The Xbox One is getting major media updates: here’s a breakdown
Microsoft has just kicked off Gamescom 2014 by announcing a plethora of new features coming to the Xbox One — some you may have known about, and some not. First up is a much anticipated feature: a new app will soon turn the Xbox One into a media player, letting you stream movie and audio files from a USB key or DLNA network. Microsoft’s Major Nelson has promised that the console will support many more media formats than the Xbox 360 did, including new file types like MPEG2 TS, animated GIF and MKV. A preview version of the app will arrive first with USB support, while DLNA and certain file formats like MKV won’t come until later. (For a list of compatible file formats, check the source.)
Still on the media front, Microsoft also announced some interesting TV-related features. You’ll soon be able to boot directly to your TV from standby mode, a big convenience if you use that app a lot. Another new feature coming is SmartGlass TV streaming: if you’re in another room, you can watch shows over your home network on a SmartGlass-equipped tablet or smartphone on Windows, iOS or Android. That’ll let you change channels and pause, play or rewind shows, all while still playing games on your Xbox One. The latter feature will arrive first to European countries receiving the new Xbox TV tuner by the end of the year. On a related note, regions with OneGuide will also get a mini guide that displays program information at the bottom of the screen.
For gaming, there’s some new but important features, especially for chat users or social types. The new Friends section that rolled out to early access members will now come to the general preview program. To remind you, the new features let you keep up with your friends’ activities at a glance, showing the games they’re playing and a Gamerscore leaderboard. There will also be a brand new Snap Center where you can see messages, parties, friends and achievements in one place without leaving a game — a feature that Xbox 360 users were sorely missing. And if you message a lot, you’ll now see full conversation threads without interrupting gameplay — including full discussion histories with embedded links and game clips.
Finally, Microsoft re-iterated that it’s hard at work readying the Xbox One launch for 29 new countries, up from the 26 it announced before. It said it’s still on track to release the console “in the coming weeks” to countries including Japan, Russia and Switzerland.
Filed under: Gaming, Microsoft
Source: Major Nelson
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There is a white Xbox One console and gamepad coming this October
The rumors are true: there is a white Xbox One game console on the way, and it’s arriving alongside Xbox One-exclusive Sunset Overdrive. And the console isn’t the only white bit, as there’s a white gamepad coming too. It’ll cost $400 when it arrives this October, and it comes with the standard 500GB of storage and the aforementioned gamepad. The bundle appears to come without Kinect, though we’ll be sure to ask Microsoft as soon as this Gamescom 2014 press conference is over.
Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD, Microsoft
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Xbox One gets new Halo Channel in November
As if Halo: The Master Chief Collection wasn’t a juicy enough feast of your favorite Xbox sci-fi military franchise. Today at Gamescom Bonnie Ross, GM at 343 Industries, revealed an new hub for fans of the game on Xbox One — The Halo Channel. It’ll coincide with the launch of the The Master Chief Collection in November, and you’ll be able to chat, catch news and, of course, dive right into your preferred edition of the game (we’re fans of the original if you’re asking). As you might expect, the channel also comes with the obligatory exclusive content and Twitch integration too.
Filed under: Gaming, Microsoft
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Xbox One gets game pre-loading starting with Forza Horizon 2 in September
Folks playing games on PC have enjoyed the ability to pre-pay and download games ahead of launch for years now. This console generation, the feature is finally arriving in the living room: Xbox One gets game pre-loading and pre-payments starting with Forza Horizon 2 this September. The news comes from Microsoft’s Gamescom 2014 press conference, and apparently the feature is simply starting with Forza Horizon 2 before expanding to FIFA 15 and other games going forward.
Of course, PlayStation 4 fans have enjoyed this feature for some time now. But hey, maybe you went for Xbox One? Now you’ve got the feature too! Well, soon anyway.
Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD, Microsoft
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Trouble in paradise: Samsung “tightening its belt”, cutting costs across whole Company
Samsung is no longer the impenetrable fortress that sits at the top of the Android food chain. While it still leads by a long way in global market share, financial reports this year have spelled out a dire situation within the company, suffering reduced profits and even being overtaken by Xiaomi as top smartphone manufacturer in China. But how bad is it actually for the Korean manufacturer? Well, it’s bad enough that several managers have returned their bonuses in the hopes of helping the company, but naturally even more steps have to be taken when “tightening the belt”.
