Sly Reflex Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 I don't know why they didn't go the child lock way, that way people could have had cigars and booze for their avatars. Some people would buy them, it's not like those things are illegal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomahawk Rob Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 So it seems that with the latest update Microsoft have been fiddling with (and removing) certain aspects of the dashboard video player... What went wrong with the 360 Dashboard? I'm not a massive user of the video player, but it does seem like Microsoft are being a bunch of cunts more & more frequently nowadays... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sly Reflex Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 On the other hand... http://spong.com/article/26087/Xbox-360-Scoops-Innovation-Accolade It's true! Microsoft's Xbox 360, after nearly seven years on sale, has been recognised as a true innovation. The console manufacturer was awarded 'TV Innovator of the Year' during the Consumer Electronics Show this week, for its recent Dashboard update and On Demand video services.The funny thing is, the honour was announced during the 2012 TV Innovation Awards ... which is run by marketing firm IMS Research. Microsoft beat 13 other category winners - ranging from Samsung to Quantenna - to be crowned the overall king of the awards show. Well, it's easier when your rivals win a 3DTV category for "Samsung Electronics America - Plasma D8000 Series Smart TV" and you win the On Demand category with "Xbox 360 Teams Up With Entertainment Leaders to Transform TV" (that's what the winners sheet really looks like). Microsoft could have won on buzz words and cleverly-worded category entries alone. Still, the prestige of the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino in Las Vegas cannot be questioned, and in fact Microsoft has been rightfully recognised for the effort it has undertaken to attract so many video partners for the Xbox 360. Well done Microsoft. Jolly well done. I think this is what they were initially aiming for, is it not? To get that spot under the TV that gives us all our pleasure, no matter what media it peddles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hendo Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Yeah there's no such thing as a games console anymore, they practically all have Lovefilm and Netflix, iPlayer, play music, watch Sky, etc. Hopefully the good thing about this should be that people stop looking at tablets and phones as "not real games machines". The video playback thing sucks balls and everything about this latest update has been about advertising and selling stuff rather than making it better for the user. If I pay them money, I should be able to block adverts, adverts for films, move stuff around, create custom folders for games I want to play and all that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sly Reflex Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 Should change this thread title to Microsoft news and bang it in the news section. Seems logical to keep all the MS news and updates in one place. Maybe do other threads for the other big players too. http://spong.com/article/26155/Microsofts-Well-Happy-with-Xbox-Division-Results Bloody hell, some actual good news for finances in the video gaming world as Microsoft releases its second fiscal quarter results."The Entertainment & Devices Division posted revenue of $4.24 billion, an increase of 15% from the prior period. The Xbox 360 installed base now totals approximately 66 million consoles and 18 million Kinect sensors. Xbox LIVE now has 40 million members worldwide, an increase of 33% from the prior year period." Now, no matter where you stand on the console 'war' (ideally, you stand aside from it and just get on with gaming) this has got to be mildly uplifting stuff. Kevin Turner, chief operating officer at Microsoft also pointed out that, “In addition to the continued strength of our commercial business, this holiday season was the strongest in Microsoft history, thanks to good sales execution and compelling products like Xbox 360 and Kinect. But then he goes ruins it by saying something stupid like, "We are seeing a lot of excitement for new devices, from Windows 7 Ultrabooks to new Windows Phones, as well as growing anticipation for Windows 8.” Who gives a buggery about an operating system? I could understand if the current one was a turd, but it isn't. http://spong.com/article/26148/Microsoft-Xbox-Growing-Out-of-Game-Centric-Box Microsoft's Xbox team is getting another face new to it - Dave Cutler, aka "the father of Windows NT" is joining what is looking more and more like the Xbox 720 team. But let's move past Dave's almighty NT past...Much has been made of his work on developing the Windows system that has evolved into the Vista that we all know and learn to work with. And so it should be. However, Cutler's recent work has been with the Azure cloud storage and computing systems that Microsoft has been pushing out. And how he's moving over to work with the Xbox team. Why? According to a Microsoft spokesdroid quoted in Zdnet: "Dave is one of our brightest minds and is currently working on projects that will help advance our goals in the consumer space as we continue to grow the Xbox from a game-centric console to a complete home entertainment device.” So, if you thought the Metro Dashboard reduced gaming to some kind of ugly kid cousin to Movies, TV, Music and Adverts, Adverts and more Adverts... just wait and see how the Xbox 'grows' out of gaming. Like I said, I seemed to remember reading in EDGE when Microsoft entered the console market, they wanted a PC under the TV that did everything. It's looking very much like they are close to accomplishing their dream. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DANGERMAN Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 Who gives a buggery about an operating system? Apple fans? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyberpunk Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Who gives a buggery about an operating system? Apple fans? Linux fans? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sly Reflex Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 The only connection I'm seeing between those are that they are both pompous asshats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sly Reflex Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 http://spong.com/article/26162/Microsofts-Swipes-at-Sonys-HD-Remakes The Corporate Vice President for Microsoft Game Studios, Phil Spencer, has stated that while creating new intellectual property isn't easy, it is something that his company - rather than Sony - will concentrate on, especially with third-parties.Talking to GameInformer, Spencer states, "So, it will continue to be something that we focus on with new partners like Crytek and new people that aren't announced yet. We do think that it's fundamental that core gamers look at 360 as the place they want to play games." Despite that positive message, however, he also takes the time to have a pop at Sony, "They've done a great job at selling old franchises with HD remakes." Apparently he also point our that, "Microsoft does not want to sell gamers something they have completed already." Bear in mind that Phil is the man who would like to see Microsoft upping the release frequency of Halo, having had some success releasing an HD updated version of... Combat Evolved. What a hypocrite. Although, I will give him this, Sony have done a lot of HD rebranding. The fans did ask for them though, so, whatever I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craymen Edge Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 Yeah, I like being able to shop around and save a fiver or so on 4200 points. And who in their right mind would put payment details on their account with this hijacking of accounts/FIFA thing going on? Edit: I just thought... Multi-format download games are more expensive on PSN. 800 points are about £6.80, while PSN often charges around £8. I wouldn't like to see that happen on Live. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DANGERMAN Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 if a console manufacturer blocked 2nd hand games then that console would sell like shit. In the same way if one of MS or Sony dont let you carry over your live/psn accounts while the other one does they'll take a massive hit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DANGERMAN Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 One of the reasons people will stick with apple/android is because they've already invested money in to that account, and it'll take something special for them to dump that and start again. The console manufacturers have got us even more on the hook because we've got usernames and trophies/achievements died to our accounts plus all the games. As much as I think coerced brand loyalty is a bad thing I'm hoping MS/Sony/Nintendo make the most of it and let me keep my games rather than abandon them or ask me to rebuy them (nintendo) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomahawk Rob Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 Quick, someone hide this thread from Ed... he's gonna be distraught the poor guy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sly Reflex Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2012/02/microsoft-publishes-fancy-pants-heterogeneous-parallel-gpgpu-c-amp-specification.ars Microsoft has published the specification for C++ AMP (Accelerated Massive Parallelism), its new system for heterogeneous parallel processing in C++. When Microsoft first announced C++ AMP in June last year, it said that it wanted to make the AMP specification open to all.AMP has been developed by Microsoft with input from AMD and NVIDIA. Microsoft's implementation allows AMP programs to use both the main CPU and Direct3D video cards (via the company's DirectCompute API), though the specification should also permit OpenGL/OpenCL-based implementations. Microsoft encourages other compiler developers to implement the technology. The published specification includes within it an irrevocable promise to not assert claims on any patents that Microsoft may hold that are relevant to AMP unless the implementing party sues Microsoft for patent infringement. AMP is some pretty cool stuff. Programs are written in C++, and blocks that should be computed in parallel (whether on the CPU or the video card) are annotated (and restricted) in various ways but are kept inline with the rest of the C++ program, and so look just like C++. The closest equivalent to AMP is OpenCL. OpenCL is also designed for heterogeneous parallel computing, and is also not tied to any specific video card manufacturer. OpenCL is based on C rather than C++, with the GPU functions written in a restricted form of C99 rather than a restricted C++. But OpenCL is a lot more manual and low-level. In OpenCL, the GPU functions are typically (though not always) quite separate, either in special OpenCL source code files or embedded as blocks of text within the program. Instead of calling them just like regular functions, OpenCL functions must be manually compiled at runtime. Data buffers in OpenCL must be explicitly sent to the video card, and both buffer operations and function calls must be explicitly enqueued so that the GPU can run them. The result is that in OpenCL there's a big divide between the CPU world and the GPU world, and bridging the two requires lots of manual management by the programmer. C++ AMP makes using the GPU a lot more streamlined; the management is performed automatically, allowing developers to write more natural, high-level programs. For heterogeneous programming to become genuinely widespread and mainstream, the kind of easy-to-use, natural integration with existing programming languages seems like a necessary step. OpenCL was a step in the right direction, but C++ AMP goes far further towards bridging CPU programming and GPU programming. Microsoft's next version of Visual C++ will include support for C++ AMP. With the publishing of the specification, along with the patent promise, the door is open to other implementations. So, what does that mean for us if this gets implemented into the next xbox? Easier programming? Cooler running? Less wasted output? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroed Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 I had a new update tonight. Supposedly, it improves the dashboard speed, and fixes the washed-out colours on the dashboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroed Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 I read it was for video playback and the dash itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimboxy Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Another update today. (well I assume today, not sure when I last fired up the Xbox) no idea what it's for either. Best ignore this post really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sly Reflex Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 I've no idea either. I have noticed they changed how many peoples avatars you can see on screen at once, but I don't know if that was part of this update or last update. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimboxy Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Back to cartridges. Nice. I guess it sort of makes sense, although I imagine the cost of producing something on a SSD is higher than Blu-Ray or DVD, but then I guess you can scale up the amount of space you need as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DANGERMAN Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 I thought this was already on, oh well good that it's finally ready The BBC iPlayer launches on Xbox Live next week, Eurogamer understands. The BBC iPlayer catch-up service app will be available to download from Xbox Live after both companies sorted out the thorny issue of charging for the service. Apps announced by Microsoft as part of its late 2011 Xbox 360 revamp included a mention of the BBC iPlayer, but Microsoft's premium Xbox Live Gold subscription service proved a stumbling block. Now, though, everyone's happy, and the license-fee funded iPlayer will be offered for free to Silver and Gold subscribers. Xbox currently has 4oD and Channel 5 on Demand apps. The ITV Player launches before the end of the year. Microsoft told Eurogamer it "does not comment on rumour and speculation". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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