Posts Tagged ‘console’
Xbox One Instant Switching Turns The Console Into A Voice-Powered Set Top Box With Live TV Integration
Author: Tyler Evans
Now leading the pack in gaming consoles, Microsoft’s future growth lies outside the gaming sphere. We’ll surely see tons of games at E3 in a few weeks, but at the big reveal of the Xbox One, the company chose to focus on non-gaming features, such as media streaming and Skype conversations.
But what makes streaming and entertainment a true upgrade on the Xbox One, which already has access to almost all streaming platforms? Instant Switching. It allows you to switch between inputs, games, menus, Internet Explorer, and almost anything else almost instantly. And what’s more, it lets you layer the power of Microsoft partnerships and information across live TV.
The Xbox responds to the voice; saying “Xbox On” turns on the console to the homescreen. The UI is familiar, and lets you see what you were doing last, along with trending content from friends, and other panels like games, TV, etc. But then you say “Xbox watch TV,” and live TV pops on. “Xbox show Guide,” and the guide pops up letting you see what’s available on Live TV. “Xbox watch ESPN,” and bloop, ESPN is on. Instant Switching at its best.
And here’s where it gets interesting:
“Xbox show Fantasy,” and instantly, along the right side of the screen showing a Knicks vs. Celtics game you’ll see a run-down on your fantasy league, letting you access further information and even make alterations in real time, right alongside the game itself.
The company also announced a new partnership with NFL that will offer exclusive content and access to Fantasy leagues in Snapmode in real-time.
This is thanks to a feature called Snapmode, which will offer new interactive experiences for Live TV. This includes social, applications, and more.
Because Xbox is now tapping into your live TV, it offers a more targeted and complete entertainment UI, with favorites showing all of your favorite content in a single destination.
And it’s all powered by your voice, should you like. What’s that? Is that the voice of Microsoft telling the hundreds of thousands of Xbox 360 owners out there, who proudly revel in their ownership of what’s considered the most popular gaming console out there, that they should maybe think about upgrading?
Of course, Microsoft wouldn’t upgrade software without hardware (which you can read more about here), and that includes the addition of a Blu-ray player.
Alongside announcing the Xbox One, Microsoft also announced a partnership with 343 Industries and Steven Spielberg to develop a live action TV show about Halo. They didn’t go into much detail, but how much you want to bet there’s some awesome Snapmode features and Xbox SmartGlass features?
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Tags: console, Instant, Integration, into, Live, switching, Turns, VoicePowered, xbox | 
No Comments »Nintendo Wii Console Black w/ Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort NEW 045496880873
Author: Randy Miller
Brand New Nintendo Wii U - Basic Set 8 GB White Console
 | $289.00 End Date: Monday Jun-17-2013 15:18:50 PDT Buy It Now for only: $289.00 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
Wii Skylanders Game, Portal, 21 figures
 | $75.00 (0 Bids) End Date: Wednesday May-22-2013 14:55:16 PDT Buy It Now for only: $120.00 Buy It Now | Bid now | Add to watch list |
NINTENDO WII GAME SYSTEM BUNDLE - With MARIO KART AND STEERING WHEELS!
 | $93.49 End Date: Tuesday Jun-18-2013 8:50:05 PDT Buy It Now for only: $93.49 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
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Xbox 360 Elite 120 GB Black Console Bundle Tested and Working!
