CrunchGear

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• Daily Crunch: Floor Tour Edition
• An Unannounced Dell Tablet Breaks Both Cover And The Traditional Form Factor Mold
• Sony Pictures Security Hole Hits 37,500 Users
• 15 Minutes Of Battlefield 3 Multiplayer Gameplay
• OnLive Shows Us Their Updated Client And Tablet Interface
• Video: Hands-on With The Hyperkin Supaboy
• Videos And Gallery: Nintendo’s Booth, Wii U, And New 3DS Games
• Videos And Gallery: Our Hands-Ons With The PS Vita
• Mad Catz And Tritton Say Their Warhead Is The Ultimate Wireless 360 Headset
• 2011 Romain Jerome Moon Dust DNA Mood Watches
• GamersGate Attempting To Launch “Spotify For Games,” FreeGames
• Tablet Crazed? You’re Not Alone, Says Samsung
• E3 Up Close: The Minutiae
• Jobs To Cupertino: We Want A Spaceship-Shaped, 12K Capacity Building As Our New Apple Campus
• ALERT: We Are Live At Nintendo’s Booth RIGHT NOW
• The JDome: An Immersive Gameplay Experience
• We’re Live Once Again At E3 2011, Starting At 10 AM
• Here’s A 20 Minute Video Interview With id’s John Carmack
• The Nintendo Wii U Completes The Traditional Nintendo Circle Of Life
• Voting Now Open For Linux Foundation T-Shirt Contest

Daily Crunch: Floor Tour Edition Posted: 09 Jun 2011 12:00 AM PDT A Visit To The Indie Games Pavilion At E3 Videos And Gallery: Nintendo's Booth, Wii U, And New 3DS Games Mad Catz And Tritton Say Their Warhead Is The Ultimate Wireless 360 Headset 15 Minutes Of Battlefield 3 Multiplayer Gameplay Voting Now Open For Linux Foundation T-Shirt Contest

An Unannounced Dell Tablet Breaks Both Cover And The Traditional Form Factor Mold Posted: 08 Jun 2011 05:59 PM PDT Dell is working on a new tablet. That alone isn’t news. Nearly every CE company right now is likely “working on a new tablet.” However, the crazy kids over at Engadget just posted a round of photos showing off an unannounced Dell tablet slider. That’s news. What we’re looking at is a clear departure from the traditional tablet form factor. A sliding drawer hides a keyboard reminiscent of 3rd party virtual split ‘pads and a rear camera is embedded on the convex back. But that’s where the details stop. There’s no word on when this slider will hit, for how much, or what OS it’s running. (My money is on Android 3.1) I guess we’re going to have wait until the next round of leaks for that info.

Sony Pictures Security Hole Hits 37,500 Users Posted: 08 Jun 2011 05:50 PM PDT Blammo. Sony has just confirmed that 37,500 Sony Pictures visitors have had their passwords, emails, and other potentially identifying details stolen from the Sony Pictures website. There is little financial effect in this hack as it simply exposed logins and passwords although users should probably change their important passwords if they suspect they have been affected. Sony writes: We are continuing to investigate the details of this cyberattack; however, we believe that one or more unauthorized persons may have obtained some or all of the following information that you may have provided to us in connection with certain promotions or sweepstakes: name, address, email address, telephone number, gender, date of birth, and website password and user name. Read on for more details on the breach. On June 2, 2011, we learned we were the target of a cyberattack when a hacker claimed that he had recently broken into sonypictures.com. Upon learning of this cyberattack, our team retained outside experts to conduct an investigation and forensic analysis. In addition, we promptly took offline all potentially affected databases containing personally identifiable information and contacted the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. We are working with the FBI to assist in the identification of those responsible for this crime. We greatly appreciate your patience, understanding and goodwill as we work to resolve these issues quickly and efficiently. We are continuing to investigate the details of this cyberattack; however, we believe that one or more unauthorized persons may have obtained some or all of the following information that you may have provided to us in connection with certain promotions or sweepstakes: name, address, email address, telephone number, gender, date of birth, and website password and user name. For your security, we encourage you to be aware of email, telephone, and postal mail scams that ask for personal or sensitive information. Sony Pictures Entertainment will not contact you by email or otherwise to ask for your credit card number or social security number. If you are asked for this information, you can be confident Sony Pictures Entertainment is not the entity asking. When our website features are fully restored, we strongly recommend that you log on and change your password. If you use your Sony Pictures website user name or password for other unrelated services or accounts, we strongly recommend that you change them there, as well. If you have concerns about the effect of this cyberattack on information you may have provided to us, we have listed below additional information and resources for your consideration: U.S. residents are entitled under U.S. law to one free credit report annually from each of the three major credit bureaus. To order your free credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call toll-free (877) 322-8228. At no charge, U.S. residents can have the three major U.S. credit bureaus place a "fraud alert" on your file that alerts creditors to take additional steps to verify your identity prior to granting credit in your name. This service can make it more difficult for someone to get credit in your name. Note, however, that because it tells creditors to follow certain procedures to protect you, it also may delay your ability to obtain credit while the agency verifies your identity. As soon as one credit bureau confirms your fraud alert, the others are notified to place fraud alerts on your file. Should you wish to place a fraud alert, or should you have any questions regarding your credit report, please contact any one of the agencies listed below. Experian: 888-397-3742; www.experian.com; P.O. Box 9532, Allen, TX 75013 Equifax: 800-525-6285; www.equifax.com; P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241 TransUnion: 800-680-7289; www.transunion.com; Fraud Victim Assistance Division, P.O. Box 6790,Fullerton, CA 92834-6790 You may wish to visit the web site of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission atwww.consumer.gov/idtheft or reach the FTC at 1-877-382-4357 or 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW,Washington, DC 20580 for further information about how to protect yourself from identity theft. Your state Attorney General may also have advice on preventing identity theft, and you should report instances of known or suspected identity theft to law enforcement, your State Attorney General, and the FTC. For North Carolina residents, the Attorney General can be contacted at 9001 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-9001; telephone (877) 566-7226; or www.ncdoj.gov. We will provide you separately with information about a complimentary offering to assist you to the extent you may be interested in enrolling in identity theft protection services and/or similar programs. We thank you for your patience as we complete our investigation of this cyberattack, and we regret any inconvenience. Our teams are working to restore as soon as possible any website features that have been disabled. Please contact our Toll Free Information Line at 1-855-401-2644, Monday-Friday, between 9 am and 5 pm Central, should you have any additional questions. Sincerely, Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.

