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The tech giant posted a slew of information about the Xbox One on Thursday evening. It confirmed that the console will need to be connected to the internet once every 24 hours in order to function, making life very difficult for gamers with an unstable internet connection, and near-impossible for most soldiers. There will be restrictions on how you can loan games, and while you can still give games to your friends, each game can only be given once. Used games can be sold at retail stores only with the publisher’s permission.


We also learned that you can share games with your Xbox “family” of up to ten people, which is actually kind of cool. We also learned that the Kinect camera can be turned off, so it’s not as creepy as it could have been.

For right now, I’m not sure if Microsoft’s position with the hardcore gamer market can be salvaged. Sony is already highly favored with that crowd, and now all it has to do is be slightly less tone-deaf to cement its lead. I imagine that we’ll probably hear about similar used games restrictions — that feels like a publisher-led initiative to me, but it would be very difficult for Sony to damage the lead it has with hardcore gamers at this point.

We’ve still got a lot of time yet before launch day. Microsoft may be trying to get all of this bad news out of the way at once, in order to get gamers excited about software at E3. Judging from the consistent reaction to every piece of news about the Xbox, it’s a tall, tall order. In the fall, we’ll find out if Microsoft can sell a games console while alienating a core consumer base.]]>
The tech giant posted a slew of information about the Xbox One on Thursday evening. It confirmed that the console will need to be connected to the internet once every 24 hours in order to function, making life very difficult for gamers with an unstable internet connection, and near-impossible for most soldiers. There will be restrictions on how you can loan games, and while you can still give games to your friends, each game can only be given once. Used games can be sold at retail stores only with the publisher’s permission.


We also learned that you can share games with your Xbox “family” of up to ten people, which is actually kind of cool. We also learned that the Kinect camera can be turned off, so it’s not as creepy as it could have been.

For right now, I’m not sure if Microsoft’s position with the hardcore gamer market can be salvaged. Sony is already highly favored with that crowd, and now all it has to do is be slightly less tone-deaf to cement its lead. I imagine that we’ll probably hear about similar used games restrictions — that feels like a publisher-led initiative to me, but it would be very difficult for Sony to damage the lead it has with hardcore gamers at this point.

We’ve still got a lot of time yet before launch day. Microsoft may be trying to get all of this bad news out of the way at once, in order to get gamers excited about software at E3. Judging from the consistent reaction to every piece of news about the Xbox, it’s a tall, tall order. In the fall, we’ll find out if Microsoft can sell a games console while alienating a core consumer base.]]> Normal News -Gray button DOA Thu, 06 Jun 2013 21:49:06 -0400 http://cybergamezone.com/news.php?item.1135.51 http://cybergamezone.com/news.php?item.1134.52
You’ve likely heard the tale before: Millions of unsold copies of the disastrous ET: The Extraterrestrial game for the Atari 2600 lie buried in a New Mexico landfill. Despite a slew of believers and evidence supporting the story, doubters remain. But in the next few months, we'll have the answer once and for all.

The Alamogordo City Commission has approved a deal that will allow for the excavation of the landfill to see what, exactly, is buried there. The big dig will be filmed by Fuel Industries, a Canadian film production company with plans to create a documentary about the gaming legend.

Fuel has access to the landfill for the next six months, which would put it there on the 30th anniversary of the dump. Alamogordo, as you might suspect, is hoping to raise awareness of the town -- and perhaps attract a few tourists to the area.

"I hope more people find out about Alamogordo through this opportunity that we have to unearth the Atari games in the landfill," said Mayor Susie Galea.
The whole project is hinging on the memory of one individual -- Joe Lewandowski -- who ran a garbage company at the time and says he knows exactly where the games are buried.

The dig could be a Geraldo-like failure, of course, but even if Lewandowski does know where the games are buried, they're not likely to be in any playable form. Atari reportedly crushed them before disposing of them.

