It was Top Indie Game of PAX 2012 from VentureBeat. It took six years to build by a solo indie developer. And a game with half of the attention to detail and imagination Antichamber has would be a smash hit — this bare-bones first-person puzzler is one of the most thought-provoking, engaging, and challenging video games ever developed.

The entire journey focuses on player discovery through exploration and sandbox experimentation. Players learn new skills on each new level and earn an upgradeable tool for gathering and placing blocks, adding complexity to puzzles. And like a good book that leaves readers in a daze, Antichamber is about deep puzzles that are almost always solved by subtle solutions. Creator Alexander Bruce has built a masterpiece of a game that intentionally dismisses foundations of development like plot, characters, and linear gameplay. Antichamber is a modern-day labyrinth, and Bruce has taken a step beyond Daedalus’ creation. Not even a literal trail of breadcrumbs can save you in this digital wonderland/prison.

I highly recommended that you don’t look up any hints or walkthroughs unless absolutely necessary as you explore Antichamber.

What you’ll like

A real challenge

Antichamber begins in the “start menu” with an ever-updating map of the world that fills in as players visit more areas; basic controls and settings adjustment; and a wall of all collected hints. Oh, and a glass wall that dangles a door to Antichamber’s end on the other side. All the while a timer ticks down from an hour and a half, providing you a time to beat.

I’ll envy anyone who can finish this in 90 minutes. At 15-plus hours of playtime for me, Antichamber regularly tested my wits and patience, and it induced a rage as I pried and prodded every in-game object — animate or otherwise — in search of the one clue I’m missing. I’m not ashamed to say that I haven’t completed it just yet. Antichamber demands a consistent imagination and an open mind. Levels are designed to force out-of-the-box thinking and simultaneously provide essential practice of certain skills for future puzzles.

Playing Antichamber and solving puzzles is a reminder of the old days of gaming, when success was its own reward. In today’s world of achievements, trophies, hints, and tutorials, Antichamber feels fresh; the pure unbridled difficulty of the puzzles (which are too often oh-so-simple … once you solve them) gives you a real sense of accomplishment when solved. The last game that made me feel proud for actually achieving something was in Jonathan Blow’s 2008 indie hit Braid. Some of the puzzles in Antichamber will crush your ego. That makes completing them all the more satisfying.

Simplicity defined

Bruce took Leonardo da Vinci’s “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” quote to heart. Players start with nothing: no tools and no tutorial, just a flashing icon on the map indicating where to click. Instructions are at most one word long and often carry double or triple meanings. The first message reads “jump” over a chasm, and if you do leap, you plummet to the bottom — where you find a cheeky message. That fall is the first step to learning how to play.

This method of teaching players — through practice instead of the spoken or written word — is elegant, and the information is easier to retain. Written text comes in the form of digital screens on walls that offer subtle hints to puzzles, like a note about persistence just before what looks like an infinitely spiraling walkway. Just like the puzzles, all of the text is subtle and requires a little work and imagination to understand.

Antichamber is one of the leanest games in recent history. Every little bit is intensely focused on teaching players through gameplay and affording the space to experiment. The level structure, colors, and graphics are minimalist by design and offer only enough to progress. Thie is about solving puzzles, and nothing stands in the way of that.

Complete interconnectedness with nonlinear gameplay

One of the most beautiful aspects of Antichamber is how all puzzles and levels are, in some way, connected. Players can spend hours solving one puzzle after another, or they can completely circumvent whole sections of the world by taking another path. Because of this interconnectedness and the non-linear level design, there is no right or wrong way to play. And like a “choose your own adventure” book playing the game straight through is not necessarily the best way.

No matter how you play, it’s the same game every time, even if each new session feels completely different.

Antichamber is an intricate web, one where players have access to all sorts of puzzles at any time but may lack the skill or insight to complete them all. Many levels contain multiple puzzles and different exit points for each one but require advanced tactics to solve. These puzzles seem impossible early on, and while a few are, most are not. This intrinsic level design means that the game is beatable in less than an hour and a half, and that completing every puzzle isn’t necessary.

What you won’t like

The incredible difficulty

If Antichamber’s greatest strength is brilliant and mesmerizing puzzles, its greatest weakness is when players have trouble solving them. Antichamber is not what you want to play to unwind after a hard day’s work unless you really enjoy a good challenge. It’s hard, and it’s merciless. With no tutorials or direct hints, Antichamber demands your full attention.

Only the cleverest of you will finish this in a single sitting. Some puzzles have left me stumped for hours — and at least one for days. As positive as that may sound, not all players are patient enough to accommodate Antichamber.

Automatically reset levels

Because the world of Antichamber is really one massive level, you could go make a single run through and see your work on any previously completed chamber. Unlocked doors stay open, blocks stay affixed to surfaces, and lasers remain blocked. This is a great way to speed through completed areas without mindlessly spending time resolving puzzles. That is, unless players press the escape button (ESC) to return to the main menu. This resets everything in the world and erases any trace of your actions. Every “escape” creates a clean slate.

This design makes sense, but it is awfully painful, especially for time-consuming puzzles. It can feel like punishment for viewing the map or seeing your progress. If you’ve lost your place or need to get to a specific location, too bad. Players either must memorize the map and puzzle locations, many of which are nearly identical to one another, or resign themselves to play through the same puzzles again. This also means exiting the game or turning off your computer is a forced reset. Starting fresh does train players to be more efficient through practice, but for anyone stuck and rapidly losing their patience, constant resets are unpalatable.

Conclusion

Antichamber is the film Cube sans horror, the threat of death, and poor acting. It’s insanely hard and painfully simple, just like any expertly crafted puzzle. Bruce has created one of the finest and most challenging puzzle games I have ever experienced. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a game to finish.

Score: 92/100

Antichamber is now available for PC. The publisher provided GamesBeat with a Steam download code for the purpose of this review.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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The newly released fourth-generation iPad from Apple has just surpassed Sony’s eight-month-old PlayStation Vita game handheld in graphical performance, based on an analysis of the iPad’s performance from Anand Shimpi of AnandTech and available knowledge of the Vita.

The new iPad uses the new A6X processor, which includes a new graphics processing unit (GPU) that is twice as powerful as the third-generation iPad. As we noted in our review of the PlayStation Vita, the Vita has a nearly identical GPU to the third-generation iPad. The only differences are the clock speed and design architecture (to fit the Vita’s processor). This latest iPad — which is a tablet, not a dedicated game console — has a more powerful GPU than the PlayStation Vita.

Despite the nearly identical GPUs, we previously wrote that the Vita is more powerful than the third-generation iPad for two major reasons:

1. The Vita only has to populate graphics onto a 960 pixel by 540 pixel resolution display, compared to the iPad’s much larger 2048 pixel by 1536 pixel resolution display.
2. The Vita’s central processing unit (CPU), as explained by developers, is a quad-core processor with a clock speed that starts at 800 megahertz but can reach up to 2 gigahertz, compared to the iPad’s 1 gigahertz dual-core processor.

Even with a more efficient CPU architecture, more RAM, and arguably better software, the third-generation iPad couldn’t offer better performance than the Vita with the same GPU.

But with the latest version of the PowerVR GPU (the SGX 554MP4), the new fourth-generation iPad has significantly more graphical throughput than the Vita and 3rd generation iPad. This enables the newer GPU to (theoretically) process twice as much data as the older model, which is why Apple claims twice the performance over the previous iPad released in March. That speed boost, combined with the faster 1.4-gigahertz dual-core processor and a higher-clocked GPU (200 megahertz for the Vita vs. a maximum of 300 megahertz for the iPad), is enough to firmly set the fourth-generation iPad ahead of the Vita in gaming performance.

In graphics-based benchmarks, Shimpi recorded that the fourth-generation iPad performs up to twice as fast as the third-generation iPad. The most important test, scored below, shows a 99 percent increase in frames per second on the new iPad. With twice the RAM, twice the graphics processing speed, and a faster dual-core processor, these numbers suggest that the iPad’s increase in performance surpasses the Vita’s graphical capabilities.

But there’s a catch: The iPad may provide gaming performance that is definitively better than the Vita’s thanks to all of these factors, but it still has to render six times the number of pixels as the Vita. In effect, the new iPad may still lag behind the Vita in some circumstances. Most new iPad games are, however, designed for the iPad 2′s lower resolution 1024 pixel by 768 pixel display, which is only 30% larger than the Vita display. At these lower resolutions, the new iPad should be the clear winner.

However, when it comes to raw computing power, the Vita is no longer the most powerful portable graphics device. The fourth-generation iPad now takes that role thanks to the newer-generation PowerVR GPU.

Should Sony be worried? Not because of performance. As a dedicated game console, the Vita is still has built-in physical controls — an extremely important feature for gamers — while the iPad does not. Sony’s biggest concerns right now for the Vita are poor sales and a limited game selection.

Photo credit: Chipworks

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

Thanks to the rise of smartphones, portable media players are practically nonexistent.  Apple is the only maker of portable media players that remains successful in the U.S., thanks to three products: the iPod Touch, the iPod Nano, and the iPod Shuffle. Along with the iPhone 5, Apple revealed the latest generation of the Touch and Nano at a media event in October, both remade after a year hiatus.

The iPod Touch is the best handheld media player ever. The iPod Nano has finally been perfected. And after spending time with both, I’m infatuated.

Both the iPod Touch and iPod Nano ship with a Lightning cable for data transfer and charging and a pair of EarPod headphones without a microphone.

The Good: Absolutely Brilliant Design

From left to right: the iPod Touch 3rd gen, 4th gen, and 5th gen.

Unlike past models, this iPod Touch is great fit for your hand. It’s a huge improvement over the older iPod Touch thanks to a unique design that, from a distance, looks similar but is completely unlike any other Apple device.

Instead of a glass-metal or glass-glass build like on the previous iPod Touch or iPhone 4/4S, the new Touch has a soft aluminum shell that is an extremely thin 0.24 inches. That meager thickness — combined with a minuscule weight of 3.1 ounces — makes the Touch comfortable to hold and light in the pocket. It’s so comfortable that it feels better than the iPhone 5. This is the best-designed handheld device I’ve seen.

The reason for this is threefold: the extreme and completely uniform thinness of the frame, the naturally rounded edges, and the solid yet feathery weight. These three elements make the iPod Touch easy to grip one-handed while simultaneously offering a better range of motion for thumb use. The thin frame of the iPod Touch has the same range of motion for the thumb as the iPhone 4S. The iPhone 5 is a bit taller and much thicker with square sides, which limit how far you can reach across the screen. The iPod Touch has better screen reach than the iPhone 5, so it’s easier to use one-handed.

Being able to choose different colors for the iPod Touch is the other major change that consumers will appreciate. I received more than a handful of complements and questions while testing the iPod Touch around Los Angeles — some about how it feels, but mostly about the range of colors. A half-dozed strangers called the tested blue iPod Touch ”sleek” and “sharp”; the Touch also comes in white, black, yellow, and pink, as well as red (online only). The only thing I heard more than compliments on the iPod’s design was actually a question: when will the iPhone start offering color options?

The machined edges of the iPod Touch look stunning, and the separated volume buttons feel even better than the iPhone 5′s round-button design

One other major improvement to the Touch is the new IPS (in-plane switching) display, a technology widely considered one of the best for LCD screens. The iPod Touch has historically shipped with standard LCD panels that were fairly good but never iPhone-quality. Now video and photos look excellent onscreen. It’s not as good as the iPhone 5, but you would have to put both side-by-side to notice a difference. The 1,136-by-640 display is the first Touch to offer a widescreen aspect ratio: no more letterboxed HD video. It’s excellent for watching full-length films thanks to outstanding light and color contrast, as well as the fact that widescreen video fills up the entire screen.

This iPod Touch has a much higher-quality camera than its predecessor. The 5 megapixel shooter takes clear stills with excellent colors and minimal blurring. It’s the same camera from the iPhone 4, which is two years old, but it’s still powerful for a device of the Touch’s caliber. Unlike competing media players or past Touch models, this iPod is capable of quality photography and recording HD video (up to 1080p). Take a look at some sample shots below.

One last piece is the loop, a pop-up metal slab on the bottom corner of the Touch where users can hook a wristband. It’s a neat addition, but users who don’t care can just forget it exists.

Siri: Pleasant but unnecessary

The voice application Siri is available on the iPod Touch, but it’s an unimportant feature. I’ve only found it useful for setting alarms or occasionally showing off to friends at home. Without a cellular data plan, you can only access Siri through known Wi-Fi networks, which makes it almost excessive on the Touch.

Lightning and battery life

As Devindra pointed out in his iPhone 5 review, the Lightning connector is a great upgrade, even if it does make all of your current iPhone/iPod cables obsolete. The small connector is about the same size as a MicroUSB connector and will undoubtedly work on future iOS devices (that is, until Apple replaces it with something else). The overpriced and different connector limits what accessories the iPod can connect to without the expensive adapter (it’s sells separately for $30), but they are also much easier and much more convenient to use than the older 30-pin connector.

Battery life is generally good for media playback with 40 hours of audio and eight hours of video.

The Bad: Everything old is new again

Outside of its design, all major improvements to the Touch come from older Apple products. The camera comes from the iPhone 4. The A5 processor is the same as in the iPhone 4S and iPad 2. The machined edges and larger 4-inch display come straight from the iPhone 5. As distinct as this design is, every other aspect of the iPod Touch is identical or very similar to older devices.

The Touch just doesn’t have anything new.

The lack of technological improvement doesn’t mean that this latest iPod Touch isn’t an exceptional device, far from it. It actually goes to show just how powerful Apple’s hardware components are. But this also points to a lack of innovation. The only advancement with the Touch is the design; everything else is a melting pot of older parts. What is really stifling is users who want an equally powerful device to the current iPhone can’t get one. In the past anyone could buy an iPod Touch as powerful as the iPhone.

The price of thinness

The iPod Touch on top of the iPhone 5

Even though one of the best features of the new iPod Touch is its comfortably tiny frame, it comes at a price: It has no ambient light sensor. This sensor adjusts brightness settings automatically based on the light in the room. In an email published by idownloadblog.com from Apple’s SVP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller, the Touch is too thin for the sensor.

Past iPod Touch models have included the sensor, which makes this downgrade of sorts very noticeable — and very annoying — to past iPhone or iPod Touch users. The lack of the ambient light sensor is only exacerbated by the lack of a quick way to adjust brightness settings.

The thinner design also means a thinner battery. The iPod is optimized for media playback, but not gaming or intensive app use. In my benchmark testing, the iPod Touch only lasted two-and-a-half hours. Real-world use revealed that the Touch would last for up to four hours of high-end gaming with apps such as like Infinity Blade 2, FIFA 13, and Street Fighter X Tekken. Simpler apps like board games don’t drain battery life significantly, but gamers will find that the iPod Touch doesn’t last as long as competing gaming devices like the PlayStation Vita or Nintendo 3DS.

It’s also expensive. The starting price for the new Touch is high at $300. Historically, the Touch sold for $200 with the same hardware to the iPhone, but Apple is still selling the older 4th generation Touch for $200 two years after its first release. Interested buyers can choose between the two-year old Touch or the newer model for $300/$400 for 32GB or 64GB capacities, respectively. Nothing’s wrong with the pricing; the problem is users can’t buy a less expensive 16GB current-generation iPod Touch for $200. This forces consumers to choose between an old overpriced iPod or the latest and more expensive Touch personalized with a color. That pricing scheme is obnoxious and perhaps even insulting.

