Assassin's Creed: Unity preview: Stealth stabbing sneaks into the French Revolution

 
PCWorld - This looks a lot like Assassin's Creed II . It's the only thought flitting through my brain as I watch this year's awkwardly-clad assassin—seriously, doesn't anyone think he stands out with his hood on?—leap down the wrought-iron-and-stone exterior of Notre Dame.

Substitute Notre Dame for any of a dozen Roman or Florentine cathedrals, though, and you might not notice a huge difference between Assassin's Creed: Unity and its earlier predecessors. After last year's little tangent into Caribbean piracy, Assassin's Creed has returned to its roots. This is the most "traditional" Assassin's Creed game since 2011's Revelations.

I can't decide whether I'm excited or not.

Getting crowded

 

Assassin's Creed Unity is most impressive in a behind-the-scenes technical manner that I'm not sure most players will appreciate. Last year's pirate-themed entry to the series, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, used the power of the new consoles for gorgeous water effects and better textures, but the presence of Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions belied the fact that Black Flag was a spruced-up version of an old game.

Assassin's Creed Unity is a next-gen title, full stop. I remember the first time I played the original Assassin's Creed, being amazed at how crowded the streets were in Altair's cities. Heck, I've been playing games long enough I remember when people touted insane features like "We've managed to get up to six enemies on-screen at the same time."

AC Unity? I was told the scene at the beginning of my demo contained about 500 people, and the scene at the end of the demo featured approximately 2,000. And, if the Ubisoft rep I spoke to is to be believed, that's not even the maximum that could be onscreen. "5,000" was uttered at one point.   Read More

GameSpot's E3 2013 Preview

What to expect at Google I/O 2013

Google rumors and leaks pick up speed as Google I/O 2013 arrives this week. Here are some of our predictions for the annual Google developers confab. Read More

 

• Google's Nexus Q revival said to be a no-show at I/O

  

  Google reportedly won't show off a revamped version of its defunct Nexus Q media streamer at its annual developers conference. more

  News - By Josh Lowensohn |
   

• CNET to talk Google I/O in a Hangout on Tuesday

  

  Is there more to the annual Google shindig than swag? Have some predictions of your own? Ask CNET your Google I/O questions in a Google+ Hangout. Hint: Extreme sports demos are extremely unlikely. more

  News - By Seth Rosenblatt | 
   

• Microsoft touts Office 365 buyers that dumped Google Apps

  

  On the eve of the Google I/O conference, Microsoft picks a loud fight with Google over online office suites. more

  News - By Stephen Shankland | 
   

• One more Google I/O rumor: A new smartwatch?

  

  Does it make any sense for Google to unveil a new piece of wearable tech this week? Does it have to make sense? more

  News - By Eric Mack | 
   

• Expect games, social, and Now at Google I/O 2013

  

  Google rumors and leaks pick up speed as Google I/O 2013 arrives this week. Here are some of our predictions for the annual Google developers confab. more

  News - By Seth Rosenblatt | 
   

• Google I/O keeps browser focus despite fancy phones, eyewear

  

  Android and Glass get a lot of attention at Google I/O, but Chrome and Web programming sessions are core to Google's conference for developers. more

  News - By Stephen Shankland | 
   

• What Google I/O should bring for Android hardware lovers

  

  CNET's Marguerite Reardon takes a look at the possible new Android products Google might show off at its annual developer conference this week in San Francisco. more

  News - By Marguerite Reardon | 
   

• Friday Poll: Can Google I/O possibly top last year's?

  

  Google set a high bar with its skydiving introduction of Glass last year. Could this year's conference contain more "wow-ness?" more

  News - By Eric Mack | 
   

• What to expect from Android Key Lime Pie

  

  Google should unveil a new version of its mobile OS next week. Here's some of what we may see this time around, and also down the line. more

  News - By Scott Webster | 

'Star Trek Into Darkness' - Trailer & Pics

Digital Spy - Another of the images highlights Benedict Cumberbatch as villain John Harrison, standing amidst a crowd of Starfleet cadets.

Director JJ Abrams has promised that the sequel, which sees the Enterprise crew struggling to protect the Earth from a force of terror from within their own organization, will be a tearjerker.

Abrams has also spoken on several occasions about the decision to post-convert the film into 3D,
admitting that he was forced into the decision by Paramount.    More

Official Website

Trailer

Acer Iconia W510 preview: as Acer moves into the Windows 8 era, it returns to its netbook roots

Engadget - Here it is, folks: our first Windows 8 device. No, not the first we've laid hands on, but the first built-for-Win-8 PC that we've been able to take home and spend some quality time with. If you don't remember today's specimen, you'd be forgiven: the Acer Iconia W510 is one of many, many tablet / laptop hybrids that have debuted over the past few months. Plus, this isn't even the highest-end Windows 8 PC Acer has to offer: unlike the W700, which has a 1080p screen and Ultrabook guts, the W510 runs off a Clover Trail-based Atom processor, and has a smaller 10.1-inch (1,366 x 768) display.

More

Microsoft Office 2013 Preview: Hands On

PCWorld - Office 2013 is touchscreen ready, cloud friendly, and adds bold new twists to the Microsoft Office franchise. On Monday Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer outlined what he said was the "biggest most ambitious Office" update to date.

For the desktop Office 2013 delivers a host of smart updates to Word, Outlook, and Excel. But where Office 2013 shines is embracing the mobile world and the cloud with deep integration with Microsoft’s cloud service SkyDrive and collaboration - integrating its recent acquisitions Skype and Yammer. Windows 8, and the upcoming release of Microsoft Surface tablets and Windows Phone 8 smartphones, also play a huge roles in coloring Office 2013 with new features.

