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Microsoft calls PS3 online strat "plagiarism"
The turf war continues with Chris Lewis of Microsoft kicking up some dirt about Sony's online strategy for the PlayStation 3. In an interview with Eurogamer, Mr. Lewis accused Sony of stealing their idea and implementing it as their own."Plagiarism is a good thing - that in itself isn't such a problem, it's what the market wants. But we've known that's what the market wanted all along," he said. Adding that he thinks it's flattering, Chris stated that he's glad to see Sony bridging the gap and covering ground to catch up, but that he's a little hazy on the whole thing."How the pricing is going to work still to me seems very unclear." Well, if Sony sticks to their guns, then the answer is simple: it'll be free![Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]
MS: PS3 online plans "plagiarism," Blu-ray "forced"
Quotable Chris Lewis of Xbox Europe calls Sony's vague online efforts "plagiarism" and throws in a a car business analogy for good measure. Excerpt: "I'm flattered that they've followed our clear direction," Lewis told UK site Eurogamer. "Plagiarism is a good thing - that in itself isn't such a problem, it's what the market wants. But we've known that's what the market wanted all along."Meanwhile, UK boss Neil Thompson pours salt on an old wound:"This is the company that brought out Betamax – we don't quite know where they're going to go with this," he added, in a pointed reference to Sony's defeat in the format war against VHS...Both execs slam Sony's strategy of "forcing" Beta-ray...I mean Blu-ray on consumers. I have to say I love these guys and their slightly more Churchillian approach. More fanboy fodder here in video form.
Apple posts 'Mac at Work' site
So much for those "Apple isn't interested in the science/business/pro sector" theories. Behold, Mac at Work, a new promotional site from Apple with information, case studies, online seminars and real world event listings for just about every interest and sector besides consumers. Just look at the first section, Science, with a brief case example of UC Irvine's "HIPerWall", a 200-megapixel (yes, 200) display built from fifty 30-inch Apple Cinema Displays driven by twenty-five PowerMac G5s (I wonder if their interns sneak in at night to load up World of Warcraft). Other notable case studies include an OB-GYN whose office is 100% Mac OS X, a business learning to use podcasts and even a section just for the IT Pros (though I'm not sure if that section is entirely new).It's nice to see Apple pimping their products to people who are in the market for more than just an iPod. Here's hoping they deliver the Intel-based pro goods (Mac Pros, Xserves) in August to really get the ball rolling on this push into the professional world of computing.[thanks Kevin!]
WoW Breeding Online Vigilantes In China
In the holy-lord-I-hope-this-never-happens-to-me dept., an article today over at the International Herald Tribune shines a light on an interesting phenomenon that's making headlines in China; internet hunting. No, it's not when you click the mouse on those 'shoot the duck' pop-up ads; internet hunting is nothing less than a virtual mob of people tracking down the perpetrator of an alleged indescretion online & basically making their life a living hell any way they can. It began with the case a couple of years ago where a woman seen being abusive to her pet in public was tracked down online & harrassed mercilessly by hundreds of Chinese internet users, and the latest case started right in our beloved World of Warcraft.As the article states, a player named Freezing Blade apparently discoved a communication between his wife & an acquaintance that led him to believe the two were having an affair. So, he gathered a group of online friends & proceeded to 'hunt' the other guy. Soon, the 'hunt' included literally thousands of other players & net users, in what might be a bigger manhunt than the FBI has conducted in years.The net can be a powerful tool for a variety of things, so I'm surprised it's taken this long for online revenge to make the news. I just hope none of my ex-girlfriends ever reads this and gets any bright ideas. In any case, it's a fascinating read. Check out the full article right here.
Games sales figures show online is key
The NPD Group has released sales figures for 2005, estimating that the US spent $1.4 billion on games last year. An interesting and growing proportion of that income was from online games -- $344 million, about one quarter of the total spending, came from recurring subscription fees.Breaking that down, NPD estimates about 85% of that recurring income is from specific games like World of Warcraft, whereas the rest -- a non-trivial $52 million -- comes from casual games portals. It's clear from the tremendous amount of money being generated by both games and gaming portals, as well as the popularity of MMOs and casual games, that online is a key area to watch in future. While digital downloads are only a small part of the picture -- 3% of total market sales -- the area should grow, partly driven by the convenience of buying and delivering online. Of course, paying for a game through monthly subscriptions rather than a one-off box fee is appealing, though players of games like World of Warcraft don't seem to mind doing both.
