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Samsung Instinct HD spotted in the wild, powered on
We've already seen one exceedingly blurry image of Samsung's Sprint-bound Instinct HD, and one seemingly official image courtesy of Best Buy, but Phone Arena has now gotten its hands on what looks to be the most complete set of pics to date. That includes a peek at the phone's mostly familiar-looking interface, a quick comparison with some of its predecessors, and a look at some curiously repositioned Sprint and Samsung logos, which now match the Instinct S30 (whatever that may signify). Hit up the link below to check out the whole set for yourself.
May's Brew of the Month: Springtime Stout
It's a new month and the new brew is here! May's Brew of the Month is a very simple Springtime Stout with a familiar side effect. When you drink one of your drinks, you have a chance to proc the buff called 'Flower Child.' The buff only lasts ten seconds or so, and as you run around with the buff, flowers pop up underfoot. Herbalists, you've seen something like this before.I try to give little factoids on the real life brews some of these are named after (such as the fact that Pilsners shouldn't exist in Azeroth), but stouts aren't very exotic, overall! A stout is a very dark, very strong sort of ale, and seems just like the sort of thing Dwarves would be mailing out regularly. I don't know about that whole 'flower child' thing, though. Seems more like something Night Elves would do to their ale.
Best Buy Mobile to get some Pre stock on June 7th?
If this latest bit of Pre intel scored by Boy Genius Report is to be believed, it looks like you might be able to pick up one of 4,500 of Palm's latest and greatest as early as June 7. According to a tip from a supposed Best Buy insider, the venerable retailer could be gearing up to launch the hotly anticipated handset in just over a month's time, though it's not clear whether this'll coincide with Sprint's full-scale launch or come before or after. Oh, and if that wasn't enough, they've got some possible numbers on what this beauty will run you: $199.99 for new customers with a 2-year plan, $299.99 for upgrades, and a cool $999.99 contract-free -- though in our experience, Best Buy Mobile frequently has its pricing wrong ahead of launch, so these are definitely subject to change.
Analyst: Next console cycle isn't coming until 2013
Compared to last Spring's outlandish software sales figures (fueled by the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl and GTA IV), this year's stats aren't inspiring much confidence in gaming industry investors. In fact, many are anxiously awaiting the launch of new hardware to provide a quick sales boost -- but according to industry analyst Michael Pachter, they shouldn't hold their breath: By his estimation, new hardware won't be hitting store shelves until at least 2013.Pachter said that publishers would be hesitant to adopt new hardware considering their investments in the current console cycle have yet to adequately pay off. There's one exception -- Pachter expects the oft-rumored high-definition Wii may appear some time in 2010.
Sleeper Cartel hosts Spring Break 2009 in Sholazar Basin on Saturday
Our good friends in Sleeper Cartel over on Perenolde are having yet another server party -- Spring Break 2009 is taking place not in Cabo, but Sholazar Basin! As with all of these player-run events, it certainly sounds like fun: they're planning to have free food and drinks, tournaments, and games and contests of all kinds (last time around, they had trivia contests and scavenger hunts). They're even setting up a "Gnomes Gone Wild" event -- level 1 gnomes are going to be trying to sneak into the party, and it'll be partygoers' responsibility to keep them out.The party starts this Saturday, March 21st, at 7pm server at the River's Heart in Sholazar Basin (you could probably make it there with a DK, or they'll have people summoning as necessary, as long as you send them an ingame mail first). As they say, Kel'Thuzad and Malygos will be there next week -- this Saturday, head over to Perenolde and celebrate Spring Break with the Sleepers.
The Daily Grind: Do you have a springtime MMO?
Spring is nearly here, and that means new videogame releases are bound to decline over the coming months until summer arrives with nary a release in sight. For us MMO gamers, though, what it generally means is we look for a particular game to pack away -- like geeky summertime squirrels!Some of us stick with what's working, whether it's World of Warcraft or EVE Online. Others patiently await new exciting releases like Champions Online, Jumpgate Evolution and Free Realms. And then there are those who take a break and play the non-MMO games coming out during spring, only to return to their favorite MMO of choice once the well runs dry elsewhere.We sometimes wonder what non-MMO gamers do in the summer. Maybe they go outside and burn up in a violent burst of pale ash, victims of our local star's death rays.