With good reason, too. E.T. is a game that almost single-handedly killed the home video game console business in the 1980s. Atari rushed the development process and bypassed QA to get the game on shelves, resulting in a confusing, buggy title that lacked any viable entertainment qualities.

Hackers, incidentally, have since issued a 'fix' for the game, but that's not likely to alter its legacy.]]>
You’ve likely heard the tale before: Millions of unsold copies of the disastrous ET: The Extraterrestrial game for the Atari 2600 lie buried in a New Mexico landfill. Despite a slew of believers and evidence supporting the story, doubters remain. But in the next few months, we'll have the answer once and for all.

The Alamogordo City Commission has approved a deal that will allow for the excavation of the landfill to see what, exactly, is buried there. The big dig will be filmed by Fuel Industries, a Canadian film production company with plans to create a documentary about the gaming legend.

Fuel has access to the landfill for the next six months, which would put it there on the 30th anniversary of the dump. Alamogordo, as you might suspect, is hoping to raise awareness of the town -- and perhaps attract a few tourists to the area.

"I hope more people find out about Alamogordo through this opportunity that we have to unearth the Atari games in the landfill," said Mayor Susie Galea.
The whole project is hinging on the memory of one individual -- Joe Lewandowski -- who ran a garbage company at the time and says he knows exactly where the games are buried.

The dig could be a Geraldo-like failure, of course, but even if Lewandowski does know where the games are buried, they're not likely to be in any playable form. Atari reportedly crushed them before disposing of them.

With good reason, too. E.T. is a game that almost single-handedly killed the home video game console business in the 1980s. Atari rushed the development process and bypassed QA to get the game on shelves, resulting in a confusing, buggy title that lacked any viable entertainment qualities.

