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Infinity is the latest attempt at a movie ticket subscription
Infinity, a new movie ticket subscription service with options for singles, couples, and families, is expected to launch this fall. Similar to Sinemia and MoviePass, Infinity can be used at any participating movie theatre rather than a specific chain. Viewers can add on access to IMAX and 3D for an added monthly fee. Numerous perks include discounts on food and beverages, rollover movie credits, and easy ticket redemption on the Infinity mobile app or website.
The After Math: Buyer's remorse
You can't always get what you want, even if you pay good money for it. Disney has decided to drop its Infinity franchise and the studio that developed it. A judge ordered Lyft to double its class action payout to drivers. And Earth's atmosphere has doubled -- that's right, doubled -- in weight since we first got it. That's it, I want to talk to the manager.
Disney cancels 'Infinity' as it quits video games
So much for Disney remaining a big player in the video game world. As part of its second quarter earnings release, the media giant has revealed that it's getting out of the self-published video game business... and canceling its Infinity game series in the process. Disney hasn't said much about why it's jumping ship, but it notes that "lower results" (read: poor sales) for Infinity prompted the move. It's a fairly costly move: Disney is taking on a $147 million charge to axe the division.
BT boosts entry-level fibre broadband speeds to 52Mbps
In its mission to supply the UK with faster broadband, BT has announced a new speed upgrade for Infinity fibre customers. New and existing entry-level subscribers can now enjoy up to 52Mbps, a 32 percent increase from their previous 38Mbps connection. BT is keen to advertise that the new Infinity 1 package gives customers faster speeds than similar packages from Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin. Sky and TalkTalk share the same Openreach networks as BT, meaning that it'll only be a matter of time until they launch their own 52Mbps packages. While Virgin Media's basic offering comes in slightly lower than BT at 50Mbps, its business plans reach a whopping 300Mbps, compared to Infinity 2's 78Mbps.
Brita's smart water pitcher orders its filters from Amazon
Amazon's automatic Dash refills are reaching all kinds of devices... and now, that includes the gadgets in your fridge. Brita has launched the Infinity water pitcher, a WiFi-equipped container that automatically orders replacement filters whenever your current purifier is near its limit. It's not cheap at $45, and that's not including the $6 you'll pay every time you need a new filter. However, it might be just the ticket if you can't imagine drinking from the tap (or heading to the store) for even a brief moment.
Darth Vader PS4 bundles cater to your 'Star Wars' cravings
Between The Force Awakens, Battlefront and Disney Infinity, you're about to get your fill of Star Wars -- and Sony is determined to capitalize on that sci-fi feast with some special PlayStation systems. It's releasing two limited edition Darth Vader PS4 bundles that each include a distinctive 500GB console (emblazoned with the Sith Lord's face, naturally) and a controller whose red and white accents mimic Vader's chest panel. The core Battlefront Vader bundle includes both a Deluxe edition of its namesake shooter as well as a voucher for four vintage Star Wars games (Super Star Wars, Bounty Hunter, Jedi Starfighter and Racer Revenge). Head to Walmart, meanwhile, and you can spring for a Disney Infinity 3.0 Vader bundle that replaces Battlefront with Infinity and a matching figurine kit. And if you're just interested in software, there will be a plain PS4 bundle that includes Battlefront and the classic games.
Lego's answer to 'Skylanders' and Amiibo arrives this September
Activision's Skylanders franchise has been a huge success, combining colorful toys with a video game platform that players can easily manipulate with their personal collection. Disney and Nintendo have followed with slightly different takes on the toys-to-life concept, and now Lego is jumping into the fray too. The company is partnering with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Traveller's Tales, the publisher and studio responsible for most of the existing Lego games, to create a new series called Lego Dimensions.
How 3D printing brings 'Skylanders' to life
Toys for Bob's Skylanders franchise isn't the only "toys to life" game in town anymore and Paul Reiche, co-founder and studio head, is well aware of the deep-pocketed competition. "We recognize that we've got Disney with Infinity and Nintendo with Amiibo and, you know, they have entered into this world with their own products. And it's really our job to make sure that, through innovation, we're leaders," he says. The franchise, which lets players control virtual versions of their RFID-equipped figurines in-game, was the first to successfully merge physical toys and video gaming as part of a new crossover entertainment category. Given that penchant for innovation, it's no surprise that the studio has now fully embraced 3D printing as a means of streamlining its in-house creative process.
