Archive for August, 2010

LAS VEGAS — A 22-year-old Mexico woman has won the Miss Universe pageant after donning a flowing red gown and telling an audience it’s important to teach kids family values.

Jimena Navarrete of Guadalajara was first to answer an interview question Monday night and the last of 83 contestants standing in the headline-grabbing pageant on the Las Vegas Strip.

gecko.ashishmg.com

The thrill of the open road -- it’s something that appeals to anyone with more than a drop of testosterone coursing through them; hot black tarmac stretching as far as the eye can see unfurling under a clear blue sky while tall pines and rock faces sculpt miles of automotive pleasure that offer the ultimate in male hedonism. Video games have been treading these tracks since their inception, from OutRun’s breezy take on the experience through to the studied autism of Gran Turismo.

And it’s something that was core to the very first Need for Speed, a game that wowed some 16 years ago and spawned what’s become one of gaming’s very biggest racing franchises. There have been some interesting detours since, whether that was the Hollywood excess of Undercover or the white-knuckled brilliance of Shift, but the first game was essentially about nothing more complex than the joys of one man and his machine pitted against miles of winding road.

Ash Georgi

IGN.com