Hackers, incidentally, have since issued a 'fix' for the game, but that's not likely to alter its legacy.]]> Normal News- Red button DOA Sat, 01 Jun 2013 11:29:56 -0400 http://cybergamezone.com/news.php?item.1134.52 http://cybergamezone.com/news.php?item.1133.51
New: SimCity Launch Park, an exclusive new park just for our dedicated fans who were early adopters.
New: Region: Edgewater Bay. Seven city sites in one cluster around a beautiful bay with one great work site.
New: Your current server will now be shown in the options menu.
New: More detailed rollover information on buildings telling player’s if their Sims received happiness from a park or from shopping. Previous to this fix, this information was generic.
Re-Enabled Feature: Global Market prices now dynamically change during gameplay.
Re-Enabled Feature: Leaderboards are will be active on EU West 3, Pacific 1 and Pacific 2 at the release. We will enable them on additional servers throughout the day.
Re-Enabled Feature: Region filters are now enabled on all SimCity servers. Players will be able to search for open games by Map Name, Sandbox Mode, and Abandoned Cities.
Rain Clouds: Fixed an issue where some cities would not have rain clouds to replenish their water table. If you had a city with this issue, you will start seeing clouds again within a game day.
Fire: Improved response time of fire trucks to fires. Improved the time it takes for a fire signal to reach a fire station.
Mission updates: Tuned Metals HQ and Community College missions. These were appearing too early, making them difficult to complete. They now appear later in a city’s development.
Solar Farm Great Work: Reduced fire risk at the Solar Farm Great work. Local fire engines were spending too much time at the Solar Farm.
Messaging: Improved pre-requisite messaging for Trade Port, Casinos, Smelting Factory and Oil Refinery. It should be clearer on how to unlock these buildings.
Graphics: Fix for flickering low wealth buildings on NVIDIA graphics cards.
Education: Fix for an issue some cities experienced where commuting students did not return from a neighbor’s city. This was causing a problem where students would disappear from a city in some cases.
Tuning: Sims will lose a small amount of happiness if they don’t have a place to shop. Cities without places to shop will see complaints and feel the effect of unhappy Sims. This will emphasize the importance of commercial zones.
]]>
New: SimCity Launch Park, an exclusive new park just for our dedicated fans who were early adopters.
New: Region: Edgewater Bay. Seven city sites in one cluster around a beautiful bay with one great work site.
New: Your current server will now be shown in the options menu.
New: More detailed rollover information on buildings telling player’s if their Sims received happiness from a park or from shopping. Previous to this fix, this information was generic.
Re-Enabled Feature: Global Market prices now dynamically change during gameplay.
Re-Enabled Feature: Leaderboards are will be active on EU West 3, Pacific 1 and Pacific 2 at the release. We will enable them on additional servers throughout the day.
Re-Enabled Feature: Region filters are now enabled on all SimCity servers. Players will be able to search for open games by Map Name, Sandbox Mode, and Abandoned Cities.
Rain Clouds: Fixed an issue where some cities would not have rain clouds to replenish their water table. If you had a city with this issue, you will start seeing clouds again within a game day.
Fire: Improved response time of fire trucks to fires. Improved the time it takes for a fire signal to reach a fire station.
Mission updates: Tuned Metals HQ and Community College missions. These were appearing too early, making them difficult to complete. They now appear later in a city’s development.
Solar Farm Great Work: Reduced fire risk at the Solar Farm Great work. Local fire engines were spending too much time at the Solar Farm.
Messaging: Improved pre-requisite messaging for Trade Port, Casinos, Smelting Factory and Oil Refinery. It should be clearer on how to unlock these buildings.
Graphics: Fix for flickering low wealth buildings on NVIDIA graphics cards.
Education: Fix for an issue some cities experienced where commuting students did not return from a neighbor’s city. This was causing a problem where students would disappear from a city in some cases.
Tuning: Sims will lose a small amount of happiness if they don’t have a place to shop. Cities without places to shop will see complaints and feel the effect of unhappy Sims. This will emphasize the importance of commercial zones.
]]> Normal News -Gray button DOA Wed, 29 May 2013 20:08:19 -0400 http://cybergamezone.com/news.php?item.1133.51 http://cybergamezone.com/news.php?item.1132.51
• New: Added 24 new Hotel models to increase hotel variety.
• Traffic: Updated routing system to improve traffic. Routing system now understands more information about u-turns, required vehicle stops, and vehicle behavior on certain road types. This should make traffic smarter.
• Traffic: Commercial and industrial buildings stagger their work shifts to start throughout commute hours instead of at the top of the hour. This should reduce traffic.
• Traffic: Fixes one issue where a car won't move causing traffic to back up behind it.
• Traffic: Vehicles can now make right turns on Red. This should improve some cases of traffic.
• Traffic: Trading polish that will improve regional traffic when one city has a lot of jobs and its neighboring city has a lot of workers.
• Air Pollution: Fixed more issues where cities that placed air polluting buildings received large amounts of air pollution from unknown sources.
• Service Vehicles: Fix for disappearing service vehicles on cities that whose vehicles had disappeared before update 2.
• School Buses: Fix for issue where school buses were getting stuck at neighbor's city or arcology.
