New Xbox hits stores, launching holiday season console war

TOKYO— Microsoft's new Xbox console hit stores worldwide Tuesday, kicking off a holiday season battle with Sony's latest PlayStation model, as the coronavirus pandemic creates unprecedented gaming demand around the world.

The Xbox Series X launches just two days before Sony's next generation PlayStation 5, in a head-to-head likely to dominate the gaming sector this shopping season.

The launches are well-placed to capitalize on a massive spike in demand for gaming. Rising numbers of people around the world are seeking distraction during a pandemic that has killed 1.25 million people and left at least 3 billion more in some form of lockdown since the virus appeared in late December.

But while lockdowns and restrictions may have boosted sales, they have also forced companies to move their launch events online.

Xbox, famous for games such as Halo, Gears of War and Forza Horizon, held an online countdown to midnight for Australia and New Zealand.

Phil Spencer, executive vice-president of gaming at Microsoft, told gamers on a Facebook live event that they were taking "the first step into the next generation of gaming."

"And you will be the first in the world to experience it."

The pandemic also means no long lines of customers camped outside stores, with the pre-orders snapped up online instead more likely to be delivered to gamers' homes.

But demand has been brisk, and is expected to stay that way, Morris Garrard, analyst at specialist financial consultancy FutureSource, told AFP ahead of the launch.

"As soon as any stock is available, it is going to be bought out, within a few minutes even," he said.

He said some of that activity would be people attempting to buy up stock for resale, but that he expects "a high level of excess demand for these consoles, at least in the short term."

"So talking sort of three to six months, I think we'll see that a lot of people who want to get a console are unable to get a console."

SWAN SONG FOR PHYSICAL CONSOLES

Microsoft is hoping its next-generation offering will help close the gap with Sony, whose PlayStation 4 sold twice as well as the Xbox One since they both were released in 2013.

Unlike the PlayStation 5, whose release will be staggered in different countries from Thursday, the Xbox Series X hit the shelves worldwide on Tuesday.

Both Sony and Microsoft have lined up a roster of eagerly awaited games -- headlined by the latest edition of Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed, an open-world Viking epic -- to launch with the consoles, which will offer much more powerful central and graphics processors than their predecessors.

In a competitive industry where focus is shifting to online play, this could be a swan song for physical consoles, with both firms betting on cloud servers to do the heavy processing lifting in the future.

But for now, the Xbox design team boasts that their product, which looks much like a PC, is "the fastest most powerful ever" console.

The kit, which has potential 8K video capabilities, has a faster graphics processor than the PS5, and superior data-crunching power.

The "premium" Xbox Series X costs $499 -- the same price as the PlayStation 5 -- but both companies are also offering cheaper, digital-only "mini" versions of the new machines. On these smaller consoles, gamers will be able to play titles as downloads only, not on disk.

Microsoft's slimmed-down console, the Xbox Series S, costs $299, $100 less than the digital-only PlayStation, a move analysts say Sony can afford as the market leader.

Agence France-Presse

'Animal Crossing' and cooped-up gamers fire up Nintendo profits

Nintendo's popular Switch console and blockbuster games including "Animal Crossing" fuelled a strong rise in profits and sales, which were also helped by players being stuck at home because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Japanese gaming giant said Thursday it had notched up annual net profits of 258.6 billion yen ($2.4 billion) in the fiscal year to March, a gain of 33 percent from the year before.

Sales climbed nine percent to 1.3 trillion yen and the firm was quick to point out the success of "Animal Crossing: New Horizons", which it said had enjoyed the strongest-ever debut for a Nintendo Switch title.

"Nintendo Switch performed very well without losing momentum," the Kyoto-based firm said in a statement.

The conglomerate is one of a "handful" of major companies seeing significant business opportunities from the coronavirus outbreak, said Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Ace Research Institute in Tokyo.

"Demand for video games has shot up among people staying home following the outbreak," Yasuda told AFP.

Nintendo shares, which closed up 3.24 percent on Thursday before its earnings announcement, have surged some 27 percent since early March.

However, the firm also pointed to risks arising from the pandemic, including production and procurement of parts, and delays in Research and Development.

For the current fiscal year, the firm predicted reduced sales and profits, as the Switch enters a "crucial" fourth year -- past consoles began declining in popularity after three years.

Nintendo sees net profit at 200 billion yen for the fiscal year to March 2021, down 23 percent from the previous year, with annual sales forecast at 1.2 trillion yen, down 8.3 percent.

STAYING HOME WORLDWIDE

Yasuda said the popularity of the latest "Animal Crossing" title should continue to drive profits for the current fiscal year.

The leisurely game has struck a chord with players around the world, many of them enjoying a virtual release from the restrictions on movement and social activity imposed to contain coronavirus.

"'Animal Crossing' does not involve lots of violent actions," noted Yasuo Imanaka, chief analyst at Rakuten Securities.

The ability to invite online friends to play and shop together in this virtual world has appealed to those cooped up due to coronavirus, Imanaka told AFP.

"This perfectly fits the feeling of people staying home worldwide," said Imanaka, adding that the game's calm vibe was especially appealing to women and children.

Among other Nintendo titles, "Pokemon Sword" and "Pokemon Shield" have also become multi-million-unit sellers, following big hits "Super Mario Maker 2", "The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening", and "Fire Emblem: Three Houses".

