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The Roboreptile comes with a remote control and a hood accessory

The Roboreptile has infrared "vision" sensors where its eyes would be and stereo "hearing" sensors on the sides of its face. Its sounds, though a bit tinny, are menacing. During a tail swipe, it lets out a sort of Eagle cry, harkening back to the shared avian/reptile ancestry.

Controlling the Monster
Controlling the Roboreptile with the remote is a bit of a strain. First, because the remote uses an infrared beam and the pick-up sensor is located in its head. You won't be able to control it from far away, and it's difficult to control while walking away from you. Roboreptile will keep executing a command until it receives a new remote command.

Second, each button on the remote has two alternate functions: an attack set and a program set. When the remote is on the program setting, the alternate functions light up in red for each button but, for some reason, when the remote is in the attack setting, we're left to refer to the instruction manual (or our own memories) for that set's functions. For example, to make the roboreptile bite, you first have to get the remote into attack mode by pressing the select button until the remote display turns green. Then you press the button marked "Roam."

Another counter-intuitive thing about the controls is that the left and right buttons respectively make its left and right legs move, turning him in the opposite direction. I expected the left button would make him turn left, but instead it turns him right. The instructions also say that it can make both stationary and forward turns but I could only manage to execute stationary turns.

When using the "feed" button, the Roboreptile will track the remote's movement from side to side. If it moves too much, though, Roboreptile could get dizzy.

Control issues aside, it is genuinely alarming--in a Jurassic Park sort of way--when this little beast lunges at and tries to bite your foot.

From Satisfied to Hungry in 60 Seconds
Roboreptile can be operated in direct control, free roam, and program modes. Direct control is its natural state, where the user becomes puppeteer, moving it with the remote control. There is a surprising range of motion for this robot. It can walk forward on four legs or two, jump, swipe its tail from side to side, bite, shake, and even look dizzy, as though it had just been smacked by a bigger dino. It even has different walking gaits: fast, slow, big steps, small steps.

It'll go into free roam mode after a few minutes without controller input or if the "touch sensor" (actually just a button) on its back is pressed. It avoids obstacles by backing up and trying a different angle and exhibits three different moods: Hungry, Satisfied, and Hooded. Hungry is its natural state, agressive and snappy. Satisfied comes after it's eaten--in this case, gone through a feeding animation cycle where it crows and snaps its jaw--and this makes it lethargic for about a minute before it's hungry again. Using the included hood, or cowl, to snap over its vision and hearing sensors and effectively put him in sleep mode.

There's also a program mode where you can enter a series of up to 20 steps. Think of it as dance choreography, only with tail swipes and biting. You can put Roboreptile into guard mode, where it'll sit upright, poised for attack. If anything gets picked up by its sensors (passes within inches of its face), it will let out a growl and lunge in that direction. Its hearing is better than its sight (wasn't that the case with dinosaurs, too?), so in the guarded state, it'll react to a slamming door or a whistle with a howl and swinging its neck from side to side.

Parents should note that Roboreptile comes with two volume settings: loud and soft. We tested it on a hardwood floor and kitchen countertop and noticed that, even on the soft setting, its hard plastic thumps and servo motor whirs still created a sizeable ruckus. --Porter B. Hall

 

Gears of War is harrowing tale that pits humankind against the Locust Horde.

     

Marcus Fenix and his team battle nightmarish creatures. View larger.

In Gears of War, you must take cover to survive. View larger.

Gears of War presents a focused and well-paced cinematic experience. View larger.

The gameplay is focused on a fire team co-op so advanced that your A.I. teammates are indiscernible from human players. Voice recognition and real-time lip synching heighten the absorbing experience. The Unreal Engine 3 technology brings out the smallest details in the largest of battles. With GOW you're sure to experience a rich, dynamic world where characters spring to life. Speaking of life, the battlefield is a lethal place. To survive, you must suppress your enemy with blindfire, take cover in interactive environments, and use weapons and teammates to outwit your dreaded, inhuman foes. And with a title like GOW, it would be shame if you couldn't get online and challenge live gamers. With the next-generation of Xbox Live, you'll be able to experience individualized matchmaking, view player statistics, earn player achievements, customize games, and build personalized gamer profiles.

Gears of War shined bright at Microsoft's pre-E3 press briefing, but a deeper demo at Microsoft's E3 booth revealed many of the game's mechanics. GOW is built with both the hardcore and casual gamer in mind. But, instead of selecting a difficulty level at the start of the game, GOW offers a choice at the beginning of each level. In the vein of choose your own adventure, you can select between a difficult or easy path. And it's not just a simple choice of battling tougher enemies; each path (explained by a comrade) represents additional content that is crucial to the storyline. After easing your way into the experience of the gameplay with the simpler paths, you can go back and test your skills on the more difficult routes and never feel like you've played through the areas before.

Standing around in the open is likely to get you killed in GOW. You must use cover to survive. With a context sensitive A button function, you won't have to sweat memorizing cumbersome button combos. The A button will:


• Slam you into cover. As you approach cover in GOW simply tap the A button to slide and make immediate use of cover. 
• Vault you over the cover. Once you're in cover, pressing up and A will vault you over your cover to engage the opponent or next cover opportunity. 
• Evade enemy fire. When you're forced to be out in the open, tapping the A button will engage a roll maneuver to evade enemy fire. 
• Activate a "Swat Turn." When taking cover on the side of a doorway, pressing the A button will spin your character from one side of the doorway to the other, helping avoid fire.

