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Panasonic GH3 and G5 firmware update brings low light AF, silent shooting
If you've been spooking subjects or failing to focus on them with your Panasonic Lumix GH3 or G5, you might feel like you got a brand new camera today thanks to a firmware update. Its new features include low-light (-3EV) autofocus and a "silent mode" setting that'll turn off the electronic shutter, all sounds and the flash emission in one go, leaving subjects like deer or golfers undisturbed. You'll also get an exposure compensation shutoff reset option, better AF performance with certain lenses and a WiFi fix for Mac computers. You can grab it at the source, proving it's not only hackers that bring free goodies to pricey cameras.
Axl Rose's Guitar Hero 3 lawsuit dismissed
The last vestige of Guns N Roses lead singer Axl Rose's lawsuit against Activision has been dismissed, reports the San Marino Tribune. Originally filed in 2010, Rose's suit alleged that Guitar Hero 3 associated the song "Welcome to the Jungle" with former GNR guitarist Slash. According to Rose, the association constituted both fraud and breach of contract.The judge tossed the fraud claim out of court last year, as the statute of limitations had expired. According to today's report, Judge Charles Palmer has dismissed the breach of contract claim as well.Thus ends another case in the litany of lawsuits filed against Activision over its music games. Let's recount, shall we? Gibson: Lost, countersued, settled No Doubt: Settled Courtney Love: Nevermind Adam Levine: Marooned?Oh, and as for the Guitar Hero franchise itself: Dead.
Panasonic Lumix GH3 launches on December 13th, but pricing remains a mystery
Panasonic's forthcoming mirror-less multimedia wonder has been given a release date. Yep, the Lumix GH3, with its 'unlimited recording time' and magnesium alloy build, will arrive in the Land of the Rising Sun just over a month from now. While the Japanese press release doesn't specify pricing, you can expect this Lumix to arrive in body-only and two lens kit variants, one with a 12-35mm f/2.8 zoom lens, and another with a f/4.0 - 5.8 rig. Behind those optic options (not to mention the ability to capture 72Mbps 60p video), you'll be getting a 16-megapixel sensor, splash-proof shell and a flip-out OLED touchscreen alongside a 614K-dot viewfinder. If that leaked video sample piqued your interest, check out the full spec rundown at the source below.
Panasonic's GH3 mirrorless camera gets official: 16MP, WiFi and 72Mbps HD video in a ruggedized body (hands-on)
It's not a secret in the least thanks to a video slip-up by Panasonic a few days ago, but today the company is ready to officially announce the successor to its venerable GH2, the Lumix DMC-GH3. This Micro-Four Thirds mirrorless shooter is nearly as big as some entry-level DSLRs, but it's loaded with features to make up for it. Packed inside its dust- and splash-proof magnesium alloy body, you'll find a 16.05-megapixel Live Mos sensor that'll handle 200 to 12,800 ISO natively with extension from 125 to 25,600. Aiding it is Panasonic's latest Venus engine, which enables 6 FPS burst shooting (20 in 4-megapixel mode). Notably, Panasonic is pushing this as a "multimedia" shooter given its robust video features. Unlike many ILCs, the GH3 touts unlimited recording time, so you won't be held back by the likes of the camera overheating -- sadly, the approx. 29-minute recording restriction for PAL regions is in place however. You'll be able to shoot in either MP4, MOV, AVCHD or AVCHD Progressive, with a maximum bandwidth of "72 Mbps (ALL-Intra) / 50 Mbps (IPB)." The formats can be recorded using frame rates of 24, 30 and 60p (excluding MOV and AVCHD), and you'll even be able work with SMPTE time-codes for syncing footage easily in post production. On back, there's an articulating 3:2 614K-dot OLED touchscreen, which can be used for tap-focusing while recording video, along with a 16:9 1,744K-dot OLED view finder -- both of which provide 100% frame coverage. Thanks to included WiFi connectivity, you'll be able to control the camera from your mobile device -- although, its HDMI out may be better suited for film-making. Along the side, there's a duo 3.5mm jacks for monitoring and recording audio straight from the camera with a mic of your choosing or a Panasonic's optional shotgun mic. Speaking of accessories, an F2.8 35-100mm lens will also be introduced with the camera, touting a dust- and splash-proof design. There's no word on price just yet for the GH3 or its accessories, but we're told the camera will hit shelves for a number shy of $2,000 when it's released later this year. The unit we got eye-on time with was an admittedly rough and early build, but you can check it in detail at the gallery above while we get some more impressions at Photokina. You'll also find extended details in the press release after the break. Zach Honig contributed to this report.