Launched in March 2017, the Switch has become a huge global seller, helped by innovative, family-friendly titles that have wowed critics and gamers alike.

Sales of both its regular Switch platform and the Switch Lite -- a smaller, cheaper version -- reached 21 million units for the fiscal year, well above its annual target upgraded three months ago.

Rival Sony is scheduled to report its annual results next week as it prepares to launch its next-generation PlayStation 5 console later this year.

Analyst Imanaka said games such as "Animal Crossing" would not fizzle out immediately as coronavirus restriction are gradually lifted.

"I am expecting those people who have started playing video games or online games will continue playing them in this quarter at least," Imanaka told AFP.

Agence France-Presse

PlayStation 5: What we know so far

Sony has unveiled the technical specifications of its PlayStation 5, with the next-generation console to include 3D audio and backwards compatibility of at least 100 PS4 titles.

PS5 lead system architect Mark Cerny gave a presentation which was streamed live on YouTube on Thursday (Manila time). It was originally intended for the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, which was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"We had a dream of what might be possible five years from now," said Cerny about 3D audio, which will make virtual raindrops sound like they are hitting different surfaces around the player.

"This is a journey we'll all be taking together over the next few years. Ultimately, we're committed to enabling everyone to experience that next level of realism," he added.

Watch it 


Hideaki Nishino, PlayStation's senior vice president for platform planning and management, said in a blog post that PS5's new features "will allow developers to maximize their creativity, build expansive worlds and new play experiences in the games they design."

As for backwards compatibility, he wrote: "We recently took a look at the Top 100 PS4 titles as ranked by play time, and we're expecting almost all of them to be playable at launch on PS5. With more than 4,000 games published on PS4, we will continue the testing process and expand backwards compatibility coverage over time."

Despite the deep dive, Sony has yet to unveil images of the new console. 

For now, here are the official specs of the PS5:

CPU
- x86-64-AMD Ryzen™ “Zen 2”
- 8 Cores / 16 Threads
- Variable frequency, up to 3.5 GHz

GPU
- AMD Radeon™ RDNA 2-based graphics engine
- Ray Tracing Acceleration
- Variable frequency, up to 2.23 GHz (10.3 TFLOPS)

SYSTEM MEMORY
- GDDR6 16GB
- 448GB/s Bandwidth

SSD
- 825GB
- 5.5GB/s Read Bandwidth (Raw)

PS5 GAME DISC
- Ultra HD Blu-ray™, up to 100GB/disc

VIDEO OUT
- Support of 4K 120Hz TVs, 8K TVs, VRR (specified by HDMI ver.2.1)

AUDIO
- “Tempest” 3D AudioTech

source: news.abs-cbn.com

It's connected devices vs consoles at biggest e-games convention

COLOGNE, Germany - Connected devices are challenging consoles at the world's largest online gaming fair, as hundreds of thousands of fans jostle to see top e-sports stars in action and give feedback that can decide whether a new release is a hit or a flop.

The gamescom fair in Cologne, Germany, opens to the general public on Wednesday after a series of sneak-peek events to whet the appetite of a rising generation of enthusiasts who spend more time on gaming than they do watching TV.

Stars of competitive online gaming, known as e-sports, are now making the kind of money earned by professional soccer or tennis players, with US teenager Kyle Giersdorf scooping $3 million at last month's Fortnite World Cup.

Organizers say this year's event will focus on cloud-based gaming, amid a trend towards using a range of connected devices and away from consoles such as the Sony Playstation or Microsoft Xbox.

"Cloud gaming is a very important trend - it's about being able to play the best, newest games on practically every device because the actual account is in the cloud," said gamescom's Felix Falk.

Independent developers will also be in the spotlight, added Falk.

Fans will get an up-close look at their heroes demonstrating forthcoming releases, with developers and industry analysts observing queues and interviewing visitors to assess which might turn out to be hits.

"This starts very early," said Jens Kosche, a developer at the German unit of Electronic Arts, which is behind games such as Anthem and Apex Legends.

"We show games to select players and they tell us what they think could be better, and what they like. With that feedback we can develop the game further."

There are an estimated 2.6 billion e-gamers worldwide who will spend some $148 billion on games and related products this year, according to research from Newzoo cited by Mirabaud Securities.

That figure is forecast to rise to $174 billion by 2021 as e-gaming gains in popularity thanks to faster mobile connectivity and the spread of technologies like artificial intelligence and virtual reality.

That makes online gaming – and following e-sports pros on social networks such as Amazon's streaming platform Twitch – a lucrative channel for advertisers and marketers as mainstays like TV stagnate. (Additional reporting and writing by Douglas Busvine, Editing by Alexandra Hudson)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Cloud play on the horizon in changing video game world

LOS ANGELES -- Console makers long at the center of the video game universe are adapting to an exploding constellation of ways to play, with the cloud looming on the horizon.

Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony remained stars, with rival Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch gaming hardware respectively, at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) show floor that opened in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

But the premier industry gathering was very much focused on games themselves, and the idea they can be played as a service hosted in the internet cloud using an array of devices from smartphones to personal computers.

The annual E3 event "occurs against a backdrop of disruption in the console market," according to IHS Markit games technology research director Piers Harding-Rolls.

