OnLive's MicroConsole may not have exactly taken the video game market by storm just yet, but it looks like the company isn't about to wait any longer to expand its cloud-based empire. Today it announced that it's partnering with Juniper Networks on what it's describing as a "no-compromise, media-rich, enterprise experience." While it's still apparently in the early stages, that solution will combine OnLive's own instant response video compression technology with Juniper Networks' Junos Pulse client, which together promise to make remotely-accessed desktops and applications "indistinguishable from a local one," regardless of the device you're accessing it on (including tablets and OnLive-enabled TVs). Unfortunately, anything much more specific than that -- including any indication of an actual rollout -- remains a bit light for the time being, but the two companies have already demoed the system at the NExTWORK Conference in New York City today, so it certainly seems like it might not be too far off.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/23/o...for-enterpris/ ...

Gun accessories for your Wiimote or Move wands are old hat but, we can't help but be at least a little intrigued by this rifle-like dock for the iPhone. The appBlaster is an accessory from apptoyz designed specifically for use with the company's Alien Attack iOS game. Slide in your iDevice and fire up the AR shooter and you'll be treated to a bit of Piper-vision, exposing the invisible aliens in our midst. Pull the triggers and two capacitive pads touch the screen to fire at the invaders that only you can see. The appBlaster is available for pre-order now at RED5 for £19.99 (about $32) and will official hit shelves on July 7.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/23/a...-butt-bubbleg/ ...

Ok, this one's odd. In fact, we didn't believe the images until a video just surfaced showing Nokia CEO, Stephen Elop, foolishly asking a crowd of people to "put away their cameras" for the unveiling of something "super confidential," codenamed "Sea Ray." Naturally, a few people ignored the plea for "no pictures please" and, indeed, someone leaked what appears to be a Nokia-produced video of the unveiling to the blogosphere. What is it? Why, it's Nokia's first Windows Phone. While it looks nearly identical to the just announced N9, the different LED placement on the back (in line with the same 8 megapixel Carl Zeiss lens) confirms it's a new device as does the additional hardware button (for shutter release, we presume) along the side. And the fact that it's running Windows Phone 7 Mango seals the deal. See a few more shots and the full uncut video (and relevant snippet) after the break.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/23/n...ges-and-video/ ...

Angling for a new Android 3.1 tablet, are ya? If so, Archos has a new pair emerging from Paris today, the 80 G9 and 101 G9. Predictably, the biggest differentiator between the two is the screen size, with the former offering an 8-inch panel with a 1024 x 768 screen resolution and the latter stepping up to a 10.1-incher (1280 x 800). Both of 'em are proudly using Seagate's 7mm Momentus Thin in order to scale to 250GB, but of course, only time will tell how a power-hungry HDD will do in tablet form factor.

Under the hood, you'll find a dual-core OMAP 4 processor (1.5GHz ARM Cortex A9), support for Flash, access to the Android Market and a full-size USB port -- one that's good for accepting the outfit's new G9 3G WWAN stick ($49). You'll also get an HDMI output, support for 1080p playback and a pay-as-you-go option with the aforesaid 3G dongle. The duo is scheduled to go on sale at the end of September (you know, just a month or two before Ice Cream Sandwich makes Honeycomb look like old hat), with the 80 G9 going for $279 and the 101 G9 for $349. Don't ever say Archos' accountants didn't look out for you.

Update: We snagged a gallery's worth of hands-on shots from Archos' reveal today in Paris. We're running back for more as we type, so hang tight!

Update 2: A reader over at Engadget Spanish noticed that the ES specifications link for the new G9 tablets mentions a 16GB + microSD arrangement for those who aren't feeling a 250GB HDD. Interesting!

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/23/a...ts-1-5ghz-cpu/ ...

Irrational's creative director Ken Levine has expressed concern over integrating motion control into more traditional gameplay mechanics.

Following the E3 announcement that BioShock Infinite will support PlayStation Move, Levine spoke to OXM about ensuring the safety of tried and tested methods, even when adding new control schemes.

