Sony Corp. is planning to offer technology to stream games to its next videogame console, people familiar with the company’s plans say, alongside other enhancements to bolster its position in the market.
Sony Corp. is planning to unveil its next-generation home videogame console during a February event, showing off a successor to its current PlayStation 3 system.
Some companies that were preparing for a public offering after Facebook’s May IPO have shelved those plans. Others are distancing their businesses from those of Zynga and Groupon, amid concerns their companies will be tarred by the same brush. And some have watched their user growth trail off and are working to recapture the viral magic they once experienced.
Several Web startups have closed shop entirely. Color Labs Inc. raised $41 million in venture capital last year before even launching its social photo app for mobile devices, but it has since imploded and the app won’t be available after Dec. 31.
“There’s less heat in and around the SoLoMo market,” said Brian O’Malley, a venture capitalist at Battery Ventures in Menlo Park, Calif. “For a while, there was a suspended disbelief about how hard it is to build a company. Now that’s coming back to bite people.”
Microsoft Corp. has a lot riding on its new alien shooting videogame, Halo 4, which is part of the blockbuster Halo franchise and debuts Nov 6. (read “The Big Game Battle“). But there‘s one thing over which Halo 4′s creators can breathe a sigh of relief: the game‘s review score from Metacritic.com.
Metacritic, which aggregates videogame reviews from various game publications such as GameStop GME +0.04%‘s Game Informer magazine and AOL‘s Joystiq, gives videogames an averaged score ranging from 1 to 100. The ranking that a game receives is regarded as a barometer for whether a title will sell well, with many game industry veterans and analysts saying a game needs to score in the mid-80s to be a certified hit.
“I‘d be hard pressed to buy a 60-rated game,“ said Josh Holmes, “Halo 4′s“ creative director. “Anything below 75–that‘s the kiss of death.“
In a slick two-minute trailer from David Fincher, the director of “The Social Network” and “Fight Club,” a young boy is stolen from his home, turned into a surgically enhanced supersoldier known as “Master Chief,” then set loose to battle hordes of evil aliens.
The splashy preview isn’t for Hollywood’s latest major motion picture. It’s part of the elaborate build up to the release of “Halo 4,” the latest installment of Microsoft’s blockbuster videogame for the Xbox 360. When it debuts on Tuesday, the game, in development for four years, could easily end up bigger than most movie releases. Its predecessor, “Halo 3” sold $300 million worth of copies in the first week following its 2007 release.
Microsoft is pulling out all the stops to ensure that every male under 45 in America knows “Halo 4” is on its way. In partnership with PepsiCo, there will be Halo-themed Mountain Dew and Halo Doritos. Boys can wear Halo Axe deodorant while playing a Halo version of Risk.
Microsoft Corp. plans to boost the number of outlets offering its subscription plan for the Xbox, an effort to attract more users by lowering upfront costs of acquiring the game console.
The company, which had previously only made the offer available through 17 of its own stores, plans to extend its $99 offer—which combines a Xbox 360 and Kinect motion sensor with a two-year service contract—to all U.S. Best Buy Co. stores and a “select” grouping of GameStop Corp. stores.
Microsoft said it still regards the program as a pilot, adding that the stores will offer the deals to a limited number of users for a short period. If there is enough interest in the program, it may once again expand, the company said.
Sony Corp. considered but ultimately rejected a download-only plan for its next videogame console, people familiar with the matter said, opting to include an optical disk drive rather than break with decades-old industry practice.
The Japanese electronics maker’s flirtation with dropping the optical drive underscores the rising importance of online networks in the videogame industry, which allow console users to download games, television shows and music without the need for disks or cartridges.
Zynga Inc. has faced plenty of questions after buying the maker of “Draw Something,” a mobile game that was released only six weeks earlier and has since lost popularity. Now the social games company is trying to provide some answers.
The San Francisco-based company on Thursday plans to announce an agreement with animation studio DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. to place additional advertising in the game. Zynga believes it’s the start of new revenue-generating possibilities that will justify the controversial acquisition.
SAN FRANCISCO—Apple Inc. has asked a telecommunications standards body to set basic principles governing how member companies license their patents, an increasingly contentious topic for rivals in the smartphone industry.
In a letter to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, Apple said the telecommunications industry lacks consistent licensing schemes for the many patents necessary to make mobile devices, and offered suggestions for setting appropriate royalty rates that all members would follow.
Many mobile technology companies, such as Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., hold patents that became part of industrywide standards. Standards bodies often require the patent holders to offer to license their patents to any company on a basis known as Frand, or fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory. Questions about such commitments have arisen amid a flurry of patent suits between rivals in the mobile-device market.
LAS VEGAS—Auto makers want their cars to be able to drive into the cloud.
Manufacturers like General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Daimler AG‘s Mercedes-Benz Cars division are using the Consumer Electronics Show here to show off a set of computer services that operate online, or through the “cloud,“ and allow customers to remotely track their cars, diagnose what‘s wrong with them and potentially avoid collisions.