Microsoft is reportedly set to offer an upgrade programme for customers buying new Windows 7 PCs after June, offering a discounted upgrade to Windows 8.
Windows 7 was offered as a free upgrade in the last remaining months before the operating system launched but CNET Microsoft expert Mary Jo Foley says that the upgrade will be limited to Windows 8 Pro and will come at a cost.
The scheme will be launched in the same time frame as the arrival of the Release Preview (what Microsoft is calling the usual Released Candidate) for Windows 8 and will persist until January next year, Foley said.
If the details of the scheme are accurate then it's interesting to note that there's no free option, or an option to move to the entry level Windows 8 SKU. It might be that Microsoft thinks most people that are interested in upgrading to Windows 8 are the tech savvy crowd who will also be happy to pay for the new OS.
Microsoft has not revealed any details officially so this one should still be considered a rumour.

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...pgrades/028339 ...

Graphics specialist Nvidia has officially launched a new mid-range variant of the Kepler GPU architecture with the GeForce GTX 670.
Based on Nvidia's new 28nm Kepler graphics architecture, the GTX 670 provides "dramatically improved levels of price-performance, power efficiency and whisper-quiet operation for PC gamers," the company said.
Needless to say the usual tech sites dusted off their benchmark suites and put the new card through its paces. It was always going to be good news given the warm welcome received by the flagship GTX 680 but how does it compare against AMD's best, the Radeon HD 7950 and 7970?
Anandtech chose to summarise the card's perforce by saying that in the worst case it was as fast as AMD's Radeon HD 7950 but in the best case it performed like AMD's flagship 7970. The salient feature is that the card is priced at the same level as AMD's cheaper offering, delivering a firm advantage to Nvidia's new entry.
Cards based on the GeForce GTX 670 have hit the UK channel priced between £319 up to over £400 for overclocked versions.

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...gtx-670/028340 ...

The ultimate Star wars fans game console, heres the details:



Xbox 360 320GB Star Wars Console with Kinect

This first ever custom Xbox 360 and Kinect bundle includes an R2-D2 blue-and-white themed console, a custom Xbox 360 Wireless Controller inspired by C-3PO and the first ever white Kinect sensor. Kinect brings games and entertainment to life in extraordinary new ways – no controller required. Easy to use and instantly fun, Kinect gets everyone off the couch moving, laughing and cheering. See a ball? Kick it. Control an HD movie with a wave of the hand. Want to join a friend in the fun? Simply jump in. Wi-Fi is built-in for easier connection to the world of entertainment on Xbox LIVE, where HD movies and TV stream in an instant. Xbox 360 is more games, entertainment and fun.



Xbox 360 320GB Star Wars Console
View larger.
Product Features
White Kinect Sensor: With this first ever white Kinect sensor, you can experience gaming like never before. Easy to use and fun for everyone, the Kinect sensor utilizes revolutionary full-body tracking to put you in the center of the fun. This amazing new technology allows the sensor to recognize your body and mirror your movements in the game, making you the controller. With Kinect Xbox 360 now has the best controller ever made – YOU.

Built-in Wi-Fi: The new Xbox 360 is the only console with 802.11n Wi-Fi built-in for a faster and easier connection to Xbox LIVE. Stream HD movies and TV or download games from Xbox LIVE in 1080p and 5.1 surround sound from anywhere in the house. Compatible with b/g/n networks.

Xbox LIVE: Xbox LIVE brings a world of entertainment to you. Instantly watch movies and TV streaming from Lovefilm, Netflix, Sky Player and more. In crystal-clear HD, or download game add-ons like new levels, characters, maps and songs. Easily jump right into online multiplayer fun and play along with friends around the world. Plus, get your favorite music from Last.fm, connect with friends on Facebook® and post Tweets on Twitter. Xbox LIVE is your connection to more games, entertainment and fun.

C3-PO-themed Xbox 360 Wireless Controller: This custom award-winning, high-performance wireless controller features a range of up to 30 feet and a battery life of up to 30 hours on two AA batteries.

More ports: Connect more accessories and storage solutions with added USB ports. Now with a total of 5, (3 back/2 front) you’ll find more places to plug and play. Plus, in addition to the standard Ethernet port and HDMI output, we’ve added an integrated optical audio out port for an easier connection to the booming sound of your A/V receiver.

Kinect Star Wars game: Kinect Star Wars brings the Star Wars Universe to life like never before. Harnessing the controller-free power of Kinect for Xbox 360, Kinect Star Wars allows fans to physically experience training as a Jedi, using the Force and battling with a lightsaber. Using full body motions, players can live out the ultimate Star Wars fantasy, no controller required.

