Rumor: Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Expanding to 5.5 Inches

While Android fans continue to debate whether the Samsung Galaxy Note is a big smartphone or a small tablet, the manufacturer appears ready to go in an even bigger (though not necessarily better) direction.

TechCrunch is reporting that a sequel to the Galaxy Note will be announced in Germany at the IFA 2012 trade show next month, and the display will take another step toward tablet size by expanding from 5.3 inches to 5.5 inches.

According to the Korean MK Business News, the improvements to the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 don't end there -- the handset is also expected to get juiced with a quad-core processor (most likely Sammy's own Exynos 4) and either a 12 or 13 megapixel rear camera, which would be a nice improvement to the existing model's mere eight megapixels.

And yes, the Galaxy Note 2 should come out of the box with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, although it's likely you'll even recognize it once Samsung applies their own UI touches to the software.

The real question is, what kind of super sized mortal will be able to hold a 5.5-inch smartphone in their hands -- and why would they want to when a fine seven-inch tablet like the Nexus 7 will soon be available?

Thankfully, we won't have long to find out, since IFA 2012 kicks off in August.

Source : ign[dot]com

E3 2012: Of Orcs and Men preview

Oftentimes, in role-playing games, the lead character is a typical male human off on an adventure to save the world/planet/galaxy. You may have some alien sidekicks, but for the most part you play as this human character.

So you can imagine my excitement when Cyanide Studios showed me Of Orcs and Men, an upcoming fantasy RPG that allows you to play as not one, but two fantasy creatures whose stories often remain unexplored in fantasy RPGs. Think of the last fantasy themed RPG you played; you likely encountered some orcs or goblins which you were tasked to kill for no apparent reason.

Of Orcs and Men plays off of this typical gameplay, but turns it upside down and puts you in control of two non-human characters - an Orc named Arkill and a goblin named Styx - who are off on a mission to assassinate the human emperor who waged war against their race. It may not be the most original story concept, man vs orc, but the different viewpoint could offer a different take.

Playing as an orc or goblin isn't the big catch here, at least for me it wasn't. What really helped Of Orcs and Men stand out was it's combat system which has you control both characters in tandem. In combat you can switch between Arkill, the incredibly strong orc who relies on heavy melee attacks, and Styx, the goblin trickster who relies on sneaking, stealth and ranged attacks.

The trick to the combat is to constantly switch between the characters and assign combat actions to them so that you aren't stuck with a useless AI partner that serves as nothing more than a punching bag. In combat you can slow down time to select these actions for your partner to perform and then switch to the opposite one that you want to control.  Although it sounds like a difficult slow process to slow time, controlling two characters actually creates a fast-paced feel. It's a little difficult to master at first, but once you get the hang of it the game provides rewarding gameplay experience.

The key to successful combat in Of Orcs in Men is how you initiate. The game allows you to plan your actions before performing them creating a multitude of ways to play; so for instance, you can control the goblin and sneak up on unsuspecting guards to take them out one by one or you can simply run in there with Arkill and pulverize them. Each tactic is feasible depending on how well you can assign actions.

It's hard to comment on story based on a 15-minute demo, but we were told that it will include a branching path with a variety of choices that ultimately lead to the same conclusion.  Styx will grant you the more conniving, lying route while Arkill is provides a more blunt, straightforward approach to conversations. Like I said, they will ultimately lead to the same ending for the main story.

The PC demo featured impressive graphics that created a dark fantasy world. There were some animation hiccups that you'd expect in an early build of a game, but other than that the game looked and ran surprisingly smooth for a game still in development.

Of Orcs and Men provides a unique twist on what some would consider a stale genre. You wouldn't think Orcs vs Men would be an interesting concept, but providing a unique aspect with exciting gameplay creates a solid game that RPG fans should keep their eye on. is set to release on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC this fall.

Source : gamezone[dot]com

The A-Z of the Alien Franchise

With Prometheus landing in cinemas within days, we explore the deepest, darkest corners of the galaxy to present an unmissable alphabetical guide to the Alien franchise. Just beware of franchise spoilers ahead.

A is for... Alien

The movie that gave birth to a phenomenon. Ridley Scott's second feature film after The Duellists, it's a masterclass in sustained tension and economy of horror - the 'monster' is only on screen for seconds at a time. Written by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett, and formerly titled Star Beast (catchy), it evolved into the terrifying survival horror we know and love. Inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2002, it remains one of the most terrifying and iconic horror films of all time.

B is for... Burke

Burke by name, berk by nature. The 'corporate dickweed' archetype had been hinted at in the first film, with Ash working on behalf of 'The Company' to bring the beast back alive for bio-weapons, but it wasn't until we met Paul Reiser's Carter Burke in Aliens that we realised The Company was almost exclusively staffed by buttheads. Open-handed and queasily chummy on the surface - like a sort of shifty space politician - he nonetheless puts countless lives at risk for his employers, probably to secure a bigger office or something.

