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DCEmu.Com is a site that brings you the very latest in Gaming news that isnt console specific and the latest Current Gen news from around the world, Part of the
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December 5th, 2013, 00:16 Posted By: wraggster
NVIDIA Shield owners who downloaded a new software update a couple days ago not only received the ability to stream PC games over 1080p, but were also given the keys to try out NVIDIA's GRID cloud gaming service before anyone else. Similar to Gaikai and Onlive, GRID essentially lets you play games that are hosted on NVIDIA's servers rather than your home PC. Well, that service is finally out in open beta to Shield owners -- as long as they live in Northern California. NVIDIA's testing this out with just their San Jose servers for now, and you'll need aGameStream-ready 5GHz WiFi router, a minimum of 10Mbps download speed and a sub-40ms ping time to have a decent gaming experience. Those outside of the area can give it a go as well of course, as long as they're able to meet those bandwidth requirements -- the GRID beta app will run a network test to see if your connection passes muster. If you've already downloaded that aforementioned software update, you should already have the app, but you can download it separately from the Google Play Store as well.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/04/n...rid-open-beta/
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December 4th, 2013, 22:44 Posted By: wraggster
 ‘Whenever there’s a mass shooting, you can count on the mainstream media to point to the perpetrator’s interest in violent videogames as a potential cause’
Recently, industry icon Warren Spector wrote a piece for GamesIndustry International about media effects. In it, he looked at the current state of the never-ending debate about whether games cause violent behaviour, and, more generally, whether games have measurable adverse effects on players. Over the course of decades, this debate has taken many forms. Countless games have been singled out as harmful. Whenever there’s a mass shooting, you can count on the mainstream media to point to the perpetrator’s interest in violent videogames as a potential cause. But study after study has shown that games do not cause violent behaviour.Spector, however, was not writing in defence of games; he was making a deeper and more important point. He pointed to a couple of recent studies that demonstrate games can have positive effects on players. Yet Spector did not uphold these studies as evidence to undermine those who seek to hold games accountable for all of society’s problems. He argued instead that while it is great that games have been shown to have positive effects in terms of the way they can improve our cognitive capability, the fact that games have this capacity means developers have a responsibility to understand the complexities of the effects games can have on players.I think this is a reasonable position, and I agree with Spector that we need more science and a better understanding of the effects of our medium (and of every other medium) with regard to how people’s brains develop under different levels of exposure. At the same time, however, I think Spector misses most of the argument.
http://www.edge-online.com/features/...y-always-wins/
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December 4th, 2013, 01:02 Posted By: wraggster
Wilson says Microsoft and Sony have small window before companies like Apple, Google, Roku, and Comcast become stiff competition
[h=3]Electronic Arts[/h]ea.com
The success of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One launches suggest that gamers still like the living room experience, but Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson thinks there's no guarantee that Sony and Microsoft will continue being the companies to deliver it. Speaking with investors today at the Credit Suisse 2013 Technology Conference, Wilson said competition for the living room is only going to heat up.
"Our market is evolving at a very, very, very rapid rate," Wilson said. "I think that Microsoft and Sony have a real opportunity to build a strong following and a strong install base while they continue to be the single best way to get high fidelity, high definition interactive entertainment to your 80-inch television. If you think about Microsoft's strategy--and I think Sony shares some of this in their long-term view, of being a broader entertainment device in your living room--I think they have that time. I think that three years from now, four years from now, they're going to be under some fairly stiff competition for the living room, from mobile providers, from Apple, from Google, from Roku, from Comcast, to try and own that living room experience."
While EA is supporting PS4 and Xbox One today, Wilson said the company will be wherever the gamers are. Five years from now, he joked, the company's biggest revenue generating platform could be a hologram that comes up from the living room floor.
"For us, we are less focused on the device and more focused on the modality of play because we think that will continue irrespective of what piece of technology is used to deliver the [content]," Wilson said.
Earlier in the session, Wilson said EA is likely to undergo a shift in its overall business. Currently the company draws its money heavily from the console market, but Wilson said the growth of emerging markets, especially with their emphasis on PC and mobile free-to-play, will lead the publisher to a more balanced revenue mix.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...llenged-ea-ceo
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December 4th, 2013, 00:00 Posted By: wraggster
In the world of head-worn displays, Google Glass seems to lately get most of the praise as well as most of the dirty looks, though it's far from alone. At this year's DroidCon in London, I talked with Epson Europe product manager Marc-Antoine Godfroid about a very different kind of head-worn display: the Moverio BT-100. Epson's display is running a Google operating system, but it isn't competing with Glass, at least not directly. The hardware in this case is a relatively high-definition stereo display meant for immersion (whether that means information overlays or watching recorded video) hooked to an external control unit running Android, rather than the sparer, information-dashboard, all-in-one approach of Glass. One other big difference: Epson's stereo, full-color headset is cheaper than Glass, and available now. Hit the link below to see what it looks like.
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/12...-goggles-video
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December 3rd, 2013, 23:50 Posted By: wraggster
Epic VP feels SmartGlass and other companion apps are yet to prove their worth in gaming
Epic Games vice president Mark Rein has been unimpressed by second screen experiences to date, and believes we are yet to see a killer app for the technology in games.
