Category: Other


Nintendo Posts Q1 Earnings, Significant Price Drop for the 3DS

Filed under: News, Other by Jerry Chen — Leave a comment
July 29, 2011

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After reporting losses and a sharp drop in sales from April to June, Nintendo is slashing the price of the 3DS in the US from $249 to $169 starting on August 12th, with other regions receiving similar price cuts.

Current 3DS owners who connect to the Nintendo eShop by 11:59PM EST on August 11th will be automatically enrolled in the “Nintendo 3DS Ambassador” program and be rewarded with 10 free NES virtual console games and 10 free Game Boy Advance virtual console games by the end of this year. These games include The Legend of Zelda, Balloon Fight, Ice Climber, and Yoshi’s Island from the NES and program exclusives like Super Mario Advance 3, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Metroid Fusion, WarioWare Inc.: Mega Microgames, and Mario vs. Donkey Kong from the GBA.

This is certainly an unusual move, seeing how the 3DS has only been released for six months, but indicates the pressure Nintendo is under to make the 3DS a success and reach its goal of selling 16 million 3DS units in the financial year.

The upcoming Sony PlayStation Vita certainly isn’t helping either. [via Nintendo]

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Star Wars Xbox 360

Filed under: Gadgets and Products, News, Other by Jerry Chen — Leave a comment
July 25, 2011

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Star Wars fans rejoice. Microsoft has teamed up with LucasArts to release a special edition Xbox 360 bundle. The $450 package will get you a R2-D2-themed Xbox, a matching white Kinect sensor, a C-3PO-inspired gold controller, a 320GB hard drive, a wired headset, Kinect Adventures, and Kinect Star Wars.

The bundle is available for pre-order now and will ship later this year. Now I just need to find a way to “break” my current Xbox. [via Amazon]

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White MacBook Discontinued, Kind of…

Filed under: News, Other by Jerry Chen — Leave a comment
July 25, 2011

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Apple is phasing out the white MacBook for consumers, removing the system from the product line on the Mac page. The white MacBook has seen a good past and at $999, the only other portable system that matches its price is the entry-level MacBook Air, which sacrifices display size, storage, connectivity, and optical drive for portability and aesthetics.

The white MacBook is still available to educational institutions via resellers though, according to a statement by Apple.

“MacBook (MC516) is now Available for Education Institutions Only. All backlog for channel and non direct education institution customers should be cancelled effective today July 20th.

The MacBook (MC516) will be available to all channel partners via the Apple On-line Reseller stores and is now intended to be sold out only to education institutions.”

The low price and durable plastic of the MacBook has always made it popular among schools and it makes sense for Apple to continue selling them to these consumers. For the rest of us, it’s time to say a final farewell.

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Spotify Arrives in the US, We Go Hands-On

Filed under: Downloads, News, Other, Reviews by Jerry Chen — Leave a comment
July 18, 2011

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Europe’s much-loved music service has finally arrived stateside, bringing over 15 million tracks, MP3 import, an offline mode, and Facebook integration. Currently, the service is invite-only, but you can sign up and wait or jump in right now with Unlimited or Premium service for $5 or $10 a month respectively.

Head over to the source link to sign up now and be sure to check out our hands-on with the music service after the break. [via Spotify]

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League of Legends: Leona Preview

Filed under: Games, Other by aolmenki — Leave a comment
July 6, 2011

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The soon to be released League of Legends champion, Leona, the Radiant Dawn, will be the first female tank and many tweaks about her have already been revealed. It is unknown though if she will be considered overpowered or possibly a complete disappointment like the recent release of Yorrick, the Gravedigger.

According to Riot, a tank is one who can initiate, tank tons of damage, save team mates, and also becomes more powerful as the battle drags on. In the preview, it is said that Leona has a low-cooldown, low-duration, single target stun, and a gap-closer as means of initiation. After she closes the gap between her and the enemy, she will be able to go into a defensive stance that will absorb a lot of damage. Lastly, she has an ability that allows her to nuke everyone. Her passive, Sunlight, causes her to debuff the target so her allies can do extra damage to them. Her low cooldown stun is a new mechanic that isn’t seen on many champions. Stunning is a rather over-powered CC and so if she has it on a low cooldown, she can easily shut down many champions that require channel and she can easily protect her carry and find people out of place. With her abilities, she’s like a Jarvan with his flag toss combined with Rammus’s defensive stance, and an Amumu ultimate that nukes people around you. She seems OP, just from this simple description…

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Microsoft’s Purchase of Skype Approved by the FTC

Filed under: Downloads, News, Other by Jerry Chen — Leave a comment
July 6, 2011

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Back in May, Microsoft announced its plans to buy Skype for a hefty $8.5 billion in cash. Now, the Federal Trade Commission has approved the acquisition. With this purchase, Microsoft has said that Xbox and Kinect support for Skype is coming, as is Windows Phone integration. In addition, current Skype users will not be affected, as the Redmond-based company has promised to continue “to invest in and support Skype clients on non-Microsoft platforms.” A Microsoft Skype Division will also be opened and current Skype CEO Tony Bates will become the president of that team. The entire deal should be closed by the end of the year. [via The Loop]

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The Flip Line is Dead

Filed under: News, Other by Jerry Chen — Leave a comment
July 2, 2011

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Well Flip, it’s been nice knowing you. Acquired by Cisco in 2009 for $590 million in stock, you were an outgoing company, making camcorders simple and available to everyone. Now, Cisco CEO John Chambers is killing the brand, planning for the company to refocus. This means, all production of Flip products globally will be ceased, but they will still support the company’s FlipShare service while they come up with a “transition plan.” In addition, 550 employees are being laid off.

It looks like mobile phones with HD video recording are managing to pull ahead of dedicated video recording devices. [via Pocket-lint]

 

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Sony Details Reward for PlayStation Network Users

Filed under: News, Other by Jerry Chen — Leave a comment
May 5, 2011

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As Sony scrambles to get its PlayStation Network online again, more and more information is being revealed on the nature of the situation. Sony has already admitted that the outage is due to an external intrusion, but now, a file with the words “We Are Legion” left behind on the servers of Sony Online Entertainment suggests the “Anonymous” hacking group is to blame for this outage. Sony has also revealed that the personal identification information of users may have been compromised. This includes names, addresses, email addresses, birthdates, logins, and passwords. At this point, there is “no evidence” that any credit card information was obtained, but Sony is not ruling out the possibility.

Sony also announced its “Welcome Back” program to reward PSN users after experiencing the network outage. All existing PlayStation Network users will be rewarded 30 days of PlayStation Plus membership for free. Existing PlayStation Plus members will receive 30 days of additional service. Furthermore, “selected PlayStation entertainment content” will be available to download for free and Music Unlimited subscribers will be getting 30 days of free service.

Once the network goes live again sometime this week, users will have to download a new system firmware update that will force users to create a new login password.

Looks like gamers will finally be able to breathe a sigh of relief later this week. [via IGN]

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