Friday, 31 May 2013
Rewards for watching TV?
Is this another way to get people to feel rewarded for using
one of Microsoft’s products?
http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/05/28/microsoft-patent-hints-at-achievements-for-watching-tv
A recent patent application has shown that Microsoft intent
to have an achievement scheme set up for their customers who watch TV on their
Xbox Live account. Microsoft has since the launch of the Xbox 360 had an achievement
system which enabled players to share goals and objectives they have completed
in certain games.
According to a patent, filed by Microsoft in 2011, it would
seem that Microsoft are looking to also want to reward their customers through
a TV ecosystem. “Television viewing tends to be a passive experience for a
viewer, without many opportunities for the viewer to engage or have interactive
experiences with the presented content, the patent states. “To increase
interactive viewing and encourage a user to watch one or more particular items
of video content, awards and achievements may be tired to those items of video content.
Producers, distributors, and advertisers of the video content may set viewing goals
and award a viewer who has reached the goals”.
This method could become a great way for 3rd
party advertisers to gain more awareness for their product. The Patent also
notes that “additionally, by trying the awards and achievements to particular
items of video or advertising content, viewer may be encourage to increase
their viewer ship of the content, thus increasing advertising opportunities.
There is no confirmation as to what the achievement rewards
the consumer, “an award may be a virtual award, such as an addition to a viewer
score or an update to an avatar associated with the viewer” as well as “coupons
for an advertised product or service, or an actual product”
I believe this is a great idea for companies trying to
advertise their products as it also gives a reason for people to want to watch
it as they will get rewarded for doing it as well as find a better attraction
towards the product or service being advertised. As for being a set achievement
though for gamers, I don’t like the idea that Television is going to become a
big part in gamer’s way of achievements where people can show of their rewards
in a gaming community due to watching TV. I’m sure more will be revealed shortly
and will receive more positive feedback from the public.
http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/05/28/microsoft-patent-hints-at-achievements-for-watching-tv
So who watched the announcement event?
It’s been a week since the announcement, but who watched it?
Microsoft has reported that they reached a record-breaking
viewership for the recent event for the "Reveal of Xbox One". The
reports show that a total of 8.45 million people had watch the event within the
first 24hrs of been announced, this now making it one of the top-most
concurrent streamed events of all time.
According to Xbox.com, they claimed that it was the highest
amount of concurrent viewers they have ever had. They shared with us "with
almost three times as many people watching the livestream at the same time,
versus any other major event in Xbox.com history"
At this time Microsoft reported that its streaming partner
"Akamai" said the event “was among the most watched live
broadcasts delivered by Akamai in their history, nearly doubling peak traffic
records and eclipsing concurrent viewership high-water marks set by events such
as the 2010 World Cup, Royal Wedding in 2011, and 2012 election night.”
Recapping over the event and what they tried to achieve in
the sense of awareness seemed to be a great achievement. They hit an amazing
amount of viewers, even though the presentation of the event wasn't as good as
I believe they wanted it to be, they have clearly made there stand. This is a
very good move for them in the marketing area and with definitely makes an
impact on their product once it’s released.
Wednesday, 22 May 2013
What will we find at E3
Sony had one of the worst known starts to launching the PS3
with many problems and lack of features. After the PS4 announcement Sony seem
to have learnt their lesson and also seemed to have focused on their gamer’s
feedback to create the best system. In this process I can see that they have
won over gamers from the Xbox
E3 is only less than 3 weeks away and after what we have
seen from Microsoft they need to step it up if they want to be at the top of their
market. What they have given us so far is an entertainment system which they
have made out so far to focus on TV and its features more than gaming.
There have been fair points made; in which E3 is a gaming
convention where showing of TV features wouldn’t go down well. Was this the
plan for Xbox One, to get the console out there and demonstrated its non-gaming
features and steal the show at E3 with just the future of gaming on Xbox One?
My predictions at E3 from Xbox One:
- They will show/announce all 15 exclusive games for the Xbox One
- The console will be a world wide release (available to everyone on the same day)
- It will be available to purchase this November 2013
- More than 4 players will be able to play on the same console at once
- Xbox Live subscription will continue
- Additional payments will be required to access TV content and not be part of the Xbox Live Subscription
- Forza 5, Call of Duty, Fifa 14, Alan wake 2 and a new Fable will be available at launch
- The Console will cost around £400 at release
E3 will take place from June 10th in Los Angeles
where we will find out everything we need to know about the next generation of
gaming.
The Xbox next gen announcement event
It is finally here and now we have “some” of our questions answered!
“This is it, Xbox One”- Don Mattrick
The event is Live and exclusive to Microsoft’s customers, taking place on the current Xbox 360 all around the world.
