Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Founding Father featured in popular new video game
McLEAN, Va. (AP) - Wars and video games seem to go together like peanut butter and jelly. But those games usually involve tanks and machine guns and Tet offensives; not horses, bayonets and Bunker Hill.
Now, though, one of the biggest game releases of the upcoming holiday season is immersing players in the Revolutionary War, with key cameos from George Washington, Ben Franklin and other Founding Fathers.
Assassin's Creed III is due for release Tuesday, immersing players in Colonial America and the Revolutionary War.
In some ways, the game is meticulous with historical accuracy. Great attention was paid to research to recreate the cities of New York and Boston on a one-third scale. History professors were brought in as consultants.
In other ways, the game takes liberties with history. It integrates the Revolutionary War into the overarching story of Assassin's Creed, in which the secret society of the Knights Templar fills the role as the game's overarching villain.
Game creators were reluctant to reveal too many details in advance of the game's release. Review copies were not available in advance.
The game's creative director, Alex Hutchinson, said the ability to explore a historical era that has been largely left untouched by the gaming world was one of the most exciting aspects of the project.
As for Washington himself, Hutchinson said he wanted the game to portray the fact that for the man who would become the nation's first president, it was far from certain that America would win the war.
'He wasn't sure he was going to win,' Hutchinson said. 'When you read their letters, they were very uncertain for much of their time' how the war would turn out.
Francois Furstenberg, a history professor at the University of Montreal, who has written about the iconography that surrounds Washington, served as a consultant and said he was interested less in making sure names and dates were perfect, but more in the game's overarching narrative. He said the game's creators shared his desire to depict the war in a nuanced way that avoided portraying one side as the good guys and vice versa.
'Anything that complicates the narrative is a good thing,' he said. 'If anything I think they were more interested in sort of a muckraking account' of the revolution, something that agreed with Furstenberg.
The game's protagonist - Connor, half American Indian, Half British and not aligned with either side - served as a good vehicle for exploring the era in a way that avoids patriotic cliches, Hutchinson said.
The game's international fan base also demands an even-handed approach to the Revolution, said Hutchinson, who is frequently questioned by skeptical fans who worry the game will be too pro-American.
Not to worry, said Hutchinson, who jokes that he's an Australian living in Canada making a game about the American Revolution for a French software company.
Even where it sought to be realistic, the game's creators took a few liberties. Washington, for instance, is first introduced as a young officer serving under General Braddock in the French and Indian war. The game makers took great care to show the youthful Washington accurately, as a redhead. Looking at the finished product, though, they felt they ought to add a touch of gray to Washington's hair, to more closely match the iconic image of Washington held by the public.
'We did not know how odd it is to see a red-headed George Washington,' Hutchinson said. 'It was one of those instances where the fiction felt more right than the real version.'
Ubisoft takes far greater liberties in a downloadable add-on game that will be available to Assassin's Creed players a few months after the games release. In 'The Tyranny of King Washington,' players confront a scenario where Washington, rather than yielding power to civil authority, parlays his power and popularity and establishes himself as a new monarch.
At George Washington's Mount Vernon estate, curators are happy that the game will introduce so many kids to Washington and the Founding Fathers and hopefully get them thinking about history.
'I would love for people to focus on exactly the incredible choice Washington made to relinquish power,' said Carol Cadou, senior curator at Mount Vernon, even if the vehicle for prompting that discussion is a game that contorts and creates an alternate reality.
Historical figures certainly make appearances in some video games, but rarely from historical eras and rarely in a setting devoted to realism. The popular game 'Call of Duty: Black Ops,' for instance, features John F. Kennedy, Fidel Castro, Richard Nixon and former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara. But in the game, the four of them team up to defeat an onslaught of zombies at the Pentagon.
Cadou says that Washington has so often been portrayed so heroically that he becomes unrelatable.
'Washington is almost so good he becomes bland,' she said. 'Even if he's depicted in a negative way, it gives us an opportunity to explore' his life that otherwise wouldn't exist.
The Mount Vernon estate has focused in recent years on piercing the stodgy image of Washington on the dollar bill and sought to emphasize his military daring and action-hero aspects of his life story.
Mount Vernon even looked at producing its own educational video game featuring Washington, but ultimately concluded that such a game would be 'a little more violent than we had the appetite for.'
This article is brought to you by BUY A NEW COMPUTER.
Now, though, one of the biggest game releases of the upcoming holiday season is immersing players in the Revolutionary War, with key cameos from George Washington, Ben Franklin and other Founding Fathers.
Assassin's Creed III is due for release Tuesday, immersing players in Colonial America and the Revolutionary War.
In some ways, the game is meticulous with historical accuracy. Great attention was paid to research to recreate the cities of New York and Boston on a one-third scale. History professors were brought in as consultants.
In other ways, the game takes liberties with history. It integrates the Revolutionary War into the overarching story of Assassin's Creed, in which the secret society of the Knights Templar fills the role as the game's overarching villain.
Game creators were reluctant to reveal too many details in advance of the game's release. Review copies were not available in advance.
The game's creative director, Alex Hutchinson, said the ability to explore a historical era that has been largely left untouched by the gaming world was one of the most exciting aspects of the project.
As for Washington himself, Hutchinson said he wanted the game to portray the fact that for the man who would become the nation's first president, it was far from certain that America would win the war.
'He wasn't sure he was going to win,' Hutchinson said. 'When you read their letters, they were very uncertain for much of their time' how the war would turn out.
Francois Furstenberg, a history professor at the University of Montreal, who has written about the iconography that surrounds Washington, served as a consultant and said he was interested less in making sure names and dates were perfect, but more in the game's overarching narrative. He said the game's creators shared his desire to depict the war in a nuanced way that avoided portraying one side as the good guys and vice versa.
'Anything that complicates the narrative is a good thing,' he said. 'If anything I think they were more interested in sort of a muckraking account' of the revolution, something that agreed with Furstenberg.
The game's protagonist - Connor, half American Indian, Half British and not aligned with either side - served as a good vehicle for exploring the era in a way that avoids patriotic cliches, Hutchinson said.
The game's international fan base also demands an even-handed approach to the Revolution, said Hutchinson, who is frequently questioned by skeptical fans who worry the game will be too pro-American.
Not to worry, said Hutchinson, who jokes that he's an Australian living in Canada making a game about the American Revolution for a French software company.
Even where it sought to be realistic, the game's creators took a few liberties. Washington, for instance, is first introduced as a young officer serving under General Braddock in the French and Indian war. The game makers took great care to show the youthful Washington accurately, as a redhead. Looking at the finished product, though, they felt they ought to add a touch of gray to Washington's hair, to more closely match the iconic image of Washington held by the public.
'We did not know how odd it is to see a red-headed George Washington,' Hutchinson said. 'It was one of those instances where the fiction felt more right than the real version.'
Ubisoft takes far greater liberties in a downloadable add-on game that will be available to Assassin's Creed players a few months after the games release. In 'The Tyranny of King Washington,' players confront a scenario where Washington, rather than yielding power to civil authority, parlays his power and popularity and establishes himself as a new monarch.
At George Washington's Mount Vernon estate, curators are happy that the game will introduce so many kids to Washington and the Founding Fathers and hopefully get them thinking about history.
'I would love for people to focus on exactly the incredible choice Washington made to relinquish power,' said Carol Cadou, senior curator at Mount Vernon, even if the vehicle for prompting that discussion is a game that contorts and creates an alternate reality.
Historical figures certainly make appearances in some video games, but rarely from historical eras and rarely in a setting devoted to realism. The popular game 'Call of Duty: Black Ops,' for instance, features John F. Kennedy, Fidel Castro, Richard Nixon and former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara. But in the game, the four of them team up to defeat an onslaught of zombies at the Pentagon.
Cadou says that Washington has so often been portrayed so heroically that he becomes unrelatable.
'Washington is almost so good he becomes bland,' she said. 'Even if he's depicted in a negative way, it gives us an opportunity to explore' his life that otherwise wouldn't exist.
The Mount Vernon estate has focused in recent years on piercing the stodgy image of Washington on the dollar bill and sought to emphasize his military daring and action-hero aspects of his life story.
Mount Vernon even looked at producing its own educational video game featuring Washington, but ultimately concluded that such a game would be 'a little more violent than we had the appetite for.'
This article is brought to you by BUY A NEW COMPUTER.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Biofeedback Video Game Helps Kids Control Anger
If you can't help children with anger problems through psychotherapy alone, try a video game.
But not just any video game: RAGE Control, developed at Boston Children's Hospital, uses biofeedback to encourage kids to control their emotions, and researchers report positive results.
In the 'Space Invaders'-like game, kids shoot at enemy spaceships and leave friendly ones alone. During the study, children wore a monitor that tracked their heart rate and displayed it on screen. If their heart rate went above a certain level, they could no longer fire on the enemy ships.
Peter Ducharme, the study's lead researcher, says that while shooting games are sometimes associated with problems such as increased aggression in youths, they chose to create this kind of game because the kids got more involved in them.
"These are games that are familiar and enjoyable to kids, and teaches kids how to stay in emotional control and avoid reacting impulsively, which is why we believe we see a reduction in anger," Ducharme said in an email to TechNewsDaily.
Anger issues are one of the more common mental health disorders among teenagers. According to research from Harvard Medical School published in July 2012, nearly 8 percent of teens display regular violent outbursts.
In a study of two groups of youths ages 9 to 17, the group that played the game after receiving standard therapy for anger showed significant improvement at keeping their heart rate down compared to the group that received standard treatment alone.
[SEE ALSO: Logging In with Your Heartbeat]
The children who played games decreased anger scores in the intensity of anger at a particular time, the frequency of angry feelings over time and the expression of anger toward others or objects (such as swearing at or insulting people, or punching walls or breaking belongings).
Perhaps as important, the kids themselves found the experience helpful.
"Kids reported feeling better control of their emotions when encountering day-to- day frustrations on the unit,' Ducharme said in a statement. 'While this was a pilot study, and we weren't able to follow the kids after they were discharged, we think the game will help them control their emotions in other environments.'
Other studies have shown that video games may help treat a variety of behavioral and psychological problems in children. A study in 2011 from East Carolina University's Psychophysiology Lab and Biofeedback Clinic showed casual games can reduce depression and anxiety, while some additional studies have shown that fast-paced video games can be helpful to children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) by increasing their ability to concentrate.
[SEE ALSO: Relaxing Video Games May Calm Players in Real Life]
The research team at Boston Children's Hospital, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, is working on future ways this concept can be easily translated and incorporated into other mainstream games, but these are not available yet. They are conducting a new clinical trial of the game that includes parents and children playing together. The team also plans a clinical trial that involves playing the game at home; current trials take place within the hospital.
This story was provided by TechNewsDaily, sister site to LiveScience.
This news article is brought to you by SEXUAL HEALTH NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
But not just any video game: RAGE Control, developed at Boston Children's Hospital, uses biofeedback to encourage kids to control their emotions, and researchers report positive results.
In the 'Space Invaders'-like game, kids shoot at enemy spaceships and leave friendly ones alone. During the study, children wore a monitor that tracked their heart rate and displayed it on screen. If their heart rate went above a certain level, they could no longer fire on the enemy ships.
Peter Ducharme, the study's lead researcher, says that while shooting games are sometimes associated with problems such as increased aggression in youths, they chose to create this kind of game because the kids got more involved in them.
"These are games that are familiar and enjoyable to kids, and teaches kids how to stay in emotional control and avoid reacting impulsively, which is why we believe we see a reduction in anger," Ducharme said in an email to TechNewsDaily.
Anger issues are one of the more common mental health disorders among teenagers. According to research from Harvard Medical School published in July 2012, nearly 8 percent of teens display regular violent outbursts.
In a study of two groups of youths ages 9 to 17, the group that played the game after receiving standard therapy for anger showed significant improvement at keeping their heart rate down compared to the group that received standard treatment alone.
[SEE ALSO: Logging In with Your Heartbeat]
The children who played games decreased anger scores in the intensity of anger at a particular time, the frequency of angry feelings over time and the expression of anger toward others or objects (such as swearing at or insulting people, or punching walls or breaking belongings).
Perhaps as important, the kids themselves found the experience helpful.
"Kids reported feeling better control of their emotions when encountering day-to- day frustrations on the unit,' Ducharme said in a statement. 'While this was a pilot study, and we weren't able to follow the kids after they were discharged, we think the game will help them control their emotions in other environments.'
Other studies have shown that video games may help treat a variety of behavioral and psychological problems in children. A study in 2011 from East Carolina University's Psychophysiology Lab and Biofeedback Clinic showed casual games can reduce depression and anxiety, while some additional studies have shown that fast-paced video games can be helpful to children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) by increasing their ability to concentrate.
