Xbox One is $50 less through Christmas Eve
Microsoft is following Sony’s lead and temporarily dropping the price on the Xbox One for the holiday season. Now through Christmas Eve you can save $50 on all One and One S bundles, which could make grabbing another game or a spare controller a little bit easier on the wallet. Hell, even if you aren’t looking for a game console specifically, the Xbox One S makes for an incredibly solid UHD Blu-ray player. A post on Xbox Wire says that the deals are available at places like Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, Microsoft Stores and Walmart’s website, so maybe call ahead before you sally forth debit card in hand.
Source: Xbox Wire
Sony revives its $50 PS4 price drop for two weeks
Disheartened that you missed out on a price-cut PlayStation 4 around Black Friday? You’re about to get a second chance. In a near-repeat of what happened last year, Sony is resurrecting its $50 discount on the Uncharted 4 slim PS4 bundle between December 11th and December 24th. Yes, you’ll still get the console for $250 in the US if you’re a last-minute shopper. And Canadians get an extra break — while the PS4 costs $330 in local currency, they have until December 29th to go shopping. You’re stuck if you’d rather buy a PS4 Pro, but this remains a solid deal if you’re not interested in 4K and just want to see what all the fuss is about.
Via: Polygon
Source: PlayStation Blog
Blu’s Vivo 6 comes to the UK for £185 on Black Friday
US phone maker Blu (Bold Like Us) has produced a number of feature-rich yet affordable Android handsets over the years, but the company hasn’t really made a name for itself in Europe. But now it’s looking to do something about it. With Motorola and Wileyfox currently winning hearts and minds with their budget offerings, Blu has today launched the Vivo 6, a stylish 4G mid-range smartphone with an aluminium unibody design and fingerprint sensor. If you act quick, you can grab one at a significant discount.
The Vivo 6 features a 5.5-inch 1080 x 1920 Gorilla Glass 3 display (that’s 401ppi) and is powered by a 1.8GHz octa-core MediaTek P10 processor with 4GB of RAM. A 13-megapixel camera (Sony sensor) with phase detection autofocus and laser focus is your main shooter, with an 8MP wide-angle front-facer for snapping selfies and the like. There’s also 64GB of internal storage with support for 64GB via microSD, a 3130 mAh battery (which supports Blu’s proprietary Quick Charge technology over USB-C) and a dual-SIM tray.
Blu is placing the Vivo 6 between low-cost handsets like the Moto G4 and budget flagships like the OnePlus 3. Its unibody design shares similarities with the HTC 10 and OnePlus 3T, but remains distinctive in gold and rose gold finishes. In our tests, the Vivo 6 was plenty powerful, loading apps quickly and multi-tasked with ease. Battery life was decent, but not spectacular, and the camera was impressive in bright environments. It did, however, struggle a little in lower light conditions. Blu says its fingerprint reader is rapid and we have to say that it’s one of the fastest we’ve used on any Android device.
The Vivo 6 runs a slightly modified version of Android 6.0 Marshmallow (an upgrade to Android 7.0 Nougat is coming in the future), which includes a handful of unique Android apps and skin tweaks. In the swipeable settings tray lies a fake call button that will get you out of tight spots; there’s also NextRadio, an app that fuses local FM radio (via the Vivo’s built-in tuner) with extra online content like album art, radio station logos and information on the track you’re listening to; an enhanced screenshot tool and an “extreme” battery mode that gets more out of the device when you’re running low on power.
At £240, Blu’s mid-range handset can probably hold its own in its category. However, to sweeten the deal, the handset is currently available via Amazon UK’s Deal Of The Day promotion for just £185, a 23 percent discount. If you’re eager to buy a new Android phone that looks the part and won’t soon become obsolete, the Vivo 6 could be worth a look.
Source: Amazon UK
Steam’s first game awards are chosen by you
Valve doesn’t want to leave game awards to others any more. The gaming giant is introducing its first-ever Steam Awards, and it’s asking the community to decide on both the nominees and the winners. These aren’t the usual best-in-category awards, either. It wants you to nominate titles based on everything from their addictive qualities (the “Just 5 More Minutes” award) through to the best mini games (“Game Within A Game”). You’ll get experience points and badges for nominating, so you aren’t just receiving a pat on the back for your time.
