Hot Diggity Dogger

This pop-up hot dog cooker operates much like a regular toaster, and will prepare two hot dogs (with heated buns) in minutes. The 660-watt electronic heating coil has various time settings to cook to your preference. A removal crumb tray slides out for easy cleaning.

Pros & Cons
Pros:

•Hot diggity dog!
•Perfect for the office

Cons:

•Hot dogs are easy to cook already
•Another counter-cluttering kitchen appliance
•Too specific application
•Only does 2 hot dogs at a time.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots - Video Games

Metal Gear Solid 4 is the fourth installment of the critically acclaimed, and fan-obsessed Metal Gear Solid series, which is part of the larger Metal Gear universe. Hideo Kojima, the creator of the series, claims MGS4 is the last game that will feature the iconic protagonist Solid Snake who now finds himself old and decaying. In development for four years, MGS4 was anticipated by fans as the first and last next-gen installment of their favorite series with a budget to match the epic expectations.

Pros & Cons
Pros:

•Fantastic graphics
•Unparalleled presentation
•Satisfying conclusion
•Great attention to detail
•A number of new innovations to the series and genre

Cons:

•Cinematics can be very long, especially later on in the game
•Gameplay hasn't changed enough for modern standards

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Story

Metal Gear games are notorious for their convoluted, intricate and deep narrative that mixes serious themes such as war and free will, with supernatural elements. MGS4 takes place years after the events of MGS2 as Solid Snake who is rapidly aging since he is a clone is attempting to stop his rival Liquid Snake (who has possessed Revolver Ocelot through a transplanted arm) from taking over the world with nano-machine controlled soldiers.

Traditionally the story in MGS games have been told through "CODEC" conversations where two people spend copious amounts of time talking to one another with animated avatars. In response to criticism the traditional CODEC conversations have been replaced by full real-time cinematics. Some of the story presentation is presented while playing the game, most of the cinematics are non-interactive.

Gameplay

MGS4 introduces several refinements and changes to the traditional Metal Gear Solid gameplay, while retaining many of the core elements that make the series. The biggest change comes in the gameplay perspective which now defaults to a regular third-person view from behind Snake's back. Other camera angles are available including an over-the-shoulder view, the birds-eye angle, and even a first person view.

Snake has more tools and weapons at his disposal including the OctoCamo which is a cameleon-like suit that automatically changes colors and patterns to match his surrounding. The Solid Eye and Metal Gear MK.II are two other tools that Snake can use to help his progress.

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 - Video Games

The game has the player take the role of a male high-school student who joins up with other members of SEES—the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad—to attack Shadows and other beings that emerge during the "Dark Hour", a time period between each day which only few humans are aware of. The player uses weapons and magical abilities gained by the use of "Personas" to defeat foes in a turn-based combat system. An iconic feature of the game is the method by which the members of SEES release their Personas: by firing an Evoker, a gun-like object, at their head, which does no damage but causes sufficient emotional stress to cause the Persona to appear. In addition to typical RPG elements, the game includes elements of dating simulation games as the player character progresses day by day through a school year, making friends and relationships that improve the strength of his Personas in battle.

Pros & Cons
Pros:

Cons:
Do you agree?
•You can't stay in the dark hour forever otherwise your characters will get tired and will be unable to battle.

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The Main Character, a teenager who was orphaned as a young boy, returns to the city of his childhood. Shortly after transferring to Gekkoukan High School, he is attacked by Shadows—creatures that feed on the minds of their victims. The assault awakens his Persona, Orpheus, his only chance at defeating these creatures of the night. He soon discovers that he shares this special ability with other students at his new school; each is armed with an Evoker, a special handgun that they fire at their heads that does not harm them physically but causes emotional stress in order to summon forth their own Persona. The Main Character learns that he is unique among the other members, being able to use multiple Personas and that he is guided by the formation of Social Links to improve his power. From them he learns of the "Dark Hour," a hidden time that exists between one day and the next, swarming with Shadows. He joins the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad (SEES), and with his new friends, confronts the threat of the Shadows by exploring Tartarus, a huge, chaotic tower that appears in the place of their school every Dark Hour.

After signing a contract in which he "accepts his fate of his own free will," the Main Character battles with the other members of SEES against the Greater Shadows, incarnations with traits and appearances similar to those of the first twelve Major Arcana of the Tarot. The group is told by Shuji Ikutsuki, the adult supervisor of the group, that defeating all the major Shadows will end the Dark Hour.

Kingdom Hearts - Video Games

Kingdom Hearts begins on Destiny Islands, where Sora, Riku, and Kairi live. The three friends want to leave the islands to explore new worlds and have prepared a raft for this purpose. One night, the islands are attacked by darkness and shadow creatures—the Heartless. Sora seeks out his friends, finding Riku, who disappears into darkness. At the same time, Sora obtains the Keyblade. The islands are destroyed, and Sora is left adrift. Meanwhile, King Mickey has left his world to deal with the increasing darkness and left instructions for mage Donald and knight Goofy to find the "key".

