Targus introduces the Classic Laptop Case at $49.95

If you are looking for a simple and affordable laptop case that offers superior protection for your laptop, look no further than the Targus Classic Laptop Case.  Practical enough for the office and lightweight enough to carry around with ease, the Classic Laptop Case is the perfect accessory for any working professional. 

The Classic Laptop Case is constructed from quality materials to ensure that the bag will stand the test of time. The protective padded section within the case prevents scratching and damage of your laptop, while the inbuilt pockets help keep belongings organised. With a distinctive red line, the cases come with an adjustable shoulder strap for easy carrying and comfort.

Available in three different sizes, the range can fit laptops measuring up to 12.1-inches, 13.3-inches or 15.6-inches in size. The cases are also lightweight – weighing no more than 0.6kg for the 12.1-inch size and 0.78kg for the larger 15.6-inch size case.

With a recommended retail price of $49.95, the Classic Laptop Case is affordable and comes with a limited lifetime warranty. Targus stockists include Harvey Norman and JB Hi-Fi stores nationwide.

Seagate SV35.5 Series™ hard drives are optimized for continuous 24×7 use with capacities up to 1TB 

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. — April 14, 2009 — Seagate (NASDAQ:STX) today introduced its Seagate SV35.5 Series hard drives, designed for optimal performance in digital video surveillance systems. The Seagate SV35.5 hard drive is built for rigorous 24×7 use, and combines best-in-class reliability, performance, capacity, acoustics and power consumption along with features that make SDVR integration easy, making it the ideal solution for the demands of the growing video surveillance market.   

The Seagate SV35.5 hard drive provides a number of key advantages for video surveillance environments over standard hard drives including: performance-tuned 140 MB/s sustained sequential data rates and ATA-7 streaming commands for high-speed transfers, enhanced caching capabilities and built-in error recovery for non-stop streaming, thermal monitoring and reporting, unique user-selectable partitioning, low spin-up power, and best-in-class acoustics for extremely quiet operation.

With disk capacities from 250GB to 1TB, the Seagate SV35.5 hard drive offers flexible DVR design capabilities as a video surveillance DVR, network DVR, or for direct and network-attached JBOD video surveillance storage.

“The hardware requirements for the surveillance market are especially critical and dictate the use of HDDs that are made specifically for the needs of video system manufacturers and integrators,” said Carla Kennedy, senior vice president of Seagate’s Enterprise Product Line Management group. “With its optimized performance and capacity that can store over one full month of high-resolution video, the Seagate SV35.5 Series™ hard drive is a prime example of Seagate delivering a feature-rich solution that customers have requested.”

Seagate SV35.5 Hard Drive for Surveillance OEMs and System Builders

The Seagate SV35.5 hard drive answers the ever-increasing need for more storage capacity at best-in-class power consumption and acoustics for digital video recording OEMs and system builders. Utilizing perpendicular recording technology, it offers capacities up to 1TB while providing optimum performance while drawing minimal power from system resources. With its powerful surveillance features and backed by the Seagate 5 year limited warranty, the Seagate SV35.5 drives enable OEM and system builders to set themselves apart from the competition by delivering lower operational costs with best-in-class reliability.

“While we continue to use the Barracuda® ES series for our enterprise class RAID solutions, the Seagate SV35 series is a perfect solution for our very successful series of non-RAID DVRs,” said Pelco Product Marketing Manager Yvonne Schwemmer. “The fact that Seagate has engineered these drives for the video surveillance market gives us increased confidence in the products we deliver to a demanding marketplace.”

Specifications
Capacities: 250GB, 500GB, 1TB
Spin speeds: 7200-RPM
Interfaces: 3Gbps SATA
Video Streaming: 47 Simultaneous FULL D1 (704X576) Video Streams Support
Performance: 140 MB/s sustained sequential data rates
Acoustics: Typical Idle (bels) 2.3 for 250GB/2.5 for 500GB/2.5 for 1TB
Shock, Operating: 70 (2ms Gs), Non-operating: 350 for 250GB/300 for 500GB/ 300 for 1TB (2m Gs)
Cache: SATA: 8MB for 250GB/16MB for 500GB/32MB for 1TB
Power Usage: Performance Idle: 5 Watts for 250GB/7 Watts for 500GB/7 Watts for 1TB
Warranty: Limited 5 year
 

For Additional Product Information and Related Multimedia Content:

http://www.seagate.com

http://media.seagate.com/

http://seagate.mediaseed.tv/

Academy Award® winning actors MERYL STREEP and PHILLIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN go head-to-head in DOUBT, one of the most talked about dramas of the year, released to DVD and Hi-Def Blu-ray 10 June 2009.

