10 illegal baby names by watchersnplayers report

These baby names have all been banned around the world for reasons of taste, decency or just plain daftness.…

This week the Pope declared war on parents naming babies after celebrities, fruit or popular sports cars. In an address to parents, the ever-progressive pontiff pleaded with worshipers to 'give your children names that are in the Christian calendar'. So Apple, Brooklyn and Ferrari are out, Francisco and Giulia are in.

But Benedict's not the only authority figure to stamp down on one of the sillier by-products of celebrity culture. The following names have all been banned around the world for reasons of taste, decency or just plain daftness.

1) Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii (New Zealand)
New Zealand law bans names which could cause offence to a 'reasonable' person. Good thing too - the country is a stupid name hotspot. We found a couple from the islands who tried and failed to call their son '4Real', but nothing beats the ridiculous moniker above. It belonged to a 9-year-old girl before a judge had her renamed during a custody battle. 'It makes a fool of the child,' he said. It certainly made application forms a pain in the butt.

Has New Zealand banned any other names? Oh yes. The judge listed some that were also blocked: Fish and Chips (twins), Yeah Detroit, Keenan Got Lucy and Sex Fruit. Number 16 Bus Shelter and Violence were allowed.

2) Venerdi AKA 'Friday' (Italy)
Maybe this is what the Pope was talking about. Back in 2008 a court banned an Italian couple from calling their child Venerdi (translation: Friday). The judges reckoned the name - taken from 'Robinson Crusoe' - would expose the boy to 'mockery' and was associated with 'subservience and insecurity'. The parents, however, might have the last laugh; they threatened to call their next child Mercoledi (Wednesday).

Has Italy banned any other names? Italian courts can step in 'when the child's name is likely to limit social interaction and create insecurity'. In Turin, Andrea was rejected (and changed to Emma) as it's a boy's name in Italy. Dalmata has also been rejected, as it means Dalmatian.

3) Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116 (Sweden)
No, we didn't fall asleep on the keyboard. That is an actual name a Swedish couple tried to inflict on their son back in 1996. Apparently the name is pronounced 'Albin' (we're not sure how), and the parents chose it as a protest against Sweden's admittedly strict naming laws. Tax authorities must give their blessing to both first and surnames before they can be used.

Has Sweden banned any other names? Oh yes. Some favourites include Metallica, IKEA, Veranda and Q. Google was OK though.

4) Gesher AKA 'Bridge' (Norway)
Back in 1998 those nasty Norwegians threw a woman in jail (admittedly for only two days) when she failed to pay a fine for giving her son an 'unapproved' name. Eccentric Kristi Larsen said she was instructed in a dream to name her son Gesher (Hebrew for 'Bridge'), but the court were having none of it. Kristi did have 13 children already though, so maybe she had just run out of ideas.

Has Norway banned any other names? Undoubtedly, though in recent times they have replaced their list of officially sanctioned names with a general ban on monikers featuring swearing, sex and illnesses.

5) Chow Tow AKA 'Smelly Head' (Malaysia)
Unlike many countries which are gradually relaxing name laws, Malaysian authorities have cracked down on unsuitable titles in recent years. In 2006 government killjoys published a list of undesirable names that weren't in keeping with the religious traditions of the country – such as Cantonese moniker Chow Tow – which means 'Smelly Head'.

Has Malaysia banned any other names? Lots more Chinese efforts such as Ah Chwar ('Snake'), Khiow Khoo ('Hunchback'), Sor Chai ('Insane'). Malays should also steer clear of Woti, which means 'Sexual Intercourse'.

6) @ (China)
With more than a billion fellow countrymen, finding a unique name in China is difficult. Perhaps that's why one couple called their baby the '@' symbol – in Chinese characters it apparently looks a bit like 'love him'. Bless. Unsurprisingly, however, the authorities were less sentimental and publicised the moniker as an example of citizens bringing bizarre names into the Chinese language.

