Jack Skellington brings the spooky to Disney Infinity

Disney Interactive is bringing Disney Infinity’s Jack Skellington to Australian stores. The Pumpkin King of Halloween Town is all scared up and ready to show off his unique charm to Disney Infinity players.

Apple Announces iPad Air—Dramatically Thinner, Lighter & More Powerful iPad‏ - Out November 1st

SAN FRANCISCO - 23 October, 2013 - Apple® today announced iPad Air™, the latest generation of its category defining device, featuring a stunning 9.7-inch Retina® display in a new thinner and lighter design. Precision-engineered to weigh less than half a kilogram, iPad Air is 20 percent thinner and 28 percent lighter than the fourth generation iPad®, and with a narrower bezel the borders of iPad Air are dramatically thinner—making content even more immersive. Apple today also announced iPad mini with Retina display, bringing all the pixels from the 9.7-inch iPad to its 7.9-inch screen, delivering razor sharp text and detail in the same amazingly thin and light design. The new iPads feature the powerful and power-efficient Apple-designed A7 chip with 64-bit desktop-class architecture, ultrafast wireless with faster built-in Wi-Fi and expanded 4G LTE cellular connectivity, and the newly-designed iOS 7 featuring hundreds of great new features.

“iPad created an entirely new mobile computing experience, and the new iPad Air is another big leap ahead. It is so thin, light and powerful, once you hold one in your hand you will understand what a tremendous advancement this is,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “iPad Air with its 9.7-inch Retina display weighs less than half a kilogram and packs the incredible performance of iOS 7 running on a 64-bit desktop-class Apple A7 chip, and delivers all-day battery life in the lightest full-sized tablet in the world.”

Precision-engineered to weigh less than half a kilogram, iPad Air is 20 percent thinner and 28 percent lighter than the fourth generation iPad, and with a 43 percent narrower bezel the borders of iPad Air are dramatically thinner. iPad Air’s Retina display makes web pages, text, images and video look incredibly sharp and realistic, and the new power-efficient A7 chip allows the battery to be even smaller, helping reduce the overall volume by 24 percent from the previous generation while doubling its performance and maintaining its up to 10-hour battery life.¹

The new iPad mini with Retina display packs all the 3.1 million pixels (2048-by-1536 resolution) of iPad Air into its 7.9-inch Multi-Touch™ display, for a pixel density of 326 pixels per inch. The 7.9-inch Retina display of iPad mini is 35 percent larger than screens on 7-inch tablets, and is the only small tablet to deliver the full iPad experience, now with razor sharp Retina quality. Images are crisp, text is crystal clear, movies play at full 1080p HD-resolution and the 475,000 apps designed specifically for iPad work automatically.

The A7 chip in iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display offers 64-bit desktop-class architecture, advanced graphics and improved image signal processing from previous generations. With up to twice the CPU and graphics performance on iPad Air, and up to four times the CPU and eight times the graphics performance on iPad mini with Retina display, almost everything you do is faster and better than ever, from launching apps and editing photos to playing graphic-intensive games—all while delivering all-day battery life. The A7 chip’s 64-bit architecture and support for OpenGL ES version 3.0 unlocks game console-like visual effects. The new iPads also feature the M7 motion coprocessor that gathers data from the accelerometer, gyroscope and compass to offload work from the A7 for improved power efficiency.

Both new iPads feature two antennas to support Multiple-In-Multiple-Out (MIMO) technology, bringing twice the Wi-Fi performance to iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display at a blazingly fast data rate up to 300 Mbps.² Cellular models also come with expanded 4G LTE coverage to accommodate even more 4G LTE networks worldwide, while continuing to deliver comprehensive support for other fast cellular technology around the world (DC-HSDPA, HSPA+), all in a single model.³

iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display now have a next generation FaceTime® HD camera with improved backside illumination sensors featuring larger pixels for better low-light performance. The iSight® camera with 5MP sensor and advanced optics, combined with iOS 7 and the image signal processing of A7, further improves still image and video capture on iPad bringing faster auto-focus, up to three times video zoom, five times still zoom, better dynamic range and automatic image and video stabilisation.

The new iPads come with iOS 7, featuring a stunning new user interface, completely redesigned with an elegant colour palette, distinct, functional layers and subtle motion that make it feel more alive. iOS 7 has hundreds of great new features, including Control Center, Notification Center, improved Multitasking, AirDrop®, enhanced Photos, Safari® and Siri®.

iPad customers have access to the revolutionary App Store℠, which now offers more than one million apps to iPhone®, iPad and iPod touch® users in 155 countries around the world, and more than 475,000 apps are designed specifically for iPad. More than 60 billion apps have been downloaded from the App Store, which offers customers an incredible range of apps in 24 categories, including newspapers and magazines in Newsstand, games and entertainment, kids, education, business, news, sports, health and fitness and travel.

The iLife® suite of creative apps, including iPhoto®, iMovie® and GarageBand®, and the iWork® suite of productivity apps, including Pages®, Numbers® and Keynote® are essential to the Apple experience and are now free with every new iOS device running iOS 7, and are also available as free updates for existing users, so more iPad users now have access to these great apps. All apps have been redesigned to match the look and feel of iOS 7, have been optimised to support 64-bit technology and include hundreds of new features.

