Advanced Micro Devices quietly started its semi-custom chip business a year ago. And by the end of this year, it will be about 20 percent of the company’s business. AMD will do that by supplying chips to game console makers. The company is acknowledging today that it is building semi-custom chips for Sony’s PlayStation 4, and that the game console business will provide a lot of its growth over time.

Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AMD hasn’t been allowed to talk about this business much because it doesn’t have permission to do so from its customers who have not yet described everything they are doing. Microsoft is reportedly using semi-custom chips from AMD for its unannounced next-generation Xbox game console, which is expected to be unveiled on May 21.

The semi-custom chip business is run by Saeid Moshkelani, corporate vice president and general manager, who joined AMD last year from Trident Microsystems. He reports to AMD senior vice president Lisa Su. In an interview with GamesBeat, Moshkelani reiterated that he can’t preemptively announce his customers’ chips. But he acknowledged that Sony is using a semi-custom chip that uses an accelerated processing unit (APU) chip that combines AMD’s microprocessor and graphics technologies on the same piece of silicon.

“Now that Sony has announced, this is a good time to talk about the semi-custom business,” Moshkelani said. “We want to diversify, and this is a very attractive way to do it. This is also a reflection of how the market is changing.”

Moshkelani said that the business makes sense as a way to differentiate AMD’s offerings from its dominant competitor, Intel, and as a way to diversify its business beyond the PC market. AMD is the No. 2 chip maker in PC microprocessors, but it has expanded beyond x86 into ARM-based server chips as well. The trick will be whether AMD will be able to generate high volumes and high profit margins with its semi-custom chip business. Usually, custom chip deals are one or the other but not both.

Moshkelani said that one of the distinguishing factors of the semi-custom chip business is that it combines both intellectual property from AMD’s engineers as well as IP from customers who help design the chips for their own needs and better differentiation.

AMD began work secretly on the semi-custom chip business a year ago as Moshkelani arrived. Presumably, that was when it got started with design work for both Microsoft and Sony, which have likely ordered very powerful but very different APUs for their upcoming game consoles.

“Gaming is a great cornerstone of how a semi-custom business can be built,” Moshkelani said. “As a company, we are investing heavily in this business, with projects lasting anywhere from six months for design to 18 months.”

Game chips have to be built in high volume with low costs, high performance, and low power consumption. The pattern from the game console chips could play out in other markets, and Moshkelani said AMD hopes to expand its semi-custom business into other markets as well.

“AMD has a strong intellectual property portfolio and a nimble approach to chip design. That combination should help the company capitalize on new opportunities by customizing its IP building blocks for specific applications and use cases,” said Charles King, president and principal analyst of Pund-IT, Inc. “AMD’s ability to flexibly collaborate with customers should lead to the development of high-value solutions that deliver superior performance and end-user satisfaction.”

AMD said it will target gaming, set-top boxes, smart TVs, PCs, tablets, servers, high-performance computing, and infrastructure applications. The PS4 is just the first announced design.

Source: techgatherer

Read the rest of this entry »

We here at TechnoBuffalo’s gaming department are nothing but a pack of filthy cheaters. Well, we were cheaters back when cheating was a cool trick to show off to your friends during awesome weekend sleepovers. We fondly remember employing a lot of special tricks to advance and goof around in the games of yesterday, so we decided to list our favorites. Our 10 favorites, in fact. Here are Ron and Joey’s 10 favorite cheats from way back when.

Final Fantasy Tactics rewards you for absolutely every successful action you take, giving points to advance your jobs skills. More often than not, that ability you really want is just out of reach, and there are just not enough enemies on the map to guarantee those final few points.

How do you make it so you won’t have to fight another battle?
Well, attack your friends of course. Indeed, you are rewarded for every completed action in Final Fantasy Tactics, and that includes attacking your allies. In fact, it’s often best to leave some weak little puke running around the stage while you and your best buddies hammer away at each other for a good 10-15 rounds. You can have an army capable of bringing down every enemy in the game, and you won’t have even left the first battle if your cards are played right.

Source: technobuffalo

Read the rest of this entry »

In 2012, Yusuf Mehdi -- the man in charge of Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT [FREE Stock Trend Analysis]) interactive entertainment business -- told the Los Angeles Times that the average Xbox-owning household spends an average of 84 hours a month using Xbox Live. While gaming continues to be a popular draw for the console, it has not become the primary reason why people turn it on.

