New from Divineo China



Set of 12 fashionable and colorful game card case to protect the valuable game cards against scratch and shock. The transparent front and back design lets you find game cards easily. Each game card case can store 2 game cards. ...

New from Divineo China



- Made of high quality and clear transparent plastic material
- Can rotate 360 degrees
- Lights up in the dark with 5 bright blue LED's (Requires 3 AAA Batteries)
- Stores up to 24 UMD discs ...

While the spotlight over the past few months has very much been on Microsoft's home hardware and the possibilities of Project Natal, the company hasn't forgotten about the portable online market, or on previously announced project Live Anywhere, according to Microsoft vice president Shane Kim.

"We've chosen to focus on the living room experience from a hardware standpoint, if you will, but we're building a service in Live that will extend to other platforms. No question about it," Kim revealed in an interview with Kikizo.

"For us, it's a matter of focusing on 'when', because if we chased after a mobile or handheld opportunity, we would not have the resources and ability to do things like Project Natal."

Microsoft understands, says Kim, that customers don't want "an island experience" - they want to be connected to the rest of their lives. "We talked about Live Anywhere a few years ago," the exec said. "Live is like the connective tissue."

It's something that users are starting to see now, says Kim, as the company integrates services such as Netflix, Facebook and Twitter into the Xbox Live experience.

But it is searching for the best opportunity into the portable space too, Kim confirmed, in a way that will fit with the Xbox brand.

"The question will be, how do we enter into that market? Do we do our own device, do we create our own phone? That's a question for the company itself. Do we continue to go down the Windows Mobile path which is that path that we're on today, etcetera, etcetera.

"But believe me, we understand the importance of that device in people's lives," he concluded.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...matter-of-when ...

While the spotlight over the past few months has very much been on Microsoft's home hardware and the possibilities of Project Natal, the company hasn't forgotten about the portable online market, or on previously announced project Live Anywhere, according to Microsoft vice president Shane Kim.

"We've chosen to focus on the living room experience from a hardware standpoint, if you will, but we're building a service in Live that will extend to other platforms. No question about it," Kim revealed in an interview with Kikizo.

"For us, it's a matter of focusing on 'when', because if we chased after a mobile or handheld opportunity, we would not have the resources and ability to do things like Project Natal."

Microsoft understands, says Kim, that customers don't want "an island experience" - they want to be connected to the rest of their lives. "We talked about Live Anywhere a few years ago," the exec said. "Live is like the connective tissue."

It's something that users are starting to see now, says Kim, as the company integrates services such as Netflix, Facebook and Twitter into the Xbox Live experience.

But it is searching for the best opportunity into the portable space too, Kim confirmed, in a way that will fit with the Xbox brand.

"The question will be, how do we enter into that market? Do we do our own device, do we create our own phone? That's a question for the company itself. Do we continue to go down the Windows Mobile path which is that path that we're on today, etcetera, etcetera.

"But believe me, we understand the importance of that device in people's lives," he concluded.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...matter-of-when ...

The big lesson Sony can take from the App Store and apply to its PSPgo digital distribution model is making things easy for both developers and customers, Robert Murray, CEO of Firemint has told GamesIndustry.biz.

"The shorter the path between developer and consumer, the faster the market can grow and innovate," said the studio head.

"Apple took us part of the way there, and they continue to enhance that connection with in-App purchases and notifications. The developer sets the price, they choose when to update, and they can now offer additional goods for an additional cost. They can send messages to their users, they can read user reviews etc," he added.

"There is a long way to go still down that path for any platform vendor that is willing to concede further control to content vendors and consumers."

Such a young market has plenty of room for the two platform holders, believes Murray, pointing out that territory wars between Apple and Sony won't begin until the market is saturated.

"Everything Apple does to grow and widen the market overall helps Sony, similarly everything Sony does to grow and widen the market helps Apple," he pointed out.

However, his Melbourne-based studio, which has created leading tech for the iPhone 3GS, will be taking a cautious approach to PSPgo development for now, according to Murray.

"We're thinking very carefully about how to approach this space. It is far from obvious to us which way we should go with the PSP.

