3. Apple iPhone

I’ve always thought that when you purchase something, it’s already yours and you’re free to do whatever you want with it. Microsoft has been known to violate this principle on their OS but now Apple hits it’s iPhone customers too. No 3rd-party software (no list provided by Apple to identify which is 3rd party and which isn’t), no other carriers, no custom firmwares. If you insist of having these then you instantly void your warranty and you stand the chance to transform your cool phone into a $600 dollar brick.

Speaking of $600, after the $200 price drop which happened two months after launch was both an insult and an obvious bait. Apple’s response to the numerous complaints and suits (I remember there was many of these) was a nonchalant shrug.

What’s so great about the iPhone you ask? Aside from the great 5-letter name you get the first multi-touch controlled screen, a version of OS X with safari browser, a phone with no MMS and flash support and huge storage space for your files.

It has one of the sleekest designs available today and continues to serve as an icon of wealth.

Is it worth it? You decide.

2. Hellgate: London

Earning the title of the “Most Disappointing Game of the Year” (at least in my list), Hellgate: London is full of fanfare, nice graphics and loads of gameplay bugs. At launch date, Hellgate’s servers were already down along with the subscription feature and throughout it’s first few weeks people found bug after bug after bug. Too bad for the first adopters of the game for shelling out hard cash just to play a game that’s virtually unplayable.

The game seems stable now, as Game Informer gives Hellgate London 8.5/10 rating and points out the following:

Concept: Apply Diablo style leveling and loot grinding to a 3D rendered post apocalyptic vision of Earth

Graphics: Quite nice, especially the variety with which you can customise your avatar’s appearance via equipment

Sound: Voiceover are good, but the effects grate after a while and the music annoyingly only plays about 15 percent of the time.

Playability: The action is fast, interface smooth, and loads short

Entertainment: You won’t find better level and loot grinding anywhere, but that’s about all this offers

Replay Value: High

Players are currently awaiting Patch 7 and 10 which would address some of the game’s stability problems. Will it bring back all those people who quit on or before Patch 0? I doubt it. Casual players rarely turn back.

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