[SEE ALSO: Relaxing Video Games May Calm Players in Real Life]
The research team at Boston Children's Hospital, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, is working on future ways this concept can be easily translated and incorporated into other mainstream games, but these are not available yet. They are conducting a new clinical trial of the game that includes parents and children playing together. The team also plans a clinical trial that involves playing the game at home; current trials take place within the hospital.
This story was provided by TechNewsDaily, sister site to LiveScience.
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Thursday, October 25, 2012
Analysts see recovery sprouting at "FarmVille" creator Zynga
(Reuters) - Zynga Inc's quarterly revenue beat and its higher full-year earnings forecast show the embattled 'FarmVille' creator may be on the path to recovery, analysts said, with at least one brokerage upgrading the company's stock.
Shares of the company rose 18 percent to $2.50 in early trade on Thursday on the Nasdaq. Since going public at $10 per share last December, Zynga has lost over three-quarters of its market value as the company struggled with delays in launching new titles as older ones fell out of favor.
Zynga raised the lower end of its 2012 earnings forecast on Wednesday and also announced a new deal with British company bwin.party to offer online real-money gambling and a $200 million share buyback plan.
'The announcement of a buyback, while rare for a company that less than a year ago was considered a 'high-flying', fast-growing 'hot' IPO, nonetheless signals that the board is confident in the company's future,' Needham & Co analyst Sean McGowan wrote in a note.
He raised his rating on the stock to 'buy' from 'hold'.
'While not bullish on the likely success of Zynga's new titles, since management recognizes that its older social games on Facebook are falling, it will spend accordingly and pivot more quickly to mobile,' McGowan said.
Zynga laid off 5 percent of its full-time workforce and shut its Boston office on Tuesday as part of a sweeping cost-cutting campaign that may eventually result in the company closing its Japanese and British studios as well.
While it is healthy to evaluate cost-cutting initiatives, any material reduction in Zynga's creative talent could also lead to an erosion in innovative new game development, analysts at Piper Jaffray said in a note.
A new share buyback and real-money gaming partnership with Bwin.party will help, but ultimately Zynga needs to demonstrate it can produce hit titles on multiple platforms - mobile, social and browser, Robert W. Baird & Co said in a note.
As sales from one-time cash cows, 'FarmVille' and 'CityVille,' are fading fast, Zynga is now investing more heavily in 'mid-core' games, which require more development resources but are more immersive.
'We expect the strength of its development capabilities as well as its distribution to eventually drive better performance; we believe caution is warranted until we see signs of improved execution,' BMO Capital Markets analyst Edward Williams said.
(Reporting by Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
This news article is brought to you by DATING AND RELATIONSHIP ADVICE - where latest news are our top priority.
Shares of the company rose 18 percent to $2.50 in early trade on Thursday on the Nasdaq. Since going public at $10 per share last December, Zynga has lost over three-quarters of its market value as the company struggled with delays in launching new titles as older ones fell out of favor.
Zynga raised the lower end of its 2012 earnings forecast on Wednesday and also announced a new deal with British company bwin.party to offer online real-money gambling and a $200 million share buyback plan.
'The announcement of a buyback, while rare for a company that less than a year ago was considered a 'high-flying', fast-growing 'hot' IPO, nonetheless signals that the board is confident in the company's future,' Needham & Co analyst Sean McGowan wrote in a note.
He raised his rating on the stock to 'buy' from 'hold'.
'While not bullish on the likely success of Zynga's new titles, since management recognizes that its older social games on Facebook are falling, it will spend accordingly and pivot more quickly to mobile,' McGowan said.
Zynga laid off 5 percent of its full-time workforce and shut its Boston office on Tuesday as part of a sweeping cost-cutting campaign that may eventually result in the company closing its Japanese and British studios as well.
While it is healthy to evaluate cost-cutting initiatives, any material reduction in Zynga's creative talent could also lead to an erosion in innovative new game development, analysts at Piper Jaffray said in a note.
A new share buyback and real-money gaming partnership with Bwin.party will help, but ultimately Zynga needs to demonstrate it can produce hit titles on multiple platforms - mobile, social and browser, Robert W. Baird & Co said in a note.
As sales from one-time cash cows, 'FarmVille' and 'CityVille,' are fading fast, Zynga is now investing more heavily in 'mid-core' games, which require more development resources but are more immersive.
'We expect the strength of its development capabilities as well as its distribution to eventually drive better performance; we believe caution is warranted until we see signs of improved execution,' BMO Capital Markets analyst Edward Williams said.
(Reporting by Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
This news article is brought to you by DATING AND RELATIONSHIP ADVICE - where latest news are our top priority.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
News Summary: Zynga posts 3Q loss, shares jump
BREATH OF RELIEF: Battered shares of Zynga Inc. soared in after-hours trading Wednesday after the social gaming company posted stronger-than-expected revenue for the third quarter and said it will enter the gambling business.
GAMBLING BET: Zynga said it signed a deal to offer online poker and casino games, played with real money, in the U.K. It plans to launch those games in the first half of 2013.
BUYBACK: In another attempt to appease investors, Zynga also said Wednesday that it will repurchase up to $200 million of its shares. Buybacks increase the value of the remaining shares traded on the stock market and can lift per-share earnings.
This news article is brought to you by SPACE AND ASTRONOMY NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
GAMBLING BET: Zynga said it signed a deal to offer online poker and casino games, played with real money, in the U.K. It plans to launch those games in the first half of 2013.
BUYBACK: In another attempt to appease investors, Zynga also said Wednesday that it will repurchase up to $200 million of its shares. Buybacks increase the value of the remaining shares traded on the stock market and can lift per-share earnings.
This news article is brought to you by SPACE AND ASTRONOMY NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
Zynga shores up 2012 view after revenue beat, shares jump
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Zynga Inc raised the lower end of its 2012 earnings outlook after quarterly revenue beat Wall Street's rock-bottom expectations, driving its shares 13 percent higher.
As pressure fell on the embattled 'FarmVille' creator to show Wednesday that it has stabilized its spiraling business, the company assuaged investors with a series of minor announcements, from a new deal with British firm bwin.party to offer online real-money gambling in the United Kingdom to a $200 million share buyback plan that would lift its dismal share price.
The company also projected that its cost reduction plan, initiated this week, would yield $15 million to $20 million in pretax savings.
The spate of news proved a rare bright spot for Zynga, which has been trying to stave off user losses that prompted it to slash its 2012 outlook twice in recent months.
'On the margin these are positive things,' said Arvind Bhatia, an analyst with Sterne Agee. 'But fundamentally they'll still have to turn around the business. I'm not so sure these are necessarily enough to get this stock going much higher.'
Even taking into account the after-hours share rally, Zynga would still have lost three-quarters of its market value since debuting last December at $10.
CEO Mark Pincus sounded chastened on a conference call with Wall Street analysts on Wednesday, repeatedly calling Zynga's recent performance 'disappointing' while vowing to turn around the company he founded in 2006 by churning out new hits for mobile devices.
'The last couple of months have obviously been challenging for us,' said Pincus, who blamed delays and poor execution in the company's game development pipeline. 'We didn't create enough new heat for our players. But we know when we launch great games our players engage.'
A day after Zynga cut five percent of its workforce and announced it would shutter several game studios around the world, Pincus reiterated his vision of a leaner, more nimble Zynga - a company once known for its aggressive pace of expansion.
For instance, Zynga cut bait this week on 'The Ville,' a major initiative that never gained traction after its public debut this summer. 'That game missed our expectations but we moved quickly to reduce and redeploy that team,' Pincus said.
But even with the cost cuts, Zynga has not adequately addressed some fundamental investor concerns over whether the company can thrive, given its stubborn reliance on sales from 'FarmVille' and 'CityVille,' one-time cash cows for Zynga that are both fading fast.
Chief Financial Officer David Wehner blamed those two aging games as reasons why Zynga recorded bookings of $256 million from July through September, the worst quarterly performance since late 2010 when the company was still enjoying a meteoric ascent toward its December, 2011 initial public offering.
Average daily bookings per average daily active user, a metric that roughly measures how much revenue the company squeezes out of each gamer, dropped sharply to $0.047, a decrease of 11 percent from a year prior.
Quarterly revenue rose to $317 million, an increase of 3 percent from a year ago. The company revised its full-year adjusted earnings to between $152 million and $162 million, up from $147 million and $162 million.
NO SURE BET
Zynga's partnership with bwin.party could ultimately prove to be a lucrative new source of revenue, although Wehner cautioned that it was still a fledgling effort.
'We view this as the first step into real money gambling,' said Wehner, who declined to give guidance for the deal's financial impact when asked by several analysts.
'It's a good first step but only the first step,' he said.
Although profitable, real money gambling operations are seen as the holy grail for online gaming companies. Analysts said the UK deal was guaranteed to be a sure bet for Zynga, while others were skeptical.
'I'm not sure that will automatically be a win for them,' Bhatia said. 'Most of the players they have want to have a casual experience and not get involved in real money gaming. And those who do are probably already doing that on other platforms.'
Pincus and Wehner also said the company would invest more heavily in 'mid-core' games, which require more development resources but are more immersive than casual titles like 'FarmVille.'
To underscore how the company prioritizes mobile games, Zynga now operates on a publishing schedule of two new Web games and four new mobile games per quarter, Pincus added.
That was enough good news to lift the gloom around the game maker, which has been fighting to reverse a dramatic exodus of players. Zynga had cut its 2012 earnings forecast most recently on October 4 when it warned investors its top line would be affected by poor performance in core money-making Internet games.
Zynga's stock was up at $2.41 in extended trade after closing at $2.129 on the Nasdaq.
(Reporting By Gerry Shih; Editing by Bernard Orr)
This news article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE - where latest news are our top priority.
As pressure fell on the embattled 'FarmVille' creator to show Wednesday that it has stabilized its spiraling business, the company assuaged investors with a series of minor announcements, from a new deal with British firm bwin.party to offer online real-money gambling in the United Kingdom to a $200 million share buyback plan that would lift its dismal share price.
The company also projected that its cost reduction plan, initiated this week, would yield $15 million to $20 million in pretax savings.
The spate of news proved a rare bright spot for Zynga, which has been trying to stave off user losses that prompted it to slash its 2012 outlook twice in recent months.
'On the margin these are positive things,' said Arvind Bhatia, an analyst with Sterne Agee. 'But fundamentally they'll still have to turn around the business. I'm not so sure these are necessarily enough to get this stock going much higher.'
Even taking into account the after-hours share rally, Zynga would still have lost three-quarters of its market value since debuting last December at $10.
CEO Mark Pincus sounded chastened on a conference call with Wall Street analysts on Wednesday, repeatedly calling Zynga's recent performance 'disappointing' while vowing to turn around the company he founded in 2006 by churning out new hits for mobile devices.
'The last couple of months have obviously been challenging for us,' said Pincus, who blamed delays and poor execution in the company's game development pipeline. 'We didn't create enough new heat for our players. But we know when we launch great games our players engage.'
A day after Zynga cut five percent of its workforce and announced it would shutter several game studios around the world, Pincus reiterated his vision of a leaner, more nimble Zynga - a company once known for its aggressive pace of expansion.
For instance, Zynga cut bait this week on 'The Ville,' a major initiative that never gained traction after its public debut this summer. 'That game missed our expectations but we moved quickly to reduce and redeploy that team,' Pincus said.
But even with the cost cuts, Zynga has not adequately addressed some fundamental investor concerns over whether the company can thrive, given its stubborn reliance on sales from 'FarmVille' and 'CityVille,' one-time cash cows for Zynga that are both fading fast.
Chief Financial Officer David Wehner blamed those two aging games as reasons why Zynga recorded bookings of $256 million from July through September, the worst quarterly performance since late 2010 when the company was still enjoying a meteoric ascent toward its December, 2011 initial public offering.
Average daily bookings per average daily active user, a metric that roughly measures how much revenue the company squeezes out of each gamer, dropped sharply to $0.047, a decrease of 11 percent from a year prior.
Quarterly revenue rose to $317 million, an increase of 3 percent from a year ago. The company revised its full-year adjusted earnings to between $152 million and $162 million, up from $147 million and $162 million.
NO SURE BET
Zynga's partnership with bwin.party could ultimately prove to be a lucrative new source of revenue, although Wehner cautioned that it was still a fledgling effort.
'We view this as the first step into real money gambling,' said Wehner, who declined to give guidance for the deal's financial impact when asked by several analysts.
'It's a good first step but only the first step,' he said.
Although profitable, real money gambling operations are seen as the holy grail for online gaming companies. Analysts said the UK deal was guaranteed to be a sure bet for Zynga, while others were skeptical.
'I'm not sure that will automatically be a win for them,' Bhatia said. 'Most of the players they have want to have a casual experience and not get involved in real money gaming. And those who do are probably already doing that on other platforms.'
Pincus and Wehner also said the company would invest more heavily in 'mid-core' games, which require more development resources but are more immersive than casual titles like 'FarmVille.'
