Console kings Microsoft Corp and Sony Corp battled for players’ hearts with blockbuster games and the lure of virtual worlds as the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) was poised begin in Los Angeles yesterday.
The companies behind Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles staged flashy media events where they showed off dizzying action games and spotlighted exclusive content.
Microsoft grabbed the spotlight early on Monday with word that people would be able to play beloved old video games on new-generation Xbox One consoles.
Photo: AFP
Gamers have long desired such “backward compatibility” for titles, which typically retail for about US$60. Microsoft touted “exclusive” blockbuster content, including Halo 5 Guardians, from in-house teams, and early availability of hotly anticipated video games such as Rise of the Tomb Raider, set for release late this year by outside studios.
“If you have been waiting to move from your Xbox 360 to Xbox One, now is the time,” Xbox division head Phil Spencer said.
Sony PlayStation 4 consoles trounced Xbox One after the new-generation consoles hit the market in late 2013.
Microsoft has since lowered the price and increased its focus on game play, rather than on features such as streaming films, and has begun narrowing the sales gap.
The ability to play earlier Xbox games promised to be a hit with gamers who have lamented that upgrading to new hardware, historically, has come with leaving behind old titles that do not work on new consoles.
“Xbox One backward capability allows you to play the games you have already invested in,” Spencer said, eliciting raucous cheers from gamers, partners and reporters.
Xbox executive Mike Ybarra promised that more than 100 titles would be available by year’s end in a library of games with backward compatibility, crowing that a personal favorite, Mass Effect, would be among them.
NEW FRANCHISES
Xbox and PlayStation are investing in new franchises, along with cultivating creative original content from small, independent studios.
Microsoft Studios announced a partnership with famed Japanese game designer Keiji Inafune, Mark Pacini and teams at Comcept and Armature Studio to debut an all-new Xbox One exclusive titled ReCore.
Independent games in the works for Xbox One included Beyond Eyes, with a blind main character who engages her world using other senses, and a Cuphead game with the intentional vintage look of a 1930s era cartoon.
Microsoft played up the work done to harmonize play across Xbox One and computers powered by Windows 10 operating software due for release later this year.
Sony fired back on Monday evening, proclaiming a “new era” of PlayStation gaming, complete with big-name games and the dawn of virtual reality on its powerful PlayStation 4 consoles.
PROJECT MORPHEUSThe Japanese entertainment titan boasted an array of beloved games for exclusive play on PlayStation 4, along with demonstrations of titles tailored to immerse players in fantasy worlds using Sony’s Project Morpheus virtual reality headgear.
“We are witnessing an historic evolution in gaming,” Sony Computer Entertainment America chief executive Shawn Layden said.
PlayStation is the “new home” for blockbuster Call of Duty franchise due to an alliance with video game publisher Activision, Sony Computer Entertainment president Andrew House said.
TEMPTING ‘DESTINY’
Sony Studios is also expanding the humongous science fiction shooter world of its successful new Destiny video game centered on seemingly limitless online play.
Blockbuster titles promised PlayStation 4 lovers included Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, due early next year.
Microsoft announced a partnership with Valve VR to make Windows 10 a platform for play using virtual reality headgear.
Oculus last week said its Rift VR headset would come with an Xbox controller.
Virtual reality “experiences” would be built on top of Windows, and Xbox games would be playable on Rift, Microsoft said.
Microsoft used the Xbox One event at E3 to show off a version of Minecraft made for play with HoloLens augmented-reality visors, which have yet to hit the market.
House boasted that developers were embracing crafting games that give players 360-degree perspectives in worlds visited using Morpheus virtual reality headgear Sony is readying for market.
He demonstrated a Rigs arena battle game and teased other titles that visitors to the PlayStation booth at E3 can play.
“Project Morpheus is real, evolving and continues to capture the imagination of developers,” House said.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained