Biz Break: From Apple, $458 iPads; plus: more Black Friday in... - San Jose Mercury News

Today: Apple has cut prices on the iPad for today only. In Silicon Valley, malls are crowded, but consumers say they're being careful with their spending. Plus: More Apple news, Del Monte, Silicon Valley tech stocks.

Black Friday deals

It's the day after Thanksgiving, and (as is our holiday weekend custom) we're glad we're working today and not battling the Black Friday crowds at Silicon Valley's favorite malls, big-box retailers and shopping districts.

If we wanted an iPad (hey, we've contributed a lot to Apple's revenue stream already this year), we'd be super-stoked to know that the Cupertino maker of Mac computers and "i" devices has included the new tablet computer

among its own online Black Friday specials.

Apple has reduced iPad prices by $41, the iPod touch by $21 to $41, the iPod nano by $11 to $21, and computers including the iMac, MacBook Pro and the 13-inch MacBook Air by $101.

If you want a new flat-panel TV, this is a good time to buy, according to our friends at The Associated Press. A supply glut will bring prices down sharply from last holiday season, according to the AP report.

Here in Silicon Valley, shoppers were up early this morning. The Merc and our Bay Area News Group siblings have a small army of reporters tracking the frenzy.

While consumer hot spots such as Westfield Valley Fair, Santana Row and Stanford Shopping Center have been busy, many shoppers say they're being careful with their spending this season.

"It's getting crowded earlier," Valley Fair shopper Debbie Fumia of Los Gatos told a Merc reporter this morning. "I think it's the hype. I have a 17-year-old. He left at 7:30 -- a half-hour before me. He said he and his girlfriend want to experience Black Friday. They are not shopping. They are coming for the experience."

Holiday headlines

Here's some Bay Area business news you may have missed since Wednesday afternoon:

Apple: The rapidly growing company has bought more land in Cupertino, according to a Merc report. A spokesman confirmed that Apple bought a 98-acre site on Pruneridge Avenue from tech giant Hewlett-Packard, which is consolidating employees at its Palo Alto headquarters.

The land is adjacent to a 50-acre site Apple bought last year. Both properties are just a short drive from Apple's Infinite Loop headquarters campus off De Anza Boulevard.

"We now occupy 57 buildings in Cupertino and our campus is bursting at the seams," Apple spokesman Steve Dowling told a Merc reporter. "These offices will give us more space for our employees as we continue to grow."

Neither Apple nor HP revealed the purchase price, although HP reportedly had sought as much as $300 million.

Del Monte Foods: The San Francisco company agreed to a $19-a-share buyout by private equity firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Vestar Capital Partners and Centerview Partners. The deal is valued at $5.3 billion, including $1.3 billion in debt.

Del Monte Foods' stock finished trading today at $18.83, up 84 cents, or 4.7 percent, from Wednesday's closing price.

Silicon Valley tech stocks

Up: Apple, Cisco Systems.

Down: Google, Oracle, Intel, HP, eBay, VMware, Gilead Sciences, Yahoo.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index: Down 8.56, or 0.3 percent, to 2,534.56.

The blue chip Dow Jones industrial average: Down 95.28, or 0.9 percent, to 11,092.00.

And the widely watched Standard & Poor's 500 index: Down 8.95, or 0.7 percent, to 1,189.40.

The New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq ended regular trading early today.

Check in weekday afternoons for the 60-Second Business Break, a summary of news from Mercury News staff writers, The Associated Press, Bloomberg News and other wire services. Contact Frank Russell at 408-920-5876. Follow him at Twitter.com/mercspike.

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Week in gaming: Call of Duty review, Black Ops in 3D, CoD bribes - Ars Technica

It's very possible there is a theme to this week's top stories, and I'm sure you'll be able to crack the code. Call of Duty: Black Ops is a huge release, and with Activision spending thousands of dollars per reviewer to help everyone feel warm about the game (despite the problems the PC version experienced at launch), there was plenty to write about.

We also reviewed the new Goldeneye title on the Wii, and took a look at a very impressive-seeming iPhone game. Come on in, and we promise to go easier on Call of Duty next week... if we can stop playing online.

Call of Duty: Black Ops PC review: CPU bound, broken online play: Call of Duty: Black Ops goes for broke and makes a huge variety of settings and eras a part of the game's story. It's confusing because your character is confused, you see. It's a grand trick, but it doesn't hide the game's crippling technical problems.

A classic, reborn: Ars reviews Goldeneye 007 on the Wii: A classic console experience gets a... sequel? Reboot? Whatever you want to call it, this is a very worthy addition to the Goldeneye name. Remember, Oddjob is cheating.