• Audio: Tuned audio on French Police Station.
• Trading: Fixed issue where fire services were not trading consistently between Brakeman's Folly and Twain in Whitewater Valley.
• Trading: Sewage trading: Sewage will now take a more direct route to regional sewage plant instead of throughout the city.
• Trading: Made gifting more reliable.
• Ferry Terminal: Ferry Terminal can now send its sewage to the output pipe and treatment plant.
• RCI Tuning: Fixed issue where sims going to a park via transit would sometimes lose their money or happiness on the way home.
• RCI Tuning: Bulldozing abandoned or rubble buildings will now prevent new developments for 6-12 hours.
• RCI Tuning: Less Happiness is taken from wealth 2 and 3 buildings when rent is due when no money is present.
• RCI Tuning: Fix for issue some users experienced where buildings would stay abandoned because moving trucks would not be able to move in.
• Trees: Trees now last longer, but also do not eliminate as much ground pollution.
• Radiation: Radiation causes less ground pollution than previously.
• Transit: Changed thought bubble suggestion to add more trains to deal with crowded passenger trains to suggest that you add more train stations.
• Transit: Improvements to lights to make rail look better at night.
• Transit: Streetcar stops can now be placed directly on standalone streetcar tracks, and passengers can walk along the tracks to them.
• Transit: Tuned the chance buses or streetcars will go to high-traffic stops first as a minor traffic improvement.
• Roads: University pedestrian paths can now cross streets.
• Manufacturing Trucks: Fixed issue some users experienced where manufacturing trucks left the city and were lost permanently.
• Delivery Trucks: Fixed issue where some users would experience a loss of resources is their delivery trucks returned to garages without proper storage.
• Sports Parks: Tuned the amount of skateboarders and neighborhood athletes at the sports parks.
• Data Layers: Zones are now visible in heavy data layers.
• Edit Mode: Added more valid snap points in edit mode. This improvement is most noticeable on Parks.
• Buildings: Addressed some cases where buildings would stack on one another.
]]>
• New: Added 24 new Hotel models to increase hotel variety.
• Traffic: Updated routing system to improve traffic. Routing system now understands more information about u-turns, required vehicle stops, and vehicle behavior on certain road types. This should make traffic smarter.
• Traffic: Commercial and industrial buildings stagger their work shifts to start throughout commute hours instead of at the top of the hour. This should reduce traffic.
• Traffic: Fixes one issue where a car won't move causing traffic to back up behind it.
• Traffic: Vehicles can now make right turns on Red. This should improve some cases of traffic.
• Traffic: Trading polish that will improve regional traffic when one city has a lot of jobs and its neighboring city has a lot of workers.
• Air Pollution: Fixed more issues where cities that placed air polluting buildings received large amounts of air pollution from unknown sources.
• Service Vehicles: Fix for disappearing service vehicles on cities that whose vehicles had disappeared before update 2.
• School Buses: Fix for issue where school buses were getting stuck at neighbor's city or arcology.
• Audio: Tuned audio on French Police Station.
• Trading: Fixed issue where fire services were not trading consistently between Brakeman's Folly and Twain in Whitewater Valley.
• Trading: Sewage trading: Sewage will now take a more direct route to regional sewage plant instead of throughout the city.
• Trading: Made gifting more reliable.
• Ferry Terminal: Ferry Terminal can now send its sewage to the output pipe and treatment plant.
• RCI Tuning: Fixed issue where sims going to a park via transit would sometimes lose their money or happiness on the way home.
• RCI Tuning: Bulldozing abandoned or rubble buildings will now prevent new developments for 6-12 hours.
• RCI Tuning: Less Happiness is taken from wealth 2 and 3 buildings when rent is due when no money is present.
• RCI Tuning: Fix for issue some users experienced where buildings would stay abandoned because moving trucks would not be able to move in.
• Trees: Trees now last longer, but also do not eliminate as much ground pollution.
• Radiation: Radiation causes less ground pollution than previously.
• Transit: Changed thought bubble suggestion to add more trains to deal with crowded passenger trains to suggest that you add more train stations.
• Transit: Improvements to lights to make rail look better at night.
• Transit: Streetcar stops can now be placed directly on standalone streetcar tracks, and passengers can walk along the tracks to them.
• Transit: Tuned the chance buses or streetcars will go to high-traffic stops first as a minor traffic improvement.
• Roads: University pedestrian paths can now cross streets.
• Manufacturing Trucks: Fixed issue some users experienced where manufacturing trucks left the city and were lost permanently.
• Delivery Trucks: Fixed issue where some users would experience a loss of resources is their delivery trucks returned to garages without proper storage.
• Sports Parks: Tuned the amount of skateboarders and neighborhood athletes at the sports parks.
• Data Layers: Zones are now visible in heavy data layers.
• Edit Mode: Added more valid snap points in edit mode. This improvement is most noticeable on Parks.
• Buildings: Addressed some cases where buildings would stack on one another.
]]> Normal News -Gray button DOA Sat, 11 May 2013 14:31:03 -0400 http://cybergamezone.com/news.php?item.1132.51 http://cybergamezone.com/news.php?item.1131.51
The Japanese gaming giant announced plans Wednesday to bring a new "The Legend of Zelda" installment to its hand-held gaming system.

