According to Ubisoft, Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD offers “a complete graphical overhaul, re- mastered music and sound effects, a revamped gameplay experience, and new missions that dive deeper into Aveline’s story.”

The HD version of Liberation features the same story as the PS Vita version, although some cutscenes were added to clear up the story somewhat.

Liberation HD is in development at Ubisoft Sofia, and will see a release on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2014.

The other title, Assassin’s Creed Pirates, is being developed by Ubisoft Paris for high-end tablets and smartphones. Ubisoft says players will be able to manage their crew and search for treasures, and ships will be customizable, with players given the freedom to buy upgrades such as “more cannons for your deck, a new rudder or better sails.”

AC Pirates tells the story of Alonzo Batilla “as he rises through the ranks of the fearful pirates of the golden age.” Ubisoft promises “an adventure that will reveal the truth about La Buse’s mysterious treasure” as well as interactions with “the Templars and the Assassins as they struggle for supremacy and meet the famed figures of the era: Blackbeard, Bellamy and Hornigold.” Pirates will offer “dozens of side missions, treasures quests, perks and achievements” and “groundbreaking 3D visuals.”

Ubisoft also stressed that Assassin’s Creed Pirates is a standalone title, in that it isn’t tied to Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag in any way, shape or form.

Call of Duty: Strike Team is a Call of Duty tailored for smartphones and tablets, and represents Activision’s biggest push in the mobile market thus far.

Available for £4.99/$6.99/€6.99, the game features in-app purchases to upgrade soldiers and equipment, with The Guardian stating they can get as high as £69.99.

Tokens can be earned by playing the Survival mode, playing on consecutive days, levelling up or playing the campaign.

The official description reads:

“The year is 2020. Tensions run high amongst the world’s superpowers. In a surprise attack, the U.S. finds themselves in a war with an unknown enemy. Your mission is to lead a Joint Special Operations Team in a global effort to hunt down those responsible.”

Featuring first-person and third-person shooting gameplay, Strike Team allows people to easily transition between the two in order to tackle ground-level combat or co-ordinate the squads.

A campaign “full of epic, cinematic moments in diverse locations around the world” is offered, alongside a Survival Mode where you can “put your skills to the test as you fight off waves of increasingly difficult enemies” and “compete against family, friends and the Call of Duty: Strike Team community for leaderboard domination.”

Call of Duty: Strike Team is only compatible with and optimized for iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPad mini, iPad 2, iPad (3rd generation), iPad (4th generation), and iPod touch (5th generation).

Apple’s Phil Schiller, during a presentation today, announced a brand new iPad, just 7 months after the last model came out. Regarding the product, he said that the “fourth-generation iPad” will have a ten-hour battery life and significantly more powerful graphics than the iPad 3, which was released in March.

It will use an A6 chip—with double the performance of the third iPad’s A5 chip, Apple says—and the Lightning connector pin announced last month with the iPhone 5. The fourth-gen iPad will also have the same price and configurations as the third iPad. It comes in both black and white.

We also have a very informative graph for you. Take from it what you will.

iPad Mini was also announced. It boasts a 7.9-inch display, and has the same 1,024 x 768 resolution as the iPad 2. The new hardware is 7.2mm thick, .68 pounds heavy and has been manufactured with a new process with the same anodized edges as the iPhone 5. “While Phil Schiller didn’t mention the Nexus 7 or Google directly, he compared the new device against its rival in terms of its app library and screen size. He claimed that the .9-inch increase in diagonal space gives Apple’s slate 35 percent more display area than Google and ASUS’ collaboration.

The latest valuation topples Microsoft’s 1999 value of $620 billion.

So the question is asked, why is Apple so successful? Many would say the company is experiencing a mammoth growth period which has seen its value jump a dramatic $400 billion at the turn of the year, mainly on the sales of iPhone and iPad devices, and impending growth of said devices.

Pre-ordering the game for PC or Mac saves you 2$, making it 18$, instead of the standard 20$. These versions will include 3 new playable sidekicks: Blackguard Dorn the half-Orc, half-elf Wild Mage Neera, and a normal human monk named Rasaad, along with a new dungeon called The Black Pits, within Underdark, which wants you to battle through fifteen arena-like levels.

There’s also an iPad version that will cost 10$, and Beamdog hopes it will be released at around the same time as the PC/Mac version. This edition of the game will be utterly different when it comes to interface, so that it takes full advantage of the device’s touch screen and general functions. Unlike the computer players though, iPad players will have to buy Dorn and Neera separately in the form of DLC, as well as additional voice sets and portraits, but The Black Pits will be there when you buy the game.

Lastly, both the computer and iPad versions will feature cross-platform multiplayer across all the versions, as well as all the classes, kits and races available in Baldur’s Gate II, with many of the original game’s bugs being coded out.