Panasonic video reveals Lumix GH3 Micro Four Thirds camera: 16MP, magnesium alloy, 60p video
Though the GH3 has yet to be formally introduced to the world, a video has just appeared on an official Panasonic YouTube channel that has either been posted accidentally or is deliberately intended to build hype in the run-up to Photokina. It mainly shows off the GH3 in a range of picturesque shooting situations, but the clip also spills a few key specs, including the presence of a 16-megapixel sensor, a new version of Panny's Venus Engine processor, a splash- and dust-proof magnesium alloy build and high-definition filming at up to 72Mbps and 60p -- although it's not clear if it handles full 1080 at that high frame-rate. We also see a a flip-out LCD that looks much the same as the GH2's, an f/2.8 12-35mm lens attached instead of the 14-42mm or 14-140mm glass that came bundled with that predecessor, and so far only evidence of a traditional black color scheme. Click onwards for the video! Update: ...and just like that, the video has vanished from the official channel. We have, however, added a copy for the sake of posterity.
Axl Rose's Guitar Hero 3 lawsuit gets its day in court on Feb. 1
Axl Rose and lawyers defending Activision Blizzard had a preliminary hearing over the Guitar Hero 3 lawsuit, laying the groundwork for a potential court date in February 2013. For those playing catch-up, Axl Rose insinuates the game, which launched in late 2007, unlawfully associated Guns 'N Roses music with ex-GNR guitarist, Slash, whom Rose has been feuding with for years. Rose filed suit in November 2010.The judge during the preliminary hearing wanted to toss out Axl Rose's claim of fraud because the statute of limitations has expired, says The Hollywood Reporter. The other half of Rose's suit claims breach-of-contract. During the hearing, Rose also shed some light on why he took three years to file a grievance: he was supposed to get his own video game."The reason I did not file a lawsuit is because Activision – through my managers and representatives – offered me a separate video game and other business proposals worth millions of dollars to resolve and settle my claims relating to GHIII," Roses said in his deposition. "From December 2007 through November 2010, Activision was offering me a Guns N' Roses dedicated video game, a game dedicated to music from the 'Chinese Democracy' album, and other proposals."Activision argues that it licensed "Welcome to the Jungle" through GNR Music, the song's license holder, and that Rose "had no authority to enter into a license for 'Welcome to the Jungle' in his individual capacity because he does not own the song or the sound recording." While the judge has seemingly dismissed the claim of fraud, the breach-of-contract dispute is currently set for a February 1, 2013 court date.
Slash looks back at working with Activision on Guitar Hero
Real-life guitar hero Slash was in Los Angeles last week promoting a new music game called BandFuse: Rock Legends. Speaking to Joystiq, he shared some insight on what it was like to work with Activision for the immensely popular Guitar Hero series. "A lot of kids tripped out," says the former Guns and Roses guitarist, "because they were under the impression that the character in Guitar Hero was just that character. So a lot of kids trip out that I was actually a real person."Once they found out that he was an actual person who was in an actual band, however, Slash says Guitar Hero was surprisingly effective at winning new fans. "It opened up the doors of a demographic that was way younger than me," he says. "I had no idea that would happen." He couldn't speak to the lawsuit that claims the game took advantage of his GnR connection, but he does say the game has inspired a much younger generation to check out classic rock.As for interest going the other way, Slash says he hasn't found the time for video games -- not even his own. "I couldn't play it," he says, "because I was actually in the game and it was too surreal."
NPD: Guitar Hero 3 is this generation's highest-grossing game
Call of Duty: Black Ops might be the best-selling game by unit sales, but it isn't the US bestseller in terms of gross revenue. According to NPD data going back to 1995, and compiled by CNBC, the honor of the highest-grossing game of "this generation" goes to another Activision game, the Axl Rose-angering Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock. Black Ops is #2. The list of the NPD's top ten best-selling games by revenue (after the break) includes a second Guitar Hero game, too -- R.I.P. -- along with Rock Band and both Wii Fits, which suggests that the best way to make a lot of revenue is simply to make your game cost more. Although Wii Play and Mario Kart Wii are also on the list, so maybe people just really like finding peripherals inside their game boxes, like cereal box prizes.