"The PSP platform and audience supports games like Real Racing, but the level of competition for those sort of 'large' games is much higher on PSP than on iPhone. Flight Control style games would be something very fresh to the PSP, but do ultra casual games like this appeal to the PSP audience? That's the question I would like answered."

He also echoes the concerns of other small scale studio managers who, despite the lowering of the physical cost of the PSP software development kit, still see the barrier to entry on the platform as too high.

"I think established game developers won't have many problems as the PSPgo is based on the mature PSP platform. It might be a more difficult space for micro developers or first-time game devs to enter, both because the dev kit may be more difficult to obtain than for iPhone, and because the programming environment is more hardcore.

"I don't think smaller developers are going to buy a dev kit and casually tinker around in the same numbers as they have for iPhone."

Ultimately though, Sony's success might not be defined by its ability to go head-to-head with the App Store and beat it at its own game, reckons Murray. Instead, the publisher could simply use its muscle - its music and movie businesses and existing retail and publisher relationships to leverage its position.

"I think Sony has the muscle to do something special and they also have their PlayStation Store infrastructure to leverage along with their music and movie interests, their back catalogue, their retail relationships and their existing developer relationships.

"I'm sure Sony will do something different from App Store, something that leverages their unique strengths. Hopefully that will result in a win for consumers," Murray concludes.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-and-consumers ...

Sony's newly announced PSPgo, digital distribution model and lowered entry costs into development could be successful in attracting new talent to the handheld format.

That's according to Maxwell Scott-Slade, co-founder of iPhone studio Johnny Two Shoes, who said his company would like to get hands on with PSPgo development, but that cost and time could still be a factor when compared to "absolutely no barrier of entry" offered by Apple's devicee.

"At the moment I can see it in the distance as something weʼd like to sink our teeth into," Scott-Slade told GamesIndustry.biz. "Itʼs a great platform and the feature set looks good on paper."

But even with a reduction in the outlay of the software development kit - Sony used E3 to announce the price would drop by 80 per cent - creating games for the PSP still presents barriers for smaller studios currently producing iPhone games in a matter of weeks using a Mac and nothing else.

"You can build iPhone apps just as long as you have a Mac for no additional cost," said Scott-Slade. "You donʼt even need an iPhone or iPod to start out - I think this has given a lot of individuals absolutely no barrier of entry to development.

"The cost is also a factor for development time, you donʼt need months or years to build great iPhone applications."

The company co-founder still believes Sony can offer a service that co-exists with the Apple model, but only if the two don't overlap - either by Sony offering non-game apps or Apple coming up with hardware that rivals PSP's graphical quality.

"Both devices offer something different. Sony has a more traditional gaming catalogue that promotes longer play times at a higher price point while Apple conquers the casual gaming market with huge library and a lower price point.

"Thereʼs always an opportunity to do something new, I think Sony has a great possibility to differentiate itself in this space and even with overlap I think there is still a reason to play on both devices. In the end, the consumer wins for choice and developers win for a more direct access to their audience."

Sony could learn from the Apple too, by utilising into its own online store the sort of discovery system developers have been calling for from the App Store, said Scott-Slade.

"Itʼs important for Sony to differentiate between its casual and traditional gaming content. The ability for the store to 'learn' what you like would mean that content can be shown to gamers based on what theyʼve previously bought. This kind of promotion works, we know it works even with huge content databases - look at Amazon.

"Thereʼs a huge barrier between a player finding what they want from the App Store and settling with something from the Top 25 lists because thereʼs just too much content."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...eth-into-pspgo ...

The creator of Bebot for the iPhone has said that the biggest lesson Sony needs to learn for the success of the PSPgo is to understand that applications don't have to be games to be fun and appealing.

Russell Black, a former senior programmer for next-gen home consoles, claims he's made more money in six months with the release of his cult synthesizer application through his company Normalware than the annual salary at his last job, but he's hesitant to begin work on any such software for Sony's new console.

"The main thing that I think Sony could learn from what's happening already with the App Store is that applications don't have to be games in order to be fun," offered Black, speaking exclusively to GamesIndustry.biz. "Even applications that aren't fun might help you get your work done more quickly, giving you more time for things that are fun."

