February
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Xbox One gets another simplified dashboard redesign
Microsoft revealed last month it's been working on a whole host of changes for the February 2020 Xbox One Update, and now they're finally rolling out. The biggest change is yet another new Home interface -- so if you've got downloads set to install automatically you'll notice things are different as soon as it hits. Twists have been removed to make room for dedicated rows for Xbox Game Pass, Mixer, Xbox Community and Microsoft Store, and you'll be able to add or remove rows however you wish. Over in My Games & Apps, meanwhile, things have also been pared back for easier navigation.
Xbox One's first update of the year adds hubs for your favorite games
Green with envy about folks having access to Xbox One's Game Hubs and transparent dashboard tiles? Well, now everyone has access to 'em -- not just people in the Dashboard Preview Program. That means relevant content related to every Xbox One game (like people currently broadcasting it, game clips, leaderboards) now ties into neat and friendly individual cards on the dashboard. The February update also brings in tweaks to controller connection time and party chat improvements for those operating on different network settings. Also in store is some absurdly specific stuff for folks across the pond. We're talking live streaming TV via SmartGlass to Android and Windows devices in Europe, and expanded Trending TV in Brazil, France, Germany and Mexico. America is apparently too passé for Redmond these days. Regardless, if you're feeling impatient you can force the update from the system settings menu starting now.
Four in February challenges you to finish the fight
The shortest, yet greatest month of the year is upon us, February. If you followed along with us last year, you know what that means: Four in February is back! The month-long initiative starts tomorrow, challenging you (yes, you) to pick four games to finish in one month. The rules: There are no rules. Seriously, there are no rules. You can pick new games, old games or even titles that you stopped playing that one time during finals week in college because your academic life depended on it (it's cool, we've all been there). The only requirement is that you pick four games. Start at the beginning of a game, or start where your old save file left off, it doesn't matter! We can't drive over to your house to force you to start a game over; we don't know where you live, after all. By joining in the fun on Four in February's Facebook page or using the cute little hashtag #4iF on Twitter, you can update us on your progress, like that friend that uploads their daily jogging times to your news feed, except way more fun. Joystiq may be closing its doors, but we refuse to shut our consoles down. Join us in finishing the fight against our backlogs. Head past the break to see Four in February father Mike Suszek's lineup, then share yours in the comments!
Apple suppliers had a very tough February
February is usually not a great month for the companies that supply Apple with its iOS and Mac device parts (Chinese New Year usually falls right in that month, and production in China always take a big downturn as people celebrate there). But this particular past February was especially bad, according to reports: Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White says that the suppliers for Apple that he tracks saw their sales data fall 31 percent over the past month, as compared to the usual 8 percent drop in past years. That makes for the worst February on record for Apple's suppliers, which may or may not soon have an impact on Apple. Now, with Apple's suppliers showing low sales data, that could mean more opportunity for Apple to step in with its big pile of cash and make sure that it has more components than ever to build new devices with, so it's not entirely clear that this will be a bad thing for the company from Cupertino. But of course Apple depends on these suppliers, and if they suffer increased economic pressure for any reason, Apple could experience consequences for its own business.
Ngmoco shutting down some titles March 31
Ngmoco announced on its website earlier this week that some of the game maker's biggest iOS titles, including We Rule, Godfinger and Touch Pets Dogs 2, are going to be shut down for good on March 31. The games will be off of Apple's App Store later this week on February 1, so no new users will be able to download them, and the servers for the games will go offline at the end of next month, effectively ending the games completely. Ngmoco didn't give a clear reason for the shutdowns, but it's not hard to guess: The company, once one of the biggest app developers on the App Store, has been fairly steadily transitioning over to Android titles in the past few years, and has seen a sharp decline in popularity on iOS. Not to mention that many of the figures who made the company so large, including former EA exec Neil Young, have left the company in recent days. In other words, it's finally game over for Ngmoco on iOS. Ngmoco was purchased by Japanese network DeNA a little while ago, and that company is still steadily trying to grow its own iOS sales and popularity. But Ngmoco as a brand is effectively done on the App Store, especially since these once-thriving games are shut down. One of the biggest names of the App Store's first generation is finally on its way out the door.
