Amazon’s VR plans could include movies and games, job listing reveals

Rumor has it Amazon is gearing up for a push into virtual reality, and a new job listing reveals just how ambitious the company’s plans may be. It looks like the internet giant could be eyeing VR gaming and even augmented reality, along with more straightforward immersive videos.

The job listing, which was spotted by Variety, details a new position titled “Virtual Reality Experience Development Executive.” Amazon is looking for a highly qualified candidate with experience in filmmaking or video game development, suggesting the company could be interested in creating VR video games. It also mentions plans to create “innovative mixed reality experiences,” which could potentially run on augmented reality devices like the Microsoft HoloLens.

Variety previously reported that Amazon is working on a virtual reality app similar to the one launched by Hulu, which lets you watch both traditional and 360-degree videos in an immersive environment. The company’s also allegedly working to secure VR content ahead of an official launch, but that may just be the tip of the iceberg. Whatever Amazon is planning it still appears to be staffing up for the new endeavor, so it could be a while before we see anything officially announced.

SOURCE AMAZON JOB LISTING (LINKEDIN)

Pokémon GO pulls in over $200 million in its first month, seven times Candy Crush Soda Saga

 

For all the flack that Pokémon GO has been getting recently, it’s still doing exceptionally well on the mobile market. Analytics firm Sensor Tower has put the games’ earnings at a staggering $200 million in its first month of availability.

That $200 million dominates other popular free-to-play games, including Candy CrushSoda Saga, which brought in $30 million in its first month. Supercell’s Clash Royale, the previous record holder for fastest app to reach 10 million downloads, made roughly $125 million in its first month.

The two were neck and neck until Pokémon GO was released in Japan. As you’ll clearly see in the graph below, the country is still in love with this franchise.

The sky’s the limit with Pokémon GO. Keep on climbin’!

SOURCE SENSOR TOWER

Resident Evil Zero Remaster is a success at 1.1 million copies sold

While busily trying to get its Resident Evil franchise back on its feet and recreate in the footsteps that Silent Hills was supposed to take, Capcom has trained up its latest squad of developers by having them remaster some of the franchise’s most popular titles. Financial success dedicated to holding the company over was another big part of it, too.

Resident Evil Zero Remaster has repeated the success of the previous remaster, becoming a decent sized success in its own right. Capcom has confirmed that the remaster released in January has sold 1.1 million copies to date, just shy of the Resident Evil Remaster which sold 1.25 million.

However, Resident Evil Zero was a game that many had forgotten about or neglected to mention over the years. Stuck on the Nintendo GameCube, it passed out of all knowledge and legend while the franchise took on another direction to follow Resident Evil 4. To see it see such a resurgence with a new audience, even though I’m not that big a fan of it, pleases me.

I’m glad that those who enjoy a franchise will still seek out the older entries and see where its roots come from.

Resident Evil Zero Remaster is available through the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC.

source:  GEMATSU

This is the GoPro Karma drone, rumor says

GoPro is working on developing a drone named Karma, that much is already known. What hasn’t been known, however, is what it will look like. Someone recently published an image of the alleged drone to Reddit, though the post has mysteriously vanished, but not before Konrad Iturbe was able to grab it.

Konrad published the image to his Twitter feed. His Twitter profile suggests he’s a “GoPro addict,” which might suggest he’s also quick to jump the gun on an exciting rumor. Or maybe he knows something we don’t know. In any case, the drone looks like it attaches easily to a Hero4 camera, allowing videographers to take to the skies with their actioncameras.

GoPro will need to show why consumers should buy this drones over others, like the DJIPhantom 4, for example. This image doesn’t provide any hint toward that strategy and, frankly, I’m not sure I buy this rumor.

SOURCE MASHABLE, TWITTER

Rise of the Tomb Raider PS4 Release Date Confirmed, Has PlayStation VR Support

New version of game will be available on Xbox One and PC too.

                          

Square Enix has announced Rise of the Tomb Raider will launch on PlayStation 4 on October 11 in a new 20 Year Celebration edition. This version of the game will feature "a completely new story chapter entitled Blood Ties."

In addition to this, it will have new co-op Endurance gameplay, PlayStation VR support for the new Blood Ties chapter, all previously released DLC, extra outfits, weapons, and Expedition Cards. A limited edition art book will also be included.

All this content will be available for free to Xbox One and PC to players that own the season pass. This, however, won't include VR support. The season pass will be updated to include this content going forward.

