-inch S-LCD display with a resolution of 1280X720 pixels translating into 308 ppi. It has 1,650 mAh battery that Samsung claims can last up to seven hours. The camera comes with 8GB of internal storage, 32GB of expandable memory with microSD support. Connectivity options include 3G (HSPA+ 21Mbps), HDMI 1.4, WiFi a/b/g/n, WiFi HT40, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS. Samsung Galaxy camera also supports 3G connectivity via a micro-SIM but does not have calling features.

The company has recently launched just Wi-Fi variant of this camera, but that is yet to make its way to India.


2) Nikon Coolpix S800c
    Price: Rs. 20,950
Just like Samsung, Nikon too is offering an Android-based camera in India. However, this one runs on the dated Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). Nikon Coolpix S800C features a 10x optical zoom lens, 16-megapixel BSI CMOS sensor, 3.5-inch OLED WVGA touchscreen. The camera comes with 1.7GB of internal storage.

Nikon Coolpix S800C supports downloading Android apps via Google Play Store and also comes bundled with Nikon's 'My Picture Town' app for uploading images directly to its cloud storage.
The Coolpix S800c comes with 18 filter effects, including the new Toy Camera effect, Pop and Super Vivid color filters, as well as Cross Process and Peripheral Darkening filters.


3) Panasonic Lumix DMC SZ5
    Price: Rs: 13,500
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-SZ5 comes with is 14-megapixel CCD sensor. The camera sports a slim, metal-built design. It features 10x optical zoom and can record 720p HD videos at 30p in MP4 format. The Lumix DMC-SZ5 supports SD, SDHC and SDXC memory cards.
Of course, it comes with built-in Wi-Fi and you can use your smartphone as a controller to zoom, focus and shoot from a distance - all over Wi-Fi.


4) Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-WX200
    Price: Rs. 14,990
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-WX200 Wi-Fi-enabled camera features 18-megapixels Exmor R CMOS sensor and comes with 10x zoom. As per the company, as this camera comes with the Optical SteadyShot feature of Exmor R CMOS models, it is able to reduce the effects of camera shake for crisp, blur-free images. One can record full-HD movies with the help of this camera. It is just mere 17.5mm thick and weighs105 grams (without the battery and memory card).

5) Samsung NX1000
    Price: Rs. 34,900
The Samsung NX1000 is a mirror-less compact system camera, which comes with 20.3-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor and in-built Wi-Fi. NX1000 features a high speed capture and fast auto focusing. The camera is capable of recording 8 frames per second in a continuous shooting mode. You can also record 1080p HD movie with this camera. Samsung NX1000 comes with what the company dubs as 'i-Function button,' which allows users to control the camera functions such as shutter speed, aperture, EV, WB, and ISO using the focus ring. It is powered by 1,030mAH battery. Samsung NX1000 has a plastic-bodied and a 3-inch LCD screen and weighs 222 grams (without the battery and memory card).
It is noteworthy, that Olympus and Cannon are both looking at launching a slew of new cameras in the near future and have indicated that a few of these models may come with Wi-Fi capabilities. So this is one segment that is going to see a lot of action in the times to come.

Temple Run: Oz app review

Ever since Imangi Studios launched the endless running game Temple Run for iOS and Android, it made sure that we never stopped running. The game has seen 4 versions since the original release in August 2011, with the sequel, Temple Run 2 launching earlier this year in January. The game has not just been appreciated, but went on to break the record of Angry Birds Space clocking in 50 million downloads in just 13 days.

Of these 4 versions, two are spin-offs released in association  with Disney. While one was Temple Run: Brave, based on the animated Disney/Pixar movie Brave, the more recently launched Temple Run: Oz is inspired form the upcoming Disney movie Oz: The Great and Powerful. We started running in the new environments to find out if it continues to keep us just as addicted as the original game.

Temple Run: Oz stays true to the game's tradition of non-stop running as well as turning, jumping and sliding to avoid hurdles and collecting coins. But since this version is based on Disney's movie, it incorporates a lot of elements such as new environments, objects and characters. You run as The Great and Powerful Oz down the mesmerising Yellow Brick Road in the Whimsical Woods and The Dark Forest.

Now instead of the three demon monkeys or one big giant weird-faced monkey, you're being chased by three flying baboons at the start of the game and every once in a while when you stumble while running.

The game is definitely more challenging than the original one but similar to Temple Run: Brave and the recently launched Temple Run 2 in some ways. It seems to have gotten faster as well, demanding greater focus and better reflexes. The obstacles in the game are quite tricky and catch you by surprise. They appear only when you approach them really close, unlike the earlier games where you could see them well in advance.

Plants in the game often leap from locations on the side of the path, attempting to grab you as they fall. Trees also often fall, seemingly out of nowhere, into the path to block your way. But the obstacles are just one part. The path itself will sometimes crumble while you're on high bridges or cliffs, forcing you to make a split-second decision to move to the side of the bridge that remains intact.

