Author - Jerry Paxton

Captain Kirk MIMOBOT USB Drive Review

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MIMOCO sent us over one of their new “Star Trek X MIMOBOT Series 1” USB drives for review. Being Spock fans, we were hoping to see our favorite pointy-eared science officer when we opened the package but, instead, were gleefully-greeted by the phaser-wielding Captain James T. Kirk, clad in his gold uniform. In terms of design, each of the new Star Trek X MIMOBOTs are well-drawn and have a stylized representation of the characters they represent. MIMOCO has long-been known for stylish, stylized USB drives and the Star Trek ones are no exception.

In terms of using the MIMOBOT USB drive, it performed very quickly and was ready to use about a second after I inserted it into the USB port. I absolutely hate it when I put a USB drive into my computer and it takes a long time to recognize and load. This was simply not an issue here. It recognizes and loads the drive so quickly, you should be ready to transfer files by time you pull your hand back to your mouse.

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This USB drive also includes some cool little extra for fans of Star Trek, like wallpapers for various desktop and tablet resolutions, Star Trek icons, and even the awesome mimoDesk Star Trek program which, looking like an LCARS console from Star Trek: The Next Generation, includes a ton of digital comic books and videos (commercials, trailers, etc). The highlights of these mimoDesk extras for me were certainly the original series Star Trek comic books.

Overall, the MIMOCO Captain Kirk MIMOBOT USB drive is an excellent storage option with lightning-fast drive recognition. Additionally, the stylized and well-drawn representation of your favorite Star Trek characters as well as the included Star Trek extras should be enough to make this a no-brainer for Trekkies looking for a USB drive. The only real “con” I discovered in using this USB drive is that it does not support USB 3.0 transfer speeds and MIMOCO, at the time of this writing, does not sell a USB 3.0 version.

[easyreview title=”Captain Kirk MIMOBOT USB Drive Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″] Our Rating Scores Explained

Specifications

  • Pre-loaded digital Mimory™
  • Available in 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, & 64GB capacities
  • Hi-speed USB 2.0
  • Win/Mac compatible
  • 2.5” tall by 1” wide
  • One-year limited warranty

Weekend Box Office for March 15-17, 2013

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Oz The Great and Powerful leads the weekend box office two weeks in a row, bringing in $42.2 million dollars. In a surprising turn, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone came in third position with $10.3 million on its opening weekend, about $8 million lower than its industry estimate.

The Top Ten

Oz The Great and Powerful $42.2M / $145M
The Call $17.1M / $17.1M
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone $10.3M / $10.3M
Jack the Giant Slayer $6.2M / $54M
Identity Thief $4.5M / $124M
Snitch $3.5M / $37.3M
21 and Over $2.7M / $22M
Silver Linings Playbook $2.6M / $125M
Safe Haven $2.5M / $67M
Escape From Planet Earth $2.3M / $52M

Aliens: Colonial Marines PC Patch Will Have Improved Visuals

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Looks like PC gamers upset with the lackluster visual quality of Aliens: Colonial Marines won’t have to wait much longer for some relief. Sometime in the next week, Gearbox Software will be releasing a “rather large” update for the game which will include improved textures and other visual improvements. Crossing my fingers we get a final product similar to the game demo we were shown at E3!

Official GBX Post

March 14 2013 Update:

Thanks for all the feedback!

The PC update is currently in the final stages of testing and expected to roll out within the next week.

This update contains the changes that were in the recent update for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, along with some additional changes that will be part of future updates for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. This update also includes several PC-specific changes, notably: improved texture resolution, various visual improvements, the addition of a mouse smoothing option, and some fixes for PC-only crashes.

As this update is rather large, those players with limited or bandwidth-capped access may want modify their auto-update settings by right-clicking Aliens: Colonial Marines in their Steam Library, choosing Properties and selecting the Updates tab.

Battlefield 4 Invite Reveals GDC Press Event

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Looks like Electronic Arts and DICE will be unveiling their hotly-anticipated Battlefield 4 at this year’s GDC in San Francisco at 7pm on March 26th, 2013. The invite reads “Please join us to celebrate a brand-new era of Battlefield”. This could allude to the game being on next-gen systems (which would be expected), or, perhaps it alludes to the game being set in the near-future? They tried this before with mixed results in Battlefield 2142, but it would be interesting to see what they could do a second time around.

