Serious Sam 3: BFE launches worldwide on Xbox Live Arcade next week Serious Sam 3: BFE will launch worldwide on Xbox Live Arcade next week, Croteam, Devolver Digital and Mastertronic have announced.
The Croteam-developed XBLA version of the arcade-style shooter has been converted to “take full advantage of the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live” to deliver serious shooting action on the console.
“Ever since we announced Serious Sam 3: BFE our fans have asked us to bring the game to Xbox LIVE Arcade,” said Davor Hunski, “chief creative guy” at Croteam.
The game contains a large single-player campaign, online and split-screen co-op. It will run you 1200 MS Points.
The Jewel of the Nile campaign expansion and all multiplayer versus modes like Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Last Team Standing and My Burden will also be available at launch and priced at 1200 MS Points.
Microsoft sweetened the deal for all its potential Windows 8 users a few days ago when it announced that adopters of the new OS would get an unlimited free Xbox Music Pass. This is a good way for Microsoft to promote both its new OS and, perhaps more importantly, its new music service. The new Xbox Music rises from the ashes of the old Zune offering but brings much more - and it's consistent across the entire Microsoft ecosystem.
So if you're a Windows 8 user you might have noticed all of the updates for the first party apps that have been going on recently. One of them is for the Music app and if you haven't already updated you definitely should. Why? Well because this update brings the free music subscription that Microsoft mentioned a few days ago.
All you have to do after updating is to open the app, log in to your Microsoft account (in case it doesn't do it automatically) and start listening to music. There are no extra steps to go through which is really great - just open the app and go! The music you stream can also be added to your own music library of course, and you can also create smart playlists that incorporate both your own music and online offerings similar to what you're listening to. The only sign that you haven't actually bought these tracks is the cloud icon which you can see in the screenshot above. It actually resembles the Skydrive logo.
Being able to stream unlimited music out of the box is pretty awesome and should definitely sweeten the deal for those who are considering, but haven't decided yet on, a Windows 8 upgrade.
Xbox SmartGlass will "add to" rather than "distract from" Xbox 360 gaming Free app coming 26th October alongside Windows 8
The free Xbox SmartGlass app will launch on 26th October alongside Windows 8 and Xbox Music, enabling touchscreen control of a wide range of functions on Xbox 360. It's part of a broad push towards cloud data sharing which will see Xbox become an umbrella brand for music, games and movies, seamlessly fed out to all the various media devices in your possession.
Speaking to CVG, Xbox Live product manager Pawan Bhardwaj discussed various gaming applications for SmartGlass. Among other things, you'll be able to view an interactive map on your tablet when driving around in Forza Horizon, and sneakily doctor Just Dance 4 playlists using the touchscreen while others are busy doing the Macarena.
"We really want to offer an enhanced experience for people playing games on Xbox," Bhardwaj told the site. "We don't want to distract from it, we want to add to it. It has to be a genuine accompaniment, so we're looking at games that will be enhanced and not hindered by second-screen tech." Here are seven other ways to make use of SmartGlass at launch.
Microsoft community pillar Major Nelson has more. "When the Xbox SmartGlass app launches on tablets, PCs and smartphones, it will include key foundational experiences for interacting with your Xbox 360, such as dashboard and app navigation and Internet Explorer control, like text input, scrolling and pinch and zoom.
"Additionally, you will get SmartGlass experiences with Xbox Video and Xbox Music starting this week. Xbox SmartGlass will be a free downloadable app that takes your Windows 8 tablets and PCs, Windows Phone 8, iOS and Android devices, and converts them into a smart second screen for the entertainment you are enjoying through your Xbox."
Διαθέσιμο το νέο dashboard του Xbox 360 Σήμερα διατέθηκε σε όλους τους κατόχους Xbox 360 το νέο dashboard, το οποίο φέρνει πιο κοντά την κονσόλα της Microsoft με τη λογική των Windows 8. Εκτός από τη νέα εμφάνιση, το update προσθέτει αρκετά νέα χαρακτηριστικά, όπως ο Internet Explorer και το Xbox Music, τα οποία μπορείτε να δείτε στη συνέχεια του άρθρου.
