22 December, 2009
This week, at iHollywood’s Digital Living Room conference a Sony US marketing manager stated that company plans to build out an area on the PlayStation with it’s own, original TV programming. Meaning that with a connected Playstation 3, you don’t need a TV subscription to see the TV shows.
MTV your PS3
Sony already released the Vidzone Music Video application for PS3 this month, offering “your own personalized version of MTV” on the Playstation 3. This free app offers unlimited access to high quality music video streams, and the ability to build custom music video playlists, turning the PS3 into an MTV type station - but one that actually shows Music Videos ;)
From MTV to HBO
The ultimate goal is to transition from a Read on…
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13 November, 2009
This week, UK gaming industry publisher MCV has broken the news that in November 2010 the Xbox add-on known as “Natal” (the black thing lower in the picture) will be released. According to MCW 5 million Natal units wil ship globally and there will be at least 14 games supported by the hardware.
Why you should care
Simply put, Natal enables you to talk to your TV, and it will recognize what you say. Also, you will be able to have it interpret motions you make. Don’t think Wii, think Minority Report. It can even see you smile or frown, and react accordingly. Natal is actually a set of very sensitive depth-vision cameras that do facial recognition and voice recognition as well. This is some extremely complicated technology in a low-cost device. What that means is demonstrated in this must-see video.
14 games ready for launch.
After the unveiling of Natal, Activision Read on…
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30 August, 2009
I Twitter a lot more than I blog these days, and when I blog, it often is related to Twitter. I guess it’s a trend.
Kids
And I swear, if I read any more posts about how Twitter is a failure because “only white middle aged men that work in media” use Twitter, and no teenagers do, I will scream. Where exactly was it written that a product needs to be supported by kids to be deemed “a success”? But I digress.
Middle aged men
For all those white middle aged men that also Read on…
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27 August, 2009
The Xbox 360 Elite game console will be made $100 cheaper this week. As of this Friday it will sell for $299 (or €249). That is an HD device with a 120GB hard drive for the price of a Wii! The Xbox 360 Arcade version, which does not have a built-in hard drive, remains at its current price of $199 (€175). This happens shortly after the recent $100 price drop for the Playstation 3.
Sony drop
Along with the price drop, Sony is now trying to make up for the disappointing sales of the PS3 with a marketing campaign to reposition the console as more of an all-in-one entertainment device because of its ability to play Blu-ray DVDs. This year, Xbox sales are the only console in positive growth in the US, rising by 17%.
Overall score
Microsoft has sold more than 30 million Xbox 360s worldwide since it introduced the second-generation game console in November 2005. Sony has sold 24 million PS3 consoles in the same time, while Nintendo Co. has moved roughly 52 million Wii consoles since launching the device in November 2006. So it would seem that the Wii is the clear winner. However… Read on…
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14 February, 2009
Local data, but part of a worldwide trend: the Belgian Entertainment Association reports that in 2008, video games made 247 million euro, more money than either music or DVD sales.
Rapid growth
The growth of the share of games in the entertainment spend can be called spectacular. In 2006, games only had a share of 27% of all entertainment sales and the category was in 3rd place after music and DVD’s. In 2007 music sales were overtaken and in 2008 games had a share of Read on…
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7 February, 2009
Proof for the point that internet video distribution through consoles is growing fast. Netflix, an American video rental service that started out renting out DVD’s through the post, is successfully crossing over into internet distribution by using the Xbox 360 game console to get movies on subscribers’ TV screens.
In the last few months, one million Netflix subscribers have downloaded and activated the Netflix app that enables Microsoft’s Xbox 360 videogame console to play normal and HD movies - streaming. And it’s not just that the application was installed often, it’s actually being Read on…
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28 May, 2008
I get this question a lot: Are people willing to pay for content on the internet? Especially when talking about online video, but also with content in general, we seem to have a hard time figuring this out. Is it because there is a change happening with people? Not really. What IS changing though, are the options people have online. And that, in turn, changes the accceptance of paid content in general.
Advertising.
