Konami has announced a new game in the Castlevania series. While it might not be the big AAA console experience many would have hoped for, Grimoire of Souls looks to be bringing the series’ classic side scrolling combat to iOS later this year along with a healthy dose of multiplayer action to go along with it.
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Nearly a year ago to the day, Sony announced an e-paper tablet that was met with groans thanks to its eye-popping $700 price tag. Designed with professionals in mind, the 13-inch tablet was made for those that regularly spend their days taking notes and jotting down ideas. For the average consumer, the need just didn’t seem to be there.
Flash forward to 2018 and Sony is ready to try again. This week it has announced a new and smaller version of the e-ink tablet that’s slated for a June release date. Dubbed the DPT-CP1, it’s designed to be friendlier to both your wallet and daily routine.
The folks over Anker make some of our favorite smartphone accessories on the market. And when the company launched its sister-brand Eufy last fall, the same quality we’ve come to expect from Anker carried over into its lineup of smart home accessories. Today, Eufy has announced the latest addition to its smartphone-enabled home gadgets in the form of the EverCam, a wireless security camera that touts 365-days of battery life and more.
It’s shaping up to be a busy couple of weeks for the folks at Sega. The long-time gaming company has now decided to jump on the retro re-release train with the announcement of the upcoming Sega MegaDrive Mini. Chances are its response is going to be in-line with the Nintendo Classic Edition consoles and we expect stock to be limited once it finally hits store shelves later this year. But that won’t be the only way to play classic Sega titles on modern hardware in 2018.
Sega is planning on bringing a nice collection of its most iconic vintage titles to Switch as individual downloads via the Nintendo eShop this summer.
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When it comes to computer processors, AMD has taken second-chair to Intel for about the past decade. Last year, AMD launched its Ryzen CPU platform. Offering more cores and better performance than Intel’s CPU lineup at the time, AMD easily took the stage and came back with a vengeance.
I used to never recommend AMD personally, and Ryzen changed that. I have built countless machines with this new architecture and it never disappoints. We even user Ryzen 5 CPU in our budget gaming build that we recently completed. Today, AMD announced updated Ryzen processors with new price points that are bound to fit just about every budget.
(Update): Both the Mega Man Legacy and Mega Man X Legacy Collections for Nintendo Switch are now up for pre-order at 20% off for Best Buy GCU and Amazon Prime members.
The Mega Man series is one of the most iconic in gaming right up there with the likes of Mario, Yoshi, Samus and others. While Capcom has struggled to carry the Blue Bomber into the current generation of gaming, the Legacy Collections for the original titles are the best ways to hunt down robot masters on the latest hardware. While long time fans of the series certainly appreciate the original main line series, the Mega Man X titles brought the game to Super Nintendo with an array of new abilities, features and updated gameplay mechanics.
And now everyone’s favorite Maverick Hunter is making his way to PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC with the new Mega Man X Legacy Collections.
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This week Airstream unveiled its newest travel trailer, departing from its iconic line of aluminum fifth wheels with a new fiberglass design. The latest version comes nearly 70 years after founder Wally Byam first dabbled with this alternative material. Dubbed the ‘Nest’, this 3,400-pound trailer sports a familiar design but lacks that shiny exterior that we’ve come to know and love from Airstream.
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With its silver screen debut back in 1985, Back to the Future quickly solidified itself as a fan-favorite science fiction flick. And while it took nearly three decades for the film’s time-traveling duo to make their way to the LEGO universe. LEGO has recently been bolstering its BrickHeadz lineup and today they add two more figures to the diverse cast of characters; Marty McFly and Doc Brown.
Pad & Quill is back at it again today with another full-grain leather accessory. This time around the company has set its sights specifically on travel with its new Classic Leather Passport Holder. Once again, you can expect the company’s usual attention to detail here and a special discount for 9to5 readers.
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Ultimate Ears is well-known these days for its portable Bluetooth speakers and well, consumer level audio gear. But the company also makes in-ear monitors for musicians and audio professionals that are getting a refresh today. The new UE Live in-Ear Monitors feature some notable tech along with the company’s new proprietary driver and cable systems.
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OWC is known for its high-end line of Apple-friendly storage solutions and accessories. This week, it has announced that its new ThunderBlade external hard drive is now shipping to consumers. First detailed at CES 2018 in Las Vegas, this new Thunderbolt 3 compatible drive features a sleek design and up to 8TB of storage capacity designed for professional-grade apps from Adobe and others. More below.
We are pushing five years since the release of Sony’s PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One from Microsoft. After higher-end versions of those machines hit store shelves with the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X, some industry analysts suggested this could be the last console generation. Meaning we were likely to see updated internals or some kind of jump to a completely new style of gaming platform before another traditional console generation hit. While that seemed like an interesting idea, it also seemed like it might be a little too soon for the big players to completely jump ship from the traditional business model and a new report suggests PlayStation 5 is already well underway.
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Ikea is known for “some assembly required” affordable furniture, but now, the housing megastore is selling Bluetooth speakers. Ikea literally made just about everything besides speakers before. I mean, you can walk into the store and buy everything, even the kitchen sink.
