I’ve been given only the slightest of glimpses into the next entry in the hit PlayStation series God of War. The next game will be sub-titled Ascension and all that can be said for Kratos, the angriest of anti-heroes, is that the story will take him back before the beginning, to a time when he showed a great deal more humility as a person and his task was to curry favour with the Gods rather than to destroy them. Beyond those small morsels, nothing more has been said. Instead the first details being released focus on a new multiplayer mode where up to eight players can battle it out across an arena or join forces to take down the massive monsters the series is known for.

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The PlayStation 3 is getting a party-brawler game. For the first time characters from across Sony’s video game universe are gathering under one title for a knockdown, drag-out fight. Although it won’t be out until later this year, a very early version of PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale was unveiled this week for myself and other members of the press to test out. While the demo contained just six characters and four levels from the many to be included, it’s clear the game will spark enthusiasm and is bound to be compared to Super Smash Bros., Nintendo’s own brawling party game made up of video game stars.

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This is the 7” tablet you’ve been looking for. It’s not a mobile device with a larger screen or an oversized phone or a companion for your laptop. We’ve reached a point now in screen resolution and the design of both Android software and apps that yes, you can now take everything that has been successful with the normal-sized tablets; that immersive, visual experience, and deliver it in a more comfortable size. The experiment is now over and we have a polished concept that feels just right.

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Of the many layers that make up who we are it’s the skeleton that you can depend upon to stand the test of time. It’s our bones that record our journey in life and remain to share our stories long after. In a new exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum, Canadian artist Deborah Samuel seeks to evoke expressive stories from the skeletons of animals, to capture a beauty made delicate by their nature and fragile in a world still home to disasters both natural and human in origin.

Cobra.I/II/III (triptych) - Deborah Samuel 

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It’s rare to find a gadget these days that’s designed for a singular purpose. The MOTOACTV is a fitness tracker and that’s it. It didn’t begin life as a wristwatch or a smartphone or a video game system only to find a use for fitness later. No, it lives and breathes to be your exercise companion and is armed with every kind of consumer technology available, from GPS and touchscreen controls to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections.

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I’ve been testing the New iPad for a week and if it wasn’t black in colour I’d easily mistaken it for my white iPad 2. They are the same size, have the same feel, and even the same features. It’s just that there are a few things the new model can do far better. The differences are improvements, not real changes, enough to help Apple hold onto their lead in the tablet market without making everyone feel like they have to buy a new iPad each year.

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Of all the PlayStation handhelds, the PS Vita has by far the best feel. It’s priced at $250 and is large in size, but light in weight. It has a massive, simply gorgeous screen that the games make incredible use of. As all gaming systems should be, it’s a machine, an eye candy portal with a physicality that you can comfortably grip and latch on to.

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With a 5.3” screen the Samsung Galaxy Note is a very large cellphone. A decade ago it would look ridiculous held up against your head, but with the exquisite thinness and butterfly lightness of today’s devices your hand hides most of it and so it’s not as bad as it could be. By pushing what’s comfortable with a larger screen Samsung says they’ve tapped into the functionality of a tablet. They feel that they’ve created a hybrid device that is part smartphone, part tablet, allowing you to walk through life with just one device instead of two. Well-made and imbued with a gorgeous Super AMOLED display, the idea is alluring.

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After much hype and many delays, Microsoft’s new dashboard software for their Xbox 360 is now available for download. It’s the most significant change made to the video game system since 2008 and one that aims to make it more of a digital entertainment system, where watching online movies, TV shows, and music is just as important as playing video games.

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I walked into a tavern and stepped up to the bar. Video game controls being what they are, I missed my mark slightly and stumbled into a nearby chopping block. A large axe, set into the wood, teetered and came loose. “Watch out!’ cried the bartender, as the axe head toppled past myself and the other patrons on its way to the floor. This is the astonishing level of detail in Skyrim, an epic two hundred-hour game in a world vast with everyday details that have nothing to do with the main story. The furniture is not bolted to the floor and characters are not mannequins waiting for response triggers. Everything has a life of its own.

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