Technology - Google News

Xbox One And PS4 Don’t Need To Fear Google Stadia, Which Is Mired In Contradictions - Forbes
E3 2019: 8 things to expect from the biggest gaming show - The Verge
Multi-cam support in iOS 13 allows simultaneous video, photo, and audio capture - 9to5Mac

Xbox One And PS4 Don’t Need To Fear Google Stadia, Which Is Mired In Contradictions - Forbes

Posted: 07 Jun 2019 05:17 AM PDT

Yesterday we saw the debut of Stadia Connect, a new livestream from Google meant to emulate its competitors, showing off features and games for its new streaming service that aims to ultimately replace consoles. The idea of Stadia is that its games are hosted on Google's data servers, meaning there's no more need for a physical console, and so long as you have a Stadia controller in hand, you can play AAA games as high as 4K and 60 FPS streaming anywhere with a Chrome browser.

At first blush, it feels like a comet coming to kill the dinosaurs, but when you get deeper into it, it's hard to know how this actually poses a threat to traditional industry staples like Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft, and the entire concept seems lost in contradiction.

With this being the second Stadia event, we have yet to hear of any games launching for Stadia exclusively. While Google is indeed starting to develop its own games in-house, it could take years for those to arrive, and there's absolutely zero guarantee of their quality when they do. So until then, Stadia exists mainly as a peripheral to play third party games wherever, but Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo all will continue to have their lengthy roster of must-have exclusives, while Stadia has few to none. That's not great.

The other problem is deciphering who exactly Stadia is for, something I am not quite clear on across two presentations now. Google seems to be positioning Stadia as something to bring new players, or perhaps casual mobile players, into larger, AAA games. But with 200 million consoles sold every year and untold number of gaming PCs, I'm not the people who aren't currently gaming are refusing to do so simply because they have to own a console that costs a couple hundred bucks. And if you're trying to bring in the mobile crowd, that is not a group that is predisposed to sign up for subscription services or pay for full releases of games, which Stadia demands.

And that's another thing. The obvious comparison here is that Stadia wants to be the "Netflix of gaming" even if it won't say that out loud, but while it's $10 a month subscription will get you access to a library of titles, most new games will still require you to purchase them outright, which goes against the core of a subscription. It's like if Netflix offered you all the content you want from six months ago, but everything released after that you had to buy a-la-carte. Right off the bat, this offers something like Microsoft's Game Pass the ability to eat Stadia's lunch, as it not only has a long list of older games too, but it will be offering all of Microsoft's first party exclusives as part of the pass from day one of their launches.

Then there's the technical side. Google claims that you can run the best quality games at highest settings with just 35 mbps internet, and yet when I think of the places I'd probably be using Stadia the most, hotels, airplanes, my parents' house, I have hunch that performance there is going to be…questionable, at best. And say I start using this as home instead of my current consoles for whatever reason. PC Gamer, running the numbers, says that 65 hours of 4K game streaming a month will use 1 TB of data, blowing past many caps from US ISPs in particular. And I have to believe that if you're technically savvy enough to have high speed internet and ensure you don't have a cap in place with your plan, you're not the kind of gaming newbie that Google seems to believe you are.

Google Stadia seems unlikely to replace current or next gen consoles. The tech is too unproven and the allure of exclusives and stability and not streaming entire terabytes of data per month is going to be too attractive to the current crowd for them to suddenly abandon their consoles or gaming PCs. And I have to imagine there is only a very tiny crowd of non-gamers or mobile-only players where Stadia will produce some sort of light bulb in their mind that suddenly they want to play all these hardcore games because suddenly there's no hardware to buy. I don't think that's as big of an obstacle as Google thinks it is. It's a solution in search of a problem. At best, I can see someone like me, the hardest of hardcore gamers, doing this for a living, picking up Stadia to make sure I can keep playing my console games elsewhere when I'm traveling, provided they all have cross save (which isn't guaranteed).

It will probably be the case that someday, there are no more consoles and all games will be streaming. And I mean, someone has to go first. But there are so many things about Google Stadia that don't seem to fit in the current market, or constantly seem to contradict each other, that I'm not sure how this is going to go. We'll find out later this year, it seems.

