Google is still working towards providing Adsense for all the internet users and masters. After came with Adsense Feeds, now its turn for Game site masters and developers. Yes from now Adsense is available for Games sites also. They can keep Adsense ads (Video, Image, Text ads) with in the game. Even we can define the place or corner where the ads should display.
Source:TechZoomIn
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Showing posts with label GAMES. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GAMES. Show all posts
Google enabled Adsense for Games
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Xbox 360 beats PS3 in Japan
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Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Xbox 360 beat Sony Corp's (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) PlayStation 3 in Japan weekly sales for the first time two weeks ago, riding robust demand for a recent Xbox 360 title produced by Namco Bandai Holdings (7832.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), a magazine publisher said.
Microsoft sold 28,116 units of the Xbox 360 in the week ended August 10, compared with 10,705 units of the PS3, driven by the August 7 launch in Japan of Namco Bandai's "Tales of Vesperia" role-playing game, Ascii Media Works said.
Microsoft, locked in a three-way game console battle with Sony and Nintendo Co Ltd (7974.OS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), has been struggling to stir up demand for the Xbox 360 in Japan.
During the week, the Microsoft machine still lagged behind Nintendo's Wii, which sold 41,044 units, according to an Ascii Media Works report dated August 14.
The Wii has been leading the global video game console market since its launch in late 2006 thanks to its easy-to-learn motion-sensing controller, low price and innovative software titles such as "Wii Fit" exercise game.
Namco Bandai plans to launch "Tales of Vesperia", an Xbox 360 exclusive, in North America on August 26.
Sponsored By Reuters
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New Web Site Aims to Be Facebook for Sports Fans
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David Katz is heading into a Web site battle against Internet sports powerhouses like the ones run by ESPN, Yahoo, Fox Sports, Major League Baseball and AOL.
At least he knows the enemy.
By the time Mr. Katz left Yahoo at th
e end of 2006 as the head of sports, entertainment and studios, he had guided its sports site into a rivalry with espn.com that still has them trading the monthly lead in unique visitors in their category.
Mr. Katz, 36, believes that his Web site, sportsfanlive.com, which will be formally released this week, will find a substantial following with his versions of customized content, social networking and fantasy games. He believes his competitors have grown overly stodgy and too congested for fans to wade through.
“Those other sites are fundamentally all the same,” he said, calling them “imbued with traditional media DNA.” He added that they are “not built for the next generation and for the evolving needs of sports fans.”
Having spent six months mapping out his plan in his Hollywood Hills home, he speaks about the challenge with a confidence that borders on audacity. Central to Mr. Katz’s site are features that flow naturally into one another to create a community that he said would quickly turn viral. And rather than connect to existing social networking sites to jump-start his distribution, Mr. Katz says SportsFanLive will become its own Facebook.
Users will be able to customize the site (like MyESPN or MyYahoo) according to the teams and players they love and hate and will receive a flood of regularly updated news aggregated from 4,500 sources — not the hundreds he said his competitors provided.
“Our secret sauce is aggregation,“ Mr. Katz said. “Google is good for a general search but not at understanding the specific needs of specific people like sports fans.“
Users can easily route articles to like-minded friends on the site through the FanFeed feature. They can also alert buddies to the sports bars they are congregating in to cheer on their teams with the FanFinder application — a ZIP code- and map-based function that is a snappy, visual updating of forums on rivals.com, a Yahoo subsidiary.
“Facebook and other social network sites do a good job of connecting you to people all over your life, but it’s not relevant to your sports interests,“ he said. “We’re isolating that subset of sports friends and giving you instant communication with them.“
He chose not to offer traditional fantasy games, wagering either on fantasy fatigue or in luring fans who lack the time to tend to season-long fantasy games.
Instead, he created a feature in which SportsFanLive’s users can challenge each other by posting or accepting wagers — sort of an online, user-generated casino sports book — that will let them earn (or lose) BuxBets, the site’s version of funny money. “Fans like to test their wits about anything they think they know best,“ he said, in a format that lets them “compete on any topic they want, against anyone at any time.“
Jeff Price, the president for digital of the Sports Illustrated Group, said, “David understands what sports fans want, but can he sustain traffic and engagement? Sports fans will vote with their mouse.”
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Trying to watch the Olympics on TV and the Web
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How is your Olympics-watching experience going?
You may have caught some of the Olympic Games over the weekend, most likely in front of your television set and not online. NBC Universal, which owns the U.S. broadcast rights, said it attracted a 114 million TV viewers, which was itself an Olympic record. The Web viewing audience was a fraction of that, although a lot better than during the last Olympics (more details below).Sure, there's griping about the TV experience. Chief among them is the fact that you couldn't watch some events live, such as the opening ceremony. But from what I caught, this beautiful, intense 4-hour celebration may have been best enjoyed tape-delayed, broken into 12-minute bite-sized videos and aided by the informed commentary. I went to bed somewhere between the contingents from Iraq and Iran walking into the stadium and woke up to see the runner taking the torch on its last loop on the rim of the stadium.
Still, a lot of people would have wanted the choice, and more exposure may have helped, not hurt, NBC's bottom line. Not sure if I hallucinated the lighting of the torch, I attempted to find video clips ... ... of it online so I could e-mail friends and family, and thereby aid NBC by building up buzz. But I failed to find a working link of an event that was 24 hours old.
The live issue is more pressing, of course, for actual athletic events. For East Coast viewers, NBC did air live swimmer Michael Phelps shattering one of his own records. But here, on the West Coast, we learned about the record falling elsewhere and, the suspense gone, got to tune in merely to watch how Phelps broke the record, Silicon Alley Insider complained.
In the online realm, NBC has said it is airing more than 2,200 hours of video of Olympic events, available to be watched after downloading a player from its site, as the LAT's Web Scout blog describes. But there have been mixed reports about the availability and quality of the video, not to mention technical difficulties.
Still, Nielsen Online reported today that a small but growing U.S. Internet audience is visiting NBC's Olympics site: 1.4 million Thursday, 2.6 million for the opening ceremony Friday and 4 million Saturday. Yahoo was second with 1.4 million Thursday, 1.5 million Friday and 3.3 million Saturday.
Those numbers are pretty good compared with other big sporting events: Nearly 5 million online viewers visited Fox Sports on MSN during the busiest day of this year's NCAA basketball championship, and 4.4 million visited the site the Monday after the Super Bowl.
NBC's own statistics include the number of videos watched and time spent on the site. On Friday, there were 1.3 million videos streamed, and the average visitor spent 10 minutes on the site. By Sunday, that had jumped to 3.42 million videos streamed and 15 minutes on average spent on the site.
On Sunday, NBCOlympics.com saw 5.1 million unique users and 66.7 million page views. In comparison, the record for the 2004 Games in Athens was 1.46 million unique users and 20.6 million page views. Total video streamed for the entire Athens Games was 2.2 million, according to an NBC spokesman.
