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BioWare’s ‘Anthem’ trailer shows off shared-world sci-fi mayhem
Ready for another look at Anthem? The upcoming BioWare title was formally announced at EA's press conference yesterday with a short CG trailer. But beyond the setting, a futuristic planet filled with mountains and tropical forests, and the heroes, some armor-clad space soldiers, there was little to glean from the video. Today, at Microsoft's E3 press conference, we were shown a whole lot more. The first gameplay reveal has the player venturing into the wilderness in search of some workers who have landed themselves in a bit of trouble. It's a breathtaking tour of the game's expansive world, highlighting exploration and cooperative combat.
Watch EA's E3 2017 event in under 13 minutes
The action at E3 2017 has officially started. EA tipped its hand yesterday with an event full of big announcements. If you weren't able to catch the news on Madden 18, FIFA 18, Battlefront II, A Way Out, Anthem and more already, don't worry. We've distilled the news down to less than 13 minutes so you can catch up with a quickness over the weekend. Oh, and be sure, too, to check out our conversation with EA's Patrick Soderlund on what the company has planned for the rest of the year. Follow all the latest news from E3 2017 here!
What EA learned from 'Mass Effect' will shape its future
When I spoke to Electronic Arts Executive Vice President Patrick Soderlund last week, Kotaku's report about why Mass Effect: Andromeda turned out so poorly hadn't been published yet. Nonetheless, when I asked him about the flawed game's development cycle, he was incredibly candid -- just as he had been in 2013 when I'd interviewed him about his company's move from myriad game-design toolkits to just two. Here are his thoughts on several key topics.
'Anthem' is BioWare's brand-new open world
The team behind Mass Effect has something new up its sleeves. BioWare today revealed Anthem, a new open-world franchise seemingly set in a futuristic, jungle-ridden universe. The teaser shows a mech of some kind and a big beastie screeching into the lush wilderness. It definitely has Destiny, Star Wars and Far Cry vibes. "It is vast, dangerous, beautiful and unexpected," said EA executive vice president Patrick Soderlund. BioWare will reveal more details about Anthem tomorrow during the Xbox press conference. We'll be live from the show with all the news then, so stay tuned.
The best receiver
By Chris Heinonen This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a buyer's guide to the best technology. When readers choose to buy The Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here. We spent 10 hours researching and more than 70 hours performing hands-on testing to determine that the Denon AVR-S720W is the best receiver for most people. It offers by far the easiest setup process we've ever seen in a receiver, and it's the simplest to use of the models we tested, with none of the usability flaws of its competitors. It provides very good sound quality and every new feature you might need, including AirPlay, Bluetooth, Pandora, and Spotify Connect support plus the ability to connect directly to Internet radio stations and local DLNA servers.
Sophisticated hack attack? Don't believe the hype.
You wouldn't believe how sophisticated hacking has become in the past few years. It has, in fact, gotten so mind-blowingly complex and erudite that this word, sophisticated, is now the only one human beings can really use to describe any single act of computer-security violation. Actually, no. The word, at best, has almost always been used to cover up egregious screwups of breached companies, and shoddy reporting. Or, when at a loss to understand even the most mundane of hacks. Even high-minded publications step into infosec's linguistic dung heap and track the word throughout their pieces on whatever latest rehashed cyber-bomb hysteria-of-the-week they're pushing.
2015's big hacks, attacks and security blunders
The security breaches, blunders, and disasters of 2015 tanked our trust in health insurance providers, credit agencies, the IRS, car manufacturers, connected toys for kids, and even "adult" dating sites. These stories shaped 2015, and forever changed the way we see data privacy and security. Most importantly, these painful moments in computer security affected millions, shaped government policy and validated our paranoia.
Chinese hackers targeted an insurer to learn about US health care
When Anthem revealed a data breach that exposed the details of more than 80 million people, the incident raised a lot of questions: who would conduct such a hack against a health insurance firm? Why? And what happens to the data? Well, investigators finally have some answers... and they're not quite what you'd expect. Reportedly, the culprits were Chinese hackers helping their nation understand how US medical care works. It may be part of a concerted campaign to get ready for 2020, when China plans to offer universal health care. If that's the case, the findings might explain a string of health-related breaches in the past few years.
Anthem health insurance hack exposes data of over 80 million
Hackers have accessed millions of customer and employee details from US-based health insurance firm Anthem, including name addresses and social security numbers. The database that was accessed included details for roughly 80 million people, but Anthem, the second biggest insurer in the country, believes that the hack likely affected a fraction in the "tens of millions". Its Chief Information Officer said that they didn't yet know how hackers were able to pull off the attack. In a statement on Anthem's site, CEO Joseph Swedish said that the company was the target of "a very sophisticated external cyberattack" -- although medical and financial details were apparently not breached.
Pop culture loves the iPad: Paper presentation, Parry Grip anthem
All of Apple's devices have been embraced by pop culture sooner or later, but I think the iPad has probably nabbed the record for quickest to the bear hug. Here's two silly things we've seen today, just a week after the iPad's official announcement. First up, songsmith Parry Gripp's latest mini-tune is all about the iPad, and as you can see above, it's actually a pretty interesting commentary on just how successful the device will likely be: we may argue about which kinds of nachos are ruling, but we can all agree that nachos in general are awesome. Second, the iPad announcement itself has even been immortalized in papercraft. And if you want your own paper-based recreation of last week's event, you can download the plans and put it together yourself. Weird? Yes. Strange? Very. But for a company that wants to sit at the intersection of technology and the liberal arts, Apple's mission is pretty much accomplished.
