God of War in my pocket, does it get any better?

Get your minds out of the gutter. God of War is not the nickname for my pants soldier. But now that I think about it...maybe that's for another post. No, I'm referring to the latest edition of the award winning "God of War" (GOW) game series. Yes, it has been a wicked long (yes I'm an official New Englander now) time since my last post. Partly to be blamed on work (I could get so much more done if I didn't have to go to a "job") and then I contracted this season's flu that turned into an upper respiratory infection (giving me a glimpse of what I would sound like as a 65 year old smoker!!). So once again, outside forces conspired against my blogging.

The one highlight from being on my deathbed was that I had plenty of time on my hands to do nothing but play the latest version of God of War "Chains of Olympus" for PSP (and yes this is a screenshot from the game).
Thank goodness I now have a REAL gaming reason to show off my PSP. This game is gorgeous and doesn't lose a set to its console brethren. The guys over at Ready at Dawn studios (they've given us a revamped Jak and Daxter) give us a new game in the Kratos storyline. Yes, our favorite all white and swirly tattooed Spartan is back and he's as pissed as ever. Kratos makes Leonidas from "300" look like a girl. This title lets us see/play as Kratos years before he threw himself off a cliff in the first God of War for PS2 game. This isn't a port mind you but a brand new title for PSP with new monsters, environments and interactions with the Gods.

Its hard to beleive that you can get the same "big game feel" of a sweeping massive world filled with things to be killed on the PSP screen. The combat is as stylish as ever and well executed. There was a lot of concern that since the PSP is short a thumbstick to its PS2 (and PS3) big brother that the game wouldn't feel the same. No worries here about gameplay/combat at all. Its as engaging as ever and after you figure out the button combos that let you "roll" out of the way, you're good to go!

As you'd expect, there's tons of blood and guts (you're still swinging the Blades of Chaos afterall), action, magic and sex. Oh yeah there's even a little sex in this title. Within the first few minutes of playing this game you get treated to a "subtle" threesome sex game that unlocks extra orbs. Bringing a whole new meaning to a fun handheld game! Bless the devious minds behind the God of War games.

So, you get it all here: Epic bosses to stomp, puzzles to solve and plenty of blade slinging butt whupping. There's even "Lost Levels" footage you can unlock when you complete the Challenges of Hades that give you an idea of what else could've been in the game. My favorite? The room called "the juicer" that was set up with cages. In order to get through it you'd need to collect enemy blood by squeezing it out of them (how freaking cool is that?). I'm hoping this gives us hope for another PSP title.

If you don't own one already, this game is THE reason to go out and buy a PSP. Not to mention its the perfect thing to hold us over until we get God of War 3 for PS3! Its coming, just look at the back of the PSP game guide.

A computer worthy of the next Mission Impossible film.

Yeah, like there's not going to be another Mission Impossible movie! If you saw MI3 (I really hope you caught it on cable and didn't waste good money in the theater) youd've noticed that the OQO handheld computer made a cameo. Its a great device (I own one myself) but it suffers from being underpowered. Yes, it'll push Windows XP, just not as fast as you're accustomed. There are a number of notebook or smaller devices out there that give you "desktop-like" capability. I also own the Fujitsu Lifebook P1510 which is an awesome, compact, flip screen tablet PC but the newest addition to the Lifebook line is just wicked. The Lifebook U810 Mini-Notebook.
Fujitsu claims that this is the world's smallest and lightest laptop. It has a 5.6" tablet flip screen. What's under the hood? An Intel A110 processor at 800Mhz and an Intel 945GU Express chipset with an onboard graphics processor, WiFi, Ethernet, fingerprint sensor for security, full QWERTY keyboard, 512 MB of Ram and a 20 GB hard drive all in its 7"x5"-1.56 lbs-body. That means it has enough power to push a full edition of Windows Vista or Windows XP tablet but still small enough to get lost in a bag! Its not a desktop replacement but at a meager $1099 ($999 for the base model) its easy to make it your "office on the road" or assist you in some tech caper. Or at the very least. make you the coolest looking kid in class.