To underscore how the company prioritizes mobile games, Zynga now operates on a publishing schedule of two new Web games and four new mobile games per quarter, Pincus added.
That was enough good news to lift the gloom around the game maker, which has been fighting to reverse a dramatic exodus of players. Zynga had cut its 2012 earnings forecast most recently on October 4 when it warned investors its top line would be affected by poor performance in core money-making Internet games.
Zynga's stock was up at $2.41 in extended trade after closing at $2.129 on the Nasdaq.
(Reporting By Gerry Shih; Editing by Bernard Orr)
This news article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE - where latest news are our top priority.
Zynga shores up 2012 view after revenue beat, shares surge
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Zynga Inc raised the lower end of its 2012 earnings outlook after quarterly revenue beat Wall Street's rock-bottom expectations, driving its shares 12 percent higher.
The game publisher also announced a $200 million share buyback program and said it has begun a cost reduction plan expected to yield $15 million to $20 million in pretax savings.
The news proved a rare bright spot for Zynga, which is trying to stave off user losses that prompted it to slash its 2012 outlook twice in recent months.
The creator of 'FarmVille' also announced Wednesday a deal with British firm bwin.party to offer online real-money gambling in the United Kingdom.
'On the margin these are positive things,' said Arvind Bhatia, an analyst with Sterne Agee. 'But fundamentally they'll still have to turn around the business. I'm not so sure these are necessarily enough to get this stock going much higher.'
Even taking into account the after-hours share rally, Zynga would still have lost three-quarters of its market value since debuting in 2011 at $10.
CEO Mark Pincus has not assuaged most investors concerns that, while a dominant platform on Facebook and the Internet, Zynga lacks games that appeal to a growing mobile device user base.
Zynga recorded bookings of $256 million from July through September, the worst quarterly performance since late 2010 when the company was still enjoying a meteoric ascent toward its December, 2011 initial public offering.
Average daily bookings per average daily active user, a metric that roughly measures how much revenue the company squeezes out of each gamer, dropped sharply to $0.047, a decrease of 11 percent from a year prior.
Quarterly revenue rose to $317 million, an increase of 3 percent from a year ago. The company revised its full-year adjusted earnings to between $152 million and $162 million, up from $147 million and $162 million.
The game maker, which has been fighting to reverse a dramatic exodus of players, had cut its 2012 earnings forecast most recently on October 4 when it warned investors its top line would be affected by poor performance in core money-making Internet games like 'CityVille'.
Zynga's stock was up at $2.39 in extended trade after closing at $2.129 on the Nasdaq.
(Reporting By Gerry Shih; Editing by Bernard Orr)
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The game publisher also announced a $200 million share buyback program and said it has begun a cost reduction plan expected to yield $15 million to $20 million in pretax savings.
The news proved a rare bright spot for Zynga, which is trying to stave off user losses that prompted it to slash its 2012 outlook twice in recent months.
The creator of 'FarmVille' also announced Wednesday a deal with British firm bwin.party to offer online real-money gambling in the United Kingdom.
'On the margin these are positive things,' said Arvind Bhatia, an analyst with Sterne Agee. 'But fundamentally they'll still have to turn around the business. I'm not so sure these are necessarily enough to get this stock going much higher.'
Even taking into account the after-hours share rally, Zynga would still have lost three-quarters of its market value since debuting in 2011 at $10.
CEO Mark Pincus has not assuaged most investors concerns that, while a dominant platform on Facebook and the Internet, Zynga lacks games that appeal to a growing mobile device user base.
Zynga recorded bookings of $256 million from July through September, the worst quarterly performance since late 2010 when the company was still enjoying a meteoric ascent toward its December, 2011 initial public offering.
Average daily bookings per average daily active user, a metric that roughly measures how much revenue the company squeezes out of each gamer, dropped sharply to $0.047, a decrease of 11 percent from a year prior.
Quarterly revenue rose to $317 million, an increase of 3 percent from a year ago. The company revised its full-year adjusted earnings to between $152 million and $162 million, up from $147 million and $162 million.
The game maker, which has been fighting to reverse a dramatic exodus of players, had cut its 2012 earnings forecast most recently on October 4 when it warned investors its top line would be affected by poor performance in core money-making Internet games like 'CityVille'.
Zynga's stock was up at $2.39 in extended trade after closing at $2.129 on the Nasdaq.
(Reporting By Gerry Shih; Editing by Bernard Orr)
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Ahead of the Bell: Zynga gains on job cut plans
NEW YORK (AP) - Zynga's stock rose 5 percent in premarket trading Wednesday after the online game company disclosed it was eliminating games, studios and jobs to cut costs.
Zynga, which makes social media games including 'FarmVille' and 'Texas HoldEm Poker,' said Tuesday that it will cut about 5 percent of its full-time workforce. It's the first-ever round of layoffs at the San Francisco-based company, which has about 3,200 employees.
Zynga also said it will get rid of 13 older games and reduce its investment in the game 'The Ville.' It will close its studio in Boston and may close studios in Japan and the U.K. It runs 18 studios worldwide.
On Wednesday, the stock gained 11 cents to $2.31 before the opening bell.
Facebook, where many of Zynga's games are played, reported better-than-expected earnings Tuesday, although the social network said revenue from Zynga games declined. Facebook gets a cut of the virtual items people buy for games they play on the site.
Zynga is scheduled to report its quarterly results after the market closes on Wednesday. Zynga said earlier this month that it expected to post a third-quarter loss due to weak demand for some of its titles. It said its revenues would likely be nearly flat compared to the same period last year.
The company also previously announced that it would adopt some broad cost-cutting measures to help improve its performance.
CEO Mark Pincus said that the job cuts were the most painful part of the overall cost-reduction plan, which also includes significant cuts in spending on data hosting, advertising and use of contractors.
The company went public in December at $10 per share and its stock price peaked in March at $15.91. The stock has lost about 85 percent of its value since the peak and about 75 percent since the IPO.
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Zynga, which makes social media games including 'FarmVille' and 'Texas HoldEm Poker,' said Tuesday that it will cut about 5 percent of its full-time workforce. It's the first-ever round of layoffs at the San Francisco-based company, which has about 3,200 employees.
Zynga also said it will get rid of 13 older games and reduce its investment in the game 'The Ville.' It will close its studio in Boston and may close studios in Japan and the U.K. It runs 18 studios worldwide.
On Wednesday, the stock gained 11 cents to $2.31 before the opening bell.
Facebook, where many of Zynga's games are played, reported better-than-expected earnings Tuesday, although the social network said revenue from Zynga games declined. Facebook gets a cut of the virtual items people buy for games they play on the site.
Zynga is scheduled to report its quarterly results after the market closes on Wednesday. Zynga said earlier this month that it expected to post a third-quarter loss due to weak demand for some of its titles. It said its revenues would likely be nearly flat compared to the same period last year.
The company also previously announced that it would adopt some broad cost-cutting measures to help improve its performance.
CEO Mark Pincus said that the job cuts were the most painful part of the overall cost-reduction plan, which also includes significant cuts in spending on data hosting, advertising and use of contractors.
The company went public in December at $10 per share and its stock price peaked in March at $15.91. The stock has lost about 85 percent of its value since the peak and about 75 percent since the IPO.
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Nintendo trims red ink, lowers forecast for year
TOKYO (AP) - Nintendo Co. narrowed its losses in the fiscal first half, but the Japanese game maker lowered its sales and profit forecasts for the full year ahead of the launch of its new Wii U home console.
Nintendo, which did not break down quarterly results, reported Wednesday a 28 billion yen ($350 million) loss for the six months through Sept. 30 compared with a 70 billion yen loss a year earlier when it cut the price of its 3DS game machine.
Nintendo, the maker of Super Mario and Pokemon games, has been hard hit by the popularity of smartphones and other nifty mobile devices that are luring people away from game machines such as Nintendo's Wii console and handhelds such as the Nintendo 3DS. Rivals Sony Corp. and Microsoft Corp. have struggled against the same trend.
Nintendo's past success has come from the appeal of its products to so-called casual gamers - people who now turn to smartphones and tablet devices such as the iPad from Apple Inc. to enjoy games, many of which are free on such phones. Games are not free for Nintendo machines.
Nintendo lowered its profit forecast for the full business year through March 2013 to 6 billion yen ($75 million) from 20 billion yen because of weakening demand in recent months and the strong yen. The yen has been continually rising in recent years, and that erodes the value of overseas earnings for Japanese exporters such as Nintendo.
The company cut its annual sales forecast to 810 billion yen ($10.1 billion) from 820 billion yen.
Nintendo is banking on the Wii U, the first major new game console to arrive in stores in years, to boost its bottomline. It goes on sale Nov. 18 in the U.S., later that month in Europe and Dec. 8 in Japan.
It has a touch-screen tablet controller and TV-watching features but it's unclear whether it will prove a hit like the original Wii, which offered a new kind of entertainment when it arrived in 2006 with its wand-like controller that players could swing like a racket or a fishing pole.
Nintendo said it expects to sell 5.5 million Wii U consoles for the year through March 2013 and 24 million units of Wii U game software.
But it lowered its annual sales projection for the 3DS portable machine, which delivers three-dimensional imagery without special glasses, to 17.5 million units from 18.5 million.
Declining sales of the current Wii, in hardware and software games, also contributed to the lower earnings forecast, the Kyoto-based company said.
For the six months through Sept. 30, sales dipped nearly 7 percent to 201 billion yen ($2.6 billion). Nintendo said sales of the 3DS hardware and software were weaker in overseas markets than expected. The yen's appreciation cut 23 billion yen from its ordinary profit, it said.
The results fell short of its more optimistic, internal forecast for 230 billion yen ($2.9 billion) in first-half sales.
Among game software titles, 'Super Mario 3D Land' and 'Mario Kart 7,' part of Nintendo's popular Super Mario series, sold well for the 3DS, it said.
The company has also announced a service called Nintendo TVii for watching TV shows and movies. The Wii U remote called the GamePad can be used as a fancy remote-controller and handheld device for posting comments on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.
___
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Nintendo, which did not break down quarterly results, reported Wednesday a 28 billion yen ($350 million) loss for the six months through Sept. 30 compared with a 70 billion yen loss a year earlier when it cut the price of its 3DS game machine.
Nintendo, the maker of Super Mario and Pokemon games, has been hard hit by the popularity of smartphones and other nifty mobile devices that are luring people away from game machines such as Nintendo's Wii console and handhelds such as the Nintendo 3DS. Rivals Sony Corp. and Microsoft Corp. have struggled against the same trend.
Nintendo's past success has come from the appeal of its products to so-called casual gamers - people who now turn to smartphones and tablet devices such as the iPad from Apple Inc. to enjoy games, many of which are free on such phones. Games are not free for Nintendo machines.
Nintendo lowered its profit forecast for the full business year through March 2013 to 6 billion yen ($75 million) from 20 billion yen because of weakening demand in recent months and the strong yen. The yen has been continually rising in recent years, and that erodes the value of overseas earnings for Japanese exporters such as Nintendo.
The company cut its annual sales forecast to 810 billion yen ($10.1 billion) from 820 billion yen.
Nintendo is banking on the Wii U, the first major new game console to arrive in stores in years, to boost its bottomline. It goes on sale Nov. 18 in the U.S., later that month in Europe and Dec. 8 in Japan.
It has a touch-screen tablet controller and TV-watching features but it's unclear whether it will prove a hit like the original Wii, which offered a new kind of entertainment when it arrived in 2006 with its wand-like controller that players could swing like a racket or a fishing pole.
Nintendo said it expects to sell 5.5 million Wii U consoles for the year through March 2013 and 24 million units of Wii U game software.
But it lowered its annual sales projection for the 3DS portable machine, which delivers three-dimensional imagery without special glasses, to 17.5 million units from 18.5 million.
Declining sales of the current Wii, in hardware and software games, also contributed to the lower earnings forecast, the Kyoto-based company said.
For the six months through Sept. 30, sales dipped nearly 7 percent to 201 billion yen ($2.6 billion). Nintendo said sales of the 3DS hardware and software were weaker in overseas markets than expected. The yen's appreciation cut 23 billion yen from its ordinary profit, it said.
The results fell short of its more optimistic, internal forecast for 230 billion yen ($2.9 billion) in first-half sales.
Among game software titles, 'Super Mario 3D Land' and 'Mario Kart 7,' part of Nintendo's popular Super Mario series, sold well for the 3DS, it said.
The company has also announced a service called Nintendo TVii for watching TV shows and movies. The Wii U remote called the GamePad can be used as a fancy remote-controller and handheld device for posting comments on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.
