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To all those fans of FPS (First-Person Shooting) game, the newest sequel of the Call of Duty series is finally released. This time, it brings the world of FPS gaming to a new height, with much better graphics and missions that would allow the player to immerse himself in the realm of modern warfare.

When I first played the game, the first thing that amazed me was how close to reality the game was. The real-time graphics that made the game look so real would most definitely bring back memories of players who had experienced real-life warfare, ie. in the army.

The story begins with a young recruit by the name of "Soap" MacTavish joining the British 22nd SAS Regiment and continues on with another perspective of a member of the United States Marine Corps 1st Force Recon, going by the name of Paul Jackson. It brings the player to the Russia, where the Russian ultra-nationalist Imran Zakhaev tries to topple the current Russian government and seize nuclear weapons. Next, the player is brought to the Middle East, where the United States battles against a coup uprising brought together by Imran Zakhaev, led by his ally Khaled Al-Asad.

The game requires each player to team up with its AI allies to travel through the various missions. No matter how experienced you are in playing this genre of games, there are four various stages of difficulty for one to actually play through. This could be determined through a trial run held by your commander on the prologue mission. This allows everyone to play, from the people who just started playing FPS games to those who are season players to this genre.

There is also the online gaming option that allows players to pit their skills against each other in close combat with the availability to choose between different classes that could wield different weapons. Such classes include the Assault, Special Ops, Light Machine Gunner, Demolitions, and Sniper. Players could also create their own classes when they attained a certain level in the multi-player mode.

However, there is this slight drawback to this magnificent game. It has been rated Mature (excessive violence) by Activision themselves and would not be suitable for people of all ages. So for those lovers of FPS who are not yet qualified to play COD4, you would just have to wait a while longer then.

Despite being only released on 6th November 2007 by Activision, it has already been voted the Best Action Game by Gamecritics for the E3 2007 and also won other awards from various websites such as Gamespot and IGN. Indeed, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a game that would definitely capture the hearts of FPS lovers and this came at the right time for those searching for a suitable Christmas presents for gamers.

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"Ah crap, I'm stuck at this part of the game again. Where should I proceed from here?" Ever encountered such a scenario before? The saviour's here. GameFaqs.com provides game guides, FAQs and all the other random game information that one needs for the game. It is a comprehensive site which has almost every game's information on the block. It serves games from all consoles, from the Xbox to Sony's Playstation. It is, the information counter for all you gamers out there.

Gamefaqs works on the basis of peer-to-peer sharing of information. Players who have passed that part of the game post ways to solve that problem. With the interactive commenting ability, players could post question and comments similar to that of a forum. It also has links to the best deals, ratings from reputable gaming sites and to the official game site by the developers.

Players could also assist others by writing out guides and walkthroughs for all the other players who got stuck in some part of the game. Being part of GameSpot, GameFaqs get regular updates on the games, such includes game demos, official patches and demo videos for the masses to view and try out the game before actually purchasing them.

How about those other sites which provide cheat codes? Some of them may not be reliable and give misleading information which can cause players to screw up their games badly. GameFaqs provides many guides typed out by different players. This allows players to cross-check the information given by different players to ensure their reliability. Codes provided are also constantly checked and if negative feedbacks are received about the codes, they would be double-checked by the moderators and if found to be incorrect, they would be deleted. This ensures that the cheats provided will be as reliable as possible.

However, some games may not be in GameFaqs' database. These games are mostly those that are not in English and hence, will not likely be very popular since the majority of gamers are used to seeing games in English. Nevertheless, even if the original copy is in other languages, as long as there is an English version, the game would still be featured on the website. Some games, although not in English, could still be found on GameFaqs because of its popularity and through popular demand, GameFaqs would still have them on their website.

For those who are not able to understand the English version, some games also had players posting guides of different languages to accommodate those who are not English-speaking. The availability of such foreign language guides makes GameFaqs a popular website even amongst those who do not understand English.

All in all, GameFaqs can only be successful through the constant support given to it by its members who frequently update the website with the relevant information and only through the users' comment that GameFaqs will continue to improve.

GameFaqs can be accessed through: www.gamefaqs.com

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I always look for a balance between functionality and appearance in a mobile phone. In my opinion, a mobile phone is both an indispensable communication device, as well as a fashion accessory. Samsung managed to produce this balance somewhat successfully in the latest Samsung SGH-U700.