Has China banned any other names? The police have control over all names given to children because they issue identity cards, but details of rejections are not widely circulated.

7) Miatt (Germany)
Country living up to stereotype alert! Surprise, surprise the Germans are somewhat officious when it comes to baby naming laws. Regulation-loving Deutschland has an entire department (the Standesamt) which decides if names are suitable. Miatt was rejected because it didn't clearly show whether the child was a boy or a girl, but sometimes the decisions are somewhat arbitrary...

Has Germany banned any other names? The likes of Stompie, Woodstock and Grammophon were turned down, whereas the similarly strange Speedy, Lafayette and Jazz were allowed.

8) Anus (Denmark)
What is it about Scandinavian countries and name laws? The Danes are even tougher than the Swedes in this regard, with parents given 7,000-odd names to choose from by the government. Special permission is needed to deviate from the list, with ethnic names, odd spellings and even compound surnames forbidden. Luckily for him (we assume it's a 'he'), Anus was one of 250-odd names rejected each year.

Has Denmark banned any other names? Well, Pluto and Monkey had lucky escapes...

9) Ovnis (Portugal)
Before naming your child in Portugal, best consult this mammoth, 80-page government doc (and have it translated to English) that tells you which names you can and can't use. It's pretty strict (and random) – Tomás is OK but Tom isn't – and celebs can forget about the likes of Apple and Brooklyn, which aren't even on the banned list. Essex girls rejoice, however – Mercedes is allowed!

Has Portugal banned any other names? There are more than 2,000 names on the reject list, including Ovnis - Portuguese for UFO.

10) Akuma AKA Devil (Japan)
Here's a name the Pope definitely wouldn't approve of. In 1993 a Japanese parent called his son Akuma (which literally means Devil). The authorities decided this was an abuse of the parent's rights to decide a child's name and a lengthy court battle ensued. Eventually the father backed down and junior got a new, less demonic name.

Has Japan banned any other names? Lots. Names must use one of the 2,232 'name kanji' characters decided by the government. 

Man names his first-born daughter ‘Facebook’ by watchersnplayers

A young Egyptian man has decided to call his first-born daughter Facebook in a tribute to the social media site’s role in his country’s political revolution.…

A young Egyptian man has decided to call his first-born daughter Facebook in a tribute to the social media site’s role in his country’s political revolution.

Proud father Jamal Ibrahim, who was swept up in enthusiasm over the revolt against President Hosni Mubarak, gave his daughter the unorthodox name to express his thanks for developments in Egypt since anti-government protests started on 25 January, according to Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram.

The girl’s full name is Facebook Jamal Ibrahim, and family and friends have reportedly gathered around the newborn to express their continuing support for the revolution that started on Facebook.

Egypt is home to five million Facebook users - the highest number in the Middle East - and the website was instrumental in galvanising civilians for peaceful protests that eventually toppled Mubarak.

Following the President’s resignation on 11 February, graffiti artists scribed 'Thank you Facebook' on walls across Cairo.

During the uprising, thousands of Egypt-themed groups and pages appeared on Facebook, and the military government even started using the site to try and reach out to Egyptian youth.

A whopping 32,000 groups and 14,000 pages were created in this time.

Facebook has received many gifts from young people who were overjoyed by both her arrival and her inventive name, reports Al-Ahram. 

World's youngest grandmother is just 23-years-old by watchersnplayers

A 23-year-old woman is the youngest grandmother in the world, according to new reports.…watchersnplayers

