Hasta La Gadget!

Microsoft talked about the television capabilities of the Xbox One during the console’s unveiling last week, and there weren’t that many games shown off, putting fear into many Xbox loyalists that Microsoft was focusing more television and home entertainment rather than the console’s main purpose. However, when the company discusses the Xbox One at E3, TV talk will be off the table.

Microsoft’s Xbox Live boss Larry Hyrb confirmed the news on Twitter, saying that the company’s press event at E3 “will have TV’s (or similar) on stage to show the games,” but “that should be the extent of TV talk in your #E3.” Hyrb confirms two things mostly: that there won’t be much TV talk, and games will be a big focus from the looks of it.

GTTV host Geoff Keighley also says that the E3 press events by both Microsoft and Sony will be filled with “lost of games and surprises.” He continues by saying that both press conferences by the two companies “will be the strongest in years.” This certainly makes sense, as this is the first E3 in years where Microsoft and Sony are showing off new gaming consoles.

During Microsoft’s reveal event for the Xbox One, the company talked a lot about new features that had nothing to do with gaming, such as watching TV and sports, thanks to that fancy NFL partnership. They also talked a lot about the Kinect and the different features that it has, most of which don’t even deal with gaming from what Microsoft showed off last week.

E3 starts next month, but seeing as it’s the last day in May, the gaming expo is just ten short days away. Apple’s WWDC is taking place the same week, with their keynote occurring during the same time as Microsoft’s press conference. Whether or not Apple is testing the loyalty of mobile game developers remains to be seen, but we can’t say that the overlapping events is a coincidence.

VIA: Kotaku

Xbox One E3 event won’t focus on TV is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Despite its image as an underdog, Roku knows how to court some heavy hitters in the TV business: on top of a total $80 million in previous investments, it just received a $60 million boost this week. The new funding round has BSkyB and News Corp returning with checkbooks in hand, but it also includes a fresh contribution from Hearst, which wants Roku’s help in building services for its TV channels. The media hub maker is getting more than partnerships in return, however. It’s using the cash to expand its Roku Ready program, which now includes 24 hardware partners. The company’s Anthony Wood ultimately wants Roku software to be commonplace — it can be an “operating system for televisions,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter. While there’s no guarantee that Roku will reach that kind of ubiquity, it may well have the cash to get there.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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Via: Chip Chick

Source: Hollywood Reporter

Toshiba is jumping onto the Ultra HD bandwagon, pricing up its trio of 4K TVs, the REGZA Z8X series, for Japan. Set to hit (reinforced) store shelves in late June, the Z8X range will kick off at 58-inches and rise to 84-inches at its biggest, with the largest model price at 1.68m yen ($16,430) and include native NHK “hybridcast” support that blends traditional broadcasts with internet-funneled add-on data.

Japan’s first “hybridcast” broadcasts are expected to start, albeit as a trial only, sometime this year, and will add greater contextual and interactive information to digital TV. The system will be able to show program information on-screen, as well as work with second-screen devices like smartphones and tablets.

Meanwhile, the Z8X series itself uses Toshiba’s new REGZA Engine CEVO 4K, which the company promises will do a better job upscaling standard- and high-definition content to suit the 3,840 x 2,160 sets. That’s an important skill, when you consider the dearth of native Ultra HD content, and that most viewers will have access to Blu-ray at most.

Other functionality includes time-shifting support, allowing for up to 80 hours of content to be saved, though you’ll need Toshiba’s THD-450T1 USB hard-drive in order to actually take advantage of it. That has 4.5TB of storage space, and will go on sale alongside the Z8X range in late June, price tbc. It can record up to six channels simultaneously, and straps to the back of the TV for tidiness.

40W of onboard audio, split between four speakers – two left channel, two right – rounds out the key specs. There are four HDMI ports, ethernet, USB, and an SD/SDXC card reader, along with DLNA streaming support.

No word on when the Toshiba REGZA Z8X series might make it to North America or elsewhere at this stage.

Toshiba REGZA Z8X Ultra HD TVs set to bring hybridcast to Japan in June is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The recently-announced Xbox One is coming with new ways earn achievements playing your favorite games, but TV achievements might be coming as well. Microsoft applied for a patent that details a feature that would give users achievements for watching television. Yes, according to Microsoft, sitting on the couch with a dumb look on your face while watching a TV show is considered an “achievement.”

The patent is titled “Awards and Achievements Across TV Ecosystem,” and it essentially revolves around the idea of rewarding television viewers with achievements in a similar fashion that Microsoft rewards gamers for completing certain tasks in games, something like earning points for watching Wheel of Fortune, for instance. Another example would be achievements for watching an entire season of a TV series.

The patent doesn’t mention the Xbox One nor any other of Microsoft’s platforms, but it’s safe to say that if it were to indeed come into fruition, we would most likely see it on the Xbox One, given Microsoft’s strong stance on using the Xbox One has a television set-top box alongside its gaming capabilities.

In the patent application, Microsoft says that they want to change the way users watch television, since it’s mostly just a “passive experience” with no interactivity. The company says that “to increase interactive viewing and encourage a user to watch one or more particular items of video content, awards and achievements may be tied to those items of video content.”

Microsoft hopes to target more people with the Xbox One by focusing more on other areas of entertainment, such as TV, movies, and a plethora of apps that don’t deal with gaming. Of course, gaming will be a core function of the new console, but even with the Xbox 360, Microsoft has been wanting to dive deeper and deeper into more non-game features.

VIA: GamesIndustry.biz

SOURCE: USPTO

Xbox One tipped for TV achievements with new Microsoft patent is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The Xbox One could have been the true center of your TV universe that let you throw all those other boxes away.