Best keyboard? Decent video card? An assessment of how the most recent MacBook Pro compares with with a host of other laptops, especially how the latest notebook computers operate when running basic Windows software.

By releasing a free version of the Spore Creature Creator in June, millions of people downloaded the program onto their PCs and Intel-based Macs and began making creatures in readiness for the release on Sunday.

Video-game designer Will Wright's newest title, Spore, is expected to turn the video-game industry upside down with its unique blend of simulation, gaming, and social networking.

This device combines all of your remotes’ functionality into one gadget. Simply plug it into a USB port on your computer and enter information about your devices on-line, and programming is done on your behalf.

As part of the Tomorrow’s Masters of Digital Media summer program, four high school students took on the role of project manager for their video-game developing teams.

High schoolers role-played as programmers and developers for three weeks and designed playable action-adventure prototypes during the Tomorrow’s Masters of Digital Media summer program.

Pure Digital Technologies’ new easy-to-use device will change how the average person shoots video. It costs just $159.99, is about the size and weight of an iPod Classic, and is equipped with 2-GB of memory and video-editing software.

There’s nothing better than a skirmish, a tussle, a grudge match, or even a full-blown war to provide fodder for gamers. Here’s some recent conflicts, including Bladestorm and Lost Odyssey.

Fallout 3, Resident Evil and Tomb Raider sequels, and a new Batman adventure are just some of the yet-to-be-released video games previewed at the gaming industry's biggest annual trade show. Here's a rundown of the best games showcased.

Vancouver’s film and television production industry has had its ups and downs. After surging for the past 10 years, it’s declined recently, suffering from a less appealing exchange rate between the Canadian loonie and the American greenback, and because of the industry’s slowdown since last winter’s writers’ strike.

Two solid days of great games was the main redeeming feature at this year's E3, as the briefings from the major players, Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony, were underwhelming to say the least, which led to big disappointment for gamers.

Microsoft's portable media player doesn’t have its Zune Marketplace available yet to Canadians, so although you can share Tokyo Police Club without handing over your waxy earbuds, you can only get half the experience.

Who doesn’t want to be fit and buff, and look like Angelina Jolie or the male equivalent? And who isn’t attracted to the idea of getting to look this way by playing video games?

Nick Bouton's Web site doesn't just let readers decide what happens next in the Choose Your Own Adventure series of books; they write 'addventures', which can branch out from the plot at any point.

Sarcastic and tricky Penny Arcade Adventures sends players after a giant, marauding robot with the comic strip's stars.

There’s a lot riding on Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One. for the fledgling Vancouver studio. Not only is it its first video-game release, it must stand up to the scrutiny of devoted fans of the comic strip Penny Arcade.

A video-game adaptation of Napoleon Dynamite, a mature-rated title being released for the Nintendo DS, and God of War and Silent Hill—two venerable franchises—making their debut on handheld gaming systems? The DS and the PlayStation Portable are growing up, and the games being released for them mean they’re not just for commuting anymore. Play them anywhere.

From UV monitors that stop you sizzling in the sun to USB beverage chillers that you can plug into your laptop at the beach, technology shouldn't just be kept in your basement anymore.

Fight your family, smash your friends

The Nintendo Wii continues to be the world’s best-selling video-game console. As game developers and publishers rush to get in on the action, a host of concepts have been adapted for the innovative Wii remote.

Hundreds of rabid fans, some travelling for hours, made the pilgrimage to Apple Store number 212, which is now open for techno-gorging in Vancouver's Pacific Centre.

Senator Larry Campbell kicked off the second annual Vancouver International Game Summit by defending video games against critics who claim they can lead to real-world violence. “Equating violence with computer games is comparable to me watching Silence of the Lambs and deciding to become a serial killer,” the former Vancouver mayor said on May 21. “It makes no sense.”

Shane Kim, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios, believes his company is well positioned to end up on top of the next-generation video-game-console business.

Hewlett-Packard’s slick, customizable Blackbird 002 offers serious video-game players premium performance at a premium price, and will make you the envy of your friends.

Make that long-distance relationship last with a pair of Hug Shirts, which enable you to send a squeeze to someone far away. It’s a mobile accessory that links to your phone using Bluetooth technology. When you want your loved one to know you care, applying pressure to certain areas of your shirt is replicated in the shirt worn by the other person. Hug pressure and duration, and even skin temperature, are among the details that can be transferred from shirt to shirt.

