The Ouya is making its way out to backers even now (though my shipping notification still hasn’t arrived. Grrr.) and judging by early impressions, it’s no silver bullet to take down behemoths like Sony and Microsoft. The $ 99, Android powered console still isn’t fully formed exactly, but it’s doubtful that between now and June 25 it’ll take on giant-killer proportions. Likewise the recently-announced BlueStacks Android gaming console, which features a subscription-based pricing model, probably won’t alone topple the giants.
But combined, these and a slew of other devices including the GameStick, smart TVs from manufacturers, Steam Boxes, and even Google and Apple hardware are eating away at what was once a fairly exclusive field. It seems a lot of people are waiting for a watershed moment to signal a significant shift away from traditional console gaming to a new paradigm, but increasingly, it looks likely that what we’ll see instead is an erosion that more closely resembles glacial shift, but on a less geological time scale.
There’s evidence to suggest that console gaming is already losing significant ground, like quarterly results from Nintendo that show a dramatic decline in consumer interest in the recently-launched Wii U console. And while Sony saw its first full-year profit in half a decade, most of the good news was on the smartphone side, and PlayStation sales fell for the year. Microsoft is still doing fairly well with the Xbox 360, but growth of key accessories like the Kinect have slowed with time.
Slower Kinect sales are a good bellwether for the industry’s overall health, if only because it and devices like it are where console makers are turning to try to inject some fresh life into a market that had recently started to look fairly stale. To some extent, Kinect, Move and other gimmicks like the screen of the 3DS are an answer to incursions by mobile gaming and other alternatives. Just like point-and-shoot cameras needed differentiating features like long zooms to prove themselves relative to smartphone cameras, video games needed something new to reel in new buyers.
The new crop of challengers to the console gaming market, including Ouya and the new BlueStacks GamePop console, risks getting discounted by critics as just another round of devices like the GP2X Wiz or the Gizmondo, which had limited appeal and then faded into the background of video games history as little more than a minor footnote. But that’s taking too short-term and dismissive a view on what’s currently happening in the video game space. It’s true that, as ardent console gamers continually remind me, there will always be a demand for that type of content.
Increasingly, however, there’s a growing contingent of players that are fine saying, “if I can get it on my phone, why do I need it anywhere else?” and that’s a market that’s ripe for a living room transition like the ones being attempted by Ouya and BlueStack. It’s easy to discount these ahead of their full consumer launch, and I don’t expect them to have an immediate impact on console sales, but they are signs of a sure shift, and one that won’t go away, even if doesn’t provide the sort of bomb shock disruption that we’re so fond of identifying and championing.
Question by Josh R: How is the playstation vita compare to a psp what are the comparible details that makes the vita better than a? what makes the vita work 299.99? and how is it dofferant than a psp
Best answer:
Answer by Anonymous playerKid, learn to spell
For one, the 3G model of the Vita is $ 299, the Wi-fi model is just $ 249
The Vita contains a quad-core processor, dual Analogs, OLED screen, more RAM than the PS3 for cross-game chat
What do you think? Answer below!
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LG has released its earnings report for the first quarter of 2013, and while they were down overall from last year, there is good news to report for its phones. A net profit of $ 20.3 million is lower than Q1 2012′s $ 214 million, and Q4′s $ 80.75 million, blamed on weaker earnings in its home theater business. The good news is reserved for phones, where sales were up 30 percent from last year thanks to devices like the Optimus G (original, Pro and Nexus 4) and L series. Home Entertainment sales dropped to their lowest level in the past year, blamed mostly on a decline in plasmas. According to LG its LCD sales were actually up thanks to growing demand in Europe and China, but profits took a hit because of increased competition. While it doesn’t expect the overall market to change, it is looking for better results in Q2 as its new Smart and 3D TVs hit shelves, not to mention 4K sets. We’ll keep digging through the numbers for more details, check the source link below to take a look for yourself.
Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, HD, Mobile, LG
Source: LG Korea, LG Q1 2013 earnings (PDF)
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According to astronomers studying background radiation data gathered by the Planck Space probe, the universe is 80-million years older than previously thought. So now when somebody asks you how old the universe is, you can confidently tell them, “80-million years older than previously thought” because you never knew the original figure in the first place. WTF are they teaching in school these days?
The Planck space probe looked back at the afterglow of the Big Bang, and those results have now added about 80 million years to the universe’s age, putting it at 13.81 billion years old.
The findings released Thursday bolster a key theory called inflation, which says the universe burst from subatomic size to its now-observable expanse in a fraction of a second.
The probe, named for the German physicist Max Planck, the originator of quantum physics, also found that the cosmos is expanding a bit slower than originally thought, has a little less of that mysterious dark energy than astronomers had figured and has a tad more normal matter. But scientists say those are small changes in calculations about the universe, whose numbers are so massive.
Not gonna lie, trying to wrap my head around the scale of the universe and how it was formed and are their infinite universes — that kind of thinking makes my head hurt. I’m a simply man, you know? Some might argue too simple. Others would probably argue mentally deficient. And you know what I call those people? Friends and family. “Don’t forget us.” And Geekologie readers.
Thanks to Pyrblaze, who, like me, can’t even fathom 13.81-billion years and starts spazzing out whenever the Burger King drive-thru line is takes too long. LIKE IT WAS TODAY.
Question by Marko: How come apple only sells the iPad 2 when the newest iPad is the 4(other than the mini) ? I got a iPad 2 for Christmas and it was the only one available at the apple store, how come I hear the newest iPad is the 4 when apple only sells the iPad 2 and the mini on their website and in their stores?
