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EA livestreaming The Old Republic at 10:00 a.m. EDT [Updated]
It's the start of Gamescom, and this morning Electronic Arts will be making its big presentation to the crowd and to the world at large through its livestream of the event. As part of the presentation, BioWare will be putting on a multiplayer demonstration of Star Wars: The Old Republic for the press and viewing public. [Update: You can watch the EA press conference livestream at GameTrailers or after the jump!]
EVE Online press conference answers vital questions, transcript inside
After what should have been the celebrated release of the long-awaited Incarna expansion last week, the EVE Online community erupted into flames. The controversy began when players realised that the vanity clothing items in the game's new cash shop were ridiculously overpriced. The $68 monocle became a centerpiece that the media latched onto, in the same way that World of Warcraft made the headlines when Blizzard had the audacity to sell a $25 mount. The story should have ended there as a piece about a crazy Icelandic game company selling virtual clothing for more than real clothing. Unfortunately, some conveniently timed leaks from inside CCP caused this simple issue to escalate to the point of panic, causing in-game riots and a significant number of subscription cancellations. The company's silence on the simple question of whether non-vanity microtransactions would be introduced was seen as an admission that gameplay-affecting items would end up in the cash shop. CCP flew the Council of Stellar Management, EVE's democratically-elected player representative body, out to Iceland for an emergency meeting last week. The result of the meeting was a joint statement between CCP and the CSM addressing all of the major concerns players had. Last night, CCP ran two press conferences over Skype to give EVE fansites and the gaming media a chance to ask additional questions that weren't covered in the official statement. Skip past the cut for our in-depth three-page transcript from the gaming media press conference, including answers to several pressing questions sent in by Massively readers and some great issues raised by other participating members of the press. Comments can be posted on page 3.
Microsoft press conference wrapup: So much Kinect, with a splash of Halo 4
If only our Microsoft press conference Bingo card could have been written this morning! The games list leaked earlier this morning was right on the money, revealing all of the presentation's potentially huge surprises. Halo 4 Kinect Sports Season Two Dance Central 2 Kinect Fun Labs Kinect Disneyland Adventures Forza Motorsports 4 coming out October 11 Minecraft coming to Xbox 360 Fable: The Journey Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary UFC Fights Ryse Xbox Live to add streaming television New Kinect-based dashboard Ghost Recon, EA Sports titles and Mass Effect 3 getting Kinect support Thoughts about the first of the Big Three's press conferences? Sound off in the comments!
Konami announces venues for E3 press conference 'viewing parties'
Konami is totally, deadly serious about hosting viewing parties around the globe for its E3 2011 press conference, in addition to a live web feed. Today it announced specific venues in San Francisco, Toronto, Mexico City, Los Angeles and São Paulo for the festivities, along with some sweepstakes to win a chance to attend. There'll presumably be booze on hand at these locations to help wash away the disappointment when you realize that, no, there's still no news on Zone of the Enders 3. Full details on the locations, times and contest can be found past the break. (Don't hold us to the booze thing.)
Microsoft's E3 2011 briefing will air live on Spike
During every E3, the internet is thrown into a full-blown panic as it desperately searches for a stable livestream of the Big Three's press conferences. This year, Spike will make this task far less intimidating for those who want to watch Microsoft's briefing. Tthe network has announced that it will air the Xbox 360-centric show live at 12:30 pm PT on Monday, June 6. Of course, we'll be breaking out the most important announcements of the show here on our humble gaming news blog -- but sometimes, our words can't capture the magic of the events that unfold on that stage. For instance: Kudo's Magic Foot Dance.
Microsoft E3 2011 press conference tips off June 6
Mark your calendars -- do people still do that? -- for Monday, June 6 at 10AM PST, which is when Microsoft will kick off its E3 2011 press conference. Or should we say "tip off?" Like Sony, Microsoft is moving its Xbox 360 event to a sports arena this year. In this case it's the Galen Center, home of the USC Trojans. We'll keep you posted with liveblog and other info as the event draws closer. Oh, and don't forget our annual E3 press conference bingo!
Best of CES 2011
Maybe, just maybe, you've noticed that Engadget relocated this past week to the City of Sin for CES 2011. Oh yes, we set up camp in a double-wide trailer, liveblogged our hearts out, combed the show floor, and worked our rear ends off to bring you more gadget news than you ever thought possible. It's true, we've written over 720 posts (40 or so about tablets alone!), shot more than 180 videos, and brought you over 350 photo galleries in the last seven days. That's a ton of technology news and products, but naturally, only certain ones have been able to rise above the rest and stick out in our scary collective hive-mind. With that said, we've complied our annual best of list for you, so hit the break and feast your eyes on what are bound to be some of the best products of the new year.
Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 keynote video now available to watch... again and again
In case a liveblog and a never-ending stream of Windows Phones weren't enough for you yesterday, here's a chance to relive Microsoft's launch presentation of its grand OS redesign. It's kicked off by the big dog himself, Steve Ballmer, followed by Ralph de la Vega and Joe Belfiore giving us the lowdown on carrier pricing and new features. It's good, we promise. Though we can't guarantee it's quite as awesome as the UK presentation, which included a Stephen Fry soliloquy on the subject of smartphones, diversity, and Microsoft's redemption. That one we've got stored in our hearts, which, regrettably, don't yet come with a HDMI output. Video after the break.
