Ouya! to Arrive on Time

Hey Guys,

I'm in IT and I've got no work to do so I have time on here.

If you can remember, I wrote an article about the andorid based video games console, Ouya. The firm behind it have announced that it will be released on time! It should be out for the 28th! after Christmas but still awesome!!

The project started in July this year and has had a kickstarter page since then. The have successfully managed to raise $8,596,474 with 63,416 backers! Since the console is powered by Android, it will also run all the programs and applications a tablet or smartphone can, but even better. It already has its own line up of games!! The have also revealed it will run on JellyBean!!
The special thing about Ouya! is that it comes with a development kit to create your own games, also known as the ODK. They will also have a game hub set up where everyone who wants to share their games can do so on a massive comimunity.

Backers who threw in a pledge of more than $699 (£437) get access to the first-round of Ouya shipments so they can be first to have a play with the ODK. They also get an extra help advertising their games for a year, and a founder emblem to mark their game!

I am looking forward to this is it will only cost about £60! To read my original post click here!

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Archos GamePad: the Handheld Android Game Console

Hey Guys,

The Archos Gamepad, an the second android based console. And  ideal Christmas present for only £129.98

Unlike the Xperia Play, the Archos Gamepad is a tablet and has only just been released. So it would be unfair to compare the two.

The GamePad aims to bring classic control systems to modern mobile gaming rather than a touch screen. This bad boy has a 7-inch 1024 x 600 (169.55 PPI") five-point capacitive screen to work with its 16 physical buttons and dual analogue sticks. You can also get up to 9 hours of battery life, about average for a 7-inch tablet.

The Archos GamePad is as much a tablet as a gaming device. It runs Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) for tablets, it therefore includes all the improvements that came with the Jelly Bean update, including even smoother interface animations, voice assistant and Google Now that shows you the right information at the right time.

Since there will be a requirement for 3D games, a powerful graphics card and processor is necessary, the Archos GamePad uses a super-powerful quad-core Mali-400 MP4 GPU and a 1.6GHz Dual Core CPU. More than enough power for even the most graphically stunning 3D games and casual browsing.

Coming with 8GB of internal memory, the Archos GamePad can accept micro-SD cards of up to 64 GB. The ARCHOS GamePad also has a mini-HDMI port so you can plug it into your TV and enjoy your games up on the big screen. Sounds a bit like Wii U.

Strangely, the UK is the only place to be getting it at the moment. The United States will have to wait a year.

This is a much better alternative to the crappy iPad Mini, with the Android OS, the graphics, the gaming standards. Great! If you still want to find out more visit the Archos website or read the Tech Specs Below!

Tech Specs

Display	• 7’’: 1024x600 capacitive 5 points multitouch screen
Application Framework	• Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
Processor	• ARM CORTEXTM dual-core A9 @ 1.6GHz • GPU quad-core Mali 400 MP • 3D OpenGL (ES 2.0)
Capacity	• Flash Memory: 8GB* + microSD Slot (SDHC compatible up to 32GB)
RAM	• 1GB RAM
Video playback1	• H.264 HD (up to 1080p@30 fps) • MPEG-42 HD (up to 1080p@30 fps) • With the above codecs, the device can play video files with the following extensions: AVI, MP4, MOV, 3GP, MPG, PS, TS, MKV, FLV
Audio Playback1	• MP3 • WAV (PCM/ADPCM) • AAC3, AAC+ 5.13 • OGG Vorbis • FLAC
Photo viewer4	• JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF
Webcam	• Front camera
Interfaces	• USB 2.0: Mobile Transfer Protocol (MTP) • microSD (SDHC compatible) • mini HDMI output6(Mini HDMI / HDMI cable sold separately)
Wireless technologies	• Wi-Fi
Miscellaneous	• Built-in speaker • G-sensor • Built-in Microphone
Power source	• Internal: Lithium Polymer battery • External: Power adapter/charger
Dimensions & weight	• 229.8 x 118.7mm x 15.4mm (9’’x 4.6’’x 0.6’’) • 330g (11.6 oz)
Software update	• Updates can be downloaded at www.archos.com
Minimum system requirements	• Microsoft® Windows® 7, Vista, XP, or higher and Windows Media Player 11 • Mac OS. X with Transfer Files application (not included) • Linux with android MTP tool (not included) • USB 2.0 interface

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Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition Update

Hey Guys!


