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Incipio Le Deux iPhone 4/4s Case Review

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January 30, 2013

Incipio Le Deux iPhone 4/4s Case
Manufacturer: Incipio
Platforms: iPhone 4/4s
Price: $29.99USD Get it Here

The Le Deux case is a case with a brushed stainless steel back plate with a polycarbonate frame. The case is available in four different colour combinations and has an Incipio Vanity Kit, which contains a screen protector, cleaning cloth, and applicator card, packed into the box. The case is designed to be extremely slim to compliment the iPhone 4/4s’ design.

The installation of the Le Deux case is an absolute nightmare. This is one of the trickiest cases to install on a phone and there are zero instructions included inside the box to make it easier. There is a YouTube video from Incipio that demonstrates the proper way to install the case, but there is no mention of this either in the box. It took me almost a full half hour of struggling with the case along with the help of the YouTube video half way through before I managed to wrangle on the case. The proper way to install the case is to put the back plate onto the back of the phone then with the LCD facing up, slip the bumper onto the phone and make sure the back plate is secured to the bumper.The video makes it look easy, but it is pretty tough. In the process of getting the bumper onto my phone, I managed to break my phone’s power button. The bumper’s fit is extremely tight, with the amount of struggling I required to get the case on, the bumper depressed the power down and rubbed it side to side repeatedly until the little piece that allows the power button to depressed with a click seemed to have slipped out of its position and caused the power button to no longer work. This seems to be a relatively common failure in iPhones, but I am left to wonder if the power button didn’t go through such stress from the installation of the case, would it be still ok now.

I spoke to Incipio about this, and they have stated that the Le Deux is an extremely difficult case to install, but this was the first time they have heard of a power button failure due to the installation of the case. Frankly, I do not believe the case is the only cause of the failure, but rather it simply exploited either a design or manufacturing weakness and caused a failure. I strongly recommend those choosing to purchase the Le Deux to take extremely care while installing the case and to watch the instructional video first before attempting to install the case. I also recommend that Incipio pack either an instruction manual or a link to the instructional video in the Le Deux box.

The back plate of the Le Deux case is a brushed stainless steel plate with a piece of cardboard like material glued to the portion that touches the iPhone’s class to prevent scratches. The back plate comes in three different finishes, a gold, black, and silver finish. The back plate has four small holes that snap into the bumper’s four protrusions to secure the back plate to the bumper. The stainless steel plate is cut perfectly, fitting itself to the back glass and resting against the metal band on the iPhone. It does not flex easily, but the brushed metal does get noticeably scratched with use. After a while, I noticed lots of small scratches on the centre of the plate from being rested on tables then picked up. The silver brushed steel finish does an ok job of hiding the scratches, but eventually the scratches look like a faint circular cloud on the back plate. If the colouring on the black and gold versions is simply a coated layer, they may show the scratches easier than the silver models. However, I am unable to confirm this personally. The back plate is extremely thin with ample sized hole for the flash. I did not notice the back plate causing any interference with the camera’s flash.

The bumper is a polycarbonate plastic that is advertised as Incipio’s Plextonium material. It is extremely slim with well sized holes cut out for the power button, volume buttons, vibration switch, speakers, and 30 pin connector. The hole for the headphone port is a pretty standard size for cases, fitting most headphone plugs except for the larger high end jacks. I was able to fit in all my headphones except the stock Shure se215 plug and the cable for my headphone amp. The latter was easily modified to fit the Le Deux case. There isn’t much give in the bumper except for lower portion of the hole cut out for the 30 pin connector. I found that wiggled easily compared to the rest of the case. The bumper itself took falls pretty well, but considering how little play there is in the case, the bumper dented easily after the phone was dropped about a foot onto the side of a desk.

