Sunday, 29 March 2015
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update your Android smartphone
How to update your Android smartphone or tablet
To get the best performance and features from your Android smartphone or tablet you should make sure you're always running the very latest software available for it, not just in terms of apps but also the Android operating system
How to check whether your Android device is up to date
Before you go trying to update your device, you should check which version of Android you are running. You might already be on the latest version. It's easy to check so follow the below guide up to step four. This screen will have a section called 'Android version'. If it doesn't, click 'Software information' to find out.
The latest version is Android 4.4 KitKat, with 4.3, 4.2 and 4.1 all coming under the name Jelly Bean.
How to update your Android smartphone or tablet
Step One
As a precautionary measure it's good practice to back up your data such as contacts and photos. The upgrade should not affect your data but there is no guarantee.
Step Two
Navigate to the Setting menu of your device. On most Android devices this can be done via the app menu or notification bar. Typically the Setting app will have a cog or spanner logo.
Step Three
Scroll down the Settings menu and click on 'About Phone' or 'About Tablet'. If you have a tabbed settings menu then this will appear in the 'general' section.
Step Four
The menu can vary slightly from device to device but click the 'Software Update' or similar button. This section of the menu will also detail which version of Android your device is running.
Step Five
Your phone or tablet will now search for an available update. If you are taken to another menu, select the 'Software update check' button or similar.
If an update is available your device then you will be asked whether you wish to install it. If you select yes then the system will download and install the new software and reboot
If an update is available your device then you will be asked whether you wish to install it. If you select yes then the system will download and install the new software and reboot
Hotline Miami
Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number's
Hotline Miami 2 is a top-down twitch shooter in which you play as one of many available psychopaths who, for an assortment of reasons, are required to enter various buildings and kill everyone therein. You commit these massacres using a variety of weapons: shotguns, automatic rifles, silenced pistols, knives, pipes, and even your fists. But regardless of the delivery method, death comes quick. Don't expect to soak up damage or pick up health packs. This is a game in which a single bullet can kill you and your foes, and in which on-your-toes tactics and a quick trigger finger mean the difference between completing a level and respawning over and over and over.
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How you choose to clear each area in the game's thirty-or-so levels is largely up to you. You can run and gun with reckless abandon or use a loud shotgun burst to lure nearby enemies into your path. Maybe you'd prefer to use a door to knock-out enemies and finish them off silently. Whichever method of murder you choose, the engagements are exhilarating. Though planning your attack will net the best results, the intense visuals, thumping techno soundtrack, and score multiplier will seduce you into risking it all in one glorious, foolhardy charge. Hotline Miami 2 is a high-saturation feast for the eyes, where points burst out of fallen enemies as the screen tilts and sways to the movement of your character. The game's striking color palette and VCR motif evoke the in-your-face TV style of the late 80s and early 90s. Each level's floors, walls, and furnishings are vibrantly colored, though by the time you've finished any given level, much of it is painted an electric crimson.
While the first game was centered around a single mask-swapping protagonist massacring operations run by the Russian Mafia, Hotline Miami 2 darts back and forth between dozens of characters and locations. At one moment, you're a journalist attempting to use non-lethal takedowns in a subway station; At the next, you're a soldier using a flamethrower to incinerate enemy forces in Hawaii. While you spend a lot of time running around buildings, there's far more more variety in terms of level design. Halls and rooms have more interesting angles, extra windows, more open areas, and multiple lanes for enemies to approach from: while better enemy placement creates increased diversity in the types of engagements you'll encounter. The melee-resistant dogs return, as do fat enemies which are impervious to anything other than bullets. But they're joined by bullet-ducking samurai, running enemies who leap to close the distance, and a selection of level-specific mini-bosses. This is a game about planning your engagements and reacting to how the enemies attack. With more diverse levels populated with better placed and more varied foes, Hotline Miami 2 becomes a far more entertaining and challenging experience than its predecessor.
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This ever-shifting pace and variety allows Hotline Miami 2 to be more restrictive in other ways. While the first game gave you the freedom to select a mask--and thus, a special ability--before each level, the character choices here are a lot more rigid--and this is to the game's credit. Though you can sometimes choose from a small selection of weapons, or select a specific sociopath, the story typically forces you to play a particular character. No longer can you choose the Tony the Tiger mask to silently take down people in every single level.