What’s the battery life?

The iPod Touch never offered the option to view the battery life numerically like the iPhone and iPad do. Because Apple markets the Touch as a gaming device and media player, it only seems fair that users can see definitively how much battery life remains on the device without a vague icon. For some reason, this still isn’t an option.

iPod Touch or iPad mini?

With the announcement and upcoming release of the iPad mini, it’s fair to ask which one is right for you. Aside from the size of the devices (4-inch versus 7.9-inch), the two are nearly identical. They have the same processor, same RAM, same cameras, and the same Lightning connector. There are only three hardware differences: the size (and consequently the weight), battery life, and screen resolution.

The iPod Touch is not a tablet. While we haven’t tested the iPad mini just yet, from what we’ve seen it’s better suited for reading and web browsing, evidenced by the non-widescreen 1024-by-768 resolution display. The iPad mini is a handheld tablet that you can use for media functions or games, but it isn’t specifically designed for those functions. The iPod Touch is arguably better suited for gaming, thanks to its higher resolution widescreen display and smaller size.

Why bother with the iPod Touch if the iPad mini is only $30 more? That’s a reasonable question. Both are do-anything devices, but portability and gaming are the strengths of the iPod Touch. The iPad mini will likely have better battery performance and offers cellular data options.

The decision between the iPod Touch or iPad mini is a question of what’s better for you. I believe that the iPod Touch is a better media device for the price — $300 versus $430 for an equivalent iPad mini — but that anyone interested in a larger device who isn’t concerned about memory capacity shouldn’t hesitate to buy the iPad mini instead.

Wrapping up: The best media device

The iPod Touch is by far the best portable media player available. While the same could be said about all past models, this one is different because it is more impressively built than even the iPhone 5. Even with old components, this iPod Touch is the first device of its class that is a true do-anything device. It’s a great media player, takes great photos and video, has a great-looking IPS widescreen display, and the design is to die for. It does everything but makes calls, just as intended. The iPod Touch is one of the best handhelds ever.

But it’s far from perfect. The starting price of $300 is too high; Apple doesn’t have a cheaper 16GB model. It’s as powerful as the iPhone 4S, not the iPhone 5, practically making the Touch a generation old already. The camera comes from the two-year old iPhone 4. It lacks an ambient light sensor. Battery life is lacking. These limitations don’t make the iPod Touch worse than the competition, even if nearly everything is a year or two old. But it begs the question: why not just get an iPhone 5? It’s better in nearly way and even costs less (minus the contract). For this price it’s reasonable to expect a device that’s on-par with the iPhone, but that’s not the case here.

The iPod Touch is one of the most impressive gadgets you can buy today. It’s fast and very capable, and is better designed than the iPhone 5. There is no $200 16GB model available, and the starting $300 model is awfully expensive for the base 5th generation iPod Touch. Holiday shoppers might cringe at the price, but it’s an excellent device worth giving (or receiving).

Continue reading for the iPod Nano review…

Pages: 1 2

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

Today Apple announced its 7.9-inch iPad mini tablet. Right on stage, the company compared it to the Nexus 7 (Google’s flagship Android tablet) to show the wealth of differences between the two. But Apple skipped a few key comparisons that you might want to be aware of.

Here’s a closer look at those differences, as well as how Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD tablet compares to both:

The iPad mini is without a doubt the thinnest tablet ever produced. It’s thinner than most smartphones today at just 7.2 millimeters thick. It’s slightly taller and wider than most competing 7-inch tablets, though not the Kindle Fire HD.

From my time with the Fire HD, I’ve found that holding it from edge to edge with one hand is possible, though not comfortable — so the iPad mini should be comparable.

The iPad mini is also the lightest tablet available, although the upcoming Barnes & Noble Nook HD tablet will weigh just seven grams more at 315 grams.

Processing power, based on the specs alone, appears fairly similar, but specs don’t tell the whole story. The A5 processor inside the iPad mini is identical to the one inside the iPad 2 — which is now one and a half years old — compared to the newer processors inside both the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD. On the other hand, the Android tablets may be faster and offer double the RAM, but Apple’s current operating system (iOS 6) is better suited for the included components, which makes it better at processing data more quickly and more efficiently. Google constantly updates its operating system to improve speed and efficiency; Amazon historically has not.

At the iPad mini’s unveiling in San Jose today, Apple’s Phil Schiller (Senior VP of Marketing) also mentioned how it feels much better than the Nexus 7, primarily because the Android tablet is made of plastic and feels cheap. I haven’t found that to be the case. The Nexus 7 is the best 7-inch tablet to hold because of a well-designed case that is easy to grip and feels warm in the hand. The Kindle Fire HD has a rubber-like back, which is also comfortable and warm. The iPad mini has a metallic back panel. I expect that it will be similar to the current iPad, which feels cold in the hand but provides good grip. I prefer the warm Nexus 7 to the iPad, though size and weight have to be considered as well.

The iPad mini is available in three capacity variations: 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB. The Nexus 7 starts with just 8GB, which in my use is completely inadequate. A 16GB model is also available, and 32GB models have been found in stores across the US. The Kindle Fire HD comes in 16GB and 32GB capacities.

All of the tablets use a 1.2 megapixel (MP) front-facing camera that can record video in 720p, but the iPad mini is the only tablet here that includes a rear-facing camera. That 5MP camera is likely the same found in the latest iPod Touch and the iPhone 4. Tablet cameras have traditionally offered mediocre to poor still photography and video recording, but larger 10-inch tablets have shipped with significantly improved cameras this year.

Most 7-inch tablets feature widescreen (16:9) displays, but the iPad mini has the same 4:3 aspect ratio as the full-sized iPad. This means all HD video on the iPad mini will be letterboxed with black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. The Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD both have denser displays at significantly higher 720p resolutions, which will make HD media appear clearer and without letterboxing.

All of the tablets use high-quality IPS displays, but the iPad’s lower resolution and larger screen will make pictures appear blurrier and more pixelated. It’s surprising Apple didn’t include a Retina display on the iPad mini for exactly this reason.

Apple boasts the same 10-hour battery life on the iPad mini as on the iPad, though the Kindle Fire HD promises 11 hours of continuous use. As with any manufacturer’s promised battery life, take these numbers with a big grain of salt.

The iPad mini is also the only small tablet that can access fast LTE 4G cellular data. LTE will be available on the iPad mini in the US through Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint, for an extra $130 over the comparable Wi-Fi models.

The biggest difference between the iPad mini and all competing Android tablets is the price. The starting price for the iPad mini is $330, $130 more than both the starting Nexus 7 and the Kindle Fire HD. The iPad mini also increases the price in $100 increments for doubling the memory, compared to Amazon, which only charges $50 more for the 32GB  model.

Additionally, other tablets like the Nook HD offer expandable memory through user-purchased memory cards; the iPad mini doesn’t.

In short, the iPad mini is far more expensive than the competition at equivalent capacities, and only gets more expensive as the capacity increases. In fact, the iPad mini is expensive even compared to the latest iPod Touch, which has all of the same internal components as the iPad mini.

Will you buy an iPad mini? Tell us what you think about it in the comments section below.

Sony just released its fifth iteration of the PlayStation 3 game console (affectionately named the “Super Slim.”) This new version is basically the same as the original PS3 that debuted in 2006 and is almost technologically identical to the Slim that hit stores in 2009, though it is not backwards compatible for PlayStation 2 titles. Sony will offer three models of the Super Slim: the 250GB (of internal storage) model ($270, tested in this review), the 500GB model ($300, due out Oct. 30 in North America, and currently available in Europe and Japan), and a 12GB Flash memory-only model that’s only available in Europe.

So, how is the Super Slim? It’s ugly and clunky, but it might have a redeeming quality or two.

What’s different

I’ve found only two good reasons to buy the Super Slim. Either you don’t actually own a PS3 and decided that this holiday is the special one, or you have one of the original “fat” models and want to upgrade. But the few additional features in the Super Slim don’t warrant a new purchase for those with older PS3s. And since any PS3 allows for simple hard drive upgrades, it’s much cheaper to buy a new drive than buying a whole new console if you want more space.

The biggest difference between the Super Slim and previous PS3 models is the power supply (PSU, or power supply unit). The 190W PSU uses half the power of the original PS3, which besides being one of the largest game consoles in history also has a massive 380W PSU. You won’t see a major difference in your electric bill if you own the PS3 Slim. Depending on which model, the Slim already thinned out with either a 250W, 230W, or 200W PSU.

The Super Slim does offer one major improvement: quiet fans. The Super Slim is the quietest home console I’ve ever used. It’s silent compared to the jumbo jet Xbox 360 Slim and even a whisper side-by-side with the Wii. You can leave it on by accident and not notice because it’s so quiet. This is where the 190W PSU really comes in handy.

It’s all downhill from there. The new look is as drastic a change from the past models as it can be without becoming a 360. It’s glossy on the front and back and with a ridged, matte finish on the Blu-ray tray; I haven’t seen an uglier home console in over 10 years. Just take a look at the gallery below and judge for yourself. It can stand upright, but I wouldn’t recommend it without a stand; the featherweight 4.62 pound console is easy to tip over with a gentle push.

What makes the Super Slim the ugly duckling of the PS3 family is the new Blu-ray tray, which opens with a spring-release button. You know, instead of a mechanical or touch-sensitive button like most Blu-ray, DVD, and CD-ROM drives have had years. The Super Slim has an actual spring-action lock to open up the try. Press a button and the top of the tray flings open to reveal the disc tray.

Compared to the original PS3 — which uses touch sensors for the power and disc removal buttons — the Super Slim looks and feels like Sony spent millions of dollars to build a device that would look futuristic … in the ’80s.

I understand that Sony wants to keep costs down, but the Super Slim is actually more expensive than the past Slim model, which still sells for $250. It may be lighter and thinner, and it may sell as a bundle with a year-old game (Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception — Game of the Year Edition, a popular third person action-adventure), $30 of in-game currency for the upcoming free-to-play online first-person shooter Dust 514, and a month of PlayStation Plus. But a cheaper-looking and -feeling console that’s more expensive? That’s ridiculous.

All that additional $20 really pays for is the step up from a 120GB hard drive to 250GB one, which doubles the storage capacity but doesn’t increase speed. That makes it great for downloading movies, TV shows, and storing all of your game installs while rarely worrying about running out of space. Anyone who uses their PS3 as a media center or who takes full advantage of Sony’s initiative to make new games available for direct download upon release will love the bigger drive. But it’s nothing that any current PS3 owner can’t already get for just $50, a screwdriver, and half hour or so to switch out hard drives.

The other issue for those moving from an older PS3 to this model: Transferring your data from an older PS3 to a newer one is both a painful and awfully slow process.

What’s the same

The Super Slim still comes with built-in Wi-Fi, only two USB 2.0 ports (compared to the first two models’ four ports), and ships without an HDMI cable. It’s actually amazing that Sony is shipping a game console in 2012 without any HD cables. Thankfully, they’re as quite affordable (as long as you avoid retailers such as Best Buy).

All of the software is identical across all PS3 models. Applications and games run and load at the same speed on all iterations of the PS3. Games download and install just as fast.

Conclusion: Ugly but quiet

The Super Slim is not worth upgrading to for those who already own a PS3. It’s more expensive than past Slim models, and today you can find older model PlayStation 3 units for less than $150. The Slim models (that’s the last generation PS3 models) are still available for $250 and $300, and frankly are better deals than the new Super Slim.

The Super Slim does have two reasons that make it worthy of a recommendation for potential first-time buyers PS3 or would-be upgraders. The first is if you use your PS3 to stream a lot of Internet video services like Hulu or Amazon Prime (or if you live in Europe or Japan and stream TV through the console), then you probably have some dark, quiet hole that the Super Slim can hide away in and never be seen. Sure, the disc tray will be a pain to use, but for all of your streaming content, a growing list of PS3 games that are fully downloadable, and a PlayStation Plus account, who needs discs?

The second is for the peace and quiet that the Super Slim affords. It’s not competitively priced with older models, but if you hate hearing anything except your speakers when playing, then the Super Slim is for you. No other PS3 — or any other home console — is as quiet as the Super Slim, so you won’t need to anger your neighbors with obnoxiously loud audio to drown out jet engine fan in the living room. But if you’re seriously considering the Super Slim, I recommend that you wait for the 500GB Assassin’s Creed 3 bundle. It’s $300 but crams double the capacity and a new game we’re actually excited about in the same machine for just $30 more.

The PlayStation 3 Super Slim unit tested was provided by Sony.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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Are our favorite game characters actually good, or is that just a ploy to get us to like them? If you really think about it, they’re actually pretty awful. Consider just how many people they have to kill, how many awful things they do in the course of the game’s story. In The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, players are mass-murdering thieves with the psychotic compulsion to take everything. Uncharted’s Nathan Drake kills hundreds of people around the world, generally locals, and blows up buildings and landmarks only to find some lost treasure.

And don’t even get me started on Pokémon.

This funny take on video game characters is cute, but it’s also thought provoking. Are all of our favorites really this bad?

Have any of your own? Share them in the comments and make us laugh.

Via Reddit, originally found on lolmyday.com (original author unknown)

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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Bad Piggies offers a generous mix of physics-based gameplay and vehicle creation. The game (out now for iOS, Android, Mac, with PC and Windows Phone coming soon) gives players an assortment of parts and expects them to get across each level’s finish line to earn a star and move to the next challenge. Ambitious gamers can earn two additional stars (three in total) by either collecting them within levels or by completing specific tasks (like not using a certain part or finishing within an allotted time). Parts include varied items such as wooden boxes, engines, and balloons and wings for flight.

WHAT YOU’LL LIKE

Harder … and more rewarding

Gameplay may sound simple enough, and the touch controls and basic mechanics make getting around in the game easy, but the difficulty curve is light-years away from what mobile gamers familiar with Angry Birds are used to. Spending a half-hour on a single level is more common than you might expect. That’s not to say that Bad Piggies is too difficult; just know that if you buy this game thinking that it’s another Angry Birds, then you’re greatly mistaken.

Once players get over how incredibly challenging Bad Piggies can be, which can take some time, it becomes fun and rewarding. The difference between the two games is simple: Angry Birds has simple puzzles whereas Bad Piggies has complex ones which require you to continue playing even after the vehicle’s been made. Players have complete control over their creations; they don’t just toss a bird and forget or launch one more with the right timing. You must control every aspect of the game.

Success requires proper timing and smart vehicle creation, and that makes the overall experience much more similar to traditional console games.

Lots of levels that save properly

Like all Rovio titles, Bad Piggies starts out with a ton of levels to play through: 72 standard levels, 18 collectible bonus levels that must be unlocked, and five sandbox levels. Each level takes at least a minute or two to complete, up to 30-45 minutes for more challenging maps. It can take days, or even weeks, to complete and collect everything. And, like with all Rovio games, the developer will add more levels for free in the future.