___
Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter: www.twitter.com/yurikageyama
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Nintendo profit outlook weakens ahead of Wii U launch
TOKYO (Reuters) - Nintendo Co Ltd trimmed its annual profit outlook Wednesday by almost one-half as a strong yen and diminished console sales weighed on earnings while it readies the launch of the successor to the hit Wii console, which it hopes will reboot earnings growth.
For the year to March 31, the creator of Super Mario lowered its operating profit forecast to 20 billion yen ($251 million)from a 35 billion yen forecast in July. That compares with a consensus estimate by 21 analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S of a 27 billion yen profit.
Its operating loss for the three months to September 30 edged down to 18.8 billion yen from a loss of 19.6 billion yen a year ago, and compared with an average loss forecast of 16 billion yen from four analysts.
Nintendo's Wii U, the successor to its 100 million-selling Wii machine, is slated to go on sale in the United States on November 18. The first hardware offering from Nintendo in six years boasts a tablet-like touch screen controller and a social network, and lets users record TV shows through TiVo and other digital recording services.
Yet, growing competition from tablet PCs and smartphones that are increasingly eating into the $78 billion gaming market mean the Japanese company, which began making playing cards more than a century ago, may struggle to repeat the hit it had with the Wii.
Its success or failure will also provide a clue to rivals Sony Corp and Microsoft Corp as to whether advanced games machines can hold back the challenge from mobile devices.
Nintendo said on Wednesday that it expects to sell 5.5 million Wii U machines by March 31, the first time it has released a sales target for the device.
The company lowered its full-year forecast for sales of its handheld 3DS by a million, to 17.5 million. Weak demand for the new 3DS, launched in February last year, forced Nintendo to slash the price of the new gadget by about one-third a year ago.
The company stuck with its forecast to sell 2.5 million DS handhelds for the 12 months.
Nintendo also revised its forecast for the euro-yen currency rate to 100 yen from 105 yen for the business year. It kept its forecast for a dollar-yen rate of 80 yen.
Since the start of the business year, Nintendo's shares have fallen 17 percent, compared with an 11 percent drop in Japan's benchmark Nikkei average. Its shares fell 1.7 percent to 10,290 yen on Wednesday before the company released its results for the quarter. The Nikkei fell 0.7 percent.
($1 = 79.7800 Japanese yen)
(Reporting by Tim Kelly; Editing by Edmund Klamann)
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For the year to March 31, the creator of Super Mario lowered its operating profit forecast to 20 billion yen ($251 million)from a 35 billion yen forecast in July. That compares with a consensus estimate by 21 analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S of a 27 billion yen profit.
Its operating loss for the three months to September 30 edged down to 18.8 billion yen from a loss of 19.6 billion yen a year ago, and compared with an average loss forecast of 16 billion yen from four analysts.
Nintendo's Wii U, the successor to its 100 million-selling Wii machine, is slated to go on sale in the United States on November 18. The first hardware offering from Nintendo in six years boasts a tablet-like touch screen controller and a social network, and lets users record TV shows through TiVo and other digital recording services.
Yet, growing competition from tablet PCs and smartphones that are increasingly eating into the $78 billion gaming market mean the Japanese company, which began making playing cards more than a century ago, may struggle to repeat the hit it had with the Wii.
Its success or failure will also provide a clue to rivals Sony Corp and Microsoft Corp as to whether advanced games machines can hold back the challenge from mobile devices.
Nintendo said on Wednesday that it expects to sell 5.5 million Wii U machines by March 31, the first time it has released a sales target for the device.
The company lowered its full-year forecast for sales of its handheld 3DS by a million, to 17.5 million. Weak demand for the new 3DS, launched in February last year, forced Nintendo to slash the price of the new gadget by about one-third a year ago.
The company stuck with its forecast to sell 2.5 million DS handhelds for the 12 months.
Nintendo also revised its forecast for the euro-yen currency rate to 100 yen from 105 yen for the business year. It kept its forecast for a dollar-yen rate of 80 yen.
Since the start of the business year, Nintendo's shares have fallen 17 percent, compared with an 11 percent drop in Japan's benchmark Nikkei average. Its shares fell 1.7 percent to 10,290 yen on Wednesday before the company released its results for the quarter. The Nikkei fell 0.7 percent.
($1 = 79.7800 Japanese yen)
(Reporting by Tim Kelly; Editing by Edmund Klamann)
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Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Zynga cuts 5 percent of work force, ending 13 games
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Zynga Inc has laid off 5 percent of its full-time workforce and shut its Boston office, launching a sweeping overhaul that may also see the struggling 'FarmVille' creator close its Japanese and British offices.
The company, which is trying to arrest a steep decline in earnings as users gradually migrate onto mobile devices or rival games, plans to 'sunset' 13 unspecified older titles, Chief Executive Mark Pincus said in a staff memo on Tuesday.
The company provided Reuters with a copy of the message to employees, which came a day before the struggling game-maker was due to report third-quarter earnings.
Pincus added that Zynga would significantly pull back its investment in 'The Ville' game - a major recent initiative - and scale back on its Austin, Texas studio as it sought to cut costs. He also said the company is 'proposing' the closure of its Japanese and British offices.
'This is the most painful part of an overall cost reduction plan that also includes significant cuts in spending on data hosting, advertising and outside services, primarily contractors,' Pincus said in his memo.
Rumors of the layoffs in Austin and Boston had spread on gaming blogs and over social networks during the day, and the company's shares closed down more than 5 percent, at $2.20. But they bounced back 4.5 percent to $2.30 in after-hours trade, following news of the cost-cutting initiatives.
'It's good to see them be realistic, but the real question is not a matter of profitability, it's 'can you get revenue going the right direction?'' said Ben Schachter, a senior analyst at Macquarie Securities. 'The Street doesn't want to see cost-cutting for what was supposed to be a growth company.'
Pincus, who grew the company behind such ageing Facebook hits as 'CityVille' 'and Mafia Wars', will face employees at a quarterly gathering next week at the company's San Francisco headquarters.
Employees say morale is in steep decline, with Zynga forced this month to slash its 2012 results outlook for the second time.
Zynga went public to much fanfare in December at $10 a share but has since lost over three-quarters of its market value. It has been hit by delays in its game pipeline as older titles fade, while it has struggled to come up with new hits for mobile devices.
With its top line shrinking, Pincus told employees in an earlier memo just this month that he was disappointed by the results but urged his staff not to lose sight of the bigger picture.
(Reporting By Gerry Shih; Editing by Leslie Adler and Tim Dobbyn)
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The company, which is trying to arrest a steep decline in earnings as users gradually migrate onto mobile devices or rival games, plans to 'sunset' 13 unspecified older titles, Chief Executive Mark Pincus said in a staff memo on Tuesday.
The company provided Reuters with a copy of the message to employees, which came a day before the struggling game-maker was due to report third-quarter earnings.
Pincus added that Zynga would significantly pull back its investment in 'The Ville' game - a major recent initiative - and scale back on its Austin, Texas studio as it sought to cut costs. He also said the company is 'proposing' the closure of its Japanese and British offices.
'This is the most painful part of an overall cost reduction plan that also includes significant cuts in spending on data hosting, advertising and outside services, primarily contractors,' Pincus said in his memo.
Rumors of the layoffs in Austin and Boston had spread on gaming blogs and over social networks during the day, and the company's shares closed down more than 5 percent, at $2.20. But they bounced back 4.5 percent to $2.30 in after-hours trade, following news of the cost-cutting initiatives.
'It's good to see them be realistic, but the real question is not a matter of profitability, it's 'can you get revenue going the right direction?'' said Ben Schachter, a senior analyst at Macquarie Securities. 'The Street doesn't want to see cost-cutting for what was supposed to be a growth company.'
Pincus, who grew the company behind such ageing Facebook hits as 'CityVille' 'and Mafia Wars', will face employees at a quarterly gathering next week at the company's San Francisco headquarters.
Employees say morale is in steep decline, with Zynga forced this month to slash its 2012 results outlook for the second time.
Zynga went public to much fanfare in December at $10 a share but has since lost over three-quarters of its market value. It has been hit by delays in its game pipeline as older titles fade, while it has struggled to come up with new hits for mobile devices.
With its top line shrinking, Pincus told employees in an earlier memo just this month that he was disappointed by the results but urged his staff not to lose sight of the bigger picture.
(Reporting By Gerry Shih; Editing by Leslie Adler and Tim Dobbyn)
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Zynga Hopes You're Too Distracted to Notice Their Layoffs
In all the noise created by today's Apple event, Zynga attempted to quietly lay off 100 people without anyone noticing. Kind of like a Friday afternoon news dump, but with new iPads. Unfortunately for them, it didn't work.
RELATED: An Insured American Family's Health Care Costs $19,393
The Next Web's Ken Yeung reports that more than 100 people were laid off in Zynga's Austin office. The news was first leaked on Twitter by designer Justin Maxwell. The team behind The Ville has been laid off and the game itself is being discontinued. TechCrunch's Josh Constantine reports that about a third of the Austin office remains, and that mobile teams are mostly safe. If you work for Zynga's San Francisco office, you're safe too.
RELATED: Meet Gina Rinehart: World's Richest Woman (and World's Biggest Troll)
Gamasutra is also reporting layoffs from Zynga's Boston office, however. Ian Miles Cheung writes that the decision was made to do this during the Apple keynote in order to avoid bad press. The layoffs were fairly nasty, too. Per Cheung, Zynga only gave the employees, many of them two-year office veterans, two hours to clean out their things and turn over their computers, phones, and security badges.
RELATED: Workplace Whiners and the Other Coworkers You'll Know
Yeung points to the recent copywright infringement lawsuit from Maxis, the maker of The Sims franchise, as the reason for the downsizing. Maxis alleges The Ville was made with secrets outgoing Maxis employees took with them when they jumped to Zynga.
RELATED: Layoffs Are Coming at Gilt Groupe
Despite the apparent intentions of the company, not only did every tech journalist notice the layoffs, so did Zynga's stock price. It's down 4 percent already. It's been a rough few months, what with the disastrous second-quarter earnings report and the high profile "restructuring" that followed. There's also the aging-like-a-fine-wine tech scheme that was the Zynga sale. At the beginning of the year Zynga's stock was on top of the world and trading around $14 a share. Now it's $2 and some change. Schadenfreude! We're waiting for an official comment from Zynga, and will update if we hear more.
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RELATED: An Insured American Family's Health Care Costs $19,393
The Next Web's Ken Yeung reports that more than 100 people were laid off in Zynga's Austin office. The news was first leaked on Twitter by designer Justin Maxwell. The team behind The Ville has been laid off and the game itself is being discontinued. TechCrunch's Josh Constantine reports that about a third of the Austin office remains, and that mobile teams are mostly safe. If you work for Zynga's San Francisco office, you're safe too.
RELATED: Meet Gina Rinehart: World's Richest Woman (and World's Biggest Troll)
Gamasutra is also reporting layoffs from Zynga's Boston office, however. Ian Miles Cheung writes that the decision was made to do this during the Apple keynote in order to avoid bad press. The layoffs were fairly nasty, too. Per Cheung, Zynga only gave the employees, many of them two-year office veterans, two hours to clean out their things and turn over their computers, phones, and security badges.
RELATED: Workplace Whiners and the Other Coworkers You'll Know
Yeung points to the recent copywright infringement lawsuit from Maxis, the maker of The Sims franchise, as the reason for the downsizing. Maxis alleges The Ville was made with secrets outgoing Maxis employees took with them when they jumped to Zynga.
RELATED: Layoffs Are Coming at Gilt Groupe
Despite the apparent intentions of the company, not only did every tech journalist notice the layoffs, so did Zynga's stock price. It's down 4 percent already. It's been a rough few months, what with the disastrous second-quarter earnings report and the high profile "restructuring" that followed. There's also the aging-like-a-fine-wine tech scheme that was the Zynga sale. At the beginning of the year Zynga's stock was on top of the world and trading around $14 a share. Now it's $2 and some change. Schadenfreude! We're waiting for an official comment from Zynga, and will update if we hear more.
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Soccer-No more video games, bring on the real Real says Bender
DORTMUND, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Borussia Dortmund midfielder Sven Bender has had enough of playing against Real Madrid on his video console and cannot wait to face the genuine article in their Champions League Group D clash on Wednesday.
'I have stopped playing Real Madrid (on the games console) in the past week,' the 23-year-old Germany international told reporters on Tuesday. 'It will be a real highlight to have them in the stadium and not on playstation.'
A fervent atmosphere is expected in the Borussia stadium with a guaranteed sold-out crowd of just over 65,000 coming to see the nine-time European champions take on the 1997 Champions League winners.
'Real have more experience in the Champions League but we saw in Manchester that experience is not everything,' he said of their 1-1 draw against the Premier League champions in their last game.
'We do not focus on such things and we are not distracted by them. It plays no decisive role because we have some experience (in the competition) and that should be enough to be able to play the game we want to play,' he said. (Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Justin Palmer)
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'I have stopped playing Real Madrid (on the games console) in the past week,' the 23-year-old Germany international told reporters on Tuesday. 'It will be a real highlight to have them in the stadium and not on playstation.'
