Monday, March 27, 2006

 

No Rare Titles Available on Revolution Network

Microsoft has announced that titles developed by its wholly owned studio "Rare Entertainment" for the Nintendo 64 (and other Nintendo platforms) will be made available on demand for download. This means that some of the greatest titles ever made for the N64 (including Goldeneye) will not be available for instant download and enjoyment.

Update: According to Joystiq, all Nintendo IP which is owned by Nintendo but developed by Rate (such as Donkey Kong 64) will be available. Joystiq has also posted Rare's timeline.

 

Has Apple Run Out of Terrestrial Customers?

Apple may be looking elsewhere for customers with low iPod awareness.

According to rumors and speculation, Apple is close to completing a monstrous sized ipod in the fields of Austrailia. The ipod will be visible from space and it can currently be viewed on Google Maps.

According to the story, Steve Jobs won the land from the now deceased Kerry Packer, in a poker game. If you really get into the rumors, Apple plans to unveil this stunt during its upcoming 30th anniversary on April 1.

read more | digg story

 

Aha! Here's how Sony is going to clean up with the PS3


DSCF3645
Originally uploaded by sgda.
Here's a photo from a sneaky individual who managed to takes some pictures during last week's Phil Harrison (Sony keynote at the Game Developers Conference.

The chart illustrates the many ways in which the PS3 will earn revenue for the Sony mothership. Note the inclusion of in-game advertsing..will this be via third party or will all advertisers work directly through Sony?

Friday, March 24, 2006

 

MMO on the go!

Here's a recent announcement from "Big World Mobile" about their development of a middleware platform which will allow MMORPG developers to integrate mobile devices into their MMORPG play experience.

Now all of those guild masters can keep on eye on their guild while their on their way to their posh new job in middle management!

 

Say "so long" to the PsOne

Sony announced yesterday that they are ceasing production of the PS One (aka the original "Sony PlayStation").

'Tis a sad day for this system which is now over 11 years old. It seems like just the other day we were all enjoying PaRappa The Rappa, Twisted Metal and Road Rash.

 

BBG - Bathroom Based Gaming?




Here's an interesting take on re-thinking the male urination experience. Desiner Marcel Neundorfer has developed a urine controlled video game that is placed in mens room urinals. As the "players" urinates, he (i don't see a female version immediately available) targets specific points on a touch sensitive display which controls movement on another display located directly above the urinal.

This beats the "stall street journal."

 

Recruiting Guild Masters For Management Positions



Continuing recent conversations about the explosion of virtual world themes integrating into real life situations, Wired has an interesting story about companies recruiting World of Warcraft players, specifically guild masters, for management positions

To run a large one, a guild master must be adept at many skills: attracting, evaluating, and recruiting new members; creating apprenticeship programs; orchestrating group strategy; and adjudicating disputes. Guilds routinely splinter over petty squabbles and other basic failures of management; the master must resolve them without losing valuable members, who can easily quit and join a rival guild. Never mind the virtual surroundings; these conditions provide real-world training a manager can apply directly in the workplace.

Thursday, March 23, 2006

 

Web2MemeMap


Web2MemeMap
Originally uploaded by Tim O'Reilly.
I'm posting this map as i'm often asked about the theories that shape the web 2.0 philosophy.

I always like to describe the 2.0 theory as "the web done" correctly..as in the "user is first." As you can see from this map, its really about the user's data being put before a brand and the abililty to let people share and then activate this data.

Its not that different from what i'm doing right now by sharing this photo map, as found on flickr, and using its available tools to post it to my blog on blogger - two services, owned by competitors (yahoo! owns flickr and google owns blogger), working together, by using open standards, to unify my internet needs.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

 

Estimating Revolution and PS3 console availability at Gamestop

Enough with early boasts about PS3 console availability plans, Wedbush Morgan Securities went directly to Gamestop and got someone over there to talk about their inventory expectations for the (soon to be named) Nintendo Revolution and the Sony PS3.

According to their sources, Gamestop is expected to received 750,000 Revolutions and 1.2 million PS3 units (keep in mind that Nintendo has yet to announce a release date for the Revolution) in November 2006.

Considering Gamestop's vertical leadership position in the game industry, it would be safe to assume that this ratio would apply to other electronic store and mass retail chains.

 

Mobile content should be used to reduce subscriber churn

An article in today's register, reports that mobile customers in the UK don't want to pay for mobile content. Citing a recent survey performed by consulting group KPMG, mobile customers will use the premium content services, but they aren't interested in paying a premium.

While this isn't necessarily new news, but the article does endorse that premium content should be used to reduce subscriber churn.

Operators should view mobile content as a way to reduce churn rather than as a new revenue stream, according to a worldwide survey from accountants KPMG. Forty per cent of those questioned said they would not pay a premium for mobile content.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

 

xbox shipments to increase 2-3x ASAP

Microsoft is on the move.

Looking to make a move during the upcoming GDC conference this week (considering their news isn't as anticipated as Sony's or Nintendo's), MS announced that retail shipments of Xbox 360s will increase 2-3X as early as this week.