• Refreshed Xbox 360 Dashboard. We’ve updated the UI with a few things, including an updated layout with more tiles, a combined TV & Movies channel and, in the US, a Sports destination. • Internet Explorer for Xbox. With Internet Explorer on Xbox, you can easily find and view internet content on the biggest screen in the house, including HTML5 videos. • Recommendations and Ratings. Recommendations will allow you to discover new favorites, generated based on a number of variables including the content you previously viewed, what your friends are consuming and what is most relevant and popular with our Xbox community. You can now rate content yourself and also see Rotten Tomatoes ratings. • Pinning. Pinning lets you personalize the dashboard by saving your favorite movies, TV shows, games, music, videos and websites right to the home screen. It’s as easy as opening an app or a favorite movie and clicking “pin.” • Xbox Video. Formerly called Zune Video Marketplace, Xbox Video offers hundreds of thousands of TV shows and movies for buying or renting in instant HD streaming. • Recent. Previously called Quick Play, the Recent view gives you a list of movies, games, apps or other types of content that you most recently accessed on the console. • Enhanced Search. The last Xbox LIVE update brought Bing voice search to Xbox so you could use voice to search for movies, TV shows, actors, directors and artists. This year we added genre search to the list, so now you can search for action, comedy, romance, drama or sci-fi. Bing voice search now includes results for video across the Web, including YouTube. • International Expansion of Voice Search. We’ve expanded our Kinect voice search capabilities to 9 new countries – Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Italy, Spain, Austria, and Ireland.
Microsoft Wants To Turn Xbox 360 Kinect Into Big Brother!
A Microsoft patent application published this week suggests that the software giant could use its Xbox 360 Kinect hardware as a “Big Brother” sensor to prevent too many people from watching rented movies.
The patent application, applied for on November 1, is titled “Content distribution regulation by viewing user.” The patent, assigned to Kathryn Stone Perez, Alex Aben-Athar Kipman and Andrew John Fuller, describes a “content presentation system and method allowing content providers to regulate the presentation of content on a per-user-view basis”.
Although the patent goes on at some length, the concept is fairly simple: the patent assumes a future in which a content provider (Microsoft or a third-party studio) licenses content like a movie or game to be played. The difference that the patent suggests is that the content would be licensed on a per-user-view basis, so that, for example, a maximum of four people could watch a movie.
The patent goes on to suggest that the computing device itself enforce limits on the number of people that could view the movie or game. If the number of viewers exceeds the limit, the viewers could be asked to re-license the movie - paying more for the privilege, one can assume - or risk it being blocked or shut down.
Or as the patent application suggests:
“Once the presentation begins at 326, the users in the field of view may change over the course of the presentation. Users may enter or leave the display area of a display device, for example. At 328, the display area for the display device is re-scanned. At 330, a determination is made as to whether the consuming user count has changed. Again, the content provider based on information provided to the content provider by the display device may perform step 330. In such embodiments, the content provider performs step 330. At 332, a comparison of the user count and any view or performance limitation against that allowed by the license is again made. If the license is exceeded, the process moves to step 338 to offer an opportunity to change the license terms. If the count has not changed, a determination is made at 334 whether performance of the content has been completed. “
The numbers refer to specific components of the patent itself. Kinect Is Watching You
Although the computing device in question could be any number of things, including a camera-equipped mobile phone, one of the drawings attached to the patent includes a television screen with a pair of cameras mounted upon it. Although neither the patent nor the drawings name it specifically, the suggestion is that the Xbox Kinect sensor could be used to identify users and determine if their presence, including moving in an out of the room, would be enough to warrant a license warning.
“Individuals may be specifically identified and the amount of their consumption of the content tracked relative to their specific use,” the patent application reads.
Microsoft clearly recognizes that its Kinect peripheral offers it the chance to take living-room computing in new, revolutionary directions, from peripheral displays that can project “holodeck”-like scenery on the walls to mounting it on your computer monitor to enable Minority Report-style gestures. The patent also specifically mentions eyeglasses - most probably the Fortaleza augmented reality glasses that previously leaked documents detailed - that could be used to view real and virtual objects. Microsoft representatives did not return requests for comment.
Pay-Per-View Impact
Still, the use of Microsoft hardware to enforce copyrights could have more of a real-world impact on things like sporting events, all of which carry taglines similar to those used by Major league Baseball: “Any reproduction, retransmission or rebroadcast without the expressed, written consent of Major League Baseball is strictly prohibited.”
For a baseball game, the rights to watch it are essentially free, paid for by a user’s cable or satellite license. (Baseball, like other sports, charges more for the rights to see out-of-town games or to watch games online.) But bars, restaurants and other businesses have to buy a special business TV subscription that allows them to broadcast sports to larger groups of people, such as this one from Cox. The price might not be that high - a Cox salesman told ReadWrite that an expanded HD package would run $80 per month - but the special events are where a business will pay more.
The price for watching a pay-per-view bout at home might be $50, while businesses typically pay $1,500 to $3,000 or more depending on the size of the venue, according to J&J Sports President Joseph Gagliardi, as quoted by Bloomberg. Some bar owners attempt to tap into the residential signal to broadcast the pay-per-view mixed-martial-arts matches, and should pay more to broadcast football games.
But while Kinect-equipped bars might be relatively rare, on any given Sunday living rooms across the nation might be packed with family and friends. And if the NFL, MLB or NBA decided that too many people were watching the game, the video feed could suddenly be cut off. And that would truly be game over.
