The second largest vendor in the PC market, Acer, announced today its new gaming desktop personal computer, the Acer Aspire “Predator”. It is equipped with the finest processor, graphics and memory technologies to assure it is ready for intensive games at the very beginning.

The Aspire Predator by Acer is a monster machine, equipped with the Intel Core i7 quad core processor, nVidia GeForce GTX470 Graphics Card with a three-way SLI support, and the amazing 9 gigabytes of DDR3 memory. The RAM memory can also be expanded to 12GB for maximum performance.

“Designed to conquer and destroy, the Aspire Predator boasts a rugged, intimidating chassis as well as super power and speed,” said Susan Hu, retail desktop product management for Acer Canada. “It’s a smoking hot gaming rig delivering eye-popping graphics and dynamic audio for a jaw dropping experience that will fire up even hard core gamers. Plus, plenty of room for future upgrades will assist gamers in their quest to reign supreme in the new world order.”

The Acer Aspire “Predator” Gaming Desktop PC is expected to be priced at $1.799 in Canada.

Microsoft announced the Xbox 360 Limited Edition “Halo: Reach” Bundle, which will be available September 14th and will include the new version of  Xbox360 with an exclusive silver design, two custom “Halo: Reach” Limited Edition Wireless Controllers and themed Xbox 360 wired headset, a token for the Limited Edition Elite armor set, an episode of “Halo Legends” as well and a copy of “Halo: Reach” game.

The new silver version is designed by Bungie and includes all standard features of the newly Xbox 360 console, a 250 GB Hard Drive, built-in Wi-Fi and has a suggested retail price of $399 USD. In addition, the specially designed console, “not only captures the look and feel of the game, but also features custom sound effects from the “Halo” universe. Whatever that means!

The Limited Edition Wireless Controller and Wireless Headset with distinctive silver color and exclusive “Halo” artwork by Bungie will be available in late August for $59.99 and $49.99 respectively, and also if you get the controller you will receive a Xbox LIVE token for an animated Covenant Banshee Avatar item.

The Halo: Reach launches worldwide on Sept. 14, 2010, and in Japan on Sept. 15. and is available for preorder in Standard, Limited and Legendary editions for $59.99 , $79.99 and $149.99, respectively. As a special bonus, fans can receive a token to unlock an exclusive in-game Spartan Recon Helmet, by picking up a copy of the game on launch day at North American retail stores, and outside of North America by making a pre-order reservation at participating retailers.

Plextor release its new PX-B120U external BD-ROM and is now available for purchase in Europe for € 109. The PX-B120U is a USB-powered, no need to carry an additional AC adapter or other cables and allows users to watch HD movies on any Blu-ray supported notebook.

The PX-B120U is also capable to burns DVD+ /- R, DVD +/-RW, DVD +/- R DL, DVD-RAM and CD-R formats,  and reads DVD formats at 8, while CD at 24X. It also comes bundled with Cyberlink Power DVD- Blu-ray and DVD playback software, which also has the ability to upscale standard videos to HD-like and 3D-like visual quality. Additionally, it can also function as a set-top Blu-ray player, when it is connected to Plextor’s forthcoming media player – PlexMedia.

Fujifilm reveals today  the FinePix F300EXR,  compact digital camera with impressive 15x optical zoo and Fujifilm’s next generation EXR technology with Hybrid High Speed Auto Focus.

The new point-and-shoot digital camera has a black metal shell with a double coated lacquer finish. It is equipped with a 12-MegaPixel EXR Super CCD, 3-inch LCD displayand is capable to capture capture 720p movies. The features include 15x Fujinon optical zoom lens (24 – 360mm equivalent range) with Super EBC Coating that keeps ghosting and flare to minimum, next generation EXR sensor incorporates Phase Detection pixels built-in to the CCD to realize Hybrid High Speed Auto Focus and to achieve an incredible auto focus speed of 0.158 seconds and “work like external sensors on DSLRs”. Furthermore gyro sensor for the new image stabilization system, 360 degrees Motion Panorama, Pro Focus Mode – ideal for portraits and a Super Intelligent flash, which produce balanced flash illumination across the foreground and background.