The five Sandbox levels may be the most fun Bad Piggies has to offer. They are massive maps with nothing but 20 stars to collect, and they provide all of the vehicle parts that players have earned from completing the “campaign” levels. By giving you the potential to build thousands of vehicles, these levels give players the creative freedom to assemble contraptions such as motorcycle air balloons and air-glider, coke-bottle-driven cars.

A smart checkpoint system keeps it all together by saving every vehicle you build. It may sound trivial, but starting from scratch because of a crash or because the app was shut down would be a terrifying prospect.

WHAT YOU WON’T LIKE

If you’re stuck, cheat, pay, or give up

Rovio is no stranger to microtransactions, but Bad Piggies’ occasionally extreme difficulty may already be a big enough turnoff. Because levels can’t be skipped, if players get stuck, there are only three options: cheat (look up how to beat the level), pay at least $2 for a “mechanic” to build the simplest vehicle to reach the finish line, or, of course, give up.

With a quick nod on Facebook, players get three free mechanics, and in reality, the pricing isn’t so terrible. The inability to skip levels, however, is.

Not for everyone

The overall difficulty isn’t gruesome, but for mobile players who want or expect a casual game, Bad Piggies will seem like a stretch. It certainly works for waiting in the doctor’s office or in line for ice cream, but that only goes so far. If you’re impatient, need immediate victory, didn’t grow up with games, or are just so used to today’s constant barrage of political correctness and the need to always win, then Bad Biggies is not the game for you.

Conclusion

Bad Piggies may seem like a hardcore game from a casual gaming company, but the formula Rovio has implemented is very similar to Angry Birds. The only difference is the scale: A bigger challenge reaps greater rewards. That difficulty spreads too far with no option to skip levels, but a smart save system keeps it great for mobile users. The depth of puzzles and creative building aspect will keep players hungrily coming back for more.

Score: 85/100

Bad Piggies was released for iOS (iPhone 3GS and up, iPad and up), Android (2.2 and up), the Mac App Store, and for PC on September 27, 2012. The game was tested on an iPhone 4S, and features identical gameplay and levels across all platforms. It retails for $0.99 for the iPhone, $2.99 for the iPad, $4.95 for the PC, and $4.99 for Mac. Bad Piggies is free on Android.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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GamesBeat is giving away a signed copy of The Art of Journey, a book highlighting the visual wonders of PlayStation Network title Journey. Interested in winning our unsealed edition signed by Art Director Matt Nava and Game Director Jenova Chen from thatgamecompany? Then enter the giveaway by doing one of the following:

1. Leave a comment below stating your favorite thing about Journey.
2. Tweet the following message: Follow @GamesBeat and RT this for a chance to win The Art of Journey. Rules: http://wp.me/p1re2-2enn #GamesBeatGiveaways

You can enter twice: once in the comments and once via Twitter. Read these quick rules before entering:

• To enter via Twitter, you must follow @GamesBeat.
• This contest is limited to the continental U.S.
• Feel free to share on Twitter as often you like, but please only comment once. Duplicate entries on Twitter will only count as one vote.
• Our winner must supply his or her full name and mailing address (duh).
• The contest starts right now and ends in exactly one week (September 24, 9:59am PST).
• Void where prohibited.

You can read more about The Art of Journey here. The winner will receive The Art of Journey book signed by Matt Nava and Jenova Chen and a download code for the Journey original soundtrack.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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Journey, the best-selling Playstation Network title, is considered one of the most artistic games released this year. It’s the tale of a wandering vagabond traversing a magnificent desert and, through a unique multiplayer system, meeting with one other player at a time to harrow through the massive levels hand-in-hand. Sony is commemorating exactly that with an art book of Journey, and the company held an event in Los Angeles to show off the visuals from the game as well as the artists behind it. I had a chance to attend and see the art that helped create the game, its unique character and landscape, and the public reaction to it.

Oh, and we’ll also be giving away a signed copy of The Art of Journey, which you can read more about below.

The event, which highlighted the visual design of Journey from the artwork of Matt Nava, Art Director at thatgamecompany, featured dozens of different pieces, including screenshots, pre-game renders, drawings, and even live paintings courtesy of BlueCanvas, which co-hosted the event. You can see pictures from the event in the gallery below, which includes much of the artwork that is in the The Art of Journey book. The spectacle was completely open to the public in the heart of downtown, and anyone over 21 could come in and see the gallery or even play the game on one of three stations. Many patrons clearly demonstrated that they had no idea what the game was — some likely didn’t know what a Playstation 3 was — but even then, viewers exhibited a certain fascination with the sparkling desert, the strange armless character that always seemed to stare into the distance, and the odd portraits of creatures unknown.

The gallery was a success. Nava and Jenova were busy signing copies of The Art of Journey most of the night, and a constant stream of newcomers shuffled in to see what was happening or to purchase the first copies of the art book. You can learn more about the creation of the book in the video below.

The Art of Journey will release later this month for $60 through BlueCanvas and other retailers, but the publisher has not set a hard release date yet. The book includes over 150 pages of art from the game, most of which aren’t screenshots, as well as a number of 3D augmented-reality simulations through a free smartphone app. Some pictures of those in action are in the gallery below. Finally, every copy of The Art of Journey includes a free download of the Journey soundtrack through the Playstation Network.

Interested in winning a copy of The Art of Journey, signed by Art Director Matt Nava and Game Director Jenova Chen? Click here to learn more!

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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Yesterday, I reported that the new iPod Touch would ship with the A5x processor. That was a mistake in reporting. Greg Joswiak, the vice president of iOS and iPod product marketing, said that the new iPod Touch will ship with the A5 chip, the very same inside the iPhone 4S — not the A5X, which is used in the iPad (2012 model). This error in reporting made sense considering the announcement of new iPods: The A5x, scaled down, could provide the extra horsepower that games need. Or so it seemed.

After confirming with an Apple spokesperson earlier today, the upcoming iPod Touch does in fact have last year’s A5 chip. That information can further be confirmed on Apple’s features webpage for the iPod Touch. But in light of this error, a larger question arises: How is an A5 chip, the same as in the iPhone 4S, going to keep the iPod Touch relevant? The iPod Nano and Shuffle both have very specific functions; the Touch has always been an iPhone minus the phone — all of the capabilities without the girth, the two-year contract, or cellular service. That’s the price. Buy a phone and get an all-in-one device, or get the Touch, pay less, but split the cost between the iPod Touch and something else.

For most people, that’s a no-brainer — buy the iPhone. And with the ridiculous sales figures the iPhone has, Apple knows this. So who buys the iPod Touch? Simple: people who don’t need or want a new phone but still want the benefits of the latest iDevice. We all know parents who buy them for their kids — the responsible sort that doesn’t need a constant connection with their children through another line on that expensive family plan. Or it’s a gift to friends, family, and neighbors. The iPod Touch has always been relatively inexpensive yet remarkably useful, so year after year, it made for one of the best holiday buys.

That changed last year when Apple announced the iPhone 4S but no new iPod — not the Shuffle, not the Nano, and not the Touch. These devices were barely even discussed. Only the iPod Nano was mentioned, and only because Apple wanted owners to upgrade the firmware so they would have access to new watch faces.

Not updating the iPod Touch made sense. The only real difference between the A4 and A5 as far as most people were concerned was that the A5 was a dual-core CPU while the A4 had only one core. But there’s more: The A5 is an ARM Cortex-A9 with a PowerVR SGX543MP2 on a 45nm chip, clocked at 1GHz but scaled back to 800MHz for the iPhone 4S. The A4 is an ARM Cortex-A8 with a PowerVR 535 GPU on a 45nm chip, also scaled back to 800MHz. That’s a whole generation difference in ARM-processing technology.

The reason the iPod Touch never needed to be upgraded is simple enough. Business Insider reported that for the iPad 2, the cost of making the new A5 processor was 75% more expensive than the A4. Apple built the chip to fit in the iPad but didn’t manage to scale it down to the smaller, easier-to-fit-in-a-smartphone 32nm frame. With only a year for each new product and only seven months from the iPad to iPhone 4S, Apple didn’t manage to do that, and the same A5 chip went into the iPhone. This can account for a number of possible reasons why the 4S was such an iterative update. There simply wasn’t enough space to add in features like an LTE antenna or a larger battery.

And the iPod Touch? As a hugely profitable company, one that’s struggled to fit this processor into a larger device while simultaneously knowing that every phone has at least a two-year lifespan, there was only one smart business decision to make: don’t release a new iPod Touch. The old A4 was in tens of millions of iPhone 4s sold worldwide, and they were all capable of running the same applications as the newer iPhone 4S. Meanwhile, the manufacturing of the iPod Touch, with no changes, gets cheaper and cheaper, and the product itself makes money either way. And most customers don’t know the difference because unlike the iPhone, the iPod Touch isn’t numbered. We media label them by generation number … but even in conversation, it’s still the same iPod Touch.

So the new iPod Touch? There’s very little new or noteworthy about it. Just like the iPhone, the iPod Touch lives on a two-year cycle because it has all of the same hardware. Only this time, for this new model, that hardware is already a year old.

Don’t get me wrong. You can read Meghan’s impressions on the iPod Touch for judgment on the actual device. And the upgrades since the last model are pretty major: It has the same 5MP camera that was in the iPhone 4, Siri, a widescreen display … and it even comes in six colors. It may well make for an excellent buy or a great gift.

But don’t be fooled — the iPod Touch doesn’t have new hardware. It has a bigger screen, but that’s it. Everything else is from either the iPhone 4S or from the iPhone 4 (like the camera). In one year’s time, the current iPod Touch will be two generations behind the next iPhone, which is historically when devices stop getting regular software updates and when applications require more power than the older devices can afford. In effect, Apple has limited the lifespan of the iPod Touch by a whole year by using an older processor and older parts while still charging a $300 premium for the device.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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Happy about the new iPhone 5? You should be … or maybe you shouldn’t, because the announcements made today weren’t everything that we’d hoped for. In fact, some are startlingly painful. Here are eight that almost make today feel like a bad day:

1. No HD radio on the iPod Nano or any iOS devices

Most people may not care, but that’s just because you just don’t know about HD radio. It’s basically the same as today’s FM radio except that it’s a better digital signal rather than a standard analog signal. It’s clearer, crisper, and provides a better listening experience. Oh, and it offers up to three channels per station.

Because it’s digital, HD radio can actually have multiple channels for individual stations, so your favorite FM station can have different stations to listen to. Here in L.A., some FM stations have their parent AM radio stations shared on the same frequency, or even their webstream as another channel. That way, you get more radio stations over the same spectrum of radio waves.

But Apple completely skipped over HD radio again, as the company has done year after year since the Zune HD came out with the feature. And not only is there no HD radio, radio itself is limited solely to the iPod Nano. If you have any other Apple product (iPhone 5, iPod Touch, etc.), you’re out of luck. Because apparently if you can get Internet over Wi-Fi, which is obviously everywhere, who needs the radio?

2. No NFC

While it’s use is minuscule today, but NFC (near-field communication) is a simple technology that allows users to share pictures, websites, and other tidbits of data by putting your phone in close proximity to another NFC-enabled device. The feature, which has been on Android phones for about a year now, isn’t on all devices, but it has made significant headway, especially in light of Google Wallet and other services which are attempting to transform our phones into our wallets.

With mobile payments in mind, and with Apple traditionally at the forefront of creating new ways for people to purchase goods, no NFC on the iPhone 5 can only mean one of two things: The company doesn’t have it’s own method of mobile transactions like NFC, or it simply isn’t done developing it and refuses to use the current standard. In either case, if you’re heading down to Jamba Juice and don’t want to pull out your wallet, don’t get an iPhone.

3. The camera lens isn’t faster

Camera technology on smartphones is all the rage these days. Nokia has their Pureview, and Apple is saying that their new camera is the best yet. I’ve done significant testing on smartphone cameras, and the iPhone 4S is still has one of the best cameras on the market. But the lens? It’s not faster.

As a photographer, I can tell you that the difference between an f-stop rating of f/1.4 and f/1.8 is the difference between a good shot and a great shot. Moreover, smartphone cameras have gone down to f/2.2, including a vast number of competing phones like the HTC One series and Nokia Lumia 900. You may think that the difference between f/2.2 and f/2.4 is moot, but remember, this is Apple talking about how they’re improving the iPhone. Yet the most critical aspect of any camera — how fast it shoots — is completely forgotten.

4. No USB 3.0/Thunderbolt support

After five years of the iPhone stuck on USB 2.0, and Apple finally transitioning with their latest line of MacBooks to USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt, is it really so hard to make the most popular phone in the world transfer data through a cable a little faster? Is it?

Based on what Apple showed today, apparently it is. The new Lightning cable is a USB 2.0 connector, meaning it transfers data, if at full speed, at 35MB/s. Sure, that’s fast … but if you’re backing up gigabytes to your computer, that’s going to take a long, long time. It does today. I just backed up a bunch of new games I got for my 16GB iPhone 4S, and it took around 20 minutes to fully sync.

Is Apple addressing that problem in any way, knowing full well that they have both the technology and means to do so at little cost? Nope.

5. No iPad Mini

While some of the other disappointments are actually hurtful, Apple not revealing anything about the rumored iPad Mini at today’s event was a sad letdown, like waking up in the morning really thirsty for orange juice and finding an empty carton in the fridge. Then again, as Devindra pointed out late last month, the iPad Mini reveal is expected to come in October. Shucks, I guess we’ll just have to wait a little while longer.

6. The Lightning adapter is ridiculously expensive

As first discovered by Gizmodo’s Casey Chan (caution, NSFW), the new Lightning adapter that makes any older iPhone peripheral work with the iPhone 5 costs an absurdly expensive $30, or $40 for a 20cm cable. This is compared to the $10 adapter for the updated MagSafe power connectors that the new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro lines use. Charging $30 or $40 for a simple adapter is so obnoxious that it’s actually a mockery of Apple product buyers who want to use their older iPhone/iPod Touch accessories.

Because, you know, you have to pay extra if you want to use Apple’s newest toy with old equipment. We wouldn’t want to make the new, shiny iPhone look bad for no penalty.

7. No increase in available storage

As an owner of the iPhone 4S and iPad, both 16GB versions, it only took a few short months (or, in the iPad’s case, weeks) to fill up that space with games, media, and apps. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos explained last week at the Kindle Fire HD reveal that products with high definition displays need more space, simple as that. Apple knows this full well; the iPad’s display has a huge resolution of 2048×1536, which makes apps take a lot of space.

The iPhone 5? It has a bigger display, too, but no boost in capacity. If you want a device, you can pay $200, the standard for high-end smartphones (plus a 2-year contract), or you can pay $300 for the 32GB model. Or better yet, $400 for the 64GB version. Oh, and remember, the iPhone has no expandable storage, so what you buy is what you’re stuck with. Sixteen GB isn’t enough space these days, especially with so many great apps available … but I guess that isn’t Apple’s problem.

8. No price decrease for extra storage

The only thing worse than not increasing the amount of storage is still charging the absurd $100 fine for more space. For 16GB, $200 is reasonable, but $300 for $32GB? No. Just no. And $400 for 64GB? Give me a break. Flash storage today at those capacities costs nothing; it’s essentially pure profit for Apple no matter how much they charge, and while nearly every other major hardware device charges $50 for every major increase in storage space, Apple hasn’t lifted a finger to do so.