Speaking to the Alist Daily, Rein said that second screen has proven itself for linear media, such as films and TV, but has complicated interactive experiences, rather than becoming an integral part of them.
“I think we’ve yet to see the real value of the second screen idea, if you’re talking about [Xbox] SmartGlass and companion apps and things like that. But that doesn't mean that it won’t be big one day. I don’t really know what it is yet," said Rein.
“Where I really use SmartGlass is for choosing things from the menu and navigating the store instead of using the controller. It's great for watching a movie and then continuing it on my tablet when I walk away. There are lots of great uses and applications," he said.
"Where it fits into gaming, I don't know. I’m not sold on picking up my tablet to choose my play and then putting it back down and picking up my controller. It's kind of a wonky way to choose a play, so I don't know if that's how it's going to go or not.
“Developers should try everything and have lots of fun with it, and sooner or later there will be a killer app for that sort of thing, too.”
Epic has had huge success with its Infinity Blade franchise, which has twice been used to showcase the gaming power of Apple’s iPhone at the unveiling of new iterations.
Rein added that the industry needs to stop seeing tablets and mobiles as being unable to co-exist with consoles.
“They’re never going to be a one-to-one console to tablet because one you plug into a wall, one you carry around with you. That doesn’t mean that they won’t have the same amount of power and you won’t be able to plug your tablet into the wall and add a controller and play it like a console. I think that’s inevitable. I think Apple's now embraced having a controller.”
http://www.develop-online.net/news/m...gaming/0186763
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December 3rd, 2013, 15:19 Posted By: wraggster
Today i have a PSP Clone that comes at a cheap price £23/$35 that like Alladin in the Disney Movies is a Diamond in the Rough.
The KO G6000 Ultrathin 4.3" Touch Screen MP5 Game Console is from the gadget specialists at DealExtreme.com, first off lets look at the console itself with a few pics:
Very thin and looks like a psp
Heres the Camera
The options screen
Game Screen
Heres the specs
| Brand |
KO |
| Model |
G6000 |
| Quantity |
1 |
| Color |
White |
| Material |
Environmental plastic |
| Operating System |
No |
| Processor |
No |
| GPU |
No |
| Memory Capacity |
4GB |
| Expansion Slot |
32GB |
| Display Size |
4.3 Inch |
| Screen Resolution |
480 x 272 Pixels |
| Touch Screen |
Resistive |
| Digital Camera |
2.0 MP |
| Video Formats |
AVI / RM / RMVB / PMP / FLV / MP4 / M4V / VOB / WMV / 3GP / MPER |
| Audio Formats |
APE / MP3 / WMA / AAC / WAV / OGG / FLAC, supports multiple audio switching |
| Images Formats |
JPG / BMP / PNG / GIF |
| E-book Formats |
TXT / EPUB / PDF / WORD / EXCEL |
| Game Formats |
GBA / BIN / SMD / ZIP / GEN / FBA |
| Other Features |
Video output, shooting function |
| FM Radio |
No |
| Tuner Bands |
No |
| AV-out |
TV-OUT output |
| Sensor |
G-sensor |
| Speaker |
Yes |
| Microphone |
Yes |
| Wi-Fi |
No |
| Slots / Interface |
1 x TF card slot / 1 x Mini USB / 1 x 3.5mm earphone jack |
| Power Supply |
Mini USB charge |
| Work Time |
8 hours |
| Plug Type |
No |
| Languages |
Indonesian / Danish / German / English / Spanish / French / Croatian / Italian / Latvian / Lithuanian / Hungarian / Malay / Dutch / Polish / Portuguese / Romanian / Slovak / Finnish language / Swedish / Swahili / Filipino / Turkish / Zulu / Greek / Russian / Korean / Japanese / Traditional Chinese / Simplified Chinese |
| Other |
KO W6000 has video function, TV out function, recording function, FM function, English-Chinese dictionary; KO W6000 is an ultrathin game console with super long endurance. 1. Built-in 3000 classical games, supports free downloading a large number of games of GBA, NES, MD and other formats. 2. Supports MP3, WMA, WAV and other formats, there are many sound effects can be chosen. 3. Supports video playing, supports 576P movies, 480 x 272 resolution. 4. Supports pictures of different formats, can picture thumbnail viewing, 3D effect changing, slide playing. 4. Supports TV-OUT output. |
| Packing List |
1 x Game console
1 x USB cable (51cm)
1 x Earphone (68cm-cable)
1 x Chinese / English user manual |
Onto the Review
The KO G6000 Ultrathin 4.3" Touch Screen MP5 Game Console has a lot of options as you would expect with any of the consoles that come from China. Ill go through them all one by one.
The console itself is very slim and the build quality whilst not as good as the PSP for instance is still ok and features a better analogue stick than the PSP.
To turn on the system make sure the little on/off switch is in the on position and press the start button for 3 seconds, it then boots up with a sound like the one on Windows when it boots up.
You will then have the options screen but if your unlucky it will be in chinese, the settings area took me a minute or so to find then i turned the language to english, not too hard to find but fun nonetheless.
On the options youll see theme, basically that lets you change the colours, nice and simple.
On the photo section theres already 5 photos on the system and they show you that despite this being a cheap system its good at showing high res photos, it wont be anything like ipad quality but for what you pay its good enough, you can zoom in and do a slideshow but its basic at best. The Camera can go up to a very high resolution but the results are very low, although theres some options avoid unless you want the kids taking basic snapshots.
