Jul 31
Jul 31
After a short series of rumors, Verizon has finally revealed what the LG G Vista really is. Unfortunately for those hoping for a more remarkable device, this is not it. At the very best, the G Vista is a decent budget Android smartphone for those looking for a larger screen on the cheap. At the very worst, it is a … Continue reading
Jul 31
When it comes to gaming franchises, one of the more famous “hits” would be the Call of Duty series, where we now have word that Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare will arrive in limited and collector’s editions, where they are known as the Atlas Limited Edition and Atlas Pro Edition, respectively. Of course, whenever someone places the word “Limited” in the name, you can be sure that it is going to cost you somewhat – and these two titles ring true to that tune in terms of pricing details.
Forget about the standard version of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare if you are a huge fan of the series – after all, it is all right to splurge once in a while, right? The limited edition will retail for $79.99 while the collector’s edition is more expensive, breaking the Benjamin mark at $119.99. Regardless of whichever version you purchase, they will come bundled with the same DLC and physical items.
What is the difference in price points for then, you ask? Well, the latter has a Season Pass and nicer looking packaging, but for those who feel that physical copies of games are now but passe, there is always the Atlas Digital Pro Edition that will still cost you at $99.99 a pop.
Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare Atlas Editions Announced
, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Jul 31
The Xbox One certainly has its fair share of hits when it comes to gaming titles, which are crucial when you think of the competition that it is up against – the Sony PS4. Needless to say, both camps have their collection of exclusive titles that are worth picking up, and the world has grown to be big enough to accommodate both consoles under the same roof. Well, Killer Instinct for the Xbox One proved to be a stunning success, and this has made it all but a matter of time before the one of the original Killer Instinct titles that hail from the innocent 1990’s to appear on the Xbox One.
In one particular post that was spotted on the Korean Game Rating and Administrative Committee website, it looks as though Killer Instinct Classic 2 will be arriving on the Xbox One some time down the road. Those who are not too familiar with this title might want to read on about its background – Killer Instinct 2 happened to be the original title’s sequel, where it was developed by Rare and manufactured by Midway. On the Nintendo 64, it was known as Killer Instinct Gold.
Sharing a fair amount of game mechanics as its predecessor, it will also introduce new features which helped it keep up to pace with other beat ‘em up titles of that era, not to mention the introduction of a quartet of new characters, the inclusion of throws, a super bar, and parrying. [Press Release]
Killer Instinct Classic 2 Could Debut On Xbox One
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Jul 31
If you are a real hardcore fan of the Legend of Zelda series that has spawned numerous hits on the Nintendo family of consoles, chances are you are also on the lookout for a range of new Zelda collectibles in order to decorate your home with it. If you love all things to do with maps, then surely you would be pleased as punch to check out this new map of Hyrule.
This is no ordinary Hyrule map, since it is laser etched on a piece of wood thanks to designer Alex Griendling. Measuring 24” x 18”, the birch plywood panel will boast of a Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time variant of Hyrule designed and illustrated by Griendling himself. Unfortunately for the horde of Zelda fans out there, there will only be 10 of these puppies made available to the masses, so the proverb of the early bird getting the worm applies here, pronto!
Expect to check out notable details such as Hylian captions for the items and surprises including Lord Jabu-Jabu in Zora’s Fountain, and the Royal Family’s tomb in the Kakariko Village Graveyard on this laser etched map. The asking price for one of these bad boys? $190 a pop, in addition to a $15 shipping and handling fee.
Laser Etched Hyrule Map Looks Stunning
, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Jul 31
Do you wish that Comic-Con could come to you? Then check out D23's touring Fanniversary celebrations
Posted in: UncategorizedGo ahead. Admit it. After hearing about all that cool stuff Comic-Con attendees got to see last week, you’re now wishing that you’d gone down to San Diego.
But then again, when you factor in what it would have cost to travel to Southern California (Not to mention that all 130,000 badges which were made available for this year’s event sold out within 90 minutes back in March), maybe going to Comic-Con isn’t really an option for you.
Which is why you’re probably now wishing that there were some sort of Comic-Con-like presentation which traveled around the country. A panel that went to where pop culture enthusiasts were, rather than forcing the fans to come find it.
