Aug 17
This image reminds me of an ovum—a female egg. But it’s not inside anything on Earth. It’s floating in the vastness of space about 9,000 light years from here, in the constellation of Cassiopeia. It’s the Tycho supernova remnant. More »
Aug 17
Earlier today, we brought you news of an imminent OnLive shutdown. According to sources inside the company, today is OnLive‘s last day of existence, but the company itself is denying that it’s in any trouble. It’s very confusing, but new evidence has been presented that suggests everything is not okay like OnLive’s executives would have us believe.
Kotaku has spoken to a source from within the company, who says that OnLive has filed for a special alternative to bankruptcy that exists in California. Called Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors, it affords some protection from creditors to broke companies. This employee also says that everyone at the company has been laid off, though some of them will be returning soon to start a new business from the ashes of OnLive.
Over at Gamasutra, we hear a lot of the same. Gamasutra confirms that all of OnLive’s employees have been laid off, and that the mass lay off occurred this morning. OnLive officials are still being intentionally short when answering questions too, never saying much more than “everything is fine” or something to that effect.
It’s been a very up and down day when it comes to OnLive news. On the one hand, we have employees saying that the company is shutting down, while PR and executives are saying that nothing is wrong. Whatever the real story is, something is clearly going on behind the scenes at OnLive. Whether that’s simply a round of layoffs, a company-wide shutdown, or the formation of a new company is currently up in the air, so keep it here at SlashGear for more information as this story develops.
Update: OnLive confirms that it has indeed been sold to a “newly-formed company” The Verge reports. OnLive says in an email that all of its services and partnerships will continue on as normal, and that this company will be “hiring a large percentage of OnLive, Inc.’s staff across all departments and plans to continue to hire substantially more people, including additional OnLive employees.” Apparently, the reason why OnLive executives were being so vague and short in statements throughout the day is because they weren’t allowed to comment on the deal until it had been completed. OnLive did not name the company that has purchased it.
So there you have it: OnLive has been sold, a lot of people get to keep their jobs, and there is no planned interruption for any of OnLive’s services or partnerships.
More evidence for OnLive shutdown surfaces (UPDATE: OnLive confirms sale) is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Aug 17
Millions of Hotel Room Locks Have a Glaring Security Flaw That Won’t Get Fixed [Security]
Posted in: Today's Chili
With less than $50 worth of parts and only a few seconds, millions of hotel room keycard locks around the world can be hacked and unlocked by robbers-cum-hackers trying to break into your room. The good news? The security flaw can be fixed. The bad news? No one wants to pay to fix them. More »
Aug 17
Well what do you know? It’s Friday so we’re smacking you in the face with a bag full of the week’s best iPhone apps. You can track your heart rate, track your vacation, or just track the closest donut shop, and much more. More »
Aug 17
It’s Friday, which means another edition of the best iPad apps of the week. Can you handle this much excitement? This time around we’re giving you a way to pin to your heart’s content on your tablet, a way to discover new TV shows, and so much more. More »
Aug 17
Another week, another round of best Android apps. This time we’re assaulting you with an arsenal of wonderful titles, from something to help you get through election season, something to make you fatter, and so much more. More »
Aug 17
Source: OnLive undergoing buyout in wake of dire financials, laying off ‘at least 50 percent’ of staff
Posted in: Today's Chili 
After a lot of back and forth from the rumor mill and official OnLive channels, we now have what we believe to be a far clearer view of precisely what is happening right now at OnLive headquarters in Palo Alto. We’ve spoken with a (now former) employee of the gaming service who ran down today’s events for us. According to the account, a meeting was held at OnLive’s offices at 10AM this morning, wherein the company’s CEO announced a massive staff layoff — at least 50 percent of the staff, according to our source’s numbers. The layoffs come as part of across the board cuts to the company, and all those out of a job will have their key cards deactivated as of 4PM local time today. The source was understandably baffled by the abruptness of the news, along with the added blow that no severance will be offered and stock holdings are essentially worth nothing.
The move apparently comes as OnLive is being purchased by an unknown party. Those being kept on have reportedly received offer letters from the new company. Why the sudden move? The source believes it may have something to do with the company’s massive operating costs, which we’re told are around $5 million a month. Certainly those concerns line up with a story dug up by Kotaku highlighting the company’s plans to file for Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors as a result of the company’s troubled financial situation. We’re still gathering information as to the nature of the buyout.
Update: According to our source, the writing wasn’t on the wall at the company per se, but OnLive had reportedly been entertaining acquisition offers ahead of the news from companies including HP.
Update 2: Our source has offered up some additional information on the matter, putting the average concurrent user number for the service at 1,100 to 1,500, peaking at around 1,800 on a given day — not exceptional by any means in the face of reported $5 million a month operating costs. The number of layoffs, meanwhile, may well be greater than originally suggested, with our source putting the number of employees staying on board at around 10 to 20 percent.
Filed under: Gaming
Source: OnLive undergoing buyout in wake of dire financials, laying off ‘at least 50 percent’ of staff originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Aug 2012 17:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Aug 17
Source: OnLive Found A Buyer, Cleaned House To Reduce Liability Prior To Acquisition (UPDATED)
Posted in: Today's Chili
We’re hearing from a reliable source that OnLive’s founder and CEO Steve Perlman finally decided to make an exit — and in the process, is screwing the employees who helped build the company and brand. The cloud gaming company reportedly had several suitors over the last few years (perhaps including Microsoft) but Perlman reportedly held tight control over the company, apparently not wanting to sell or share any of OnLive’s secret sauce.