Posted By watchersnplayers, Monday, 7 March 2011 11:35 GMT

A 23-year-old woman is claiming that she is the world’s youngest grandmother.
Rifca Stanescu gave birth when she was just 12 years old and two years ago her daughter Maria had a baby at the age of 11.
Despite urging her daughter not to follow in her footsteps and stay in school, Stanescu told The Sun that Maria left to get married when she was just 10 and gave birth to her first child the following year.
"I am happy to be a grandmother but wished more for Maria," Stanescu told the paper. 
Stanescu also revealed that she eloped with jewellery salesman Ionel Stanescu when she was 11 and he was 13.
She fled with her boyfriend because she was worried her father would force her to marry someone else in the village of Investi in Romania.
Her mother, also named Maria, became a great grandmother at just 40 years old.
Last month, the woman who is set to become Britain’s youngest grandmother at age 29, said that her daughter becoming a teen mum was ‘her worst nightmare’.
Kelly John gave birth to her daughter, Tia, at age 14. Tia is now expecting her own child at the same age.
'My worst nightmare has always been that Tia would repeat my mistake and get pregnant young. [When I found out] I felt the colour drain from my face and all I could do was cry.' John told the News of the World.

Schoolgirl,12, gives birth on school trip

A Dutch schoolgirl has been put into foster care after giving birth on a school trip.…

Posted By watchersnplayers, Wednesday, 30 March 2011 17:02 BST

A 12-year-old Dutch schoolgirl who gave birth during a school trip has been placed into foster care.
The unnamed girl from Groningen was out with classmates last Tuesday when she felt violent stomach pains. An alarmed teacher called an ambulance and when emergency services arrived they realised she was about to give birth.
Neither the girl nor her family realised she was pregnant, and she showed no signs of carrying a baby.
She has refused to name the father.
Dutch social services told news agency ANP the girl “may be in an unsafe environment” at home and have asked police to begin a formal investigation.
They said: “It is not clear if the adults in this story have played a role. That is why we have asked the police to look into the adults.”
Dutch paper the Telegraaf reports that the girl's father has a conviction for abusing an older sister.
The schoolgirl, along with her baby, are said to be “doing well” in hospital.

Sri Lanka enter their second successive ICC Cricket World Cup final.

Sri Lanka vs New Zealand, ICC world cup 2011

Sri Lanka overcame a mid-innings wobble to ease past New Zealand by five wickets and enter their second successive ICC Cricket World Cup final.

Sri Lanka vs New Zealand, ICC world cup 2011

The co-hosts were coasting to victory while Tillakaratne Dilshan (73) was continuing his prolific form in a 120-run stand with Kumar Sangakkara (54).

Dilshan deposed England's Jonathan Trott as the tournament's top runscorer in what appeared a straightforward chase of 217 all out under lights at the Premadasa Stadium.

But the second-wicket pair were both among the batsmen to go as Sri Lanka stumbled and stalled from 160 for one in the 33rd over to 185 for five in the 43rd.

Some strong nerves were therefore required from the late middle order to haul them through - with a flattering 13 balls to spare - to an all-subcontinental showpiece decider in Mumbai on Saturday, against either Pakistan or India.

It will be a third, and second successive, final for Tuesday's winners - while New Zealand have now appeared in six semis yet have still not managed to take the next step.

Sri Lanka restricted their opponents to a below-par total, despite Scott Styris' first half-century of the campaign.

Styris (57) shared an important stand of 77 for the fourth wicket with Ross Taylor to raise New Zealand hopes after they won the toss.

But the Kiwis lost momentum at crucial stages, and their last six wickets fell for 25 runs as they were bowled out in the 49th over.

On the same strip, England's 229 for six had proved emphatically inadequate in last weekend's quarter-final.

Dilshan played largely against type, more subdued than his habitual tempo, but still finished with 10 fours and a six from 93 balls - to his captain's seven and one from 79.

A wonderful diving catch by Jesse Ryder at point off an Upul Tharanga square-drive at Tim Southee brought New Zealand's first wicket.

But Dilshan and Sangakkara knew crease occupation and strike rotation would suffice - and try as New Zealand might, they did not quite have enough runs to defend.

There was nonetheless a sizeable flutter in the capacity home crowd when three more wickets fell for only nine runs.

