Your Brain on Tech took a look at the multiplayer aspect of Bad Company 2 in the most recent episode, but what about the single player? I decided to take some time and sit down with the PS3 version of the game and play through the campaign mode.

The first thing that strikes me is, despite the destructible environments, the game feels very much like a last generation title. The graphics are not the best and the buildings are incredibly repetitive. It’s very clear the technology used to make BC2 destructible doesn’t allow for varied building types. For this reason the game feels decidedly linear and is clearly an afterthought to the great multiplayer game. There is no real feel for the weapons, often times the player has no idea whether or not the person they’re shooting at is actually dead due to some overly long death animations. Speaking of the sound, the dialog is quite funny, and definitely worth taking the time to listen to.

Overall the story is cliché and mediocre at best, but it does a reasonable job of giving the player an excuse to go through a number of varied environments blowing stuff up. Comparing BC2 to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is like comparing a Steven Spielberg war movie to a Steven Seagal war movie. Bad Company 2 is definitely the Seagal movie… which is to say; it’s not great and it’s not the prettiest thing to watch, but it sure is fun to kill a bunch of people and blow stuff up.

Opera Software, a well-known web tool development company, recently announced they would be bringing the latest version of their Opera mobile browser to the iPhone in the coming weeks. Opera Mini is widely regarded as one of the best mobile browsing experiences available for other mobile device platforms, due largely to Opera’s advanced compression technology.

Opera’s browser sets itself apart from other browsers available for the iPhone by utilizing a proprietary compression technology that, according to Opera, “results in significantly faster Web-page loading and reduces data surcharges.”

This will give end-users a faster web experience on their phones and also reduce the amount of data used by the phones which benefits not only consumers, but also wireless internet providers looking to reduce strain on their wireless networks.

Read on to find out how Opera’s compression technology works and how this will affect iPhone users.

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Apple, iPhone, mobile, News, Web browsers

On Monday, Feb. 15, Microsoft announced their new, highly anticipated update to the aging Windows Mobile platform. The new operating system, called “Windows Phone 7,” is supposed to be Microsoft’s answer to the well-established Android and iPhone operating systems. Keep reading to discover some of the cool new features of the new operating system.

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microsoft, mobile, smart phones, tech, windows 7 mobile

Apple announced their new tablet computer today, called the iPad. Dubbed as a “magical and revolutionary device,” it somehow manages to be exactly the opposite. The iPad is essentially an oversized iPhone that doesn’t do anything a normal computer — or an iPhone — can’t, except maybe allow the user to read books more conveniently. Apple should change “magical and revolutionary” to “old, rehashed, yet still somewhat convenient under very specific circumstances.”
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Apple, ipad, iPhone, mobile, tablet

By now, you’ve seen the iDon’t/Droid Does commercials by Verizon, right? If you haven’t, just click the link I provided.

Verizon has recently been taking shots at the iPhone, highlighting the shortfalls of the phone (mainly coverage and some software inadequacies). The new Droid line of phones is Verizon’s attempt at reducing the loss of customers because of the iPhone, but the real question in all of this is of course whether or not the new Droid phones will be “iPhone killers.” (more…)

Android, AT&T, Droid, iPhone, Motorola, Verizon

Hello there. I just want to take a few minutes to introduce myself and tell you a little about my intentions with Your Brain on Tech.

My name is Victor Leichner, and I’m a fifth year senior at Central Michigan University. I am majoring in general business management with a minor in psychology; basically something completely unrelated to technology.

However, I have held an active interest mostly in Apple products since the days of my youth. I have owned numerous Macintosh computers and own a few now even.

In the interest of journalistic integrity, I will come out and just state that I am fully a Mac fan-boy. That doesn’t mean I subscribe to Apple’s philosophy fully, though, so look forward to some criticisms at least.

I have already contributed to one segment on the show about iPhone applications (look! I’m in the credits ), but I intend to write about other things Mac related on this webpage as well.

I have a few ideas about things to write about right away, so look for my articles in the coming days!