Our source tells us that the buyer wants all of OnLive’s assets — the intellectual property, branding, and likely patents — but the plan is to keep the gaming company up and running. However, OnLive management cleaned house today, reportedly firing nearly the entire staff, and we hear it was done just to reduce the company’s liability, thus reducing employee equity to practically zero. Yeah, it’s a massive dick move.
OnLive hit the gaming world hard when it launched in 2009. Promising playable games there were lag free, OnLive moved gaming to the cloud. The service took some time to gain traction but finally hit its stride last year with the addition of several top-tier titles. It was rumored in June that even Microsoft considered buying the company. Some even thought OnLive would be a good fit within Sony — until Sony bought OnLive competitor Gaikai last month instead.
“Sony Computer Entertainment will deliver a world-class cloud-streaming service” Andrew House, president and group CEO of SCE said last month. Sony paid $380M for Gaikai, a cloud gaming company with nearly zero brand recognition. OnLive could have gone for a lot more.
For an upstart cloud gaming service, OnLive has done relatively well for itself. The company initially outed only one cloud gaming console, but quickly embraced others. The software works with most Android tablets, ships preinstalled on Vizio TVs (and its new Co Star Google TV), and is available for the iPad and computer desktops.
We reached out to OnLive for comment but the company will neither confirm nor deny the claim. All the PR rep was willing to say was that the aforementioned Vizio Co Star launches today. The company also would not comment on the layoffs but Martyn Williams tweeted seeing OnLive staffers leaving their office carry boxes. These people likely just lost their jobs and equity prior to OnLive’s exit.
Update: OnLive provided TechCrunch the statement below. Like earlier reports suggested, it sounds like OnLive Inc. was dissolved and a new company, OnLive Inc 2 or something of the sort, will continue in its place and is likely backed by new investors. The statement indicates that “a large percentage of OnLive Inc.’s staff” will be hired by this new company, which will then hire more people. But there’s no word on if the original employees completely lost their equity. No matter how OnLive spins this move, it’s still looks shady to me.
We can now confirm that the assets of OnLive, Inc. have been acquired into a newly-formed company and is backed by substantial funding, and which will continue to operate the OnLive Game and Desktop services, as well as support all of OnLive’s apps and devices, as well as game, productivity and enterprise partnerships. The new company is hiring a large percentage of OnLive, Inc.’s staff across all departments and plans to continue to hire substantially more people, including additional OnLive employees. All previously announced products and services, including those in the works, will continue and there is no expected interruption of any OnLive services.
We apologize that we were unable to comment on this transaction until it completed, and were limited to reporting on news related to OnLive’s businesses. Now that the transaction is complete, we are able to make this statement.
Aug 17
As I’ve noted on SlashGear before, I have what some might call a gaming closet museum. Over the last couple of decades, I’ve collected consoles, handhelds, and popular games, and kept them on the ready in the event I want to go old school and power on my old Atari 2600 or check out an NES title.
I recently found myself bored and decided to break out some of those old hardware devices. And as I combed my way through all of those products, I couldn’t help but wonder: what if we had a single console to rule them all? A device that was universally supported and acted as the only console we needed for the generation.
The excitement was palpable. I started thinking up ways in which the console would work and the chances of every developer – from Nintendo to Electronic Arts – supporting it for the good of the community. Surely, it would be possible, right?
Then I started thinking about the reality of the gaming industry. We have three companies right now offering hardware, and not one of them looks to be willing to change their strategies. What’s worse, none of them like each other.
As if that’s not enough, we’ve come to a place in the gaming community where some people would just not play titles from their favored company on another console. Nintendo fans, for example, curse at the thought of being able to play their beloved Super Mario or The Legend of Zelda games on a console designed by another company.
But perhaps a universal console is where the industry should be headed. In a world where people have less money to spend, wouldn’t it be nice to pay for one $300 or $400 console, and not worry about buying two or three for that price? And by reducing hardware-acquisition costs, it’s possible that developers and publishers can make far more on the backside, since customers will have more to spend.
In a perfect world, Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, and perhaps other members of the gaming community would collaborate on the universal game console, offering up their own two cents on what should be included and what shouldn’t. The result? A device that would likely deliver high-quality graphics, unique concepts, and a design that would make people across the globe quite happy.
“Perhaps a universal console is where the industry should be headed.”
Combining the strengths of all gaming companies delivers the very best results, if you ask me.
But unfortunately, no one is asking me. The game industry has become big business. And whether we old school gamers, who desire the old days of innovation, like it or not, the chances of the industry changing are slim and none.
We’re stuck with multiple consoles, games that are exclusive to some products, and a community that can’t quite get itself to accept major change.
It’s unfortunate, isn’t it? I think a world where a universal game console was the norm would be a better place. But maybe I’m alone.
Let us know in the comments below how you would feel if a universal game console ever hit store shelves.
Will There One Day Be A Universal Game Console? is written by Don Reisinger & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Aug 17
True Nerd Love [Video]
Posted in: Today's Chili
Boy loves girl. Girl loves boy. Boy loves boy. Girl loves girl. Whatever. It all works. The only important thing is that you love each other and that you can keep playing your video games in any situation—including a stand-up subway cuddling session. More »
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