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When Electronic Arts' long-awaited Spore hits store shelves September 7, it will have the shadow of an extremely successful cousin looming over it.

Spore, of course, is the latest game from legendary designer Will Wright. And, as has been repeated more times than anyone can count, Wright's last all-new game, The Sims, became the best-selling PC game of all time almost overnight when it was released in 2000.

If all Spore had to deal with was that pedigree, it would already be facing huge expectations.

But Wright and his Emeryville, Calif.-based Maxis development studio have even more pressure … Read more

Online travel communications retailer Telestial has just launched Travel Journal, an online service that automatically creates an online trip journal based on the location of the user's phone. Using a special SIM card that triangulates the user's location using cell phone towers, Travel Journal automatically updates in more than 100 countries.

Trip data is displayed on a Google map and a journal is created with images of locations visited by the traveler, local weather, and a record of recent communications. Users can manually update their journal by sending text messages or photos to the Travel Journal site.

As … Read more

Q: I'm thinking of buying the Samsung Soul and I'm concerned with its radiation level. But when I looked at the user manual there were multiple SARs listed. Is this typical and how do I know which listing is right? - Rich

A: It's not a matter of which listing is right since it is very common for a single handset to have multiple SARs. For both GSM and CDMA phones, the radiation level will vary by transmission band, the testing position (at ear vs. at body), and the testing body that reported the results. In CNET's radiation charts we always list the highest at-ear SAR as tested by the FCC. I know that's a lot of qualifications, but the distinctions are important to understand.

I'm glad you mentioned the Soul since that phone is a great example of just how results can vary. First off, the Soul uses three GSM bands (900, 1,800, and 1,900) so it's likely that you're seeing a different reported SAR for each band. As I said before, all of the listings are correct, but for your situation one SAR will be more correct than the others. Of the three GSM bands the Soul uses, only the 1,900 band is used in the United States, so I would concentrate on that listing. Also, you'll want to make sure that the results are from the FCC, which conducts tests specifically for the U.S. market. If the results are form another body, such as the European Union's testing agency or Industry Canada, then you could see a different result.… Read more

LOS ANGELES--It wouldn't be E3 without Electronic Arts, the world's-largest video game publisher, weighing in with the best of its forthcoming lineup.

And that's just what happened Monday afternoon at the Orpheum theater downtown here: a boisterously loud, demo-heavy presentation of the cream of EA's 2008 and some of its 2009 lineup.

Topping the list--from this reporter's perspective, at least--is Spore, which is planned for a September 7 release.

On June 17, EA released the Spore creature creator as a free download. Now, after just three weeks, Will Wright, the designer of The Sims and … Read more

It's a common dilemma for frequent travelers on business: Should you use roaming to remain in contact but pay exorbitant fees just to call a local number? Or switch your SIM card to a local account and risk missing important calls? Most compromise by having two phones, which is frankly no solution at all.

Coolpad phones claim to be the first in the market with dual-SIM devices that not only work with more than one network, but can even switch between GSM and CDMA accounts without batting an eye. Currently retailing in Indonesia, China, and Africa, handsets range from $… Read more

I don't know how many of you still play the Sims 2 but, if you do, here's something to add to the clutter in your virtual home: IKEA furniture. The expansion pack for the PC simulation game will debut on June 20 in Asia with a recommended retail price of S$25.90 (about US$19). Folks in the U.S. and Europe will get theirs on June 23 and June 27, respectively. The collaboration is not the first of its kind as gamers already have access to Ford's Mustang GT and H&M apparels. What … Read more

Two Harvard researchers have concluded that there's no data to support the notion that violent video games cause the kids who play them to act out violence in real life, contrary to the vast majority of media outlets that would have the public thinking otherwise. The $1.5 million study, which began in 2004, closely examined 1,200 children after bouts with violent games like Grand Theft Auto and not-so-violent titles like The Sims.

Psychologists Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl Olson found that for most kids, playing these games was nothing more than a stress reliever. Sure, some children displayed … Read more

Though Halo 3 held the all-time entertainment industry record for single-day sales for eight months, it could be a long time before anyone bests the record-shattering sales achieved by GTA IV.

On Wednesday, Take-Two Interactive, which owns GTA IV developer Rockstar Games, announced that the new game had raked in all-time records of $310 million on its launch day of April 29 and $500 million during its first week. The single-day figure shattered the previous record, set last September by Halo 3, of $170 million.

And given how quickly Bungie Studios' Halo 3 was reduced to second place, it stands … Read more

Earlier this month, I wrote that Electronic Arts had made an announcement to members of its long-running but poorly received virtual world, The Sims Online, that it was re-branding the service as EA Land.

On Tuesday, however, EA announced on the official EA Land blog that it is now planning to shut the service down altogether.

"It is with mixed emotions that today we are announcing the EA Land experiment will soon draw to a close," the blog entry read. "Since 2002, EA Land/(The Sims Online) has attracted a very special group of players...and we … Read more