"As the market becomes more digitally enabled and service based, console companies and publishers are starting to map out their longer-term strategies including the building out of subscription cloud gaming services," Harding-Rolls told AFP.

Companies interested in cloud gaming see it as a way to reach broader audiences, adding to console businesses instead of taking away from them, according to the analyst.

"I see consoles being around or the foreseeable future," Harding-Rolls said.

Shifting terrain

But the competitive landscape will tilt away from console-market leading PlayStation to terrain more favorable to Xbox, he reasoned.

Microsoft has built a powerful platform for hosting computing in the internet cloud, making such service a thriving part of its business.

“We commit and harness the full breadth of our resources at Microsoft to deliver on the future of play," Xbox team leader Phil Spencer said at an E3 briefing.

The Redmond, Washington-based technology veteran has also invested heavily in machine learning, naming its Cortana digital assistant after an artificial intelligence character in blockbuster Xbox video game "Halo."

Spencer also said that Microsoft is working on a cloud service for streaming console-quality games to internet-linked devices.

"If you agree that the eventual future of games consumption is through cloud gaming services, then those companies with a strong position in cloud are likely to be best placed to benefit from the transition," Harding-Rolls said.

"In this context, Microsoft's cloud division gives the company a natural advantage when trying to build a profitable business."

Sony and Microsoft have each put out word they are working on next-generation consoles, but planned capabilities have yet to be revealed.

PlayStation 4 has dominated the current console generation, briskly outselling Xbox One.

But if the video game world shifts to Microsoft's strengths, its new competition in play could become cloud and AI titans such as Amazon, Google, Tencent, and Alibaba, according to Harding-Rolls.

Learning from mobile

The video game industry is seeing its biggest investment ever, with the three big consoles "very healthy," according to Electronic Software Association chief executive Michael Gallagher.

The ESA trade group organizes E3, with 60,000 industry insiders and gamers from some 100 countries expected to attend the three-day gathering.

Video game industry revenue worldwide tallied about $116 billion last year, according to the ESA.

Console makers have been taking lessons from mobile games, building online communities of players who provide feedback; stream play; subscribe to services, and spend money on digital content such as dance moves or funky clothing for characters.

"Mobile has been a fantastic growth point for the industry," Gallagher said.


Console video game titan Bethesda is unabashedly bridging the divide between console and mobile play with versions of blockbusters "Fallout" and "Elder Scrolls" for play on smartphones or tablets.

"I can't wait to play it," Gallagher said of "Elder Scrolls: Blades" that will be available free for iPhones or Android-powered mobile devices when it is released later this year.

Another sign of console-quality play making its way to mobile devices came in the form of telecom giant AT&T showing off ultra high-speed 5G wireless data capabilities on the E3 show floor.

Super-fast internet service is seen as key to rich, seamless game play.

"Exponential increases in computing power, storage and speed will lead to the streaming of realistic, systemic, densely populated and persistent game worlds to any screen," said Yves Guillemot, chief executive of French video game powerhouse Ubisoft.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Pinoy DOTA 2 newbies begin road to P50-M tourney

MANILA—Six newbies of Pampanga-based gaming team Skyville will fly to Jakarta this month after they defeated BRZ Gaming to win the Philippine qualifiers for the 2017 New Bloods Championships held at Samsung Hall of SM Aura Premiere on Saturday.

The team — composed of Angelo de Paula (Efking), Matt Pangilinan (supaTakz!), Josef Leonard (JL Cris), Carlos Lachica (Sirc), Julius Mendoza Galeon (JG), and Chris Ian Francis Maldo (CTY) — will take home $1,000 (roughly P50,000) after topping 15 other DOTA 2 groups in the 2-day competition.


"Di namin expected na makukuha namin ito kasi iyong kalaban magagaling. We just did our best to play and dedicate it to the Lord. Iyon ang talagag foundation namin," said team coach Roy Rebuta, who is proud of the roster that was formed only in January.

Skyville, an organization formed in 2008, has been competing in local and national DOTA tournaments for a while. Some of its players have already slugged it out against the likes of Mineski in the Mineski Pro-Gaming League. But this is their first time to compete in the international scene.

"There's nervousness from the team but we're very excited especially because we're going to represent the Philippines," said team manager Bryan Altes.

"One month ago we already trained a lot. We studied strategies, out strategies and other teams' strategies. We're not fully ready yet but we're in the process of getting ready. But I think our team can do it."

If Skyville newbies make it to the top 2 of the New Blood Championships Grand Finale in Jakarta, they will be one of the two teams that will battle it out against pro gaming teams from different counties in a wildcard round, a possible ticket to the major event, Galaxy Battles II, which offers a $1-million (roughly P50 million) prize pool.

-- 'DOTA capital' Philippines to host Galaxy Battles II --

The wild card round will be held in the Philippines as part of the bigger "Galaxy Battles II: Emerging Worlds" tournament in January 2018. The event is slated at the 60,000-seat Philippine Arena as organizers aim to set the record for e-sports attendees.

"We're going for the Guinness Book of World Records in Manila because you guys are DOTA capital, everyone loves it, everyone is excited . . . We'll give Manila a new meaning for DOTA 2." said Adrian Gaffor, managing director of Fallout Gaming.

The main event of the second season of Galaxy Battles, which will be on January 19 to 21, will feature 16 pro gaming teams from different parts of the world. This will be the first major gaming event of 2018.

