This afternoon the folks at the IDC released quarterly worldwide shipment numbers for tablets, suggesting as they did so that a slump in the market this quarter may be due to Apple’s lack of a new iPad. And we got to thinking: it’s easy to relate the growth of the tablet industry over the past […]
We’ve had our first look at the beta version of the first person shooter version of SHADOWGUN: DEADZONE, out in beta form on the Google Play app store for Tegra 3 devices exclusively. This game is the multiplayer version of the benchmark-quality shooting game SHADOWGUN that’s been optimized for NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 quad-core processor on the market for some months – now you’ll be able to take your Transformer Prime to the web to shoot em up in real-time! This game is absolutely free – for now – and is available for download right this minute.
This game has a bevy of options including four playable characters, two game modes, and two full maps. These options will expand once the full version of the game is released, but for now it’s time to practice your death skills in a limited fashion. The beta test includes a soldier, mutant, assassin, and a dancer – we’ll leave that last one to you to see for yourself. The two game modes available here at the start are DeathMatch and Zone Control, with the first being a shoot-die-regenerate model with a clock and lots of red.
This release is made specifically for you beta testers out there to try out for free and give lots of feedback to NVIDIA and the creators of the game, Madfinger. With your massive amount of destructive tools on-hand and a perfectly playable iteration out right this second, you’ll have to stop yourself every once in a while and write down your thoughts – you’ll get lost in the destruction if you don’t.
* Weapons – Bandit (SMG), Vega (Attack Rifle), Big Boy (Machinegun), Spate (Plasma Rifle), Mace (Shotgun), Osog (Sniper), Sh*tStorm (Rocket Launcher)
* Gadgets (Sprint, Medi Kit, Ammo Kit, Flash Bang, EMP Grenade, Frag Grenade, Sentry Gun, Mine)
Your feedback can be sent in-game with the Feedback button – make it so! This game will be out in full rather soon, so you’d better get your practice time in right this minute. You can find yours truly in the game at username “Burnsy” – let’s have a round or two! You can download the game now – again, for free – on the [Google Play app store]. Go for it!
SHADOWGUN: DEADZONE multiplayer FPS beta hits Android and hands-on is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
If there’s one solid idea in the modern mobile market that I agree with consistently, it’s that tablet-sized computers are made for entertainment first, and work only as a necessity. I’ve tried to bring a tablet to a press conference before, with and without a physical keyboard accessory to pad its ability to work as I need it to, and it’s never good enough. I’m not just talking about a Samsung Galaxy Tab or a Note, not just an iPad, not just an ASUS Transformer of any kind – all of them; they’re all made for entertainment.
I’ve certainly seen some of my compatriots and associates attempt to use a tablet to do work – lots of different kinds of work – and it just does not add up. When I reviewed the ASUS Transformer Prime, it was the first device that struck me as a “tablet first, notebook second” type of device that could make the cross-over a possibility in the real world. As it turns out, the price of the combination of the tablet and the keyboard dock racked up to be not that far from a used MacBook Air – or any number of notebook devices that could do at least as much in the work department, not to mention the entertainment department.
As it stands, it appears that mobile operating systems like Android and iOS, when sized 7-inches or larger, are at a point where their price does not make a good enough case for the consumer to choose them over a notebook if they want to do work. The market does not reflect this, of course, as the companies that make notebooks and tablets have come to understand – in quite a few cases, not all – that sensible choices in the computer consumption universe aren’t always the ones that are made. Instead we’re seeing tablets appearing more exciting than notebooks, notebooks being less newsworthy while tablets take the headlines – almost without fail.
If I had to make a cutoff where the tablet size starts and the smartphone (or in some cases “phablet”) size stops, it’d be a 7-inch display. Samsung made this distinction when they released the original Galaxy Tab, and it stuck. The word tablet should only apply to devices with 7-inch displays or larger with no physical keyboard and a touch-sensitive screen.
The difference between being able to do work on a smartphone and being able to do work on a tablet is the size of our hands. When we type on a smartphone – for the most part – we do it with our thumbs, and some people can do it really, really fast. Typing on a tablet is not so natural. We’ve not had keyboards as small as a smartphone up until very recently in our collective human past. The physical keyboard made for our hands – a standard-sized keyboard that is – has been around for many generations.
When it’s natural to type on an absolutely flat surface without physical feedback – see any number of science fiction films in the past 10 years – then it’ll be time to go to work on the tablet. Until then, the tablet is something you should buy only if you expect to use it to play games and watch videos.
Tablets are for fun, Laptops are for work is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
The developers at Vector Unit have released a new game by the name of Beach Buggy Blitz, and to celebrate said release in the TegraZone, NVIDIA and SlashGear are teaming up to bring you a set of THREE Tegra 3 quad-core processor-toting tablets. You’ll have the opportunity to get your hands on a Transformer Prime TF201 tablet/keyboard dock combo or one of two Google Nexus 7 tablets! With these lovely beasts you’ll be able to rock out on Beach Buggy Blitz all night long!
We had a bit of a hands-on look at the game just yesterday that you can witness by heading to the post entitled Vector Unit brings Beach Buggy Blitz to TegraZone and hands-on. Once you’ve experienced the excellence, head to the TegraZone and download the game absolutely free! Or if you’re currently without a device that works with an NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor, you’ve got another option.
We had a lot of fun with the last tablet giveaway working with our NVIDIA Tegra Hub – so much fun that we’ve decided to do it again, right here and now! You’ve got the chance to win one of three Tegra-toting tablets (listed above and below) – all you’ve got to do is follow these simple steps!
Rules:
1. Head to [this Facebook post] and if you haven’t already, “like” our Facebook page at [facebook.com/slashgear].
2. Select your favorite Tegra-toting device or NVIDIA TegraZone game from our ever-expanding [Tegra Hub] and comment on the Facebook post with a link (from the hub) along with some select words on why you love it so much – or why you want it so much, if you wish!
3. Sit back and wait for the end of the contest, and hope you get picked!
This giveaway starts on Friday, September 7th, 2012 and runs until Friday, Sept. 14th at midnight. We’ll pick a collection of our favorite entries and from that set we’ll choose three winners at random – we’ll announce the winners on Monday, September 17th on Facebook and right here in this original giveaway post!
Competition is open to residents of the US only, over the age of 18. One entry per person. Family members of NVIDIA, ASUS, Google, Vector Unit, and SlashGear/Android Community are not permitted to enter. Competition entries are only accepted via the specified Android Community forum post; entries left in the comments section of this or any other post will not be recognized.
The winners will be contacted by an Android Community/SlashGear staff member ON FACEBOOK upon being selected and will be expected to respond to that staff member; they will be expected to respond within 24 hours else their prize may be forfeit and another winner selected.
Editors decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. Winners agree that their name and details of their entry may be used for promotional purposes by, but not limited to Android Community, SlashGear, NVIDIA, and Vector Unit.
Prizes consist of two 16GB Google Nexus 7 tablets and a Transformer TF201 Prime tablet and keyboard combo. There are no other alternative for prize winners unless this prizes become unavailable, in which case Android Community reserves the right to substitute another prize of equal or greater value. Giveaway provided by SlashGear/Android Community. Prizes provided by NVIDIA and Vector Unit. Any questions regarding this giveaway should be directed to giveaway [AT] slashgear.com.
SlashGear’s Beach Buggy Blitz Tegra 3 Tablet Giveaway is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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