"Any experience that sits in the realm of motion play needs to be kept separate from the main experience," he explained. "It needs to be firewalled off so that if this experiment isn't for you, or doesn't turn out to be all that great, you just ignore it. Any new experience we add, we need to be able to protect this experience."

But he was also adamant about the need to evolve. "If we don't experiment, we don't progress."

Levine also spoke about Bioware's planned use of Kinect in it's epic space RPG. "I like the stuff they're doing with Mass Effect 3, in terms of making some of the interface aspects a little less thorny - more the squad commands than the conversation, as that's a bit of a challenge on the controller."

He did admit that, personally, he's a fan of more traditional methods. "I'm a hardcore gamer - I do most of my gaming on mouse and keyboard. I'm always open to new things, but I'm a really conservative guy at heart. I'll try it out slowly, but I'll be doing so very conservatively."

Bioshock Infinite is due for release in 2012.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...motion-control ...

Less than half the of the 11 million homes with a 3DTV by 2016 will be regular users of 3D content, claims a new report by Informa Telecoms & Media.

Titled Global 3DTV Forecasts, it explains that among early adopters of the technology, around 90 per cent are actively accessing 3D content. As 3D technology becomes a standard feature for those upgrading their television sets that active percentage will fall.

While it recognises that media companies like Sky and the BBC are producing 3D content, it's sceptical about the demand.

"Public reaction has been mixed – due to both a lack of content and a simple failure of the public to engage with what is, essentially, a new type of viewing experience," explains Adam Thomas, Informa senior analyst and author of the report.

"We do not share the view that 3D represents the obvious next evolutionary step for TV, in the same way that colour followed black and white, or HD is following SD. 3DTV is less of an enhancement and rather more a new type of viewing experience – one that many people will enjoy, but some way from becoming ubiquitous."

Sony has invested large amounts in manufacturing 3D televisions and producing stereoscopic content like Killzone 3, while Microsoft supports 3D gaming with the Xbox 360, and is rumoured to be planning the introduction of full stereoscopic 3D too.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...ecast-for-3dtv ...

For the first time in months the 3DS is the best-selling hardware format in Japan, with sales receiving a considerable boost from the release of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time 3D.

3DS sales for the week were up by more than a third to 40,649, well ahead of the PSP on 31,747 - despite an increase for Sony's portable this week as well.

There has been some controversy over the performance of Ocarina of Time 3D though, with website Andriasang reporting that it may have been supply constrained, with retailers reporting a low first shipment.

As a result sales of the game were almost identical to the other major release of the week: Level-5's Danbōru Senki on PSP - part of a cross-media franchise that includes toys and an anime.

Although independent chart compiler Media Create puts Ocarina of Time 3D in second place with 164,110 unit sales to 166,187, the chart from rival Enterbrain reverses the two positions.

In either case Nintendo will hope that this week sees a turning point for the 3DS's fortunes in Japan, with three titles in the top 10 and new releases generally now charting higher and for longer than during the post-launch period.

The other major new release this week is visual novel sequel Steins;Gate Hiyoku Renri no Darling on Xbox 360, from specialist publisher 5pb. A total of three new titles in the romance-themed franchise were released this week, with the sequel itself selling 31,666 units at number four.

A double pack containing the original game sold 11,041 units at number five and a budget-priced re-release of the first game sold 3,914 units at number 16.

Last Week This Week Title Format
New Entry 1 Danboru Senki PSP
New Entry 2 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D 3DS
1 3 Yakuza Of The End PS3
New Entry 4 Steins;Gate: Hiyoku Renri no Darling 360
New Entry 5 Steins;Gate Double Pack 360
2 6 Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D 3DS
4 7 Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 Professional DS
3 8 Battle & Get! Pokemon Typing DS DS
7 9 Wii Party Wii
5 10 One Piece Unlimited Cruise SP 3DS
Platform This Week Last Week
3DS 40,649 24,649
PSP 31,741 26,681
PlayStation 3 16,081 17,104
Wii 6,678 6,357
Nintendo DSi XL 5,464 5,283
Nintendo DSi 5,322 5,232
Xbox 360 2,875 2,370
PlayStation 2 1,346 1,291
Nintendo DS Lite 109 146
PSPgo 55 69

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...l-psp-in-japan ...