A fervent atmosphere is expected in the Borussia stadium with a guaranteed sold-out crowd of just over 65,000 coming to see the nine-time European champions take on the 1997 Champions League winners.
'Real have more experience in the Champions League but we saw in Manchester that experience is not everything,' he said of their 1-1 draw against the Premier League champions in their last game.
'We do not focus on such things and we are not distracted by them. It plays no decisive role because we have some experience (in the competition) and that should be enough to be able to play the game we want to play,' he said. (Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Justin Palmer)
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Monday, October 22, 2012
Xbox SmartGlass Changes the Second-Screen Playing Field [PREVIEW]
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Earnings Preview: How low can Zynga go?
NEW YORK (AP) - Investors, already expecting a third-quarter loss for online game company Zynga Inc. on Wednesday, will be looking for steps the company is taking to revive growth and cut costs.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Once a rising social media star with games such as 'FarmVille' and 'Texas HoldEm Poker,' Zynga's stock has lost more than 82 percent of its value since the end of March. Investors are worried about the company's ability to keep growing.
Zynga recently cut its bookings guidance for the full year. Because its third-quarter guidance is roughly in line with analyst expectations, this suggests a big fourth-quarter miss. The magnitude of the potential gap between Zynga's fourth-quarter results and what analysts were expecting has deepened Bair analyst Colin Sebastian's concern that the company will take a long time to transition away from Facebook to its own gaming platform and to mobile devices.
Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia thinks Zynga needs to lower its expenses and preserve cash as it looks for its next big hit game. He noted that 'FarmVille 2,' a recently launched Facebook game, is doing slightly better than other recent titles, at least when it comes to daily active users. But it's still well behind the original 'FarmVille.'
Zynga executives are also expected to explain how the company will trim costs, said Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter. He said that if Zynga cuts employees and develops fewer games, it could improve profitability.
WHY IT MATTERS: Despite its troubles, Zynga is still by far the No. 1 gaming company on Facebook. It makes five of the 10 most popular games on the site, including the top two, according to researcher Appdata. It accounts for about 12 percent of Facebook's total revenue, so the two companies' fortunes are somewhat tied together. Born as Web-based companies, both face challenges as their users turn increasingly to mobile devices.
WHAT'S EXPECTED: The San Francisco-based company has predicted a loss of 12 to 14 cents per share. Excluding a large charge marking down the value of OMGPop, a mobile game maker Zynga acquired for $183 million in March, the company expects to break even or post a loss of 1 cent per share.
Zynga also forecast revenue of $300 million to $305 million.
Analysts, on average, are expecting break-even earnings on revenue of $291 million, according to a poll by FactSet.
LAST YEAR'S QUARTER: Still a privately held company, Zynga had net income of $12.5 million and revenue of $306.8 million in the third quarter of 2011.
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WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Once a rising social media star with games such as 'FarmVille' and 'Texas HoldEm Poker,' Zynga's stock has lost more than 82 percent of its value since the end of March. Investors are worried about the company's ability to keep growing.
Zynga recently cut its bookings guidance for the full year. Because its third-quarter guidance is roughly in line with analyst expectations, this suggests a big fourth-quarter miss. The magnitude of the potential gap between Zynga's fourth-quarter results and what analysts were expecting has deepened Bair analyst Colin Sebastian's concern that the company will take a long time to transition away from Facebook to its own gaming platform and to mobile devices.
Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia thinks Zynga needs to lower its expenses and preserve cash as it looks for its next big hit game. He noted that 'FarmVille 2,' a recently launched Facebook game, is doing slightly better than other recent titles, at least when it comes to daily active users. But it's still well behind the original 'FarmVille.'
Zynga executives are also expected to explain how the company will trim costs, said Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter. He said that if Zynga cuts employees and develops fewer games, it could improve profitability.
WHY IT MATTERS: Despite its troubles, Zynga is still by far the No. 1 gaming company on Facebook. It makes five of the 10 most popular games on the site, including the top two, according to researcher Appdata. It accounts for about 12 percent of Facebook's total revenue, so the two companies' fortunes are somewhat tied together. Born as Web-based companies, both face challenges as their users turn increasingly to mobile devices.
WHAT'S EXPECTED: The San Francisco-based company has predicted a loss of 12 to 14 cents per share. Excluding a large charge marking down the value of OMGPop, a mobile game maker Zynga acquired for $183 million in March, the company expects to break even or post a loss of 1 cent per share.
Zynga also forecast revenue of $300 million to $305 million.
Analysts, on average, are expecting break-even earnings on revenue of $291 million, according to a poll by FactSet.
LAST YEAR'S QUARTER: Still a privately held company, Zynga had net income of $12.5 million and revenue of $306.8 million in the third quarter of 2011.
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Saturday, October 20, 2012
Nintendo's Wii U voice chat mess: Console might not support wireless headsets
Other than the unique touchscreen-equipped GamePad controller, the Wii U is a console that isn't too different from this generation's Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. It's Nintendo's (NTDOY) "catch up" console that finally adds high-definition graphics, a robust selection of video content through Nintendo TVii and an online gaming platform that the company says will finally compete with Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. Both of those services support voice chat during gaming sessions online and they both support wireless headsets, but the Nintendo Wii U might not even have simple voice chat down without a convoluted setup, according to Kotaku.
According to Kotaku, the Wii U only supports voice chat with the Wii U GamePad for "select games" such as Call of Duty: Black Ops II and Mass Effect 3. That's not even the worst part. The controller's built-in mic won't work on those compatible titles, either. Gamers will have to buy a licensed headset that plugs directly into the controller's headphone jack.
And if that's not jarring enough, gamers who opt to use the Wii U Pro Controller (the one that looks like an Xbox 360 controller), headsets still need to be tethered to the GamePad because the Pro Controller doesn't have an audio jack. This complicated setup brings back awful memories of how the Wii's Classic Controller had to be tethered to the Wii Remote in order for it work.
But by far the most upsetting part of Kotaku's report might be that the Wii U might not be capable of supporting a wireless headset, which in this day and age is ridiculous.
Read [MCV] Read [Kotaku]
According to Kotaku, the Wii U only supports voice chat with the Wii U GamePad for "select games" such as Call of Duty: Black Ops II and Mass Effect 3. That's not even the worst part. The controller's built-in mic won't work on those compatible titles, either. Gamers will have to buy a licensed headset that plugs directly into the controller's headphone jack.
And if that's not jarring enough, gamers who opt to use the Wii U Pro Controller (the one that looks like an Xbox 360 controller), headsets still need to be tethered to the GamePad because the Pro Controller doesn't have an audio jack. This complicated setup brings back awful memories of how the Wii's Classic Controller had to be tethered to the Wii Remote in order for it work.
But by far the most upsetting part of Kotaku's report might be that the Wii U might not be capable of supporting a wireless headset, which in this day and age is ridiculous.
Read [MCV] Read [Kotaku]
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Friday, October 19, 2012
Utah video game developer sentenced to year in jail, fined $1.2 million for not paying wages
SALT LAKE CITY - The developer of video games including 'Alvin and the Chipmunks' and 'Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005' is serving a yearlong jail sentence in Utah for failing to pay more than 100 employees.
David M. Rushton, 57, owes $1.2 million in a rare criminal case for nonpayment of wages, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said Thursday.
Rushton did business in a Salt Lake City suburb as Sensory Sweep Studio, which focused on selling games adapted from movies for Nintendo, PlayStation and Xbox game consoles and hand-held devices.
'We had occasional paychecks that trickled in. Some people were favoured more than others,' said Adam Hunter, a 29-year-old game designer now working for another Utah studio. Hunter said he was owed $12,000 after quitting in 2009.
'Much like with an ex-girlfriend, I've just moved on,' Hunter said Thursday. 'I'm a realist. I understand I'm not going to see any money. I'm not as bitter as I was when this all started going down years ago.'
Utah is a minor hub for video-game studios with about a dozen companies, including Disney Interactive Studios.
Sensory Sweep Studio was known for churning out games quickly, taking a percentage of royalties from moviemakers and others, Hunter said.
Hunter said he 'didn't know of a single person who was consistently getting paid' aside from Rushton, his children and their friends he employed as top game producers.
Rushton took a plea deal but plans to appeal, arguing that the state knew about the payroll problem years ago but didn't bring charges, said his lawyer, Darin B. Goff.
Rushton started his sentence Oct. 10 at the Salt Lake County Jail. Court records show he has a long history of failing to pay wages, payroll taxes or investment plan contributions. He was sentenced to six months in jail in 2010 for tax fraud and racketeering.
'We thought that Mr. Rushton was trying to continue his business on the backs of his employees,' said Brent Asay, a wage-claim manager at the Utah Labor Commission. 'It just appeared fishy to us.'
He added, 'I just really feel bad for these people, performing work and not getting paid. We saw very few cases where he made payroll.'
Hunter lasted two years before calling it quits, hanging onto promises of paychecks that appeared only erratically, with Rushton sometimes handing out checks selectively and demanding confidentiality while blaming companies that licensed games for being slow to pay for their development or royalties.
Rushton employed as many as 211 people, too many for the size of his business, and declined to trim the workforce, Hunter said.
'The phrase 'next Friday' became a joke,' Hunter said of promised paychecks. 'It was always 'next Friday.''
Sensory Sweep Studio also developed the video games 'Jackass: The Game,' ''Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting,' ''Justice League Heroes' and 'Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects.'
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David M. Rushton, 57, owes $1.2 million in a rare criminal case for nonpayment of wages, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said Thursday.
Rushton did business in a Salt Lake City suburb as Sensory Sweep Studio, which focused on selling games adapted from movies for Nintendo, PlayStation and Xbox game consoles and hand-held devices.
'We had occasional paychecks that trickled in. Some people were favoured more than others,' said Adam Hunter, a 29-year-old game designer now working for another Utah studio. Hunter said he was owed $12,000 after quitting in 2009.
'Much like with an ex-girlfriend, I've just moved on,' Hunter said Thursday. 'I'm a realist. I understand I'm not going to see any money. I'm not as bitter as I was when this all started going down years ago.'
Utah is a minor hub for video-game studios with about a dozen companies, including Disney Interactive Studios.
Sensory Sweep Studio was known for churning out games quickly, taking a percentage of royalties from moviemakers and others, Hunter said.
Hunter said he 'didn't know of a single person who was consistently getting paid' aside from Rushton, his children and their friends he employed as top game producers.
Rushton took a plea deal but plans to appeal, arguing that the state knew about the payroll problem years ago but didn't bring charges, said his lawyer, Darin B. Goff.
Rushton started his sentence Oct. 10 at the Salt Lake County Jail. Court records show he has a long history of failing to pay wages, payroll taxes or investment plan contributions. He was sentenced to six months in jail in 2010 for tax fraud and racketeering.
'We thought that Mr. Rushton was trying to continue his business on the backs of his employees,' said Brent Asay, a wage-claim manager at the Utah Labor Commission. 'It just appeared fishy to us.'
He added, 'I just really feel bad for these people, performing work and not getting paid. We saw very few cases where he made payroll.'
Hunter lasted two years before calling it quits, hanging onto promises of paychecks that appeared only erratically, with Rushton sometimes handing out checks selectively and demanding confidentiality while blaming companies that licensed games for being slow to pay for their development or royalties.
Rushton employed as many as 211 people, too many for the size of his business, and declined to trim the workforce, Hunter said.
'The phrase 'next Friday' became a joke,' Hunter said of promised paychecks. 'It was always 'next Friday.''
Sensory Sweep Studio also developed the video games 'Jackass: The Game,' ''Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting,' ''Justice League Heroes' and 'Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects.'
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Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Microsoft cuts Xbox 360 price by $50, reveals new holiday bundles
Microsoft (MSFT) is giving consumers two more reasons to buy an Xbox 360 this holiday season. First, all Xbox 360 consoles except the standalone 4GB model without Kinect will receive a $50 price cut for a limited time at all major retailers including Amazon (AMZN), (BBY), GameStop, Target, Toys 'R Us and Walmart. Second, there are three new holiday bundles that come with some of the best-selling games of the year.
The first holiday bundle costs $399.99 and includes a 250GB Xbox 360 and Kinect, Dance Central 2, Kinect Sports 2, Kinect Adventure and a month of Xbox Live Gold. The second is a 4GB Xbox 360, Kinect, Kinect Disneyland Adventures, Kinect Adventures and one month of Xbox Live Gold for $299.99. And the last holiday bundle includes a 250GB Xbox 360, Skyrim, Forza 4 Essentials Edition and one month of Xbox Live Gold for $299.99.
As if that wasn't enough incentive to pick up an Xbox 360, Microsoft also announced that the Limited Edition Halo 4 Xbox 360 bundle is now available for preorder and will launch on November 6th.