Beamdog has also given a description regarding Black Pits. It reads as follows:

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“Rouse yourselves, you lice-laden layabouts. Stand and salute your new master, Baeloth the Entertainer!”

Across the realms, individuals of great power and prestige receive a scroll via magical means. Unfurling it, they discover that they have been selected as one of the very few to enjoy the finest forms of entertainment in all creation…

Come one, come all! Baeloth the Entertainer cordially invites you to the greatest spectacle the realms have to offer – mortal pitted against mortal in a desperate bid to survive! Thrilling combat, scintillating magic, and the grim spectre of death lurk above this, the greatest of all shows! All this and more can be enjoyed within… THE BLACK PITS!

Deep within the Underdark where few dare to tread, the mad drow Baeloth has used his extensive mastery of magic to force a duergar colony into creating an entertainment complex of his own design. He has invited guests from across the realms, from Maztica to Menzoberranzan, and they will readily attend – Baeloth is known to be an excellent showman.

—

The Black Pits is one of the enhancements that make up Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition that allows you to create a full party and battle through fifteen hellish battles in a desperate bid to escape. Difficult challenges, unique battles, and a bizarre cast of characters await you within the Underdark!

• A stand-alone adventure set deep within the Underdark
• Fifteen levels of arena-style combat challenges
• Full control and customization of up to six party members
• Over 6 hours of additional gameplay

The Black Pits are your new home… enjoy your stay while you can!

-

There’s also a description of the character Dorn:

“Do not annoy me with such simplistic notions of morality.”

Born in the Spine of the World, Dorn fled to Luskan with his human mother when a rival tribe annihilated his father’s savage people. In that northern city, Dorn’s ruthless strength soon won him a deadly reputation and the attentions of a band of mercenaries whose wickedness exceeded even Dorn’s. Imprisoned for the crimes of the entire group, Dorn made a fiendish bargain granting him even greater power and the promise of revenge.

A Blackguard of few words, Dorn is only too happy to ally himself with a child of Bhaal and cut a bloody swath across the Sword Coast with his black greatsword, as long as that path continues to lead him to the traitors he has sworn to destroy.

—

Dorn is a half-orc Blackguard whose otherworldly patron grants him terrible powers in the form of his black sword and unholy spells. Add him to your Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition and inflict evil to the last corpse.

Dorn adds the following Enhancments to Baldur’s Gate:

• The Blackguard Dorn II-Khan, a new NPC to join your party
• Up to four hours of additional gameplay
• The Blackguard kit to create your own champion of evil

Betrayed by his former companions, the half-orc Dorn Il-Khan lusts for revenge and glory in equal measure.

Launched in 2000, MvC2 marked a departure for Capcom’s “Vs” series, abandoning the strict faithfulness to the company’s landmark SF2 control scheme in favor of a (slightly) simpler button layout. Don’t be fooled, though: you still ought to invest in a good wipe-clean screen protector (or an iCade) before buying this game, because your iOS screen is going to be covered in sticky thumbprints after a couple of days with this thing.

Share the love. Pass it on to iOS.

There are many Assassin’s Creed games in the wild, and we suspect astute fans may have played them all. They’ve probably even seen all the live-action movies and read the books. But have they played an Assassin’s Creed board game? At the end of the year, they will: a real-time board game for the iPad titled ‘Recollections’.

Players must win battles and collect cards which feature characters from the Assassin’s Creed games. There will be about ten hours of single-player and multiplayer action.

Thanks, TSA.

With the news that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs passed away Wednesday, comes speculation about what will happen to the company.

Apple announced Wednesday evening that Jobs died after years of suffering from a host of health problems, including pancreatic cancer.

Jobs’s former second-in-command, Tim Cook, has been at the helm of the company since Jobs stepped down as CEO six weeks ago. Cook is a 14-year Apple veteran who has run the company’s day-to-day operations for years.

But the vision for the company and its products was all Jobs, and while the company’s immediate future has likely been mapped out by the man himself, its long-term outlook is less clear.

“Longer term of course the company will have to have someone who can step up and provide that kind of insight and navigation,” Cook told The Today Show in a telephone interview. “And of course the mystery is whether that will be one individual, or whether he has merely started, for lack of a better word, a family of like-minded individuals who will take that role on in a collaborative sense.“

Apple is known for having a deep bench. While Jobs was the personality at the centre of the company, he knew enough to surround himself with top talent. Among those employees, Tim says, is the company’s main industrial designer, Jonathan Ive, who is responsible for the look of the iconic iPod.

The company also started an internal educational forum called Apple University, which experts have described as a way for the company to train employees to think like Jobs.