JungleDisk offers a far cheaper, cross-platform, encrypted iDisk
JungleDisk is quite possibly the first serious, easy to set up alternative I've seen to Apple's .Mac iDisk. Using the power of WebDAV, JungleDisk allows you to mount an online, syncing hard drive (with various size options available) on Mac OS X, Windows and Linux, and save and access data to and from it as if you were working with files in a local folder on your desktop. This is all run through Amazon's S3 online storage web service, which is "based on the idea that quality Internet-based storage should be taken for granted". As an extra kick-in-the-pants to .Mac's iDisk, data sent to and from your JungleDisk is encrypted. A software package is available for each OS to make installation and setup a snap.Pricing is spectacularly low, though I'm slightly confused as to how billing works. They truly mean: "pay only for what you use" - there isn't a flat monthly or yearly fee for your storage and bandwidth. Instead, on their pricing page, they state that you are charged $0.15 USD per gigabyte of storage per month, and $0.20 USD per gigabyte of data transfer. They offer a convenient pricing chart on their main page to compare with other services.I'm already a .Mac customer right now, as I like the integration of all their other services. But JungleDrive sounds like a great alternative for those who only want the ease of use of an iDisk. If you have already used this service or will try it out soon (bonus points for more than one platform), please feel free to comment on your experience.[via ~stevenf]
PS3 online play is free?
PS3Land is stating that they have an actual PR source claiming that the PS3's online multiplayer will be available for free right out of the box. Now, as much as this blogger would love to believe this statement, no factual evidence is presented by the website other than an unnamed Sony Computer Entertainment America PR Manager informing them to "Please note that online gaming will be free right out of the box." Considering Sony's past of leaving online play and upkeep to the third-party developers/publishers and refusing to adopt a unified online structure like MIcrosoft's Xbox consoles have, should we expect Sony to shift more towards the online model of Microsoft or assume this is just another drop in the well that is internet speculation?
Virtual Networking in WoW
ZDNet has a video report today on a group of CEO's and venture capitalists who have taken their business into the virtual realm, holding meetings & networking in World of Warcraft. The piece doesn't cover much that we haven't heard on the subject before, but it's a good example of the growth of virtual worlds & the directions they might take in the future. Alas, ZDNet doesn't have one of those nifty embedable video players, so click here to see the show...
Will Sony charge for online gameplay?
An astute observation by x360Central (and a few readers as well) points out the absence of online gameplay and matchmaking from Sony's "Basic Community Services." These were outlined at E3 last week, but we never explicitly heard about the former features.This brings up the flamebait regarding the Sony online platform and similarities to Xbox Live. Should they choose to leave out free multiplayer after all, then it would reduce the PlayStation Network Platform to a musty spin-off of Xbox Live Silver.Sony has stated that they plan on giving gamers free online gameplay though, so until they come out saying that they will definitely charge for it, let's keep that in mind. This will be an interesting issue to watch develop as we get closer to the launch date.
Young and Wired
In the continuing saga of our nation's youth being taken over by evil computer overlords, the San Fransisco Chronicle has jumped into the scene with an article about technology use among teens, and what the consequences might be.According to research by the Kaiser Foundation (apparently they study more than just rolls), young people spend over 6 hours per day engrossed in some form of media or the other, which is up an hour from five years ago. And yes, of course WoW gets to share a little bit of the blame.It's hard for me to even imagine growing up today as a kid, with the internet & all the other technology we have available. There's a pretty good chance that if I'd had a modern PC when I was 13 or so, I would have never left the house...especially if my parents were as lax about monitoring it as they were about cable TV.
News wrap-up from E3!