Written and directed by playwright JOHN PATRICK SHANLEY, DOUBT is an unforgettable story that will challenge your perceptions about right and wrong, revealing also the devastating effects of blind justice.

Nominated for five Academy Awards®, three BAFTA Nominations, five Golden Globes as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award for Streep’s outstanding performance, DOUBT has received enormous acclaim across the globe.

Set in 1964 during a great time of moral and social change in the US, Academy Award® winner PHILLIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN plays Father Flynn, a forward thinking priest who is enthusiastically set on introducing change to the rigid structure of St Nicholas, a strict religious school in the Bronx.

MERYL STREEP is Sister Aloysius Beauvier the principal of St Nicholas and remains determined to continue to run the school according to her strict custom, using fear and discipline against those who challenge her.

When the school accepts its first black student Donald Miller, played by JOSEPH FOSTER, a young, earnest nun, Sister James (Academy Award® nominee AMY ADAMS) expresses her concern to Sister Beauvier that Father Flynn is paying too much attention to student.

Sister Beauvier, propelled by a crusade to expose the truth and bring the priest to justice, embarks on a campaign of blind justice to have Father Flynn removed from the school, and in the process threatens to devastate and tear apart the church and school community.

What follows is an intense, suspense filled drama that will challenge the audience’s perception of morality, truth and authority.

DOUBT, available on DVD and Hi-Def Blu-ray, also includes riveting bonus features including The Cast of Doubt, The Scoring and Audio Commentary.

Don’t miss your chance to own one of the most acclaimed films of the year when DOUBT is released to DVD and Blu-ray 10 June 2009.

Confirms North American, European and Australian Ship Dates, Debuts New Intro Cinematic Movie on Official Web Site

Sydney, Australia – April 9, 2009 – No conspiracy here…we promise…  Activision Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) confirmed today that the long-awaited open-world action thriller video game PROTOTYPEÔ will ship in European territories on June 5,  North American retailers on June 9 and to Australian retailers on June 10, arriving in stores shortly thereafter.  Fans of the infamous Alex Mercer should also be sure to check out the newly updated official game web site located at www.prototypegame.com to gain access and view newly added game information and content, including the first half of PROTOTYPE’s must-see intro cinematic.

PROTOTYPE lets gamers feel the power of being the ultimate shape-shifting weapon.  You are the PROTOTYPE:  Alex Mercer – a genetically mutated man without memory, armed with amazing shape-shifting abilities, hunting to discover what created you and determined to make those responsible pay.  As Alex, gamers tear through a densely populated contemporary New York City moving with Parkour-style fluidity, consuming anybody that gets in their way…assuming their physical form, memories and abilities.  Fuelled by a three-way war between Alex, the Blackwatch (military) and a viral outbreak known as the Infected, players venture into a deep, dark conspiracy 40 years in the making!

PROTOTYPE is currently rated MA15+ (Strong Violence, Coarse Language) by the Classification Board and will be available for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Games for Windows® and PLAYSTATIONÒ3 computer entertainment system.

About Radical Entertainment

Radical is one of North America’s largest game developers.  With more than a decade of hit titles, including Simpsons Hit & Run, Hulk – Ultimate Destruction, Scarface: The World Is Yours and the soon to be released PROTOTYPE, the commitment to our partners and our players continues to set us apart.  We treat a property with the reverence it deserves and gamers demand.  In our 70,000-square-foot Vancouver facility Radical brings the talent, tools and technology together to create entertainment that captures the world’s imagination.  Radical, now owned by Activision Publishing, Inc, is continually ranked as one of the best places to work in B.C, according to BC Business magazine and Watson Wyatt.  In 2006, 2007 and 2008 MediaCorp Canada ranked Radical as Top 100 Canadian Employer, Top 10 Canadian Employer for Young People, and Top 20 B.C. Employer.  For more information, please visit www.radical.ca.

Star Trek – the hugely anticipated new addition to the blockbuster movie and TV megaseries – will be released in IMAX at IMAX Melbourne Museum on May 7, a day before its US release, for an exclusive two week limited season.

Directed by J.J. Abrams (Mission: Impossible III, Lost and Alias) Star Trek chronicles the early days of James
T. Kirk and his fellow USS Enterprise crew members in the greatest space adventure of all time. At IMAX
Melbourne Museum, audiences will see the blockbuster digitally re-mastered into the unparalleled image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience® with proprietary IMAX DMR® (Digital Re-mastering) technology.
“We’re incredibly excited to offer Star Trek fans the ultimate viewing experience on the world’s third largest
screen,” said Richard Morrison, Manager, IMAX Melbourne Museum.

