This is the week virtual reality goes wide
After attending the first day of the annual Game Developers Conference, the only games I played were in virtual reality. In the following four days, many, many more VR experiences will happen. Some will be good, some will be great, some will be not-so-great. One thing’s for sure: when this week’s over, the VR landscape will look very different.
SONY
Let’s get the elephant in the room out of the room right now: yeah, we’re all pretty sure that Sony’s got a VR headset and it’s going to be shown at GDC. This panel right here — which takes place this evening and we’ll be liveblogging — features a trio of big names at Sony’s PlayStation arm: Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida and PlayStation hardware R&D guys Richard Marks and Anton Mikhailov. Those three are particularly interesting for a few reasons. First, Yoshida already professed his love for VR to us last year. Second, the latter two gentlemen were previously involved with another major PlayStation hardware initiative: PlayStation Move. We’d call it less than shocking if some form of PlayStation-branded virtual reality headset is announced during tonight’s panel.
Of course, what Sony’s rumored headset can do is what matters most. Even the rumor mill is relatively light on this one; the only suggestion of its ability is that it’s superior to the original Rift dev kit and more similar to the Crystal Cove prototype from CES. Here’s hoping we’ll find out tonight!
OCULUS VR
Will we finally see the Oculus Rift retail unit at GDC? Sorry to tell you, but our money’s on no. Last we checked, there’s no launch window for the retail version of the Rift. And, wouldn’t you know it, the original Rift dev kit just recently stopped production. It’s no secret that, after the Crystal Cove prototype was shown at CES, another development kit would eventually have to exist. Now seems the perfect time to introduce a newer model dev kit with a higher-res screen, depth tracking, and “low persistence” — one giant step closer to what we’ll eventually be able to buy in stores.
VALVE
This is a VR prototype headset from Valve
Valve insists it isn’t creating any consumer-grade VR tech just yet, but the folks behind Steam are still a presence at this year’s GDC. Besides coming for the business side of the show (finding new employees, brokering deals with other companies, etc.), we’re hopeful that the new Steam Controller iteration will be at the show for a fresh hands-on. In case you missed it, Valve added eight buttons in place of the touchscreen in the original prototype.
There’s also no indication that Valve’s updated game building tech, Source Engine 2, is getting any real showing. It makes most sense to show off fancy new engines with games, though, and that’s best saved for a private event or E3. We’ve not heard anything on the former, and the latter is approaching quickly (this June).
Oh, and Half-Life 3 will finally be re-announced and given a release date: it’s available right now! Hooray! … No no, not really. Sorry y’all.
THE REST
Yes, I did only mention two VR headsets. So what about the rest? GameFace Labs is here, albeit with the same prototype from CES (which uses Rift optics). We spoke with CEO Ed Mason yesterday morning and his company is working toward its next prototype for soon after GDC. His company was the only other VR headset maker we found at CES this year. At GDC, however, they’re one of five or six (that we know of thus far). Some may be hangers-on to the sudden mass interest in VR, but we also expect to see some very interesting new entries in the field of VR by weeks end.
We’ll of course bring it to you live, as fast as we can, from sunny San Francisco.
Metal Gear Solid Ground Zeroes: The Joystiq Review
It’s a pleasure being lost in the universe of Metal Gear. With every game, and with every return of director Hideo Kojima, the fascinating stealth series redraws the boundaries of its dense military fiction, pushing them back to include more and more characters and conspiracies. We feel like time-travelers in Metal Gear’s byzantine blend of fact and fiction, leaping back and forth between the future and past of a legendary soldier named Snake. Now we enter 1975 in Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes, and bless its prequel heart – there’s a spot in the statistics screen reserved for time paradoxes.
Kojima’s fiction may be impenetrable to the newcomer, but one man’s convoluted is another man’s complex, and it’s your job to infiltrate the latter. Ground Zeroes effectively acts as the cold open for the upcoming and separately released Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, sending Snake through a massive rain-drenched encampment in Cuba. It’s not quite the glorified demo your cynical self might suggest, but this tantalizing playground does show how Metal Gear Solid will change its crouching silhouette yet again.
The mission to rescue Chico and the duplicitous Paz, two important figures from Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, is just the first step in a new, freely explorable environment. It feels daunting at first, but clear goals keep you pointed in the right direction. Ground Zeroes is a confident game for the confident player – the one who sees the playground hiding beneath Metal Gear’s tankers and army bases. This one’s just a whole lot bigger.
