As anyone who’s ever been an avid fan of a series would immediately understand, sometimes it simply isn’t enough to enjoy in silence. You need to give voice to your love and form to your passion. Take ktorrek – a Lego fanatic who built a scale model of Mass Effect’s Normandy SR-2.
Rockstar Games released the first gameplay video for GTA V yesterday. It was merely just a introduction to the game with narration in the background, but it was the first time we ended up seeing actual gameplay footage of the upcoming game. We saw the usual Grand Theft Auto shenanigans, but there’s so much more that you may have missed during the gameplay video.
Of course, you already know that GTA V will consist of three main characters that you’ll be able to switch between freely in the game. These characters include Michael, Franklin, and Trevor, all of whom have vastly different personalities, but they seem to work together nicely in the game.
However, during the character introductions in the video, you have spotted a quick look at a Rottweiler dog following Franklin around (pictured above). Does this mean that players will be able to have pets in the game? Further along in the video we also see gameplay footage of a dashcam ride-along in one of the police cars during a pursuit. Does this mean that players will be able to act as police officers and attempt to catch one of the characters. It doesn’t really seem plausible, but we’ll see what happens.
As for things you can customize in the game, Rockstar gives us a peek at the customization options of cars, including getting a new paint job and new wheels. There’s also a bar graph in the lower-left corner that shows you the car’s performance ratings, such as top speed and acceleration, hinting to the possibility that you’ll also be able to upgrade performance and add things like turbochargers and upgraded air intake kits. There’s certainly a lot more you can do with your car than what Pay ‘n’ Spray offered in past GTA titles.
You’ll also be able to buy new clothes, which we’ve seen in past GTA titles, but the quick glimpse that we received of this feature looks as if buying new clothes will be a lot more immersive than previous GTA iterations, and it seems there will be a lot more styles to choose from to get just the right fashion look.
As for different activities that you’ll be able to do in the game, the video reveals a handful of them, including golf, tennis, cycling, base jumping (or it could be skydiving), and even hunting. You can even meditate in the game, which sounds weird, but we’re guessing that all of these various activities have an effect on your characters health and overall stat points, so by doing these activities and sports, you can improve your characters.
We also get a quick look at multiplayer in Grand Theft Auto V, which Rockstar is calling Grand Theft Auto Online. The gameplay video doesn’t show much — merely just a guy looking out from a building at all these other players while a fighter jet passes by. And yes, it looks like multiplayer will allow the ability to fly fighter jets.
Other tidbits that we see in the video include the ability to buy stock in companies (Ammu-Nation, for example, allows you buy stock in the company), and players can even get into the real estate business to look for a property to buy. The game includes many features that we’ve seen in past GTA titles, but they’ve all been cranked up to 11 to include more options and immersiveness.
Grand Theft Auto V will be released on September 17 this year for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. No word yet on if the game will be heading to PC, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed. Rockstar also didn’t mention availability for next-generation consoles, but that doesn’t seem like that’s in Rockstar’s plan as of now.
Grand Theft Auto V official gameplay video breakdown is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Apple will fight the ebook price fixing ruling, the company has said today, promising to appeal the court’s decision and accusing Amazon of having a “monopolistic grip on the publishing industry.” The official statement follows a New York federal court ruling this morning that Apple colluded with five major publishers to force the ebook industry to the so-called “agency model” and, in the process, drive up prices – and margins – on ebook downloads for the iBookstore.
Apple, Justice Denise Cote wrote in a 160-page ruling on the case brought by the DOJ, “played a central role in facilitating and executing” a conspiracy to raise the cost of ebooks. Until Apple’s launch of the iBookstore, new releases had been around $9.99 on Amazon. After publishers made their push to the agency model, that rose to, on average, $14.99.
“Without Apple’s orchestration of this conspiracy, it would not have succeeded as it did in the Spring of 2010″ Justice Cote concluded.
However, unsurprisingly Apple is not willing to accept the court’s decision, and will fight the ruling in an appeal. “Apple did not conspire to fix ebook pricing and we will continue to fight against these false accusations” the company said in a statement. “When we introduced the iBookstore in 2010, we gave customers more choice, injecting much needed innovation and competition into the market, breaking Amazon’s monopolistic grip on the publishing industry.”
“We’ve done nothing wrong and we will appeal the judge’s decision” the spokesperson said.
With the initial case concluded, next up is a trial to settle on damages. There’s no indication as to what Apple might eventually be required to pay – both to the US government and to numerous states – though Penguin, which voluntarily settled (as did all the publishers involved) with the DOJ coughed up $75m including damages.
Amazon is yet to comment on the ruling, or indeed Apple’s portrayal of it as “monopolistic.”