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The first holiday bundle costs $399.99 and includes a 250GB Xbox 360 and Kinect, Dance Central 2, Kinect Sports 2, Kinect Adventure and a month of Xbox Live Gold. The second is a 4GB Xbox 360, Kinect, Kinect Disneyland Adventures, Kinect Adventures and one month of Xbox Live Gold for $299.99. And the last holiday bundle includes a 250GB Xbox 360, Skyrim, Forza 4 Essentials Edition and one month of Xbox Live Gold for $299.99.
As if that wasn't enough incentive to pick up an Xbox 360, Microsoft also announced that the Limited Edition Halo 4 Xbox 360 bundle is now available for preorder and will launch on November 6th.
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Sony redo of PlayStation Store links games, movies
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Sony Corp. is revamping its PlayStation Store as it prepares a common storefront across devices from its game console to its Web-connected TVs, Blu-ray players and phones.
The rollout began for PlayStation 3 users in Europe on Wednesday and will continue in the U.S., Canada, Brazil and Mexico next Tuesday.
The store puts related game and movie franchises together on one page. That will allow fans of video games like 'Resident Evil' or 'Lego Harry Potter' to buy or rent movies from the same series more easily. Alphabetic searches are also easier with a game controller now than before.
Sony's general manager of global digital video and music services, Michael Aragon, said Sony plans to roll out similar storefronts on TVs and other devices in the coming months.
The makeover is the first major redesign of the store since it added video in 2008. It was built using Internet programming language HTML5, which will make it easier and faster to update - a process that could take weeks instead of years, Aragon said. It will also make it easier to adapt the platform to other connected devices or to future gaming consoles if and when Sony updates its PS3.
The store also links what had been disparate Sony user accounts spread between connected TVs and users of the 64 million PlayStation 3 units sold worldwide.
'In the siloed past, there was a lot of different groups doing their own different things' at Sony, Aragon said. 'We had to have one account, one wallet. That was priority No. 1 by a long shot. Then we had to fix the user experience.'
The overhaul of the store is one step of many as the Japanese electronics maker attempts to better meld its hardware and software services together. It is also rebuilding the trust of consumers after hackers compromised personal information including credit card data on more than 100 million user accounts in April 2011. There are now 110 million user accounts on the network.
Sony plans to make several future updates. For example, it is considering allowing users who buy or rent a movie on one device, say the PS Vita handheld, to be able to pause and then resume watching on another device, say, the PS3 connected to their TV. Currently, playback is locked to the device used to start watching. It may also in the future allow users to save purchases of games and movies online rather than on their device's memory, Aragon said.
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The rollout began for PlayStation 3 users in Europe on Wednesday and will continue in the U.S., Canada, Brazil and Mexico next Tuesday.
The store puts related game and movie franchises together on one page. That will allow fans of video games like 'Resident Evil' or 'Lego Harry Potter' to buy or rent movies from the same series more easily. Alphabetic searches are also easier with a game controller now than before.
Sony's general manager of global digital video and music services, Michael Aragon, said Sony plans to roll out similar storefronts on TVs and other devices in the coming months.
The makeover is the first major redesign of the store since it added video in 2008. It was built using Internet programming language HTML5, which will make it easier and faster to update - a process that could take weeks instead of years, Aragon said. It will also make it easier to adapt the platform to other connected devices or to future gaming consoles if and when Sony updates its PS3.
The store also links what had been disparate Sony user accounts spread between connected TVs and users of the 64 million PlayStation 3 units sold worldwide.
'In the siloed past, there was a lot of different groups doing their own different things' at Sony, Aragon said. 'We had to have one account, one wallet. That was priority No. 1 by a long shot. Then we had to fix the user experience.'
The overhaul of the store is one step of many as the Japanese electronics maker attempts to better meld its hardware and software services together. It is also rebuilding the trust of consumers after hackers compromised personal information including credit card data on more than 100 million user accounts in April 2011. There are now 110 million user accounts on the network.
Sony plans to make several future updates. For example, it is considering allowing users who buy or rent a movie on one device, say the PS Vita handheld, to be able to pause and then resume watching on another device, say, the PS3 connected to their TV. Currently, playback is locked to the device used to start watching. It may also in the future allow users to save purchases of games and movies online rather than on their device's memory, Aragon said.
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Tuesday, October 16, 2012
New Xbox 360 dashboard update brings Internet Explorer to your console
Microsoft (MSFT) just brought Christmas early for all Xbox 360 owners. Starting today, Microsoft is gradually rolling out the new Xbox 360 dashboard update to Xbox LIVE subscribers across the globe. The new update refines the previous Metro-inspired UI to bring it closer in line with the company's upcoming Windows 8 operating system. Aside from a few cosmetic changes to the UI, the Xbox 360 now has Internet Explorer, a "Recommendations and Ratings" section, improved Bing voice search with Kinect and the addition of 9 new supported languages and customizable homescreens. Microsoft's Director of Programming for Xbox Live, Larry "Major Nelson" Hyrb wrote in a blog post that Xbox SmartGlass will also land on October 26th alongside Windows 8.
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Xbox Runaways Found in Eureka, Ill
Four Iowa teens who ran away from home after meeting on Xbox were arrested today and charged with trespassing at an abandoned home in Eureka, Ill., nearly 360 miles away from home.
The two boys and two girls who ranged in age from 13 to 16 disappeared together Saturday. Before that day, the boys had never met the girls in person, their families told ABCNews.com.
The families haven't spoken directly with their children since they left, but got word today that the teens were being held at the Woodford County Correctional Facility. When the phone call came that the kids were safe, their parents were ecstatic.
'I hysterically started crying, just overwhelmed with joy. All floods of emotions. Overjoyed, relief, you name it. I couldn't believe it,' said Judy Hamilton, the mother of Jazlyn Visek, 15, one of the two girls.
Visek ran off with Corey Sunderman, 16, whom she began 'dating' after meeting on Xbox.
'This was her first serious boyfriend. He gave her a lot of attention she's never got from any guys,' Hamilton said.
Their romance may have led to legal trouble, Hamilton said.
'They were cuffed and they are getting charges of trespass, so they will be spending the night in jail,' she said.
Crystal Sunderman, Corey's mother, told ABCNews.com she was concerned about what will come after the teens return home.
'I'm starting to worry about what am I going to do to keep Corey, to keep him safe... We've got to fix whatever it was that made him leave. He's had some problems at school with bullying but honestly, I don't know,' she said.
When Visek and Corey Sunderman left town, they were accompanied by Visek's friend Skie Floyd, 15, and Sunderman's pal Austin Boggs, 13.
The boys are from Atlantic while the girls are from Shellsburg, Iowa towns that are three and a half hours apart.
The teens were arrested by Illinois police, six hours from Atlantic.
'We had a long conversation with the officers who were involved,' Sheriff Randall Forsyth of Iowa's Benton County told ABCNews.com. 'They told us they located the kids and they were responding to the complaint of trespassing at a residence.'
After facing an Illinois judge Wednesday, the teens will be allowed to return home, Crystal Sunderman said.
'We'll probably leave tomorrow morning (for Illinois) in hopes that maybe we can see the kids before they go to court because we haven't had a chance to talk to them at all,' she said.
The boys vanished Saturday after police brought them to the Sunderman home Friday night for violating the town's curfew. When Corey's father Tony woke for work Saturday morning, he realized not only were the boys missing, but so were Crystal Sunderman's laptop and $400 from the father's recently cashed paycheck, Crystal Sunderman said.
Also missing was the 1997 gold Jeep Cherokee Tony Sunderman had brought home from his iron and metal recycling job, the mom said. The vehicle, which didn't have a license, was spotted nearly four hours away in Benton County at around 10 a.m. Saturday, the same county the missing Iowa girls call home.
By the time it was located in Illinois, it had acquired stolen license plates from Atlantic, Forsyth said.
Hamilton said she thinks the teens plotted the escape in advance.
'[Visek] had been planning for a couple weeks at least, and I had no idea,' Hamilton said.
'I've learned a valuable lesson on media devices and what you allow your children to do on Xbox or Facebook,' she said. 'I admit I was pretty free with Jazlyn and I trusted her, and I think I gave her too much freedom.'
Crystal Sunderman said she tried to be cautious about what her son did online.
'I don't let him have a Facebook account because I don't want him meeting people online,' Crystal Sunderman said. 'I didn't realize they could do so much on Xbox.'
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The two boys and two girls who ranged in age from 13 to 16 disappeared together Saturday. Before that day, the boys had never met the girls in person, their families told ABCNews.com.
The families haven't spoken directly with their children since they left, but got word today that the teens were being held at the Woodford County Correctional Facility. When the phone call came that the kids were safe, their parents were ecstatic.
'I hysterically started crying, just overwhelmed with joy. All floods of emotions. Overjoyed, relief, you name it. I couldn't believe it,' said Judy Hamilton, the mother of Jazlyn Visek, 15, one of the two girls.
Visek ran off with Corey Sunderman, 16, whom she began 'dating' after meeting on Xbox.
'This was her first serious boyfriend. He gave her a lot of attention she's never got from any guys,' Hamilton said.
Their romance may have led to legal trouble, Hamilton said.
'They were cuffed and they are getting charges of trespass, so they will be spending the night in jail,' she said.
Crystal Sunderman, Corey's mother, told ABCNews.com she was concerned about what will come after the teens return home.
'I'm starting to worry about what am I going to do to keep Corey, to keep him safe... We've got to fix whatever it was that made him leave. He's had some problems at school with bullying but honestly, I don't know,' she said.
When Visek and Corey Sunderman left town, they were accompanied by Visek's friend Skie Floyd, 15, and Sunderman's pal Austin Boggs, 13.
The boys are from Atlantic while the girls are from Shellsburg, Iowa towns that are three and a half hours apart.
The teens were arrested by Illinois police, six hours from Atlantic.
'We had a long conversation with the officers who were involved,' Sheriff Randall Forsyth of Iowa's Benton County told ABCNews.com. 'They told us they located the kids and they were responding to the complaint of trespassing at a residence.'
After facing an Illinois judge Wednesday, the teens will be allowed to return home, Crystal Sunderman said.
'We'll probably leave tomorrow morning (for Illinois) in hopes that maybe we can see the kids before they go to court because we haven't had a chance to talk to them at all,' she said.
The boys vanished Saturday after police brought them to the Sunderman home Friday night for violating the town's curfew. When Corey's father Tony woke for work Saturday morning, he realized not only were the boys missing, but so were Crystal Sunderman's laptop and $400 from the father's recently cashed paycheck, Crystal Sunderman said.
Also missing was the 1997 gold Jeep Cherokee Tony Sunderman had brought home from his iron and metal recycling job, the mom said. The vehicle, which didn't have a license, was spotted nearly four hours away in Benton County at around 10 a.m. Saturday, the same county the missing Iowa girls call home.
By the time it was located in Illinois, it had acquired stolen license plates from Atlantic, Forsyth said.
Hamilton said she thinks the teens plotted the escape in advance.
'[Visek] had been planning for a couple weeks at least, and I had no idea,' Hamilton said.
'I've learned a valuable lesson on media devices and what you allow your children to do on Xbox or Facebook,' she said. 'I admit I was pretty free with Jazlyn and I trusted her, and I think I gave her too much freedom.'
Crystal Sunderman said she tried to be cautious about what her son did online.
'I don't let him have a Facebook account because I don't want him meeting people online,' Crystal Sunderman said. 'I didn't realize they could do so much on Xbox.'
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"Xbox Music" Offers Free Streaming to Windows and Xbox ... Sort Of
Microsoft has just announced Xbox Music, its "All-in-One Music Service" for Windows PCs, tablets, and Xbox game consoles which combines features from several different online stores and services. Like Pandora, it lets you stream music online; like Spotify, it lets you pick specific songs and artists. It has an iTunes/Amazon style music store, and next year it will add a Google Play Music/Amazon Cloud Drive-style digital locker which lets you upload your own music and listen anywhere. Basically, pick any music app that you have; Microsoft's trying to do it all with its new Xbox Music app. It even has Napster-style music subscriptions.
How does a monthly subscription fee go with a free streaming music service, though? Here's a look at just how much "free" music you'll be getting ... and how much you'll have to pay for it.
"?Free" for the first 30 days (on Xbox)?
Like so many things on the Xbox game console, the Xbox Music app has limited functionality for free users of Xbox Live. Unless you have an Xbox Live Gold membership (about $60 a year), you won't be able to use what's called the "Xbox Music Pass", which means you won't be able to stream any music. Even if you have Xbox Live Gold, you'll still only be able to listen for a free trial period of 30 days, unless you pay about $10 a month or $100 a year for a separate Xbox Music subscription.