"What we're seeing is that people are turning on the Xbox to play games and then keeping it on afterwards to get other types of entertainment," Mehdi told the Los Angeles Times. In fact, the publication reported that consumers now spend more of their time using Xbox 360 for online video than for online gaming. There have not been any studies confirming that the same has happened with Wii or PlayStation 3, but Sony (NYSE: SNE) proudly announced that its console had become the number-one living room device for Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) subscribers last December.

The console has been so successful in this regard that there have been times when more people turned to PS3 for Netflix than for any other platform -- including PCs and tablets. In April, NPD DisplaySearch reported that game consoles lead the pack among TV devices that can connect to the Internet.

This is great for overall hardware appeal -- but is it good for the gaming industry?
Mehdi's statement seems to be fairly accurate. Game consoles have always been sold first to consumers who want to play games. If they only cared about non-interactive entertainment, consumers would simply subscribe to cable or buy a set-top box. By offering a greater variety of entertainment options, the assumption is that consoles can appeal to a greater number of consumers. This is also true -- but it is not without risk.

When Sony unveiled PlayStation 4, it chose to ignore non-gaming entertainment and focus exclusively on why this is a console that gamers should buy. In an interview with Forbes, Sony Computer Entertainment America President and CEO Jack Tretton explained why.

"If you wanna have an event to talk about multimedia capabilities, we'll proudly stand up and list all the media partners that we have, and the fact that we're the number one most used Netflix device around the world," said Tretton. "But the 3.1 million that streamed [Wednesday's event] and that stayed up at all hours depending on what country they were in, they were there to see games."

The 3.1 million viewers that he referred to were only in the United States. Worldwide, Sony's event drew more than eight million viewers. This is the same strategy that Sony took with PSone (which sold 104 million units) and PS2 (which sold 153 million units). When promoting PlayStation 3, Sony shifted to other things. While gaming was still a big part of the console, Sony heavily pushed the Blu-ray player that was built into every unit.

As many investors are aware, PS3 only sold 74 million units. Similarly, Nintendo (OTC: NTDOY) tried to make up for the lack of new Wii U games by promoting a number of promising TV services. While the console sold very well last fall, Wii U ultimately flopped during the first quarter when sales plummeted more than 85 percent.

Thus, while it is acceptable (and perhaps wise) for console manufacturers to offer services beyond video games, it is best to start by satisfying the core gaming audience. If nothing else, that guarantees that at least some people will buy the device.

If the aforementioned trend continues, however -- if games are the initial draw but TV and movies keep users coming back -- it could be a problem for those who only develop games. Activision (NASDAQ: ATVI), Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA), Konami (NYSE: KNM), Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO) and other game companies heavily rely on the success of new consoles.

Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo may get consumers in the door, but if the aforementioned developers can't keep them coming back, the industry is in trouble. Over the past 10 years, several high-profile game publishers have fallen, including THQ, Acclaim and Midway. While it does not appear that another one is about to file for bankruptcy, there is one whose future is in question: Electronic Arts.

Between the troubled launch of the new Sim City, the closure of several Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) games, the award for 'Worst Company in America' (for the second year in a row), and the widespread layoffs, things are not looking good for EA.

Source: benzinga

Read the rest of this entry »

There isn’t much we haven’t already learned about the OUYA game console, however as of today we are seeing something different — the FCC filing. As the game console has already made its way into the hands of some users, this filing contains already known bits of information. The filing does however contain plenty of images, not to mention, the full user manual for those who feel like they may want to do a bit of browsing.

Some of the pics can be seen in this post, but the FCC filing page has plenty more available. The user manual is a pretty standard affair and offers the basics including the setup process and the specs. Just to recap those, the OUYA console is powered by an NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage. The console can handle extra storage by way of the USB port and has HDMI, Bluetooth, Ethernet and Wi-Fi in terms of connectivity.

Perhaps more to the point for the success of the OUYA though, we recently learned how 10,000 developers have committed to the console. Unfortunately this doesn’t mean there are 10,000 games available at the moment, but it does give some hope that we will be seeing game announcements arrive in the coming weeks and months.

If nothing else, we hope to see plenty of game announcements before the retail availability begins in June. Keeping on the topic of games and we look back to late March when the console began shipping. At that time it was said the OUYA had more than 100 available games. Otherwise, last we heard was that the console shipments were going out as expected and all Kickstarter backers were expected to have console in hand before the end of May.

