Steam Machine Specs Will Vary

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Those lucky 300 users who will participate in a beta test for Valve’s Steam Machines later this year won’t have to worry about the company “nailing down” a specific design for the platform. It appears that it’s playing around with various ideas, and sending out different models to each of the users.

Among these units, some will feature various components in a “mix and match” variety. Some will include a Nvidia GTX 660 processor, while others will have a GTX-760 and the new Titan. In addition, CPU’s will also be varied, between the Intel i7-4770, the i5-4570 and the 83. The specifics don’t always need to stay this way either, as users can swap out parts however they please.

“The prototype machine is a high-end, high-performance box, build out of off-the-shelf PC parts,” stated Valve about the equipment. “It is also fully upgradeable, allowing any user to swap out the GPU, hard drive, CPU, even the motherboard if you really want to.

“Apart from the custom enclosure, anyone can go and build exactly the same machine by shopping for components and assembling it themselves. And we expect that at least a few people will do just that. (We’ll also share the source CAD files for our enclosure, in case people want to replicate it as well.)

The full specs are as follows…

GPU: some units with NVidia Titan, some GTX780, some GTX760, and some GTX660
CPU: some boxes with Intel : i7-4770, some i5-4570, and some i3
RAM: 16GB DDR3-1600 (CPU), 3GB DDR5 (GPU)
Storage: 1TB/8GB Hybrid SSHD

Power Supply: Internal 450w 80Plus Gold

The Steam Machines beta test will begin later this year.

Source: MCV UK

3D Tactile Touch For Mobile Screens

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Disney Research continues to work on innovative tools in the electronic age, and this week it unveiled yet another one that’s on the horizon.

The company is currently working on a new technology that enables a sense of friction that, in turn, creates an artificial sense of texture. As a result, users think they’re “feeling” an object that isn’t really there, like if they’re looking at an object on a mobile device.

It’s all based around algorithms, as users would generate levels of friction that match how a finger would feel on something if they were touching an object in real life.

“Our brain perceives the 3D bump on a surface mostly from information that it receives via skin stretching,” said Interaction Group director Ivan Poupyrev in a statement. “Therefore, if we can artificially stretch skin on a finger as it slides on the touch screen, the brain will be fooled into thinking an actual physical bump is on a touch screen even though the touch surface is completely smooth.”

 

Poupyrev continued, “Touch interaction has become the standard for smartphones, tablets and even desktop computers, so designing algorithms that can convert the visual content into believable tactile sensations has immense potential for enriching the user experience. We believe our algorithm will make it possible to render rich tactile information over visual content and that this will lead to new applications for tactile displays.”Source: GigaOm

Catch A Cocktail With Your ‘Pokémon’

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With Pokémon X & Y set for release on the Nintendo 3DS, there’s no better time to be a fan. That said, it’s great to see a select few strive forward with some new creative ideas. Like, for instance, a Tumblr user by the name of meowpurrnom.

This user has managed to come up with a number of cocktails based on characters in the game, which include alcohol and a mixture of splendid flavors. You can check out the recipes in their entirety below:

  • Eevee: cake vodka, Kahlua, Bailey’s, chocolate eclair ice cream bar, chocolate syrup
  • Vaporeon: rum, Malibu, blue curacao, pineapple juice, Sprite
  • Jolteon: tequila, Red Bull, margarita mix, lemon juice, Sprite, salt on the rim
  • Flareon: fireball whiskey, peach Schnapps, iced tea, lemonade, dash of strawberry syrup (for color)
  • Espeon: strawberry vodka, Hpnotiq Harmonie, Chambord, cranberry juice, Sprite
  • Umbreon: bourbon, Coke, lemon juice, orange juice
  • Glaceon: rum, Blue Curacao, peppermint schnapps, lemonade, soda water, sugar on the rim
  • Leafeon: tequila, peach Schnapps, lime juice, ginger ale, mint, honey and a drop of chocolate syrup for decoration
  • Sylveon: cake vodka, strawberry vodka, Bailey’s, strawberry shortcake ice cream bar, cream, strawberry syrup

Pokémon X & Y release on October 12.

