Knowledge's Blog

Market niches become filled after awhile. And when they do anxious manufacturers, hoping to wring a few more dollars out of their product, will look to expand their usability. Gaming consoles, while widely used, are still a niche product–they appeal to people who want to game. Once gamers have had their fill, what’s Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony to do? Teach their consoles a new trick is what. Make them devices that are equally at home with fraggers and media viewers by broadening their ability to stream media from the Internet.

True enough, Xbox, PlayStation, and the Wii already have such capabilities. But their repertoire is limited. What’s needed is a broader selection of media content, so that more people will be inclined to purchase. PlayStation users, for example, can watch the BBC and Weather Channel, while Xbox and Wii users can tap into Netflix. But what about regular TV? There the options are more limited.

Microsoft is hoping to rectify this. It’s now in ‘secret’ negotiations with Disney to bring ESPN to the Xbox. Microsoft is taking the view that Xbox Live is more than a gaming community. It’s also a cable channel, with 20 million monthly subscribers, and 1 million daily users. (Numbers comparable to the Cartoon Network and TBS.) Microsoft already has an interactive game show, “1 vs. 100”. And it is looking to make itself a “bigger player” in film and television viewing.

There’s a definite logic to such moves by console makers. There are a lot more of us who watch TV than game. And gaming consoles, already present in many households, are reasonable platforms for streaming media from the Internet. But what happens if this new market focus supplants gaming? Right now console gamers are getting a lot of TLC from console makers. Should they no longer be the industry’s ‘golden child’, will console gamers be orphaned in favor of soap operas and reality TV?

Just three short years after the CES 2007 announcement that Microsoft’s Mediaroom software would turn your Xbox 360 into an IPTV set-top box, Microsoft is finally ready to deliver on that promise (and no, the 2008 BT rollout doesn’t count). “I’m happy to announce that later this year AT&T will also enable subscribers to U-verse to enjoy [the new Mediaroom 2.0] service on their Xbox 360 consoles,” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told his keynote audience. This was in addition to U-verse support for Windows 7 and Windows Mobile, though the details on all three platforms end there.

We’ll be digging for more details at CES this week, but this is certainly promising news for the country’s 2 million U-verse subscribers (and the “more than 20 million living units” that the service is purportedly available in).

According to a press release summing up Microsoft’s CES 2010 keynote that dropped just before Ballmer took the stage, the company will be releasing Project Natal in “holiday season 2010.” We heard earlier today about what year the future controller would be arriving, but now, folks, now we know during which group of months it’ll be arriving at retail.

The release explicitly states that the still-codenamed Natal project is “scheduled to be available in holiday season 2010,” adding that Natal “is only the most recent example of Microsoft’s work creating natural user interfaces.” With any luck, by E3 we’ll have an actual name and maybe even a specific month for when we’ll get to check it out at home! Until then, we’ll have to get by with the inspirational video about Natal’s origins created for today’s release, embedded above.

While Microsoft’s CES announcement that Xbox Live “is now an active community of over 20 million people” is somewhat blunted by Sony’s claim of 38 million PlayStation Network accounts (though if our dozens of collective PSN accounts are any indication, some of us have more than one), Redmond did have some other numbers to share regarding Xbox and Xbox Live during tonight’s CES keynote. First, “Nearly 10 million people have logged into Xbox Live’s nongaming applications” including “Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, Last.fm, Sky, Canal and Zune.” We’ll do the math for you: that’s 50% of the Xbox Live audience, and those are all paying Gold users.

More numbers: “Between Christmas and New Years Day, Xbox Live experienced its busiest week ever, adding a new member every second and a record of more than 2.2 million concurrent members online.” And not a network failure in sight! Congrats, Microsoft! Lastly, “there are now over 39 million Xbox 360 consoles around the world,” “more than 500 million games have been sold” and “$20 billion spent in retail.” Feel free to bookmark this post for frequent consultation in your comment debates.

The Xbox 360 topped Nielsen’s top US game consoles ranked by usage minutes (23.1%), polling slightly ahead of Sony’s PS2 (20.4%) and the Nintendo Wii (19.0%). No, that’s not a typo. I meant to write PlayStation 2. Sony’s PS3? Not on the fact sheet, which either means Nielsen didn’t want to embarrass Sony, or they’ve done the rest of us a disservice by failing to include Sony’s flagship game and Blu-ray box in their breakout.

Gaming remains exceptionally popular, with 73% of US households stating they own a device used specifically for gaming. I’m not sure if “used specifically” means “used exclusively” or not. I use my PC “specifically” for gaming, but also, on occasion, to print documents, read the news, or make Skype calls.

Drilling in a bit, 54% of US households own a video game console or handheld system, and the current (Nielsen says “7th”) generation of game systems, presumably meaning the Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360, penetrate to 41%. I’m not sure how many Xbox’s, PS2s, GameCubes, PSPs, and DS’s are floating around (I’d wager the lion’s share on the DS and PS2–how intrepid of me) but if you place any stock in surveys, 41 of 54 suggests the turnover’s in full swing.

Handheld household penetration is surprisingly low, given Nintendo’s consistent, frequently record-breaking DS sales. 23%, that’s how many households own a “handheld console” (thank you, Nielsen, for acknowledging what others refuse to).