Best answer:
Answer by AndrewIt’s not that they only sell the iPad 2, It’s that it’s cheaper and probably the only one available in time
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
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There’s plenty of evidence that Windows 8 isn’t the rousing success that Microsoft might have hoped for, but a Samsung executive has taken his criticism a step further than that. “I think the Windows 8 system is no better than the previous Windows Vista platform,” Dong-Soo Jun, head of Samsung’s memory business, told The Korea Times today. While Fujitsu had previously blamed Windows 8 for its own declining PC sales, this may be the first time a Microsoft partner has dared to compare Windows 8 to Vista — well known as one of Microsoft’s failures.
However, if you take Dong-Soo’s statement in context, the memory executive may not be speaking out of turn. The quote recorded by The Korea Times came as part of a conversation about the…
Question by Frank Chen: What tablets are better than the iPad 2? I don’t really trust Apple in this “best internet experience” since their devices lack the support of Adobe Flash and their devices are closed sourced. They also lack the support of getting good addons, tweaks, system-customizing apps, and themes. What tablets have the better internet experience than the iPad 2? Include the name and the cost of the tablets please!
Best answer:
Answer by ReecyMotorolla Xoom Samsung Galaxy Tab
These are the only 2 good ones at the moment. The prices will vary from country and model.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
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This is Lesya Toumaniantz from Saransk, Russia. She let her tattoo artist boyfriend Rouslan Toumaniantz ink his name across her face the first time they met in real life after starting a relationship online. Rouslan must really have a thing for face tattoos because he’s the same dude that was accused (and later acquitted) of tattooing 56 stars on that one girl’s face after she allegedly only asked for three. *bashing face on keyboard* fghnbvfghvf hjhyj rty7hhgffg hvnfghfghbnv I just don’t even know anymore. I really did beat my head on the keyboard to type that though.
The pair – who’d met on an online chat room – say they quickly fell ‘head over heels in love’ and soon after met in Moscow, Russia, where they decided to get married.
‘It’s a symbol of our eternal devotion. I’d like him to tattoo every inch of my body,” she said.
The tattoo-mad former art student whose sister is also a tattoo artist added that above her eyebrow he had written All For Love.
‘I know that there are people who are terrified that Lesya has made a rash decision that she’ll regret horribly, but sometimes the best decisions are the ones you make in an instant with your heart rather than the ones long-debated in your mind.
Good call bro. As a matter of fact, ALL my best decisions have been made in an instant with my heart rather than the ones long-debated in my mind. You know why? “Your brain sucks.” It’s pure shit. Hey, at least if these two lovebirds ever break up she won’t have to paint her face to go to an ICP concert.
Hit the jump for a before shot of Lesya and several other afters.
- ASUS reveals TAICHI convertible notebook / tablet with dual 11.6-inch and 13.3-inch displays
- ASUS TAICHI dual-screen Ultrabook coming in November for $ 1,300, 13-inch version to follow a month later
- ASUS TAICHI shipments reportedly pushed to at least December
It’s tough to forget the ASUS TAICHI: out of all the Windows 8 convertibles we’ve seen (and we’ve seen a lot) this is the only one with two screens on board. In particular, it’s got one on the inside, which you’d use in regular notebook mode, along with a touchscreen on the outside that allows you to use the PC as a tablet. If you like, you can shut the lid completely and turn the machine into a slate-type of device, but you can also leave the lid open so that you’re mirroring your desktop, or displaying something different on each one (imagine the possibilities for presenters!). As an added trick, that outer screen also accepts pen input, though you’ll have to splurge on the highest-end configuration to get it with a stylus.
For now, ASUS is selling the 11.6-inch TAICHI 21 ($ 1,299 and up), though a 13-inch version is going to start shipping later this month. Hopefully, though, our review after the break answers questions you’d have about either model. Namely, what’s it like to use a machine with two screens, anyway?
Gallery: ASUS TAICHI 21 review
High atop Weathertop where the Kings of Old Middle Earth once surveyed their kingdoms, the Smorn leers knowingly at the vale below. His hand rubs the grass and sniffs the air – hobbits had been here, for certain. He raises his long snout and begins to howl, the sound echoing off the swart hills and into the darkness below.
JK all the way. Actually, the Orp Smart Horn AKA The Smorn is a bike horn built by Tory Orzeck of Portland, a former GE Plastics and Nike designer who, after a run in with a few nasty cars, decided to build a “hearable” horn in a small, rechargeable package. The Smorn can blast trucks as they pass or, using the Wail Tail trigger, you can move the decibels and pitch up and down.
The horn blows out a 76 dB tap or you can hit a 96 dB blast to wake sleepy drivers out of their texting stupor. The project has six days to go and is near its $ 90,000 goal so you’re almost guaranteed product when it funds. $ 45 gets you a Smorn in white, blue, orange, or “snot green.” $ 55 gets you a Glorp – a glow-in-the-dark model.
The Smorn also has four front LEDs can strobe, and you recharge it via USB. It is also waterproof and you can set a special Pulse mode that will beep regularly as you ride down the street, keeping people aware of your presence.
Tory wanted to solve the problem of bikers getting hit by drivers who were oblivious to the cyclists around them. He writes:
We live here in Portland, Oregon, considered one of the most bike friendly places in the world. There are bike paths, bike lanes and designated bike friendly roads throughout the city. But no matter what, our rides mean sharing the road with cars.
Having said that, bicycle versus vehicle accidents have steadily increased in Portland as more people take to the road on their bikes.
Our project was prompted by both this phenomena as well as a few particularly well documented accidents in Portland involving cyclists and commercial trucks. The problem was that the cyclist was neither seen nor heard.
While I know that Frodo and Bilbo will never have to fight the evil Smorn in their travels towards Mordor, it is nice to know that Strider would be able to find them if they pulled the Wail Tail in a time of need.
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