Game on, man! Aliens: Colonial Marines is ready for pre-order
The release of Gearbox's Aliens: Colonial Marines is finally zeroing in towards us, with publisher Sega launching a new television teaser to promote the oft-delayed title. For PC soldiers, Colonial Marines features a number of bonuses on Steam if players are willing to sign up for the Weyland-Yutani sponsored expedition before its launch. Steam pre-order bonuses include a Sonic-Harpoon Artillery Remote Projectile (or S.H.A.R.P.) stick rifle, a weapon referenced in James Cameron's Aliens that fires explosive darts. Aliens: Colonial Marines will also be available for Xbox 360, Wii U, and the PlayStation 3, when it launches on February 12.
TUAW Year in Review: February 2012
Welcome to TUAW's Year in Review. Month by month, we're running down the top stories of 2012, all day long on New Year's Day. iPhone bug opens up stranger's life to the world Gizmodo has raised awareness a serious problem regarding an iMessage bug that, under the wrong circumstances, might result in your messages being seen by others, or you seeing someone else's... Tim Cook focuses on charity during Town Hall meeting Apple held an all-employee Town Hall meeting a little while ago after the earnings call, and The Verge is reporting that Apple CEO Tim Cook took quite a bit of time during the meeting to point out... Apple rollin' in the dough: 75% of cell phone profits The news just keeps getting better for Apple in the mobile phone business. Just yesterday, IDC reported that the company is in third place in terms of worldwide mobile phone sales. Today, Asymco... Five apps for Super Bowl Sunday The Super Bowl is just around the corner which means it's time to get ready for the big game between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots. Rather than our usual five apps, I couldn't... Does Gatekeeper point the way to an App Store-only OS X? Apple's announcement of Mountain Lion included many promised new features, including a stronger focus on the Mac App Store than ever before. Two significant new features, iCloud document syncing... Also of interest: Google reportedly hires Apple executive to work on secret project Mike Daisey's "The Agony and The Ecstasy of Steve Jobs" is funny, forceful agitprop (Update) Stephen Wolfram on Siri Apps have created 466,000 U.S. jobs in four years White MacBook reaches end of life, education sales to cease iPad assists South African President Zuma with State of the Nation address Rumor: MacBook Pro line getting revamped with MacBook Air style designs Siri's upcoming Japanese language abilities leaked - by Siri Dear Aunt TUAW: Should I buy AppleCare+? Apple previews Mountain Lion, next version of Mac OS X Mountain Lion's Gatekeeper adds additional security options to OS X Apple's Mountain Lion vs. a real mountain lion MacRumors all but confirms iPad 3 will have Retina Display iPhone stops a bullet, saves the life of a Rotterdam contractor App-ocalypse soon: Apple extends sandboxing deadlines, but restrictions loom Protect yourself from being tracked by Google, Facebook, and others The case for ditching the Dock connector Winclone tool for Boot Camp imaging comes back as paid app Our top ten wishes for the next-generation iPad Reflection app goes live, brings iOS screen mirroring to your Mac
Might & Magic Heroes 6 'Shades of Darkness' standalone coming Feb. 28
Ubisoft has announced a release date for the upcoming Might & Magic Heroes VI standalone expansion. Shades of Darkness, as it's called, will be available worldwide on February 28, 2013. Set in time one century after the core game's events, Shades of Darkness will feature two storylines, setting two factions – the Dark Elves and the Necromancers of Heresh – against each other for the fate of Ashan.The expansion will be available independently or as part of a Might & Magic Heroes VI Complete Edition, which includes the core game and the expansion along with all bonus content, two DLC packs, and a full soundtrack. And Ubisoft has also premiered the Might & Magic web portal, featuring lots of information about the franchise's mythology, an interactive timeline about the world's history, and lots of new and info on the various games in the series. You can see some portal layouts and a bit of concept art for the expansion in the gallery below. %Gallery-172876%
The Simpsons Arcade is free in February for PS Plusers, feel the love
The Simpsons Arcade is headlining February's PlayStation Plus bonuses. Sony offers an HD adaptation of the classic 1991 game free, for Plus members, through the end of the month. This is the Simpsons' first official launch confirmation, with previous sightings exclusive to XBLA, including this set of Xbox achievements spotted earlier this month.Sony is handing out a special Valentine's Day present for Plus members as well, with a free download of the complete Far Cry 2 game, the week of February 14.The Simpsons Arcade will include four-player online co-op and will be available at no cost to Plus members from February 7-29 -- and yes, that's a whole extra day this year, probably to contain all of our nostalgic Simpsons love.
