A series of Halo domain names have been registered by Microsoft. Spotted by Fusible, Microsoft has registered ‘SpartanAssault.net’, ‘HaloSpartanAssault.com’ and ‘Halo-SpartanAssault.com’ with long-standing client MarkMonitor.
With the E3 gaming expo taking place next week, it is believed Microsoft plans to announce a new Halo project.
Acer’s first phablet device, the Liquid 1 is powered by a quad-core 1.5GHz processor and comes running the Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system out of the box.
The hybrid also features a 5.7-inch HD 1280 x 720 display, an 8-megapixel camera on the rear, a 2-megapixel snapper on the front and Acer’s Float user interface pre-installed. The Liquid S1 is scheduled for Q3 and is expected to cost in the region of £300.
Beyond: Two Souls has been officially dated for release on Friday 11th October 2013 in the UK.
The game, which stars Ellen Page as a woman with supernatural powers, will be released in North America three days earlier on 8th October.
The story follows Page’s Jodie Holmes through several stages of her life, from a young girl to an adult living on the streets.
Willem Dafoe also stars as government scientist Nathan Dawkins, who runs tests on Holmes’s unusual powers.
Acer presents the next-generation 13.3-inch Aspire S7Ultrabook. The new S7 Ultrabook has improved battery life for all-day computing, a refined electroluminescent (EL) backlit keyboard for more natural typing, and 2nd generation Acer TwinAir cooling with less fan noise. In addition, it is equipped with wireless display (WiDi) technology for big-screen entertainment and productivity.
“We designed the S7 to be the best touch Ultrabook in the world, bar none,” said Jim Wong, Acer Corporate President. “We listened carefully to users to find substantial ways to make it even better.” The re-engineered S7 delivers improved battery life of up to 7 hours, a 33% increase from its predecessor. Its new light-sensing EL backlit keyboard is also refined, with a deeper keystroke for more natural and comfortable typing. Plus, thanks to 2nd generation Acer TwinAir cooling technology, the noise at maximum load is more than 20% lower than the previous S7, keeping the system quiet and cool.
Acer’s new S7 supports Intel WiDi technology, which allows users to extend their laptop screen to a TV or big screen without a cable. With this feature, S7 users can stream video on their living room screen and open a new window on their computer and to work, bringing a new dimension to multitasking.
The Aspire S7-392 features Acer’s first 10-point touch WQHD display will also be available on the S7, with IPS technology squeezing a very impressive 2,560×1,440 resolution into a 13.3-inch screen. In addition, IPS technology shows consistent and accurate colors at viewing angles up to 170 degrees. Taking advantage of the touch benefits offered by Windows 8, the touch-enabled screen on the S7 can be opened a full 180°, and the image orientation reversed with a simple hotkey combination for easy touch-and-show sharing.
This new S7 packs powerful technologies, including dual-array microphones and Acer’s proprietary PurifiedVoice technology, which enhances speech performance and reduces noise for voice recognition and VOIP applications, making voice communication crystal clear. Moreover, it is powered by a 4th generation Intel Core processor and a RAID 0 solid state drive for fast wakeup and read/write times, as well as quietness.
The S7 Ultrabook remains impressively slim and light, measuring only 12.9 mm thin and weighing 1.3 kg. It is constructed from premium materials and features a dual-torque, T-shape hinge frame design to ensure wobble-free touch use. Its Gorilla® Glass 2 surface is smooth to the touch, beautiful and thin, yet strong, scratch resistant, and easy to clean. The new S7 features a unibody design made from a single block of aluminium using a process that saves energy and material; the result is an ultra-thin chassis that is super tough and roadworthy.
The Aspire S7-392 will start shipping in July starting at €1,450.
Acer today announced the launch of the new 13.3″ Aspire S3 Ultrabook at Computex Taipei. The S3 has inherited some of the industry-leading design and innovations of the Aspire S7, making it an impressively stylish and productive PC.