“When I think of other large empires that are built on one man’s vision or one person’s personality, I think of Walt Disney, for example. Those may have begun as the vision of one person, but over time became embodied in all the people who were brought together under that same dream,” Tim said.

“We are going to have an entire group of people who are currently at Apple who will be able to answer the question of ‘What would Steve Jobs do?

Tim Cook said the company will move forward with another iPhone and another iPad next year, but what the company’s next big technological innovation will be is anybody’s guess.

R.I.P. Steve Jobs. Apple will never be the same without you.

Sad day, folks. Apple co-founder, visionary and mastermind of the iPod, iPhone, iPad and the ubiquitous Mac, Steve Jobs has died at age 56.

Jobs recently stepped down as CEO because of health problems, naming long time Apple executive Tim Cook to become his successor, as he himself took up the less demanding role of company chairman.

Steve Jobs had been arguably the most important figure in technology breakthroughs in recent times, bringing some of the most wildly used devices to life. We will miss him. Our thoughts go out to his family.

A statement from his family:

Steve died peacefully today surrounded by his family.

We are grateful for the support and kindness of those who share our feelings for Steve. We know many of you will mourn with us, and we ask that you respect our privacy during our time of grief.

Background on Steve’s health struggles:

Jobs had battled cancer in 2004 and underwent a liver transplant in 2009 after taking a leave of absence for unspecified health problems. He took another leave of absence in January – his third since his health problems began – before resigning as CEO six weeks ago. Jobs became Apple’s chairman and handed the CEO job over to his hand-picked successor, Tim Cook.

Here’s Tim Cook:

Team,

No words can adequately express our sadness at Steve’s death or our gratitude for the opportunity to work with him. We will honor his memory by dedicating ourselves to continuing the work he loved so much.
Tim

Microsoft’s co-founder, Bill Gates:

“I’m truly saddened to learn of Steve Jobs’ death. Melinda and I extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends, and to everyone Steve has touched through his work.

For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it’s been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely.”

May his soul rest peacefully. Planet earth has just lost one of its best.

Via Apple.

According to Fox News, PS3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii are the last major gaming consoles we’ll see, as said medium is being beaten to death by Android and Apple devices.

So what’s the game pushing said consoles to their death? Zynga’s Angry Birds.

“Big changes coming to the world of console gaming,” said Fox News Science and Technology Editor Jeremy Kaplan. “So we have a couple of major gaming systems out there right: Xbox, PlayStation Nintendo Wii, if you don’t use it, at least you know what it is – massive powerhouses and these are companies that have built large fortunes, let’s be honest, on the backs of console gaming.”

He then spoke of the rise of Angry Birds, and how soon we all will be playing it on our Android and Apple devices.

“Recent changes indicate, that console gaming might be going away and I think it’s a lot because of things like the iPhone and the Google Android. If you’re one of those people that does gaming on your phone, you’re not alone. Angry Birds, anyone heard of this thing? A million – billion people are playing Angry Birds,” he exclaimed.

“Angry Birds is a cute little time-waster. You have these birds fly and they hit bricks, whatever. It’s time-wasting, a lot of people call it casual gaming, and the power of casual gaming has taken a lot of emphasis away from consoles,” he said. “Very interesting because for a long time, consoles were these incredible powerhouses. When Sony put out the PlayStation 3, their latest version, they built a special processor just for this thing called the Core.

Now we haven’t heard anything from Sony about the next generation in years.. Market has moved. People are doing things very differently these days.”

He also said that he didn’t know what would happen to Sony and Nintendo now that “core” gamers are going away, and that “we all are gamers now playing Angry Birds”.

Devices like Apple’s ubiquitous iPhone and iPad, and the never ending stream of new Android devices being released have somehow sneaked their way into the mobile gaming business, and according to Capcom Interactive president Midori Yuasa, have replaced the handhelds. Yes the PSPs and DSs.

That’s what she told MCV recently, she said “The casual gamer that used to play on the PC and the hardcore gamer that used to play on a dedicated gaming portable now plays on their smartphone.”

“The iPhone and larger smartphone markets are extremely important to Capcom as, like no device before, smartphones have the potential to become a universal game platform,” she went on.

Capcom isn’t giving up on the hardcore, though, as the firm has a number of releases coming out for PS3, Xbox 360 and PCs. The company did strike gold with its free-to-play iPhone game, Smurfs Village, which ousted Angry Birds in terms of revenue through sale of in-game items.

More through the MCV link up top.

Apparently, the PS3 and PSP are connected to the internet way more than the Xbox 360, with the iPad and iPod Touch amongst the top devices.

This according to a Millennial Media report.

The firm’s figures are based on data captured in this year’s third quarter.

Those numbers must be good news to Sony, especially as the firm tries to boosts its online offerings, specifically it’s new PlayStation Plus service.

