Author - Jerry Paxton

Braven Unveils BRV-X Rugged Bluetooth Speaker

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Provo, Utah – March 10, 2014 – BRAVEN announces the immediate availability of the BRV-X, the world’s first rugged Bluetooth speaker featuring TrueWireless™ technology and an exclusive frequency tuning ability to maximize sound quality and volume in indoor and outdoor environments. BRAVEN’s TrueWireless™ technology enables easy wireless pairing with a second BRV-X for an amazing left and right stereo sound using two BRV-X speakers.

Designed for sports and outdoor enthusiasts, the BRAVEN BRV-X takes the next step in outdoor HD wireless speaker design by combining the latest in audio technology with the ruggedness needed to withstand drops, bumps, rain and more. Perfect for beach outings, camping trips or even hiking adventures, the BRV-X comes equipped with custom HD drivers, omnidirectional passive bass radiator and an indoor/outdoor switch that adjusts audio output to fit its surroundings to maximize sound quality and volume.“The BRV-X is the next step in the evolution of the rugged wireless speaker and the big brother of the highly acclaimed BRAVEN BRV-1,” stated Andy Fathollahi, Chief Executive.

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“The BRV-X is the tank of mobile speakers with the durability to withstand any adventure, the sound technology to adapt to any environment, and the clarity and volume to blast all your favorite music in HD.”

The BRV-X pumps over 12 hours of continuous HD sound, is IPX5 water-resistant rated, and can charge USB devices such as smartphones, cameras and GoPro with an integrated 5200 mAh power bank; giving users the convenience having a portable backup battery. The BRV-X is also equipped with a built-in noise-cancelling speakerphone that allows you to take calls even when camping by the river, and comes with a heavy-duty strap to easily secure the speaker on bicycles, all-terrain vehicles, tents and more.

The BRAVEN BRV-X is currently available for $229.99.  For more information about the BRV-X or the entire line of BRAVEN Bluetooth speakers, visit www.braven.com

Warlords of Draenor Now Available for Pre-Order

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IRVINE, Calif.—March 10, 2014—This fall, World of Warcraft® players around the globe will clash with the legends of Warcraft®’s brutal past when Warlords of Draenor charges into stores worldwide. Azeroth’s heroes can prepare for the coming onslaught today by pre-purchasing the expansion digitally at www.worldofwarcraft.com/warlords. Players who answer this call to arms will receive their character boost to level 90 immediately, allowing them to join friends on the battlefield or experience the latest content from a whole new perspective.††

The fifth expansion to Blizzard Entertainment’s acclaimed massively multiplayer online role-playing game leads players to the untamed world of Draenor, where the orc warchief Grommash Hellscream is forging his twisted Iron Horde into a world-shattering weapon of conquest. Faced with seemingly insurmountable odds, the champions of the Horde and the Alliance must establish a base of operations on Draenor and seek out courageous allies to make a stand against Hellscream’s mighty war machine.

“We’re sending players deep into uncharted territory with Warlords of Draenor,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “New features like the Garrison will give players a commanding role in the Warcraft saga like never before, and everyone can get in on the action right away with the included level-90 boost. There’s never been a better time to go to war for the Horde or the Alliance.”

When Warlords of Draenor launches this fall, it will introduce a wide variety of epic features and content for players of every kind, whether they’re longtime veterans or new recruits. With the expansion, players will be able to:

  • Explore a Savage World: Explore the hostile world of Draenor, home of the orc and draenei races, as it once existed, and adventure in all-new zones alongside characters central to Warcraft history.
  • Build a Garrison: Construct, command, and expand your own customizable stronghold on Draenor, and gather NPC followers to collect resources and embark on missions on your orders.
  • Instantly Upgrade to Level 90Upon pre-purchasing the expansion, boost one character of your choosing to level 90, making it easier than ever to enjoy the latest content together with your friends.
  • Step Into New Character Models: Character models and animations for World of Warcraft’s original playable races are being fully revamped while maintaining the game’s iconically epic style.
  • Adventure to Level 100: Reach new heights of power and unlock bonuses to further enhance your abilities on your way to the new level cap of 100.
  • . . . And More: Take on a wide array of Dungeons, Raids, Scenarios, Battlegrounds, Challenge Modes, and more—no matter what kind of content you enjoy, new adventures await.