Author: Stacey Cook
MICROSOFT XBOX SLIM 360 250GB BLACK CONSOLE 250 GB KINECT READY in ORIGINAL BOX
 | $197.50 End Date: Monday May-27-2013 2:04:43 PDT Buy It Now for only: $197.50 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
Need for Speed: The Run Limited Edition (Xbox 360, 2011)
 | $7.50 (10 Bids) End Date: Wednesday May-22-2013 14:33:36 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
Microsoft Xbox 360 Slim (Latest Model)- Holiday Bundle 250 GB Black Console
 | $189.99 End Date: Friday Jun-21-2013 9:58:53 PDT Buy It Now for only: $189.99 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
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Microsoft planning Xbox dashboard UI and tile changes in preparation for next-gen console
Author: Brittany Turner
Microsoft is preparing to update its Xbox 360 with another dashboard update. Sources familiar with Microsoft’s Xbox plans have revealed to The Verge that the dashboard update will enter into a public beta in late June or early July, with changes and updates in preparation for the next-generation Xbox. We’re told that the user interface will be refreshed alongside smaller Live Tiles, similar to what Microsoft is preparing for Windows 8.1. Microsoft is also said to be tweaking the look of the Xbox dashboard, with the possibility of darker or lighter themes.
We understand Microsoft is aiming to ensure Xbox 360 users can transition over to the next-generation console and interact with existing Xbox 360 users using messaging, beacons, and…
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Tags: changes, console, Dashboard, Microsoft, nextgen, Planning, Preparation, tile, xbox |
No Comments »Sony PlayStation 2 Slim Charcoal Black Console new
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Sony PlayStation 3 60G Piano Black Console System NTSC PS3 Backwards PS2 CECHA01
 | $265.05 End Date: Sunday Jun-2-2013 20:53:46 PDT Buy It Now for only: $265.05 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
PLAYSTATION PS2 STAR WARS BATTLEFRONT II 2 *BRAND NEW*
 | $6.99 (0 Bids) End Date: Wednesday May-22-2013 15:24:36 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
** Nice Sony Playstation 2 Slim Black Console SCPH-75001 ** Works Great!
 | $49.95 End Date: Friday Jun-21-2013 8:11:18 PDT Buy It Now for only: $49.95 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
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PSIO protoype loads PlayStation 1 ISOs on the console, no burned CD necessary (video)
Author: Angela Stephens
Project PlayStation Input Output has been trying to load PlayStation 1 game images through the game system’s parallel I/O port since 2010, and now it’s ready to show off the first prototype. If piracy is your aim, then modchips that let users play burned discs and emulators that have been available through the console’s 19-year history should suffice, but this project aims to bypass those methods. The potential benefits include easier homebrew support and playing of ripped discs on the original hardware without worrying about wearing out an aging console’s laser. Eventually the team wants to load games and saves from an SD card, but in this demo video it’s playing Klonoa: Door to Phantomile from an attached PC. As seen in the nearly ten minute video it does work, albeit slowly. As the video notes, optimizations for the USB controller and CD sectors that should speed things up have not been implemented yet. According to its FAQ, the PSIO team aims to have a final version done this year, you can check out the fruits of their labor after the break.
Source: PSIO, PSIO (YouTube)
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Microsoft Xbox 360 Elite 250 GB Matte Black Console (NTSC) – New Sealed in Box!!
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Resident Evil 6 Xbox 360
 | $10.50 (17 Bids) End Date: Wednesday May-22-2013 14:30:39 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
Xbox 360 Kinect Sensor bar and Kinect Adventures GREAT FREE SHIPPING
 | $50.00 End Date: Friday Jun-21-2013 9:37:52 PDT Buy It Now for only: $50.00 Buy It Now | Add to watch list |
Halo 4 Limited Edition (Xbox 360, 2012)
 | $31.00 (7 Bids) End Date: Wednesday May-22-2013 14:31:17 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
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Home Console Gaming May Suffer Death By A Thousand Cuts, Rather Than A Major Revolution
Author: Stefanie Jenkins
The Ouya is making its way out to backers even now (though my shipping notification still hasn’t arrived. Grrr.) and judging by early impressions, it’s no silver bullet to take down behemoths like Sony and Microsoft. The $ 99, Android powered console still isn’t fully formed exactly, but it’s doubtful that between now and June 25 it’ll take on giant-killer proportions. Likewise the recently-announced BlueStacks Android gaming console, which features a subscription-based pricing model, probably won’t alone topple the giants.
