Bluestacks is an American tech company that produces the BlueStacks App Player and other cloud-based cross-platform products. The BlueStacks App Player is designed to enable Android applications to run on Windows PCs and Macintosh computers. The company was founded in 2009 by Rosen Sharma, former CTO at McAfee and a board member of Cloud.com.
Investors include [1] Andreessen-Horowitz, Redpoint, Samsung, Intel, Qualcomm, Citrix, Radar Partners, Ignition Partners, AMD and others. BlueStacks is Sharma’s 8th company, with five acquisitions by Google, Microsoft, Citrix X 2 and McAfee. BlueStacks exited beta on June 7, 2014.
App Player
The company was officially launched May 25, 2011, at the Citrix Synergy conference in San Francisco. Citrix CEO Mark Templeton demonstrated an early version of BlueStacks onstage and announced that the companies had formed a partnership. The public alpha version of App Player was launched on October 11, 2011.[2]
App Player is a downloadable piece of Windows and Mac software that virtualizes the full Android experience. The software is free to download and use after adding a small number of sponsored apps, with the option to instead purchase a $2/month premium subscription.[3] According to company sources, the App Player can run over 96% of the 1.4 million apps in the Google Play Store.[4] It reached the 85 million download mark in April, 2014.[5]
On June 27, 2012, the company released an alpha-1 version of its App Player software for Mac OS.[6] while the beta version was released on December 27, 2012. The Mac OS version of App Player is no longer available for download on their homepage, as support for it was officially dropped in 2014. In April 2015, BlueStacks, Inc. announced that a new version of App Player for Mac OS was in development.[7]
GamePop
GamePop, was launched on May 9, 2013. It uses a subscription model. Users receive over $250 worth of paid games with their subscription.[8] It allows users to play as many as 500 mobile games on TV. On July 23, 2014 Samsung announced [9] it had invested in and was backing GamePop. This brought total outside investment in BlueStacks to $26 million. With an increased stride on improvements to its App Player, BlueStacks, Inc. put GamePop development on hiatus in 2015, with plans to improve the product at a later date.
PlayStation 3 & Xbox 360 NA November 11, 2014[1] AUS November 13, 2014[2] EU November 13, 2014[3] JP December 11, 2014 Microsoft Windows March 10, 2015[4]
The story is set in the mid-18th century during the Seven Years' War, and follows Shay Patrick Cormac, an Assassin-turned-Templar. Gameplay in Rogue is very similar to that of Black Flag with a mixture of ship-based naval exploration and third-person land-based exploration with some new features.
Gameplay
Naval aspects from previous games return with the player controlling Shay's ship, Morrígan. Morrígan has a shallower draft compared to Edward Kenway's Jackdaw fromAssassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, allowing for river travel.[1][5] New features include new ship-based weapons such as releasing an oil slick which can then be ignited, Puckle guns, and the ability for enemies to board Morrígan during ship-to-ship combat. The arctic environment also features into naval gameplay and exploration, as certain icebergs can be rammed with an icebreaker.[6] The underwater diving missions featured in Black Flag do not exist in the North Atlantic, as swimming causes the player's health to rapidly deplete due to the frigid water.[7]
For combat, the game introduces an air rifle, which allows the player to silently take out enemies at a distance. The air rifle can be outfitted with a variety of different projectiles, such as firecrackers. The player can also use a grenade launcher, which fires off shrapnel grenades and other loads.[5] Hand-to-hand combat has been slightly altered, and now enemy attacks can be countered with timing, similar to the Batman: Arkham series of games. Enemy Assassins feature archetypes similar to previous games, using skills that players have been using throughout the series; they can hide in bushes, blend in with crowds, and perform air attacks against the player.[7] Poison gas can now be used as an environmental weapon, and Shay has a mask that can mitigate its effects.
Side missions and activities return, with a number of them based on those of the previous games. Reflecting Shay's role as a Templar, the game introduces a new side mission: Assassin Interception. These mirror the Assassination side missions in previous games, in that Shay, after intercepting a messenger pigeon carrying an assassination contract, must prevent a Templar agent being assassinated by finding and killing Assassins hidden nearby.