Well, if that’s really how you feel, then you should maybe check out Disney’s D23 Fanniversary events. Which is this Comic-Con-like presentation that begins traveling around the US next week and — over the next three months — will make stops in 11 different cities as it entertains & informs thousands of Disney fans.
Mind you, what’s kind of ironic that D23 (i.e., the Official Disney Fan Club) started presenting these Fanniversary events back in 2011 to keep its members energized & engaged during those years when the Club is not presenting its own biennual Comic-Con-like event, the D23 Expo. Which will next be held at the Anaheim Convention Center August 14 -16, 2015.
That said, D23 won’t be presenting the same old Fanniversary when the first of these events kicks off in Burbank on August 9th. According to Billy Stanek, the web editor for the Official Disney Fan Club (more importantly, one of the show writer for this year’s edition of Fanniversary), they’ve made a significant number of changes to this traveling show.
“The last time we did Fanniversary, we did this show chronologically. Staring with the oldest stuff first and then working our way up to The Walt Disney Company’s most recent projects. This time around, recognizing that we’ve got Disney fans of all ages who come out to these presentations, we decided to divide the show a little differently,” Stanek explained during a recent phone interview. “Don’t worry. We’ll still have plenty of stuff for those people who love classic Disney animation. With this presentation, we’ll be celebrating Donald Duck’s 80th birthday as well as the 55th anniversary of Sleeping Beauty‘s theatrical release. But we’ll also have stuff that’s more current from television and the Parks thrown in.”
That ultimately is the real challenge when putting together something like a Fanniversary. Given that The Walt Disney Company means so many different things to so many different people these days, it’s hard to craft one presentation that can then touch on all aspects of the Mouse House.
“That’s why we decided to go with these new categories this year. So that — with our new live-action sequence — we can go from the Muppets to Star Wars over to Marvel, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary,” Stanek continued. “But for classic Disney fans, this is also the part of the Fanniversary presentation where we talk about 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and show some great archival footage from that 1954 release.”
“I guess what I’m trying to say here is that — if there’s something that you’re not interested in being talked about at this year’s Fanniversary event — just wait 15 seconds and the next thing you’ll probably like,” Billy laughed. “I mean, there’s actually one section of this year’s presentation where we go from Marvel to The Little Mermaid. Which I know sounds like a pretty bizarre transition. But we have found a way to make it work.”
While prepping this year’s Fanniversary, Stanek worked closely with Kevin Kern, a Collection Specialist at the Walt Disney Archives. And as the D23 team was looking for some Disney-related anniversaries to celebrate at this years event, they came across some extraordinary footage which pertains to the Company’s work on the 1964 – 1965 New York World’s Fair.
“Some of the film you’ll see was shot on the Disney studio backlot and shows a test of the load – unload procedure for the Ford Magic Skyway. It’s a pretty neat behind-the-scene look at the ride car system that powered this attraction at the Fair,” Kevin explained. “Now what’s important to understand about the Ford Magic Skyway is that it was an early cousin to Disney’s later Omnimover system that would eventually lead to break-throughs like the PeopleMover and other attractions for the Parks.”
And speaking of the Disney Parks … Kern also teased the showing of some footage showcasing the testing of the Matterhorn track while that Tomorrowland attraction was still under construction.
“This construction footage gives a unique glimpse into the creation of this attraction. When you watch, you’ll notice a gentleman in a bobsled testing out the track. Bob Gurr swears that it’s Pete Clark, an early WED leasee / licensee promoter for Disneyland. We’re still trying to get a definite verification on that. It’s an interesting shot, something that you don’t get to see every day. You usually don’t get to see this side of attractions while they’re being built,” Kevin said.
By the way, Disney Legend Bob Gurr will be appearing at this year’s Fanniversary events in San Diego where he’ll be speaking about the Matterhorn and the Monorail. And Disney Legend Floyd Norman will be in Burbank next week, where — as part of the kick-off for this year’s Fanniversary series — he’ll be talking about the work he did on Sleeping Beauty.
“People shouldn’t feel bad if they can’t get to San Diego and Burbank to hear Bob & Floyd talk in person. Because we managed to fold so much brand-new interview footage of so many Disney Legends, luminaries and celebrities into this year’s Fanniversary event,” Stanek stated. “When we created the list of the people that we wanted to have speaking during this year’s show, I was told a couple of times that ‘… you’re never going to have this happen. You’re not going to be able to do this.’ I mean, I heard all of all these different excuses as to why I wasn’t going to be able to do this. And I’m just so grateful and excited to say that — in the end — we did in fact pull it off.”