TNC Pro Team will also participate in the tournament as 1 of the 8 invited teams. Newbee, Peruvian team, Infamous Gaming and OG are some of the teams invited.

Aside from the tournament area, organizers will also be setting up an entertainment zone inside the Philippine Arena compound, wherein people will get the chance to see their favorite local artists perform live during the 3-day event.

There will also be a Disneyland-like "DOTA 2" theme park, something that has never been done before, a venue where fans of one of the biggest games in the world can truly immerse themselves.

"What we want to create here is a new experience. When you come down, you just don't watch DOTA but you can feel it, you can live it, you can act on it as well," Gaffor said. —With reports from Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News

source: news.abs-cbn.com

PH team TNC Pro Team loses to China's LFY in DOTA 2 tournament

The Philippines' TNC Pro Team lost to China's LFY, 2-0, at the Dota 2 The International 7 (TI7) tournament early Wednesday morning.

TNC Pro Team looked set to win Game 1 but LFY turned the tables to claim the victory. The Chinese team dominated the second match to sweep the Filipinos in their best of 3 series.

TNC Pro Team will next face OG in the lower bracket.

Another Filipino team, Execration, earlier ended its journey in the tournament.

Execration failed to win against Team Secret from Europe.

Following their loss, the Filipino group exited the annual competition at 12th to 16th place, to bring home roughly around P6 million as cash prize.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Dell targets casual gamers with new Inspiron laptop

MANILA -- Casual gamers who are used to playing games on their mobile devices are returning to their PCs for higher-end games that demand more powerful graphics and faster performance.

This, according to Chris Papa, country manager at Dell Philippines, which recently announced its new Inspiron 7500 line of gaming laptops.

Rather than ride the wave of behemoth 17-inch gaming laptops like the MSI G-Series and the Acer Predator, Dell adopted the relatively compact 15-inch platform with the emphasis on compact portable gaming.

Despite this, the Inspiron 7500 packs a lot of gaming power in a 22-mm thick laptop. It can speedily do common tasks like word processing, spreadsheets and browsing. The demands of a gaming laptop will also allow users to run more processor-intensive software like AutoCAD and PhotoShop. In breaks between work, these laptops have the horsepower to run current-generation PC games on recommended settings at a decent frame rate.

PC games these days like Overwatch, Dark Souls and modded versions of SkyRim and Grand Theft Auto V demand a powerful processor and a lightning-fast graphics card -- not an easy task cramming these into a small package. The graphics are powered by an NVIDIA GTX960m with a 4GB DDR2 memory to power its 15-inch display.

The Inspiron 7500 comes in two configurations. The base Inspiron 7566 i5 (SRP P49,990) with a 6th gen Intel i5 quad core processor with 4GB RAM, a 1TB hard disk and an HD display. The top-of-the-line Inspiron 7566 i7 (SRP P69,990) sports a 6th gen Intel i7 quad core processor, 8GB RAM, hybrid storage 256 GB SSD + 1TB Hard Disk and an Ultra HD/4K display should allow power users/gamers to enable all the graphical bells and whistles today’s games demand.

This writer thinks that the specs of the lower-end Inspiron 7655 i5 will leave gamers wanting. Paired with the slower i5, the 4GB onboard memory will need an upgrade to play 3D games at minimum settings.

The specs of the Inspiron 7655 i7 are competitive with 15-inch gaming laptops like the HP Omen and the Lenovo Ideapad Y700, although the i7 variant is a little bit more expensive because of the SSD option which should result in a significant speed boost.

All these high-end components generate loads of heat. The Inspiron 7600 cooling system sports dual fans and multiple exhaust ports around the laptop’s chassis to keep the machine cool and prevent internal damage.

The Inspiron 7500 is a laptop that will keep local gamers who want to happily bring around their gaming rigs. That is, until Dell brings its Alienware monster gaming laptops to the Philippine market.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Pokemon Go spurs lifestyle changes, business boom as it rolls out in Asia

JAKARTA - Asian fans of smartphone game Pokemon Go are hunting out the best telecom providers and network gear to overcome the hurdle posed by patchy network signals in their race to capture virtual cartoon characters.

From Indonesia to Hong Kong and Cambodia, the wild popularity of Nintendo's augmented reality app is also driving lifestyle changes for many gamers, who must trudge through real-life locations in their quest.

The game launched in many Southeast Asian countries on Aug. 5, a month after the United States, New Zealand and Australia, but enthusiasts are finding they must first vanquish shaky transmission signals.

In Indonesia, Muchamad Syaifudin, a 29-year-old bank employee, said he switched to a mobile carrier offering better data packages, while his friends snapped up modems, at a cost of $20 each, to lock on to the signals.

"We can bring the modems to play, especially at places where a signal is hard to find," Syaifudin told Reuters by telephone.

He and his friends living in Central Java, a province famed for its idyllic paddy fields and mountains, used to spend leisure time playing strategy games at home.

But now, armed with the new devices, they increasingly venture out to catch the Pokemons that appear at temples and other landmarks where people gather.

In Hong Kong, commuters are hopping on the trams known as "ding dings" in their forays, while in countries such as Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, the U.S. State Department has sent tweets warning players to beware of unexploded wartime mines.

The game officially launched just two weeks ago in Indonesia, but tens of thousands of enthusiastic adopters among a population of 250 million had started playing earlier, using proxy sites to access app stores elsewhere.

