New iPad Features Retina Display, A5X Chip, 5 Megapixel iSight Camera & Ultrafast 4G LTE

SYDNEY, Australia – 8 March, 2012 – Apple® today introduced the new iPad®, the third generation of its category defining mobile device, featuring a stunning new Retina™ display, Apple’s new A5X chip with quad-core graphics and a 5 megapixel iSight® camera with advanced optics for capturing amazing photos and 1080p HD video. iPad with Wi-Fi + 4G connects to fast networks worldwide and still delivers the same all-day 10 hour battery life* while remaining amazingly thin and light. Beginning today, iPad 2 will be offered at an even more affordable price starting at just RRP AUD$429 inc GST.

“The new iPad redefines the category Apple created less than two years ago, delivering the most amazing experience people have ever had with technology,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “The new iPad now has the highest resolution display ever seen on a mobile device with 3.1 million pixels, delivering razor sharp text and unbelievable detail in photos and videos.”

The new iPad’s Retina display delivers four times the number of pixels of iPad 2, so dense that the human eye is unable to distinguish individual pixels when held at a normal distance, making web pages, text, images and video look incredibly sharp and realistic. The 3.1 million pixels in the Retina display are more than one million more pixels than an HD TV, and with 44 percent increased colour saturation the new iPad displays colours that are unbelievably richer, deeper and more vivid. Movies are now capable of playing at full 1080p HD-resolution, delivering an incomparable viewing experience on a mobile device.

The powerful new A5X chip with quad-core graphics was specifically designed by Apple to deliver a fast, responsive user experience while supporting the incredible Retina display. With double the graphics performance of the A5 chip, the A5X provides a superb balance between performance and power efficiency so users can enjoy all the benefits of the stunning new display while experiencing a smooth Multi-Touch™ interface, immersive gameplay, incredible visual depth and all-day battery life that iPad is known for delivering.

The 5 megapixel iSight camera features advanced optics for taking stunning pictures and recording full HD video. Backside illumination allows you to take great photos in low-light conditions and a new video image stabilisation feature removes the bumps and shakes typically seen when filming with a hand-held device. Images can be enjoyed on the large Retina display, then edited, enhanced and easily shared with friends and family using the built-in Photos app on iPad.

iPad Wi-Fi + 4G with built-in next generation 4G LTE has the most comprehensive support for fast networks worldwide including HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA, and now both CDMA and GSM iPad users have the ability to easily roam internationally. The world-ready iPad delivers blazing download and upload speeds so web pages load incredibly quickly and email with large attachments can be sent and received easily. Personal Hotspot can be used to share the fast network connection on your iPad with up to 5 other devices using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or USB**.

With iOS 5.1, the latest update to the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, the new iPad has a number of new features and enhancements including: a redesigned Camera app with video stabilisation technology; the ability to delete photos from Photo Stream; support for dictation in English, French, German and Japanese; and Personal Hotspot. iOS 5.1 also works seamlessly with iCloud®, a breakthrough set of free cloud services including iTunes® in the Cloud, Photo Stream and Documents in the Cloud, that works seamlessly with your iPhone®, iPad, iPod touch®, Mac® or PC to automatically and wirelessly store your content and push it to your devices. When content changes on one of your devices, your other devices are updated automatically.

The new iPad also supports dictation, another amazing way to get things done just using your voice. Instead of typing, tap the microphone icon on the keyboard, then say what you want to say and the new iPad listens. Tap done, and iPad converts your words into text. You can use dictation to write messages, take notes, search the web and more. Dictation also works with third-party apps, so you can update your Facebook status, tweet, or write Instagram captions.

Apple also introduced the iPhoto® app, along with major updates to iMovie® and GarageBand®, completing its suite of iLife® apps for iOS. iLife and the iWork® apps, Pages®, Keynote® and Numbers®, have all been updated to take advantage of the new iPad Retina display. iPhoto includes breakthrough Multi-Touch features so you can use simple gestures to sort through hundreds of photos and find your best shots, enhance and retouch your images using fingertip brushes and share stunning photo journals with iCloud. iMovie now gives you the ability to create amazing Hollywood-style trailers as you record HD video, and GarageBand introduces Jam Session, an innovative and fun new feature that allows a group of friends to wirelessly connect to play instruments and record music together live on their iOS devices.

iPad runs almost all of the over 585,000 apps available on the App Store™, including more than 200,000 native iPad apps, from a wide range of categories, including books, games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel. The iTunes Store® puts the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store at your fingertips. The new iBooks® 2 app for iPad lets users experience an entirely new kind of ebook that’s dynamic, engaging and truly interactive. iBooks created with Apple’s new iBooks Author offer gorgeous, fullscreen ebooks with interactive animations, diagrams, photos, videos, unrivaled navigation and much more.

