2005
Latest
Revisit 2005 by playing 'Call of Duty 2' on your Xbox One
Back before Call of Duty went full-on Michael Bay, the series focused on historical conflicts ignored by the then unstoppable Medal of Honor series. Xbox 360 launch title Call of Duty 2 was the last game in the series from original developer Infinity Ward to do such. And now, you have the chance to play through the Battle of Pointe du Hoc once again. How's that? The objective-based WWII shooter is now backward compatible on Xbox One. If nothing else, it's an interesting glimpse both at how much the franchise has changed and how FPS themselves have evolved over the past 11 years. Because, even in 2005, CoD 2 was considered a bit old-school in terms of design.
Gadget Rewind 2005: Lenovo X41 Tablet
Lenovo made headlines earlier this year when it took Motorola Mobility off of Google's hands, giving it a boost in smartphone markets outside of its usual stomping grounds. But that wasn't the first time it snatched up another company for industry leverage. In 2005, IBM gave up majority control of its PC business, allowing Beijing-based Lenovo to take over and effectively expand its reach to a global audience. The timing of the deal was a little bit off, however. One of the first products to launch under Lenovo's new ownership was the ThinkPad X41 Tablet, a laptop/tablet hybrid, which had already rolled off the assembly line and was still sporting an IBM logo.
MapQuest arrives for Windows Phone 8
Let's be frank: most Windows Phone users already have some form of navigation on hand, whether it's Nokia's Here Drive+ beta or one of the alternatives. However, it rarely hurts to have a free choice like MapQuest's new app for Windows Phone 8. The suite offers voiced, turn-by-turn directions for driving and walking, along with live traffic and the usual point-of-interest searching. The app is comparatively basic, and it's only available in US English right now -- but if it's all you need to get from point A to point B, it's available at the source link. (Disclaimer: AOL owns both MapQuest and Engadget)
Lenovo LePad S2005 vs. Dell Streak 5... cuddle!
It's inevitable that these two 5-inch tabletphones -- the Dell Streak 5 on the left and the Lenovo LePad S2005 on the right -- are to meet in the Chinese capital. With the exception of the slightly taller body on the S2005 everything else are suspiciously similar, especially the button and camera layout. Well, there's a good explanation for this: we've been informed that this new tabletphone hails from the same ODM, Qisda, as Dell's counterpart. Too bad Lenovo decided to keep the same screen resolution though. According to Stone Ip from Engadget Chinese, he found that the S2005 has a nicer grip than the Streak, and he also digs its more masculine appearance -- obviously this is open to debate. Performance-wise this slate responded well to our input, but the lack of promise on an Ice Cream Sandwich update will probably make potential geeky buyers think twice. Well, good thing we have some awesome modders around the interwebs these days. %Gallery-140564%
Alleged screens of canceled 2005 Diablo 3 are heavenly
In internet time, 2005 might as well be the last century. Christopher Nolan was just beginning to tackle a new series of Batman films, many Joystiq writers hadn't even begun their illustrious careers and Blizzard North was rumored to be hard at work on Diablo 3. That is until Blizzard North was closed and most of its staff relocated to Blizzard's HQ in California, of course. Even with the closure, there was still a rumor floating around that a new Diablo would be shown at BlizzCon, a Diablo that actually took place in a Heaven being invaded by Hell. While none of us will ever play that Diablo 3, Kotaku has nabbed some screenshots allegedly taken from the canceled project. Examining the screens, it certainly looks like the Heaven plot was a reality. It also appears that Blizzard North had abandoned Diablo's traditional 2D isometric graphics in favor of a full 3D world, which isn't surprising given the runaway success of World of Warcraft. Hit the source link for more screens.
Apple tech winner and loser in 2005
PC World has created a list of the tech winners and losers of 2005. Apple made the list 3 times. How is that possible you ask? Well, Apple Computer (remember they still make computers!) was listed as both a winner and a loser.Apple was a winner thanks to%uFFFD the Mac mini, the new iPod, and Intel inside. However, Apple found itself on the loser list because of the various lawsuits against rumor sites. However, I doubt many people even remember those (other than the folks directly involved in the suits) so I think that is a bit of a stretch.That's only two mentions, the third comes in the form a iTunes which is listed on the winning side because of the new video content, holding fast to pricing, and making buying digital music with DRM cool again.[via Paul Thurrott's Internet Nexus]
2005 in pictures
We know you just can't get enough of those pesky "year in review" pieces, but this one's a little different. Next Generation have tried to capture the gaming events of 2005 in twelve pictures, more or less one a month. Sadly, many of the pictures chosen seem to be added as afterthoughts based on various events, rather than chosen on the image's merit -- does a picture of John Riccitiello really represent the heady excitement of November?Still, if you're on the lookout for images to go alongside your personal gaming calendar, you could do worse.
