studios

In a post on Sony's PlayStation.Blog, game director Todd Papy has announced that the fourth God of War console game will be called God of War: Ascension and will come to the PlayStation 3.

Judging from the teaser-trailer, Ascension looks to be a prequel of sorts, telling the story of Kratos before he became known as the Ghost of Sparta, "a time when something other than rage consumed him."

Sony will have more information about God of War: Ascension on the PlayStation.Blog April 30, but don't expect to be playing the next Kratos epic until spring 2013. … Read more

Here at Crave, we've seen some mighty impressive interior decorating from geeks over the years: offices inspired by "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea," apartments and home theaters that are dead ringers for a "Star Trek" set. Well, if the "Thermosaurus" radiator is for real, it could make for some pretty hot "Jurassic Park"-themed abodes.

Design firm Art. Lebedev Studio posted renderings of the gadget on April 1 -- yes, that date gives us pause -- saying the device is a "heat exchanger" that "installs like your regular central-heating radiator" and "is highly efficient and energy-savvy, thanks to its complex structure that includes a skull, spine, ribs, legs, and tail bones." The studio also posted a nice page of sketches and other ephemera that supposedly went into the design of the Thermosaurus.… Read more

While Mac users can use the recently reviewed Windows-preformatted 2TB WD My Passport portable drive, they now have another drive to call their own.

Western Digital announced today the new My Passport Studio, which increased the storage space to up to 2TB. Similar to the existing My Passport Studio, the new drive offers USB 2.0 and FireWire 800 connectivity in the place of USB 3.0. This is because Macs generally don't support USB 3.0, leaving FireWire 800 the only second fastest peripheral connection to Thunderbolt. In fact the new 2TB model shares the same design as the current 1TB model with the all-metal casing. … Read more

If you are an audio enthusiast or musician and make use of Apple's Logic Pro or Logic Express software packages, then Apple has released a couple of updates that address compatibility, performance, and stability in these programs.

While the updates have not yet been listed on Apple's support download page, they should be available via Software Update for those who have either Logic Pro or Logic Express installed, so you can manually invoke Software Update from the Apple menu to get these updates.

According to the release notes for each of these updates (Logic Pro and Logic Express), … Read more

Angry Birds maker Rovio has added another studio to its lineup.

The Finnish company announced today that it's bought Futuremark Games Studio, the gaming unit of benchmarking software developer Futuremark. Creating games for a variety of platforms, Futuremark Games Studio has developed such titles as Unstoppable Gorg, Hungribles, and Shattered Horizon.

"They are an incredibly talented and experienced team, and we are thrilled to have them on board," Mikael Hed, Rovio Entertainment's CEO, said in a statement. "Rovio's success is founded on the excellence of our team, and Futuremark Games Studio is going to … Read more

Netflix executives should be whooping it up.

IHS Screen Digest predicts more movie viewing will occur online rather than with DVDs or Blu-ray discs this year. Not only did the research firm say that Netflix's popularity helped fuel Internet film consumption, but it added that the company owns a significant percentage of that growing market.

If the prediction proves true, Netflix should see its share of growth this year. Also, a world where Internet-delivery is king means the company -- the Web's top video-rental service -- should be in a stronger position to negotiate content licenses.

IHS forecasts … Read more

Managers at Google Play are considering a plan to sell films, multiple sources have told CNET.

Google Play, formerly known as Android Market, only rents movies now, but the company has shown an interest in giving owners of Android handhelds the option to buy, according to multiple film industry sources.

One reason why Google Play is likely to make the move is that some of the big Hollywood studios may have required Google to commit to sales as a condition for getting access to rentals, the sources said. One of the industry insiders said Google could begin selling titles as … Read more

Wal-Mart Stores debuted a service today that executives say will encourage DVD ownership while also giving consumers ubiquitous access to their film libraries via the cloud.

The megaretailer announced that customers can bring their DVDs into their local Wal-Mart, and pay $2 to get access to each title via Walmart.com's cloud service, powered by the UltraViolet platform. The $2 only supplies a user with access to a copy in standard definition; a high-definition copy will cost $5.

Dan Rayburn, an analyst who has covered streaming media for more than a decade, broke the news about Wal-Mart's announcement … Read more

Google can't seem to get the hang of selling music and movies over the Internet--a goal that has similarly befuddled Microsoft, AOL, Yahoo, and others.

Google TV was dead on arrival. YouTube's video-rental service is at best an also-ran, and that service also faces a possible exodus of major record labels to rival Facebook sometime next year. Google Music no longer exists as a standalone service. Last week, the search company folded the three-month-old music store into the newly revamped Android Market.

Google's misfires illustrate just how hard it is to become a major media player. In … Read more