The Southee-Ryder combination struck again to spoil Dilshan's fun; then Mahela Jayawardene was lbw on the forward-defence to Daniel Vettori for a single, and Sangakkara upper-cut Andy McKay straight to third-man.

Chamara Silva chopped Southee (three for 57) on to his stumps, but Thilan Samaraweera and Angelo Mathews kept their cool to get Sri Lanka over the line.

New Zealand's top three had each got started, but little more.

Brendon McCullum was bowled by a Rangana Herath arm ball, attempting to repeat the dose after slog-sweeping the same bowler for six in his previous over.

Muttiah Muralitharan got one to turn and bounce to have Ryder caught behind cutting - and Lasith Malinga (three for 55) returned, after just one over with the new ball, to york Martin Guptill with a trademark inswinger.

Styris' first task was to keep out a clutch of devilish Malinga yorkers, and he survived to drive well against both pace and spin in a 77-ball innings which contained five fours.

But when Taylor pulled a rare bad ball from Ajantha Mendis straight to deep midwicket in the 40th over, the Kiwis began to subside.

Master off-spinner Muralitharan marked his final international delivery in his native country with a big off-break to have Styris lbw on the back foot, and then Mendis (three for 35) clicked into gear.

cricket news by watchers N players 

Obama defends Libya intervention US President Barack Obama has defended the first military intervention of his presidency, insisting US involvement in Libya will be limited.Continue reading the main story by watchersnplayers

He said US participation in the coalition had saved "countless lives", but that overthrowing Muammar Gaddafi by force would be a mistake.

Having led the initial campaign, the US would hand over to Nato allies on Wednesday, he said.

The rebel advance has been halted near Col Gaddafi's birthplace, Sirte.

Anti-Gaddafi forces had made rapid progress westwards from their stronghold in Benghazi in recent days, greatly aided by international air strikes.

But rebel fighters said pro-Gaddafi forces had used heavy weaponry to check their advance some 50km (30 miles) east of Sirte, says the watchersNplayers's Ben Brown in Ajdabiya.

In eastern Libya, rebel radio has been urging more people in the west of the country to join the anti-Gaddafi uprising.

While Nato insists it is impartial in the conflict, Russia has renewed its expressions of concern, saying intervention in an internal civil war is not sanctioned by UN Security Council Resolution 1973.

Some 40 delegations - from the coalition, the UN, Nato, the African Union and Arab League, but not the Libyan government - are preparing to meet in London later on Tuesday to discuss the way forward for Libya. Rebel officials are in London for talks on the meeting's sidelines, although they have not been invited to the conference itself.

In a letter to those attending the conference, Col Gaddafi called for an end to the "barbaric offensive" on his country.

'Regime change' ruled out

"We have stopped Gaddafi's deadly advance," said Mr Obama, speaking from the National Defense University in Washington DC.

Continue reading the main storyBut the lead in enforcing the no-fly zone and protecting civilians on the ground would now move to the Americans' allies.

"Because of this transition to a broader, Nato-based coalition, the risk and cost of this operation - to our military, and to American taxpayers - will be reduced significantly," Mr Obama said.

"We must always measure our interests against the need for action," the president continued. "But that cannot be an argument for never acting on behalf of what's right."

Earlier on Monday, in a video conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and UK Prime Minister David Cameron, Mr Obama had agreed that Col Gaddafi "had lost any legitimacy to rule and should leave power, and that the Libyan people should have the political space to determine their own future", the White House said.

Advance slows

An Italian proposal to end the crisis includes offering Col Gaddafi an escape route from Libya, ensuring a quick ceasefire and facilitating dialogue between rebels and tribal leaders.

Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said he had discussed the proposals with Germany and France.

Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim, meanwhile, has called on those attending Tuesday's conference in London to act as "peacemakers, not warmongers".

In recent days, anti-Gaddafi forces have seized a number of coastal communities and important oil installations, including Ras Lanuf, Brega, Uqayla and Bin Jawad.

