Assassin's Creed Anthology Dated and Priced

Following on from yesterday's leaked retail listing on Amazon France, Ubisoft has confirmed the existence of the Assassin's Creed Anthology Edition, and detailed when we'll be able to get hold of it.

The Assassin's Creed Anthology Edition will be available for Xbox 360 and PS3 exclusively through Amazon in both Europe from November 29 for €150, and the UK from November 30 for £119.99.

Unfortunately for those of you Stateside, it appears Ubisoft has no plans to bring the Anthology Edition to America. A representative for the company told IGN that the bundle is not currently scheduled for release in the US.

The Assassin's Creed Anthology Edition will include include Assassin's Creed, Assassin's Creed II, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - The Da Vinci Edition, Assassin's Creed: Revelations - The Ottoman Edition and the just-released Assassin's Creed III. The bundle will also include all the expansion packs and DLC for the Assassin's Creed games, as well as the Assassin's Creed III Season Pass, which provides full access to all forthcoming downloadable content for the game.

Also included in the pack are five lithographs, a steel book and a collector’s box. For more details on the Assassin's Creed Anthology Edition, check out the original story.

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.

Source : ign[dot]com

Report: Amazon Outs Assassin's Creed Anthology

Every console game in the Assassin's Creed series will be released in one box, according to a new listing on Amazon France.

The Assassin's Creed Anthology Edition is slated to include Assassin's Creed, Assassin's Creed II, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Assassin's Creed: Revelations and the just-released Assassin's Creed III.

The listing also states that all singleplayer and multiplayer bonus DLC created for the games will be included, whether it be extra maps or bonus missions. Judging from the promotional image leaked below, it seems that the Assassin's Creed III Season Pass will also be part of the package.

According to the image, the pack will include "all Assassin's Creed games ever released on Xbox 360". Does this mean the bundle will only be available on Microsoft's platform?

IGN reached out to Ubisoft for a statement, but was told the company wasn't ready to comment on the leak. Given how Amazon France has previously proved reliable in outing both Call of Duty: Black Ops II and also the Killzone Trilogy bundle, it's a safe bet that this package is also legit.

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.

Source : ign[dot]com

Amazon Posts $274 Million Loss in Q3 Earnings Report

Amazon announced a Q3 $274 million net loss in an earnings report today. The poor quarter is no surprise to anyone who followed the LivingSocial meltdown - which contributed to $169 million of that $274 million.

But perhaps the big news is how Amazon used the opportunity to slam the iPad Mini as an inferior device. Starting the section "Highlights" is a lengthy bulletlist, which compared both models of Amazon's Kindle Fire HDs to the iPad Mini.

While there's no hard and fast rule on how a company must report their earnings, starting their quarter highlights by taking a competitor's product to task seems like a weird choice. Why not celebrate the Kindle Fire HD's general release and reception? Also odd: where's the Kindle Fire HD's other competition on that list? Or are they genuinely not worried about the Nexus 7 as a competitor?

What do you think? Should Amazon stick to their own numbers, or is this a classic case of turning lemons into lemonade?

Nic is the Editor of IGN Tech. He loves technology almost as much as the SF Giants, Dogfish Head iPA, and Freelance Whales. You can follow him on Twitter @nicvargus and IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Kindle Fire HD Will Be Tough to Hack, Easy to Repair

We've got bad news and good news for gadget-hounds looking at Amazon's Kindle Fire HD tablets.

The bad news:

If you're counting on replacing the forked version of Android Amazon loads onto its Fire tablets with an unadulterated install of Ice Cream Sandwich or Jelly Bean, you might want to hold off buying. A thread on the XDA developers forum suggests Amazon hasn't made the devices nearly as easy to hack as last time:

"It doesn't look good. This is not to say that it's impossible, but it will be considerably more difficult to manipulate these devices than [it was with] their 1st generation cousin."

While it's possible to work around a locked bootloader, the Fire HD tablets apparently include other "high security" features hard-wired into TI's OMAP processors. If a customizable interface or access to to the Google Play store are must-have features for you, choosing between Amazon's tablets and Google's Nexus 7 shouldn't be difficult.

The good news:

A report at iFixit - the guys who take new gadgets apart so we don't have to - has concluded the Kindle Fire HD (7") won't be impossible to repair or upgrade. Citing a "very easy to open" backplate, relatively few internal components and no adhesive to hold the battery in place, they scored it 7/10 for "repairability" - the same as the Nexus 7, but a big jump from the latest iPad's 2/10 rating.

It might not be exceptionally easy to upgrade the processor or LCD display, but you shouldn't have to send it in to the factory just to replace the battery.

If Amazon manages to stop you from rooting it, will you still buy a Kindle Fire HD? Let us know in the comments.

Jon Fox is a Seattle hipster who loves polar bears and climbing trees. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN. 

Source : ign[dot]com

Amazon Unveils New Products, Partnerships

Today at a media event in Santa Monica, Amazon announced an assortment of heavily-rumored products, including a new Kindle eReader.

The backlit 'Paperwhite' Kindle reader will surely tempt to eReading aficionados. The new eReader sports a white background that is reminiscent to paper, easier on the eyes, and is gently backlit.

The new Kindle has 25% more contrast, 212 PPI, 62% more pixels. It also has a more accurate touch capacitive screen. Light Guide took 4 years of research and development. "It's exactly like ambient light."

They're going to leave it on all the time, so they worked on 8-week battery life even with the light on.

The new Kindle is 9.1mm thin, 7.5 ounces.

The new Kindle also comes with a brand new feature, called "Time to Read." By clicking the bottom left corner, the Kindle will tell you how much time is left in the chapter, and how much time it will take you to finish the book. The Kindle tracks your average reading speed, adjusts the timers based on your individual reading speed.

