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by Published on February 2nd, 2011 10:47- Categories:
- Apple News,
- PC News
After the desktop stalwarts of Windows 7 and Mac OS, the world's third most popular platform for web browsing turns out to be Apple's iOS. The software that makes iPhones, iPod touches and iPads tick has been identified by Net Applications as responsible for over two percent of the global traffic data analyzed in the web statistician's latest report -- the first time iOS has crossed that threshold. The UK and Australia had more than five percent each, while the USA clocked in at 3.4 percent. Leaving operating systems aside, Chrome has continued its steady growth on the browser front and now stands at a 10.7 percent share, more than doubling its slice from this time last year. Internet Explorer overall has dipped to its lowest level yet, at 56 percent, however Net Applications indicates IE8 is showing nice growth. So at least it's looking like we're finally ready to bury the zombies known as IE6 and IE7, whatever other browser we choose to migrate to.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/02/i...ffic-chrome-r/ ...by Published on February 2nd, 2011 10:45- Categories:
- PC News
OnLive may have its long-term sights on entertainment besides games, especially with the hiring of Pandora executive Etienne Handman, but for now the cloud-based service is laser focused on taking a chunk of the games market. It has launched a Netflix-inspired all-you-can-eat plan for $9.99/month. 'The meteoric growth of Netflix reflects the enormous consumer demand for flat-rate instant-play media,' said Steve Perlman, OnLive Founder and CEO. 'OnLive PlayPack is uniquely positioned to address this demand in the realm of high-performance video games, instantly delivering games ... to TVs, PCs, Macs and iPad, and soon Android tablets, smartphones and Blu-ray players.
http://games.slashdot.org/story/11/0...tflix-of-Games ...by Published on February 2nd, 2011 10:44- Categories:
- DCEmu
The quintessential nanny state is tightening its grip on online gaming a little further today, as it announced that starting March 1st, 'online game companies must set up a web page, enquiry hotline and other special channels for parental supervision of their children. Besides, these companies shall authorize parents, who want to monitor and control their children playing online games, to take measures to limit or ban the playing. Also, the online game companies shall provide help to parents in supervising their children's online game accounts and preventing them from playing improper games, as part of the project.' If you're a parent, the new effort by the Ministry of Culture has surprisingly specific recommendations for how to regulate your child's gaming: 'The document suggested a school student play online games for less than two hours every week and spend no more than 10 yuan ($1.5) on playing online games every month.' The article (from the state media) ends with amusing speculation that the youth will simply acquire a fake adult ID to get back online. Stay tuned for more rules and regulations from China's new 'Parental Watch Project.
http://games.slashdot.org/story/11/0...r-Online-Games ...by Published on February 2nd, 2011 10:42- Categories:
- DCEmu Reviews
Sumo Omni and Otto Bean Bag Chairs
Manufacturer: Sumo Lounge
Site: Buy from Sumo Lounge
Price: $129.00 (Omni) / $75.00 (Otto) / $50.00 (Beads)
Overview :
OMNI
This super-sized pillow by Sumo is the ultimate solution for all your relaxing needs. We've come up with 10 ways to use it, but some people say we lack imagination!
It's a crash mat, lounge chair, loveseat or floor pillow to name a few, but the possibilities really do go on.
Sumo Beanbags are made from space age rip-proof nylon and come filled with top quality Sumo Beads. Omni is 4.5' x 5.5' and it only weighs 18 lbs!
OTTO
Whether you're looking for a comfy place to rest your feet or a seat in front of the coffee table, the Otto is the perfect accessory to match your space.
Sumo Beanbags are made from space age rip-proof nylon and come filled with top quality Sumo Beads. Otto is 50cm radius and it only weighs only 5 lbs!
Features : (Omni)
- Space age, rip proof nylon
- Little foam beads
- Huge - 5.5 x 4.5 feet
- Lightweight
- Versatile - 10 in 1
- Colorful
- Water repellant
- Stain resistant
- Easy to clean
- Incredibly comfortable
Quality/Usability : I have been looking for some type of furniture that would let me lean back, play games or watch TV and be comfortable. Yes, I can do that on my leather/suede couch but its not the same. I have to slouch or lay sideways which makes gaming difficult. I can also use the lazyboy but I'm positioned in one way. I dont have the control or the ability to adjust how I sit according to my mood/comfortability.