The S3’s patented dual-torque hinge design allows users to easily open the lid up to 180° for sharing content, while keeping the display wobble-free for an outstanding touch experience.
With Acer TwinAir cooling technology, the S3 is always cool to the touch without sacrificing performance. The light-sensing keyboard auto adjusts its brightness to ambient light for better visual comfort in dim settings. In addition, evoking the family design and visual purity of the S7’s gorilla glass cover, the new S3 cover is made from aluminium and sprayed Sparkling White with a mirror-polish finish; the operation area is made from anodized aluminium throughout. Just 17.8 mm thin and weighing only 1.67 kg, this Ultrabook is slim and easy to carry anywhere.
The S3 combines gorgeous design with impressive power. It is equipped with the latest Intel Core processors, which offer up to 15% better performance and up to 2x faster 3D graphics processing speed, with lower power consumption. With option of the new NVIDIA GeForce GT 735M graphics, users can play videos/movies, edit photos and play games faster than ever before.
The S3 has intuitive features that make it a joy to use. Acer Fast Resume enables the Aspire S3 to resume from Sleep mode in just 1 second, giving it tablet-like responsiveness and waking up 3x faster than a standard Ultrabook. And users no longer need to press the power button as the system will automatically boot up when the display is opened — even if the computer has been shut down.
When it comes to entertainment, the Acer S3’s 1080p Full HD display renders movies, photos and games with exquisite clarity. The display with IPS technology ensures vivid and accurate colour reproduction, with a 170° wide viewing angle that keeps images bright and clear, even when seen from the side. Users can also wirelessly share their favourite digital content on a big screen with better visuals and sound quality via WiDi technology. Plus, with unique Acer Purified. Voice technology, communicating with friends and family sounds crystal clear.
Acer’s S3 is available with a 7.2 mm 1 TB hard disk for storage, with the capacity to keep up to 250,000 MP3 songs or 150 FHD videos, and 290,000 8 MP photos — plenty of room for essential entertainment on the go.
The new Aspire S3 will start shipping in July with a starting price of €999.-.
Just over a month ago, an eight-inch Acer tablet running Windows 8 mysteriously showed up on Amazon, only to be removed from the site a few hours later.
Today Acer is finally making the Iconia W3 official, Acer is confirming that all of the specs listed on Amazon were correct: it weighs 1.10 pounds, measures 0.45 inches thick, features an 8.1-inch 1280 x 800 LCD display, and is powered by an Intel Atom Z2760 Clover Trail CPU. Storage is handled by 32GB and 64GB of flash memory, which is further expandable thanks to the W3’s microSD slot. A $79.99 full-sized keyboard can also turn the device into a tiny Windows 8 laptop (sans mouse, although one can be added) that can run all of your classic Windows apps, making it an intriguing option for students and others looking for a small dual-purpose device. Even more so with the complementary bundled copy of MS Office.
Acer points out that the W3 is actually the first eight-inch tablet to run the full version of Windows 8. The suggested retail price for the W3 is $379, with Pre-orders from tomorrow (Tuesday 4th June) but no date for when the Acer Iconia W3 will ship.
Today Samsung has announced that its Galaxy Tab 3 will be available in two additional size variants this summer. The South Korean tech giant has unveiled 8-inch and 10.1-inch models of the Android tablet as alternatives to the 7-inch version.
The 8-inch Galaxy Tab 3 is powered by a 1.5 GHz Dual Core processor and comes with a 1280 x 800 screen capable of displaying images in 189PPI.
Google’s Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system comes preinstalled, as does a range of Samsung’s own software such as S Translator and the ChatON messaging service.
Samsung has included a 5-megapixel camera on the rear of the device, and a front-facing snapper offering 1.3 megapixels.
The larger 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab 3 runs off a 1.6 GHz Dual Core processor and comes with a 1280 x 800 screen offering 149PPI. A 3-megapixel camera resides on the rear and a 1.3-megapixel shooter on the front.
Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 3 line will debut in the UK later this year, with pricing and specific release dates yet to be confirmed.
![halo4_campaign-03_thumb1_thumb[4]](https://i0.wp.com/moviesgamesandtech.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/halo4_campaign-03_thumb1_thumb4.jpg?ssl=1 "halo4_campaign-03_thumb1_thumb[4]")
343 Industries have released details on the update that drops tomorrow for Halo 4.
The weapons update includes:
Battle Rifle
Carbine
LightRifle
DMR
Assault Rifle
Storm Rifle
Suppressor
SAW
Magnum
Vehicles
What do you think about this update? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
At a recent event with Bethesda Softworks, I got the opportunity to play the new Elder Scrolls Online game, and I really enjoyed it.
For the hour or so of gameplay I had the chance to play, I was thrust into the City of Daggerfall as a Level 6 character. The first thing I noticed was just how amazing all the graphics looked.
Not wanting to waste any time, I decided to take the first quest that was offered to me, in this case from a dog called Giblets. The quest started simply enough, follow Giblets and see where he leads me. In this case, he led me to a dead body, and I was soon knee deep in murder, mayhem and a plot to kill the King. From then on it was a series of additional quests, each one leading me further into the story. And like other MMO’s, you can take multiple quests at the same time.
I found the combat system to be very simple to use (especially as I entered as a Level 6 character, thus skipping all the tutorials and early quests). Thankfully there were only a few enemies that were of a higher level than me during my quests, but some of those were pretty hard. Just make sure when you fight than you also move and don’t get yourself blocked into a corner, which can happen very easily.
One thing I really liked was that I was able to pick up any weapon, regardless of the class I was playing, so that should certainly please the fans.
Before I had time to realise it, my time in Daggerfall was at an end, and all I could think about was when I could go back.
After playing I had the chance to sit down in a group interview with the Matt, the Game Director from Zenimax Online.
So over to Matt for the group interview and new gameplay footage, including some never before seen first person views (which unfortunately were not in the build of the game I played):
The Elder Scrolls Online will be released later in 2013. Learn more from the website, where you can also sign up for the beta.
We saw Prey 2 in action a few years back at Gamescom and at the time it looked wonderful. Unfortunately, since then the game seems to have went into limbo, with developer Human Head seemingly falling out with publisher Bethedsa.
Well, it seems there has now been yet another twist in this tale, at least if a source at Kotaku is anything to go by. The site is claiming that development is now taking place at Arkane Studios, aka the team behind Dishonored.
According to Kotaku, since the game was announced at E3 in 2011, it’s moved around quite a few times, first it was at Human Head, then for at ‘least a few months’ it headed to Obsidian. In fact Bethesda even tried to get Rebellion to take over development, before it landed at its current home at Arkane Studios.
Apparently some Arkane team members aren’t too happy to be working on the game, although those higher up at the studio have said they should “forget that it’s called Prey 2 and just treat it like a new System Shock.”
Arkane has a team in Austin, Texas and one in Lyon, France. One of these teams is said to be working on a Dishonored sequel while the other takes up Prey 2 duties.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tvkt0QNboSk?feature=player_embedded%5D
Watch a trailer for Prey 2 above:
Toshiba have recently released their new THNSNH128GCST SSD and here is our two minute review.
This is how Toshiba describe the drive:
This family of solid state drives (SSDs) utilises the advanced Multi-Level Cell (MLC) 19nm NAND technology from Toshiba. With an unrivalled combination of capacity, performance and power efficiency, the THNSNH range delivers an uncompromised storage solution for high end and thin notebooks, tablets, PCs, all-in-one desktop computers as well as industrial PC applications.
The small form factor drives boast a high capacity of up to 512 GB and are available in a range of sizes: THNSNHxxxGBST (9.5mm height, 60, 128, 256, 512 GB), THNSNHxxxGCST (7.0mm height, 60, 128, 256, 512 GB) and the THNSNHxxxGMCT (mSATATM).
