Hasta La Gadget!

At the end of February, Sony will be holding a special PlayStation event that, industry experts believe, will be used to show off its next console. Likely dubbed the PlayStation 4, the console is expected to come with an improved online experience, better graphics, and Blu-ray. And since the PlayStation 3 comes with the Move motion-gaming accessory, it’s believed that the console will also integrate a similar function in some way.

But I’m here to tell Sony something. I can appreciate that the company wants to jump on the motion bandwagon made popular by the Wii and arguably better by the Kinect, but bundling such a feature into the PlayStation 4 makes absolutely no sense.

[Image credit: Tai Chiem]

Sony is to gaming what a Mercedes-Benz is to cars. The company has for years been delivering the most expensive consoles and its customer base has come to expect a certain level of technical achievement not available elsewhere. Whereas Nintendo appeals to the casual gamer looking for simpler experiences, Sony is trying to woo the hardcore segment that won’t be caught tossing around a Wii Remote.

That’s precisely why the Move controller was such a bad idea. Yes, I know that Sony was trying to catch up to its competitors and it thought that the Move would work, but it’s proven to be a bad idea. The Move is largely ignored by gamers and developers, and there isn’t a single person I know that feels the PlayStation 3 would be better with the Move than without it.

So, why should Sony deliver a console that aims at delivering everything but the kitchen sink? Sony can be successful by delivering a good-looking product with high-end specs that customers actually want. And as long as it plays nice with developers – something Nintendo hasn’t historically been so great at – the company should have a respectable level of success in the next generation.

“Motion gaming is a gimmick. After a few fun plays it becomes old and annoying”

Motion gaming is a gimmick. It’s something that, after a few fun plays, becomes old and annoying. It’s also something that really only makes sense for kids or those who like to throw parties and make fun of drunken fools jumping around the living room with a wand in their hands. Motion gaming like what we find in the Wii and PlayStation 3 has done nothing to improve the overall playability of a game. After a few plays, the neat idea a developer has come up with is tossed aside for traditional play.

The time has come for Sony to acknowledge what its brand and its hardware are really all about. The future resides not in all of the features Sony can add to a console, but in the quality of those features. And motion gaming delivers no added quality that the average PlayStation 4 owner will care about.

So, don’t even think about bringing motion gaming to the PlayStation 4, Sony. Believe me – it’s one hugely bad idea.

Why Motion Gaming Should Be Left Out of the PlayStation 4 is written by Don Reisinger & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you can judge a technology’s wow-factor by how much it’s accused of being vaporware, Leap Motion‘s gesture-tracking was a hit from the off; companies jumped on the idea, though it’s perhaps a surprise that the first should be ASUS, not Apple. The matchbox-sized gadget – which can track the movement of ten fingers individually, and 200x more accurately than kit like Microsoft’s Kinect – will soon be integrated into Windows 8 PCs from ASUS, according to a new deal announced today. Microsoft’s OS certainly loves fingers, but Apple’s moves to blend the best of OS X and iOS arguably make it and Leap Motion more obvious bedfellows.

If you missed it first time around, Leap Motion’s eponymous gizmo is a tiny, $70 box that hooks up via USB and creates a four cubic foot area above itself within which individual finger movements can be tracked. That’s at an accuracy of within 1/100th of a millimeter, and the system can differentiate between fingers and, say, a stylus being held for mid-air handwriting, as well as recognize when finger movements are intended to be linked, such as for pinch-zooming.

Leap Motion walkthrough:

So why would Apple be interested in Leap Motion’s tracking technology? It’s all down to the Cupertino firm’s dual stance on touchscreens. On the iPhone and iPad, Apple hasn’t been slow to adopt touch, driving the adoption of capacitive technology, but its Mac desktop and notebook ranges have stubbornly avoided finger-friendly displays.

“The ergonomics of touch aren’t suited to a notebook or desktop”

Apple’s argument has always been that the ergonomics of touch simply aren’t suited to a notebook or desktop form-factor. Reaching out across to a display – whether to your MacBook screen or to stab at an all-in-one – isn’t comfortable, so their argument goes, when compared with a large trackpad such as the company’s own Magic Trackpad.