The Wall Street Journal reports that although 90% viewed the Olympics on TV, and 0.2% on the Internet only, 10% caught Olympic coverage on both TV and online. This should be a sign to TV decision-makers not to cast the Internet as their enemy, the blog Mashable argues.Today, the first workday with the Olympics, NBCOlympics.com will most likely see a bump in numbers as workers hit the site, says Jon Gibs, vice president of media analytics at Nielsen Online. He sees another benefit to the hours of Olympic video: Some sports, such as women's badminton, may build up an audience that will be there for them -- and advertisers -- during the next Olympics.
For those who tried a different route -- finding non-NBC video of events online -- it was a time-consuming experience of hunting and pecking for video only to have the link go dead, possibly because sites received shut-down notices from a representative of the International Olympic Committee, according to Silicon Alley Insider.
I clicked on a lot of dead links over the weekend, gave myself poor marks for technical skill, speed and stick-to-it-ness. Then I gave up.
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Apple releases iPhone, iPod touch 2.0.1 Software Updates
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Apple on Monday evening released iPhone 2.0.1 Software Update, the first maintenance and security update for iPhone 3Gs and first-generation iPhones running iPhone Software 2.0. iPod touch 2.0.1 has also been released.
To download and install the 249.2MB update, connect your iPhone or iPod touch to your Mac or PC and select it in iTunes. Then hit the "Check for Update" button. iTunes will initiate a grueling backup of your existing iPhone's software before installing the the update.
In a scant set of release notes, Apple said iPhone Software 2.0.1 and its iPod equivalent deliver "bug fixes." Readers are encouraged to post their experiences and findings while using the new software in the forums thread for this article.
Some changes
Apple does not always specify the changes it makes in minor software updates. As such, the company leaves users guessing and trying to decipher those changes on their own. Some user-discovered changes in iPhone/iPod 2.0.1 include:
- You can now drag an app icon across multiple pages in one motion, rather than having to drag it, drop it, pick it up again and drag it over to next page, and repeat.
- Contacts are now more responsive.
- After installing 2.0.1, each successive backup is much faster.
- Apple may have changed the calibration of the iPhone's reception "bars" while connected to a 3G network to reflect a stronger signal than before.-Keypad loads quicker.
- Screen rotation in Safari appears to be smoother.-Some apps may ask to be updated after the firmware upgrade.
Apple to launch the iPhone 'nano' in time for Christmas
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Apple is about to launch a 'nano' version of the hugely successful iPhone. It is expected to be in the shops in time for Christmas.
The product will be launched in the UK at up to ?150 for pay-as-you-go customers by O2, the mobile phone group owned by Spain's Telefonica. 'This will be a big one,' said an industry source.
'The iPhone 3G has been the fastest-selling phone ever in the UK, but it is too expensive to be a realistic proposition in the pay-as-you-go market.
'However, a cut down version, with the candy bar shape of iPod nano music players, would be a huge hit as a Christmas gift.'
One expert suggested the nano phone would have a touch wheel on the back and display on the front so that numbers would be dialled from behind.
Copy and Paste Finally Coming to the iPhone. Sort Of.
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Copy and Paste has long been one of the most requested features on the iPhone, and its continued absence has been both frustrating and confusing for many. How can it be that the iPhone - running a finely tuned version of Mac OS X - is unable to perform functions that have been included in text editors since the 80’s?
MagicPad, a new application from Proximi that is currently waiting for approval on Apple’s App Store, is finally making copy and paste a reality on the iPhone. The application is essentially an improved version of “Notes”, and features rich text editing, allowing users to modify font type, size, and color. And best of all, it allows for copy and paste. Users need only drag their fingers over text to select it, and adjustments can then be made on a menubar that appears above the onscreen keyboard (see the video below).
Unfortunately, MagicPad isn’t going to bring true Copy-and-Paste to the iPhone, as there will be no way to copy text between applications (say, from Safari to the Mail client). You’ll be able to copy and paste between multiple notes within MagicPad, which will make it a step up from Notes, but in reality it serves as more of a proof of concept than a solution.
So when will we finally get true, systemwide, copy and paste? Earlier this month, Apple’s Greg Joswiak finally commented on the issue, explaining that it was on Apple’s to-do list but that it hasn’t been a priority. The lengthy wait is almost certainly due to issues with creating an intuitive interface for copy and paste on the iPhone’s buttonless touchscreen. MagicPad’s interface looks like it works well enough, but it takes up a large portion of screen real estate and is less elegant than what we’ll probably see from Apple.
You can see another proof-of-concept for copy and paste on the iPhone here.
Bloggers highlight iPhone disappointments
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Even before the launch of Apple's new iPhone 3G, technology blogs have started to highlight factors that may make it a mere gadget.
Top among such factors is the device’s high cost, with The New York Times’ technology blog ‘Bits’ calling it "a step backwards for consumers".
Bloggers believe that it is not less expensive to own because US mobile carrier AT&T has a pricier data plan to subsidise the up-front cost.
In Australia, confirmed iPhone carriers Optus and Vodafone have not revealed the local pricing, but both will offer it on a no-contract prepaid plan.
Another biggest iPhone disappointment is the fact that it still doesn't support Adobe's Flash technology, which means many multimedia-rich sites remain off limits.
Thirdly, it is not easy to crack open the new device’s sleek case to replace its battery.
The new iPhone also does not have video recording provisions, something one can find even in the so-called low-end “feature phones” these days.
Besides all that, it is unable to copy a chunk of text and paste it into another application.
The lack of support for Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) is said to be one of the most maddening iPhone flaws, reports Forbes magazine.
The iPhone does not even have a voice dialling system that allows users to dial verbally.
Seven biggest disappointments regarding Apple's new iPhone 3G:
The new iPhone also does not have video recording provisions, something one can find even in the so-called low-end “feature phones” these days.
Besides all that, it is unable to copy a chunk of text and paste it into another application.
The lack of support for Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) is said to be one of the most maddening iPhone flaws, reports Forbes magazine.
The iPhone does not even have a voice dialling system that allows users to dial verbally.
Seven biggest disappointments regarding Apple's new iPhone 3G:
- Cost
- Doesn’t support Adobe's Flash
- No replaceable batteries
- No video recording
- No cut-and-paste
- No multimedia messaging service
- No voice dialling
Windows chief talks '7'
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REDMOND, Wash.--Since taking over the Windows development reins from Jim Allchin, Steven Sinofsky has chosen to fall almost completely off the public radar.
It's not that he hasn't been busy getting Vista Service Pack 1 out the door and starting work on Windows 7. It's just that Sinofsky doesn't want to talk about products until they are well along in their development. Last year, Sinofsky penned a blog to his Windows unit co-workers, explaining his public silence and urging them to follow his lead.
Steven Sinofsky, Microsoft's Windows chief (Credit: Microsoft )
"I know many folks think that this type of corporate 'clamp down' on disclosure is 'old school' and that in the age of corporate transparency we should be open all the time," Sinofsky wrote. "Corporations are not really transparent. Corporations are translucent. All organizations have things that are visible and things that are not."
Well, Sinofsky is breaking his public silence, slightly, to offer a few important details about 7 (he reiterated that it is coming by January 2010) and to explain why he is saying so little publicly.
In an exclusive interview with CNET News.com last week, Sinofsky talked about how the new version of Windows is designed to build on top of Vista's architectural changes without adding things like new driver models that can increase compatibility challenges. Below is the edited, but still rather lengthy transcript, of our conversation.