Bean bag chairs came into popularity in the 1960s and 1970s as a hip, comfortable new family room or living room seating option. The chairs' construction consists of a large bag made of fabric or plastic that is filled with tiny pieces of styrofoam or PVC beads. The chair is positioned directly on the floor and forms around the contour of the body when seated upon. However, Sumo Lounge has improved on the hip bean bag chairs turning it into a modernized bean bag chair.
The Omni has 10 colors to choose from while Otto is 2 colors shy with 8 colors to choose from. Both are made of rip proof nylon filled with Virgin Polystyrene Foam, also known as little foam beads. Sumo beads are tiny little foam balls, polystyrene foam to be specific, that conform to your body like nothing else. That's what the bean bags so comfortable - the little foam balls. Sumo Lounge says there is 10 ways to use it. Do I agree? Yes. Are there other ways to use the Omni? Only your imagination can tell you and thats probably a yes also.
The Omni was light in weight making portability easy to move around the house even up and down the stairs. I'm 5' 9" and the size was perfect for me. I was able to fit my body nice and snuggly into it. The foam balls contoured my body nicely. On the side is a velcro enclosure. Once you separate the velcro, it will reveal a zipper. This is where all the foam balls are stored. So if you ever need to refill or replace the foam balls, this is where you will do so. The velcro adds extra security in case you forget to close up the zipper or your child from accidentally unzipping it.
The Otto was also light in weight and had a velcro but attached itself to the side of the Otto and a zipper inside. What I did notice was the part of the zipper that we grab onto to zip/unzip, wasnt a full piece. More than half of it was missing. I'm not sure if this was a production mistake or intended to be like this. If it was intended to be cut in half, I dont know what the reason for that was. Maybe this allowed the velcro to cover more of the area? Even so, the velcro overlapped the zipper allowing it to prevent access to zipper or the foam beads.
Conclusion : Overall, Sumo Omni and Otto Bean Bag Chairs were very durable and a perfect size. The Omni contoured my body nicely. Once I was situated in a position, I did not move around. I probably could of stayed in that one position for hours. Although the Omni is perfect for one person, you can try and squeeze in a second person. Granted, there wont be a lot of room, but will bring you closer to your loved one. It was so comfy that both my sister and my girlfriend passed out on the Omni.
The Otto(man) with the combination of the Omni makes the perfect "couch" with footrest. The Otto is a perfect height. The Otto isnt filled completely with foam balls and is not stiff so it will contour your foot slightly but not enough where your foot will sink into it. You can also use the Omni as a little stool to sit on. I personally would of preferred it to be a little stiffer.
However, since its made of nylon, you'll be making some sound while moving around. It would be nice if Sumo Lounge offered a suede or cloth version.
*UPDATE*
It seems to me that I received a defective Otto. The zipper handle was not suppose to be cut off. Also, upon closer inspection, even though the zipper is completely closed, the other end of the zipper is open. Luckily, the velcro prevents any foam balls from coming out. But if you ever have a problem, Sumo provides a six month guarantee on material composition, seams and Velcro/zipper closure. I contacted Sumo Lounge in regards to the problem and they have been quick to responding to my emails.
Images via commentsby Published on February 2nd, 2011 10:41- Categories:
- PS3 News,
- Xbox 360 News
EA CEO John Riccitiello said during the company's third quarter conference call last night that the publisher has a "very exciting" unannounced first person shooter in the works.
"... The intention for us at least is to have strong FPS entries each year," Riccitiello said, according to Seeking Alpha. "For quite a long time now, I've been saying that it's our long-term goal to take back the first-person shooter category leadership.
"We made strong progress in calendar '10 over calendar '09," he added. "This year, with the trail end of Battlefield Bad Company 2 still doing well, Medal of Honor doing well, Crysis and Bulletstorm, we're clearly going to make more progress on our goal, and that's before we get to what I think is going to be a very exciting entry later in the year that we're not yet announcing."