The event opened up with the President of the interactive entertainment business at Microsoft, Don Mattrick. He talked in general about how they are focusing on creating the best entertainment experience for their customers. After 5 minutes of building up what team Xbox are trying to achieve and a brief talk of the near future, said what we had all been waiting for “Introducing Xbox One”.
As the event continued they showed of some of their biggest features on the new console, yet it was all about TV and how the user can now take on a new level of entertainment. They showed how “Kinect” will be and is the key to maximise the Xbox One user experience. The Kinect now has more control over the console than ever before, allowing the user to be able to watch TV without using a control. Not only that, but the use of answering Skype calls and gain access to other apps and features and be able to use them such as Xbox Snap. The Kinect though will be required in order to use the Xbox One.
Technology, Microsoft took their time to give us the true power inside that box. The Xbox One specs feature:
- 8 Core CPU
- 8 GB system memory (DDR3)
- 500 GB HDD
- Blu-ray Drive
- 802.11n Wireless with Wi-Fi Direct
- HDMI In/Out
- USB 3.0
Microsoft after this passed on the stage to two of the biggest gaming companies, EA and Activation (Infinity Ward). Each went on how they Microsoft share the same interest as they do and each offered exclusive content to Microsoft. EA offered “ultimate team” for FIFA14 on Xbox One as an Exclusive while Activision are giving Xbox One early DLC (Downloadable content) to the Next Call of Duty: Ghosts.
The whole experience of seeing the future of gaming has been incredible. After the event and knowing there is a lot more to come, mainly from E3 (June 10th) I believe the next generation of consoles will be a leap in entertainment.
The Kinect itself to me is a price of equipment I wish never to use when it comes down to gaming. The idea in using it as a home entertainment system in the case of accessing TV I believe is a great feature. I never enjoyed the Kinect on the 360 and know many people would agree, it’s still hard to judge the new Kinect as we have had minimal viewing of its potential changes to gaming.
Overall with Sony having recently giving there console announcement of the PS4, I believe Microsoft had to show the console and features in order to gain back there customers attention and prove to them that they will be better then there competition.
E3 is only less than 3 weeks away and that is when we will truly decide which console to buy.
MS points gone
It’s been rumoured before and now once again it has flagged
up to sounding more legit. It would seem Microsoft is looking to replace their
point purchasing system to using current currency. Payments would now be
completed using either a credit, debit and/or gift card in the future.
Microsoft still haven’t confirmed this nor had mention the
change, yet with E3 coming up really close now all our questions will shortly
be answered.
Changing the point system into the currency we use now I believe
is not the best idea, coming from a marketing opinion, the idea of points being
a higher amount compared to the currency we use today is why people purchase
certain content. With a game for example being valued at 1,600pts, by changing this
to £12 sounds and looks more even though this is an equal value. Points hide the
secret value and helps motivate peoples decisions into buying a product or not.
I would of liked to keep the point system as I have used it for a long time now
yet it won’t make a drastic difference changing it.
XBOX E3 Appearance confirmed
We all knew Microsoft was going to make an appearance and it
has now been confirmed. E3 and Microsoft shared with us their appearance as
well as time of their presentation. Microsoft has made appearances for a long
time now at E3 which is known to be the biggest gaming event of all time. We
will see as we do each year, Microsoft’ news exclusive games and new features.
We can also be 99.999% sure we will see the console shown at E3 especially
after the announcement for their pre-E3 reveal event.
In an interview with GameSpot Asia, Microsoft Game Studios
Corporate Vice President Phil Spencer revealed that existing Xbox 360 hardware
will continue to be supported, even as the Xbox One now grabs the spotlight.
"I think the [Xbox 360] is going to be very vibrant for
many years," Spencer elaborated.
To make his point, Spencer claims the upcoming E3 2013 will be worth the
wait for
Xbox 360 owners.
"We have a huge, I think it's huge, [Xbox 360]
announcement for E3 that I keep wanting to talk about, but I can't,"
Spencer teased.
Microsoft – Monday, June 10th @ 9:30AM PT
EA – Monday, June 10th @1PM PT
Ubisoft – Monday, June 10th @3PM PT
Sony- Monday, June 10th @ 3PM PT
Nintendo – Canceled
EA – Monday, June 10th @1PM PT
Ubisoft – Monday, June 10th @3PM PT
Sony- Monday, June 10th @ 3PM PT
Nintendo – Canceled
I know that this year at E3 that Microsoft will give a great performance for Xbox gamers and their future. The confirmation is no surprise and to many of us just a reminder on what day and time we will see XBOX give us a sneak peak at what is coming up soon.
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