While mobile gaming is definitely not something developers and publishers should snub, especially given how freemium games like Candy Crush are pulling in $633,000 a day from in-app purchases, it does not mean that more traditional forms of gaming, such […]
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You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
According to Xbox One representatives this afternoon, it’s not just the PlayStation 4 that’ll be offering the ability to play downloadable games before they’re fully downloaded once the consoles launch later this year. Speaking up after the fact that Sony’s console would offer such a service – and perhaps seeing the high-fives and thumbs up given in response – Microsoft has issued a statement on their machine’s ability to work with downloading games well before they’re fully downloaded.
It’s not that the Xbox One couldn’t always do this, it’s just that Microsoft more than likely wants to make clear that they’re not letting their customers behind. This ability also works with the installation of games from disks. According to Microsoft as well, you’ll find your ability to play the game appearing well before a physical disk is done installing your full fare of data.
“Consumers will be able to sign on to any Xbox One console and have access to all their digital games. Once the required data -– a fraction of the entire game -– is on their hard drive, they can jump into the action while the rest of the game finishes downloading in the background.” – Microsoft Representative
Both the Microsoft-made Xbox One and the Sony-made PlayStation 4 will be launching near the end of this year, well within the bounds of the 2013 holiday season. At the moment we’ve not yet seen final builds from either company, so demonstrations of the abilities described above will not be available for viewing for some time. At the moment we’re left with sly not-quite-real-and-full access, as it were.
The ability to play games well before they’re fully downloaded or installed exists on the Xbox 360 right this minute, and most web-based gaming hubs allow this functionality from gaming PCs here in the summer of 2013 as well. It’s not that we’ve never seen this sort of quick access before, it’s that the public wants to continue to see it happen well through the future.
Xbox One joins “play as you download” club is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
During the development of the PlayStation 4’s DualShock 4 controller, Sony tested a version of a controller that included biofeedback sensors to detect how stressed the player was, based on how much his or her hand was sweating. That’s right; the same technology that’s used in polygraphs could have been an integral part of the PS4.
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Sony proudly showed off its PlayStation 4 hardware for the first time at E3, and now we’re getting a peek at what developers are working with this generation thanks to the FCC. The DUH-D1000AA prototype Development Kit for PS4 is listed in these documents, tested for its Bluetooth and 802.11 b/g/n WiFi radios. As one would expect, the diagrams show it eschews the sleek design of the consumer model for extra cooling, a shape made for rack mounts plus extra indicator lights and ports. Also of note is a “max clock frequency” listing of 2.75GHz, and although we don’t know how fast the game system will run by default, it’s interesting to hear what all that silicon may be capable of (as a commenter points out below, that may relate to the system’s 8GB of GDDR5 RAM) while maintaining a temperature between 5 and 35 degrees celsius. Hit the link below to check out the documents for yourself, after seeing this and the system’s controller become a part of the FCC’s database all we’re left waiting for is Mark Cerny’s baby.
Source: FCC
As expected, Amazon has announced that they have run out of their “initial allocations” for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles. This means that launch day pre-orders for both consoles have sold out, including the Xbox One Day One Edition. Amazon says they still have standard editions of both consoles available for pre-order, but they can’t guarantee that they’ll arrive on launch day.
Amazon posted about the sold out consoles on their Amazon Video Games Facebook page, saying that it’s been “a crazy and exciting month” for next-generation console pre-orders, but while they announced that they were sold out of launch day pre-orders, they mentioned that they could be receiving more allocations in the future for launch day.
Amazon opened the floodgates for pre-orders for the Xbox One on June 10, so it took just a little over a month for initial supply to run dry. Previously, GameStop was the first retailer to announce that PS4 pre-orders have been sold out, and they stopped taking pre-orders for the console for the time being.
As for the Xbox One, Best Buy was the first to announce the dreadful news that pre-orders have been exhausted and are no longer accepting new orders. We expected that trend to spread to other retailers eventually over the summer, and it seems Amazon is the next one to make the list.
No announcements in the UK have been made yet as far as sold out pre-orders, but we can only assume that as the launch dates keep creeping in, the harder it will be to pre-order a new console. This means that if you’re thinking about hopping on board, now is the best time to do so, since each day that passes poses a risk for more sold out stores to come forward.
Xbox One, PS4 launch day pre-orders sold out on Amazon is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
The Oculus Rift team still intends to ignore the Xbox One and PS4 and focus on PC and Android, concerned that lengthening development cycles for consoles could see them left behind in virtual reality, even with the cloud’s help. “There’s no reason it can’t technically work,” Oculus Rift CEO Brendan Iribe conceded to OXM, but pointed out that “one of the concerns that we do generally have around consoles is that their life cycles are getting longer all the time.” While the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are considered powerful today, they could be seriously out-performed when it comes to VR in the next few years, Iribe argues.
