I searched online and found the Turtle Beach Ear Force DSS, a small audio box that connects straight to the console and produces 5.1/7.1 surround sound into standard headsets. I ordered it from Amazon and it arrived yesterday, here are my first impressions.

Connections

The Turtle Beach Ear Force DSS has various wires to connect it to your console and headphones which can be a bit daunting, but if you follow the manual and videos online it is easy to set up and I had it working in a matter of minutes. The box can become quite cluttered especially if you are using a USB powered headset and might not be ideal for people who sit across the room from their console, but I do not have this problem as I pretty much sit next to the console and TV.

Sound

I’ve been playing some Battlefield 3 and Fifa 12 with the DSS and have to say that the sound is very good. It takes a bit of getting used to, but when your ears tune to the sound you can hear people sneaking up on you and where shooting is coming from and the crowd noises of Fifa make it even more realistic.

One thing that I will mention is that when talking to people on Xbox Live they seem to be talking from behind you, it’s not a big deal but worth pointing out anyway.

I only have the  Turtle Beach Ear Force Stereo XLC Headset to compare the device, but I think a more expensive headset like the X12 might give an even better sound.

Conclusion

I really like the Turtle Beach Ear Force DSS, it gives a great sound and adds to the gaming experience especially in Battlefield 3, although I would probably get a decent set of headphones like the Turtle Beach X12’s first before upgrading to this.

Although the HTC Radar offers a smaller screen than other HTC models, the phone still provides plenty of decent features, including a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash, a high-quality video player and Internet Explorer 9.  The phone does not support Flash, but users can still watch videos by downloading apps. 

The HTC Radar is ideal for those looking for a phone that offers plenty of social networking features.  Users can easily access Facebook and Twitter, and there are a number of improved messaging features that enable users to easily keep in touch with their contacts.  YouTube can also be accessed, though users may need to download an app in order to play the site’s videos. 

The HTC Radar is also the perfect choice for those looking for a phone that offers plenty of music features.  The phone comes with Windows Media Audio 9 and Zune software and supports MP3, MP4 and WMA formats.  Users can also access their Xbox account, as the phone offers Xbox Live integration. 

If you are looking for an affordable phone that looks stylish and offers a good web browser, music player and social networking features, then the HTC Radar is the perfect choice.  The HTC Radar is available in a wide range of deals and can be found on a selection of price comparison websites to help you find a deal that is right for you.  There are a wide range of review sites that provide a detailed HTC Radar review as well as information on the best HTC Radar deals available.

Using the site is easy, just type in what you’re looking for and the place and City Visitor will return the results instantly. The website gives you the address and phone number of the business and also a reviews page so you can see what other people think of the business.

So if you’re looking for solicitors in London or hairdressers in Bristol, City Visitor is well worth a look.

The Virtual Reality Treadmill is no standard treadmill; it comes with a High-Definition video player with different terrains and adjusts its incline so you really feel like you’re there. The video contains trails, hills and city scapes to virtually run through including landscapes of Italian towns and US villages.

The treadmill automatically raises and lowers to mimic the landscape on the television screen and includes 15 workout modes, a built-in heart monitor and chest strap, an audio port for connecting an MP3 player up to and an LED control panel.

So if you’re looking to lose weight or stay fit in your own home then the Virtual Reality Treadmill may be just up your street.

Graphics and layout

Fans of Modern Warfare 2 will be right at home with this game as the layout is almost identical in Modern Warfare 3. The graphics are also very similar too and don’t really look that great when you compare it to Battlefield 3 or Rage; this is probably not surprising considering it’s built on the same game engine, but a little bit of evolution would have been nice.

Gameplay

The multiplayer gameplay is where the game really stands out, although not that different from previous games all of the favourite modes are there including capture the flag, domination and team death match. The maps take a bit of getting used to but after a couple of goes you soon find out where all of the strategic points are.

Having played Battlefield 3 for the past few weeks I found it hard to revert back to MW3’s controls, knifing mid-air as I tried to crouch and throwing grenades instead of knifing someone became frustrating but after an hour or so I got back into the rhythm.