Warlords of Draenor will come in a Standard Edition (physical and digital versions available), which players can pre-purchase now at a suggested retail price of $49.99. Players also have the option to upgrade their pre-purchase to the Digital Deluxe Edition (SRP $69.99), which contains the following in-game bonuses for World of Warcraft and other Blizzard games (each available in-game at the time of pre-purchase):

  • World of Warcraft—Dread Raven Mount and Dread Hatchling Pet: Swoop down from the dark of night on the black-winged Dread Raven, a mortal progeny of Anzu, and devour your prey in your next Pet Battle with the adorably ferocious Dread Hatchling.
  • StarCraft® II—Warchief Portraits: Summon the strength of two of the most fearsome Iron Horde warchiefs—Grommash Hellscream and Blackhand—as you clash in the Koprulu sector in StarCraft II.
  • Diablo® III—Warsong Pennant: Brandish this battle-torn pennant on your back, and channel the rage of the Warsong Clan against the demonic forces of Sanctuary in Diablo III.

Players who pre-purchase either the digital Standard Edition or Digital Deluxe Edition from Blizzard at www.worldofwarcraft.com/warlords will be able to immediately boost one character of their choosing to level 90, allowing them to experience the latest World of Warcraft content alongside their friends††. Players who wish to boost multiple characters to level 90 also now have the option to purchase additional level-90 character boosts directly through the game at $60 apiece. Further details on character boosts, including information on the gear, skills, and provisions boosted level-90 characters will receive, can be found at www.worldofwarcraft.com.

Warlords of Draenor will also be available in a retail-exclusive Collector’s Edition, which comes equipped with the digital bonus items from the Digital Deluxe Edition as well as a full-color hardcover art book, a behind-the-scenes two-disc Blu-ray/DVD set, a CD soundtrack, and a Warlords of Draenor mouse pad. The Collector’s Edition will be available at select retailers for a suggested retail price of $89.99. Players should check their local retailer for details and availability and be sure to lock in their preorder, as supplies are limited.

In addition to the English version, Warlords of Draenor will be fully localized into Latin American Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, Italian, European Spanish, Russian, Korean, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese. For more information on World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor and to pre-purchase your copy, visit www.worldofwarcraft.com/warlords.

With multiple games in development, Blizzard Entertainment has numerous positions currently available—visit http://jobs.blizzard.com for more information and to learn how to apply.

Line of Defense Tactics Review (PC)

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3000AD, the company founded by long-time PC game developer, Derek Smart, has released its real-time squad tactics game, Line of Defense Tactics, on the PC. Originally a mobile title, Line of Defense Tactics puts you in command of a four-person squad as they undertake 16 missions of various goals and settings. Of course, one must ask if a game ported over to the PC from a mobile experience can successfully make the transition. For example, what used to be all gesture controlled is now a keyboard, mouse, and gamepad affair.

Unfortunately, the controls are Line of Defense Tactics biggest hurdle for players to overcome. Controlling your squad with the mouse and keyboard causes great frustration as you “chase” your units around with the mouse cursor in order to select them. Sometimes, selecting a unit will not actually select them, instead it brings up an interaction menu based on the last character that was selected. This is a huge problem as Line of Defense Tactics has some enjoyable gameplay moments which are ruined by the controls.

Aside from the glaring control problems, Line of Defense Tactics doesn’t really have any discernible storyline. This is not always a bad thing, and Line of Defense Tactics doesn’t lose anything because of it. Throughout the game’s 16 levels, your 4 squad members will level up, gain new skills, and be able to purchase new weapons and gear. Doing these things is essential as the difficulty level of the game’s AI bad guys grows rapidly after the first few missions. Each member of your squad has his own area of combat expertise, but the clunky controls make wielding them effectively very challenging.

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Visually, Line of Defense Tactics lacks a lot of detail – I would imagine a symptom of its mobile game roots. The camera keeps back a bit to try and cheat the lack of detail, but it doesn’t do much to help the situation. The game’s music and voice acting are equally “so-so”, and I just kept wishing that this game had been developed for the PC platform first with a lot more detail, story, etc and then ported over to the mobile platforms. 3000AD has made some of the most complex PC games in history, so it is surprising to see something like this come from them.

Overall, Line of Defense Tactics is an “okay” port of a fun mobile game. It has a few interesting, engaging moments, but lacks overall polish – especially at a $24.99 dollar price point. If this game were on sale for $9.99 dollars or less, I would be a lot more generous in evaluating it.

[easyreview title=”Line of Defense Tactics Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”2″ ]

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Wargaming.net League Grand Finals to be Held in Poland

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March 7, 2014 — Wargaming today announced details about its first ever Wargaming.net League Grand Finals, slated to take place on April 4–6 at the Multikino Zlote Tarasy in Warsaw, Poland.

“In the first year of the Wargaming.net League we’ve seen tears of joy and tears of anger from some of the best World of Tanks players around the entire world,” said Mohamed Fadl, eSports Director of Europe and North America at Wargaming. “The Grand Finals in Poland are going to be the ultimate culmination of that intense competition, and we cannot wait to finally crown our very first world champion.”

