Rumour: Kinect has visual DRM capability
A rumour is circulating that the Xbox One’s Kinect will be used to detect DRM breaches.
MCV sources are claiming the Kinect will detect the number of people viewing the console’s content and stop playback if that number exceeds the maximum permitted by that content's license.
According to the patent filing for the technology, “The users consuming the content on a display device are monitored so that if the number of user-views licensed is exceeded, remedial action may be taken.”
The patent filing was discovered last November by Extremetech.
Meanwhile, Polygon sources are claiming that Xbox One’s Kinect will use its facial recognition ability to scan a room full of people and ask unknown persons to introduce themselves. Apparently it will then welcome them and save their information to the console.
Microsoft chasing Xbox One domains
Microsoft has filed a legal complaint so it may take ownership over the domain names XboxOne.com and XboxOne.net.
Fusible reports that the company didn’t register the domains in a bid to keep the name of the Xbox One secret.
As a consequence, the above domains were both registered by a resident of London in the United Kingdom.
The mystery of Molyneux's Curiosity revealed
The mystery at the centre of 22Cans’ Curiosity has been revealed.
The game launched on November 2012, and since then players have destroyed 25 billion "cubelets" in a bid to be the only one to see what 22Cans founder Peter Molyneux called a “life-changing” secret at the centre of its massive cube world.
“How can anything be worth all that effort? We could say here’s a wodge of cash, but it needs to be more meaningful,” said Molyneux.
Xbox One and PS4 "a generation ahead of the highest end PC" – EA CTO
EA’s chief technology officer Rajat Teneja says that the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 are a generation ahead of the best PCs on the market.
“Both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 have adopted electronics and an integrated systems-on-a -chip (soc) architecture that unleashes magnitudes more compute and graphics power than the current generation of consoles,” wrote Teneja in a post on LinkedIn.
“These architectures are a generation ahead of the highest end PC on the market and their unique design of the hardware, the underlying operating system and the live service layer create one of the most compelling platforms to reimagine game mechanics.
US Square Enix president Mike Fischer has quit
Mike Fischer is no longer president and CEO of Square Enix North America.
As reported by Polygon, Square Enix has confirmed that Fischer quit earlier this month.
He had been in the role since July 2010.
Atari to auction all IP piece by piece
After failing to find a buyer for its entire back catalogue, Atari will auction its IP piece by piece.
In January Atari filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and since convened with about 180 potential buyers only to receive 15 unsatisfactory bids for its entire catalogue.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Atari will hold auctions over four days in July, and is seeking a minimum of US$22.2 million (AU$22.9 million) in total.
Dead Island studio announces free-running zombie title Dying Light
Dead Island studio Techland has announced another zombie title: Dying Light.
The Polish studio said the game was a free-running zombie survival title with a day/night cycle.
Zombies are slow in daylight, but their numbers and strength increase at night.
Need for Speed: Rivals announced by EA
EA has announced Need for Speed: Rivals, the latest entry in the long-running racing franchise.
Rivals is in development at Ghost Games – EA’s newest studio – in partnership with Burnout and Need for Speed: Most Wanted developer Criterion Games.
The game will run on EA’s Frostbite 3 engine, and capture “the adrenaline and intensity of the street’s ultimate rivalry between cops and racers, in a stunning open road environment”, according to EA.
“Microsoft did not target the highest-end graphics” – Xbox One engineer
A Microsoft engineer says the company purposefully didn’t aim for the highest possible specs on the Xbox One.
Speaking in a video touting the power of the Xbox One, Microsoft’s silicon development general manager Greg Williams told Engadget that Microsoft's engineers “purposefully did not target the highest-end graphics”.
"We targeted more as a broad entertainment play and did it in an intelligent way," he said.
Battlefield 4 release date announced
Battlefield 4 will be available from October 31, DICE has announced.
The game is confirmed for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Windows PC.
“Powered by the advanced Frostbite 3 engine, Battlefield 4 delivers a genre-defining all-out war experience brought to life with unmatched visual and audio fidelity, superior character animations, and dynamic destruction that ensures no two matches are alike,” said DICE.
Monday 27 May
Friday 24 May
Dead Island studio announces free-running zombie title Dying Light
Thursday 23 May
“Microsoft did not target the highest-end graphics” – Xbox One engineer
The indies react: No self-publishing on Xbox Live hands money to competitors
Triple-A development "fundamentally broken" – former Trion Worlds GM
Overhauled Xbox Live still won't allow indies to self publish
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