The main character of the game is Shay Patrick Cormac, a twenty-one-year-old recruit to the Brotherhood of Assassins who grows disillusioned with their methods and their cause just as his career as an Assassin begins.[5] He eventually betrays and abandons the Assassins after an assignment ends in disaster, and is later accepted into the Templar Order, offering his services as an Assassin Hunter after seeing some of the Assassins groups used as allies have taken to terrorizing New York. Given access to near-limitless resources, Cormac sets out against his former companions, with his actions having dire consequences for the future of the Brotherhood.[1][6] Cormac has ties to the events that occur in Assassin's Creed Unity.[8] Appearances from previous Assassin's Creed characters include: Haytham Kenway, the secondary antagonist ofAssassin's Creed III;[7]Achilles Davenport, Ratonhnhaké:ton's mentor; and Adéwalé, Edward Kenway's quartermaster in Black Flag, and protagonist of Freedom Cry.[9]
Plot
The Modern Day plot begins one year after the events of Black Flag, with a new unnamed player character that works for Abstergo Entertainment. While investigating the memories of Shay Patrick Cormac, an Assassin working in the North Atlantic during the French and Indian War, they inadvertently trip a hidden memory file that corrupts the Abstergo servers. With the building being put into lockdown, the player is recruited by Melanie Lemay to continue exploring Cormac's memories in an effort to clear the system.
Cormac is a new recruit to the Brotherhood of Assassins, working under Achilles Davenport. Achilles sees potential in him, but Cormac develops an insubordinate streak that frustrates his mentors. Believing that taking a more active role in the Brotherhood's affairs will temper his impetuousness, Achilles orders Cormac with his newly acquired ship the Morrígan to track down a Templar cell that has been deciphering a Precursor artifact revealing the locations of several Pieces of Eden. The artifact, in the form of a wooden box, had been stolen from the Assassins following a massive earthquake in Haiti some years before. With the help of Benjamin Franklin, a Piece of Eden is located in Lisbon, and Cormac is tasked with retrieving it.
However, Cormac has begun questioning the Assassins' motives after seeing their refusal to engage in dialogue with the Templars, and takes no satisfaction from killing an already-dying Templar commander,Lawrence Washington. His doubts come to a head in Lisbon, where his attempt to retrieve the Piece of Eden triggers an earthquake that destroys the city. Noting that similar events occurred in Haiti, Cormac is horrified to learn that Achilles and the Assassins intend to pursue the remaining Pieces of Eden. Cormac steals a manuscript necessary to interpret the artifact and flees, while the Assassins give chase. Confronted at the edge of a cliff in the homestead, he decides to commit suicide and bury the manuscript to the depths of the Atlantic than to let the Assassins reacquire it. Just as he jumps, an Assassin shoots him in the back; Cormac comes to believe it was his best friend Liam's doing.
Cormac is rescued by a passing ship and taken to New York City. Once he recovers, he uses the skills he learned from the Assassins to drive out the city's criminal gangs. His actions attract the attention of George Monro, the city's governor, who offers Cormac the chance to help rebuild the city. Indebted to Monro, Cormac assists the British Army in their early campaigns against the French, and discovers that Achilles' chapter is supporting the French war effort. Monro reveals himself to be a Templar, and despite knowing of Cormac's prior loyalty, offers him a place within their Order. Cormac accepts, but Monro is killed shortly afterwards during an attack on a British fort. Cormac is then formally inducted by the Templar Grandmaster, Haytham Kenway.
Cormac reveals to Kenway his belief that the Pieces of Eden sought by the Assassins are not weapons, but are instead being used to hold the world together, and he pledges to stop his former allies before they cause another catastrophe. His efforts lead to the deaths of several senior figures in the Brotherhood, until only Achilles and Liam remain. Having discovering that the pair are headed for another Precursor temple in the Arctic, he immediately pursues them. Inside the temple, Haytham and Cormac confront Achilles and Liam over their actions, but Achilles' attempts to prevent bloodshed causes Liam to destroy the Piece of Eden by accident, causing another earthquake. While Haytham pursues Achilles, and Cormac and Liam fight throughout the temple, until Cormac ultimately kills his former friend. He arrives in time to persuade Haytham to spare Achilles, as his testimony will stop the Assassins from trying to locate other temples. Haytham nonetheless cripples Achilles as a precaution by shooting him in the knee.
With the Assassin Brotherhood all but destroyed, Cormac is tasked with locating the artifact that was used to find the Pieces of Eden, as Achilles had passed to other Assassins prior to his Arctic voyage. Cormac's twenty year search eventually leads him to Versailles, where he discovers it under the care of Charles Dorian; father of Arno, protagonist of Assassin's Creed Unity. Cormac kills Charles and takes possession of the artifact, taunting the dying man with the promise that while the American Revolution ended Templar influence in the Americas, a new revolution may yet hold promise.
In the present day, the player reconciles Cormac's memories. Under the direction of Otso Berg, a senior Templar leader, they upload them to the Assassin network, revealing how close Achilles Davenport came to destroying the world. The result is almost instantaneous, with the Assassins thrown into disarray and, as revealed in Assassin's Creed Unity, retaliating by hacking into the Abstergo's systems and destroying all of the company's Precursor samples as well as causing several of their servers to melt down. As reward for their actions, the player is presented with a choice; join the Templar Order, or die. The game fades to black before a choice is made.
Development
By March 2014, an Assassin's Creed game code-named "Comet" was revealed to be in development, set for release on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.[10] By the end of the month, additional reports indicated that "Comet" would be set around 1758 in New York, as well as feature sailing on the Atlantic Ocean. The game would be a direct sequel to Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, and would feature a Templar named Shay as the main protagonist. Haytham Kenway from Assassin's Creed III and Adewalé from Black Flag would also make appearances.[11]
The game was officially announced on August 5, 2014, following a leak of the title.[12] Game director Martin Capel described the game as finishing the series' "North American saga" and that the game was designed to accommodate specific fan requests, such as taking on the role of a Templar.[1] The game is intended to "fill the gaps" of the story between Assassin's Creed III and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag and has "a crucial link" to the events of the previous games.[8] In addition to Ubisoft Sofia's work on the game, contributions are also being made by Ubisoft studios in Singapore, Montreal, Quebec, Chengdu, Milan andBucharest.[1] Ubisoft also stated that the game was being envisioned without multiplayer components "at this stage", but did not rule out any modes being added after the game launched.[13]
Assassin's Creed Rogue received mixed reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the PlayStation 3 version 74.06% based on 32 reviews and 72/100 based on 52 reviews,[14][18] and the Xbox 360 version 73.13% based on 27 reviews and 72/100 based on 32 reviews[15][19] and the Microsoft Windows version 69.71% based on 7 reviews and 75/100 based on 22 reviews.[16][17]
Ray Carsillo from Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the game a 8.5/10, praising its interesting lead character, enjoyable story, new weapons introduced, new mission design, which requires player to prevent assassinations instead of carrying out assassinations like in other Assassin's Creed titles, as well as advanced and improved combat mechanics. However, he criticized poor pacing of the story, frequent bugs, lack of replayability and the lack of inclusion of a multiplayer mode. He concluded the review by saying that "Rogue is a far more pleasurable experience than I anticipated. It does just enough to put its own stamp on the franchise while also giving us critical story details in order to tie up loose ends between Assassin's Creed III and IV. It serves as a perfect conclusion to the series’ time spent exploring Europe’s North American colonies in the 18th century."[21]
Eurogamer drew comparisons between Rogue and Assassin's Creed Revelations—a game which served to resolve storylines from Ezio Auditore's saga as a lead-in toAssassin's Creed III, due to its focus on expanding on characters and storylines introduced in III and Black Flag. Although noting that some settings, weapons, and mechanics had been reused from previous games in the series (such as an expansion of the New York City setting from III, naval combat, renovating buildings to build income, and locating enemies with a radar similarly to the former multiplayer mode), the use of Assassins as an enemy was considered to be a "much-needed new [idea] to the series' fighting mechanics" due to their use of tactics that were used by the player themselves in previous games (such as smoke bombs and hiding), and that Rogue felt the most "fresh" whilst exploring its new North Atlantic overworld. However, the story missions themselves were criticized for being noticeably shorter than in previous games.[30]
Matt Miller from Game Informer gave the game a 8.25/10. He praised the huge variety of activities, varied environments and mission types, new additions and well-performed gameplay, despite being too similar to its predecessors. He criticized the repetitive melee combat and the absence of multiplayer mode. He described the game by saying that "Rogue is vast with lots to explore, and while it lacks novelty, it offers a wealth of gameplay and lore to faithful fans."[23] Daniel Bloodworth from GameTrailers gave the game a 7.2/10, praising the return of some old characters in the Assassin's Creed series, stunning scenery and environment, interesting interceptions missions, but criticizing the predictable and dull lead character, poorly-constructed missions in the beginning of the game, disappointing boss battles, as well as numerous bugs. He described the game by saying that "Rogue in many ways feels like an extension of last year’s Black Flag, even down to the menus, but there are some tweaks to the formula thanks to your new role as a former assassin, hunting down his old comrades."[26]