The worst part is, as much as we hate it, if you’re low on space now like I am, the only viable option is to pay the $100 ransom for more on the next phone.

Anyone curious about both the iPhone 5 and iPod Touch may have genuine concern for the gaming prowess of both devices. Especially since Apple revealed that the two devices ship with entirely different chipsets.

The iPhone 5 uses the newer A6 processor that Apple only just announced today. The new iPod Touch, however, has the older A5X system-on-a-chip (SoC), the same chip that the iPad uses.

So what’s the difference between the two, and will it have any impact on games?

Let’s start with the A5X, since it’s been in use for six months. The A5X is an iteration on the original A5, which was essentially a dual-core version with an enhanced graphics processing unit (GPU). That GPU, interestingly, is almost identical to the one inside the Playstation Vita, as we noted back in our review of Sony’s handheld. The A5X is a 1GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 SoC, which has a quad-core PowerVR SGX543MP4 GPU. In the iPad, it’s as large as a 45nm processor, but as the chips in the iPhone and the iPod Touch are scaled down to fit their size, let’s assume the same applies here.

So while the new iPod Touch has a lower-resolution display (1,163-by-640 versus the iPad’s 2,048-by-1,536), it also likely has a lower clock speed, as all iPhone and iPods have compared to the larger iPad, at 800MHz. It is also a dual-core GPU instead of quad-core, which is to help keep battery life under control on the much smaller device (the iPad has an 11,666 mAh battery; the iPhone 4S has a 1,432 mAh battery). The additional two cores also aren’t required because of the significantly smaller display resolution. Gaming performance, therefore, should be similar to that of the iPad, assuming Apple increases the available RAM of the iPod Touch. Apple is notorious for not revealing technical specifications, specifically RAM. We’ll know more specifics after the new iPod Touch launches in October.

The iPhone 5 uses an A6 processor, which analysts expect to run a newer ARM Cortex-A15 processor. So far no consumer products are available with this new processor, though Samsung, Texas Instruments, and Nvidia are all preparing new chips with the new architecture. Apple’s iPhone 5 will be the first product to come to market with the Cortex-A15.

ARM reported to ITProPortal back in early 2011 that the Cortex-A15 “will be at least 40 percent faster than the A9 when it comes to raw performance, all things equal; same number of cores, same speed.” According to ARM’s website, “It is expected that mobile configurations of the Cortex-A15 MPCore processor will deliver over five times the performance of today’s advanced smartphones.” For smartphones like the iPhone 5, it can have a range from 1GHz to 1.5GHz. Apple has already stated today that the A6 is a dual-core processor is unlikely to release the next version of the iPhone with a single-core processor, especially after last year’s A5 was a dual-core CPU, so it’s safe to assume that the new A6 will also be a dual-core chip.

What this means is that for everyday activities like browsing the web, loading applications, and general tasks, the A6 is better than the A5X thanks to a more efficient, newer architecture. But what about gaming performance? It probably won’t be as good. The reasoning is simple: the iPad has significantly worse battery life than the iPad 2 because of the A5X, which is required to power the much denser display. The A5X solves the problem of speed by brute force, not by ingenuity or better design. That’s why the iPad can play games so well.

Alternatively, the A6, which we won’t know about the GPU inside until after the phone releases, uses a newer architecture that’s more efficient and offers a significant boost to overall performance. Apps like the new 3D maps run better, and on less power, on the iPhone 5 than on the new iPod Touch, but because battery life is far more important on a phone than a media player, more processing muscle isn’t better. It is for the iPod Touch.

In a strange twist, this also means that the iPod Touch, which again shares many of the same internal components as the PS Vita, is nearly identical in power to the portable game console. The only major difference between the two is the dual-core versus quad-core GPU, where the Vita is more powerful.

The iPhone 5 should still perform well, though it’s safe to bet that because the iPhone is adding in so many other power-intensive features like an LTE chip and a more powerful camera, Apple is more focused on making sure it can last the whole day than making game performance the top priority. But the iPod Touch doesn’t have those limitations; it will definitely be the more powerful gaming device. The price for increased performance, however, is going to be in battery life…and owning a secondary device to your smartphone.

And if you think that this is all speculation, consider this: Apple made no mention of the power increase of the A6 over the A5, yet it spent plenty of time stating that the A5X is far more powerful than past processors. Apple never downplays features of their products. The company only makes features stand out. And they didn’t do that with the A6.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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(Transcription courtesy of TranscribeMe!)

Planetary Annihilation has been in concept for about three years

While Total Annihilation released back in 1997, Mavor has been playing with the concept of an interplanetary RTS for a few years. Sure, he worked on 2007′s Supreme Commander, but Mavor has toyed with ideas like hurling asteroids at planets since the development of Super Monday Night Combat. “Visualization started about three months ago,” Mavor told VentureBeat in an exclusive interview. “We’ve been working on the engine tech and thinking about the game for literally a couple of years. I’ve had the idea rolling around in my head for [at least] that long.” The technology behind the game has been in production for several years now, though, specifically on the server end thanks to UberNet.

UberNet is Uber Entertainment’s back-end server network, which the developer has been creating and refining for both its own games and third-party titles. With UberNet, Planetary Annihilation will be completely server-based.

Planetary Annihilation lets you run your own servers

Jon Mavor, the creative director on Planetary Annihilation

Mavor is adamant about making Planetary Annihilation as friendly to players as possible. Matches are persistent — one competitor can leave and not disrupt everyone else — and playable via Uber’s official servers, or users can meet up on their own servers. Through UberNet, players can access a matchmaking service where they can challenge anyone around the world, or they could choose to just start a quirky game with friends.

“This is something … that the community asked for. You can play on [Windows, Linux, and Mac]. You can set up a Linux server and then play on your PC if you want or any combination thereof. They said, ‘We want DRM-free [digital-rights management], and we want to be able to run LAN servers,’” said Mavor. And while UberNet doesn’t currently support clans or tournaments (something that the company is actively working on) users can create their own. “The difference between our official servers and end-user servers is how we set them up. [For] end-user servers, you’ll see individuals who just want to run their own games with friends, you’ll see clans, you’ll see mod servers and different kinds of gameplay,” said Mavor.

Even if you don’t have access to your own personal server, you can still play private matches on Uber’s hardware; although, you will be restricted to Uber’s rules and current game limitations.

Why Planetary Annihilation won’t receive a standard single-player campaign

While my interview with Mavor took place before the fourth stretch goal, when the developer revealed a computer-generated single-player campaign called the “Galactic War,” Mavor was very clear that Planetary Annihilation won’t feature a traditional campaign. “The emphasis [of Planetary Annihilation] is on having a good skirmish mode for the single-player. We’ve seen that a lot of people play through the campaign once or twice and then never play it for a decade. But skirmish they play all the time.”

My own experience with Total Annihilation mirrors Mavor’s sentiment, but the beauty of having a campaign is not only to share a story (a narrative background for the game), but also to teach players how to play at a professionally set pace. Mavor thinks that’s unnecessary. “Our approach on Total Annihilation was the model — kind of like the Command and Conquer model. The game hadn’t been made before. We really didn’t have any notion of what we could change and get rid of, and nowadays, we do. There’s a built-in community already that’s going to teach you bottom play. There [are] built-in community players already.” With so many fans of games like Total Annihilation or Supreme Commander, the install base for Planetary Annihilation is already set. The people putting money in the Kickstarter, according to Mavor, are the people who already know how to play or will know how to learn from the community.

Minimum specifications: currently Sandy Bridge for 2-4 players

Planetary Annihilation is being built to run on everyday computers. The minimum specs? “Anything past Sandy Bridge as far as embedded graphics go,” Mavor stated, going further to discuss how computer hardware is stabilizing around major platforms like Intel’s latest chipsets. “[Sandy Bridge is] what I’m aiming for, but we haven’t announced final specs. To some extent, it’s too early to say because maybe we will get halfway through the game and go, ‘You know what, if we just amp the specs up a little bit …’ we’re going to have a much better game. I don’t necessarily anticipate that.”

The minimum specifications for Planetary Annihilation aren’t set in stone, but last year’s Intel processors aren’t exactly a high standard for gaming. Nearly all laptops and ultrabooks made within the past year and a half use the Sandy Bridge platform or the newer Ivy Bridge processors from Intel. However, PA will support more than four players at a time, which will require more computing power. Playing on a more powerful machine will be critical.

Planetary Annihilation will support games of up to 40 players, spanning an entire solar system

“To me, that’s a whole unexplored area of gameplay that could be really cool … but we don’t know how it’s gonna work out.” Forty-player games, which Mavor spoke with PC Gamer about, is something that Uber is still actively investigating but is wholly interested in pursuing. “The 40-player game is to see what the community goes with …. I see it as being really extra super hardcore. Like, how many people want to play a game that lasts for 40 hours, or something like that?”

I was skeptical about such a massive game because as anyone who can’t sit in front of a computer to play a game for five hours at a time — let alone 40 — it doesn’t seem realistic. But because games are persistent and played through servers, players can jump in and out anytime to do things like go to work, maintain a relationship, eat, sleep, etc. And the game will continue. Players have the option to have AI take over when they leave, or the units simply carry on in the player’s absence in autopilot. Units will defend themselves when attacked and continue performing any tasks previously assigned, but they won’t play on their own.

But how would a game like that work? Mavor sees such a massive game more playable in teams — in a solar system with several planets with four or five players per world. As individuals get knocked out, the limited resources open up to the rest of the players until only a few factions remain and wage a full-scale planetary war. “But how the hell all that’s going to work out is totally speculative. I think it’s going to be really cool, but it’s never been done before.”

An interesting sidenote regarding 40-player matches: While the game is still in very early stages of development, Uber hasn’t actually played a 40-player game yet. This shouldn’t come as a surprise; the game isn’t even close to release, something Mavor is eager to remind Kickstarter funders.

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We all have a view for how games will look like and be like in five, 10, and 20 years from now. I expect some technologies, like 3D, to lead to holograms. Others will go in directions unknown. One upcoming technology aiming to change how we both play and see games and virtual reality as a whole is the Rift from Oculus. The Long Beach, Calif.-based company successfully completed its Kickstarter campaign with just under 10 times the amount it set out to make, a relatively meek $250,000 specifically for developer units and not consumer-grade peripherals. Yet with big names like John Carmack and Gabe Newell — founders of game-development houses id Software and Valve Corporation, respectively — openly claiming that the Rift is the best virtual-reality device in existence, it comes as no surprise that game developers and players everywhere have an interest in the peripheral’s future.

What is the Rift?

Photo by Kyle Orland, Ars Technica

The Rift is a pair of virtual reality glasses that completely covers the eyes and reproduces what people would normally see on a computer monitor or TV screen. With LCD displays, the Rift produces images at a resolution of 640×800 per eye (1280×800 altogether). The company has stated, however, that the consumer version, shipping in 2013, will have a higher-resolution display. Thanks to the two screens, the Rift fully supports and integrates 3D in what the company claims is the most realistic 3D gaming experience to date.

Many individuals agree with the assessment, but the device isn’t for everyone. Venturebeat writer Evan Killham played id Software’s Doom 3 BFG Edition, the first game to work with the Rift, and told me that while the technology worked, ”I realized that I was starting to feel disoriented and actually got a little clammy. Frankly speaking, playing the Oculus made me feel like shit.” His trouble with the device isn’t unusual for 3D technologies, though as an avid 3D gamer, he notes that the difference between the 3D of the Rift and devices like the Nintendo 3DS is extreme. He further added, “I told the developers afterwards about my queasiness, and they said that the Oculus would ‘take some getting used to.’ I’m not sure how long they expect people who have experiences similar to mine to stick it out since I’m pretty sure most people will stop as soon as they get uncomfortable. Even if they’re not worried about puking all over a prototype.”

My own experience with the Rift was very different. I had no difficulty with the use of 3D but also didn’t find the effect as incredible as the group using the Rift before me. I believe the technology certainly works, especially when compared to other 3D tech like Nvidia’s 3D Vision glasses, though with one major caveat: that developers program games for 3D properly. Even the Doom BFG demo ends with a paralyzing cinematic that I was told Carmack himself apologized for because he didn’t program past that section of the experience. I ripped the headset off quickly, fully aware of the bad 3D effects. That is to say, as good and realistic as the Rift is, it can be equally terrible in the wrong developer’s hands. What’s more impressive, however, is the head tracking.

Head Tracking plus 3D equals true game immersion

Head tracking is a technology that tracks movements and combines those physical motions with in-game action. Most previous attempts to combine gaming with motion tracking of any kind, even including popular devices like Microsoft’s Kinect for Xbox 360 and Sony’s Playstation Move for the Playstation 3, have a noticeable delay. What makes the Rift unique is the combination of 3D-video-and-motion tracking (specifically the head tracking component) that is one-to-one. So when wearers turn their heads, the game recognizes the movements, adjusting the display in real time with no noticeable delay. It enables players to actively look around the game environment, something previously found only in extremely expensive or military-grade devices. Even in Doom BFG, a recreated eight-year-old title, I had fun turning my head to look around. In a strange way, the Rift turned this inexpensive and old game into the most immersive gameplay experience out there.

With head tracking, players can do anything from simply looking around the game space to actually controlling character movement. It all depends on how developers use the technology. For Doom BFG, id Software has the Rift designed so individuals play with a gamepad but move their heads up and down to aim vertically. Side-to-side aiming can also be done with the head mount, but it isn’t the main function. The difference between Doom BFG with standard 3D and using the Rift aren’t comparable. I played both at the Penny Arcade Expo and, frankly, you might as well play two separate games. Turning, slightly looking around, and full motion control elevate games with the Rift into a class of their own.

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Here are Venturebeat’s top five indie games from PAX 2012.

5. Super Time Force

Super Time Force wasn’t the silliest indie game at PAX, but it certainly is one of the strangest. A unique twist on the time-travel gameplay mechanic, players take command of one character until they take a single hit. Yes, it may be the most realistic game there was at PAX; a single shot, burn, scratch, or dirty look will kill the player. But therein lies the crux of the game.

Instead of getting a game over screen, players start back at the beginning with the same character or a new one with the opportunity to play through the exact same level. Only one difference: your previous incarnation is still there, doing exactly what you did the first time. Nothing players do is lost, though the entire game is a constant race against both time and from stray enemy fire. With a single shot to knock players out and only 30 lives, as well as 30 second to make it through any level (killing enemies and saving previous incarnations and then collecting them adds more time), this isn’t an easy game.

But it does one thing really well, and that’s turn the traditionally annoying start-from-the-beginning-again misery on its head. Players can employ strategies to intentionally die so they have certain characters using their strengths in one section of the map, and others covering another group of baddies simultaneously. In a sense, players can control an army single-handedly with time as the greatest ally.

In the demo revealed at PAX, there were four playable characters, though Tech Director Kenneth Yeung told me that there will be plenty more when the game releases as an XBLA exclusive in the first half of 2013. The four available include a soldier with an assault rifle, rocketeer, sniper, and a heavy armor character with a shield. Others will include different sorts of human characters with different weapons to strange avatars like a velociraptor. Yeung also talked about the potential for local co-op, but said that currently the game is a single-player experience.

