Hasbro announces NERF Lazer Tag, uses iPhone or iPod Touch and sports augmented reality lazer tag gameplay

The first two words of hearing this news to me in my mind were, 'do want!' NERF have just announced the revolutionary new Lazer Tag system, which "combining the power, precision and excitement of live-action blaster battles with the high-action, strategic, augmented reality gameplay of traditional video games."

Players can download the free Lazer Tag app from the App Store onto their iPhone or iPod touch device, connect it to their Lazer Tag blaster, and immerse themselves in a world where "video games and real life connect". You can play in both single and multi-player, where players can engage in a Lazer Tag match featuring friends (or foes?) or virtual opponents.

Each Lazer Tag blaster has a virtual firing range of over 250 feet, and contains a Heads Up Display (HUD), which lets players keep track of their gear and remaining power, as well as providing a view of the augmented reality targets and enemies in the area. On top of this, a virtual leaderboard also keeps tabs on each player's profile, with every successful mission, players gain access to in-game upgradeable attacks, missions and gear.

Continue reading: Hasbro announces NERF Lazer Tag, uses iPhone or iPod Touch and sports augmented reality lazer tag gameplay (full post)

Google release Chrome 17, sports "instant" browsing, improved security

Anthony Garreffa | Software & Apps | Feb 8, 2012 10:20 PM CST

Google have been hard at work, where they've released Google Chrome for Android Beta for Android 4.0-based devices, as well as a few other cool announcements, today brings the latest stable build of Chrome, Chrome 17.

Chrome 17 includes a serious speed bump, if it wasn't already fast enough. Google reckons you'll be surfing quicker than ever before with a new feature that lets pages start loading in the background before you've even finished typing a URL into the Omnibox. If the URL auto-completes to an address you'll most likely visit, Chrome will begin prerendering the page. Nifty, huh?

Security-wise, Chrome 17 includes a new security feature. Chrome 17 now runs executables through additional reputation checks that ensures that you're safe. This means that if you attempt to download a Windows installation file (EXE or MSI) that isn't on a whitelist, Google analyzes the file to determine its reputation and trustworthiness based on files previously seen from the same publisher, and site.

Continue reading: Google release Chrome 17, sports "instant" browsing, improved security (full post)

Xbox 360 Kinect Star Wars Bundle & Game arrives April 3rd

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Feb 8, 2012 7:08 PM CST

We've talked about the Kinect Star Wars bundle before, when it was teased at last years Comic-Con, but now, we're closer than ever to having the Kinect Star Wars Bundle in our hands. Included in the bundle is "Kinect Star Wars", where the game teasing "With no controller in the way you can live out the ultimate "Star Wars" fantasy".

There are five dynamic modes available, Jedi Destiny: Dark Side Rising, Podracing, Rancor Rampage, Galactic Dance Off and Duels of Fate. Also included, and only announced today by Xbox 360 and LucasArts, are new additions to the game, including:

New experiences within Jedi Destiny Mode, including:

Continue reading: Xbox 360 Kinect Star Wars Bundle & Game arrives April 3rd (full post)

PowerColor's new HD 7970 steps in front of the camera

Anthony Garreffa | Video Cards & GPUs | Feb 8, 2012 5:59 PM CST

PowerColor have teased everyone on their Facebook page with a glimpse of their new AMD Radeon HD 7970 GPU. Nothing more than it's "our new HD 7970 design posing for the camera" has been said from PowerColor.

What we can see though, are multiple video outputs, looks like the new HD 7970 from PowerColor sports dual DVI, HDMI, and dual DisplayPort. The card is still a dual-slot card, with two big fans on the front of it and a decently thick heatpipe design behind it.

More information on this bad boy as it comes. I do like the black/blue design of it. Reminds me of getting a bruise. This could could be powerful enough to punch the lights out of other HD 7970s, and give them... bruises? We'll find out soon enough. Hopefully our VGA editor is out of hospital by then, but I'm sure he's enjoying his Razer Blade gaming laptop too much, eh? ;)

Continue reading: PowerColor's new HD 7970 steps in front of the camera (full post)

Paradox: 95% of our revenue is from digital distribution

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Feb 8, 2012 1:23 AM CST

Paradox CEO, Fred Wester, is a man of important words. He has revealed the amazing growth of his companies digital distribution revenue. In his own words, he has said:

My own experience of digital distribution is that we made 1.5 percent of our revenue from digital distribution in 2006, while the digital number in 2011 was over 95%.

Did you see that? From 1.5-percent of their revenue, to a whopping 95-percent, in just 5 short years. In these 5 years we've seen retailers go from selling tonnes of retail boxed games, to the App Store opening, the Android Market arriving and more. Steam is generating more and more income, and other digital distribution methods such as GOG, and Origin.

Continue reading: Paradox: 95% of our revenue is from digital distribution (full post)

Skyrim Creation Kit goes live, start creating your own mods

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Feb 8, 2012 12:20 AM CST

Ever wanted to create a mod for Skyrim? Come on, we know you have. Today you can. Bethesda have released their Creation Kit, which really lets Skyrim loose, and sets the boundaries to virtually infinity, and beyond.

