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One of the more important bookmarks, Newegg.com is the one-stop solution to all my electronic shopping needs. Ranging from specific computer parts to general electrical peripherals, Newegg.com stocks a massive variety of brands and products to fully satisfy the needs of demanding customers of this day and age. As this is an online store, there is easy accessibility and ease of use. This is the place to look if you are having difficulty finding specific electronic hardware.

Newegg has a multitude of categories of electronic hardware, ranging from computer memory modules to plasma television sets to game consoles like the Playstation 3; there is close to nothing that cannot be found here. There are literally millions of products that can be purchased. Prices are rather competitive, although not low all the time. However, one thing that the buyer can be sure of is the high standard of quality. Products shipped are guaranteed to be shipped in good condition and promptly and they do offer standard exchange policies for most products.

One impressive point is that Newegg has a huge base stock of older models of products that are not available in many places. For example, I was looking for older modules of DDR1 RAMs (DDR2 being the most widespread, DDR3 being newly launched) but there was little choice and exorbitant costs in retail shops. Even at places like eBay and Amazon, I could not find available stocks for such memory modules. However, at Newegg I was entirely spoilt for choice. They had countless modules readily available from the major manufacturers.

A very helpful feature of Newegg is that it has tie-ins with many prominent tech review websites like AnandTech and Tom's Hardware. Frequently, reviews are done on newer products that are being launched and Newegg links these reviews on their site for the buyer's easy access. On top of this, Newegg has a feature for buyers of their products to write their mini review on pros and cons of the products for other customers to see. The reviews are an invaluable help to customers who are unsure of the most suitable type of product for their needs.

One cumbersome feature about Newegg, though, is their acceptance of only American credit cards as payment. I feel that this defeats the purpose of an online store - international buyers are excluded from reaping the benefits. Buyers, like myself, have to make extra effort to purchase products through services like V-Post (a postal service in Singapore). Another aspect that Newegg can improve on is on package tracking. Tracking numbers can be provided to allow buyers to track the status of their products after it has been posted by Newegg. This would be very convenient and reassuring for customers, who do not have to worry needlessly about problems during delivery.

I feel that Newegg should seek to explore possibilities of including the international buyers market and accept international credit card payment. No doubt, the website has its legions of fans outside of the USA and it would be in best interests of both sides if Newegg does eventually accept international purchases. Other than this point, Newegg.com is basically every tech enthusiast's haven.

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Bioshock is a futuristic First Person Shooter (FPS) set in the 1960s. Sounds contradictory? Bioshock is set in the 1960s, in a city called Rapture. This is not, however, any ordinary city. Rapture is an elitist society built secretly and entirely underwater. Founded by a man named Andrew Ryan, he built Rapture, a sprawling underwater metropolis to accommodate the world's elite scientists, artists, doctors and so on, aiming to free these 'superior' individuals from the entrapments of the world that inhibits their technological and social advancement.

Noble his ideals may be, but Rapture eventually was consumed by civil war. Advanced technology in Rapture bred flagrant abuse of genetic modifications through the creation of plasmids. Plasmids gave the people of Rapture power to genetically enhance themselves, even producing special superhuman powers. Excessive use lead to genetic mutation of both the body and mind, turning much of the population into mindless walking corpses, scavenging the streets of Rapture for more EVE and ADAM - the fuel for more genetic splicing.

You play the role of Jack, the survivor of a plane crash who stumbles upon the underwater world of Rapture. You have to fight through the swarms of the mutated Rapture citizens called splicers with weapons that you find, as well as making use of plasmids that grant special abilities. Abilities include telekinesis, giving the user the ability to pick up and throw objects with the sheer power of will; pyrokinesis, the ability to control fire and set foes alight; lightning bolt, the ability to electrocute enemies with electricity coursing through your fingertips.

Theses abilities are fundamentally dependent on ADAM, a substance that is the fuel for genetic changes. The primary source of ADAM is through harvesting of 'Little Sisters' who can be found wandering around the levels. Little Sisters are young girls who have been utilized to process and produce ADAM, by attaching a parasite in their bodies. They are protected by formidable foes called 'Big Daddies' who are large beings clad in iron armor. The morality issue then comes into play - the player has to decide between killing the young girls and coldheartedly harvesting the ADAM, or to cure the girls with a plasmid, in which case, gaining a significantly lower amount of ADAM. This unique aspect of the game will determine the outcome of the storyline ultimately, and is a very interesting change from the standard FPS that I have encountered.