First of all, there is one thing people really like; getting free quality content via ad-support. No-one likes ads, especially if you do user research or feedback sessions everyone complains about the ads being there, but when there’s an option to see something for free with some ads before or around the content, people will take it. Period.
Movies.
People generally are ready to pay for Read on…
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5 May, 2008
It was a week ago today. The outskirts of a medium sized university town not far from where I live, just past midnight. Most homes were quiet, some bedroom lights showed that their inhabitants were still awake, and I was walking down the street towards a long line of men. It was raining. The men were standing outside, in the rain, waiting. The line went round the block. It was so long I decided to get a midnight snack first, and return later. The line would be there for a while yet.
The biggest entertainment release of 2008
Finally, close to 01.00 AM, the tired Read on…
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27 October, 2007
The people at the BBC understand how to translate a format to different media types. The latest result? Car fanatics can watch their favorite TV show Top Gear on the Playstation 3 - while they are inside the game world of Gran Turismo 5.
Can you beat the Stig?
Apparently not a single day goes by at Top Gear HQ without someone claiming they can get around their Top Gear Test track faster than famous test driver “The Stig”. Next year, on Playstation 3, everyone will be able to Read on…
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7 September, 2007
Wow this week is busy - presentations in Madrid, Brussels and Hilversum and I’m struggling just a bit to keep up. So far so good though, I had good fun with the Crossmedia MBA today, we had a special “One day MBA” where people could check out snippets of the MBA content. Some nice people in the audience and some very interesting presentations by others. I can still learn a lot.
I did a 1 hour presentation myself, trying to give a Read on…
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10 July, 2007
Microsoft has announced extension of warranty for the Xbox360 from one-year to three-years. The announcement comes in response to an unusually high number of Xbox 360 failures. This means a massive extra cost being taken by Microsoft of about 1.15 billion dollars, to right the wrongs of the shipped Xboxes. Wow. But OK, Microsoft shows it takes the Xbox360 and its’ customers seriously.
What’s wrong?
The reported problems are usually described as the “red ring of death”, as shown on the image accompanying this article, a red ring on the front of the console around the power button. Once the red ring is there the Xbox stops responding. This problem is caused by overheating of the Xbox360 and is usually permanent, meaning that the unit will have to be sent back to be repaired. According to Xbox hardware fan sites Microsoft is fixing these problems by placing an additional heatsink near system’s GPU. A cooler GPU should help solve these problems, so the bitter pill might just be the cure…
A meaningful number
Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices division, said the number of Read on…
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9 May, 2007
De Wii is een fijn ding. Als je mensen op bezoek hebt, vooral als er niet-gamers bij zijn, is het een geweldig apparaat om je mee te vermaken. Zo heeft Wii Sports bowling inmiddels al vele enthousiaste aanhangers onder de bezoekers van ons huis. Maar de Wii wordt steeds meer een online console, en er komen dus ook steeds meer features voor gebruik naast het gamen bij.
Zo lanceerde Google onlangs de Wiider Read on…
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26 March, 2007
Mocht het je nog niet opgevallen zijn, de Playstation 3 is dan eindelijk geland in Europa. In Belgie was dat vrij gemakkelijk te missen, de enige plek waar ik persoonlijk bereikt ben met deze boodschap was in de Carrefour, waar een maand lang een stem het publiek in de supermarkt opriep om het apparaat tijdig te reserveren. Weinig marketinginspanningen van Sony verder, kennelijk.
Hij is OK.
Maar zaterdag nam ik hem dan toch mee, en de eerste kennismaking valt me Read on…
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17 March, 2007
Microsoft maakte deze week bekend dat de Xbox Live online service, waar inmiddels 6 miljoen Xbox 360 eigenaars lid van zijn, vanaf mei ook beschikbaar is voor PC gamers die Windows Vista gebruiken. Daarmee kunnen PC gamers tegen Xbox gamers spelen, en heeft Microsoft in mei direct een flink platform voor online gaming beschikbaar voor de PC. Deze lancering komt een jaar nadat Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates stelde dat Microsoft “anywhere” gaming mogelijk zou gaan maken.
