Xbox One and the power of “the cloud”

May 24, 2013 by Andy in Technology, Videogames, Xbox and tagged Always Online, Cloud, Cloud Gaming, Cloud Powered, Gaming, Microsoft, Online, technology, XBOX, Xbox Live, Xbox One | Leave a comment

It’s been noted that Microsoft’s Xbox One doesn’t quite have the processing power or high-speed RAM of the PS4. For graphics enthusiasts beckoning the new generation of gaming, this is surely a drawback of the system. What the Xbox One does promise, however, is that it’s “Cloud Powered.”

Microsoft has increased the number of their Xbox Live servers from 15,000 to 300,000 and promises that these servers will help with some of the graphics processing of your game system. They specifically indicated that the servers will be used for background effects such as lighting or fog to prevent latency from ruining your gaming experience as these effects don’t need to be persistently updated.

This cloud power may explain why Microsoft would require an online connection for the Xbox One, but it doesn’t explain why you’d need to check in every 24 hours. If you’re not connected, you’re not going to be experiencing the benefits of this additional processing power, so why make the connection necessary at all? I can see the availability of this additional power a nice perk that would encourage gamers to stay connected, but requiring a connection to their servers sounds like it will hurt the system’s longevity. For instance, if I want to play my NES right now, I can play my NES; twenty years from now, if I want to play my Xbox One, I won’t be able to because their servers will, undoubtedly, be offline.

Source: The Verge

Live-Action HALO Television Series Announced

May 21, 2013 by Andy in Film, News Snippets, Technology, Videogames, Xbox and tagged 343, 343 Industries, Halo, Halo Series, Halo: The Television Series, Microsoft, Stephen Spielberg, television series, XBOX, Xbox One | 1 Comment

Microsoft has officially announced an original Halo television series for their Xbox One entertainment system. The program will be headed by award-winning director Stephen Spielberg.

Next Xbox Reveal Coming May 21

April 24, 2013 by Andy in News Snippets, Technology, Videogames, Xbox and tagged Durango, Microsoft, Next Xbox, Nextbox, XBOX, Xbox 360, Xbox 720, Xbox Durango | 1 Comment

Microsoft has confirmed that it will be unveiling its next-generation videogame console in nearly a month. With the date set for May 21, we still have quite the wait to find out what they have in store for the future of Xbox, but it’s nice that they’ve finally said something about the inevitable Xbox 360 successor.

The reveal is set to take place just 19 days before E3, so hopefully their E3 conference will focus more on the games and less on the system’s new features (it’d also be refreshing to have a conference that doesn’t flaunt Kinect and all the terrible games that have been made for it).

According to Major Nelson’s blog, the conference will focus on the future of Xbox and give us a “real taste of the future.” The conference will stream on Xbox Live, xbox.com, and be broadcast on Spike.

Sources: Facebook, Major Nelson

Sony’s PlayStation 4 Revealed

February 21, 2013 by Andy in News Snippets, PlayStation, Technology, Videogames and tagged Activision, Bilzzard, Bungie, CD Projekt, CD Projekt RED, Destiny, Diablo III, Dual Shock 4, inFamous, inFamous: Second Son, Killzone, Killzone: Shadow Fall, PlayStation, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PS, PS3, PS4, Second Son, Sony, The Witcher, The Witcher 3, Ubisoft, Watch_Dogs | Leave a comment

On Wednesday, February 20, 2013, Sony finally revealed their next videogame console: the PlayStation 4. While there had been a lot of speculation leading up to the event, it’s nice to finally have some details confirmed and, after seven years, we can look forward to a new console gaming generation this fall.

Here’s a brief rundown of the system: The PS4’s new controller will feature a touch pad, a light bar which can indicate character health as well as act as work in tandem with PlayStation Eye (similar to PS Motion), has redesigned analogue sticks with concave grips, and a new “social” button which opens up a social menu. The PlayStation Eye has also been vastly improved and now features two cameras with 1200 x 800 resolution–the two cameras allow depth recognition.

The system itself is equipped with a “powerful custom chip that contains eight x86-64 cores and a state of the art graphics processor.” The PS4 also has 8 gigs of GDDR5 memory allowing 176GB per second bandwidth and higher graphic fidelity.

Games announced for the PlayStation 4 include a new title in the inFamous series titled Second Son, Killzone: Shadow Fall, Bungie’s Destiny with exclusive content, The Witcher 3, Ubisoft’s Watch_Dogs (which was announced at E3 2012), Diablo III (which will also make an appearance on the PS3 for the eager, console-bound dungeon adventurers), among others. The upcoming content seems to be a strong lineup, but there’s little new content to entice potential buyers at this early stage–E3 is likely to bring more exciting news on the next PlayStation.

It’s also worth noting that the PS4 will play used games, contradicting past rumors that the system would block the use of pre-owned titles. The PS4 will not, however, be backwards compatible and past PSN purchases on previous platforms will not be accessible on the new system. While Sony plans to circumvent the backwards compatibility issue with a streaming service, the lack of any native support for older titles is discouraging.

Nevertheless, the PlayStation 4 looks to be a powerful gaming machine and it’s certainly exciting to move on to a new generation of console gaming hardware this holiday season.

PS4 to be Unveiled this Month–Xbox this Spring

February 1, 2013 by Andy in News Snippets, PlayStation, Technology, Videogames, Xbox and tagged Console Generations, E3, Game Consoles, Microsoft, Next Gen, Next Generation, Nextbox, PlayStation, PlayStation 4, PS4, Sony, Video Games, Videogames, XBOX, Xbox 720, Xbox Next | Leave a comment

We all have known this was coming for a while now–the current generation of consoles is over 7 years old (the Xbox 360 originally launched in November of 2005) and many believe a new console generation is long overdue. According to Polygon, the next PlayStation game console will be officially unveiled this month. Microsoft, however, plans to unveil their next console in the spring. Both platforms are expected to launch this holiday season.

A PlayStation meeting is scheduled for February 20 and will highlight the future of Sony’s PlayStation brand.

Source: Polygon

Microsoft Apologizes for Years of Horrible Web Browsers

January 26, 2013 by Andy in Computer Software, Technology and tagged Chrome, Firefox, IE10, Internet, Internet Explorer, Web Browsers | 1 Comment

Internet Explorer (IE) has long been looked upon as the punchline of a bad joke in the world of web browsers. It’s slow, clunky, and an all around pain to work with. Nobody who knows better willingly subjects themselves to using IE, right?

Well, Microsoft is aware of the status of Windows’ default browser and is trying to win back users with the IE’s latest iteration. IE 10 is apparently faster than the competition (beating out Chrome and Firefox, according to PC Mag) and has been well received since its release. There’s one major problem with it, though: it’s Internet Explorer.

Users feel compelled to stay away from Microsoft’s browser due to it being nearly unusable in past iterations–Microsoft wants these users to rethink their predispositions. Apologizing for years of subjecting Windows users to terrible browsers, Microsoft offered the world this charming advertisement that ends with letting us all know that just as we all have grown up, so has IE:

While I am comfortable using Chrome, I may give IE 10 a look in the future to see how the browser has improved over the years. It’s highly unlikely that it will replace Chrome as my default browser, but I’m willing to give it a chance to impress me.