Joystiq

Rumor: Microsoft considered OnLive acquisition, thinks the next PlayStation will be a GoogleTV box

Jordan Mallory — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 13:30:00 EST

Details continue to spew forth from the supposed leaked 52-page "Xbox 720" presentation that came to light a few hours ago. Buried deep within the bowels of the slideshow's ~~fifth~~ seventh slide, an examination of the next Xbox's potential competition potentially reveals some interesting tidbits about Microsoft's thinking back in 2010 (the slideshow dates back to August 2010).

Most notably, the document not only lists OnLive's MicroConsole as competition (along with the AppleTV and GoogleTV platforms, among others), but it also notes OnLive itself as a "potential acquisition target" - which makes sense considering frequent mentions of cloud gaming in the rest of the document.

The presentation also makes several assumptions about the Wii U (dubbed "Wii2" in the piece, showing its age) and Sony's eventual next console, specifically claiming that the Wii U will cost around $249, and that the "PS4" will be some kind of GoogleTV device, on top of being a Sony console.

Rumor: Microsoft considered OnLive acquisition, thinks the next PlayStation will be a GoogleTV box originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 16 Jun 2012 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Epic talks Project Sword, Unreal Engine on iPhone, and Apple TV as a game console

JC Fletcher — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: News, In The News, Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

Following yesterday's dramatic announcement of Project Sword for iOS -- and the dramatic release of the free Epic Citadel tech demo -- Gamasutra spoke to Epic's Mike Capps about the games and the platform. Capps said that putting Unreal Engine 3 content on iPhone wasn't as hard as it seemed, thanks to the device's storage space that can come in handy for textures. "You've got 16 gigs of flash memory, which is way better, faster memory than what most people have generally on a home PC," he said. "So that stuff works really well. It's the big environments that get really complicated on the rendering tools for iPhone. But yeah, we've got some tricks for it."

Capps has his eyes on the future of the platform, both for Epic's own games and licensees. "We've got a few of our licensees using [the iOS tools for UE3] now, who've been testing it with us. So we'll roll it out to existing licensees and then start opening up. I think [Epic VP] Mark Rein has a big plan for how they're going to roll it out and make sure everybody's using it."

Capps also thinks there's potential to turn the new Apple TV into a game console of sorts. "... I can't wait to throw our engineers at it and see if we can get the latency we need to be able to play a game interactively over that wireless link to the Apple TV," he said. "I sure hope so."

Gallery: Epic Citadel ('Project Sword' tech demo)

Epic talks Project Sword, Unreal Engine on iPhone, and Apple TV as a game console originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Make that Apple TV a gaming emulation station

Christopher Grant — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 13:19:00 EST

Filed under: Hacks, Mac, Retro

We're not sure exactly how to transform your video-playing Apple TV into an emulation station just yet, but we do know that there's an awful lot of Apple TV hacking going on and the above video purports to show a very functional copy of Super Mario Bros. running off the tiny little box.

AwkwardTV has a page set up listing some emulators that work with the Apple TV writing, "These emulators are being tested with standard ROM's on the AppleTV running the original OS except for being slightly modified to add SSH." Is anyone tired enough of waiting for Apple's inevitable game offerings to upgrade their Apple TV themself?

[Via TUAW]

Make that Apple TV a gaming emulation station originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 11 Apr 2007 13:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple TV: games or no games?

Vladimir Cole — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 11:15:00 EST

Filed under: Mac, PC, Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Online, CES, Business

We're confused about Apple's plans for games on their new Apple TV device.

Marketing copy running across the top of the official "Apple TV" website promises "If it's on iTunes, it's on TV," yet small, grey text at the bottom of the screen takes that promise back: "iPod games will not play on Apple TV."

Further confusion results from the image at right, showing a screenshot of a Harris Poll administered back in October in which consumers were asked what sort of content they might like to purchase for an Apple TV device. Games are listed.

Is the absence of gaming from Apple TV an indication that poll respondents showed little interest in games? Is the absence of gaming due to technical limitations that might be fixed in future versions of Apple TV hardware? Is the absence of gaming an indication that iPod gaming itself might not be faring so well in the iTunes marketplace? (EA's embrace of iTunes gaming indicates otherwise.)

Whatever the case may be, it looks like consumers will have to stick to their latest-gen consoles if they want to play inexpensive, digitally downloaded games from the couch... for now.

Apple TV: games or no games? originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 16 Jan 2007 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Xbox 360 IPTV outshines Apple TV?

Richard Mitchell — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 11:35:00 EST

Filed under: News, Fan stuff

While the Apple iPhone may have unexpectedly blown Microsoft's Zune out of the water at CES, the 360 looks as though it may have pulled an unexpected fast one of its own. What we're talking about here is Xbox 360 IPTV versus Apple TV. As noted by Beta News, it may have been the frothing Apple blogosphere itself that muted the announcement of Apple TV: "I got the feeling that as [Steve Jobs] was going through the iTV announcement, the blogger was going, okay, 720p ... yadda, yadda, yadda ... come on, let's get to the phone!" Meanwhile, Microsoft dropped something of a bomb by announcing that IPTV was coming to the Xbox 360. The reason that this is very different from Apple TV is that Microsoft has already established an Xbox ecosystem. They already have millions of customers with 360s in their homes. According to the article, Microsoft has a key advantage in the TV space because of its leverage with the gaming audience (you know, 18-30 year old guys who dig technology).

We have to admit, had we known that our Xbox 360 was merely a sneaky way of Microsoft solidifying its dream of creating the mythical "set top box," we would have been skeptical to say the least. But now that it's here, now that downloading movies and TV is possible (and having great games to boot), we're enjoying every minute of it. Microsoft has succeeded in an arena completely separate from games, and is giving similar services a run for their money (we wouldn't be surprised if the Video Mareketplace moves from its number 2 position to claim 1st place either).

So, maybe the iPhone did shoot the Zune in the face, but Microsoft seemingly struck a similar blow with the IPTV announcement. Then again, maybe the Apple TV and 360 IPTV shouldn't even be looked at as competitors, as Apple clearly isn't aiming for the HDMI loving, 1080p needing crowd. What do you think, will the 360 become the first mass market set top box that the tech industry has been dreaming of since the 90s? (Bonus question: has it already?)

[Thanks, Jonah Falcon]

Xbox 360 IPTV outshines Apple TV? originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 12 Jan 2007 11:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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