AMD, the company behind the Xbox 360’s GPU, has said this week that the upcoming next-gen Xbox model will offer graphics on par with those seen in the blockbuster film “Avatar.”
The company says the Xbox will launch with those graphic capabilities, making it much more powerful and advanced than current gaming consoles and PCs, even those with the most expensive video cards.
Director of ISV relationships at AMD Neal Robison would not confirm that the company is working on the hardware for the Xbox, but it would make sense for Microsoft to keep their existing relationships in tact.
Furthermore, Robison says AI in games like Grand Theft Auto will be given individual mentalities, removing them from the unrealistic “mob mentality” of current games.
For example, Robison notes (via Examiner), that in current games, if someone is shot, the entire group around will likely run away and yell in a mob. In the future, each pedestrian will have their own mindset and perform their own action.
Result for: gaming consoles
The RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) have seized 7000 pirated video games from a 35-year old Saskatoon man’s residence and charges are currently pending.
RCMP officials say, if sold authentically, the games would be worth $200,000.
The citizen had his house raided following an investigation “into intellectual property crime offences,” adds the police.
More specifically, the authorities were looking into the sale of gaming consoles that were modded to be able to play pirated games.
The man had been advertising the modded consoles via online ads.
Authorities noted that the plethora of games and consoles including systems from Nintendo, Sony, Sega, and Microsoft.
Result for: gaming consoles
Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE), the syndicate of technology, cable and entertainment companies has introduced their long awaited cloud-based digital locker today, dubbing the service Ultraviolet.
Consumers would create an Ultraviolet account which would allow them to purchase movies, TV shows and music and access it from any web-connected device like HDTVs, Blu-ray players, smartphones, tablets and gaming consoles.
DECE consists of Best Buy, Cisco, Comcast, Cox Communications, Fox Entertainment, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, LG Electronics, Lionsgate, Microsoft, Motorola, NBC Universal, Netflix, Nokia, Panasonic, Paramount Pictures, Philips, Samsung Electronics, Sony, Toshiba, and Warner Bros.
The group expects to launch the service later this year, and any device manufacturer, entertainment producer or other company “that want to offer the UltraViolet service would have to license its technology specifications from the consortium,” says IW.
Licensing requirements will be “as light as possible,” however.
The two notable names missing from the list are Disney (who is creating a rival system; Keychest) and Apple, which already has iTunes as a “digital locker” for content played back on iPods, iPads, and iPhones.
