It’s a rite of passage all shiny new tech toys must face, and the Xbox One is no different: the ritualistic teardown. Microsoft’s new console has fallen prey to iFixit‘s screwdrivers, and while we’re used to modern gadgetry being purposefully designed to make DIY repairs close to impossible, in fact the Xbox One is surprisingly […]
Microsoft thinks of the Xbox One as a complete media center, but many would say it’s unfinished without a way to catch up on YouTube videos. Thankfully, one is coming just in the nick of time — the company has revealed that a native YouTube client will be available when the system arrives on November 22nd — something that’s not available on the PS4 (yet), although owners of that system can watch videos in the web browser. The officially sanctioned player will support channel subscriptions as well as Kinect-based gesture and voice commands. Additional features like Snap mode support are coming in the future, Microsoft says. The app launch doesn’t mean that Google and Microsoft have resolved all their differences over YouTube, but it will let you stream cat clips and blooper reels from the comfort of your living room.
Update: We’ve checked the app on our Xbox One test unit, and there’s an additional treat in store for mobile viewers: you can use YouTube’s Android and iOS apps to send videos to the console.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, Internet, HD, Microsoft, Google
Source: Xbox Wire, YouTube Blog
If you’re not keen on downloading more PlayStation 4 firmware in the wake of that giant Day One patch, we have bad news: Sony is already rolling out its first post-launch upgrade this evening. Thankfully, it’s a much smaller release this time around. The 1.51 update will both fix a few minor bugs and refine the interface, making it clearer when you’re downloading both a game and a patch at the same time. It’s not an exciting upgrade, then, but the PS4’s automatic downloads at least mean that you won’t have to lift a finger to run the latest software.
Source: PlayStation Blog
The PlayStation 4 launch last week was quickly followed by mounting reports of defective units, including consoles that wouldn’t display video. Had Sony shipped the console with a common flaw? No, an SCEA spokeperson tells us in a statement (found after the break). The company believes there “isn’t a singular problem” at fault that would affect a large number of systems. The failure rate is also relatively small, according to the representative. With less than 1 percent of shipped systems affected by these problems (up from 0.4 percent in a previous claim), the number of broken systems is reportedly within the “expected range” for a product launch. While we’re certainly used to new devices that ship with a few bugs in tow, that figure still leaves a lot of unhappy gamers — one percent of the million-plus PS4 buyers would still equate to 10,000 people. Sony says it’s working to get these systems replaced; let’s hope it moves quickly.
With the PlayStation 4 now on sale and the Xbox One hitting stores this week, news of Ouya’s latest console refresh comes at a busy time for gamers. With holidays closing in, it’s unveiled a new limited edition all-white case for its Android-powered console, also doubling the system’s internal storage to 16GB to store more games and important media. Ouya has already opened pre-orders with a $129.99 price tag ($30 more than the 8GB model), and if you order before December 8th, you should have it by Christmas. While the white model, with its expanded storage, is only available in North America, all is not lost — Ouya’s latest software update will bring support for USB storage (and many other new features) to older consoles when it arrives later this month.
Filed under: Gaming
There was little doubt that the PlayStation 4 would sell well on launch given the sheer amount of hype, but we now have proof: Sony has revealed that it sold over one million PS4s in North America during the console’s first 24 hours of availability. While that figure pales in comparison to the sales numbers we see for smartphones, it gets the company a long way toward its goal of moving five million units before the end of its fiscal year in March. It also suggests that Sony won’t face the same lackluster response that greeted Nintendo, which took a week to sell its first 400,000 Wii U systems in the US. The real question is whether or not the PS4 will preserve its sales momentum — with the Xbox One launch just five days away, Sony won’t keep the high end of the console market to itself for much longer.
Via: Joystiq
Source: PR Newswire
Microsoft has officially announced very first wave of TV and entertainment apps that will be coming to the Xbox One game console when it launches this month. Microsoft says that it’s been working with leading entertainment brands and TV providers for years to offer live and on-demand entertainment for Xbox users. The Xbox One console […]
Engineers at NVIDIA have taken the time this week to reveal a collection of new abilities for their SHIELD device, perhaps the most symbolic of these being a new “Console Mode”. This mode for the device allows the user to close the top on the handheld device and run its display through a mini-HDMI port […]
As the Xbox One‘s launch date closes in, Microsoft has been dropping teasers and snippets of its various console-related offerings, not the least of which is a gameplay tour video it has posted today. With the video, gamers are given their first look at the Xbox One’s interface, which is very similar to Windows 8 […]
Nvidia has updated its Shield Android-based mobile game console to add a host of new features, one of which is very interesting in terms of how it might affect the growing Android-based home game console market. For users, it’s a very nice update that adds a lot of worthwhile functionality, and for Nvidia, it’s reaffirmation that this is a real platform, not just a demonstration device designed to entice OEMs.
Along with the above, this update also adds the official, non-beta release of Shield’s Gamestream PC gameplay streaming service, which plugs into Steam to let users play full PC games on their device streaming at up to 60fps over a local Wi-Fi network. Plus, you can shift full app and game files from the local storage to an external micro SD card, which clears up space, and the Home button now provides access to both recently opened apps and Google Now.
One other new feature available today is ‘Gamepad Mapper,’ which aims to answer the question of what to do with games that don’t support game controllers out of the box. It gets around that by allowing users to go through and manually map touchscreen controls to the Shield’s hardware buttons, d-pad and joysticks, and in fact it does it automatically for many of the top games already available. It’s still not the perfect solution (i.e., all game makers building support for Shield right into their code), but it does make games that would otherwise be completely unplayable, playable.
The Gamestream feature now supports over 50 titles with its official launch (and others unofficially) and feels even more polished than it did the first time I used it. Barring any other considerations around the Shield, the PC streaming is a huge benefit to anyone who finds themselves glued to their PC for hours addicted to new games; being able to take that with you anywhere around the house you want to go is a huge boon.
The other big advantage here is Console Mode, which adds to the basic HDMI-out functionality to turn Shield into a full-fledged living room console. It’s designed to work with partner Nyko’s PlayPad Pro wireless Bluetooth controller specifically, but it should work with any Android Bluetooth controller. The PlayPad Pro was designed in conjunction with Nvidia, however, which makes it more likely to be fully compatible with Tegra-optimized game titles.
Now you can tap the new Console Mode icon to run it on the TV, and also the controller now wakes from sleep when connected to a TV, even if the clamshell is closed. Because of its software support and the way it just works without requiring all that much in terms of additional work on the part of developers, this makes it a very compelling alternative to Ouya. Full 1080p output is coming via an update, and best of all, you can unplug it and take it with you wherever you go, and play without a TV, too. Shield might be $200 more than the Ouya, but this new console mode makes it a much better value overall, in my opinion. It’s already my travel console of choice, and really helps those boring nights in hotels on business trips.
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