Software is big business these days ... so much so, Sony is about t launch their web store following the recent success of Microsoft's Xbox store.
"Catching up to Microsoft's own web-based Xbox store, Sony's unleashed a new online store for its movie, TV and video content-- but neglected to mention it. Titled the Sony Entertainment Network, and separate to its own book store we were able to login to the UK site and found that content pricing matched what we've seen on the PlayStation Store and other Sony digital shops. As an example, the complete Mass Effect trilogy rings in at £60 ($96), although Sony is kind enough to offer links to discounted titles, PlayStation Plus highlights and other offers at the top of the browsing sidebar -- Tokyo Jungle is today's holiday deal at £5 ($8).
Purchases can be done through the store, with the product downloaded to your game console when it's turned on next. Video content, meanwhile, can be purchased and then played on your PC, as well as on the PlayStation 3, PS Vita, PSP, Sony Tablets and compatible Xperia smartphones. Even if you're balking at some of those early prices, it might be worth browsing through some more palatable festive deals by visiting the source below. We'll have more when we hear the official line from Sony."
And you thought your luck was in huh? ... No, you won't be able to download porn in iTunes :P
"Users accessing Apple's iTunes Store in Russia have been getting porn images when searching for films to rent. Movies without images have been linking to xxx.xxx web address. The intention might have been to link to a placeholder, said one IT expert, but addresses ending in .xxx are real websites with explicit content.
Apple rolled out the service in Russia on Tuesday, along with another 55 countries; the firm had no comment when approached by the BBC.
Although users were seeing pornographic images, they were not able to actually buy or rent these films, said Top F Secure IT researcher Mikko Hypponen.
"If someone actually clicks on such a movie and buys it, they won't get a porn movie - they will get what was supposed to be there, a real film, but the image was just wrong," he said. "It's like when you go to a real-world video rentals store and all the DVDs are there but the covers for some of them are wrong."
After years of milking users from Facebook, Zynga finally gets the boot ... Sorry, you can now find your own users instead!
"Facebook and Zynga have amended an agreement that gave the games developer strong access to the social network's one billion users. Zynga is the developer behind Farmville, a game once mostly played on Facebook, which at its peak attracted 82 million players a month.
Zynga now has its own games platform, but players will no longer be able to share their progress on Facebook. Zynga's share price fell by 13% in after-hours trading following the news. It is the latest blow for the company, which last month announced job cuts and studio closures.
The change, which will take place from 31 March 2013, ends Zynga's ability to promote its Zynga.com platform on Facebook. The move also means it will no longer be required to display Facebook advertising on its own site."
Leaked! ... well, I reckon it's all part of a media hype! They certainly got our attention ;)
"Details of Bungie's first game since quitting the best-selling Halo franchise have been leaked online. The gaming website IGN has obtained marketing materials revealing it is called Destiny, and aims to create a universe "as deep" as the Star Wars franchise,
The project had been one of publisher Activision's most closely guarded secrets. It has a 10-year exclusive arrangement with the development studio.
Activision has previously told investors that the game would be "genre-defining" and prove to be one of its two "largest growth opportunities" over coming years, alongside the Call of Duty series. Following IGN's exclusive, Bungie reproduced one of the images on its own site and confirmed the leak's authenticity."
The public like Windows 8 ... I'm yet to really find out. But you know what people say ... the proof is in the pudding!
"Windows 8 is the next Windows ME? The sales numbers suggest that accusation is malarkey. Windows 8 was an incredibly bold redesign on the part on Microsoft Corp. (MSFT). The move to a more touch-friendly, graphically rich operating system certainly seemed to mirror the general direction of the device market, but that did not shield Microsoft from loads of criticism. Many wondered whether it went too far with the graphical gloss, whether it was disrespecting developers with its shift to a walled-garden "Windows Store" app distribution model, and whether it was forsaking traditional desktop power users.
But the proof is in the sales, and Microsoft announced today that for all the haters, Windows 8 appears to be doing great.
In its first month of sales Windows 8 has moved 40 million licenses, according to Microsoft. The company announced the news in a blog post and at a conference presentation. It also points out that buoyed by reduced upgrade fees, the Windows 8 upgrade rate is outpacing that of Windows 7, the previous sales record-holder."
It's going to be a GOOD Christmas for gamers ... no more boring Christmas holidays! There's plenty of fragging to do!
"The release of Activision's latest Call of Duty will be closely watched for its effect on lagging video games sales. Black Ops 2 is the sequel to a 2010 title which holds the record for the world's bestselling console game.
Microsoft has already revealed its rival first-person shooter, Halo 4, made more than $220m (£138m) in global sales on its launch day last week. Game disk sales in the US were 25% down on the year in October, according to a study by NPD.
It reported that sales had fallen to $756m in what is the sector's biggest market, noting that several other new sequels had not performed as well as previous iterations."
Now this is interesting ... Rovio teams up with Lucasfilm to release Angry Birds Star Wars!
"Angry Birds Star Wars is now available for Android, iOS, Amazon Kindle Fire, Mac, PC, Windows Phone, and Windows 8. Angry Birds recently made its way into space, but now, it's taking that venture to a whole new level in the latest game, Angry Birds Star Wars.
Rovio Entertainment, maker of Angry Birds, and Lucasfilm Ltd., the film and production company responsible for "Star Wars," have partnered on a new Angry Birds game that sends the famous birds and pigs into the world's most famous epic space opera.
“It’s a banner day for us,” said Peter Vesterbacka, CMO of Rovio Entertainment. “This is our best Angry Birds game yet, and we’re excited for our fans to finally meet Luke, Leia, and the rest of the gang! But it’s more than just a game launch: we think fans are going to just love the new animated trailer and the Angry Birds Star Wars products, sure to be a big hit this holiday season.”
The game has over 80 levels in famous "Star Wars" locations like Tatooine as well as new areas like the Pig Star. The game follows a battle between the Rebel Birds and the evil Imperial Pigs, where the birds must face Pigtroopers and Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Pigs."
Now that's pretty cool ... "on-the-fly" translation. I suppose it's better what's currently available on the market.
"Software that can translate spoken English into spoken Chinese almost instantly has been demonstrated by Microsoft. The software preserves intonation and cadence so the translated speech still sounds like the original speaker.
Microsoft said research breakthroughs had reduced the number of errors made by the instant translation system. It said it modelled the system on the way brains work to improve its accuracy.
Details about the project were given by Microsoft research boss Rick Rashid in a blogpost following a presentation he gave in Tianjin, China, in late October that had, he said, started to "generate a bit of attention".
In the final few minutes of that presentation the words of Mr Rashid were almost instantly turned into Chinese by piping the spoken English through Microsoft's translation system. In addition, the machine-generated version of his words maintained some of his spoken style."
Expected ... but it's sad to see Messenger go. I'm an avid user, I guess I'm gonna have to get used to Skype.
"Microsoft has announced it intends to "retire" its instant message chat tool and replace it with Skype's messaging tool. The news comes 18 months after the software giant announced it was paying $8.5bn (£5.3bn) for the communications software developer.
Microsoft said Windows Live Messenger (WLM) would be turned off by March 2013 worldwide, with the exception of China. It reflects the firm's determination to focus its efforts on Skype.
WLM launched in 1999 when it was known as MSN Messenger. Over time, photo delivery, video calls and games were added to the package's text-based messages. In 2009, the firm said it had 330 million active users."
