Xbox Entertainment Studios has at least 12 projects in production, committed to half
There’s a lot to know about Microsoft’s push into original programming with Xbox Entertainment Studios. Why now? Why carry Xbox branding? Will XES content only run in certain regions? Is it free to all Xbox Live members, or only Xbox Live Gold? Will XES content also head to other digital video services, like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Instant and elsewhere? What about other Microsoft platforms, like Windows Phone and Windows 8? How will interactivity with the content work?
Much of that information is still up in the air, according to XES president Nancy Tellem (former president of CBS Television Studios, among other accolades) and executive producer Jordan Levin. The duo walked us through Xbox Entertainment Studios’ first projects last week, and left us with more questions than answers.
Here’s the high level: there are at least 12 projects in the works, and Microsoft’s only “committed” to half (full list below the break). That means that six are paid for and in production, while the other six are in various stages of creation and may never make it to our eyeballs. The first, a multi-camera, multi-stage, interactive version of Bonnaroo, premieres this June.
The six committed projects include announced works, like Steven Spielberg’s Halo project and the E.T. documentary, as well as new stuff like a Ridley Scott-produced Halo “digital feature” (due later this year, alongside the launch of a still-unannounced Halo game we’re betting) and a co-production with the UK’s Channel 4 of Humans (an adaptation of Swedish show “Real Humans“). There’s also Every Street United, a documentary TV series about street soccer (aimed at South American and European Xbox owners), and the aforementioned Bonnaroo experience.
But where will you watch these shows? For now, the only option is on an Xbox 360 or Xbox One, but support for other Microsoft platforms is in the works. How about competing services, like Amazon Instant Video or Netflix? Never say never, but there aren’t any plans to distribute XES content outside of Microsoft platforms just yet (either individually or in an XES app of some sort). Both Tellem and Levin repeatedly spoke to the 84 million strong worldwide Xbox userbase (the collective number of Xbox 360s and Ones sold), though they recognized that only about half of that group pays for Xbox Live Gold membership.
it’s still unclear which content will be free to all Xbox owners versus what’s locked behind the Xbox Live Gold paywall. The only certainty right now is that all Xbox Live Gold members will get all Xbox Entertainment Studios content for free (er, included in the $60 annual membership).
Tellem said that the content is being aimed at “millenials” (18-35 year-olds) especially the male portion of that group. That’s reflected in the selection of projects: two Halo-based shows, sports, and sci-fi. There was also a smattering of game universes mentioned: Halo, Fable, Gears of War, State of Decay, Age of Empires, and Forza Motorsport. The project list diversifies somewhat when looking beyond the six committed works.
Optioned or Given a Pilot:
- Deadlands: Xbox Entertainment Studios has committed to a script based on the successful pen-and-paper role playing game created by Shane Lacy Hensley. “Deadlands” is a genre-bending alternative history of the Weird West, filled with undead gunfighters, card-slinging sorcerers, mad scientists, secret societies, and fearsome abominations.
- Extraordinary Believers: Xbox Entertainment Studios is developing an innovative, hybrid stop-motion show dubbed “Extraordinary Believers” (working title) with Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, creators of the Emmy-Award winning “Robot Chicken,” the longest running stop-motion show on television. The executive producers on the project are Seth Green, Matt Senreich, and creators/writers/executive producers are Eric Towner and John Harvatine IV.
- Fearless: “Fearless,” (working title) is an unscripted series currently in pilot production starring Paul de Gelder, an Australian Navy bomb clearance diver and shark attack survivor who takes on an adrenaline-fueled quest to aid individuals who risk their lives to make the world a better place. “Fearless” will be produced by Australia’s International Emmy-Award winning production company, Cordell Jigsaw Zapruder (CJZ).
- Gun Machine: Xbox Entertainment Studios acquired the rights to “Gun Machine,” a hardboiled detective thriller based on the New York Times bestselling novel by Warren Ellis. Ellis will executive produce with Brett Conrad (“The Killing,” “Sons of Anarchy,” Netflix’s upcoming “Marco Polo”) who has signed on to write the pilot script about a detective tracking a serial killer who is tied to a mysterious collection of guns used in infamous New York murders.
- Untitled JASH Comedy/Variety Half Hour: In this unique comedy format developed by Xbox Entertainment Studios with JASH (a comedy collective founded by Sarah Silverman, Michael Cera, Tim and Eric and Reggie Watts), the biggest names in comedy will showcase the people that make them laugh. Each week, a different comedian will host/curate a show featuring new and unsung talent, in various video formats. Sarah Silverman will host the pilot episode and Daniel Kellison (“Late Night/Late Show with David Letterman,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” “Crank Yankers”) will executive produce. The series has a pilot commitment and will begin shooting in June.
