Christian Milsom
Here are all the Zath articles written by Christian Milsom...
Here are all the Zath articles written by Christian Milsom...
ZOWIE SWIFT Gaming Mouse Mat Review
March 21, 2010
If you have an incredibly good memory you may remember the ZOWIE GT-F Gaming Mouse Mat which I had the pleasure of reviewing last October and which is still living up to praise that I gave it – but for the last week it has been replaced with the same company’s latest release – the ZOWIE SWIFT plastic gaming surface.
So not only will I be having a look at how the SWIFT fares by itself, but I’ll also be comparing it to GT-F and have a look as to whether the plastic offering will be able to supersede the quality of its cloth predecessor, which will be no mean feat!
But first a bit of background – much like GT-F the SWIFT is part of the SpawN-series and thus has been designed by pro gamer Abdisamad “SpawN” Mohamed, which means it is built around the features that you really need as a gamer: speed, comfort and durability.
Continue reading »BAFTA Video Games Awards 2010 Winners
March 20, 2010
Last night (Friday) was a big night for the gaming world as, months after the BAFTA Video Games Awards 2010 nominees were announced in February, the biggest names and developers in the business gathered under one roof for the annual BAFTA gaming awards which got underway at 8:30pm and was hosted by the typically charismatic (and unlike many of the people awarding the prizes, avid gamer) Dara Ó Briain.
You could even watch the BAFTA Video Games Awards 2010 ceremony live on the Internet which is a great sign of how serious they are becoming in terms of entertainment awards, who knows we may see them broadcast on TV in a few years!
As far as 2009 is concerned it was a good year for games, and unsurprisingly some of the big names were prevalent across the board in the nominations: Batman: Arkham Asylum, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Assassins Creed 2 and of course Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 all featuring heavily.
Continue reading »BAFTA Video Games Awards 2010 – Watch The Live Stream Online!
March 17, 2010
Doesn’t seem all that long ago that we brought you the nominees of this year’s gaming BAFTA awards (in two thrilling parts – Part 1 and Part 2) but two months on and the day is nearly here: this Friday (19th) at 20:45 in a convention room in Park Lane (London), the biggest names in the video gaming business will gather to see who will win some of the highest accolades there are.
And although the public voting has already closed for the BAFTA Video GAME 2009 award you will still be able to be part of it as over at the website you will be able to watch a live stream of the awards as they are given out – there’s even a nice little countdown timer at the top which at the time of writing stands at 2 days, 8 hours, 51 minutes and 19 seconds!
Continue reading »New Sony DR-350USB / DR-320DPV ‘Dual Use’ Headsets
March 15, 2010
One of the problems that you are likely to face if you go out looking for a headset is that, for the most part, they are very uni-purpose and you are more often than not going to have to have a separate headset for gaming/VOIP etc at home, and another for listening to music on the go.
Having said that they are definitely getting more compact and discrete (such as the Steel Series Siberia V2 we looked at a while back) and now Sony’s two releases – the DR-350USB and DR-320DPV – are testament to this dual purpose aim.
Claiming to be the “stylish alternative to flimsy, drab looking headsets” they certainly fulfil the first part of that with the slim, smooth and ultimately quite discrete design, and the DR-320DPV comes in the usual Sony range of colours namely red or black – which as they suggest you could choose to match your VIAO laptop, although to be honest the fact that they have decided not to do that in the advertising material suggests it may look a little odd!
Continue reading »Focus On Imaging 2010 Review (Photo & Video Image Capture Exhibition)
March 9, 2010
Last Sunday I was lucky enough to visit the annual Focus on Imaging exhibition where I joined the anticipated 35,000 other people that will be coming through the doors of the NEC over the next few days (until this Wednesday 10th March 2010, so it’s not too late for you to pay it a visit) to see what has become the most popular photographic show in the country.
What everyone comes to see is one of the biggest concentrations of cameras and anything vaguely related to them this side of Buckingham Palace, and to see some of the biggest names in the business showing off their best and newest offerings to the market: people such as Panasonic, Nikon, Canon, Adobe, Epson, Fuji, HP… I could go on!
