Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Bethesda

Bethesda has released new concept art for Tango Gameworks' The Evil Within, showing an unnamed female character sitting in the back of a car.

The Evil Within is the latest game from Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami, who recently said of his return to survival horror: "Survival horror as a genre is becoming all action now and there aren't any real survival horror games in the world right now. That is the biggest motivation for me."

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The Evil Within is powered by id Tech 5 and set for release in 2014 on Xbox 360, PS3, PC and next-gen consoles.

In our first The Evil Within preview, we said: "The Evil Within is a welcome return to survival horror. It mixes the over-the-shoulder combat (and chainsaw-wielding nutters) of Resident Evil 4 with the grim, psychological horror of Silent Hill, and the id Tech-powered visuals are beautifully atmospheric."

For more information on the title, check out these The Evil Within gameplay details.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Assassin's Creed 2 free for Xbox Live Gold members

Assassin's Creed 2 is now free to download for Xbox Live Gold members until July 30.

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Originally released in 2010 and usually priced at £11.99/$19.99 on the digital marketplace, the game is the latest title in Microsoft's Games for Gold initiative.

Announced at E3 in June, the program gives Xbox Live Gold Members two free games to keep each month, with a new title being made available on the 1st and 16th of each month until the end of the year.

Additionally, the following Assassin's Creed DLC is now on sale for the rest of July, according to Major Nelson:

Assassin's Creed
Assassin's Creed II Sequence 12: Battle of Forli
AC II Sequence 13 : Bonfire of the Vanities & Secret Locations
Assassin's Creed Brotherhood
ACB - The Da Vinci Disappearance DLC
Assassin's Creed Revelations
ACRs - The Lost Archive
ACR - Mediterranean Traveler Map Pack
Assassin's Creed III Season Pass

In our Assassin's Creed 2 review, we said: "Assassin's Creed 2 is one of the best sequels of the generation. There's enough quality content here to rival all the GTAs in the world, while the core storyline delivers a blockbuster experience that'll match any of this year's top linear action games. If we were Assassin's Creed 1 right now, we'd be absolutely red with embarrassment."

Apple reportedly bids for firm behind Kinect sensor

Apple has reportedly made an offer of $280 million to acquire fabless semiconductor company PrimeSense, the Israeli firm that provided the tech behind the original Kinect.

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According to local newspaper Calcalist (via Verge), the iPhone maker tabled the bid for the 3D sensing and machine vision technologies specialist following discussions over the embedding of its tech in Apple products.

PrimSense, which was founded in 2005, claims its technology powers more than 20 million devices.

In April, Apple posted its first quarterly drop in profits in ten years. The company made a net profit of $9.5 billion (£6.2b) for its fiscal 2013 second quarter, down from $11.6 billion (£7.6b) a year earlier, while generating record March quarter revenue of $43.6 billion (£28.6b) following jumps in iPhone and iPad sales.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said at the time: "Our teams are hard at work on some amazing new hardware, software, and services and we are very excited about the products in our pipeline."

In May, Apple said iOS App Store downloads had topped 50 billion. And earlier this month, the company revealed the all-time best selling iPhone and iPad apps.