The new touchscreen paperwhite Kindle will sell for $119, and will ship October 1st. The 3G version offers free 3G at $119.

The $79 Kindle has also received a minor upgrade, with faster pageturns a black body, a price drop, and a "new name: the $69 Kindle."

New Kindle Fires

Amazon updated its Kindle Fire with a faster processor, doubled the RAM, and cut the price by $40. For only $159 you can get a pretty serious 7-inch tablet.

But the Kindle Fire bump was small news when compared to the Kindle Fire HD, Amazon's new tablet, which has an 8.9" HD IPS display, at 1920 x 1200 resolution at 254 PPI.

The Fire HD has an OMAP 4470 processor, made by Texas Instruments.

Amazon has updated their display, which features 25% less glare with a laminated screen. The Fire HD also has dual stereo speakers, two antennas, and a MIMO-capability, which supposedly makes the internet 41% faster internet than the iPad, and 54% faster WiFi than the Nexus 7.

Amazon also unveiled a feature across their tablets capabilities, called Whispersync. Whispersync will save your progress in a book, even if you're listening to it as an audiobook. For Games, Whispersync saves your progress, unlocked levels, and more. If you ever have to reinstall your games you won't have to start over.

The Fire HD will start at 16GBs.

No word yet on pricing or release date.

Developing...

Nic is the Editor of IGN Tech. He loves technology almost as much as The Great Gatsby, The Idiot, and Life of Pi. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Report: Killzone Trilogy Incoming for Playstation 3

A listing on Amazon France suggests that Sony will release the Killzone games as a boxed trilogy this October.

The posting, which you can see below, claims that all three of Sony's shooters will be released on October 24 for €59.99, which works out as roughly £47 or $75.

While nothing has been confirmed, and the price and release date for other territories could change even if the posting is correct, Amazon France has previous form in accurately leaking the existence of titles. It was the website that first listed Call of Duty: Black Ops II, outing the identity of this year's Call of Duty shooter, and it did the same for the Ratchet & Clank Trilogy (or Collection, if you're American).

It's this second title that's most interesting to consider in relation to the Killzone Trilogy, as all three games in that collection were originally released on PS2 just like the first Killzone. As they all received HD remastering before coming to PS3, could this mean that the same is in store for the shooter that started the series off? We heard rumours earlier this year that Killzone 1 would be released on PSN as an emulated and updated version, but this was later "delayed indefinitely".

If the game is about to come to PS3 at long last, it'd make sense that they'd want it to compare favourably in terms of visuals with others in the series, especially if updating the graphics has been mentioned before.

We've reached out to Sony for comment and will update the story with any comment we received.

The original Killzone title released on PS2 in 2004. This was followed up by Killzone 2 in 2009 and Killzone 3 in 2011, both on PS3. The next Killzone title currently confirmed as in development is Killzone: Mercenary, which is planned for a 2013 release on Vita.

Thanks, TheSixthAxis.

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant and was always more of a Resistance guy. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.

Source : ign[dot]com

Kindle Touches Get Yanked, Refresh Inevitable

Mere weeks before a major Amazon announcement, both the Kindle Touch and Kindle Touch 3G are out of stock on Amazon's website. Does this mean a Kindle refresh is inevitable?

In a word? Yep.

The Kindles were refreshed almost exactly a year ago, and increasing pressure from e-reader competition like the backlit Nook and sub-$200 tablets like the Nexus 7 may have ostensibly forced Amazon to refresh their entire line of Kindles.

Current rumors suggest we could see up to five or six new SKUs from Amazon, but it's uncertain whether these alleged SKUs will be a variety of different Kindle Fires or include e-readers (Amazon currently sells six different Kindles).

While a backlit screen is almost guaranteed, what else would you want to see from Kindle e-readers? What would get you more excited about a Kindle Fire 2 than, say, a Nexus 7? Let us know in the comments.

Nic is the Tech Editor at IGN. He loves technology almost as much as Brand New, Boyz II Men, and A Day to Remember. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

NBCU Shows Coming to Amazon Instant Video

More good news with regard to streaming video for members of Amazon's $79/year Prime service: a deal announced today with NBC Universal is bringing back-episodes of NBCU-owned shows like Battlestar Galactica, Parks and Recreation, Heroes and Friday Night Lights to Prime Instant Videos.

Prime Instant, Amazon's streaming video service, has been free for Amazon Prime members since it was introduced in February, 2011, and its library of available content has grown steadily in that time. "We continue to invest heavily in our content selection," said a spokesman for Amazon.

Amazon designed Prime Instant Video to compete directly with Netflix Instant, so while none of the content Amazon acquired today is exclusive (compared with several shows it recently optioned from Warner), playing catch-up with Netflix is a logical step for the service.

Prime members can check out all the new content here. Let us know what you're most excited about in the comments.

Jon Fox is a Seattle hipster who loves polar bears and climbing trees. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

5 or 6 New Amazon Tablet Models Forthcoming

Amazon will introduce “up to five or six tablet SKUs” Reuters reported this morning. The tip comes from Demos Parneros, president of U.S. Retail for Staples, one of Amazon’s retail partners. Among the new tablets will be a 10-inch model, Parneros said.

Of course, five or six SKUs really means one or at most two new tablet models, as each storage option gets a unique SKU. So what looks at first like an huge announcement is almost certianly too limited to refer to the Amazon’s rumored smart-phone. Still (assuming this isn’t actually just a new batch of e-readers) a 10-inch version of the Kindle Fire would surely compete more directly (or, like, at all) with the iPad.

With third-party retailers getting info, an official announcement from Amazon can’t be far off. Would you buy a 10-inch tablet or a phone from Amazon? Let us know in the comments.

Source : ign[dot]com