Electronic Arts is now inviting gamers to participate in the Battlefield 3 multiplayer beta which begins on September 29, 2011 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PC. The beta will be set in Paris on the Operation Metro map and pit two elite tactical units against each other in the series’ popular Rush Mode. One side will take the offensive by attacking M-COM stations while the opposing squad will defend and protect.
“Gamers who pre-order the digital PC version of the game at Origin (powered by EA) will be granted early access to the beta starting on September 27, 2011,” EA said Tuesday. “In addition, all customers that pre-ordered a Limited Edition of Medal of Honor will also receive early access to the beta starting on September 27, 2011.”
In addition to the beta announcement, EA provided the minimum and recommended system requirements for the PC version, as seen below. Read more…
Thermaltake has announced the expansion of its eSports line of professional-grade hardware by bringing out the Overseer RX-I PC Chassis.
Thermaltake’s new Overseer RX-I full-tower case measures 21.1 (H) x 8.7 (W) x 22.8 (D) inches, weighs 22.7 pounds, has front & top mesh panels, four exposed 5.25-inch bays, five tool-free 2.5/3.5-inch internal bays, and two pre-drilled holes (found at the rear) for watercooling tubing. The top-placed I/O panel comes with USB 3.0 (x 2), USB 2.0 (x 2), eSATA (x 1) and audio (x 2) ports.
Tuesday THQ announced that Crytek, the studio behind the popular Crysis series, will be developing the follow-up to THQ’s first-person shooter Homefront which was launched back in March for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. THQ said the yet-to-be-named sequel is scheduled for release in its fiscal year 2014 on console and PC platforms.
“Selecting Crytek to take Homefront forward underscores our strategy of working with the industry’s best talent,” said Danny Bilson, EVP Core Games, THQ. “Homefront’s unique setting and storyline captivated gamers the world over. With Crytek’s industry leading technology and legendary experience in the FPS genre, we’re supremely confident that the next Homefront will deliver that AAA-quality experience that players demand.”
If anything, the news reveals that THQ is still dedicated to the series despite the first installment’s lackluster launch. Currently Metacritic shows a score of 70 across the board for Homefront, with Gamespy saying that the game literally “sucks” while FiringSquad says that it plays like a “standard COD clone.” THQ closed down the studio behind the game (Kaos Studios) three months after the launch and shifted Homefront development over to THQ’s Montreal studio. So far there’s no indication that the Montreal arm will have any part in the Homefront sequel.
“We see Homefront as a really strong universe that has a lot of potential and that has been expertly created and marketed by THQ,” said Cevat Yerli, Founder, CEO and President of Crytek. “We believe that bringing our level of quality, creativity and production values to the next Homefront title creates an opportunity for both THQ and Crytek to deliver a truly blockbuster game. It’s really important to us that THQ has the faith in giving us a lot of creative freedom over one of its most important properties to allow us to bring the Homefront world to life in a new and innovative way.”
Crytek released Crysis 2 on the PC and consoles back in March. The developer is currently working on a free-to-play first person shooter called Warface scheduled to launch in “Western markets” next year. Crytek is also working on an action game called Ryse for Microsoft’s Kinect motion sensing peripheral.
Microsoft apparently paid a female executive one million pounds (about $1.5 million) in “hush money” after she was passed over for a promotion to the position of managing director of Redmond’s UK operations.
Longtime Microsoft employee Natalie Ayres left her job as Director of Small & Medium Business & Partners, UK, at Microsoft in 2007. However, it seems there may be more to her departure than a desire for change or a better opportunity. According to anonymous sources that spoke to the London Telegraph, Ayres was apparently unfairly passed over for a big promotion and left the company as a result. Not only that, but she was given a seven-figure ‘compromise agreement’ upon her departure.
Google announced Google Wallet way back in May after months of rumors regarding a NFC (near field communications) system. Dubbed Google Wallet, the application represented a partnership between Citi, MasterCard, First Data and Sprint and promised Nexus S users the ability to pay for goods as well as store credit cards, offers, loyalty cards and gift cards. Today, Google launched Google Wallet for the public via an over the air (OTA) update.
“We’ve been testing it extensively, and today we’re releasing the first version of the app to Sprint,” said Google’s Osama Bedier, Vice President of Payments. “That means we’re beginning to roll out Google Wallet to all Sprint Nexus S 4G phones through an over-the-air update—just look for the Wallet app.”
While Citi and MasterCard are launch partners, Bedier today revealed that Visa, Discover and American Express will be a part of future versions of Google Wallet. The company’s goal is to eventually support all payment cards so that you can ditch your wallet altogether.
The court confirmed $22,500 per song and left 28-year old Boston university student Joel Tenenbaum with a $675,000 verdict for a total of 30 songs. You may remember the name, as Tenenbaum heard the same verdict about two years ago; however, he was able to reduce the amount to just $67,500 last year, as a judge described the prior verdict as “unconstitutionally excessive.”
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) filed an appeal and was successful, as the Court of Appeals noted formal trial errors as the procedure of lowering the monetary amount of a jury award was not applied correctly. The court noted that it “should first have considered the non-constitutional issue of remittitur, which may have obviated any constitutional due process issue and attendant issues.” Ultimately, the judge did not have the authority to reduce the damages in the copyright trial.
However, the case has not quite reached its end yet. The Court of Appeals raised a question that directly addresses the current way how the Copyright Act is being applied. “This case raises concerns about application of the Copyright Act which Congress may wish to examine,” the court said.
Think your latest MacBook Air is still very slow despite being equipped with an SSD? Well fear not, as Other World Computing would be happy to quell your woes with its SandForce-equipped Mercury Aura Pro Express 6G. The company’s latest storage upgrade steps things up from its 3Gb/s versions, promising to get your tasks zooming with consistent speeds of “over 500MB/s”, achieved by utilizing the ’11 Air’s SATA Revision 3.0, 6Gb/s bus, or any laptop as long as you have SATA 3.0 onboard. The 120GB variant will set you back a wallet-thinning $350, while 240GBs will cost you a whopping 600 greens. Well, to be fair no one ever said performance like this comes cheap. They’re available now from OWC.
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