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Donald and Goofy use a Gummi Ship to travel to Traverse Town, to where Sora has drifted. Sora encounters the shadow creatures again, and meets Leon, who explains the shadow creatures are Heartless, beings that consume hearts, and that the Keyblade is the only weapon capable of defeating them. A man named Ansem, the leader of Leon's home world, is said to have studied the Heartless. Sora meets Donald and Goofy and the three decide to travel together: Donald and Goofy to find Mickey, and Sora to find Kairi and Riku. The three go to various worlds based on Disney films, finding that the Keyblade also locks "Keyholes", passages the Heartless use to take the heart of a world. A group of Disney villains, led by Maleficent, seek out the seven Princesses of Heart to unlock the Keyhole that leads to Kingdom Hearts, a repository of knowledge and power and the source of all hearts. This group includes Riku, whom Maleficent promises she will help in finding Kairi. Maleficent sows distrust in Riku, telling him Sora has abandoned him and Kairi for new friends and the Keyblade. An increasingly antagonistic Riku finds Kairi's body, but cannot find her heart.

Ninja Gaiden 2 - Video Games

Ninja Gaiden 2 is the true sequel and first next-gen installment to the critically acclaimed series. This game features the return of Ryu Hayabusa as he travels the world and kills a ton of monsters and bad guys along the way. The core gameplay remains largely unchanged from the first 3D Ninja Gaiden with a punishing difficulty, fast action, and an unparalleled variety of killing moves. Most changes in the game are an enhancement and amplification of previous designs, moves are more brutal, the action is substantially faster, the game is gorier, and the harder difficulty is even harder.

Pros & Cons
Pros:

•Super fast action
•Obliteration techniques are very satisfying
•Great level progression, no backtracking
•Unrelenting enemies force you to come up with innovative techniques and strategies
•Large variety in weapons

Cons:

•Unpolished experience
•Big slowdown in some specific instances
•Enemies can be TOO aggressive
•Still too difficult for casual players
•Still has camera problems

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Story

Ninja Gaiden's story is largely uninspired and quite silly, intentional or not. This time around the Black Spider Clan is attempting to ressurect the "arch fiend" to take over or destroy the world, and only Ryu can stop them. The story is told through a combination of in-game cutscenes and full motion cinematics, and works largely as a little filler to drive Ryu from one slaughterfest to the next.

Gameplay

The first 3D Ninja Gaiden game gained notoriety for the huge move-list and brutal action. In NG2 Ryu has 7 melee weapons available to him, each with one or two level of upgrades and a move-set with dozens of combinations. There are also 4 projectile weapons, including the popular boomerang shuriken, and the return of the ninpo (magic) arts for clearing rooms of enemies.

One of the bigger changes to the game is the introduction of cutting off limbs. From the surface this appears to be a more cosmetic change, but in the higher levels of play and difficulty the severed limbs and accompanying obliteration techniques become very important.

Another significant change comes in the way you can change your weapons and use items. The previous games required you to enter a menu screen and select your items from there, now you can select items just by using the d-pad which is a more streamlined process.

Sony STR-DG920 - A / V Reciver

The Sony STR-DG920 is a 7.1 channel receiver scheduled released in June 2008 for $699 that supercedes the STR-DG910 released in April 2007 for $599. The 920 offers several key upgrades to the 910 including 1) a fourth HDMI input, 2) Dolby TrueHD and dts HD-MA audio decoding, 3) upgrade to the HDMI 1.3 standard, 4) a second zone of audio, and 5) a small increase in audio power to 110 Watts / channel up from 100 in its predecessor. The STR-DG920 support 1080p video signals with a pass-through, and will transcode analog video sources (composite and component) to its HDMI output. The step-down model Sony STR-DG820 is $200 cheaper at $400 but drops video transcoding to HDMI.

Pros & Cons
Pros:

•1080p video pass-through support
•Transcodes analog video sources to HDMI
•Decodes Dolby TrueHD and dts HD-MA audio formats
•4 HDMI 1.3a inputs
•Good price for the feature-set
•Slightly more power than predecessor and competitors
•Screw binding post speaker terminals
•All speaker terminals are binding post (including 2nd zone)
•Phono-pre amp input (yes, this has become a rare feature)
•Second audio zone

Cons:

•Does not appear to have a switched AC outlet (for active subwoofer)
•Any pre amp outputs
•No s-video inputs
•$100 more expensive than 910

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Features

•7.1 channel receiver with full-support for latest Blu-ray standards
•4 x HDMI 1.3a inputs / 1 x HDMI 1.3a output
•110 Watts / channel
•1080p pass-through support
•Transcodes analog video sources to HDMI (composite, S-Video, component)
•decodes high-defintion digital audio formats (Dolby TrueHD, dts HD-MA)
•second zone of audio (A/B switch)
•price: $599
•release date: June 2008