Samsung 6 Series

The Samsung 650 series, also known as the 6 series is one of the high-end offerings part of Samsung's 2008 LCD line up. They are positioned above the 550 series and below the highest-end 750 series. There are many similarities with the 750 series with the major difference being the lack of the USB port. Added ontop of the 550 series is the ethernet port for Internet content, and a 120Hz mode for smooth displaying of fast motion. The 6 series is considered the successor to Samsung's 2007 71F series featuring a similar glossy panel, and 120Hz mode.

Pros & Cons
Pros:

•120 Hz refresh rate and 4 ms response time
•Great black levels
•4 HDMI inputs
•Ethernet port for RSS and weather

Cons:

•Ugly remote control
•Picture-in-Picture support only for analog signals
•Can't turn off the Auto-Motion Plus (AMP) feature
•Red tinted bezel can be distracting
•Sometimes the TV will randomly shut off for no reason
•Doesn't have an LED backlight.
•Super-reflective surface leads to glare

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Specs

•1080p native resolution
•50,000:1 contrast ratio
•120Hz mode
•4ms response time
•Ethernet port for RSS, news, weather and stocks
•Inputs: 4xHDMI 1.3, Component, Composite

750 and 650 features

Ethernet port - the included ethernet port will allow you to access RSS feeds and other real time content to display sports information, news, stocks and weather. It's currently unknown whether other forms of content such as full Internet access will be available in the future.

4 HDMI ports - the lower level series feature 3 HDMI ports, with the high-end models adding an extra HDMI port for more expandability. All HDMI ports are version 1.3.

Common to all 2008 Samsung plasmas

Anti-glare screen - first introduced in the Samsung's 71F series of television released in 2007, Samsung claims they have improved the glossy anti-glare screen to reduce glare and reduce reflections.

3D support - the televisions can accept and properly display 3D content. If you have the proper glasses and source conent the TV will handle 3D images.

Upgrades over 71F series

Upgrades have been made to the internal circuitry to reduce power consumption and improve image quality. The new backlight system runs at twice the frequency which reduces the amount of flicker perceived. Samsung has also reworked the Auto-Motion Plus (AMP) feature to reduce what is known as the Triple-Ball-Effect (TBE) where fast moving items in an image will appear three times. AMP settings have also been made more flexible as they can be adjusted independent of the 'display mode' chosen.

Models

The naming convention for the 6 series models: Samsung LNxxA650T. Where the "xx" is replaced by the size of the set.

•LN40A650T - 40" screen | March 2008
•LN46A650T - 46" screen | March 2008
•LN52A650T - 52" screen | March 2008

Grand Theft Auto 4

The next-generation sequel to the controversial number one selling game. Grand Theft Auto 4 has you playing as Russian immigrant, Niko, trying to escape his shady past in modern-day New York. In a break from the trend of increasingly larger worlds to explore, Rock Star opted for a more densely packed smaller game world than in San Andreas. Major improvements over the previous games come in the form of a more vibrant city, substantially improved combat mechanics, "deeper" personal relationships, fleshed out physics and animation systems, and a comprehensive online component.

Pros & Cons
Pros:

•Storyline or freeform abilities
•Excellent graphics (every version gets better)
•Emergent physics system and animation with Endorphin
•A city that feels more "alive"
•Seamless multiplayer

Cons:

•Limited co-op gametypes
•Rockstar never talks about a PC release until a year after the consoles

More information

Gameplay

GTA4 fundamentally resolves down to the basic mechanics the first incarnations pioneered - stealing cars, shooting gangsters/cops, and completing missions. The fourth main installment of the franchise refines and improves many of these fundamentals. Most notably is the change to the gun shooting mechanics, where before auto-aim played a very large role and often times frustrated players, GTA4 uses an over-the-shoulder view similar to that in Gears of War. Also similar to Gears of War is the inclusion of a cover system that lets Niko hide behind objects to avoid getting hit. Hand-to-Hand combat has also been refined with a deeper moveset, and more combos available.