Ahead of Microsoft's big news Monday Microsoft provided PCWorld with two Windows 8 tablets (no, not the Surface) and access to the customer preview versions of both Office 2013 and the cloud-based Office 365.

Here is a look at how the software suite runs on laptop, desktop touchscreen, and tablet platforms.
In this story, PCWorld Senior Editor Michael Brown first gives his impressions of working with Office 2013 and 365 on a laptop and a desktop PC. Contributing editor Tony Bradley then writes about his tests of the new products on a tablet PC.

Office 2013, Office 365 on a Laptop and a Desktop PC

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I spent most of my time with Word and Excel on a laptop and on a desktop all-in-one equipped with a touchscreen. As expected, Microsoft is tying Office 2013 and Office 365 tightly to its SkyDrive cloud-storage service.

You're free to use other services, but I suspect that this integration will lure plenty of Office users away from their paid accounts on Google, Dropbox, and SugarSync. If you buy a version of Microsoft's new software and sign up for a Microsoft Live account, you'll get 20GB of free storage in SkyDrive.

 


The Ofiice 365 Preview settings screen.

Both Office 2013 and Office 365 offer largely the same user experience, but Microsoft is clearly steering its customers toward the cloud-based version. The company is also marketing Office 365 to consumers for the first time, rather than strictly to businesses.    More
 

Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut DLC To Be Released on Tuesday

Media Stinger - Last March, Mass Effect 3 created one of the biggest controversies in gaming history after players got done playing through one of the greatest stories of all time. Gamers were left feeling they weren’t offered the closure they deserved after investing hundreds of hours into the trilogy which resulted in most instantly taking to social media, forums, and comment sections of websites to vent their frustration with the ending. Some extremely crazy fanboys even donated money to a fundraising campaign that generated over $50,000 to get a new ending.      More

Preview of ‘The Hobbit’ in 48fps draws mixed reviews

CNET - “The Hobbit” is possibly one of the first movies to be filmed in 48fps, or double the framerate of tradition theatrical releases. According to a Facebook entry by its director Peter Jackson, the switch promises significantly higher clarity and smoothness, especially when it comes to fast movements and panning shots.

Some viewers, however, were unimpressed after a preview of the movie at the CinemaCon trade show in Las Vegas. A rival studio’s projectionist was even quoted by the Los Angeles Times, saying that the film looked like a made-for-TV movie and was too accurate and too clear.

Read the Reviews

This Is the iPad 3 Hiding In Plain Sight

Gizmodo - Apple just flashed their new iPad 3 on their Wednesday 7 event invite. You can clearly see the new Retina displayin all its glory. Compare the left (invitation) to the right (the iPad 2).

The top has a lot more definition. It’s clear on the typography in the Wednesday, the spacing in relation to the icon and the edges of the icon itself.

Not only that, but there seems to be NO home button, which explains the mention of the “And touch.” in their invitation. How can we know? First, the photo they are showing is on portrait mode. You can’t achieve that icon spacing in the landscape mode (which is the only explanation for the lack of home button).                 More

ASUS roadmap outed: Transformer Prime 3G incoming; Win8 tab this year

Slash Gear -

ASUS has confirmed that there will a 3G-equipped version of the Eee Pad Transformer Prime in March, with the company also saying it plans to launch an ARM-based Windows 8 slate by the end of the year. The much-anticipated tablets were confirmed in a pre-CES briefing attended by NetbookNews, though there’s still room for some surprises next week: ASUS says it has two new models for the show, along with a further two tablets pencilled in for the latter half of 2012.

ASUS had disappointed many by announcing back in November that it had no plans – at launch, at least – for a 3G variant of the Tegra 3-based Transformer Prime. The company’s German division then reiterated that last month, claiming that no UMTS/HSPA model was incoming.             More

CES 2012: Nikon Will Exhibit Its D4 Professional DSLR Camera [VIDEO]

usatoday.com

Nikon has finally unveiled its answer for the Canon 1D X — the Nikon D4, the company’s latest professional DSLR.

The D4 will be aimed squarely at news, sports, and action photographers, firing at 10 full resolution frames per second with its Nikon-developed 16.2-megapixel FX sensor.

Nikon calls the D4 its “new flagship,” as it will likely replace the current 12.3-megapixel D3s as the go-to for sports and action photography, with the D3x remaining as the high-resolution option for studio shooters.

The combination of high ISO performance, full-frame sensor, and fast shot-to-shot speed should make the D4 a speed demon for many professional and prosumer customers willing to pony up its $6,000 price tag (body-only).

The D4 will also offer a familiar pentaprism viewfinder with 100% coverage, but it will have a few new tricks up its sleeve. For instance, the camera will be able to detect and properly expose up to 16 faces, according to Nikon, even when shooting through the optical viewfinder.                 More

Bluetooth 4.0-powered Cobra Tag G5 needs only biannual recharges

The Cobra Tag G5 only needs recharging as often as 
your clocks need setting for daylight saving time. 
(Credit: Cobra)

LAS VEGAS–As helpful as the original Cobra Tag was for a forgetful guy like me, it had one fatal flaw: I kept forgetting to recharge the darn thing!

The new Cobra Tag G5, set to be unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, now only needs charging twice per year. Cobra is claiming more than six months of monitoring between recharges of the new Tag G5 thanks to its implementation of Bluetooth 4.0 technology.

However, in order to achieve this astronomic battery life, the phone the Tag G5 is paired with will also need to support Bluetooth 4.0–for now, that means only the Motorola Droid RAZR and the Apple iPhone 4S. (When we originally tested the first Cobra Tag, it was an Android only-affair. So, iOS device support is also a new trick.) I’m guessing that with phones using Bluetooth 3.0 or older, the new Tag G5 will see similar battery life to the first-generation Tag.                   More

Countdown to iPhone 5 (VIDEO)