On the Music side of things it works best off a set of headphones and the options are like what used to be on old ipods, music can be sorted by genre, artists, album and theres a few options to play around with the music, for a cheap device it delivers the music in a way thats fint to listen to.
Next up is the Ebook section, i used a text version of an Harry Potter Book to test, unlike on a few Android Tablets ive tried there was no problems with question marks in the text, the text itself was perfectly readable even in the dark, turning pages was no effort, the one annoying thing is that words would get split up at the most inconvenient of times, a small annoyance but still great for reading.
Next up the Video section, i did try an AVI file and it didnt work strangely although it supports them, next up was a Real Media file and it was a sample of the film Madasgar, the audio and video worked perfect, for the price of the console you couldnt fault it. Next i tried a MP4 file and it played perfectly, big thumbs up there.
I next tried the recorder but couldnt fathom out where it saved the wav file it made, so cant give it a thumbs up or down.
It also has features such as stopwatch, calculator, calender, file browser, settings, and some obscure options like video study and 4 other educational bits which i tried but they were of no interest and pointless in my opinion.
Now we are onto the area i was so excited to try, the games area, the Games area also shows up on the desktop with thumbnails of each game.
The game area has 2 options, Classic Game and games on demand.
The Classic Game area has a massive list of GameBoy Advance Games built in. Although they repeat themselves after a while there are a Hundred GBA Games on the KO G6000 Ultrathin 4.3" Touch Screen MP5 Game Console. The emulation may not be 100% in every department but they are fully playable and you can do save states on games at any time.
The Games on demand had 2 Nes games on there and they worked perfectly as well, i then tried Super Mario Land on the Gameboy, Several Gameboy Colour titles and Super Mario Bros 1, 2,3 and Nes Open Tournament.
They all played great, not perfect but totally playable and with close to 4GB to store on the system you can get a lot of retro Nintendo games on there, Next up was Megadrive games which you must have with a .bin or .smd file extension, also some megadrive games are locked to certain countries so you may need to try some before success. Yet again Megadrive emulation was pretty decent, it did struggle with Sonic blast but the vast majority of games were great.
I did try Master System and Game Gear but both didnt work.
Last system to try was Snes games, I tried around 20 and first off any with a special chip didnt work properly, also games with large memory didnt work, games such as Donkey Kong Country loaded but very slow, i then tried some of the smaller sized games such as Super Mario World, Mario World was fully playable, so as long as you stick to the smaller games with no special chips they should all work.
The system has a Micro SD Card slot to make the system have much bigger memory. One thing that didnt work although advertised was the touch screen, it didnt work in any way shape or form.
I dont know if its just my PC but the console doesnt seem to be holding its charge for me, maybe an old motorola charger or something simliar would be a better option for charging.
So Good Bad or Ugly
The KO G6000 Ultrathin 4.3" Touch Screen MP5 Game Console is a very cheap console that has good GBA, GBC, GB, Nes, Megadrive and Snes Emulation, can play a range of videos, good for ebooks and displaying photos, the downers for me are the lack of a charger, the camera, the uneeded options.
So would i recommend you to buy this?
I would say if your looking for a device thats easy on the wallet for playing 8/16bit Nintendo and 16 bit Sega Games then you cant go wrong, if i couldnt afford a 3DS or a Vita for an Under 8 year old this is an essential buy for the hard up family, if your a retro emulation fan then the ability to play Nes, GBA, GBC, GB, Snes and Megadrive games bar the special chip games for £23/$35 you just cant go wrong, i will try to see if any more systems are playable, this could be a great system to hack?
All in all a big thumbs up for a cheap device, thanks to DealExtreme.com for letting me review the console.
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December 2nd, 2013, 22:30 Posted By: wraggster
As tempting as post-Thanksgiving savings are, some of us simply aren't brave enough to face the Black Friday hordes. That doesn't mean stay-at-home shoppers aren't still looking for a bargain: Cyber Monday is upon us, and there are deals aplenty. If you skipped this weekend's brick-and-mortar discounts, read on -- we've got TVs, PCs and tablets galore. Can't find what you're looking for? Stick around, we'll be updating this post as more deals go live.
[Buy More Stuff photo credit: jbhthescots / Flickr]
[h=3]PHONES[/h]
- Hoping to pep up your holiday with a brightly colored phone? Check out the MotoMaker: Motorola is knocking $150 off the price of any off-contract Moto X, including customized and Dev Edition handsets.
- T-Mobile is extending its in-store deal to the web: no money down on new devices from Sony, LG and Samsung, including the Note 3, G2 and Xperia Z.
- Willing to hitch up to a 2-year contract? Then Amazon will be happy to hook you up with an HTC One for just a penny. The LG G2 can also be had for a single coin, if you fancy a button on your phone's back.
- AT&T is offering the HTC One, Moto X and Samsung Galaxy Note II for free, and it's cutting 50 percent off the price off ASUS' 10-inch MeMo Pad as well as Samsung's Galaxy Note 8.0 and Galaxy Tab 2.
- Sprint fans can get the LG G2 or Samsung's Galaxy S4 Mini for free, while the Moto X is down to $50.