Source: androidcommunity

Read the rest of this entry »

If you enjoy playing Counter-Strike you might be interested to learn that a NES console has been added to a map for its players to enjoy while they are waiting for the other team to get their act together. The mod has been accomplished using the Sourcemod Entertainment System (SMES), a server plugin which has been designed to allow a video game and play another video game inside itself. Watch the video after the jump to see it in action. Enjoy! The maps mod has been created by skwumpy, and allows you to pick up a cartridge within the Counter-Strike map, insert it in the console and enjoy a quick game of Super Mario Bros. Its creator explains:

Source: geeky-gadgets

Read the rest of this entry »

In the time since FarmVille 2's launch, farm decorations have never been as big of a driving factor behind the game as they are in the original version of Zynga's farming game. Sure, you can purchase decorations that give your farm a personalized touch, but the real heart of the matter is the farming and crafting of various objects across the game's Kitchen, Workshop, and Kiln. Now though, Zynga has started updating the game to make true farm decoration much more appealing. For instance, players can now build paths on the ground that their own avatar and visitor avatars can walk on.

Via this update, placing any sort of flat item on the ground will allow that item to be interactive, as avatars will walk on top of bricks, wooden paths, tiles, and more. This also includes small Bridges, like the White Wood Bridge that costs 6,300 coins to purchase in the store. While this might not seem like a huge change, it actually changes the game in two ways for decorators.

Before this update, placing these sorts of items in the farm meant sacrificing the space solely for the sake of decorating the farm. The land became useless and the decorations just "sat there." Now though, the decorations can be used as actual pathways for your farmer to cross into an area that might be otherwise blocked off with fencing and it also stops the constant jumping of avatars if they need to cross these lines. Our gameplay isn't really affected by this, but I know I'll personally prefer seeing avatars walk around like normal people rather than jumping around like bunnies. Hopefully, this is just the first of many design updates in FarmVille 2 that make decorating a funner and more user-friendly experience. Stay tuned for more!

Source: blog.games

Read the rest of this entry »

The Hobbit: Armies of the Third Age is a sim game developed by Kabam. Earn your place in Middle-earth and fight the armies of the Third Age. Gamezebo's quick start strategy guide will provide you with detailed images, tips, information, and hints on how to play your best game.

The Hobbit: Armies of the Third Age is free to play, and can be played by clicking the "Play Now!" option at the top of this page. When you start The Hobbit: Armies of the Third Age, you are asked to choose a faction: Elves, Dwarves or Orcs. When you have chosen your faction, an ally will lead you through a tutorial to explain the basics of The Hobbit: Armies of the Third Age.

Two starting strategies to choose from
After finishing the tutorial, you will be on your own to make decisions on what to do next. As a new player, you will have a certain time of 'new player protection'. This means that if you don't attack other players/regions, you can not be attacked either.

This gives you one of two possible strategies to start your game with: use that protection to first build your forces and go into battle well-prepared, or just go out there right away. I will shortly give some tips for both strategies. In both scenario's, the first thing you want to do is build 3 of all of your resource buildings. 3 lumber mills, 3 gold mines, 3 farms and 3 quarries.

Source: blog.games

Read the rest of this entry »

After raising over $8.5 million on Kickstarter last July, the Ouya Android game console is ready for launch. Shipments of the special Kickstarter Edition of the console will begin today and continue into April. Those who missed the original crowdfunding campaign, however, are in luck, as the company has also confirmed today that the system will arrive at retailers in the US, UK, and Canada on June 4th, including Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, Target, and others. In celebration of its launch, Ouya invited backers and the media to come see the finished product and play some of the games currently available on the service. Check out our hands-on impressions below.

The Hardware
While the console looks near-identical to the renders the company provided those many months ago, the controller has underwent significant revisions based on developer feedback. Originally, the design incorporated concave thumbsticks, a disk d-pad, and a raised touchpad in the center. Now, the thumbsticks are convex with a flat touchpad and a four-way d-pad. Despite its unusual shape, the controller actually feels fantastic. It carries a decent amount of weight and the buttons feel springy and responsive.

The shoulder buttons and triggers, although oddly square, also fit nicely within reach and have a distinctive "click" when depressed. The company has designed the two metallic faceplates to snap off, providing access to its two AA batteries and giving players a way to personalize their controller. And then there's the console. Like the controller, the console is expertly crafted and the quality far exceeds the $99 asking price. Kickstarter backers will receive limited edition systems in a charcoal finish with the names of $10,000-level supporters etched onto the side, including the likes of Minecraft creator Notch and Robert Bowling, aka FourZeroTwo. Everyone else will receive a engraving-free system in a lighter shade of gray. The system is compact, no bigger than a balled fist — roughly 3-inches squared.