The Le Deux case is a pretty solid choice at $29.99 if you are looking for a little more protection than the classic bumper case but still maintaining the super sleek design of the iPhone. The stainless steel back plate will provide the necessary scratch protection to allow owners to rest their phones on the table and slide it around without fear. The plastic bumper will stop the iPhone 4’s death grip problems without taking away from the beauty of the phone. However, the Le Deux struggles with an extremely difficult installation. Instructions on how to install the case or a link to the tutorial video needs to be added to the box containing the Le Deux. Buying the case also nets you an Incpipo Vanity Kit which is a very usable screen protector considering it is free. This definitely increases the value of the case. If you are in the market for a slim case and are willing to put in the care and leg work required to install the Le Deux safely, you will be rewarded with a case that looks so good it could be mistaken as a new iPhone design.

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Character Classes revealed in new Fire Emblem Awakening trailer

Michael Marr

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January 30, 2013

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Character Classes revealed in new Fire Emblem Awakening trailer

Any die hard Fire Emblem fan no doubt has a favourite choice amongst the many varieties of character classes in each of the games. Many player selectively choose to build their armies based around the strengths and weaknesses of a few selected units. Like many other fans, I too enjoy seeing my myrmidons and swordmasters cutting down leagues of enemy units while nomads and rangers cover them from afar. After seeing a great number of character classes turfed in Shadow Dragon, fans had feared that many beloved unit types were forever written out.

The lastest Fire Emblem Awakening trailer does away with that suspicion, showing off many past units such as the manakete, great knight and myrmidon, as well as a variety of newly created units such as the griffon rider, war monk and most interestingly of all, a tactitian class that can use both weapons AND magic. Be sure to check out the trailer for yourself below!

God of War: Ascension comes with Last of Us demo

Travis Bruno

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January 30, 2013

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If you’re waiting to play Sony’s next big PlayStation 3 title that isn’t a reboot, prequel or sequel to a well-used franchise then you’re first going to have to pick up one of those titles. Sony has announced today that all copies of God of War: Ascension worldwide will come with early access to The Last of Us demo.

Of course the demo won’t be available right away. Instead you will have to wait until the demo becomes available. Currently the demo does not have a set release date and Sony has also made it so the only way to access the demo is through God of War: Ascension’s main menu which is a useful counter measure against trade-ins.

Explore the origins of Columbia in Bioshock Infinite’s latest trailer

Travis Bruno

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January 30, 2013

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We’ve seen the origins of Rapture and how the underwater city came about for past Bioshock titles, but how did a floating city manage to detach itself from the rest of the world? Well this latest video from Irrational and 2K Games will provide a little bit of backstory. The video is titled “Truth from Legend” and Alister Bloom tries to unlock the mysteries behind Columbia in what may become a series of videos up until the game’s release on March 26th.

That video can be seen below, but if you happen to be interested in pre-ordering the title, then you will also want to check out the video just below this paragraph. Anyone who pre-orders the title in Australia will be given the Industrial Revolution Pack which not only unlocks three in-game items that will boost your combat abilities, but also $500 of in-game currency, five extra lockpicks and free access to the Industrial Revolution puzzle game.

Dead Island Riptide Releases Gameplay Trailer

Simon Wolfe

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January 30, 2013

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Been dying to see what Dead Island Riptide has to offer in terms of gameplay, whether it be to compare with how the original played or to see what new things are incoming? Well, looks like those fans looking for either are in luck as a gameplay walkthrough has been released to show off both.

The video itself is decent length, just shy of 10 minutes and shows off plenty of new content. Focusing on a hub defense mission, pseudo-tower defense, the video is a bit slow going, but with the ever present threat of zombies kinda hard to blame the presenter. While the footage shown is still pre-alpha, it’s still looking alright, but that’s no real surprise as they’ve got the original to build off of.

Players can check out the video for themselves embedded below. Dead Island Riptide is set for release for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC on April 23rd in North America, followed by the 26th in Europe.

Heart of the Swarm Opening Cinematic Released

Michael Marr

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January 30, 2013

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With RTS fans eagerly awaiting the release of the first promised expansion pack to Starcraft 2, cinematic teasers and trailers have been all the rage at Blizzard’s marketing team. Numerous demonstration videos and teasers have been flung about the internet ever since the original Starcraft 2 hit the scene back in 2010. With the release date of Heart of the Swarm etching ever closer, Blizzard has released the full opening cinematic of Heart of the Swarm.

