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Symantec Mobility Survey Reveals That Good Things Come to Those Who Don’t Wait

Innovators seeing higher revenue and profit growth, competitive advantages, positive brand impact and happier customers

SYDNEY, Aust. – February 22, 2013 – Two distinct types of organisations emerge from Symantec Corp’s. (Nasdaq: SYMC) recent 2013 State of Mobility Survey – “Innovators” who readily embrace mobility and “Traditionals” who are reluctant to implement it. Eighty four percent of innovators are moving ahead with mobility, motivated by business drivers, and they are experiencing significant benefits. Traditional organisations are implementing mobility more slowly, largely in response to user demand, and are seeing both fewer costs and benefits.

Click to Tweet:  Business drivers motivate innovative companies to pursue mobility: http://bit.ly/159KR1F

“Few issues command the attention of IT today like mobility,” said Francis deSouza, president, Products and Services, Symantec. “The difference in attitudes and results between the organisations that actively embrace mobility and those that are reluctant is significant. Organisations taking a proactive approach benefit much more than those that put it off until they eventually find themselves trying to catch up to the competition.”

The two groups perceive the benefits and risks of mobility differently. Among innovators, 66 percent say the benefits are worth the risks, while 74 percent of traditional businesses feel the risks are not worth it. This is reflected in the rate of mobility adoption, with 50 percent more employees using smartphones for business among innovators than among traditional organisations. More than half of innovators (55 percent) are also taking control of purchasing phones for employees, compared to 44 percent of traditionals.

When it comes to the innovators, company involvement doesn’t stop with purchasing the phones. They also more often have mobility policies, and they are twice as likely to use technology to enforce their policies (60 percent in the innovators as opposed to 33 percent among traditionals).

Costs and Benefits
With the innovators taking more advantage of mobility, they are also seeing more costs associated with it. In fact, they averaged twice as many mobile incidents during the last year, such as lost devices and data breaches, leading to consequences such as regulatory fines and lost revenue. The innovators are also experiencing far more benefits, in three key areas:

  • Increased      productivity, speed and agility
  • Improvements      in brand value, customer happiness and overall competitiveness
  • Happier      employees and improved recruiting and retention rates

Most importantly, however, the innovators are experiencing nearly 50 percent higher revenue growth than traditionals (44 percent vs. 30 percent). All things considered, businesses perceive net positive results with mobility.

Effective Mobile Implementation
The survey results illustrate the positive impact mobility can have on the business, with the right preparation. The following guidelines can help organisations make the most of their mobile deployment while reducing risks:

  • Being      cautious about mobility is okay. Being resistant is not. Start embracing it. Organisations should take a      proactive approach and carefully plan an effective mobile implementation      strategy
  • Start      with the apps with greatest productivity benefits for employees. One of the best ways to get started with mobility is      to implement mobile apps that will have an immediate impact on the      business
  • Learn      from the innovators – get the benefits while minimising the risks. The key is to be aware of the risks associated with      mobility such as information loss, and to follow the example of the      innovators

Symantec’s 2013 State of Mobility Survey
Symantec’s 2013 State of Mobility Survey represents the experiences of 3,236 businesses, from 29 countries. Respondents were the individuals in charge of computing – either senior staff in the case of enterprises, or often an employee with technical aptitude among SMBs. Responses came from companies with a range of five to more than 5,000 employees.

Resources

Connect with Symantec

About Symantec
Symantec protects the world’s information, and is a global leader in security, backup and availability solutions. Our innovative products and services protect people and information in any environment – from the smallest mobile device, to the enterprise data center, to cloud-based systems. Our world-renowned expertise in protecting data, identities and interactions gives our customers confidence in a connected world. More information is available at www.symantec.com or by connecting with Symantec at: go.symantec.com/socialmedia.

 
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MURDERED: SOUL SUSPECT Trailer

 
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StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Preview — eSports and Multiplayer

Straight from Blizzard Headquarters:

In the third of our three StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm preview videos, Community Manager Cloaken takes a look at how eSports looks to be evolving with the coming expansion, the look and feel of the multiplayer game, ladder play, and more.

Note that as Patch 2.0.4 is live for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, the features highlighted in the series of preview videos are already available for players.