Launched in 2007, the newest member of the Samsung Ultra Edition II provides the user with an attractive slider phone which is fully 3G capable. It comes with a mini touchpad screen, metallic silver buttons, complete with a sleek, silver finish on the outer casing. This phone is one of the slimmest on the market, being only 12.1mm thick. Features-wise, it is equipped with a 3-megapixel camera with flash and video capabilities. The U700 supports multiple music file formats including popular ones like MP3, MPEG4 and WMA. What's more, its phonebook comes with a predictive function, it can list out phone numbers from your phonebook even when only the first 4 digits are typed out. The U700 even sports a round scroll wheel, a la the iPod, which can be used in the main menu, as well as in functions like text messaging.

Many have labeled this a 'fashion phone', with some critics calling this a 'bimbo phone' prior to the official launch. Yet this phone has gone on to dispel the criticism with its rich functionality, despite the attractive exterior. However, I must say that this phone was over-hyped and much of its plus points have lost their shine as a result.

The first thing I noticed when I removed the phone from the plastic wrap is the stunning appearance of the phone. The minimalist design is more beautiful in reality, than in any pictures posted on any brochures. The simple yet distinctively elegant design stands out from the more outlandish designs of mobile phones we have seen in recent years and this design remains one of my personal favorites. I was pleasantly surprised by the sliding function - one only has to slide it halfway before the automatic spring system finishes the job of sliding the screen smoothly upwards. This was a marked improvement over previous Samsung slider phones I've used, as the screen usually encounters difficulty while sliding up and down.

I have heard many complaints about the chrome finishing on the perimeter of the screen peeling off, to reveal a white coat after a few months of usage. The outer surface is rather frail, indeed I have seen the 'peeling' on quite a few U700s. This problem, however, is easily rectified by giving your device a transparent wrap (which I did). Even after 6 months of usage, I encountered no peeling of the surface beneath the wrap.

The camera is satisfactory, it can take photos of sufficient clarity in different kinds of lighting, but there is that occasional camera lag I experienced. The zooming capability was pretty much a letdown, with no optical zoom function. The text messaging system worked brilliantly, the buttons are easily depressible and I got used to the messaging dictionary style rather quickly. It is possible to personalize phonebook entries with images, custom ringtones and even descriptions. What I did not like was that, in order to assign a MP3 track to a particular group of contacts, the MP3 file must be stored in the phone memory. With the song in the memory card, it would be unable to program that as a ringtone. The same is true for grouping contacts into phonebook caller groups.

The most annoying feature of the U700 has to be the touchpad just below the screen. Aesthetically it looks gorgeous lighting up when you slide open the phone, fading away when you close it. The downside is that Samsung made this oversensitive. When you slide open your phone to answer calls, the slight brush of the touchpad against the cheek can disconnect you from your call. Many a times this has happened to me and I had to slide the phone open, wait a moment to make sure the touchpad auto locks itself, before pressing it to my ear to answer the call. This sensitivity also poses a problem during text messaging - an accidental brush of the 'cancel call' button would erase the entire message typed out. This would be an issue the user would have to get used to while using the phone.

Despite some exasperating flaws in the working of the U700, this phone remains pretty much glitch-free, user-friendly and very much pleasing to the eye. Beware though, not for the clumsy, you would not want to drop this fragile thing.

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The PDF format is definitely an industry standard for many documents, especially soft-copies of manuals that are distributed online. While Mac users (like myself) need not worry about opening and reading these PDF documents (since Mac OS X comes with the software Preview which is able to open both pictures and PDF files), Windows users are often stuck with having to download the Adobe Reader which is often slow and buggy since it takes up quite a lot of system resources for a program that's just used to open documents. Thankfully, there's now an alternative to the Adobe Reader: Foxit Reader, a free PDF reader for the Windows platform.

Despite the somewhat strange name, Foxit is actually a really good piece of software. It does one thing only: read PDF files of course, but it does that job pretty darn well. For starters, the installation file which you have to download is only around 2mb. As compared to Adobe Reader's installation file, which is 20mb, you'll be able to download Foxit Reader much faster. Obviously, a small installation file translates into an extremely lightweight program unlike the Adobe Reader. You'll immediately notice the difference in speed between Foxit and Adobe Reader the first time you run the program. Compared to Adobe Reader, Foxit is blazingly fast. When you open a PDF file, it almost immediately pops up (the speed depends on your computer of course) and you don't need to stare at a splash screen like the one found in Adobe Reader.