Exploring gender metrics, Nielsen says the percentage of “active” gamers (defined as playing a minimum of an hour a week) that are female is 45%. Drilling on that, you get 49% of Wii owners and 52% of PSP owners that are female. I’m not sure what’s more surprising: That over half of PSP owners aren’t male, or that Nielsen didn’t rank Nintendo’s DS in that latter comparison.

It appears as if the field of  science and technology is the next great battleground for the games console war. Following creative uses for the Xbox 360 and PS3, two scientists have developed new ways to use the Wii’s controller.

Hydrologist Willem Luxemburg and physicist Rolf Hut, both from the Dutch university Delft, showed off their work to the American Geophysical Union this week. Wired magazine reports that they both took advantage of the Wiimote sensor which can detect movement to closer than the nearest millimeter.

Hut created a relatively simple wind sensor: nothing more than a pole with the sensor from the Wiimote at its top. Luxemberg created a solution to a more complex problem: measuring evaporation, which normally requires equipment costing more than $500. To make things even more complex, he tried to find a method of doing so on a large body of water such as a lake.

His solution involves putting a LED on a floating device (a toy boat in the demo) and then pointing the Wiimote at it. The movement of the sensor tells you how high the water level is and thus indicates evaporation. The real beauty of the system is that the remote can take data from up to four LEDs, meaning much more accurate results without drastic increases in costs.

The pair believe that with a longer battery life and a way of storing data locally, the controller could be used for a much wider variety of purposes, particularly if you also make use of the in-built accelerometer.

Earlier this year, medical researchers revealed they are using the graphics chip from an Xbox 360 to investigate a heart condition. The parallel processing capability of the chip makes it ideal for simulating the way electrical signals move around damaged cells. Because the sheer number of cells means the number of possible routes is enormous, a standard computer chip which could only simulate and calculate one route at a time would take too long to make the work viable.

And in late 2008, security researchers used 200 PS3s to prove that the encryption system then used by Verizon, which had originally been thought to be so complex that it was unimaginable a machine could ever crack it, had now been made obsolete by increased computing power.

“Uncharted 2: Among Thieves” has seized a leading eight nominations for this year’s Video Game Awards, Spike TV announced Wednesday.

The action-adventure “Uncharted 2″ is bucking for Game of the Year, as is “Batman: Arkham Asylum,” which logged a total of seven nominations, according to Spike TV, which presents the awards.

Military shooter game “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2″ and zombie thriller “Left 4 Dead 2″ each has landed six nominations, including Game of the Year. “Assassin’s Creed 2″ rounds out the contenders for Game of the Year.

Nominated for Studio of the Year are Infinity Ward, Naughty Dog, Rocksteady Studios and Valve.

Vying for Best Music Game are “DJ Hero,” “Guitar Hero 5,” “LEGO Rock Band” and “The Beatles: Rock Band.”

Bill Murray, Hugh Jackman, Samuel L. Jackson, Shia LaBeouf and Vin Diesel are up for Best Performance by a Human Male, while Eliza Dushku, Kristen Bell, Megan Fox and Tricia Helfer are nominated in the Human Female category.

Nominees for the 2009 VGAs were selected by an advisory council made up of experts in the video game industry. Winners are chosen by that group and by fans, who can cast their votes in 28 categories at VGA.Spike.Com.

The seventh annual Video Game Awards will air on Spike TV at 8 p.m. EST on Dec. 12. Originating from Los Angeles, the two-hour live broadcast will give viewers a sneak peek at “Halo: Reach” with a world-premiere video from the game. A prequel to the “Halo” trilogy, it is scheduled for release in Fall 2010.

(CNN) — UPDATE 2:13 p.m. ET: Facebook also will be accessible through the PlayStation 3 after the console’s next firmware update. According to a posting on the PlayStation blog, PS3 users will have the option of automatically updating Facebook news feeds with trophy and PlayStation store activity. There is no announced date for the firmware release.

In an effort to blur the line between gaming and social networks, owners of Xbox 360s will have the chance to bash zombies and then post Facebook updates about it without leaving their consoles.

Microsoft announced that several social media and audio/video services can be accessed through the Xbox 360, starting today. The new features will be part of an automatic update, so when users turn on their consoles and the update kicks in, all the features will be ready for use. Most of the services are limited to Gold members, but a few are available to Silver members.

Facebook and Twitter have signed up to allow connectivity through Xbox LIVE directly from the console. All current features of the social networks will be available, and gamers will be able to share their favorite gaming moments (in supported games) with their friends.

In addition to watching movies from Netflix, as part of a previous deal, Xbox users also will be able to stream high-definition video through the Zune media player – coincidentally, also made by Microsoft. The Zune Marketplace, which includes the Zune Video player, is available to Silver members.

Also, as of today Last.fm joins with the new Xbox LIVE music channel, allowing for access to streaming music directly from the Xbox 360. The updated music channel lets users listen to personal recommendations from Last.fm’s dedicated menu on the console’s dashboard.

All Xbox users will be able to check out the new features during a “Free Gold Weekend” Friday, November 20 through Monday, November 23. Silver members will be able to try out everything that comes with Gold membership, including Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm.