The Best and Worst Beverages for Weight Loss

Skinny Sipping: Drink Pounds Away
Many of us watch what we eat but not what we drink when on a diet. That’s a mistake. The average American gets a fifth of daily calories from beverages. Choosing the right drinks can tweak your metabolism, curb your appetite, and reduce your total calorie count. Which drinks are spoilers and which are helpers on the path to weight loss?

Spoiler: Soda
Every time you chug a bottle of soda, you’re consuming hundreds of empty calories. Switching to diet soft drinks is an obvious way to cut calories, but the research is mixed on whether this switch results in weight loss. Some studies show a short-term benefit. Others find diet soda drinkers gain weight. If your calorie intake exceeds what you burn off, just switching to diet soda may not do the trick.lpers on the path to weight loss?



Helper: Water

Replacing carbonated soft drinks with water will cut hundreds of calories per day, and the benefits don’t stop there. Drinking two glasses of water before a meal may encourage the stomach to feel full more quickly, so you don’t eat as much. In addition, new research suggests drinking plenty of water may have a positive effect on your metabolism.

Jury’s Out: Fruit Juice
Juice can have as many calories as soda, but it has far more to offer in the way of nutrients. This presents a dilemma -- you want the vitamins and antioxidants without all the extra sugar. The safest bet: Look for 100% fruit juice. Steer clear of juice drinks that have added sweeteners. Look for the percent of real juice, noted on the nutritional label. You can also slash calories by drinking water with a tiny bit of juice added.

Helper: Vegetable Juice

Vegetable juice is every bit as nutritious as fruit juice with about half the calories. One cup of tomato juice has 41 calories, compared to 122 calories for orange juice. Choosing juice with pulp provides some fiber, too, which can help control hunger.

Jury’s Out: Smoothies
Blend a banana, strawberries, and blueberries into a frothy smoothie, and you’ve got a delicious arsenal of disease-fighting vitamins and minerals. The homemade variety is best when you’re counting calories, because you can control the ingredients -- skim milk and fresh or frozen fruit are all you need. Restaurant smoothies may contain ice cream, honey, or other sweeteners that boost the calorie count sky-high.

Jury’s Out: Low-Fat Milk
Eating calcium-rich foods may do a body good, but calcium probably won't help you  lose weight, new research now reveals. Some earlier studies suggested calcium may prompt the body to burn more fat, but there’s little evidence to support these claims. To get the benefits of calcium without getting extra fat, stick to skim or low-fat milk, yogurt, and cheese.

Spoiler: Energy Drinks
Sports and energy drinks are calorie bombs like soda. They may have more added nutrients, but you can find the same vitamins and minerals in low-calorie foods. People who are serious about losing weight should stay hydrated with water rather than sports drinks.

Helper: Black Coffee
When you need a shot of caffeine, coffee is a better choice than soda or energy drinks. Black coffee is calorie-free and rich in antioxidants. Studies have shown that consuming moderate amounts of coffee (about 3 to 4 cups a day) may improve mood and concentration, and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and several types of cancer.

Spoiler: Fancy Coffee
Once you add heavy cream, flavored syrups, and/or a snowcap of whipped cream, that innocent mug of black coffee becomes a minefield of fat and sugar. Specialty coffees can contain up to 570 calories per cup -- possibly more than an entire meal! If you don’t like your coffee black, add a little skim milk and artificial sweetener to keep the calorie count low.

Helper: Green Tea
Green tea is another excellent choice when you’re looking for a little caffeine. Not only is it calorie-free, some research suggests green tea extract may stimulate weight loss.  It's not clear exactly how it aids weight loss, though caffeine and micronutrients called catechins may each play a role. The benefit appears to last only a few hours, so it may help to drink green tea at least twice a day.


Spoiler: Coolers
Coolers may sound light and airy, but they are heavy on calories. A 12-ounce cooler containing wine can have 190 calories and 22 grams of carbs. The same size hard lemonade or bottled alcoholic "ice" can have as much as 315 calories. Regular wine is not exactly a diet drink, with 100 calories in a 5-ounce glass. A low-calorie alternative is a wine spritzer: mix a dash of wine with some sparkling water.

Spoiler: Cocktails
A shot of hard liquor has fewer calories than wine or wine coolers, but once you mix in soda or cream, watch out… An 8-ounce white Russian made with light cream has 715 calories. A less fattening option is to mix rum or vodka with diet soda.

Helper: Light Beer
OK, beer is not really going to help you lose weight. But if you’re out with friends and want to share a pitcher, light beer is the way to go. A 12 oz serving has about 100 calories, compared to 150 calories for regular beer.

Driver: San Francisco review

Shifting a near-dead franchise back to life - awesomely
Words: Richard Grisham

We’re careening at breakneck speed through downtown San Francisco, and things are getting a bit hairy. At the moment, we’re in the driver’s seat of a ZR1 Corvette, in hot pursuit of a criminal on the loose. Traffic is heavy and pedestrians are everywhere, which makes this high-speed chase pretty complicated. Despite our best efforts to weave through oncoming vehicles at 105 mph, we smash headfirst into a fire truck, sending glass and metal flying across the boulevard. Normally, our hopes would be dashed, and we’d simply hit the “reset” button and give it another go. Instead, though, we shift immediately into a Google Earth-style view of the entire Bay Area, spotting our prey moving on the map. The press of a button zips out of our mangled wreck and into an eighteen wheeler about 250 feet in front of our target. Quickly steering hard right, a massive barrier now blocks most of the street in front of our enemy. In another instant, we teleport out of the rig into a sweet Audi S5 Coupe trailing our baffled combatant, and crash into him a moment after he hits the truck head-on. Bad guy vanquished, mission accomplished.

Such wildly entertaining chains of events are common in Driver: San Francisco. It’s one thing to combine the best parts of games like Burnout, Need for Speed, and Grand Theft Auto; it’s another to invent a new way to play a game in the tired driving-action genre. Frankly, we thought it was impossible to come up with something new, but the ability to “Shift” – the term Driver uses for being able to instantly teleport from the vehicle you’re in to any other one anywhere in the city at any time – is the sexiest new game mechanic we’ve seen in forever. It’s the kind of thing that doesn’t sound great on paper but makes perfect sense once you actually try it. It’s also a bit disconcerting, because we’ve been trained for so many years that there’s only one way to play driving games. Once it stuck in our minds, though, we started to wonder if we’d ever want to play a similar game any other way. We’re still not sure.
Driver: San Francisco is like a great summer blockbuster movie (remember those?). It’s got tons of action, an over-the-top story that manages to keep your attention even as you roll your eyes, painfully cheeky banter between characters you learn to like and hate, and, oh yeah, tons of action. If you’re a longtime fan of the franchise, you already know our hero John Tanner and his arch-enemy Jericho; these two dudes were last seen battling it out in Driv3r several years back. If you’re new to the series, though, you can jump right in to the story without missing a beat. Characters are quickly introduced and the plot established, and from the word “go” it’s clear what’s happening.
The story, broken up into eight chapters, takes place in and around a gorgeously realized San Francisco. The city is alive, teeming with traffic and pedestrians, and full of all the landmarks people familiar with the town will recognize. Each chapter charges you with accomplishing several missions, in whichever order you choose, as well as a bevy of side jobs that help earn extra cars and power-ups. The main storyline take place as Tanner and his sidekick piece together a mystery about Jericho. Of course, that many of these moments take place while Tanner is deep in a coma explains how the whole “Shift” concept gets conveniently established. You get to inhabit the bodies of cops, vigilantes, street racers, and other assorted San Francisco characters as they go on dozens of mayhem-producing escapades across the Bay Area. A nice variety of goals and objectives keeps the action fresh, and thanks to Shifting, there are plenty of ways to solve the same problem.

As the story progresses, the real estate expands and the weirdness grows. We were never able to get too comfortable, as the tables got turned on us several times – another brilliant move that kept us guessing all the way to the end. There are a few incongruities, to be sure; Tanner is a good cop who’s bent on protecting the city, yet has no problem inhabiting the body of an innocent driver and ramming their vehicle into an enemy he’s chasing. That’s weird. Also, no matter how badly our Dodge Challenger got busted up, it was always bright, shiny, and in perfect working order at the start of every new mission. These are mere quibbles, though, with an otherwise dynamite single-player effort.
The multiplayer modes are no mere afterthought, either – in fact, they’re arguably the most entertaining online driving we’ve done in ages. There are a dozen or so to choose from, but you have to unlock modes and options by leveling up. Whether we were playing “Tag” (whichever driver that can remain “it” for a pre-determined time wins, and whoever smashes into “it” gets to be “it”) or  “trailblazer” (whichever driver can remain behind the pace car for the longest while driving at insanely high speeds in heavy traffic), we were shocked at how well the Shift mechanic worked in these races. Not only does it allow for an all-new level of strategy, it completely rewrites the rules of racing online – a wreck at an inopportune time no longer automatically relegates you to last place. Yes, there are a few regular racing modes too, but they feel tame compared to the Shift-powered ones. Even better, each mode (online and off) features over 100 real-world cars. While they don’t all exactly perform as they would in Gran Turismo, they’re different enough to get excited about.

Driver: San Francisco blows our minds; it’s 100% more fun than we expected and immediately re-establishes the franchise front and center in the marketplace. It’s not often that a single new mechanic can reinvigorate an entire genre, but this one does. Here’s hoping it doesn’t get lost in the wave of fall releases that’s already upon us – it deserves your attention. You won’t be sorry.

GameStop will begin selling Apple devices

Trade in iPhones, iPads, and iPods to get Plants vs. Zombies for consoles
Words: Paul Ryan


GameStop will soon be carrying Apple devices, including iPads, iPhones, and iPods. This week the retailer began accepting iOS devices as trade-ins for in-store credit, which is likely a method of phasing in used products before introducing new devices. GameStop made the announcement Apple's devices would be sold in its stores during a trade show in Las Vegas last week, reports 9to5mac.com.

The new product line hitting GameStop shelves may coincide with the new iPhone5 coming out in October, which could give both companies a push - not that Apple really needs one. The company sold 20.34 million iPhones during the June quarter of 2011. For GameStop this is the latest in a series of bold moves. It also began beta testing its game streaming service and experimenting with digital distribution, recently. So as brick and mortar stores continue to become less necessary, iOS devices may provide one more reason to keep GameStop around.

Resistance 3 Survival DLC announced for October 4

New launch trailer sets a new tone for the series with a sledgehammer and screaming
Words: Paul Ryan
Source: PlayStation Blog

Our favorite alternate version of 1957 has only been out for a handful of hours, but Resistance 3 has already announced it will be adding a new multiplayer mode on October 4. The addition is Invasion Mode, and it will be part of the Survival Pack DLC. The gametype requires two teams to hold separate control points from the Chimera assault (or invasion, if you will) while sharing a resource pool The mode doesn't appear in the launch trailer, but — oh yeah — there's a launch trailer.

Aside from being much darker than Resistance 2's often bright, over-saturated, and occasionally campy sci-fi atmosphere, the big bullet point to be taken from this video is the Cryogun. This gun is the 12th and final weapon. As you can tell, it freezes things — don't get too close to those icicles, or you'll poke an eye out.
On top of the new game mode, the Survival Pack will include four new multiplayer skins, modeled after survivors you may come across while playing solo and costs $3.99. It's set to release the same day a free patch will add two new maps, which will bring the map total to fourteen and give those of us without four bucks something to be happy about too.
Sep 6, 2011

Real-life Pip-Boy is functionally delightful and practically useless

Prepare for post-apocalyptic survivalism in style with custom Android mod

Words: Tom Goulter
Source: GameSetWatch

We all like to hope that none of the armed conflicts or escalating WMD stockpiles in the world of 2011 will actually trigger a nuclear apocalypse, but it's prudent to be prepared, just in case. One soul doing his homework for such an eventuality is YouTube's MyMagicPudding, who's put together a full-size (albeit non-wearable) Pip-Boy 3000 to rival any of the Portal fan-creations doing the rounds of late. You'll need a pretty high Science or Barter skill to get your hands on one (or, for that matter, to get one on your hands) though.

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While this isn't the first corporeal Pip-Boy to surface, most modders content themselves with sticking a new screen in the clock that came with the Survival Edition of Fallout 3. Not so Mr. Pudding, who followed the lead of more adventurous prop-builders at The RPF to put together a sturdier creation, augmenting the tool with an Android app custom-built for the purpose. If you've ever wished you could track your stats IRL, this may be the best way to do it – provided your Speech skill is high enough to explain why you're carrying about a huge watch that doesn't even fit on your hand. The prop hasn't been made available for the general public yet, but MyMagicPudding calls this a “prototype,” so you may be lucky yet.

Deus Ex getting DLC augmentation in October

By Tom Magrino, GameSpot
Square Enix's cyberpunk action adventure picking up The Missing Link add-on next month; pricing, platforms TBA.

Following the row surrounding Deus Ex, GameStop, and OnLive, it seems likely Square Enix would be happy to shift the conversation back to positive developments for its cyberpunk action game. That chance came today, as the publisher announced Deus Ex will receive its first downloadable content release this October with The Missing Link.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD

The Missing Link follows up on events that transpire during the full version of Deus Ex, in which Adam Jensen goes mysteriously AWOL for a three-day period. Square Enix describes this episode as a time when Jensen has lost his augmentation powers and must escape a freighter using only the abilities nature gave him.

The Missing Link introduces a handful of new characters and enemies that play into the game's storyline. Square Enix also played up the add-on's opportunity to rebuild Jensen's augmentations from scratch.

Star Trek Online setting phasers to freemium

By Tom Magrino, GameSpot
Cryptic Studios confirms sci-fi MMORPG will transition to microtransaction-based business model later this year.

From Lord of the Rings Online to Age of Conan, success stories abound for massively multiplayer online role-playing games that flip to a microtransaction-driven freemium business model. With Cryptic Studios' Champions Online going the freemium route in January, it should come as no surprise that the MMOG specialist has similar intentions for Star Trek Online.

 Freemium isn't exactly a space where no man has gone before.
Cryptic Studios confirmed this week that it intends to transition Star Trek Online to a freemium business model by the end of this year. The studio expects to have additional information on its pricing and execution strategy for Star Trek Online available next week.

News of the announcement first arrived during a Perfect World postearnings conference call last week. In that report, chief financial officer Kevin Lau confirmed that a freemium version of Star Trek Online will arrive in the US and China. Perfect World bought Cryptic from Atari in May 2011.

Star Trek Online received middling review scores when it first launched for the PC in February 2010. The game operates independently from any of the events established in the film or television series.

Players assume the role of a starship captain operating under the banner of either the United Federation of Planets (better known simply as "the Federation") or the Klingon, who are locked in an intergalactic struggle. The hive-minded Borg will also play a role in the MMOG.

Resistance 3 Day One Patch Is Big. And Early.

Bigger than the Chimeran invasion.

Resistance 3 is out pretty soon, and the promised ‘day one’ patch for the game, which will obviously await your time and attention if you’re picking up the game next week, is now out for anyone that has the game early – or, like us, is battling their way through it for review.
It’s a whopper, though – 656MB for the European version of the patch, which is currently crawling through my rather rural connection just now.



That’s in addition to the game’s install, which takes considerably longer than the introductory video sequence (which is lovely, mind) is supposed to mask.

Quite what a patch of that size is actually updating is anyone’s guess, if we get a changelog on boot we’ll update this post but it was previously just a rather vague ‘updates and tweaks’ and is presumably just fixes to the multiplayer based on beta feedback.

The game’s pretty good though, especially for fans of the series – our full review will follow next week, but in the meantime you can read our hands on with the game’s opening section here and our interview with the developers here. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an update bar to watch.

Street Fighter x Tekken gets two more character teasers

By Tom Goulter

Here's two new character teasers for Street Fighter x Tekken, which continues to test your knowledge of the two rival franchises butting heads in the upcoming crossover. If you're unsure of who's being teased here, just scroll down to the comments section – right after the game's newly-revealed box-art – where you'll no doubt find the answers revealed by people who'll probably be beating you at the game come March next year.

Of course, inscrutable character puzzles aren't the only way Capcom's building awareness for Street Fighter x Tekken; the company's also keeping up a steady stream of public events aimed at reminding you that the development heads of Street Fighter and Tekken are both skilled brilliant game designers, skilled pretzel-tossers, and freaking crazy, like a damn fox. All things you want in a designer, right?

Mad Catz and HES step into games publishing with Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge

Rugby to be the next big thing from Street Fighter fightstick distributor

You may not have heard of Home Entertainment Suppliers. It’s the exclusive distributor for Mad Catz, a company best known for its line of hardware peripherals. Now, HES is trying its hand at games publishing of the sporting variety with Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge, a new entry to the short list of rugby games available on the PC and consoles.

The game features career, competition, and tournament modes - and up to four-player online or local multiplayer. Players choose from 93 of the world’s Rugby teams, like the New Zealand All Blacks, and 1500 players from around the globe.  According to developer Sidhe, the experience is completely customizable with 31 stadium locations with conditions and time of day options. It also includes a fully customizable player creator with options to change the player stats and features right down to the size of player’s ear lobes. For fans of team management, the game offers a 13 season career mode where player injuries, suspension, and other Rugby related mishaps will come into play.

Sony rebrands online services, PSN now part of Sony Entertainment Network

One network to rule them all with streaming video and services to be determined
Words: Paul Ryan
Source: IndustryGamers


Sony has decided to restructure its online streaming networks. Starting with the PlayStation Network and Sony's streaming music video service Qriocity, the company will be rebranding various networks and incorporating them into one umbrella service: the Sony Entertainment Network.

“Through Sony Entertainment Network we can provide everything that Sony customers value and want in a convenient, comprehensive manner that is uniquely Sony in its presentation and delivery,” said Kazuo Hirai, chairman of Sony Computer Entertainment at an IFA press conference in Berlin. This new network will rebrand the Qriocity music- and video-on-demand services as “Music Unlimited” and “Video Unlimited” - a change that went into effect last week.

Along with being able to offer more services in one place, Sony might be thinking it's a good idea to move away from PSN, since hacker attacks last April compromised millions of user profiles and interrupted the service for 23 days. Regardless of the motivation behind the change, PSN users may soon see “Sony Entertainment Network” when they log in.