Zath! Author Archive
Make Your Own Monopoly
December 4, 2008
As Zath HQ is not based in London, we feel very little attachment to the geography of the Monopoly board - Old Kent Road had no tangible meaning and Pall Mall means next to nothing. How much better would it be if you could actually make your own Monopoly choosing the names of the streets and call them whatever the hell you want. Well now you can!
With My Monopoly you actually get the opportunity to have the board printed with whatever names you chose. This means you could be playing the “business man’s board game of choice” around your very own town and you can chose whether you live in Old Kent Road or Pal Mall.
Continue reading »Fridge Magnet Digital Photo Frame
November 27, 2008
Why try and reinvent the wheel, when you could whack a magnet on the back of it and slap it on your fridge. Digital photo frames are not exactly new tech but the simple idea of whacking it on your fridge is. This Fridge Magnet Digital Photo Frame is a brilliant piece of thinking and would make an ideal prezzie for any photo (or fridge) fanatic.
It is essentially an 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.2cm digital magnetic frame with 32mb of internal memory. This allows you to store up to 66 photos that are displayed on the 5×4cm LCD screen. As the screen is reasonably small the photos are clear, despite the resolution only being 320×240.
Continue reading »Mini-Catamaran
October 6, 2008
Have you ever thought of owning your own yacht or a (not so mini) catamaran? Of course you haven’t!! Because theose things are huge and you’re not a 60 year old, pipe smoking, port swilling toff.
Have you ever thought of owning your own catamaran? Again probably not, because they are massive, expensive and not exactly the most practical mode of transport… until now!!
Welcome to possibly the best gadget you will see this Christmas, the Mini-Catamaran.
No your eyes do not deceive you, this brilliant piece of engineering is basically a catamaran in a bag. Impossible, I hear you cry, but actually it is quite simple just look at the Blue Peter style help instructions below:
Continue reading »EcoButton
August 19, 2008
The EcoButton is a cool USB gadget that saves you money and fights global warming! I can practically hear your tuts of disbelief back at Zath HQ. But seriously this little eco-friendly gizmo will do exactly that and even has the balls to gloat about it too!
I am talking about the EcoButton. Essentially it is a large nicely lit button that plugs into a USB port and once clicked puts your machine into “Eco Mode”. This allows your computer to go into a standby mode that only uses 1.8 watts of power (apparently that is loads less then most normal standby modes). “who cares” and “nothing new” I thought when I first saw it, but I decided to look a little deeper.
Continue reading »USB VHS Converter
July 21, 2008
Do you need convert VHS onto your computer or DVD? Well you can now get a USB VHS Converter, so that makes me ask the question - “Do you even remember VHS?” - Personally I remember sneakily taping a certain leg crossing/uncrossing scene and trying late at night to repeatedly rewind and play it without my parents hearing.
If your answer to the question was NO, then this is grown up talk, go do your homework! If your answer was YES, then you’ll know that my parents (and probably the next door neighbour) heard the horrendous stop, start and rewind whir that all video machines made. The switched on couple that my parents are, knew exactly what I was doing - I feel a little sick! Well that’s enough of me sharing, down to business!
Continue reading »Trauma Center: Under the Knife
July 17, 2008
I generally like games that are not classed as “normal”, hence I have a Nintendo DS and a Nintendo Wii. So when I saw Trauma Center: Under the Knife at a knock down price I had to pick myself up a copy.
The angle the game comes from is that you are a young doctor fresh out of med school starting work in his first hospital. You then proceed to go to work on progressively more difficult surgical operations. These start easy, clean wound A, drain lump B, remove huge piece of glass imbedded in man’s pumping heart and sew the gaping bloody wound it leaves before he dies from blood loss C.
You know, fairly routine every day stuff. The learning curve is slow to start with and there’s an almost step-by-step walkthrough on how not to kill a man with a piece of surgical equipment. But don’t worry, you will!
Continue reading »Mario Kart DS
July 6, 2008
Fans of the Mario Kart franchise will not be let down. This is a pixel perfect copy of Mario Kart 64 with some added goodies. The nostalgia of Mario Kart snaking came flooding back when I played this game - it made me want to dig out my N64 and have a blast on Goldeneye.
If you have played any of the Mario Kart games before you will know the score; oversized cartoon characters racing around in strangely undersized vehicles shooting turtle shells at each other and using “magic” mushrooms to boost you about. People who have not played Mario Kart before do not be afraid. It is easy to pick up and play and will keep you busy for hours.
Continue reading »Metroid Prime Hunters
June 15, 2008
A first person shooter on the Nintendo DS? My first thoughts were “Small screens + low graphics x no mouse = shockingly bad game”. I should learn to keep my thoughts to myself. After watching some gameplay of Metroid Prime Hunters, I bought this game to check the graphics were as good as they looked. I was astonished at the quality and smoothness this game displays. The environments are a little claustrophobic but the texturing and environment are rich with detail.
Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
June 7, 2008
My friends laughed when I told them I’d bought Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for my Nintendo DS. “Kiddies game” they said and warned me about a lot of text chat spieled of by Manga looking characters while needing a walkthrough to really advance through the game.
Nintendo DS - Top Games
May 27, 2008
After inheriting a cheap Nintendo DS with “Mr Myagies Brain Breaker” (long story, wont boar you) I set about trying to find myself some cheap games that I actually wanted to play. “Easy task” I thought, “The DS has been out for ages” I said, “cheap second hand stuff will be kicking about everywhere” I told my missus.
How wrong could I have been. Even the dodgy second hand stuff from the dreaded eBay was gonna cost me at least 1 nights beer money. There had to be a solution!? Ok it’s an old solution, but make sure when you do buy a game that it is one of the Nintendo DS’s top games!
Continue reading »
