The long awaited Bioshock has the distinct honour of being the first non-sports title to usher in the long awaited holiday gaming rush. Bioshock is a highly anticipated title because of its blend of incredible visuals and innovative First Person Shooting. Bioshock is a genre-bending adventure-role playing game that completely absorbs the player and doesn’t let go until the thrilling end.

Bioshock takes place in the underwater city of Rapture, built by the homicidal genius Andrew Ryan. Ryan conceived Rapture as a place for geniuses and the mentally elite to be able to separate themselves for society and flourish without the. However, something goes deathly wrong in Rapture.

The blessing and curse of Rapture is the rampant use of ADAM, a material that allows individuals to alter their own genetic code and give themselves superhuman abilities. ADAM is a hot commodity in Rapture even long after most of its inhabitants are dead.

The first and most noticeable thing about Bioshock are the visuals. Bioshock simply looks gorgeous. The underwater effects are among the best ever in a game. The character models all animate incredibly as well, and even the protagonist has lifelike movements, flexing his on-screen hands occasionally in a convincing manner for the idle animations.

Although the best quality in Bioshock is… the story. Bioshock masterfully weaves an intricate tale by allowing you, the player, to piece together the story of Rapture and its mysterious fall.

Ultimately, Bioshock is a blast and probably the best game this year. Some of Bioshock’s storytelling techniques are unprecedented and will perhaps set a new standard in gaming. Bioshock’s great story is framed by incredible visuals and solid controls as well. Overall, Bioshock is a game that you don’t want to miss out on.

This is starting to get a bit off topic, but I’m just writing this as technology seems to have taken hold; with Labor committing with HD and a improvement to the broadband speeds.

The ABC and Nine are providing coverage, like they always do; with Nine having ex-Chaser star Charles Firth to help out with the coverage and will have Helen Coonan and Wayne Swan. The ABC will be hosted by, again, Kerry O’Brien and also Tony Jones (from Lateline), with Julia Gillard and Nick Minchin as their pollies du jour (whatever that means)…

Then comes newcomer Seven, providing coverage over the election this time. Let’s just hope that they actually have graphics, and not the ones overused on Seven News’ graphics. Hosted by the Sunrise duo, Kochie and Mel, will be joined by Deal or No Deal host, Andrew O’Keefe. They will be joined by Joe Hockey, Tanya Plibersek, Barnaby Joyce, and some political experts.

SBS and Ten are also providing coverage, but not as the ABC, Nine and Seven. Ten and SBS will provide a news bulletin to cover the election when the announcement has been made.

During that time, Ten is showing The Empire Strikes Back, which is kinda political… but with battles and alien scenes, and not real. SBS brings in Top Gear and The Long Way Round. If only Jeremy Clarkson would just do the elections, then that would be enjoyable.

And if you are thinking of switching channels, you are out of luck. Neither commercial channels are not going to put commercials until the result has been called. So either you stick it out with Seven, Nine or the ABC; or have different TVs covering it. Though, if you are voting for the Greens; you are going to hurt the environment.

A third option would be watching Foxtel, specifically Sky News. It’s going to have commercials and that means you can switch between Sky, Seven, Sky, Nine, Sky and the ABC. Or you could just use the internet…

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) has almost halved the purchase cost for its development-kit hardware for the PlayStation 3, making game creation for the console more affordable for small and independent developers.

Sony is also releasing news software-development features, debugging tools and support for applications such as ProDG and its own SN tool suite. The price cut sees the PlayStation 3 Reference Tool costing about ¥950,000 in Japan, $10,250 in North America, and €7,500 in Europe.

The price cut sees a similar price cut timeline set by the SCEI on the PlayStation 2 development hardware, which saw the price reduced just a year after its launch in 2000. A Sony Computer Entertainment Australia representative has confirmed to GameSpot that the news represents a worldwide price adjustment, meaning that the price cut will extend to Australian developers.

Microsoft has released on Monday its flagship development tool, Visual Studio 2008, to developer subscribers as a download.

The product line has included several editions, ranging from the low-end Visual Studion 2005 Express (used by students and hobbyists) to Visual Studio Team System (a suite with a server geared at a team of programmers).

Formally code-named Orcas, Visual Studio has features for developer productivity, workflow, data handling and also front-end development for Windows Vista.

The release includes a new developed technology from Microsoft called Language Integrated Query (LINQ), aimed at making it easier to build applications that tap into different data sources.

The product will also include visual modelling tools, a step in the company’s plans to simplify application modelling and make it mainstream. It is based on the latest version of the .Net Framework, the underlying software written with Visual Studios to run applications.

Visual Studio 2008 will be formally launched on February 27 next year, along with Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008.

More than half (54 percent) admit that they have used their neighbour’s Wi-Fi connection without permission, according to some research by security firm Sophos.