Gamers are fueling a boom for modem makers, such as PT Smartfren Telecom, whose nationwide sales of 4G modems, priced around 300,000 rupiah ($23) each, have jumped five-fold in just two months.

The firm has launched new devices with bigger battery capacity, Derrick Surya, Smartfren's vice president for brand and marketing communication, told Reuters.

Retailers also benefit as more gamers seek devices to power up mobile connections and minimize the expense of data packages.

"More and more customers are looking for alternative sources of additional mobile network capacity," said Billy Cahya, a salesman at an electronics shop in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.

Also surging, however, is the demand for game innovations, ranging from new characters to a higher maximum level players can reach, said Syaifudin.

"Looking for Pokemons, looking for items, battling at gyms...We have done that again and again," he said, referring to game sites where players stage contests between virtual characters.

"It probably needs a new concept to retain our interest."

Other players complain rural areas have few Pokestops, or stockpile sites to secure equipment needed to catch Pokemons.

"We have fewer Pokestops in Legazpi City compared to metropolitan areas," said Rey Anthony Ostria, a player in the Philippine city about 340 km (211 miles) from Manila, the capital.

"In towns that I have visited, there's almost none."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

LOOK: Celebs hooked on Pokemon Go

MANILA – Local celebrities have joined millions of gamers in searching for virtual creatures with the launch of the wildly popular mobile game Pokemon Go here in the Philippines.

Players have flocked to public places – from malls and parks to schools and churches – in search of the strongest and rarest Pokemon.

Here’s a look at some of your favorite stars who got instantly hooked on Pokemon Go:


Mobile users can view the desktop version of the slideshow here.


It seems that James Reid could not get enough of Pokemon Go. Over the weekend, the star of the movie “This Time” and the TV series “On the Wings of Love” took to Twitter and wrote: “RT if you’re already addicted to Pokemon Go.”

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Start catching 'em all! Pokemon GO now in PH

MANILA - The wait is over. The mobile game Pokemon GO is now out on Google and iOS for Filipino players.

The announcement was made on the Pokemon GO official Facebook page on Saturday. The Philippines is among the next 15 countries across Asia and Oceania where the game is being rolled out.

Other countries include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau.

The augmented reality game was already rolled out in the US, Canada, New Zealand, and Japan. To date, it has garnered more than 50 million downloads.

Pokemon GO is developed by US-based firm Niantic, Inc.

One of the first places where one can find a Pokemon is at the CCP.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Hooray! Nintendo shows sneak peek of new Family Computer

After 33 years, Nintendo is giving the older generation of gamers something to be excited about while their kids go wild with Pokémon Go: the all new Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) Classic.

NES, also popularly known as the Family Computer, is the quintessential parent of every home console gaming device that we know today.

If you’re a millennial, you’ve probably heard about what the NES is, during hushed conversations between your parents who are no longer as familiar with the games you play on your PlayStations, Xboxes, and Wiis that they bought for you. They spoke about a legendary console that game them hours of fun playing pixelated sprites of monkeys, ghosts, plumbers, Eskimos, vampire hunters, elvish warriors, and female cyborg fighters.

Powerful machine – 30 years ago

It was called the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) or Family Computer (Famicom) in its native Japan. Back in the day, it was an 8-bit gadget powered by a 1.79 MHz processor. If that number seems small, it’s because it is. Your smartwatch would have more processing power than 1000 of these things running at the same time.

But the NES had a reason for being. It was the starting platform of many video game characters that are remain popular to this day. The Super Mario Bros started on the NES, Donkey Kong’s first home version was on a NES, Mega Man first shot to fame on it, and people saw the fantastic world of Hyrule of the Legend of Zelda series on this machine.

The NES operated games on cartridges – storage devices that are older than tape, itself a device that many young people of cloud services would most likely call “Jurassic.” But the hard plastic game cartridges featured cover images that were as good as artwork, which is why owners would keep the original packaging pristine.

Its controller only had a total of five items to press: 4-way direction button, A and B buttons, and Press and Start buttons. Plus, it needed to be physically attached via a 2-meter long cable. Compare that to the gazillion buttons, knobs, and switches on a wireless PlayStation 4 controller. It was as simple as it could get but more than enough to provide hours and hours of 2D fun.

Retro is back, baby!

The new NES Classic is a miniaturized version of the NES console that had once been a staple appliance underneath a CRT TV (that’s cathode ray tube for you, millennials). It’s so small that it can be carried with one hand. In fact, it is the size, weight, and thickness of two NES cartridges put atop each other.

While it still looks and feels like the real NES, the NES Classic no longer uses the near-extinct yellow RCA port (who still uses these ports, anyway?!) but now sports the extant HDMI cable so you can play it on your ginormous ultra high-definition TV.

The NES Classic also no longer needs a cartridge; it comes pre-installed with 30 of the most renowned NES titles during its time (Pac-Man and Punch-Out! are already worth the price tag, which we’ll come to in a few).

The classic black-white-gray-red design of the controller is also back and is still the same size as the original. Most youngsters now would have a hard time even fathoming the solid square design of this controller, especially the perceived threat of the sharp corners, but older generation of gamers know that you’d never stop playing on this controller even if you already are suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome.