UPDATE: Looks like being set in the future is a no-go. AllGamesBeta has found the promo image this invite image is based on below:

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Bioshock Infinite Full Voice Cast Revealed

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2k Games and Irrational Games have announced the full voice cast for their upcoming Bioshock Infinite, which includes Jennifer Hale (Mass Effect), Kimberly D. Brooks (Mass Effect), and Yuri Lowenthal (I Love Bees).

BioShock Infinite Voice Cast:

Troy Baker
(Final Fantasy XIII, Catherine, Red Faction: Guerilla, Brothers In Arms, Batman: Arkham City)
as Booker DeWitt

Courtnee Draper
(Surf’s UpPonyo, and Kingdom Hearts II)
as Elizabeth

Jennifer Hale
(Mass Effect, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic)
as Rosalind Lutece

Oliver Vaquer
(Dexter, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, The Warriors)
as Robert Lutece

Kiff VandenHeuvel
(Star Wars: The Old Republic, Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition)
as Zachary Comstock

Kimberly D. Brooks
(Mass Effect, Batman: Arkham City, XCOM: Enemy Unknown)
as Daisy Fitzroy

Keith Szarabajka
(Argo, Sons of Anarchy, Halo 4, The Dark Knight, L.A. Noire)
as Cornelius Slate

Bill Lobley
(Sealab 2021, Alan Wake, Mafia II)
as Jeremiah Fink

Also with:

Amanda Philipson
April Stewart
Cindy Robinson
Laura Bailey
Lori Rom
Misty Lee
Tess Masters
Catherine Zambri
Dina Pearlman
Stephanie D’Abruzzo
Brent Popolizio
Brian Kimmet
Jesse Corti
Jim Meskimen
Joey D’Auria
Liam O’Brien
Mark Allan Stewart
Neil Kaplan
Patrick Pinney
Sam Riegel
Scott Holst
Spike Spencer
Steve Blum
Yuri Lowenthal
T. Ryder Smith
Gwendoline Yeo
Daheli Hall
Dioni Michelle Collins
Masasa Moyo
Elle Newlands
Kaiji Tang
Kevin Yamada
Matthew Yang King
Arif S. Kinchen
Faruq Tauheed
Roger Cross
T.C. Carson
Anthony Brophy
Brad Grusnick
Greg Ellis
Robin Atkin Downes
Patti Yasutake
Mimi Michaels
Vic Chao

Leviathan: Warships Website Online, New Screens, Dev Diary

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NEW YORK — 15 March 2013 — Paradox Interactive, a publisher of games and a treader of water, today released a new website, new screenshots, and a new behind-the-scenes diary forLeviathan: Warships, the upcoming strategy title for PC, Mac, iOS, and Android platforms.

Leviathan: Warships, a turn-based naval combat game with cross-platform co-op and PvP gameplay, now has all available media collected in one website, now afloat a thttp://leviathanwarships.com/. New screenshots are available there as well, showing off a variety of ships that will be available to players when the game launches in Q2 2013.

In Leviathan: Warships, players will choose from a wide array of ship and weapon types to build a personalized fleet and fight battles in a unique blend of action and turn-based gameplay. With Leviathan: Warships, Paradox puts the sea in the cloud, allowing players to start a session from their tablet and continue their cloud-saved skirmish from their computer, challenging foes on any available device. A new developer diary, discussing the design and decisions behind the game, is available now at http://tinyurl.com/cl6jorq.

Screenshots

Sid Meier’s Civilization V: Brave New World Announced

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New York, NY – March 15, 2013 – 2K and Firaxis Games announced today that Sid Meier’s Civilization® V: Brave New World, the second expansion pack for the award-winning Civilization V, is currently in development and will be released this summer for Windows-based PC and brought to the Mac® by Aspyr Media. Sid Meier’s Civilization V: Brave New World brings a massive amount of new gameplay to the Civilization V experience, providing gamers with even more rewarding ways to achieve world domination.

Civilization VBrave New World continues the strong tradition of ambitious expansion packs that fans have come to expect from the Civilization franchise,” said Sarah Anderson, senior vice president of marketing for 2K. “Brave New World is destined to continue the strong Civilization lineage that already includes massive expansions such as Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword and Civilization V: Gods & Kings.”

Sid Meier’s Civilization V: Brave New World provides new depth and replayability through the introduction of international trade and a focus on culture and diplomacy. The player’s influence around the world will be impacted by creating a number of Great Works across a variety of crafts, choosing an ideology for their civilization, and proposing global resolutions in the new World Congress. As players move through the ages of history, they will make critical decisions that influence relationships with all civilizations in the game world.