Many internet connected homes failed to secure it properly with passwords and encryption; allowing to steal other people connections than rather pay for the ISP.

Further more, if they download huge files (e.g - movies, music files, etc.), then they will slow down their neighbour’s speed and their download limit.

Due for release September 2007, Crytek Studios has gone over the top to put out the best sci-fi first-person shooter game possible with the cutting-edge technology.

Crysis takes place after a colossal asteroid crashes on a remote tropical island in the Pacific Ocean. You are a part of an elite Delta squadron in the year 2021, and you have been dispatched by the United States government to recon what should have been an extinction level impact.

As an elite soldier in the future, you have access to the latest technology in weapons and armour. You have been equipped with a fully customizable assault rifle that uses a rail system allowing you to select between scopes, silencer, ammo type, and grenades. Or go crazy with blitzing machine guns. the choice is yours.

Adding to the intensity of the game is the impressive array of sound effects and the very well done music score, all of which will undoubtedly increase your heart rate as you fall into the world of Crysis and become fully engaged in a fight for the survival of the human race.

Using DirectX 10 which runs off the new Windows Vista and the newly developed CryEngine 2, Crytek Studios has created a world in which nearly everything is destructible and no detail is too small to be overlooked. Never has a game had such an enormous level of environmental interactivity.

The possibilities with Crysis are endless. Whether you are looking for a single-player adventure or intense multiplayer action, Crysis delivers on both ends with ground breaking innovations adding a level of complexity that has never before been seen in a shooter game. Whether tactical or run and gun, Crysis is a must have for all gaming enthusiasts.

Last Friday, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has been given a date by the Federal Court to be heard against the internet search engine Google Inc.

As well, Justice James Allsop allowed the ACCC to resubmit after he was unable to understand the initial submission, which he called “incomprehensible” and “repetitious”.

The case sees Google being accused of not distinguishing the sponsored ads and the normal ‘organic’ search results. The initial submission included Google Inc, and it’s regional subsidiaries in Ireland and Australia; though those were dropped as Google said that any complaint goes through them (the parent company).

Separate allegations were made against the Trading Post’s owner, Sensis (which is owned by Telstra) after being found buying keywords from Google’s AdWords service using competitors’ names displaying as search results.

Google Australia has defended it’s search advertising practises, claiming the allegations as an attack on search engines and businesses that uses Google to connect with it’s customers.

Sensis, however, is trying to settle with the ACCC out of court.

The allegations against the Trading Post were centred on the use of “Kloster Ford” and “Charlestown Toyota” and linking them to the Trading Post website, without the permission of the owners.

A spokesperson has said that it used a third-party search engine marketing company to select keywords for them to use on Google to be appear on the top and side panels of the search engine results, showing that they were sponsored links.

“We’re bringing that in house rather than using third party agencies and we’re setting up rigorous processes when keywords are purchased. As a result of that and working through the details for the ACCC case, we are exploring some new possibilities with the ACCC,” the spokesperson told ZDNet Australia.

However, the spokesperson for ACCC has not confirmed whether it will settle with Sensis or not.

The latest addition to the Zune family, Zune 80, is now in short supply after being sold out across all online stores, to a dismay to shoppers but a delight to the world’s largest software maker.

“Anyone know where I can get a Cabbage Patch Doll … er … I mean Zune?” a post written by “Paul Taylor” in Amazon.com’s message board for the product. Amazon told customers that preordered the product for November 13 will not be sent out for another 10 days.

While retailers still have the Zune 4 and Zune 8, the Zune 80 has been sold out at Amazon, Best Buy and Circuit City.

Microsoft has said that it has pioritized the manufacture of the Zune 4 and 8, and the Zune 80 will be back on shelves 10 - 14 days later. Technology blogs, however, has spread rumours of a manufacturing delay.

“I think they were already probably a little later than they would like to be, given Apple’s iPod announcement” of a new line of the market-leading devices in September, said Matt Rosoff, an analyst at the independent research group Directions on Microsoft, to the Associated Press. “They probably wanted to get anything out the door as soon as they could.”

At least Microsoft sees the good news in this, as this year sees it’s Entertainment and Games division having another success story, like the Halo 3 launch.

Children in Need in the UK has just finished. It also had a special episode from Doctor Who, my favourite sci-fi show. Scouring over the net, I managed to find it…

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CBS News writers will decide on Thursday to strike, in a move that will cripple both television and radio operations. The writers are part of the Writers Guild of America East, who is representing those who write for television dramas and comedies.

The current strike has now entered their second week as they shaken the entertainment industry. CBS News union representative Sherry Goldman has said that the writers have been working under an expired contract.

“CBS News is prepared for the possibility of a writers strike. We will continue to produce quality news programming for our viewers,” CBS said in a statement released. A spokesperson for the company would not comment any further.

Image credit goes to idealturna on Flickr. Licensed under Creative Commons.