Axl Rose suing Activision over inclusion of Slash in Guitar Hero 3
Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose has unleashed a November rain of litigation against Activision, filing a $20 million lawsuit against the publisher for allegedly associating Guns N' Roses' music (specifically, "Welcome to the Jungle") with former GnR guitarist Slash and his new band Velvet Revolver in 2007's Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock. Activision had permission to use "Welcome to the Jungle," but according to court documents obtained by Radar Online, broke its contract with Rose by including imagery of Slash in the game and offering music by Velvet Revolver as downloadable content. The juxtaposition "exploits the prior association between Slash and Guns N' Roses, promotes Slash's and VR's (Velvet Revolver) separate interests and includes VR tracks as available downloads, all of which was and is directly contrary to the contractual obligations of Defendants," according to the filing. Indeed, Rose's filing asserts that Activision explicitly promised not to use images of any former members of GnR in the game. Even more surprising, Activision EVP of Music Affairs Tim Riley is quoted as saying "Come on Beta, you can't believe everything you read on the Internet" in response to rumors of Slash's inclusion heard by Rose's rep Beta Lebeis." Whether Rose's claims of treachery on Activision's part turn out to be true or not remains to be determined, but one fact is incontrovertible: he is really, really late in noticing.
Sanyo debuts E1500TP point-and-shoot alongside Xacti CG21, PD1 and GH3 camcorders
If there's a Photokina around, you can bet your bottom dollar that Sanyo will be there. Boasting a booth chock full of camcorders and pocketable cameras, we waded through to find three new Xacti camcorders (VPC-CG21, VPC-PD1 and VPC-GH3) on display alongside a simplistic new shooter, the VPC-E1500TP. Starting with the latter, this one brings just the basics in a fairly vanilla enclosure: a 14 megapixel CMOS sensor, 720p video, a 4x optical zoom, 3-inch rear touchpanel, 32MB of internal storage space, an SD / SDHC expansion slot, ISO range from 100 to 3200 and USB connectivity. Pricing and availability wasn't offered for this fellow, but we're betting it's below $150 and in stores tomorrowish. Moving on to the camcorders, the CG21 ($149) is a typical pistol-grip machine with a 10 megapixel sensor, the ability to capture 1080i, a 10x optical zoomer and an SDXC card slot. The $199 GH3 looks more like your mother's Handycam of old, offering a similar 10 megapixel sensor, SDHC card slot, 10x optical zoom and 1080i video capture. The starlet was the $199 PD1, a Flip Video-styled camcorder with dual microphones, 10 megapixel sensor, 3x optical zoom, SDXC card slot, 1080/30p recording, an integrated USB arm and a rather impressive rear LCD. The whole lot is making its way out to dealers now, so feel free to start poking and prodding if you must. Galleries are below, per usual. %Gallery-103042% %Gallery-103044% %Gallery-103043%
14-year-old breaks GHIII 'Fire and Flames' record, guitars
At the tender age of fourteen, our oafish hamfists could barely handle the simplest daily tasks: Shoe tying, pencil handling, typing and so on. Danny Johnson, a 14-year-old with such outrageous manual dexterity that we're of the firm belief he's at least two-thirds robot, recently performed a task we thought unthinkable -- he broke 17-year-old Chris Chike's official record on Guitar Hero III's most difficult song, "Through the Fire and Flames", and he broke it by nearly 100,000 points. Robot.Johnson, who's broken nearly 80 guitar peripherals over the past nine months in pursuit of the record, set a wide margin with strategic Star Power usage, elevating his score to 973,954 (topping Chike's 899,703) during a performance at a Best Buy event with Guinness officiaries in attendance. However, we've seen Chike garner even higher scores without being witnessed by the aforementioned officiaries -- we think it's time for these two Jimmy Woods-esque virtuosos to settle this in a no-holds-barred, winner-take-all guitar duel.[Via Game|Life]
NPD dishes out the 5 top-selling Wii games of this year
When we think of what games could possibly be the top 5 for the Wii, it doesn't seem like there's much room for mystery. Those that follow the monthly NPD numbers will likely be able to recite the top 5, in order, off the top of their heads. So, let's get to it!The top 5 games of 2008 so far according to the NPD are: Super Smash Bros. Brawl Mario Kart Wii (with wheel) Wii Play Wii Fit (with Balance Board) Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (with guitar) We're amazed at how well GH3 still continues to do on the Wii. Obviously, Wii Play is no surprise, as it's a constant fixture in the top software titles month after month. And we have a feeling that Wii Fit would be higher on the list if only more people could actually find it.