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Read my new sci-fi thriller novel Herokiller, available now in print and online. I also wrote The Earthborn Trilogy.

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E3 2019: 8 things to expect from the biggest gaming show - The Verge

Posted: 07 Jun 2019 06:00 AM PDT

For fans looking to hear about the future of games, E3 has always been an exciting week. This year, though, there's a big cloud hanging over the show. Two of the biggest names in the industry aren't holding their usual press conferences; mega publisher Electronic Arts will instead be live streaming news and announcements over the course of a weekend; and Sony isn't just forgoing a keynote, it's skipping E3 altogether. At the same time, the weeks leading up to E3 have been full of major announcements, from the next Call of Duty and a strange array of Pokémon experiences, to long-awaited details on Google's cloud gaming service and a release date for Death Stranding.

It has left some to ponder — and not for the first time — whether E3 is even relevant any more. Should you still be excited?

Well, even without those two big names and their commanding presence, there is still a lot going down in Los Angeles next week. The absence of Sony has left a big opening for Microsoft, while other platform holders like Epic and its fledgling PC games store are looking to make a splash. On top of that, there's the real reason E3 is so fun: the games. We're going to be getting our first real-look at the long-in-development Avengers game, as well as Nintendo's anticipated return to Animal Crossing, the latest Gears of War, and the slick-looking Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order from Respawn.

And that's just the stuff we know about. Ubisoft loves to surprise (multiplayer roller derby, anyone?), and with all of those new studios under its umbrella, Microsoft likely has plenty of new titles to talk about. With the first virtual reality keynote at E3, VR games will have a big presence as well, and there are also existing titles getting ready for big updates: think Apex Legends, Fortnite, and Monster Hunter World.

So yeah, E3 might be missing a few big players, but there's still going to be a lot to take in. Here's what to expect.

First details on the next Xbox

With no PlayStation to compete with, expect a big drop from Microsoft. And what's bigger than a new console? Chances are that the next Xbox won't actually be physically present at the show, and we probably won't see a box or hear a final name, let alone price or release date. But, in the same way Microsoft teased the Xbox One X (then Project Scorpio) at E3 2016, we expect to hear a) confirmation that the new console exists and b) some high-level specs and a broader philosophy. It's the same strategy that Sony has used with the PlayStation 5, slowly dripping details ahead of a big, final reveal that's still to come.

Cloud gaming's buzz keeps growing

The big buzzword at this year's GDC was cloud gaming, primarily because of the unveiling of Google Stadia. That trend continued ahead of E3 when Google detailed the service's launch price and games just yesterday. But Google isn't the only player in this space. Microsoft also has its xCloud platform, which will be a large part of the company's future gaming plans, and should have some sort of presence during the Xbox E3 keynote.

Nintendo finally shows off Animal Crossing

For the last few years, Nintendo has chosen a single game as its primary E3 focus. It started with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and continued with Super Mario Odyssey and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. This year, expect that spotlight to fall on the next Animal Crossing. (It likely won't be Pokémon Sword and Shield, given that Nintendo announced new details for the Switch games just this week.) The animal-themed life sim will be a major holiday game for Nintendo, but we have heard almost nothing about it since it was announced last year. Though there won't be hands-on opportunities with the game, we still expect to learn some actual details about it.

Gaming Industry Conference GDC Held In San Fransisco

Epic keeps pushing its PC store

PC gaming hasn't traditionally been a big part of E3, which leans more towards the console space, but that looks to change. And a big reason for that is Epic. The Fortnite developer will be headlining this year's PC Gaming Show keynote, which means we'll be hearing more about Epic's games store. That could mean new features to better compete with Steam, and it'll also probably include even more exclusive titles coming to the shop.

Virtual reality gets a spotlight

VR has always been present at E3, but it's always felt largely like an afterthought. This year, though, will mark the first VR-centered keynote. Called the E3 VR Showcase, the event is being put on by enthusiast site Upload VR. Don't expect much in the way of new hardware, but instead a wave of game reveals, both big and small. "We're going to be jetting off around the globe to meet VR devs of all shapes and sizes, talk to them about their latest projects, and reveal them to you," the event description reads.