From eSports and Multiplayer:

–        Watch with others (to watch replays together with friends online)

–        Take command and recover game (which allow you to resume an interrupted game from a replay file)

–        New observer functionality (better cues for major events like nukes and Nydus Worms)

–        Fully customizable observer UI

–        Improved physics engine

–        Advanced stat tracking

From Ways to Play:

–        Training mode

–        Versus AI

–        Unranked matchmaking

–        Levelling mode and new unlocks

From Social Features:

–        Improved user interface

–        Groups and clans

–        Players near you

–        Global Play (coming soon)

We’re excited about all the new features introduced by the latest update, and the fact that the vast majority of these features are available to Wings of Liberty players. We encourage you to log back into StarCraft II and try out all the new features as we all await the launch of Heart of the Swarm.

 
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AMD and Crytek Energize the PC Gaming Industry with the Launch of “Crysis 3”

-– AMD Gaming Evolved unleashes the full power of the AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition –

Sydney, Australia — 21st February, 2013 AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced the North American launch of its Gaming Evolved title “Crysis 3.” Working closely with Crytek, elite AMD engineers optimized “Crysis 3” to enable incredible performance on AMD Radeon™ graphics cards, powered by the award-winning AMD Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture. The AMD/Crytek alliance accelerates “Crysis 3” with the world’s fastest1 graphics processing unit (GPU), the AMD Radeon™ 7970 GHz Edition. This announcement comes just two weeks after the launch of the highly-acclaimed “Never Settle: Reloaded” bundle from AMD.

“‘Crysis 3’ is designed and optimized to be played on AMD Radeon graphics. No other GPU delivers the visual experience or next-generation features of AMD Radeon,” said Matt Skynner, corporate vice president and general manager, AMD Graphics. “Our close collaboration with Crytek means the robust AMD GCN architecture is fully exploited by ‘Crysis 3’ code paths. We set out to deliver the best gaming experience possible for enthusiasts, and frankly we’ve accomplished this through the Gaming Evolved program. The best way to enjoy it is through the ‘Never Settle Reloaded’ bundle.”

“To deliver hyper-realistic experiences, no other PC game demands more from  the graphics processor than ‘Crysis 3,’” said Cevat Yerli, CEO and president, Crytek.  “By choosing AMD Radeon graphics, gamers experience ‘Crysis 3’ in stunning visual clarity, even when settings are cranked to the max .The launch of ‘Crysis 3’ is just the beginning of an exciting relationship with AMD and its Gaming Evolved program, which will help fuel development of future CryEngine™ titles. Together, AMD and Crytek will help redefine the PC gaming industry.”

“Never Settle Reloaded” Redemption
Coupons for “Crysis 3” included in the AMD Radeon “Never Settle: Reloaded” bundle are provided by resellers when customers purchase AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series graphics cards, and can be redeemed on the AMD Redemption portal2.

Supporting Resources

 
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NEW MARVEL HEROES DESTRUCTION TRAILER RELEASED

 
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Fallen Earth Introduces Proc-based Armor with New Stage 3 Coresuit Technology

Fan-Favorite Post-Apocalyptic Free2Play Sandbox MMO Creates a Foil to the Powerful G.O.R.E. PvP Weapons; Offers Players Full Character Respecs

Irvine, Calif. – February 21, 2013 – Reloaded Productions®, a leading developer of free2play® massively multiplayer online games, announced today that Fallen Earth gamers plagued by the immense power of GlobalTech Ordnance of Rapid Extermination (G.O.R.E.) weapons now have refuge in the form of the new Stage 3 Coresuit. A leap in defensive wasteland technology, this new player-created armor suit utilizes for the first time Chance on Use effects, known as procs, to provide more survivability during player versus player battles and standard gameplay.

Additionally, the Reloaded Productions team is increasing the functionality and effectiveness of the Gamma radiation-powered mutation skill lines, based on player feedback and hundreds of hours of play testing. As a result, the entire population of the wasteland will receive two free full respecs, resetting all AP, player statistics and skills.