The championship will assemble 14 top-performing teams from around the world, including Fnatic and SIMP from North America, ARETE and NOA from South Korea, PVP Super Friends and UAD from Southeast Asia, Energy Pacemaker and E-Sports Club from China, and Na’Vi and RR-UNITY from CIS region. The European game’s cluster will be represented by Virtus.pro and Synergy, as well as two wildcard teams—Lemming Train (Poland) and Team WUSA (Germany). After taking part in three seasons of qualification matches, tournaments and championships, teams will battle each other over three days until only one is awarded the title of world champion.

The event is organized in cooperation with the Warsaw’s city authorities and sponsored by Razer, Alienware, and PayPal.

“World of Tanks is a tour de force that brings the excitement of tank warfare to the top of competitive gaming, requiring unprecedented skill, focus and strategy, which the global eSports community has taken to at a massive rate,” says Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder, CEO and creative director. “It is our pleasure to support Wargaming in every way possible, as we partner together in uniting World of Tanks athletes from around the world at the Grand Finals tournament.”

For more information on the Wargaming.net League Grand Finals, please visit: www.thegrandfinals.com

Hegemony Rome: The Rise of Caesar Gets Early Access Patch

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March 7th, 2014, Ridgewood, NJ – Secure your supply lines, rally the troops and prepare to continue your campaign of conquest under the ruling hand of Julius Caesar. Steam Early Access for Hegemony Rome: The Rise of Caesar updates today: adding chapter 3 to the campaign, improved enemy combat AI and many other features, tweaks and bug fixes.

Hegemony Rome: The Rise of Caesar is available to play now via Early Access. For more information on Steam Early Access head over to the Steam page here.

Full Update Change Log:

Content:
– German Localizations
– Chapter 3 added
– New objective rewards in chapter 2
– Miscellaneous AI, balance, and objective tweaks in chapters 1 & 2

Features
– All friendly unit formations are now visible on the battlefield
– Randomised enemies for some battles
– Improved enemy combat AI
– New background asset loader to improve performance
– Unit selections can now be assigned to the number keys

Bugs:
– Fixed bug with non-english characters in the load/save game screen
– Fixed “Unit formation index” bug
– Fixed some “Error caching brigade” bugs
– Diplomacy options that would break the campaign are now locked
– Fixed potential freeze when units rout
– Fixed bug with drag selection when a lot of units were onscreen

Hegemony Rome: The Rise of Caesar takes you to the plains and forests of ancient Gaul where Julius Caesar wages a decade long war to subjugate the barbarian hordes. It will immerse you in history like no other real time strategy game ever before, forcing you to pay close attention to the changing seasons and rapidly changing military situations.

For more information on Hegemony Rome: The Rise of Caesar please visitwww.kasedogames.com

Razer Unveils New Razer Mechanical Gaming Switches

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CARLSBAD, Calif. – Razer™, the world leader in entertainment devices and software, today announced the launch of the world’s first mechanical switch designed by Razer specifically for gaming – the Razer Mechanical Switch.

While traditional mechanical switches were originally designed for typing, the all-new Razer Mechanical Switches have been designed and engineered from the ground up for gaming. In order to achieve that, Razer decided to go back to the drawing board to completely re-engineer the traditional mechanical switch.

After extensive research, Razer’s multi-award winning engineers identified the optimal actuation distance for a gaming switch to a fraction of a millimeter and reduced the distance between the actuation and reset point by almost half to allow for faster, more precise gaming commands when compared to standard mechanical switches. Furthermore, the all-new Razer Mechanical Switches are made using an ultra-precise manufacturing technique that, along with gold plated contact points, result in a lifespan of up to 60 million key strokes.

While Razer scientists and engineers designed the new Razer Mechanical Switch from ground up, mass production was done by a third party manufacturer. However, to ensure that each switch met to its demanding specifications, Razer placed its own quality assurance experts on the production floor to make sure each switch meticulously follows the design blueprint and specifications defined by Razer.

Finally, these switches were tested extensively by the world’s most demanding eSports athletes who validated the new Razer Mechanical Switch in some of the most intense professional gaming tournaments.

“The new switches on the Razer BlackWidow have a lighter and smoother feel, allowing me to play at a faster pace than before,” says Jens “Snute” Aasgaard, Team Liquid StarCraft player. “It’s comfortable and solid – perfect for long practice sessions and tournaments.”

“Instead of focusing solely on typing comfort, as traditional mechanical switches have done, we had to completely rethink the conventional approach behind the actuation and reset points of mechanical switches in order to fine-tune them for gaming,” says Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder, CEO and creative director. “Our engineers’ focus for the specification was on speed, accuracy and durability to bring the unfair advantage to gamers worldwide. The new switch makes the most popular gaming keyboard in the world even better.”

The Razer Mechanical switch is available on the new Razer BlackWidow family of mechanical gaming keyboards, and is open to other gaming peripheral makers who wish to manufacture the highest quality gaming-grade mechanical keyboards.

