Contour releases a free, world-first application connecting hands-free video to Android smartphones

Sydney, July 20, 2011 – Contour, the market leader in hands-free video cameras, today launches its highly anticipated Android mobile application.

Joining its iOS application, the Android app now means Android powered smartphones can act as wireless viewfinders for Contour+ and ContourGPS cameras.

The app allows users to align their shots and adjust their camera settings remotely in real-time, and is available for free at Contour.com and in the Android Market.

With the growing prevalence of Android smartphones in the Australian market, the app comes at the perfect time for many tech-savvy outdoor enthusiasts.

By converting the Android into a real-time viewfinder, the Android app helps users to see what their camera sees, giving them complete control over the composition of their footage.

It ensures once-in-a-lifetime moments are captured exactly how users envision them, saving time in post-production and enabling users to relive adventure experiences in their truest form.

“Our mobile apps push video storytelling further forward by providing what other hands-free cameras don’t: a wireless viewfinder,” said Marc Barros, Contour CEO.

“Contour is the first hands-free video camera that connects to mobile devices to create a complete and powerful action video experience.”

The Contour Android mobile application lets explorers:

· Align and preview the shot: a Bluetooth connection sends images between camera and an Android smartphone, creating a live wireless viewfinder; explorers can set up the perfect shot before recording, making crooked, misaligned footage a thing of the past

· Adjust settings in real time: the mobile app lets explorers change video mode, adjust the microphone volume and react to lighting conditions in the most remote locations

· Check the camera’s vitals: read battery, memory and GPS signal status on-the-go

About Contour

Contour is a market leader in the hands-free video camera category. Producing simple, thoughtfully designed and intuitive adventure storytelling tools, Contour cameras give modern day explorers a unique opportunity to capture the best of the outdoors. Location-based video allows adventure types to relive and replay their personal tales of action, adventure and travel, sharing them with world at the touch of a button. For more information please contact Meeco Sales, Australian distributor for Contour, on 1800 722 041 or visit www.contouraustralia.com.au

RELEASE DATES CONFIRMED FOR CRUSH3D AND SHINOBI ON NINTENDO 3DS

Shinobi Hits Late 2011 And CRUSH3D Early 2012

Wednesday 20th July 2011 – SEGA Europe Ltd. And SEGA of America today confirmed the release dates for two of their most anticipated Nintendo 3DS™ titles. Shinobi will be released on 10th November 2011, while CRUSH3D will be released on 16th February 2012.

Shinobi for Nintendo 3DS will put players in the shoes of Jiro Musashi, the father of Joe Musashi from the original 1989 release, offering a glimpse into Musashi family history. Sporting a vast story mode as well as an innovative, yet to be announced StreetPass™ mode, Shinobi will keep players coming back for more ninja action.

CRUSH3D is set in the mind of the young protagonist Danny, where he is testing out his friend’s new invention C.R.U.S.H. When the machine falls in love with Danny, he has to work his way through mind-stretching puzzles that blend 2D and 3D elements to escape its clutches.

For more information about Shinobi, please visit http://www.sega-australia.com/games/shinobi/.
For more information about CRUSH3D, please visit http://www.sega-australia.com/games/crush-3d/.

Pulsar.2™ SSD on Track to Ship to Channel in LateJuly
SYDNEY,— July 20th 2011 — Seagate (NASDAQ: STX) today began distribution channel shipments of the Pulsar® XT.2 solid state drive (SSD) that combines outstanding and consistent performance with the data integrity and drive endurance needed for the most demanding enterprise environments, and is on track to commence channel shipments of the Pulsar.2™ SSD, the first Multi-Level Cell (MLC) Flash-enabled SSD from an enterprise hard drive maker, on July 29.

The Pulsar XT.2 SSD combines Single-Level Cell (SLC) flash with a native 6Gb/s Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) interface to make it the fastest drive in the Seagate portfolio. The 2.5-inch SSD with up to 400GB of capacity is optimized for complex, mixed workloads typical of enterprise environments such as online transaction processing (OLTP), database or web indexing, and email.