Source: Polygon

Warner Bros. Gets A Boost From Canada

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Quebec is certainly eager to support game companies, and earlier this week, it showed some love to WB Games Montreal, the developer of the forthcoming Batman: Arkham Origins.

The government of Quebec has awarded the developer with $63 million in grant money and incentives, which in turn will allow WB Games to open up more jobs, with approximately 100 positions available over the next five years.

$1.5 million will be used for the initial hiring push, with the rest used for updating equipment and expanding the overall business.

This isn’t the first time Quebec has awarded funds to game developers, as it’s also provided $9.9 million in support for Ubisoft to expand its Montreal studios (which plans to add 500 jobs). Ubisoft Montreal has created a number of memorable games over the years, including entries in the Assassin’s Creed series.

Batman: Arkham Origins releases on October 25 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U and PC.

Source: GamesIndustry International

A Cloning Success

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Puzzle & Dragons is cleaning up in North America and Japan, but being exclusive to those territories means it’s left an opening for other games elsewhere. Mad Head’s Dragons clone Tower of Saviors taking full advantage of this, with seven million downloads achieved last week and an average of approximately $40 (U.S. dollars) as Average Revenue Per Paying User.

While not the only Dragons clone on the market (there are 13 others), Tower is definitely one of the more successful, as the company has managed to hire Taiwanese celebrity Michelle Chen (pictured) to be its official spokesperson.

 

Source: Games In Asia 

Nielsen Tracking TV Tweeters

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Nielsen is launching a new rating for TV shows that gauges Twitter traffic, rolling out a ratings addition it first announced in December. The new Twitter TV Rating measures how many people are tweeting about TV shows, and how many users are seeing their posts on Twitter.

Nielsen is putting a ratings standard on a social media metric that its own studies showed have a causal relationship with TV ratings. In August, the firm released a study of 221 episodes of primetime TV programs where it found nearly half of the shows drove traffic to Twitter as their ratings spiked, and conversely 29 percent of the shows saw their ratings benefit from buzz on Twitter that drove people to tune in. Not surprisingly, competitive reality shows got the biggest boost from Twitter. Genres that followed in order of their Twitter popularity were comedy, sports and drama. There’s a brief on the study here.

Source: USA Today

Riot The Real Winner Of ‘LOL’ Tournament

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The League of Legends World Championship season 3 is over, with Korea’s SK Telecom T1 taking the victory (and the $1 million prize). The champs beat out China’s Royal Club in three straight games at LA’s Staples Center, pulling off their victory in front of more than 15,000 spectators and millions worldwide who watched it online. It was a great day not only for SK Telecom T1, but also for Riot Games. The continued growth of League of Legends is driven by the eSports component of the game, which now boasts somewhere over 40 million players worldwide and is helping to drive PC gaming growth.

This huge audience hasn’t escaped the notice of major companies seeking to connect with this prime demographic of young adults. Recently American Express signed on as a major sponsor for League of Legends, and at the World Championships Riot CEO Brandon Beck announced that Coke Zero will be sponsoring the new Challenger League. This new league is designed to help bring in new pro players, acting like a AAA baseball team or NCAA football teams as a training ground for pro athletes. Coke Zero joins the pantheon of major corporate sponsors for League of Legends teams and the sport as a whole, which includes Nissan, American Express, Samsung and Papa John’s.

The [a]list daily sat down with Riot CEO Brandon Beck and Riot President Marc Merrill to talk about the progress of the game, sponsorships, and the future of League of Legends. The continued pace of League of Legends’ growth (it’s now the #1 game in China) and the popularity of the sport still delights Beck and Merrill.

“We’ve been extremely surprised, blown away and obviously excited about the continued rapid growth,” said Merrill. “Our focus is always to continue to try to deliver a really great experience for folks all over the globe. We don’t set growth targets. It’s really not something that we think about a lot. We’ve really been excited by the response of players around the world.”

Asked to analyze the reasons behind the continuing growth, Beck grew reflective. “I think a lot of the growth is related to more and more players of League of Legends finding an interest in spectating as a way to engage with League of Legends,” said Beck. “Certainly the geographic reach of the sport continues to grow, there’s just a remarkable interest in areas like South America, Eastern Europe, and Turkey for example. I think we’re going to see global growth and a deeper adoption in the League of Legends community.”

