General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article

Will Amazon Unveil a Full Size Kindle Fire Tablet During September Press Event?

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 01:54 PM PDT

Exactly two weeks from today -- September 6, 2012, if you don't want to consult a calendar -- Amazon will hold a press conference in Santa Monica, California, according to invitations it sent out to members of the press. It's a safe bet Amazon will launch a new wave of Kindle products during that time, and if the e-tailer plans on releasing a full size Kindle Fire tablet, could there be a better time?

There have been rumors that Amazon is working on a 10-inch Kindle Fire tablet to compete with Apple's iPad device, though nothing concrete. As rumor has it, the enlarged Kindle Fire will blaze a quad-core processor, front-facing camera, micro USB port, and perhaps HDMI output.

This info isn't coming from sketchy sources, either. According to Reuters, Staples president Demos Parneros recently said Amazon is getting ready to introduce five or six tablet SKUs, among them a 10-inch model.

It will also be interesting to see if Amazon unveils a second generation 7-inch Kindle Fire device next week to compete with Google's recently launched Nexus 7 tablet. Unless you're invested in Amazon Prime and can't live without its catalog of streaming titles on your tablet device, there's really not much reason to choose a Kindle Fire over a Nexus 7, and at some point Amazon will have to address that. With the back-to-school shopping season upon us and the holiday shopping season right around the corner, next week would be as good of a time as any.

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Rare Final Fantasy II Cartridge Pops Up on Ebay for $50,000 (Plus Shipping)

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 10:07 AM PDT

Gaming historians and fans of the Final Fantasy franchise are aware of the fact that the original version of Final Fantasy II was never released in the U.S. However, there does exist a Final Fantasy II cartridge put together by Square Soft USA (now Square Enix) that was intended for show at the 1991 Consumer Electronics Shows (CES) in Las Vegas, and though the title never made it to retail, the pre-production cart still remains and is available on Ebay...for $50,000.

According to the seller, who Kotaku has identified as Frank Cifaldi, a videogame historian and journalist, "this is the only legitimate copy of the game that exists." All other copies that exist in the wild are bootlegs, making this a one-of-a-kind collectible for someone with deep pockets.

How deep? Cifaldi told Kotaku his $50,000 Buy-It-Now price isn't necessarily firm, hence why he's willing to listen to offers on Ebay. So far there have been 95 offers, 82 of which have been declined and the remaining 13 listed as "pending."

Whoever ends up with the title is ensured that "the entire game is playable, in English, from beginning to end," the auction states. Even if you're not interested in bidding -- and at $50,000 or thereabouts, we suspect that's the majority -- the auction is worth checking out for the Q&A section alone. As you can imagine, Cifaldi has received a fair number of inquiries and comments about his asking price and that fact that he's charging $10.40 for shipping. One posted asked, "You must be rich yes?" His response:

"Embarrassingly so. I like to play this game where I crumple $100 bills into little balls, light them on fire, and see if I can toss them into a Ming vase. Usually the hole is too small so I have to bang it against one of my solid gold countertops to open it up more."

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Samsung Teaser Video Serves Up Quick Glimpse of Upcoming Windows 8 Laptop

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 09:24 AM PDT

Samsung has uploaded a video to YouTube showing brief glimpses of a new notebook model the company describes as its "newest Windows-8 ready innovation." The title is "Something Smart is Coming," and other than that, there aren't a whole lot of clues to decipher. Considering that Samsung is hyping this machine as a Windows 8 device, it's probably a safe bet it will ship with a touchscreen to take advantage of Microsoft's next generation operating system.

The glimpses, however brief, also reveal what looks like a brushed aluminum finish, ultra-thin design (Ultrabook, perhaps?), and a headphone jack on the top of the display, a hint that this could be a convertible notebook that doubles as a tablet.

Check out the embedded video below and let us know what you think.

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New Look Microsoft Unveils Fresh Digs Ahead of Windows 8 Launch

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 08:32 AM PDT

After 25 years sporting the same logo, Microsoft today decided "now is the perfect time for a change." That's hard to argue with Windows 8 right around the corner, representing one of several major product launches in store for the Redmond outfit. Windows Phone 8, new Xbox services, and another version of Office are also on tap for Microsoft, and for end users, you'll notice a "common look and feel across these products," Microsoft says.

"This wave of new releases is not only a reimagining of our most popular products, but also represents a new era for Microsoft, so our logo should evolve to visually accentuate this new beginning," Microsoft said in a blog post.

Getting into the nitty-gritty of the new logo, Microsoft explains it consists of two components, the first of which is the Segoe font for the logotype. It's the same front Microsoft uses in its products and marketing communications. The other part is the multi-colored symbol.

"The symbol's squares of color are intended to express the company's diverse portfolio of products," Microsoft says.

Expect to see Microsoft displaying the logo "prominently" on new products, on its website, in its retail stores, in television ads, and anywhere else Microsoft can think of.

So, whats the verdict -- thumbs up or thumbs down on Microsoft's new logo?

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Hewlett-Packard Chief Sees "Decent Progress" Amid $8.9 Billion Quarterly Loss

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 07:55 AM PDT

Hewlett-Packard boss Meg Whitman isn't ready to hit the panic button, even if stockholders are after the company announced financial results for its third quarter ended July 31, 2012. There were some sharp declines in the report, including an $8.9 billion net loss, down a whopping 568 percent from the same quarter one year ago. Net revenue fell 5 percent year-over-year to $29.7 billion, but despite it all, Whitman sees progress being made in HP's comeback tour.