The THNSNH range of SSDs features Toshiba’s QSBCTM (Quadruple Swing-By Code), a strong and highly efficient Error Correction Code (ECC) protecting against any read errors in the device. Furthermore, deterministic zeroing TRIM function is supported, allowing the host operating system to inform the SSD about data blocks which are no longer in use and can be wiped internally. The THNSNH series also utilises Advanced Power Management (APM) technology to ensure the lowest levels of energy consumption. With an additional ‘data corrupt protection’ feature, the SSDs protect any data which is being moved internally, against unexpected power-loss and write errors.
• Up to 512GB of Storage Capacity
• 2.5-inch and mSATA Models
• 19 nm MLC NAND Flash
• Fast Access and Transfer Rates
• Excellent Power Consumption
• Toshiba Strong Error Correction Code (QSBC)
• Data Corrupt Protection from Unexpected Power Loss
Using HD Tune Pro connected to a SATA 3 6 Gb/s port running Windows 8.
There is an average read speed of 266.6 MB/s.
There is an average write speed of 242.9 MB/s.
And here are the results using CrystalDiskMark, which as you can see give significantly better results:
For this review we had the HNSNH128GCST SSD, which is the 128GB model. Toshiba really need to do a better job of naming their drives!
The SSD is very simple to use – just plug it in and away you go.
I was very impressed with the performance results we achieved during the various rounds of testing, it was a very quick drive indeed.
If you are looking for an SSD then you should definitely consider the HNSNH128GCST from Toshiba.
Price wise, the HNSNH128GCST retails for under £100 so look around for a good deal.
Grid 2 launched on Friday and our friends at Codemasters have given us 3 cool Grid 2 t-shirts to giveaway.
![RaceNet-_In-Game_Drift_01_thumb3_thu[2]](https://i0.wp.com/moviesgamesandtech.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/RaceNet-_In-Game_Drift_01_thumb3_thu2.jpg?ssl=1 "RaceNet-_In-Game_Drift_01_thumb3_thu[2]")
GRID 2 brings the best cars, events, locations and drivers together in a new globe-trotting competition, World Series Racing.
Here is one of the t-shirts:
So what do you have to do to win one?
In Grid 2 you get to drive a variety of cool cars, so why not tell us which car you would like to drive if you could drive any, and it doesn’t even have to be a car from Grid 2!
Then just click on the Contact Us link at the top of the page and tell us your answer. Make sure you use a valid email address when submitting your entry otherwise we can’t contact you. You can enter as many times as you like, but only one entry per day will be accepted. Oh and don’t forget to tell us what size t-shirt you want.
The contest will run until Saturday 8th June and the usual contest rules apply, and the winners will be selected at random. This contest is only available to those people in the UK – sorry!
Good luck and thanks again to Codemasters for the t-shirts.
And stay tuned for our Grid 2 review shortly.
Fans can keep up with all the latest updates straight from the studio by speeding over to www.gridgame.com.
My publisher, O’Reilly, have got a special deal on all Microsoft Press ebooks as part of a TechEd special, and one of those is my Working with Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials e-book.
In celebration of TechEd, happening now in New Orleans, save 50% on all Microsoft Press ebooks from shop.oreilly.com. Whether you’re learning PowerShell 3.0, or deep into Windows Server 2012, or anywhere else in the Microsoft ecosystem, save now on the titles that will make your job easier.
Ebooks from shop.oreilly.com are DRM-free. You get free lifetime access, multiple file formats, and free updates. Sync with Dropbox — your files, anywhere.
Use discount code CFTECH – Deal expires June 7, 2013 at 5:00am PT, and cannot be combined with other offers. Offer does not apply to Print, or “Print & Ebook” bundle pricing.
Then the ebook can be yours for $17.99 – which is a bargain if I do say so myself!
