Battle Creek Enquirer from Battle Creek, Michigan • Page 15

7B Tuesday, May 13, 2003 Battle Creek Enquirer Gear Fun Learning fePID Haw VOflDD Lola attempts to solve one of the most common frustrations of digital music: Getting tunes from the computer to stereo or home-theater systems. Bundles offer learning activities Eton' Lola's sound is super, but video gets fuzzy I a. 0 GANNETT NEWS SERVICE Wolverine must find the antidote to a deadly virus in "X2 Wolverine's Revenge," a video game based on the comic book and movie franchise. Marc Saltzman Gannett News Service He slices! He dices! He's Wolverine! Launching simultaneously with much-hyped "X2" feature film, "X2 Wolverine's Revenge" follows the adventures of mutant X-Men in an original story developed by Marvel Comics writer and editor Larry Hama. It's also the first video game that allows players to climb into the retractable claws of Wolverine.

While not as much fun as the "Spider-Man" video games (another joint effort between Marvel and video game publisher Activision), "Wolverine's Revenge" is more than a shameless movie tie-in. In this single-player title, Wolverine discovers that the nefarious organization that endowed him with his unique mutations has triggered a deadly virus in his body. Wolverine has only 48 hours to secure the antidote before he succumbs. CLAWING HIS WAY IN Using Wolverine's razor-sharp claws to hack and slash through enemies consumes much of the game play, but strategy and stealth are also required to infiltrate high-security locations. The title is divided into six "acts," each of which includes three or four levels of game play.

Visually, the game is played from a cinematic "over the shoulder" third-person perspective. Wolverine travels to different parts of the world to fight enemies, solve puzzles and collect key power-ups and other items. As a fun addition to the game play, players can collect dog tags spread across the globe that can be used to boost the intensity of combat. The -iags-which-come in bronze, silver and gold, can be used to unlock special concept and production artwork that is displayed in photo and movie galleries once the main game has been completed. Comic book covers are also Deborah Porterfiexd Gannett News Service Think of Lola as a friendly gadget that wants to pull you away from the computer.

With the Lola wireless music system, you can play tunes stored on your Windows PC through a stereo or television set Xio makes two wireless models. The Wireless TV Video system costs $70 and requires a PC with a TV video output, while the Wireless VGA System costs $100 and requires a Windows PC with a VGA video output. Both require that the PCs they're connected to have at least 64 megabytes of memory and a 266-megahertz processor. For this review, we tried the VGA system. Setting up Lola was simple, but time consuming.

You first must download and install the Lola software from the company's Web site because no disk is provided. On a dial-up connection, this takes about 20 minutes. Once the software is installed, Lola can scan your computer for music. Be sure to increase the default settings for file size when searching for tunes or Lola also will categorize your computer's startup and alert sounds. Next, you'll need to connect the system's 24-gigahertz wireless transmitter to an electrical outlet and to a Universal Serial Bus port, audio jack and video output on the PC.

Finally, you'll have to connect the receiver, which requires an electrical outlet of its own, into the video and audio jacks on a TV set. (You also can plug it into the audio jacks on a stereo.) Xio says the range of the transmitter is about 100 feet, so choose a television or stereo in a room that's relatively close to the computer. Once everything is connect- REVIEW 12 Wolverine's Revenge' Platform PlayStation 2, Xbcx, GameCube, PC Gore Action Adventure Developer. GenePool Software Pubisher. Actiwsion Price: $49.99 Rated: for teen Web site: mvwjctivisioaconi Score: (outof5) vides the player with hints and clues through a telepathic link to Wolverine, who is voiced by Mark Hamill The game isn't perfect.

Controlling Wolverine during combat can prove difficult, especially when there are multiple enemies onscreen simultaneously. Also, some camera angles are finicky, obstructing a clear view just when you need it most. What's more, the visuals in "Wolverine's Revenge" don't take advantage of the "next-generation" hardware the title runs on. If you can get past the well-timed movie franchise tie-in and some minor assorted issues, "X2 Wolverine's Revenge" should appeal to actionadventure game enthusiasts, comic book readers and fans of the movie. REVIEW Rating: (out of 5) Price: $70 to $100 Pro: Wireless connection lets you hear music stored on your pc through your tv.