The Pulsar.2 SSD has been designed specifically for data centers, unlike typical MLC SSDs built for consumer applications, which lack the robust data integrity and reliability required for enterprise applications. The drive, featuring up to 800GB of capacity, automatically detects and corrects any number of data errors that could otherwise plague normal drive operations, delivering the price/performance, data integrity, and endurance needed for performance-hungry enterprise applications. The Pulsar.2 SSD supports both native 6Gb/s SAS and Serial ATA (SATA) 6Gb/s interfaces for primary and secondary server storage.

“Most SSD suppliers aren’t fully aware of the needs of the enterprise,” said Jim Handy of Objective Analysis. “It isn’t just a fast interface like SAS, Fibre Channel, or PCIe that they need, and it isn’t just IOPS levels in the tens to hundreds of thousands. Without data integrity and reliability, an SSD is worthless to most enterprise users. Seagate’s undeniable leadership in the enterprise HDD market has given the company a deep understanding of the necessity of data integrity and endurance.

Pulsar® XT.2 Performance Validated by Industry-Standard SPC-1C Result
The Pulsar XT.2 400GB SSD has met the rigorous standards of the Storage Performance Council (SPC), a vendor-neutral consortium that defines, administers and promotes industry-standard storage benchmarks, for consistent and sustainable enterprise-class performance. The new SPC-1C Result demonstrated that the Pulsar XT.2 SSD delivers the sustainable storage device performance enterprises need round-the-clock – regardless of the workload complexity or changing server input-output (I/O) intensity levels.

Fluctuating workloads, background media management and program/erase functions can lead to erratic SSD performance, compromising a data center’s ability to meet stringent service-level agreements. These concerns can be alleviated by SSDs that hold up under exacting performance tests requiring the devices to sustain maximum I/Os for extended periods.

In a single storage device configuration, the Seagate Pulsar XT.2 SSD produced an SPC-1C Result* of 20,008.82 SPC-1 IOPS with an average response time of 2.05 milliseconds over a 10-minute duration, compared to an SPC-1C Sustainability Test result of 20,011.07 IOPS with an average response time of 2.08 milliseconds over four hours, demonstrating outstanding and consistent enterprise-class performance over time.

The real-world SPC-1C benchmark, designed for storage components, consists of I/O patterns typically found in online transaction processing (OLTP) applications, with a focus on random accesses. Unlike Iometer testing, which gauges IOPS performance using discrete measurements of random reads, random writes, sequential reads or sequential writes, SPC-1C benchmarks test storage components using a dynamic blend of random and sequential reads and writes to emulate real-world enterprise workloads. Storage professionals worldwide view the SPC as the definitive source for independent and verifiable comparisons of real-world application performance.

As part of the SPC-1C Result, the Pulsar XT.2 SSD also met the new SPC-1C requirement for data prefilling. Prefilling reduces any potential performance gains storage component vendors may produce by destroking a device, or limiting access to certain portions of the storage space to artificially increase performance. Prefilling writes random data to the entire addressable space of the drive.

* Details of the Seagate Pulsar XT.2 SSD SPC-1C Result can be found at: http://www.storageperformance.org/results/benchmark_results_spc1c/#c00012

THQ UNVEILS CELEBRITY TALENT IN SAINTS ROW: THE THIRD

Sasha Grey, Hulk Hogan and Daniel Dae Kim headline all-star cast

Sasha Grey, Hulk Hogan, and Daniel Dae Kim will headline the all-star cast of Saints Row®: The Third™, lending their voice talent to key characters in the upcoming open-world action game, THQ and Volition, Inc. announced today.

Actress Sasha Grey (The Girlfriend Experience, Entourage) takes on the role of Viola DeWynter, who along with her twin sister Kiki, are the masterminds of the Syndicate’s financial empire. Through Viola and Kiki’s savvy, if not ruthless business sense, the Syndicate’s profits have increased ten-fold in Steelport.