Super Time Force is one of those weird games that has really fun gameplay for both expert players and beginners. Your gameplay style really makes a difference, but there’s enough leeway for both extremes to make it enjoyable no matter who you are.

4. Offspring Fling

Offspring Fling is one of the few games at PAX this year that is already out and still part of the PAX 10, and I can see why. Not only are the levels unique from one another, the entire game is a brilliant smorgasbord of varying missions that require equal parts ingenuity and dexterity. Creator Kyle Pulver built the game like a high-quality SNES title, with simple controls and gameplay mechanics, and even 8-bit design, but it still looks awfully cute and is fun to play.

As the only title in our top five that’s actually out, instead of reading about it, go ahead and give it a try for yourself on Pulver’s site for the game, and see for yourself the kind of game it is. A steady balance between 2D platforming and old-school controls with the speed of today’s games, I really enjoyed my time playing, and had trouble putting the controller down. And once players go through the 100 levels, they can make their own levels using the included level editor for anyone to play. Offspring Fling is one of those hidden gems that I’m really glad was picked for the PAX 10, because otherwise it may have been lost in indiepocolypse forever.

3. Cannon Brawl

What do you get when you make a real-time strategy (RTS) game simplified down to what you can see on-screen. You get a few dozen units, and the ability to control only one tower at a time. Cannon Brawl is exactly that, an Xbox Live Arcade title that is still pre-alpha and doesn’t have a release date. But I thought it was one of the most fun games at PAX.

Players control a blimp that builds atop an entirely destructible and tiny battleground in a one-on-one match. The one playable map had a three-level system, with players starting out on the bottom with the option to move up or out, or both. Building new units requires both ground and influence, essentially the fog-of-war in this 2D RTS. As the game progresses both players can upgrade gun emplacements, defenses, and other structures to boost their strength and take down the enemy.

What really makes the game unique is the fast-paced design through tiny levels, and the destructible environments. One weapon, a laser beam, can literally blow strips off the map entirely, ruining any structure above it. Conversely, defences can actually block both above and below ground, so the strategies deployed don’t only protect towers directly, but also the foundation they rest upon.

Then there’s the actual control mechanic. Unlike traditional tower shooters, nothing is automated. All towers require commands from the player, so speed is essential. If you’re slow, your opponent will get the upper hand just because he can inflict more damage over time than you can.

It may sound like a poor man’s RTS, but Cannon Brawl has every aspect of the genre narrowed down to its simplest form, which makes it incredibly fun to play and offers both quick games and a lot of replay value. Which, for anyone who doesn’t have hours to spend on a single skirmish, can be a lifesaver.

2. The Bridge

The best puzzle games are the ones that make you change your perception, if only slightly. They push our mental boundaries, sometimes to the point where we do the same thing over and over again knowing that the solution is so close, but that we just can’t see it. The Bridge is one such game.

As the best of the PAX 10 titles, The Bridge follows a strange old man through 24 levels where players manipulate the entire field of play to get the old man from the start to the end of the level. This travel from point A to point B is never so simple, requiring further and further level manipulation, from simple movement mechanics to contorting gravity to turning entire maps in circles. Dimensional shifts and changing gravitational direction are just two of the categories of gameplay spread across the four main worlds of the game.

I watched several PAX attendants play, and they ran into trouble quickly and frequently.

That’s not to say that the game is difficult or that attendees aren’t the brightest bunch, but the game requires a sensitivity to other perspectives, and the ability to see things in a different way. Sure, a convention show floor with tons of dub-step, commotion, and people may not be the best place for a puzzle game, but it did point to the difficulty of the title.

Discovery plays a major role in The Bridge. Learning to manipulate gravity isn’t hard…but determining how to best use it is. The same applies for every other puzzle type. Discovery is also amplified thanks to the art direction, a simple black and white stenciled look that has a very M.C. Escher feel to it.

Scheduled for release in the first half of 2013, currently only for PC, The Bridge will offer double the brain teasers with a “hard” mode after players complete the game, with all of the levels redone to make them much more difficult. I can’t wait to throw my controller at rage at this one.

1. Anti Chamber

It has won numerous awards since first coming onto the scene in 2009 (having been in development since 2006), and was even in last year’s PAX 10. Anti Chamber is a first-person puzzler that, like The Bridge, uses discovery as a game mechanic. The difference here is that in Anti Chamber, Discovery is the main mechanic, and the only one that really matters.

Running on Unreal Engine 3 and set to finally release this year (creator and designer Alexander Bruce stated that the game is done except for some polishing), Anti Chamber is unlike any game I’ve ever seen. “Learning is the core mechanic,” Bruce told me during the show, after I’d played through a significant portion of the game’s beginning. “Everything else is just there for that.”

Anti Chamber gives little instruction, only nudging players in the right direction with simple pictures and one-liners that sound more like Yoda-isms than tips. The very beginning of the game has players read a sign that says “jump”, and a ledge to reach. It’s impossible to reach, and just like the Matrix, “everybody falls the first time.” “But there’s nothing wrong with failing…that’s part of the discovery.” And Bruce is right. I watched as several attendees were confused, but suddenly much more interested because they were thrown off course.

Every aspect of Anti Chamber is made to get players out of their comfort zone. A set of infinite stairs going both up and down is confusing at first, but when players realize that they have no choice but to go back the way they came, they see that it’s no longer the same path. Or that looking at a door makes it close, so walk backwards through the doorway to get through. These tasks are so easy in hindsight…which is the surest sign that it’s the best kind of puzzle.

The game, which according to Bruce can be completed within seven to ten hours but in the right hands in as little as three, requires a lot of lateral thinking. Every aspect of the game I’ve seen promotes that, from the basic color scheme and blocky design to psychedelic rooms meant not to confuse, but to lead players to the correct path. Later on matter manipulation is introduced, but perhaps that’s a mechanic best left for players to discover on their own when Anti Chamber releases later this year. Look forward to it.

This morning, Atari announced that for the 40th anniversary of the game company it would release eight classic titles, completely remade to support touch controls, for browsers.

Microsoft provided Internet Explorer 10 and Windows 8 as the framework and helped build the games from scratch specifically for HTML5 (the new lingua franca of the web) and for touch controls. That is to say, the eight Atari games now available through the Atari Arcade for anyone in the world to play are fully compatible with tablets and multitouch gestures. But you’ll have to wait until Windows 8 (Oct. 26) and IE 10 are released before you can play them as they are intended.

The innovation is in the HTML5 programming, according to Microsoft General Manager of Internet Explorer Ryan Gavin. He walked me through the eight games, which includes the following:

• Missile Command
• Pong (with online multiplayer)
• Lunar Lander
• Combat
• Centipede
• Asteroids
• Yars’ Revenge
• Super Breakout

Each title, built from the ground up and with enhanced controls to support both a keyboard and/or mouse as well as multitouch, are best suited for IE 10, the upcoming browser shipping with Windows 8. The reasoning is simple: Only IE 10 supports multitouch gestures in the browser. It’s safe to say that competing browsers like Google’s Chrome, Mozilla’s Firefox, and perhaps even Apple’s Safari will quickly follow suit with multitouch on the same level, but the interesting thing is that these games work on any browser right now. At least, any browser that supports HTML5.

I got to play the games on a Windows 8 development tablet, and the touch controls are surprisingly good. So much so that the entire experience feels like a native application more than a browser game. According to Gavin, while some of the games cache and don’t require a persistent Internet connection, others do, and those are more reliant on network stability. You can play Pong once it finishes loading and it feels like a native app no matter how good your internet is. Lunar Lander, however, updates frequently and with weaker connections can stutter. In my playtest it did, but was still fully playable. Later on, I tested all of the games on Google Chrome on a MacBook Air over Verizon LTE, and they worked flawlessly. In the video on the right, you can see some gameplay on a tablet.

The updates to the titles, and to HTML5 and IE 10, are pretty ambitious. Multiplayer games can be created on the fly between browsers only through Web Sockets, which connects two or more browsers for direct communication over the internet. This means games like Pong will work online between two players with nothing more than your browser, though only IE 10 supports the function currently. The relative smoothness and ease-of-use of Atari Arcade, on both IE 10 and even Safari for iOS, works really well. Chrome on Android 4.0, however, does not; at least not yet.

Atari has also built the games to recognize the hardware of the device — be it a laptop, tablet, or smartphone — and determine how much of the game can be compiled on the computer instead of through the server’s hosting the game. These games, and future apps running the same way, will automatically adjust their appearance, features, and speed based on the type of hardware users log in from. This essentially means that eventually it won’t matter what sort of computer you log in from, so long as it isn’t too old the software will adapt to you, not the other way around.

I’ve tested Atari Arcade on iOS, Android, and on a handful of desktop browsers, with mixed results. IE 10 is the only one that works perfectly (no surprise there) and is also the only browser that plays the games ad-free. Chrome can run all of the games without a problem on desktops, but not on Android. Android can’t get through the ads, which are ironically Flash-based. Chrome and Safari both work with the Atari Arcade on iOS, though the iPhone’s display is too small to show a full game. As of this writing, I don’t have an iPad to test with.

Atari has also helped build a developer SDK for anyone to make their own “old school” games in the same fashion as the currently available eight titles. The SDK will allow developers to both create their own browser games that support multitouch gestures as well as upload them to Atari to join the list of available titles. Atari and Microsoft have put out a short video discussing all of the work they’ve done, and the history behind it, which you can watch here.

On the back-end, Grant Skinner, of gskinner.com, has also built several developer tools such as Zoe, which convert Flash games to HTML5; reducing the file sizes dramatically for improved network performance (as much as 5X, according to Microsoft), and several Javascript enhancements for templates and effects.

Atari Arcade is available now, so go try it out for yourself and let us know how it works for you, especially on tablets and smartphones. You can read more about how Atari and Microsoft worked on it at the Microsoft Blog.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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Sony is hoping to widen the reach of its PlayStation Mobile platform by adding two new partners today.

The Japanese company’s Sony Computer Entertainment Europe division announced that Playstation Mobile, previously known as Playstation Certified, will soon be available on the Wikipad and will receive support from hardware maker Asus.

PlayStation Mobile, Sony Computer Entertainment’s program for Android devices to play PlayStation titles, has been available solely on Sony’s own devices such as the Tablet S until the company’s recent partnership with HTC. Now, the first tablet with a gamepad and the current manufacturer of the “Google tablet,” aka the Nexus 7, have partnered with Sony.

This partnership may prove extremely beneficial for both Sony and Asus. Wikipad, which we recently spoke to (see part 1 and part 2 of our exclusive interview) and was partnered with cloud gaming service Gaikai before Sony purchased the cloud-gaming company, may also benefit because of its included game controller. Asus’s two current main tablets, the Nexus 7 and the Transformer Prime Infinity TF700T (which features the most powerful Tegra T33 processor), will have both the power to run higher-end titles and include top-of-the-line hardware to fully accommodate games previously built for the big screen.

According to a report issued earlier today by market researcher IHS iSuppli, Asus only has 2.8 percent of the tablet market share in the U.S. in the second quarter, up from 2.7 percent in Q1. Samsung and Amazon are both ahead of Asus in tablet sales, but that is expected to change with Google’s new partnership for the Nexus 7. The combination of the $200 tablet pushed by the search giant and PlayStation titles that will soon be made available for it may show a major shift in Android tablet sales.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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Today at the Gamescom trade show in Cologne, Germany, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe introduced Cross Buy, a system where certain games that have cross-platform play between the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita versions only need to be purchased once, on the PS3.

The move is an attempt to get users more excited about using multiple Sony game products and to motivate them to buy more content. The slow-selling PS Vita certainly needs help as it is, so far, falling short of Sony’s original forecasts for sales. Sony has announced three titles for Cross Buy so far, all coming this holiday season: Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, Ratchet and Crank: Q-Force, and PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale.

It isn’t clear if all future PS Vita titles with cross-play will be part of the Cross Buy program, but with most Vita games selling for $35-$40, Cross Buy will save owners a tremendous amount of money and enable them to gain significant play time across both platforms. The program will become available this holiday season.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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Capcom at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, officially announced a companion website to the company’s upcoming zombie survival shooter Resident Evil 6. The website, which is only a placeholder site now, will act as a hub of information and gameplay sessions for Resident Evil 6 owners when the game releases this October.

ResidentEvil.net will host a number of features that are generally available for other games, such as Halo: Reach and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, including online game statistics and news from the developer. Along with traditional leaderboards and a friends list, ResidentEvil.net will feature social media notifications for your friends’ in-game achievements, social events for all players, and a secondary out-of-game currency that will unlock in-game items like costumes and digital figurines. And for the single-player campaign, the website will store any in-game documents found so that players can read them from a browser instead of directly in the game.

Events will showcase specific missions (as Epic did a few months ago with Infinity Blade II), where individual players can contribute to a collective mission and earn more points. The top earner will earn a championship badge, which then adds the player to a special leaderboard. Each event will enforce a time limit on the community, and all players contributing to the score will earn points to spend in the store.

Capcom is also developing a ResidentEvil.net app for smartphones and tablets, which will include all of the same features as the website. While the website and app will both be free, users must own Resident Evil 6 and connect their game console to the Internet. For social media functions through Twitter and Facebook, players can select when and how notifications appear: on all devices, phones/tablets, social feeds, and/or in the game.

Resident Evil 6, along with ResidentEvil.net, will release on October 2 on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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This is part 2 of our interview with Wikipad’s James Bower and Fraser Townley, the company’s CEO and president of sales. Click here to read part 1.

GamesBeat: Getting back to partnerships, are you working with OnLive as well as Gaikai/Sony?

James Bower: We’re in discussions with OnLive as well. One of the key things of Wikipad is that we’re approaching this as a very open platform. We’re willing to work with a lot of various players. The most important thing for us is that our customers have content and that there are various ways for them to get content. There’s the traditional way through Google Market. And then there’s the streaming games, like Gaikai, which was just bought by Sony, and OnLive. We’re in discussions with what our relationship is moving forward.

We also have other forms of content that are interesting, forming on the horizon, that I can’t share yet. We’re not concerned that there won’t be enough content on the Wikipad to get started, and it’ll only get better over time.

GamesBeat: What is Wikipad’s funding? Is the company self-funded?

Bower: The core founders have funded all of the capital to date–

GamesBeat: And the core founders are yourself….

Bower: Myself, Matthew Joynes, and one other founder that we’ll be announcing shortly. We haven’t discussed him as a founder because of who he is, but that will be coming out shortly. It’s a higher-profile person. A lot of the financing of the business is through banking relationships for the purchase orders we have, and things like that.

GameBeat: You previously worked at Master Image. What was your position there?

Bower: President/COO.

GamesBeat: And when was the company acquired?

Bower: Master Image was acquired from Korea and moved to California in November 2009.

GamesBeat: Do you think you’ll have to look for outside funding, perhaps getting closer to the product release?

Bower: I think it’s a question of how fast we want to grow. As of today, they’re fine. So to answer your question, yes, we’re open to look at that and how it can accelerate the business, but it’s not something we’re overly concerned about doing in the short term because of where we’ve come with doing it ourselves.

GamesBeat: Why go with Tegra T30 instead of the more powerful T33, like in the ASUS Transformer Prime Infinity TF700T?