Con: Poor video quality makes it difficult to read song titles, commands and other information on the tv. Bottom line: Fun toy for music fans with lots of songs on their computers. Web site: www.x10.com ed, the Lola menu displayed on your computer monitor also will appear on your TV set, and the music that's playing on your computer will be played through your television or stereo. With Lola's universal remote control, you can control the system using either the television or the computer. You can select the tracks you want to hear, repeat a favorite tune, pause the music or close Lola.

You also can control Lola using the computer's keyboard and mouse, but this mode of operation isn't intuitive. For example, if you want to close Lola with the mouse, you have to right-click and then choose the "close" command. It would make more sense to include a "close" command as part of the on-screen display. During testing, the computer consistently transmitted sound and video to a television located in an adjacent room The music coming through the TV set sounded sharp but the video images appeared fuzzy, making it difficult to read text on the screen. But if you can live with some squinting, Lola is a decent device for sharing tunes throughout the home.

corders. The recorder includes a front-panel i.LINK connection (Sony's name for FireWire), a one-touch dubbing feature that lets users record the entire contents of a DVD or Digital 8 tape, and the ability to edit scenes from the source tape or DVD. Availability: June. Cost: $800. www.sony.com LASER PRINTER DELIVERS COLOR PRINTS, ECONOMY Hewlett-Packard's Color LaserJet 1500L features 16 megabytes of RAM, a 150-megahertz processor, a top resolution of 600 dots per inch and a 125-sheet tray.

It can print up to four pages per minute in color and 16 pages per minute in black. The printer ships with four toner cartridges (cyan, magenta, yellow and black). HP says the black cartridge can print about 5,000 pages and the color cartridges about 4,000. HP's estimates for cartridge life are based on pages with 20 percent toner coverage. Cost: $800.

www.hp.com Jinny Gudmundsen Gannett News Service Purchasing a software bun- die is an economic way to stock up on fun, educational computer activities for the summer, A bundle is a collec- tion of two or more software titles sold together, usually i for the price of just one title, I Bundles usually include older titles that are no longer avail- I able. However, the fact that a title is older doesn't mean it isn't good. Here's a look at two. 'JUMPSTART 1ST-3KD GRADE LEARNING PLAYGROUND' This bundle contains three titles that are no longer avail- able separately: "JumpStart Math," "JumpStart Reading for Second Graders," and "JumpStart Explorers." With "JumpStart Reading for Second Graders," kids partici- pate in a fun mystery while drilling vocabulary skills, spelling, and parts of speech. In "JumpStart Explorers," youngsters travel back in time to visit five historic cultures.

"JumpStart Math" delivers skill-building math games in a medieval setting. From Knowledge Adventure, -(800) 545-7677 for $20, Win- dowsMacintosh. 'ADVENTURE W03XSH0P: 4TH-6TH GRADE' The Learning Co. periodi- cally releases bundles under the same title, "Adventure Workshop: 4th-6th Grade." Look for the one that contains "Carmen Sandiego Word Detec- tive," "The Cluefinders Reading Adventures," and "Super Solvers Gizmos Gadgets." These three excellent titles have been reconfigured to run on Windows XP. The "Gizmos Gadgets" title offers arcade-style games com- bined with hands-on sci- ence experiment.

From The i Learning Company, (800) 223-6925, for $20, -Windows Macintosh. JUNE DVD RELEASE OFFERS FUTURE PEEK Want a glimpse of HD-DVD? When "Terminator 2: The Extreme DVD" ($29.98) arrives June 3 it will have two discs one standard, one high-definition. There is a catch. The high-definition disc, which comes courtesy of Microsoft and uses its proprietary Windows Media format, will be viewable only on souped-up PCs running Microsoft's Windows XP and Media Player 9. Microsoft says the video quality, without requiring new hardware, is three times that of current DVDs and better than HDTV broadcasts.

Still, you're not likely to appreciate the full effect unless you own one of the few PCs with a high-definition display or one that can hook up to the latest digital TVs via special connections. Mike Snider PI Wild Thornberrys Movie -I New products Deborah Porterfield High-definition discs will improve on DVDs littered throughout the game, and players can use them to give Wolverine a quick wardrobe change. The featured costumes are derived from the comic books and feature films. Along with his retractable claws, Wolverine's other well-known attributes an unbreakable adamantium-laced skeleton, accelerated healing, a "feral rage" boost and an animallike sixth sense to "smell" danger come into play during the game. And fans of the comic book series will find a few familiar foes such as archenemies Sabretooth, Wendi go and Juggernaut.