Metallica's 'Death Magnetic' album rips up GHIII
Available today for 1440 Microsoft points (or a CD purchase) is new Metallica "Death Magnetic" DLC for Guitar Hero III which we're being told is both "deadly" and "magnetic". Who knew? For your 1440 points you'll get the entire album which is comprised of eleven tracks including two versions of the song"Suicide & Redemption".Make your way to the Xbox Live Marketplace to grab the musical DLC goods or wait for it to release as Rock Band DLC. Wait a sec ... that probably isn't going to happen. Metallica fans, you'll just have to settle with GHIII.
For a limited time, popular 360 DLC gets discounted
Through the end of October, Microsoft is running an "Extended Play Download Days" promotion on the Xbox Live Marketplace, where they've selected and discounted a few sets of popular DLC.The discount priced DLC includes content from Beautiful Katamari, Forza 2, Guitar Hero III, Mass Effect and Oblivion with savings ranging from 25-60% off the original prices. That means you can get Mass Effect's Bring Down The Sky DLC for 300 (originally 400), Oblivion's Shivering Isles for 1600 (originally 2400) and GHIII's Foo Fighters Pack for 360 (originally 500). View the complete list of discounted Extended Play Download Days DLC after the jump.
Get 11 free GHIII Metallica tracks with CD pre-order
Best Buy has a rather enjoyable Guitar Hero III offer where, with a successful pre-order of Metallica's upcoming Death Magnet album, you'll receive eleven GHIII tracks. DLC tracks that we presume come from the album itself. There are three different flavors of the album to pre-order that range from $10 to $30 that'll get you the free songs (while supplies last). Metallica fans, it's time to go shopping.[Thanks, SidearmS]
Dragonforce GHIII three pack releases this Thur.
Sticking to their word, Dragonforce and Activision will be releasing a new Guitar Hero III Dragonforce track pack to the Marketplace this Thursday, August 21st for an expected 500 Microsoft points. The new Dragonforce three pack will be comprised of "Revolution Deathsquad" and "Operation Ground and Pound" which come from their Inhuman Rampage album as well as the song "Heroes of Our Time". The debut single from Dragonforce's upcoming Ultra Beatdown album. Now go begin your strumming finger exercises immediately, because you'll need all the strength you can muster up. Presser after the break.
GHIII Dragonforce DLC finds its way through the fire and flames this August
According to a post over Roadrunner Records' official website, the label which Dragonforce is currently signed under, there's brand new Dragonforce downloadable content planned for release to Guitar Hero III that will be making its way to the XBLM on Thursday, August 21st. The Dragonforce tracks to be included in the DLC track pack will be two classic songs from their Inhuman Rampage album "Operation Ground and Pound" and "Revolution Deathsquad" as well as "Heroes Of Our Time" which is the first single from their new Ultra Beatdown album. Get ready kids. You have less than a month to build up your strumming muscles for the torturous strumming onslaught that is Dragonforce.[Via GamingShogun]
Guitar Hero III Virtuoso tracks now available
Available for a 500 Microsoft point purchase off the Xbox Live Marketplace is a brand new and oh so challenging Guitar Hero III Virtuoso Track Pack comprised of three songs. The three tracks included are "Surfing with the Alien" by Joe Satriani, "For the Love of God" by Steve Vai and "Soothsayer" by Buckethead. And early word on the street is that you'll have to be a darn good Guitar Hero virtuoso to master the crazy difficult riffs, hammer ons, pull offs and other guitar skills. Good luck with that.
Guitar Hero III sale makes economic sense
Whether you don't yet own Guitar Hero III or just want to pick up another Les Paul guitar, you might find yourself shopping at Circuit City this week. The retailer is selling bundles of the game for the low price of $59.99, which is the same price (and even cheaper, depending on where you find it) as a standalone guitar. If interested, you can either drive yourself over to a brick and mortar store or check out this deal online. It might be worth it to have an extra guitar for when Guitar Hero: World Tour rolls around, after all.[Via CAG]
Fresh and free RSV2 and GHIII DLC downloads
It's a free Xbox Live Marketplace download day, as we get not one but TWO free chuncks of downloadable content goodness. One being free Rainbow Six Vegas 2 DLC, the other being free Guitar Hero III DLC. All free, free, free!The RSV2 "Gift Pack DLC" (no longer called the "Fan Pack") includes a set of three re-releases of the multiplayer maps Calypso Casino, Murdertown and CQB Training but now re-lit for a "darker" gaming experience. Today's free GHIII DLC is the July Fourth inspired "Top Gun Anthem" track of which we don't believe Tom Cruise will make an appearance in or would even support. Meh. Go grab your free XBLM downloads, kids, because ... you know ... they're free!Source - Free RSV2 'Gift Pack' DLCSource - Free GHIII 'Top Gun' DLC