15 Minutes Of Battlefield 3 Multiplayer Gameplay Posted: 08 Jun 2011 05:45 PM PDT I was lucky enough to be able to play a partial round of Battlefield 3 yesterday, but unfortunately DICE and EA were very insistent that no cameras would be allowed inside. That rule seems to have been laxified today, as there’s a pair of videos up showing off the very experience I got. Curious? Watch on. I’d like to register here that I was by far the highest scoring in my group of players, with more than a 2:1 KDR. That said, it was pretty clear that the opposing team was letting us win, and if they were trying even a little bit, I’d probably be 0 and 20. My impressions? It’s hard to say based on just a few minutes without customizing my guy or learning the map (plus it’s “pre-alpha” code), but it felt good and the map we were on had a nice “real” feel to it, not like a manufactured multiplayer map or anything. I was too busy trying to survive to test the destruction and guns in a clinical manner, but it felt right. Biggest problem? Knifing somebody now takes forever. DICE is proud of their melee animations, but seriously, I’m liable to get sniped while trying to take a fool down that way.

OnLive Shows Us Their Updated Client And Tablet Interface Posted: 08 Jun 2011 05:27 PM PDT OnLive ain’t new, but they’ve been updating their service and are showing off a few interesting new features here at E3. We spent some time at their booth, hearing about the service and the improvements they’re making. We saw a little footage of From Dust and heard about their cool tablet interface. Check out the video above… if you think you can handle it.

Video: Hands-on With The Hyperkin Supaboy Posted: 08 Jun 2011 05:18 PM PDT The Hyperkin Supaboy broke a few months ago. The somewhat large portable claimed to play SNES cartridges on both the embedded LCD screen but also out through the A/V out. Clever, right? Well, good news. It works and is just as wonderful as it sounds. Devin and I stopped by their E3 booth today and we got in on a little TMNT action. The device is large — think a thick Nomad — but the device sports a top-mounted SNES cartridge slot and a rechargeable battery around back. It’s pretty straight forward, really. No word on pricing, but it’s supposed to be out by the end of the year. (Just in time for your Christmas stocking!)

Videos And Gallery: Nintendo’s Booth, Wii U, And New 3DS Games Posted: 08 Jun 2011 05:13 PM PDT We got a chance to try out the Wii U this morning, going through Nintendo’s gauntlet of “experiences” and getting a feel for The New Controller. And yes, that’s what it’s called for now — we asked. And no, they didn’t get into detail about the hardware. But we played the hell out of their demos and yes, it is as fun as it looks. My impressions? It’s surprisingly light, the movement is much more responsive than the Wii, and the screen looks nice. There weren’t any demonstrations of the touchscreen, though I asked about the resistive/capacitive thing and got a non-answer. It’s just too early for them to commit to any technical details, it seems.