A season pass does not exist for PS4 as all the extra content is included in the new version of the game.

"[Crystal Dynamics] is celebrating with all Tomb Raider fans, thanking them for being on Lara's 20 year journey with us," said Scot Amos, co-head of the studio. "The team has packed in surprises, new story, and the top-requested special features into this 20 Year Celebration edition.

"Blood Ties, a new premium DLC, beckons players to explore Croft Manor in a new story mode; then defend it against a zombie invasion in Lara's Nightmare. When Lara's uncle contests ownership of the Manor, Lara must explore the estate to find proof that she is the rightful heir, or lose her birthright and father's secrets for good.

"Players can then test their zombie-killing skills in the replayable Lara's Nightmare mode: a haunted Croft Manor where players have new challenges and must rid the Manor of an evil presence."

According to a press release, the PlayStation VR support lets players "unlock the mysteries of Croft Manor in first-person, while the new co-op Endurance mode lets fans team-up in the wilderness.

"Two players must team up to survive the harsh elements by day, as well as lethal threats from enemies by night. Fire takes fuel, food restores health, and every resource must be hunted, collected, or crafted. Battle to the top of the leaderboards, as others try to beat your longest survival run."

To celebrate the history of Tomb Raider, a re-envisoned version of the cold-weather outfit and the Hailstorm pistol Lara used in Tomb Raider 3 will be available in the mode. A classic Lara card pack will let players play as various iterations of the character from over the years, including the original Lara model that started it all in 1996.

Finally, the game will have a new Extreme Survivor difficulty: "This new difficulty level takes the toughness of Survivor and ratchets it up several notches starting with all checkpoints being stripped out of the game. The only way to save the game is forage enough resources to light campfires."

Take a look at the infographic below to see everything included in the Rise of the Tomb Raider 20 Year Celebration release.

                          

Pokémon GO will soon let businesses sponsor locations

In the augmented reality world of Pokémon GO, businesses large and small will soon have the ability to sponsor locations. This is something developer Niantic did with their previous AR game, Ingress.

In Pokémon GO, sponsors would be charged every time someone playing the game visits the locale they’ve sponsored. That, basically, counts as an augmented reality ad impression, and it’s how Niantic hopes to create an additional revenue stream.

Niantic Chief Executive John Hanke spoke with Financial Times about the upcoming addition.

“There is a second component to our business model at Niantic, which is this concept of sponsored locations…”

The first component, of course, is the current PokéCoins system of microtransactions. The app has seen success with that, too.

Are you still playing Pokémon GO? It achieved the milestone of becoming the biggest mobile game in U.S. history  just days ago.

SOURCE FT (PAY WALL)

Seagate unveils 10TB BarraCuda Pro desktop drive

Seagate on Tuesday unveiled a portfolio of 10TB drives built for NAS, surveillance systems and, of course, a new BarraCuda Pro drive for home PC users. The company said its goal was to deliver a beefy hard drive at an affordable price point, and it promises this drive delivers.

The BarraCuda Pro 10TB desktop drive spins at 7200rpm, slower than some might prefer but not bad given the huge capacity, and offers built-in power-saving features. Before today, Seagate’s 3.5-inch BarraCuda HDD selection included 50GB, 1TB, 2TB, 3TB, 4TB, 6TB and 8TB options, so customers who needed more space had to look to Seagate’s enterprise-focused 10TB drives, which were introduced in April. Now that helium technology is trickling into the more consumer-friendly drive.

The new BarraCuda Pro, which joins new IronWolf and SkyHawk entries for small businesses and surveillance systems, respectively, will launch from retailers such as NewEgg with a $535 MSRP, according to AnandTech.

SOURCE SEAGATE

Xbox Scorpio announced with enough time for devs to make games

Watching Microsoft’s E3 press conference last month, it’s easy to say that the companymade some kind of misjudgment by announcing Scorpio at the same time as the Xbox One S. But it’s not just something they threw on the end of the show just to put it there, and while some might call it a move of desperation, even that doesn’t preclude it from being something done with thought and intent.

“Creators, given time, will come up with amazing transformative ideas that I’m not smart enough to come up with,” said Xbox boss Phil Spencer in an interview with The Guardian. “So sharing the vision with our creative partners and our internal teams, putting the tools and capability out there, will lead to those breakthrough experiences.”

Spencer cited Rocket League‘s cross platform play as one new step the company’s taking.

“Being able to detail our vision and talk about it here at E3 will kickstart those conversations, and I know you will see some of the best creators thinking through ideas just like [Rocket League].”

As The Guardian notes, it’d be nearly impossible for Microsoft to get this new platform out in the hands of all the developers they want working on it while keeping it secret. There are too many developers in too many places. This isn’t the old console development world anymore where you have formal studios with tight protocols.

With the world of game development having changed so much from even what it looked like in 2013, this might less be a matter of a desperate move and more just pragmatic realism. And if it gives developers more time to help their games take advantage of the much more powerful hardware, then it’s only going to end up being a good thing for gamers.

The interview is extensive, tackling questions about the Xbox One S, the idea of a console cycle, and more. Check it out in the source link below.

SOURCE THE GUARDIAN

Pokémon GO update to bring trading to the popular mobile game

What’s Pokémon GO missing? A few things, honestly. Battling friends, unique Pokéballs and trading are some things I’d like to see. It’d be great to tangle with buddies, and the option to toss a Great Ball or Ultra Ball at a Gyrados in order to achieve a higher success chance sounds fantastic.

What about trading, though? That’s coming soon.

Niantic Labs’ CEO John Hanke spoke with Business Insider specifically about trading. Hanke explained that “it’s kind of a core element,” and offered that it goes perfectly with what the game’s all about. Being social, interacting with others and exploring the world.

It’d be nice to get candies out of trades in order to move evolutions a little faster. Maybe trading a Pokémon earns more candy than transferring it to Professor Oak? That’s a good way to encourage the action and get folks playing together.

Hopefully this comes soon.

SOURCE BUSINESS INSIDER

Pokémon GO becomes the fastest app to reach #1 on Android

Pokémon GO is the fastest app in Android’s history to reach 1#, taking only four days to get there. The game hasn’t even launched yet in Japan, where it is bound to see even more success. The previous record was SuperCell’s Clash of Clans, which had a similar amount of hype thanks to success on iOS but not nearly the same name recognition as Pokémon.

App Annie communications boss Fabien Pierre-Nicolas chimed in on the success of Pokémon GO.

Even though Pokémon Go is only officially open in three countries, the game is generating well over $1 million of net revenue for Niantic Labs. I can easily envision a run-rate of over $1 billion per year with less server issues, a worldwide presence, and more social and player-vs.-player features.

If The Pokémon Company can maintain this success, the $1 billion could very well be possible. Obviously, more Pokémon must be added to the roster and more countries must be added, too.

The launch has been nothing but a dream come true for all parties involved, but it remains to be seen how the world reacts three or four months from now.

SOURCE VENTURE BEAT

Spotify claims Apple using App Store approval process “as a weapon”

Spotify says Apple is exhibiting extreme anti-competitive behavior by using its App Store approval process “as a weapon.” The streaming service’s general counsel, Horacio Gutierrez, sent a letter to Apple earlier this week accusing the company of causing harm to Spotify and its customers.

According to the letter, Apple recently rejected Spotify’s latest update demanding the service use Apple’s billing system.

“This latest episode raises serious concerns under both U.S. and EU competition law,” Gutierrez said. “It continues a troubling pattern of behavior by Apple to exclude and diminish the competitiveness of Spotify on iOS and as a rival to Apple Music, particularly when seen against the backdrop of Apple’s previous anticompetitive conduct aimed at Spotify.”

Last year, Spotify ran a promotion offering new subscribers three months of service for just $0.99—but only if they signed up through Spotify’s site, not via an in-app purchase, which would give Apple a cut. Apple didn’t take too kindly to Spotify’s shenanigans, and when the streaming service brought the same campaign back this month, Apple threatened to remove the app from the App Store.

Because Apple takes a cut, Spotify is being forced to charge $13/month for subscriptions for purchases made through the App Store; through Spotify’s website subscriptions are only $9.99. Meanwhile, Spotify is unable to use a different billing system because that’s against App Store policy. This gives Apple an advantage because the company is able to charge only $9.99 for purchases made through the App Store.

Spotify isn’t the only one to take issue with Apple’s controversial business practices. AsRecode notes, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos recently suggested the online giant stopped selling the Apple TV because of Apple’s unfair subscription rules. In addition to sending a letter to Apple, Spotify also shared a copy with Congressional staff in Washington, D.C., in the hopes of bringing attentions to the issue.

SOURCE RECODE