The musical backdrop of the beating drums has been replaced by the movie's background score that adds a lot of intensity and keeps the adrenaline rush going. As always, the graphics are really smooth and you'll be in awe of the surroundings and the attention to detail.

Temple Run: Oz also has certain common elements as seen in the Brave version of the game. You could collect bows in the game to unlock different bonuses like extra score points and score multipliers at the end of each running session. Here the bow has been replaced by a musical key to unlock the music box for similar bonuses. Further, you can choose to open all the boxes in case you're feeling too greedy, by paying additional coins.

A new element in the game as is the essence of the original Wizard of Oz movie is time travel with the tornado in a manner of speaking. While running you come across sign posts guiding you which direction to take and soon enough you'll see yourself transitioning between worlds with the yellow brick road collapsing before you and taking you to a different location.

The Whimsical Woods are set in bright environs but dangerous all the while with cliffs and forests. The Dark Forest is set in a graveyard amidst ruins of stones and gives a sense of evil lurking around. After each running session, if you happen complete that particular level's challenges, you level up and are awarded with gems or coins.

Another pretty neat movie-inspired element is the hot-air ballon which appears at several points in the game for an additional opportunity to collect coins as you sail through the clouds and make your way across the crystals reminiscent of Emerald City.

The balloons appear on the screen, and head quickly in one direction at a crossroads. Follow the balloon and hop on to take a balloon trip through the clouds. In case you don't feel like it, you can always choose to head out in the other direction.

The game also offers additional power ups every now and then which include a magnet, a flying monkey and a soap bubble amongst others. Gems can also be used to "supercharge" power-ups. For instance, the 2X coin power-up becomes a 3X coin boost at the cost of 1 gem.

You can opt for Weekly or Legendary Challenges from the Menu section that also award coins, gems and multiplier bonuses. These include challenges like Marathon Man (run a certain distance), Big Time (Get 125,000 points in 1 run), Steady Bankroll (Collect 25,000 coins) and many others.

Overall, the game offers a fresh perspective in terms of being movie-inspired. Apart from that the basic mechanics of jumping, sliding and tilting remains the same. Currently, the app is only listed on the App Store and like other Temple Run games, we'd hope to see it launch for Android as well. (Update: The game has now been released for Android as well priced at Rs. 53.18 in the Google Play Store). 

Even though the app isn't free, Rs. 55 ($0.99) seems pretty decent to try out something new. Those who still wouldn't mind skipping this version, can check out Temple Run 2 that's also new release and is available for free.

Temple Run: Oz (iOS, Rs. 55)
Temple Run: Oz (Google Play, Rs. 53.18)

Microsoft's Kinect powers 'magical' smart home in Spain

 

With a flick of the wrist, residents of a futuristic home developed in Spain can browse Internet pages displayed on the living room walls, switch off a giant projected alarm clock in the bedroom or transform the entire interior into a busy streetscape or tranquil beach.It may seem light years ahead of current "smart home" technology, but this prototype apartment in Fuenterrabia, a city in Spain's northern Basque country, is far from the realms of fantasy.
The technology used to create the interactive interior is the same as that already being used in video games.
The team behind the prototype have linked projectors which beam interactive applications on to walls to Kinect motion sensors, developed by Microsoft for its X-box 360 console, thus allowing residents to control their environment simply by waving their hands.
It seems to work like magic.
In the morning, a wave at the wall will switch off the alarm and display your diary at the same time.
If you fancy a change of scenery, just one small gesture will splash video on every wall, turning half of the apartment into a busy urban street or picturesque seascape, complete with sound effects.
"The project is a working prototype of a smart home," said its creator, Ion Cuervas-Mons, at a visual presentation of the project to AFP in Madrid.
"What we have done is to add a digital layer to a physical space to be able to interact with digital information through gestures, people's different movements," he said.
Cuervas-Mons launched the Openarch project in November 2011 and built the prototype in his own apartment.
He now leads the Think Big Factory, a core team of five architects and engineers, who collaborate with others to develop various products.
"There is a general interface, which is in the living room and which interacts with your hands," he explained.
"You go two metres away from the wall and move a type of cursor and you can switch lights on and off, turn music on and off, launch Internet sites, which then come up in a projection on another wall."
But the project is only 40 percent complete, he said.
"When we have finished the prototype, we will start to transform the applications into products. That is our goal for next year," he said.
The development team want to make the system unobtrusive so that a user can manipulate the gadgets in the most natural way possible.
Instead of trying to sell the entire interactive home system, the team aims to develop specific products from it.
But each product would be able to communicate, allowing a buyer to create a system for the entire house should they wish.
And homes are not the only destination for the technology, Cuervas-Mons said.
"For example, we have been working with a large retail business and the first sector where we might see this technology could be supermarkets," he said.
"This technology lets you convert non-commercial spaces into commercial spaces. You will be able to buy anywhere. You will be able to shop from your home, from the metro, from your car," he said. "I think this will totally change the way we shop."