Entertainment Electronics Blog » Microsoft

id’s Carmack Favours 1080p For Next-Gen PS3, Xbox

Arthur Ricky — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 05:27:22 +0000

Quake, Rage and Doom developer wants pixel-perfect visuals on next-gen hardware

id Software programming genius John Carmack has revealed a preference for ‘pixel-precision’ graphics on the next generation of consoles, citing uncertainty with 720p resolutions on various displays.

“Targeting 1080P for next gen consoles brings pixel precision back to relevance. Almost every display screws with 720P,” Carmack tweeted.

Most HD console games aim for a 720p resolution, although this is often upscaled via 1080p TVs or the console itself.

Battlefield 3 actually ran at 704p on consoles.

Rage pushed hardware capabilities almsot beyond their limit with 720p, 60fps visuals on consoles, but despite a heavily recommended installation still suffered from texture issues on PS3 and Xbox 360.

id is currently working on Doom 4 but, so far, little is known of the project.

The latest speculation on next-gen consoles suggests the launch of the next Xbox will come in 2013.

MW3 DLC: ‘No Further Information’ On PS3, PC Release Dates – Activision

ally keer — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 22:16:02 +0000

Modern Warfare 3 DLC release dates for PS3, PC up in the air.

Modern Warfare 3’s first DLC has been dated for 24 January – but so far only for Call of Duty Elite members on Xbox 360.

Release dates for PS3, PC have yet to be revealed – when we asked� Activision for more details it told us it currently had “no further information”.

Microsoft has a long association of exclusivity periods with Activision for Call of Duty DLC, but with paying Call of Duty Elite customers expecting early access to content on Xbox 360 and PS3, some may feel that Activision hasn’t lived up to previous promises – if the DLC launches earlier on Xbox Live.

Exclusivity has traditionally lasted on Xbox Live for a month for past DLC packs.

Battlefield 3: Christmas Comes Early With Origin Half Price Sale

ally keer — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 07:38:42 +0000

Buy Battlefield 3 for half price on Christmas eve and Christmas day only.

EA has revealed a couple of great Christmas offers on Origin – the first is Battlefield 3 discounted by 50 per cent, if you buy it on 24/25 of December.

The second deal will knock 50 per cent off the cost of two games from the list below, and runs from 27 December until 8 January.

Microsoft and Valve also have Christmas sals on digital content.

The list of relevant games on offer on Origin are as follows:
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Battlefield 3
FIFA 12
FIFA Manager 12
Sims 3 Pets
Sims 3
Sims 3 Generations
Sims 3 Ambitions
Mass Effect 2 Digital Deluxe
Crysis 2
Alice Madness Returns

Xbox 360: New Dashboard Ads Can Be Blocked

ally keer — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 20:49:33 +0000

How to get rid of advertising on Microsoft’s new Xbox 360 dashboard.

Microsoft’s new Xbox 360 dashboard update launched this week to a mixed reception – the new layout is fresh and clean, but isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, while the addition of advertising hasn’t been particularly welcomed by Xbox Live subscribers.

Well, now you can block the advertising completely, by re-configuring your network settings or blocking the servers from yuor router.

If you’re particularly annoyed by the dashboard ads check this Reddit thread for all the details on how to get rid of them.

Research shows Apple makes top 3 connected devices in US

Arthur Ricky — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 20:50:38 +0000

JiWire culls a requests from approximately 289,000 public Wi-Fi locations in the US and uses this information to produce a quarterly report on mobile devices. Its latest report for Q3 2011 confirms what Apple fans already know — iOS devices rule in the connected device category.

In its broadest sense, a “connected device” is any device that connects to the Internet. For the sake of this study, connected devices are defined as mobile devices that may or may not have a cellular connection. It’s the device you pull out of your bag when you’re sitting at Starbucks.