[h=3]TABLETS[/h]
- Amazon is knocking $50 off of both its Kindle Fire HD (16GB) and Kindle Fire HDX 7" -- offering each for $119 and $179, respectively.
- Bezos' warehouses are also taking $100 off of both the 16 and 32GB modelSamsung Galaxy Note 10.1
- NewEgg is selling the Dell Venue 8 for $129, a $50 discount. Not into Android? OfficeMax has the Windows 8.1 Dell Venue 8 Pro for $270, $30 off the 32GB tablet's regular price.
- At $200, the Surface RT has never been priced better. Best Buy seems to be sold out online, but it never hurts to check your local store. Still looking online? Staples will sell you the same slate with a touch cover for an extra $50
- Staples has knocked $30 off the price of the Nexus 7, selling the 16GB model at $199 even. If you're still shying away form LED equipped readers, the Nook Simple Touch shares the same discount, selling for $49.
- Looking for something a bit Larger? The Sony Store's Black Friday prices seem to be holding through to Cyber Monday: that Xperia Tablet Z is still waiting.
[h=3]PCS[/h]
- Acer's revamped Aspire E series can now be had for $200 off, thanks to aNewEgg deal that prices the Acer Aspire E1 at $399. Need more power? The same discount applies to the Lenovo IdeaPad Y510p, knocking its price down to $799
- Staples has stacked discounts, instant savings and rebates to offer the HP Pavilion 15 for $379.99.
- Can't decide between a laptop or a tablet? Take a look at the Dell XPS 12and its rotating screen: Amazon is selling it for $799 today.
- If you're thinking about picking up a laptop from the Sony Store, now's a good time: the company is offering free Core i7 upgrades on VAIO Pro Ultrabooks.
[h=3]HOME ENTERTAINMENT[/h]
- Looking for a new HDTV? Amazon has some options for you, including a 240Hz 46-inch Samsung LED Ultra Slim Smart TV for $1,298. Too much? No problem. A 60-inch 120Hz LED Smart TV from VIZIO can be had for only $898.
- If you're a 3D enthusiast, check out this 55-inch Panasonic Plasma HDTV: it comes with two pairs of active glasses and sells for $1,500 (marked down from $2,300!) If that's too rich for your blood, Walmart has a lower-end (but still 55-inch) stereoscopic set for $900.
- Still out of your budget? NewEgg is offering a 39-inch LG set for only $300.
- Of course, you can always augment your existing set with a Roku HD, available from Amazon for $40.
[h=3]CAMERAS[/h]- As part of it's Cyber Monday Deals week, Bezos' site is posting bundled dealsfor cameras from Sony, Fujifilm and Nikon including $50 off the Canon EOS Rebel T3 and over $100 off Nikon's D3200.
- Already got the lenses? Pick up a Nikon D7000 body at B&H for $699.
- Fancy a mirrorless camera? Sony's got you covered: its NEX-7 and NEX-3N are both getting modest discounts this week, selling for $959.99 and $449.99, respectively.
[h=3]GAMING[/h]
- It may not be "Day One" anymore, but that hasn't stopped Microsoft from restocking the Xbox One's Day One bundle. The complete $700 set comes with a year of Xbox Live Gold, two Xbox One games and a three year warranty. The bundled savings? About $50.
- Already got the systems, but need the games? Amazon is offering solid dealsacross all platforms, not to mention a digital sale that gives Steam's ownAutumn sale a run for its money.
- Moga's Android game controller is currently half off on Amazon ($15 a piece), but act fast -- the larger Moga Pro seems to have already sold out.
- Walmart is offering customizable Wii U, 3DS, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 bundles, each netting small discounts on accessories and games.
[h=3]ETC.[/h]- For the lost motorist, check out the TomTom VIA GPS Navigator at Amazon, it has lifetime traffic and maps and happens to be 40% off.
- ZAGG is selling its entire product line for 20-50% off, including power cables, audio products, bluetooth keyboards and screen protectors.
- Eager for some new apps? Check out BestBuy -- it's selling a $100 iTunes gift card for only $85.
- Microsoft is giving away Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP2 Deluxe Edition album for free if you're using Xbox Music on a Windows 8 PC or a Windows Phone.
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December 2nd, 2013, 22:25 Posted By: wraggster
<center style='font: 300 17px/24.75px "Segoe UI", proxima-nova, proxima-nova-1, proxima-nova-2, "Proxima Nova", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; display: block; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;'> </center>4K is here to stay, what with a vast number of companies ramping up production on all types of different panels. Today, Dell is the latest one ready to join the frenzy in full force, announcing availability details for some new, super high-res monitors as part of its UltraSharp lineup. Naturally, the main feature here is the 3,840 x 2,160 resolution on them, although there are other highlights worth mentioning. For its part, the newcomer UltraSharp 24 (you know, the one we caught earlier) has an IPS LED screen with Dell's PremierColor tech, which translates to being able to support 99 percent of AdobeRGB colors, and offers access to HDMI, DisplayPort, USB 3.0 and a 6-in-1 card reader. The UltraSharp 32, meanwhile, boasts the majority of the same specs as its smaller 24-inch sibling, save for the fact it's sporting a 32-inch, IGZO LCD panel.