“I’m thrilled that audiences will be able to experience this new, epic world of Star Trek – with an incredible cast  and mind-blowing visual effects – on what is, obviously, the most remarkable film format in the world,” J.J. Abrams said.

“Both Star Trek and IMAX have taken audiences to far away places they would normally not be able to go,
and in this case, it’s space – the final frontier,” added Greg Foster, Chairman and President of IMAX Filmed
Entertainment. “J.J. Abrams has created a powerful movie that has fans worldwide feverishly anticipating its
release. We are thrilled to partner with Paramount Pictures to bring J.J.’s exciting vision of this incredible
space adventure to IMAX screens.”

Star Trek is one of the world’s most successful science fiction entertainment series and media franchises.
Created by Gene Roddenberry, the Star Trek phenomenon has lead to six television series, ten feature films,
dozens of computer and video games, hundreds of novels and fan stories, as well as a themed attraction in
Las Vegas. Star Trek has also inspired a following of millions of “Trekkies” of all ages that span across the
globe.

From director J.J. Abrams and screenwriters Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci (Transformers, MI: III) comes a
new vision of the greatest space adventure of all time, Star Trek, featuring a young, new crew venturing boldly where no man has gone before. Star Trek explores the early Starfleet careers of future Enterprise officers Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), Scotty (Simon Pegg), Amanda Grayson (Winona Ryder), Uhura (Zoe Saldana), McCoy (Karl Urban), Sulu (John Cho), and Chekhov (Anton Yelchin). A Romulan, Nero (Eric Bana), and a much older Spock (Leonard Nimoy) are influences, as well as Captain Pike (Bruce Greenwood), the first captain of the USS Enterprise.

See Star Trek before everyone else at the exclusive IMAX Melbourne Museum midnight screening on Wednesday May 6. This session is set to sell out — book your tickets online now at www.imaxmelbourne.com.au.
When: 7 May for an exclusive 2 week limited season
Where: IMAX Melbourne Museum, Carlton Gardens
Cost: Adults $21.00 Concession $17.50 Child $16.00 Family $60.00
Session times: www.imaxmelbourne.com.au or 03 9663 5454

From the editor: X-men Origins: Wolverine is hitting the big screen very soon, and it looks hot.  Of course gaming fans also are looking forward to the game with the same name, with everyone’s favorite Xman of all WOLVERINE.  Of course with the large crop of games based on movies that have already been done, there are only a very few that even come close to engaging entertainment in any way.  So of course fans and even more so reviewers and reporters are all wondering what will the latest delve into the mix offer? Screen shots look impressive; you just cannot beat the premise. On the flip side, so many times in the past that has been said about a game to only turn out falling way short, some even out right embarrassing.  X-Men Origins: Wolverine, so far looks like it has all the right stuff, And the folks involved with creating the game have been nice enough to answer a few questions. Well, what can we possibly ask that has not been asked a few dozen times already?  Well fellow Impulse Gamer’s let’s do this…. 

FOLLOW THIS LINK FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW

http://www.impulsegamer.com/gaminginterviews.php

Start off on a grand adventure and immerse yourself in the tumultuous and quirky universe of Dungeon Raiders for the Nintendo DS™. Dungeon Raiders is an action-RPG developed by Cyanide Studio and proudly distributed by QV Software in which you control a team of sketchy heroes who jump into the craziest quest of their lives – saving one of their friends who was kidnapped by his father and sent to hell so he could assume responsibility for the family «business». 

Explore massive dungeons scattered with countless booby-traps, fight off hundreds of crazed creatures coming in your way and solve dozens of exciting puzzles. From the halls of Count Dracula’s mansion to the heart of Egyptian pyramids, from pirates’ caves to frozen hell, the absolutely insane quest of Dungeon Raiders will take you on a hilarious and fun-filled journey through the wackiest universe ever.

Dungeon Raiders’ gameplay was especially designed for the Nintendo DS. You’ll have to use

the touch screen functions as well as the stylus and the microphone to activate mechanisms,

overcome traps, and destroy your enemies. Thanks to the game’s original magic system, you’ll

be able to cast more or less serious spells that will greatly help you in your quest. Help your team members evolve throughout the adventure, unlock new spells and improve your heroes’ skills to become the master of the games’ dungeons in this insane action-RPG!

FEATURES:

·         Lead and control a team of three wild heroes in a tumultuous adventure.

·         A crazy universe filled with a mix of unique environments with about twenty dungeons to explore.

·         Hours and hours of crazy gameplay!

·         Find secret dungeons to extend the fun!

