Author - Jerry Paxton

Kalypso Media Creates Mobile Division

2014/04/03
Jerry Paxton
Industry News, News

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Ridgewood, NJ– April 3rd 2014 – Kalypso Media has today announced a newly created sister company within the Kalypso Media Group. Kalypso Media Mobile GmbH, based in Berlin, will focus on creating mobile entertainment for iOS and Android platforms for tablets and/or smartphones with at least three games scheduled to release in 2014.

“Kalypso has a lot of great IP, such as Tropico, Dungeons and Port Royale, within its portfolio and it is really about time to follow the trends of cross-platform-entertainment and cloud-gaming. Strategy and simulation games are especially under represented – specifically within the premium-price-segment –at the moment. This is a fast growing market and we think, as a part of our product diversification strategy, our games and brands deserve to become playable anywhere, anytime“ commented Simon Hellwig, Global Managing Director of Kalypso.

The first product will be announced very soon and Stefan Marcinek, Global Managing Director added: “We are of course looking to port and/or re-design our own IP for mobile platforms such as tablets and smartphones, but we will also release new and innovative games and concepts that fit perfectly on these devices. In the beginning, we will of focus on paid content but we are also looking into the Free-to-Play model as this will also play an important role in our growth strategy“.

Kalypso will also announce the responsible executives at Kalypso Mobile very soon – interested candidates in publishing, mobile marketing and mobile producing are welcome to send their CV to jobs@kalypsomedia.com .

Defense Grid 2 to be Playable at PAX East

2014/04/03
Jerry Paxton
Geek News, News, PAX, Windows PC News

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WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. – Apr. 3, 2014 – Defense Grid 2, the sequel to the 2008 tower defense critical hit, will be playable on Xbox One for the first time at PAX East in Boston later this month. The game will also be playable for PC players to experience at the show. Representatives from developer Hidden Path Entertainment will be on hand to demo a single-player map from the game at the 505 Games booth (#396), giving attendees a taste of the new standard in tower defense.

Hidden Path CEO Jeff Pobst will join veteran game journalist Russ Pitts, Polygon, for a candid conversation on the merits and pitfalls of embedded journalism. The talk takes place Sunday, April 13th at 11AM in the Condor Theater.

Full panel details can be found here: http://east.paxsite.com/schedule/panel/embedded-game-journalism-the-making-of-defense-grid-2

Wargaming .net League Grand Finals Begin

2014/04/03
Jerry Paxton
Geek News, News, Windows PC News

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April 3, 2014 — Wargaming is happy to announce the beginning of the first ever Wargaming.net League Grand Finals that will be held at the Multikino Zlote Tarasy in Warsaw, Poland, with the festive Opening Ceremony commencing at 12:00 CET on April 4.

“In its first year, the Wargaming.net League has attracted over 200,000 competitive gamers worldwide, becoming a well-recognized brand, comparable to established eSports organizations,” 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 three seasons of intense competition, and we cannot wait to finally crown our very first world champion.”

Each regional team with the most points (Virtus.pro, JL Sports, Fnatic, Na’Vi, PVP Super Friends, ARETE) will go straight to the playoffs, while the other six tank squads together with two wildcard teams will have to fight it out for a chance to compete in the playoffs. The seeding ceremony has them divided into Group A (Synergy, Team WUSA, SIMP, Lemming Train) and Group B (NOA, U Are Dead, The RED Rush: Unity, Energy Pacemaker).

The three-day tournament will be streamed live on Wargaming.net League Twitch channels:

The Grand Finals will feature a variety of prizes for spectators, including stage giveaways, invite and bonus codes for World of Tanks, as well as exclusive goodie bags for the most avid spectators. Live stream viewers will be able to win invite and bonus codes during match streaming.

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

“Wargaming has elevated military combat gaming with World of Tanks to all new levels, the community around the game is expanding worldwide like wildfire, and the Grand Finals will mark the first time that all the global regions will be united in a single, winner-takes-all tournament,” says Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder, CEO and creative director. “With some of the world’s top eSports athletes included among the title’s 80 million registered players, we’re excited to back-up our World of Tanks DeathAdder and Goliathus offerings with support of this year’s World of Tanks grand finale and wish all contestants GLHF.”