Daniel Krupa from IGN gave the game a 6.8/10. He praised the engaging story, the nuanced lead character, atmospheric scenery, but criticized the lack of Templar abilities included, bland encounters with other main characters, uninspired side quests, empty world, as well as the frustrating combat and traversal system, which he stated has shown no improvements. He also criticized the game for not encouraging the player to explore the world.[27] Mark Walton from GameSpot gave the game a 6/10, criticizing the predictable story, unlikeable lead character, lack of interesting missions, as well as being thin on core content. He stated that the game feels like a glorified Black Flag DLC pack and has done nothing to put the franchise forward.[25] Xav de Matos from Joystiq gave the game a 6/10, criticizing the game for not adding anything new to the franchise. He stated that "Assassin's Creed Rogue is essentially a clone of Black Flag's setting and systems. If you can accept rampant copy-and-paste in another full priced entry, you'll more than likely enjoy whatAssassin's Creed Rogue has to offer."[28]
Sales
As of December 31, 2014, Ubisoft has shipped a combined 10 million copies of Assassin's Creed: Unity and Assassin's Creed: Rogue.[31]
With unprecedented gaming power and iconic, innovative design, the new Alienware Area-51 is the next evolution of high-performance desktop gaming.
Starting at $1699.99
What We Liked…
Spectacular gaming performance
Attractive, innovative design
Powerful Command Center software
What We Didn’t…
Enormous, potentially unwieldy case
Not the highest CPU and productivity scores in the universe
Introduction & Design
For years—long before it was acquired by Dell, even—Alienware has made its desktops as distinctive in how they looked as how they performed. Its bleeding-edge systems have often been the technological embodiments of the company's name, complete with fins, curvy panels and doors, the distinctive alien-head logo, and prices usually about high enough to finance a round-trip ticket to Jupiter.
If the latest, completely revamped edition of the company's flagship Area-51 gaming desktop is surprisingly conservative in one sense—no fins or swoopy cutouts, and practically subdued case lighting—it's downright radical in its overall shape. And under the hood, this PC is Alienware through and through. It's also, though far from cheap at $4,499, a competitor to boutique gaming rigs costing a grand or three more.
What you'll notice first about the Area-51 R2 is that it almost entirely abandons the square boxiness that even boundary-pushing systems—including many of Alienware's—have long embraced. The bottom sections of the company's new "triad" chassis' front and rear panels protrude considerably more than the top parts do, with the panels' long, sloping side edges defining a distinctive shape that, when viewed from the side, looks like a plump triangle. (Okay, the short panels or lopped-off points between the other three sides mean it's actually more hexagonal, but the contrast is stark enough that the overall impression is triangular.)
Though the case runs a bit deeper than a standard full-size tower (the dimensions are about 22.4 by 10.7 by 25.2 inches, HWD), Alienware took great pains to point out to us that you won't necessarily need more space to stash the computer—that the design ensures adequate airflow and cabling space with the system pushed back against a wall. The angle of the rear panel and the bottom-mounted power supply (for plugging in the power cable) mean that none of the cables will require the two or three inches of additional space between the system and the wall that most large-scale desktops do.
Pop open the case (two latches at the top rear let you remove the left- and right-side panels) and you'll discover that the interior of the Area-51 has been given no less consideration. Two intake fans (one mounted on the top front panel angled downward, one on the bottom front panel angled upward) aim their air at the CPU/memory area and the graphics cards. The wiring is impeccably tied, arranged, and routed to help maximize both neatness and airflow. Pull off the other side panel, and you'll discover bays for housing up to five drives (three 3.5-inch, two 2.5-inch).As is traditional for Alienware, there's a complex lighting scheme that's divided into nine separate areas (three lights on each of the side panels, two running down either side of the front panel, and the backlit, alien-head-shaped power button), which can be controlled individually or collectively. (More on this in a minute.)
Features
Alienware rarely skimps on the components, and such is the case here. The $1,699 base model comes with a six-core Intel Core i7-5820K CPU, though it has no SSD and a single AMD Radeon R9 270 graphics card. Bargain hunters should seek out the $2,549 step-up model, which boasts 16GB of RAM, pairs its 2TB hard drive with a 128GB SSD, and has an Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 card.