The system connects to TVs via HDMI and the internet via built-in Wi-Fi, but it also supports ethernet cables. Players can expand the 8GB onboard storage with external storage sources through USB and micro USB.

User Interface
Ouya’s user interface is as stark and striking as the hardware itself. When players boot up the console they’re presented with four simple options: Play, Discover, Make and Manage. The simplicity, clarity and uncluttered nature of the menus are the polar opposite of the increasingly busy designs found on the Xbox Dashboard, iTunes App Store or most other game portals.

Gamers access their downloaded games via the Play menu, download new titles via Discover, and adjust settings in Manage. The Make menu is undoubtedly the most interesting and unusual. Here game developers can upload new builds of their titles, get news on the latest Ouya developer tools and access other resources for game makers.

Given that only a small number of Ouya owners will ever dabble in game authorship, Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman was quick to point out that this Make menu option (and all the others) will be evolving over time. As more community options become a part of the Ouya developer experience, game makers could use this Make menu to “form direct relationships with gamers, or upload pre-release beta builds” according to Uhrman.

The Ouya shopping experience is also streamlined for ease-of-use. The storefront is sorted into a variety of “fluid” categories that can change weekly, monthly, or any time Ouya notices a pattern of user behavior. The key storefront slots are curated in part by Kellee Santiago, Ouya’s head of developer relations and former President of Thatgamecompany. In our demo a “Hear Me” category was featured, collecting games with especially notable soundtracks. It could easily be replaced with a “Spooky” section around Halloween, a guest-curated list, or a new genre bubbling up.

Gamers looking for the best Ouya has to offer can stick with these curated lists, but more adventurous Ouya owners will likely spend a lot of time in the shop’s “Sandbox” section. The Sandbox is the Wild West – it’s where new titles debut. If they accumulate enough likes or if they catch the eye of an Ouya curator they will be ejected from the Sandbox and into one of the top-level categories. This is a smart system – the Xbox Live analogy would be allowing Xbox Live Indie Games an automatic path to becoming full-fledged Xbox Live Arcade titles.

This basic UI is attractive aesthetically, but it’s only possible in part due to what the Ouya  doesn’t include. At launch there is no support for achievements, chat, unified system-wide matchmaking, friends list or most other community features. Uhrman told IGN that a deeper community layer would be introduced as a software update “later this year.”

The Games
For now, the most underwhelming aspect of the Ouya is… the game library itself. Most of the currently available games are mobile mainstays like indie endless runner Canabalt, zombie sim Organ Trail and chaotic action-platformer Gunslugs. There are a few notable full-length AAA releases already available, including Final Fantasy III from Square-Enix and The Ball from Tripwire Interactive. Of course the system doesn’t formally launch until June 4th. With 8,000 Ouya Development Kits in the hands of game makers there’s plenty of time for the library to improve.

Most of the demo titles are high quality and many of them are games I’d happily spend time with on my phone or tablet. But there’s a big difference between a bite-sized mobile time killer and a full “living room” video game experience. I love Canabalt, but I love it when I’m on the bus or on my lunch break. I’m not sure I love it enough to turn on my Ouya to get a few sessions in.

Ouya is also notably missing exclusives. The company is quick to point out that many of its games are “TV Exclusives” – the idea being that yes, Save the Puppies is available on your Android phone or tablet, but Ouya is the only way to get the full TV experience. Besides not being strictly true (various TV-out solutions exist for mobile games), this argument also isn’t a replacement for truly exclusive games. Software sells hardware – the Ouya is a slick console with a great controller and lots of great ideas, but that only amounts to so much if owners can’t experience brand-new gaming experiences with it.

Booting into an Ouya game takes just 3-5 seconds from the menu. All the titles looked great on the approximately 40’’ demo display. Perhaps best of all, every Ouya game must offer a free component, allowing gamers try out the title before being asked to pay up. This can be something as simple as a traditional game demo as with Final Fantasy III, or In-App-Purchases, optional donations, subscriptions and episodic releases.

Source: ign

Read the rest of this entry »

Harvest Moon creator Yasuhiro Wada has dropped a new title on his new village shop simulation, formerly known as Project Happiness – meet HomeTown Story. Speaking to Famitsu, as translated by Gematsu, Wada said the “Story” in the title refers to the game’s emphasis on growing your business and becoming profitable. I’m not sure what this means but it makes me think of Kairosoft’s Game Dev Story and its ilk.