Pricing & Availability
iPad Air with Wi-Fi models will be available in silver or space grey starting on Friday, 1 November, for a recommended retail price of AUD$598 inc. GST for the 16GB model, AUD$699 inc. GST for the 32GB model, AUD$799 inc. GST for the 64GB model and AUD$899 inc. GST for the 128GB model. iPad Air with Wi-Fi + Cellular will be available starting on Friday, 1 November for a recommended retail price of AUD$749 inc. GST for the 16GB model, AUD$849 inc. GST for the 32GB model, AUD$949 inc. GST for the 64GB model and AUD$1,049 inc. GST for the 128GB model. iPad 2 is available for a recommended retail price AUD$449 inc. GST for the 16GB Wi-Fi model and AUD$598 inc. GST for the 16GB Wi-Fi + 3G model.

iPad mini with Retina display will be available later in November in silver or space grey. iPad mini with Retina display Wi-Fi models will be available for a recommended retail price of AUD$479 inc. GST for the 16GB model, AUD$598 inc. GST for the 32GB model, AUD$699 inc. GST for the 64GB model and AUD$799 inc. GST for the 128GB model. iPad mini with Retina display Wi-Fi + Cellular models will be available for a recommended retail price of AUD$629 inc. GST for the 16GB model, AUD$749 inc. GST for the 32GB model, AUD$849 inc. GST for the 64GB model and AUD$949 inc. GST for the 128GB model. Additionally, the original iPad mini is now offered at a more affordable recommended retail price of AUD$349 inc. GST for the 16GB Wi-Fi model and AUD$499 inc. GST for the 16GB Wi-Fi + Cellular model.

New custom-designed polyurethane Smart Covers for iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display will be available for AUD$48 inc. GST in a range of vibrant colours, including blue, green, pink, yellow, black and (RED). iPad Air Smart Cases and iPad mini Smart Cases are completely redesigned in a beautiful aniline-dyed leather available in six rich colours, including yellow, beige, blue, brown, black and (RED) for a recommended retail price of AUD$99 inc. GST for iPad Air and AUD$89 inc. GST for iPad mini. Smart Covers and Smart Cases are available through the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com/au), Apple’s retail stores and select Authorised Apple Resellers.

iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display will be sold through the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com/au), Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorised Resellers. Starting on 1 November, iPad Air will be available in the US, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China (Wi-Fi models only), Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao (Wi-Fi models only), Macedonia, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. At Apple retail stores in these countries, iPad Air will be available beginning at 8 a.m. local time on Friday, 1 November.

¹Battery life depends on device settings, usage and other factors. Actual results vary.
²Based on theoretical speeds, actual speeds may vary.
³4G LTE is available through select carriers. Network speeds are dependent on carrier networks. Check with your carrier for details.

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.

DISNEY INFINITY: "Maze Challenge" Top 5 Toy Box Countdown

Disney Infinity - Toybox Mode for iPad

Preview - Disney Infinity

Disney Infinity is a game that took me a few days to full understand. At first glance it looks like it is just a quick cash-in on the Skylanders craze. But then I learnt more about the Toy Box and thought ok, they have added more content in the vein of Little Big Planet 2. But still I felt there was more to know about this game. So learnt more and more, and now I can’t wait for the game.

If you’re not familiar with Disney Infinity, it is a video game that recreates those moments when we were kids where you would take your Transformer toy and you’re GI Joe, or perhaps some race cars, get some floor space and make up your own adventures. That’s what Disney Infinity does, and based on early impressions it is doing it very well.

When you get the starter pack you get 3 figures, Sully from Monsters Inc., Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean and Mr. Incredible from The Incredibles, and the base plate.

Now each of the characters comes with a play space for them. Jack Sparrow will allow you to take to the High Seas or the rowdy pirate town of Tortuga to experience missions and objectives as a pirate. And same with the others, but it’s upon playing through each of those worlds that the fun can really begin. As you progress through the worlds you unlock items for the Toy Box mode, and that’s where you can let your imagination sore, and your character if you give them some wings.

Toy Box mode takes that idea of anything goes to a whole new level. You start off with a basic space, and then you can theme it with Hex Discs, which sit at the back of the base plate. You want the sky to look like it does in Wall-e then you can. How about the ground looks like Niceland from Wreck-it Ralph, you can do that. Then you can build a town, maybe a soccer field, a race track, a 2D platformer, a 3D platformer, a flying game. I think you get the idea.

Each of the worlds you create can be uploaded to your online account and then you can save them down to your iPad and continue to make them while travelling. Of course you might make a great world that you think rocks, so you can submit them to Disney and if they are appropriate then Disney will share them with the world. So your friend who has a different console than you can download and experience your world.

Add to that the fact that Disney will continue to release new characters and playsets, the game will never end.

Disney Infinity hits next week and is looking like it will be a smash hit, and something I cannot wait to play myself.

Deus Ex The Fall now compatible with iPad2

Los Angeles (August 6, 2013) – Square Enix today announced that its mobile title DEUS EX: THE FALL™ now features iPad 2 support. Following the game’s successful launch on select iOS devices, iPad 2 users can now download the game for $6.99 on the iTunes App Store. 

In addition to iPad 2 compatibility, DEUS EX: THE FALL also received a new update that enhances the game’s A.I., making enemies more effective at tracking the player during active combat. Enemies are now less likely to lose sight of the player during gameplay, creating more exciting and challenging combat scenarios.

Winner of seven “Best Mobile/iOS Game” awards at E3 2013*, DEUS EX: THE FALL is the beginning of a new journey in the DEUS EX® series. Set in 2027– a golden era for science, technology and human augmentation, players step into the shoes of Ben Saxon, an augmented former British SAS Mercenary desperate for the truth behind a global drug conspiracy threatening his life.

Developed by Square Enix’s Mobile division in Europe, in collaboration with the original DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION® team at Eidos-Montréal and N-Fusion, DEUS EX: THE FALL is a full story driven action-RPG and the first DEUS EX in the series to be developed for and released on smart devices.

DEUS EX: THE FALL is available for $6.99 on the iPod Touch 5, iPhone 4S and above, iPad 2 and above, and iPad Mini.

iOS 6 Now available