Call of Duty: Black Ops, on PC, in 3D. Our first few hours: Our impressions of playing the game in 3D: to sum it up, it feels like I'm in a testosterone-soaked isolation chamber.

Call of Duty: Black Ops review event, press gifts detailed: Will companies pay for good reviews? Not directly, but by plying the press with free trips, gifts and stays at luxorious resorts, they can certainly stack the deck in their favor. Here is how Activision wowed the press before they even played Black Ops.

Epic Games shows off best looking iPhone game EVAR: Infinity Blade: Infinity Blade hopes to raise the bar for graphics on iOS devices, and the newest video showing off actual gameplay is convincing. Have a look, and download Epic Citadel if you haven't already.

Building the future: Microsoft's Kinect a marathon, not a sprint: The Kinect has plenty of problems as a gaming platform, but as a piece of Microsoft technology it's nothing but possibility. The investment Microsoft has placed in the new technology points to one thing: this device isn't going to stop at the 360.

100 copies of new Call of Duty stolen in armed heist of GameStop: The theft of video games is common. With games arriving by the case before big launches to stores staffed by a single teenager many hours a day, GameStop locations are an appealing target. One store in Baltimore lost the money in the register, plus 100 copies of the new Call of Duty release.

Nail'd: fast, insane, spectacularly unrealistic, and fun: Nail'd is one of those games that seems designed purely to show you insane things, and then allow you to explore them. It's simple enough for anyone to pick up, but the airborne gameplay should also keep hardcore gamers happy.

Ravaging villages, pilfering gold: Ars reviews Hoard: The PlayStation Network game Hoard manages to combine some of the best elements of arcade shooters with a board game style structure. It also lets you play as a dragon willing to do anything to get its claws on some gold.

The Kinect effect: how Harmonix mastered Dance Central's menus: Harmonix engineer Ryan Challinor discusses the problems with creating a gesture-controlled menu system when your only point of reference is the movie Minority Report.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops PC review: CPU bound, broken online play - Ars Technica

Do the people lining up at midnight to buy Black Ops even know the difference between Treyarch and Infinity Ward? We spill pages of virtual ink in the enthusiast press about the soap opera between Activision and the creators of Call of Duty, but how many people actually pay attention? Gamers want to shoot people, and they want to do it online, and they want a few vehicle segments. They don't care who delivers it.

For those of us who do follow these things, the Black Ops launch is very much Treyarch's coming out party. The developer is no longer the redheaded step-child of the Call of Duty series, called in to give the A-Team a break while still profiting from the franchise. This is its chance to step up and create something that stands on its own. They've largely succeeded, and the game reeks of confidence. That being said, this path is well-worn, and I couldn't help but get the sense that we're watching a very talented skater perform tricks we've seen before on a half-pipe that's gotten a lot of use.

And oh yeah, the multiplayer barely works on the PC version, and single-player also seems to have major issues. Ta-da!

The game's premise is clever, and the menus themselves meld seamlessly into the game. You're being held... captive, maybe. Held hostage by shadowy figures, you're debriefed about a very long and distinguished career where you've spilled lead and blood across many years and many countries.

You'll meet some historical figures, and humanity will often be very close to the brink of disaster. There is a weapon that is being hunted by very powerful and ruthless people, and you'll do many things to stop its spread. Some scenes felt more X-Files than Heart of Darkness, in fact.

We are cold blooded because we kill people silently

The single-player campaign is longer than we're used to in this sort of highly scripted action game, closer to eight hours than six, and it's incredibly enjoyable. Gun battles are placed around set pieces and incredible moments of super-heroism, and you'll never be quite sure what will happen next, or even in what year. Modern Warfare 2 had a jangly, disjointed story that often left gamers feeling confused about what was going on, and Black Ops has decided to just embrace that. Hell, the character you play through the majority of the game is confused about what's going on. You're just along for the ride.

And what a ride! You'll be rappelling down the sides of things, jumping off even taller things, taking off in flying things, blowing away space-bound things, riding and driving two- and four-wheeled things while shooting things at stuff all over the place. Just in case you forget how edgy these games are supposed to be, in one scene you punch a window, take a piece of glass, put it in the mouth of another character, and then punch them very hard in the head. There is a lot of blood.

A few notes: not only are there many different guns, but you can find different variations of the guns. Extended magazines, different scopes, dual-wielding—the guns can be set up in a variety of ways, although you won't be modding them yourself in the singleplayer. Still, how cool is it to find a combination machine gun/flamethrower?

The voice cast is also impressive, including Ed Harris, Sam Worthington, Ice Cube, and Gary Oldman. Some do better than others, but everyone seems like they're trying, which is a big step up from most games where the big-name talent seems to mostly phone it in. Although, to be honest, Oldman does tend to ham it up.