BIG-NAME VOICE TALENT Voiced by actor Patrick Stewart Trek: The Next Generation," Professor Charles Xavier pro- "The good news is, Hollywood is not trying to cheat consumers. The studios, artists and directors really want to get the home theater experience as good as possible," says Richard Doherty of consulting firm The Envi-sioneering Group. Beyond better video, HD-DVD discs may hold seven-channel soundtracks and more interactive bonuses, such as automatic software that, through a Net-linked home entertainment server, could connect online for additional language soundtracks and live chats with filmmakers and actors. "Those are the kinds of areas we're working on in defining the format," says Erin Sullivan, with Panasonic. Most companies involved are skittish about discussing next-generation discs for fear of confusing consumers and derailing DVD.

But about two years into the discussions, several systems are BLOC Make it a friday after next 11 1 t3 1 competing to become the standard: The Blu-ray Disc, supported by nine major makers including Sony, Panasonic, Philips, and Pioneer, could store up to 50 gigabytes of data (more than six times the data capacity of today's DVD) by using a blue laser beam instead of the current red laser. Advanced Optical Disc, a second blue-laser system proposed by NEC and Toshiba, brings disc capacity to 20GB. HD-DVD-9, based on the current DVD format, uses improved software compression to pack 135 minutes of HD video onto a disc. It was developed by Warner Bros. A format decision is expected by the end of the year.

That hasn't kept the technology from peeking, out early: Sony last month released a $3,800 Blu-ray recorder in Japan, where HDTV is more prevalent. INEXPENSIVE GPS DEVICE PLUGS INTO LAPTOPS, PDAS Deluo Electronics makes kits that turn laptops and personal digital assistants (PDAs) into satellite-based navigation systems that can create driving routes, issue step-by-step directions and locate nearby banks, hotels and restaurants. Prices vary according to the connection. A Deluo GPS kit, which includes a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) receiver, a serial connection and Rand McNally Street Finder Software, costs $89.95. A similar package, which works with a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port, costs $99.95.

The company also makes a Universal Kit with a serial connection for $99-95- An optional USB or PDA adapter is $10. www.deluo.com USB 2.0 FLASH MEDIA READER HANDLES 8 FORMATS Belkin's latest media device doesn't play favorites. The Hi-Speed USB 2.0 8-in-i-Media Reader Writer works with CompactFlash I and II, SmartMedia, SecureDigital, Multi-MediaCard, Microdrive, Memory Stick and Memory-Gate Memory Stick media. When plugged into a USB port on a computer, it can transfer images, data and music to and from any of these media. The F5U248 model also includes software to organize and create photo, video and music discs.

Availability: Early June. Cost: $40. www.belkin.com DVD RECORDER BURNS DISCS IN 4 FORMATS Sony's new DVD recorder, the RDR-GX7, works with DVD-Recordable (DVD-R) and DVD-Rewritable (DVD-RW) discs as well as DVDR and DVDRW ones. Sony says the device enhances the quality of DVD recordings, a feature that's especially helpful when transferring content from VHS and 8 mm cam Mike Snyder Gannett News Service Even as the public's love affair with the DVD blossoms, the tech world is hard at work in the lab creating the next generation high-definition disc. With 56.5 million DVD players sold since 1997, it's not too early for engineers to work on a successor.

It took about three years to develop DVD and new players and prerecorded discs probably won't arrive in final form for at least three years. Don't panic; any future player also will handle the discs you buy today. But just as DVDs are of higher quality than TV, digital TV and high-definition programming have leapfrogged the quality of DVD. And as sales of digital TV sets, capable of displaying video two to three times better than that of DVD, increase, the industry is wrangling over ways to keep up. Keeping You Connected battlecreekenquirer.com CREDIT UNIONS Kellogg Community Federal Credit Union www.kelloggcfcu.org Omni Family Credit Union www.omnifamilycu.org JOB SEEKERS Employment www.battlecreekenquirer.comcareers RIAL ESTATE Prudential West Michigan Realtors www.prurealtors.com One CM Shoppmg ENQUIRER LOCAL INTERN Gfi 1 with the purchase of any new VHS or DVD movie.

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