The nominations are open now, and the final votes will take place alongside a winter sale in December.
Valve is pairing the awards announcement with the start of its annual Autumn Sale, which runs from now through November 29th at 1PM Eastern. There are many, many games on sale (12,841, to be exact), but there are some highlights. Games in the Batman, Civilization, Elder Scrolls, Far Cry, Grand Theft Auto, Just Cause and Street Fighter franchises are all on sale, with discounts ranging from 10 percent to 92 percent — most of those we’ve mentioned are over 50 percent. If you’re not sure who to nominate for the awards, you’ll at least have an excuse to buy some of the candidates.
Source: Steam Awards, Steam Store
Nintendo offers rare discounts on 3DS and Wii U games
Nintendo isn’t known for running many sales on its games (you’re more likely to see sales on devices), but it’s making a big exception this year. It just kicked off a Cyber Deals eShop sale that offers large discounts on 3DS and Wii U titles — and these are frequently titles you’d want to play. On the 3DS, you’ll see price cuts on big titles like Hyrule Warriors Legends (down to $28), Fire Emblem Awakening ($20) and Monster Hunter Generations ($23). Head over to the Wii U side and you can pick up Twilight Princess HD ($35), Super Mario Galaxy 2 ($10) and Darksiders II ($10). Indie games like Super Meat Boy and Terraria are also on sale, and numerous Lego games (including Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens) are discounted across platforms.
The sale lasts through December 5th, and you’ll still get Gold Points if you’re a My Nintendo member. These aren’t necessarily the sales you’d hope for (Splatoon, anyone?). Look at it this way, though: it’s a good chance to scoop up a few of the titles you missed from the current generation before the Switch arrives.
Source: Nintendo
Original Xbox One sale drops the UK price to £180
When the first Xbox One S bundles hit the UK in late September, they were so aggressively priced that the original One looked ready for immediate retirement. But the console has one last hurrah in store. Microsoft announced this morning the “biggest ever sale” of original Xbox One gear, with bundles starting at £180 for a 500GB box and one game. That’s on Microsoft’s store, anyway, but similar discounts can be found at other retailers like Amazon and Tesco (no reaction from GAME currently).
We’re sure there are plenty of other retailers that have brought down their prices, or will in the near future, so have a hunt around. The Xbox One might not have the newer model’s 4K Blu-ray drive, better gamepad and slim figure, but when you can put a console under the Christmas tree for under £200, those seem like fair enough compromises. Better hurry up, though — stocks are likely to run out soon enough.
Source: Microsoft (Twitter)
Twitter could rescue Vine through a sale
When Twitter decided to kill Vine, there was a common reaction: why didn’t the company just sell its looping video service instead of reducing it to a memorial? Well, cooler heads might prevail after all. Sources speaking to our TechCrunch colleagues claim that Twitter is looking at “multiple” bids for Vine that flooded in the moment it put the service on the chopping block. There are no definite suitors, but messaging giant Line is rumored to be in the running.
Twitter won’t erase its financial concerns if there is a sale, though. Reportedly, some of the offers were modest — we’re talking under $10 million. Given that Twitter is believed to have bought Vine for $30 million, it’d still be taking a loss on its investment in the short term. It beats not selling at all, however, and the company might be entirely happy if there’s a Vine revival that preserves Twitter integration. After all, that would mean more users and ad revenue.
To no one’s surprise, Twitter isn’t commenting. And it’s important to remember that there’s no guarantee any sale will happen, assuming the leak is accurate. Twitter might not get the terms it wants for a deal, or a would-be buyer might develop cold feet. Still, this gives hope to fans who invested significant chunks of their life (6 seconds at a time) into Vine and want to see it healthy again.
Source: TechCrunch
Jack Dorsey calls Twitter the ‘people’s news network’
One of the reasons that Twitter has struggled with its investors is because nobody, not even its leaders, really knows what Twitter is for. In a memo sent around to employees, CEO Jack Dorsey seems to have stumbled across his vision for the embattled company. The note, which was sent to celebrate a year running the company, describes the site as “the people’s news network,” with a combination of “news and talk.”
