Snipers and Intelligence Officers Go Up Against Rifleman And Assassins In The Ultimate Battle of Axis vs. Allies from the Creators of Quake Wars Online and Soldier of Fortune Online

Seoul, Korea, June 22, 2011 – Joymax, a leading online game developer and publisher, today unveiled the details behind the characters of its highly-anticipated Online FPS, Karma Online: Prisoners of the Dead. The game, which just completed it closed beta testing phase today won’t leave players waiting long for another chance to play as the Pre-Open Beta begins on July 5th. To sign up for the upcoming tests and learn more about the game, players can visit http://www.joymax.com/karma/ .

To tide players over, Joymax has compiled a select personnel file on just a few of the many interesting playable characters available for either side. Some of these were playable during the closed beta, while others will be playable for the first time during open beta or at launch. Each character has their own area of expertise which can be adjusted with skills to suit any player’s style!

The Axis

Karl Tönitz is an upcoming character featured as the “poster boy” for the Axis. Born in 1921, at a tender 24 years old, he has risen through the ranks and now works within the Armored Division of Führer’s Armed Guards as an Intelligence Officer. He has a full set of twelve skills, focusing on accuracy and movement — he gets into position quickly and can unerringly shoot his quarry without blinking an eye.

Otma Waldorov is a newly recruited soldier for the Axis forces. Born in 1923, he was recruited not long ago for his ability to handle a gun, and was placed in the German 12th Infantry Division as a Rifleman. His six skills revolve around reducing recoil and improving aim. He can also send out a dying message to his comrades, showing their positions on the map so his teammates can exact revenge.

Ryuva Makinova is the youngest member of the current Axis forces; recruited as much for her beauty as for her battle prowess, she picks up a gun with pride for the Red Army General Staff Office as an undercover agent. A smaller figure on the battlefield, she can call in a deadly artillery attack, can dash to an advantageous position, and has increased accuracy while shooting on the run.

The Allies

Eileen is a mysterious woman with no stated last name; her file contains enough black ink to print a dozen propaganda posters. Born in 1923, she was trained as a young girl to use a variety of weapons; now at 22, she is an established Rifleman in the Red Army ‘Leningrad Military District’, an undisputed part of the Allies. Like her female counterparts in the Axis, her small size allows for faster movement, and improved accuracy.

Georgy Juikov is a senior member of the Red Army “Leningrad Military District”; born in 1896, he will turn 50 later this year. An Intelligence Officer, he is able to disable the enemies’ mini-maps, as well as spy on their locations if he cannot respawn. His long-time service has given him considerable stamina, and his experience can aid his fellow Allies in spotting opposing troops.

Vasily Jaichev will be joining the Red Army “Leningrad Military District” later this year. With keen survival instincts, he has survived to see his 52nd year, and looks forward to retirement at the end of the war. His Assassination skill means he can defeat an enemy without leaving a trace. His long-time experience as a Sniper, he is able to hold his breath for a longer period of time, and his aim is unshaken as he sets the enemy in his sights.

Developed in conjunction with Dragonfly, and published by Joymax, KARMA Online: Prisoners of the Dead is the newest installment in the KARMA Online series, the top online first-person shooter series in Korea. Players go back in time to World War II, where they must choose to side with the Axis or Allied powers and join the fight for global victory – with a zombie twist. In this virtual and historical simulation, players will be up against enemy troops as well as hundreds of the walking dead from the remains of the catastrophic battle.

To become a fan of Karma Online: Prisoners of the Dead, players can visit http://www.facebook.com/#!/KarmaPOD or http://twitter.com/karmapod and http://www.youtube.com/user/KarmaPOD. Watch for contests that will be running now until Pre-Open Beta on Facebook.

Sonic the Hedgehog Hits Now Available for up to 50 Percent Off! 

Celebrate Sonics 20^th Anniversary on PlayStation®Network and Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

Wednesday 22^nd June 2011 —To celebrate the 20 years that have passed since Sonic the Hedgehog first sped into living rooms the world over, SEGA® Europe Ltd. Inc. today announced a sale of Sonic titles currently available for PlayStation®Network and Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. From 23^rd June through to 28^th July, downloadable titles and add-ons including Sonic the Hedgehog™ 4 Episode 1 and Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing™ can be purchased with up to 50% off!