Even if you do pay the subscription fee, some features of Xbox Music don't work on Xbox consoles. Unlike on Windows or Windows Phone 8, you won't be able to download music. And according to Ben Gilbert's review on Engadget, you can't even play games while listening, unlike with the Xbox's previous music player.
Free for the first six months (on Windows 8)?
Windows 8's free trial period is a little more generous. Like the antivirus software that comes "free" with new Windows PCs, but only lasts a few months at most, the bundled Xbox Music app will let you stream unlimited songs of your choice for all of six months. After that, you get only 10 hours per month unless you pay the subscription fee. Throughout the whole free trial, you have to listen to ads every 15 minutes.
You can't download songs unless you're a subscriber, and if it works like most other subscription services you won't be able to listen to the songs you download if you stop paying the monthly fee.
?Other platforms?
An Xbox Music app will be available for iOS and Android "in the coming year," and will have the same free streaming limits as the Windows 8 app. The Windows Phone 8 app, however, won't let you stream music unless you subscribe, like with the Xbox app.
There's no word yet on whether or not Xbox Music will come to Windows Phone 7, Microsoft's current-generation smartphone operating system. But its complete absence from Microsoft's product announcement is telling.
Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.
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Monday, October 15, 2012
Ubisoft developer says Wii U GamePad response time is 'crazy' fast
Gamers worried about the streaming latency for the Nintendo (NTDOY) Wii U GamePad can finally let out a sigh of relief. In a recent Nintendo Power interview, Rayman Legends developer Michel Ancel said the Wii U GamePad latency is "just 1/60 of a second" or roughly "one frame late." To the human eye, that's virtually unnoticeable.
The impressed Ancel said, "It's crazy, it's so fast. It's almost instant. That's why it responds so well. So it can be used as a real game-design thing."
It's been confirmed that the Wii U should be able to stream content over to the GamePad at distances up to 24 feet. All in all, the Wii U is starting to sound like a very solid game console despite Nintendo's late entry into the high-definition gaming world.
The Wii U launches on November 18th starting at $299.99 with 23 games in its arsenal. Most early preorders have already sold out with the grey market already exploiting the high demand.
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The impressed Ancel said, "It's crazy, it's so fast. It's almost instant. That's why it responds so well. So it can be used as a real game-design thing."
It's been confirmed that the Wii U should be able to stream content over to the GamePad at distances up to 24 feet. All in all, the Wii U is starting to sound like a very solid game console despite Nintendo's late entry into the high-definition gaming world.
The Wii U launches on November 18th starting at $299.99 with 23 games in its arsenal. Most early preorders have already sold out with the grey market already exploiting the high demand.
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Nintendo Wii now bundled with Wii Sports, price slashed to just $129
Nintendo (NTDOY) on Monday announced that it plans to cut the price of its Wii gaming console to $129.99 prior to the holiday shopping season. The Japanese gaming company also revealed that Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resorts will now be bundled with the discounted console. Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of sales and marketing noted that "nearly six years after it launched, people are still attracted to the pure, inclusive fun of the Wii console" and suggested that a "new. retail price and the inclusion of two great games make it an easy choice for families looking for a great value this holiday season." Nintendo expects the discounted Wii packages to arrive in U.S. stores by October 28th. The company's press release follows below.
Nintendo Drops Price of Wii to $129.99, Includes Both Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort
Value Package Comes with Black Wii and Two Classic Games on One Disc
REDMOND, Wash.-(BUSINESS WIRE)-Nintendo is dropping the Wii console to a suggested retail price of $129.99 U.S. in advance of the busy holiday shopping season. The new configuration is beginning to arrive in stores now, and will be broadly available in the U.S. by Oct. 28. This high-value configuration includes a black Wii console and both Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort on a single game disc, as well as a Wii Remote Plus and a Nunchuk controller - both black to match the console. This configuration replaces the current black Wii that comes with New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
"Nearly six years after it launched, people are still attracted to the pure, inclusive fun of the Wii console," said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "A new suggested retail price and the inclusion of two great games make it an easy choice for families looking for a great value this holiday season."
Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort represent two iconic games that helped pioneer the industry move toward motion-controlled video games. The games include a wide variety of sports that use the controllers in unique ways. Players can try their hand at sports like bowling, tennis, baseball, archery, table tennis and basketball, all while simulating real-life motions using the Wii Remote Plus controller. For the first time, both games are included on a single game disc.
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Four Teens Go Missing in Xbox Romance
A romance that started on Xbox has ended in four Iowa teens running away from their homes, their parents and police say.
Two teenage girls from Shellsburg and two teenage boys from Atlantic went missing Saturday in what police said may have been a plotted escape.
Crystal Sunderman, the mother of missing 16-year-old Corey Sunderman, said she believes her son met his girlfriend Jazlyn Visek, 15, through Xbox's online gaming system and planned to run away with her and two other teens.
'I don't let him have a Facebook account because I don't want him meeting people online,' Crystal Sunderman said. 'I didn't realize they could do so much on Xbox.'
Corey Sunderman and Austin Boggs, 13, disappeared early Saturday morning after a run-in with police the night before. Later that same day, Visek and Skie Floyd, 15, also disappeared.
Late Friday night, the boys snuck out of Corey's home to go skateboarding and were caught by the cops for violating curfew. After police brought the boys back to the Sundermans' home, Crystal Sunderman tried to make sure the teens wouldn't run out again.
'This is going to sound really stupid, but I took all the shoes downstairs and put them in a bag and took them up to my room, thinking if I had the boys' shoes, they couldn't go out and go skateboarding again,' she said.
The boys found alternate boots in the garage and went a step further -- they ran away, she said.
When Corey's father Tony woke for work the next morning, he realized not only were the boys missing, but so were Crystal Sunderman's laptop and $400 from Tony Sunderman's newly-cashed check.
Also missing was a 1997 gold Jeep Cherokee Tony Sunderman had brought home from his iron and metal recycling job. The license-less vehicle was spotted nearly four hours away in Benton County at around 10 a.m. Saturday, the same county the missing Iowa girls call home.
Sheriff Randall Forsyth of Benton County said two boys driving a gold Jeep were spotted at a local shop Saturday morning, where they stopped to make a phone call. A man at the store let them, but only on the condition that they used a speakerphone.
'The conversation was something to the effect of, 'Don't pick us up at our house. Pick us up at the Quick Stop,'' Forsyth said.
At around 11:30 a.m., the missing Iowa girls told one of their mothers they were going to walk around a cemetery. At 3 p.m., they again spoke with one of their parents and said they were headed home.
The Jeep was spotted in Shellsburg shortly after dinner a block away from the Quick Stop, Forsyth said.
Parents and police have not heard from the four teens since.
This is not Corey Sunderman's first disappearance from home. He's left twice before, though he always returned and has never had any legal trouble, his mother said.
His most recent run this past summer, Crystal Sunderman said, also involved a girl he met on Xbox.
'He's got contacts in Pennsylvania, in Washington, in all these places,' Crystal Sunderland said. 'I mean, it's just like are you kidding me?'
However, since the teens' disappearance, they've had no communication police could trace.
Police and parents are speaking with students at each of the missing teens' schools. From those conversations, they've gleaned potential leads to the kids' whereabouts, which may include a Florida skateboarding park.
Wherever the teens have headed, it does not appear they brought a lot.
'One of the things that's a little out of the ordinary for a normal runaway is Skie did not take anything with her other than her cell phone,' Forsyth said, leading police to believe the girls did not expect to be gone for long.
'It's been long enough, and nobody's heard from these kids,' Forsyth said. 'We're not sure what the situation is.'
Crystal Sunderman said she is grateful for extensive help from the Benton County Sheriff's Office, but said she still fears the possibility of never seeing her son again.
'The most important thing of all is that wherever our kids are, whatever they're doing, if any one of them decides they've had enough, that this isn't as exciting as they thought, that they want to come home, as their parents we will do anything to get them home,' she said.
'We'll protect them as much as we can from any consequences,' she said. 'It's more important to get them home than worrying about what's going to happen next. That's the number one thing.'
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Two teenage girls from Shellsburg and two teenage boys from Atlantic went missing Saturday in what police said may have been a plotted escape.
Crystal Sunderman, the mother of missing 16-year-old Corey Sunderman, said she believes her son met his girlfriend Jazlyn Visek, 15, through Xbox's online gaming system and planned to run away with her and two other teens.
'I don't let him have a Facebook account because I don't want him meeting people online,' Crystal Sunderman said. 'I didn't realize they could do so much on Xbox.'
Corey Sunderman and Austin Boggs, 13, disappeared early Saturday morning after a run-in with police the night before. Later that same day, Visek and Skie Floyd, 15, also disappeared.
Late Friday night, the boys snuck out of Corey's home to go skateboarding and were caught by the cops for violating curfew. After police brought the boys back to the Sundermans' home, Crystal Sunderman tried to make sure the teens wouldn't run out again.
'This is going to sound really stupid, but I took all the shoes downstairs and put them in a bag and took them up to my room, thinking if I had the boys' shoes, they couldn't go out and go skateboarding again,' she said.
The boys found alternate boots in the garage and went a step further -- they ran away, she said.
When Corey's father Tony woke for work the next morning, he realized not only were the boys missing, but so were Crystal Sunderman's laptop and $400 from Tony Sunderman's newly-cashed check.
Also missing was a 1997 gold Jeep Cherokee Tony Sunderman had brought home from his iron and metal recycling job. The license-less vehicle was spotted nearly four hours away in Benton County at around 10 a.m. Saturday, the same county the missing Iowa girls call home.
Sheriff Randall Forsyth of Benton County said two boys driving a gold Jeep were spotted at a local shop Saturday morning, where they stopped to make a phone call. A man at the store let them, but only on the condition that they used a speakerphone.
'The conversation was something to the effect of, 'Don't pick us up at our house. Pick us up at the Quick Stop,'' Forsyth said.
At around 11:30 a.m., the missing Iowa girls told one of their mothers they were going to walk around a cemetery. At 3 p.m., they again spoke with one of their parents and said they were headed home.
The Jeep was spotted in Shellsburg shortly after dinner a block away from the Quick Stop, Forsyth said.
Parents and police have not heard from the four teens since.
This is not Corey Sunderman's first disappearance from home. He's left twice before, though he always returned and has never had any legal trouble, his mother said.
His most recent run this past summer, Crystal Sunderman said, also involved a girl he met on Xbox.
'He's got contacts in Pennsylvania, in Washington, in all these places,' Crystal Sunderland said. 'I mean, it's just like are you kidding me?'
However, since the teens' disappearance, they've had no communication police could trace.
Police and parents are speaking with students at each of the missing teens' schools. From those conversations, they've gleaned potential leads to the kids' whereabouts, which may include a Florida skateboarding park.
Wherever the teens have headed, it does not appear they brought a lot.
'One of the things that's a little out of the ordinary for a normal runaway is Skie did not take anything with her other than her cell phone,' Forsyth said, leading police to believe the girls did not expect to be gone for long.
'It's been long enough, and nobody's heard from these kids,' Forsyth said. 'We're not sure what the situation is.'
Crystal Sunderman said she is grateful for extensive help from the Benton County Sheriff's Office, but said she still fears the possibility of never seeing her son again.
'The most important thing of all is that wherever our kids are, whatever they're doing, if any one of them decides they've had enough, that this isn't as exciting as they thought, that they want to come home, as their parents we will do anything to get them home,' she said.
'We'll protect them as much as we can from any consequences,' she said. 'It's more important to get them home than worrying about what's going to happen next. That's the number one thing.'
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This news article is brought to you by CELEBRITY GOSSIP NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
Microsoft takes aim at Pandora and Spotify with launch of streaming Xbox Music service [video]
Microsoft's (MSFT) long-awaited Xbox Music service officially goes live for the Xbox 360 on October 16th. Stacked with 30 million songs, Xbox Music "combines the best aspects of free-streaming radio, music subscription services and music purchasing options," says Yusuf Medhi, Microsoft's corporate vice president of Interactive Entertainment Business Marketing and Strategy. Xbox Music isn't gunning only for iTunes, it's hoping to be the consumer's one-stop shop for all their music needs. Simply put: Xbox Music wants to kill Spotify, Pandora, Rdio and any other music service in its quest to stop "service hopping."
There will be two versions of Xbox Music: a free version that will provide unlimited music streaming to Windows 8-based tablets and PC and a $9.99 per month Xbox Music Pass subscription that lets users use Xbox Music on their smartphones and Xbox 360, download songs and gain access to tens of thousands of music videos on Xbox 360.
At the moment, Xbox Music is only live on the Xbox 360, it will come pre-installed on Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8. Xbox Music will not be made available for Windows Phone 7 or Windows 7. Microsoft also says that Xbox Music will also "eventually be available on platforms such as Android and iOS."
Microsoft's press release and demo video follows below.
