Marketing Your Book on Amazon is a short eBook that compiles together the various steps involved in promoting a self published book. This book is not a bad book. The title and product description are accurate and it earns its three stars without a hitch. However, I could not rate it any higher as it really doesn't excel in any area. Furthermore, while the information in this book is all clear, correct and helpful, none of it is really wisdom that you could only learn by purchasing. In fact, most of its advice will be given to a prospective author freely by the eBook publishing community. It does have value in putting together a lot of basic advice in one place, and I think it would be very useful to someone who was only just starting to look at self publishing. It would also make quite a good check list for anyone to go through after uploading a book. However, its more like a Quick-Start guide or crib sheet than a meaty instruction manual.

Lacuna: Demons of the Void is a space-hopping science fiction novel with a strong military them to it. This is not normally the kind of book I enjoy, but I found it a very compelling read.

The story opens with an alien attack on the Earth. This unprovoked and mysterious assault leads Earth's bigger power blocks to construct three massive starships to make up the core of Earth's defence. It's a good set up, but once the foundations are set, the book uses them to explore concepts of personal politics, multicultural interaction and even a bit of gender politics. In true Star Trek fashion, we get to see science fiction used to explore the world around us a little more. Overall, the book reminded me a lot of both Star Trek and the Mass Effect games, which is a nice genre to see explored in original fiction.

There were a few problems that jarred me as I read through, mainly that the story sometimes unfolds a little conveniently. Characters always seem to find just what they need, just in time, with just enough spanners thrown in the works to stop it being too easy. But, this is a small gripe and definitely not a deal breaker.

I can recommend Lacuna to anyone who enjoys a good sci-fi/action read. The plot bounces along nicely and it's all set within a universe that has a lot of character. I will definitely be buying the second book in the series.

This game is a nice little extension of the first Crysis, the story is sort of a parallel continuation in that you interact with the same events from a different part of the island. Very clever. Unfortunately I didn't get to play it for too long as I bought it before a brief period of upgrading my PC.

I installed the game, activated. Played a bit of this and Crysis (both purchased at the same time.) After deciding they were showing my PC its age, I decided to add hardware to my machine. I bought I new graphics card: bang, another activation gone. Then I put in some more memory, another gone. Finally I upgraded my processor and away went another. Finally, after all these upgrades I decided I clean install of vista was in order. As I came to install Crysis: Warhead again, no luck. It had decided I was out of coins. After paying a rather large phone bill to contact EA (the don't offer a british number, you have to phone the united states) I was informed rather rudely that "It is not EA policy to place idiots on their phones, only a thief could not provide proof of purchase." Frankly, how I was to show them a receipt down the phone was beyond me, I do not a have a scanner to email them such a thing.

I was disgusted at the service and WILL NOT be purchasing a product with limited activation again.

Firstly let me just say that this game isn't bad, it's not great but not bad. The concept is fun if short lived and while it doesn't live up to the hype it's still worth a play.
What makes this game a disappointment is the outrageous DRM system that forbids you from installing the game more than three times. Furthermore, it installs potentially harmful software onto your machine. What is more sinister is that Electronic Arts and Amazon.co.uk have somehow succeeded in preventing anyone from warning potential buyers. For more honest and accurate reviews of this product I would advise customers to check the reviews at Amazon.com

Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga is one of the best games ever made. There are three reasons for this, firstly it is very fun. The gameplay is perfectly designed so that the levels can be finished by a young child without too much frustration. However, they have also been designed to incorporate so much depth, so many opportunities to go back and find things you missed before, that the older gamer has plenty to see here too.
Secondly, Lego Star Wars looks wonderful through its simplicity. The game does not overreach itself and looks fantastic as a cute, cartoony game that still manages to be absorbing. Graphic power isn't important but presentation is, this game succeeds.
Thirdly, this is one of the most authentic, entertaining Star Wars games ever made. A delightfully charming, tongue-in-cheek approach to the series is taken and it works perfectly.

This game should be played by everyone.