Click here for more
Filed under: Gaming, Software, Sony, Microsoft
Source: Joystiq
Play Movies & TV Update Adds 37 New Countries and Offline SD Content
Google’s Play Movies & TV app has updated today. The update brings a few nice little details for those of us that already had access to the movie and tv collection. Here is what is new for current users.
- Get your content offline faster – now HD movies and shows may be downloaded in HD or SD.
- Improved video streaming performance for select KitKat devices.
- Additional app improvements and bugfixes.
Bug fixes and improvements are good to see, especially for select KitKat devices. They don’t mention which ones though. The addition of getting your content offline in SD (Standard) format is new. Previously you could only download HD content for offline viewing. We all love HD content, but when you are pulling a huge movie to your device you are going to tun into storage issues in a hurry.
The big win with the update though is the addition of 37 new countries who now have access to the service.
Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Finland, Gabon, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Ivory Coast, Luxembourg, Mali, Mauritius, Namibia, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Niger, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Rwanda, Senegal, Sweden, Togo, Uruguay, Venezuela and Zambia.
That really opens things up for Google and for consumers. However, there is still a catch. You all have access to the movie side of things, but TV availability is still only available the U.S., United kingdom, Japan and Australia.
If you happen to live in one of the aforementioned countries, be sure to head to the Play Store and grab the app. Alternatively you can head to Gappsearly and grab the APK and load it yourself.
via 9to5Google
Samsung’s Galaxy S5 won’t be considered a medical device in South Korea
Samsung’s shiny new Galaxy S5 packs quite a stats monitoring punch with the help of S Health. While the FDA has approved the software companion for the US, it seems the same label won’t be applied in South Korea. The app does meet the criteria laid out by the regulations, but the governing body cited the confusion that could surface from classifying a consumer device like a smartphone as a medical gadget as the main reason for the denial. In order to clarify the formal requirements, regulators will rework to the law to be more precise in its parameters. S Health was approved as a “cardiology signal transmitter” by the FDA in the States back in January and originally debuted alongside the Galaxy S III in 2012. Back then, it monitored glucose levels, blood pressure and body composition via a Bluetooth-equipped scale. However, those functions weren’t a part of S Health when it finally debuted stateside on the GS4 — despite another lot of health-minded accessories that were available abroad.
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Samsung
Via: Talk Android
Source: Yonhap News (Korean)
MyCastScreen Brings Informative Home Screen to Chromecast TV’s
Google’s Chromecast device is a heck of a simple way to bring great content to your TV with very little effort. While it is great to cast Plex, Netflix, Photos and videos off your device and even play a few simple games, there is still a lot more that it is going to be able to do. While many of us love the home screen when nothing is casting, you know, the one with all the photos, there are time we wish that could be changed. Well, there is an app for that now, sort of.
MyCastScreen isn’t so much a replacement home app like you would think on Nova or Apex launcher. It is just another app that casts to your Chromecast, but it gives a bit more information in a pleasant card style look.
The app is super simple to set up and use. Once purchased, it does cost $0.99, you will input a few variables to your liking. You set your Weather and Traffic zip codes for the cards you see to the middle left and bottom left. You can then set a custom RSS feed URL for a live streaming feed of news. It is set to Reuters by default.
The app won’t do you a lick of good without a Chromecast of course.
MyCastScreen offers just a little bit of stuff, but clearly needs some more work. For instance, the Clock, Weather, Traffic and News buttons that state “On” can’t be turned off. At least I couldn’t. I also had to clear the app after disconnecting to get the cast button to reappear in the top right corner.
It has potential. If the buttons worked to disable the four items at will and if you could set up more than one feed that would be great. The developer mentions that custom background images, hiding/rearranging sections, image slideshow widget, stock ticker, custom refresh times, extended weather forecasts and more are on the way. I would like to see some AllCast/DayFrame style integration where you can choose the photo sources for a custom photo widget.
For $0.99 it is worth checking out. Especially since it sounds like the dev has some good plans for it moving forward.
Great find Google TV Friends
Rovio’s Angry Birds Epic is a Bird Brained RPG Game [Video]
Ten days ago there was a teaser video released by Rovio that alluded to a Angry Birds Epic. They said it would be the “the most epic soft launch ever” and has since launched in Australia, New Zealand and Canada on iOS devices. The new release takes the Angry Birds to a small island where they will face off against the sinister piggies in a turn-based RPG.
“A fantasy piggy island where silly costumes were fashionable, and weapons were—how to put it?—different.”