However, repeated attacks by government troops have prevented them reaching Sirte, a symbolic target for the rebels as the birthplace of Col Gaddafi.

A Pentagon spokesman in Washington, Vice Admiral Bill Gortney, said that because the Libyan rebels were not well organised, any military gains they made would be tenuous.

He said the rebels were clearly benefiting from actions of the US, which has started using heavily-armed low-flying aircraft against government forces.

Nato has denied that its air strikes are meant to provide cover for a rebel advance.

Libya: Rebels battle for road to Gaddafi hometown Sirte by watchersnplayers.tk

The rebel army has been moving rapidly westwards, but came under heavy attack on the approach to Col Muammar Gaddafi's birthplace of Sirte.

Nato, which now runs the coalition action, has denied its strikes are to provide cover for a rebel advance.

Britain and France have urged Col Gaddafi's supporters to defect "before it is too late".

The anti-Gaddafi rebels have seized a number of key coastal communities and important oil installations in recent days, including Ras Lanuf, Brega, Uqayla and Bin Jawad.

Repeated ambushes

Earlier on Monday, the rebels said they had seized Sirte, but the BBC's Ben Brown in rebel-held Bin Jawad says it is now clear their progress was halted before they reached Sirte.

They came under repeated ambush from government troops, says our correspondent.

Continue reading the main storyReports said bombardments of the road between Bin Jawad and Nawfaliyah sent the rebels fleeing back towards Bin Jawad.

"This is the front line. The army has stopped over there, we are stopping here," one fighter told Reuters, indicating the road towards the town of Nawfaliyah.

AFP news agency says the shells fired at the poorly armed rebel convoy landed mostly on sand dunes.

"It won't be as easy as we thought to take Sirte and then march on [the capital] Tripoli," one rebel told the news agency.

"But we won't stop - we'll advance. They can't hold us up for long."

AFP said the rebels had again begun to move cautiously towards Sirte, which is about halfway along the coast between Tripoli and Benghazi.

Russian criticism

On Sunday, Nato began taking over control of the coalition military action in Libya.

The mission had previously been under US command, with the alliance responsible for enforcing the no-fly zone and arms embargo.

Continue reading the main story

The head of the Nato operation, Canada's Lt Gen Charles Bouchard, has rejected suggestions that the coalition air strikes were to provide cover for the rebels to advance.

"Our goal is to protect and help the civilians and population centres under the threat of attack," he told a news conference.

Lt Gen Bouchard said the alliance was taking steps to ensure "minimum collateral damage".

"Our job is to ensure the safety of people and we will do what it takes to do that, but we will also ensure that we ensure their safety in doing our operation," he said.

Coalition strikes on government military bases are continuing - Britain's Ministry of Defence said its aircraft destroyed ammunition bunkers on Monday morning in the Sabha region, in the southern desert.

France said its jets struck a Gaddafi command centre 10km (six miles) south of Tripoli's suburbs on Sunday night.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has criticised the military action, saying it goes beyond the remit of the UN Security Council resolution and amounted to interference in a "civil war".

The battle for Misrata, the last significant rebel-held city in western Libya, has continued, with Gaddafi forces reportedly shelling the city on Monday.

But later in the day, the foreign ministry said a ceasefire was in place and that calm had been restored.

"The city of Misrata now enjoys security and tranquillity and public services have started to recover their ability to provide customary services to all citizens," the state news agency Jana quoted officials as saying.

The BBC's world affairs correspondent John Simpson was taken to outskirts of the city on a government visit.

Our correspondent says the fact that the journalists were not taken to the city centre suggests fighting continues there.

Britain and France have issued a joint statement calling on Col Gaddafi's supporters to "leave him before it is too late".

"We call on all Libyans who believe that Gaddafi is leading Libya into a disaster to take the initiative now to organise a transition process," they said.

The countries said this process could involve the rebels' "pioneering" Transitional National Council in Benghazi and "civil society leaders as well as all those prepared to join the process of transition to democracy".