Furthermore, Dell also took the time to reveal it plans to release a 28-inch model sometime in the near future, noting that this "will be the most affordable Ultra HDmonitor in the industry when it is launched." Speaking of which, The UltraSharp 32 is now up for grabs worldwide for $3,499, while the $1,399 UltraSharp 24 is only available in South and North America to begin with and elsewhere on December 16th. No word yet on how much exactly the UltraSharp 28 will cost, but Dell did say we can expect it to be under $1,000 when it hits shelves in "early 2014."
Dell (1), (2)
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December 2nd, 2013, 22:19 Posted By: wraggster
Call of Duty: Ghosts returned to No.1 on the UK all formats all prices chart during the week ended November 30.
Retail monitor Chart Track said Activision's shooter sold just 6,000 units more than FIFA 14 to reclaim the top spot from the football title.
<figure style='font: 14px/23.79px "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; outline: 0px; border: 0px currentColor; width: 460px; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; display: block; white-space: normal; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;' class="responsive single-article__canvas single-article__canvas--full zoomhover" title="" data-media992="http://cdn.medialib.computerandvideogames.com/screens/dir_3114/image_311434_460.jpg" data-media768="http://cdn.medialib.computerandvideogames.com/screens/dir_3114/image_311434_700.jpg" data-media480="http://cdn.medialib.computerandvideogames.com/screens/dir_3114/image_311434_480.jpg" data-media="http://cdn.medialib.computerandvideogames.com/screens/dir_3114/image_311434_320.jpg"> </figure>Battlefield 4 was a non-mover at No.3, while Killzone: Shadow Fall was the top selling PS4 exclusive at No.4.
Assassin's Creed 4 came in at No.5 and Lego Marvel Super Heroes held firm at No.6, one spot ahead of GTA 5, the only game in the top ten not available on PS4.
The week's other new top 40 entries were PS4 launch game Knack at No.13, Wii U exclusive Super Mario 3D World at No.14, and Injustice Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition at No.38.
GfK/Chart-Track Top 10 (previous week)
Chart Track also said today that PS4 has become the fastest selling console in UK history. While specific sales figures weren't revealed, Sony's latest console beat an eight year record held by the original PSP, which moved 185,000 units in its three days of availability.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...beats-fifa-14/
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December 2nd, 2013, 22:01 Posted By: wraggster
Sony’s PS4 is officially the fastest selling console in UK history.
Gfk Chart-Track has confirmed that the machine has beaten PSP’s eight year-old sales record of 180k units sold in its first week. Xbox One sold 150k units in its first week.
(Note that in both instances ‘week’ refers to Chart-Track’s sales week, which ends Saturdays – so most console’s ‘week one’ sales actually spans 48 hours).
The exact number of PS4s sold in the UK was not revealed, although MCV understands that the figure is not just higher than PSP’s 180k, but significantly so.
The highest charting PS4 exclusive is Sony’s Killzone Shadow Fall at No.4 followed by Knack in 13th.
Platform fans note that Sony’s critically slammed effort beats Nintendo’s critically adulated Super Mario 3D World into 14th, suggesting the Japanese struggles of Nintendo’s game could be repeated on this side of the globe – although you’d of course expect the Wii U game to have better legs.
There’s a slight shuffle at the top of the Top 40 with Call of Duty: Ghosts seemingly benefitting most from the PS4’s arrival, climbing one place to No.1 at the expense of FIFA 14 which drops to No.3. Battlefield 4 holds firm at No.3.
Of EA’s football game Chart-Track notes: “After being heavily boosted by the Xbox One Day 1 Edition bundles last week, FIFA 14 has to settle for second place in the All Formats Chart despite strong sales on PS4.”
Xbox One exclusives Forza 5 and Dead Rising 3 drop out of the Top Ten to 15th and 18threspectively.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/ps4-b...-crown/0125168
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December 2nd, 2013, 21:59 Posted By: wraggster
Publishers do not like second hand game sales.
They believe that pre-owned is killing their businesses. It is discouraging gamers from buying new games after a certain period and is money made by retailers that is not being passed to the creators.
Yet in recent months the rhetoric has changed.
Andrew House, CEO of SCEE said earlier this month: “The vast majority of used sales go immediately into additional purchases, that they are not somehow being extracted from the overall game economy.”
Even EA has changed its tune – it introduced measures to discourage pre-owned sales, where those that bought a game second-hand could not play it online without paying a fee – a system it has since scrapped.
Defending the boxed games business, EA CFO Blake Jorgensen told investors: “Used games are an important part of the industry. People think about the price of a game based on the fact that they can still return that game. That will keep the physical business around for some time.”
What has caused this sudden change in pre-owned opinion? A certain Xbox One PR disaster.
“The best thing that has happened to retail this year
was Microsoft’s foot shooting exercise at E3. It
highlighted how consumers perceive the ownership
of their games, showed that Sony was smarter than
Microsoft and emphasised the importance of pre-
owned games. It also showed that the strength of
public opinion – it changed Microsoft’s policy.
People really made a difference.” Chris Ratcliff, Game Guide
Although it was never officially confirmed, it was widely accepted that Xbox One would have some form of anti pre-owned system. Xbox One was originally designed to tie a game to a specific console. You couldn’t even lend a game to a friend with ease, let alone trade one in.
Microsoft never fully clarified the situation, but publishers appeared to have the ability to prevent customers trading in their games. And the backlash against this was fierce.
