Hi Bigun,
I've been into aquarium screensavers for several years, ever since that fish screensaver became available for windows 98. I've got several, of which the Aquazone series is by far the best of the lot. They have two versions Aquazone and Aquazone 2. The former (Aquazone) is not Vista compatible. The basic Aquazone package is impressive enough with more fish species than most other aquarium type screensavers, and you can buy expansion packs to add certain types of fish or other species such as jelly fish, sharks and turtles. The full package comes with load of different aquarium back grounds and you can feed the fish or change the environmental conditions.
Aquazone 2 is by far the best though. There are several packages available, but I'd go for the most expensive one because it includes all the expansion packs apart from the freshwater pack which is called the Amazonian River basin. Aquazone two is not an aquarium based screensaver. Instead you get several options for observing the fish, of which there are around 40 species that include everything from shrimps, whales, otters, dolphins, piranha’s(in the freshwater pack), sharks, stingrays etc. You can opt to follow a specific fish around so that you see the environment from a fish's perspective, or you can watch the screensaver from a 360 degrees vantage. The environments are massive, so there's so much to see. There are five different environments;
Blue Ocean
Deep Sea
Coral Sea
Arctic Ocean
Amazonian River Basin (Freshwater fish)
The following is copied from Aquazones home page:
Smith Micro's Consumer Group Launches Aquazone 2: Open Water
Aquazone® 2: Open Water Edition Brings the World's Oceans Directly to the PC
January 08, 2007
ALISO VIEJO, CA – Smith Micro Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: SMSI), Consumer Group today released the latest edition of its popular Aquazone screensaver software - Aquazone® 2: Open Water. The much-anticipated, newly designed software offers the latest life-like 3D technology by bringing over thirty-nine unique species of sea life and thirteen photorealistic and customizable classic tanks to the PC.
While earlier versions of Aquazone simulate a beautiful aquarium environment with various "tanks", Open Water is immersed with a full 360° panning, greater depth of field and extreme close-ups. The Open Water experience allows users to watch, follow, and feed fish in a natural setting as either a stand alone application or screen saver. Designed for people of all ages, the Open Water edition lets users stock their own virtual ocean with whales, sharks, dolphins, sea turtles and more.
"Aquazone Open Water is perfect for home or the office," said David Polzine, Product Manager, Smith Micro Software, Inc. "It creates the ocean setting right on your desktop and allows the user to observe three dimensional landscapes and marine life in amazing quality." Aquazone Open Water has perfectly mastered the experience of swimming alongside the world's amazing underwater creatures without getting wet… or sea sick."
Key Features:
360-degree view of ocean environments.
Choice of thirty-nine species of tropical fish, whales, manatees, manta rays, sea turtles, jellyfish, dolphins, and three different sharks.
Ability to display an unlimited number of fish and marine mammals on the screen.
Ability for users to "Tap" on the glass and call fish right to fingertips.
"FishCam" allows users to zoom in and follow favorite marine fish.
Ability to customize the ocean with an easy-to-use interface.
Realistic schooling and grouping behavior.
Beautiful day and night - real-time lighting conditions.
Soothing sound effects of rolling surf and bubbles.
Choice of two open ocean environments - spectacular tropical reefs or the deep blue sea.
Choice between adding a submerged antique grandfather clock (actually keeps time) or a gigantic submarine.
Included: Aquazone Seven Seas Collection - an assortment of thirteen classic aquatic environments.
You can check out all these by following the links below:
Aquazone 2:
http://www.smithmicro.com/default.tpl?group=product_full&sku=AQZOWCD
Aquazone 1:
http://my.smithmicro.com/win/aquazone/dtg/index.html
I can honestly say I wasted my money on all the other fish screensavers. If you're on a limited budget I'd recommend Aquazone 2 oceans of the World which gives you all but the freshwater expansion pack ($34):
http://my.smithmicro.com/win/aquazone/oceans/index.html
If you’re on a budget then the cheapest would be Aquazones desktop garden ($19.99), but it's not compatible with Vista as are all Aquazone 2 products. You can get the desktop garden free with Aquazone 2: Open water, but that package only includes two of the environments. To complete the set, you'd have to buy three expansion packs which works out more expensive. On no account buy both open water and oceans of the world because they are basically the same, though ‘oceans of the world’ has four environments as opposed to two. The more expensive oceans of the world is definitely worth it if you were thinking of buying the two expansion packs as each of those costs $12.99 each (you can't use the expansion packs alone)
I've been waiting for more expansion packs to be released because I really love the screensaver. You can even zoom in on fish as well as pan around even when it's in screensaver mode. To use the feeding option you have to open the program as an application as opposed to a screensaver, which you can with both Aquazone 1 and 2