LG Marquee comes to Boost Mobile on January 23rd for $279
Having raided the smartphone coffers of its parent just a few days ago, today Sprint subsidiary, Boost Mobile, is at it again. Today's plunder comes in the form of the LG Marquee -- the Now Network's version of the Optimus Black -- which we first espied in carrier grab back in September. Setting you back $279, it'll be offered in Boost Mobile stores January 23rd, followed by everywhere else come February. PR on the 4-inch Gingerbread-totin' smartphone is after the break.
Apple could face huge potential loss if Motorola wins in German court
So far, Apple has been faring pretty well on the various patent disputes it's currently fighting against Samsung and other companies, but Apple's own lawyers agree that stakes are higher than usual in a German case that Motorola has filed against the company. If a German court upholds the order that's trying to halt sales of Apple products in that country because of the patent dispute, Apple says it might lose as much as US$2.7 billion in potential sales. Apple's legal team is arguing that if the order does indeed go through, Motorola should have to put that money up in a bond while the case is still under investigation by the courts. But a lot of this is legal posturing -- as the judge in the hearing says, he's "not yet entirely sure that amount adequately mirrors the commercial value of this dispute." Obviously Apple wants the bond to be as high as possible; if Motorola flinches and can't put up the bond when asked, the case could be weakened. At any rate, there's plenty of time to decide, since the court's ruling isn't due until February 3. It seems unlikely that Motorola could stop Apple's sales in Germany completely, but it sounds like if Motorola pushes to do so, Apple will try to make it pay.
360 MacDev Conference registration now open
360|MacDev has opened up registration for its next Mac developer conference in Denver, Colorado. Originally, they had wanted to schedule something this year, but due to conflicts of various kinds, the date has been moved out to next February, in 2012. That's a ways away, but it'll just give you lots of time to prepare, right? The early registration fee is in effect until September 9 or until they sell through the first 50 tickets, so if you're set on going already, now's the time to sign up. I haven't been to a 360|MacDev event, but we did visit the 360|iDev conference a while ago, and it was full of great information and networking around the iOS developer community. I'm sure the Mac side of things will be no different. And if you actually want to present at the show, you have that chance, too -- there's a Call for Papers out right now, so if you've got something interesting to share with the Mac community, let them know!
Leaf sales outpacing the Volt, winning the fight for American garage space
According to Automobile, Nissan is winning the race to put the most electric cars in American driveways, selling 3,875 Leafs in the first six months of 2011, while Chevy only managed to put 2,754 Volt keys in the hands of consumers. This is despite Nissan suffering a month long manufacturing setback following the tsunami that struck in March. Chevy has had its own delays, having closed the Volt plant five weeks ago for upgrades that will allow it to pump out more vehicles. Lets not forget though, the Leaf starts at about $8,000 less than its American made competitor and, when it comes to weaning us off gas and putting us behind the wheel of tech-packed cars -- there's no shame in being number two. Perhaps GM will have better luck with that cheaper, shorter range version it's been contemplating.
February's Guild of the Month: The Earthbound
Congratulations to The Earthbound, February's WoW Insider Guild of the Month! Here is an excerpt from the winning entry from Genk, the guild founder: When someone joins The Earthbound (US-Dragonmaw), they're welcomed with a cry of "blu nu!" For those who were invited by friends to the guild, this is the point where they find out that we're not like other guilds. More details about The Earthbound, in Genk's words, are after the break.
Electric car sales watch: 281 Volts and 67 Leafs sold in US during February
Neither Chevrolet nor Nissan have felt proud enough of their EV sales numbers to list them on their latest press releases, but our colleagues over at Autoblog Green have dug those numbers up anyhow. They make for dispiriting reading if you're an electric car well-wisher, as the Volt's sales declined from January's tally of 321 to an even less impressive 281, while the Leaf closed February with only 67 US sales, down 20 on last month. Upon seeing their previous numbers, we postulated that both cars are suffering from constrained supply, which is likely still the case, but it feels ironic to us that electric vehicles, whose driving experience offers instant torque, are taking their sweet time to rev up their sales.
Motorola Xoom coming to Best Buy on February 24th, HTC Thunderbolt on the 14th
We're already fatigued of reporting launch dates for devices announced at this year's CES -- it seems like each one has had at least four different potential release points -- but when you get one of Best Buy's official Facebook pages blabbing about when the Moto Xoom and HTC Thunderbolt will be arriving... well, you sum up the strength to do it one more time. Contrary to earlier insider leaks pinning the Xoom to a February 17th launch, Best Buy is now promising to have the vanguard of the Honeycomb tablet revolution on February 24th. That's exactly a week later than our earlier info, so perhaps somebody somewhere decided to push things back a bit. We have no doubt, however, that Motorola is nearly ready with its slate -- there have been plenty of them spotted around the Super Bowl this week. In the meantime, HTC's LTE-equipped 4.3-incher seems to have finally settled down on Valentine's Day as its time of reckoning, a day after the similarly sized Inspire 4G hits AT&T.