Legendary professional wrestler Hulk Hogan steps into the role of Angel De LaMuerte, a legendary professional wrestler. Betrayed by his former tag-team partner Killbane, now the merciless leader of the Luchadores street gang, Angel teams with the Saints to take over Steelport, and exact his own brand of violent revenge.

Daniel Dae Kim (Saints Row® 2, Lost, Hawaii Five-0) reprises his role as Johnny Gat, chief lieutenant of the Third Street Saints and your right-hand in Saints Row®: The Third™. Now an international celebrity, Gat is the epitome of high-class crime as he licenses his likeness to Saints clothing lines, Saints energy drinks, and even the classiest ride in Steelport, the Johnny Gat-mobile.

Both Sasha Grey and Hulk Hogan will be attending Comic-Con in San Diego this week, signing autographs on Thursday, July 21 at the Saints Row Booth, #5145. Later, Grey and Hogan will attend the Saints Row media event at the FLOAT rooftop bar at the Hard Rock Hotel at 7:00 p.m. in partnership with IGN. The event is by invitation only, and it will be awesome.

For more information, visit SaintsRow.com.

Val Kilmer Headlines Spider-Man: Edge of Time and Milo Ventimiglia Leads X-Men Destiny Casts

Talent to Take Part in Comic-Con Panel on Saturday, July 23, at 10:00am San Diego (USA)

Sydney, Australia – July 20, 2011 – World-famous Super Heroes deserve world-class talent! That’s why, to kick off San Diego Comic-Con 2011, Activision Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) and Marvel Entertainment, LLC are pleased to announce the top-tier celebrity actors that will voice characters in the upcoming Spider-Man™: Edge of Time and X-Men™ Destiny video games. Both games will be playable at this year’s Comic-Con and are set to thrill comic fans this spring.

The highly anticipated Spider-Man: Edge of Time game will feature legendary film star Val Kilmer as Walker Sloan, Smallville and V mainstay Laura Vandervoort as Mary Jane, and Katee Sackhoff, who played Lieutenant Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica, makes her debut as the Black Cat.

Additionally, Heroes icon Milo Ventimiglia, Sucker Punch and The Hangover Part II vixen Jamie Chung and Friday Night Lights star Scott Porter will bring three all-new playable mutant characters — Grant Alexander, Aimi Yoshida and Adrian Luca — to life respectively in X-Men Destiny.

“These amazing casts of talented Hollywood actors help bring the rich storylines of Spider-Man: Edge of Time and X-Men Destiny to life,” said Vicharin Vadakan, Director of Marketing, Activision Publishing. “Players this spring will get to control the destiny of their own mutants or save Spider-Man and through this voice talent feel like they are part of the action.”

Comic-Con fans can also catch their favourite stars from Spider-Man: Edge of Time and X-Men Destiny at the Activision Marvel Video Games Panel where they will join legendary comic creator Stan Lee, Marvel writer Peter David and Beenox Studio Head Dee Brown, among others, to discuss the latest Super Hero adventures and their roles in the upcoming video games. The panel will take place on Saturday, July 23, at 10:00am (PDT) in room 5AB. Show-goers who visit the Activision booth (#5445) will be among the first to get their hands on both games.

About Spider-Man: Edge of Time

Playing the roles of the Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2099, Spider-Man: Edge of Time propels gamers on a high-octane, adrenaline-fueled adventure in which the heroic web-slingers must urgently work together across time to save each other and prevent a disaster that ultimately leads to the death of the Amazing Spider-Man. Against the backdrop of a rich, tightly crafted narrative by acclaimed Marvel veteran writer Peter David, the game features two individual timelines evolving in parallel, as well as “cause-and-effect” moments driven by the narrative. The game utilises “picture-in-picture” moments where the actions of the Spider-Man in the present immediately affect the Spider-Man in the future and his surroundings.

About X-Men Destiny

X-Men Destiny allows gamers to control the fate of one of three brand-new mutant characters forced to choose between saving humanity or ensuring its destruction. Players are able to customise the path, powers and development of their character and decide their role in the mutant cause alongside, or against, some of Marvel’s greatest X-Men franchise characters. Their mutant skills will evolve through a unique upgrade system that allows them to choose how they will mix and match the powers from their favourite X-Men and Brotherhood characters, then engage in fast and furious combat against a variety of opponents bent on defending their beliefs.