I have several Ikea items in my office/studio, from the company’s Alex drawer units to Linnmon desks, I love Ikea’s affordable home solutions. The Eneby Bluetooth speaker comes in two sizes and two colors, 8×8-inches or 12×12-inches, and either white or black fabric. But, what makes these speakers something to get? Let’s take a closer look.
There are loads of interesting apps out there than combine preset DJ-like techniques with actual music sequencing and composition. One of our favorites in that category, while it certainly leans more towards the pro side of things, is KRFT. But today, we are taking a look at a new product from the folks over at MIXVIBES that is looking to make original music composition even easier and more fun than ever. Question is, will the somewhat suspicious IAP business plan ruin it all?
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It has been a big week for the folks over at Insomniac Games. Yesterday, the developer announced the official release date for its upcoming project, Marvel’s Spider-Man. And today, it is looking like a Spyro remastered trilogy will be hitting store shelves before long.
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With the release of the new God of War just a couple of weeks out now, Sony’s exclusive 2018 lineup is starting to heat up. One other major title coming to the Sony platform but not Microsoft’s is the new Spider-Man game. Originally shown off at E3 2016, the game is a collaboration between Sony, Marvel Studios and the talented folks at Insomniac Games. Needless to say, while skepticism remains, Spider-Man is certainly one of the most anticipated PS4 exclusives of the year.
Today, we are getting an official release date (it’s coming this year!), details on the collector’s editions, more gameplay information and a brand new trailer.
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April is here, and with it comes new game releases. Last month saw the release of Far Cry 5, Sea of Thieves, Assassin’s Creed Rogue Remastered and much more. This month, we are seeing God of War’s triumphant return as Kratos takes on Norse mythology, the latest Yakuza title makes it stateside, and Nintendo’s cardboard Toy-Con finally come to life.
All that and more in April’s best game releases down below:
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Amongst last year’s selection of massive LEGO kits, Star Wars fans were lucky enough to get two different models from a galaxy far, far away. With the Ultimate Collector’s Series Snowspeeder kicking off the year, the behemoth Millennium Falcon followed to close out 2017.
Today, LEGO announced the next addition to its Star Wars UCS line in the form of the Y-Wing Starfighter. Stacking up to just under 2,000 pieces, the rebellion’s trusty bomber sports an opening cockpit, wheel-activated rotating ion cannons and an exclusive new minifigure.
Gnarbox hit the scene awhile back with its first-generation portable hard drive that allows content creators to back up movies and pictures on-the-spot after being captured. But this isn’t your average hard drive. Gnarbox went a step further with a fully integrated processor that enables instant editing of content long before you’re back at a Mac or PC. Even better, it’s wrappped in a rugged casing that’s both shock- and dust-proof for just about any scenario.
Today, Gnarbox has introduced the second generation of its portable storage solution that features a slimmed-down design, new connectivity along with a built-in solid-state drive for faster storage and transfers.
JLab Audio is launching a brand new pair of throw-back style headphones. The new Rewind Wireless Retro harken back to that 80’s look when the Walkman reigned supreme. Although JLab has implemented just about all of the modern amenities we have come to love in headphones these days including wireless connectivity, virtual assistant support and much more, the company still managed to keep them at an impossibly affordable price tag.
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Tablo has been working to reinvent the cord-cutting accessory market for some time. While the natural inclination is to go the way of the way streaming media player, Tablo has been steadily introducing new DVR set-top boxes year after year. Its latest, the Tablo Dual Lite, delivers whole-home network connectivity and the flexibility of choosing your own storage.
Those with a keen eye will note that physical design is largely the same as last year’s release. But Tablo has changed up a few key features, most notable of which is the price. The new Dual Lite starts at $140, which is 30% less than its predecessor. More below.
No Man’s Sky is coming to Xbox One within the next few months. The open-world space exploration game took a fair share of criticism at launch, but developer Hello Games is pushing ahead with major new updates and a fresh start this summer on Microsoft’s console.
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With another month in 2018 almost in the books, March has stacked up to be a big month for all things LEGO. Fans of the iconic sci-fi film Tron Legacy finally got a glimpse at the series’ first brick-built incarnation and we went hands-on with LEGO’s latest Go Brick Me set of ahead of its release come April 1st. The past 30 days have been busy for other LEGO builders as well, with plenty of new, potential kits landing on LEGO Ideas.
Rad Power Bikes is out to demonstrate that owning an electric bike doesn’t mean spending a fortune. It’s new 2018 lineup offers four different varieties priced from $1,499. Over the past year, many releases have been marked by increased range and new features, which has of course resulted in rising prices. Rad Power Bikes looks to remove sticker shock from the equation with designs that are rider-friendly and remove any intimidation.
RED is a well-known brand when it comes to high-end cameras. Well, it’s well-known if you’re into cameras, that is. Recently, RED released a new camera and sensor combo, the EPIC-W with a GEMINI 5K sensor. This sensor is designed to have dual-sensitivity for its ISO so it can capture both low-light and well-lit environments for crispy photos. Read below for more info.