The trailer depicts ththe protagonist of this story to be Sarah Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades and controlling force over the Zerg. After the events of Wings of Liberty, Kerrigan was left stripped of much of her PSI powers, now living as neither Zerg nor Human, but a mixture of both. While we don’t know what her intentions will be this time around, whether it be hero or villian, but we do know that she’s still more than a little pissed off at Mengsk and we can bet that she, much like Jim Raynor will be looking foward to settling the score with him. That is, if they don’t end up killing each other first.

Check out the trailer for yourselves below!

Neverwinter Beta Gets Dated

Joe Morgan

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January 30, 2013

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Fans of the Dungeons and Dragons may recognize the name of the upcoming MMORPG from Cryptic and Perfect World Entertainment. Neverwinter will have its beta testing kicked off in February with three stress-test weekend events. The three dates for the beta events are February 8-10, March 8-10, and finally March 22-24.

There are several ways to get beta access. PC Gamer is giving away promotional codes, as are events like PAX East and community giveaways. You can also purchase the “Founder’s Pack.”

The “Founder’s Pack” will come in three separate tiers:

$19.99 – “Adventurer’s Pack” – Players on this tier are not guaranteed beta access
$49.99 – “Guardian of Neverwinter Pack” – Beta access, Direwolf companion, Armored horse mount, and in-game ‘Founder’ title
$199.99 – “Hero of the North Founder’s Pack” – Play as the famous drow ranger himself, Drizzt Do’Urden (or as close to him as you can get) with a panther companion, armored spider mount, and the unique Drow playable race

Players interested can get more details here or go to the official site to sign up for the beta themselves.

Ninja Throw Sneaks Onto Android

Joe Morgan

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January 30, 2013

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A true ninja is swift. A true ninja is accurate. A true ninja…can use the wind and telekinesis to alter trajectories and strike their mark.

Chillingo, publisher of popular mobile games Cut the Rope and Angry Birds, has announced their newest title to be released to the Android platform – Ninja Throw. Developed by Hadron Solutions, Ninja Throw is an arcade puzzler where you must throw a shuriken and ring a gong on each level.

According to Chillingo’s website, the game features:

Bang the gong in each stage with your shuriken. But sometimes that requires ricocheting around tricks and traps.
Use your Sensei’s mystical powers, such as telekenesis, to bend the path of your throwing stars.
Complete stages in as few throws as possible (and as fast as you can) to rack up high scores.
Perfectly paced for gamers of all ages, but expert players will find deep challenges in using the fewest stars.
Excellent soundtrack sets the scene for this puzzle-adventure.

You can also check it out on Google Play here.

Hakuoki: Warriors of the Shinsengumi gameplay trailer released

Travis Bruno

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January 30, 2013

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After it was announced that Aksys Games would be bringing Muramasa: The Demon Blade over to North America sometime this year, the company has chosen to give one of their upcoming PSP games a little bit more love. To be a bit more exact, Aksys has released a trailer for Hakuoki: Warriors of the Shinsengumi which shows off a bit of the title’s gameplay as well as the playable cast of characters.

As you can see in the video below, the title will feature hack and slash action as well as visual novel storytelling. Currently Hakuoki: Warriors of the Shinsengumi is set to be released on February 19th on the PSP with all retail copies coming with a 16-page character guide. Perhaps since Aksys is dabbling in brawler otome titles, there could be hope for a Senran Kagur localization after all… since it is on the opposite end of the spectrum entirely.

Muramasa Rebirth heads West courtesy of Aksys Games

Travis Bruno

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January 30, 2013

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Today Aksys Games has announced that they will be bringing the PlayStation Vita version of Muramasa: The Demon Blade to North America under the new name of Muramasa Rebirth. The title features a number of upgrades from the original Wii version which was originally released by Ignition Entertainment, such as control improvements, visual enhancements and more. Aksys also stated that the game will feature a brand new English localization and will not re-use Ignition’s translation.

As for the game’s DLC, Aksys has stated that these four new characters and additional scenarios will be made available for purchase sometime after the game is released in North America. Currently Muramasa Rebirth has no release date, but you can check out some earlier screenshots here and a gameplay trailer here.