“The G.O.R.E weapons we introduced last year have proven to be popular and sought after, so we decided to offer up something that could help level the playing field against these incredibly powerful weapons,” said Asa Reed, producer of Fallen Earth, Reloaded Productions. “Like the G.O.R.E weapons, the Stage 3 Coresuits are entirely created by players, using parts and resources found in the wasteland, along with one key ingredient exclusively through farming.”

“Our goal is to challenge and reward our long-term players with new, powerful end-game armor, while also introducing our first-ever proc-based armor” Reed added.

Fallen Earth is a free2play post-apocalyptic MMO set near the Grand Canyon in 2156. A hybrid third-person shooter and a blockbuster hard core role-playing game, Fallen Earth features real-time twitch-based combat, six factions, a classless advancement system and a powerful crafting system in which players can make 95 percent of in-game items. With more than 1000 square kilometers of territory to explore, Fallen Earth players can experience an unparalleled game world while completing more than 5,500 game missions, including the ability to capture towns and territory. Fallen Earth is rated M-Mature.

To get up-to-date information on Fallen Earth’s community and Fan Pages, check out the following links:

Website – http://www.gamersfirst.com/fallenearth or www.fallenearth.com
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/fallenearthgame
Development Blog – http://fallenearth.gamersfirst.com/
Twitter – @FallenEarth @GamersFirst

 
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TIGER WOODS PGA TOUR 14

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 “Country Club” Screenshots

ONLINE INNOVATION DRIVES CONNECTED AND SOCIAL EXPERIENCES IN TIGER WOODS PGA TOUR 14
February 22, 2013 – Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 14 continues to innovate with deeper online connected experiences with the fan-favorite Country Clubs feature. From an increase in the number of Country Club members available in each club to all new presentation statistics, playing online with or against members or other Country Clubs is the ultimate competitive experience.

• Country Club membership has increased its numbers from 25 to now up to 100 members.

• A new Country Club Loyalty Bonus feature was added to Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 14. The more Country Club members that play consecutive days in a row the bigger the reward. Each day a streak average is calculated for each Country Club based on the amount of members (minimum of five members) in the club and each individual member’s login streak. There is a coin payout based on Streak Average length, so club members must work together in order to claim the best coin rewards.

• Country Club Tour was created to allow players of like skill and rank to be matched up against other Country Clubs. Based on weekly Country Club ranks, players will be eligible to participate in one of five different events each week. Monthly and overall rankings are tracked and each month an overall individual player champion and Country Club champion is crowned.

• Players will now see Country Club statistics streamed directly into the game. While playing a round of golf when connected online, banners will populate in between holes updating players about their Country Club. Information about individual weekly and lifetime statistics earned for the Club, comparisons versus Club members and rankings versus other Country Clubs will now all be surfaced to gamers.

• Every Connected Tournament is now a Club Tournament featuring Club versus Club leaderboards. Gamers will not only be competing individually to win a live tournament, but now every tournament will also crown a Country Club champion.

• The all new Club Chat feature will allow Club members to chat together from anywhere in the game. Fans can now speak with fellow Club members no matter where they are located in the game. Tournament chats have also been added so players can join a chat with other gamers playing in the same Connected Tournament – presenting a great way to meet new friends and increase Country Club membership.

• In customized Club tournaments, fans will now be able to see up to 24 ball arcs when playing in the tournament giving users the sense of being on the course with a host of other players. Also, gamers do not have to sit in a lobby and wait until everyone is ready to begin play – just load into the tournament and start swinging away. An all new spectator mode was added where players are placed into a spectator mode after completing each hole and can watch other golfer arcs play through or move onto the next hole at any point. While in spectator mode, players will have the ability to toggle across a variety of different camera angles on the hole.

 
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Hearthfire Now Available on the PlayStation Store

Bethesda is pleased to announce that the English version of Hearthfire™ is now available to PS3 users in Australia and New Zealand and can be downloaded from the PlayStation Store for 50% off (AUD $3.65) during launch week.

Hearthfire allows you to purchase land and build your own home from the ground up – from a simple one-room cottage to a sprawling compound complete with armory, alchemy laboratory, and more. Choose your land, customize your house, guard it from unwanted visitors, and turn your house into a home by adopting children.