According to JiWire, almost 80 percent of ad requests in the US come from an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. The iPhone is number one with 41.9 percent of ad requests, the iPad is second with 23.8 percent and the iPod touch is third with 14.1 percent. Number four is Windows Mobile 7 with 4.9 percent, and the numbers drop precipitously from there.

From quarter to quarter, iOS fell 2 percent, but it still has a significant lead over Android in the US. Ad requests from iOS devices (79.9 percent) are 7 times greater than Android (11.0 percent). Interestingly enough, the mobile platform with the biggest jump is Windows Phone. It’s in third place with 5.2 percent of the ad requests, but its quarterly share jumped 1.2 percent. Microsoft recently released Windows Phone 7.5 Mango and unveiled its first Nokia Windows Phone handsets; two factors which could explain this jump

A similar trend occurred in the UK. The iPhone, iPad and iPod touch are the top three connected devices with 71.1 percent of the ad requests. Android is second with 16.6 percent, and Windows Phone is third with 8.1 percent. iOS, though, dropped a significant 6.5 percent, while Windows Phone jumped 5.5%. Android was the only other platform to gain ground last quarter in the UK. It climbed 1.5 percent, while all other platforms fell.

In the US, Apple is clearly in the lead and holding its own against the competition. Apple also dominates in the UK, but it appears that Android and, particularly, Windows Phone took a bite from Apple’s lead. Now that the iPhone 4S is available, it will be interesting to see if this trend continues in the current quarter.

Show full PR text

New Trends in Location and Mobile Data Unveiled in JiWire Mobile Audience Insights Report

66 percent prefer to make a purchase in a physical store when within a five-mile radius

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 6, 2011 – JiWire, the leading location-based mobile media company reaching the on-the-go audience, today announced its latest Mobile Audience Insights Report, which examines connected-device adoption, location- and mobile-shopping trends, as well as check-in behavior and public Wi-Fi trends. This quarter’s report uncovers several key emerging trends in the location and mobile markets that include the following:

Proximity Marketing – 66 percent prefer to purchase in a physical store within a five-mile radius.
Tablet adoption continues – Tablet usage is up 84 percent since Q4 2010.
Checking-in – Consumers are split evenly between liking, disliking and not interested.
Mobile Device Trends Adoption – iPad, Android and Windows Mobile 7 gain market share in the U.S and U.K.
Mobile Shopping Behavior & Proximity Marketing Trends

In the midst of the U.S. holiday shopping season, the study looks at mobile-shopping behaviors between genders and also highlights consumer attitudes toward shopping online versus in store. Male consumers surpassed female consumers in the shopping department – 73 percent of males make purchases on their mobile devices compared to 61 percent of females. A consumer’s proximity to a store significantly influences purchasing behaviors as well. Sixty-six percent of consumers prefer shopping for a $50 dollar item at a regularly visited store if within 5 miles; however, when the same consumers are 20 miles outside of the same store, 72 percent prefer making purchases on their laptop and mobile devices. Other findings include:

18 percent are using a connected device to actually make purchases even when physically in the store.
28 percent of respondents said they comparison shop on a mobile device when in a store.
63 percent of consumers prefer to shop both in store and online; 22 percent prefer to shop exclusively in store.
“The retail experience remains critical. While consumers are increasingly using mobile to research and make purchases, we are seeing that the in-store shopping experience is equally if not more important, even with a tech-savvy audience,” said David Staas, senior vice president of marketing at JiWire. “This holiday season, brands have a great opportunity to not only leverage digital and mobile, but also execute ‘clicks-to-bricks’ approaches to drive in-store traffic, utilizing location and proximity to deliver the right advertising experience.”