C is for... Chestburster

The most startling scene in a film packed full of memorable moments, the 'chestburster' sequence is one of the most shocking deaths in sci-fi history. Having just had an alien get jiggy with his gob, John Hurt's Kane wakes up feeling woozy, but thinks nothing of joining the crew of the Nostromo for a spot of dinner. Turns out that wasn't indigestion he was feeling: after some terrifyingly realistic convulsions, Kane's stomach is punched open from the inside, and an alien embryo bursts forth, spraying the unprepared cast members with blood. That look of shock on their faces is genuine, captured on film forever.

D is for… David

You may have already met Michael Fassbender's Bowie-inspired android David in Prometheus' promotional material. And given his promise that he can carry out directives that human crew members might consider "unethical" we're guessing he's not entirely on the level. Interestingly - and despite the revised chronology post-Prometheus - the 'synthetic humans' in the Alien franchise have all been named alphabetically (Ash, Bishop and Call in that order). We look forward to meeting Eugene, Frank and Gerard in future instalments.

E is for... Eggs

With the design of the alien being kept a secret, the striking image on the Alien poster was the egg, with green pus oozing forth. You may notice that this egg (belonging to a hen, egg fans) looks different to the ones in the movie – that's because the scene in which John Hurt inspects the more organic-looking facehugger egg was added in post-production. The movement that Kane sees inside is Ridley Scott's hand in a rubber glove, and the innards – if you really must know – were made of cow guts and tripe. Anyone fancy an omelette?

F is for... Facehugger

There's something horribly perverse about the design of the facehugger – the first creature created for the movie. It's the combination of its long, spindly, human-like fingers and its whipping tail that still gives us the fear – that and, of course, its penchant for humping your face and laying eggs in your stomach. It's more than just a freaky creepy-crawlie – the facehugger's disgusting "oral invasion" technique as used on Kane in Alien was intended as a riposte to various scenes of abuse suffered by female horror protagonists at the hands of male monsters.

G is for... Giger

Hans Rudolf Giger is the creative (and potentially quite troubled) genius behind Alien's most twisted designs. The Swiss artist studied architecture and industrial design in Zurich before realising his talent lay in creating disturbing, evocative, impossibly dark imagery – a perfect fit for the Alien universe, in other words. Ridley Scott saw potential in Giger's painting, Necronom IV, and commissioned the artist to birth his beast. The finished product – an asexual creature with a long, smooth, curved cranium – was the perfect nightmare. "It could just as easily f*ck you before it killed you" commented producer Ivor Powell.

H is for... Hudson and Hicks

The twin pillars of the Colonial Marines: Corporal Dwayne Hicks, a gruff, lantern-jawed leader of men; and Private William Hudson, a sarcastic technician who talks the talk but breaks down like a little bitch when the odds aren't in his favour. Despite surviving Aliens, Michael Biehn didn't get the chance to reprise Hicks in the threequel – he was killed off during the opening credits, but successfully demanded almost the same amount of cash for the brief use of his image as he was paid for the entirety of James Cameron's movie. Bill Paxton's Hudson saw an undignified end, but did get some of Aliens' best lines, including the eternally over-quoted cry of defeat: "Game over, man! Game over!"

I is for... Ident

Arguably the scariest moment of Alien 3 comes before a single second of footage has been shown. The movie opens with the customary 20th Century Fox fanfare, but holds the penultimate note and transforms it into a discordant wail, putting the viewer at instant unease. Director David Fincher's idea, this startling opening was intended to unsettle audiences and let them know that nothing, not even the company idents, were safe from harm. Shame the rest of the movie didn't quite deliver in the same way.

J is for… Joss and Jean-Pierre

The red-headed stepchild of the Alien franchise, fourquel Resurrection sticks out like a sore thumb – it's not so much a horror as a sci-fi fantasy adventure, complete with underwater sequences, Ripley shooting hoops and a baffling final baddie that looks like crappy fan art brought to life. Joss Whedon claims his tongue-in-cheek script was mostly left intact, but was poorly adapted by French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet and the studio heads, who "executed it in such a ghastly fashion they rendered it unwatchable." We are not entirely disagreeing, although it does have its moments (see 'U').

K is for... K-Y Jelly

If you ever wondered what they used for the slime slithering out of the alien's mouth, well... now you know! Ridley Scott was the first to lube his beast with K-Y Jelly (steady), but James Cameron took slobbering to a whole new level on Aliens, literally dumping buckets of the stuff on the Alien Queen's snout. It apparently made controlling the hydraulics incredibly difficult because the individual components couldn't get a proper purchase. Job well done, K-Y!

L is for... LV-426

Planets way out there in the furthest reaches of the galaxy don't have cool names like Mars or Jupiter – they just get numbers. LV-426 is the interstellar code for the planet on which the distress signal is picked up by the Nostromo in the first Alien movie. Named 'Acheron' in extended universe fiction, the planet is where we first see the crashed ship (known as The Derelict), the Space Jockey and our friends the facehuggers. It is a travel agent-approved vacation recommendation. It's just a few moons over from LV-223, the planet on which Prometheus is set (see 'Z').