As you will most likely know, Mojang recently released Minecraft for Xbox 360. The one time I had played it at a friends house, I really struggled. There was poor lighting, poor mob AI and default skins.

Well, an update has just come out for and it has many features and fixes listed below!

Features:-

- Added Pistons & Sticky Pistons.
- Added Stackable fences.
- Added Shears – required to get wool from sheep, and to collect leaf blocks.
- TNT needs Flint and Steel or Redstone to detonate.
- Redstone wire will now connect to a repeater.
- New textures for Cobblestone and Brick.
- Added Character Skin Selector to allow players to choose their skin from the default skins, or from Downloadable Content skin packs.
- Added lighting improvements (brought forward from 1.8.2 update) and snow & rain improvements.
- Added a save file cache to improve the speed of displaying the saves list.
- Added ban list functionality to allow players to self-ban from levels they feel contain offensive content.
- Added a ban list section to the How To Play menus.
- Added an option for the host to limit online games to only players in their friends list (no friends of friends).
- Added a seed display to the level load screen (requires existing levels to be saved out again to add the display).
- Changed the tooltip display setting to in-game tooltip display, so that tooltips always display in menus.
- Added the crosshair to the list of things affected by the opacity slider.
- On using the quickselect bar, the opacity of the quickselect, tooltips, splitscreen gamertag display, and crosshair will be set to 80,
and will fade back down to the user opacity setting after 6 seconds of no quickselect bar use.
- Added some more Tips & Trivia to the loading/saving screen display.
Tutorial World changes & additions:-

- Added optional tutorial for Pistons and Redstone.
- Added a self-building bridge to the castle using Pistons.
- Added some sugar cane, cactii and clay to the world.
- Added a few other things for players to discover.

Fixes:-

- Fix for only the host being shown the pop-up when any player attempts to place lava near the spawn point.
- Fixed tooltip for Flint and Steel.
- Fix for Note blocks not showing notes.
- Fix for Leaderboard reads taking too long.
- Fix to block players re-entering a level they have been kicked from, until the level is restarted.
- Fix to stop players being able to join a game when they are not a friend of any player in the game.
- Fix for Netherracks re-appearing after being mined.
- Fix for a rare crash on entering the Nether.
- Fix for attacking enemies at a different level not damaging them.
- Fixed a problem causing some save games not to load.
- Removed Herobrine.

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Ouya Android Console Unveiled

Hey Guys,


I have been taking a break from blogging recently but my friend told me about this android console so I did my research and here is the latest on it.


So as the title give away, news has been released on an android gaming console to be named "Ouya". I have no idea where the strange name came from but it's quite catchy and easy to remember.

According to a range of sources it runs on Android and only cost $99 or in people speak, £60!! This is some cheap ass console and the company insists it will be a next level console. I have high douubs on how many hardcore gamers will ditch their Xbox's or PS3's for a droid console. My thoughts are that the games will consist of small casual games such as Minecraft.

The Ouya has specs that are on par with high-end Android phones and tablets, including a quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of storage. It outputs 1080p video through an HDMI slot, uses Bluetooth 4.0 and USB 2.0 for connecting external devices and includes a wireless controller. All sounds very nice, but for £60 it can't be as amazing as the features suggest.


To raise money for a March 13 launch, Ouya has turned to crowd-funding site Kickstarter, where the company is taking pre-orders and other donations. Ouya hopes to raise $950,000 through the site and I give them full support. I'd love to see Google software made for my TV screen at a low price!

Unfortunately, not all games that you play on your phone will be compatible on the big screen. There will be different resolutions and the controller will have a joystick!

Ouya wants to lower the barrier for game development compared to traditional game consoles, so there are no licensing fees, and every console will include a software development kit. There's just one big rule that all developers must follow: All games must have a free-to-play element, whether it's a timed trial, a feature-locked demo or a complete experience filled with microtransactions, so no expensive games to have to waste too much money on.

We don't have any knowledge on when it will be released or a list of games but I really am looking forward to it, for once there will be tech I can afford. It's just a shame getting a TV for that price may be a different story.

So guys, what do you think? Is it worth a buy? Will you be making games? Do you think it will sell? Will Apple, Microsoft and Sony make their console's cheaper and more available to casual; gamers? Leave a comment below!

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