Bioshock has a very interactive gameplay environment. I liked how the combination of using plasmids, weapons and tactics works to effective combat enemies. Choosing the right kinds of plasmids in the correct situations and you will find fights much easier. For example, when fighting a huge group of splicers, it is best to lure them all into a pool of water then hitting them with an electrobolt. This would eliminate all of them in one go, instead of wasting ammunition shooting them down one at a time. If you try to incinerate them with the plasmid, the artificial intelligence (AI) is smart enough to jump into a pool of water, extinguishing the flames. Furthermore, there are a variety of ammunitions to pick for the appropriate circumstances. Anti-armor counters Big Daddies effectively, while anti-personnel rounds have an excellent effect on taking down ordinary splicers.

The graphical engine for Bioshock is rather impressive. Passing by under a stream of water will cause your vision to blur as if water got into your eyes, taking a melee hit from a splicer will cause your vision to blur and shake, your hand becomes scarred and burnt after equipping the Incinerate plasmid. The whole city of Rapture is portrayed in much detail and is quite the visual feast.

Expectedly, the demands on a computer are very high. 2GB of RAM, at least a 8600GTS graphics card, and an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. The game runs best, however, on a Windows Vista operating system to fully utilize the DirectX 10 graphical display. These specifications, though not as demanding as Crysis, are still formidable and something the casual gamer would not be able to provide. Bioshock does not offer graphics as realistic as Crysis, but it is still a milestone in modern games.

The political references in Bioshock to stem cell research as well as morality issues set a very interesting stage for this highly-acclaimed FPS. It has much more of a realistic feel as players now decide on the outcome of the story, and it provides Bioshock with a extra dimension and depth that is missing in other FPSs. The plasmid and weapon system is one of the best I have ever played on and in my opinion it is a very creative concept. I would strongly urge avid FPS-gamers to give Bioshock a try, if you have not already.

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21 years after the destruction of the Death Star II in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, the New Republic (free and democratic successor of the corrupt and authoritarian Empire) faces a new and fearsome threat - invasion of a species alien to the galaxy. Set in the Star Wars Expanded Universe, The New Jedi Order is a series of 27 books detailing this crisis and the events that unfold after the invasion.

After the collapse of the Empire with the death of Emperor Palpatine and the destruction of the Death Star II, the New Republic was born. This democratic and free society of planetary systems was headed by the heroes of the Rebel Alliance, like Leia Organa. Luke Skywalker then strived to rebuild the Jedi Order, basing a temple on the moon of planet Yavin. After years of hard work, the New Republic prospered and enjoyed peace, safeguarded by the growing ranks of new Jedi Knights. However, this peace was shattered with the discovery of a sudden invasion of this galaxy by an alien warrior race from another galaxy called the Yuuzhan Vong.

This was the first adversity that called upon the new order of Jedi Knights, however, during the first few waves of skirmishes the Jedi Knights were slaughtered. It soon dawned that the Yuuzhan Vong was devoid of the 'Force', an energy field that binds all living organisms in the galaxy, a source of the Jedi Knights' power. The Yuuzhan Vong were formidable foes - their entire society is made up of numerous warrior clans and they see death in battle as honour to their clans. Planet after planet fell to the onslaught, with populations wiped out. Heroes from the old Rebel Alliance like Han Solo, Chewbacca and Wedge Antilles took to arms again and seek to repel the attacks. New heroes were introduced, namely Anakin, Jacen and Jaina Solo (the children of Leia and Han); and Ganner Rhysode, a Jedi Knight.

During the course of the stories, several key characters were killed in battle. Chewbacca, a prolific character from the original six episodes and Han Solo's loyal companion, was killed in battle early in the stages of the invasion. Anakin Solo was also killed in combat; he single-handedly fought off thousands of Yuuzhan Vong warriors to aid the escape of his siblings and friends, and was later consumed by the Force. Ganner Rhysode also martyred himself in battle, holding back wave after wave of enemies to allow the captured Jacen Solo to flee.