“One comment we see a fair amount from certain League of Legends players is ‘Wow, I’m finally understanding the allure of sports!’,” said Merrill. “A large majority of our players are sports fans, but some aren’t. It’s been really cool to watch these new players start to develop an appreciation for players, for teams, start to watch matches and get excited. That’s a really fun thing for us. We’ve had stories from players that they can actually bond with their parents now. Even if they can’t relate to each other’s sport, they can relate to the same type of passion they have for sports.”

“One cool opportunity that derives from that is we think we can really help reinforce sportsmanship, and team-oriented values and things like that that sports really bring to people who participate in them,” said Merrill. “In China there aren’t that many Little Leagues that young people growing up can be a part of. To the extent that we can help teach values like that, that’s something we’re really excited about.”

The cost of staging these events is increasing as the audience grows and the entire process becomes more professional. That means eSports is requiring more investment from Riot, but that’s a price they are very willing to pay. “For the foreseeable future, it’s really about providing another way to experience League of Legends,” said Beck. “It’s an enhancement to the product. I think over time the eSports ecosystem is going to evolve its economics. Part of the reason we’ve been focused on bringing some giant sponsors into the mix, such as the recent Coke announcement and American Express, is to help pave the way for a broader ecosystem of companies to get involved in eSports the same way they do in other sports. To help all the entities do what they do. Pro players make a giant commitment to eSports where they spend a countless amount of hours preparing and training, just like pro athletes in any sport. It’s important that they can afford what they need to do what they do.”

“The Coke sponsorship is really cool,” Beck continued. “They came to us and they said ‘We’re interested in contributing to the ecosystem, and we don’t want to do a typical media buy or anything like that. How can we put our dollars to work to help the sport and the community around the sport ‘ And we said ‘We’ve got this Challenger league that we’re working.’ They contributed their own set of ideas. They talked about an Olympic-style training facility and the teams brainstormed and Coke contributed a bunch of really great ideas. We also think that their involvement is going to help convince other sponsors.”

Riot has already announced that Season 4 will begin in January, and no doubt we’ll see more sponsors interested in connecting with this growing audience.

comScore: Apple Still Tops In U.S. Smartphones

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A report from comScore indicates that Apple has taken the biggesst share of the US smartphone market for August 2013 with a 40.7 percentage, with Samsung following in second place with 24.3 percent, and HTC, Motorola and LG rounding out the top five with one digit percentages.

In addition, Apple also has the biggest increase in change on the list, moving up from the 39.2 percent lead it had back in May 2013. Samsung also has a small 1.3 percent gain over the past few months, while HTC and Motorola hold small percentage losses. LG managed to hold even, though, with 6.7 percent.

Apple’s numbers should raise even further, as the August numbers didn’t include the newly introduced iPhone 5s and 5c models that recently hit stores.

Source: The Next Web

Ads Are Coming To Instagram

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Facebook-owned Instagram is going the way of its parent as it looks to monetize its massive user base, rolling out photo and video ads. The company announced the move in a blog titled “Instagram as a Growing Business,” where it set the stage for turning its 150 million user photo-sharing site into a profitable business with paid ads.

“Instagram is a place where people come to connect and be inspired, and our focus with every product we build is keeping it this way,” the company states in the blog. “We have big ideas for the future, and part of making them happen is building Instagram into a sustainable business. In the next couple months, you may begin seeing an occasional ad in your Instagram feed if you’re in the United States.”

Instagram said it will put effort towards making sure the ads it accepts feel “natural” to the platform. Users can control what ads they see by hiding the ones they don’t like, and least in the introductory phase they’ll also have the ability to give the company input on how they feel about specific ads.

Source: Instagram

Smartwatches, Finally

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Samsung rolled out TV spots for its Galaxy Gear smartwatch over the weekend, including airings at prime TV viewing hours during NFL games on Sunday.  As Forbes points out, the Gear may be getting dinged by reviewers on battery life and compatibility with only the Galaxy Note 3 smartphone, but the ads are great.  They don’t make you just want a Galaxy Gear watch, they’re initiating a different kind of demand – that adequately functional smartwatches must enter the public domain as soon as possible.

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Source: Forbes