Well, if you couldn’t get to Comic-Con this year and would now like to attend a 105 minute presentation which honors The Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain, Tower of Terror and then closes out with a big tribute to Mary Poppins, then you definitely need to check D23’s Fanniversary event. This touring celebration will be visiting 11 cities across the United States with Kevin and Billy acting as two of the show’s hosts at various stops along the way.
These stops include Burbank, CA on August 9th, August 10th in San Diego and August 16th & 17th in San Francisco. The tour then starts up again in September with a stop in Chicago on September 6th, Seattle on September 13th, Atlanta on September 20th, Philadelphia on September 21st, Washington DC on September 26th and New York City on September 28th. This year’s Fanniversary tour then concludes in October with two stops. One in Boston on October 4th and the other in Orlando on October 25th.
Jul 30
Google Fiber hardware is being streamlined: fewer boxes, same functionality
Posted in: Today's Chili
Remember that new Google Fiber box we spotted in the FCC last month? It’s almost here. According to Kansas City residents in Google’s beta program, a new router is on the way that combines the service’s existing network and storage boxes into a…
Jul 30
Japanese carrier KDDI has just announced a new HTC J Butterfly, a handset which resembles the HTC One in specs but with features aimed at its home market. Like a lot of new Sony and other Japanese devices, the 5-inch, full HD handset is waterproof,…
Jul 30
Just like how we should not judge a book by its cover, so too, should we avoid purchasing a gaming desktop because of its relatively small size. Maingear is not all that famous in terms of its branding, but the gaming computer manufacturer has started to sell what it deems to be its smallest gaming desktop to date. Known as the Maingear Spark, it measures all of just 4.5″ x 4.23″ x 2.34″, although it does come with an AMD A8-5557M quad-core processor alongside Radeon R9 M275X graphics to keep it humming along just fine, with a starting price point of $699, depending on the final hardware configuration of your choice.
Just in case you have a sense of deja vu that the Maingear Spark looks familiar, that is because this could very well be a Gigabyte BRIX gaming PC in disguise, albeit featuring Maingear’s name on top of it. Apart from that, since Maingear first introduced the Spark in January this year, it has been touted to be a Steam Machine computer that is capable of handling the upcoming Steam OS.
As Steam OS will remain under cover until 2015 arrives, this looks as though Maingear could not wait any longer and decided to roll out the Maingear Spark while running on Windows, where you can choose from either Windows 7 or Windows 8. Do take note that the $699 base price does not include the price of the operating system. Other hardware specifications in the base model include 4GB RAM and a 500GB hard drive, which can be upgraded to 16GB RAM and 1TB of hard drive/SSD, respectively.
Maingear Spark Packs A Punch Despite Small Size
, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Jul 30
FreedomPop has been offering free limited wireless data, voice, and text to smartphone users for quite some time already, and now it looks like the time has come to extend such a service to tablets as well. After all, while tablet sales might be slowing down according to Best Buy, it remains a vibrant market at this point in time. FreedomPop will allow you to bring home either an iPad mini or Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 (nice play to offer iOS and Android options there) that will let you make phone calls, surf the Internet, or even to send text messages without forking out a single cent thanks to FreedomPop’s voice over IP network.
Apart from that, if you already own a tablet at this point in time, you can also use your own 4G LTE tablet to take advantage of FreedomPop’s offer. Basically, anyone who “bites” will be able to enjoy up to 500MB of 4G LTE data, 200 voice minutes, and half a thousand text messages – for free, yo! This is pretty much in the same vein as that for their smartphone customers.
Those who feel that the above mentioned are inadequate, there is always the option to fork out more money for a premium plan. The iPad mini with LTE from FreedomPop will retail for $319 a pop, while the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 with LTE is going for $199. Those who want to use their own tablets will need to enter the MAC address at the FreedomPop website before download an app. Basically, all tablets that play nice with Sprint’s 4G LTE network ought to work just fine.
FreedomPop Delivers Free Data For Tablets
, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
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