- Winterworld: Xbox Entertainment Studios and IDW Entertainment are co-developing a limited event live-action series based on Chuck Dixon and artist Jorge Zaffino’s seminal graphic novel series “Winterworld,” in which our world has been encased in ice from pole-to-pole. The surviving humans have formed tribes that war, enslave and trade with one another in an effort to survive the infinite winter. Ted Adams and David Ozer from IDW Entertainment, and Rick Jacobs and Dave Alpert from Circle of Confusion (“Walking Dead”) will executive produce.
As for interactivity, it varies dramatically from project to project. In the case of Bonnaroo, users can jump between stages, different camera views, and even head backstage to participate in a Q&A with the musicians performing at the show. Tellem said that interactivity isn’t her priority with XES content, but that it’s actually entertaining. Functionality will also vary depending on the system you’re using — as every Xbox One comes with Kinect, there are opportunities there that may not exist on the aging Xbox 360.
It’s early days for Xbox Entertainment Studios, as you can tell by the previous 900 words explaining how little about the group and its projects is set in stone. Microsoft certainly has the resources and leadership pedigree to make XES a serious contender with the likes of Amazon and Netflix, but whether it has the execution and content to contend remains to be seen.
The director behind Alien and Blade Runner is producing a Halo project
That’s right, folks: the man behind sci-fi classics like Alien and Blade Runner, Ridley Scott, is executive producing a Halo-based “digital feature” (read: short film) for release “later this year.” The project is headed by Microsoft’s in-house Halo studio, 343 Industries, and Scott Free Productions — Sergio Mimica-Gezzan was tapped for directing duties.
This is a pretty different project from the other Halo show in the works; that one’s helmed by Steven Spielberg and is live action, whereas this sounds more like the digital Halo work we’ve seen in the past. Color us seriously surprised if this doesn’t arrive alongside the release of a new Halo game; one of those is even planned for 2014! How about that!
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, Software, HD, Microsoft
Leaked HP video hints at a 14-inch laptop running… Android
Android on laptops is normally reserved for hybrid devices or units no bigger than 10 inches. If this leaked video is correct, however, then HP is planning to launch an Android laptop with a 14-inch display. The clip, found by Notebook Italia, shows a Slatebook 14 with a 1080p display, controlled by a quad-core NVIDIA chip and running a recent build of Google’s mobile OS. The video also shows that the Android soft keys will remain on the bottom of the screen, as well as adding them to the keyboard where you’d normally find the Esc and Windows keys. There’s not much more than that to go on right now, but we’ve pinged HP to find out if this is really coming, or just the hopeful fantasy of someone who really hates Chromebooks.
Filed under: Cellphones, Laptops, Google, HP
Via: Ars Technica
Source: Notebook Italia (Translated)
Skype Makes Group Video Calling Free for Mac, PC, and Xbox One Users [Mac Blog]
Skype today announced that it is making its group video calling feature free for select users. The feature was introduced in 2010 and was made available to Premium users on a Windows desktop, Mac and the Xbox One. Now, group video calling will be accessible for free to anyone on those platforms, with support for additional devices coming at a later date.
Skype is proud that, since our beginning, we’ve created opportunities for people to communicate freely and easily, no matter where they are; from keeping in touch with remote family members or calling home when traveling to chatting daily with your close circles of friends. While Skype is known for one to one video calling, we know it’s also essential to connect with the groups of people who matter most, whether friends, family or colleagues. For the last few years, we’ve offered group video calling to Premium users on Windows desktop and Mac and more recently Xbox One. Today, we’re excited to announce that we’re making group video calling free – for all users on these platforms. And, in the future, we’ll be enabling group video calling for all our users across more platforms – at no cost.
Group video calling debuted on the Mac platform with Skype 5 in early 2011. Much like Google Hangouts, Skype video calling allows customers to hold a video conference with a group of other Skype users who can talk using the webcams on their devices. The feature was available for free in the beta version of Skype 5 and required a Premium subscription when it officially debuted in the shipping version.
You can download Skype for Mac from Skype’s website. It is available for free and requires Mac OS X Snow Leopard and above, a webcam for video calling and a microphone.
Hail HAL 9000: An orchestra of drones plays the ‘Space Odyssey’ theme
KMel’s flying robots have pretty freaky abilities, but luckily they seem more interested in show-biz than terrorizing humanity. Though they’ve already done a crude James Bond number, this time they’re rocking more instruments and playing challenging pieces like Also Sprach Zarathustra (aka the “2001: A Space Odyssey” theme). The piece de resistance is two quads playing a guitar-like string, with one tapping it and the other changing pitch. Actually, the whole thing is pretty great — be entertained and disturbed all at once by the video below.
Via: Hack A Day
Source: KMel (YouTube)
Mosquitoes bred with suicide genes to combat disease
With the World Cup just six weeks away, Brazilian authorities have approved the widespread, commercial release of a strain of mosquito that has been genetically reprogrammed to wipe out its own species. These Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are a major carrier of dengue fever, and bed nets are useless against them because they bite during the day. While some have experimented with using lasers and other techniques to wipe out the disease-carrying bugs, Brazil’s preferred solution begins in the lab: Male mosquitoes are given a deliberately flawed gene and then released into the wild so that they can reproduce, at which point the implanted gene rears its head and causes any offspring to die before they reach sexual maturity.