Existing games get bigger with expansions and updates

One of the biggest changes to video games over the last few years has to do with lifespan: we no longer play a game once and then forget about it. Instead, they continue to grow and change over time. This means that some of the most interesting revelations at E3 will be about games you can already play. We're going to hear more about Apex Legends' (hopefully much-improved) second season, as well as the first major expansion for Monster Hunter World, which just so happens to be Capcom's best-selling game of all time. And don't be surprised if we get some Fortnite-related announcements as well.

Square Enix makes up for last year

Last year Square Enix held its first proper E3 keynote and, well, it was a bit of a disappointment. (Unless you really like Kingdom Hearts.) But it looks like the publisher is going to make up for it with at least two significant announcements. For starters, we know we're going to get the very first look at the company's mysterious Avengers game, which is being helmed by Tomb Raider studio Crystal Dynamics. And it also looks like we're going to see more of the much-anticipated remake of Final Fantasy VII, with many expecting an actual release date announcement.

Netflix moves further into gaming

Netflix has slowly been expanding its presence in games, with everything from the choose-your-own-adventure show Bandersnatch to video game iterations of Stranger Things. The streaming company will be on-hand at E3 for a panel discussion about bringing Netflix properties into the world of video games. It also promises there will be "a few surprises in store," which hopefully means we're getting a Russian Doll adventure game.

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Multi-cam support in iOS 13 allows simultaneous video, photo, and audio capture - 9to5Mac

Posted: 07 Jun 2019 06:13 AM PDT

In iOS 13, Apple is introducing multi-cam support allowing apps to simultaneously capture photos, video, audio, metadata, and depth from multiple microphones and cameras on a single iPhone or iPad.

The best 4K & 5K displays for Mac

Apple has long supported multi-camera capture on macOS since OS X Lion, but up until now, hardware limitations prevented it from rolling out APIs for iPhones and iPads.

The new feature and APIs in iOS 13 will allow developers to offer apps that stream video, photos, or audio, for example, from the front-facing camera and rear cameras at the same time.

iOS 13 Multi-cam support w/ AVCapture

At its presentation of the new feature during WWDC, Apple demoed a picture-in-picture video recording app that recorded the user from the front-facing camera while simultaneously recording from the main camera.

The demo app also enabled recording of the video and the ability to swap between the two cameras on the fly during playback in the Photos app. The feature will also give developers control over the dual TrueDepth cameras including separate streams of the Back Wide or Back Telephoto cameras if they choose.

The new multi-cam feature will be supported in iOS 13 for newer hardware only including the iPhone XS, XS Max, XR, and iPad Pro.

Apple listed a number of supported formats for multi-cam capture (pictured above), which developers will notice does impose some artificial limitations versus the camera's normal capabilities.

Due to power constraints on mobile devices, unlike on Mac, iPhones and iPads will be limited to a single session of multi-cam, meaning you can't do multiple sessions with multiple cameras or multiple cameras in multiple apps simultaneously. There will also be various supported device combinations dictating what combination of capture from what cameras are supported on certain devices.

It doesn't appear that Apple itself is utilizing any new multi-cam features in the iOS 13 Camera app, but we'd imagine it's something on the horizon now that it's officially rolling out support in AVCapture.

Semantic Segmentation Mattes

Also new for camera capture in iOS 13 is Semantic Segmentation Mattes. In iOS 12, Apple used something it calls Portrait Effects Matte internally for Portrait Mode photos to separate the subject from the background. In iOS 13, Apple is introducing what it calls Semantic Segmentation Mattes to identity skin, hair, and teeth and improve these maps further with an API for developers to tap into.

In its WWDC session, Apple showed the new tech with a demo app that allowed the subject in the photo to be separated from the background and the hair, skin, and teeth to be isolated to easily add effects including face paint and hair color changes (pictured above).

Developers can learn more about multi-cam support and semantic segmentation mattes at Apple's website where it also has sample code for the demo apps.