With a wealth of knowledge and experience across the digital art and design industry, the forward-thinking team at Xencelabs are now launching their range of innovative, top quality drawing tablets in the ANZ market, helping professionals bring their creativity to life with style.

Across the region, the creative industries have continued to grow exponentially in the connected age, creating significant opportunities for skilled jobs in fields such as graphic design, video game development, 3D animation and art direction. In turn, the demand for quality devices from these industries and their employees has increased.

Designed with the input of industry leading artists, Xencelabs pen tablets deliver the precision and reliability the creative professional needs: a minimal design that prioritises comfort and functionality with features for faster workflows and great drawing experience. Highlighting comfort as a priority, this has resulted in an elegant, high quality pen tablet at an affordable price.

The Xencelabs Pen Tablet Medium elevates the drawing experience right from the second the pen meets the tablet. With more sensitivity than leading competitors, the pen tablet offers control like no other, giving you the ability to make the lightest of strokes and smallest of details. Including one-button access for pen pressure curve controls, the pen tablet opens up opportunities for even the heaviest hand.

The incredibly stylish pen tablet features a seamless and gently curved palm rest to maximise comfort, as well as adjustable LED lights that help define the active drawing area. With a drawing surface aspect ratio of 16:9 native, the pen tablet is able to map exactly to most industry-standard monitors.

Accompanied by two different sized and fully customisable pens suited to any workflow, the experience is reminiscent to that of your favourite sketch pen or pencil. Adding more value, users will also receive a carrying case, drawing glove and a pen case that also includes replacement nibs and extractors.

With such comprehensive features packed into a sleek design, the Xencelabs pen tablet is suited to all creatives, including students and entry level professionals.

The Xencelabs range consists of products that have resulted from a long, thoughtful and iterative design process to ensure the inclusion of major features and subtle touches necessary to foster creative expression, which include dimmable lighting that can even be turned off if it’s too distracting since artists often work in darkened environments. Corner lights can be assigned different colours and tied to the application in use, which is helpful for reminding artists that their settings may have changed when they switch applications.

Ergonomically designed and generous sizing that is suitable for any desk, especially for freelancers and other creatives that are working from home. Also taking into account the long hours and tight deadlines for many users, Xencelabs products are designed for comfortable use over long periods.

They are also built for portability and minimal setup, perfect for those that are alternating between several products at once or are travelling on a regular basis.

Each Xencelabs tablet has Quick Keys, included in the Pen Tablet Medium Bundle, which enables artists to incorporate shortcut keys into their regular workflow through an easy-to-use interface.

The Quick Keys’ OLED display and physical dial allow you to create up to 40 shortcuts per application and group sets of related functions like sketching, colouring and editing.

The Xencelabs range is now available.

The post Xencelabs Launches into the ANZ Creative Market appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

This week, STG was invited to the unveiling and premier for a new socially driven stream channel aimed at Millennials and covering topics and stories that no other broadcaster has done before.

TVNZ has teamed up with a range of local storytellers to launch more than 20 original short-form pieces of content viewable HERE, YouTube and Facebook today, all produced under TVNZ’s New Blood innovation initiative.

Collaborating with local talent – producers, directors, writers, filmmakers, comedians, and actors – New Blood aims to create content specifically designed to live online and reach viewers with less traditional media habits.

“New Blood is TVNZ’s way of reaching viewers who might not be engaging with our content like they used to,” says TVNZ’s digital commissioner, Amie Mills.

“We wanted to work with new and emerging talent to create content that is different, provocative and champions diversity – voices, ethnicities, gender, sexuality, beliefs – as well as authenticity.”

“There’s one-off comedy sketches, documentaries, 2-part stories, stand-up specials and comedy web series. What makes this work exciting is that content formats are defined by the story being told, rather than having to stick to a particular format. We’re looking forward to seeing how our viewers react and engage with the work as it will inform what we create in the next phase of production.”

Since its inception in late 2016, New Blood has launched: Re:, an alternative socially-driven news brand, a TVNZ and NZ On Air funded competition for Kiwis to vote for their favourite pilot to be funded into a full web-series, and a project to create experimental scripted and factual short-form content.

TVNZ is currently working on the second phase of New Blood content-creation and welcomes conversations with local content creators who have unique stories to tell. If you think you have a good story for New Blood please feel free to GET IN TOUCH with us here at STG.