Selling 270,000 units in October, the Xbox 360 notched its 22nd consecutive month atop the console market
October sales figures for the Xbox 360 have come in, and Microsoft has announced that the device has led the U.S. console market now for 22 consecutive months. Before that, the Wii was on top. In October, Microsoft moved 270,000 units.
Now coming on two full years of consistent top-dog status, Microsoft is showing no signs of letting up on pushing its device.
7 years into the console’s life, Microsoft has – at last – introduced it to the Israeli market, a country noted for its heavy focus on technology. The company is also bringing Xbox LIVE and the Kinect gadget to the country.
As the Xbox 360 has aged, unlike most technology, it has not gone stale; continued improvements to its firmware have kept it fresh far longer than what was perhaps expected. Content deals and the rise of Netflix transformed the Xbox console into something more than a gaming device, a fact that lessened its needs to be technically impressive; video streaming rejiggered the console market mid-cycle.
Still, the next Xbox console is rumored to be on the way out into the market next year, and the Kinect sensor is more than ready for a refresh. That in mind, coupled launch, perhaps at E3 or other gaming-focused event would be appropriate.
We’ll see you in a month if Microsoft manages to win yet again. At the 24 month mark, we hope Microsoft has a celebration in mind. However, there could be turbulence ahead, as TNW’s own Joel Falconer explains:
The Wii might not be as popular as it once was, but the release of the Wii U right before Christmas could prevent the Xbox from hitting the two-year milestone. It remains to be seen whether the Wii U has the pull to do this, but given the Wii’s popularity with kids and casual gamers, and the new model’s fresh ideas for control interfaces, I wouldn’t discredit it.
To Modern Warfare 3 επιστρέφει στη κορυφή των XBL Activity Charts, έχοντας χάσει τη θέση του από το Minecraft. Ασφαλώς, η έκδοση για το Xbox 360 του δημοφιλούς sandbox διατηρεί τη πρώτη θέση στα charts των arcade τίτλων. Τα πράγματα ίσως να είναι διαφορετικά την επόμενη εβδομάδα, με την κυκλοφορία του Halo 4. Πιο αναλυτικά, η λίστα έχει ως εξής:
Xbox 360 Top LIVE Titles
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition Call of Duty: Black Ops EA Sports FIFA Soccer 13 Assassin’s Creed III Halo: Reach Borderlands 2 Modern Warfare 2 Battlefield 3 NBA 2K13 Madden NFL 13 Skyrim Gears of War 3 GTA IV Happy Wars Forza Horizon FIFA 12 Ηalo 3 Medal of Honor Warfighter RESIDENT EVIL 6 Top Arcade Titles
Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition The Walking Dead Trials Evolution Sonic Adventure 2 Pinball FX2 Castle Crashers Counter-Strike: GO Trials HD Pool Nation Fruit Ninja Kinect Worms Revolution Serious Sam 3: BFE Alan Wake’s American Nightmare Jet Set Radio Magic 2013 Mark of the Ninja GUILTY GEAR XX ^CORE PLUS Peggle Family Game Night Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD
Xbox 360 Karaoke game has 8000 songs, charges you by the hour Xbox 360′s newly announced crooner app – simply called ‘Karaoke’ – will feature a library of 8000 tracks to massacre, and will charge players on a time basis, rather than an initial fee. It’s another dip into the free-to-play pool by Microsoft.
PlayXBLA reports that Karaoke – which is a collaboration between Microsoft and The Karaoke Channel – will stream games direct from your console, rather than making you download them.
It also operates a time-based payment model that lets players buy blocks of time in denominations of two, six or 24 hours via MS Points, and will also come with achievements, audio controls and your avatar singing along on screen.
Xbox 360 leads console sales in U.S. According to Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg, Xbox 360 leads console sales at nearly double other consoles and Wii U sales combined, with 1.26 million units sold.
- Xbox 360 sold 1.26 million units in November, maintaining the number-one console spot in the U.S. for the 23rd consecutive month. - Total retail spend on the Xbox 360 platform in November (hardware, software and accessories) reached $1.2 billion, the most for any console in the U.S. - During the month of November, Xbox 360 held four of the top 10 console game titles including: “Halo 4,” “Call of Duty: Black Ops 2,” “Assassin’s Creed 3,” and “NFL Madden 13.”
Date Source for above: NPD Group, November 2012
Minecraft Xbox 360 has sold close to 4.5 million copies Mojang has announced the XBLA version of Minecraft has sold 4,476,904 copies. The figure represents sales up to the end of November, meaning the game has sold between 40,000 to 60,000 copies per week, since release. The game has also be a constant on the XBL activity charts since it was released, becoming the third most played game on XBL behind Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and Halo 4