Ryan Cleary, the 19 year old hacker from Essex, will be in court today on Computer Misuse Act charges, but is apparently unconnected to recent attacks on industry sites.

The official statement from the Metropolitan Police lists the charges as relating to Distributed Denial of Service attacks on the Serious Organised Crime Agency, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and the British Phonographic Industry.

Hacker group Lulzsec claimed responsibility for the SOCA attack, leading to suggestions that Cleary was part of the collective, but the group used its Twitter to publicly distance itself from the teenager.

"Ignorant press have failed to realize that actual authorities - i.e. Scotland Yard - didn't imply in the slightest that Ryan was LulzSec," it said. "They charge him with the SOCA attack, maybe he hit SOCA after we did? It was suspiciously down again after we let it up."

Lulzsec has admitted to hacking into the sites or user records of Sony, Nintendo, Bethesda as well as online games Minecraft, League of Legends and Eve Online.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...lated-offences ...

Dennis Durkin, COO and CFO of Microsoft's interactive entertainment business, has extended something of an olive branch to Sony over the issue of hacking, maintaining that he sees no advantage in crowing over his rival's security problems.

Although couched in terms of a larger statement on the security of Xbox LIVE as part of an interview with IndustryGamers, Durkin's comments seem to reflect a consolidated industry position on the threat posed by malicious hacking outfits.

"It's bad for the industry that this has happened to Sony," Durkin told our sister site. "It's very, very bad. It's very damaging. So we don't wish that upon anybody and you've seen we've been actually pretty quiet on the subject because we don't want to appear to even be looking to be taking advantage of somebody else's situation like that. That's just not in our DNA.

"Over time, all of the bets Microsoft is making are about cloud bets. We want customers to feel confident about the quality of service they're getting, the reliability they're getting, the security of the data that they have and the security of the private information that they have.

"As a company, you can look back 8, 9 years ago, when Bill Gates wrote his Trustworthy Computing Memo that basically said, 'We need to change the way we architect our products and it has to be designed into the way we architect our products and services.' So it's in our DNA, across the company. This is not just an IEB thing.

We don't want to appear to even be looking to be taking advantage of somebody else's situation like that. That's just not in our DNA.
Dennis Durkin, Microsoft.
"So this has really been a multi-year effort for us as a company and it'll continue to be one because this future, which we think is very much about services and very much cloud based - whether it be entertainment consumption or productivity - in order to do that, you have to have a secure environment. So we're going to continue to do that and we don't want to see any of our competitors hurt along the way. We think that's bad for consumers."

It's likely that benevolence was not the only reasoning behind Microsoft's placidity on the issue, as the two platform rivals have a long history of public sniping. By putting its head above the virtual parapets to deride Sony's security, for example, Microsoft would likely have become a target itself. In his closing comments to IndustryGamers, Durkin was keen to stress the importance which Microsoft places on the security of its customer data.

"[Xbox Live] is obviously very important to our consumers," Durkin argues. "It's part of the value proposition of why consumers buy our gaming consoles... So they want that to be on just like you want your phone to be on. And so we have that obligation and we've been diligently, not only in terms of our processes, which we leverage heavily from the company, but just in terms of our people resource and all that so we do everything we can to protect our consumers' data.

"Like in society, you can't always protect everything. There are people who are going to want to disrupt things and you can't always perfectly protect against every scenario, but we're going to make sure we do everything to we can to be sure we're as secure as we possibly can be. And thankfully - I'm grateful to be part of a company like Microsoft, who has such deep investments across its whole ecosystem that we leverage. Because it's an industry challenge and it's something that we all have to get better at."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...urity-breaches ...