Call of Duty: Ghosts and The Revealing Power of Buzzwords

Now featuring a dog and superior fish AI.

ven though Call of Duty: Ghosts is going to come out on practically every available system, both current and next-gen, everyone knows that any real discussion over AI or graphical innovation is mainly going to involve Microsoft, Sony, and the PC. What is so interesting about this particular discussion, however, is that it provides yet another example of just how insecure Microsoft is about the upcoming jump from the current generation to the next generation in terms of PR and sales. Take this recent article from Eurogamer and Infinity Ward’s Executive Producer Mark Rubin talking about the differences between Call of Duty: Ghosts on this generation’s consoles and the next:

Playstation 4 and the PS Vita: Bundles and Options

Hopefully this becomes a thing. It would be an awesome thing indeed.

erhaps the most important thing to consumers, after convenience, is options. Even if those options are are pointless, or downright counter-intuitive, consumers want them none the less. In a world where entertainment technology is becoming increasingly homogenized, and thus the amount of choices offered is increasing everyday, a distributor merely seeming to have fewer options can be a major disadvantage. This is doubly so when done in the face of competition, and triply so if the distributor is seen as just plain not giving enough or no options at all.

This was part of the problem with the original Wii, and has been the case for the Wii-U even more. Though this consensus mostly deals with the offered software, and not so much the package itself. It does bring up some interesting questions, however.

Rumor – Amazon’s New Console: Flooding the Market

So many ways to play; a flood of gaming options.

any have speculated that this may very well be the final full-fledged console generation. With heightened production costs, supposedly “inadequate” sales numbers, and increasing competition from outside markets; i.e. smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, digital download services, and so forth, it isn’t difficult to imagine.

Case in point; consider the rumors of yet another new console being released into the market, from a recent article via joystiq:

“Online retail giant Amazon will enter the Android console market later this year, according to Game Informer sources. In a brief report, the site claims people with ‘knowledge of the in-development hardware’ said the Amazon console will have its own controller, will use Amazon’s own library of Android apps, and will ‘most likely’ be available by Black Friday.

Meanwhile, GamesBeat notes it’s ‘heard rumblings’ of the console, including one developer’s report that Amazon exhibited a version of it recently. However, GamesBeat also says a couple of sources weren’t sure if ‘Amazon was serious’ about developing it.”

Xbox One: Charging for “Key Features”

Tons and tons of features for sale!

his does not seem all that surprising, considering the company involved and their previous actions so far. Considering the blatant grab for pervasion on display with initial Xbox One reveal, this comes across as a logical next step. Naturally, Microsoft is understandably seeking other revenues for market control and profit:

“Key features of Microsoft’s Xbox One console, which is expected to go on sale in November, will only be available with an annual subscription […]”

“An Xbox Live Gold account that currently costs $60 (£40) will be needed for all these features […]”

“Microsoft revealed the requirement in an update to webpages detailing the Xbox One’s features.

The webpage shows that, as with the current Xbox 360, a Live Gold account is needed if owners want to use their new console for online multiplayer gaming, watch Netflix or similar streaming services and to browse the web via their TV. 

In addition, on the Xbox One the annual subscription will let players share videos with friends. The console records a rolling sample of a player’s previous five minutes gameplay to make it easier to share key moments.

The payment will also let owners chat to friends via video on Skype and use the OneGuide and SmartMatch services [….]”

The Navy and Kinect: “Stopping Sexual Assault”

The Kinect will make sure you’re not a sexual abuser.

he Kinect never ceases to be a great source of unintentionally hilarious entertainment, and that’s not even considering actually playing the thing, necessarily.

Though in this case it has less to do with the Kinect itself, and more to do with a management and higher brass that seems hopelessly out of touch. Kotaku sheds some light on the idea of the U.S. Navy using Kinect software as a proxy for sexual harassment/assault training and deterrence:

“Sailors are going to learn how to read another person’s verbal cues and body language with a Kinect training game meant to curb a sexual [harassment]/assault issue that has become increasingly embarrassing to the armed services.

Like all great things in the military, this game has a very literal and no-fun title: ‘Avatar Based Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Training.'”

3rd Party Exclusives: The Declining Relevancy of Gaming Consoles

hile perusing the internet, fiddling around on YouTube earlier this morning, this video showed up in my feed and it got me thinking. It mostly focuses on the decline on 3^rd party exclusives and increasing dependency on 1^st party exclusives:

Xbox One: Marc Whitten Apologizes – “A Need for Better Communication”

Marc Whitten telling us what’s what I suppose.

s if it was not already obvious enough, Xbox Corporate VP Marc Whitten proclaims the need for better communication for the Xbox One and its features:

“‘We need to do more work to talk about what we’re doing because I think that we did something different than maybe how people are perceiving it.’ For one thing, he said, Family Sharing isn’t necessarily gone for good. ‘If [Family Sharing] is something that people are really excited about and want, we’re going to make sure that we find the right way to bring it back.’ It would require additional engineering to enable Family Sharing after always-online was dropped, so the feature was removed from the Xbox One launch window.”