Battlefield Heroes stealths into second beta
As of today, February 11th, the second beta test for Battlefield Heroes has tip-toed out into the hands of old and new testers alike. And while there isn't any information about additions to this beta, we're certain that DICE hasn't just been lazing about all these months having tea parties.Now that things are officially back in action, we expect to be hearing more about the game in the coming months. Hopefully, official launch day isn't too far off as spring slowly creeps up behind us draped in ninja garb. Pretty soon we'll be sitting on plane wings and gunning down our cartoony adversaries with unreasonably-sized mini-guns. At least, assuming this version of the beta is the last one.
Palm Pre landing mid-March?
There's no shortage of disparate and sketchy launch date predictions for the Pre, but here's one with a little bit of meat to it. Boy Genius Report has a purported End Of Life list for Sprint, which lists the projected deaths of various phones, along with the planned replacement, with a bit of overlap in timing to keep things moving along smoothly. The Pre shows up as "target in-stock 3/15," replacing the Palm 755p, which is slated to fizzle out in late May. Similarly, the Palm Treo Pro is slotted for February 15th, replacing the 800w, which lines up with the phone's known launch date. Naturally, we can't vouch for the origination of this list or its accuracy, but it sounds reasonably legit, and it's the best thing we've got on a Pre launch date up until now -- and quite a bit more encouraging than the prospect of waiting until the summer.
Shock-absorbing carbon springs to protect falling gizmos
The Tigers down at Clemson University are doing more than deciding whether an all-purple uniform really sends a sense of fear to the opponent, as they're also crafting shock-absorbing carbon springs which could theoretically protect gadgets when they crash to the ground. In working with researchers at UC San Diego, the crew has determined that layers of tiny coiled carbon nanotubes can act as "extremely resilient shock absorbers." The team envisions their discovery finding its way into body armor, car bumpers, bushings and even in shoe soles, but we're hoping that cellphones and PMPs get lined with this stuff to protect from those butter-finger moments. [Via Physorg]
Stick on a skully spring skin
Tis the season to feature skulls in springtime! Well, we guess these two new skins from GHskinz are appealing to a few different types of gamer, unless someone out there digs skulls and blood while waltzing through a field of flowers and butterflies.In any case, the designs are very crisp and clear, and when you know you suck at coming up with a decent mod, you'll probably want to pick up something a bit more professional. Stick with a skin, and make it a good'un. Hit the break to check out what we like to call DS Happy. Nothing gonna get us down today!
It's Springtime for King Wrynn and Azeroth...
The days are getting longer and the nights a tad warmer. Now is a good time to go through and clean your house in the typical spring cleaning exercise. It's a good time to do that in Azeroth, too.For me this entitles a few things with my mounds of inventory items. First, I organize my bank alts. They each are assigned certain categories of items. For instance my first bank alt gets all my gems, raw ore, processed ore, and leather. My second bank alt gets all my enchanting mats, my herbs, reputation items, food, and other tidbits. Now both these alts have been around for about 3 years. In fact, my first bank has a /played time of 10 days at level one. As a side note having a level one bank alt at ten days really makes me question my sanity...but oh well, on with the article.
Celebrating Easter in Second Life
While many of you may have spent yesterday coloring eggs or biting the ears off chocolate bunnies, many people celebrated the holiday virtually in Second Life. For those of you too busy in real life to enjoy virtual life, we've captured some of Second Life's Easter celebration in pictures. Visit giant bunnies, hunt for eggs, join in an Easter parade, and color eggs of our very own all without leaving the safe confines of your browser! So what are you waiting for? Let's get started!%Gallery-19041%
Lineage II's Bunny Money event
NCsoft has something funtastical (see what I did there?) in mind to celebrate the coming of Spring in Lineage II. According to their press release: 'Adventurers all across Aden and Elmore will soon be able to travel to the curious shores of Fantasy Isle (sans the long swim), where its diminutive inhabitants are celebrating the season with a new event called Bunny Money!'They don't say what the event actually entails (you'll have to visit their homesite on March 7th to find that out), but some of the prizes are S-grade armor, high-grade Soul Crystals, shadow Agathion bracelets, and more! If those sound enticing to you, you'll still have to wait until Friday to find out how you'll get them. Call me a nostalgist, but when I read the words 'diminutive inhabitants' in the same sentence as 'Fantasy Isle', all I can hear in my head is 'Da plane, boss! Da plane!'