“The best thing that has happened to retail this year was Microsoft’s foot shooting exercise at E3,” says Chris Ratcliff, owner of pre-owned indie bible, Game Guide.
“It highlighted how consumers perceive the ownership of their games, showed that Sony was smarter than Microsoft and emphasised the importance of pre-owned games. It also showed that the strength of public opinion – it changed Microsoft’s policy. People really made a difference.”
Today, gamers’ voices are heard through Twitter, Facebook and forums – and real success in this industry is driven by giving gamers what they want.
“Publishers supporting the used games market do it through pursed lips, but in the end they realise they just have to give what the consumer wants,” continues Ratcliff.
When MCV interviewed Activision at Call of Duty: Ghosts’ launch, the UK MD Roy Stackhouse pointed out that if customers wanted, they could trade in the 360 version to buy the Xbox One edition.
This goes beyond lip-service but is actively encouraging trade-ins.
As we move towards the next-gen, publishers are eager for customers to upgrade. Not just upgrading their console but also their games. They wanted to sell millions of Assassin’s Creed IV across both generations, and the pre-owned market was a way to achieve just that.
“EA and Sony’s comments come shortly after GameStop said that many PS4 owners have utilised their existing game libraries to buy into the next generation,” observed indie games retailer Matthew Brady of Game On.
Ratcliff adds: “Having consumers upgrade to the new formats is a vital part of retail and in many cases this will be partially financed by trading in old consoles.”
“It is better to have consumers using purchased
pre-owned games and possibly paying extra with
micro-transactions than having it sat gathering
dust after it has been played by one gamer.” Matthew Brady, Game On
Gamers like trading in. And it has genuine benefits at the start of a new console cycle. But the changing face of this industry also means that just because a game has been bought second-hand, doesn’t mean it’s a lost sale for publishers.
The rise of micro-transactions and DLC has enabled publishers to monetise games after launch. It’s far better for the publisher that the customer that owns the title keeps playing it.
“It is better to have consumers using purchased pre-owned games and possibly paying extra with micro-transactions than having it sat gathering dust after it has been played by one gamer,” adds Brady.
“EA removed the paywall of Online Pass as it was another barrier stopping pre-owned purchasers from accessing the very lucrative FIFA Ultimate Team.”
That’s perhaps the salient point in all this. Pre-owned is no longer quite the business killer that publishers once thought it was.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/what-...u-turn/0125172
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December 2nd, 2013, 21:52 Posted By: wraggster
 Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag can easily see you through to the new year with its heaving open-world of missions and quests. You could put hours into Arkham Origins over the winter weeks, too, hunting for all the snowbound secrets and swooping down on rampaging thugs. Then there’s Grand Theft Auto V, with its generous urban sprawl and endless opportunities for exploration (and mischief). What’s more, you can satisfy your appetite for months for a one-off, upfront fee of roughly £40. People often compare videogames to film, and as two audio-visual based mediums that’s fair enough, but in terms of the current value proposition games offer they’re far closer to albums: media bought once that lasts for a virtual eternity.When you press pause and think about it, that’s astonishing. We’re in a golden age of value for money that could vanish in a couple of years, if not sooner. We might nitpick certain creative decisions and directions. We might complain about the over-familiarity of certain yearly iterations. We might balk at locked, on-disc DLC and extras. But I say we should take Christmas 2013 as a time to take stock and to count our blessings. Currently, we can buy entire worlds – carefully curated and meticulously crafted worlds – that allow us to engineer our own stories and make our own improvised entertainment and set-pieces without friends, from the comfort of our home.We have NPC playgrounds that take vast teams of technicians, engineers and artists years to create and fine-tune, and they often even go the extra mile to maintain and update these ecosystems over time. When you catch a movie at the cinema and enjoy it, you have to wait to shell out the same amount of money again to own it. With a game, presently, you buy it, you keep it and you revisit it as often as you wish. If cinema is a non-refund restaurant, videogames are Star Trek’s food replicator.
http://www.edge-online.com/features/...ng-golden-age/
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December 2nd, 2013, 21:45 Posted By: wraggster
Among the possible uses for Google Glass that early adopters are dreaming up, you can now add 'surgical assistance' to the list. With approval from the institutional review board, a UCSF cardiothoracic surgeon recently utilized Glass during procedures by utilizing its voice activation features to refer to patient x-ray scans. Aimed at providing surgeons with the most up-to-date patient data, a startup named VitaMedicals is building apps to stream in patient records and live scans to the device. Even though it's early days for Glass, its potential in the medical space is huge and could revolutionize how doctor's access and apply information from patient records.
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/12...perating-rooms
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December 2nd, 2013, 11:14 Posted By: wraggster
Amazon has begun queuing up their Cyber Monday lightning deals in preparation for the second round of Cyber Monday starting at midnight tonight!
New additions from their published holiday calendar include:
These will be in addition to the published Holiday deals calendar as well as the featured deals on recent releases including Call of Duty Ghosts, as well as $9.99 deals on Borderlands 2, Max Payne 3, and more...
Check it out: Amazon Cyber Monday Video Game Deals
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December 1st, 2013, 23:35 Posted By: wraggster
BestBuy Cyber Monday Deals LIVE!
Similar to Black Friday, it appears many retailers are kicking things into gear early for Cyber Monday.