Bower: One of our goals was to ensure that the Wikipad was both lightweight and thin as possible. The T30s is Nvidia’s smallest, high-powered, component CPU. The T33 is a larger component requiring a larger PCB and would have added addition thickness and, in turn, additional weight to the Wikipad. An additional benefit to the T30s is that it draws less power from the battery. This results in the benefit of longer battery life for gamers using the Wikipad compared to the T33, which draws more power from the battery.

GamesBeat: From my own research, it seems like Wikipad is a secretive company. The company has put out so little information. Is this intentional?

Bower: We really had the intent to come out with the stereoscopic version of the Wikipad. And we made the announcements at CES. With some of the decisions we’ve made to make a better tablet, faster platform, that gamers will take very seriously, some of that strategy had to shift a little bit. We’re being very cognizant and careful about what we announce and when we announce it. We don’t want to mismanage the expectations of our future customers. As you’ve seen, there are a lot of people who are excited with what’s coming, with the potential of Wikipad, of what it means. And we want to be very careful and cautious on what we say, and we want to deliver on what we say.

But you’re going to see a shift in the chatter coming from us, and we’re going to amplify things considerably, going into the launch of the company. It’s just us being cautious.

GamesBeat: Are there any game partnerships, like with developers or publishers, that Wikipad has to release titles specific to the Wikipad?

Bower: We’re working with some of the [graphics] engine guys, like Unity and a couple of other guys that build the engines for other guys. We’re in some discussions for unique game designs for the Wikipad, but there’s nothing to the point where we can make an announcement. We’re going to see a lot of content coming from a lot of directions.

GamesBeat: What can you say about the manufacturing of the Wikipad?

Bower: We’re working with the top two manufacturing plants in the world, that have embraced us as a newer company and have taken us on.

GamesBeat: Can you announce who they are?

Bower: Not yet. But we can sleep at night knowing that the guys who sleep at night are the guys who are manufacturing it for us are manufacturing some of the best brand names in the market.

GamesBeat: Several products similar to the Wikipad have been showed over the last year. The Wii U uses a tablet controller but targets a home audience. Razer’s Project Fiona concept device is a laptop-in-a-tablet with a built-in controller running Windows 8. How would you differentiate Wikipad from these?

Bower: It’s challenging to come back with a very poignant answer to that, because one’s a concept and the other people have only just started to see and play with. The unique factor that we have is that we’re really a bridge between a historically mobile console and the invention of the tablet. We do everything as good or better than other tablets on the market, and very easily you can transform the Wikipad into a very efficient, easy-to-use video game device that’s very comfortable.

How we’re different is that we’re not just about gaming. The focus of the company is gaming; that’s who we are, and that’s our pedigree. But when this comes to market, people are going to realize that, wow, I might as well just buy the Wikipad to do all of this plus have fun with games and have a control mechanism that I have on my console.

GamesBeat: Apple holds 68 percent of tablet marketshare with the iPad. Amazon’s Kindle is the next best, and it’s not even close. Android isn’t even close, even though it’s riding smooth at 50 percent of smartphone marketshare. Is that a concern?

Bower: Not really. Apple’s done such a fantastic job with their products, and we all love them. What we’re coming to the market with is a different concept; it’s not just a tablet — it’s a mobile gaming platform that can do all of the functions that you can with a tablet with all of the advantages you have for gaming. So we’re competing right down the middle with what a tablet is, with what people expect out of a tablet, and with what people expect out of a mini console device.

And it’s a space that isn’t populated by very many, or anybody, because we’re really the first ones to market on this. And the other aspect of this is if we’re as successful with this as we believe we’re going to be, from the indications from retailers, from the orders we already have, we don’t have to dominate a market to do really well, because we’re new, we’re relatively small, and we’re innovative, we’re agile. We have a roadmap for the next 24 months. We don’t have to make 2, 3, 10, 20 percent of the market to do really well. One percent of the market is tremendous success. But I think we’re going to do better than that.

GamesBeat: Do you also see the Wikipad competing with portable game consoles, or does it hit the middle ground so users can have a tablet, a game console, all in one device?

Bower: That’s what I would say. What we’re proposing to the market is a bridge between the two. We’re saying if you get this, you can still do all of the things you love to do with a tablet, and you’re also going to have access to all of the great content that’s historically only been able to get through a console-only device.

GamesBeat: What do you think about newer game technologies like Microsoft’s Smartglass? Or the large number of upcoming Android game controllers? And the recently announced Kickstarter success home Android-based game console Ouya?

Bower: What’s coming from Microsoft is great. We’ve seen some of the prototypes of Windows 8 and RT, and it’s great. The interesting thing about the future of that platform is going to be the access of some PC content. There’s not much I’m going to talk about in relation to our company at this point, as it relates to Microsoft’s platform, but it is something that we’re looking into. It’s something that we’re open to, not to replacing the current platform we have now, but maybe as an additional product. But it’s exciting. I think Microsoft has finally got a hit with this new OS. And behind the scenes, retailers and manufacturers behind the scenes, are really excited.

GamesBeat: And that’s notwithstanding Valve chief Gabe Newell’s recent remarks about how Windows 8 is just awful?

Bower: Everyone’s going to have their own opinion. I think Android has done a fantastic job on getting out there. If you look at the global numbers, Android has outpaced everything. You then talked a little bit about…?

GamesBeat: Android game controllers?

Bower: You know, for me…I can only speak for myself because our product isn’t on the market yet. If you’re dealing with a mobile product, if there’s separation between the screen and the your person, then it’s an unengaged experience. I think in order to have the experience, on a device that is personal, that you’re willing to put your credit card into, the game experience on controllers has to be directly connected because you’re expecting it to be totally personal. I would rather use this [holding an Xbox controller] than this on a tablet that I have to prop up and play. That’s all I can say. The market will determine who’s the winner at the end.

And since I mentioned Ouya, we’re really excited about Ouya. Them talking about and launching on Kickstarter, and the results that they have, is a really interesting and solid sign for us. The games that are going to play on that are going to work on the Wikipad, and the games that will work on Wikipad will work on the Ouya. The more content that is prepared for them is going to help us, and the more content prepared for us is going to help them. It’s a very interesting concept that they have.

What I think it’s really going to come down to is how can these devices, and how can our partners like google and others, begin to fix the piracy issues? Because the big game developers, the Epic’s of the world, the Crytek’s, they won’t invest the tremendous amount of money they spend to create these great games for consoles until the piracy issues are fixed. Because it’s a lot more difficult to pirate something for a Playstation or an Xbox. It’s just a lot more work. And the discussions that we’ve had with them is yes, the concept is great, but fix the piracy so that our investment of $30 million, $40 million, $50 million, $80 million in marketing and development cost isn’t going to go to a waste and everyone is going to steal it. Fix that problem and we’ll develop everything for this platform.

GamesBeat: But you’re not concerned at this point about piracy….

Bower: Not for us. But I think as far as the experience on these devices, the game publishers need to know that their investment in these high-quality products is protected, and then we’ll see more of that content come about. We’re very involved with the dynamics behind the scenes with our partners like Nvidia and Google and others about how we can help…we’re people’s art that they create is protected, and respected, and paid for. So that there’s enough money so they can develop their next games.

GamesBeat: Have you been in contact with Ouya, maybe for a partnership?

Bower: We love what they’re doing, I’m sure we’re going to have a conversation at some point, but there’s nothing in the works right now. There isn’t anything worth talking about, or even speculating about.

GamesBeat: What about, since we already spoke about potentially going outside of the company for funding, using Kickstarter since Ouya was so successful. Is that something that you’re considering?

Bower: Frankly speaking, we’ve considered that from the beginning. We decided not to because of the significant adoption that has been relayed to us from retailers around the world. Would Kickstarter have helped us or hurt us? We want to see the retailers make money with us. Right now we’re really focusing on the retailer relationships that we already have in place.

GamesBeat: When will the Wikipad ship?

Bower: We’re looking to release later this year.

GamesBeat: And that’s just in the U.S.?

Bower: For now, yes. We’re also actively looking at the European and Asian markets.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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There are tablets, and then there’s a gaming tablet. The Wikipad, an Android handheld that promised to be the first mobile device with a gamepad built specifically for the device, is set to launch later this year. Venturebeat recently sat down to talk with CEO James Bower and President of Sales Fraser Townley in a local design office in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

Here’s an edited version of our interview. For details on the Wikipad’s specifications, see our report from late last month.

Venturebeat: What is Wikipad, and what is the history of the company?

James Bower: Last year we (Bower, Matt Joynes, and one more founder) started thinking about what type of consumer device could make a difference. What’s something that we could do that would really get good market acceptance as well as being a game changer?

We all started getting smartphones and tablets and we’re playing games and whatnot, and it just doesn’t quite have that experience as when you’re playing with a controller. The touch experience is okay, but it doesn’t quite get you there. So we thought what can we do to take the concepts of tablets and create a much better gaming experience.

VB: When did the company get started?

JB: We officially formed the company in September. But as a team, we’ve been thinking through concepts, I would say, since back in the spring of 2011.

VB: What was the team doing back then if it wasn’t a company?

JB: Matt [Joynes], who is the chairman of the company, previously bought and sold companies. He and I partnered up on this, and he was twiddling with some of the business planning of creating a consumer device. I was involved with the restructuring of a company called Master Image, which was acquired and restructured and moved to California. That company created stereoscopic 3D for cinema and screens for tablets and smartphones.

The market dabbled in [3D in mobile devices] for a little bit. We saw LG come out with its 3D version (the LG Optimus 3D) of a phone, and the Nintendo 3DS, but there hasn’t been a tremendous market push to adopt this from a tablet and smartphone perspective. In some cases, from my standpoint frustratingly so, anyone who loves stereo sees this as a huge potential market that hasn’t really been opened yet. We see this in the television market; most TVs support stereoscopic in some form, and we see a lot of the market shifting to that.

The fact is, there’s a lot of 3D content that is still coming out. What’s different when it comes to a personal device, when you don’t have the challenges of putting glasses on that becomes a socially inhibiting event — you know, you’re not going to sit with friends and put glasses on in your house. It’s a little bit awkward. When you remove that barrier and enable stereoscopic 3D, it starts to change.

VB: So the original idea was to have the Wikipad be a stereoscopic tablet, and as time went on the 3D got pushed out?

JB: Yes, but it’s more than that. It’s the nature of how fast we can get to market with the price points that we need to get with the market research we’ve done, you know, for the first version [of the Wikipad]. [3D] is in our DNA, if you will, and in our future plans.

VB: Why the name “Wikipad? What exactly does that mean?

JB: ‘Wiki’ actually means fast [in Hawaiian], and so we were thinking about what are we going to create here? We’re going to create a tablet that’s really fast, that’s really edgy for the gaming community, and ‘wiki’ is such a representative name of what we want to be, which is a fast pad. And it’s catchy. Sometimes there’s an educational tone associated with it, and if we come out with a tablet that people may think has educational benefits as well, we start to hit a brand that’s accepted across a lot of mediums.

VB: If I’m not mistaken, you’re currently partnered with NVIDIA, as well as Gaikai. Does that mean Sony as well now, since they purchased Gaikai?

JB: Gaikai has been a great relationship for us, but we’re under NDA with Gaikai and Sony. That’s about all I can say right now, but we know what’s going on and we’re still close to the situation, and the transaction is just in the completion stage as we speak. Stay tuned.

VB: What about Sony Mobile Certification, where Playstation titles can play on some Android devices, mostly from Sony and now some select HTC smartphones?

JB: Sorry, I can’t comment.

VB: Fair enough. So you’re working with NVIDIA as well. Why go with Tegra?

JB: For a number of reasons — a few secret ones that I can’t talk about, and a few that I can. When it comes to a brand of processor that is close to the hearts of gamers, NVIDIA has been there a long time. They have a very good, integral brand; they have a very good relationship to content, and content is key for us, as it relates to our product. So there are a lot of advantages to Tegra as it relates to gameplay. They’ve been working on a lot of things behind the scenes that they haven’t talked about regarding gameplay. They also were one of the front-runners in the development of stereoscopic 3D support, integrating their 3D vision capabilities into the Tegra processor as well. So it became much more of a turnkey easy solution for our future as we look at stereoscopic 3D.

VB: So you’ll be working with them for 3D support?

JB: Yes.

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Wikipad, the company developing an identically named tablet that will ship with an attachable gamepad for console-style gaming, has revealed the specifications of the device in an exclusive interview with GamesBeat.

The Wikipad (tablet, not company) will have a 10.1-inch IPS display with 16:10 1,280 x 800 resolution. The actual tablet will weigh 560 grams and be just 8.6mm thick, making it one of the thinnest and lightest 10″ tablets ever, only slightly thicker than the iPad 2 and nearly 40 grams lighter. When the Wikipad was first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year, it was a 7″ tablet that was more similar in design to the Amazon Kindle Fire.

The final design model, which the company revealed to us at a design office in Thousand Oaks, Calif., will feature the NVIDIA Tegra 3 T30 1.4GHz quad-core processor with 1GB of DDR2 RAM. For comparison, the recently released Nexus 7 uses the T30L, which is a 1.2GHz quad-core processor with a 416MHz GPU (compared to 520MHz on the T30) and slower DDR2 RAM (667MHz vs. 1066MHz), and the ASUS Transformer Prime Infinity 700 and upcoming Ouya will use the more powerful T33, which clocks at 1.6GHz and has bandwidth for faster 1600MHz DDR3 RAM.

The Wikipad will also ship with at least 16GB of internal storage, though the amount of local storage hasn’t been finalized as of yet. However, according to Fraser Townley, President of Sales at Wikipad, “we will not go down, we will only go up.” 16GB is the standard amount of storage for tablets today.

The battery is 23.46Wh, capable of six hours of continuous gaming and eight hours of video playback.

Instead of tapered edges, the Wikipad will have flat sides similar to the iPhone 4/4S. The rear panel will also have an elevated plastic lip designed for a better grip in any holding arrangement. This also enables the speakers on the back of the tablet to bounce off of any flat surface and deliver strong acoustics.

Every Wikipad will ship with Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) and the controller add-on. The controller, which connects to the Wikipad from the bottom with a proprietary connector, is designed similar to the Xbox 360 controller, though according to the company there is little relation to Microsoft’s nearly seven-year-old design. The controller features two sets of triggers, bumpers, and analog sticks, as well as four face buttons, start, and select. The controller is also designed to cover the speakers and flow sound through acoustic tubes out the front grill for better audio performance. The controller also has a port to connect it to a power source on the back.

Wikipad will also feature a built-in 8-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 2 megapixel front-facing camera.

Finally, the Wikipad will not ship the first line of the tablet with a 3D display, which the company originally showed off at CES. Future models may ship with a 3D display. The Wikipad doesn’t have a definite release date yet, but according to Wikipad President James Bower, it will release later this year, and the company will reveal much more regarding the tablet in the very near future.

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

The iPad is a powerful tool, but it’s also not meant to go in public naked. Apple’s stated as much by making a case, and then the Smart Cover for the second generation iPad. And it makes sense — even though the iPad is a beautiful looking tablet, it’s a fragile one at that, and is designed to be used at different angles, in different positions, and not just flat on a table or in the hand. Thus, the need for a case was born.