It’s a strategy entirely at odds with where Microsoft has pushed Windows 8, with the new Metro-style interface of the latest OS expressly designed for touchscreen computing. ASUS’ deal with Leap Motion, however, means its future laptops and all-in-ones will also support gestural interaction, waving and grabbing at the air in front of the display so as to manipulate what’s on-screen.

That’s actually an area of research that Apple isn’t unfamiliar with: the company has previously filed patents for Kinect-like navigation, including around a 3D display, or by using infrared light bouncing off your hands above a keyboard. None of that research has actually ended up in shipping hardware, however.

OS X has borrowed an increasing number of features and usage concepts from iOS in its latest iterations; that’s only expected to increase with the launch of OS X 10.9 later this year. With iOS so finger-focused, however, the limitations of a trackpad or Magic Mouse will continue to keep the reach-out-and-tweak-it immediacy iPhone and iPad users are familiar with from the desktop experience. Leap Motion’s approach would’ve fit that paradigm perfectly, though I’d be surprised if Apple wasn’t cooking up its own approach as the gap between mobile and traditional computing narrows.

I expected Apple to jump on Leap Motion first, not ASUS is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

At the start of 2012 the folks at Google were seeing their beloved Android mobile operating system being used on more iPhone clones than we’d care to discuss – near the turn-over to 2013, big manufacturers like Samsung and HTC have made their own hero lines the likes of which Android has never known. What we saw in 2012 was recognition of the model that has worked for Apple extremely well since all the way back in 2007 – a focus on the ecosystem rather than on the individual specifications of any one device. This will continue in a very big way through 2013 with manufacturers holding up a single torch – like the Motorola RAZR brand – to keep themselves lit up brightly.

Motorola will continue to produce devices exclusive to Verizon with the DROID RAZR name attached: this branding has kept them in the limelight for the past couple of years. Samsung will stick with the Galaxy branding (as they have for more than just a couple of years) and will continue to run with the branding (and with the iPhone mocking) through the foreseeable future with both the Samsung Galaxy IV and the Samsung Galaxy Note III. HTC brought the fire in 2012 with their HTC One series (starting with the hero HTC One X) but didn’t exactly see the massive sales they’d hoped for – because of this, HTC’s strategy for 2013 remains a bit hazy.

LG made two fantastic decisions – or were granted the ability to go through with them, however it ended up going – the first being a team-up with Qualcomm for the Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor for their Optimus G smartphone. While they’ve not reported extensive numbers for the sales of this machine quite yet, it’s clear that the ultimate victory was the modified version of the handset in the Google Nexus 4. This machine has most of the features that the Optimus G does, but rounds its corners and makes its Android perfectly pure with a Google-only vanilla flavoring – this means that LG didn’t modify the software for their own, just Google. Because of the feature set and the surprisingly low cost off-contract this device came with (though a T-Mobile version does exist, mind you), it’s been a massive hit (or supply blunder, however you want to see it) compared to the rest of the Nexus devices Google has released in its lineup history.

That machine came with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean+, that being an updated version of the same Android revealed earlier this year – that was also code-named Jelly Bean. This version had a collection of new features that included quick-access to basic settings as well as connectivity that didn’t even exist yet for most users – wireless projection with Miracast.

In 2013 we’ll continue to see the change-over from a specifications race in hardware to a more solid offering in software with brand ecosystems at the heart of the race. Samsung took this battle to heart in 2012 with the Samsung Galaxy S III – see the Chris Davies article by the name of The Galaxy S III is Samsung’s Coming of Age to see what this release was all about. More evidence that the Galaxy Note and S lines are doing stellar: the response to flip covers and TecTiles given away by the OEM for free.

Manufacturers aside, Google will be making at least one big unique push to stand out on their own as a force in mobile. Not just as a creator of Android will Google be pushing, but as a service provider for mobile devices. Google has confirmed their once-axed phone service plans already, and we’ve had Chris Davies’ column making it all too clear, as well: “A Google plan to kill carriers with wi-fi is all too believable”. Google won’t purchase T-Mobile as our good pals at [Android Community] suggest, they’ll continue to tie close bonds between themselves and wi-fi hotspot companies – or something to that effect – that’ll allow their smartphones to function completely independent of the mobile carriers.