Frank Lee has just convinced me to move out of my apartment and into a house just so I can have my own washer and dryer.

Alternate-reality games will be one of the hot topics for discussion at this year's Vancouver International Digital Festival, running May 21-24.

Grand Theft Auto IV is a choice.

To play Conflict: Denied Ops, which comes from Eidos, you’ll need to play with a friend, or get used to switching back and forth between the two protagonists, a pair of CIA ops. While playing on your own as Graves, the sniper, you can direct Lang, the heavy, to specific locations to take out the enemy with his assault rifle. Or you can play as Lang and do the frontline work yourself, while the computer’s artificial intelligence takes over as Graves snipes from a distance.

Time Crisis 4

Although the game is expected to generate record-breaking sales, the real battle has gone on behind the scenes, with Electronic Arts eager to acquire Rockstar Games, GTA IV's publisher.

Grand Theft Auto IV, which could become the biggest grossing entertainment property in history, hits store shelves on Tuesday, April 29.

Where Leopard is a stable, usable operating system with a few bugs, for many Vista is a nearly unusable, unstable mess of an operating system with a few nice features.

Finding a way to translate a story from one medium to another is tough enough, but how exactly do you go about transforming one of television’s biggest—and most secretive—shows into a video game? “It was a daunting task,” admitted Kevin Shortt, lead script writer and story designer on Lost: Via Domus. The game was published by Ubisoft and developed in its Montreal studio.

Creating a video game based on a movie or a TV show is a tricky thing—telling a story in this interactive medium just isn’t the same. Too often, fans who are excited by the prospect of taking on the role of their heroines and heroes are simply disappointed. The task is even more daunting when the original in question is Lost, a show built on secrets in which plot points are painstakingly resolved over time.

Conceived as a place where small and medium-sized businesses can learn about technology solutions that can help them succeed, the first Massive Technology Show took place in 2005. That show, held in Vancouver, attracted about 2,000 people, and the event is now presented in Edmonton and Toronto as well. This year, the show was held at the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre on April 1.

Recent game releases let you find your fortune with Francis Drake, answer the call of duty, or become either a medieval assassin or rakish cop.

Both consumers and artists will benefit from the impending death of digital-rights-management efforts by the music industry.

2007 was a groundbreaking year for first-person shooters, due in part to the processing power of the next-generation consols and an increasing emphasis on story and character development.

For all the hype around Radiohead’s decision to release its 2007 album In Rainbows as a pay-what-you-want download, the experiment wasn’t all that groundbreaking.

The GDC, held this year in February in San Francisco, isn’t a trade show and any attempts by corporations to turn it into a forum for promoting products should be resisted.

Blu-ray Disc is now your one and only choice because of Toshiba’s decision to discontinue the development, manufacturing, and marketing of HD DVD players and recorders.

Propaganda Games was formed three years ago by a group of former Electronic Arts staffers. Within months, it was acquired by Buena Vista Games, now Disney Interactive Studios. In an interview with the Georgia Straight at Propaganda’s Vancouver offices, general manager and vice president Josh Holmes said the company had been working on an original concept for a third-person action game, but scrapped it when it won the right to develop the new Turok video game for Touchstone, a Disney brand.

Canadians can be found everywhere in the world. For many of them, the CBC Radio 3 Podcast is a lifeline to their home country and its unique musical culture.

Keep your conscience clear with sustainable listening via Eco-Speakers, vampire power, and use the wind for your HYmini charger

It won’t change your life, but it will change your TV-viewing.

Turok is the first title from Vancouver’s Propaganda Games. A rambunctious re-creation of a character that first appeared more than 50 years ago, the new game is a science-fiction-themed first-person shooter for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.

The slick MacBook Air, billed as the world’s thinnest notebook computer, is among the Macworld trade show’s cool unveilings.

Talk about value—this box is five games in one. Not short, useless games either, but topnotch titles that are varied and fun. The Orange Box comes from Valve and is available for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360, and in it you’ll get Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode One—both of which were previously available—as well as Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Team Fortress 2, and Portal.

The shortlist for the Game Developers Choice Awards has one key omission for game of the year—and one choice that doesn’t belong