Canonical CEO Jane Silber discusses the Ubuntu maker's ambitions in the mobile market, saying there is plenty of room for a new player in tablets, TVs, and maybe even smartphones. 'There is a real demand for an alternative platform. We believe Ubuntu has all the characteristics that are needed to become that platform,' Silber says, adding that she expects to see Ubuntu on tablets later this year. 'And we think we can do that effectively because of characteristics of Ubuntu as a platform, industry dynamics, and an increased wariness around the walled gardens of Apple and to some extent Google and even Amazon, as they are increasingly in this game as well.' Silber cites openness, open governance, collaboration, and a strong developer ecosystem as key for Ubuntu as a tablet platform, when compared with Android and iOS."

http://news.slashdot.org/story/12/01...on-android-ios ...

Electronic Arts' freemium label, Play4Free, now has more than 25 million registered users, the publisher has announced.
Play4Free includes Battlefield Heroes and Need For Speed World, each of which crossed the ten million user mark earlier this month, as well as Battlefield: Play4Free, Dragon Age Legends, Battleforgeand Lord Of Ultima.
Sean Decker, vice president of Play4Free, said: "Developing a community of 25 million players is a remarkable achievement. It is testament to the explosive growth of the free-to-play market and a reflection of EA's commitment to spearheading the digital transformation.
"We plan to continue to innovate in the category, [and] introduce new gameplay that delights players and keeps them coming back for more. For our teams, this is an incredibly exciting time to be making games as the audience continues to grow and diversify."
To celebrate, EA is giving away virtual currency in Battlefield Heroes, using the generic code EQ9M-TYYT-TXR3-5GU3, andNeed For Speed World, with EWPD-3KGA-VBVF-9HYS.

http://www.edge-online.com/news/ea-p...-million-users ...

Early sets will only allow users to view others in action; Playable games to be implemented in the future

OnLive will integrate its cloud gaming service into an upcoming range of Google TV sets, the company has announced.
For now, Google TV owners will only be allowed to watch other people playing OnLive games through their sets, though OnLive CEO Steve Pearlman (pictured) said his firm is “working closely with Google” to enable gameplay.

The new deal with Google is the latest example of the OnLive executive team’s capacity to broker deals with external companies. In a matter of days the firm is expected to launch a cloud-based Windows apps service on iPads.
At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, TV vendor Vizio is said to have showcased the first-ever line of Google TV products with OnLive playability built in.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/3...nto-Google-TVs ...

Tablets between nine and 11-inches are the most desired.
Tablets are still relatively new devices but that hasn't stopped the likes of the Apple iPad from infiltrating millions of homes worldwide.
Firms including Samsung, RIM, HP and Dell have all entered the market with tablets of varying sizes, though some have seen more success than others. Indeed Dell has retired two of its Streak models from certain markets.
Eesearcher NPD In-Stat has examined consumer attitudes towards smartphones, tablets, portable media players and laptops and found that the screen size determines its use.
Devices with larger screens support users with productive needs and small screen devices cater for communication and entertainment needs, according to the report.
Results show 47 per cent of PMP owners have a screen size between 2.5 and five-inches, while 54 per cent say they prefer laptops and notebooks for personal information management.

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/read/...ainment/016672 ...

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...riving-january ...

Ah, the beauty of spreading the guts of some hackable hardware across your workbench. This happens to be the circuit board and LCD screen from a Parrot DF3120 digital picture frame. The device is pretty powerful, considering you can still find them available for around $25. You’ll get a 3.5″ screen, ARM9 processor with 8MB or RAM, Bluetooth, a tilt sensor, and more. It seem that [BusError], [Sprite_tm], [Claude], and few others really went to town and spilled all of the secrets this device has to offer.
Their goal of the hack was to get their own Linux kernel running. It is possible to reprogram the processor using its JTAG interface. And if you really want to drill down to the good stuff, there’s access to all of the BGA pins on the bottom of the board thanks to a grid of micro vias. But the device can be tricked into flashing your own firmware just by altering a stock upgrade image.
You can get a pretty good idea of what there is to do once you’ve replaced the firmware from the video after the break. A RAM upgrade (using a chip from an old PC133 stick) lets the video run smoothly as it’s controlled via a Wii remote.

http://hackaday.com/2012/01/10/this-...u-might-think/ ...

Potential video game investors are being put off by the lack of digital data, say industry experts.
The UK games industry’s Digital Group – which is supported by UKIE – says it’ll be easier to persuade financial giants to invest in games if they could see the size of the market.
“There is a ton of investors who want to invest in the games industry,” said Mediatonic’s Geoff Heath. “I know quite a lot of them and what’s holding a lot of them back is getting good data on the non-boxed business.
Green Man Gaming’s Paul Sulyok added: “We get professional investors contacting us, they are saying they would like some information about the market because they are doing x, y and z.
“But there isn’t that clarity around the value of this digital marketplace – and there is clarity around boxed products as it is established now.”
Get Games operations director Dermot Stapleton added: “There’s lots of headline figures about the industry being worth x number of billion pounds, but is the industry sustainable? Is there a living to be made out of it? Is it worth getting out of bed?”
The UK’s Digital Group currently consists of 24 members who are trying to form a PC digital download chart – which it says will be available in months.
“This chart is letting us measure this for the first time, and you can truly see that the PC market is not dying at all,” said Square Enix’s online publishing director Simon Protheroe.
UKIE?chairman Andy Payne added: “We haven’t dragged anyone to this group. There is good stuff here, so why not come on in? This is not a UKIE club thing. It is for the entire industry.”

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/lack-...vestors/089602 ...

PC peripheral manafacturer Razer has unveiled Project Fiona, a dedicated gaming tablet PC featuring side-mounted handles with integrated controllers.
Unveiled at CES in Las Vegas, Project Fiona runs on Windows 8 and Intel's i7 Ivy Bridge processor, meaning gamepad-supporting PC games will run natively on the tablet with no need for ports. Developers will, however, be able to add Fiona-exclusive control options to their games.

As well as the handles - each of which contains an analogue stick and four face buttons - Project Fiona boasts force feedback, accelerometers, and a multi-touch screen.
Brad Graff, director of partner marketing for Intel's netbook and tablet group, said: "Project Fiona's combination of high performance Intel-based gaming hardware and innovative tablet design is specifically focused for PC gamers. It will unleash the PC gamer to play their existing and future high-end games in one of the most exciting new form factors - a tablet."
Razer intends to release Project Fiona in the fourth quarter of this year, and is aiming for a price point of under $1000 (£645). Dev units will be available soon.

http://www.edge-online.com/news/raze...-gaming-tablet ...

PC edition of innovative motion controller to launch across 12 countries

Microsoft will roll out an official PC edition of Kinect on February 1st, Microsoft has announced.
Hardware will be sold in limited quantities across 12 countries - United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand and Spain.

“Developers who have existing non-commercial deployments using our beta 2 SDK may continue using beta 2 and the Kinect for Xbox 360 hardware,” Microsoft said.
“To accommodate this, we are extending the time of the beta 2 license from June 16, 2013 for three more years, to June 16, 2016.
“However, we expect that as Kinect for Windows hardware becomes readily available, developers will shift their development efforts to Kinect for Windows hardware in conjunction with the latest SDK and runtime.”

http://www.develop-online.net/news/3...e-February-1st
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