Microsoft hosting a press conference on October 11, we'll be there live!
If you had any doubts about the most important date in your Windows Phone 7 calendar, you can now dismiss them. Microsoft has just gotten in touch to ask us very kindly to "save the date" October 11 for a 2PM London press conference (9AM ET for Americans) that will last all the way until 5.30PM. Unless Steve Ballmer's planning on reading the Iliad all that time, that sounds like there'll be hands-on opportunities with WP7 devices to us. Of course, there's nary a mention of any phones in the brief invite, but given the multiple sources nailing that exact date as Microsoft's European launch, we'd be shocked to see anything else. Either way, we're bringing our trusty liveblogging equipment and will keep you informed whatever happens.
Tonight's TUAW Talkcast: Back to school and an iPod announcement preview
Sunday night is the funnest night of the week, when you can join the TUAW staff for an hour or so of live banter about what's happened in the Apple world in the previous week. This week, we'll also be chatting about the mystery Apple press conference on Wednesday, which probably isn't too much of a mystery given the past history of September press meetings. It's also the time of year when the kids are going back to school, so we'll talk about some of the best Apple and third-party products and software for students of all ages. To participate on TalkShoe, you can use the browser-only client, the embedded Facebook app, or the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines (take advantage of your free cellphone weekend minutes if you like): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *8. If you've got a headset or microphone handy on your Mac or your PC, you can connect via the free Gizmo or X-Lite SIP clients or using the Talkshoe client's ShoePhone tool; basic instructions are here. We'll kick things off at 10pm ET/ 7pm PT. See you there!
Rumor: iPod event next week
A Brazilian site named MacMagazine claims to have heard from a source within Apple that the company's annual back-to-school iPod press conference might be held as soon as next week. This is simultaneously pretty likely and somewhat hard to believe. On the one hand, MacMagazine isn't really a well-known vanguard of the reporting community -- you have to wonder why they've heard about this event when no one else yet has. But on the other hand, Apple of course runs a back to school program every single year, and considering that it's about that time, and that we've had a year chock full of innovation with the iPad and the iPhone 4, it's probably a pretty good guess that yes, sooner rather than later, Apple will hold an event to show off this year's iPod offerings. And what might those be? Why, we're going with the perpetual rumor of a camera-equipped iPod touch. MacMagazine also suggests a new iPod touch would see other iPhone 4 features, including a gyroscope and possibly a Retina Display. It's gotta be true eventually, right? [via Cult of Mac]
Crisis expert says Apple gets a C on iPhone 4 PR
Hilarious Taiwanese videos aside, just how did Apple do with last week's touchy press conference? Patrick Kerley, a communications strategist for a firm in Washington, DC, tells Computerworld that Apple actually did very well -- only it might have been too late already. He said that Jobs was very on message at last week's press conference, and that walking on stage and telling everyone that all phones have reception issues was actually a brilliant move. Seth Weintraub of Fortune agrees -- while he doesn't think that Apple and other cellphone makers actually share the same problems, he does say that Jobs' reframing of the reception issue was so effective that other cellphone companies actually sent out their own press releases on Friday, responding to Apple and becoming part of the issue. On the other hand, Kerley says that while the press conference did its job, Apple should have stepped up sooner with a statement about the iPhone 4's reception -- just staying back from the issue allowed others like Consumer Reports to step up and fill the informational void. While there was a risk of responding too soon and making a problem even bigger than it should be, Kerley believes Apple gets a C on the issue overall, and that it should have come out with a "We're working on it" statement way before it did. Of course, this is all PR analysis about spin -- the best case scenario is that there shouldn't have been a problem in the first place. Hopefully, with the refunds available and the free bumpers shipping, everyone's iPhones will receive and send calls freely, and we can all get back to our favorite pastime: waiting for the next version to be announced.
iPhone 4 press conference, by the numbers
Apple dropped a lot of interesting numbers during the press conference this morning, from both their own research and AT&T's data. Steve Jobs also said that three million iPhone 4s have been sold to date, so let's put this into perspective. .55 percent: This is the percentage of iPhone 4 users who have contacted AppleCare regarding antenna or reception issues. This comes out to only 16,500 AppleCare cases. We are not sure if this includes issues related to the proximity sensor; however, Jobs later acknowledged in the press conference that the proximity sensor will be addressed in a future software update. 1.7 percent: This is the number of iPhone 4s returned to AT&T since the initial release 22 days ago, which comes out to roughly 51,000 returns. By contrast, 6 percent of iPhone 3GS were returned in its early days -- and the numbers of those sold are lower than the iPhone 4. The final number is that AT&T is reporting that less than one more call per 100 placed is dropped compared to the iPhone 3GS -- more calls are dropped than the earlier model, but it's only one more per one hundred. However, as was said in our liveblog discussion, this number probably does not take into account the calls that failed to connect in the first place.