The all new Razer Mechanical Switch comes in two types: The Razer Green switch that is tactile and clicky, requiring a force of 50 g to actuate; and the Razer Orange switch that is tactile yet silent, requiring a force of 45 g to actuate.

For more information about the Razer Mechanical Switches along with the Razer BlackWidow range of gaming keyboards, please visit http://www.razerzone.com/razer-mechanical-switches

Panzer Tactics HD Coming to PC and iOS

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Eschborn, March 6, 2014: Hardcore strategists and hobbyists alike are in for a real tactical fireworks display, as bitComposer Games and Sproing announced today that Panzer Tactics HD, the popular hex map strategy classic from 2007, is coming to PC and iOS in Q2 of this year. Featuring a full graphical makeover with the familiar tactical depth that made the 2007 version so popular. For more information, please visit: http://www.panzertactics.com/

In 2008, Panzer Tactics for the Nintendo DS won the German Developer Award for the best console game.

Panzer Tactics HD offers all the tactical depth and the hard-hitting gameplay of the original with progressive levels of difficulty and three single-player campaigns with over 60 hours of gameplay to provide a real challenge.

“The strengths of the game clearly lie in the almost limitless variety of tactical possibilities and its demanding level of difficulty”, said Harald Riegler, CEO of Sproing. “Nevertheless, the changes will be more than visible. All maps and units have been completely remodeled, and weather and terrain significantly affect the battlefields, thus strategy for the next move. In short, with Panzer Tactics HD, we are taking the game to a new level.”

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Indiegogo Launches Campaign for Shaq-Fu: A Legend Reborn

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SAN FRANCISCO, March 6, 2014 – Indiegogo, the world’s largest crowdfunding platform, today announces that basketball legend and notable Renaissance man Shaquille O’Neal has launched his campaign for Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn on Indiegogo. Often labeled as one of the worst games of all time, with websites dedicated to destroying it, Shaq Fu has reached a cult status in the game industry. Considered a blight on Shaq’s career, he is setting out to right the wrongs of Shaq Fu and is reaching out directly to fans through Indiegogo to get their support.

“I’ll admit it, Shaq Fu was a horrible game. I’m a huge fan of videogames and want to have my name associated with a Shaq Fu game that I’m proud of and would like to play,” said Shaquille O’Neal. “This is my second chance and it’s even better this time since I’m able to partner with the fans to make this happen.”

In order to make the fighting game that fans deserve, Shaq has partnered with Big Deez Productions, a team of video game industry veterans that have deep experience making quality games with titles such as the Halo series, Street Fighter, Max Payne, Duke Nukem, Madden Football and dozens of others under their belt. The game’s soundtrack will be created by Steve Molitz, a world-renowned musician and composer. He will be creating a soundtrack that remixes and modernizes classic Shaq songs from his collection of Platinum and Gold albums including the remake of “Don’t Stop the Reign”.

The game is a modern day twist on the classic beat ‘em up. Play as Shaquille O’Neal as he kicks butt and take names on his quest to defeat the mysterious and deadly Black Star Ninja and his immeasurable horde of deadly ninja assassins. Players will be able to learn and unlock hundreds of classic and unique moves, strategic battle techniques and brutal finishing moves to keep the game rooted in traditional brawlers while also providing an over the top, in-your-face, slam dunk experience fans have come to know and love with Shaq.

The game will feature combo and character skill progression systems that allow players to hone a variety of fighting styles and tactics to create the ultimate bad ass warrior. Players can pimp out their character with modifiers that will allow players to change their appearance as well as enhance their skills. Power-ups littered throughout the levels will feature every nickname Shaq has ever had with a few new ones added for good measure.

Players will battle it out in detailed, deadly and destructible locations such as the slums of Asian cities, rooftops of skyscrapers, seedy nightclubs and in crowded markets. Gamers will be able to use the environment to their advantage as they pick up the nearest manhole cover or car door to throw, smash an enemy through the floor to leap down to lower levels, or collapse structures with earthquakes of unprecedented power to silence the enemy.

“Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn is a great example of how developers and celebrities can directly reach and partner with the fans to create something that otherwise wouldn’t get made,” said John Vaskis, Gaming Lead, Indiegogo. “We are thrilled to be able to be part of Shaq’s videogame redemption story.”

Through the Indiegogo rewards, as a thank you for supporting him in his quest, Shaq is providing unprecedented access to him and his life with several unique rewards based on the amount of money that funders contribute. A few of these rewards include: playing basketball with Shaq on his own court at this house, signed original size 22 Shaq Attack sneakers, a personalized voicemail recorded by Shaq, lunch or dinner with Shaq, the ability to participate in the taping of a TNT NBA show and much more.

Find out more information about the game and fund it here:
www.igg.me/at/shaqfu