Pricing & Availability
The new iPad Wi-Fi models will be available in black or white on Friday, 16 March for a recommended retail price of AUD$539 inc GST for the 16GB model, AUD$649 inc GST for the 32GB model and AUD$759 inc. GST for the 64GB model. iPad Wi-Fi + 4G will be available for a recommended retail price of AUD$679 inc GST for the 16GB model, AUD$789 inc GST for the 32GB model and AUD$899 inc. GST for the 64GB model. iPad will be sold through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com/au), Apple’s retail stores, and select Apple Authorised Resellers.

iPad will also be available in Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Switzerland, UK and the US Virgin Islands on Friday, 16 March.

Customers can begin pre-ordering their new iPad today, and the incredible iPad 2 is now offered at a more affordable RRP of AUD$429 inc. GST for the 16GB Wi-Fi model and just AUD$569 inc. GST for the 16GB Wi-Fi + 3G model.

iOS 5.1 and iTunes 10.6 are available today as free software updates. iPhoto, iMovie 1.3 and GarageBand 1.2 are available today for AUD$5.49 each from the App Store (www.itunes.com/appstore). Keynote 1.6, Pages 1.6 and Numbers 1.6 are available today for AUD$10.49 each from the App Store. Updates are available for free to existing customers.

By the end of March iPad will be available in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macau, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

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

**Personal Hotspot requires supporting data plan. Customers should check with their carrier for availability.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.

Sydney, Australia – Mar. 7, 2012 – Danger Close™ Games, a studio of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) today announced that Medal of Honor™ Warfighter will launch on October 23, 2012. The game follows the 2010 Medal of Honor reboot that moved the series out of World War II into war-torn Afghanistan and introduced the U.S. Tier 1 Operator. Medal of Honor Warfighter goes beyond Afghanistan and takes the fight to the enemy in missions that have a dotted line to real world events. From rescuing hostages in the Philippines to eliminating the pirate threat on the Somali Coast, the game is an up close and personal look into the fight against today’s global terror threat. Written by U.S. Tier 1 Operators while deployed overseas, Medal of Honor Warfighter delivers an aggressive, gritty and authentic experience that puts gamers in the boots of the world’s most precise and disciplined warriors.

Medal of Honor Warfighter tells the personal story of U.S. Tier 1 Operator “Preacher,” as he returns home only to find his family torn apart from years of combat deployment. Trying to pick up the pieces and salvage what remains of his marriage, Preacher is reminded of what he’s fighting for – family. But when a deadly explosive known as PETN penetrates civilian borders and his two worlds collide, Preacher and his fellow teammates are sent in to do what they do best – solve the problem.

Players that pre-order the Medal of Honor Warfighter Limited Edition* will unlock the U.S. Navy SEAL Tier 1 Sniper on day one of launch. This multiplayer unlock saves an estimated 40-hours of time that would normally be required to unlock the unit. Medal of Honor Warfighter Limited Edition is available on Origin.com and other participating retailers. Visit www.medalofhonor.com for more details.

“From recent news headlines to movies to best-selling books, everyone is talking about the Special Operations Community and the warriors who defend our freedom. Medal of Honor Warfighter gives these Operators a chance to tell their personal story of brotherhood, family and the current fight,” said Greg Goodrich, Executive Producer, Medal of Honor. “But Tier 1 Operators are not uniquely American. This year we’re going global and introducing international Tier 1 units in our multiplayer game and taking players to hotspots around the world. We continue to honor these warriors with reverence and respect with an authentic look into their lives at home and abroad.”

In multiplayer, gamers around the world can represent their nation’s Tier 1 Operators on the global battlefield. The game features 12 different Tier 1 Operators from a variety of nations including the Australian SASR, British SAS, German KSK and Polish GROM among others. For the first time in the series, Medal of Honor Warfighter introduces multi-national Tier 1 “blue-vs-blue” team play where the world’s best-of-the-best warriors go head-to-head in online competition.