Local trials have already seen a 90 percent reduction in aegypti numbers, according to the biotech company that developed the mutant gene. Critics have raised a number of objections, however, including the fact that other mosquito species also carry dengue fever, so the potentially fatal disease won’t necessarily be eradicated by this risky approach. Others have pointed out that there have only been very small trials so far, so we don’t know what happens if GM females, rather than males, are accidentally released into the wild (potentially causing allergic reactions in bite victims), or if some mosquitoes somehow inherit the modified gene but don’t die from it. Either way, if Mother Nature does have some sort of retribution in store, then Brazil is about to find out.
[Image credit: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]
Filed under: Science
Source: Oxitec
Samba’s free mobile data network shuts down as ads fail to cover costs
If 500MB of free browsing a month in exchange for watching a few ads seemed too good to be true, it was — Samba, the free, data-only MVNO is no more. According to the company’s blog, it came down to the increasing price of wholesale data, which made the ad model unsustainable. Fortunately, if you bought a SIM card recently or paid for a data top-up (another option if you didn’t want ads), you’ll get a refund. There’ll be no credit for time spent watching ads, though — but it’s a pretty good bet you were doing something else at the time anyway.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Internet, Mobile
Samsung Galaxy S5 Prime could launch as soon as June
Despite the Samsung Galaxy S5 not exactly being an old device, it seems Samsung are set to release the Galaxy S5 Prime as soon as June. Whilst the upcoming device is only supported by rumours at the moment, suggestions peg the device at having a 2560 x 1440 resolution with a 5.2-inch Super AMOLED display and an octa-core Exynos 5430 CPU.
Whilst Samsung is certainly not going to win prizes for customer satisfaction releasing an upgraded Galaxy S5 device so shortly after their flagship device, if the Galaxy S5 Prime is real it certainly is shaping up to be a great phone, and could land as soon as June.
The post Samsung Galaxy S5 Prime could launch as soon as June appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Raspberry Pi modded into a $160 cellphone
Remember how happy you were when you got your Raspberry Pi project to do, well, anything? Programming savant and photographer David Hunt has merely created a working cellphone with his, complete with video proof (below). The PiPhone consists of a bunch of off-the-shelf parts, like a PiTFT touchscreen and 2,500mAh battery that cost a grand total of $158. While that might seem a lot for an ungainly dumbphone, bear in mind that it’s a one-off with no economies of scale working for it. As any Pi hobbyist knows, it’s also an impressive feat and Hunt is willing to upload his source code if you’re brave enough to give it a crack.
[Image credit: David Hunt]
Filed under: Cellphones
Via: Kotaku
Source: David Hunt
Apple Regains Market Share in Some Countries with Strong iPhone 5s Sales
Research firm Kantar Worldpanel has released a new report (via TechCrunch) highlighting worldwide smartphone sales over the January-March period, finding that Apple has regained market share in countries such as Europe, Japan and Australia due in part to the strong sales performance of the iPhone 5s.
Dominic Sunnebo, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, comments: “Apple regained ground in the first quarter of 2014, primarily due to the strong performance of the iPhone 5S, growing its sales share in Europe, Japan and Australia. By contrast, Windows had a tough start to the year as a result of its entry-level Nokia models facing fierce competition from low-end Motorola, LG and Samsung Android smartphones.”
Apple’s total market share in Japan, Australia, and Europe hit 57.6%, 33.1%, and 19.2%, which are increases of 8.6%, 2.0%, and 0.1% compared to the same timeframe last year, respectively. In the United States, Apple’s market share was at 35.9%, which was down 7.8% compared to the 43.7% market share it held a year ago.
However, Sunnebo noted in a prior Kantar report highlighting smartphone sales over the August-October 2013 period that customers in the U.S. generally react better to “full releases” like the iPhone 4 and iPhone 5 than “incremental” updates such as the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c. Apple is expected to release a larger-screen iPhone 6 this year with new features including a thinner profile, faster A8 processor, Touch ID fingerprint sensor, and an improved camera with optical image stabilization.
Meanwhile, the iPhone’s surging popularity in Japan has continued in the months following its debut on the country’s largest carrier, NTT DoCoMo:
Sunnebo continues: “Japan’s love affair with Apple shows no sign of fading. Even though the iPhone has now been available on Japan’s largest carrier, NTT DoCoMo, for a number of months Apple still accounts for more than 40% of sales on the network. The success of the iPhone is also filtering through to the iPad, with almost a quarter of Japanese iPhone owners also owning an iPad. With smartphone penetration in Japan lagging well behind Europe and the US, Japan will remain a key growth market for Apple.”
Despite its solid market share in numerous countries however, the iPhone continues to face challenges from Google’s Android platform, which had its market share continue hover above 70% in many markets. Microsoft’s Windows Phone also increased its market share, with the platform even holding a 4.3% advantage over iOS in Italy.
AIVAnet 