What’s In The Box?
R2-D2-themed 320GB Xbox 360 Console with custom sounds
White Kinect Sensor for Xbox 360
Kinect Star Wars game
Kinect Adventures game
C3PO-themed Xbox 360 Wireless Controller
Xbox 360 wired headset

One Month Xbox LIVE Gold Membership

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Xbox-320GB-S..._rd_i=11056131 ...

The Xbox 360 is the most popular non-PC device for viewing online video, beating out iOS and Android handhelds, according to a study by online-video ad company Freewheel. Freewheel measured "professional content" only, meaning video that runs with ads -- meaning it really conducted a study on how many online ads we watch -- from companies such as NBC, CBS, ESPN and Vevo. The study didn't account for Netflix or YouTube viewership.

Xbox 360 took 28.2 percent of all viewership, followed by iPad with 27.1 percent, then iPhone, Android and iPod Touch on a decreasing scale.

In March, Microsoft announced that Xbox 360 owners use the console more for its entertainment apps than for any actual gaming purposes, spending more than half of their Xbox time on Netflix and other music and video applications. Even though the Freewheel study doesn't include Netflix views, it does support the console evolutionary theory: One day our gaming consoles will have mutated so drastically that we'll have an entirely new species, called simply "entertainment consoles."
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/05/13/st...hing-video-ad/
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Didn’t we learn anything from RoboCop? We could totally see (which happens to weigh five tons) going out of control and liquefying an unsuspecting movie extra standing near it. [via Dvice]

http://hackaday.com/2012/05/13/hacka...may-13th-2012/ ...

You might remember Le Pan's tablets from CES this year, of which only one was truly ready at the time. The company is now ready to hit the US in earnest, but you'll have to forget the company name along with the earlier designs: it's now Matsunichi, and it's planning to kick off its US-ready makeover through the MarquisPad MP977. The tablet shares the 9.7-inch, 1024 x 768 display of the Le Pan II, but it's now running a slightly speedier dual-core, 1.2GHz TI chip (likely the same OMAP 4430 as in the Droid Xyboard), ships with Android 4.0 out of the gate and comes in a sleeker -- not to mention browner -- shell. Storage is being cut in half over the Le Pan II to just 4GB between the internal memory and a bundled microSD card, though, and the battery is good for a very modest five hours. Nonetheless, the $249 sticker and a May release will put the MP977 in the running with the slower but more capaciousGalaxy Tab 2 7.0.
Matsunichi also teased us with a roadmap for a pair of future tablets in the process. The 10.1-inch MP1010 will keep the resolution, but it'll run on a quicker 1.5GHz TI processor and carry a total of 10GB of space when it appears sometime between June and August. If those 0.4 inches of extra glass are just too much to bear, an MP979 will bring all the extra storage and speed of the MP1010 to a 9.7-inch screen sometime between August and September.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/12/m...-mp977-tablet/ ...

It would appear that the PSP is starting to be phased out
US-based consumers will have to look long and hard for PSP titles, now that GameStop is starting to reduce inventory around the country. GameStop has confirmed that the smallest 25 percent of stores will have their PSP inventories removed altogether in an effort to consolidate supply.
"The consolidation is occurring to maximize the merchandising space in the smallest 25 percent of stores," said GameStop to Kotaku. "It will also provide a greater assortment in those stores that will continue to carry the category."
As the PS Vita starts to wind up in the US market, the prospect of PSP titles making a major splash seems all the less likely. Vita does not have a UMD drive, and requires all PSP titles to be purchased digitally.
GameStop will still carry PSP games on their online store, as well as the larger locations around the US.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-of-all-stores

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Sony attracted unwanted attention to PS Vita's poor sales this week - but it can still turn this console around, argues Rob Fahey
There were quite a few things in Sony's final results for fiscal 2011/12 which raised eyebrows - not least of all the headline figure, a vast loss of ¥456.7 billion(around €4.4 billion) whose only redeeming feature is that it's not quite as high as the forecast made last month. Most of Sony's real losses originated in the Consumer Products and Services Division, which filed an enormous ¥229.8 billion operating loss. That's relevant to us, because along with LCD TVs, Vaio PCs and digital cameras, that division also houses Sony Computer Entertainment and the PlayStation business.
Away from the headline figures, though, it was an omission that really got eyebrows around the industry heading for the hairline. Sony, like most hardware manufacturers, generally tells the world how many units of hardware it sold in its financial results. That held true in today's financial figures, with the company confessing to dropping sales across the board - figures for everything the firm sells were down, including the figures for its three game platforms, the PS3, PSP and PS2.
"While the industry loves the Vita, consumers simply don't seem to care about it"