Utilizing the advanced power of the Frostbite™ 2 game engine, Medal of Honor Warfighter is being developed by Danger Close Games in Los Angeles, California. Medal of Honor Warfighter sees the return of key development leads that helped reboot the multi-platinum hit in 2010. The core team is bolstered by industry veterans who hail from DICE, Treyarch and other award-winning game studios. Together, this team is united behind a single engine platform, and a single vision for the game – authenticity, respect and honor for today’s Warfighters, with real emotion, real threats and a game designed to highlight the extraordinary nature of the material.

Medal of Honor Warfighter will be available worldwide on October 23, 2012 for the Xbox 360^®video game and entertainment system, PlayStation^®3 computer entertainment system and PC. For more information on Medal of Honor Warfighter, please visit http://www.medalofhonor.com/en_AU and for the latest news visit www.facebook.com/medalofhonor or follow on Twitter® at www.twitter.com/medalofhonor

****Conditions and restrictions apply. See www.medalfohonor.com/limited-edition-details for details.

Sydney, Australia, 7 March 2012 – Mass Effect 3 fans can immerse themselves even deeper in Mass Effect universe with two new iOS apps, Mass Effect Infiltrator and Mass Effect Datapad, when they hit the App Store this week. As part of the Mass Effect Galaxy at War system, Infiltrator and Datapad allow players to bolster their war assets and influence their single-player game ending in Mass Effect 3, ultimately helping Commander Shepard in the fight to eliminate the Reaper threat and take back Earth once and for all.

Developed by local Melbourne developers, IronMonkey who brought to life the award-winning iOS version of Dead Space, Mass Effect: Infiltrator features stunning graphics, an immersive storyline and rich gameplay elements that both Mass Effect veterans and those who are completely new to the franchise will enjoy. In the third-person, cover-based shooter, players take on the role of Randall Ezno, a Cerberus agent who becomes disillusioned with the organisation he works for, eventually turning into one of their fiercest enemies as he uncovers the depths that Cerberus will plumb to achieve their despicable goals. As Enzo, players will help to free prisoners from a hostile Cerberus base and will receive rewards for collecting evidence of Cerberus’ crimes along the way. Every completed rescue and intelligence discovery in Infiltrator will increase a player’s Galactic Readiness rating directly through the Galaxy at War system in Mass Effect 3.

Mass Effect 3 Datapad is the must-have companion application that gives players access to Mass Effect 3 anytime, anywhere. Players can dive deeper into the Mass Effect fiction, get the latest news and deploy troops to help fight the Reaper invasion in an in-app mini-game. Fans can also receive messages from characters with whom they’ve interacted in Mass Effect 3, get up-the-minute alliance news as it breaks, and download the latest Mass Effect screenshots, videos, and wallpapers.

Mass Effect Infiltrator is now available in the App Store for $7.49. Mass Effect Datapad is free to download and will hit the App Store this week.

Check out the trailer for Mass Effect Infiltrator here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o-ZtIEJj1g&feature=youtu.be

Open Beta Version of SDK to be released in April, Official Version to be released later this year

Tokyo, March 7, 2012 – Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCE) today announced that it will release the open beta version of PlayStation_®Suite SDK^*1  to content developers in April 2012 and the official version later this year.  Through the introduction of these SDKs, SCE will offer a more streamlined content development environment for content developers, and further expand the world of PlayStation_® to open operating system based portable devices.

In November 2011, SCE released the closed beta version of PlayStation_®Suite SDK to limited content developers in Japan, United States and the United Kingdom.  The upcoming open beta version incorporates their feedback and will dramatically enhance convenience and efficiency of the content development environment.  The phased rollout of the open beta version will start in April 2012 free of charge, by expanding target countries in addition to Japan, United States and the United Kingdom. Developers will also be able to conduct performance verification of their content developed with the open beta version on PlayStation_®Vita.

SCE will also release the official version of PlayStation_®Suite SDK at $99 US annually later this year,  allowing content developers to have their content distributed through the PlayStation_®Store^*2 on a commercial basis.  Through the official version, content developers will also be able to seamlessly continue to develop content which was created with the open beta or the closed beta versions.

For further details of the open beta version and the official version, we will guide to the special site later when ready.