·         Overcome numerous, varied and zany monsters who are ready to do anything to put a wrench in your progress.

·         Numerous puzzles to solve and booby-traps to overcome by using the Nintendo DS’ unique functions.

·         An original magic system and outrageous spells to unlock – including the Speed Fart, Telekinesis or Splitting.

·         Help your team evolve and improve your heroes’ skills.

·         An intuitive control system that takes advantage of all of Nintendo’s handheld system’s functions.

Meet the Minion elite in the first ever Overlord Minions gameplay trailer, available from www.codemasters.com/minions

– Monday, 6th April 2009- Introducing the elite squad of Special Ops Minions that will star in Overlord Minions, coming this June for the Nintendo DS™, Codemasters and Atari, one of Australia’s leading sources of interactive entertainment, today released the first gameplay video of the fearsome foursome in action. Get up close and personal with the Overlord’s best of breed in the trailer, now available to view and download from www.codemasters.com/minions.
Giblet, Blaze, Stench, and Zap form the Minion crew that, assisted by Minion master Gnarl, feature in Overlord Minions, an irresistible and accessible puzzle action game designed exclusively for the Nintendo DS. Set in the Overlord universe and penned by renowned games writer Rhianna Pratchett, Overlord Minions preserves the trademark humour of the Overlord series and features a completely new story, which runs parallel with Overlord® Dark Legend™.

In Overlord Minions the player assumes the role of the great Overlord and commands his crack commando team remotely. In this 100% touch screen controlled game, the Nintendo DS Stylus is truly mightier than the sword as players use the stylus as an extension of the Overlord’s evil will, commanding and combining the Elite Minion team through devilish puzzles and a huge range of warped enemies to prevent Silas, the head of a new Cult, from resurrecting an almighty Dragon and threatening the Overlord’s totalitarianism.

The Minion Special Farces Team
• Giblet: A brown minion and the main fighter, brave, willing, and a little dumb.
• Blaze: A pyromaniac red minion who throws fireballs as a powerful range attack.
• Stench: A sneaky green minion whose obnoxious ‘fart dart’ gases are not only flammable, but can overpower enemies with their sheer toxicity.
• Zap: A blue minion and the mystic shaman of the unit. He channels magic through this body and can heal the other minions, should they be injured.

Whether they’re going into battle, combining to perform increasingly powerful attacks or solving puzzles, the Minion quartet’s on-going banter and playful-yet-ferociously-violent nature perfectly compliments the unfolding carnage of Overlord Minions.

Prepare to battle a huge range of new enemies from infected sheep, goats, spiders, paladins, infected dwarves, mutated trolls, scorpions, winged elves and many more as Overlord Minions launches this June, exclusively for the Nintendo DS. Budding megalomaniacs can get to know the Minion Special Farces team in the new gameplay video now showing at www.codemasters.com/minions.

For more information on Atari’s entire product line up visit www.atari.com.au and log on to the Atari Trade Site for all box shots, demos, trailers and online screenshots.

SYDNEY AUSTRALIA – APRIL 7, 2009 – The future of Albion awaits discovery in “See the Future”, the latest game add-on for the award-winning role-playing game “Fable II” from Microsoft and Lionhead Studios. 

Available in May exclusively on Xbox LIVE Marketplace, “See the Future” is an action-packed journey that challenges players to lift the curses placed on three mysterious items that have come into the possession of Murgo the Trader.

In “See the Future,” players will be given the chance to heed the call for a hero to restore colour and balance to the world, or let Albion fall to the wayside. Those who emerge victorious will receive the ultimate reward: a quest that provides a vision of Albion’s future and what lies ahead for those born into the heroic bloodline. The fantastical new quests in “See the Future” will bring players face-to-face with new characters, creatures, events and legendary artefacts, including:

·         Murgo: Having first met him during the childhood sequence of “Fable II,” Murgo returns to Bowerstone Market to bring an amazing array of new wares, including potions that can transform canine companions into new breeds.

·         The Ghosts of the Snowglobe Quest: Holding a disturbing secret, the small model village inside it was once a real town in Albion. The people who once inhabited it are now ghosts condemned to endless torment until the shadowy threat that cursed them is defeated.

·         The Cursed Knight Quest: Forever banished to a land beyond the dead, the Cursed Knight awaits a hero who has the strength and will to dress up in convincing costumes, even imitating a hobbe or balverine, to save him from his fate. 

·         The Colosseum: The Colosseum puts even the Crucible to shame. Only the greatest heroes have triumphed here. Players’ abilities will be put to the test to prove themselves in combat once and for all, to win the ultimate in prizes.