In early September, Kaz Hirai claimed that 80 percent of PS3s were connected to the internet, compared to Xbox Live’s 23 million users as of January 2010.

By doing the math, it would seem, according to Hirai, that 30.48 million PS3s are connected to PSN. If true, that’s not a bad number at all.

More through the link up top.

Do you love UFC games? Good, because THQ’s going to keep them coming through 2018.

THQ and UFC have arrived at a deal that grants the publisher the right to make UFC titles up until 2018.

Here’s Danny Bilson, executive vice president, Core Games, THQ:

“We’re very excited to extend our relationship with Zuffa and the Ultimate Fighting Championship,” he said. “Working closely together with Dana White and the incredible team at UFC, we plan to continue to deliver outstanding interactive UFC experiences to gamers around the world in all new ways, including social, mobile and brand extensions.”

Dana White, UFC President took over from there:

“THQ has delivered the quality demanded by UFC and its fans with the first two Undisputed games and we are about to broaden the UFC brand experience among gaming fans through social and mobile apps.

We are impressed by the passion that THQ brings to making great games and we look forward to working together to create even greater gaming experiences for our fans in the future.”

The agreement gives THQ rights for publishing UFC games on all major consoles, iPhone and iPad.

iPad becomes a reality in your hands on April 3rd, pending your have the cash to purchase the thing and you live in the US; pre-orders begin next Friday.

The standard model will be the first on sale, with the 3G model made available later that same month.

The rest of the world will have to wait until “late April” for Apple’s latest toy.

“We’re excited for customers to get their hands on this magical and revolutionary product and connect with their apps and content in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before,” the San himself, Steve Jobs said.

Full press release can be found below. Merci, Gizmodo.

iPad Available in US on April 3

Pre-Order on March 12

CUPERTINO, Calif., March 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple® today announced that its magical and revolutionary iPad will be available in the US on Saturday, April 3, for Wi-Fi models and in late April for Wi-Fi + 3G models. In addition, all models of iPad will be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK in late April.

Beginning a week from today, on March 12, US customers can pre-order both Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G models from Apple’s online store (www.apple.com) or reserve a Wi-Fi model to pick up on Saturday, April 3, at an Apple retail store.

“pliPad is something cometely new,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’re excited for customers to get their hands on this magical and revolutionary product and connect with their apps and content in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before.”

Starting at just $499, iPad lets users browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch videos, listen to music, play games, read ebooks and much more. iPad is just 0.5 inches thick and weighs just 1.5 pounds-thinner and lighter than any laptop or netbook-and delivers battery life of up to 10 hours.*

iPad’s revolutionary Multi-Touch™ interface makes surfing the web an entirely new experience, dramatically more interactive and intimate than on a computer. You can read and send email on iPad’s large screen and almost full-size “soft” keyboard or import photos from a Mac®, PC or digital camera, see them organized as albums, and enjoy and share them using iPad’s elegant slideshows. iPad makes it easy to watch movies, TV shows and YouTube, all in HD, or flip through the pages of an ebook you downloaded from Apple’s new iBookstore while listening to your music collection.

The App Store on iPad lets you wirelessly browse, buy and download new apps from the world’s largest app store. iPad includes 12 new innovative apps designed especially for iPad and will run almost all of the more than 150,000 apps on the App Store, including apps already purchased for your iPhone® or iPod touch®. Developers are already creating exciting new apps designed for iPad that take advantage of its Multi-Touch interface, large screen and high-quality graphics.

The new iBooks app for iPad includes Apple’s new iBookstore, the best way to browse, buy and read books on a mobile product. The iBookstore will feature books from the New York Times Best Seller list from both major and independent publishers, including Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan Publishers, Penguin Group and Simon & Schuster.

The iTunes® Store gives iPad users access to the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store with a catalog of over 12 million songs, over 55,000 TV episodes and over 8,500 films including over 2,500 in stunning high definition. All the apps and content you download on iPad from the App Store, iTunes Store and iBookstore will be automatically synced to your iTunes library the next time you connect with your computer.

Pricing & Availability

iPad will be available in Wi-Fi models on April 3 in the US for a suggested retail price of $499 for 16GB, $599 for 32GB, $699 for 64GB. The Wi-Fi + 3G models will be available in late April for a suggested retail price of $629 for 16GB, $729 for 32GB and $829 for 64GB. iPad will be sold in the US through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers.

iPad will be available in both Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G models in late April in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. International pricing will be announced in April. iPad will ship in additional countries later this year.

The iBooks app for iPad including Apple’s iBookstore will be available as a free download from the App Store in the US on April 3, with additional countries added later this year.

*Battery life depends on device settings, usage and other factors. Actual results vary.