“I think that you will see VR move fast – AR also, but especially VR” the chief exec suggested. “You’re going to see rapid innovation, and one of the concerns that we do generally have around consoles is that their life cycles are getting longer all the time – it’s a seven to eight year lifecycle, and in eight years, VR is going to be insane. Incredible.”
Instead, the headset – which uses a pair of head-mounted LCD displays to create a virtual gaming environment – will work initially with PCs and Android devices, as that “made more sense” according to Iribe. The fact that both platforms are liberal with hardware and software is key to that decision, the CEO explained.
Even Microsoft’s decision to harness the power of the cloud to bolster the Xbox One won’t be of much use to virtual reality, he says. Microsoft has said that each Xbox One will also have access to cloud-based processing equivalent to roughly three more consoles, which could be used for processing richer backgrounds in games, more realistic reflections and textures, and other detail.
The system has met with keen interest from game developers, but is unlikely to be of use to virtual reality systems like Oculus Rift, Iribe points out, because of the latency involved.
Virtual reality “wants a maximum latency of 20-30 milliseconds from your head moving to the headset updating your eye on screen – what we call motion-to-photon” he explains. “Right now it’s at 30-50 milliseconds in the current versions, but we do expect that to come down and reach that 15-20 millisecond ‘Holy Grail’ timing.”
However, while attention on Oculus Rift has been high since the start-up’s Kickstarter back in August 2012, the company doesn’t want to keep VR all to itself. In fact, Iribe is hopeful that Microsoft or Sony – preferably both – wade in themselves, seeing it as a net-benefit to Oculus Rift’s business overall.
“The more that they push into this space, even if it’s a different device, or their own device, a different experience, the more that they’re throwing into AR and VR, the better it is for everybody” he said.
VIA Trusted Reviews
Oculus Rift unconvinced by Xbox One and PS4 VR potential is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Since the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are almost identical as far as performance specifications go, it’s merely just a war between features and functionality. Both sides are trying to win over the hearts of gamers with innovation new features that aim to change the landscape of gaming. Sony thinks they have a pretty unique solution in the bag.
The company’s R&D senior team boss Neil Brown announced at Sony’s Develop Conference that PS4 gamers can access their purchased games on any PS4 console. Brown also touted the new “play as you download” feature, where you can play games as they’re downloading them to the console.
Essentially, gamers can log in to their accounts from any PS4 console, and they can start playing the first bits of any digitally-purchased game that’s available in their library, even if it’s not from their own console at home. If your friend doesn’t have a specific game that you want to play, the “play as you download” feature is about as good as it gets.
The background downloading while gamers begin playing their games is made possible simply by background processes. Brown says it’s a similar method to what Blu-ray players use, and chunks of the game are copied automatically to the hard drive. After the first few minutes, the game is able to begin playing.
Xbox One has a similar feature where you can begin playing games while they download and install onto the console’s hard drive. However, one huge benefit for the PS4 at this point is the low price tag. Sony’s console will only cost $399 when it launches later this year, undercutting the Xbox One by $100.
SOURCE: Official PlayStation Magazine
PS4 digital library sharing gives you access from any console is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
The patent application from Sony that popped up at the US Patent and Trademark Office this morning isn’t quite the DualShock 4 that we’ve become acquainted with this year. While it contains many descriptors that apply to the controller Sony introduced alongside its PlayStation 4, it’s also got a few extra bells and whistles that the current model doesn’t include — most notably, a microphone for tracking player location and a larger light bar that extends to the bottom of the controller. Apparently the light bar at some point could be “shaped to provide for a wide angle of visibility.”
There’s also a variety of trackpad versions, and the patent describes a slight outward curvature “which provides a tactile sensation by virtue of its shape” — the DualShock 4 models we’ve used don’t seem to feature this, but we’ll need to revisit the controller to be sure. Further, the trackpad was apparently tested as a display screen as well at one point. “In one embodiment, the touch panel can be coupled with a display screen to provide a touchscreen interface as part of the controller,” the application reads. “For example, the touchscreen might display an image which delineates regions of the touchscreen that correspond to various functionalities for the interactive application.”
Beyond that, the patent dances around its connection to the PlayStation 4, as this was filed back in the end of June 2012 (it just published today). Make no mistake: this is very much a patent for the DualShock 4 long before the controller and its corresponding console were announced.
Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds, Peripherals, HD, Sony
Source: USPTO
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