Hasta La Gadget!

Several games that were (and still are) a huge hit on mobile platforms are making their way to LG Cinema 3D Smart TVs. LG announced today the arrival of several new games, including Where’s My Water, The Sims FreePlay, Air Penguin, Mini Motor Racing, and many more. LG says these games are incredible immersive an interactive, thanks to compatibility with the company’s motion-sensing Magic Remote.

LG has been working on adding more and more games to its Smart TVs since July, which was when the company first launched games on the platform, and for those who don’t have a dedicated gaming console, the selection of games that LG offers are certainly the next best thing, especially if you’re wanting to play something that the whole family will enjoy.

Selected titles have been specifically optimized for 3D on LG’s Smart TV line. Disney’s Where’s My Water and EA’s The Sims FreePlay are just a couple of the popular games you can grab. Where’s My Water became the number one downloaded game in 90 countries, and The Sims FreePlay sold more than 150 million copies worldwide.

LG said that all the games will be demonstrated on LG Cinema 3D Smart TVs at CES 2013 in Las Vegas coming up in January. Each title will also be downloadable from LG SmartWorld beginning in the first quarter of next year. No word on if the games will be free or if they’ll cost a couple of dollars.

LG announces new games for Cinema 3D Smart TVs is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

China has always been about fast trains and expanding their high-speed rail lines, and today the country is now home to the world’s longest high-speed train line, spanning 1,428 miles from Beijing to Guangzhou. The train tops out at 186MPH and can conquer the 1,428-mile trip in just eight hours, replacing the previous train route which took about 20 hours to complete.

The new rail line is still technically slower than flying, but it’s cheaper and potentially less stressful than tackling the trip by air. It’s certainly far more viable than the 20-hour rail trip that it’s replacing, and the new rail line could encourage more people to go with the train rather than flying, which wasn’t really a realistic option until now.

A total of 155 different train rides will run on the new line each day, and alternative schedules have been made for weekends and peak travel times. There will still be 183 rides running daily on the old Beijing-Guangzhou line that runs parallel to the new high-speed line, which will diminish concerns that the new line would increase passengers’ travel costs.

A second-class seat on the new high-speed line costs 865 yuan ($138), while a ticket on the old rail line sells for around 430 yuan ($69). Riding the train is definitely a cheaper alternative to flying, especially if you’re not in a big hurry and don’t mind being confined to a rail car for a majority of the day.

With the opening of the new Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed line, China now has almost 5,800 miles of high-speed railway in operation. The new rail line is one of four north-south lines expected to serve as the country’s high-speed railway backbone, which also features four east-west lines. By 2015, China is planning to have around 74,000 miles of railway in operation, including 11,100 miles of high-speed railway.

[via WSJ]

Image via Xinhuanet

China debuts world’s longest high-speed rail line is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

You may wince at the idea of your TV supplanting your games console, but LG’s seen enough potential in the idea to swell the number of titles available for its Cinema 3D units. It’ll add The Sims Free Play, Air Penguin and Mini Motor Racing (amongst others) that you can control with the Magic Remote. The latter has also been tweaked to offer three-dimensional gaming, and, thanks to the company’s FPR 3D tech, two players can battle each other without having to glare at a split screen. The only downside to the announcement is that we won’t see ’em arrive until the first quarter of 2013, because LG are naughty teases.

Continue reading LG adding more games to its Cinema 3D Smart TVs in 2013

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Software, HD, LG

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A new Sonos music component, the Sonos PLAYBAR, has cropped up in FCC testing, suggesting the streaming company is readying a push into TV audio. The PLAYBAR, spotted in an FCC filing, is believed to be Sonos’ first proper home theater device, likely including support for both streaming music in the same way as the current PLAY:3 and PLAY:5, and the soundtrack from your TV.

It’s not clear if that soundtrack will be played in stereo or some sort of virtual surround sound; the FCC filing is sparse on details, with only the label (and its rough location on the PLAYBAR itself) shown. However, the presence of WiFi 802.11n is confirmed, though since Sonos uses that for its proprietary mesh-networking system, that comes as little surprise. The fact that it is dual-band is an advancement on current Sonos components, nonetheless.

Sonos hasn’t been shy about its ambitions to challenge the A/V industry. The company’s CEO confirmed last year that some sort of home theater system could be on the cards, but argued that Sonos would do so in a way that challenged traditional “straightforward” options such as from Bose with greater audio quality.

The speakerbar would make a natural companion to the Sonos SUB subwoofer we reviewed recently, and the ideal centerpiece to a Sonos home theater system. Throw in a few “PLAY:1″ satellite speakers and the setup would do equally well for music as for accompanying your big-screen TV.

[via Gizmodo]

Sonos PLAYBAR hits FCC is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.