Spider-Man: Edge of Time is being developed by Beenox for Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, Wii™ and Nintendo 3DS™. Silicon Knights is developing X-Men Destiny for Xbox 360®, PlayStation®3 system and Wii. Both games are being developed by Other Ocean for Nintendo DS™.

For more information on Spider-Man: Edge of Time and X-Men Destiny tune in to the HeroHQ community on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/HeroHQ.

About Marvel Entertainment

Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of over 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media over seventy years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing and publishing. For more information, visit www.marvel.com.

About Activision Publishing, Inc.

Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision Publishing, Inc. is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products.

Activision maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, South Korea, China and the region of Taiwan. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company’s website, www.activision.com.

BitDefender Internet Security 2011 scores 100 percent for protection

SYDNEY & AUCKLAND – July 15, 2011 – BitDefender, an award-winning provider of innovative Internet security solutions, has scored a perfect 100 percent for threat protection in the June results from independent organization AV-Test. The only other top-scoring product also uses BitDefender technology, meaning BitDefender has outperformed all competitors.

The AV-Test criteria for this category include protection against zero-day malware attacks from the internet, detection of recent malware samples and detection of widespread malware. BitDefender Internet Security 2011 scored 100 percent in all categories.

This round of testing comes soon after AV-Test’s Q1 2011 results, in which BitDefender was the joint-best performer across the categories of protection, repair and performance, and the only product to receive a perfect protection score.

Viorel Canja, BitDefender Head of Labs observed: “We were delighted to receive such positive results in Q1 testing, and this latest monthly test further reinforces the dominant position our technology occupies in the security market.”

“We are building very strong momentum at present. Alongside a host of independent consumer and technology press recommendations, earlier this year we were also given a top rating by independent testing organization AV Comparatives.”

Commenting on the results, Andreas Marx, AV-Test CEO said: “We closely examined 27 different security suites during this round of testing, and once again we congratulate BitDefender for their performance. It is pleasing to see that their technology is performing very impressively at the moment.”

Gamers to get an early glimpse into supernatural thriller at Comic-Con

SYDNEY, Australia – July 20, 2011 – 2K Games announced today that The Darkness™ II, for all previously announced video game consoles and PC, is now planned for release on February 10, 2012 in Australia and New Zealand. Currently in development with Digital Extremes and based on the supernatural horror comic book series created by Top Cow Productions, Inc., The Darkness II delivers a brutal and personal narrative as gamers take control of Jackie Estacado, head of a New York crime family and wielder of an ancient and ruthless force of chaos and destruction known as the Darkness.

Additionally, 2K Games announced their presence at San Diego Comic-Con and will co-host a special panel featuring The Darkness II™ entitled “Spreading The Darkness: From Comic Book to Video Games and Entertainment,” in celebration of the 15^th Anniversary of The Darkness. The discussion around The Darkness II will feature top talent from Top Cow Productions, including CEO and co-creator of The Darkness, Marc Silvestri, and President and COO of Top Cow, Matt Hawkins; developers from Digital Extremes; and in-game voice of the Darkness, Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mr. Bungle and Peeping Tom).

2K Games will also have eight playable demo kiosks of The Darkness II on the San Diego Comic-Con show floor for fans to descend into the gritty and visceral mind of Jackie Estacado.

The Darkness II is the sequel to the million unit-selling 2007 title, The Darkness, and brings a unique new combat mechanic through Quad-Wielding™, which will allow players to slash, grab, and throw objects and enemies with two Demon Arms while simultaneously firing two weapons. The game is layered with thematic elements of dark versus light, steeped in deep and twisted storytelling, and maintains the stylistic violence visualized through a hand-painted graphic noir technique, true to its comic book origins.

The Darkness II is rated MA15+ by the OFLC. For more information on The Darkness II, please visit www.embracethedarkness.com.