Videos And Gallery: Our Hands-Ons With The PS Vita Posted: 08 Jun 2011 04:49 PM PDT We had a pleasant morning checking out the Sony and Nintendo booths, getting hands-on with a few launch games and feeling up the hardware. The device really is remarkably light; you’d expect such a powerhouse to be heavy and bulky, but it’s quite petite. Unfortunately the units there were all tethered, and all their untethered units were broken. Just block out the cords with your hand and it’s almost the same. First we checked out Hot Shots Golf, then cel-shaded adventure Gravity, the impressive Mod Nation Racers and Little Big Planet, and then Uncharted: Golden Abyss, perhaps the most anticipated title. You can skip ahead to the clip you want above or just watch it straight through because it’s all good. And of course we had to take a few beauty shots, so here you are:

Mad Catz And Tritton Say Their Warhead Is The Ultimate Wireless 360 Headset Posted: 08 Jun 2011 04:17 PM PDT Last night we got a live tour of the latest from Mad Catz, including this rather comprehensively-featured headset for the Xbox 360. The big “what’s new” on this one is that it’s “truly wireless,” with no cord to the controller — making it the only wireless Dolby 7.1 headset out there. That may be putting somewhat of a fine point on it (there are other “truly wireless” headsets, of course), but it’s true for now and the headset does look pretty great. Check out our footage here or read on: They worked with Microsoft to develop these, and got access to some proprietary tech to make these as good as they can be. They’re using a 5.8GHz frequency and bypassing the controller audio processor altogether, which they say makes for better sound (which makes sense if the signal has to be recompressed for transmission to the controller), and of course untethers your head. It’s virtual surround sound in there, upconverting the signal to 5.1 or 7.1, and the sound itself comes from extra-large 50mm neodymium drivers. The power is handled by removable battery packs, and it comes with two so you can swap ‘em out whenever you like. Unfortunately the headset we saw was a prototype and they wouldn’t let us play with it. Pricing is TBA but they’re making sure it’s under $300, which is a comfort… I guess? As for why you need a “truly wireless” headset – I refer you to Penny Arcade:

2011 Romain Jerome Moon Dust DNA Mood Watches Posted: 08 Jun 2011 03:15 PM PDT One of Romain Jerome’s new products for 2011 was a chronograph version of their Moon Dust DNA Black Moon and Steel Mood watches. These are probably some of the coolest Moon Dust DNA watches given the slick, eye-catching design. Of course, the concept inherently is meant to be provocative and not for everyone. So check out some of the interesting design features of this new chrono. Read the rest here….

GamersGate Attempting To Launch “Spotify For Games,” FreeGames Posted: 08 Jun 2011 12:50 PM PDT Are you tired of paying for games? Me too. But the fact is that they tend to cost money, and that’s that. But that used to be the case for TV, and now we watch our favorite shows for free on Hulu and other services. Why shouldn’t we be able to play games using a similar ad-supported model? This is the question being asked by online game marketplace GamersGate, which launched back in 2009 as an alternative to established services Steam and DirectDownload. Creating a free-to-play platform for modern games seems to present a plethora of problems, but of course other free services have presented similar problems and worked out fine. GamersGate isn’t giving up too many details yet, but here’s what we know. The platform, FreeGames, would be totally free, and ads would come in a few forms: ads on the site, ads while downloading the game, ads before the game — like when the studio and publisher movies play. All these ads are, of course, things you can ignore, but they also seem to me very ignorable. Alternatively, a company can sponsor a game to be free-to-play. This could be the creators (for a free-to-play launch weekend) or just an interested company. The games would be protected by the usual DRM (SecurROM), though that’s never done much to curb piracy once the game files are on someone’s hard drive. They’ll launch with about 200 titles, which will be determined by the publishers. GamersGate says they’re talking with several of the majors and they’re getting a good reaction, but will gamers want to deal with the ads? You have to be online when you launch the game, and although they assured me multiplayer would work, for some reason I still expect issues with it. FreeGames is set to launch in September, with a closed beta opening up later this month.

Tablet Crazed? You’re Not Alone, Says Samsung Posted: 08 Jun 2011 12:00 PM PDT If you have a tablet, or an unstoppable urge to go and buy one, you're one of many. Samsung released findings of a survey conducted by Kelton Research revealing that 90 percent of U.S. consumers either have a tablet already, or would consider buying one. Out of 1,000 people surveyed in the Samsung Mobile-commissioned survey, 76 percent said they use their slate to read news or books, whereas 64 percent said they mostly watch TV shows or movies. 61 percent use their tablets to listen to music, and 56 percent say they update their various social networks. It's also certainly worth noting that 53 percent of those surveyed said they'd prefer to play games on a tablet than on a game console or PC. [via BGR]

