RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif.--Streaming-game service OnLive, which launches in two weeks, gave attendees at D: All Things Digital a look at both its initial service as well as some things that might be possible down the road.
OnLive CEO Steve Perlman said that, although gaming is its first application, the service is really aimed to tap the power of cloud computing.
"If we can make gaming work, we can make anything work," said Perlman, a WebTV founder who also spent time at Apple and Microsoft.
In addition to playing games on televisions or computers that couldn't … Read more
RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif.--Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg defended his company's approach to privacy, saying it makes sense for users to have a mix of information: some that's shared narrowly and some that should be made broadly available.
"There have been misperceptions that we are trying to make all the information public," Zuckerberg said, speaking at the D: All Things Digital conference here. That said, for social networks to link people to one another, some information must necessarily be public, he said. "There's some serendipity that can only happen if you are sharing," … Read more
Sony is working on a follow-up to its PlayStation 3 DVR known as PlayTV, senior producer Mark Green confirmed in a recent interview with game publication Spong.
According to Green, his studio is working on several projects. He balked at mentioning them all but cited the DVR add-on unit for the PS3.
"We're still working on PlayTV, PlayTV 2," he said.
Green stopped short of discussing it further. Regardless, speculation abounds over what may come out of the PlayTV 2. The first PlayTV, which went on sale in 2008 for about $156, allows owners to record and … Read more
New survey data from research firm Magid and Associates and in-game commerce provider PlaySpan shows that virtual goods sales continue to grow, with games leading the way to monetization.
Virtual goods remain a promising alternative to advertising, and even to subscription revenue for many games and social networks. As mobile games continue to play an important role in gaming revenue, I would expect to see the sales of virtual goods continue to skew toward mobile devices as users seek instant gratification and bite-sized chunks of high-quality gameplay.
If you think that Sony's PlayStation 3 has been maxed out, think again. According to Sony Computer Entertainment Europe President Andrew House, developers have a way to go before they can fully say that they've used all the power the company's console has to offer.
"As with all consoles, as developers spend more and more time on the platform, they learn more, resulting in an improvement in the quality of the games," House said in response to questions posed by readers of the Official PlayStation Web site. "Already with PS3, you can see how … Read more
Would you be willing to pay $150 for a video camera peripheral that will only work with a $200 gaming console?
Microsoft hopes so--at least according to Edge Online's "trusted source," who says that $150 is in fact the price tag for a Project Natal unit, and that Microsoft is planning to offer it both as a standalone item and as part of an Arcade system bundle.
Project Natal, which is widely expected to be renamed at its near-final press debut at next month's E3 conference in Los Angeles, is a video capture device for the … Read more
The United States Navy is well-known for its grueling boot camp. But it may be adding a new element to it that might surprise you: video games. The Navy Times first reported the news Wednesday.
According to Navy Surgeon General Vice Admiral Adam Robinson, he wants to use games like Wii Fit and Dance Dance Revolution to increase the effectiveness of boot camp and prepare recruits for the rigors of getting through the ordeal. He plans to use games to increase recruit "endurance" in the early stages of boot camp, the Navy Times reported.
"There are lots of programs now that people can [use to] become very physically active while they're using interactive computer games," Robinson said. "So, in other words, this isn't about [starting] with computers and stopping [everything else]--because we're not going to do that. This is about incorporating those types of activities into something that people can use to become more physically active."
Robinson's intentions are based on what the Navy believes is an increasingly troubling issue. According to the Navy Times, fewer recruits are coming to boot camp with the requisite physical ability to get through the training. The branch of service has also found that more recruits are getting injured as they attempt to get through boot camp. Video games, Robinson believes, could address those issues.… Read more
It might not sound like a lot on first glance, but the 36 extra seconds that the average Google.com visitor spent there last Friday playing Pac-Man adds up to a massive 4.8 million of wasted hours.
According to a study by RescueTime, Pac-Man on Google--the playable version of the iconic game that the search giant replaced its home page logo with on Friday--cost the economy a total of 4,819,352 man-hours and a whopping $120,483,800 in lost productivity. As RescueTime put it, you could hire every single Google employee, including co-founders Larry Page, Sergey Brin, … Read more
More than five years after its launch, World of Warcraft is still as popular as ever. These days it boasts more than 11.5 million users, many of whom are waiting eagerly for the game's third full expansion, Cataclysm, which is expected later this year.
It's not clear yet if the new version will match the impressive sales of its predecessor, Wrath of the Lich King, which sold 4 million copies in one month, but there's sure to be a rush of excitement when it does launch.
One thing that's clear, though, is that WoW fans … Read more
Note to developers planning to make games for Sony's PlayStation Move controller: don't even try to rehash your past titles for the Wii.
Speaking in an interview with Gamasutra, Sony's senior vice president of publisher relations, Rob Dyer, told the publication that when it comes to motion gaming, some titles work, and some just don't. And his company is currently working with developers to help them find the right genres and types of games that would work with the PlayStation Move--and nix those that would not.
"Our challenge here is to make sure [developers are] … Read more
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