Samsung is reportedly cutting down on costs everywhere, even targeting business trips, finding alternative, cheaper flights. It’s also rumoured that Samsung may start cuttings jobs which would target executives and sub-contractors to help streamline the workforce. This is a pretty big deal for Samsung, particularly as it seems like it’s once impenetrable lead is crumbling and competitors have shown themselves able of competing on quality and quantity. With the Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Alpha in the pipeline, we can only hope this is what the doctor ordered.
What do you think about reports that Samsung is having to cut costs? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Source: Korea Herald via Phone Arena
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5-inch Moto G2 arrival on September 10th
Motorola has been rocking the tech world with the Moto 360 and the Moto X+1 rumors. Well here is another tidbit of info for the Moto fans out there. The Moto G2 is to be released on September 10 according to GSM Arena. The Moto G2 has been rumored to contain a variety of different specs…. Read more »
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Introducing the Acer Chromebook 13
The Chromebook line was created with a mobile life style in mind. At a low cost, they do everything the average user needs out of a laptop. They are portable and easy to work with and give users almost instant access to the internet. Today, a new Chromebook has joined the family. One that has… Read more »
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HTC One M8 Max could boast Snapdragon 805, 5.9-inch display
When critics pick of what the HTC One M8 is lacking, one of them is not the screen, but HTC seem to think that a bigger screen is what is desired by users, so are working on a device called the HTC One M8 Max that will feature a 5.9-inch screen. The device follows the… Read more »
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Inside Sky Sports’ plan to revolutionise sports news
Sky won’t care to admit it, but for the first time in a number of years, the broadcaster is facing a major challenge to its sports broadcasting crown. Still a relatively new player, BT has claimed a large chunk of Premiership football coverage last season and sunk nearly £900 million to prize away exclusive Champions League rights from its rival in 2015. It’s also slowly built up its roster of rugby, tennis, motorsport and UFC coverage, giving subscribers more than a few reasons look beyond Sky for access to major sporting events.
While Sky has been forced to acquiesce, mostly due to anti-competitive measures put in place by regulators, it isn’t prepared to let its rivals captialise on their extended coverage. In June, it dealt a blow to BT’s European football expansion with the launch of Sky Sports 5, a new channel dedicated to, you guessed it, European football. It’ll cover the Euro 2016 qualifiers, Champions League (for this season at least), La Liga, Eredivisie, Coppa Italia and Copa Del Rey. However, it’s the rebranding of another channel, Sky Sports News, that could have a bigger impact on the company’s sports coverage this year.
Enter Sky Sports News HQ.
Aside from the name change, Sky’s putting a lot of money and resources into revolutionising its sports reporting. Firstly, it’s moved the Sky Sports News HQ up the electronic programme guide (EPG) from number 405 to 401, giving it prominence ahead of its six other Sky Sports channels. Inside the studio, the company has knocked through walls to double the size of its newsroom, offering more space to dedicated reporting crews, like those handling Sky’s Formula 1 coverage, but also so it can host a huge 18 square-metre video wall that can display one big image or up to 12 separate ‘screens’ of content.
Sky’s new video wall is actually just one of 11 different positions that the Sky Sports team intend to present from. We saw a number of them (but not all) during our tour of the new studio, including a new station located just a few short paces away from the main news set called the Investigation Desk. This area features a small display that will serve breaking updates as they happen, similar to how @BBCBreaking and @BreakingNews push important announcements on Twitter, to show that Sky Sports News HQ is following a story from the minute it breaks.
During reports, presenters are encouraged to the leave the safety of their seats and move away to one of the new presenting positions. Karen Wilmington, head of output for Sky Sports News HQ, tells us that because viewers have become accustomed to the lights and cameras inside a newsroom, they can take advantage of new areas to help viewers, and also employees, become more involved.
Involvement is a key theme in Sky’s new focus, and social media will play a huge part in that. The Investigation Desk will show tweets from Sky Sports journalists in the field, or maybe a photo shared by a high-profile footballer ahead of a big money transfer, but they will all be collated, analysed and displayed with help from its social media desk.