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

Divoom Voombox-Outdoor Bluetooth Speaker

2014/04/02
Jerry Paxton
News, Reviews, Tech News, Tech Review

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Divoom’s Voombox-Outdoor rugged Bluetooth speaker is one of many of these types of speakers on the market right now. What sets it apart from the rest of the pack, however, is its great build quality and Blueooth 4.0 connectivity for increased battery life. Going into the speaker design itself, the Voombox-Outdoor features 5 drivers and an output of 15W. For its small size, it puts out some nice sound volume. Unfortunately, its low end sound is a bit muddled, however its mid and high ranges make up for the issue. Again, the Voombox-Outdoor has some great volume going for it, and its internal battery lasts about 12 hours on a full charge.

Visually, the Voombox-Outdoor Blueooth speaker is about 7 inches long and 4 inches tall and about 3 inches wide. It’s small enough to fit inside a backpack pouch without any trouble but too big to carry in a pocket. The size actually works out well given the sound output and function. This is not the type of speaker you casually stroll with. This speaker is meant to put up with abuse and to be out there, in the elements with you, as you take on mother nature. Even better is that it only weight 1.5 lbs, give or take an ounce or two, so it won’t weigh you down too much. Just in case you want to wear the speaker unit, there is a wrist strap included in the box that you can attach to the speaker’s side.

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These speakers are labeled as “weather resistant”, meaning they can withstand water, snow, dirt, and spills. This means they are a great speaker system to set on a rock if you are at a camp site or on the sand if you are enjoying a day at the beach. Taking calls while enjoying the outdoors is no problem for the Voombox-Outdoor, as it has the capability of acting as a speakerphone unit, with a built in microphone. Call quality is decent, with callers coming in loud and clear. For the color conscious out there, the Voombox-Outdoor is available in Blue, Black, Red, and Green housings, and the color does not change the speaker’s performance characteristics.

Overall, Divoom’s Voombox-Outdooor Bluetooth speaker unit is an excellent choice to take with you on the road. It is rugged enough to take a beating while also providing decent sound quality with plenty of power. The Voombox-Outdoor is available now for a reasonable $99.99 at retailers like Amazon.com.

[easyreview title=”Divoom Voombox-Outdoor Bluetooth Speaker Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″ ]

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Razer BlackWidow Ultimate with Razer Green Switches Review

2014/04/02
Jerry Paxton
News, Peripheral Review, Peripherals News, Reviews

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Recently, I was able to evaluate one of Razer’s new BlackWidow Ultimate gaming keyboards featuring their new Razer Green Switch keyboard keys. Most of this latest iteration of the BlackWidow Ultimate is largely unchanged from its 2013 version (which used a different brand of mechanical key switches). The keyboard is a large size, measuring about 18.5″ in length and 6.5″ in width and weighs in at a little over 3 lbs. For its size and weight, however, you can definitely feel the craftsmanship that went into building it. Razer has clearly built the BlackWidow Ultimate to be their flagship keyboard and it shows in all its black, sleek lines and crisp, vibrant back-lighting.

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Official Specifications

  • Razer™ Mechanical Switches with 50g actuation force
  • 60 million keystroke life span
  • Individually backlit keys
  • 10 key roll-over anti-ghosting
  • Fully programmable keys with on-the-fly macro recording
  • 5 additional dedicated macro keys
  • Gaming mode option
  • Audio-out/mic-in jacks
  • USB pass-through
  • 1000Hz Ultrapolling
  • Razer Synapse 2.0 enabled
  • Braided fiber cable
  • Approximate size: 475mm/18.72” (Width) x 171mm/6.74” (Height) x 20mm/0.79” (Depth)
  • Approximate weight: 1500g/3.31lbs

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System Requirements

  • PC with USB port
  • Windows® 8/ Windows® 7 / Windows Vista® / Windows® XP (32-bit) / Mac OS X (v10.6 to 10.9)
  • Internet connection (for driver installation)
  • At least 200MB of hard disk space
  • Razer Synapse 2.0 registration (requiring a valid e-mail), software download, license acceptance, and internet connection needed to activate full features of product and for software updates. After activation, full features are available in optional offline mode.