OQO shown off with WiMAX for Sprint XOHM network
We knew the OQO model 02 was hanging around at CES playing on Sprint's (demo) XOHM network, but we were finally able to hunt the unit down and snag a pic of the interface. Now, if only we could pick one of these up sometime soon...
TUAW Spring Shuffle Giveaway Day Four: Green
Welcome back to another round of TUAW's Spring Shuffle Giveaway. Today on the menu: green. Or as some of us call it, 008000. While Kermit may complain, these shuffles don't appear so unhappy with their hue. At least green is a spring color, right?Anyway, if you don't know the drill, you enter our little giveaway by leaving exactly one comment. That's one comment per person. So far they've been excellent. Really, the elves are having fun compiling the prose into a handy guide to the internet. The contest is limited to the 50 states, and the green shuffle entry period lasts all day today, May 17 (so from 12:01am to 11:59pm Eastern). So fire up your internets and leave us a message. As always, full rules after the jump. This contest is for a green iPod shuffle, in case you forgot.
Finally, Spring dash update releases in hours
It has been a long time coming, but no more rumors and no more speculation ... we have an official release date and time. Today, at around 2:00AM pacific (a few hours away) the Spring dash update will make its way onto the Xbox Live servers for members to download in masses. The update will bring Windows Live Messenger integration, a new restructured Marketplace, and more fixes and fun too numerous to mention. With the amount of anticipation surrounding this dash update, one would think it were going to actually change people's lives or solve world hunger. But it won't, it'll simply make our dash a happier place to be. So, take a seat and relax for a bit, because our Spring dash update will be here in a few hours. Full press release after the break.
Spring dash videos showcase new features
No, this isn't an announcement about the Spring dashboard update's release, but it is an announcement for two dash videos that you can watch while you're waiting. Up on the XBLM are two videos that demo and showcase all the new features that the Spring update will bring. For those of you who still aren't sure to what's included or if you have friends who are clueless, downloading the videos will be an easy way to get learnified. And since you have nothing better to do today, give the vids a download and a quick watch. Even though we haven't seen the videos yet, rumor has it there is a pink gopher halfway through video number two. What? Seriously, would we make that up? Okay fine ... we just wanted you to download the videos. Don't hate us.
Don't cry, Spring dash update isn't coming today
Finally, official word has come through the internet pipeline about the Spring dashboard update. Major Nelson jumped on his blog to tell everyone that the new dash update will not be released today (Tuesday) and doesn't give any hard release details. We know everyone is eager to get the update, but it's important to remember that Microsoft stated way back when that the Spring update would be released the week of May 7th and not the day of. Just sit back and don't bother firing up your 360 periodically throughout the day, because the Spring update will not be there. But be sure to keep your fingers crossed for a Wednesday release. Come on lucky Wednesday!
Rumor: Dash update coming tomorrow
Monday's sun is setting and we still have yet to hear from Microsoft about the Spring dashboard update. But talk is a flutter over on the Xbox.com forums from Xbox Live members who've contacted customer support and are hearing that the update will roll out tomorrow, May 8th. Some even heard from CS managers a 3:00AM pacific time frame for when the dash update will be released. We of course can't confirm such talk, but we aren't expecting the update to be released today anymore, so tomorrow is the next best thing. Any fanboys talk to Xbox CS and hear something different?[Thanks, MoltenGrog]
Spring dash update coming this week
Just a friendly reminder that the feature rich Spring dashboard update is coming sometime this week. As promised, the update will be going live during the week (this May 7th), but any other details are a little sketchy. The Xbox Live team may release it sometime today, tomorrow, or even Friday ... we just aren't sure. But be rest assured that once we hear any news about when it'll be going live, we'll let you know. Okay fanboys, the countdown to an unknown release is on.