The release of Dawnguard™ on the PS3 is not far behind, with availability in Europe, Australia and New Zealand beginning on February 27th (timing may vary per territory). For a full list of release dates and pricing, please visit Bethblog.com.

For more information on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim® or Hearthfire, please visit www.elderscrolls.com. For assets please visit the Bethesda press vault: http://press.bethsoft.com.

 
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SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT INC. INTRODUCES PLAYSTATION®4 (PS4™)

PS4’s Powerful System Architecture, Social Integration and Intelligent Personalization, Combined with PlayStation Network with Cloud Technology, Delivers Breakthrough Gaming Experiences and Completely New Ways to Play

New York City, New York, February 20, 2013 –Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) today introduced PlayStation®4 (PS4™), its next generation computer entertainment system that redefines rich and immersive gameplay with powerful graphics and speed, intelligent personalization, deeply integrated social capabilities, and innovative second-screen features. Combined with PlayStation®Network with cloud technology, PS4 offers an expansive gaming ecosystem that is centered on gamers, enabling them to play when, where and how they want. PS4 will be available this holiday season.

Gamer Focused, Developer Inspired

PS4 was designed from the ground up to ensure that the very best games and the most immersive experiences reach PlayStation gamers. PS4 accomplishes this by enabling the greatest game developers in the world to unlock their creativity and push the boundaries of play through a system that is tuned specifically to their needs.

PS4 also fluidly connects players to the larger world of experiences offered by PlayStation, across the console and mobile spaces, and PlayStation® Network (PSN).

The PS4 system architecture is distinguished by its high performance and ease of development. PS4 is centered around a powerful custom chip that contains eight x86-64 cores and a state of the art graphics processor.

The Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) has been enhanced in a number of ways, principally to allow for easier use of the GPU for general purpose computing (GPGPU) such as physics simulation. The GPU contains a unified array of 18 compute units, which collectively generate 1.84 Teraflops of processing power that can freely be applied to graphics, simulation tasks, or some mixture of the two.

PS4 is equipped with 8 GB of unified system memory, easing game creation and increasing the richness of content achievable on the platform. GDDR5 is used for this memory, giving the system 176 GB/second of bandwidth and providing a further boost to graphics performance.

The end result for gamers is new games with rich, high-fidelity graphics and deeply immersive experiences that shatter expectations. 

Shared Game Experiences

Social interaction is central to PS4 experiences, so new features were built into the actual foundation of the system’s hardware architecture. PS4 provides dedicated, “always on” video compression and decompression systems that enables seamless uploading of gameplay. For the first time ever, gamers can share their epic triumphs with the press of a button. Gamers simply hit the “SHARE button” on the controller, scan through the last few minutes of gameplay, tag it and return to the game—the video uploads as the gamer plays. Gamers can share their images and videos to their friends on social networking services such as Facebook.

PS4 also enhances social spectating by enabling gamers to broadcast their gameplay in real-time to friends using live internet streaming services such as Ustream. During live broadcasts, friends can make comments on the streamed gameplay and, if a gamer gets stuck on a challenging level, friends can also join the game in completely new ways. For example, friends can offer health potions or special weapons when a player needs them most during actual gameplay.

Furthermore, users can connect their Facebook account with Sony Entertainment Network account. Through PS4, users are able to deepen their connections through co-op play or “cross-game chat”.

PS4 Second Screens

PS4 integrates second screens, including PlayStation®Vita (PS Vita), smartphones and tablets, to wrap gamers in their favorite content wherever they are. A key feature enabled by second screens is “Remote Play” and PS4 fully unlocks its potential by making PS Vita the ultimate companion device. With PS Vita, gamers will be able to seamlessly pull PS4 titles from their living room TVs and play them on PS Vita’s beautiful 5-inch display and intuitive dual analog sticks over Wi-Fi networks*1. It is SCEI’s long-term vision is to make most PS4 titles playable on PS Vita*2.

A new application from SCE called “PlayStation®App” will enable iPhone, iPad, and AndroidTM based smartphones and tablets*3 to become second screens. Once installed on these devices, users can, for example, see maps on their second screens when playing an adventure game, purchase PS4 games while away from home and download it directly to the console at home, or remotely watch other gamers playing on their devices.

Immediate Gameplay

PS4 radically reduces the lag time between players and their content. PS4 features “suspend mode” which keeps the system in a low power state while preserving the game session. The time it takes today to boot a console and load a saved game will be a thing of the past. With PS4, gamers just hit the power button again and are promptly back playing the game at the exact point where they left off. Additionally, users can boot a variety of applications including a web browser when playing a game on PS4.

PS4 also enables games to be downloaded or updated in the background, or even in stand-by mode. The system takes it one step further by making digital titles playable as they are being downloaded. When a player purchases a game, PS4 downloads just a fraction of the data so gamers can start playing immediately, and the rest is downloaded in the background during actual gameplay.

Personalized, Curated Content

On the newly designed PS4 menu screen, players can look over game-related information shared by friends, view friends’ gameplay with ease, or obtain information of recommended content, including games, TV shows and movies. The long-term goal of PS4 is to reduce download times of digital titles to zero: if the system knows enough about a player to predict the next game they will purchase, then that game can be loaded and ready to go before they even click the “buy” button. PS4 will further enrich users’ entertainment experiences, by meeting their potential needs.

Gaming in the Cloud

Launched in November 2006, PlayStation Network, a network service for PlayStation users, now operates in 67 countries and regions*4 around the world with the total number of downloaded content of more than 2.8 billion*5. In addition to a variety of games available in PlayStation®Store, PS4 users will be able to enjoy a variety of services offered by PSN, such as Sony Corporation’s Music Unlimited, a cloud-based music subscription service and Video Unlimited, a premium video service, as well as various content distribution services.

By combining PlayStation Network with Gaikai Inc’s cloud technology, it is SCE’s goal to make free exploration possible for various games. In the future, when a gamer sees a title of interest in PlayStation Store, they can immediately start playing a portion of the actual game — not a stripped down version of the game. With Gaikai and PlayStation Store, gamers will be able to experience appealing games and only pay for the games they actually love. PlayStation Network and the cloud will offer additional value to PlayStation gamers. SCE is exploring unique opportunities enabled by cloud technology with the long-term vision of making PlayStation libraries including an incredible catalog of more than 3000 PS3 titles*6 that is unmatched in the industry, mostly ubiquitous on PS4.

SCE will announce new details of PS4 and its robust lineup of games from 3rd party developers and publishers, the independent gaming community and SCE Worldwide Studios, as well as further enhancements to the entire PlayStation ecosystem between now and the holiday 2013 launch.

*1 Depending on network environment or titles, users may not be able to play games outside comfortably.

*2 Exept games that require peripherals such as PlayStation®4 Eye ).

*3 Depending on the version of OS or other conditions, users cannot use the application.

*4 Number as of December 31st , 2012

*5 Number as of February 19st , 2013

*6 Number as of December 31st , 2012, including free trials.

?PlayStation®4 ?  Main Processor Single-chip custom processor
CPU : x86-64 AMD “Jaguar”, 8 cores
GPU : 1.84 TFLOPS, AMD next-generation Radeon™based graphics engine
Memory

 GDDR5 8GB
Hard Disk Drive

 Built-in
Optical Drive
(read only)

 BD 6xCAV
DVD 8xCAV
I/O

 Super-Speed USB (USB 3.0) AUX
Communication

 Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T)
IEEE 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth® 2.1 (EDR)
AV output

 HDMI
Analog-AV out
Digital Output (optical)
 
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Latest Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen video reveals further perils

The latest slice of Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen gameplay takes a look at a new category of enemies that players must face. Necrophagous beasts are a special breed that are drawn to the scent of decomposing flesh and can appear seemingly from nowhere.

Watch as a band of heroes descends into the depths of Bitterblack Isle and encounters the horrors below. After successfully defeating a ferocious Cockatrice, these stalwart warriors will encounter Necrophagous in various forms. Garms, a band of ravenous twisted lupine beasts that spew a blinding fog, descend on the carcass of the Cockatrice and attack the party; an Elder Ogre, a larger and deadlier form of its surface dwelling cousin, squares off with the party in a dark hallway; and most fearsome of all, the Cursed Dragon, twisted into a truly wretched foe by the darkest of magicks, bears down on the group, seeking to devour any flesh it can.

 
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