Over-Hyped and Over Here

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I've seen these in action, courtesy of our friends at Bit-Tech, and the bottom line is that it's another one to chalk up on the big disappointment list. Essentially the effects look great in places, but they actually look poor in others. What's more it makes the frame rate suck. While the card handles the physics, it doesn't help with all the extra polygons and particles it creates, placing even more strain on your graphics hardware, essentially making the levels unplayable and not very much fun at all.

I don't have to struggle for more examples of over hyped products in 2007. I could be cruel and discuss AMD's Spider platform. I was at the launch in Poland and like everyone else I was disappointed that nothing that was released was going to pose any real challenge to Intel's offerings.

The award though for the most hyped product of the year though has to go to the iPhone. Ironically, back in June I write a column, defending my enthusiasm for the forthcoming device, against a sea of cynicism from my colleagues in the office. Yet, now it's here, the roles are almost reversed. Three colleagues own iPhones and I don't want one. I do think it's fab, of course, but it's well documented lack of features are stopping me from going for it - I mean I can understand the logic behind the lack of 3G, but no basic MMS, per..lease. And you can't even send a picture from the phone via Bluetooth, you have to email everything. I'm waiting for the next one thank you.

Now, I know that hype is just part and parcel of the marketing of any given product, that it's arguably inherent to capitalism, it's the nature of the beast. Of course you must take bold claims with a pinch of salt, but when certain things are rammed down your throat long enough you tend to believe them. As Vladimir Lenin famously said," A lie told often enough becomes truth." So DirectX 10 and Vista will change graphics forever and England are the best football team in the world. But of course, it doesn't and they're not.

Which is why next week, TrustedReviews will be naming the best products of the year across numerous categories, and you can be sure that we've cut across the hype to come up with products that deserve their place in the spotlight. So that when it comes to choosing the best technology out there, you can once again, start to believe.

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