The industry's biggest event is now over, and while posting on the Joystiq mothership maybe have taken up all of our time, we can't forget about our Fanboys. We've got some post-E3 reflections on the way, so get ready. Here's an aggregate of the show coverage: Engadget & Joystiq's live coverage of Sony's PlayStation 3 E3 event PS3 impressions: Resistance Fall of Man PS3 impressions: Sonic the Hedgehog PS3 Impressions: Heavenly Sword PS3 impressions: Virtua Tennis Joystiq hands-on: new PS3 controller Joystiq Video: Resistance Fall of Man E3 Vox Populi: What are your thoughts on the PS3 prices? E3 Vox Populi: Will lack of rumble hurt the PS3? E3 Vox Populi: Who had the best press conference? E3 booth tours: Sony A look at EA's new realism tools The PS3 controller that might have been Sony's PS3 is still $600 Microsoft befriends Nintendo in fight vs Sony First look: The Club (Xbox 360 & PS3) The jacket that says "I can afford a PS3" Sony's Play Beyond campaign played up at E3 Extended 15-minute MGS4 trailer on the hour PS3 worth its weight in Uranium Dual Shake functionality tacked on at last minute Anatomy of shame: Dual Shake vs. Wiimote Sony steals motion idea, but not from Nintendo New PS3 controller loses DualShock vibration PS3 investing in tangible user interfaces PS3: A tale of 2 SKUs Clash of the Consoles: a sneak peek! PlayStation 3 in its final form The real PlayStation 3 controller revealed Final Fantasy XIII announced for PS3
Cheaper PS3 loses HDMI, slots, Wi-Fi, 40GB
As you can see above, there are a few things different between the two PS3 SKUs planned. (Hint: the obvious alterations concern high-def output and wireless connectivity -- though Bluetooth controllers should work just fine with both, with or without any chrome case highlighting.)So what's HDMI, built-in multimedia card-reader slots, wireless internet connectivity, and an extra 40 gigabytes' hard disk space worth to you? $100? Now that Sony's gone with the 2-SKU approach with its next-gen hardware (a la the Xbox 360's premium and "Core" systems), we can expect some tough consumer choices after six months -- with console shortages possibly for another six months after that -- as $100 separates the base $499 and premium $599 versions of Sony's "Clear Black" hope.HDMI is important to those who want to take full advantage of Blu-ray high def and have the new screens to use it; MemoryStick, SD, and CompactFlash slots would be nice for the PS3 memory-card users and those will run multimedia on the system; Wi-Fi's the only way to avoid stringing ethernet cables for online access; and 360 owners might appreciate the full 60GB available to potential buyers of the premium PS3 model. Neither model comes with a second HDMI port; thankfully, one should hopefully be all most users need. The details are laid out in a feature-comparison table at the end of Sony's official PS3 hardware press release, available in both Adobe Reader and Microsoft Word formats. Determine what's most important to your PS3 ambitions there.[Image pieced together from the PlayStation.com forums; thanks, Guru]
Virtua Fighter 5 only for PS3 next spring
There was a time when Virtua Fighter 5 was considered a strong candidate for an arcade port to the Xbox 360, but that multiplatform hope's been dashed with the official announcement that VF5 will appear only on PS3 in the spring of 2007. Sega's technical fighter is a Sony exclusive once more.While home-console online play remains doubtful at this point, next-gen PlayStation owners can now securely look forward to facing off as El Blaze and Eileen (the new luchador and monkey kung-fu artist, respectively) along with the other 15 fighters, decked out in all sorts of items purchased in the in-game store with prize money earned through in-game matches.VF5 will support up to 720p HD resolution and will be featured in game footage in the SEGA booth at E3 (South Hall, Booth #946) later this week.[Thanks, Matt; also via Joystiq]
Free expression isn't always a good thing
Games like Mario Kart DS allow you to create your own user image, for use when trampling opponents to the ground online. Embraced by some as an outlet for creativity -- as opposed to the restrictions in place with Halo 2 emblems and Xbox Live gamer pictures -- it seems there's a downside to giving people free rein over a 32x32 block of pixels.The image to the right exemplifies this. Given near-unlimited creative freedom, this gamer has chosen to represent himself ingame with a swastika. We're sure that plenty of other offensive images are out there as emblems, too -- not to mention the number of crude designs you could make in Animal Crossing.It could be reflective of the maturity of this one gamer, or of gamers in general, but it doesn't represent us well -- imagine the reaction of a casual gamer picking up the DS for the first time.
MMOs: the near and distant future [Update 1]
Academic blog Terra Nova is asking a big and important question -- what does the future of massively multiplayer games hold? Arguing that current games like World of Warcraft are the best the current-gen has to offer, what's around the corner for next-gen MMOs?A few buzzwords that are floating around the comments thread: middleware; user-created content; no grinding; item-based revenue; user-hosted MMOs; dynamically-changing worlds; non-high-fantasy-themed games; customisation; co-operative control of vehicles; massive-scale MMOs; celebrities; console platforms.That's a lot of theorising, and a lot of potential for new MMOs. Whether new games get personal with localised, user-hosted mini-worlds, or create their own celebrities with ingame content creation that ties into a large-scale international world, there are some exciting possibilities around the corner.[Update: reinserted mysterious vanishing end-of-post.]