The document was procured by Bloomberg, which has been posting regular stories about Twitter’s internal problems. Last week, the newswire reported that Dorsey was locked in a three-way battle for the service’s soul, fighting CFO Anthony Noto and co-founder Ev Williams. The latter is pushing for a sale, while Noto has seized power and is dragging Twitter into live video — rather than as a “news and talk” network.
Dorsey also says that the last 12 months have been spent “getting to the truth” of what Twitter is. Now that he has arrived at this mission statement, he wants the company to “strive to be the first” whenever news breaks. Of course, given how much news is shared on Twitter, we’re not sure immediacy has ever been a real issue for the company. Compared to, say, the undercurrent of racism and abuse that dogs the platform and garners plenty of negative headlines in the press.
In the short term, it’s not clear if Dorsey’s memo was simply a generous note to his employees or something of a power play. After all, if you’ve been recently criticized for a “passive” leadership style, then sending a take-charge memo may help to beat back that perception. It also doesn’t help that several would-be buyers took a quick look at Twitter as a going concern and decided to walk away.
Source: Bloomberg
Reuters: Twitter seeks a sale decision by October 27th
Twitter’s flat growth and falling profits made for a dim outlook until a few weeks ago when sources close to the social media platform said that Google, Salesforce and other tech luminaries were looking to buy it. The company’s stock jumped 20 percent that day, and speculation has continued as to which would be the best buyer. But it seems time is of the essence: Twitter wants to conclude sale deliberations before October 27th, the day it reports its third quarter earnings, sources told Reuters.
Binding acquisition offers are due in two weeks, the sources noted. Salesforce is in the running, which could mine Twitter’s data for business intel, while Disney might make a bid to use its social media platform to boost outreach for its programming. While Google was considered a prominent potential buyer, separate sources told Recode that the search giant won’t make a bid. Apple isn’t likely to enter the fray either.
But it’s possible that even Twitter isn’t solid on what Twitter wants to do. Bloomberg reported today that three head executives are split: CEO Jack Dorsey wants to remain independent, co-founder Ev Williams wants to sell, with chief financial officer Anthony Noto stepped in to seize more control of the company amid Dorsey’s passive leadership.
But this whole process might not even result in a sale, Reuters’ sources cautioned. Regardless, concluding negotiations with any buyer before October 27th is an incredibly aggressive deadline. At the very least, it will likely define where Twitter is going before it has to report what is likely its 12th consecutive quarter without producing net profit as a public company.
Source: Reuters
Bloomberg: Twitter is locked in an internal battle over sale
Something is rotten in the state of Twitter, and it looks as if some of the blame should be laid at the feet of Jack Dorsey. At least, that’s the sentiment of a lengthy report from Bloomberg that discusses the company’s current malaise. According to sources, there’s a three-person battle amongst the firm’s leadership over what Twitter should be, and what its future holds. Dorsey reportedly wants to keep running Twitter as an independent company, while co-founder and board member Ev Williams wants to pursue a sale.
Sat between the two is the company’s Chief Financial Officer, Anthony Noto, who has seized de facto control of the company. The report explains that Dorsey’s management style has become so “passive” and “contemplative” that Noto has stepped up to fill the void. In this telling, it is Noto rather than Dorsey who is credited with sealing a cut-price deal with the NFL to stream 10 Thursday Night Football games this season. Further anonymous sources say that Noto, whose stated job is just to run finance, is spearheading the company’s move into live video. The result is that Jack Dorsey’s power as head of the company has been eroded by his more proactive subordinate.
All of this comes while potential suitors for the company are lurking in, well, they’re not even the shadows at this point. Salesforce, Google and even Disney are all reportedly lining up bids to purchase Twitter and define what it actually is. That remains the site’s biggest problem, since it exists in a quantum state between a social network, microblogging service and broadcasting platform all at the same time. It has untold potential, but the uncertainty over how it operates is one of the reasons that advertisers are taking their money to Facebook and Snapchat.
Source: Bloomberg
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