Apple: We’ll appeal ebook price fix ruling is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
It’s no secret that the Nokia EOS (or Nokia 1020 as it’ll be called later this week, more than likely), will be rolling out with some serious photography power. Here as we saw very, very briefly earlier this week, we’ve gotten another look at a key accessory for this machine – a camera grip that makes the machine much more like the big-handling machines its amalgamation of lenses and processing abilities suggests.
This case works – or would very much appear to work – with an extra bit of battery as well, adding on 1020mAh (likely an added 40% life-span or so) to the Nokia smartphone as well. Plugging in through the smartphone’s microUSB port at its bottom (if you’re holding the machine vertically, that is), this accessory also makes way for the device’s massive lens and flash cover.
You’ll find this machine delivered in white, but as it has been with the large cross-section of Nokia devices revealed over the past several years, you can expect a set of alternate colors as well. Wouldn’t want to be left out in the cold without options!
Up top is a physical shutter button that’ll depress to hit the Nokia smartphone’s own physical shutter button. On the side is a battery button that’ll light up 1-4 bulbs depending on how much power the machine has in it, and you’ll find a grippier bit up front for your left hand’s remaining tendrils. The bottom, then, also reveals a socket with screw rings for mounting this machine on a tripod.
Have a peek at the rest of the tips and leaks revealed in recent days and weeks on the Nokia 1020 and get ready for the full event on the 11th of July – that’s tomorrow!
VIA: The Nokia Blog
Nokia Lumia 1020 camera grip leaks at all angles is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
A wild spherical camera appears! Actually it’s not the first of its kind that we’ve seen, but unlike the previous device, Serveball’s Squito is being designed for both professional and recreational use. Forget about Instagram or Vine, the cool kids will want to get ball shots! Yeah! No.
According to Serveball’s press release, the current prototype of Squito has three cameras, an inertial measurement unit, a microcontroller and an image processor. As you’ll see in the video below, the prototype can take 360º panoramic pictures and videos. When taking pictures, the Squito can reorient and stitch the images that its cameras take. When shooting a video, the Squito can stabilize the video, but don’t expect a free falling camera to be as steady as one on a tripod. The Squito will also be able to wirelessly send its pictures and videos to PCs and mobile devices.
The tail end of the video featured a version of the Squito with night vision and thermal imaging capabilities. From what I can tell those features will be on a separate variant of the Squito, which Serveball is calling the Darkball. Fold your browser into a ball and throw it to Serveball’s website for more on its cameras.
[via Engadget]
When it comes to portable speakers that appeal to the senses, I am quite sure that a fair number of you out there have already heard of the name Braven in the past. After all, Braven has had a pretty good track record when it comes to portable speakers as we have seen in the past, and this time around, Braven has just announced the arrival of their highly-anticipated Braven 850, which has been touted to be the biggest and most audiophileistic (is there even such a word?) Braven device to date. The Braven 850 is capable of pumping out hair-raising high-fidelity audio, all the while babysitting mobile devices by charging them, apart from pairing up with a second Braven 850 speaker sans wires for a true left and right wireless stereo experience.
Measuring under 10” in length and 4” in height, the Braven 850 might be small in size, but you can bet your bottom, hard earned dollar that it is big in performance. The bark is worse than its bite in this case, where Braven 850 delivers unprecedented portable sound, with more than enough punch to fill up larger rooms and outdoor parties without breaking a sweat. This is made possible thanks to the Braven 850 making use of class-leading extended-range aluminum cone drivers as well as dual passive radiators, allowing it to open up a path for a powerful and rich sound which should be more than capable of pleasing even the most discerning and demanding audiophile.
Without straying too far away from the classic Braven design, the Braven 850 is accentuated by a stunning unibody aircraft-grade aluminum construction. There are also several advanced multi-functional features such as on-the-go charging of mobile devices including smartphones, cameras, iPads, and tablets among others, True Wireless pairing between two 850s for a left and right channel stereo experience, an integrated speakerphone so that you can carry out hands-free calls, and a unique digitally enhanced audio that is based on DTS Audio’s SRS WOW technology. It also comes with an impressive play time of up to 20 hours, all for $299.99 a pop.
Press Release
[ Braven 850 speaker is now available copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
So maybe we won’t actually see a real-life Terminator come to fruition anytime soon, but flexible electronics could be in our future thanks to a new method of 3D printing that uses liquid metal instead of the traditional ABS plastic that we see being used in most 3D printers nowadays.
A team of researchers at North Carolina State University have come up with a method to create electronics using a 3D printer. The researchers discovered a mixture of gallium and indium that is liquid at room temperature, but forms a thin skin of gallium oxide on the outside when exposed to air. This is strong enough to hold the metals’ shape.
During their testing, the researchers were able to squeeze out drops of the metal mixture through a syringe and create a structure that held together, thanks to that rigid outer skin that holds it all together. They’re essentially like tiny water balloons, but since they’re made of metal, they can conduct electricity and be used in electronics.