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Meanwhile, inside this gaming keyboard lies the new Razer Green Switch keys – but, for all the marketing hype, one must ask if they are worth it? Thankfully, the key switches found within the Razer BlackWidow Ultimate are crisp and have a very small amount of movement needed before the keys are activated with an audibly-satisfying clicking sound. In fact, that distance required to activate the key switch is a scant 1.9mm – as opposed to most mechanical key switches which activate at 2.2mm. The coolest thing that I found with these new key switches happens when I have to double-tap a key. Usually, double-tapping a mechanical keyboard key has a strange disconnect to it due to the distance the mechanical key switch needs to reset itself. With these new key switches, double-tapping a keyboard key is very responsive and the reset distance has been greatly decreased. It feels a lot more like double-tapping a membrane based key, but with the tactile response of the mechanical type.

Setting up the BlackWidow Ultimate has always been a snap, going all the way back to its initial release in 2010. Now, however, setting up your profiles and custom configurations is all the more so with Razer’s Synapse 2.0 cloud-based control suite. Using Synapse 2.0, you can store and load profiles no matter what computer your plug your keyboard into – so long as you can access the Internet to interface with Razer’s servers.

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The five macro key array is still located to the left of the QWERTY key layout, and the numeric keypad to its right. Like its preceding keyboards, the BlackWidow Ultimate features an audio output jack, microphone input jack, and USB pass through port on its right wide, and the keyboard features a heavy braided cord which is very durable. While durable, the heavy cord does sometimes get in the way as it doesn’t easily bend and I hope at some point Razer will use a softer braiding material.

Overall, Razer’s latest iteration of the BlackWidow Ultimate gaming keyboard is an absolute brilliant piece of hardware with four years of tried and true use behind it. It’s new features make it all the more awesome and user-friendly, whether you are typing your memoirs or playing multiplayer matches of Call of Duty: Ghosts with some friends. The Razer BlackWidow Ultimate retails for $139.99 over at Razer’s official website and is available now – both this and a “Stealth” variant which uses quieter mechanical keys.

[easyreview title=”Razer BlackWidow Ultimate with Razer Green Switches Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″ ]

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Tentacles: Enter the Mind for Windows 8 PC and RT Devices

2014/04/02
Jerry Paxton
Mobile News, News

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April 2, 2014 —  Following the release of the Xbox One title Max: The Curse of Brotherhood, Copenhagen-based development studio Press Play is pleased to announce Tentacles: Enter the Mind, scheduled for release in early summer on the Microsoft Store for Windows 8 PC and RT Devices.

Tentacles: Enter the Mind is a completely new take on the Tentacles universe and mechanic from the award winning Tentacles: Enter the Dolphin. Set in a beautiful 3D world, bizarre creatures hide behind every twisted corner of Phluff’s mind, from Libido to Super-Ego and beyond. Eat their eyes, acquire new powers, and kill the cute!

Literally enter the mind of Professor Phluff, a mad scientist with a dolphin head who’s obsessed with making the world a cuter place. But everything has gone horribly wrong. Dr. Phluff’s mind has become infested by the cute creations he so dearly adores and they’re making him even crazier than he was before. Luckily, his subconscious has a plan and will help you on your journey. Navigate as Lemmy, a rubbery tentacled monster, and clean out each layer of Dr. Phluff’s troubled psychosis. Use the intuitive, controls to avoid tricky projectiles and surface hazards, while snacking on eyeballs along the way.  From paranoia to hysteria – the goal is simple – clean out each layer of Professor’s Phluff’s mind and survive for as long as possible.

“Tentacles is first and foremost about playful, challenging mechanics that are both entertaining and engaging. It takes place in a twisted, surreal universe where there are no limits to Professor Phluff’s fantasies,” said Creative Director, Ole Teglbjærg. “And I guess this game speaks to a very broad audience…who doesn’t like mad scientists and tentacles?”

To learn more about Tentacles: Enter the Mind please visit: http://pressplay.dk/games/tentacles-enter-the-mind/

VoidExpanse Alpha Version Available for Pre-Order Customers

2014/04/02
Jerry Paxton
News, Trailers / Videos, Windows PC News

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April 2, 2014 – VoidExpanse, the sci-fi action-RPG from indie developer, AtomicTorch Studio, launches into Alpha access today for PC through the VoidExpanse website.

By purchasing the Alpha, players will receive an immediate discount and all future updates, and help to shape the future of VoidExpanse.

Watch the new Alpha trailer:

VoidExpanse offers single-player and multiplayer sandbox modes with an infinite array of procedurally generated galaxies to explore, to protect, and conquer. Whether flying solo or with other players, real-time combat and no auto-leveling enemies means every journey is a risk, and everyone is a potential threat.