Gears of War presents a focused and well-paced cinematic experience, and nothing ruins that faster than a time-consuming exploration of every switch or button to find the elusive trigger to open a door. This game introduces a "point of interest" button that comes up on the screen so you can immediately interact with the necessary item to move forward in your gameplay. GOW certainly offers drool-worthy graphics, but the mechanics have also received equal attention. Keep your eyes and ears on high alert for a release date, as Microsoft hasn't let the cat out of the bag on when gamers will be able to tackle this great-looking and great-playing title.
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About the Xbox 360 Hardware

Xbox 360, shown with wireless controller, is a sleek, customizable gaming and entertainment system.

Xbox 360 is much smaller than its predecessor--it measures approximately 3.3 by 12.2 by 10.2 inches and weighs 7.7 lbs. It's powered by custom IBM PowerPC-based CPU with three symmetrical cores each running at 3.2 GHz. It also carries a custom ATI graphics processor 10 MB of embedded DRAM. This is powerful enough to draw 500 million triangles per second. In other words, it makes for great looking games in standard TV definition, and even better thanks to built-in support for HDTV 1080i televisions. It also supports the widescreen 16:9 format.

The unit has a 12x dual-layer DVD-ROM drive, which plays both the game media and progressive-scan DVD movies right out of the box. For game-save and media storage, users can choose between the detachable and upgradeable 20GB hard drive, or a separately sold 64MB flash Memory Unit. Along with storing files, the hard drive will make the Xbox 360 backward-compatible with part of the existing Xbox game library.

Xbox 360 uses a refined button layout for its controllers. Back and Start buttons sit at the center of the controller and between them is a new Xbox Guide button, which instantly takes the user to the Xbox 360 user interface. From there, they can check for friends online, access personal digital content like photos and songs, and more. The black and white buttons of the first Xbox controllers have been replaced with new shoulder buttons placed above the left and right triggers. Xbox 360 can accommodate up to four wireless controllers and has three USB 2.0 slots to use for wired controllers or for streaming your digital media from digital cameras, MP3 players, and any Windows XP-based PC. Microsoft has announced plans for a upcoming video-conferencing camera that will work with the system.

Xbox 360 can manage your games, your online friends, and your personal digital library.

About Xbox 360 Games and Media
All Xbox 360 titles can be played in either standard or high-definition resolution in 16:9 widescreen, with anti-aliasing for smoother graphics. Game designers will be able to take advantage of the system's multi-channel surround sound. The Xbox 360's digital media allows users to supplement any game's music from tracks in their own personal library.

About Xbox Live
A built-in Ethernet port allows users to connect their system to a broadband connection for access to the new Xbox Live Silver. The included service lets anyone create a Gamertag and gamer card to express your online identity, chat live with voice chat, and connect to the Xbox Live Marketplace to buy expansions, maps, and other digital goodies for your games. The subscription service Xbox Live Gold adds to that online competition, game stats, and video chat/messaging. The separately sold wireless adapter supports the common 802.11a, -b, and -g standards.

What's Included in the Game System

• Xbox 360 console
• 20GB detachable hard drive
• Wireless controller
• Xbox Live headset
• High-definition AV cables
• Ethernet cable
• Detachable faceplate
• Xbox Live Silver membership

The game's how-to was quick, simple, and useful. The practice mode takes you through the dance moves, and although we were expecting the whole musical numbers, the redacted walkthroughs are fairly thorough. Mrs. Darbus narrates your way throughout the game and has inspiring, drama-related banter that was only a minor annoyance to the adults after an hour of playing. The only troubles we came across were the constant clicking of the DVD remote after every scene in game, and also, an errant click while answering questions cannot be reversed, thus interrupting the gameplay. The songs and dances inspire players to get up and act as this game provides a bit of excitement for all of those fans of High School Musical.

Despite all the hoopla surrounding the next generation consoles, the most anticipated gaming event of this year is undoubtedly the latest The Legend of Zelda game. Subtitled Twilight Princess, the game looks radically different from The Wind Waker with less stylized, more realistic looking graphics.

As ever with a Nintendo title, much of the game is still surrounded in secrecy, but previews have already shown the game's enormous scale with huge areas of rolling countryside for you to ride your horse and battle various evil enemies. Indeed, the game seems more action-focused than previous adventures, both on horseback and on foot.

One major new feature revealed in the game is that Link is now able to transform into a wolf. This gives him a whole suite of new features including the ability to "see" smells and access areas impossible as a human (or elf).

Despite the greater emphasis on action, the puzzles in the game are even more elaborate than before. A forest dungeon reveals your ability to communicate with animals. You order around a troupe of baboons to solve puzzles and to help battle the level boss.

The GameCube could hardly have asked for any better swansong than this, with utterly amazing graphics and an apparently endless range of features and settings. Even with so little still known about it, this is still on course to be the best game of the year. -- Harrison Dent, Amazon.co.uk

This preview is based on an incomplete version of the game; features or problems mentioned above may not appear in the finished game.