In addition, MS has announced that over 10 million content downloads have been served over the Xbox Live network. That's a fair amount of extra multiplayer maps, player icons, and skins. No word on how much "pay for download" content has occurred through the marketplace.

Monday, March 20, 2006

 

Xbox handheld is real..or "real-er then before?"

It appears as if Microsoft is really going through with the creation of a handheld game device to compete in the world of portable media players and game machines - and as we now know, it isnt the origami project. According to Dean Takahashi (author of "Inside the X-Box"), MS has put J. Allard in command and he has assembled his strike force to bring a device to market by 2007.

GDC is shaping up to be a nice week for news.

 

Ballmer on PS3 delay

Steve Ballmer sounds very calm and in control after hearing of the official PS3 delay. Its nice to know that Steve wants everyone who wants an Xbox, to have one. That's so sweet. Thanks Steve.

 

Alpha release of Firefox 2.0 is posted

Early adopters rejoice as the first alpha release of Firefox is here.

Web reports claim that that the build is far from stable, but it should be good enough to check out some of the performance enhancements. Early Mac users are claiming a nice increase in speed.

 

XP Now on Macbook Pro

It has been done.

Earlier last week someone was able to load os x on a an Intel iMac and now someone has taken it to the next level and determined the process required to boot XP on an Intel powered MacBook Pro.

Sunday, March 19, 2006

 

Video emerges of proported Xbox 360 hack



This is a video of the speculated Xbox 360 hack that will allow users to play Xbox 360 backup games.

Friday, March 17, 2006

 

xbox 360 soft mod? has it been cracked?

A hardware hacker going by the name of "TheSpecialist" has apparently found a backdoor to the Xbox 360 that will fool the system into booting up with a backup 360 disc.

His claim is based on observations that he has made of the system's internal debug system. If he is correct, this will be the first crack of the drm fortress that the 360 is, and to make matters even more interesting, it will be a "soft mod" that doesn't require physical modifications to the motherboard.

if "TheSpecialist" is correct, this is a backdoor that MS can easily shut down with a software update patch.

Stay tuned to this story. This will be very interesting.

Thursday, March 16, 2006

 

All of the Brew Ha Ha from the PSP (PlayStation Press Conference)

Without having to get to deep into the matter, Next Generation has provided the best simple summary of the announcemens from the March 15th "State of the Playstation" conference.

1. Kutaragi stated that Sony expects to sell to manufacture 6 million PlayStation 3 units by the end of fiscal 2006, ending March 31, 2007. That's less than 6 months after launch.

2. As reported, the PSP will soon support an emulator to play original PlayStation games. The games will be stored on memory sticks via e-distribution.

3. The PS3's online service, dubbed "PlayStation Network Platform", will sport voice chat, matchmaking lobbies and Marketplace-type features that allow users to download content, including software, implying some sort of digital distribution for games. The online service will be available at launch. As reported, the service will be free.

4. PS3 will allegedly be backwards compatible to all PS1 and PS2 games. The new console will also support high-definition resolutions for previous generations.

5. Finalized PS3 dev kits will be shipping to developers in June.

6. The PS2 will remain at its $149 price tag for the foreseeable future.

7. Kutaragi said that that the PS3 will require a hard drive, which will have a 60 GB capacity and support Linux OS. No word on if the HDD will be included. Update: In other words, if not included, you will be paying extra for something that is integral to PS3 functionality.

8. A hard drive-equipped PS3 is intended to be a sort of a central server for the home, allowing users to upload media from one peripheral and view it on another.

9. Sony will release a new firmware upgrade for PSP which will support Flash in its Web browser.

10. PS3 games will be featured exclusively on Blu-ray discs to protect against piracy.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

 

PS3 is looking more and more delayed..

Although we are hours away from Sony's upcoming press announcement, stories are flooding in across the RSS feeds about a delay of the PS3's release day to November 2006 for Japan.

It looks like the delay is directly related to the unresolved issue of copy protection methods by the blu-ray consortium.

 

Tivo Series3 by september?



Engadget is speculating that the Tivo Series 3 recorder (HD capable) will be made available sometime in the 4th quarter, possibly as early as September.

It looks like the cat is out of the bag based on a Tivo sponsored contest for American Idol where the grand prizes is a Series3 DVR with lifetime service. The total value of the Series3 plus lifetime service (which, by the way, was eliminated earlier thisw month) is $1,500!

 

Motorola recalls RAZR

Cingular and T-Mobile are temporarily halting sales of Motorola RAZR phones due to glitch which forces the phone to drop calls and then power down. The bug only effects GSM versions of the RAZR and bad phones should be removed from the market by the end of the week.

So much for the $50 mass-retailing of the RAZR from Cingular.

Monday, March 13, 2006

 

holy hyperspace. google is now mapping mars..

Google has expanded their mapping service with the launc of a new service entitled Google Mars.

Users can explore the surface via map data from NASA, GSFC, and ASU.

No word on driving directions from Houston street.