“The primary concerns consumers have are speed of capture, blurry photos and image quality. With the FinePix F300EXR, you won’t miss the action or sacrifice image quality as it has Fujifilm’s EXR technology with Hybrid High Speed Auto Focus. It also has Intelligent Image Stabilization for users to achieve outstanding results in virtually any lighting condition without blurring,” said David Troy, director of marketing, Consumer Digital Cameras, Electronic Imaging Division, Fujifilm North America Corporation, “Combine those features with a Fujinon 15x long-zoom lens and a new high contrast LCD in a chassis only 23mm thick and it helps make great pictures that people will love.”

The FinePix F300EXR also offers these additional features:

• Super Intelligent Flash: The FinePix F300EXR offers a flash control system which efficiently controls the level of flash for a given exposure to produce beautifully balanced flash illumination across the foreground and background. Gone are the ugly washout shots where the subject is blasted with light and the background dark and unexposed. Super Intelligent Flash is most useful in macro photography where the contrast between subject and background can be especially challenging, but is also effective for night and backlit photography.
• EXR AUTO Technology: Prized for bringing a new level of image quality to the consumer compact market, Fujifilm’s EXR technology has the unique ability to switch its behavior depending on the shooting conditions by automatically switching sensor modes. The FinePix F300EXR can be left on EXR Auto Mode and the camera will do all the hard work for you, or alternatively, you can manually select one of three EXR Priority modes for high resolution (HR), dynamic range (DR) or high sensitivity and low noise (SN).
• Face Detection and Automatic Red-eye Removal: To provide perfectly exposed and focused portrait shots, the FinePix F300EXR is fitted with Fujifilm’s latest Face Detection technology which is able to track up to 10 faces simultaneously, at almost any angle to the camera. The system instantly corrects red-eye and then saves both the original and the corrected image file automatically.
• Photobook Assist: Photobook Assist lets you select and organize images in your camera to create a digital photobook. You can download the photobooks to your computer using MyFinePix Studio software that is included.

The FinePix F300EXR will be available in late August 2010 at a retail price of $329.95.

Zowie Gear reveals after one year of research and development, the ZOWIE EC-series competitive gaming mice co-developed with the legendary Counter-Strike player, Emil ‘HeatoN’ Christensen.

The new HeatoN’s EC-series include four mice with the same features and specifications, the only difference is coating, color and size.  They feature lowest lift-off distance currently available in any optical mouse on the market – 1.5 mm. Regarding ZOWIE, it is one of the primary features, cause “the lower the lift-off distance is, the easier it will be to get used to the feeling and anticipate where the cursor will land with each move”. When you play FPS games, you will often lift the mouse,  as you need to make swift movements to turn around quickly, regarding them a higher lift-off distance,  “means the cursor will start to move earlier than the gamers anticipate, which will affect their aiming a lot.”

“In my 10 years as a professional gamer, every day I have wanted to develop the ideal mouse for competitive gaming,” says Emil ‘HeatoN’ Christensen and continues, “as a competitive gamer, you have to be able to rely on your equipment to be functional at all times. The mouse is probably a gamers most important tool, so it is important that you can trust it to deliver. We have put our focus on precision, stability, durability and comfort. No more excuses. It’s up to you now!”

Other features include a DPI-adjustment with maximum DPI setting of 2000, improved mouse wheel with over 5 years lifetime, 1000 Hz USB report rate and as ZOWIE claims without need of any drivers installation, just plug and play anywhere. The EC1 and EC2 black model , has a rubber coating to increase the grip when holding, while the EC1 and EC2 pure white model, has the popular smooth coating which reduces sweaty palms.

The new mice will be available in August for €59.90.

Features:

• 100% stable optical mouse developed for gaming by HeatoN
• Ergonomic designed right hand gaming mouse
• 1.5 mm lift-off distance due to custom developed ZOWIE-lens
• Improved mouse wheel system
• 500/1,000/2,000 DPI adjustment
• 1,000Hz USB report rate
• Operating System:
• Win2000/XP/VISTA/7
• Mac OS X v10.2 after

Specifications:

• Frames Per Second: 6,500
• Inches Per Second: 40
• Dots Per Inch: 500/1,000/2,000
• Max. Acceleration: 15G
• 1,000Hz USB report rate
• Connector: USB
• Buttons: 5
• Dimensions:
  • EC1: 128 x 43 x 62~70 mm / 5 x 1.7 x 2.44~2.76 inch
  • EC2: 120 x 40 x 58~65 mm / 4.72 x 1.57 x 2.28~2.56 inch
• Length of cable: 2m / 6.6 ft