As people continue to become increasingly mobile and strive for constant connectivity, mobile-device habits have shifted from larger devices like laptops to smaller, more portable devices like smartphones and tablets. Tablet usage has nearly doubled in the past year, growing by 84 percent since Q4 2010. Since last quarter, tablets and smartphones are showing relative growth in usage while other devices like netbooks and laptops have remained stable or declined. Tablet usage is up 20 percent, smartphone usage is up 24 percent and by comparison, laptop usage is down 10 percent. Other key findings include:

Consumer purchase intent is 50 percent higher for smartphones and/or tablets compared to laptops over the next six months (25 percent versus 16 percent), continuing to accelerate the shift in device ownership.
Adults 24 years old and under are more likely to purchase a smartphone and/or laptop in the next six months while adults between the ages of 25 and 44 are more likely to purchase a tablet.
Tablet Adoption Continues, Fueling Mobile Commerce

Since inception, tablets continue to gain popularity with on-the-go consumers, having nearly doubled in growth over the past year. The study determined that the tablet audience is very comfortable making purchases on their device, purchasing items more frequently than just smartphone owners, and often spending more. For example, 82 percent of the tablet audience is willing to make purchases directly on their mobile devices (smartphones or tablets) compared with 76 percent of smartphone owners. Other purchase preferences include the following:

67 percent of tablet owners are willing to spend $50 or more, compared to 57 percent of smartphone owners and 52 percent of laptop.
Electronics, retail, entertainment and travel are the most frequently purchased categories, with tablet owners leading all of these categories in terms of purchase frequency.
Location Media: Consumers Remain Split on Value of the Check-In

Despite all the attention and focus on checking in, the jury is still out when it comes to consumer attitudes around this component of location media. In fact, consumers are split three ways; 35 percent feel positive toward it, 35 percent either do not like it or understand it, while 30 percent do not care about checking in. Additionally, the primary drivers of this trend appear to be among males. For example, 39 percent of males claim that they “like” or “love” checking in while only 30 percent of women feel that way about checking in. Not surprising, the most popular check-in categories are restaurants, hotels, pubs/bars and health clubs.

Mobile Device Trends and Adoption

In Q3 2011, the iPad, Android and Windows Mobile 7 continue to gain market share not only in the U.S., but in the U.K. as well. Likewise, market share continues to decrease when it comes to the iPhone and iPod Touch – in the U.S. and U.K.

Additionally, the U.S. and U.K. both saw a drop in market share with the iOS, but in both cases, it still holds the No. 1 ranking.

Research shows Apple makes top 3 connected devices in US originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 06 Dec 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Xbox Live Windows Phone App Brings Console/Mobile Connectivity

ally keer — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:13:11 +0000

Xbox Live/Windows Phone cross-compatability hits with dashboard update this week.

The app will enable users to search for and catalogue content, see recently played games, apps and acheivements, get details for movies or TV shows and activate Xbox 360 functions from your phone.

The free Xbox Companion app for Windows Phone launches with the new Xbox 360 dashboard tomorrow.

Microsoft first unveiled its plans for Xbox Live/Windows Phone compatability back in early 2010.

Microsoft Doesn’t Get It, Episode 65,536: TellMe versus Siri

ally keer — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 12:14:19 +0000

As with all new technologies developed by or associated with Apple, competitors are stumbling over one another to dismiss Siri. Google has already played the “yawn” card, and now Microsoft’s Craig Mundie has joined the fray during an interview with Forbes. Here are Mundie’s remarks when asked about Siri, proving for the 65,536th time that Microsoft Doesn’t Get It:

“TellMe facility’s been in the Windows 7 Phone (sic) for more than a year! I just think that people are infatuated with Apple announcing it… it’s good marketing. At least as a technological capability, you could argue that Microsoft has had a similar capability in Windows phones for more than a year. You could take these Windows phones and pick them up and say, ‘Text Eric,’ and it’ll say, ‘What do you want to say?’ and it transcribes it… You can query anything through Bing by just saying the words. I mean, all that’s already there. Completely functional, been there for a year.”

Can you really just pick up one of these Windows phones and use it right out of the box in the way Mundie claims? Not if the results of a video comparing TellMe versus Siri are any indication. Using Siri and TellMe simultaneously, an Australian user tries to create a meeting, send a text, check the time in Perth, and play songs by a certain artist. Siri doesn’t miss a beat, while TellMe fails every time, often with hilarious results.