"We encourage them to begin a national political dialogue, leading to a representative process of transition, constitutional reform and preparation for free and fair elections."

Meanwhile, Qatar has become the first Arab nation to recognise the rebel council as the official representatives of the Libyan people.

Battlefield 3 info by watchersnplayers.tk

• FAULT LINE SERIES EPISODE II: GOOD EFFECT ON TARGET
• FAULT LINE SERIES EPISODE I: BAD PART OF TOWN
• GAMEPLAY DEBUT FOOTAGE! WATCH NOW!
• WATCH NOW

GAME INFO

Battlefield 3 leaps ahead of its time with the power of Frostbite™ 2, the next instalment of DICE's cutting-edge game engine. This state-of-the-art technology is the foundation on which Battlefield 3 is built, delivering enhanced visual quality, a grand sense of scale, massive destruction, dynamic audio and incredibly lifelike character animations. As bullets whiz by, walls crumble, and explosions throw you to the ground, the battlefield feels more alive and interactive than ever before. In Battlefield 3, players step into the role of the elite U.S. Marines where they will experience heart-pounding missions across diverse locations including Paris, Tehran and New York.

Frostbite 2 – Battlefield 3 introduces Frostbite 2, the incredible technology that takes animation, destruction, lighting, scale and audio to new heights.  Built upon this powerful game engine, Battlefield 3 immerses players physically and emotionally to the world around them like never before.

Feel the Battle — Feel the impact of bullets and explosions, drag your fallen comrades into safety, and mount your weapon on almost any part of the terrain.  Battlefield 3's cutting edge animation, spectacular visuals and real as hell battle gameplay attack your senses and make you feel the visceral warrior's experience like no other FPS.

Unparalleled Vehicle Warfare — The best online vehicle warfare experience gets even better with a fitting sonic boom as fighter jets headline an impressive lineup of land, air and sea vehicles. Other returning fan favourite features include 64 players for PC and prone.

Urban Combat — Take the fight to iconic and unexpected places in the USA, Middle East, and Europe including claustrophobic streets, metropolitan downtowns, and open, vehicle-friendly landscapes as you fight your way through the war of tomorrow

The Sims Medieval - Webisode by watchersnplayers.tk

Welcome one and all to the forth volume of our web series ‘Once upon a Time in The Sims Medieval!’ In this ancient book you will discover how the Sims studio have created a realistic medieval environment. In this episode we will discover how each of the characters is charged with various quests from concocting love potions to hunting down witches or slaying dragons! We will also look at how each individual quest has been crafted to fit into the overall arc of the game and how completion of them will move you ever closer to fulfilling the ambition of your kingdom! So hesitate not dear fellow and plunge into the world of ‘Once upon a time in the Sims Medieval!’

Top songs this week want to check more log on to http://watchersnplayers.tk/

THIS WEEK

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Shake Senora Pitbull Ft. T-Pain

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Let's Leave On The Lights Ne-Yo

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Never Enough Time Trey Songz Ft. Johnta Austin

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If I Die Today Lil Wayne Ft. Rick Ross

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Top songs this week want to check more log on to http://watchersnplayers.tk/

Homefront by watchersNplayers

Homefront Server Capacity Growing Again!

SUBMITTED BY watchersNplayers ON tue, 03/19/2011 - 2:06PM

THQ and KAOS Studios are continuing to dramatically expand our dedicated server capacity due to the welcome player demand across the globe. We are continually working around the clock to expand the global infrastructure & improve the overall experience. Below, you will find the efforts that we are making today and through the evening, having chosen the lowest impact times to ensure disruption of your online experience is kept at an absolute minimum.

Here is the current schedule for updates today and through the early morning hours:

Complete: Australia
We are pleased to say we will be more than doubling our existing server capacity on the continent. This maintenance period should last about 30 minutes. Players should expect to experience brief outages of multiplayer during this window. 