Instead, the game encourages you to get better at shooting by forcing you to play as more run and gun characters. For instance, Mark the Bear uses two machine guns, holding them out at arm's length, John Woo style, when you press the alternate fire button. My personal favorite character, however, is actually a swan-mask-wearing duo--Alex and Ash--who runs with a chainsaw in the front, and guns in the back. While you can always use the lock-on button to cue up shots ahead of time, there's a spectacular joy in chainsawing one group of enemies while popping off reinforcements as they enter the room. These are a but a handful of the dozen-or-so characters you'll play as during Hotline Miami 2's campaign.
So what is there to say about the story? There's a lot more of it, for one. The first third of the game has you sitting through long periods of confusing exposition that do little to clarify exactly what's going on. But even when Hotline Miami's story eventually finds its pace, you're probably not going to be taken aback by the narrative. The original game intentionally obfuscated what was going on behind an unreliable narrator and secret endings, and much of that continues here. Callbacks to the first game, shifts in perspective, and furious timeline swapping make the story read better on a second playthrough. The story's main success is in creating a surreal experience that's best enjoyed by letting the specifics wash over you
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Hotline Miami 2 is a challenging, often difficult, game, but playing through it's varied levels is so enjoyable that dying rarely feels like punishment. The game's grading system gives you an excuse to return to levels, but its neon-hot style is an even more inviting reason to play again and again. The experience is so audiovisually seductive that you find yourself replaying zones just for the sake of it. Hotline Miami 2's vibrant palette, outlandish early 90s style, and intense music make it difficult to resist. The soundtrack sees returning artists such as Perturbator and Jasper Bryne supply a breadth of synth and techno tracks, alongside a host of new musicians. Smooth post-rock guitar stylings find a home beside heartwarming house beats and a particularly threatening dubstep number. Not only is the music as exceptional as the first game's, but there's also a lot more of it.
Actually, there's a lot more of everything: I completed the original Hotline Miami in about three hours, but by the time Hotline Miami 2's credits had rolled, I'd registered almost nine. Of course, this was before I had started over with the unlockable hard mode, which adds enemies and removes the ability to lock on shots--and before I had toyed around with the game's level editor, which is currently in the alpha testing stage.
In almost every way, Hotline Miami 2 is a marked improvement on an already tremendous formula. This is a game that had me pumping my fists and laughing with joy throughout my time with it, and I was left despondent by the time it drew to a close. A gutsy, refined game that isn't scared to force you into corners and watch you battle out of them, as well as an audiovisual joy that marries graphics, music, and gameplay so well that even the pause screen is a work of art.
for more video visit:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d0FV_Le88Q
Saturday, 28 March 2015
Battlefield new version release
Battlefield
The felons and thieves of Battlefield: Hardline are like weak-willed vampires. A quick reveal of a police badge and a yell of "Freeze!" is akin to holding up a holy cross in their faces. They surrender despite being armed with semi-automatic rifles, and protected by bulletproof vests. They surrender despite outnumbering you three to one. On the other hand, if you're slow on the draw with your badge, these offenders become as lethal as any Battlefield opponent you've previously faced. There's no middle ground between their willingness to capitulate and their cold-blooded ruthlessness--and it's hilarious. Looking for more consistently challenging opponents? That's what Hardline's multiplayer is for, with maps and modes that capture Battlefield's distinct combined-arms warfare, despite the shift away from traditional combat-ready zones toward civilian locales.
The episodic structure of Hardline's campaign is hardly unusual. Chapters are framed with recaps and coming-soon montages, reminiscent of games like Alan Wake and Split/Second, which, incidentally, were released the same day in 2010. To appreciate Hardline's contemporary style, you simply reach the end of any episode, where you're greeted by an image that is apparently inspired by Netflix's streaming service: the next-episode countdown timer. The only feature that's lacking is a 13-episode season; this campaign only has 10, plus a prologue.
Hardline's story is intended to be appreciated as a TV action drama, though its safe, middle-of-the-road appeal makes it more suited for the USA Network than for Netflix Original Programming. This risk-averse narrative is underscored by its protagonist, Nick Mendoza, your standard issue, incorruptible, straight-and-narrow cop. Just because this medium runs the risk of anti-hero burnout doesn't excuse Nick from being "the boring one" in an ensemble cast with more interesting characters. In defense of Hardline's writers, at least Nick's story isn't the generic drug supply chain investigation that the initial chapters lead you to believe.