But combined, these and a slew of other devices including the GameStick, smart TVs from manufacturers, Steam Boxes, and even Google and Apple hardware are eating away at what was once a fairly exclusive field. It seems a lot of people are waiting for a watershed moment to signal a significant shift away from traditional console gaming to a new paradigm, but increasingly, it looks likely that what we’ll see instead is an erosion that more closely resembles glacial shift, but on a less geological time scale.
There’s evidence to suggest that console gaming is already losing significant ground, like quarterly results from Nintendo that show a dramatic decline in consumer interest in the recently-launched Wii U console. And while Sony saw its first full-year profit in half a decade, most of the good news was on the smartphone side, and PlayStation sales fell for the year. Microsoft is still doing fairly well with the Xbox 360, but growth of key accessories like the Kinect have slowed with time.
Slower Kinect sales are a good bellwether for the industry’s overall health, if only because it and devices like it are where console makers are turning to try to inject some fresh life into a market that had recently started to look fairly stale. To some extent, Kinect, Move and other gimmicks like the screen of the 3DS are an answer to incursions by mobile gaming and other alternatives. Just like point-and-shoot cameras needed differentiating features like long zooms to prove themselves relative to smartphone cameras, video games needed something new to reel in new buyers.
The new crop of challengers to the console gaming market, including Ouya and the new BlueStacks GamePop console, risks getting discounted by critics as just another round of devices like the GP2X Wiz or the Gizmondo, which had limited appeal and then faded into the background of video games history as little more than a minor footnote. But that’s taking too short-term and dismissive a view on what’s currently happening in the video game space. It’s true that, as ardent console gamers continually remind me, there will always be a demand for that type of content.
Increasingly, however, there’s a growing contingent of players that are fine saying, “if I can get it on my phone, why do I need it anywhere else?” and that’s a market that’s ripe for a living room transition like the ones being attempted by Ouya and BlueStack. It’s easy to discount these ahead of their full consumer launch, and I don’t expect them to have an immediate impact on console sales, but they are signs of a sure shift, and one that won’t go away, even if doesn’t provide the sort of bomb shock disruption that we’re so fond of identifying and championing.
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BlueStacks takes on OUYA with Android-powered GamePop game console
Author: Matthew Wilson
So you want a console for free, eh? BlueStacks is apparently prepared to offer you just that in its GamePop game console, which costs nothing for the month of May with a one-year subscription to the service (wouldn’t you know it, that costs $ 93.83 — just below the price of an OUYA at retail). Like its counterparts, the GamePop is powered by Android (4.2) and runs mostly mobile games. The company isn’t sharing specs just yet, sadly. BlueStacks is promising “over 500″ games, and has some top mobile devs offering credence with in testimonial.
“We’ve been a featured partner in App Player since early on and they’ve delivered on every promise in terms of distribution,” Fruit Ninja studio head Shainiel Deo said, referencing BlueStacks’ App Player software. “GamePop is a great incremental channel for us.” Since games won’t be bought, but included in the subscription, devs receive a 50 percent cut of subscription revenue, determined by how often users play their games. Should you be interested in getting in early, pre-orders are now open at the GamePop website.
Source: GamePop.tv
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OUYA console gets torn down, found to be highly repairable
Author: Mark Jeffries
Now that OUYA consoles are shipping out to the masses, the folks at iFixit were able to grab a box and immediately undo all of the precious packaging work accomplished at the factory. In its usual style, the site gently dissected the world’s best-known Android game console, commenting on “a very clean and simple layout.” Overall, the splaying seemed to happen with little to no fuss, with the fan being the only modular (and moving) component in the entire thing. All told, the OUYA notched a 9 out of 10 on the all-important Repairability Meter, aided by the fact that only standard-head screws were used, and that no abstract glues or other black magic was used while piecing it all together. You’ll definitely want to give the source link a look if you’re yearning for more eye candy.
Filed under: Gaming
Source: iFixit