Watch Google's Android event in full: Honeycomb on the Xoom, Android Market website, in-app purchases, and Cee-Lo Green
There was plenty about yesterday's Android event that didn't make headlines but was worth noting. Hardware acceleration of both 2D and 3D UI elements -- shown off to great effect by Google's Hugo Barra, who managed to scroll through three lists simultaneously without inducing any lag on the Motorola Xoom -- should make Honeycomb as delicious to look at as it sounds, while our personal favorite, the new tablet-specific email interface, should be part of Gmail yesterday. The email UI is built out of elements Google calls fragments, which will supposedly be easy to transition down to smartphones, so thumbs up all around. The video above also runs you through the big news of the day, namely that Android Market can now be accessed via a dedicated website and apps downloaded to your device remotely, along with the equally important (for devs) addition of in-app purchases. Finally, Cee-Lo Green pops in for a video chat session from wherever he is on the internets, and we're all treated to an exhibition of lag-afflicted, awkward conversation. What's not to love?
Chris Cao spreads the love for the next DCUO update
DC Universe Online has become the fastest-selling game for Sony Online Entertainment. Playstation 3 and PC players alike enjoy diving deep into the world of DC comics. Developers of this highly successful MMO promised monthly content, and they are delivering in spades -- or should we say hearts? This month's update from SOE promises to be full of hearts, love, and cats. What? Cats? Yes, cats. In addition to adopting the usual MMO February/Valentine's Day theme, DCUO is featuring everyone's purrfect cat burglar: Catwoman. Game Director Chris Cao spoke with us yesterday about the new content coming out later this month. He was not shy about answering our questions about the update or about the issues players are having with the game. So follow us after the break as we visit SOE's secret Batcave to talk to Chris Cao about the past, present, and future love of DC Universe Online. %Gallery-115488%
[Updated] Earthrise launch roadmap reveals a commitment to continued development
We've known for some time that Masthead Studios' upcoming single-server sci-fi sandbox Earthrise was planned for retail release on February 4th. Until now, however, we haven't known exactly what would be in that initial release and what features won't make the final cut. In an announcement today, Masthead Studios revealed not only a list of key features they'll be guaranteeing to provide at launch, but also a roadmap for further development and releases throughout the year. The announcement confirms Earthrise's release in less than two weeks time on February 4th, with a substantial commitment to continued development on specific features in the following months. The list of key features promised for launch is as follows: A unique post-apocalyptic setting where the cloned remnants of mankind battle to survive and rebuild. Highly customizable characters with over 100 different skills, abilities and tactics. No artificial imposed "class" restrictions. Fast-paced, action-packed combat featuring dynamic targeting, adaptive power armor and hundreds of high-tech weapons. Sophisticated player-versus-player (PvP) mechanics that let players fight for the established order, join the revolutionary underground, or carve their own bloody path as an independent criminal. Character progression that keeps players advancing in their development with no limits. An advanced market-based economy with in-game supply and demand based on player activities and interactions. Deep crafting mechanics that enable players to design and manufacture unique items from blueprints and raw resources. Skip past the cut for a look at Masthead's development schedule for 2011 and a first look at what we can expect to be introduced throughout the coming year.
Motorola Xoom launching February 17th at Best Buy (update: priced at $700)
When we stumbled upon an $800 price for the Motorola Xoom yesterday, our instinctive reaction was to leap forward to the next obvious question: when? Well, that call has now been answered by an internal Best Buy document that's just dropped into our inbox, which explicitly pinpoints February 17th as the launch date for Moto's highly touted, Honeycomb-equipped tablet. Stock is expected to land at the big box retailer on February 16th, with the big party going down the day after. There's a note confirming that the Xoom will come with its promised 32GB of onboard storage, but anyone looking for confirmation or denial of the earlier pricing leak will be left disappointed. Guess we'll all have to set our calendar alerts for about a month from now and exercise patience in the mean time. [Thanks, dajarbot] Update: Our tipster has also uncovered a price: $699.99. That's a hundred green leaves south of Verizon's supposed pricing and should soothe a few agitated souls.
