short circuits

New and noteworthy experiences among DVDs, video games, gadgets and the Web.

DVD

Love story falls flat It's not as if there's anything wrong with the stars of "Dear John," a story of young love and heartbreak centering on the long-distance romance and postal correspondence between a young soldier stationed in the Middle East and the collegiate dream girl he's known for all of two weeks. As John and Savannah, Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried make their whirlwind courtship about as believable as any spring fling could be. Their connection never feels forced. Then author Nicholas Sparks went and ruined things. Seyfried, who otherwise makes a credible love interest, isn't convincing. The DVD and Blu-ray (Sony, $29-$35) include deleted scenes, an alternate ending, featurettes and outtakes.

WASHINGTON POST

Also out Tuesday: "Leverage" (Season 2), "The Road," "True Blood" (Season 2), "Top Chef Masters" (Season 1), "The Virginian" (Season 1); Blu-rays of "By Brakhage ," "City of the Living Dead," "Django ," "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog," "Spartacus" and "Stagecoach."

GAME

'Lost Planet 2' set adrift Capcom seemingly took crazy pills when it decided to brainstorm "Lost Planet 2" ($60 for Xbox 360, PS3; rated Teen). The sequel to a decent shooter feels and plays like the "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" kind of game, only everything stuck. Want some mechanized game play? Check. How about open-ended missions followed, bizarrely, by missions that are completely linear? Sure. Co-op play, but a tiny single-player campaign? You betcha. Enemy artificial intelligence that is impossible to defeat when hidden, but dumb as a rock when exposed? Step right up. "Lost Planet 2" had the pedigree to be an excellent sequel. Instead, all the good fortune and vibes from the first game are abandoned on its snowy peaks. What's left is a game that is not even worth a weekend rental.

SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE

WEB

Discover only the best sites Part of digital literacy is knowing how to judge the accuracy, credibility and usefulness of websites. With hundreds of thousands of sources on countless topics, it's pretty daunting for the average person (and the professional) to separate the wheat from the chaff. Here's one bit of help: The American Library Association has been compiling an annual list of the Best Free Reference Websites (www.ala.org; search for "best reference websites"), a really good bibliography of material that is authoritative, useful and interesting. The list covers a broad range of topics: science, health, media, the arts, law, government, education and more. The 2010 listing has just been released. And there's also a combined index of previous annual lists since 1999.

SACRAMENTO BEE