Highlights from the BestBuy sale include:
- Call of Duty Ghosts - $44.99
- Laptop Essentials Bundles - $279.99
- Microsoft Surface 32GB ]- $199.99
- Pebble Smart Watch ]- Free $20 Gift Card
- iTunes or App Store $100 Gift Card - $85
Check it out: BestBuy Cyber Monday Deals
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December 1st, 2013, 22:53 Posted By: wraggster
 Southampton Solent’s Adam Barton is thinking longterm – what might come after the newly-launched PS4.
A leading games academic believes anyone seeking a career in the industry should be looking beyond the current generation of consoles in anticipation of an immersive play revolution.Adam Barton, course leader for Southampton Solent’s BA (Hons) in Computer and Videogames, says the fanfares heralding PS4 and Xbox One are justified, but warns they could be short lived.“Long term, even when a new console comes out, I like to get students to look beyond that. So they should already be asking ‘what is they PlayStation 5 going to do?’ The real challenge for the future will be the question of how well you can replicate a human. Players will be completely immersed when you reach that pivotal point.”The former Argonaut artist believes graphical innovation must cede dominance to advances in immersive play if the console giants are to capture the imagination of consumers. He says: “Sony faces the challenge of upping its game every time. With the PS4 you have potential, yes. But the next generation of students has to look beyond this and consider ‘next gen’ not just in terms of graphics, but in terms of interface.“The Oculus Rift and Leap Motion show us where things are going and highlight why the most important thing a console can have is a USB port.”As for the current generation of consoles, Barton is impressed with Sony and Microsoft’s success in generating buzz against the chatter of mobile and casual games. But he sounds a note of caution.“I think it will be interesting to see where the market is in six months. When there is a new bit of kit, there is a lot of interest and hype. But a lot of people are talking about Grand Theft Auto 5 on the PS3 and saying ‘that’s looks amazing – even on Xbox360 too – so why are you getting a PS4?’ Rockstar have done an amazing job right at the end of a cycle.“The Xbox One does look like a leap. Developers have done so well to keep the games looking so good on what is basically a very old PC.”And the buzz around the new consoles has filtered to those students attending open days at his university, Barton says. Though anyone sufficiently caught up in the hype of fresh hardware to sign up for a course at Southampton Solent beware: only applicants with a strong portfolio and traceable interest in games can land a place.Once they are studying games, Barton feels students enter the industry at an exciting time. Certainly the rapid route to publishing promised by the new consoles will help them, he believes. But the effect of indie-friendly next gen platforms on consumer choice may not be so welcome. “It’s a question of how indie do you go,” says Barton. “It’s great to have a lot of indies on board, but you reach a critical point where so many people are doing rubbish. You need an editorial process – Android has shown us that, to a degree.“We think its gong to be a bit like going back to the 80s era when people banged out games and some of them were good. Things were filtered through naturally and taste was driven by the zeitgeist. It’s very exciting that they are opening the doors to people who don’t have huge finances. And very good news for those who have suffered from very expensive dev cycles which have seen the cost of a game grow from $2 to $20 to $200m dollars.”
http://www.edge-online.com/get-into-...playstation-5/
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December 1st, 2013, 00:55 Posted By: wraggster
There are plenty of Raspberry Pi arcade builds out there, but rarely do we come across something as sleek as [Jochen Zurborg's] RasPi Arcade Stick. The build combines everything you’d expect from other RasPi arcade projects, but manages to pack everything into the form factor of a portable stick modeled on the Neo Geo 4′s button layout. It may not be as small as the tiny MAME cabinet from last year, but it definitely delivers a more authentic arcade experience.
[Jochen] had previously developed an add-on PCB for the Pi called the PiJamma, which simplifies connections from the RasPi’s GPIOs by providing a JAMMA interface for the controller(s). The Pi and the PiJamma sit inside a custom-made acrylic enclosure and hook up to the buttons and joystick above. Rather than try to fit the Pi directly against a side panel for access to the various outputs, [Jochen] rerouted the USB, HDMI, and headphone jacks and arranged them into a tidy row on the back side of the box. The top piece of the enclosure consists of a sheet of aluminum wrapped in custom artwork, with an additional sheet of acrylic on top for protection. [Jochen] also modified each of the arcade buttons to include LEDs that illuminate the buttons’ acrylic holder, and the case itself appears to have been cut into slats on each side to provide better ventilation.
Check out his project blog for further details and for a huge gallery of progress photos, then see a quick video of the RasPi Arcade Stick after the break.
http://hackaday.com/2013/11/30/a-ras...-arcade-stick/
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November 30th, 2013, 01:21 Posted By: wraggster
Here we are, touching distance from the outcome of the first battle of the console war. Of course, to suggest that the fate of an entire generation could be decided in a single day's trading would be absurd, but the notion that neither Sony nor Microsoft would value a day-one sales victory is equally preposterous. Thankfully, there's no need to wait for the official figures to roll in: the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 may have both celebrated reaching 1 million sales in 24 hours, but Sony had yet to turn its focus to Europe. And judging from the queue streaming along the pavement of London's Covent Garden, Kaz Hirai and co. will be able to celebrate the sort of unqualified success that has become something of a rarity. But for an act of God, it will be round one to Sony.
