I was checking out the lastest releases on we7.com and I saw Creed's Greatest hits had been added (although it's a few years old) and was listening it it. Looking back through their catalogue of albums I found a listing called Overcome and I thought "I've not seen that before". Clicked it and low and behold... a NEW SONG! Awesome! And after little searching I found out they've got a new album coming out this month! I'm so excited! I just hope they come to the UK and tour.

Just as I was going to a have quick go on Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare on my PlayStation 3 I couldn't. Before I could go online I had to update to the latest firmware update, firmware 3.0. So I download this and here's what I found.

The first thing you might notice is the start up screen and the background. The start up screen now says PS3 in the new style logo instead of "Sony Computer Entertainment" and the default background (the wavey lines that changes colour depending on the time) now has these nice sparkles floating around. Not really important but does look nice. I've heard that new features have been made available for developers to make interactive backgrounds. I'm looking forward to seeing some nice creative backgrounds. Maybe the man on the desert island I used to love.

Next thing is the clock and date display in the top right. This now shows your avatar, number of friends online, number of unread messages, date, time and a little clock. This is an improvement as before you wouldn't know about new messages unless you saw it arrive. They've also moved the battery level indicator left so not to cover the time. This is a great tweak as you easily see if you've got messages and see the time in game faster. Before when in the heat of battle you had to wait for the battery level to disappear often causing you to die. Also the list of friends has been updated to have a background behind each friend, probably to make them easier to read when using the XMB in game.

The main big update is the What's New application that come up by default. What this does is show you the last 2 or 3 games you've played, 2 when you've got a disc. Also above this it shows you some features from the PSN store and below it shows links to websites about new pages. I've heard that this will link to things like videos and other media in the future. Again a nice looking update and some use. It's clearly a way to promote the store and up coming games but they why it has been done is more to be informative and so isn't intruding. You can change this from being the default screen in the settings. Sony have also added the PSN store icon to the Games menu on the XMB be. Again I think they are trying to push more traffic to the store to get more sales.

The last change I've noticed I believe is a UK only update. Under the new TV menu (not new if you've got PlayTV) is a short cut to BBC's Bigscreen version of the iPlayer. As iPlayer is only available to residents of the UK then I imagine it'll only be there for UK users. It's really good to have iPlayer so accessible and it shows the BBC has added the compatibility for PS3 users. For me it'll solve the problem that I get watching iPlayer full screen my my Mac Mini that's hooked up to my TV. The problem I had was that it would freeze after about 10mins or so interrupting what I was watching.

Over all the firmware 3.0 update is very good one. The addition of iPlayer is great! The message and clock update is the best feature in my eyes. It shows that Sony are listening to users, if not a bit slowly and just in time for the new PS3 slim that's. As for future updates I would love to see some type of universal friend invite system but as a hugely requested feature it should have been added by now.

I heard about this film when I was watching the BBC News Channel while I was waiting for Click to start. Because Mike Perham had just arrived in port, becoming the youngest person to sail around the world alone, the BBC's live coverage overran into Click's time slot. Whoever controls the BBC News Channel decided to skip Click and show their entertainment show instead. They talked about The Hurt Locker and the general consensus was that it was a good film based on what really happens and doesn't glorify war. What they said and the clips they showed made it sound interesting so I took a look.

The Hurt Locker is about a handful of American soldiers in Iraq that make up an Explosive Ordnance Disposal squad. Their job it is to deal with car bombs, roadside bombs, IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices)  and other curious devices. All this is to protect the other soldiers so they can do their jobs and to protect the civilians. The film starts with a quote from a war correspondent called Chris Hedges: "The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug". As you watch the film you can see that for one of the main characters, Staff Sgt. William James, this is true. For others it isn't. This is one of the messages I think the film is wanting to get across, and it's how every person deals with war in their  own differing ways.

The first scene gets straight into the job that the Bravo Company is tasked to do. An IED is in the road, alone which a railway runs. They move everyone away and use a remote controlled machine to check it out and then to attempt to plant explosives to safely detonate it. When the little trailer with the explosives in fails the tension begins. One of the squad has to suit up in protective gear that consists of a helmet with a visor, a huge collar to protect the neck on a heavily padded suit. After getting this on he slowly makes his way to the IED. Tension just continues to build up as he edges closer and closer and while the other members of the squad are constantly looking around keeping their eyes on every Iraqi in the area who might try to trigger it. The tension is kept up through out this scene and in all of the later ‘action' scenes.

Explosive Ordnance Disposal is a hot, sweaty, stressful and very dangerous job. The guys that do it have to cope with all this and inevitably each person copes in different ways. You get the guy that thrives on the rush, others who just keep thinking and talking about death and so many others. The Hurt Locker displays this really well. The story as a whole is very believable and looks like plenty of research was done. At two points in the film slow-motion shots are used. One as an IED explodes with the ground movement and the people's reactions. The other is simply of a shell from a .50 cal sniper rifle falling and bouncing on the lose ground. Both of these really add to the scenes and are clearly not just for show. The .50 cal shell concludes the end of a heart stopping battle with a small group of insurgent snipers.

The final scene is of a member of Bravo squad standing in the cereal aisle looking at 100s of different cereals and not knowing which the pick. To us who haven't been out in foreign lands fighting we are used to all this excess and choice. To a solider that has been out on tour for 6 months, a year or even more living what is really a simple life with little luxuries it's daunting. In the time he has been in Iraq I doubt he'd get an option for what he eats for breakfast and this choice is really too much.

The Hurt Locker is definitely a film worth watching; especially if you know someone out in Iraq, Afghanistan or anywhere fighting as it I feel it helps you understand that tiny bit more what soldiers are going through.