Sony Patents Degradable Video Game Demos

Sony has patented a new kind of video game demo, though it’s probably not the kind of video game demo that we’d want to get. The patent describes a demo that will have its features eroded over time, which just means that it will become less and less enjoyable to play. A good example would be your weapon being weakened over time, or a racing game losing race tracks once you’ve reached a preset number of plays. The features will be reinstated when you finally purchase the game. Such a system would probably encourage developers to offer more trials, which would probably be good marketing, and shouldn’t steal any thunder away from the full version of the game, so maybe there’s a silver lining to all of this?

Blue Efficiency from Mercedes Benz

The Mercedes-Benz E-Class is an important car for its maker - all over the world, with 1.3 million units of the previous generation finding happy owners. Sure enough, a fair number of them serve as taxis in Germany - but if you have had the good fortune to talk to one of these Mercedes wielding taxi drivers you won't ever need a sales pitch from a Mercedes executive. I have heard these taxi drivers praising the E-Class cars over the years for being extremely reliable.

These taxis run for a million km or more on autobahns that demand precision dynamics and fool-proof reliability. They are practical too with space for five adults and their luggage. In short, if an alien ship visits earth and decides to take a sample of an advanced motorcar home - the E-Class, especially the newest version, is a good candidate since it aptly represents the progress that we have had since the days of rolling down hills on logs.

As far as India goes, it was an E-Class, the W124 series, that set the ball rolling when Mercedes-Benz decided to build cars here - there are over 12000 E-Class cars on Indian roads as we speak - making it the largest selling luxury car in India by far.

Volvo S80 Luxury Redefined

Volvo has launched an updated version of its S80 for the Indian market. The new S80 will cost Rs 38.79 lakhs (ex-showroom, Mumbai) and Rs 37 lakh (ex-showroom, New Delhi). The New Volvo S80 comes with a high-performance, twin-turbo diesel that puts out 205 hp and 420 Nm of torque. According to Volvo, this new engine takes performance, fuel efficiency and refinement to entirely new levels.