One FPS we're very excited about is the new IP former Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella are making for EA at their new studio Respawn. That game surely won't be released this year, but a reveal's certainly not out of the question.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...VG-General-RSS ...by Published on February 2nd, 2011 10:39- Categories:
- DCEmu
Trade body displeased that government has asked Ofcom to re-access potential site blocking powers
Video games trade body UKIE has expressed its concern about the government's decision to re-evaluate the potential website blocking powers that would be granted to ISPs as part of the Digital Economy Act.
Yesterday Westminster announced that it has asked Ofcom to consider the viability of the proposals. Specifically, it wants to know how easy it is to implement such blocks, how robust the measures would be and how much such action would cost ISPs.
"I have no problem with the principle of blocking access to websites used exclusively for facilitating illegal downloading of content," culture secretary Jeremy Hunt told the BBC. "But it is not clear whether the site blocking provisions in the Act could work in practice so I have asked Ofcom to address this question."
UKIE director general Michael Rawlinson is disappointed by the news.
”UKIE was concerned to learn that the Government has asked Ofcom to review section 17 and 18 of the Digital Economy Act, which would allow the blocking of websites dedicated to copyright infringement, subject to secondary legislation introduced by the Secretary of State," he stated.
“UKIE supports the Digital Economy Act and the measures contained within it that are designed to help the industry tackle intellectual property theft.
"At a time when Government and industry need to work together to ensure the Act is a success, UKIE urges the Government to recognise that the proposed measures to prevent access to illegal websites are an important tool that will help to protect British businesses from online copyright infringement now and in the future.”
“UKIE will be responding to Ofcom’s review to ensure that the interactive entertainment’s position is made clear.”
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/42830/UKIE...ver-DEA-review ...by Published on February 2nd, 2011 10:38- Categories:
- PC News
Frogster COO Dirk Weyel has told GamesIndustry.biz that he believes that the western MMO market will be dominated by the free-to-play model, although subscription-based titles will always have their place.
Weyel, who's company is launching the subscription-based MMO, TERA in Europe this year, also revealed that he sees TERA as the premium product in Frogster's portfolio, a fact which justifies the monthly price-tag, but doesn't see think free-to-play games should be of any lower quality - something which he doesn't think many journalists appreciate.
"It was difficult at the beginning because the opinion of many games journalists was that free-to-play means lower quality," Weyel told GamesIndustry.biz as part of today's interview.
"We tried to show them that it's just another business model. So we started to market the game with a premium branding approach. So we think that in order to be successful in the long run we need to build brands and have a clear positioning and a clear brand philosophy to build up the game.
"We generally believe that free-to-play system will be the model for most of the MMOs in the future, but we also believe that the subscription model does still work. There will be subscription models in the future, and also hybrid models. We believe that TERA is the most premium title of all the games we have at the moment. In terms of production budget and quality in-game it's certainly the premium product for this year.
"That's why we're convinced that the subscription model can work for a title like TERA. I think free-to-play will be a model which will dominate the West, but I think there will also be a few subscription titles which can be successful."
Over the course of the last 18 months, a number of large scale MMOs have switched payment models from subscription to free-to-play, with varying degrees of success. For some, such as Lord of the Rings Online, it's been a masterstroke, with revenues trebling after the change.
There's a very big acid-test on the horizon for the survival of the subscription model, in the shape of EA and Lucasarts' Star Wars: The Old Republic - but does Weyel believe that game can take a bite out of World of Warcraft's audience, and would that be a good thing for the industry as a whole?
"I would say that the good thing about it would be that it's a non-fantasy title. If it can prove that a non-fantasy title can regain a big consumer base and user base. I think if you ask industry people about their opinions about the chances of success though, they'll be very diverse.
"I would say it would be a good sign. I think it would show that there are a lot of users out there willing to pay a certain amount of money each month for a good game.
"Basically, it's going to be interesting. There's Eve Online, but apart from that, the subscription-based model is dominated by fantasy role-playing games."
It's not something which Bigpoint CEO, and Frogster rival, Heiko Hubertz thinks is likely to happen - he told press last October that he can't see the MMO becoming profitable at all, despite his chairman Simon Guild's belief that the future will include subscription-based games.
"If you look at a game like Star Wars from EA and BioWare, they estimated a development budget of more than $100 million. This is an online game for many million of subscribers, so a big publisher does not understand that a subscription model is not the future," said Hubertz.
