Online Chess Kingdoms Konami Sony PSP Chess players don't have much to choose from on today's portable gaming systems. Konami fixes that with the release of Online Chess Kingdoms for the PSP, a fanciful take on one of the world's oldest games. Those who crave a quick match can choose from five unique sets - Order, Chaos, Magic, Reason and Spirit - duking it out against the CPU or online on a variety of interesting 3-D boards. Taking an opponent's piece triggers a battle animation, which, while initially interesting, can get tiresome. Fortunately, the animations and battle sounds can be turned off. Chess purists can choose more traditional pieces and play on a 2-D board similar to versions used in chess publications. Four skill levels will prove challenging to all players except the most advanced. Those who have studied chess will face a wily opponent that does not "stick to the book" in openings. Oddly, there is no clock or in-game chess tutorial, which, combined with the fantasy world pieces and boards, would have been a good way to introduce the game of kings to a child. | |
Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom
Sony Online Entertainment
PlayStation 3 The latest in the Untold Legends series makes no attempt to be anything more than a visually upgraded version of its hack-and-slash predecessors. By setting the bar so low, it succeeds. But given the hardware and the game's price tag, it could (and should) have been much more. Those familiar with the "role-playing light" genre will feel right at home playing hero in this oft-told tale. The king of a mystical land has fallen prey to evil, and it's up to your character to slaughter a few thousand evil creatures to set things right. Players can choose one of three vanilla character classes - Mage, Warrior and the nimble Scout. Despite outward appearances, the three are similar enough that, once you learn the simple combat and spell-casting scheme, the same button combos work equally well for each. Combat is fluid, and the controls feel responsive, but battles tend to be a letdown. Loot drops are plentiful and include upgrades to weapons, armor and spells, but there are better game options out there. The graphics are merely passable. | |
Star Trek: Legacy Bethesda Softworks PC, Xbox 360 "Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise." The words can send chills up the spines of Trekkies throughout the solar system. With each Star Trek game release, these same Trekkies hold their breath and hope the majesty the TV show can somehow be recaptured. Exhale Star Trek fans. This is not it. Legacy is certainly an ambitious saga that spans all five TV series. As expected, the story behind the game's career mode is good and involves the expected Vulcans, Romulans, Klingons and Borg. <P> But the graphics look outdated. Sometimes phasers fire but can't be seen. The controls are frustrating on the PC because they were designed for a game controller, not a keyboard and mouse. Because of this, there are times in the PC version when controls do not work reliably. Players are assigned a fleet of ships, which creates even more problems. There is no "follow me" command. In fact, there is no way to assign fleet-wide commands other than to attack. The player has to micromanage each ship because the other captains are too stupid to order repairs. Battles are too long, and the targeting system has glitches. Missions are pretty long, too - up to 45 minutes. If you fail a mission, you are forced to start again from the beginning because there is no Save option. | |
WWE SmackDown vs Raw 2007 THQ Xbox 360, Xbox, Sony PSP, PS2 The first noticeable change in SmackDown - other than improved graphics - is the control scheme, which forgoes face buttons in favor of the right analog stick to initiate grapple moves. Once knocked out of the ring, the newfound ability to smack opponents with folding chairs or bash their heads into stairs or tables becomes obvious, too. The ability to fight amid the audience definitely ramps up the immersion factor. Players enter the "squared circle" as one of dozens of male or female characters. A custom grappler also can be created for a Deep Season Mode featuring more than 40 different original story lines. An expanded General Manager Mode allows the creation of a personal stable of bruisers. Wrestlers and arenas look good, but sometimes the animations hiccup. Load times are atrocious, and tag team matches require five interminable waits. The artificial intelligence appears buggy at times, with opponents standing immobile waiting for some serious hurt or repeatedly taking an unavoidable beatdown. But the game is at its best when it's mano-a-mano.
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Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
The corruption cases surrounding former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) head Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are just one item in the endless cycle of noise and fuss obscuring Taiwan’s deep and urgent structural and social problems. Even the case itself, as James Baron observed in an excellent piece at the Diplomat last week, is only one manifestation of the greater problem of deep-rooted corruption in land development. Last week the government announced a program to permit 25,000 foreign university students, primarily from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work in Taiwan after graduation for 2-4 years. That number is a
This year’s Michelin Gourmand Bib sported 16 new entries in the 126-strong Taiwan directory. The fight for the best braised pork rice and the crispiest scallion pancake painstakingly continued, but what stood out in the lineup this year? Pang Taqueria (胖塔可利亞); Taiwan’s first Michelin-recommended Mexican restaurant. Chef Charles Chen (陳治宇) is a self-confessed Americophile, earning his chef whites at a fine-dining Latin-American fusion restaurant. But what makes this Xinyi (信義) spot stand head and shoulders above Taipei’s existing Mexican offerings? The authenticity. The produce. The care. AUTHENTIC EATS In my time on the island, I have caved too many times to
In a stark demonstration of how award-winning breakthroughs can come from the most unlikely directions, researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for discovering that mammals can breathe through their anuses. After a series of tests on mice, rats and pigs, Japanese scientists found the animals absorb oxygen delivered through the rectum, work that underpins a clinical trial to see whether the procedure can treat respiratory failure. The team is among 10 recognized in this year’s Ig Nobel awards (see below for more), the irreverent accolades given for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.” They are not