Powerful character- and ship-customization offers players the freedom to define their roles in VoidExpanse, such as a combat pilot mercilessly cutting down pirates and aliens, a trader hauling valuable cargo along the most dangerous routes, or even the risky but lucrative life of an asteroid miner.

Key Features:
• Procedurally generated galaxies.
• Extensive skill-trees and ship customization.
• Battle, trade with NPCs, mine asteroids, and explore the unknown.
• Real-time combat with serious dangers; no auto-leveling enemies.
• Join with friends or battle in persistent multiplayer worlds.
• Every aspect of the game is fully moddable and extendable.

Learn more and join the VoidExpanse Alpha at:
http://voidexpanse.com

Rapoo Unveils the 8900P Advanced Wireless Mouse and Keyboard Set

2014/04/02
Jerry Paxton
News, Peripherals News

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LOS ANGELES – April 2, 2014 – The Rapoo 8900P, an Advanced Wireless Mouse and Keyboard Set, is the ultimate desktop set for the power user.   Combining a slim, intelligent keyboard that has topped the IF Product Design Awards, and a wireless mouse fitted with a high-definition laser, this bundle adds style, and optimizes productivity in your home or office.  The 8900P is available now.


The first part of the 8900P package is the E9270P, an ultra-slim touch keyboard with intelligent, multimedia touch keys.  Crafted from stainless steel and aluminum alloy (only 4mm thick), this keyboard’s elegant look earned it a coveted IF Product Design Award 2013.  Users can type comfortably and accurately for long periods of time because of the scissor key structure and floating chiclet keys.

Illuminated multimedia touch keys are located at the top of the keyboard, and they light up as your hand moves closer.  This also features tactile feedback vibration so you can not only touch, but truly feel the keys.  Additionally, the keyboard boasts a 5GHz wireless transmission for a reliable connection.   Small and unobtrusive, simply plug the Nano Receiver into a USB port, and forget about it.

The second component of the 8900P set is the 7800P wireless laser mouse with six buttons and a zoom in/out slide switch.  This is a full-size mouse with a high-definition laser engine so it is very easy to control and navigate.  A 4D scroll wheel makes it possible to scroll horizontally and vertically, and you can choose between 800 DPI (for accuracy) and 1600 DPI (for fast movements) with the push of one key.

The mouse runs on a 5GHz wireless transmission so you can avoid interferences caused by Bluetooth and WiFi equipment.  Its batteries last up to one year.

The 8900P is available for $89.99 at www.staples.com, www.walmart.com, and other retailers.

For more on the 8900P and all of Rapoo’s award winning products, “like” Facebook.com/Rapoo and follow @RapooGlobal.

EA Sports 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Demo Out Now

2014/04/02
Jerry Paxton
News

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REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – Apr. 2, 2014 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) today announced that the playable demo of EA SPORTS™ 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ is now available to download worldwide for the Xbox 360® games and entertainmentsystem from Microsoft by Xbox Live Gold members, and for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, enabling fans to experience all the fun, excitement, and drama of football’s greatest event. The EA SPORTS 2014 FIFA World Cup demo will be available to Xbox Live Silver members beginning Apr. 8. Download the demo here: http://www.easports.com/2014-fifa-world-cup/custom/demo

Fans who download the demo will be able to play Kick-Off in Estadio do Maracana, the stadium that will host the World Cup Final, as Brazil, England, Mexico, United States of America, Japan, Ivory Coast, Australia, and New Zealand. The new adidas® brazuca, official match ball for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™, will also be available in the demo.

The full release of the game is available beginning on April 15 in North America. 2014 FIFA World Cup features the deepest set of game modes ever in an EA SPORTS tournament title, all new gameplay innovations and improvements, and a rich presentation that captures the color and vibrancy of Brazil. With 203 national teams, 7,469 players, 19 officially licensed managers, and 21 new stadiums including all 12 authentic stadiums from Brazil, EA SPORTS 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil will put fans in control of their nation’s fate.

Fans who pre-order* the game have the opportunity to receive exclusive game content including new celebrations, the adidas All-Star Team, adidas footballs, or the EA SPORTS FIFA Classic XI which would otherwise need to be unlocked in the EA SPORTS Football Club Catalogue using XP and Football Club Credits. For more pre-order information, fans can visithttp://www.easports.com/2014-fifa-world-cup/buy.