It would be a mistake to approach Hardline's campaign in the same way as the straightforward single-player modes of Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4. Hardline's world is a complicated one, where its dangers and hostility encourage tactful stealth while your all-powerful badge presents tempting opportunities to be more out in the open. Staying hidden means you get to work against some of the most oblivious criminals you'll face in a first-person shooter. For every guard who moves back and forth in a patrol path, you have one who stands in one spot forever, making the latter a laughably easy target. All that you need to survive is a basic level of competence in studying their field-of-vision cones on the minimap.
Unless you are a Solid Snake savant, you will be spotted from time to time, and the ensuing shootouts are typical of Battlefield campaigns. Enemies move with enough unpredictability to keep you on your toes, but not so erratically as to frustrate you. More importantly, the levels are wide enough that you're subconsciously encouraged to try different routes should you keep dying in any given section. Enemies react to your last known position, so flanking opportunities abound and the results can be thrilling if you manage to outsmart the AI.
Half of the outposts you infiltrate are wired with alarm systems, the kind that call forth reinforcements if you manage to get spotted. If you're not into prolonged shootouts, it's in your best interest to disable these alarms, so not only does Hardline present a dumbed-down version of Metal Gear Solid's radar-based stealth, but it can also be appropriately described as Far Cry 4 with training wheels. It teaches the basics of surveying an area, marking alarm components, and spotting patrolling enemies. Despite the ease, there's an inherent pleasure in clearing an area undetected, just as getting spotted may cause you to kick yourself out of self-imposed frustration.
For as much as Electronic Arts has flaunted Hardline as "The Fastest Battlefield Ever," the need for speed is not satisfied during the campaign's driving sequences. Whether it's a daring escape or an equally heated pursuit, these chases are largely forgettable despite the spectacle of ramp jumps and dodging rockets fired from vans. The helicopter takedown during the first driving sequence of Battlefield 4 was more stimulating. Ironically, the only pleasing moments behind the wheel are the few periods when you don't have to make a getaway, when the characters in the car are naturally making small talk--trivial but nonetheless engaging chit-chat that you wouldn't hear in the dramatic war scenarios of Battlefield 3 or 4.Along with the vision cone, a Splinter Cell-inspired detection ring thickens when you remain in a felon's field of vision, with the potential of going full alert. This would add palpable tension if not for the fact that these enemies suffer from a combination of poor eyesight and abysmal reactive abilities. Who needs sneaking when you can sprint toward enemies in broad daylight and yell "Freeze!" well before they notice you? While it's laughably unrealistic, the negative impact isn't too distracting, at least not during the initial playthrough. That's partly because arrests yield the most points toward the campaign's character progression system. Perhaps this reward is a statement by developer Visceral Games that it's more worthwhile to arrest someone than it is to kill him, but even so, the steps it takes to cuff someone without being detected aren't significantly more challenging than surviving a shootout. The only issue with this points system is that it diminishes the value of replaying the campaign. By arresting roughly two out of every three perps, you can easily reach the level cap of 15 long before the final chapter, thereby removing that particular incentive to play through the story again. Retrieving evidence, on the other hand, has multiplayer repercussions, so you may still wish to make a return trip.
By arresting roughly two out of every three perps, you can easily reach the level cap of 15 long before the final chapter.
Speed is instead found in two of Hardline's multiplayer modes, Hotwire and Blood Money. Battlefield vehicles finally get to be more than just death dealers and efficient transports, though Hardline doesn't fully break free from the chains of tradition, including both Conquest and Team Deathmatch in its rotation of modes.
In Hotwire, vehicles function as mobile capture points to the players who manage to get behind the wheel. You can't exploit the system by hiding your stolen car in a garage; points are only awarded when you're traveling at speed. This kind of vehicular keep-away is reminiscent of the standout multiplayer events ofDriver: San Francisco and Watch Dogs. When you're flooring it, these maps can feel small. Unless you're adept at keeping one eye on the road and another on the minimap, you will inevitably break past the maps' boundaries in the first few rounds, often dying before you have the chance to correct your mistake. Once you're used to a given map's general layout, the conservative approach is to drive laps around the map's outer lanes. While this might keep your top speed high, it can make you a predictable target, especially against a rocket-propelled grenade.