But it’s more than that. While the iPad is a status symbol, the case it wears is an even stronger one. Were you hustled into buying at Best Buy, or is yours a sleek case that defines who you are and what your iPad is used for? After all, it’s not called a case for nothing: it makes a case for the type of person you are, and how you dress that most important — and stylish — tablet computer.

Beauty is just as important as function in this roundup though, so all of the ten cases underwent rigorous testing for both everyday use and pizzazz. Which is the best for you? Read on and find out.

Standard Cases

Typical iPad cases are made out of cloth, such as polyurethane or leather, and are generally pliable and easy on the hands. They’re also thick yet light, don’t have that techy-look of shiny, glossy gadgets, but aren’t as clean-cut. Cloth, by and large, is the standard for iPad cases. They offer adequate protection from minor damage, but won’t protect much from a serious drop.

Apple Smart Case

Apple’s very own iPad case, aptly labeled the Smart Case, is a simple mix between the current Smart Cover and the original iPad’s cloth case. Unlike the case used for the original iPad, the Smart Case doesn’t fit so snug on the iPad 2 or iPad (2012). Users snap the iPad into the hard shell, and a Smart Cover protects the edges of the glass. The case holds the iPad steady, but it isn’t a perfect fit.

Beyond that, the cover doesn’t snap exactly into place, from one end to the next. It isn’t sized perfectly, a strange change of pace for Cupertino, which allows the cover to not close properly half the time. More of a nuisance than anything else, this coming from a company that specializes in making products perfect solely in terms of end-user experience is surprising.

Even then, the Smart Case is a very solid case for the iPad. It’s thin, comfortable to hold across or upright, and even with the annoyances is much better to use on a daily basis than the Smart Cover. It looks sleek, but isn’t an upgrade from the actual iPad itself.

Seidio Expert

The Smart Case is thin, but not this thin. Seidio’s Expert combines the Smart Cover a very thin synthetic leather case and a unique sticker that keeps the iPad in place, instead of additional cloth or something else to stabilize it. The Clean-Grip adhesive pad on the back is designed to withstand up to 700lbs. of force; in the company’s promotional video for the case, a guy drags a car in neutral with the case attached to the hood. Serious stuff, especially considering that the iPad weighs less than 1.5lbs.

Then again, seeing a $500 tablet hang from a case with no support can be unsettling. But it’s entirely safe; the adhesive is remarkably strong, so the worry is completely psychological. Setting the iPad properly is more of a challenge, and the case would be much improved if a stitched outline were on the cover for placement direction. Properly aligning the iPad for the camera hole and so the case closes properly is a bit too troublesome, especially since removing it from the Clean-Grip panel is much harder than it looks.

I found the Expert to be a very charming case, except that using a powerful adhesive, while clever, looks almost cheap when open. If the iPad had flat edges like the original, this case would look far less alien, but the tapered edges of the tablet makes the whole thing just look strange. Still, it looks perfectly normal and fairly stylish closed. Open her up though and the iPad’s rounded edges bulge out inappropriately.

iPevo Origami Folio

As the thinnest and lightest iPad case tested, the iPevo Origami is remarkably cheap and effective. The cloth corners sticking out from the edges and simplistic design don’t do the case justice, which does almost everything the competing cases do at half the cost. It works as a smart cover and folds, as the name suggests, like origami to hold the iPad upright or at an angle by bending the cover flap into shape. Properly bending the cover takes some getting used to, but once you are it’s as easy and convenient as Apple’s tri-fold design.

The thin profile and comfortable cloth give this case a nice, solid feel, especially when holding it with one hand. The Origami even covers the home button, and clearly has no regard for the aesthetic design, but it offers additional protection to the case by covering everything but the actual display. The entire glass bezel is covered, which helps keep it clean and makes the iPad more comfortable to hold from both the front and back. So what it lacks in looks, the Origami makes up for in practicality.

Speck WanderFolio Luxe

Of the tested cases, the WanderFolio Luxe is the most diabolically expensive. At $130, it’s more than triple the cost of some of the less expensive cases, but it’s also the most fully-featured standard case. Not only is the Luxe leather-bound and thick for great feel and protection, it comes complete with a six hideaway pockets right in the cover for carrying whatever you need, from paperwork to money to credit cards. I personally wouldn’t trust keeping secure documents in an iPad case, but in this day and age of carrying all of your belongings in just pockets sans bag, why not.

The WanderFolio’s thick frame feels very solid in the hand, both open and closed. The leather has excellent grip and is quiet and almost elegant, while the inside of the cover is felt for easier grip. It all snaps shut with a small magnetic latch. And instead of relying on the cover to stand the iPad upright, the WanderFolio has a piece of the case which disconnects from the tablet and acts as a support. This keeps the iPad standing at anything up to a 40 degree angle, but any higher up and the case slips.

The Luxe is expensive, so Speck offers a lower-priced yet nearly identical model named the MagFolio Luxe for $100, with the same great leather but no pocket. There’s also the $60 MagFolio and $70 WanderFolio which use thinner, lower-quality leather, which are otherwise identical models.

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This morning Apple released it’s latest update to OS X, 10.8 Mountain Lion, along with a form for new Mac purchasers who were promised the upgraded operating system for free with their purchase. The form, which you can fill out here, is broken and is currently not allowing users to submit tickets for the free download. Update – read the update below for the fix.

I called up Apple technical support to see what the issue was regarding the MacBook Air I received for testing (see our MacBook Air review here), and they found an identical issue regarding the form’s “Number of Qualifying Systems for Right to Copy” selection. As you can see in the image to the right (click to enlarge), the web page won’t allow users to continue filling out the form past that step.

The technical support representative found the same problem on multiple machines in their service center, saying, “I can’t load it on my computer, my co-worker’s computer, or my manager’s computer.” His official statement regarding the issue is that it is likely from the overload of users attempting to download Mountain Lion, but that doesn’t make sense since Apple’s website is an entirely different system from the App Store, where users actually download the upgrade.

At the same time, I was told that a support ticket was submitted, which adds further credibility to the claim that something else may be causing the error.

I’ve reached out to Apple for a comment, and will continue reporting until the form is fixed and users can properly install OS X Mountain Lion on their new machines. To try it yourself, click here for a direct link (US only) or go to Apple.com, scroll down to the “OS X Mountain Lion is here” link, scroll down again to “Get a free upgrade with your new Mac,” then choose between the two purchase date periods.

Update

As our astute commenters pointed out, the “Number of Qualifying Systems for Right to Copy” selection is only for Enterprise, Education, or Government users. To properly confirm your free upgrade, do not select that option (Right to Copy) and simply continue on after checking the “I accept the terms and conditions…” at the bottom. That will move you forward to the personal information and system data for the upgrade. After completing the process, you’ll receive a confirmation code, though email confirmations aren’t being sent out immediately.

This means that individuals will be able to get a confirmation of update, likely within the next 24 hours. Enterprise, education, and government users can’t upgrade because of this problem as of yet. It’s also strange that Apple would have such poor documentation on the update form; not only did this writer miss it, but so did Apple’s own technical support. I expect plenty of users to make that mistake as well, so the article above will remain unchanged. Updates for enterprise users will appear below.

Mountain Lion photo: USFWS Mountain-Prairie/Flickr

In the constant cycle of tablet and smartphone news, the seemingly minor upgrade to Apple’s MacBook Air barely made headlines. That’s not really surprising, especially after the announcement of the Retina ready MacBook Pro. A next generation Intel CPU and graphics processor, USB 3.0 ports, and more flash storage don’t sound all that impressive.

In reality, this iterative update makes the MacBook Air the perfect laptop.

Same on the outside, shiny on the inside

Generally considered the premier Ultrabook (though it’s not officially labeled one), the MacBook Air is an excellent laptop that offers a near-perfect balance of size and power. It remains the thinnest and lightest 13” and 11” Ultrabook on the market.

I liked last year’s 13” model so much that I bought one, and still find the design and power superb for most personal and work applications. But what’s remarkable about the 2012 model — and this has nothing to do with Apple — is the performance boost gained solely from Intel’s latest Ivy Bridge chipset.

Last year’s MacBook Air ran on the then-new Sandy Bridge i5 processor, and my model was the top-of-the-line i7 with 4GB of RAM, priced at $1,800. The latest unit drops the price by $100 and offers the updated i5 or i7 at faster clock speeds while also doubling the RAM to 8GB. For less money, this year’s stock MacBook Air outperforms last year’s high-end model by 150% for nearly every application. (The 13-inch MacBook Air starts at $1,199 for a 1.8Ghz i5 processor and 4GB of RAM.)

Aside from the internal components, little has actually changed with the MBA. It uses the same heat dissipation techniques, the same basic architecture, the same display, and the same keyboard. There are a few differences, like improved viewing angles and increased brightness on the glossy 1440 by 900 display, as well as better color accuracy, something the 2011 model has serious trouble with. The keys are also slightly elevated for a deeper feeling keyboard, which is more comfortable to type with. Put the two models together however and anyone would have trouble knowing which was newer.

Improved enough to all but eliminate the problems

Stress the laptops, however, and there’s a world of difference. Pull up 20-30 YouTube clips; try streaming several bandwidth- and processor-intensive videos; run intensive applications like Adobe Photoshop with dozens of photos; boot capable games like Half-Life 2 or Flash-hungry titles like The Binding of Isaac…and the 2011 model’s fan will scream bloody Mary, the left side of the keyboard will heat up to around 100°F, and you’ll need headphones and a hard surface to keep going. The fan gets extremely loud and the keyboard gets way too hot. On the 2012 MBA the same thing can happen, but it rarely does.

That is to say, the overheating and loud fan hasn’t been fixed. This newer model is susceptible to both. With enough stress the left side of the unibody shell will overheat and become uncomfortable to type on, especially if you’re out in the sun. The fan can still stir up a hailstorm of noise. But thanks to the improved performance of Ivy Bridge, it’s nearly impossible to run enough everyday applications to stress the Air to that point. Except for intensive games like Half-Life 2, the 2012 MBA remained calm, cool, and pleasant to use. No matter how many browser tabs, office applications, or how much media you have running, the MacBook Air performs flawlessly.

Using the new Ivy Bridge chipset has another exceptional benefit from the higher performance: battery life is greatly improved. On the 2011 MBA battery life ranged from 4-7 hours, and usually closer to the lower side of that if running streaming video or stressful applications. That is boosted to 5.5-8 hours on the newer MBA, which is a remarkable upgrade for an identical 50-watt-hour battery. And because heat is rarely a problem, I averaged closer to seven hours of battery life per charge. (Protip: Use an extension like FlashBlock to disable Flash on any MacBook Air model for a big bump in battery life.)

The perfect ultrabook

In so many ways, the latest MacBook Air is a dream come true for anyone interested in upgrading to a thin, light, and still powerful laptop. Better performance, an improved display and keyboard, greatly improved battery life and thermals because of the performance boost…all for $100 less than last year’s model. Throw in USB 3.0 and the laptop is officially future-proof.

Products like the MacBook Air 13” (2012) make iterative updates like internal components so much more pertinent than evolutionary upgrades. The only downside? People who purchased last year’s model will want to upgrade because the performance boost makes all the difference in the world. If you barely stress the 2011 model now, then hold fast. But if you find that your MacBook Air screams like a banshee and has the average lifespan of a fruit fly, upgrading will be costly, but worthwhile.

Photos: James Pikover/VentureBeat

We all know about services like Foursquare, which track location data to show our friends where we are for social media. But what about using the same sort of service for games? Robert Bowling of Robotoki spoke the other day about how location-aware devices will play a part in the developer’s upcoming title, The Human Element.

This year is also the first time so-called “smart watches” are becoming available. These devices connect to our smartphones and offer application services right on our wrists. Some, like Sony’s SmartWatch, run applications natively. Others merely stream from the phone via Bluetooth.

The Cookoo watch isn’t a smart watch, according to creator Peter Hauser. It offers a simple system that pings the wearer with notifications about new emails, calls, tweets, or other social media updates without requiring you to hold your phone. It also can automatically check into locations using Foursquare, Facebook, or Twitter, and has an open SDK for developers to build their own functionality.

The project’s Kickstarter closes tomorrow morning.

While the watch itself looks like a decent timepiece, its allure to gamers is how a connected watch can work with games. Bowling’s example is just one of many possibilities. Massively multiplayer online games can benefit from such systems when players are “AFK” (which stands for “away from the keyboard,” meaning they’re out in the real world) by allowing them to actively participate in the game with the press of a button. “Having a piece of hardware that ties them to their alternate world,” Hauser said, “is unique for watches.”

Of course, all of the same applications could be done with just a smartphone, but therein lies Hauser’s major selling point. The phone lives in your pocket; a watch, which many have already replaced with a phone, is on the wrist and easy to hear and notice. It’s also discrete; we all accept that watches can beep, while phone ringtones can be equally embarrassing and annoying. The Cookoo makes check-in features and notifications a simple click or beep away. It can be used for everything from an Ebay bid reminder to direct messages on Eve Online.

Hardware companies like Logitech, Razer, SteelSeries, and plenty others already build specialty keyboards, mice, and other peripherals to meet the demands of an ever-growing userbase of gamers. Will gamers be interested in a watch that can quickly and efficiently help progress in a game while at work, shopping, or doing anything besides for playing?

It will take developers, and perhaps a few invested gamers who want an edge, to get the ball rolling on using a wristwatch to help play a game. Such technology isn’t limited to just the Cookoo watch, but with an open development kit, Hauser and team ConnecteDevice Ltd. is on the right path to making that possibility into a reality.

Sony announced tonight that it will acquire the streaming video-game service Gaikai for $380 million. The deal officially closed on June 30, and Sony is purchasing the California-based company as part of a move to disrupt the gaming business.

The news doesn’t come as a shock; rumors about the potential acquisition rose in May and June, but no official announcement was made until tonight by Gaikai.

What this acquisition means for partnerships that companies like Samsung, LG, Walmart, and others have with Gaikai is unclear, but the potential benefits for Sony are huge. They go anywhere from in-store kiosks playing any PlayStation 3 or PlayStation Vita title straight from a TV connected only to the Internet, to no need for future console hardware because of streaming-only services. Sony has had the benefit, compared to Microsoft’s Xbox Live service, of offering free online gaming, and with a streaming cloud service, the company may be able to turn back the Xbox’s dominance this generation.

Sony has repeatedly had trouble creating software platforms, something that Gaikai has done tremendously well with its streaming game service. This may prove to be the most important part of this acquisition for Sony, which has struggled to gain dominance in software development when compared to rivals like Microsoft and Nintendo. Sony’s move to the PlayStation Mobile, a suite for games that run on both smartphones and game consoles, will also benefit from streaming functions. We’ve already seen earlier this year that streaming games can function well over cellular networks.

“By combining Gaikai’s resources, including its technological strength and engineering talent, with Sony’s extensive game platform knowledge and experience, Sony will provide users with unparalleled cloud entertainment experiences,” said Andrew House, president and group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment. “Sony will deliver a world-class cloud-streaming service that allows users to instantly enjoy a broad array of content ranging from immersive core games with rich graphics to casual content anytime, anywhere on a variety of Internet-connected devices.”