See the column “Smart device specs are over: Long live the Ecosystem!” for a good look at 2013.

Making Android smartphones (and tablets) affordable by everyone in the world will continue to be Google’s goal through 2013, rest assured.

Predictions for Google’s Android in 2013: Freedom for All! is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

2012 was an interesting year in many respects, but it was a particularly interesting year for gaming. 2012 had its share of ups and down, but looking back on the year as a whole, I’d say that it was ultimately good for gamers, developers, and the industry in general. A lot happened throughout the year, and even though we saw vitriol from gamers climb to pretty frightening heights in some cases, there were some pretty cool things happening that you may not have noticed. Needless to say, if 2012 was any indication, then 2013 should be one of gaming’s biggest years yet.

Before we turn our sights to the future, however, let’s look back at some of what went down in the year that we’re about to leave behind. It’s pretty obvious that we’re at the end of a generation, regardless of if Sony and Microsoft want to admit it. The problem we face at the end of a console cycle is that developers become hesitant to begin a new IP (more on that later). Because of this, we tend to see sequel after sequel, and in the triple-A space at least, 2012 was no different. This isn’t all bad though, as it gave indie developers a chance to shine.

Shine they did. 2012 was an excellent year for indie gaming. Minecraft came to the Xbox 360, thatgamecompany released Journey, a game that has quickly risen to the top of countless favorite lists, and we seemed to have a new Humble Bundle to go nuts over at least once a month. Indie games were in the news constantly too, with games like Hotline Miami, Lone Survivor, Faster Than Light, and Legend of Grimrock being discussed alongside the likes of Black Ops II and Assassin’s Creed III. That in particular is very encouraging, because if we can create an environment where a game developed by a pair of passionate gamers can get recognition just the same as games that cost millions to produce, everyone wins.

Of course, great indie games have been given the attention they deserve for years now, so this isn’t some new phenomenon for 2012. It did seem like there were a really high number of indie games that managed to strike a chord within the gaming community, though. The year brought us some truly amazing indie releases, and there were almost too many to count. Whether you were playing Mark of the Ninja, Fez, Dust: An Elysian Tale, or Spelunky, the list of notable indie releases for 2012 was long and varied, with many of them giving us very unique experiences we couldn’t wait to rave about.

While we saw a lot of sequels this year, we also saw some developers take their chances with introducing a new IP. Some of these, like Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, didn’t work out so well. Others like Dishonored are unquestionably just the beginning of something exciting. Square Enix found a winner in Sleeping Dogs, while Capcom surprised everyone with Dragon’s Dogma. Let’s not forget that 2012 was also the year that Nintendo listened to its fan and released Xenoblade Chronicles and The Last Story in North America. Now all we need is Pandora’s Tower and we’ll be set, so get on it Reggie.

Even though the end of the generation is unsurprisingly accompanied by a large number of sequels, the batch for 2012 impressed. 343 Industries showed us with Halo 4 that the series isn’t doomed to mediocrity just because Bungie is working on new projects. Ubisoft managed to revitalize interest in the release-heavy Assassin’s Creed series with Assassin’s Creed III, while Gearbox released one of the best games of the year in Borderlands 2. One of the biggest surprises of the year involved Far Cry 3 launching to critical acclaim, something many of us didn’t see coming. Oh, and did Sega just school Nintendo in the art of making a kart racer with Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed? I think it did.

Fans got riled up in 2012 too. Project Rainfall, for instance, was a major player in getting Xenoblade and The Last Story to North American shores, while angry fans for better or worse managed to get BioWare to change the ending to Mass Effect 3. That’s pretty big considering that BioWare stuck to its guns for a long time, saying for months that there weren’t any plans to change the highly controversial ending. Disgruntled players also got Ubisoft to back away from always-on DRM, which is something gamers and publishers went back and forth about all year.