Black Ops has interesting twists and turns, and the scene after the credits roll is wonderful in its humor, but it feels like a knife that has been sharpened so many times it's nearly invisible. These big-budget war games are starting to blend together, with the drivable vehicles and the globe-trotting and the military technology. I'm not sure if I've simply played too many of them or if there needs to be something done to shake things up, but a few scenes seemed to be there simply because we expect them from a game of this type. Also, twice I caught the game seemingly throwing endless waves of enemies at me until I stepped forward to the next waypoint. Once was around the middle of the game, and the other closer to the end, but it was still disappointing.

The game takes place in a variety of settings, across a number of years

View the original article here

Call of Duty: Black Ops PC review: CPU bound, broken online play - Ars Technica

Do the people lining up at midnight to buy Black Ops even know the difference between Treyarch and Infinity Ward? We spill pages of virtual ink in the enthusiast press about the soap opera between Activision and the creators of Call of Duty, but how many people actually pay attention? Gamers want to shoot people, and they want to do it online, and they want a few vehicle segments. They don't care who delivers it.

For those of us who do follow these things, the Black Ops launch is very much Treyarch's coming out party. The developer is no longer the redheaded step-child of the Call of Duty series, called in to give the A-Team a break while still profiting from the franchise. This is its chance to step up and create something that stands on its own. They've largely succeeded, and the game reeks of confidence. That being said, this path is well-worn, and I couldn't help but get the sense that we're watching a very talented skater perform tricks we've seen before on a half-pipe that's gotten a lot of use.

And oh yeah, the multiplayer barely works on the PC version, and single-player also seems to have major issues. Ta-da!

The game's premise is clever, and the menus themselves meld seamlessly into the game. You're being held... captive, maybe. Held hostage by shadowy figures, you're debriefed about a very long and distinguished career where you've spilled lead and blood across many years and many countries.

You'll meet some historical figures, and humanity will often be very close to the brink of disaster. There is a weapon that is being hunted by very powerful and ruthless people, and you'll do many things to stop its spread. Some scenes felt more X-Files than Heart of Darkness, in fact.

We are cold blooded because we kill people silently

The single-player campaign is longer than we're used to in this sort of highly scripted action game, closer to eight hours than six, and it's incredibly enjoyable. Gun battles are placed around set pieces and incredible moments of super-heroism, and you'll never be quite sure what will happen next, or even in what year. Modern Warfare 2 had a jangly, disjointed story that often left gamers feeling confused about what was going on, and Black Ops has decided to just embrace that. Hell, the character you play through the majority of the game is confused about what's going on. You're just along for the ride.

And what a ride! You'll be rappelling down the sides of things, jumping off even taller things, taking off in flying things, blowing away space-bound things, riding and driving two- and four-wheeled things while shooting things at stuff all over the place. Just in case you forget how edgy these games are supposed to be, in one scene you punch a window, take a piece of glass, put it in the mouth of another character, and then punch them very hard in the head. There is a lot of blood.

A few notes: not only are there many different guns, but you can find different variations of the guns. Extended magazines, different scopes, dual-wielding—the guns can be set up in a variety of ways, although you won't be modding them yourself in the singleplayer. Still, how cool is it to find a combination machine gun/flamethrower?

The voice cast is also impressive, including Ed Harris, Sam Worthington, Ice Cube, and Gary Oldman. Some do better than others, but everyone seems like they're trying, which is a big step up from most games where the big-name talent seems to mostly phone it in. Although, to be honest, Oldman does tend to ham it up.

Black Ops has interesting twists and turns, and the scene after the credits roll is wonderful in its humor, but it feels like a knife that has been sharpened so many times it's nearly invisible. These big-budget war games are starting to blend together, with the drivable vehicles and the globe-trotting and the military technology. I'm not sure if I've simply played too many of them or if there needs to be something done to shake things up, but a few scenes seemed to be there simply because we expect them from a game of this type. Also, twice I caught the game seemingly throwing endless waves of enemies at me until I stepped forward to the next waypoint. Once was around the middle of the game, and the other closer to the end, but it was still disappointing.

The game takes place in a variety of settings, across a number of years

View the original article here

Call of Duty: Black Ops: Not-so-modern warfare - CNET

(Credit: Activision)

Somewhere between the Greatest Generation and Generation X lies a vast expanse of American history. Though World War II is safely enough in the past to explore freely, and our current war on terror close enough to inspire (occasionally uncomfortable) ripped-from-the-headlines games (and plenty of movies, books, and television), that great middle section has been largely unexplored by interactive entertainment--until now.