The Sonic the Hedgehog anniversary bundle is available until 12^th July on the PlayStation Network, providing gamers with four complete Sonic adventures for only £13.99/ €17.99/ AU$ 27.99.

Sale-priced Sonic titles on Xbox LIVE Marketplace are available with up to 50% off including popular titles such as Sonic & Knuckles™ and Sonic Adventure from 240 Microsoft points until 28^th July.

For more details about Sonic’s 20^th anniversary visit www.sonicthehedgehog.com.

Update: The Nicholson Electroplating DLC case is now available worldwide for Xbox 360 and in North America for PS3. Anyone with the L.A. Noire Rockstar Pass on Xbox 360 or PS3 should also now be able to download the Nicholson Electroplating DLC. PS3 users in Europe should see the case become available first thing tomorrow morning.

ACRONIS SHIPS ACRONIS^®BACKUP & RECOVERY™ 11 

New product family for integrated disaster recovery and data protection

Sydney, 22 June 2011 – Acronis, a leading provider of easy-to-use disaster recovery and data protection solutions for physical, virtual and cloud environments, today announced the general availability of Acronis^® Backup & Recovery™ 11. The new product, which allows organisations to simplify their disaster recovery and data protection needs, is now available to purchase from Acronis channel partners.

Built upon Acronis’ established disk imaging technology, the business product family provides the market’s first affordable solution for integrated disaster recovery and data protection in one. Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 offers both data-centric and system-centric views of physical and virtual machines as well as providing secure offsite storage; this allows IT managers to simplify their operations from one unified platform, therefore saving costs.

“Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 is a step ahead when it comes to integrated backup, disaster recovery and data protection. Combining these in one platform and one solution opens new ways to implement policies and disaster recovery strategies across our organisation,” said Sven Dreyfeldt, Siemens IT Solutions and Services GmbH.

“File-level backup and recovery on its own is an incomplete strategy when it comes to meeting today’s stringent recovery time objectives (RTOs) for complete system recovery,” says Lauren Whitehouse, senior analyst at ESG. “Solidifying solutions for bare metal recovery and file-level protection together makes sense in order to allow for more complete and robust disaster recovery and data protection strategies for small to medium sized businesses.”

Key new features include:

• Disaster Recovery and Data Protection in one solution
• System-centric approach to restore all data, files, applications and operating systems through disk imaging technology for fast restoration
• Data-centric approach allowing IT managers to recover, manage and search for individual files from a backup no matter where they’re located in the backup file archive

• Support for physical, virtual and cloud environments
• One of the few solutions available where IT managers can back up both physical and virtual environments, plus with Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Online™ files and full system images can be stored securely in the cloud

• New Virtualization features
• Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 Virtual Edition™ supports an unlimited number of migrations to and from the host machine
• Place an agent into the virtual machine and manage it exactly as you would manage a physical machine; and/or use a single host-based agent for VMware^® vSphere™ or Microsoft^® Hyper-V™ to manage all virtual machines on a host at once
• Simultaneous backups of virtual machines reduce virtual backup windows

• Ease of management
• Disaster Recovery Plans provide step-by-step instructions enabling even non-IT personnel to recover systems

Pricing and availability:

Acronis^® Backup & Recovery™ 11 is available now from Acronis channel partners. Acronis^® Backup & Recovery™ 11 Advanced Server version is at A$1649. Support for Microsoft^® Exchange Server 2010 and Microsoft^® SQL Server will be coming at a later date.

Notes to Editors: 

Acronis^® Backup & Recovery™ 11 was announced on May 3^rd, 2011 http://www.acronis.com.au/pr/2011/05/04-05-41.html.