 

Not an Xbox 360 in sight..and it may be too late

Yesterday I was poking around to check on availability as part of a client project and all I got were crickets. I hit 8 retailers between Union Square and SOHO (including Circuit City, Best Buy, Gamestop, EB, Virgin Megastore, and others) and the closest I got was one core system at Circuit City. (and btw, why not just call the core system "second place edition". In addition, my attempts to do an instore pre-orders were rejects by EB as they now have a first come, first serve policy in regards to the Xbox which surprised me as I'm sure I could have put money down on the PS4 if i wanted to.

While Microsoft has enjoyed the pseudo limelight for having shipped the first next generation system, it looks like there is finally some movement at Sony in regarsw to the PS3 as an announcement is coming on March 15th. It looks like Sony is going to spill the beans on March 15 at a special news event somewhere in Japan. This info is rumored to include the full story on connectivity and a japan release date - after all, any news on the ps3 front is big news. As for a North America, Europe, and Austrailia release date, we should expect to hear this info at E3 and perhaps the Game Developers Conference, afterall, Sony is going to need to hold something back.

Microsoft has completely bungled their supply chain..this is the time to strike, to have the shelves filled...because once Sony drops the news, the wait-ers will continue to wait.

Friday, March 10, 2006

 

ds vs. ds lite



Check out this video review and comparison between the "classic" Nintendo DS and the DS Lite. This in-depth review covers the enhanced brightness and slick industrial design of the new must have DS Lite. Its everything you need to know in just under a few minutes. And remember, the enhanced brightness just may "kill you."

Thursday, March 09, 2006

 

When Speculation Becomes Content

With news of an upcoming new ipod video release, speculation can be found across the internet as to what it will do and more importantly (as it seems), what it will look like.

Rumors have become quite the "content element" these days, so its nice to see some sites aggregate the rumors beyond links and quotes speculation. Here is a photo collection of purported ipod video designs.



Of course, everyone will be happy once the product is announced, but will anyone be let down when the specualtion is more exciting than the real thing?

Another case in point is the Origami project from Microsoft which launched today. The web was blazing about 10 days ago with speculation that this device was supposed to be the ipod/psp/french toast killer. However, after today's ho-hum launch of the "ultra mobile pc platform", its really nothing more than the next generation of Table PC which probably simply works better than its predecessor. Iniitial speculation of the Origami device was based on the "next gen" design of the hardware. This design enouraged forward thinking thoughts and speculation about this product, but now all we can do is simply marvel at handheld that will require 2 hands and run a specialized version of Windows XP. Joy. I think I'd rather have the resin model of the concept hardware.



Note: Intel is showing the concept hardware on its site..you would think they would be consistent with Microsoft on this launch and showcase similar hardware.



Thursday, March 02, 2006

 

no origami for you..today

According to next generation, the pseudo-vague Origami project from Microsoft will not be presented to the media world today as originally announced, but instead will be unveiled on 03.09.06 which coincides with the european CeBIT trade conference.

Additionally, the story reports that the origami platform is intended to be a low-cost hardware specification for media, PDA, and GPS functionality. It should not be considered MSFT's play in the handheld gaming space.





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mobile gaming leads to suicide?

Those "yutes" in asia sure love their added value digital services on their mobile phones.

A story from the China Post talks about the recent suicide by a 16 year old korean who racked up a phone bill for over $3,800 by playing games. Apparently the student killed himself once he received the bill.

In response to this horror, Korean mobile telecom companies are changing their rates and offers. SK Telecom has even said that they will now offer an unlimited data plan for the equivalent of about $31.

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World of Warcraft is Bigger Than Denmark

Kotaku has a great posting today in between today's Japan DS Lite launch (and now shortage madness about the total number of World of Warcraft gamers.

Blizzard has announced that there are now over 6 million players of WoW which makes their subscriber base bigger than Denmark. Having spent a lot of time in DK, i would also have to say that the subscriber base of DK could take on the DK military. Lets hope this doesn't happen and more importantly, that it doesn't upset the flow of Carlsberg exports.


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Wednesday, March 01, 2006

 

hey hey its blu-ray

While the PS3 lacks a release date (which seems to grow further and further away as analysts continue to weigh in with their pessimism) blu-ray video does.


On May 23, Samsung will launch its BD-P1000 video player and movies from Sony Pictures and MGM will hit the street.


Details on the BD-P1000 (which is shipping about a month behind the previously announced schedule) are as follows (per The Register)




The BD-P1000 will pump out HD content at 720p or 1080i resolutions, Samsung said. Supported audio formats include 192KHz LPCM, Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital Plus, MPEG 2, DTS, and MP3. The machine will play users' existing DVD and CD libraries, along with content stored on DVD-RAM and DVD±R/RW discs, and it has a memory card reader capable of taking Compact Flash, XD, Micro Drive, SD, MMC and RS-MMC, and MemoryStick and Memory Stick Duo cards. Ports built into the device include CVBS Output, S-Video Output, component output, HDMI, and both digital and analog audio outputs.

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