Complete: Europe 
European servers will undergo scheduled maintenance to increase our capacity for server monitoring and updates, in an effort to ensure the most stable environment for our users. In addition, even more servers will be brought online to assist in this welcome, yet unprecedented demand for online Multiplayer! Players should expect to experience a short period of disconnections during this timeframe.

Complete: North America
North American Servers will undergo similarly scheduled maintenance to what is being performed in Europe. We are happy to announce that even more servers will find their way online during this window as well – hopefully making for an even more enjoyable Sunday morning! Players should expect to experience a short period of disconnections during this timeframe.

We want to stress that Homefront is one of very few FPS games providing dedicated server support on consoles. The infrastructure and networking code required to support this is much more complex and demanding than you see in most titles. The return is epic large-scale warfare on huge maps, with more players & a level pitch for all – something we believe is critical for fair, balanced online FPS gameplay. 

Every game that goes the extra mile to provide dedicated servers faces additional growing pains in the early going as the kinks are ironed out, but please bear with us as we address these – the results will be worth it!

Once again, we apologise for any disruption to your gaming, and thank you for your patience and support.

CRYSIS 2 Be the weapon

5 Mar, 2011

The world has been ravaged by a series of climatic disasters and society is on the verge of total breakdown. Now the aliens have returned, with a full invasion force bent on nothing less than the total annihilation of mankind, starting by trying to rip the heart out of Earth's most iconic city.

Only you can prevail, wielding the supersoldier enhancements of Nanosuit 2.

Crysis 2 is available now.

 

Test Drive Unlimited 2 by watchersnplayers.tk

The most encouraging feature of TDU2 is the way it blends its single-player career mode with online racing competitions and free roam exploration. Cruising aimlessly through the islands of Ibiza and Oahu may seem like a relaxing tropical vacation, but the environment keeps you engaged with four different skill boosting categories that pop up as you reach new locations. And what's even better is that these categories (collection, competition, social and discovery) are designed to support each aspect of the game's overall experience. Although single and multiplayer racing remains the focus, it's a nice break to complete photography assignments across the two islands and purchase additional garages to house the 101 cars available in the game.

TDU2's stunning day and night transitions lend support to an impressively detailed tropical environment, but the design is disconnected by hollow character models and lack-luster cut scenes. Driving into the sunset looks spectacular, but the game could have used less attention on grooming your precious avatar and more attention on the actual racing mechanics. However, immersing the player completely in the shoes of the driver is what Developer Eden Games sought to accomplish with this open-world racer and their attempt at doing so creates plenty of new activities but in the end delivers a sub-par racing experience.

At first, TDU2 presents itself as an accurate racing simulation, but once you peel back the layers you'll find an arcade racer with enough bells and whistles to consume more time bumming around town than racing fast cars. Even after you  get a handle on the spotty controls, gripping corners and drifting through bends still feels unnatural and almost never looks graceful. Thankfully, the cars do offer a certain degree of variation between controls so once you've found the right vehicle the races start to feel more polished.

After blowing through the Solar Crown Championship story, it became clear that TDU2 could have benefited from a few extra months in development. We played through the PS3 version and noted several bugs with the network along with large loading times. Although these problems didn't distract us from enjoying the game, dropping connection during a race can cause extreme virtual road rage.

Despite TDU2's lack of realism and a force-fed story-mode, the game does provide an open-world experience that very few titles have succeeded with in the past. Exploring the rich roads of Ibiza and Oahu is an amazing feeling when driving some of the nicest cars in the world and being plugged into a competitive network of racers ready to speed down the coastline makes it even better.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 by watchersnplayers.tk






Test Drive Unlimited 2 by watchersnplayers.tk








Test Drive Unlimited 2 by watchersnplayers.tk

SPECULATION: What We Want For Battlefield by watchersNplayers.tk

Battlefield 3, long rumored, is finally on its way. We always assumed DICE was secretly tinkering with this while making the Battlefield Bad Company series, and while there's been off-the-cuff remarks from ex-DICE personnel, EA itself hasn't formally acknowledged the game until last week's announcement of the BF3 beta being bundled with the limited edition of Medal of Honor.