SYDNEY, Australia—22 June 2011—Apple® today announced Final Cut Pro® X, a revolutionary new version of the world’s most popular Pro video editing software which completely reinvents video editing with a Magnetic Timeline that lets you edit on a flexible, trackless canvas; Content Auto-Analysis that categorises your content upon import by shot type, media and people; and background rendering that allows you to work without interruption. Built on a modern 64-bit architecture, Final Cut Pro X is available from the Mac® App Store™ for Recommended Retail Price (RRP) AUD$349.99 inc GST.

“Final Cut Pro X is the biggest advance in Pro video editing since the original Final Cut Pro,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “We have shown it to many of the world’s best Pro editors, and their jaws have dropped.”

“I’m blown away by what Apple has done with Final Cut Pro,” said Angus Wall, Academy Award-winning film editor. “Final Cut Pro X is incredibly modern and fast, but most importantly it lets you focus on telling your story in the most creative way, while it actively manages all of the technical details.”

At the heart of Final Cut Pro X is the Magnetic Timeline, a trackless approach to editing your footage that lets you add and arrange clips wherever you want them, while other clips instantly slide out of the way. You can use Clip Connections to link primary story clips to other elements like titles and sound effects, so they stay in perfect sync when you move them. You can even combine related story elements into a Compound Clip that can be edited as a single clip. The groundbreaking new Auditions feature lets you swap between a collection of clips to instantly compare alternate takes.

Content Auto-Analysis scans your media on import and tags your content with useful information. Final Cut Pro X then uses that information to dynamically organise your clips into Smart Collections, so you can easily find the clips you want by close up, medium and wide shots as well as media type and the number of people in the shot. You can also tag parts of clips with Range-based keywords to add custom search criteria to your media.

Completely rebuilt from the ground up, Final Cut Pro X is a 64-bit app that takes full advantage of the latest Mac hardware and software so you never have to wait for the next edit, even if you’re working with 4K video. Final Cut Pro X uses multi-threaded processing and the GPU on your graphics card for blazing fast background rendering and superb real-time playback performance. Additionally, a ColorSync-managed color pipeline ensures colour consistency from import to output.

Final Cut Pro X also includes powerful tools for audio editing and colour correction, and is complemented by two companion apps, Motion 5 for professional motion graphics and Compressor 4 for advanced media encoding, available from the Mac App Store for RRP AUD$59.99 inc GST each.

Pricing & Availability
Final Cut Pro X is available today for RRP AUD$349.99 inc GST from the Mac App Store. Motion 5 and Compressor 4 are available today for RRP AUD$59.99 inc GST each from the Mac App Store. Full system requirements and more information on Final Cut Pro X can be found at www.apple.com/au/finalcutpro.

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 has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

ADELAIDE, Australia
June 21st, 2011 – Critical Mass, the 3D action puzzle game by Manic Game Studios, is now available for $9.99 USD on Steam, ImpulseDriven and CriticalMassGame.com, with a special offer for Steam users of 10% off the regular price during the first week of sale.

Critical Mass is an action puzzle game that takes the traditional match 3 game style and brings it into the world of 3D. The game combines fast addictive gameplay with strategy to create a new and innovative play experience. With 3 levels of difficulty and 4 distinct game modes, Critical Mass aims to entertain everyone from new gamers to hardened veterans.

The game is available for PC only on release with plans to expand to Mac and iOS in the near future.

Website: http://criticalmassgame.com

Video Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QikguKClRpA

This is one cool piece of technology.

For $500USD, you get a 24″ 3D TV, hdmi cable, pair of 3D glasses, and the FPS sequel Resistance 3. Now that’s a pretty cool deal on its own, and nothing to sneeze at. The 3D works great, the extra glasses are relatively inexpensive (clocking in at under 70 bucks), and the screen gives a great, clear image. But the really cool part of this is how they’ve doubled up on new tech, giving players a way to have 2 players on the same TV with no split-screen. Instead of splitting the screen in half vertically or horizontally, it layers the images. With a touch of a button on the glasses, players can switch between the player 1 and player 2 screen, and the glasses isolate only that image. There is no bleed over, and the image you see is clear and strong (though obviously a little darker due to the shading of the glasses themselves). It makes the value of the 24″ screen that much higher, and makes this a perfect TV for a dorm or bedroom.