Nintendo of America Inc. president Reggie Fils-Aime said Tuesday that the new "Zelda" game would be set in the world of "The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past," which was originally released in 1992 for the Super Nintendo console.

The as-yet-untitled 3D follow-up will be released later this year and feature a new story and levels, as well as gameplay that allows sword-wielding Link to transform into a 2D drawing.

"It fully utilizes the Nintendo 3DS," said Fils-Aime. "It gives the game a sense of depth, and this puzzle-solving mechanic of being able to launch into a wall and navigate through walls to get into places that Link wouldn't normally be able to get into is exceptionally fresh."

It will mark the first all-new game starring Link for the glasses-free 3D hand-held device.

Other games announced coming to the 3DS include new "Yoshi's Island" and "Mario Party" titles.

Fils-Aime said more than 20 million 3DS games have been sold since the device debuted in 2011.
]]>
The Japanese gaming giant announced plans Wednesday to bring a new "The Legend of Zelda" installment to its hand-held gaming system.

Nintendo of America Inc. president Reggie Fils-Aime said Tuesday that the new "Zelda" game would be set in the world of "The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past," which was originally released in 1992 for the Super Nintendo console.

The as-yet-untitled 3D follow-up will be released later this year and feature a new story and levels, as well as gameplay that allows sword-wielding Link to transform into a 2D drawing.

"It fully utilizes the Nintendo 3DS," said Fils-Aime. "It gives the game a sense of depth, and this puzzle-solving mechanic of being able to launch into a wall and navigate through walls to get into places that Link wouldn't normally be able to get into is exceptionally fresh."

It will mark the first all-new game starring Link for the glasses-free 3D hand-held device.

Other games announced coming to the 3DS include new "Yoshi's Island" and "Mario Party" titles.

Fils-Aime said more than 20 million 3DS games have been sold since the device debuted in 2011.
]]> Normal News -Gray button DOA Wed, 17 Apr 2013 15:15:13 -0400 http://cybergamezone.com/news.php?item.1131.51 http://cybergamezone.com/news.php?item.1130.51
Pre Order HERE or direct from ORIGIN

PRE ORDER

]]>
Pre Order HERE or direct from ORIGIN

PRE ORDER

]]> Normal News -Gray button DOA Thu, 28 Mar 2013 21:43:17 -0400 http://cybergamezone.com/news.php?item.1130.51 http://cybergamezone.com/news.php?item.1129.52
First up: We’ve added some new twists and improvements to “Militia”, one of Counter-Strike’s most longstanding and popular hostage rescue maps. Available in all game modes, “Militia” has the same look and feel as the map you remember, with a few new surprises along the way. We think you’ll enjoy the improvements. We’ve also overhauled the Main Menu, making it easier than ever to find and join your friends in CS:GO.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, we’ve given CS’s Hostage Rescue Mode a big upgrade.
This update balances out the gameplay so it’s not such a cakewalk for the Terrorist team anymore. The tweaks should add some new challenges for both sides and provide a more engaging and competitive experience for everybody.

How? Well, for starters, there are only two hostages now. (They’re not hiding out where they used to be, either, so check your radar.) Another tweak: CTs now only have to bring one of the two hostages to the Rescue Zone to win.

If you’re thinking to yourself, “Hold on, now it sounds too easy for the CTs,” we completely agree: So to even it back up a little, you’ll have to untie your hostage first and carry the lazy bum the whole way to safety. Also, apparently the terrorists were feeding these guys nonstop, because there’s the additional challenge that carrying a hostage is going to slow you down a bit. You’ll need to strategize and protect if your CT team wants to get a hostage to the Rescue Zone unscathed. And remember: hostages can’t get hurt in a firefight, but stray bullets that hit a hostage will cost you.