Battlefield 3, long rumored, is finally on its way. We always assumed DICE was secretly tinkering with this while making the Battlefield Bad Company series, and while there's been off-the-cuff remarks from ex-DICE personnel, EA itself hasn't formally acknowledged the game until last week's announcement of the BF3 beta being bundled with the limited edition of Medal of Honor. But that's all that's been said about it -- so we're still pretty much in the dark as to what we'll get with Battlefield 3.

All we know is that BF3 seems to be a multi-platform release (by virtue of being bundled with Medal of Honor), so it will not only be on PC, but also on PS3 and 360. That, and it's likely to use the Frostbite 2.0 engine (as good as Bad Company 2 was, it was still technically Frostbite one-point-something). So it's safe to expect even more destructible terrain, and perhaps better tools for supporting more user-mods on PC. But what else do we actually want in it? In basic terms: a delightful blend of Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 2. Basically, we want the aesthetics and destruction of BC2 with the scope and scale of BF2. At the moment, we're going to roll with a near-future setting; even though BC2 does a pretty good job with the modern-to-future gear, we'd like those aesthetics to be brought into a deeper and more interesting game in BF3. Anyhow, here are some more of our humble suggestions to DICE. 

Add caption

More players: First off, let's bring back the idea of 64 or more players in a BF match. BF2 demonstrated that absolute madness and memories come about from jamming tons of people onto a map and watching chaos ensue, and the 24-player limit of BC2 pales in comparison to the best of BF2. MAG has shown that it's possible to do 256 players in a single session on a console, so BF3 needs to step up its player numbers. I realize it's unreasonable to ask for 256 players plus fully destructible environments, but surely we can get a decent chunk more than BC2's 24, and still maintain fidelity in demolition.

More classes: BC2 (and, well, Battlefield 2142) streamlined BF2's seven classes into just four. Rather than a simplified, four-guys-who-are-kind-of-decent-at-multiple-skills, let's go back to highly focused and defined classes. Re-separate sniper and spec-ops. Take BC2's engineer and reverse-engineer him back into an engineer and an anti-tank guy. And reward players who stick to one kit with a bigger set of focused tools and abilities. Have players get a better sense of role and identity, rather than the "I can do this and that" that you feel with BC2. While we're at it, bring back more factions and equipment -- we actually miss playing as the MEC during BC2.

More real estate: BF2 was famous for having varied map sizes based on player-count. So, in BF3, you can have your tight map for a 16-person game, and when the player count reaches 32, the map can grow to reveal more of the island you're fighting on. And when you hit 64, the entire island becomes playable. In BF2, a map could be measured in square kilometers that took considerable time to hoof across. And that sheer distance adds more gameplay variety than the "fighting down a straight corridor" method of BC2 -- you can have a better sense of multiple fronts, or individual squads carrying out flanking tactics to support a big main push, and so forth. One idea we have is that the maps are so damn big that they have crazy diverse regions within. Think of a 64-player match on a map where a city is surrounded by dense jungle, or a snow-covered mountain overlooking a forest. Essentially, a map so big that it feels like two distinct BC2 maps put into one large chunk of real estate.

More vehicles: To complement the massive map size, let's get back to having something like 30-plus vehicles of all kinds. Why limit the game to light tanks and jeeps? Let's have APCs and boats and gunships. Let's have multiple types of heavy tanks. Bring back the glory days of coordinating vehicle rides to cross the expansive maps. Heck, let's bring back jets. Air power shouldn't just be helicopters -- BF3 could herald the glorious return of F-15s and the A10 while also adding things like the AC130 or a B2. Sure, people will still invariably suck at piloting them, but man alive, the ability to pound the map with 105mm howitzers will make up for lackluster pilots.