It doesn’t look all that bad really. The trailer of the gameplay doesn;t offer up a heck of a lot in terms of story line or progression. It just shows off some 3 v 3 battles with weird weapons. Take a watch.
No word yet on when Android will put into the mix. We assume their should be a soft launch for in the works as well.
Source: IntoMobile
Amazon App Store Celebrating 3rd B-Day with Lots of Deals
Did you know that Amazon has a plethora of Android apps in their app store? Oddly enough not many people do unless they happen to also own a Kindle Fire of some sorts. The Amazon App Store for Android has actually been around, as of March 22nd, for 3 years. The Android app to access this store is FREE. While not everyone loves it, there are few things to look forward to everyday, like the free app of the day.
In celebration of the Amazon apps store for Android, Amazon is having an app store party. For the next two weeks various apps will go on sale, some of which will be up to 60% off. They will also have some of those in-app purchase deals. As an added bonus, if you take advantage of a few of the in-app purchase deals in games like Asphalt 8, The Hobbit, Sonic Dash and many others, you will get 50% pack in the form of Amazon Coins.
If you don’t have the Amazon App Store for Android app, you can get it directly from Amazon. It is required to be able to snag any of the deals that are going on.
A few deals we see today for the celebration include:
- Man of Steel by Warner Bros. On sale for $1.99, down from $4.99.
- Terraria by 505 games. On sale for $2.99, down from $4.99.
- Batman: Arkham City Lockdown. On sale for $2.99, down from $5.99. (Kindle Fire Edition)
Feel free to poke around
Google Hangouts outage brings chatting to a halt
If you’ve been having trouble with Google Hangouts today, you’re not alone. The chat service has been experiencing issues, and the folks in Mountain View have confirmed the “service disruption.” According to the Apps Status Dashboard, Google Talk and Sheets (spreadsheets) are having down time of their own, but there’s no confirmation on the latter two applications. We’re keeping an eye on things, and we’ll be sure to update when more details become available.
Filed under: Internet, Software, Google
Source: Google
ACC Sports channel arrives on Apple TV with on-demand analysis and highlights
One day after its Men’s Basketball Tournament wrapped up in Greensboro, North Carolina, the Atlantic Coast Conference has launched an Apple TV channel offering on-demand programming. For now, ACC Sports will offer “extensive highlights and feature programming” from the ACC Digital Network. What about NCAA Tournament streaming? You won’t find that here. The rights to all March Madness games are owned by CBS, with games also broadcast on TBS, TNT and truTV. However, this channel will offer analysis and daily coverage during the tourney, following the conference’s teams and a “Road to Texas” series. There’s also access to Campus Insiders for catching up on the latest from schools in other major conferences (sorry, mid-majors). The announcement makes no mention of live event coverage, which isn’t a huge surprise as ESPN has a firm grasp on that for Apple’s streaming box with its WatchESPN option.
Filed under: Software, HD, Apple
Via: 9to5Mac
Source: ACC
Microsoft’s OneNote goes completely free, launches for Macs
Honestly, we’re a little surprised that it took this long for OneNote to land on OS X — Microsoft’s powerful tool for taking and organizing notes has been around for a decade now. Oddly it came to iOS and Android before finally finding a home in the Mac version of the Office suite of products. With its launch on Apple desktops, OneNote is also going completely gratis. The new Mac version is available for free in the App Store and the Windows edition is becoming a free download as well. The Metro-fied version designed for Windows 8 has been free for sometime now, but the full desktop version of OneNote 2013 was a paid part of the Office productivity suite. Premium features, like SharePoint support and Outlook integration still require you to cough up some cash, however.
In addition to ditching the price tag, Microsoft is adding a bunch of new features to OneNote. Most notably is the launch of an API that allows developers to integrate their own creations with the service. As a demonstration of its most basic functionality, Redmond launched a collection of web clipper extensions for IE, Chrome, Firefox and Safari. Of course, capturing web pages is just the tip of the iceberg. Feedly, IFTTT, Genius Scan and a host of others have added the ability to save to OneNote from their own apps and we’re sure plenty more will join the fray soon.
Lastly, today also marks the launch of Office Lens, a Windows Phone app that turns your smartphone camera into a scanner. Evernote and Google Drive (previously Google Docs) have offered the ability to snap photos of documents or handwritten missives for a while now. Lens finally brings OCR (optical character recognition) to Microsoft’s apps, bringing it closer to complete feature parity with its competitors. You can go download OneNote and its various companion apps now.
Filed under: Software, Apple, Microsoft
Source: Office Blogs
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