Not all tech news makes the cut, kids – it’s a tech-eat-tech world out there. Fortunately, week by week, we’ll be salvaging some of those news stories and putting them all into one place, every Sunday. That’s right, we’re working on our day off for you keen tech readers – all ‘thank you’ emails welcome.
Now, for the Tech News Roundup this week:
Announcements:
Radius Festival – For anyone tired of hearing the phrase ‘AAA’ (of which we may or may not have repeatedly used in our last edition), we have a silver lining to your cloud. The past few days have been a goldmine for indie developers and gamers, showcasing the best of up to 60 upcoming indie titles. The festival finished yesterday, but you can catch up with its indie goodness via Guardian Tech here and here.
Dead Rising 3 PC release date – We gamers love nothing more than zombie games – it’s where we get to unleash our testosterone in,well, as dysfunctional a way as possible. At least that’s what Dead Rising‘s all about! PC gamers now have their turn to unleash their amplified-mobility-scooter-with-dual-chainsaws on the undead September 5th.
Amazon’s first smartphone – Amazon’s first smartphone, the Amazon Fire, will be available at retail for a pricey £117 on top of a two year contract. The phone will feature an awesome 3D effect made possible by four front-facing cameras. This smartphone is also breaking new ground with its name, being the world’s first smartphone to sound more like the title of a BBC-produced documentary than a phone.
Worlds largest gaming collection sold – A record breaking gaming collection of 11,000 games has been sold for $750,250, netting the original owner, Michael Thommason, a whopping average of $68 per game. Well played, Mr Thommason, well played.
Releases:
EA Sports UFC – E A SPORTS, ‘SIN THE GAME! That sentence defined most of our generation, and it may continue to do so with the release of a new EA Sports title. This week, mixed martial arts enthusiasts, EA loyalists or anyone with £40 to blow can get their hands on UFC for PS4 and Xbox One.
Cheap iMac – When Apple’s website was taken down for 5 hours on Wednesday, it seemed like a mere maintenance job. No no no. The good folks at Apple were actually using that time to introduce their new cheap iMac at £899. Whilst still not cheap for us mere mortals, it’s a great start for the company hoping to make the brand that more affordable.
Battlefield: Hardline Beta now open – Feel like getting in on some of that Cops vs Crooks Battlefield action? Well all PC gamers now have open access to the Battlefield: Hardline Beta. You can check out our impressions of the closed Beta here. Spoiler alert: it’s not very good.
Yo! app hacked – Three college students have hacked the incredibly popular Yo! app, allowing them to steal phone numbers from users. The bizarre app allows users to do one thing and one thing only – to send a ‘Yo’ message to other users. A rather invested user on the Verge Technology forums claims the app is ‘accelerating the decline of civilization’.
Sales:
GOG and Steam summer sales – If you think your wallet is in danger from the onslaught of E3 titles, think again. Both GOG and Steam have unleashed their summer sales onto the market, with lots of critical and commercial games on sale for up to 75% off. We know, we’re scared too!
Amazon Pentax camera sale – Amazon’s ‘Today’s Deals’, whilst mainly filled with hand-me-down jeans and cat’s furniture, do sometimes have their hidden gems. This week, there’s a minimum of 50% off Pentax cameras which, from a cheeky Google search, appear to be pretty good camera. Hop to it, the sale ends today!
Peggle and Titanfall free – Smash hit Peggle and mega blockbuster Titanfall are both free on Origin as part of its respective ‘On the House’ and ‘Gametime’ promotions. Whilst Titanfall is only playable for 48 hours, Peggle is yours for the keeping until August 5th. Oh how we wish it was the other way round.
Cheap iMacs – In more cheap iMac news… well, more cheap iMacs! Not only did Apple place a cheap iMac when their website went down, they reduced the four existing models from £100 to £150. That’s the in-between reduction price, of course, if you can get an iMac for 100 quid, we’d be impressed.
LEGO Fusion – Did you ever spend time as a kid building an awesome construction with LEGO, only to have it taken apart because a) you wanted to build something else b) your Dad’s a bit of an arse? Well, those creations may now have a reason to live on. Lego’s new feature, LEGO Fusion, will allow kids (and any of us “adults”) to take pictures of their finished product and import it into a game. Sadly, the game and sets won’t be available until September. Even more sadly, you’re still playing with LEGO.
That’s it for this Tech News Roundup – be sure to stay tuned and check us out next Sunday!