Soulcalibur IV

This fourth entry to an apparently stunning series of games has been causing quite the stir in the gaming community. As I have never touched any from this series before, I had decided it was time to try it out for myself and see what the hype was really all about.

Let me first begin by saying that I thoroughly enjoyed this game. From its array of over 30 characters to the special moves and combos that will have you training day and night to perfect, as well as the unlockables and the ability to create new characters, this game keeps you hooked for hours at a time. The game comes with a number of single player and multi-player modes which means you’ll have fun whether alone or at a party with friends.

Single player consists of three modes: story mode, which allows you to play through five stages where you have to fight through maybe three or four opponents on a single bar of health. Arcade mode is the standard mode where you battle through eight stages of opponents, with each stage getting progressively tougher — and it gets really tough. The “Tower of Lost Souls” is an interesting addition to the many single player modes. It features two parts, one where you ascend and the other where you descend the tower. In the ascension part, you work your way up the tower through stages. In this mode you can select two or three characters and have tag team matches to defeat a number of outrageously powerful opponents. However when you descend the tower, you choose only two characters and fight your way down the whole tower again. The plus side to this is that the character that is tagged out will slowly heal while the other fights.

By Justin Seek

Beyond Graphics: The Present and Future of GP-GPU

It wasn't so long ago that 3D graphics cards were only expected to deliver higher frames-per-second in your favourite 3D games. Sure, the graphics companies fought over some image quality issues like the internal colour processing precision and the quality of anti-aliasing or anisotropic filtering, but even that was targeted at game performance and quality. Of course, there have been graphics cards for years now designed for the professional 3D market—CAD/CAM, industrial design, folks like that. Still, it's all 3D rendering of some form or another.

The first hint of graphics cards doing something "more than 3D" was with the introduction of video acceleration. It started out simple, with partial decoding of MPEG video, moving gradually into full acceleration of the MPEG2 used in DVDs, and today is quite robust. Modern graphics cards accelerate much of the decoding steps required for sophisticated codecs like VC-1 and H.264 (both used in Blu-ray movies), along with de-interlacing, noise reduction, dynamic contrast control, and more. Much of this work is done in dedicated video hardware on the GPU.

By Jason Cross

Gigabyte GA-EP45-Extreme

We reviewed four high-performance mainstream motherboards powered by the new Intel P45 Express chipset last month, but that was basically just the tip of an iceberg — there is a handful of high-end, built-for-hardcore-overclocking samples queuing up on our test bed, each waiting for its turn to be thrashed.

For starters, we have the Gigabyte GA-EP45-Extreme which we managed to get the review done in time for this issue. This board, as its name implies, is made solely for those who live and die by high-voltage, recording-breaking 3DMark results. Glancing at the bare board, there is really nothing unusual. It has all the typical Gigabyte’s flagship traits that we are already so familiar with - the use of ultra reliable components, blue PCB, 6-phase CPU power circuitry, dual BIOS, a host of dynamic power saving features, plenty of LED indicators, and of course, a hefty and capable chipset cooling solution. There is a little twist, though, to the design of the chipset cooler as sitting on top of the Northbridge heatsink is a water block (which by the way can be removed) — an implementation with the sole purpose to please water cooling solution owners.

By GJF

Brother DCP-7030

Brother’s DCP-7030 is the low-end model of its new 7000-series multifunction laser printers. At an introductory price of SGD248, the 7030 makes laser printing really affordable for the masses. Throw in a full-colour scanner and copy function, and you’ve got a really powerful home office tool.
The print mechanism is based on the award-winning (Buyers Laboratory Inc. Spring 2008 “Pick” for Outstanding Networked Personal Monochrome Printer) HL-2170W and its family of printers. While the 7030 does not lay claim to any world-leading performance, it does provide very good performance for the money. Measuring 428 x 397 x 257mm, the 7030 is fairly compact, and weighs only 9.9kg. The scanning unit itself has a maximum optical resolution of 600 x 2400 dpi, allowing for decent-quality scans. Thoughtfully, the flatbed cover can comfortably accommodate the scanning of books with a thick spine.

By Justin Choo