The Skyrim Workshop and Creation Kit are free for anyone with a copy of Skyrim and a Steam account. Finding mods for Skyrim is as simple as visiting the Skyrim Workshop in the Steam Community. From there, you can browse the most popular, newest or highest-rated mods of all time. On top of this, you can specifically search for content via tags such as "Armor", "Quests", "Dungeons", and so on.

Creating your mod is a litter harder, of course, you'll need to install the Creation Kit, from the Tools section of your Steam Library. If you run into any problems, the wiki over at www.CreationKit.com is an amazing resource for modders of all skill levels. When you've polished your mod and want to unleash it to the world, just choose "Upload plugin and archive to Steam", from within the File menu of the Creation Kit.

Continue reading: Skyrim Creation Kit goes live, start creating your own mods (full post)

Heat could be the key to making hard drives hundreds of times faster

Anthony Garreffa | Storage | Feb 7, 2012 11:20 PM CST

Well, this is interesting: physicists have reportedly discovered a new method of recording data onto hard drives, where the fruits of their labor could see mechanical-based hard drives jump in speeds, up to hundreds of times faster. Heat is the key.

A hard disk drive is a magnetic storage device, which, unlike magnetic tapes, allows random access. The recording surface of a hard drive consists of hundreds of billions of tiny portions that can be magnetized in a particular polar direction to represent 0s or 1s. Recording data flips the direction, which is currently done using an external magnetic field.

A team of researchers led by Thomas Ostler at the University of York, UK have discovered that a short burst of heat can do the job much faster. This is where things get karazay. Up until now, it was thought that heat could only assist in remagnetisation when used in conjunction with a magnetic field. This knowledge base has changed: zapping a magnet with a laser for less than one trillionth of a second, momentarily raising the temperature by over 800-degrees Celcius, can have the same effect.

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RumorTT: NVIDIA Kepler GPU lineup leaked!

Anthony Garreffa | BREAKING STORY | Feb 7, 2012 10:34 PM CST

Salt, here take it. Let's get onto the goss! Leaked information has floated up from the depths of the Internet from Lenzfire, where they've published some specifications for the upcoming GeForce 600-series. I'll say it again, here's your salt.

This news has me excited. Lenzfire's sources claim that NVIDIA's Kepler GTX680 should be up to 45-percent faster than AMD's fastest Radeon HD 7970 GPU. The interesting part here is that the GeForce GTX680 is said to have just 2GB of RAM, compared to the 7970's 3GB, and is still 45-percent faster. What helps here is the GTX680 reportedly has twice as many stream processors, and backed up by the entire Kepler range being PCI-E 3.0 compliant.

The GeForce GTX680 will reportedly launch with a $649 price, so for just $100 more, you're getting a Team Green card that is 45-percent faster. This could be some very dangerous news for AMD. On a different note, specs of a dual-GPU Kepler-based card are here too.

Continue reading: RumorTT: NVIDIA Kepler GPU lineup leaked! (full post)

Google release Chrome for Android Beta, just for Android 4.0 devices for now

Anthony Garreffa | Software & Apps | Feb 7, 2012 10:12 PM CST

Google have released Chrome for Android Beta, exclusive (for now) for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich devices. Exactly like the desktop-based Chrome, Chrome for Android Beta is focused on speed and simplicity, but also sports seamless sign-in and sync, so you can take your personalized web browsing experience anywhere you go.

Chrome for Android Beta is built for speed, so when searching, your top search results are loaded in the background as you type so that pages appear to load instantaneously. Chrome for Android is built from the ground up for mobile devices, where Google have reimagined tabs so they fit just as naturally on a small-screen smartphone, as they do on the larger-screen tablet.

Privacy is a big deal for Chrome, and Chrome with Android Beta is no different. Chrome for Android Beta includes the famous incognito mode for private browsing as well as fine-grained privacy options.

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Germany-based Caseking acquires Overclockers UK

Anthony Garreffa | BREAKING STORY | Feb 7, 2012 7:41 PM CST

BREAKING: Germany-based computer hardware retailer, Caseking, have just acquired British-based Overclockers. Overclockers UK have had a long-standing achievement of being one of the biggest sellers of computer hardware in the UK.

They've been in a band of just a few, with companies such as Ebuyer, Scan Computers International, Novatech, and Aria PC in selling PC hardware. Overclockers UK have been around since 1999, and have had their HQ in Newcastle-under-lyme.

The takeover involves 40 members of staff who currently work for Overclockers UK, but at the moment it is not known what the acquisition has in store for both Overclockers UK and its employees. The value of the deal is not exactly known either, but it is estimated to come in at 'less than €50 million'. The deal took place on February 1, 2012, and as you probably have guessed, both companies have been quiet about it.

Continue reading: Germany-based Caseking acquires Overclockers UK (full post)