And now for the price. According to Nintendo this retro gaming device would sell for US$59.99 (about Php2,700) or about the price of a current generation game. Surprised? You should be because this thing cost US$300 when it was launched in 1983 -- nearly US$800 in today’s money. It had the price tag of three Xbox Ones.

The NES Classic would be officially sold in stores on November 11.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Rise of the Machines: video gamers beware

PARIS, France - Researchers unveiled a software system Wednesday which had taught itself to play 49 different video games and proceeded to defeat human professionals -- a major step in the fast-developing Artificial Intelligence realm.

Not only did the system give flesh-and-blood gamers a run for their money, it discovered tricks its own programmers didn't even know existed, a team from Google-owned research company DeepMind reported in the scientific journal Nature.




 "This... is the first time that anyone has built a single general learning system that can learn directly from experience to master a wide range of challenging tasks," said co-developer Demis Hassabis.

The feat brings us closer to a future run by smart, general-purpose robots which can teach themselves to perform a task, store a "memory" of trial and error and adapt their actions for a better outcome next time.

Such machines may be able to do anything from driving our cars to planning our holidays and conduct scientific research, said the team.

Inspired by the human learning process, the "artificial agent" dubbed deep Q-network (DQN) was let loose, with only minimal programming, on an Atari game console from the 1980s.

"The only information they (the system) get is the pixels (on the screen) and the game score and the goal they've been told is to maximise the score," Hassabis explains in a Nature video.

"Apart from that, they have no idea about what kind of game they are playing, what their controls do, what they're even controlling in the game."

Unlike humans, the algorithm-based software starts off without the benefit of previous experience.

Presented with an on-screen paddle and ball, for example, a human gamer would already know that the goal must somehow involve striking the one with the other.

The system, by comparison, learns by activating computer keys randomly until it starts scoring through trial and error.

Learns, adapts, and gets better

"The system kind of learns, adapts and gets better and better incrementally until eventually it becomes almost perfect on some of the games," said Hassabis.

Games included the late 1970's classic Breakout, in which the player has to break through several layers of bricks at the top of a computer screen with a "ball" bounced off a paddle sliding from side to side at the bottom, Ms Pac-Man which entails gobbling pellets along a maze, pinball, boxing, tennis and a car race called Enduro.




The system outperformed professional human players in many of the games, but fared poorly in some, including Ms Pac-Man.

In particular game types, explained DeepMind colleague Vlad Mnih, "it's very difficult to get your first points or first rewards, so if the game involves solving a maze then pressing keys randomly will not actually get you any points and then the system has nothing to learn from."

But it did discover aspects of games that its creators hadn't even known about. It figured out, for example, that in Breakout the optimal strategy is to dig a tunnel through one side of the wall and send the ball in to bounce behind it, breaking the bricks from the back.

To the future and beyond

The creators said their system was further advanced in many ways than Watson, an AI question-answering system that outwitted the most successful human players of quiz game Jeopardy in 2011, and Deep Blue, the computer which beat chess master Garry Kasparov in 1997.

Both these had largely been preprogrammed with their particular abilities.

"Whereas what we've done is build algorithms that learn from the ground up, so literally you give them perceptual experience and they learn how to do things directly from that perceptual experience," Hassabis told journalists.

"The advantage of these types of systems is that they can learn and adapt to unexpected things and also... the programmers or the system designers don't necessarily have to know the solution themselves in order for the machine to master that task."

The long-term goal, he added, was to build smart, general-purpose machines.

"We are many decades off from doing that," said the researcher. "But I do think that this is the first significant rung of the ladder that we're on."

The next developmental step will entail tests with 3D video games from the 90s.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Bill filed to prevent 'addiction' to DOTA, Counter-Strike

MANILA – A bill has been filed at the House of Representatives seeking to prohibit all computer shop owners from admitting minors into their establishments within school hours.

In a statement released on Sunday, Valenzuela City first district representative Win Gatchalian said House Bill No. 4740, to be known as the “Internet Cafe Regulation Act," will limit children’s access to computers and other gadgets to prevent addiction and untoward incidents on popular games, such as DOTA and Counter-Strike.

"High-stakes matches involving gambling among gamers, who are usually minors, tend to result in violence when one party becomes dissatisfied with the result of the match,” he said.

In the initial deliberation of HB 4740, Gatchalian said parents also have an important role in monitoring the computer games and websites their children access.

“Dapat din bantayan ng mga magulang kung appropriate ba sa age ng mga anak nila ang games at websites na nilalaro o binibisita ng mga bata,” Gatchalian said.

Due to too much computer exposure, Gatchalian said the risk of addiction to game and other unwanted sites among children increases.

“On one hand, Internet has allowed people to research and conduct work without having to invest so much on time,” he said.

"However, we also need to recognize that computers bring entertainment through games, and children have the tendency to be easily addicted to these games as they have impressionable minds that games could be easily influenced,” Gatchalian added.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Sony announces release dates for Bloodborne, The Order: 1886

MANILA ─ The Singapore office of Sony Computer Entertainment Hong Kong Ltd. announced on Wednesday that the PlayStation4 exclusive title Bloodborne will be available in Asia on March 24.

The Japanese technology giant said FromSoftware and SCE Japan Studio, the companies that developed the revolutionary gameplay of the PlayStation3 software Demon’s Souls, promised to introduce innovations on PlayStation4.