2K Games is a division of 2K, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO).

Top Cow Productions, Inc. (www.topcow.com), a Los Angeles-based entertainment company, was founded in December of 1992 by artist Marc Silvestri, who also co-founded Image Comics earlier that same year. Top Cow currently publishes its line of comic books in 21 languages in over 55 different countries. The Darkness is © and ® 2011 Top Cow Productions, Inc.

Logitech webcams enhance Facebook video calling experience

Sydney, Australia — July 20th, 2011 — Logitech, maker of the world’s No. 1 selling webcams, today announced the Australian availability of the Logitech Webcam C170 which makes video calling easy. The newest Logitech webcam is simple to install and use and comes ready to allow the sharing of videos through one-touch upload to Facebook or YouTube.

Logitech has also announced that its family of webcams, including the new Logitech Webcam C170, are compatible with the new Facebook Skype video calling service. While this new service does not offer high definition video calling yet, Logitech’s webcams offer Facebook users a better overall user experience than standard embedded PC webcams. With Logitech webcams, users get improved low light performance, sharper images, smoother video and richer colours.

George Saad, director of Logitech Australia said, “Most of us in Australia have friends and family far away, probably more so than in some other countries, so it makes sense that the number of Australians using Facebook and other social networking sites to stay connected is increasing everyday. With Facebook now offering video chat we can only expect it to become more pervasive – making video calling as commonplace as a phone call. At Logitech, our goal is to ensure these important video interactions are of the highest quality possible.”

The Logitech Webcam C170

The Logitech Webcam C170 is designed with a sleek universal clip to easily fit any laptop or desktop computer. It also has a built-in automatic noise-reduction which is designed to cut annoying choppiness and helps ensure that background noise won’t interfere with calls. Like all Logitech webcams, Logitech Webcam C170 features Logitech Fluid Crystal technology for smoother video, sharper pictures, richer colour and clearer sound in real-world conditions. The webcam offers high-quality video calling, with a frame rate of up to 30 per second for cinematic picture quality and a video capture of 1024 x768 (XVGA) resolution. The webcam also takes software-enhanced, 5-megapixel pictures, offering a quicker way to keep in touch when there is no time for a video call.

The Logitech Webcam C170 is expected to be available in Australia in late July for a suggested retail price of AU$29.95 and is expected to be available at Australia Post, Big W and Bing Lee 

Batman: Arkham City Collector’s Edition Revealed

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Entertainment today unveiled details and images for this spring’s hotly-anticipated Batman: Arkham City Collector’s Edition (available for pre-order at selected retailers). The package will be available in limited quantities for $149.95 beginning Oct. 19, 2011 in Australia for Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system.

The Batman: Arkham City Collector’s Edition will include the following extensive bonus content:

• · Custom Batman statue produced by Kotobukiya
• · Collectible art book
• · Early access to the Iceberg Lounge Challenge Map and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns skin
• · Batman: Arkham City album from WaterTower Music including original songs by hit artists, available via digital redemption
• · Bonus DC Universe animated original movie, Batman: Gotham Knight
• · Four collectible cards

Batman: Arkham City builds upon the intense, atmospheric foundation of Batman: Arkham Asylum, sending players soaring into Arkham City – five times larger than the game world in Batman: Arkham Asylum – and the new maximum security “home” for all of Gotham City’s thugs, gangsters and insane criminal masterminds. Set inside the heavily fortified walls of a sprawling district in the heart of Gotham City, this highly anticipated sequel introduces a brand-new story that draws together a new, all-star cast of classic characters and murderous villains from the Batman universe, as well as a vast range of new and enhanced gameplay features to deliver the ultimate experience as the Dark Knight.

Batman: Arkham City is based on DC Comics’ core Batman license. Fans can visit www.batmanarkhamcity.com to sign up to receive updates regarding the game and join the discussion on the community site at http://community.batmanarkhamcity.com to participate in forums, read upcoming developer diaries and stay abreast of all the latest Batman: Arkham City news.