The chances are if you're reading this review then you own a nintendo DS, it is also very likely that you're played a Mario bros. game before. If you haven't, where have you been since 1985?
If you enjoy Mario games, specifically the pre-3D titles, then this is the perfect addition to your DS library. The basic gameplay is very similar to games from the original Mario Bros. titles and at times feels like a remake of the original 1985 title on the NES. Early levels seem to have been taken directly from the original game with a few new twists added for the DS generation. The conventions of Mario games setup over twenty years ago still play wonderfully today and the game is one of the most entertaining platformers I've ever played.
Graphically speaking, the game is lovely. Using a combination of 3D models and 2D sprites the game excels at both and they fit together perfectly. One of the better looking DS titles.
As and added bonus, the game includes a good selection of many games. Most have been taken from DS' Mario 64 but it's nice to have them as a bonus.

A must for any DS owner.

The concept of the browser for DS and DS Lite is simple, an Opera based web browser optimised for the system allowing you to view web pages on your Nintendo handheld. While it accomplishes this the end result is effectively useless, the Nintendo DS just was not designed for web browsing and this is very obvious. Reading most text requires zooming in to a degree that excessive scrolling is required, loading speeds are generally slow and macromedia flash is not possible due to the memory limitations.
While having a web browser on the DS has its uses, it is rarely as enjoyable as using a computer. This combined with the limited functionality of the browser create a heavily overpriced item. For the £20-£30 people are spending, this needed to be something above expectations. It isn't.

An awful film with an awful attempt at plot, a terrible adaptation of a terrible comic. Nothing in the film is actually worth the money spent and has succeeded purely by appealing to the idiotic macho nature of people today.

If you want to see three hours or sepia-tone men with CG muscles and poor spartan costumes then buy this DVD, if you want to see a real contemporary film then buy something with taste.

Quake 4 is something of an oddity in greater scheme of things, part of ID's recent comeback that began with the mediocre "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" and peaked with the phenomenal Doom 3. Quake 4 almost slipped under the radar, developed outside of ID (by the excellent Raven Software) and attempting to to ignore Quake III: Arena somewhat; Quake 4 continues the story from Quake II and picks it up seamlessly.

If you've played Doom 3 then the first thing you're likely to notice is that the games are incredibly similar. The visual similarities extend to almost identical armour for the marines in both games, similar looking weapons and very similar environments. However, when the game is played further the differences become clear. Firstly, the focus of quake is not to frighten but to excite. The game is far more action based and many of the situations involve blasting away while looking for the next facility to destroy. These sections are carried by an excellent plot conveyed by the marines accompanying you. These marines all have names, ranks, roles and personalities; most significantly the techie Strauss who progresses from being a pain in the neck to a truly loveable character. The player is also given some wonderful, though frequently spolit plot twists than really absorb the player in the game.

As for gameplay, it is a strong FPS with responsive controls, a good selection of weapons and some truly excellent level design. The only drawbacks are the rare but still intrusive tank levels intended solely to compete with Halo.

Furthermore, the multiplayer on this game is incredibly fun, it does have its drawbacks. It appears to be short of maps and no bots are included. You're required to find all the players and this can be quite a struggle as the game was something of a led balloon on the 360.

If you enjoyed Doom 3, like first person shooters and games with a good balance between action and plot then this game is worth a look.

I'd like to start off by saying that the original Superman: The Movie with Christopher Reeve is just about one of my favourite films. I'm a big comic book fan and I have always enjoyed comic book movies, I was actually wary of this one. When the bad reviews started pouring in I begaan to sense a flop but upon seeing the film I realised my error. Superman Returns is a truly excellent and intelligent film.

It is clearly intended to bypass the dire Superman 3 and 4 in continuity and pick up where the excellent Superman 2 left off, it achieves this perfectly. The film is yet manages to throw a thrill at the audience at the right times. Brandon Routh takes his acting direction from Reeves and pulls off a convincing and likeable Superman while Kevin Spacey's Lex Luthor is perfect. The only actor falling short is Kate Bosworth, she seems altogether too young and too feeble to be Lois Lane.

This is film is greatly entertaining if you don't expect it to be Batman Begins of Spider-Man 3