If you’re thinking to yourself, “Wait, now it sounds too hard for the CTs again,” whoa, hold on. You didn’t let us finish. Picking up a hostage will earn you extra time on the clock. And for you CTs out there who don’t like getting shot at while fumbling with knots, buying a Rescue Kit will reduce the time it takes to untie a hostage.]]>
First up: We’ve added some new twists and improvements to “Militia”, one of Counter-Strike’s most longstanding and popular hostage rescue maps. Available in all game modes, “Militia” has the same look and feel as the map you remember, with a few new surprises along the way. We think you’ll enjoy the improvements. We’ve also overhauled the Main Menu, making it easier than ever to find and join your friends in CS:GO.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, we’ve given CS’s Hostage Rescue Mode a big upgrade.
This update balances out the gameplay so it’s not such a cakewalk for the Terrorist team anymore. The tweaks should add some new challenges for both sides and provide a more engaging and competitive experience for everybody.

How? Well, for starters, there are only two hostages now. (They’re not hiding out where they used to be, either, so check your radar.) Another tweak: CTs now only have to bring one of the two hostages to the Rescue Zone to win.

If you’re thinking to yourself, “Hold on, now it sounds too easy for the CTs,” we completely agree: So to even it back up a little, you’ll have to untie your hostage first and carry the lazy bum the whole way to safety. Also, apparently the terrorists were feeding these guys nonstop, because there’s the additional challenge that carrying a hostage is going to slow you down a bit. You’ll need to strategize and protect if your CT team wants to get a hostage to the Rescue Zone unscathed. And remember: hostages can’t get hurt in a firefight, but stray bullets that hit a hostage will cost you.

If you’re thinking to yourself, “Wait, now it sounds too hard for the CTs again,” whoa, hold on. You didn’t let us finish. Picking up a hostage will earn you extra time on the clock. And for you CTs out there who don’t like getting shot at while fumbling with knots, buying a Rescue Kit will reduce the time it takes to untie a hostage.]]> Normal News- Red button DOA Thu, 21 Mar 2013 22:00:27 -0400 http://cybergamezone.com/news.php?item.1129.52 http://cybergamezone.com/news.php?item.1128.52
Hotmail users will still keep their Hotmail.com email addresses and their contacts and emails will all be moved over, they will just now get a new user interface and all the new features of Outlook.com. Microsoft expects the upgrades for Hotmail users to be complete by this summer.
]]>
Hotmail users will still keep their Hotmail.com email addresses and their contacts and emails will all be moved over, they will just now get a new user interface and all the new features of Outlook.com. Microsoft expects the upgrades for Hotmail users to be complete by this summer.
]]> Normal News- Red button DOA Wed, 20 Feb 2013 19:17:40 -0500 http://cybergamezone.com/news.php?item.1128.52 http://cybergamezone.com/news.php?item.1127.51 ]]> ]]> Normal News -Gray button DOA Wed, 20 Feb 2013 19:15:29 -0500 http://cybergamezone.com/news.php?item.1127.51 http://cybergamezone.com/news.php?item.1126.52
Valve Software co-founder Gabe Newell and Nat Brown, who was one of the first engineers on Microsoft's Xbox project, have issued warnings about Apple's potential threat. The alerts come amid analyst speculation that Apple may hold an Apple TV-related special event next month.

In a keynote presentation at last week's D.I.C.E. Summit, Newell lauded the PC gaming market and talked about the advantages of a living room PC (aka SteamBox). As he listed threats, though, he didn't seem all that worried about the Xbox or PlayStation.