Bloo
Vehicles have been synonymous with Battlefield since its inception, so placing the series in the context of the modern-day heist makes a lot of sense, especially given the ubiquity of getaway vans. An escape vehicle is essential in Blood Money, a mode in which both the cops and robbers are looting an evidence vault of cash at the center of the map. The importance of a getaway vehicle near the vault can't be understated, since a packed van of proper villains with bags of loot can turn the tide in the brief time span of a single cash delivery. It effectively captures the time urgency depicted in countless robbery films. Team members can be meaningful contributors by ignoring the cash and instead focusing on being efficient wheelmen (though anyone with money can also drive the van). If you find yourself yelling, “Get in the van! We gotta go!”, simply embrace the fact that you've become a crime movie cliche. Stakes are higher particularly in maps with helicopters, where deliveries are even quicker provided the competition doesn't have a rocket with your name on it.
This emphasis on teamwork highlights one of the core values of Battlefield, a series that popularized rewarding players for contributions beyond mere kill counts and other individual achievements. Wheelmen who stay close to players making cash deposits are awarded proximity bonuses. It's rare to get this much gratification from being a mere shuttle driver going back and forth between two points. In Hotwire, a packed van can last a long time if you have enough teammates firing back at pursuers and at least one buddy constantly repairing the van while inside of it.
What makes Blood Money more than just a race to collect the most money from a neutral vault is the option to raid the opposition's vault as well. This can be a headache for teams that don't know how to multitask and divvy up responsibilities. Imagine hauling a big score to your home base only find yourself at the receiving end of a shotgun blast. As your new sworn enemy collects the cash from your vault (and your corpse) and heads for the getaway van, you're anxiously counting the seconds before respawning. Any reasonable thief wouldn't blame you for taking this personally. A thirst for vengeance plus a set of wheels equals a beeline to the opponent's base for the opportunity of justified retribution.
The influence of e-sports is felt in Hardline's two five-versus-five modes, Crosshair and Rescue. Both offer multiple conditions for victory, which leads to multiple team-driven strategies. You cannot respawn in these two modes, so eliminating the entire team in order to win is certainly an option. Rescue is a well-designed retrieval mode in which the law enforcement side has to save one hostage at the other end of the map. Visceral Games wisely provided two hostages to choose from per round, a design choice that helps spread out the hostage takers, thereby balancing sides in an otherwise lopsided mode. Equally unpredictable is Crosshair, in which the police are tasked with escorting an informant to a rendezvous point. Given that the cops do not have to stick together and the VIP is well armed (with a potent golden gun, no less), Crosshair often turns into an engaging guessing game for those hunting the snitch.
For every guard who moves back and forth in a patrol path, you have one who stands in one spot forever.
These opportunities to outthink enemies strike at the core of these Battlefield modes unique to Hardline and go hand-in-hand with countless opportunities for risk assessment. Camping at the VIP's escape point might be a sneaky tactic in Crosshair, but how does that help when your team in the field is now one man short and respawns aren't allowed? One of the smartest things you can do in Blood Money is driving a mobile spawn point to an inconspicuous spot close to the vault. Novice teams will wonder why your side manages to dominate the match despite the kills piling up equally on both sides. Furthermore, the more teammates you have collecting cash evidence, the faster you're able to amass Benjamins individually. Greed sets in, and you wonder if you can stick around and grab one more handful before stiff opposition arrives to kill you all. Do you have a personal cut-off of five handfuls, or do you max out at ten? Temptation weighs heavily on you in Blood Money.
The simplicity of the campaign's stealth gameplay and the enemies' readiness to submit at the sound of "Freeze!" is comical, though the silliness was not likely Visceral's intention. Even in Battlefield: Hardline, multiplayer competition remains the series' heart and soul. It wasn't that long ago that the ability to eject from a fighter plane and seamlessly continue the battle on foot was one of the most awe-inspiring things you can do in an online shooter. That's why many gravitated to the Battlefield series in the first place, and Hardline isn't short of similar transitional vehicular moments. You can spawn in a chopper, do your part as a gunner to take out valued targets on that ground, and then jump out with a parachute so you can capture a marked car. This isn't Iwo Jima or an Arabian oil field--but it's still pure Battlefield
Cities: Skylines
Cities: Skylines Review
Now this is more like it. Even though my real-world occupation as the mayor of a Canadian town means that I try to escape such things as budget meetings and zoning hearings when I play games, Cities: Skylines still managed to hook me due to its authenticity. Unlike the latest SimCity, which was far too fantastical to let me build cities that resembled those in the real world (size limitations and not being able to establish proper zoning districts drove me crazy), this Colossal Order production nails just enough of what is fun about running a municipality in the real world. Proper zoning, room to grow, and the addition of policies and districts that let you plan out sensible city development make for a (mostly) bona fide experience in the virtual mayor's chair.