Since her debut back with the original Echo, Amazon’s Alexa has made her way to just about every device or appliance you can imagine. And with one of the voice assistant’s main skills being control of your smart lights, it’s only natural to combine the two devices. At least that’s what one of Amazon’s latest initiatives intends to do. By working with third-party manufacturers, Amazon hopes to bring more Alexa-packed smart lamps to the market.
It has been a big year for Marvel with the incredible success of Black Panther, and now we are getting a new iOS title starring most of the universe’s biggest names. The new Marvel Strike Force released today on iOS and Android alongside the debut launch trailer…
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Update: Now available to purchase at Amazon.
This morning, GoPro delivered on a promise to unveil updated hardware this year, unveiling its new $199 HERO. Priced at a more “accessible” MSRP, it’s designed to bring in more content creators and comes at just the right time for a company that’s desperately in need of growth. GoPro has had its share of ups and downs in recent months as it shuttered its Karma drone operation and has seen sales slip.
Today we are going to be taking a look at some of our favorite options for storing our sample libraries and other files for content creation. No matter what it is we are creating, at some point or other, storage is a must, whether it’s for project assets, backups or archival purposes. While this particular roundup will be focusing mainly on music producers and their sample libraries, many of our suggestions will work with other applications as well.
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Yamaha has a rich history rooted in electric vehicles that began nearly 25 years ago with the introduction of its first electric power-assist bicycles. And since 1993, the company has gone on to bring its eBike drive systems to over 2 million riders across the globe. Today, Yamaha has announced that to celebrate two and a half decades of electric rides, it would be releasing four new differently-tailored eBikes come May.
Buy Now!Marshall has announced this morning that it is expanding its lineup of Bluetooth headphones with the new Mid ANC. Over the last few years Marshall has methodically been building its headphone offerings, but today’s release is the first pair to offer active noise cancellation.
If you’re familiar with Marshall’s stylings at all, you’ll notice that today’s release has familiar looks based on the brand’s iconic designs. The Mid ANC is a follow-up to the Mid Bluetooth, which is fairly similar in both function and layout. More below.
eBikes are awesome. I recently got one and love riding it. Having an electric motor on your bike can really help, whether you’ve worn yourself out or just need a little extra help getting up a hill, that motor and battery are irreplaceable. One thing about most eBikes, however, is that they generally don’t come with large motors or big batteries.
Most motors are between 250-500-Watts, which is good enough for most people, but those who like to go off-roading (in mud, snow, etc.) need a bit more power. That’s where the Ridge Warrior comes in. With a powerful 1000-Watt motor, up to 29 miles of range without pedaling, and a top speed of 30 MPH, this eBike is set to be the king of the road (and dirt).
Moog’s legacy in the electronic music and synthesizer world is second to none. The company has been pumping out some of the most amazing instruments on the planet since the 70’s, including one of the world’s first portable synthesizers known as the Minimoog Model D. The pricey icon of yesteryear may have at some time only really been available to big time acts like Nine Inch Nails, Kraftwerk and Dr. Dre (just to name a few), Moog is now bringing a lovingly recreated version of the Model D to iOS for the rest of us.
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Mechanical keyboards have enjoyed a resurgence of sorts lately as brands like Das Keyboards and others have flooded the market with high-quality devices. Along with larger brand names, more boutique-focused releases have hit the scene as well with unique features and designs.
One of those is from Rama Works, who recently unveiled its new M60-A keyboard made from milled aluminum and brass. Available for pre-order today, this $360 accessory is pricey for sure, but Rama believes its components are worth it.
The truly wireless headphones product style seems to be a popular trend. The latest company to join in on this phenomenon is PaMu with its new in-ear sports headphones. Offering IPX5 water resistance, touch controls, and the ability to be used independently, at its Indiegogo price of $29, it’s truly a no-brainer to pick these headphones up. Read on for more information.
Guacamelee’s interesting blend of Mexican folklore, humor and action packed gameplay garnered it critical praise as one of the best indie releases of the year. While that was way back in 2013, a sequel has been in the works for quite some time now. After the debut announcement trailer hit YouTube back in October of last year (see below), we now have an official release window and more details from the game’s appearance at GDC 2018.
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MB&F makes some of the most elegant time pieces and functional pieces of home decor on the market. And here at Toys, we’re always big fans of intricate accessories to complete your desk or workspace, so the company’s latest has definitely caught our eye. The Fifth Element is a desktop weather station that sports a clock and barometer alongside other measurement instruments and is piloted a tiny little alien.
Warmer weather is upon us and Nike is gearing up for outdoor sports season with the release of its new Nike Vision collection. Geared towards golfers – but functional for all – this new selection of eyewear is both stylish and functional. Nike has reimagined sunglasses in hopes of eliminating some of the issues that have plagued some designs in the past.
All together, Nike is bringing four new models to market in 2018. Prices start at $125 and go up from there. Head below for more details including how you can pick up a pair for yourself.