This New Jedi Order series of novels was eagerly anticipated by Star Wars fans as it continued the Star Wars saga after the original sexology of movies. Fans gleefully waited to see how the newly-rebuilt Jedi Order would withstand against malicious threats like the Yuuzhan Vong. Each of the books features one, if not numerous, epic battle scenes. You can expect large scale battles for planetary control between the two warring factions - expect starfighter battles, Jedi melee combat and even ground assaults. The battle scenes are described to the usual fantastic Star Wars detail and never fail to leave Star Wars fans like myself craving for more. In particular, the scene which Anakin Solo martyred himself was outstanding.

Despite the abruptness of an out-of-the-blue invasion of an alien species, the plot was intriguing. The Yuuzhan Vong made use various methods of subversion, espionage and brute military might to cripple the New Republic. I respect the authors for taking the time to brainstorm, coming up with such intricate and meticulous details. War was not fought only on the military front with issues like internal conflict and unrest, and this gave a realistic feel of warfare in the series. Towards the end of the series, the novels left me with very uplifting spirits, seeing how the Jedi Knights and other heroes bonded and worked together to repel the threat of the Yuuzhan Vong.

It was a huge pity that key characters of the Star Wars franchise had to die, but still, this added to the 'dark' nature of The New Jedi Order series and this is the very fact that makes this series of novels a very compelling read.

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Surely the Simpsons require no introduction? After all they have been one of the top animated sitcoms both in America and around the world for around two decades, winning 23 Emmy Awards and 26 Annie Awards while bringing fun and laughter to millions of households worldwide. No other animated sitcom has come close in terms of popularity as almost anyone will immediately recognise the yellow skinned family. Thus, it's surprising that they waited till the 20th anniversary of the show before they finally brought the Simpsons to the silverscreen in the very aptly titled "The Simpsons Movie".

While the show was brought from a 20 odd minute long TV episode to a full length film of 3 times the length, the very essence of The Simpsons still hasn't changed. The same family made up of Homer, Marge, Maggie, Bart and Lisa Simpson go on a wild adventure in this feature-length film unlike any other episode of The Simpsons. Once again sticking with the tradition of other Simpsons episodes, the plot makes no sense. It starts off with Green Day performing on a makeshift stage, and then dying when the polluted lake they are on errodes their makeshift stage till they themselves go underwater (yeah, that's really how wild the plot can get). After which, Homer adopts a pig (dubbing it spider-pig) and dumps all its waste in a silo which he eventually dumps into the already polluted lake. The water then causes animals who touch it to morph into wild monsters, hence "President Schwarzenegger" randomly chooses a plan to cover Springfield with a dome to prevent the problem from spreading. From then on, hilarity ensues as the entire town is after Homer's head for causing such a problem after they realise the silo belonged to him.

Don't ask any questions about the plot, it's supposed to be this illogical, as most other Simpson plots are. Yet this completely weird plot makes way for some downright hilarious moments which I won't spoil for you here. Anyone who's a big fan of the Simpsons TV series and loves the humor found in the hundreds of episodes thus far won't be disappointed here. The writers have stuck with the tried-and-true formula of Simpson TV episodes and provide similar jokes throughout the entire film that will undoubtedly have you laughing. For example in the usual opening of any Simpsons episode, the camera will show Bart writing lines on a board through a window, in the movie, he's writing "I will not download this movie" or something to that effect, obviously showing how the movie will have you laughing from the very moment it begins, not to mention how Homer laughs at us for paying to watch the film when it's something we could watch for free at home.

Despite becoming a feature-length film, the filmmakers didn't take any chances with the art, which is a good thing. You can see some improvements made to the show as a whole as the colours seem a lot more vivid as compared to the usual TV episodes. Other than that however, nothing's changed in terms of how the film looks. None of the animations are overdone and everything just looks and feels the same, as if none of it would feel out of place in any other Simpsons TV episode. It's a good thing they didn't decide to do something radical for the film in terms of its art style or else it might have caused a few people to be turned off.