Ook naar mobiel.
In het verhaal van Gates was naast het linken van game consoles en computers ook sprake van Read on…
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Author: Jeroen Verkroost - Category: Mobile, Consoles, Gaming - 1,347 readers - Comment
5 February, 2007
In Amerika kun je met de Xbox360 inmiddels een behoorlijk aantal films en TV series downloaden en direct op TV bekijken. Je kunt betalen voor gehuurde films in de video-on-demand service met Microsoft Points (direct aan te schaffen via de Xbox360 met je creditcard). De films kunnen direct afgespeeld worden nadat het downloaden is begonnen. De Xbox360 kan HDTV films en series afspelen.
Content
Als launch titels waren onder andere beschikbaar de TV shows CSI (in drie smaken), Star Trek Enterprise, South Park, Pimp My Ride, Punk’d, en SpongeBob SquarePants. Bij het filmaanbod moet je denken aan titels als Star Trek VII: Generations, Patriot Games, The Sum of All Fears, The Untouchables, Poseidon, The Shining, en V for Vendetta.
Hieronder de top 10 best verkochte films en TV series Read on…
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30 January, 2007
Binnen 5 jaar zal televisiekijken revolutionair veranderd zijn door de samensmelting met internet. Dat was de mededeling die Microsoft chairman Bill Gates deed op het World Economic Forum in Zwitserland. “I’m stunned how people aren’t seeing that with TV, in five years from now, people will laugh at what we’ve had,” zo sprak Gates de verzamelde politici en captains of industry toe. “Certain things like elections or the Olympics really point out how TV is terrible. You either have to wait for the guy to talk about the thing you care about or you miss the event and want to go back and see it,” zei Gates. “Internet presentation of these things is vastly superior.”
Microsoft kabel en IPTV
Volgens de voorman van Microsoft is de reden daarvoor eenvoudig: “TV is moving into Read on…
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8 January, 2007
Microsoft voegt PVR en IPTV functionaliteit toe aan de Xbox 360. Daarmee wordt de Xbox 360 dus een IPTV set-top box, een apparaat waarmee je digitaal televisie kunt kijken en opnemen. Tijdens de keynote speech op de CES beurs in Las Vegas vannacht toonde Robbie Bach, die de Keynote samen deed met Bill Gates, hoe een aantal onderdelen van deze service eruit zullen gaan zien. De Xbox kan live streaming broadcast TV tonen en bijvoorbeeld opnemen terwijl je via Xbox live online een spel speelt. IPTV zal eind dit jaar officieel gelanceerd worden. Er is tegen die tijd ook een HD-DVD drive beschikbaar voor de Xbox.
Social Networking.
De content bij de Microsoft IPTV service zal afkomstig zijn van Read on…
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22 December, 2006
KPN, Tele2 en de kabelaars zijn allemaal heel hard bezig met digitale TV en interactieve set-top boxen, maar spelconsoles maken een goede kans om zometeen als eerste interactieve apparaat op menigeens TV aangesloten te zijn. De spelconsoles worden allang niet alleen meer gebruikt om spelletjes te spelen, ook films bekijken, muziek afspelen, en zelfs surfen op internet behoren tot de snel groeiende mogelijkheden.
Internet op de verschillende consoles.
De Xbox360 werkt via het “walled garden” principe en heeft geen browser aan boord, maar vertoont wel Read on…
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23 November, 2006
Ik weet het. Ik beloof dat dit voorlopig de laatste Playstation post is. Maar toch: Sony heeft een nieuwe software update (inmiddels versie 3.01) uitgebracht voor de Playstation Portable (PSP). Deze nieuwe versie biedt een van de twee grote vernieuwingen die ik een half jaar geleden voorspelde: je kunt hiermee de Playstation Portable gebruiken als afstandsbediening voor de Playstation 3.
Van de Playstation op de PSP.
Door communicatie tussen de PSP en de PS3 te regelen wordt de PSP niet alleen een afstandsbediening; er worden ook een aantal andere dingen Read on…
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