" Would you really want to watch television while playing a game? Microsoft was sending very confusing messages. I don't think they even knew themselves"
For many, this will be the inevitable outcome of a series of unfathomable mistakes by Microsoft; mistakes so egregious that no amount of backtracking and spin could eradicate their stain. There were people queuing in the cold today whose blood once ran Xbox green, but they now bleed the vivid, neon blue splashed across the walls of Sony's Covent Garden launch HQ.
"With the Xbox One it was a bit confusing," admits Zia Qadri, an Xbox 360 gamer who started queueing for his PlayStation 4 more than five hours before midnight. "[Microsoft] didn't seem to know what audience they were targeting. Is it a games machine? Is it a media centre? Would you really want to watch television while playing a game? Microsoft was sending very confusing messages. I don't think they even knew themselves."
Qadri is one of many, a chorus of voices expressing bemusement, frustration and, in some cases, anger at Microsoft's strategy for the Xbox One. But there are larger issues at play here, concerns that transcend the rivalry between these two companies, both attempting to reassert their authority in an industry that has changed in such profound and irrevocable ways. There are more platforms now, more options, and the £52.99 price-point set by Sony for Knack and Killzone - and, by extension, the prices set for next generation software across the board - has left many here questioning the value AAA gaming now represents.
"The top level games are now costing a bit too much for comfort," Qadri says. "Now that they're doing the [same] games as downloads, they should make them cheaper to download. But they're not. They're charging the same price, or more."
For Chris Watford - a loyal Sony fan who is nevertheless hoping that a friend will take the plunge on an Xbox One and Titanfall - a price increase is to be expected, if only due to inflation. Watford's claims about inflation don't necessarily survive close scrutiny - at launch, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 games generally sold for £39.99, effectively unchanged from the previous generation - but he takes his share of the responsibility. For Watford, it is up to the consumer to seek out and find the retailers willing to undercut the manufacturer's suggested price.
"I buy a lot of my games online [through online retailers], and you can get them considerably cheaper than £52.99," he says. "I guarantee that, on Amazon, Knack and Killzone will be considerably cheaper. It's still an increase on what you'd normally pay for that sort of game, but if you buy online it's not a massive increase."
"The digital version of a product should be a hell of a lot less expensive. Steam does it right. It's cheaper, and at times phenomenally cheaper"
However, Watford does take issue with the increasingly common appearance of microtransactions in full-price games. The most prominent example right now is Microsoft's Forza 5, in which Turn 10 has altered the series' traditional levelling system to accommodate a new approach reminiscent of that used in free-to-play games. Indeed, practically every third-party publisher is now experimenting with this technique, including Ubisoft in Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, one of the games on Watford's shopping list.
"There will be a gamer backlash against this sort of thing. People will resist it," he says. "I don't mind paying if you're getting something extra: a Call of Duty map pack, for example, because that's a genuine add-on. But paying extra for in-game resources is just a way of making more money out of you. If you're going to do that, you shouldn't charge full-price for the game."
On both Xbox One and PlayStation 4, it is difficult to spot where potential relief from the rising cost of console gaming might arise. For James Brown - another gamer abandoning the Xbox for PlayStation - the lower price-points and frequent sales on Valve's Steam platform should serve as a template for next generation digital commerce, but the early signs are far from promising. Sony and Microsoft have given no indication that their games will be more keenly priced on their online stores, while third-party publishers like EA and Ubisoft are actually selling their digital games at a premium: Battlefield 4, for example, is around £10 more to buy on the PlayStation Store than it is in a typical bricks-and-mortar retailer like Game.
"A lot of my friends, who are all hardcore gamers, they're all buying PC set-ups and getting Steam accounts," says Brown. "I haven't done that yet, but Steam keeps on doing these incredible offers, almost every day. Nothing on Steam costs more than in a shop. Another example is iTunes: an album is £8, and if you got to the shop, if you're very, very lucky, you'll find it for £10."
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...console-gaming
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November 29th, 2013, 23:22 Posted By: wraggster
HMV is reducing the amount of high-end technology it sells, the retailer has told MCV's sister site PCR.
HMV director Steve West revealed that the firm has cut back on selling items such as tablets to make way for “products which our customers more readily associate with the HMV brand” like music, films and games.
“We have cut back on some of the high-end technology items such as tablets and given this space over to core HMV products,” he said. “You will see a focus on the core HMV products of music, film and games featuring great chart offers, extraordinary campaign titles and a deep back catalogue. This is what HMV does best.”
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/hmv-r...d-film/0125117
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November 29th, 2013, 21:12 Posted By: wraggster
Executive vice president of EA Studios predicts shorter console cycle this time around
Developers may only have five years to get to grips with the new consoles, rather than the eight they have enjoyed with the current generation.
Speaking to Develop's sister title MCV, EA Studios EVP Patrick Söderlund says he expects the console cycle to begin a lot earlier next time around.
"This console cycle may have gone on a little bit longer than I would have wanted," he said. "At the same time, you have seen games like The Last of Us and GTA V at the end of a cycle, which you would not have expected a few years ago.
"But a five, six-year gap is what I expect going forward."
So that puts the launch of PlayStation Five and Xbox Two around 2018 to 2019. With development costs and times on the rise, it's time to get cracking with your next-gen smash hit.
Söderlund also told us recently that he did not believe free-to-play has a future on the next generation consoles.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/e...-years/0186661
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