"If you look at what's popular in the App Store right now, you'll find things that you never would have expected, and more appearing every day. Even with the more game-focused audience that the PSPgo is likely to attract, I think that even Sony will be surprised at the kinds of things people want to use their 'games device' for, other than just playing games."

Black said he's impressed with the PSPgo hardware – Sony's first console to rely purely on digital content rather than physical media – but without a credible installed base, independent developers making money on the iPhone are unlikely to begin targeting the Sony handheld anytime soon.

"The PSPgo is a very appealing piece of hardware, and has great potential when combined with the possibilities provided by digital distribution. However, I would actually be very hesitant to start developing original content for it for quite some time yet," he said.

"If you develop a product that will only be available on the PSPgo, your entire potential audience is whatever number of people specifically own a PSPgo console. Right now, that number is approximately zero."

"If Sony's app store also let you sell games to people with a regular, existing PSP model, that would be a much more attractive prospect," he added. "There are nearly 50 million of those out there already. Even if you only sold to a fraction of one percent of those people, it's a significant number of sales. And even if the PSPgo sells great from day one, it's going to take a long time before it starts getting anywhere near those numbers."

Any App Store-style service for the new console would benefit from a tighter approval process than the one Apple currently employs, said Black.

"It's fantastic that the App Store is so open and inclusive, but when it gets to the point where it's difficult to find quality apps buried under piles of buggy tic-tac-toe and sudoku games written in a weekend, it really does become a problem.

"Whenever you have a large number of apps coming out with little or no advertising budget, giving each one the exposure it deserves is going to be very difficult anyway. Being too lenient on quality is only going to make that problem worse.

"So I think the potential is very interesting, and if the PSPgo sells well then it could become a very appealing platform for independent developers. But for now, we'll have to wait and see whether that will become a reality," he concluded.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...l-be-fun-black ...

The PSPgo might be a great gaming platform, but Sony will need to prove it can sell big numbers before new studios will jump on board, according to Michael Schade, CEO and co-founder of leading mobile studio Fishlabs.

"The game experience on PSP is great, no doubt, but Sony has to prove they can sell several million devices first. When Apple launched their App Store they already had about 20 million iPhone and iPod touches sold and we all heard the early success stories. We would have been stupid if we had not embraced this sky rocking platform. PSPgo hasn't launched yet."

Speaking exclusively to GamesIndustry.biz, the head of the Hamburg-based company said that although the PSPgo is a technically great device, new high-end games on the iPhone 3GS are fast catching up in terms of performance.

Furthermore, he believes iPhone developers could find competing against high-budget console productions on PSP a tough proposition.

"I wonder how many consumers understand that a mobile game beefed up for PSP, even if it is hardcore stuff like Galaxy on Fire, can hardly be as compelling as a title ported over from PS2 in terms of production value. You could argue it is being sold for a smaller price but consumers are merciless, they demand the most for the lowest price," Schade pointed out.

Sony will find it hard to catch up with Apple, he believes, since the iPhone and iPod already have a massive install base and a store full of games.

Additionally, the iPhone combines two equally strong functionalities - communicating with other people and playing games - while the PSPgo is still primarily a gaming device. "If the iPhone combines both, is always on, always with you, how can you beat that?" questions Schade.

What Sony could offer that iPhone presently doesn't is a more limited, high-production selection of titles to download, however Schade doesn't rule out Apple innovating in a similar way in the future.

"I would not like to be in the driver seat at Sony for the PSPgo. However, the biggest chance for Sony is probably to make sure that high-budget productions pay off by limiting the number of titles on PSPgo. Apple still does not have an answer to this. Of course, that doesn't mean they won't in the future, given the speed of innovation that Apple constantly surprises with."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-opportunities ...

Microsoft will offer select Xbox Live members a glimpse at the autumn Dashboard update next week, reports out sister site Eurogamer.net.

On show will be Netflix video streaming, the Avatar marketplace, Xbox Live Parties and more. The only features not included are Last.fm, Facebook and Twitter integration, plus the Zune HD instant-on videos.

The Xbox 360 games on demand service, which offers titles like Mass Effect for download, will be previewed in early August.

The full autumn Dashboard update itself usually arrives around November time. A full list of autumn Dashboard changes can be found here.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...view-next-week ...