It was announced earlier in the week at X10 that Halo Reach BETA would be launched on May 3rd. Microsoft had also ruled out rumours that Natal support would be present, however they filled us in with a few details of the multiplayer map that we will be playing on.

Bungie described "Powerhouse," the multiplayer map that would be available in the beta, saying that, "Utility and economy spurred industry amidst these isolated and unforgiving badlands, but like all infrastructure facilities on Reach, this hydroelectric site is under the purview of the UNSC war machine. All threats to the continued, predictable operation of humanity's final line of defense must be met with swift and decisive force."

There was also an actual showcasing of the map at X10, so, as soon as word travels, and it will do so insanely fast, you can expect a few impressions about it, but, right now, these are all the details available. Bungie promised to add mode information to Reach's portfolio in the coming months, but also that a new ViDoc would be added "very, very soon."

Remeber that you can download the BETA through your ODST Disc when it's available to us all.

Keio University and Toshiba ready tiny 1TB SSDs for 2012

Japan's Keio University claims to have developed, in conjunction with Toshiba, the technology to shrink the size of SSDs by a spectacular 90 percent while also cutting energy consumption by 70 percent. If that's not enough mind-boggling numbers for you, the final product of this partnership is expected to yield 1TB drives with 2Gbps throughput. The details of this are still somewhat unclear, but we're told researchers stacked 128 NAND flash chips atop one another, with the breakthrough being in the way they communicate -- using short-range magnetic signals --- which results in less wiring complexity and reduced production costs. We'll take some convincing to believe they can really put these to practical use by 2012 as promised, but if they do make it to any sort of commercial launch, you can bet we'll be queuing up through the night to get one. Note: Nikkei source link requires a paid subscription to access.

Xbox Live service for Xbox 1 games to be discontinued on Apr. 15

Microsoft is pulling the plug on the Xbox Live services that still cater to the original Xbox. As of April 15th, all Xbox 1 games -- including those playable on Xbox 360 or via the Xbox Originals service -- will be severed from the online realm. "I want to start by saying this isn't a decision we made lightly," Xbox Live general manager Marc Whitten said at the start of a letter to Xbox Live members, "but after careful consideration, it is clear that this will provide the greatest benefit to the Xbox Live community."

Whitten added that in continuing to "evolve the service," Microsoft requires changes that are "incompatible" with the previous console's games. "We will contact the Xbox LIVE members directly impacted by this change and if this includes you, I encourage you to check your LIVE messages and associated e-mail account over the coming weeks for more details and opportunities."

According to Major Nelson's most recent list of top Xbox 1 Live titles, Star Wars: Battlefront 2 and Counter-Strike players will be hardest hit. Well, sure, Halo 2 is still the most widely played game, but at least those guys will have some consolation when they leave the house and discover that two more Halo games have come out since 2004.

By the way, if you have anything terribly important to say to your clan mates, we suggest you say it now.

Apple iPad annnounced

After nearly a decade of rumors and speculation, Apple's finally unveiled the iPad. It's a half-inch thick and weighs just 1.5 pounds, with a 9.7-inch capacitive touchscreen IPS LCD display, and it's running a custom 1GHz Apple "A4" chip developed by the P.A. Semi team, with a 10-hour battery life and a month of standby. It'll come in 16, 32, and 64GB sizes, and it's got the expected connectivity: very little. There's a 30-pin Dock connector, a speaker, a microphone, Bluetooth, and 802.11n WiFi, as well as an accelerometer and a compass. As expected, it can run iPhone apps -- either pixel-for-pixel in a window, or pixel-doubled fullscreen -- but developers can also target the new screen size using the updated iPhone OS SDK, which is available today.