Once open, Foxit Reader takes up a lot lesser system resources as well, being a much more lightweight program. As long as your computer isn't too old, you should be able to scroll through most PDF files pretty smoothly. The search function also works faster as compared to Adobe Reader, allowing you to search for a particular word or phrase extremely quickly. All these features allow you to quickly browse through PDF files using Foxit instead of constantly having to wait for Adobe Reader to catch up with your actions. It has a standard PDF viewer layout, with all the pages listed at the side for easy reference and has most of the features you'd come to expect from such a program.

Of course, Foxit doesn't just display PDF files. There are several annotation tools available that allow you to make notes on PDF files. You can draw graphics, highlight text or add your own, then save or print out your edited PDF to keep. These tools will obviously come in very handy for many people who wish to make comments on a certain portion of a PDF file. If necessary, Foxit will also allow you to convert an entire PDF file into a simple text file so that you can easily manipulate the text, not that it's hard to manipulate it within Foxit in the first place. Best of all, Foxit is completely free to download for personal, non-commercial use. While some might be worried about any spyware or virus being included in the installation file, rest assured that there's no such thing in there (I've checked that out for myself).

There really isn't much else to say about Foxit Reader, after all it's just a PDF reader. However, I definitely recommend that everyone switch to using Foxit instead of Adobe Reader to open PDF files because it's a lot more reliable and stable. Furthermore, being a freeware program, there really isn't any excuse for you to not get this program now.

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Razer will be not a name stranger to avid gamers, no matter what genre of games they specialise in. Razer, world-renowned for their high-end gaming mice and highly-sensitive and highly-customised gaming keyboards, have now added the newest member to their armada of high-tech gaming mice - Lachesis. Like predecessors Krait and DeathAdder, the Lachesis is christened after venomous snakes. In this case, the Lachesis Muta-Muta is the largest pit viper in the world.

Released in August 2007, this mouse boasts 4000dpi (dots per inches) sensitivity without software enhancement, and even offers an 'on-the-fly' adjustment setting, which basically allows users to change dpi settings without use of software by 125dpi each click. Another significant feature is that it has 32kb of onboard memory, which allows users to create separate sensitivity/settings profiles for different games or programs. The mouse itself comes with 9 separate buttons and a mouse wheel. Each of the 9 buttons on the Lachesis can be independently programmed to serve a different function, for example different hotkeys when gaming. Gamers specialising in Real-Time Strategy (RTS) or First Person Shooter (FPS) games would be glad to note that there is a 1000Hz Ultrapoling feature as well as an 'always-on' mode that effectively eliminates any mouse lag.

During usage, the mousewheel lights up, together with the Razer logo. This, coupled with the mouse's all black exterior, gives the Lachesis a very sophisticated yet mean look. The exterior is ergonomically designed, the contours of the mouse fitting snugly into the hand. Side buttons are easily accessible and are easily depressed by either the thumb or the ring/last finger. The symmetric design of the mouse makes it ambidextrous, so this is a welcome feature for left-handed gamers who might feel left out with gaming mice from other brands.

At first glance, my impression of the Lachesis was that it looked rather top-heavy compared to other Razer mice. It is broaded at the top, where the 2 main buttons are located, and more tapered to the bottom, making it look less sleek than, for example, the Copperhead. However, the rants about appearance end when I first plugged it in for use. Saying that the Lachesis is sensitive would be a gross understatement, and doing the mouse much injustice.

The state-of-the-art motion laser sensor (currently exclusive to only the Lachesis) ensures that any movement made is comfortably smooth. The cursor practically glides across the screen. After a week of usage, there is still no sign of 'cursor-jerking' problems associated with my previous mice. The Razer Synapse software allows easy customisation of buttons, I could manage this easily even though this is only my 2nd Razer mouse. Sensitivity adjustment is even more straightforward, just drag the pointer along the sensitivity bar.

The only thing I did not like was that the Synapse software could be a little laggy when I make changes to mouse buttons functions during games, but this problem could be easily eliminated by doing it before the game. One thing to note about Razer mice though, make sure you have a decently smooth mousepad to play on. Minute kinks in surface could make it lose control of the cursor.

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