"With micro-transactions and longer lifetime maybe I see a chance for this game but I don't think that EA or BioWare will be profitable with this game. Ever."
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-dominate-west ...by Published on February 2nd, 2011 10:36- Categories:
- PC News
Electronic Arts upcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic can reach profitability with 500,000 subscribers, according the CEO John Riccitiello.
Speaking in a conference call to investors, he said that half a million subscribers would be "substantially profitable, but it's not the sort of thing we would write home about."
"Anything north of one million subscribers is a very profitable business," continued Riccitiello. "Essentially it turns on a dime from being quite sharply negative in terms of its EPS impact to positive the day the product ships."
Earlier in the call Riccitiello had said EA is "incurring significant development costs" for the Star Wars MMO, which is expected to be released in 2011, although after the close of the financial year.
But he was also critical of reports in the press speculating on the costs of the game, in development at BioWare, which CFO Eric Brown has previously described as the "largest ever development project, period, in the history of the company."
"There's been a fair amount of talk on various blogs, describing spends that are vastly higher than anything we've ever put in place. Some of them, they bring a chuckle but they also bring a frustration for those that are being responsible in the management of EA's R&D dollars when they read sort of falsehoods out of the press."
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...h-500-000-subs ...by Published on February 2nd, 2011 10:34- Categories:
- Nintendo DS News,
- Nintendo 3DS News,
- Playstation Vita News,
- Android News,
- Apple iPad,
- Apple iPhone
Mobile processor-maker ARM Holdings has revealed its fourth quarter results for the last fiscal year, seeing profits jump to £47.6 million – £15 million up on last year.
ARM's Q4 revenues hit £113.9 million, up 34 per cent on the same period in 2009.
For the entirety of fiscal 2010, ARM's pre-tax profit reached £167 million, leaping 73 per cent from 2009's £96.8 million. Annual revenues grew 33 per cent to £406 million.
Said Warren East, ARM CEO, "As the industry chooses ARM technology in a broadening range of electronic products, it further drives our long-term royalty opportunity. The growth in licensing and royalty revenues, throughout 2010, has combined to deliver our highest ever annual revenues, profits and cash generation.
"2011 will bring exciting opportunities and challenges as ARM enters competitive new markets and we are well positioned to succeed with leading technology, an innovative business model and a thriving ecosystem of partners."
ARM chips are currently used in the likes of iPhones, iPads, Android and Windows 7 phones and the Nintendo DS, plus is due to be used in the 3DS and Sony's NGP.
Such ubiquity meant the firm shipped 1.1 billion chips during the fourth quarter of 2010 alone, as well as 0.7 billion in "everything from smart-meters to solid-state drives."
Microsoft recently announced that its next version of Windows will support 'system on a chip' processors such as those offered by ARM, which saw ARM's stock leap dramatically.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-chips-shipped ...by Published on February 2nd, 2011 10:31- Categories:
- PS3 News,
- Nintendo Wii News,
- PC News,
- Xbox 360 News
The increasingly negative, argumentative attitudes of many gamers and critics is stifling creativity and discouraging developers from taking risks with their games, so says Call of Duty: Black Ops developer Treyarch.
Speaking in an interview with NowGamer, community manager Josh Olin cited the troubling trend as the biggest problem the industry faces today.
"Personally, as a community manager who lives in the media or social media world every day, I think the social culture of video games is moving in a more negative direction as technology and social media continues to grow," Olin explained.
"Rather than growing with it, the trend seems to be devolving. More and more gamers seem to forget what this industry is all about.
"It's a creative industry – the most creative form of entertainment in existence," he continued. "Too many developers who try new things are getting burned by 'pundits' and angry entitled fans who look to be contrarian, sometimes simply for the sake of being contrarian.
"The only thing this attitude aims to achieve is stunt that creativity and innovation even further, which is something that no rational gamer looking to be entertained would want to do."
Fair point? Harmonious, generous-of-spirit readers of Eurogamer, you decide.
Of course, Treyarch knows what it's talking about when it comes to disgruntled gamers. There has been plenty of mud slung in its direction recently over the current state of Black Ops on PlayStation 3.
Maybe the First Strike DLC pack, out today, will help smooth things over.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...fle-creativity ...
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Catherine: Full Body’s English translation for the Vita