Nerdology

Kotaku has a first look at the new Xbox One hedset. Two initial thoughts:

I’m happy it’s wired.
I’m VERY happy the moved the volume / mute controls back to the bottom and not inline. It’s SO much better when you don’t have to take your hand off the controller.

Microsoft Xbox Press Conference

Microsoft did what Microsoft does at E3. It brought games. The stand outs were:

Halo
Killer Instinct
Dead Rising 3
Sunset Overdrive (new IP from Insomniac!)
Quantum Break (from Remedy Entertainment)
Forza

And, most importantly the Xbox One will launch in 21 markets this year at $499 US 499€ in Europe and £429 for the U.K. Also, good news is that Microsoft has scrapped MS Points in favor of dollars and cents. Finally. Now I’m just going to try really hard to forget that 1600 MS Points is 20 dollars.

To counter Sony’s annoucement of UStream intergration, Microsoft has announced a partnership with Twitch.TV. Gold members can stream from their Xbox One directly to their channels.

The most interesting announcement was about Xbox Live Gold members. Starting July 1st Gold members can download 2 free games a month. This is kind of cool, I’m just not certain how it works. It’s been hard to find information about it. I can’t tell if there will be a back catalog or if you have to download and keep it yourself. I’ll update this when I find out more.

Curious to see what Sony brings tonight!

This *perfect* Xbox One ad comes courtesy of Kim Dotcom.

Xbox One

Ok, here it is. I’ve been struggling to put words on paper about the Xbox One. I find I meander, I pull references, figures and I get off track.

I don’t want to talk about my cord cutting, or the history of streaming boxes, and I really don’t want to talk about how Microsoft has been after the living room for years or that Media Center PCs have been around for decades - that’s not the point. It’s this:

Microsoft has made a really compelling set top box.

It’s not a gaming console, it’s also a gaming console. It’s kind of the thing that people have been using in scifi for, what feels like, forever. Saying “xbox, [command]” into an empty room is actually something out of Star Trek. And we’ll have it, seemingly, very functional and standard on every box is great. Pulling up a another task on your TV while browser window while you’re watching a movie is actually science fiction.

So, while the Xbox One reveal might be Microsoft graduating the from gaming console to full on set top home computer, I’m ok with that. I’m a nerd. That’s something I want.

Xbox One

Microsoft just announced the Xbox One. Excited that they actually showed off their hardware *cough*sony*cough*

[via Major Nelson]

The Incredible Rise and Fall of a Hacker Who Found the Secrets of the Next Xbox and PlayStation—And Maybe More

Stephen Totilo calls this the “wildest story I’ve reported in a long, long time.” It’s the crazy tale about an Australian hacker who has compromised several huge game developers and may or may not have a few dev kits for the next Xbox. Great read.

Student of many. Master of none.

I think laptops can benefit from touch screens, but that doesn’t mean we should consider them tablets. Laptops, phones, and tablets all play different parts in my work or play. And, for me, they each need to be no compromise machines.

It’s very interesting to see Microsoft (becasue those are Microsoft even though it is an HP machine) and Samsung advertising with the word “best” in reference to a device they’re trying to say does two things.

Why I Wish Microsoft Started Making Computers Years Ago

joannastern:

And if Microsoft did that when touch became so important to laptops, I might have never changed the subject to terrible trackpads when I sat down with Angiulo, and never started recommending Mac laptops over Windows PCs for the last couple of years.

My full editorial

Are you guys following Joanna Stern? I’m trying to get her to tumbl more often.

I have oft mentioned that I think Microsoft should stick to making software and make it available on as many platforms as possible. But I was never talking about Windows. I like the idea of Microsoft having a flagship device that they are building with an experience they can control. It sets the bar for everyone else.

Microsoft has filed for some patents which Engadget thinks hints at some dual screen tablets coming down the pipe, likely for Windows 8. “The recently published patents, not yet granted to the company, touch upon methods for off-screen input (read: bezel-based), but mainly focus on these multi-screen input options: dual tap, pinch and expand, hold and page-flip, hold and tap, and finally, bookmark hold.”

If you look at that image it looks very familiar. Couple that with the “hold and page flip” breakdown and you’ve got some Courier functionality. Now, the Courier video is from early last year so I would actually be surprised if they filed for these knowing that the video leaked and they are just trying to protect their idea, rather than actually make something.

Obviously a piece of me is hoping for something like Courier. Alas, It probably will never be.

[Via Engadget]

Microsoft Purchases Skype For 8.5 Billion Dollars

Last week Peter Rojas wrote and editorial titled “Four moves Microsoft could make in mobile”. Two of the four were things I talked about in previous editorials about bringing Zune and Office to more platforms, one was about Gmail and the last was that Microsoft should purchase Skype. While I think the acquisition of Skype should have been the third priority on that short list it is the first one to have happened.

I’m not saying that Peter’s editorial is influencing Microsoft just that they might be paying attention to educated objective third parties. Hopefully the Zune and Office thing will happen next.

It’s a really interesting, and really aggressive move for Microsoft. Skype has over 600 million users, so it seems that Microsoft has just bulled their way into your computer and (hopefully… for Microsoft) onto your front facing camera equipped cell phone. Purchasing a company with this much reach means Microsoft has taken its first steps into putting software on non Windows Mobile devices… unless they are going to let Apple keep FaceTime monogamy and surrender Android to Qik. Surely they wouldn’t do that (please don’t do that).

In an ideal world you could Skype with your phone, your computer or your Xbox (did you think that Kinect would some how be left out of this?). I don’t know what this means for Windows Live Messenger but I wouldn’t be surprised if I never typed the words “Windows Live Messenger” again.

[EDIT: According to the official press release this morning the deal came in at 8.5B not 7. The title has been changed accordingly.]

[via This Is My Next and All Things D]

Nerdology

Posts tagged Microsoft

The Incredible Rise and Fall of a Hacker Who Found the Secrets of the Next Xbox and PlayStation—And Maybe More

Why I Wish Microsoft Started Making Computers Years Ago

Microsoft Purchases Skype For 8.5 Billion Dollars