With each passing year, the absence of Skate 4 becomes a little more pronounced. It would be funny if it weren't so actively absurd. And listen, I get it; EA is sat on plenty of inactive intellectual properties and, given that we are on the eve of the next generation, some of them just aren't going to make the cut. There's the likes of Burnout and Black, Knights of the Old Republic, Medal of Honor, SSX, and Ultima... look, to be perfectly honest with you, the full list of industry-shaping and generation-defining franchises EA has gathering dust in a vault somewhere in Redwood, California makes for exhaustive reading. And sure, if you look at the situation objectively there sure does seem to be a pretty solid argument to be made against the legendary skating game series making a return. EA Black Box folded in 2013, the majority of the studio's staff – the people working behind the pixels to make the Skate games what they were – are scattered to the winds. A lot has … [Read more...] about Skate 4 could be EA’s next live-service success story
Real time translation service
Microsoft is adapting Xbox Live’s matchmaking and chat features for PC and other platforms
This morning, Microsoft announced a new game developer-focused initiative that brings its already existing game-development platforms, tools, and services under a single ecosystem called Game Stack. Those services include Azure, DirectX, Visual Studio, Xbox Live, App Center, Havok, and others, including PlayFab, a complete backend for building and operating live, multiplayer games. Microsoft's goal with bundling all those services together (which are also available still à la carte) is to make it easier for developers to continually monitor their games' performance and communities, which can mean better game experiences for players.This initiative also means that Microsoft's Azure cloud, which is already available in 54 regions globally, plays a critical role in Game Stack. The global scale of Azure will be the foundation for Project xCloud streaming technology, so developers will have the ability to reach any gamer around the world, regardless of what device they may be gaming … [Read more...] about Microsoft is adapting Xbox Live’s matchmaking and chat features for PC and other platforms
Pixel Buds Google Translate Feature Now on More Devices
The Pixel Buds Google Translate feature is now included on even more devices than ever before. This flagship feature of Google’s listening device allows for real-time-translations with the push of a button. The Pixel Buds were initially launched in October 2017. The wireless earbuds are available on the Google store for $159. The support site for the Google Pixel Buds has updated to show that any headphones with Google Assistant built-in will have this translation feature. In addition to this, the feature is no longer tied to just Google Pixel branded phones and is now available to all Android devices. This means that devices such as the Sony WI-1000X and the Bose QC35 II can now use this function. This translation feature allows for 40 languages to be translated via the Google Translate app and a compatible device. A user would need to first activate their Google Assistant on the listening device of choice, and then speaking into the device in their native … [Read more...] about Pixel Buds Google Translate Feature Now on More Devices
YouTube wants to rely on Wikipedia to fix its problems
YouTube’s CEO wants to tackle the platform’s conspiracy theory problem by relying on Wikipedia in an effort to keep viewers informed. The idea is simple enough: YouTube will identify videos about known conspiracy theories, and include a Wikipedia description that provides more information on the main topic that the conspiracy is concerned with. “When there are videos that are focused around something that’s a conspiracy — and we’re using a list of well-known internet conspiracies from Wikipedia — then we will show a companion unit of information from Wikipedia showing that here is information about the event,” Wojcicki said at a South by Southwest talk yesterday, as reported by The Verge. Wojcicki pointed to flat-earthers, people who believe that the Earth isn’t spherical — even though the ancient Greeks figured out the truth, and explorers Ferdinand Magellan and Juan Sebastián Elcano proved it centuries ago. … [Read more...] about YouTube wants to rely on Wikipedia to fix its problems
Lair: What went wrong
“Lair was a genuine fuck-up by everybody involved, probably me the worst,” says Julian Eggebrecht, one of Factor 5’s co-founders, about the studio’s disappointing PlayStation 3 game. The approximately $25 million project, a game about dragons and fantasy warfare, took three years to develop, which included a yearlong delay. From faulty studio decisions, publisher strife and arguments regarding studio dynamics, Lair fought its way out from the studio that created it. Lair itself did not ruin Factor 5 — although the circumstances didn’t help — but it ended a relationship with Sony and left the studio dangling in searching of a follow-up project that never came. Before Lair The history of Lair intertwines with the history of Factor 5. Back in the late ‘80s, the German studio began working alongside Europe’s PC boom, plugging away on action games like Turrican (and its sequels) before switching over to consoles. In 1992, LucasArts and … [Read more...] about Lair: What went wrong