Hasta La Gadget!

Razer has announced the latest soon-to-be-available Razer Blade and Razer Blade Pro laptops, both of them aimed at gamers and offering their own variety of high-end mobile PC hardware. The Blade is the smaller of the two, offering a 14-inch display, while the Blade Pro is larger with a 17-inch screen. We’ve got a large gallery of both machines available after the jump.

First up is the Razer Blade, which features a 14-inch LED HD+ display, a custom-designed trackpad, and a backlit keyboard. The chassis is made entirely of dark aluminum, with the laptop measuring in at 0.66-inches thick. According to Razer, this makes it the most powerful laptop based on power-per-cubic-inch of any other gaming laptop available.

Inside, users will find a 4th generation Intel Core processor, an unspecified SSD that Razer says offers a boot speed 4x faster than the average 5400rpm hard drive, and graphics are delivered via an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M GPU. Display resolution sits at 1600 x 900, while the trackpad supports multi-touch. Battery life is rated at up to 6 hours.

The Razer Blade Pro is similar, but with more power under the hood, as is expected. The display is a larger 17-inch LED HD display, and there the Switchblade User Interface, SBUI for short. The machine itself measures in at 0.88-inches and weighs 6.5lbs, which Razer says makes it the most portable in its class among gaming laptops. There’s an LCD trackpad, as well as ten keys and SBUI including Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Pro, Maya, and others, all free of charge.

As far as hardware internals go, there’s an Intel Quad Core i7 processor, an NVIDIA GTX 765M GPU, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB SSD, which can be upgraded to up to 512GB. The keyboard is backlit, with the lighting being user-adjustable. The trackpad can also be adjusted with various sensitivities.

Both the Razer Blade and the Razer Blade Pro will be available for pre-order on June 3, with the former starting at $1,799, and the latter at $2,299.

SOURCE: Razer 1 and Razer 2

Razer unveils latest Blade and Blade Pro gaming laptops is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The original Nintendo Entertainment System’s controller lends itself so well to geeky reinterpretations thanks to its simple, rectangular form. And now, here’s another cool use for the iconic controller – a night light.

This nifty night light was put together by DIYer lonesoulsurfer, and is basically an old NES controller outlined with LEDs, and set into a clear resin shell.

The circuit is triggered by tilting the controller, and tilting it multiple times can switch it into a blink mode too. And if you’re wondering how you change the batteries in this thing, you don’t. It’s powered by a solar panel.

It’s pretty nifty, and you can check out the full build instructions to make your own over on Instructables. Since the whole thing is cast in resin, I don’t see a reason why you couldn’t do this with other game controller either.

Considering that video games are the focus of many an exhibit these days, the following news shouldn’t be too shocking. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London has appointed Swallowtail Games founder Sophia George as its first-ever Game Designer in Residence. George, who won a BAFTA for her iOS title Tick Tock Toys, will be tasked with creating an interactive game for museum visitors. The first six months of the residency will involve researching the V&A Museum’s extensive collection of 16th- to 20th-century art, and game production will kick off in mid-2014 at Abertay University. You know it’s only a matter of time before the Met commissions a digital interpretation of its own massive sculpture gallery.

[Photo credit: Paul Farmer]

Filed under: Gaming, Storage

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Via: Eurogamer.net

You’ve mostly seen photos of the new Xbox One, but those can seem rather 2D. To remedy that, a 3D render is available to look at, which allows you to get a 360-degree view of the console from any angle by clicking and dragging around the screen to turn the console every which way imaginable.

The 3D rendering comes from Sketchfab, which is a website that makes similar renderings for other popular products, like the Pebble smartwatch, the OUYA portable gaming console, and even Google Glass. Obviously, all of these renderings (including the Xbox One) are completely unofficial, but it’s legitimacy is probably pretty good, as Xbox Live chief Larry Hyrb linked to it himself, calling it “very cool.”

The rendering also gives users a chance to check out the connectivity options on the back, which weren’t shown during the unveiling event (we heard what it includes, but weren’t shown the back of the console). You’ll notice the two HDMI ports for passthrough video, as well as two USB 3.0 ports. There’s also ethernet, optical audio, and what looks to a proprietary port for the Kinect sensor.

The Kinect sensor itself also looks to have a built-in cooling fan on the back, suggesting that there’s some powerful components on the inside that need careful attention so as not to overheat during long gaming sessions off the couch. There’s also a USB port of the left side of the console for easy access, since there don’t seem to be any on the front side.

The Xbox One was announced last week to much fanfare, but since then there’s been a lot of grief as far as the console’s used game policy, as well as whether or not the Xbox One needs to have an active internet connection at all times. Multiple Microsoft reps have said different things about these issues, so there still seems to be a bit of confusion, even on the company’s end. Hopefully, they’ll get it straightened out sooner or later.

VIA: Major Nelson

Xbox One 3D render gives you a closer look at the console is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

One thing’s for sure with the Xbox One: Microsoft is spending a lot of money on it. We previously heard that the deal with AMD for the Xbox One’s processor was said to be upwards of $3 billion. Now, it’s reported that Microsoft is spending $1 billion to finance in-house games, and also to secure exclusive titles for the new console.

In an interview with the Official Xbox Magazine, Microsoft’s Don Mattrick and Phil Spencer discuss the investment that Microsoft is putting in to get exclusive games for the Xbox One. The company is planning 15 exclusive games for the Xbox One’s first year at retail, including eight new intellectual properties.

And if anyone’s surprised by these figures, Mattrick believes that “people are way, way under-indexing how hard we’re punching.” With E3 coming up next month, Microsoft says that its presentation will focus mostly on games, but they didn’t disclose any further details as far how many our developed in-house, and how many are developed by other studios.

Mattrick says that Microsoft is going all-in with its new console, saying that “there are great hits, there’s innovation, and there are world class creators plugged in. He continues by noting that he keeps “track of it all…and we kind of look back at all the different years and at what we shipped, how many units have sold. There’s a lot of hyperbole about things, but I think we’re going to deliver.”

Microsoft already showed off a handful new games coming to the Xbox One during the revealing last week, including a new Call of Duty title, Forza Motorsports 5, Quantum Break, and a slew of EA Sports titles like FIFA 14, UFC, and Madden NFL. If this is only the tip of the iceberg, we should be seeing a ton of games get released for the new console in no time.

VIA: GamesIndustry.biz

SOURCE: Official Xbox Magazine

Xbox One exclusives getting $1 billion investment from Microsoft is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.