Re: is now.

The post New Blood @ TVNZ appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Creative Technology Ltd today announced at E3 2017 the latest addition to its Sound BlasterX Pro-Gaming Series, the Sound BlasterX AE-5. E3 is the world’s premier event for computer, video and mobile games and related products, making it the perfect place to debut the next era of PC audio.

The sound card features the world’s best gaming headphone amplifier for PCs. The Sound BlasterX AE-5 delivers the ultimate audio performance with the full force of a 122dB 32-bit/384kHz ESS Sabre DAC, a kick-ass custom-designed 600Ω discrete headphone amp, audiophile-grade components, and proprietary Sound Blaster audio enhancement technologies.

Delivering an industry-leading gaming headphone amplification experience, the on-board headphone amplifier is custom-built using discrete transistors and audiophile-grade WIMA film/foil capacitors in a dual-amp design to satisfy the most demanding needs of today’s intense games and high-resolution audio. Experience the difference of a discrete dual-amp design as each audio channel is individually amplified to deliver pristine, uncompromised audio. Plus, the high heat resistance of the German-made WIMA capacitors greatly reduces noise and audio interference. The Xamp’s ultra low 1Ω output impedance also makes it perfectly capable of driving sensitive in-ear monitors as well as studio-grade headphones from 16Ω to 600Ω.

At the heart of the Sound BlasterX AE-5 sound card is the quad-core Sound Core3D audio DSP and a 122dB ESS Sabre-Class DAC that instantly boosts regular motherboard audio with up to 32 times more clarity. The premium audiophile-grade DAC with its high dynamic range indulges users with up to 32-bit / 384kHz lossless playback and true audio fidelity for high-definition audio in games, movies, and music.

Updated, refined, and perfected through years of being the leader in sound processing, Creative’s AE-5 is feature-packed with the latest and greatest version of Creative’s award-winning audio processing and algorithms that improve music, movie, and gaming experiences. The legendary Sound Blaster technologies provide fully customizable DSP-powered audio enhancements, crystal-clear vocal reproduction, in-game voice communication enhancements, 7.1 virtual surround sound and other advanced audio technologies.

The Sound BlasterX AE-5 card is the first sound card to feature a built-in RGB controller that comes with the Aurora Reactive Lighting System. A separate RGB lighting system could set a user back by at least USD 50, but now this is built into the card itself with the AE-5, giving users amazing value and performance for their system. This also means that valuable space within a gamer’s desktop can be saved for other components.

The RGB controller, powered by Creative’s very own Aurora Reactive Lighting System, not only lights up the card through the PCB, but also gives gamers the flexibility to build their dream gaming rig by connecting up to four LED strips to match the awesome sound with an awesome light show. The fully customizable Aurora Reactive Lighting System allows users to choose from multiple presets or program it with up to 16.8 million colors and various rhythms to choose from, using the Sound Blaster Connect PC software.

Scout 2.0 is an upgraded version of Creative’s well-received Scout Mode feature – Scout 2.0 now also includes Scout Radar.

Scout Radar is a smart companion that enables gamers to visualize and pinpoint their enemy’s position on a Scout Radar app with the user’s smart device, while Scout Mode lets gamers hear their enemies before they are seen. The all new Scout 2.0 feature is sure to give gamers that added winning edge.

The Sound BlasterX AE-5 comes with support for a full-fledged discrete 5.1 speaker set-up, enabling gamers to enjoy the full potential of surround sound in today’s entertainment content.

“The Sound BlasterX AE-5 represents the best amplification experience for gaming headphones that a sound card can offer. Since our very first sound card 30 years ago, we’ve always been passionate about sound when it comes to entertainment and gaming. The AE-5 embodies our continuing dedication in giving gamers the absolute best. This is an amazing way to celebrate the 30th anniversary of our gift of sound to the PC world: the Sound BlasterX AE-5,” said Low Long Chye, general manager of Creative.

“Discrete circuitry designs using components such as transistors and capacitors deliver audio with warmth and nuance that is seldom found in today’s commoditized audio products. With the AE-5, we have preserved the rich legacy of these quality components and combined it with world-class engineering and audio processing technology to deliver the absolute best audio experience for the PC. And that’s not all, the AE-5 also takes the sensory experience beyond sound with a 16.8 million color light show.”

The post Creative Unveil Sound Blaster-X! appeared first on Shane the Gamer.