“Sony has built an incredible brand with PlayStation and has earned the respect of countless millions of gamers worldwide,” said David Perry, CEO of Gaikai. “We’re honored to be able to help Sony rapidly harness the power of the interactive cloud and to continue to grow their ecosystem, to empower developers with new capabilities, to dramatically improve the reach of exciting content and to bring breathtaking new experiences to users worldwide.”

We’ve reached out to both Sony and Gaikai for more information and will update this article as the story unfolds. Mitch Lasky of Benchmark Capital said in a post tonight that years ago, back in the fall of 2009, that his company invested along with Rustic Canyon Ventures and New Enterprise Associates because Gaikai stood at the intersection of cloud computing and next-generation game distribution. Of Gaikai’s Perry, Lasky said, “David believed that his idea could change the world and he went out and made it happen.”

In its own post, NEA’s Paul Hsiao and Greg Papadopoulous said, “The strategic significance of this transaction within the gaming and interactive entertainment sector is akin to Apple’s launch of iTunes years ago in the music space—it will no doubt provide new opportunities and shift the dynamics in an ecosystem that includes game platforms, publishers, developers, TV manufacturers, cable and broadband operators, mobile devices, graphics chip companies, and content distribution networks. From a consumer perspective, it’s thrilling to see interactive cloud delivery of video games taking off. One can imagine playing all the great titles anywhere from any device connected to the Internet – similar to the way we consume music and movies today.  In addition to the pure super-low latency streaming capabilities, Gaikai’s technology can amplify existing gaming consoles by creating a local display and interaction point where additional compute and rendering capabilities, upgrades, etc. can be provisioned automatically in the network.”

In a statement on Monday, Microsoft said, “The cloud has been a key component of our strategy and a big area of investment with Xbox for many years. Through Xbox LIVE we’re serving up gaming and entertainment in the cloud to more than 40 million people. We’re committed to delivering extraordinary entertainment experiences across devices in a uniquely connected way through Xbox, Windows Phone, Windows 8 and other popular devices, and we’re looking forward to continuing to innovate in this space in the future.”

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GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

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Nintendo’s announcement of the Nintendo 3DS XL is exciting news for the company, if sales of its DSi XL are any indication. Made specifically for older players who are more interested in a bigger screen than they are in a console that fits in their pocket, the DSi XL sold over 12 million systems since it launched on November 21, 2009, in Japan, roughly 8 percent of all Nintendo DS sales. And if DSi XL trends hold true, this success will continue for the 3DS XL.

The Nintendo DS debuted in November 2004 and has had three major iterations since its launch: the DS Lite, the DSi, and the DSi XL. Of the over 150 million systems sold since 2004, 93.8 million were the DS Lite, 26.8 million units were the DSi, and the remaining 18.8M million were the original DS. More important, the DSi XL outsold the DSi by 1.3 million consoles in 2011 fiscal year. Both the DSi and DSi XL have maintained strong sales even after Nintendo released its 3DS, while other DS models have seen sharp declines.

What could this mean for the 3DS XL? With 8 percent of all DS sales made in just three fiscal years, the DSi XL accounted for 19.4 percent of all DS models sold in the three years of its production. With only one current 3DS model and a worldwide market for larger portable, past sales indicate that the 3DS XL can provide for 20-30 percent of all 3DS sales worldwide, and sell millions of units.

The Nintendo 3DS XL goes on sale in Japan on July 28 and in the U.S. on August 19. It costs $199 and features a 4.88-inch top display and 4.18-inch bottom display, which are 90 percent larger than the 3DS. The 3DS originally sold for $250, and the price quickly dropped to the current retail value of $169.

GamesBeat 2012 is VentureBeat’s fourth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. This year we’re calling on speakers from the hottest mobile, social, PC, and console companies to debate new ways to stay on pace with changing consumer tastes and platforms. Join 500+ execs, investors, analysts, entrepreneurs, and press as we explore the gaming industry’s latest trends and newest monetization opportunities. The event takes place July 10-11 in San Francisco, and you can get your tickets here.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

Earlier today we caught our first glimpse at the Microsoft Surface, Microsoft’s new Windows 8 tablet, at a press event in Los Angeles (check out our full live coverage). After the event I got some hands-on time with both Surface models, the Surface for Windows RT and Surface for Windows 8 Pro.

Surface certainly looks like a high-end tablet, much like the Zune HD still does today when compared to other media players. The Surface is very sleek, with hard lines, a very specific curved edge design, and extremely well defined buttons and components. Just like Windows Phone 7 and Windows 8′s Metro UI, the entire Surface tablet is about contrast, in feel, touch and looks, although the metallic grey case doesn’t really match the design we expect from a high-end tablet. Devices like the iPad and even the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 are more pleasing to the eyes.

In the hand, Surface feels very dense, and it is. According to Microsoft spokespeople at the event, if anything else were crammed into it, the tablet would be thicker than its 7.3mm frame. The angular edges make the Surface easier to pick up, and it lays flatly on a desk or table, which is uncommon for tablets. However, while it’s easier to pick up, it’s not easier to hold immediately. The Surface’s case and frame are made of a magnesium alloy named VaporMg, which is specially molded similar to the recent HTC One S smartphone (non-US models).

The case actually has a glossy feel, so it’s strange to hold. One the one hand, it’s easier to grip, but with some time it could end up slipping and feeling uncomfortable. However, I wasn’t given a lot of time to hold the device, so it’s unclear what the level of comfort of the Surface will be over time. Surface also has a built-in kickstand, which Microsoft employees showing the device popped in and out with ease, but I found difficult to set up. It is certainly strong and durable, made of the same material as the rest of the case, but it is also very tightly connected via magnets to the body.

Here you can see the magnetic dock clamp for the keyboards and future peripherals

There are a few interesting points on the Surface. The Touch Cover and Type Cover, two covers that are very similar to the iPad’s Smart Cover (except that both of Microsoft’s are actual keyboards), connect magnetically to the Surface for both typing and as the cover. Six metal panels connect the two and transfer data and power between devices. The Touch Cover is a pressure-sensitive full QWERTY keyboard that is ten times more sensitive to keypresses than traditional keyboards, and is just 3mm thick. It comes in five colors, and each color has its own textured feel.

The Type Cover is a 5.5mm thick mechanical full QWERTY keyboard that uses a chiclet design, and is easy to type on (though there is very little space between the individual keys). Both connect to the bottom of any Surface tablet and lock in place magnetically. Thanks to the Surface’s accelerometer, the cases won’t activate the keys when the keyboard is used as a cover and held behind the tablet. The connector used is proprietary; it’s unclear if Microsoft expects additional peripherals from 3rd party manufacturers to be viable through it.

The Touch and Type Covers come in five colors altogether, all with different feeling covers

With the kickstand and one of the two keyboards, the Surface can instantly turn into a laptop-shaped device. This is particularly exciting for tablet owners who have been purchasing accessories for their devices and who are still unsatisfied with both first and third party accessories. And because the Surface runs Windows, both keyboards also sport multitouch trackpads (though they are very small). But with a full touchscreen, the trackpad’s size isn’t likely going to be a big deal.

Surface has an LCD panel using ClearType technology. Microsoft hasn’t revealed anything about ClearType except that it’s designed to make the high resolution display appear very clear. It has no relation to Nokia’s ClearBlack screen technology used on their recently released Lumia 900 smartphone. (Microsoft also calls its font smoothing technology ClearType.) Microsoft has been very mum on the display, and hasn’t shown the screen in use much.

Surface has a 10.6″ widescreen display, and while the screen is actually larger than Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1, the device feels smaller. The two Surface models have different screen resolutions; the RT model uses a 720p display while the Pro model is full 1080p.

In terms of hardware, the Surface includes a USB 2.0 connector, which already appears outdated in light of USB 3.0 ports showing up on more computer (update: the Surface Pro has USB 3.0). It charges through a separate magnetic connector on the side, similar to the Sony Tablet S. Surface also uses two Wi-Fi antennas to minimize blocking the network when holding the device. There are twin microphones on the top of the device, and stereo speakers on both sides. A Windows home button rests below the display on the bezel. There is also a single HDMI video out port that can output 1080p.

Microsoft has also remained quiet regarding software. The two Surface models use different versions of Windows, Windows 8 RT and Windows 8 Pro. The RT model is based on ARM processors, while the Pro version is for Intel chipsets. That means RT is a more traditional tablet experience, and because of that it’s limited to only running Metro Windows 8 apps. Pro is for users who want a full Windows laptop experience, including the ability to run legacy software.

There will be some Xbox integration, including the recently announced SmartGlass screen sharing technology,as well as some games completely playable over Xbox Live. Games playable on the Surface will have to be developed specifically for it. Gamers won’t instantly be able to play any game on Surface, nor will they be able to stream titles via Wi-Fi to the Surface tablet (no news of such has been announced).

Surface looks like a very interesting piece of hardware, and is indeed a bold new direction for Microsoft. After years of seriously limiting any hardware development, with notable exceptions to the Zune and Xbox, Microsoft is stepping into the hardware game in a very significant way. By offering a tablet-esque operating system, as well as a full Windows 8 traditional computer experience, Microsoft will be able to set the Surface apart from the iPad and Android tablets in a big way.

Surface is set to release the RT version with Windows 8 for an undisclosed price in 32GB and 64GB models. The Windows 8 Pro model will release three months after in 64GB and 128GB models.

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July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

Microsoft formally announced that the company will begin producing and selling a Surface Tablet for consumers to compete in the tablet market. Two models will be sold, from Microsoft in stores and with retail partners. The first, Surface with Windows RT, is a tablet-esque device that runs on Arm architecture and is expected to act more like traditional tablets today. The second is Surface with Windows 8 Pro, which will ship with a complete version of Windows 8 Professional and run the latest Ivy Bridge i5 processor from Intel and will have power equivalent to today’s Ultrabooks.

No price point has been set for either, but Microsoft has stated that the Surface with Windows RT will be priced equivalent to today’s high-end tablets (roughly $350-$500) and will come in two models, 32GB and 64GB. Surface with Windows 8 Pro will be priced equivalent to today’s Ultrabooks (roughly $800-$1,300), and will come in two models, 64GB and 128GB. The Surface with Windows RT will release with Windows 8, and the Surface with Windows 8 Pro will release three months later.

Two accessories for the devices have also been announced, the Touch Cover which is a touch-type keyboard and acts as a cover for the 10.6″ displays, and a secondary cover that includes physical keys.

Check out the full gallery below, as well as our liveblog of the event.

3:50pm: They’ve finally started letting us into the event space. Trippy colors and tablet-shaped designs on projected screens abound. There’s also what looks to be a runway for some reason.

4:00pm: I’m inside and there is a list of music playing with a recurring montage video showing plenty of rectangles. It’s safe to assume that we’ll be seeing tablets to some regard here today. Could this be Courier reborn? A lot of the screens are showing multiple rectangles side by side, one side always broken lines, the other solid.

4:10pm: Steve Ballmer is on stage without introduction and is talking about Windows 8, and the importance of the OS and how millions of people have tried it out. And he’s also talking about the importance of hardware for Microsoft. This bodes well for a Microsoft-created product. A video is now playing showing off all of the major hardware products that have come out of various parts of Microsoft, from keyboards to Xbox to webcams.

4:20pm: Ballmer is now talking about how today, Microsoft’s hardware products are based around partner company products. However, with Windows 8 there will be “it’s own companion hardware innovation.” What is it? “It’s something new, something different, and a whole new family of computing devies from Microsoft.”

That product is Microsoft Surface, a tablet computing device that offers both Windows 8′s tablet and PC portion. It’s a 9.3mm tablet, that’s has USB 2.0 ports. It has a completely magnesium case, called “VaporMg”. It’s under 1.5 lbs, 576 grams. It has a 10.6″ widescreen display that can play any game sold on the Microsoft store. And during the demo, it just broke down and they switched tablets.

Surface has dual meebo antennas for Wi-Fi. A stand is built right into the device that is magnetically connected, and pops in and out. The kickstand uses the same kind of magnesium alloy that, so it’s made to feel like it’s part of the case.

4:30pm: Surface also has a case that includes a touch-type keyboard that’s just 3mm thin, and includes a full QWERTY keyboard plus a trackpad. There are also going to be two types of Surface; one made for Arm Processors and another built using standard x86 architecture and Intel CPUs, called Surface with Windows 8 Pro. It’s a full PC, compared to the standard Surface tablet. It has a full 1080p display, running Windows 8 pro. It has a Cleartype display that is extremely dense, and uses the same VaporMg design and kickstand, and works with the same design overall. “It has specs that rival those of high-end Ultrabooks today.”

This unit is running the latest Ivy Bridge i5 processors, plus the Intel HD 4000 GPU. To deal with thermals, the Surface has what Microsoft is calling perimeter venting, where there is a tiny slit all around the frame that allows for air to flow freely through the tablet. Based on Sandy Bridge processor (Intel’s last-generation of CPUs) heat production would pose a serious problem for a small, enclosed space like a tablet. Microsoft didn’t state much about perimeter venting, but it’s likely that the venting system is designed to add structure to the frame while simultaneously keeping the handheld cool.

Surface for Windows 8 Pro also supports Digital Ink, with a pen stylus, and allows for instant notes written on any page. The screen samples written notes at 600dpi. For writing, there are two digitizers that enables the screen to disable standard touch presses so you don’t accidentally control the screen with a hand while writing. If the stylus comes within 7mm of the Surface screen, it’ll disable touch and enable handwriting only.

4:40pm: There will be a higher-end physical keyboard case that has physical keys with 1.5mm of keypress distance. It acts as a thicker case just like the touch-type keyboard, except for people who want to type with a physical keyboard. The Surface is built as an angular device, with 23 degree angled sides designed for comfort in the hand, while all of the other surfaces are completely flat.

We’ll get a chance to go hands-on shortly.

4:45pm: The hardware itself is physically molded to match the 7.3mm thickness, so much so that “if you put a piece of tape in between the frame, it’ll budge.” That doesn’t sound good, but the point is clear: it’s packed to the brim, but isn’t heavy. Now we’re hearing a more detailed look at the Surface itself and the parts, like the Touch Cover.

The different color Touch Covers automatically change the color of the Windows 8 background. It connects to the Surface itself with magnets, similar to the iPad and Smart Cover but, according to Ponoy, it isn’t a metallic surface that clamps on hard, but a cloth surface with magnets underneath that clamps on only in one space. Internal accelerometers also know exactly when the Touch Cover is held as a keyboard or held as a cover, so that there aren’t any excessive button presses.

Touch Cover also can detect the weight of individual key presses, made specifically to know when buttons are pressed. Touch typists will have some obvious fears regarding the Touch Cover’s typing experience, specifically with keys missing, but Ponoy stated that the Touch Cover reads keypresses 10x faster than traditional keyboards.

Surface for Windows RT will be available in a 32GB and 64GB tablet, and it will release alongside Windows 8. Surface for Windows 8 Pro will be available in 64GB models and will be available about 3 months later than the Surface for Windows RT model. Pricing hasn’t been announced yet, but they will be similarly priced to current-gen tablets with equivalent components. The Windows 8 Pro version will be equivalent in pricing to Ultrabooks.

Stay tuned for another story on how the Surface is in our hands-on preview!

This story is developing, refresh this page for updates.

Photo: James Pikover/VentureBeat