"HP is still in the early stages of a multi-year turnaround, and we're making decent progress despite the headwinds," Whitman said. "During the quarter we took important steps to focus on strategic priorities, manage costs, drive needed organizational change, and improve the balance sheet. We continue to deliver on what we say we will do."

Whitman's positive spin was lost on investors, who responded to the news by sending the company's share price down around 6.5 percent to $17.95 this morning.

"We are deeply troubled by the events at HP and within the broader PC landscape," Neeham analyst Richard Kugele wrote in a note to investors, according to Forbes. "In our view, these issues include: 1) macroeconomic headwinds weighing on IT spending (and expected to continue 'well into F13'); 2) a fundamental shift in printing habits, impacting IPG; 3) a once-strong services business that is seeking to recreate former pricing power; 4) a PC business struggling to find a place in the new tablet/ultrathin world while fighting off bottom-feeders; and 5) making lemonade out of the lemon Autonomy acquisition."

Like other OEMs, HP faces slowed spending in the PC sector and a slumping economy. Unlike other OEMs, HP took a massive $8 billion charge, writing off the value of Electronic Data Systems, a technology consulting service it purchased for $13 billion back in 2008.

Image Credit: Flickr (donjd2)

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Nikon Launches Android Powered Coolpix S800c Digital Camera

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 07:09 AM PDT

Improved camera optics are a staple of each new generation of smartphones, and at the current pace, its not hard to imagine a future in which point-n-shoot cameras are just a relic of how we used to take photos. Then again, there's nothing stopping camera makers from integrating smartphone-like capabilities into digital cameras, and that's precisely what Nikon has done with its new Android powered Coolpix S800c.

You can't make phone calls on the Coolpix S800, but it does answer the call for photographers who want to be able to quickly and easily upload their photos to Facebook and other social networking portals, just like they can do with their smartphone. All you need is a Wi-Fi connection.

"With the new Coolpix S800c, Nikon designed a camera for users looking to capture stunning images and videos with a compact digital camera but also want to share their content with their friends and family in a familiar way," said Bo Kajiwara, Vice President of Marketing, Planning and Customer Experience, Nikon Inc. "Now users can connect easily and instantly with their social networks through the wireless connection, and take advantage of the vast possibilities of the Android Operating System. The new S800c is truly the easiest way to share amazing images on the spot."

The camera itself sports a 3.5-inch OLED touchscreen, 16MP backside illuminated CMOS sensor, optical 10x zoom NIKKOR lens, Full HD 1080p video recording with stereo sound, 125-3200 ISO sensitivity, SD/SDHC memory card slot, and various auto shooting modes.

Android is the real selling point, however, providing users a familiar playground to play in and share their photos. You can also install photography and social networking apps from Google Play, as well as browse the Web, Nikon says.

The Coolpix S800c will be avilable in September for $350 MSRP.

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Incoming Best Buy CEO Receives Millions to Save Struggling Electronics Chain

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 06:07 AM PDT

Best Buy this week announced that its Board of Directors appointed Hubert Joly, former head of a global hospitality and travel company, as the chain's President and Chief Executive Officer. In addition to inheriting the burdens of a struggling electronics chain, Joly will receive what some consider to be a king's ransom worth up to tens of millions of dollars over the next few years.

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Joly's pay package may be worth as much as $32 million over three years, or two and a half times what the company earned last quarter. He'll be paid a base salary of $1.175 million annually, plus an annual long-term cash award of $8.75 million or more, WSJ says.

"The cash compensation is squarely in the mid-range for a CEO of a company the size of Best Buy," a company spokesman told WSJ. "This packages was developed in consultation with leading search and compensation firms and is in line with best practice for Fortune 50 companies."

As much compensation as Joly is set to receive, he'll be worth every penny if he can somehow reverse Best Buy's fortunes. A day after announcing Joly's hiring, Best Buy revealed its second quarter financial results, noting a gut wrenching 91 percent drop in quarterly profit. Earnings in Q2 plummeted to $12 million from $128 million a year prior.

Image Credit: Flickr (matteson.norman)

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Kinect Price Slashed by $40

Posted: 23 Aug 2012 06:06 AM PDT

Nearly two years after it made its debut, Kinect finally received its first price cut on Wednesday. What's more, Microsoft has knocked off as much as $40 from the motion-sensing peripheral's original price tag of $149.99, which was considered a bit too steep back when the peripheral first hit the market. But as we all know, the Kinect became an instant hit, selling over 10 million units in just 60 days. That being said, it was probably becoming increasingly difficult for the Redmond-based outfit to justify the original price tag, given the seemingly irredeemable lack of quality titles.

Following the price cut, a Kinect sensor now costs $109.99 in the States. While Microsoft has announced similar price drops for a number of other regions as well, it has no such plans for EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) countries and Japan.

"Today we are announcing a new price for Kinect. The new permanently reduced price will be US $109.99 in US. There will be also a permanently reduced price in North America, Latin America and Asia Pacific regions where Kinect is sold," Microsoft's Larry Hryb (a.k.a. Major Nelson) wrote in a blog post Wednesday. "The final retail price will vary in each region based on the currency and other variables There are no price drop plans for EMEA and Japan."
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