The researchers are currently looking for ways to integrate the metal mixture to make it work in normal 3D printers, where users could use both plastic and metal in the same nozzle, but we reckon it’ll take a bit more time for that happen. However, this would mean that 3D-printing fans could create electronics in the future, but we’ll have to wait and see how practical it is.
Another caveat at this point, is that the metal mixture used by the researchers is insanely expensive, so it may be a while before we see something like this hit the mainstream. Hopefully, though, researchers can find a way to cut down on the costs of the materials, either by changing the mixture a bit or finding other cheaper metals to use.
VIA: Engadget
SOURCE: NCSU
3D-printed liquid metal could see a Terminator-like future is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Apple has been found guilty of ebook price fixing, with a New York federal judge ruling today that the Cupertino firm conspired with publishers to drive up the cost in its iBookstore. The ruling will now be followed by a trial for damages, Reuters reports, which will decide how much Apple must pay the US government and several states.
The non-jury trial began in early June, with Apple defending itself against the Department of Justice over claims it worked with publishers to move the digital book market to the so-called “agency model.” Whereas previously, retailers such as Amazon had been setting their own prices for ebooks for Kindle, and similar, Apple and the publishers preferred the greater margins available through themselves setting the sticker price.
According to the DOJ, that counted as manipulating the market, and it threatened to haul five of the big publishers – Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and The Penguin Group – into court as well as Apple. Over time, each publisher settled – though admitted no wrongdoing in the process – so as to escape greater censure, but Apple insisted on taking the case all the way to the courtroom.
Even before the trial started, however, the outlook looked grim. The judge, having only reviewed preliminary evidence, suggested that Apple was likely to lose, despite the best efforts of the Cupertino firm’s legal team to argue the DOJ was presenting evidence selectively to mislead.
In fact, Apple said, it was acting in the best interest of publishing overall. The company warned of a “chilling effect” on ebooks if it was found guilty.
“The plaintiffs have shown that the publisher defendants conspired with each other to eliminate retail price competition in order to raise e-book prices, and that Apple played a central role in facilitating and executing that conspiracy,” US District Judge Denise Cote wrote in a 160-page ruling on the case. “Without Apple’s orchestration of this conspiracy,” she said, “it would not have succeeded as it did in the Spring of 2010.”
It’s unclear to what extent the damages could run, though we’d guess Apple will be doing everything in its power to appeal the decision. The exact details of the settlements each of the five publishers eventually agreed with the DOJ have not been revealed, but Penguin is known to have coughed up $75m plus costs to settle the claims across 33 US states, along with a class-action lawsuit.
What this could mean for ebook prices from iBooks, Kindle, NOOK, and other stores also remains to be seen; Amazon is eager to return to the days where a new ebook would be $9.99, rather than the $12.99-15.99 that the agency model has settled on today.
Apple is yet to comment on the decision; we’ve reached out to the company, and will update when we have more. Update: Apple has commented on the ruling, and will fight it in appeal.
Apple guilty in ebook price-fix trial is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
If there is one particular bane of modern day toys and gadgets, it would be this – most of them would require some sort of power source to run. The kids who grew up in the 1980s (and earlier) had their fair share of toys that did not require batteries, such as dolls and action figures, although there were also other toys like little robots of Nintendo’s Game & Watch which required batteries. Remote controlled cars and robots have always run on batteries, but this time around, the trend is bucked with the introduction of the $19.99 DynamoGo Powered R/C Cars.
As its name suggests, the DynamoGo Powered R/C Cars would not need any kind of batteries to keep it going. All you need to do is crank it up with your hand, and you are good to go. Each purchase will come in either red or green shades, so hopefully you end up with one that matches the color in your home. Of course, having to crank these puppies up each time before you play also means the amount of play time is rather limited, and you might have to do far more cranking than actual playing in the long run, but think of the amount of moolah you would have saved in the long run from not purchasing batteries!
[ DynamoGo Powered R/C Cars copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
If you want a realistic and creepy spider robot and have a spare $1,350(USD) Robugtix will be happy to sell you this lifelike robotic spider called the T8. Put this in your home and it will likely scare all of the real spiders you have creeping around in your home. They will be lining up to leave your abode.
The robot has a 3D printed outer shell and limbs. Inside it boasts a total of 26 servo motors and that is where it gets its realistic movement.. That and a special inverse kinematic software algorithm you run on a computer to drive it. I’m torn. I want to kill it with fire. But I also want to buy it! Decisions, decisions.
The T8 Spiderbot will be available this September. It’s a good thing it has a single large eye, otherwise you might mistake it for a real spider.
For those of you without such deep pockets, there’s another option in the decidedly less realistic looking, but nonetheless just as creepy-walking Iitsii hexapod, which will ship late August for $250.
[via Engadget]
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