Continue reading »Google Chrome Browser Share Grows Through February
March 4, 2010
It’s been a while, probably since Google Chrome was released to the world, but web browsers are back in the big news again all thanks to Microsoft’s EU enforced ‘ballot box’ for selecting a browser to install, and Net Applications have recently released statistics which paint a very interesting picture about the world of the internet browser.
Unfortunately the situation has been pretty similar for a while: IE have boasted over 60% of the market share for years now, with Firefox edging closer and closer to the 25% mark with the rest fighting over the remains. But that looks like it might change, and in fact Chrome was the only major browser growing in February, and that is before the Microsoft Windows Browser Ballot which promises to change much.
Before we look at why – the figures. Google is up a significant 0.39% to 5.61%, whilst Firefox fell 0.20% to 24.23% and Internet Explorer suffered the biggest hit with a fall of 0.54% to 61.58%. Opera (0.03%) and Safari (0.08%) both also fell, although seeing as both of them combined fail to make up more than even 8% of the market they are unfortunately not much more than footnotes.
Continue reading »Wolfman Review
March 2, 2010
Wolfman (15)
Cast: Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt
Director: Joe Johnston
Running Time: 102 minutes
I like most people have never seen the original 1941 film ‘The Wolf Man’, so despite being a remake this subtly reworded film (notice the one word rather than two!) this film pretty much had a clean slate – however much Universal tried to mess it up by taking years to make it, struggling to find a director and having numerous re-edits!
I’m also not a massive horror fan – that is not to say I don’t like them, rather I won’t go out of my way to watch them – so you can take my word with slightly more validity than a horror addict that this was in fact an enjoyable film despite the at best mediocre reviews it has been getting.
Continue reading »Sony Cyber-Shot TX5 & H55 Digital Cameras Announced
March 1, 2010
The last time we had a look at the Cyber-Shot camera range was just about this time last year when Sony were expanding the Cybershot digital camera range for 2009, and now Sony have added two more cameras to the already extensive range in the form of the multi-purpose H55 and the omni-weather TX5.
Sony Cyber-Shot TX5
Firstly we’ll look at the Cyber-Shot TX5 which is not only the first waterproof Cyber-Shot camera but also claims to be the world’s smallest and thinnest waterproof digital still camera out there, which is no mean feat but also not that surprising considering that it’s only 17.1 mm thick and weighs in at only 128g.
Obviously the main selling point of the TX5 is how durable it is: as well as being waterproof up to 3m in depth (which means not only will it survive splashes and spilt tea, but also drops into water and underwater photography) it’s also dust-proof, shock-proof and interestingly freeze-proof which means it should be able to survive anything a normal person would put it through.
Continue reading »Sony Walkman A845 Review
February 27, 2010
A few weeks ago we had a quick preview of the new Walkman A845 from Sony – the main selling point of which was its incredibly thin form which at 7.2mm makes it the thinnest Sony Walkman yet – and now having had time to give it a thorough ‘going over’ were back to see whether or not it lives up to expectations.
Perhaps the most obvious thing to look at first with the Sony Walkman A845 is exactly that: how it looks. Whilst I have to say that I found the design a little bit off putting to start with (the screen seemed a little too big which in turn made the silver bottom look a little odd) but as with so many things it doesn’t take long to grow on you – although once you’ve noticed it you won’t forget the fact that the buttons look oddly like Mickey mouse!
Moving onto the rest of the device and the quality does continue: whilst the back is worrying proficient at picking up scratches (and even better at getting fingerprints) it likewise looks stylish and exactly what you would expect from a Walkman.
Continue reading »BAFTA Video Games Awards 2010 Nominations – Part 2
February 24, 2010
Hailed as the Oscar’s smaller and slightly less impressive sibling the BAFTAs are still growing in stature, especially the gaming ones which I consider are the most important! This is the second half of a look at the 91 nominations from this year which includes the GAME award which anyone can vote for. If you’ve missed seeing the BAFTA Video Games Awards 2010 Nominations – Part 1, then be sure to check out that list too!
So on with this year’s awards, and we’ve already seen the first half of the nominations with those for the Action, Artistic Achievement, Best Game, Family and Social, Gameplay, Handheld – all of which looked very competitive and which heavily featured the top four of this year: Batman: Arkham Asylum, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Assassins Creed 2 and of course Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. So on with the rest of the awards…
Continue reading »