Q: In contrast to the pre-release publicity for earlier versions of Windows, we haven't heard a lot about Windows 7. Why?S
inofsky: We're always super anxious as engineers to talk about the work that we're doing. But on the other hand we really take seriously our responsibility of being part of the overall Windows and PC ecosystem. We want to make sure that when we do share information, that the information we share is accurate and reliable, and that we have in place the mechanisms for feedback such that the feedback is really taken seriously with respect to our plans. The reactions that we've had to some of the lessons learned in Windows Vista are really playing into our strategy of getting together a great plan for Windows 7, and working with all the partners in the ecosystem in a very deliberate way, such that the end result is a very positive experience for all of us.
How do you balance that with trying to make sure that people see a future in Windows worth investing in?
How do you balance that with trying to make sure that people see a future in Windows worth investing in?
Sinofsky: Well, that's a great question. I think that when you say people, there are many audiences. What we're trying to do is be deliberate with each of the many audiences that we have to deal with, and give them the information such that they do see and share the optimism that we share for the future of Windows and the future of PCs. So, it's really an audience-specific type of question.
A lot of our readers are pretty passionate about computers, and we haven't heard as many reasons from Microsoft as we hear from your competitors about why people should be excited about the direction the platform is going in.
A lot of our readers are pretty passionate about computers, and we haven't heard as many reasons from Microsoft as we hear from your competitors about why people should be excited about the direction the platform is going in.
Sinofsky: I would talk about an example of the way that we see this playing out, which is the way that we've talked about Internet Explorer 8. With Internet Explorer, of course, we have a lot of enthusiasts or very activist people who really want to learn about the future of our browsers, and we put together a plan that had some really significant investments, and we started to talk about them when we felt like we could demonstrate that those investments were going to really pay off, and that they were going to be actionable. So, you saw us do the planning, come through with working with all the partners that we work with and the influentials in a very deliberate, very one-on-one kind of way, and then we started talking about it broadly. We were ready with a beta, and we were ready for people to really act on the work we had done, and provided us the feedback that we're actually ready to absorb and ready to put into action.
So, for the enthusiasts, who are really excited about Windows, well, first, I share their enthusiasm. And second, we're really going to focus on making sure that when we talk about the product, that they're getting information that is really what we're doing for the product.
Do you think that makes it hard for Microsoft and its PC partners in the interim, as they're trying to sell consumers on Windows at a time where we're hearing a lot of ads speaking negatively about Vista, particularly from Apple? Is that a concern to you?
So, for the enthusiasts, who are really excited about Windows, well, first, I share their enthusiasm. And second, we're really going to focus on making sure that when we talk about the product, that they're getting information that is really what we're doing for the product.
Do you think that makes it hard for Microsoft and its PC partners in the interim, as they're trying to sell consumers on Windows at a time where we're hearing a lot of ads speaking negatively about Vista, particularly from Apple? Is that a concern to you?
Sinofsky: There are a number of elements of the question, and certainly what I would say is when it comes to our partners, the people who make PCs, the people who make hardware, the people who build software, of course, our work with them is constant and ongoing. So, they're not surprised at all in the dimension of the things that we're doing; we're just working with them in a way that's specific to our different audiences. A great example of this is our enterprise customers, who do have multiyear plans. So with them, our salesforce is equipped to have this dialogue, to really talk about the future and the road map of our products. We think that for each of the audiences we have the kind of information that's required for them to act on it.
My question is, in the absence of information from Microsoft about where it's going, it seems like you have your competitor, in this case Apple, on the consumer front really defining Microsoft in the absence of Microsoft defining Windows out there in the marketplace.
My question is, in the absence of information from Microsoft about where it's going, it seems like you have your competitor, in this case Apple, on the consumer front really defining Microsoft in the absence of Microsoft defining Windows out there in the marketplace.
Sinofsky: In a way that's a different question. That's sort of a question about how are we talking about our current products in the marketplace. I think that Apple has a very visible campaign, and we work with partners, and have a very different approach to how we're communicating our product. In a way, what I would say is Apple isn't really talking about where they're going, and that was the root of your question.
When you think about Windows, what does a good release schedule look like? We've certainly heard loudly from Steve Ballmer that he doesn't want to see a five-year time frame like there was between Windows XP and Vista. How often do people want a new Windows release, and what types of things should change from release to release?
When you think about Windows, what does a good release schedule look like? We've certainly heard loudly from Steve Ballmer that he doesn't want to see a five-year time frame like there was between Windows XP and Vista. How often do people want a new Windows release, and what types of things should change from release to release?
Sinofsky: The way that I think of planning a release of Windows is--and Windows 7 will be no exception--we look at it as it's a major undertaking, and we're going to produce a major release of the product. Then what we do is we work on the plans, we get feedback from different partners at different times in the plans, and really the disclosure is when we start to talk about the information that's actionable and exciting about the product. The timing of it depends a lot on what we wanted to achieve, and you've certainly heard us, and we've been very clear, and will continue to say that the next release of Windows, Windows 7, is about three years after the general availability of Windows Vista, and we're committed to that, and we've signed up publicly to do that.
So, when Bill Gates was speaking in Miami, and said that Windows 7 was coming in the next year, was he referring to when the beta version would show up?
So, when Bill Gates was speaking in Miami, and said that Windows 7 was coming in the next year, was he referring to when the beta version would show up?
Sinofsky: What I think I want to say is what I just said, which is we said we'd be out there with a release of Windows 7 three years after the general availability of Windows Vista. We're excited; the investments that we have are really about producing a major and significant release at that time.
When you think about Windows, as the ecosystem and the installed base has grown so huge, it seems like the testing matrix and the list of possible interactions is so large that it's become very hard to change Windows. Do you think you can keep changing the operating system the way that you generally have, or does Windows reach a point where you want to basically take what Windows is today and run it in some sort of compatibility layer, and so you can really start fresh? I know that Apple a couple times in its history found itself wanting to do that.
When you think about Windows, as the ecosystem and the installed base has grown so huge, it seems like the testing matrix and the list of possible interactions is so large that it's become very hard to change Windows. Do you think you can keep changing the operating system the way that you generally have, or does Windows reach a point where you want to basically take what Windows is today and run it in some sort of compatibility layer, and so you can really start fresh? I know that Apple a couple times in its history found itself wanting to do that.
Sinofsky: I look at it in a little bit of a different light. All of those IHVs (independent hardware vendors) and ISVs (independent software vendors)...I look at them as the key asset to the Windows and PC ecosystem. So, I don't at all look at them like a compatibility burden or challenge, to use the words that you used, but I look at it as well, that's the big asset that customers look to when they buy into a Windows PC. They say, hey, if I bought this printer five years ago, I want to keep using it, and I want to keep using it as part of my PC network. If I have this other piece of hardware, I want to keep using it. We do have to get better at the work that we've done, and, in fact, sometimes we make very, very substantial changes that are really multiyear bets.
We do have to get better at the work that we've done, and, in fact, sometimes we make very, very substantial changes that are really multiyear bets.