E3 Up Close: The Minutiae Posted: 08 Jun 2011 11:46 AM PDT As we wade again into the breach here are some great videos from yesterday’s E3 broadcast. Today we got to see the Sony and Nintendo booths but yesterday we met Firefox and the Ice Queen and a young lady who feels eminently empowered by her experience as a Rift fighter. The Pre-Game Scrum Firefox & Ice Queen The Ford Fiesta Social Club Rusty Hearts End of Nations Tankgirl And Rift Warrior

Jobs To Cupertino: We Want A Spaceship-Shaped, 12K Capacity Building As Our New Apple Campus Posted: 08 Jun 2011 11:26 AM PDT After having a banner #WWDC start yesterday, Apple founder Steve Jobs humbly presented his idea for a new Apple campus at the Cupertino City Council today. I’m still watching this, but what I’ve seen so far is amazing. Jobs wants to build one building that holds 12,000 people on a former Hewlett-Packard property.”It’s a little like a spaceship,” Jobs says. No kidding. Read more…

ALERT: We Are Live At Nintendo’s Booth RIGHT NOW Posted: 08 Jun 2011 11:04 AM PDT Watch the show right here.

The JDome: An Immersive Gameplay Experience Posted: 08 Jun 2011 10:04 AM PDT When I look at this odd, immersive screen, called the jDone, I’m reminded of Coleridge’s epic poem: In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately jDome decree: Where guns roared out, soldiers ran Through caverns measureless to man In a boot of Battlefield 3. The J-Dome costs $1,200 and sets up in a few minutes. It fits in a package about as big as a pack ‘n’ play playpen for kids and works with any projector, creating a nearly immersive gaming experience by adding peripheral vision effects to otherwise 2D games. The effect, in short, is mesmerizing if a little intense. Both Matt and I felt a little sick playing an FPS simply because the screen is overarching and completely immersive. Things move on either side of your head and you find yourself looking around more simply because the screen is so big. Because it costs $1,200 plus whatever the projector costs it is hard to recommend this to the average gamer. However, if you’re serious about your FPSes, this thing is on par with a flight simulator yoke or car gaming seat in terms of value for the money. It will help you enjoy your games considerably more and, even if it looks kind of goofy, it’s quite cool. Product Page

We’re Live Once Again At E3 2011, Starting At 10 AM Posted: 08 Jun 2011 09:50 AM PDT It’s time for another day of live video down here at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. Today we’ll be covering the massive South Hall, where we’ll find the big publishing houses showing off their latest. But first, we’re dropping by the Sony booth (signal permitting) to spend a little time with the Playstation Vita, their powerful new handheld. After that, a quick tour of the Nintendo booth, then it’s off to South Hall to see what’s what. Right inside the door is EA, and then there’s Activision, Microsoft, Ubisoft, and a couple dozen other publishers who are just aching to demo their new games. We’re going live just a few minutes past 10 (once we’re past the crush at the door), so point your browsers towards the CrunchGear front page and let the liveness stream. Remember, you can always contact us by tweeting with hashtag #e3crunchgear!

Here’s A 20 Minute Video Interview With id’s John Carmack Posted: 08 Jun 2011 09:48 AM PDT ; We’re big fans of John Carmack. He knows his business better than anyone else and tells it straight. He doesn’t speak in PR nonsense and it’s almost guaranteed that he’ll teach you something . This may be one of the best interviews to come out of E3 2011. I just wish we did it. Oh well, CVG snagged 20 minutes with the gaming legend and it’s embedded after the jump for your viewing pleasure.

The Nintendo Wii U Completes The Traditional Nintendo Circle Of Life Posted: 08 Jun 2011 09:31 AM PDT There’s seemingly a philosophy inside Nintendo that form factors and ideas don’t die, but rather are shelved and re-released once the proper technology is ready. The Wii U is just the latest in a long line of consoles that use rather old form factors and ideas. Just look at this chart we found on Reddit. The Nintendo Watch & Game spawned the DS 24 years later, the Power Glove preceded the Wii, the Virtual Boy the 3DS, and the Wii U now seems like a proper implementation of the GameCube/GameBoy Advance controller scheme. Not that there’s anything wrong with this process. It clearly works.

Voting Now Open For Linux Foundation T-Shirt Contest Posted: 08 Jun 2011 09:30 AM PDT The Linux Foundation‘s 20th anniversary of Linux celebration is happening in August at LinuxCon. As part of the buildup to the big shindig they had a t-shirt design contest for LinuxCon. The creator of the winning design will get a free trip to LinuxCon to rub elbows with the likes of Linux creator Linus Torvalds himself. In addition, the winning design will be the official shirt of LinuxCon. This year’s contest had more than 130 submissions, and the Linux Foundation has narrowed this down to six finalists. Take a look at all six finalists, and then go vote for your favorite!

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