Jobs clears up proximity sensor fix, white iPhone 4, and international plans at press conference
Steve Jobs cleared up a few pending iPhone 4 issues quickly near the end of today's press conference today. First, he said that Apple would be releasing a software fix soon for the proximity sensor issues customers have been experiencing. A fix for that problem would be available in the next software update. Second, the white iPhone 4 is still due out by the end of this month, so if you've been waiting for that version, you won't have too much longer to wait. And finally, the iPhone 4 will come, Jobs said, to 17 countries on July 30th, as you can see above. Congratulations, international customers -- your release day is coming soon!
Apple plays satirical iPhone Antenna Song at press conference
Here it is -- the Jonathan Mann video that Apple just played (no kidding) to start off their official press conference. No really -- right before Steve Jobs took the stage, he played this song for gathered reporters, and it's fair to say that the video shared in no uncertain terms what he thinks: "The media loves a failure in a string of successes / the fact won't ever matter if they can make their bigger messes ... in terms of daily usage / I've yet to drop a call / so this whole damn thing is stupid." Seems a little frivolous for a problem that a lot of people are really frustrated by, but, you know, whatever. Jobs said that they saw the video on YouTube this morning, and "wanted to share it." The song also mentions the Gizmodo case: "Gizmodo's just ridiculous / pulling their anti-Apple strings / You bought a stolen prototype / Get over it and move on." Again, pretty informal for kicking off an official press conference. It's weird to think of Jobs browsing YouTube, finding this, and thinking it'd be perfect to play before speaking to the world about the iPhone 4's problems.
The iPhone 4 Apple Press Event metaliveblog
Apple Press Event Welcome to our iPhone 4 live press conference event! Today we'll be metaliveblogging Apple's iPhone 4 announcements, adding our traditional TUAW twist to the proceedings. Will Steve Jobs offer a $29 bounty or free bumpers to all early iPhone 4 adopters? Or will the iPhone 4 itself be recalled? (We seriously doubt it!) Or is today's announcement about new service providers for those mysterious iPhone3,2 and iPhone3,3 models that Engadget uncovered a while back? Join us as we find out! Sources for today's metaliveblog include: Engadget Ars Technica gdgt Macworld Fortune
Reminder: we're live from Apple's iPhone 4 press conference tomorrow, 10AM PT / 1PM ET!
Apple's been pretty vague about what's going to go down tomorrow at the press conference it's holding in Cupertino, but we're going to be there live, covering whatever it is they have in store for us. We have a feeling it'll have at least something to do with that antenna issue you may or may not have heard about, so strap yourself into your seat, grab an orange soda, and keep it parked right at Engadget for the best, up-to-the-minute live coverage on the internet. Here's the URL to check in to tomorrow to see the action as it happens, and here's what time you'll need to show up: 07:00AM - Hawaii 10:00AM - Pacific 11:00AM - Mountain 12:00PM - Central 01:00PM - Eastern 06:00PM - London 07:00PM - Paris 09:00PM - Moscow 02:00AM - Tokyo (July 17th)
Woz having reception problems, too
For all of his exceptional qualities, part of Woz' popularity these days lies in the fact that he is really the prototypical Apple fan -- he stands in line like everyone else, he postulates about Steve Jobs' condition, and he loves the products just as much as we do. So when even Woz admits to having reception issues with his iPhone 4, then you know it's a real problem. In an interview with a Dutch journalist, Woz says that he's been experimenting with the death grip and reception along with the rest of us. "I concluded that the effect only occurs in some places," he says, "It's like the AT&T dead zone has been extended with this new phone." Of course, unlike most of us, Woz usually always carries a backup phone or, you know, three. And even though he's experiencing the dropouts and the issues, he's still impressed enough with the hardware that the device in general "is worth the care in holding it." Still, Woz is the prototype for most of us Apple fans, and if even he is having the same issues that we all are, it must be time to hold a press conference. I'm sure Woz will be waiting and watching along with the rest of us tomorrow morning. [via TechCrunch]
TUAW poll: what will Apple announce at Friday's press conference?
When the news of Apple's Friday iPhone 4 press conference came out, a few of the TUAW bloggers were discussing what Apple might want to tell the assembled media. We put our heads together to come up with our best ideas, so please vote for your favorite or give us your take on what Apple will announce in the comments below. %Poll-49513%
Apple to hold special iPhone 4 press conference on Friday
Apple is inviting select media representatives to a special press conference that will be held on Friday, July 16. The company provided no information about the conference other than to say it would focus on the iPhone 4. TUAW will provide up-to-the-minute coverage of the press conference on Friday to keep you informed of what's going on. There has been some speculation of a recall of the phones, discussion of a software update to fix reception issues, and a lot of shenanigans dealing with disappearing threads in the Apple support forums. We can only hope that the company will provide straightforward answers to the questions that a lot of Apple fans are asking. [Tip of the TUAW hat to @pdparticle and Loop Insight]