A great example of that in Windows Vista is the work that we did on graphics. We did do exactly what you said would be very hard, which is we re-plumbed the graphics infrastructure for Windows. That has a huge number of benefits for the ecosystem at large. It means the drivers can be made more robust, they don't have to run in kernel mode and things like that. But we also didn't execute on that as flawlessly as I think we all would have liked collectively as the ecosystem. The team worked super hard with the partners in graphics to really do a great job, but the schedule challenges that we had, and the information disclosure weren't consistent with the realities of the project, which made it all a much trickier end point when we got to the general availability in January.
So, were the problems with Vista support and Vista enthusiasm--it sounds like you're saying they were mostly issues of disclosure as opposed to execution on the product. Is that right?
We do have to get better at the work that we've done, and, in fact, sometimes we make very, very substantial changes that are really multiyear bets.
A great example of that in Windows Vista is the work that we did on graphics. We did do exactly what you said would be very hard, which is we re-plumbed the graphics infrastructure for Windows. That has a huge number of benefits for the ecosystem at large. It means the drivers can be made more robust, they don't have to run in kernel mode and things like that. But we also didn't execute on that as flawlessly as I think we all would have liked collectively as the ecosystem. The team worked super hard with the partners in graphics to really do a great job, but the schedule challenges that we had, and the information disclosure weren't consistent with the realities of the project, which made it all a much trickier end point when we got to the general availability in January.
So, were the problems with Vista support and Vista enthusiasm--it sounds like you're saying they were mostly issues of disclosure as opposed to execution on the product. Is that right?
Sinofsky: I don't really want to dwell too much on the views of the past, and sort of just tell you again the lessons that we learned in working with partners. The team feels this tremendous responsibility to working with IHVs and ISVs and OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), because they're running businesses, they have their own business challenges, their own business goals, their own aspirations, and when we speak about what we might do, they will take it seriously. So, we appreciate that and we respect that, and it's a great benefit. But if we're not accurate or the information we provide causes them to do one thing, and then we change our mind, that doesn't bring the ecosystem forward. A big set of challenges that we learned...is making sure that the information we provide legitimately reflects the promises that we're making to ourselves and to the team as a product.
I know you said you don't really want to look back, so maybe looking forward a little bit...We haven't heard a lot about Windows 7, but we've heard about a couple of things discussed. The real areas I've heard a lot about are this idea of a new kernel, a minimum Windows kernel that came up in a speech, and then some stuff around new user interfaces. Can you tell us a little bit more about where those things fit in with how you guys are thinking about Windows 7?
I know you said you don't really want to look back, so maybe looking forward a little bit...We haven't heard a lot about Windows 7, but we've heard about a couple of things discussed. The real areas I've heard a lot about are this idea of a new kernel, a minimum Windows kernel that came up in a speech, and then some stuff around new user interfaces. Can you tell us a little bit more about where those things fit in with how you guys are thinking about Windows 7?
Sinofsky: We're very clear that drivers and software that work on Windows Vista are going to work really well on Windows 7; in fact, they'll work the same. We're going to not introduce additional compatibilities, particularly in the driver model. Windows Vista was about improving those things. We are going to build on the success and the strength of the Windows Server 2008 kernel, and that has all of this work that you've been talking about. The key there is that the kernel in Windows Server 08 is an evolution of the kernel in Windows Vista, and then Windows 7 will be a further evolution of that kernel as well.
So, memory management, networking, process management, all of the security hardening, all of those things will carry forth, and maintain the compatibility with applications that people expect. Finally, we are going to make sure that the release is available both in 32 bit and 64 bit, which is an additional help for maintaining compatibility, particularly with device drivers. As the 64-bit ecosystem catches up, we expect more and more people, particularly enthusiasts, to be running 64 bit. For many people that's a great scenario today. I know I run 64 bit on most of my machines, including my primary laptop.
What was this idea then that got talked about in terms of a kind of minimum kernel?
So, memory management, networking, process management, all of the security hardening, all of those things will carry forth, and maintain the compatibility with applications that people expect. Finally, we are going to make sure that the release is available both in 32 bit and 64 bit, which is an additional help for maintaining compatibility, particularly with device drivers. As the 64-bit ecosystem catches up, we expect more and more people, particularly enthusiasts, to be running 64 bit. For many people that's a great scenario today. I know I run 64 bit on most of my machines, including my primary laptop.
What was this idea then that got talked about in terms of a kind of minimum kernel?
Sinofsky: Well, why don't we stick at a higher level today, because I think that I don't want to really dive into the implementation details today.
Where do you see the biggest opportunities for the OS to matter in the coming years? One area might be new user interfaces, but people talk a lot about the browser making the OS less important. I know that's generally not a view that Microsoft holds, and usually not at all a view the Windows unit holds. So what are the ways that the OS can continue to matter?
Where do you see the biggest opportunities for the OS to matter in the coming years? One area might be new user interfaces, but people talk a lot about the browser making the OS less important. I know that's generally not a view that Microsoft holds, and usually not at all a view the Windows unit holds. So what are the ways that the OS can continue to matter?
Sinofsky: There will be a lot of features in Windows 7. It's a major release. I talked about the kernel and driver compatibility and (application) compatibility, but there is a lot more for us to talk about. We'll certainly be in touch.
Is one of the goals with Windows 7 that there will be more things right out of the box to get people interested in this release?
Is one of the goals with Windows 7 that there will be more things right out of the box to get people interested in this release?
Sinofsky: Again I don't want to talk about any more specifics today, because we're focused today on how we're going to communicate things. But really again to really make sure I'm clear, we're working on a major release, and I think that each customer segment will have its own way of understanding what it means for them to be a significant release. And some of the things that we're going to do are going to make the release more applicable to a broader set of people, but it also might mean, oh, well, if you're not re-architecting the whole thing, then maybe it's not a major release. But we're actually going to bring forward the compatibility, and we're going to make sure that there's a lot of value for everybody who's a customer of Windows 7.
Are there any sorts of things that are happening in the overall PC world that are influencing how you guys are designing the operating system? I would imagine one of the things that certainly would influence it would be the sort of extensions to Vista, the Windows Live services. How important are online service extensions to the operating system going forward?
Are there any sorts of things that are happening in the overall PC world that are influencing how you guys are designing the operating system? I would imagine one of the things that certainly would influence it would be the sort of extensions to Vista, the Windows Live services. How important are online service extensions to the operating system going forward?
Sinofsky: The great thing about the Windows and PC ecosystem is that there's no shortage of activity in every dimension. Right now, today, we're really focused on just making sure everybody understands how we're going to talk about all of the things that we're going to do in this next release of Windows, but what we really want to do is kind of stay focused on that, and let us do a good job making sure that the things we are working on are really going to be great for each of the different kinds of customers of the product.
I think somebody that reads this conversation we're having is probably going to walk away again with an impression that I know you don't always like: that the Windows team is really being closed and isolated. I know one of the points you want to make is that you guys are talking to your partners. Is there more you would say about why is it important to be so selective about what gets shared ahead of time?
I think somebody that reads this conversation we're having is probably going to walk away again with an impression that I know you don't always like: that the Windows team is really being closed and isolated. I know one of the points you want to make is that you guys are talking to your partners. Is there more you would say about why is it important to be so selective about what gets shared ahead of time?