As previously detailed, players will meet and befriend customers and learn their tales. With the help of a fairy named Pochikal, the player will address customers’ worries and fulfil their dreams. The interview also revealed that Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu is on board, with character design supplied by Pokémon artist Atsuko Nishida.

Wada said HomeTown Story is 50 to 60% complete and will release this year on 3DS in Japan. It looks much fancier than last time we saw it, as the trailer below shows. No western release has been touted as yet.

Although Wada is best known for Harvest Moon, which he created for Marvellous AQL, he has also served a stint at Grasshopper Manufacture and was one of the key creatives on Deadly Premonition; his new studio, Tobox Inc, is keen to work with Hidetaka “Swery” Suehiro again one day.

Source: vg247

Read the rest of this entry »

Were this any other transition period for the video game industry, GameStop stock would be soaring these days. nstead, the stock has been largely flat — climbing less than one point year to date, noticeably underperforming the market's seven percent gains — as well as other companies in the gaming space. At issue are a pair of clouds that refuse to go away: used games and digital distribution.

Used games are the bread and butter of GameStop's earnings. In its most recent fiscal quarter, 28 percent of the company's overall sales were from used video game products — bringing in $496.3 million. Used games represented over 48 percent of GameStop's gross profits.

So reports that Microsoft's next iteration of the Xbox won't allow the use of used games has investors nervous. Adding to the agita is remaining cloudiness about how Sony's PlayStation 4 will handle them.

While Sony officials said they don't plan to block used games on the system, people familiar with the PS4 say that technology is built into the console — but Sony has left the decision up to individual game publishers on whether to utilize it through the use of watermarked game discs.

"Used games are a big frustration among publishers," said John Taylor of Arcadia Investment. "I'm guessing there are a lot of discussions between the console companies, the publishers and GameStop on how to share that windfall of profit. … The catalyst of new platform is changing the stakes at the table. It's increasing the leverage the content people have over the distribution people. … In a zero sum world, that's going to be viewed as a negative for GameStop. "

While Microsoft's not addressing the rumors and Sony has said its peace for now, GameStop isn't letting the whispers go unanswered. The company has used the media to warn console manufacturers that internal surveys of its customers show they would be much less likely to purchase a system that didn't support used games.

Analysts have downplayed talk of a used game 'ban,' noting that neither Microsoft nor Sony would risk alienating players that way. And publishers, they note, would have to change their terms of business.

"The missing link is you need a publisher to say we're not selling packaged products anymore, we're selling a one-use license, like Microsoft does with Office," says Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities.

While the fate of used games remains a question, investors are equally worried about the rise of digital distribution with new consoles.

In the near term, no one is expecting any sort of sea change—but the PS4 and next Xbox are both expected to offer day one downloads on most big titles. And as consumers get more comfortable with buying digitally — and distribution methods improve — that could further impact brick and mortar retail.

"To the extent that the industry evolves and the medium evolves, that has implications on their physical presence.," Taylor said. "I can see a scenario in 3-5 years where their store base is smaller than it is now, but they're doing a lot of Amazon-type business and still able to do alright. But it's going to look a lot different. … What GameStop management is tasked with now is, in a sense, changing from spots to stripes."

To make that transition, GameStop has begun selling downloadable content (DLC) in its stores — offering it as an up-sell when a customer buys a game. Buyers who choose to do so receive a code they can redeem on their Xbox or PlayStation at home, where it will download.

That's not an ideal way to buy DLC, though. In a perfect world, customers would purchase the content at GameStop; then the retailer (through a secure handshake with the console company) would confirm the transaction had taken place and the DLC would be instantly put into the user's Xbox or PlayStation account. And that's something the company is painfully aware of.

"We thought we'd have to have that in place," says Brad Schliesser, director of digital content for GameStop. "Making this a little easier for consumers is the icing on the cake. Our goal on this is 'let's make it a better process for the consumer. … Our goal in 2013 would be to get one partner to convert to a 'push to box' model."

Schliesser says GameStop is still on track to reach its goal of $1.5 billion in digital revenue by the end of its 2014 fiscal year. Physical sales, though, are likely to continue to suffer — and even if digital sales do take off, the company still faces an uphill challenge due to, you guessed it, its reliance on used game sales.

"The problem with a digital sale for GameStop as opposed to a disc sale for GameStop is every time you sell a disc, you sell something into someone's library that can be recycled," Taylor said. "When you sell a digital copy, there is no second sale. … Digital distribution could have a cascading effect on used game business."

Source: cnbc

Read the rest of this entry »