It takes billions of years to see all of No Man's Sky
The universe is a pretty big place, and No Man's Sky's development team wants to replicate its span as best as it can. It's ambitions were grand enough for Hello Games' Sean Murray to say that the universe in No Man's Sky is "infinite" when it was revealed for PS4 at E3 in June. Of course, the game isn't really "infinite," and Hello Games is fully aware of that, and ultimately wants the game to "surprise" players. The developer addressed that late last week with IGN, discussing its previous use of a 32-bit number to automatically generate the planets in the game. "With that 32-bit number it would take you four or five thousand years to see every planet if you spent only a second on each one," it said. See? Not infinite. However, the developer noted that it is now using a 64-bit number to procedurally produce No Man's Sky's universe, which means it will take roughly five billion years to see each planet in the game. The still-not-infinite-but-rather-huge universe of No Man's Sky will arrive on PC after it launches on PS4, though it's unknown just when that will be. [Image: Hello Games]
BT's breakneck broadband test hits unimaginable speeds over plain ol' fiber
BT still has a long way to go until it connects all of Britain's homes to its fiber-optic network, but that hasn't stopped the company from exploring new ways to squeeze some extra speed out of it while it does. With a little help from friends at Alcatel-Lucent, BT boffins have created what they believe is the fastest-ever "real-world" internet connection, clocking speeds of 1.4 terabits per second using readily available hardware. If you're wondering how fast that is, the telecom giant says the network can transmit 44 uncompressed HD movies in a single second. While the project currently exists purely as a speed test, BT and Alcatel-Lucent are already talking up the possibilities of improving existing services like Infinity without having to dig up roads, potentially delivering broadband that can handle an influx of Ultra HD content on Netflix with less chance of suffering connection issues.
Harman adds the Infinity One to its wireless speaker fold, partners with Linkin Park to get one step closer
The hordes of wireless speakers are guaranteed to be on display at CES. Harman's Infinity brand has its first entry in to the group with the One. Announced today, the unit claims portable hi-fi sound with the aforementioned wireless capability and rechargeable battery that touts up to 10 hours of run time before needing a power outlet. There's no word on pricing or availability at this point, but the gadget's press release did reveal another bit of info: The company has signed on Linkin Park as brand ambassadors for Infinity. For the next five years, the band's involvement will extend beyond advertising to collaboration in production design. In the end, the newly formed team should have some co-branded audio wares to show as they've got plenty of time to crank 'em out.
Daily Roundup: ASUS PadFone Infinity hands-on, Nokia 'innovation reinvented' event, and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
ASUS Zenbook UX301 will have 2,560 x 1,440 touchscreen beneath Gorilla Glass 3 case (video)
The ASUS Zenbook Infinity first showed off its icy Gorilla Glass-clad curves at Computex back in June, and now it's resurfaced in a video that's making the rounds ahead of ASUS' press conference here at IFA. Incidentally, the video hints at a new name -- the Zenbook UX301 -- and also clarifies most of the main specs. According to the video, the UX301 will have a Retina-esque 13.3-inch, 2,560 x 1,440 multitouch display, a Haswell Core i7 CPU, 802.11ac WiFi and ASUS SonicMaster audio tech. The flagship Ultrabook will no doubt draw fans of thin design as well, thanks to the 15.5mm (0.64-inch) profile. We'll likely have a chance to play with it ourselves soon at ASUS's upcoming event, so stay tuned. In the meantime, there's a video after the break.
I-Novae explains Infinity: Battlescape Kickstarter rationale
Last month I-Novae Studios posted an update that summarized 2012 and laid out future development plans for its long-running Infinity project. Among those plans were a focus on a multiplayer combat version of the original sandbox concept called Infinity: Battlescape. This caused a bit of an uproar in the game's community due to a desire to see the devs move forward with the larger sandbox instead of what some fans see as a combat prototype. This week I-Novae's Keith Newton published another post to make the case for Battlescape and illustrate why it's important for the larger project. He draws several comparisons to EVE Online and says that "we would have to have one of the most successful campaigns in the history of Kickstarter for us to be able to build a minimally viable Infinity." Newton points out that CCP raised $2.6 million in the year 2000 for initial EVE development, which equals about $3.4 million today. Infinity is "a bit more ambitious than EVE was at that time," Newton explains, which means that I-Novae would require more than $3.4 million to make it a reality. Infinity: Battlescape is the best compromise, he says, and the team is optimistic that such a first step will provide the needed foundation "to properly pursue a project as large and ambitious as Infinity."