Our $4,499 flagship test configuration is loaded with a 3.5GHz Intel Core i7-5930K processor, mildly overclocked to 3.9GHz instead of 3.7GHz in Turbo Boost mode, and 16GB of DDR4 RAM for all your basic processing duties. If you insist on eight cores instead of six, Intel's Core i7-5960X is a $600 option.
Your games will be driven by three(yes-THREE!!!) 4GB GeForce GTX 980 graphics cards, though because they consume most of the space on the custom Alienware X99 motherboard used in the Area-51, you shouldn't plan to have any space left over for adding other cards. (Sandwiched between the three PCI Express x16 Gen 3 slots are a PCIe x4 and a PCIe x1 slot, but they're blocked by the GTX 980 cards.) If this triple SLI setup isn't enough for you, you can get a quad SLI config by ordering two dual-GPU GeForce Titan Z cards instead for $1,050 more.
Three heavenly graphics cards
As for storage, there's a 256GB Samsung 850 Pro solid-state drive for installing games and apps and a 4TB Western Digital 7,200rpm hard drive for storing all your other files. Though optical drives are becoming increasingly rare these days, there is a slot-loading BD-ROM/DVD±RW drive on the front panel, in case you should need it.
These components receive plenty of support, too. A self-contained liquid cooling system keeps the CPU at safe operating temperatures. The video cards are held in place by a specially designed rear cage unit that makes them easy to release without use of a screwdriver.
The power supply is another custom Alienware model, rated up to 1,500 watts (a good thing, given all those video cards). Connectivity is rife, with built-in 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, and Killer NIC e2200 game-optimized Gigabit Ethernet.
Despite all the hardcore hardware you'll find in the Area-51, however, it's remarkably quiet while operating at full-bore. You can hear it (especially with the side panel removed), but we never found its noise as distracting as is frequently the case with high-end gaming desktops.
On the front panel you'll find two USB 3.0 ports, headphone and microphone jacks, and an SD card slot. The rear panel sports eight additional USB ports (four 3.0, four 2.0) and the usual assortment of audio ports, plus three DVI, three HDMI, and nine DisplayPort outputs on the three graphics cards.
A one-year warranty covers the Area-51 and the preinstalled operating system is, of course, Windows 8.1. You won't find a ton of bloatware out of the gate, but you will find Alienware's useful Command Center software. This is where you'll go to explore crucial hardware status data such as CPU and GPU temperatures and fan speeds; configure power and game profiles; tinker with overclocking; and more.
While we recommend investigating all the options (particularly the overclocking settings) carefully before doing too much, the Command Center is simple to navigate and use, and a fair amount of help is provided. We found it incredibly easy, for example, to customize the system's lighting scheme by making selections from a color wheel and linking them to the nine LED lighting areas, even instructing them to pulse or morph from one color to another.
Conclusion
We can wholeheartedly recommend the Alienware Area-51 R2 for gaming desktop fans. How can you not love performance that meets—and in a few instances exceeds—that of desktops that cost nearly twice as much? But as our CPU and productivity benchmarks show, it's important that you remember why you're buying a computer like this. If you stray too far from the gaming chores at which it excels, you might find that it doesn't quite live up to its hefty promise, at least at its stock clock speed (which, of course, you can tweak using the Command Center software).
On the bright side, though: When you look at the Area-51's one-of-a-kind case, what in the Milky Way are you going to think of other than gaming? This is a bad ass fucking gaming machine for all you gamers out there like me. Its like a match made in heaven.
App Player is a downloadable piece of Windows and Mac software that virtualizes the full Android experience. The software is free to download and use after adding a small number of sponsored apps, with the option to instead purchase a $2/month premium subscription.[3] According to company sources, the App Player can run over 96% of the 1.4 million apps in the Google Play Store.[4] It reached the 85 million download mark in April, 2014.[5]
GamePop, was launched on May 9, 2013. It uses a subscription model. Users receive over $250 worth of paid games with their subscription.[8] It allows users to play as many as 500 mobile games on TV. On July 23, 2014 Samsung announced [9] it had invested in and was backing GamePop. This brought total outside investment in BlueStacks to $26 million. With an increased stride on improvements to its App Player, BlueStacks, Inc. put GamePop development on hiatus in 2015, with plans to improve the product at a later date.