Check out the Champions Online Anthem trailer
Champions Online has been out for almost a month now, but there's always a group of people who have yet to learn what the game is all about. That's where this Anthem trailer comes in, full of action and dramatic flair of the slightly cheesy variety. It does a great job at conveying the feel and nature of the game, and we really can't get enough of Defender tossing ultimatums at Dr. Destroyer.It even concludes with a big huge brawl, well sort of... There is a little tease at the end, but we won't spoil it. You'll just have to watch it yourselves to find out! Check out the video after the break and bask in all its superhero glory.
Anthem unveils its LTX 300, LTX 500 projectors
We first heard about Anthem getting into the projector game at CES, and now it's all come together. Both the LTX 300 and LTX 500 LCOS beamers feature 1080p resolution, electronic lens shift, and a coupon for half-off your first (cue ominous music) bulb replacement. Deep-pocketed cinephiles who step up to the LTX 500 also get two trigger functions (no need to get up for the screen or that anamorphic lens on a motorized sled), THX mode, and full tweakability on the RGBCMY drives. Seriously, a killer demo is a big factor for this level of gear, and this move lets Anthem dealers demo a soup-to-nuts system -- electronics, screen and beamer can all be demoed and loaded into the shopping cart with one-stop convenience. Don't forget the audio while your out shopping either; we're sure something from Anthem's sister company, Paradigm, should be jaw-droppingly good enough to keep up with your new cinema. Full PR and more pics after the break.
Anthem makes a statement with its flagship D2v pre-pro
You did take that money set aside for your next preamp-processor upgrade out of the stock market didn't you? Better hope so if you had your heart set on the Anthem Statement D2v -- the flagship model is now shipping, complete with eight HDMI 1.3 inputs and a pair of outputs, top notch video processing courtesy the VXP silicon, and four DSP cores handling audio duties with support for high resolution audio formats and of course, Anthem's Room Correction (ARC) software. Oh yeah, and a (gulp) $7,500 price tag. Most definitely overkill, but we wouldn't expect anything less from an Anthem flagship. If your heart and wallet are up to it, check after the break for the full press release and a few more pics -- window shopping never hurt, right?
Anthem chooses CEDIA to reveal 225 integrated amplifier
Anthem may not have the presence of, say, Sony at CEDIA this year, but at least it isn't wasting all of our time by unveiling a $1,500 SACD player. Our apologies to any of you we just offended (yes, all two of you), but seriously, we have a feeling true audiophiles will appreciate the 225 integrated amplifier much more. Designed with music aficionados in mind, this amp provides a phono preamp input that supports Moving Coil (MC) and Moving Magnet (MM) applications and includes solid-state circuitry boards, seven total stereo audio inputs, a universal learning remote and an RS-232 port. The unit boasts 225-watts of pure, clean power per channel at 8-ohms, and while it will set you back $1,499, this $1.5k piece may actually be worth the price of entry.
Room correction finally trickles down the Anthem lineup
Until now, if you were a "separates-only" sort of person with a yen for Anthem gear, the only way to get room correction for your audio was to spring for a Statement D1 or D2 preamp-processor. And wouldn't you know, the "Statement" name doesn't come with a budget price. But now the Anthem Room Correction (ARC) feature has come downstream to the AVM 40 and D50 preamp-processors. Granted, with Anthem gear "downstream" is a relative term, but we've to figure that if you're going the separates route then pricing isn't the biggest concern for you. One thing we do like seeing is that this new functionality is being made available to all AVM 40 and 50 owners as a retrofit. Now when was the last time your "future-proof" receiver got an upgrade like that?
Sound and Vision takes a shine to Anthem's Room Correction
The lucky folks at Sound and Vision Magazine put Anthem's ARC-1 Room Correction System to test and liked it pretty well. It was evaluated in combination with the top o' the line Statement D2 processor, so the bar set by the associated gear was pretty high. Setup of the $399 add-on -- gratis if you've got a D2 -- sounds pretty straightforward: connect a PC running the ARC-1 software to the Anthem processor via RS-232 and use the included mic to gather some tone sweeps. From there, bumps and wrinkles in your in-room frequency response curve are smoothed out and multichannel levels, crossovers and delays are all set up. The correction (and the rest of the D2's performance) got a solid endorsement from the audiophiles at S&V: they liked it enough to leave it engaged at all times for both music and movie performances.[Thanks, Rob]
Anthem brings room correction add-on to its Statement lineup
Well-heeled audiophiles who have already bought into Anthem's Statement A/V processor lineup have one less reason to stray from the brand now. The component-producing division of Paradigm Electronics (best known for loudspeakers) has introduced its ARC-1 Room Correction System. The listening room is often the single weakest link in your audio system, and used in conjunction with an Anthem Statement processor, the ARC-1 will help tame room effects automagically. Sounds like a feature built into just about every AVR these days, but as you'd guess from Anthem's high-end pedigree, here it's implemented with separates and priced accordingly. A cool $399 (estimated) will get you the ARC-1and a calibrated mic to go along with it.
Infogrames company anthem -- grrrrrl, you have no idea
GayGamer.net deserves every iota of traffic they get from dragging Infogrames' high-production value diva anthem out of the company closet. Just to give an idea of reactions on our own staff, we had uncomfortable school-girl giggles with some words of shock afterward. A few couldn't make it to the end -- but we highly recommend it, especially for the masochists!The song starts with an electronic piano and the diva rattling off a bunch of games to the music, then something like the Fifth Element's Opera bass line kicks in. The backup singers chant, "Infogrames is innovation, the power of imagination. Infogrames is entertainment that rocks my world!"We have no idea who sings the song, who wrote it, or anything else. But we're sure the internets can provide answers if somebody starts digging -- and please let us know what you find in the comments. And make sure to listen to the whole song, the belting finale is something not to miss. If you're looking for something utterly cringe inducing today, you won't be disappointed!