The company also noted that the completely unique Japanese-made action role playing game (RPG) has earned many accolades already, and is sure to gain more fans around the globe.

The game will be available in a “Limited Hunter Edition,” which comes with a special artbook and collectible steelbook. The PlayStation4 bundle pack will also be available on March 24.

Pre-orders will start from February 18 to 23 and the whole of March at all PlayStation authorized dealers and Sony stores.

Gamers who pre-order any version of the game will be given a limited Sword-Hammer Letter Opener, while stocks last.



Meanwhile, Sony also announced that the PlayStation exclusive title The Order: 1886 will be available in the Philippines on February 20.

A PlayStation4 bundle pack will also be available for gamers who are waiting for this opportunity to purchase a PlayStation4.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

How PlayStation changed gaming forever

Twenty years ago, a small grey box of electronic tricks made its debut in Japan, heralding the birth of the global gaming phenomenon that changed the entertainment landscape, launching titles that now outstrip sales from Hollywood's biggest franchises.

The original PlayStation, which hit stores in early December 1994, brought revolutionary graphics, engrossing gameplay and the kind of complex virtual worlds that had only previously been available in an arcade.

"When we arrived, the video game was seen as a niche hobby. One of our achievements is to have succeeded in making a legitimate cultural object, like music or cinema," Jim Ryan, chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, told AFP.

The launch was Sony's first foray into computer games and pitted the company against the established giant of the sector, Nintendo, whose character-driven two-dimensional offerings like Super Mario had wowed children.

But unlike the 16-bit cartridges that powered the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), Sony's PlayStation opted for cheap-to-produce CD-ROMs, a technology that allowed vast tracts of data to be stored.

The discs' convenience and powerful graphics in the original 32-bit machines lured game developers and players into a world where, suddenly, 3-D was in reach.

And it wasn't just the insides of the machines that Sony had re-imagined; they shunned the plain rectangle controllers of the SNES in favor of an ergonomic device that sat neatly in a player's hands.

Titles such as Tomb Raider, Gran Turismo and Final Fantasy spurred console sales and launched what became multi-billion dollar franchises with legions of loyal fans.

Global blockbusters like Grand Theft Auto joined the PlayStation world, as well as other platforms. The latest installment took $1 billion in its first three days of sales, putting even huge cinematic hits in the shade.

Sleek design

In March 2000, PlayStation 2 burst onto the market, leveraging the mega-capacity of DVDs before the format was standard storage.

The trademark controller remained, but with additional features like vibrations and a sleek new design featuring a black tower with clean lines that had the grace of a designer's touch.

The company shifted around 150 million units worldwide, and the PS2 remains the best-selling console of all time.

Although addicts got a handheld PSP in 2004, it would be another six years until the main console got an update with the PS3, a Blu-ray equipped and Internet-ready device that allowed gamers in different continents to play against each other.

Where gaming had once been largely a solitary activity or done among friends close to home, there was now a global community of like-minded players.

Unlike the ever-contracting windows of release for mobile phones and tablets, gaming consoles have retained their strung-out lives, with engineers packing as much hardware and spare capacity into them as they can.

"In every generation, Sony has tried to bring an innovation in its machines to make the difference," said Laurent Michaud, head of consumer electronics and digital entertainment practice at Digiworld Institute/IDATE.

Acolytes had to wait until 2013 for the PS4, an ultra-powerful machine with 4,000 times the memory of the original and processing capacity orders of an ever larger magnitude.

The 13.5 million units Sony has sold in the last year allow users to play games straight from the Cloud in a universe that now includes compatible smartphones, televisions and tablets.

Sony is now introducing a cable-style television service in the United States delivered through PlayStation3 and 4 consoles, called "PlayStation Vue."

The PS4 symbolizes Sony's strategic move for future growth, as the product positions itself for a Cloud-based future where consoles might even disappear, said Yu Okazaki, analyst at Nomura Securities.

"PlayStation4 is selling well. The product shows Sony is looking at five, 10 years down the road. The number of consoles sold and their network capacity make it extremely promising," Okazaki said.

To mark the 20th anniversary, Sony Computer Entertainment is releasing a special, limited edition PS4 in the original grey, which will be offered to 12,300 fans worldwide.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

How you can own the limited edition PS4

MANILA - Sony, in celebration of the PlayStation's 20th anniversary, has recently launched a commemorative edition of the PS4 that resembles the colors of the original console.

According to the Japan-based company, only 12,300 units will be sold worldwide -- a number symbolic to the original PlayStation's launch date.

It will sell for P26,999 in the Philippines, which will come packaged in a special commemorative box.

On Thursday, Sony Computer Entertainment Hong Kong Ltd. in Singapore made an announcement that the company will be holding a special contest for Southeast Asian fans of the gaming console.

Winners of the online contest will receive a special purchase pass to buy the limited edition PS4. It will be held from December 4 to 21, 2014.

To join, participants will need to share any photo of video on Instagram, celebrating the PlayStation's 20th anniversary milestone.

The theme can be any of the following: Your special PlayStation collection; Your Best moment with PlayStation; PlayStation related cosplay; Anything you can think of.

All winners will be determined by the number of likes on Instagram (50 percent) and selected by the company's judging panel according to creative, inspiring and styling factors (50 percent).

