Bungie has released some more of the tantalizing artwork for their upcoming Destiny project. The beautiful pictures include planetary environments, characters such as the Hunters and cool looking starships.
Dark Horse Entertainment has announced that it will be producing a new Halo comic. Titled Halo: Initiation, this series will be written by Halo 4 writer Brian Reed and features art from Marco Castiello (Secret Invasion: Front Line, Star Wars: Purge).
“Before she was a super-soldier defending humanity as part of the Spartan-IV program, Sarah Palmer was an ODST – Orbital Drop Shock Trooper – carrying out the most dangerous missions behind enemy lines,” says the announcement. “See how she became the first Spartan-IV commander in this must-read series for fans of Halo 4 and the Halo franchise.”
“In Initiation, Brian and Marco are delivering an action-packed thrill-ride with a beating heart of authentic human drama,†said Dark Horse editor Dave Marshall.
By Elena Zanone
Just in time for last week’s commemoration of Administrative Professionals Day — a.k.a. Secretary Day — LinkedIn rolled out a new service called Contacts that acts as a virtual secretary. The app, currently in limited testing, lets users sync data from other productivity tools they’re using and sets reminders for meetings, calls and past correspondence with contacts.
Contacts comes from a company called Connected that LinkedIn acquired in October 2011. It seems to move the professional social net even closer to its mission to become more than just a rolodex.
“When you think about LinkedIn.com today, many people already consider it their professional rolodex, but today it truly only represents the explicit connections that you’ve created on LinkedIn.com. The reality is our professional lives span more than LinkedIn.com, and our contacts are kind of spread everywhere,” explained Sarchin Rekhi, Linked In’s product lead for Contacts.
Contacts aggregates information such as email addresses, phone numbers and calendar notices neatly into one place that is accessible both on LinkedIn’s free iPhone app and on the web. Users can pull data from networking tools they’re already using and sync it to their profiles, including Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Microsoft Outlook, TripIt, and Evernote. There is no talk yet of integrating Facebook and Twitter.
Contacts also culls details such as past conversations and meetings so users can see past correspondence with their contacts at a glance. One nifty feature is how users can set up reminders within the tool for when to contact people in their network.
Linked In put it this way: “Get alerted on job changes and birthdays in your network, a perfect opportunity to stay in touch. Also, you can set reminders and add notes about the important people in your life.”
Users will also be able to see the people they’ve most recently spoken to, or those they’ve “lost touch” with. The service seems to index everything using an algorithm to make sure that only real connections, not spammers, show up in contacts lists.
Contacts is currently an invite-only service available exclusively in the United States. Users can join the waiting list here.
Source LinkedIn
The much hyped character trailers for the three protagonists of Grand Theft Auto V have released and they’re just as good as anyone would have hoped. While the overarching story of GTA V is still mostly shrouded, the motivations of Michael, Franklin and Trevor are laid a bit more bare.
While various products have tried to enhance the regular experience of using a TV with games, none have done so in a way quite like Microsoft IllumiRoom. While this is confirmed to just be a research product right now, it’s potential for the future is vast.
Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon is a send up of low-fi ’80s action movies, and it’s got the neon colors and ridiculous plot to prove it. As Mark IV cyber-commando Sergeant Rex Colt, you’ll have to take down your old commanding officer and his battalion of ruthless killer cyborgs to save the world.
Universal Pictures has taken to the skies to promote Despicable Me 2, with the creation of the “Despicablimp.” The airship will be traveling all across America over the next few months. A launch featurette and additional video content has been released to celebrate the launch of the Despicablimp. Several video featurettes and a hub location where fans can share social content to track the journey of the blimp have been launched. The launch of the blimp was also promoted cleverly with an infographic and via original content on social channels.
Blackberry is going through a momentous year, having recently launched the Z10 phone in an attempt to turn around the company. Blackberry CEO Thorsten Heins isn’t lacking for confidence, though he doesn’t seem to have much faith in the future of tablets, suggesting that the company will only follow up the PlayBook tablet line if the company comes up with something original.
“In five years I don’t think there’ll be a reason to have a tablet anymore,” Heins said. “Maybe a big screen in your workspace, but not a tablet as such. Tablets themselves are not a good business model.”
“In five years, I see BlackBerry to be the absolute leader in mobile computing. That’s what we’re aiming for,” he added. “I want to gain as much market share as I can, but not by being a copycat.”
Source: The Telegraph
TT Games has announced that they will be offering retailer specific Lego Marvel Super Heroes pre-order bonuses. The game will release on Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U, 3DS, PST Vita, PC and more in Fall 2013.
Walmart will give an exclusive Iron Patriot mini-fig to anyone that pre-orders the console version, while anyone who pre-orders the game from Amazon will receive $10 game credit to their Amazon account. Those that pre-order from GameStop will receive a Spider-Man keychain and Power Up Rewards members who pre-order will also receive the DLC pack for free (Xbox 360 and PS3 only).
Â
Zynga has announced that it has signed Disruptor Beam to its Zynga Partners program. The company will become the publisher of Game of Thrones Ascent.
“The game, based on the epic hit series from HBO, was highly sought after in the publishing space and has seen huge interest from players over the past couple of month,” wrote Zynga head of partner publishing Rob Dyer. “Disruptor Beam has done an outstanding job with the game’s design — creating an engaging and authentic experience that appeals to midcore and casual players alike, and reflects the incredible world of Game of Thrones, created by George R.R. Martin and brought to life by HBO.”
“We launched Game of Thrones Ascent into open beta on Facebook on February 21, and since then we’ve seen half-a-million installs of the game in less than two months — with many players coming back again-and-again to immerse themselves in the world of Westeros,” wrote Jon Radoff, CEO and Founder of Disruptor Beam. “But, as with any social game developer, a primary goal is to continue to iterate on the game with new mechanics and features, while continuing to grow the player base. For those reasons, we are extremely excited to partner with Zynga, exposing Game of Thrones Ascent to Zynga’s millions of players on Zynga.com and Facebook, while working side-by-side with the Zynga Partners team to continue to make this game a true extension of HBO’s renowned series Game of Thrones.”
“Now, if you haven’t had a chance to check out Game of Thrones Ascent, here’s what you should know. We’ve stayed authentic and true to the literary works of George R.R. Martin, as well as the HBO series,” he continued. “We’ve worked directly with HBO for over a year to ensure that our game accurately reflects the world of Westeros. Blending immersive story lines and strategic play, the game allows players to lead the life of a noble during a time of upheaval — a scene familiar to fans of the books and TV series. You’ll swear allegiance to one of the Great Houses, select your lineage, secure your holdings, develop your lands and reputation, and assign sworn swords to quests — while forging alliances with new friends. And, to stay even more true to the series, we’ve been releasing new content each week following new episodes from Season 3, allowing players to live out some of the experiences they witness on TV — a unique Transmedia experience that is not currently seen in any other social game.”
Find out more about Game of Thrones Ascent in this exclusive [a]list interview with Radoff.