From today, the cameras will also track presenters to an area of the studio dedicated to the social desk. Sky Sports researchers have access to at least eight screens pulling in feeds from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Vine and the Web, allowing Sky Sports News HQ anchors to add a bit of colour to reports with media shared in real time. “The other thing about Twitter, in 140 characters you only say what you want to say,” notes Sky Sports News Executive Editor Andy Cairns. “What’s not said is often as interesting or more interesting.”
To celebrate today’s launch, Sky has overhauled its website, mobile and tablet apps, offering more content, increased functionality and new designs. The Football Score Centre app, Sky Sports’ most popular, now includes a new video section, more detailed match statistics courtesy of Opta, previews, video clips and a wider variety of push notifications. While you were only able to receive match alerts for one team before, the updated app allows for up to four teams and individual matches. The Sky Sports iOS and Android apps have also been revamped and now feature breaking news alerts and access to user polls.
As Sky Sports News HQ takes its first tentative steps, it’s plain to see that it’s no longer just a newsroom. Viewers are not only consumers, they’re now asked to interact with presenters and the wider team. With better channel placement and a commitment to engaging with the two million plus viewers, Sky hopes that Sky Sports News HQ will play a key role in fending off competition from BT Sport, especially when its rival takes more of its key sports coverage next year.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
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Skylanders takes on Disney Infinity with its new toy-to-tablet starter pack
If you’ve heard of Skylanders, we’re going to guess either you’re a kid, you’re a parent with kids or you know someone with kids. And if you do, we’re going to guess you probably already know about Skylanders Trap Team, the latest game to come out of the Skylanders franchise that’s set to debut later this year. As a brief reminder, the game essentially comes with a device that you can use as a “portal” to transform real-world figurines into in-game characters. The hook with the Trap Team version is that you can use one of eight “Traptanium traps” to “trap” enemies in the game — you do so by inserting a tiny plastic dongle into a slot on the aforementioned portal. You can then play as the trapped enemy if you like, switching between it and your main character as you progress in the game.
Which is all well and good if you’re content with playing with the game on a console. But what if you don’t have one? Or what if your kid’s preferred device for gaming is a tablet? Well, fortunately for you, the team behind Skylanders has just announced that it’ll be producing Skylanders Trap Team for the tablet as well. Activision and Toys for Bob, the studio behind Skylanders, claims that this is the first time in franchise history that it’s bringing the full AAA console experience to the smaller handheld screen. Indeed, Paul Reiche, the head of Toys for Bob, tells us that the tablet version of Skylanders Trap Team is “pixel for pixel” the same as the one for the 360.
Just how is the tablet version different from the normal ol’ Trap Team? For starters, the aforementioned portal comes equipped with Bluetooth low-energy to communicate with your slate of choice. It also has a handy groove along the side that’s designed to fit the tablet, so that you can prop it up for a hands-free experience. And speaking of a hands-free experience, perhaps the best thing about the tablet edition of Trap Team is that when you flip the portal upside down, you can pop out a Bluetooth-enabled mini controller from underneath it. Yep, the game comes with its own controller so that you can get the whole console experience right on the tablet. We tried it out for a few minutes, and though the controller is rather small for our hands (you’ve got to remember it’s meant for kids) it definitely feels a lot like playing on a miniature console. And, just in case you don’t want to use the physical controller for whatever reason, you can bring up on-screen controls too.
Reiche tells us there’s also an additional gameplay mode, for kids who want to keep playing the game while disconnected from the portal, say while they’re traveling in between destinations. In this mode, they’re given a separate “instant” character that’s completely separate from that of the figurine, just to give kids the chance to wander through the level in between sessions. “Skylanders is really intended to be a toy collection and switching characters, and this doesn’t come close to replacing that,” says Reiche. “But we did want to give people this option.”
Now, the game isn’t compatible with all tablets — it’ll need sufficient horsepower to handle the game’s graphics at the very least. For now, Skylanders Trap Team is compatible with all iPads from the 3rd generation onward (that includes the iPad Air and the iPad Mini Retina), the Kindle Fire HDX, the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro, the Tab S, the Note 10.1 (2014) and the Note Pro 12.2. The Trap Team starter pack comes with the aforementioned Bluetooth portal, the mini controller, two Skylanders characters, two Traps and a handy display tray to see all your traps and villains. It’ll be available for $74.99 and launches on October 5th in North America (10th in Europe and 2nd in the Asia-Pacific region), just like all the other Trap Team starter packs.
Filed under: Gaming
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