“It’s not scary what’s going to happen on the console side,” he said. "It’s scarier what Apple’s going to do. Apple has a natural progression to the living room. … Another great thing Apple does is they have a much [smoother] upgrade cycle. … That has been beneficial to both consumers and developers – and is a challenge to us in the game industry."

It's not the first time Newell has warned of Apple's threat. In January, he sounded the alarm during a lecture to students at the University of Texas' LBJ School of Public Affairs.

"I think that there’s a scenario where we see sort of a dumbed down living room platform emerging — I think Apple rolls the console guys really easily," he said. "The question is can we make enough progress in the PC space to establish ourselves there, and also figure out better ways of addressing mobile before Apple takes over the living room?"

Brown expanded on Newell's warnings in a blog post Wednesday, chastising Microsoft for failing to innovate and not capitalizing on those advancements it has made, like Kinect.


"Apple, if it chooses to do so, will simply kill Playstation, Wii-U and Xbox," he said.

The reason, he noted, was Apple's commitment to small developers, offering them the ability to create games cheaply and earn a percentage of each game's sales.

"Why can’t I write a game for Xbox tomorrow using $100 worth of tools and my existing Windows laptop and test it on my home Xbox or at my friends’ houses?," he asked. "Why can’t I then distribute it digitally in a decent online store, give up a 30 percent cut and strike it rich if it’s a great game, like I can for Android, for iPhone, or for iPad?"

Microsoft, coincidentally, announced last week it was planning to sunset the XNA development platform, which was created to help independent developers cheaply create games for Xbox and Windows.

New systems from both Sony and Microsoft are expected to arrive this year. Sony plans on formally announcing the follow-up to the PlayStation 3 at an event on February 20.


]]>
Valve Software co-founder Gabe Newell and Nat Brown, who was one of the first engineers on Microsoft's Xbox project, have issued warnings about Apple's potential threat. The alerts come amid analyst speculation that Apple may hold an Apple TV-related special event next month.

In a keynote presentation at last week's D.I.C.E. Summit, Newell lauded the PC gaming market and talked about the advantages of a living room PC (aka SteamBox). As he listed threats, though, he didn't seem all that worried about the Xbox or PlayStation.

“It’s not scary what’s going to happen on the console side,” he said. "It’s scarier what Apple’s going to do. Apple has a natural progression to the living room. … Another great thing Apple does is they have a much [smoother] upgrade cycle. … That has been beneficial to both consumers and developers – and is a challenge to us in the game industry."

It's not the first time Newell has warned of Apple's threat. In January, he sounded the alarm during a lecture to students at the University of Texas' LBJ School of Public Affairs.

"I think that there’s a scenario where we see sort of a dumbed down living room platform emerging — I think Apple rolls the console guys really easily," he said. "The question is can we make enough progress in the PC space to establish ourselves there, and also figure out better ways of addressing mobile before Apple takes over the living room?"

Brown expanded on Newell's warnings in a blog post Wednesday, chastising Microsoft for failing to innovate and not capitalizing on those advancements it has made, like Kinect.


"Apple, if it chooses to do so, will simply kill Playstation, Wii-U and Xbox," he said.

The reason, he noted, was Apple's commitment to small developers, offering them the ability to create games cheaply and earn a percentage of each game's sales.

"Why can’t I write a game for Xbox tomorrow using $100 worth of tools and my existing Windows laptop and test it on my home Xbox or at my friends’ houses?," he asked. "Why can’t I then distribute it digitally in a decent online store, give up a 30 percent cut and strike it rich if it’s a great game, like I can for Android, for iPhone, or for iPad?"

Microsoft, coincidentally, announced last week it was planning to sunset the XNA development platform, which was created to help independent developers cheaply create games for Xbox and Windows.

New systems from both Sony and Microsoft are expected to arrive this year. Sony plans on formally announcing the follow-up to the PlayStation 3 at an event on February 20.


]]> Normal News- Red button DOA Thu, 14 Feb 2013 20:44:27 -0500 http://cybergamezone.com/news.php?item.1126.52