Making comparisons between games is not always helpful, but in this case, it's difficult to ignore the tight relationship between Cities: Skylines and its SimCity inspiration. Colossal Order delves deep into what Maxis and EA once made so popular with a traditional city-building approach. Few surprises or even significant innovations can be found here: There is just a standard single-player mode of play in which you choose from a handful of maps representing territory types ranging from flat plains to tropical beaches. You may also play the game with standard conditions, dial up the difficulty, and/or turn on sandbox and unlimited-money mods. No tutorial is included, either, which makes for a learning curve at the beginning. At least tips are provided on a continual basis during regular play.
Multiplayer is totally absent, as are frilly options like disasters and giant monster attacks. There are no multiple-city games, either. You have one city to deal with, along with a mostly invisible outside world that allows you to buy and sell goods on a common market. The game has been developed with modding in mind, however, and it ships with a full editor. Therefore, you can expect a lot of user-made add-ons to hit the net shortly. Nonetheless, at the present time, this "just the facts" focus makes for an initially bland experience. The plainness is exacerbated by stark menu screens and dated visuals that are attractive enough to get by, while at the same time cutting corners by cloning buildings and signs, as well as lacking amenities like a day-night cycle and weather patterns.
If you have been jonesing to be a virtual mayor, though, Cities: Skylines gets nearly everything else just right. First off is zoning. You have full control over zoning neighborhoods as low or high (medium is absent, although I didn't miss it) residential, commercial, and industrial. These basic mechanics provide thorough control over laying out cities, which gives you a real sense of being in charge. Second up is map size, which allows for a lot of stretching out. The initial size is restrictive at 2km by 2km, but you can access more plots of land to eventually expand to a metropolis spanning a whopping 36 square km. That allows for expansive burgs, and an incredible sense of freedom. You always have room to correct mistakes and grow out of early problems, making you feel more like the super-mayor that you should feel like, and not the goofball constantly demolishing whole neighborhoods to fix problems you couldn't have foreseen three hours ago.
Two other great features involve establishing districts and policies. This allows for the creation of boroughs with separate identities (policies can be set to take in entire cities, as well) by drawing them out with the Paint District tool. If you want your very own Brooklyn hipsters or a hardhat neighborhood for factory Joes, you can paint out city blocks and then tweak localized settings. This allows you to offer free public transit, boost education, give away smoke detectors, get into high-tech homes, ban high rises, and even alter tax rates for different zones. You can also set up specific industrial areas to focus efforts there. So if you want a green city, allow only farming use in industrial zones. If you want to go in the other direction with the sort of hardcore factories that killed grandpa, you can set up oil or ore districts and watch the smokestacks pump out poison.
Policies are on the fanciful side, and establishing wildly different rules on social activities and even tax rates between neighborhoods in the same city will not go over well on election day. But I still love the ability to fine-tune cities without delving too deeply into micromanagement. The district and policy features combine to let me sketch out what I want in each part of my city--yes, this will be my gentrified borough for snotty white-collar professionals, complete with a smoking ban, no pets, no high rises, recycling, allowance for the use of certain controlled recreational substances, high-tech homes, and, of course, stupid high taxes--and then sit back and watch neighborhoods evolve.
The challenge is not pronounced, especially if you have city-building experience. You needn't worry about random sparks somehow taking down whole blocks, or other acts of God obliterating all of your hard work. This gives Cities: Skylines a relaxed character, instead of coming across like a rigorous game loaded with set objectives and problems to be solved. It's an old approach, but a great one, as it allows you to concentrate on the abstractions of building, instead of mindlessly racing around meeting random goals related to citizen happiness or residency numbers.
The only aspect of the game that becomes annoying to handle is transit. Given the same developer's Cities in Motion series, you might expect roads, buses, and the like to take on a vital role. Ultimately, however, transportation systems are overly Byzantine and convoluted, particularly when it comes to bus routes. It's difficult to tell if transportation woes are your own wrongdoing, or if there are problems with vehicle pathfinding in the game itself. You can muddle through, although you never exert the same level of control with transit as with everything else.
Nevertheless, Cities: Skylines is the best city-builder on the market right now. The game's presentation is stodgy, but it is all but guaranteed to provide you many hours of carefully crafting cities, laying out zoning, and establishing districts for specifics residential and industrial uses…all free from real-world mayoral headaches like 6 a.m. phone calls griping about snowplowing. Right now, there is no better way to take a peek at life as a mayor without filing your papers to run for office in the real world.
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