Let’s issue some apologetics for TellMe: maybe it’s tripping over the Aussie accent. Maybe it needs to “learn” the speaker’s voice over time to deliver better results. Maybe the handset’s microphone wasn’t picking up his voice well enough to decipher his commands accurately. But the side-by-side comparison doesn’t lie; Siri kicked TellMe’s butt up and down the block.

The comparison video even handicapped Siri by using the sort of stilted, standardized voice commands that Android and Windows Phone 7 have indeed “already had for over a year.” But the thing that Siri’s detractors must keep in mind is that Siri is not just speech recognition. In fact, if you’re one of Apple’s competitors, and you’re going to try talking about Siri intelligently, I’d say the first step is writing “Siri is not just speech recognition” on a chalkboard 100 times.

Certainly Android and Windows Phone 7 have had basic speech recognition functions before Siri’s debut, but can you have a conversation with those implementations, or do you have to stick to a strict set of commands that the OS can interpret? You’re certainly going to have a hard time convincing me that I can have this sort of interaction with TellMe on Windows Phone 7:

“I’m in Chicago. I want pizza.” (I’m actually over 13,000 kilometers from Chicago, but never mind that.)
“I found a number of pizza restaurants in Chicago, IL, US.”
“How about New York City?”
“I found a number of pizza restaurants in New York City, NY, US.”
“Maybe hamburgers in Miami instead.”
“I found a number of burger restaurants in Miami, FL, US.”
“How windy is it?”
“The wind speed is currently 26 kph (ENE) in Miami, FL, US.”
“No, how windy is it here?”
“Wind speed is currently 21 kph.”
“Is it shorts weather?”
“Here’s the forecast for today through this Thursday.”

What makes Siri a revolutionary voice-controlled interface is the fact that you don’t have to stick to the standard “Search for pizza restaurants in Chicago” or “What is the current wind speed in Palmerston North, New Zealand” language that other interfaces require. Even more than that, Siri understands conversational context in a way that competing voice interfaces don’t.

Fine, Android and Windows Phone 7 beat Siri to market by being able to ask your phone questions, but that’s like the difference between issuing commands to your dog versus talking to a three-year-old human being. My greyhound is pretty much a canine genius, but once you stray from the hundred or so commands and concepts I’ve programmed into her doggy brain, she’s every bit as lost as TellMe would be if I asked it “Is it shorts weather?”

Siri is far closer to being able to understand natural speech the way a human would; it’s not quite there yet, but it’s often amazing how close it gets. On my first day with the iPhone 4S, I set a half-hour timer and later asked Siri “How’s that timer doing?” fully expecting it to choke. Instead, it showed me the timer immediately. I was startled that it worked at all, and worked well, and moments like this prove that Siri isn’t the also-ran that people like Microsoft’s Mundie are trying to claim it is.

Here’s the funniest part: just like Multi-Touch, I suspect Apple’s competitors are only being dismissive about Siri for as long as it takes for them to copy it… badly. Meanwhile, Siri and I will be over here waiting for you to catch up.

“Play some Led Zeppelin.”
“Here’s your Led Zeppelin.”

And of all things, what plays? “Communication Breakdown.” Siri, you so crazy.

Microsoft Doesn’t Get It, Episode 65,536: TellMe versus Siri originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 25 Nov 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft Could Do More To Stop Xbox Live Fraud – Ex-Hacker

ally keer — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 23:32:06 +0000

Poacher-turned-gamekeeper comments on XBL claims.

Microsoft should have better measures in place to prevent Xbox Live users’ accounts being compromised according to former hacker, and current developer/security expert Cal Leeming.

Microsoft has recently reiterated that the Xbox Live network has not been hacked – in spite of consumer claims to the contrary – and has blamed the reported issues on phishing scams.

Leeming, who works with businesses to improve their online security, thinks the latest claims that Xbox Live has been hacked could be down to one of two things.