While a mighty stroke of the virtual pen, the Call of Duty series has single-handedly brought everyone's attention to the Cold War era. But this is not the Cold War of John le Carre or James Bond; instead the brutal small-arms firefights and squad skirmishes feel more like today's unconventional warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan, just redesigned for a different decade. It's modern warfare, just in a slightly less modern package.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. Often, the most effective way to tell a story is through time-shifting and indirect symbolism; it's pretty much the foundation of the narrative experience. Interestingly, this particular setting is uniquely underused in video games--compared even with the Civil War or various ancient conflicts. I'm not sure there's an adequate explanation as to why there have been so few Vietnam-era games (and even fewer Korean War games); perhaps the baby boom generation controlling the purse strings of game developers and publishers felt it off-limits, or inaccessible to younger gamers who had not lived through the tumultuous era.

In this case, however, it makes perfect sense. While the Modern Warfare games (also part of this Call of Duty series) managed to walk the line between cartoon action and potentially offensive realism, a somewhat similar game from earlier in 2010, Medal of Honor, generated a lot of negative heat for its portrayal of U.S. forces engaged in all-too-real modern-day shoot-outs with the Taliban.

In comparison, this is no "Apocalypse Now" or "Platoon" (or even "The Green Berets"); it's Cold War action in the Michael Bay mold, as big and explosive as games get, with all the telltale signs of big budgets and focus groups. At the same time, one has only to see a brutal torture scene early in the game to feel its connection to current events. Unlike the black-and-white patriotism of the WWII-era Call of Duty games, there are shades of gray here which, while historically appropriate for the era, also clearly reflect current-day sensibilities.

No doubt, many players will remain unaware of these threads, happy instead to lose themselves for a few hours in both the cinematic story and the separate-but-equal online competitive game, which comes off much more like a futuristic sports league than actual military combat.

The gameplay mechanics don't feel that much different than other recent Call of Duty entries, which is more of a compliment than anything else. The actual running and shooting (and occasional driving and flying) is sharp and responsive, and even the interactive menus are a treat, with Easter eggs and in-the-know jokes. If this is your kind of thing, you already know it, and likely already have logged significant game time within 24 hours of Black Ops' release.

Have the Call of Duty games become a highly commoditized formula? Of course they have, but that doesn't mean it's not still a well-made piece of consumer entertainment, and one of the slickest, most engaging games of the year. What's your take? Sound off in the comments section below, or vote in our poll.

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Black Ops Features You Might Not Know - Just Push Start

Here’s a bunch of new features in Call of Duty: Black Ops that many players will not have heard about. They range from things about equipment to perks and all make me personally look forward to Black Ops even more. So lets kick of this list of features!

Re-Use Equipment

Like in Modern Warfare 2 players will only get one claymore to use but in Black Ops players will have the ability to pick up their own claymores. This will work in the same way that players can pick up camera spikes, motion detectors and jammers. It is currently unknown whether players will also be able to pick up C4 but as it seems most of the equipment can be it would be a safe bet too.

Mistakes Were Made

Rather than just saying that a player has committed suicide Black Ops has the rather different approach and say Mistakes Were Made next to the player in the killfeed. Ways to get this range from the normal falling to running through a mine field on the multiplayer map Jungle.

Zooming Scopes

Black Ops hosts a scope which players can actually zoom in and it seemed that it was possible to zoom in 4 times, allowing for some rather long range sniper action. The name of the scope is currently unknown but the game is just around the corner so we will find out very soon.

Invisible Walls

Unfortunately these make their unwanted return in Call of Duty: Black Ops; while it isn’t yet proven how many will be inside the maps, at the edge of all the maps there are a number of entrances for the Attack Dogs. This means a big gap in a fence that looks possible to crawl through has an invisible wall stopping players. While I can see why they have added these I hope they haven’t plastered them all over the maps stopping players getting on the top of buildings when it seems possible.

Depth To Maps

On most if not all levels there is something going on around the map or even on the map in the case of launch. Like with launch where the rocket goes up other maps also include moving sections from a moving belt over a crusher to a train outside of the map. This is a feature which helps add depth to the maps which hasn’t really been seen as much in Call of Duty as other shooter titles.

How To Unlock Pro Perks

On Call of Duty: Black Ops regular perks will be brought using the Cod Point system but the Pro version of each will still be only available by completing challenges for that perk and that is also where it differs from Modern Warfare 2. Instead of just one challenge players will now have to complete three separate challenges to unlock the Pro version of a perk. For example to unlock Marathon Pro players will have to run 26 miles using marathon, get 10 first bloods kills and capture 15 flags in Capture The Flag mode. Clearly this is a way of making them slightly more specialised for the players that use them and could possibly make them slightly harder for players to get.

Well hopefully you are now even more clued up on Call of Duty Black Ops and it will make you even more pumped for the launch on November 9th.

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