Participants will also get a chance to win a PlayStation Plus 3-Year Membership and PlayStation 20th Anniversary Limited Premiums in addition to the purchase pass.

For more details, visit here.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

NBA 2K15 arrives in PH

MANILA – Filipino basketball fans, take note. The latest installment of the highly successful NBA video game simulation franchise, NBA 2K15, is now available in the Philippines.

Headlined by last season's Most Valuable Player Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder, NBA 2K15 boasts an" ultra-realistic" gameplay feel and promises to be more "exciting and exhilarating" than its award-winning predecessor.

"It’s going to hit the virtual court with unprecedented and life-like graphics, ultra-realistic NBA gameplay, and much more," said Ron Aquino, general manager of X-Play, one of the country's leading video game distributors.



The game will be compatible with Sony's PlayStation 4, Microsoft's XBoxOne and PC, as well as previous consoles such as XBox360 and Playstation 3.

Among the key improvements from last year's NBA 2K14 are the addition of over 5,000 new player animations, an improved dribbling and shooting experience, and a smarter AI system -- on and off the court.

There's also a new game mode available called "My League," which offers both single season or up to an 80-year franchise experience where players can control over every aspect of how the league plays out.

The game also features a "My Team" mode where you can assemble a team composed of NBA's all-time greats like Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Bill Russel and Wilt Chamberlain.

Here's a list of NBA 2K15's authorized distributors:

    Astrovision
    Astroplus
    Datablitz
    Gadgets @ Xtreme
    Game Gizmo
    Gameline
    Game One Gadget
    The Landmark
    Lee Plaza
    NBA Store
    Planet Toys
    Toys R Us
    Toy Town
    Toy Kingdom

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Millions battle in Destiny video game test run

SAN FRANCISCO -- Armies of players joined the virtual fray during a test run of online play for a Destiny video game poised to make a blockbuster debut later this year.

The number of players topped 4.6 million, making it the "biggest beta" test for a new-generation console title and the largest test run ever for a new video game franchise, according to a statement Wednesday from Activision Publishing chief executive Eric Hirshberg.

The new science fiction shooter title by the studio known for global hit "Halo" is set for official release in early September, but the test run provided tastes of the game's major features.

"We were totally blown away by the number of people who played the beta," said Bungie Studios chief operating officer Pete Parsons. "We surpassed even our own goals and the feedback was invaluable."

The test of Destiny online multiplayer engagement launched on PlayStation consoles in mid-July and hit Xbox systems a week later.

Activision boasted that, by the time the beta program closed Sunday night, the number of players who took part hit 4,638,937.

Destiny will be officially released on September 9 for play on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles as well as their predecessors, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Along with encouraging orders of the game, beta play provided a chance to test online systems allowing groups of people to challenge one another in the science fiction world.

"Hosting a beta at this scale is an incredible feat, so we're thrilled to see the phenomenal response," Hirshberg said.

The game's creator's are touting it as "the next evolution in interactive entertainment and an epic adventure."

Destiny puts players in the role of guardians of the last city on Earth, with enemies to battle, special powers to wield, and planets to explore.

The game is priced at $60, but special edition versions promising added perks and higher prices are being offered.

Console processing power and Internet capabilities have been taken advantage of to create "an unprecedented combination" of play options from spontaneous cooperative online skirmishes to immersive solo action.

Microsoft bought US-based Bungie in 2000 and the studio came out with Halo games that scored as a blockbuster franchise exclusively playable on Xbox.

Bungie later split from Microsoft and went on to align itself with Activision Blizzard, the publisher behind Call of Duty and other hit franchises.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Assassin's Creed eyes French Revolution

LOS ANGELES -- French video game star Ubisoft is bringing its blockbuster Assassin's Creed game to home turf.

The sequel set for worldwide release on October 28 takes players to the streets of Paris during the French Revolution.

"I was surprised how realistic it could be," Ubisoft chief and co-found Yves Guillemot told AFP at a major E3 video game gathering that wraps up here on Thursday.

"From the street names to how it was before compared to how it is now, you are really more into the details when it is your own city," he said.

Billed as the most "dense and immersive" version of the hit franchise ever created, Assassin's Creed Unity casts players in the role of a young man who grows into a master assassin and helps shape the fate of France during a tumultuous time.

"We have been working with lots of people to try to get the spirit of the French Revolution; what happened and why it happened," Guillemot said.

The game strives to capture what people were feeling in France at the time.

Special editions include a Guillotine Collectors Case along with Notre Dame and Bastille themed packages.

Initially launched in 2007, Assassin's Creed games have sold more than 76 million units worldwide to rank among top-selling video game lines.

The Assassin's Creed franchise has grown to include novels, comic books, mobile games and films.

Assassin's Creed was the first game to immerse players in a believable and mature experience inspired by historical events. Games have been set in Italy, Constantinople, and even colonial America. But this is the first time it will play out in France.

Versions of Unity will be tailored for play on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and personal computers powered by Windows software.

The prior version of Assassin's Creed put players in the boots of a bold pirate and tapped into mobile devices to expand play.

Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag was set in the Caribbean during the "gritty and exotic" Golden Age of Pirates with a main character who is a descendant in a line of assassins given starring roles in the popular franchise.

Assassin's protagonists have included a Renaissance Italian; a 12th-Century Syrian, and a Native American during the colonial period here.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com