Sinofsky: So, everybody wants to know sooner than later what we're doing. And what we're always trying to balance is, well, if we make mistakes, then that has repercussions in the ecosystem that we don't really want to have, and we really want to be a responsible team as part of the overall ecosystem. If folks need an example, the best example that I could offer in terms of really trying to be respectful of the needs of the marketplace is really what we've been doing with Internet Explorer. I feel like we really worked on a great plan. The people who helped us to design how we were going to be compatible, how we were going to be compliant, the standard support that we did, were all part of the development process early on, all the outside parties.
Then we turned around and said, "OK, now we're ready to go to developers." We had a conference at Mix, and we talked about the development opportunities in Internet Explorer, because they were actionable. We gave people the code, we had published the specifications, we were ready to go not just for them to go do the work but for them to give us the feedback, and we were in a position to really act on it. That's really what we're trying to do with the next release of Windows as well.
I can understand why it's too early to talk about specific features in 7, but I'm a little surprised that it's too early to talk about some of your philosophies about where Windows has an opportunity to grow, and how things are changing, and some of those things, some of the factors that are influencing your work.
Then we turned around and said, "OK, now we're ready to go to developers." We had a conference at Mix, and we talked about the development opportunities in Internet Explorer, because they were actionable. We gave people the code, we had published the specifications, we were ready to go not just for them to go do the work but for them to give us the feedback, and we were in a position to really act on it. That's really what we're trying to do with the next release of Windows as well.
I can understand why it's too early to talk about specific features in 7, but I'm a little surprised that it's too early to talk about some of your philosophies about where Windows has an opportunity to grow, and how things are changing, and some of those things, some of the factors that are influencing your work.
Sinofsky: Well, again I think what I would say is that we're talking about different types of customers, and different types of customers have different needs for information and are able to absorb it in a way that I think is mutually responsible.
So, why don't we say we're on target for the three years after general availability (of Vista), we're very excited about the release that we have, and we're very focused on promising and delivering.
Grand Theft Auto receives acclaim
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Highly anticipated video game Grand Theft Auto (GTA) IV has received a string of near-perfect reviews ahead of its worldwide release on Tuesday.
The game is expected to break records for the fastest-selling game of all time and many shops opened their doors at midnight for gamers.
The game has been classified as 18 in the UK and Mature for US gamers.
US regulators have reminded parents that the title is not designed for children under 17 years old.
In the UK, 41 shops are understood to have put the game on sale at midnight, including outlets in Stevenage, Hertfordshire; Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire; Hammersmith, in west London; and Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent.
Reviews for Grand Theft Auto IV have been unanimous in their praise.
UK-based games website Eurogamer called it "game of the year" and handed it a 10 out of 10 review score, while the New York Times said it delivered a "new level of depth for an interactive entertainment experience".
One gamer plays Grand Theft Auto IV
In a joint statement the ESRB and the National Institute on Media and the Family urged parents to check ratings on games for their children.
It said: "With the latest instalment of the Grand Theft Auto series... parents need to be reminded to make sure their kids are playing games appropriate for their age and level of maturity.
"It is critical that parents consider the assigned rating carefully."
The GTA series has proved incredibly popular and almost equally controversial in the last few years.
Analysts predict the game, in which your character Nikko aims to survive the mean streets of a fictional New York, will top last year's record-breaking $300m first-week sales of first-person shooter Halo 3.
The game's launch has also been notable for the lack of marketing hype, with a limited series of TV spots and advertising hoardings.
"Rockstar wants to control the message all the time," Sam Kennedy, editorial director for gaming site 1UP.com, told AP news agency.
"They want this to be seen and perceived exactly the way they want. That's why, outside of the official trailers they released, people haven't seen a lot of gameplay footage in advance of GTA IV shipping.
"They want to build that hype."
Most reviewers were not sent advance copies of the game, and instead had to attend Rockstar offices or sit in booked hotel rooms to play the game.
More than 70 million copies of the franchise's titles have been sold worldwide but the series has also been criticised for glorifying violence.
In 2005 the developers Rockstar were criticised after hackers found a way to play a normally inaccessible sex "mini-game" inside the title Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
The mini-game, dubbed Hot Coffee, was never designed to be played by gamers but was unlocked by hackers.
Watch video on:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7372150.stm
Microsoft says Xbox sales beat Sony PS3 in March
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Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) said on Thursday it sold 262,000 Xbox 360 game consoles in the United States in March, regaining its lead over Sony Corp's (6758.T)(SNE.N) PlayStation 3 as supply constraints eased.
"We said as our supply issue lifted that we'd be back in the game," said Microsoft spokesman David Dennis. "For the most part we're in good supply throughout the retail channel. There are still pockets of shortage, but for most part you can go into a store and find an Xbox 360."
Microsoft cited data from market research firm NPD, which is due to release fuller monthly video game sales figures later Thursday.
Google adapts copyright-ID technology for child-porn fight
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The fight against child pornography is getting an assist from technology designed by Google Inc. to help identify copyright-protected clips on its YouTube video-sharing site.
Four Google employees used their "20 percent time" — during which the company encourages them to pursue unofficial, out-of-the-box projects — to customize the copyright software for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's program for identifying children in sexually explicit photos and video.
Software already has been used to match known images, but when new ones are submitted by law enforcement and service providers, analysts generally make identifications manually, often based on recollections. The center has recently employed facial-recognition technology to make those IDs easier, but with limited success.
With the new Google tools, analysts can also seek matches based on other attributes, such as the color and shape of a couch or the wallpaper pattern in the background of a photo.
Ernie Allen, the center's president, appreciates the new tool.
The center used to be "dependent on the memory of the analyst who was already overwhelmed by the sheer number of content we were receiving," he said, adding that its 11 analysts processed 5 million child-pornography images last year.
Allen said the center's work helps prosecutors build evidence and police locate children who have been forced to engage in sexual acts.
Google's contribution grew out of an existing partnership between the center and leading technology companies, including Yahoo Inc., Time Warner Inc.'s AOL and Microsoft Corp.
"The keys here were organization, scalability and search," Google research scientist Shumeet Baluja wrote about the project on a company blog. "In particular, the tools we provided will aid in organizing and indexing NCMEC's information so that analysts can both deal with new images and videos more efficiently and also reference historical material more effectively."
Legal battle over Warcraft 'bot'
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The makers of World of Warcraft are locked in a legal battle with a firm that has produced a tool to automate many actions in the virtual world.
Blizzard is suing Michael Donnelly, the creator of the MMO Glider program, which performs key tasks in the game automatically, such as fighting.
Both sides have submitted legal summaries to a court in Arizona.
Blizzard says Glide is a software bot which infringes the company's copyright and potentially damages the game.
In its legal submission to the court last week, the firm said: "Blizzard's designs expectations are frustrated, and resources are allocated unevenly, when bots are introduced into the WoW universe, because bots spend far more time in-game than an ordinary player would and consume resources the entire time."
EA bid wrong price, wrong time
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The company behind the hugely popular video game "Grand Theft Auto" says it is not going to jump at a $2 billion buyout offer from Electronic Arts Inc.
