General Gaming Article

Sony Claims it Might Actually Make a Quick Profit off the PS4 Thanks to its PC Inspired Design
Google Play Games Leaks Out Ahead of Google I/O
Microsoft Releases a New Round of Cringe Worthy Ads

Sony Claims it Might Actually Make a Quick Profit off the PS4 Thanks to its PC Inspired Design

Posted: 12 May 2013 07:54 PM PDT

Playstation 4 Controller

AMD picks up the R&D tab for this generation of consoles.

When the Xbox 360 and PS3 first faced off in the market, both companies took a bath on the hardware. The custom designs pitted two companies with two very different architectures against each other in the market, and consumers really had no way of knowing which was superior. Seven years later the general conscious seems to give Sony the slight nod when it comes to pure console performance potential, but ultimately Microsoft was much better at exposing functionality to developers. PS3 exclusives tended to feature tons of eye candy, but cross platform titles always seemed to work slightly better on the 360. Fast forward to 2013 and both companies appear to be targeting a super charged PC architecture powered by AMD, and as a result, they might actually make money this time.

Sony CFO Masaru Kato reassured investors on their most recent earnings call that, "Unlike PS3, we are not planning a major loss to be incurred with the launch of PS4. At the time we developed PS3, we made a lot of in-house investments to develop the chip, the Cell chip," he explained. "Development of the chip saw the silicon processing and all the facilities invested by us ourselves. But this time, yes we have a team working on chip development, but we already have existing technology to incorporate and also product investment and all the facilities will now be invested by our partners, other foundries, so we don't have to make all the investment in-house."

Making a profit off each console will make a huge difference for Sony who continues to struggle to maintain dominance, but not if it means the price tag comes in north of $400. Consumers have become conditioned to pay less for consoles, and those with a serious budget have turned to the PC. Comparing Sony and Microsoft hardware will probably be much easier this generation, so hopefully the competition will the keep pricing in line, and console games just need to pick an ecosystem.

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Google Play Games Leaks Out Ahead of Google I/O

Posted: 12 May 2013 12:45 PM PDT

Google Play

Google knocks off another iOS feature.

With Google I/O just a few days away, details are starting to leak out on new Android features. One of the most notable leaks is a new app called Google Play Games. The news comes courtesy of Android Police, who obtained a leaked build of Google Play Services which contains references to achievements, in-game chat, matchmaking, cloud save syncing, and even leaderboards.

Of course you could argue that Google is simply playing catch up with iOS here, but it's also one of the few places where you could make the case Apple has a superior offering. We have also learned that the app will have deep hooks into Google+, presumably to better facilitate user ID authentication, and help you find friends to game with.

Will this be an add-on for Jelly Bean? Or the next version of Android? We won't know for a few more days, but keep it locked to Maximumpc.com for the latest.

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Microsoft Releases a New Round of Cringe Worthy Ads

Posted: 12 May 2013 11:26 AM PDT

Microsoft Attack Ad

Google Docs doesn't work well without the net, so he's taking it with him.

Microsoft spends countless millions each year on advertising, but the bizarre tone and style of the final product sometimes leaves us scratching our heads. We've compiled a list of 5 recent Microsoft marketing videos, and we want to know what you the reader make of them. The clips are hosted on YouTube (who graciously picks up the bandwidth bill on the Google attack ads), and believe me when we say the irony wasn't lost on us.

Microsoft vs. Google Docs

The first ad focuses on a pair of hopeful gambles, and a start struck business guy fixated on the Google Docs table. He gambles his upcoming promotion (we aren't even sure how that's possible) on the off chance he could win a pair of keychain dice, and passes out when he loses.

The second ad portrays a 3 vs. 3 half court basketball game, where Google Docs embarrass himself over and over.

Windows 8 vs. The World

The only defense I can offer on these clips is that they were intended for international audiences, so perhaps some of the cultural nuances are lost on us.