Source : http://www.ign.com

Worldwide Samsung Galaxy S III Pre-Orders Reach 9 Million

Samsung, the largest handset vendor in the world, is approaching the release of yet another extremely popular Android phone, the recently announced Samsung Galaxy S III.

According to the Korea Economic Daily, around 9 million pre-orders have been placed across 100 global carriers, excluding the United States where carriers have yet to be announced, reports Reuters. The device will launch in Germany on May 29, with additional territories receiving the phone over the course of the new few months. To keep up with the high demand, the company's South Korean factory has been working at full capacity to push out 5 million handsets per month.

The Galaxy S II reached 20 million units shipped during its first 10 months on the market, and over 4 million units of Apple's iPhone 4S were sold during its opening weekend.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/18/worldwide-samsung-galaxy-s-iii-pre-orders-reach-9-million

Ni No Kuni Leads the JRPG Charge

Japanese developer Level-5 has been responsible for some shining examples of quintessential JRPGs, over the years. From PS2 gems in the Dark Cloud and Rogue Galaxy franchises through to its iconic Dragon Quest series, much of Level-5’s output has been characterised by a focus on young protagonists who embark on fantastical journeys of self-discovery rendered in the studio’s distinctive cel-shaded visual style.

Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is set to continue both of these traditions whilst exhibiting another of the traits that has helped stand Level-5 titles in such high regard: high-quality localisation. From voice work to choice colloquialisms and distinctive accents (most notably Drippy the fairy who speaks with a charming Welsh tang, an accent seldom heard in video games), Ni No Kuni’s localisation is being undertaken with an eye for detail to ensure that the humour, sentiment and relationships between characters are conveyed as they were initially intended by the developer in its native version.

For all of the efforts to deliver a polished product to an international audience, the game design, RPG mechanics and over-arching storyline have their roots steadfastly grounded in Japanese soil. Clearly, Ni No Kuni is a JRPG at its core but this is something that Level-5 seems unwilling to wholeheartedly embrace when it discusses the game.

“We can say that Ni No Kuni will certainly be representative of a Japanese RPG in terms of the level of quality that it provides, but we never really intended to adhere to a JRPG formula,” says Level-5 CEO Akihiro Hino.

“In terms of the game universe, it feels very Japanese and that’s what we’re keen to keep but the game systems don’t necessarily follow the formula that’s been created by past JRPGs. So, it’s fair to say that it has a Japanese feel but will be a different type of RPG.”

We won’t truly know just how different Ni No Kuni will feel until its international release early next year, but from hands-on time with early sections that feature exploration, combat and interaction with NPCs, it feels every bit the full-blooded JRPG. This impression is further enforced by Level-5 working closely with Japanese animation powerhouse, Studio Ghibli, the company responsible for the likes of animated features Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle and The Secret World of Arrietty.

Level-5’s reticence to proudly hold Ni No Kuni aloft as a shining example of what JRPGs are capable of is perhaps born of a concern that Western audiences have grown tired of the genre or, more broadly, of Japanese-developed games in general; a sentiment succinctly expressed at this year’s GDC by Fez developer Phil Fish and previously discussed by long serving ex-Capcom staffer Keiji Inafune. However, a beautifully crafted experience such as Ni No Kuni can – and should – seek to fly in the face of such opinions, and by marrying a Japanese game developer that has experienced success overseas with a native animation studio whose creations have likewise been incredibly well received in the West, the groundwork has been laid to do just that.

This collaboration between Level-5 and Studio Ghibli marks the first game project for the animation studio and so its efforts in character and environment design have to be seen in action to be fully appreciated. Both the real-time animation and rendered cut scenes are far beyond what we’re used to seeing a video game deliver and stand as both a milestone in game development and a testament to Studio Ghibli’s talent.

Such is Ni No Kuni’s visual impact that discussion around it is dominated by how important the animation studio’s involvement has been during development and how crucial it might be to the success of the game in the West. This leads to the question of whether Hino feels that the focus on Studio Ghibli’s work on the project might be to the detriment of Level-5’s creative vision and contribution to the game underneath the aesthetics.

“There is a sense that [Studio Ghibli’s work] could potentially be overshadowing what Level 5 has done for the game,” ponders Hino. That said, Level 5 had completed the entire game design, the planning and the storyline prior to Studio Ghibli’s involvement.

“I think that the most important part of this process was working with Studio Ghibli to create a game that could represent Japan. To do that, we incorporated the know-how of both companies into Ni No Kuni; I think that using its technology and abilities, Level-5 has achieved its goal of creating a Studio Ghibli-like universe within a game.”

This is a potent partnership of two companies at the top of their game that have their expertise to bear on a uniquely Japanese title. Whilst some believe the Japanese industry is still suffering a crisis of confidence and struggling to re-establish its identity, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch looks to be an achievement that its creators can be proud to call a quintessential JRPG.



Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/18/ni-no-kuni-leads-the-jrpg-charge