“After adding a number of great new features to Civilization V with the Gods & Kings expansion, the team continued to search for ways to create even more exciting gameplay through new systems and features,” said Sid Meier, director of creative development for Firaxis Games. “We’re happy to bring our fans another ambitious expansion that will provide hours and hours of new Civilization experiences.

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Key features include:

–         New Civilizations, Units and Buildings: The expansion features nine new civilizations, each with unique traits, units, buildings and all-new leaders, including Casimir III of Poland.

–         New Culture Victory: Spread your culture across the globe, dominating all other cultures. Create masterpieces with Great Artists, Writers, and Musicians that are placed in key buildings across your empire, like Museums, Opera Houses and even the Great Library. Use Archaeologists to investigate sites of ancient battles and city ruins for priceless cultural artifacts. Become the first civilization with a majority influence in all other civilizations to achieve a Culture Victory, becoming the envy of the world.

–         World Congress: The importance of diplomacy is intensified and city-state alliances are more important than ever. Change the diplomatic landscape through a new World Congress that votes on critical issues like implementing trade sanctions against rogue nations, limiting resource usage, designating host cities for the World Games and the use of nuclear weapons. Game-changing resolutions, vote trading, intrigue, and a new lead into the Diplomatic Victory ensures that the end of the game will be more dynamic than ever before.

–         International Trade Routes: Build your cities into hubs of international trade by land and sea, creating great wealth and prosperity for your people, while also spreading religion, cultural influence, and science. The number of trade routes increases through the advancement of economics and technologies, the creation of wonders and the unique abilities of your civilization. Will you connect to a closer city for a lower payoff and a safer route, choose a longer route with more risk for the bigger payoff, or perhaps point your trade route inward, sending vitally important food and production to the far corners of your own empire?

–         New Wonders: Eight new Wonders are introduced, including the Parthenon, Broadway, the Uffizi, and more.

–         New Game Scenarios: Two new scenarios let gamers fight the “War Between the States” and embark on the epic Scramble for Africa. Fight the American Civil War from either the Union or Confederate side, as you focus on the critical action in the Eastern theatre of operations between the capital cities of Richmond and Washington. In “Scramble for Africa”, the great colonial powers of the world are racing to explore the Dark Continent and extend their reach into its interior. Search for great natural wonders in the heart of Africa, as you explore a dynamically-generated continent each time you play.

Sid Meier’s Civilization V: Brave New World is not yet rated by the ESRB and will be available for Windows-based PC and Mac this summer. For more information on Sid Meier’s Civilization V: Brave New World, please visitwww.civilization.com or become a fan on Facebook.

2K is a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO).

GRID 2 Introducing World Series Racing Trailer

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Los Angeles, Calif. – March 14, 2013 – Today Codemasters® released “World Series Racing Part 1: An American Dream,” the first in a new series of trailers for GRID 2™ now showing at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-pLHG-xJI4. The video is narrated by Patrick Callahan, the entrepreneur and founder of World Series Racing, the fictional cross-discipline motor racing championship that runs throughout GRID 2, who introduces his vision for the series and its beginnings in the USA.

In the video, Patrick Callahan outlines his plans for a new motorsports series and introduces players to two key racing clubs he needs to recruit as in-game footage showcases some of GRID 2’s American locations, including Street Racing in Chicago, Track Racing at the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Road Racing at the dramatic California Coast. It is Callahan’s intention to bring the best drivers from different disciplines and styles from all over the world together to compete in one unified league and find the ultimate driving superstar. But to set up a new motorsports series, and get the rewards he craves, he needs a star. And that’s where the player comes in…

As Patrick Callahan’s raw talent, GRID 2 players will travel the world, recruiting race clubs and their drivers to compete in new and traditional racing events, crossing in and out of their established disciplines. Callaghan figures if he can get the best, the crowds will come. And then he’ll bring the eyes of the world onto his new series.

GRID 2’s world will reflect the progress players make in the game. Perform on the track and gamers will grow their fanbase, earning fame – GRID 2’s XP – allowing them access to new events, sponsors, cars and increasing their profile. To immerse players further in this new world of competitive motorsport, Codemasters has collaborated with ESPN to create exclusive in-game ESPN SportsCenter live-action video sequences that chart the rise of World Series Racing as it grows from a grass-roots curiosity to a headline-grabbing championship in the global sports market.

GRID 2, the long-awaited sequel to the BAFTA-award winning, critically acclaimed GRID™, will race into retail on May 28 for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and Windows® PC and is available for pre-order now.

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