There will be two versions of Xbox Music: a free version that will provide unlimited music streaming to Windows 8-based tablets and PC and a $9.99 per month Xbox Music Pass subscription that lets users use Xbox Music on their smartphones and Xbox 360, download songs and gain access to tens of thousands of music videos on Xbox 360.
At the moment, Xbox Music is only live on the Xbox 360, it will come pre-installed on Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8. Xbox Music will not be made available for Windows Phone 7 or Windows 7. Microsoft also says that Xbox Music will also "eventually be available on platforms such as Android and iOS."
Microsoft's press release and demo video follows below.
Introducing Xbox Music: The Ultimate All-in-One Music Service Featuring Free Streaming on Windows 8 and Windows RT Tablets and PCs
Oct. 14, 2012
Enjoy your favorite music from a 30 million-song global catalog powered by the one service that integrates your music experiences across your tablet, PC, phone and TV. All the music you love, every way you want it.
REDMOND, Wash. - Oct. 14, 2012 - Today, people need to use multiple music services to get exactly what they want. There are download-to-own music services, Internet radio services and subscription services that allow you to consume all the music you want. But, as more music services have emerged, it's become harder than ever to enjoy the music you want - and to experience it the way you want it, on any device. Whether it's music you've purchased on your smartphone, a music app on your tablet, listening to songs through the living room TV or turning to Internet radio on your PC at work, the music you love is scattered across different services. Enjoying music today requires too much work.
To solve this problem, Microsoft Corp. is introducing Xbox Music, the first all-in-one music service that gives you the freedom to stream custom-created playlists for free, subscribe to all the music you want or download-to-own your favorite songs. Through the power of the cloud, it effortlessly integrates the music experience across your tablet, PC, phone and TV.1 With more than 30 million songs in the global catalog, Xbox Music begins rolling out around the world tomorrow on Xbox 360 and later this month on Windows 8 and Windows RT PCs and tablets and on mobile phones, starting with Windows Phone 8 at launch and additional platforms later.
"The launch of Xbox Music is a milestone in simplifying digital music on every type of device and on a global scale," said Don Mattrick, president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. "We're breaking down the walls that fracture your music experiences today to ensure that music is better and integrated across the screens that you care about most - your tablet, PC, phone and TV." 1
All the Music You Love, Every Way You Want It
Today, music is hard to manage, and no one has mastered ubiquity or created a service that works together to make music easy for the user. Xbox Music makes music simple by offering immediate and comprehensive discovery across the different types of devices you own, free streaming1 music on Windows 8 and Windows RT tablets and PCs, the ability to purchase songs and albums, a compelling music subscription, and artist-based radio. The all-in-one Xbox Music service includes the following:
Xbox Music isn't just a listening experience that shows your tracks in spreadsheets and lists. Taking full advantage of every screen on which you enjoy music, Xbox Music elevates your music experiences with striking visuals. As you listen on your tablet, PC, phone or TV,1 your screen comes to life with artist photos, bios, cover art and discography.
- Free streaming1 music on Windows 8 and Windows RT. Enjoy on-demand access to tens of millions of songs for free on all Windows 8 and Windows RT tablets and PCs. Discovering and enjoying free music on Windows 8 and Windows RT is as easy as typing an artist or song name and hitting "play" - songs are instantly available to stream and for you to create an unlimited amount of playlists.
- Xbox Music Pass. Want unlimited access to the songs and artists you care about, including offline access? Get an Xbox Music Pass for ad-free, unlimited playback of any track in our subscription catalog across your tablet, PC, phone and Xbox 3601 for US$9.99 per month.2 Xbox Music Pass also unlocks unlimited access to tens of thousands of music videos on your Xbox 360.
- Xbox Music Store. Want to own the music you love? The Xbox Music Store is a comprehensive MP3 marketplace giving you the opportunity to purchase a single track or entire album on your Windows 8 or Windows RT tablet or PC and Windows Phone 8.
- Smart DJ. Creating a new form of artist-based radio, the Smart DJ feature is a quick and dynamic way to personalize your collection, discover new favorites and create ultimate playlists by launching instant mixes based on your favorite artists. With unlimited skips and a view of the full recommended music stream, Smart DJ puts you in control of your Internet radio experience.
- Cloud Storage. Available in the coming year, a scan-and-match feature will take you beyond the 30 million tracks globally offered through Xbox Music. It will add all the music you own to your Xbox Music cloud catalog, including music acquired through other services. This means you can add almost any content you have to your personal Xbox Music collection, even if it's not available in the Xbox Music catalog.
- Social Music. Xbox Music will add unique social features in the coming year that let you share your music experiences with friends and family.
- Platform Expansion. Xbox Music will become available on other platforms in the coming year.
Cloud Powered
The ubiquity of Xbox Music is powered by the cloud. Whether it's free streaming2 on Windows 8 and Windows RT, a subscription on Windows Phone 8 or tuning into a playlist on Xbox 360 - each experience is cloud-based for immediate access to your entire catalog, making music management simple. With the cloud sync feature, your favorite playlists are no longer held captive by the individual device on which they live. For Xbox Music Pass subscribers, you can create the perfect playlist on your Windows 8 or Windows RT tablet and see it automatically appear on your Xbox 360 or Windows Phone 8.
Music Heard Around the World
Xbox Music launches with a global catalog on par with iTunes, offering 30 million tracks from some of the leading music labels around the world. It will be available on all Windows 8 and Windows RT tablets and PCs and on Windows Phone 8 smartphones, and it will be part of the 2012 console update for Xbox 360. Free streaming1 on Windows 8 and Windows RT tablets and PCs launches Oct. 26 in 15 markets worldwide. Xbox Music Pass will be available for Windows 8, Windows RT and Windows Phone 8 in 22 markets worldwide; it will begin rolling out tomorrow on Xbox 360 in the same markets. Xbox Music Store will also be accessible on Windows 8, Windows RT and Windows Phone 8 in 22 markets worldwide as devices become available. Microsoft will continue introducing Xbox Music in new regions around the world throughout the coming year.
About Xbox
Xbox is Microsoft's premier entertainment service for the TV, phone, PC and tablet. It's home to the best and broadest games, as well as one of the world's largest libraries of music, movies, TV and sports. With Kinect, Xbox 360 transformed gaming and entertainment in the living room with a whole new way to play games and find entertainment - no controller required. More information about Xbox can be found online at http://www.xbox.com.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
The information contained in this press release relates to a pre-release software product that may be substantially modified before its first commercial release. Accordingly, the information may not accurately describe or reflect the software product when first commercially released. The press release is provided for informational purposes only, and Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, with respect to the press release or the information contained in it.
1 Limited hours of free streaming after 6 months; unlimited with paid subscription. Compatible devices and Internet required; ISP fees apply. On TV, Xbox Music is streaming only and requires an Xbox 360 console and additional subscriptions (each sold separately). Some Xbox Music content may not be available via Xbox Music Pass and may vary over time and by region. See xbox.com/music.
2 Estimated retail prices. Actual retail prices may vary. Pricing will vary by region.
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This news article is brought to you by MOVIE GOSSIP NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
Pandora shares dip as Microsoft unveils Xbox Music
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Shares of Internet radio company Pandora Media Inc. fell Monday on worries about increasing competition after Microsoft announced that it would roll out a new music service.
THE SPARK: Microsoft Corp.'s new Xbox Music is a free music streaming service as well as a subscription music plan similar to Spotify and Rhapsody. It will also sell songs and albums a la carte like Apple Inc.'s iTunes.
The service begins rolling out to some 66 million Xbox users worldwide starting Tuesday. It will cost $10 a month on the Xbox and on phones.
A free version of the service accompanied by some ads will be available on PCs running the new Windows 8 operating system and tablets running Windows RT when those systems debut Oct. 26. Included in the service is a 'Smart DJ' that plays randomized songs along different genres or similar artists.
THE BIG PICTURE: Pandora is the nation's largest free online radio streaming service. Its business model is based on paying royalty fees to artists and their record labels, then generating revenue from advertising. It also makes a relatively small amount of money from subscribers who pay $36 a year to listen to streams without ads. Since its initial public offering of stock in June 2011, it has not posted a quarterly profit.
THE ANALYSIS: Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said another competitor in the realm of free online music streaming could hurt Pandora. Shares of the company were also hit when rumors of Apple Inc.'s upcoming radio service were reported.
'Pandora always gets hit when others compete,' Pachter said.
Microsoft is the latest entrant into a radio streaming service, following Clear Channel, which offers a similar service to Pandora with its iHeart Radio app, and Spotify, which offers free music streaming from a PC. Within subscription music services, all offer the ability to play randomized songs along certain genres without requiring the user to do anything. Many have much larger repertoires than Pandora.
SHARE ACTION: Pandora shares fell 30 cents, or 3.2 percent, to $9.10 in midday trading Monday. That's down from its IPO price of $16. In the last 52 weeks, shares of the Oakland, Calif., company have traded in a range between $7.83 and $15.97.
This news article is brought to you by SAVING MONEY BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.
THE SPARK: Microsoft Corp.'s new Xbox Music is a free music streaming service as well as a subscription music plan similar to Spotify and Rhapsody. It will also sell songs and albums a la carte like Apple Inc.'s iTunes.
The service begins rolling out to some 66 million Xbox users worldwide starting Tuesday. It will cost $10 a month on the Xbox and on phones.
A free version of the service accompanied by some ads will be available on PCs running the new Windows 8 operating system and tablets running Windows RT when those systems debut Oct. 26. Included in the service is a 'Smart DJ' that plays randomized songs along different genres or similar artists.
THE BIG PICTURE: Pandora is the nation's largest free online radio streaming service. Its business model is based on paying royalty fees to artists and their record labels, then generating revenue from advertising. It also makes a relatively small amount of money from subscribers who pay $36 a year to listen to streams without ads. Since its initial public offering of stock in June 2011, it has not posted a quarterly profit.
THE ANALYSIS: Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said another competitor in the realm of free online music streaming could hurt Pandora. Shares of the company were also hit when rumors of Apple Inc.'s upcoming radio service were reported.
'Pandora always gets hit when others compete,' Pachter said.
Microsoft is the latest entrant into a radio streaming service, following Clear Channel, which offers a similar service to Pandora with its iHeart Radio app, and Spotify, which offers free music streaming from a PC. Within subscription music services, all offer the ability to play randomized songs along certain genres without requiring the user to do anything. Many have much larger repertoires than Pandora.
SHARE ACTION: Pandora shares fell 30 cents, or 3.2 percent, to $9.10 in midday trading Monday. That's down from its IPO price of $16. In the last 52 weeks, shares of the Oakland, Calif., company have traded in a range between $7.83 and $15.97.
This news article is brought to you by SAVING MONEY BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.
Nintendo cuts price of Wii ahead of Wii U launch
NEW YORK (AP) - Nintendo Co. is dropping the price of its 6-year-old Wii gaming console ahead of the launch of its successor, the Wii U.
Nintendo said Monday that the Wii will cost $130 in the U.S., down from $150.
The Wii U game machine goes on sale in the U.S. on Nov. 18, starting at $300. It includes Nintendo TVii, which lets people who pay for other services, like cable TV and Netflix, watch movies, TV shows and sports through the Wii U.
The original Wii cost $250 when it launched in 2006.
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Nintendo said Monday that the Wii will cost $130 in the U.S., down from $150.
The Wii U game machine goes on sale in the U.S. on Nov. 18, starting at $300. It includes Nintendo TVii, which lets people who pay for other services, like cable TV and Netflix, watch movies, TV shows and sports through the Wii U.
The original Wii cost $250 when it launched in 2006.
This article is brought to you by COMPUTERS.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Xbox Music to offer on-demand music free on tablet
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Buyers of tablets that run Microsoft's newest operating system, Windows 8, are in for a pleasant musical surprise.
They'll be able to pick from millions of songs and stream them for free as long as they put up with an audio ad every 15 minutes.
The new feature, called Xbox Music, is not on offer anywhere else at the moment.
Sweden's Spotify, for instance, allows free on-demand music on PCs but not tablets. That requires a $10 a month subscription.
Although it marks a step forward for the music industry, its appeal is limited by the expense of most mobile data plans. The free version of Xbox Music won't let you download songs and save them for offline playback. That requires paying $10 a month.
This news article is brought to you by CELEBRITY MUSIC NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
They'll be able to pick from millions of songs and stream them for free as long as they put up with an audio ad every 15 minutes.
The new feature, called Xbox Music, is not on offer anywhere else at the moment.
Sweden's Spotify, for instance, allows free on-demand music on PCs but not tablets. That requires a $10 a month subscription.
Although it marks a step forward for the music industry, its appeal is limited by the expense of most mobile data plans. The free version of Xbox Music won't let you download songs and save them for offline playback. That requires paying $10 a month.
This news article is brought to you by CELEBRITY MUSIC NEWS - where latest news are our top priority.
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