Furthermore, SCE will be adding content for PlayStation_®Suite in Japan, United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Spain and Australia. The phased rollout of the update will start later this year, by improving  PlayStation_®Suite presence on PlayStation_®Store for users who want to enjoy a variety of content with ease and convenience on their PlayStation™Certified devices. SCE will also deliver content created through the official version of PlayStation_®Suite SDK after the necessary procedure is completed.

As of March 7, 2012, the line-up of PlayStation™Certified devices include Xperia™ arc, Xperia™ acro, Xperia™ PLAY, Xperia™ acro HD, Xperia™ S, Xperia™ ion^*3 from Sony Mobile Communications AB, and “Sony Tablet” S and “Sony Tablet” P from Sony Corporation.  SCE will continue to further accelerate the expansion of PlayStation™Certified devices.

Through PlayStation_®Suite, SCE will deploy various measures to support content developers in their business, and expand the PlayStation® entertainment experience on an open operating system.

Gameplay Footage Shows High-Flying PvP Action

6^th March, 2012 — Wargaming.net, the award-winning online game developer and publisher, is giving players a glimpse today of the first gameplay footage from its highly-anticipated flight combat action MMO World of Warplanes.

The gameplay trailer was captured during the game’s current Global Alpha test phase, and features high-flying PvP action in a variety of different warplanes.

“We’re excited to introduce the debut gameplay trailer just in time for the Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco,” said Wargaming.net CEO Victor Kislyi. “The graphics are sleek and impressive and getting better every day — it’s going to be brilliant.”

About World of Warplanes

World of Warplanes is a flight combat MMO action game set in the “Golden Age” of military aviation. The game continues the armored warfare theme marked in the highly-acclaimed World of Tanks, throwing players into a never-ending tussle for air dominance.

Based purely on aircraft setting, World of Warplanes will allow players to build full-scale careers as virtual pilots. The game offers planes from several key eras, staring from the 1930s biplanes, and up to the Korean War jet fighters that led the way for modern air forces.

World of Warplanes will feature a wide range of warbirds, each of them unique in their effectiveness and behavior. Virtual pilots can choose from three main warplane classes: single-engine light fighters capable of engaging enemies in close dogfights, heavy fighters with deadly straight attacks, and ground-attack planes, a fearsome threat for ground targets.

Every plane will feature multiple variations of weapons and ammo types, engines, and other crucial modules. Various combinations will allow players to pick optimal configurations for the most effective behavior in combat.

Find out more about World of Warplanes at:

• http://www.worldofwarplanes.com/

About Wargaming.net®

Wargaming.net® is an award-winning online game developer and publisher and one of the leaders in the free-to-play MMO market. Since 1998, the company has published more than 15 titles, including the highly acclaimed Massive Assault and Order of War series. Currently Wargaming.net is focused on establishing an MMO war trilogy that will include their flagship armored World of Tanks, the flight combat World of Warplanes (one of the most anticipated MMOs for 2012), and the naval World of Battleships scheduled for release in 2013.

Official web site: www.wargaming.net

Go Behind-the-Scenes on the Set of The Sims 3 Showtime Trailer Shoot with Katy Perry

Ever wonder what it’s like to be on set with Katy Perry? Here’s your chance! In the newest video for The Sims 3 Showtime, Katy Perry takes you behind-the-scenes on the set of her trailer shoot for The Sims 3 Showtime. See Katy’s personal commentary about the creative direction behind the shoot as she describes how the video is reminiscent of her own career and rise to fame from humble beginnings to global superstardom. In the trailer, Katy performs her newest single, “Part of Me” and touches on her excitement to be a part of The Sims.

Make your rise to fame in The Sims 3 Showtime and The Sims 3 Showtime Katy Perry Collector’s Edition! Both gameshit store shelves on March 8, 2012 in Australia and March 9, 2012 in New Zealand.In this new expansion pack to the wildly popular The Sims 3, players have a new outlet to play with life in the glamorous world of Starlight Shores as they rise to fame as a singer, magician, acrobat or DJ. They’ll help their Sims build the necessary skills to put on a showstopping performance all the while honing their talents, acquiring crowd approval and showcasing unique skills as they strive to become a mega-star. The Sims 3 Showtime Katy Perry Collector’s Edition Expansion pack featuresin-game Katy Perry-themed outfits, props and objects as well as a special poster. Both titles are rated M for Mature.

For more information, please visit http://thesims.com/showtime.