Infinity update talks 2012 progress, Battlescape Kickstarter
The Infinity website has updated with a lengthy blog post detailing the state of the project. It also fleshes out some details on its upcoming crowdfunding drive. What's Infinity? It's a vast sci-fi sandbox with seamless planetary-to-space transitions and a persistent, procedurally generated universe, among other things. The indie dev team has been working on the project for a number of years now, and it has managed to release a well-received tech demo and a rather spectacular atmospheric flight test. The lack of news updates throughout most of 2012 was apparently due to a substantial amount of work being done on under-the-hood quality and performance issues. As for an Infinity Kickstarter, it's coming (but not before mid-2013). The preliminary details include a standalone called Infinity: Battlescape which is basically a successor to Infinity's 2007 combat prototype. The game will focus on multiplayer combat, it will feature the seamless planetary engine, and it will likely take place in a single solar system. While some in the Infinity community have expressed indifference with crowdfunding a game that isn't the full Infinity project, I-Novae Studios says that Battlescape is more like "a first step to the whole MMO that will be marketed independently even though it shares a lot of content and code."
How would you change ASUS' Transformer Pad Infinity?
ASUS' Transformer Pad Infinity's awkwardly timed announcement sent a fair few Transformer Prime buyers into fits of apoplexy -- after all, it was just a few weeks after the Prime went on sale. Fortunately, the company didn't release the Infinity for some time, but was it worth the wait? Our reviewer felt that its delayed journey to the market meant everyone else had a chance to get beyond it, meaning that the discounted Transformer Prime was enough for anyone who didn't mind the odd GPS brownout. But what about if you bought one? Do you feel the same way? Settle down on the sofa and play armchair gadget designer for a moment, and tell us what you would change.
Disney reaches into the Toy Box with the new Infinity platform
The signs were all there in the rumors leading up to yesterday's big Disney Infinity reveal in Los Angeles. Disney's been working on a new gaming "platform," designed to bring all of its properties together in one IP spanning across multiple consoles and outlets. But the one note we missed was the most important: this game is connected to a series of real toys that interact with Disney's digital worlds, Skylanders-style.There are a few important differences, but the similarities between Activision's enormously popular toys-into-games platform and Disney's new Infinity initiative are quite striking. Both are inspired by smaller developers with big ideas: Toys for Bob on the Activision side, and Avalanche Software on Disney's, which developed the "Toy Box" idea in a much smaller form as part of the Toy Story 3 game. Both are big, expandable product lines with lots of options for console (and eventually mobile) titles, and both take retail-friendly physical toys and tie them directly into engagement-friendly video game experiences.Oh, and both franchises are probably going to make their owners lots and lots of money.%Gallery-176450%
Hell yeah, it's an Infinity update
Being a fan of Infinity is an exercise in delayed gratification. The sci-fi sandbox MMO has been in development for-seemingly-ever, but given its nerdgasm-inducing feature set (which includes seamless transitions from space to planetary flight and huge, procedurally-generated heavenly bodies in a physics-based universe), the wait will likely be worth it. Today is a great day for fans, though, because developer Keith Newton has published a new update on the game's website for the first time in six months. Newton states that his team is getting "ready to increase our communication significantly," and he also says that he is leaving his regular job to focus full time on I-Novae Studios and Infinity early in 2013. Finally, there's a Kickstarter project in Infinity's near future, and Newton also fills us in on various technical details including terrain engine updates and something called pre-computed atmospheric scattering. If you're unfamiliar with Infinity, check out the pre-alpha tech demo videos embedded after the break.
ASUS Transformer Prime TF201 gets Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean update
The folks from ASUS gave North American Transformer Pad Prime and Infinity owners a tease yesterday, telling them that the TF201 and TF700 models would receive an update to Android 4.1 within the next three days. Today, the Taiwanese firm's made good on half its promise, delivering Jelly Bean to the Prime OTA. We confirmed that the update is rolling out, as our in-house TF201 has, indeed, been upgraded to version 4.1.1. Alas, Infinity owners are still sans their software goodies, but ASUS still has plenty of time left in that 72 hour window. [Thanks, Anthony]
Some Assembly Required: Four sandboxes we need right now
Hello folks, and welcome back to Some Assembly Required. I've been thinking about sandboxes quite a lot lately, and while this is nothing new, a couple of those I've been thinking about are flying pretty far under the radar. As much as I've been enjoying The Secret World in recent weeks, it can't quite scratch that open world, free-roaming, full-blown economy experience that I've been missing since the days of Star Wars Galaxies and Ultima Online. There are a couple of titles in the pipeline that may recapture those experiences, though. Join me after the break and see whether you agree.