Samsung Q1 UMPC to go on sale May 7th for $1,100
At a San Francisco press briefing and product demonstration that hopefully went better than its disastrous Korean counterpart last month, executives from Samsung, Microsoft, and Intel jointly announced pricing and availability details for the official U.S. release of the Q1 UMPC. Starting on May 7th, early-adopters will be able to pick up a Q1 -- along with all the high-profit-margin accessories -- at Best Buy's e-tail location for $1,100, with an in-store rollout planned for "later this summer." As you're probably already aware, the Q1, along with models from Asus, Founder, and TabletKiosk, is among the first generation of so-called Ultra Mobile PCs designed to enhance your on-the-go lifestyle, and sports a 7-inch touchscreen, Celeron M ULV processor, 40GB hard drive, 512MB RAM, 802.11b/g, and Bluetooth 2.0.
Packrat 0.8 - edit Backpack lists, display images
In mid-April, Rod Schmidt asked for feedback as to whether he should release editing features in Packrat, his Backpack syncing client, as he develops them. From what I saw, the response was largely in favor of doing so, and yesterday Rod announced on his blog that Packrat 0.8 has taken the first step in this direction. Users can now edit lists in Packrat, then sync up the changes to their Backpack account. This new version can also display inline images (but not linked images) as long as you've already downloaded them, of course. This is a pretty big deal if you're a Backpack fan, especially since I'm fairly certain Packrat is the first app that has this kind of potential to become a true, offline-capable Backpack client.Swing on by infiniteNIL Software to grab a demo of Packrat, a license will cost $24.95. If you want to get involved or offer some feedback, be sure to check out the Packrat discussion group and and Rod Schmidt's blog for development updates.
Survey says: Nintendo setting sights on Xbox Live
It really is a great credit to Microsoft's online Xbox Live network that its competitors are pausing to observe and take notes in their quest to provide a similarly seamless multiplayer experience. With Sony's forthcoming PS3 network (no really, they actually have an online strategy now) boasting similar features to that of Live, it would seem less surprising then that a recent survey sent out by Nintendo pokes and prods with regards to how they may adapt their Wi-Fi service in the future. If the information is accurate, it would appear that Nintendo is looking to trounce the current online king with a few interesting features.According to the information received by Joystiq, the following topics were tapped by the Nintendo Wi-Fi survey: Comparing game stats with your friends, enemies and loved ones. Uploading screenshots, including those proving that you got all the shines. Posting user-made content, such as art and videos, and rating the content of others. See what your friends are currently playing (and subsequently berate them for playing Barbie's Orchestra Conductor) Creating or reading blogs linked to the Nintendo Wi-Fi site. Scheduling specific times to play against friends. Submitting strategies and tips to a central to help those in need. Personalizing the WiFi.com homepage. The survey also enquires about Nintendo's current DS online service and the use of friend codes. Though it's just a survey, one can still take away some positive things from this. It not only shows that Nintendo cares about what gamers want (or that they're doing a stellar job of pretending they do), but that they are actively trying to improve their online service. While the DS Wi-Fi service is remarkable for bringing handhelds together online (for free, natch), its general use and feature set could definitely use some refinement before being shifted over to the Revolution. And by "refinement", we mean "dump the game-specific friend codes already."Though you may have your feelings on the Xbox 360 as gaming platform to contend with, there's no denying that the Xbox Live service has done the console world a great service by spurring on connectivity and highlighting the importance of multiplayer gaming across the globe. [Via Joystiq, thanks Sloopydrew!]
HD-DVD titles show up on Blockbuster.com
You may not be able to rent them in the stores, but Blockbuster.com will rent you all (3) of the HD-DVDs you could ever want. Doom and Apollo 13 are listed as shipping tomorrow, as well as the delayed Million Dollar Baby, although you can't tell what is in and what isn't.If you're one of the ten thousand HD-DVD owners out there, at least you have some options. Once Blu-ray launches, we can probably expect quick online support there also, but it will be interesting to see who gets titles in brick & mortar stores first.[Via digg]
WoW Moviewatch: WoW Addicts
Ever seen that show Intevention, where they stick a bunch of cameras in someone's face & confront them with all the ways they're screwing up? This is kind of like that, only without all the care & professionalism. Still, I think they guy seems genuinely concerned about his friend...or else he's just way bored of watching him play WoW all day.