The offer is "the wrong price at the wrong time," Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. chief executive Ben Feder said Monday after the news of the $26-per-share bid sent Take-Two's shares up 55 percent to a $26.89 close.
Electronic Arts is undervaluing Take-Two and not factoring in the benefits of its recent turnaround efforts, Feder said in an interview. Take-Two said it is open to discussions with EA, but wants to wait until April 30, the day after the latest version of Grand Theft Auto hits store shelves.
But analysts said Take-Two may not have the luxury of time. While Take-Two wants a higher price, EA could make this bid hostile, or walk away and come back with a lower offer, they said.
"There can be no certainty that in the future EA or any other buyer would pay the premium we are proposing today," EA's CEO John Riccitiello said during a conference call.
"We believe our proposal is fully priced," he said. Since "Grand Theft Auto IV" should by now be essentially complete, he added, the buyout bid "would not jeopardize the development of this incredibly important title."
GTA has sold more than 65 million copies in the decade since the first game in the series, where players complete gritty crime missions to rise to the top.
more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080226/ap_on_hi_te/electronic_arts_take_two_interactive;_ylt=Api.FAChKy5rGgpZ.183y9lFr7sF
Charge mobile with peepal leave
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Charge mobile with peepal leave Its very Strange But True Very True. Now, you do not require any mobile charger to charge your mobiles. Only there is need to use green leaf of peepal tree and after some time your mobile will get charged.. No soon the people came to learn this development, they tested it and found encouraging results. If your mobile has been discharged and you are inside a jungle then you need not to use any charger. You Should pluck two peepal leaves and your work would be done. It is very good idea and easy to charge your mobile. You would have to open your mobile battery and connect it with peepal leaf. After that without shaking mobile set you should set the battery in your mobile set. After some time your mobile would be charged. Though it is unbelievable but as soon as the residents of Chitrakoot came to know about the discovery they could not believe the news. But when they saw it practically then the incident proved true. Now hundreds of mobile holders are using this technique and charging their mobiles. Several persons proved the incident true. Whereas according to the botanists, it is just changing mutual energy into electrical energy power can be saved in battery. Similarly, it is also possible. They said that it is the subject of research.
Step by Step guide to charge your mobile battery using peepal leaf
1- Open your mobile cover
2- Take out your battery
3- Take two to three fresh leaves of peepal/pipal/ashwattha tree
4- Touch the stub of these leaves on your mobile battery terminal for a minute
5- Clean the mobile battery terminal with the soft cloth
6- Put your battery again in your mobile and switch it on
7- Now you can see the result
8- If required repeat the process with fresh leaves
Xbox to deliver community games
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Hobbyist game developers will be able to share their "home brew" titles over Microsoft's Xbox Live online service.
The company has launched a community driven service that will let amateur creators build and distribute games.
"Ten million people will be able to play your games," said Microsoft's Chris Satchell, at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.
Microsoft also announced a sequel to its four and a half million-selling game Gears of War.
"I think of this as gaming created by the community and managed by the community but enjoyed by everyone," said Mr Satchell of the new game distribution system.
'Democratisation'
Microsoft freely distributes tools, called XNA, which gives amateur developers the chance to build games for the Xbox 360 and for Windows.
But until now the games could not be shared. The tools have been downloaded 800,000 times and more than 400 universities worldwide are using the XNA package.
Mr Satchell said it was the democratisation of development and distribution.
"There are tens of thousands of developers out there chomping at the bit; we need to unlock that potential," said John Schappert, head of Live services.
Microsoft also announced that it was planning a revenue sharing model for the community games distributed over Xbox Live.
"Ten million people will be able to play your games," said Microsoft's Chris Satchell, at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.
Microsoft also announced a sequel to its four and a half million-selling game Gears of War.
"I think of this as gaming created by the community and managed by the community but enjoyed by everyone," said Mr Satchell of the new game distribution system.
'Democratisation'
Microsoft freely distributes tools, called XNA, which gives amateur developers the chance to build games for the Xbox 360 and for Windows.
But until now the games could not be shared. The tools have been downloaded 800,000 times and more than 400 universities worldwide are using the XNA package.
Mr Satchell said it was the democratisation of development and distribution.
"There are tens of thousands of developers out there chomping at the bit; we need to unlock that potential," said John Schappert, head of Live services.
Microsoft also announced that it was planning a revenue sharing model for the community games distributed over Xbox Live.
Brain control headset for gamers
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Gamers will soon be able to interact with the virtual world using their thoughts and emotions alone
A neuro-headset which interprets the interaction of neurons in the brain will go on sale later this year.
"It picks up electrical activity from the brain and sends wireless signals to a computer," said Tan Le, president of US/Australian firm Emotiv.
"It allows the user to manipulate a game or virtual environment naturally and intuitively," she added.
The brain is made up of about 100 billion nerve cells, or neurons, which emit an electrical impulse when interacting. The headset implements a technology known as non-invasive electroencephalography (EEG) to read the neural activity.
Ms Le said: "Emotiv is a neuro-engineering company and we've created a brain computer interface that reads electrical impulses in the brain and translates them into commands that a video game can accept and control the game dynamically."
See how the headset works
Headsets which read neural activity are not new, but Ms Le said the Epoc was the first consumer device that can be used for gaming.
"This is the first headset that doesn't require a large net of electrodes, or a technician to calibrate or operate it and does require gel on the scalp," she said. "It also doesn't cost tens of thousands of dollars."
The use of Electroencephalography in medical practice dates back almost 100 years but it is only since the 1970s that the procedure has been used to explore brain computer interfaces.
The headset could be used to improve the realism of emotional responses of AI characters in games
Tan Le, Emotiv
The Epoc technology can be used to give authentic facial expressions to avatars of gamers in virtual worlds. For example, if the player smiles, winks, grimaces the headset can detect the expression and translate it to the avatar in game.
It can also read emotions of players and translate those to the virtual world. "The headset could be used to improve the realism of emotional responses of AI characters in games," said Ms Le.
"If you laughed or felt happy after killing a character in a game then your virtual buddy could admonish you for being callous," she explained.
The $299 headset has a gyroscope to detect movement and has wireless capabilities to communicate with a USB dongle plugged into a computer.
The Emotiv said the headset could detects more than 30 different expressions, emotions and actions.
They include excitement, meditation, tension and frustration; facial expressions such as smile, laugh, wink, shock (eyebrows raised), anger (eyebrows furrowed); and cognitive actions such as push, pull, lift, drop and rotate (on six different axis).
Gamers are able to move objects in the world just by thinking of the action.
Emotiv is working with IBM to develop the technology for uses in "strategic enterprise business markets and virtual worlds"
Paul Ledak, vice president, IBM Digital Convergence said brain computer interfaces, like the Epoc headset were an important component of the future 3D Internet and the future of virtual communication.
"It picks up electrical activity from the brain and sends wireless signals to a computer," said Tan Le, president of US/Australian firm Emotiv.
"It allows the user to manipulate a game or virtual environment naturally and intuitively," she added.
The brain is made up of about 100 billion nerve cells, or neurons, which emit an electrical impulse when interacting. The headset implements a technology known as non-invasive electroencephalography (EEG) to read the neural activity.