Also, all the brilliant voice acting is back to voice the various characters obviously. From Nancy Cartwright voicing Bart and Yeardly Smith voicing Lisa, the family is sitll voiced by the brilliant cast who have been doing their job for 2 decades. Knowing this, there's obviously nothing to complain about the voice acting, after all these people have been at it for 20 years, how could they screw up now? The fact that they're producing a movie now instead of the usual TV episode, all of them manage to inject the same life and energy into their characters that allow them to exude the same amount of charm as they always have been.

Still, this film isn't perfect, while the voice acting and animation might be great, no one ever expected a Simpsons movie to be perfect. The plot really gets too outrages at times, and while the writers tried to include some form of "moral dilemna" into the film, it just doesn't fit well. In the end, all this movie was meant to do is to provide us with a Simpsons TV episode that's 3 times as long, and that's exactly what it does. Packing in more humour than ever possible in the past, The Simpsons Movie is a great comedy since practically everyone is already familiar with the characters. If you miss out on this film, I only have one thing to say: D'Oh!

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Alienware is to gamers what Ferrari or Lamborghini is to car lovers. This is THE brand of gaming hardware to buy and I suspect that every gamer will have one Alienware computer on his/her wishlist. I, for sure, would want to be the proud owner of a set of Alienware Area-51 range of gaming computers, like the m15x gaming notebook.

Alienware is a premium brand of computer hardware and peripherals from the United States and is now a subsidiary of Dell Inc. Alienware is trusted all over the world by gamers of every game genre. You can be assured of an Alienware computer's quality and performance, as it is recognized to be one of the best on the planet.

Laptops are not known to be reliable and appropriate for high-end, intensive gaming purposes. The reasons being, firstly, laptops are mainly used for work because of the mobility factor, thus graphics processing units included are not top-notch. Secondly, memory size and processing speeds are capped as they are deemed superfluous to working requirements. However, with all the rage that gaming has become over the past 5 years, laptops are increasing seen as a gaming platform. It is portable, making it a good choice to bring over to gaming parties and so on. This point was clearly thought of by Alienware, so they rolled out their impressive gaming laptops.

With the signature Alien head, this laptop is one of the sleekest and sophisticated-looking rigs on the market. Like all Alienware computers, the designers and creators of this beauty take pride in not only the performance of laptop, but also the aesthetic and ergonomic feel as well. The m15x is equipped with a Core2Duo 2.4GHz processing unit, nVidia GeForce 8600GT and 2GB RAM memory. This ensures that gaming will go without a hitch. The two Intel processors running in parallel simultaneously, with the 2GB of memory, effectively eliminate any possible lag or slowdown in the machine's performance during gameplay. There is an option to upgrade this to Intel Core2Extreme, which is the souped-up version of the Core2Duo, and this promises that extra notch of processor performance for intensity gaming or video editing. The GeForce graphics cards is one of the better gaming cards in the 8-series, however, this may still not be sufficient to play newer games like Crysis and Bioshock.

As with any other Alienware computer, the m15x is guaranteed to be engineered to near perfection. My favourite feature is that Alienware allows you to fully customize the computer, be it m15x or others. For the m15x, you can choose the colour, processor type and speeds, additional cache memory, sound cards, optical drives and even the keyboard! The m15x boasts an exclusive Alienware Illuminated Keyboard that is useful for low-light conditions.

Having raved about it for much of the review, the m15x Gaming Laptop is not the perfect 5-star gaming machine. No matter how advanced, this is still a notebook. For me, 15-inch screens defeats the purpose of the high-end graphics that the GeForce card can produce. Video-editiong and gaming does not seem that much enjoyable on such a confined space. Furthermore, the m15x loses to its desktop Area-51 counterparts, as they run SLI GeForce 8800 Ultra or Crossfire HD 3870 setup. This means that two graphic processing units are run in parallel set-up (similar to Core2Duo), boasting almost twice the performance. This set-up is impossible to implement in a notebook due to heat issues and space constraints.

This gadget is what many would like to lay their hands on. However, in a more practical sense, this device does not fully justify the exorbitant price tag (starts from approximately US$1,499). For majority of the purposes like gaming and video/photo-editing, the m15x cannot be considered portable as the battery drains horribly fast while executing graphic-intensive programs. At the end of the day, a power source is still required.

The Alienware Area-51 m15x is definitely a swanky toy for the affluent, but not a pragmatic choice for the masses.

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