Wait... Three? Yes, in spite of the detail being provided elsewhere, none of which was particularly flattering (PS3 software sales were the sole bright point), the PlayStation Vita wasn't anywhere to be found in the report. That omission was corrected by Kaz Hirai on the earnings call a little while later, with the newly anointed company boss revealing that PS Vita sales sat at 1.8 million worldwide in March. The lack of figures in the report, however, was enough to draw attention to the struggling handheld, and has raised the question of the prospects for the device once again.
Speculation as to why Sony didn't simply cite Vita figures in its report is a fairly fruitless thing to engage in. 1.8 million by the year's end is a weak figure, significantly behind the 3DS at a comparable point in its life (ahead of the steep price cut), but it's more likely that Sony simply didn't want to include a system only launched last December in a table of year-on-year comparisons than that it thought it could hide poor sales by leaving them out of the report. Vita is Sony's latest device and the focus of intense interest from the industry and media alike. Nobody was ever going to flick through Sony's presentation slides and just forget that Vita existed. Information like that simply doesn't hide or slip by quietly in the internet age.
Regardless of motive, Vita's figures are out there now, and they're dismal. The console seems to be in a very peculiar place in terms of its market position. Unlike the 3DS, which was widely derided at its launch, with every two-bit pundit having a view on why it was destined for miserable failure, the Vita seems to be genuinely well-liked. I've yet to speak to anyone, within the industry or outside it, who has a strong view that says that the Vita is a poor system, or that its software line-up was disappointing (slow since launch, perhaps, but not disappointing overall). Yet the system is struggling to achieve even the modest success (and I'm really being kind there) which the 3DS enjoyed prior to its price cut.
Does that reflect a dangerous disconnection between the games industry and its consumers? While the industry loves the Vita, consumers simply don't seem to care about it. Viewed from certain angles, that's a fairly worrying situation - but then again, it's hardly the first time this has happened. Games industry types love underdogs and have a taste for the obscure. The Neo Geo, the Saturn, the WonderSwan, the Dreamcast, the GameCube - hell, even the original Xbox - all of them are consoles resoundingly rejected by the public but utterly embraced by those within the industry. Watch the eyes of any game developer or journalist (two species with more in common than they like to admit) light up when they find a truly obscure piece of failed game hardware in a Japanese second-hand emporium, and you'll see what I mean. It's not wrong or strange for creators and those most tightly engaged with a medium to root for underdogs, and it doesn't necessarily imply that they're out of touch with their consumers.
On the other hand, that's not a very reassuring idea for Sony, who would definitely rather that its new console didn't get added to a list of companions like the DreamCast or the WonderSwan. On that front, there's good news, and there's bad news.
The good news is that Nintendo has proven firmly that even in a post-iOS world, there's a market for dedicated handheld game consoles. Worldwide sales of the 3DS are poised to blast through 20 million (if they haven't already done so), which frankly, is far ahead of what even the most optimistic observers thought possible from the device's first year or so on the market. Apple's devices dwarf Nintendo's sales, of course, but Nintendo ...

US retail results have arrived for April.
NPD’s latest report states hardware sales accounted for $189.7m, accessories brought in $148.6m, and software sales contributed $292.1m. In terms of year-over-year, accessories saw a very marginal increase, while hardware and software sales saw dramatic drops.
Microsoft continued to dominate the US hardware chart, finishing ahead of the pack for the 16^th consecutive month. 236,000 360 systems were sold during the period, with the Kinect Star Wars bundle helping to drive the average selling price up for hardware in general.
Prototype 2 claimed the top spot in software sales, with Kinect Star Wars finishing in second as the number one selling exclusive.
The industry as a whole brought in $630.4m, down 32 per cent from last year’s $930.9m (though the NPD did add that the ‘total consumer spend’ on games including digital is estimated at $1bn).
Here is the full list of April’s top sellers:
Top 10 Games (New Physical Retail only; across all platforms including PC)

1. Prototype 2 (360,PS3)
2. Kinect Star Wars (360)
3. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (360, PS3, Wii, PC)
4. Tiger Woods: PGA Tour 13 (360, PS3)
5. NBA 2K12 (360, PS3, Wii, PSP, PS2, PC)
6. The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings (360, PC)
7. Mario Party 9 (Wii)
8. Mass Effect 3 (360, PS3, PC)
9. Just Dance 3 (Wii, 360, PS3)
10. MLB: The Show (PS3, PSV)

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/april...er-year/095840 ...