Manboy

Exoskeleton type augmentations like these have obvious peacetime benefits in terms of search and rescue for example. Unless it gets caught in some kind of patent hell these things could be used in all kinds of situations where superhuman strength would be handy; basically it doesn't bother me that much if this technology is further cultivated in the military as long as we all benefit in the end.

On bluetooth: if I were a betting man I'd say Sony will do its PS3 control in some obscure proprietry manner, so screw bluetooth*

*(if they really do manage to herald a new useful standard [RS 232 usually hands back fairly simple info, and wifi is problematic with remotes in terms of wake-up and battery life] in two-way home theatre control then colour me happy).

On touchscreens and physical buttons: physical buttons on universal remotes are great until you have to start remembering that the F1 button is "Stop record" for the DVDR but for the plasma it's "wide mode" etc etc. Truly customisable touchscreens let you call the buttons whatever you want. Making the navigation, volume and channel buttons physical is a common compromise, though I wouldn't mind a keypad as well. There's definitely the space for it on that Harmony touchscreen.

For the record the universal remotes that use RF are actually sending RF signals to a base station that then converts these RF signals to IR and then relays to any equipment that needs controlling. There's no such thing as a home theatre-targeted universal remote that can learn any manufacturer's RF signals (for example, B&O, Bose, a bunch of fans and lighting systems).

These RF-IR systems are useful as you don't have to point, you get better range, the codes transmit more reliably and you can use the remote while reclining on your poolside deck chair in the full sun.

If the PS3 stays bluetooth-only for remote control (I think an IR add-on is extremely likely though) it'd be a very silly move. Philips, Marantz, Crestron, AMX, Logitech, RTI and Home Theatre Master are not going to stick bluetooth functionality into their universal remotes at the behest of a single AV device. IR might be old, but it's a proven standard and when you're trying to rein in ten different components from ten different manufacturers proven standards are more important than cute proprietary systems that let you see a little thumbnail of the album cover on a 3" LCD screen. The segment of the market keen for the BD playback is going to get annoyed or caught out by this as a fair share of them will already have some sort of universal remote solution in place (AV receivers start coming with IR learning remotes pretty early on the quality curve).

Sounds like they're taking the series on console in an Operation Flashpoint sort of direction, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. That said, they'd be crazy to neglect the multiplayer as a result of the whole project becoming too ambitious.

As to BF2 proper, I see it as being a kind of charicature of PC gaming, its flaws and strengths magnified into big shiny noses and cauliflower ears. On one hand you have a game that takes a pig of a system to run well, loading times that let you finish most of a Mario Kart grand prix and a patching process that has driven me to doing a complete reinstall each time an update comes out. On the other hand you have these breathtaking, chaotic battles with sixty three other souls played out in a series of player-made set pieces that sometimes rival railroaded shooters for their awesomeness (except you have a squad of your friends to high five instead of whichever map maker at Infinity Ward made that tank burst through the wall).

Some FPSes (alright, one I know of) resist widescreen support supposedly on account of the competitive advantage of the extra few degrees vision needed to accomodate the wider aspect ratio without cropping the top and bottom. If you tweak BF2's settings to widen the field of view, you'll be prevented from joining ranked servers apparently, so currently the only way of sixteen-nining BF2 is cropping the top and bottom (including HUD elements).

That said, the economics of adding widescreen support in as another aspect of the nebulous machine you're developing your game to run on must have a lot more to do with the lack of support than some marginal competitive advantage in an area of gaming that already has well entrenched and sanctioned methods of boosting your ability to compete. Like $500 video cards.

Chris Taran: JRPGs having atrophied your thumbs (and your standards re: storytelling) doesn't make it right for you or anyone else to treat 7 to 63 other human beings on a public server as expendable AI whose sole purpose is to effortlessly fall at your feet like Final Fight's clone army. If your (or anyone's) schooling threshold is so low yet you still just HAVE to play CS, there is such a thing as offline play with bots.

And I was hoping Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time would be ported to the DS and called "Prince of Persia: Daylight Savings".

I gather the Opera people have put a fair bit of effort into the portable versions of their browser, and it's used in a number of phones and PDAs and such already. The choice seems sensible enough with this in mind.

No really, Bose is horrible for the money. Untreated paper cones and a subwoofer from which you can hear dialogue, and a pain in the butt to integrate with anything else. There's a reason they have an enforced policy of spreading their wares on the retail floor in such a fashion as to prevent customers getting a proper comparative test.

Oh man, I pretty much had a dream about a dance battling game in the vein of You Got Served. Tony Hawk style control in a rythym game, combo between solo breakdancers and group choreography, big points for dissing the opposition but your cheer meter goes down if you end up shoving them etc. Pity it's not coming for the DS I cherish. I'd buy a PS2 for this game if it came out on that.