In addition, “See the Future” offers complimentary unique items*, including Welley’s soldier helmet and other clothing, a braided ponytail and other hairstyles, psycho Jester make-up, a new hero expression, the back flip trick for canine companions, and a collectible Murgo the Trader gold statue.

“Fable II” is exclusively available on Xbox 360 and is rated “M” for Mature by the ESRB. Please visit: www.xbox.com.au/fable2 or www.lionhead.com/fable2 for more information.

Three new screenshots from “See the Future” are available at: http://www.lionhead.com/Fable2/SeetheFuture.aspx

* The complimentary content update must be manually downloaded from Xbox LIVE and will enable those who haven’t purchased the “See the Future” premium content to continue the co-op action with their friends.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:
Discover what lies beyond the edge of evolution.  An all-new, third-person open-world/action game, PROTOTYPE puts gamers at the helm of Alex Mercer – a genetically mutated shape-shifter with no memory of his past hell-bent on solving the mystery of his existence – as he tears through a densely populated New York City moving with Parkour-style fluidity and consuming anybody that gets in his way…assuming their physical identity, memories and abilities.  Fuelled by three key factions consisting of Alex, the Blackwatch (military) and a viral outbreak known as the Infected, players will venture into a deep, dark conspiracy 40 years in the making!
KEY FEATURES:
• A FRESH TAKE ON STALE GENRE – Taking the open-world genre to breathtaking new heights, PROTOTYPE is an original IP featuring Alex Mercer, an all-new anti-hero framed within a conspiracy-drenched storyline that gives open-world/action games a fresh and well deserved kick in the pants.  With no memory of his past, Alex Mercer’s sole mission is to find out who’s responsible for what’s happened to him…and make them pay.  As players evolve Alex and his shape-shifting abilities throughout the story, they’ll incrementally learn more and more about his tortured past while combating the lethal Blackwatch forces and the Infected.  Gamers will also delve into the deep back-story mechanic known as the ‘Web of Intrigue’ and witness a conspiracy 40 years in the making spiral out of control… revealing the PROTOTYPE’s  past and defining his future.

• DEADLY SHAPE-SHIFTING ACTION – Alex Mercer is a shape-shifter with amazing powers of combat, destruction and deception.  As Alex, gamers can consume and absorb any living person they come into contact with while moving through PROTOTYPE’s New York City backdrop, and as such, he can assume their identity and gain access to their memories and special abilities/powers, each time bringing him closer to solving the growing conspiracy.  Further, Alex can mix and match genetic traits to create incredibly deadly biological weapons, including razor sharp claws, blades, armoured skin, shields and more.  Used correctly, Alex Mercer – the PROTOTYPE – is the ultimate shape-shifting weapon.
• ‘DECEIVE OR DESTROY’ GAMEPLAY – PROTOTYPE’s ‘Deceive or Destroy’ gameplay allows players the choice to either blend in with the crowded population and covertly progress through the story, or fully unleash Alex’s powers, moving through New York City as a walking slaughterhouse – shape-shifting in plain sight, consuming civilians on the street, commandeering military vehicles, including Apache helicopters and Abrams tanks and causing destruction at every turn.

• UNPRECEDENTED LOCOMOTION AND AGILITY – Alex Mercer’s movement in PROTOTYPE is based on the art of ‘Parkour’ – a French term meaning to move from one point to another as quickly as possible principally using the abilities of the human body.  Being more than human, nothing in PROTOTYPE’s bustling New York City setting is an obstacle for Alex.  Players will vault over hundreds of cars, run vertically up the sides of skyscrapers, scale huge distances in single jumps and more.

• NEW YORK CITY IS YOUR HUNTING GROUND – PROTOTYPE’s open-world playground is New York City done right!  The city is jam-packed with thousands of pedestrians, hundreds of cars and is truly a bustling, thriving representation of the world’s most famous city.  The population is extremely dense, providing for an endless feast of gameplay possibilities, so when things start to explode players really get the feeling that the city is caving in around them. Furthermore, in reference to some of PROTOTYPE’s boss battles…well, let’s just say that there’s definitely a need for a setting as big as Manhattan.

• DEVELOPER PEDIGREE – No stranger to the open-world game development space, Radical Entertainment is the developer behind PROTOTYPE, and touts a wide catalogue of successful titles, including the highly acclaimed The Incredible Hulk:  Ultimate Destruction, Simpsons Hit & Run and Scarface:  The World is Yours.  Using their all-new ‘Titanium’ proprietary game engine, PROTOTYPE brings gamers to the forefront of open-world gaming with mind-blowing visuals, explosive on-screen action and the first game ever to support Neural THX 7.1 Surround Sound.