Driving has taken on a more realistic feel to match the rest of the game's setting. Cars now have more distinctive weights and features that sometimes make them more difficult to drive than in previous games. Vehicles that can be driven by Niko include cars, trucks, motorcycles, boats and helicopters. Bicycles and airplanes introduced in San Andreas don't make the cut.

Setting

Rockstar is taking the game back to its roots and placing the setting in the fictitious Liberty City. This time around the city is far more realized and offers a more than passing resemblance to New York City. Four of the Five burroughs are found in the game under fictitious names, with the notable exception of Long Island. Rockstar has been quoted as saying the city is smaller than the one in GTA:San Andreas, however its far denser, making the overall amount of places you can travel to be equal. Buildings are more interactive with many containing full interiors.

Multiplayer

Grand Theft Auto 4 is the first time that online multiplayer is available to console players. Rock Star has taken cues from other modern online games and added their own GTA twist. Up to 16 players can take part in online matches that exist within the same open world of the single player. This means you can engage in one of the 16 different multiplayer modes and still travel to any part of the map, engage with civilians and do everything you can do in the regular game. Rock Star attempts to keep the interactions localized by making health and weapon respawns occur in select parts of the map.

Customization plays a large role in the multiplayer modes. Hosts are given the ability to specify the number of pedestrians available, cars in the streets, if cops are active, auto-aim settings, etc. Players themselves can also customize their digital personas with different clothing and body shape choices, the more you play, the more points you gain to unlock further customizations for your avatar.

Rock Star Social Club

Taking inspiration from Halo 3 Rock Star has a website that accompanies the game to provide statistics, community organization and other benefits to gamers. Not only do online games get logged in the social club, but extensive leaderboards and challenges for the single player game.

Differences between Xbox 360 and PS3 versions

Downloadable episodic content will be available exclusively for the Xbox 360 version. Any exclusive content/features for the PS3 version has not been announced yet.

War Machine M1 Elite Desktop Computer

This exceptional performers extreme expandability will appeal to power users whose storage requirements are extremely high.

A product with skulls on its case and "Combat PC" emblazoned on its desktop wallpaper obviously targets gaming enthusiasts. But straitlaced power users who look beyond the skulls and the references to tactical warfare will be impressed by the War Machine's M1 Elite's performance and expandability.
The $4485 (as of January 3, 2008) M1 Elite's components are state-of-the-art across the board. They include a 3-GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 CPU and two sticks of 1GB DDR3 RAM mounted on an Asus P5E3 Deluxe X38 motherboard, two 150GB 10,000-rpm Western Digital Raptor hard disks in a striped array, and a 750GB Seagate hard disk (for a total of 1.5TB of storage). A single 768MB EVGA nVidia 8800 Ultra graphics board handles graphics duties, which is why this machine qualifies as a power system, not a dual-card gaming system (all of the systems on our Gaming PCs chart have two graphics cards each). The package is rounded out by Samsung's 226BW, a high-quality 22-inch display with a native resolution of 1680 by 1050 and a Liteon LH20A1S 20X DVD writer.

The M1 Elite's stellar components helped the machine put together a score of 131 WorldBench 6 Beta 2--the best performance we've seen from power system of late. Frame rates on games were excellent, thanks to the unit's GeForce 8800 Ultra graphics.

The M1 Elite's innards are housed in a black Coolmaster Stacker case whose main claim to fame, aside from its imposing all-black countenance, is its ability to support nine drive bays, each of which can be configured as internal or external and can accommodate 3.5-inch or 5.25-inch drives. Stylistically, War Machine keeps things sepulchral, with the aforementioned skulls, blue backlighting, and nearly everything else rendered in black. I especially enjoyed the black flex tubing the company employs to bundle the SATA cables and power leads.

Completing the package are a set of excellent gaming peripherals: Logitech's programmable G9 laser mouse and G15 gaming keyboard. The latter, whose keys backlit in blue match the machine's style, offers 18 easily programmable G-keys (macro keys for games).

Like the first War Machine M1 Elite we tested, the new QX9650-equipped M1 Elite is an impressive performer with lots of free bays. Its all-black case won't appeal to everyone, however.