I would class MW3 as more of a run and gun game and really does feel like an arcade game compared to BF3, but it’s still fun to play which is the main thing.

Killstreaks have been overhauled and I didn’t get a good chance to check it out so I can’t comment on if it is a good change or not.

Quick scoping is also back, but that was one of my gripes with MW2 and should of been omited in my opinion.

Conclusion

Modern Warfare 3 will no doubt keep Call of Duty fans happy for the next year, but it just doesn’t feel like a step up for me; it just feels like a new map pack for Modern Warfare 2. I don’t think I’ll be buying it, but I’ll gladly play it at a friend’s house.

Graphics

The graphics on Fifa 12 haven’t really changed much, they are a little better and the lighting looks good but not much of a departure from Fifa 11. All of the top players have realistic likeness such as Rooney and Mesi, but fringe players and younger players still have a generic look. It would be nice to see realistic players throughout all of the teams, but I suppose it takes up too much time.

Gameplay

Defending controls have been overhauled in this game, so there is no more pressing A to close the attacker down and tackle them in one move. Now you have to be more aware and choose which kind of tackle to use; this can be very frustrating especially as the computer seems to dodge 90% of your tackles.

The rest of the gameplay is pretty good, with players making off the ball runs and moving into space, as well as new volley dynamics making for impressive shots on goal.

The new player impact engine is ok most of the time, but when it does mess up, especially in your area it normally results in a goal which is frustrating.

Conclusion

Fifa 12 is maybe the most realistic version of the beautiful game yet, but it does have some very big issues. The new defensive controls are frustratingly hard to use (even after 4 hours of practice) and when you do make a tackle the other player still ends up with the ball or it’s a free kick. The player impact engine is too sensitive; your players fall on the floor by just nudging into people and the biggest issue is that it isn’t that much different to Fifa 11 in graphics and gameplay.

People will argue that if it isn’t broke don’t fix it, which is fair enough, but I don’t think it’s much of a departure for those that already have Fifa 11 to buy the new game for £42.

Regulated by the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the history and size of CitiFX Pro means that users are assured of prompt and responsive customer service. This is highlighted in CitiFX Pro reviews, which rate it as being very valuable to traders. This is an extremely important factor when making decisions about choosing a new forex platform.

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Among the operations supported are scalping, hedging, web trading, one click orders, trailing stops and once cancels the other (OCO) orders.

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So, what are the new features? From what I can tell the only differences between the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S are a dual-core A5 processor, an 8 megapixel camera and a new application called Siri. The Siri application allows users to use their voice to send text messages, phone people and schedule meetings.

I’m glad I didn’t wait for the iPhone 4S when my contract was up a couple of months ago, but I guess Apple will still shift millions of these anyway.

These bugs aside, the game looks amazing and the maps are huge. The map on the Beta is called Operation Metro and starts off in a city park, then moves into the subway and subway station before coming out into the city at the end. The environments look great and the destruction engine means that you can blow almost anything up including walls, trees and concrete barriers.

The guns seem pretty good, although when you start playing you don’t get any red dot or ACOG sights until you’ve moved up the rankings; this makes it hard to aim at people who are far away, but makes little difference in close quarter combat.

It would have been nice to get some vehicles in the beta, but we will have to wait for the release version for them. EA have a reputation for having buggy betas and releasing a big patch when the game is released and I hope that this is the case with this. Although the bugs don’t put you off completely it is quite annoying at times.

I’ll continue playing the beta till it runs out on the 11th October, but can’t wait for the full game to come out.

Now it’s time to start playing the new versions and I already have the demo for Fifa 12 and it’s a great improvement, but the game I’ve been waiting for all year is definitely Battlefield 3. Having been wowed by the trailers I will soon be able to play the Beta version when it’s released next week (29th September), and I can’t wait.

I played a lot of battlefield 2 on my PC, but as I don’t think it’ll be powerful enough for Battlefield 3 I’ll make do with the Xbox 360 version. This promises to be one of the best games of 2011 if not into 2012 and if the trailers are anything to go by then it’ll be well worth the wait.

I’ll write a quick review of the beta once I’ve played it for a few days so check back next week.