“From the users perspective, some of them have been de-frauded and are 100 per cent positive they have not entered their details into a phishing site,” explained Leeming. “But people tend to have a habit of re-using their login credentials, so it could be that there was a huge breach of email/passwords list (we’ve seen lots of these leaked out over the last few months) from a completely different place, and that scammers are basically going through and seeing which ones are valid on the Xbox login portal.”

While not a breach of Xbox Live, it could be a widespread issue for users.

“We see a lot of this on one of our clients, and we’ve actually developed investigation tools to find possibly leaked accounts, and issue a password reset – something which Microsoft (and many other companies) don’t actively do,” Adds Leeming. “In which case, it’s MS’s fault for not providing good enough account security (maybe they should go down the WoW route and issue people with hardware token ids).”

Alternatively, Leeming alleges that Microsoft could be downplaying any Xbox Live breach bto avoid losing “millions in fees/reimbursements” and “a roasting by Visa/Mastercard and their merchant” as well as negative publicity.

“MS (like many other companies) aren’t doing enough to prevent this behaviour, nor are they doing enough to help themselves and their customers once the news hits the media,” Leeming concludes.

NowGamer has been contacted by numerous gamers whose Xbox Live accounts have been compromised – Microsoft today reiterated it’s statement from yesterday that Xbox Live has not been hacked.

As a precaution, we suggest changing your XBL account password via Xbox.com.

We’ve contacted Microsoft for further comment. The platform holder currently advises customers that it is:
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- Working closely with affected members who have been in touch with us to investigate and/or resolve any unauthorized changes to their accounts resulting from phishing scams;

- Warning people against opening unsolicited e-mails which may contain spyware and other malware that can access personal information contained on their computer without their knowledge or permission;

- Reminding all customers that they should be very careful to keep all personal information secure whenever online and never supply e-mail addresses, passwords or credit card information to strangers.
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Microsoft remains vigilant at all times regarding the security of Xbox LIVE customers. As always, Xbox LIVE customers who have any queries or concerns should contact Xbox LIVE Customer Service on 0800 587 1102 or visit www.xbox.com/security.”

Microsoft Wants New Exclusives For ‘Current, Future Xbox Generations’

ally keer — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 14:51:42 +0000

Platform holder looking to add ‘new blood’ to AAA stable.

Microsoft Game Studios is looking for producers to help it find and develop exclusive new AAA franchises to push Xbox 360 and it’s next-gen successor, according to new MGS job listings.

“MGS has a number of successful core franchises: Halo, Fable, Forza Motorsport, and Gears of War. Our job is to add new blood to this stable of AAA franchises. We have huge ambitions for what we want to accomplish, and we need a great producer to be able to help us get where we want to go,” reads one of the ads – for a producer.

One of those titles will be Crytek’s Kinect hack-’n-slash, Ryse, with another listing looking for someone to work solely on the in-development title.

Other future AAA Xbox-exclusive games are unlikely to deviate too far from the console’s traditional genres though, with candidates urged “to have a thorough understanding of games in the genres we are working in: primarily Shooter and Action-Adventure.”

Elsewhere, Microsoft is looking for developers for it’s Connected Experience Group to expand on free-to-play launches such as Age of Empires Online. “The launch of Age of Empires online is just the first stage of our plans for this portfolio,” reads the ad.

Xbox Dashboard Update Adds Cloud Storage, Kinect Control, and More in December

Arthur Ricky — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 17:37:08 +0000

After months of waiting, Microsoft has finally provided a release date for the upcoming Xbox 360 fall dashboard update: it’ll be out on December 6.

The free download adds a wide variety of features, including those we first heard about during E3 in June. The redesigned look of the dashboard allows Kinect owners to navigate it with either gestures or voice — the latter is also one way of using the new search functionality that will allow you to find content on the Xbox Live Marketplace, Zune Marketplace, Netflix, Hulu Plus, and more. As this is a Microsoft product, search is powered by Bing.