We also have to keep in mind how big Kickstarter was for gaming in 2012. When Double Fine kicked off a campaign for an old-school adventure game and asked for $400,000, no one could have guessed that we’d be calling 2012 “The Year of the Kickstarter” by the time everything was said and done. The classic RPG Wasteland is getting a sequel after more than 20 years of waiting thanks to Kickstater, and Obsidian can now return to the computer RPG glory days of the past with $4 million in funding for Project Eternity. The biggest gaming-related Kickstarter of the year was unquestionably OUYA, the little Android console that raised a whopping $8.5 million in funding. Sure, some of the Kickstarters funded this year will ultimately fail, but we also have a number of great games to look forward to thanks to Kickstarter. This is made even sweeter by the fact that many of these games would have never seen the light of the day had it not been for Kickstarter’s very existence.

We also saw the big companies that run the show open up their platforms more in 2012. Microsoft changed around some of its policies so Minecraft players on XBLA could get frequent title updates, and it’s even letting free-to-play titles like Happy Wars on Xbox Live these days. Steam expanded its offerings to include non-software titles and rolled out Big Picture Mode so it can have a stronger presence in the living room. It also opened the floodgates for Linux users, as Steam for Linux is now in open beta. Welcome to the party Linux users – we saved you seats between Team Fortress 2 and Torchlight.

There were some bumps along the way – as there always are – but overall, 2012 was another great year for gaming. Developers can really flex their muscles with the hardware we have available, and Nintendo has already kicked off the next generation with the Wii U. 2013 is bound to be just as, if not more, exciting than 2012 was, due in large part to the expectation that either Sony or Microsoft will unveil their new console. Get excited, because I have a feeling that 2013 isn’t going to disappoint on the heels of 2012.

Why 2012 was a great year for gaming is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Facebook’s new Poke app – borrowing the name of its “remember me?” digital jab to the ribs, but the functionality of “sexting” app Snapchat – is an interesting start, but ten seconds sells it short. The headline grabbing purpose of flaunting your undercarriage (and the one to which Facebook coyly and obliquely refers to with a reminder that you can report anything you’re uncomfortable with) will undoubtedly get plenty of use from teenagers and cheating spouses, but with some timer tweaking Poke could become a legitimately useful “Getting Things Done” style tool.

There are times when ten seconds are more than enough. With all due respect to my friends on Facebook, any longer faced with their whimsical bon-mots or grizzled genitals and I’d probably be violently ill. But there are plenty of times when a non-permanent message that lasts longer than the average coughing fit could be very useful.

Email isn’t fashionable, but it’s still a sizable part of our lives. The number of mailing lists, sale-now-on notifications, “let us know by X if you want Y” reminders, and other time-sensitive messages that drop into my inbox seems to only increase, no matter how many I unsubscribe from. Sometimes they’re useful there & then; sometimes I think they might be useful later down the line. Right now, my casual (read: awful) triaging system basically marks as unread anything I might want to act on in future, with flags saved for the most important.

“I forget about things tomorrow that were Very Important today”

I miss a lot of stuff that way. I forget about things tomorrow that I marked as Very Important today. And I’m left with hundreds – maybe thousands – of messages that are old, expired, no longer important, but which are cluttering up my mail and keeping me from inbox zero.

A self-destructing message – one that automatically counts itself down to invalidity, and then deletes itself at that point – has plenty of appeal. Even better, a message that might remind me that the time for final action is upon me, before vanishing once my opportunity is gone. Since it’s Facebook we’re talking about, think along the lines of a virtual to-do list, an “I saw this and thought of you” system where you can ping over suggestions for the weekend that automatically expire come Monday morning, or ideas for a birthday meal venue that fade away along with the torn wrapping paper.

We also know Facebook is eager to sell the space in front of my eyes to as many paying advertisers as possible, and I might be willing to ease my ad-antipathy if the deals came with timers. I’d probably be more likely to sign up to mailing lists through Facebook rather than email or some other method, if I knew they’d clean themselves up along the way. Plus, it might get me looking at my phone – and adverts – more frequently, helping Facebook to monetize its mobile users.

Poke as it stands is a gimmick, briefly fun but with questionable longevity. I honestly can’t think of that many times – smut aside – when I’d want to fire over a transient link or photo to somebody. If Facebook can coax it into being a topical to-do list and recommendations engine, though, using everything it knows about context and relevance, that might earn it a place on my smartphone homescreen.

Sorry Facebook, a 10 second Poke just isn’t enough is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.