Xbox Live

Amazon Unveils Fire TV and Mocks Google, Apple and Microsoft In The Process

The last few weeks has seen increased speculation that Amazon will be joining the battle for the living room and this afternoon our suspicions were confirmed when Amazon announced that the Amazon Fire TV streaming box is officially a reality.

Quite simply described as a tiny box that plugs into your HDTV for easy and instant access to Netflix, Prime Instant Video and also offers the chance to play games which can be played with a separately sold controller, which looks remarkably similar to something Microsoft might produce.

Interestingly Peter Larsen came straight out swinging haymakers, by describing games consoles as too expensive and Apple TV’s mirroring efforts as laughable and even continued with an uppercut to their competition by criticising the lag on Apple TV, Microsoft’s Xbox Live and the Roku box.

A quick look under the hood reveals that Fire TV sports a quad-core processor with a dedicated GPU, 2GB of RAM (2X to 4X more than competing devices) and state-of-the-art MIMO Wi-Fi for “screaming” wireless performance.

In Layman’s terms despite being much thinner it offers three times the performance of Apple TV with the additional gimmick of being able to search for content with your voice, which should make their competitors stand up and take notice.

Amazon has worked with game developers like EA, Disney, Gameloft, Ubisoft, Telltale, Mojang, 2K, and Sega to bring their games to Fire TV. Games available starting on release include customer favourites like Minecraft, Monsters University, The Game of Life, The Walking Dead, NBA2K14, Asphalt 8, Riptide GP2, Despicable Me: Minion Rush, and more

“With Fire TV we thought of games right from the beginning – fun immersive games at affordable prices.” Amazon proudly announces.

In a rapidly saturated market the big questions are probably going to be, can Amazon survive in the modern battleground arena known as the living room? Or will this box end up gathering dust under the TV? (more…)

Interview: Dan Maher (XBL’s MrPointyHead)

Daniel Maher, AKA MrPointyHead, is responsible for overseeing the publication of content across the Xbox LIVE homepage in Europe, i.e. Spotlight, Game, Video, Music Marketplace and, of course, Inside Xbox..

Most Xbox 360 owners will be used to seeing him alongside SuperKaylo on SentUAMessage on the Xbox dashboard with their amusing videos, so are delighted to grab him for an interview with This Is My Joystick.

Q. Where did your love affair with gaming begin?

“France. I can’t be more specific than that because I was 2 at the time. My mum plonked me in front of a Pac-Man machine, then bought me a Spectrum 48K soon after (possibly because she was fooled by claims that it was an educational device). The rest, as they say, is boring.” (more…)

Indie Games: A place for overlooked gems?

For those that are not aware there are now two game marketplaces on Xbox Live; Arcade and Indie Games (formerly Community Games). Indie Games are very often overlooked so I thought we should have a look what to expect.

Recent Microsoft changes mean that the most Indie game developers can charge for their games is 400 Microsoft Points, with 200, and 80 price points also available, although to qualify for the latter the games must be less than 50MB in size. Theses changes go into force on October 22nd.

Microsoft have advised that these changes are to bring prices of Indie games “more in-line with other products available on Xbox Live Marketplace”. The immediate thought that comes into my head is so I can pay 80 points for a game, but 400 for a bloody light sabre for my avatar? Although a few developers will see this as bad news, I am hopeful that Indie games will flourish this autumn, and it will be cool to pick up cult small game for a few quid and whatever they lack in top graphics will make up for in pure gameplay which is something a lot of the big titles these days are missing.

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1 vs 100 Beta: Mob Mentality

1vs100logo Despite everyone knowing that 1 vs. 100 is in beta testing, this has not stopped tensions running high on the Xbox Live community about the online quiz show 1 vs. 100.

Following on from my article back in July when the game was launched, I thought it was time for a follow up, especially as so many people have said that despite playing the game most nights they still have not made an appearance in the mob.

When playing the 1 vs. 100 game you are reminded that to get into the mob you need to ensure that you play often, answer quickly and correctly. Having played the game on a regular basis since the launch and only being in the mob once I find this very hard to believe, especially considering the very low lifetime score of some of the mob.

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1 vs 100 Beta: First Impressions

1vs100placeholder Friday saw the two-hour live game show called 1 vs. 100 finally launch onto Xbox Live, and a large number of Gold Subscription members over in the UK finally got to try their hand at its brand of multiple choice trivia.

For those that didn’t get chance to download and check out the extensive beta test of the first addition to Xbox Lives ‘Primetime’ channel that was announced at E3 last year, or found the concept a little confusing at their first glance, Neil takes time to explain his findings with the experience of being in a game show.

Let’s get the basics out of the way. Only one person is “The One”, a hundred people are in “The Mob” and everyone else is in the crowd. It tells you at the start of the round where you’re playing. The Mob are those in front of the blue dotted screens, and the crowd are in front of the purple stripes. Of course not all 75,000+ players are shown; you’ll see your row and some random avatar’s too.

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