Ms Le said: "Emotiv is a neuro-engineering company and we've created a brain computer interface that reads electrical impulses in the brain and translates them into commands that a video game can accept and control the game dynamically."
See how the headset works
Headsets which read neural activity are not new, but Ms Le said the Epoc was the first consumer device that can be used for gaming.
"This is the first headset that doesn't require a large net of electrodes, or a technician to calibrate or operate it and does require gel on the scalp," she said. "It also doesn't cost tens of thousands of dollars."
The use of Electroencephalography in medical practice dates back almost 100 years but it is only since the 1970s that the procedure has been used to explore brain computer interfaces.
The headset could be used to improve the realism of emotional responses of AI characters in games
Tan Le, Emotiv
The Epoc technology can be used to give authentic facial expressions to avatars of gamers in virtual worlds. For example, if the player smiles, winks, grimaces the headset can detect the expression and translate it to the avatar in game.
It can also read emotions of players and translate those to the virtual world. "The headset could be used to improve the realism of emotional responses of AI characters in games," said Ms Le.
"If you laughed or felt happy after killing a character in a game then your virtual buddy could admonish you for being callous," she explained.
The $299 headset has a gyroscope to detect movement and has wireless capabilities to communicate with a USB dongle plugged into a computer.
The Emotiv said the headset could detects more than 30 different expressions, emotions and actions.
They include excitement, meditation, tension and frustration; facial expressions such as smile, laugh, wink, shock (eyebrows raised), anger (eyebrows furrowed); and cognitive actions such as push, pull, lift, drop and rotate (on six different axis).
Gamers are able to move objects in the world just by thinking of the action.
Emotiv is working with IBM to develop the technology for uses in "strategic enterprise business markets and virtual worlds"
Paul Ledak, vice president, IBM Digital Convergence said brain computer interfaces, like the Epoc headset were an important component of the future 3D Internet and the future of virtual communication.
Game creators look to the future
·
Games aimed at casual players have been big in 2007The developers of some of the world's most popular video games are in San Francisco this week to discuss the future of the industry.
They will look back on one of their most successful years and discuss tackling the challenges ahead.
Jamil Moledina, director of the Game Developers' Conference said: "We had an incredible banner year in 2007 with games like Bioshock, Halo 3 and Uncharted.
In the US the industry's revenues grew 43%, with software sales up a third on the previous year.
Speaking to BBC News, Mr Moledina said: "It's often dangerous to make predictions about the future but the industry has taken on a sense of casualisation."
In this sense casual games are those that people can play and complete in minutes rather than hours and are aimed at children, women and older people. Many of the titles prepared for Nintendo's Wii are casual games.
He added: "There's definitely an increasing interest in approaching that larger audience of media consumers."
New markets
Traditionally the games industry has concentrated on its core audience. Titles l
ike Halo 3, which pulled in the biggest ever earnings for an entertainment release in a single day, showed that the hard core gamer remained a potent market.
FROM THE DOT.LIFE BLOG
How on earth will the games industry surpass last year's commercial and critical high?
Darren Waters, technology editor BBC News website
Read Darren's thoughts in full"But the success of the Wii, RockBand, Guitar Hero and casual games point to new areas of growth," added Mr Moledina.
For instance, he said, Guitar Hero games made more than $820m at retail, a record for any single franchise in any one year.
Mr Moledina added: "The Wii has re-proven the point that five to 95 year olds like playing games."
Veteran game designer Sid Meier will speak at the conference to shed light on "the key things you need to capture the interest of the public at large".
"We have Facebook here talking about how they have managed to get so many eyeballs playing games in such a short space of time," he said.
Developers and publishers were looking at this area very closely, he added.
But, he said, these new developments would not change everything. "Not all games are going to be casual. There's still going to be a huge market for the core base which drives everything."
One of the games aimed squarely at the core audience in 2008 is Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, which will be demoed at the week-long conference.
Gaining control
The event will also feature talk about the future of the human computer interface.
"Game worlds are a fairly complex universe, however the controllers we have are often a bit intimidating," said Mr Moledina.
Emotiv systems will be showing off its latest headset that uses sensors to detect brain waves to allow gamers to control characters and objects in a game world.
Mobile gaming is starting to be taken seriouslyIsraeli firm 3DV will be demonstrating its camera technology that can detect depth of movement.
Gamers can swing an imaginary golf club or interact with a 3D world just by using their hands and arms and without the need for a controller.
"A lot of people experiment with different ways to get into the game; to convert a fairly complex way that humans think and behave and have that map in a natural way to a complex game world," explained Mr Moledina.
The conference also features a strong mobile gaming element.
"We are seeing more and more big game companies take the space seriously. The sea change is that traditional game developers are less snarky about mobile and casual than they were because of the power of phones today."
Microsoft's head of Live services, John Schappert, will give one of the conference's keynotes, where he is expected to unveil new features for the Xbox Live service.
"Microsoft hasn't delivered a keynote for two years so it will be interesting to see what they have for us," said Mr Moledina.
Jamil Moledina, director of the Game Developers' Conference said: "We had an incredible banner year in 2007 with games like Bioshock, Halo 3 and Uncharted.
In the US the industry's revenues grew 43%, with software sales up a third on the previous year.
Speaking to BBC News, Mr Moledina said: "It's often dangerous to make predictions about the future but the industry has taken on a sense of casualisation."
In this sense casual games are those that people can play and complete in minutes rather than hours and are aimed at children, women and older people. Many of the titles prepared for Nintendo's Wii are casual games.
He added: "There's definitely an increasing interest in approaching that larger audience of media consumers."
New markets
Traditionally the games industry has concentrated on its core audience. Titles l
ike Halo 3, which pulled in the biggest ever earnings for an entertainment release in a single day, showed that the hard core gamer remained a potent market.FROM THE DOT.LIFE BLOG
How on earth will the games industry surpass last year's commercial and critical high?
Darren Waters, technology editor BBC News website
Read Darren's thoughts in full"But the success of the Wii, RockBand, Guitar Hero and casual games point to new areas of growth," added Mr Moledina.
For instance, he said, Guitar Hero games made more than $820m at retail, a record for any single franchise in any one year.
Mr Moledina added: "The Wii has re-proven the point that five to 95 year olds like playing games."
Veteran game designer Sid Meier will speak at the conference to shed light on "the key things you need to capture the interest of the public at large".
"We have Facebook here talking about how they have managed to get so many eyeballs playing games in such a short space of time," he said.
Developers and publishers were looking at this area very closely, he added.
But, he said, these new developments would not change everything. "Not all games are going to be casual. There's still going to be a huge market for the core base which drives everything."
One of the games aimed squarely at the core audience in 2008 is Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, which will be demoed at the week-long conference.
Gaining control
The event will also feature talk about the future of the human computer interface.
"Game worlds are a fairly complex universe, however the controllers we have are often a bit intimidating," said Mr Moledina.
Emotiv systems will be showing off its latest headset that uses sensors to detect brain waves to allow gamers to control characters and objects in a game world.
Mobile gaming is starting to be taken seriouslyIsraeli firm 3DV will be demonstrating its camera technology that can detect depth of movement.
Gamers can swing an imaginary golf club or interact with a 3D world just by using their hands and arms and without the need for a controller.
"A lot of people experiment with different ways to get into the game; to convert a fairly complex way that humans think and behave and have that map in a natural way to a complex game world," explained Mr Moledina.
The conference also features a strong mobile gaming element.
"We are seeing more and more big game companies take the space seriously. The sea change is that traditional game developers are less snarky about mobile and casual than they were because of the power of phones today."
Microsoft's head of Live services, John Schappert, will give one of the conference's keynotes, where he is expected to unveil new features for the Xbox Live service.
"Microsoft hasn't delivered a keynote for two years so it will be interesting to see what they have for us," said Mr Moledina.
Landlocked Swiss invent world's first amphibious car
·
Okay, so the Swiss have invented a car that runs on land and underwater. But did they really have to make it a convertible? 
It's called the "sQuba", and conjures up memories of James Bond's amphibious Lotus Esprit from The Spy Who Loved Me. That fictional vehicle traveled on land and, when chased by bad guys in a helicopter, plunged into the water and became an airtight submarine — complete with "torpedoes" and "depth charges."
But "Q" isn't responsible for this one.
The concept car — which unlike Bond's is not armed — was developed by Swiss designer Rinspeed Inc. and is set to make a splash at the Geneva Auto Show next month.
Company CEO Frank Rinderknecht, a self-professed Bond fan, said he has been waiting 30 years to recreate the car he saw Roger Moore use to drive off of a dock.
The sQuba can plow through the water at a depth of 30 feet and has electrical motors to turn the underwater screw.
You'll have to break out the wetsuit, however.
The car has an open top, meaning that the two passengers are exposed to the elements.
"For safety reasons, we have built the vehicle as an open car so that the occupants can get out quickly in an emergency," said Rinderknecht, 52.
Passengers will be able to keep breathing underwater through an integrated tank of compressed air similar to what is used in scuba diving.
The sQuba's top speed on land is about 77 mph, but it slows down to 3 mph on the surface of the water, and 1.8 mph underwater.
Working with engineering specialists, Rinspeed removed the combustion engine from a sports car and replaced it with several electrical motors. Three are located in the rear — er, aft — with one providing propulsion on land and the other two driving the screw for underwater driving.
"We always want to do cars that are outrageous, which nobody has done before. So we thought, 'Let's make a car dive,'" said Rinderknecht, whose innovative company has made transparent, flying and voice-activated cars in previous attention-grabbing displays at the Geneva Auto Show.
The company calls the sQuba the first real submersible car. Unlike military amphibious vehicles, which can only drive slowly on a lakebed, the sQuba travels like a submarine — either on the surface or submerged.
The interior is resistant to salt water, allowing the skipper to drive into a lake or the sea.
"Many concept cars introduce important new technology," said John Cabaniss at the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers in Washington. "Anything to improve the efficiency of a vehicle, streamlining or reducing the weight of materials, while maintaining strength ... is put into concept cars first."
Cabaniss said the lithium-ion batteries in Rinspeed's car were "state-of-the-art" and added that the car industry in general would be looking for more ways to make things work electronically. But he was skeptical of the overriding idea.
"Other than some kind of a movie situation, for Bond-like stuff with lots of gimmicks, I can't imagine it will have any practical value," Cabaniss said. "Maybe people will need to go from land to water, and traverse a body of water, but underwater? Especially as it gets your suit wet."
Rinderknecht said it cost more than $1.5 million to make the sole sQuba in existence, and that it was difficult to make a car watertight and pressure-resistant enough to be maneuverable underwater.
"The real challenge, however, was to create a submersible car that moves like a fish in water," he added.
Rinspeed is in discussion with commercial manufacturers about making a limited number of the cars. The price? "It would be cheaper than a Rolls-Royce," he said. A 2008 Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe has a sticker price of more than $400,000.
Rinderknecht said it was unlikely that people would soon spot the sQuba tolling down the highway or popping up in your nearby lake.
"They might sell as toys for rich people, perhaps," he said. "I don't see mass transportation switching to cars that dive."
It's called the "sQuba", and conjures up memories of James Bond's amphibious Lotus Esprit from The Spy Who Loved Me. That fictional vehicle traveled on land and, when chased by bad guys in a helicopter, plunged into the water and became an airtight submarine — complete with "torpedoes" and "depth charges."
But "Q" isn't responsible for this one.
The concept car — which unlike Bond's is not armed — was developed by Swiss designer Rinspeed Inc. and is set to make a splash at the Geneva Auto Show next month.
Company CEO Frank Rinderknecht, a self-professed Bond fan, said he has been waiting 30 years to recreate the car he saw Roger Moore use to drive off of a dock.
The sQuba can plow through the water at a depth of 30 feet and has electrical motors to turn the underwater screw.
You'll have to break out the wetsuit, however.
The car has an open top, meaning that the two passengers are exposed to the elements.
"For safety reasons, we have built the vehicle as an open car so that the occupants can get out quickly in an emergency," said Rinderknecht, 52.
Passengers will be able to keep breathing underwater through an integrated tank of compressed air similar to what is used in scuba diving.
The sQuba's top speed on land is about 77 mph, but it slows down to 3 mph on the surface of the water, and 1.8 mph underwater.
Working with engineering specialists, Rinspeed removed the combustion engine from a sports car and replaced it with several electrical motors. Three are located in the rear — er, aft — with one providing propulsion on land and the other two driving the screw for underwater driving.
"We always want to do cars that are outrageous, which nobody has done before. So we thought, 'Let's make a car dive,'" said Rinderknecht, whose innovative company has made transparent, flying and voice-activated cars in previous attention-grabbing displays at the Geneva Auto Show.
The company calls the sQuba the first real submersible car. Unlike military amphibious vehicles, which can only drive slowly on a lakebed, the sQuba travels like a submarine — either on the surface or submerged.
The interior is resistant to salt water, allowing the skipper to drive into a lake or the sea.
"Many concept cars introduce important new technology," said John Cabaniss at the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers in Washington. "Anything to improve the efficiency of a vehicle, streamlining or reducing the weight of materials, while maintaining strength ... is put into concept cars first."
Cabaniss said the lithium-ion batteries in Rinspeed's car were "state-of-the-art" and added that the car industry in general would be looking for more ways to make things work electronically. But he was skeptical of the overriding idea.
"Other than some kind of a movie situation, for Bond-like stuff with lots of gimmicks, I can't imagine it will have any practical value," Cabaniss said. "Maybe people will need to go from land to water, and traverse a body of water, but underwater? Especially as it gets your suit wet."
Rinderknecht said it cost more than $1.5 million to make the sole sQuba in existence, and that it was difficult to make a car watertight and pressure-resistant enough to be maneuverable underwater.
"The real challenge, however, was to create a submersible car that moves like a fish in water," he added.
Rinspeed is in discussion with commercial manufacturers about making a limited number of the cars. The price? "It would be cheaper than a Rolls-Royce," he said. A 2008 Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe has a sticker price of more than $400,000.
Rinderknecht said it was unlikely that people would soon spot the sQuba tolling down the highway or popping up in your nearby lake.
"They might sell as toys for rich people, perhaps," he said. "I don't see mass transportation switching to cars that dive."
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