Technology - Google News

Microsoft got a whole lot of people to play Halo and Forza - The Verge
This new Sony soundbar offers 5.1 surround sound from a simple 2.1 system - TechRadar
Blizzard is creating a "brand-new survival game" set in a "whole new universe" - Eurogamer.net

Microsoft got a whole lot of people to play Halo and Forza - The Verge

Posted: 25 Jan 2022 06:34 PM PST

Microsoft seems to have had a lot of success getting people to try out its games. During the company's earnings call on Tuesday, CEO Satya Nadella said that 20 million people had played Halo Infinite and 18 million people had played Forza Horizon 5. While it's worth noting that those numbers will include people who played for a few minutes and didn't stick around, it speaks to the pull of the just-download-it-and-give-it-a-whirl model.

Both games can be played without any direct cost; Horizon 5 is available on the Xbox Game Pass subscription service, which has around 25 million subscribers according to Microsoft, and Halo Infinite's multiplayer uses a free-to-play model (though non-Game Pass subscribers will have to buy the campaign separately).

While both games have been hotly anticipated, it's hard to imagine they'd have drawn in as many players if they had to pay $70 upfront. The data seems to bear this out too — Horizon 5 seems on track to be the biggest in the series. In late 2020, Microsoft announced that 24 million people had played the previous entry in the Forza series. But that was over two years after the game, Horizon 4, came out, and well over a year after it hit Game Pass. But the 18 million people who tried Horizon 5 did so in under four months. That's a lot for a racing game not named Mario Kart — for reference, in 2017 the studio behind the Gran Turismo series said that the most popular entry at the time, Gran Turismo 3 A-spec, had sold just under 15 million copies.

With over 20 million Spartans joining us so far, we're thrilled to announce that #HaloInfinite is the biggest launch in Halo franchise history!
Thank you, everyone, for joining us on the next step in this great journey. pic.twitter.com/d4EIsvWYVr
— Halo (@Halo) January 25, 2022

The 20 million people who tried Halo Infinite also make for an interesting data point compared to previous entries — before the game launched, the series as a whole had sold 81 million copies in its 20-year run. Admittedly, it's a bit of an apples and oranges comparison given that Halo Infinite's multiplayer is free-to-play, and previous Halo games had to be purchased. Downloading a game is much less commitment than paying for one, and there could've been people who tried it and bounced (perhaps because of buggy matchmaking) before they could be convinced to spend any money on skins.

Regardless, if Microsoft's goal was to get people to at least try Halo, it seems like it's been very successful.

The free-to-play model has been proven before — games like Fortnite, Apex Legends, and especially Call of Duty: Warzone have all seen massive success. But they're also playing in a much larger pool, being available on Xbox, PC, and PlayStation (some are even available on Switch and mobile). The numbers Microsoft released show that it's seeing some of that success now that most of its exclusives don't have a mandatory buy-in — now it just needs to keep those people around, and figure out how to make it pay off, whether it's through people paying for Game Pass, microtransactions, or something else entirely.

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This new Sony soundbar offers 5.1 surround sound from a simple 2.1 system - TechRadar

Posted: 25 Jan 2022 11:13 AM PST

Sony has started to announce its 2022 lineup of audio products, beginning with the new HT-S400 soundbar that will become available around April of this year for $299 (around £220, AU$420).

It'll be sold as a 2.1 soundbar system - i.e. a soundbar with two channels and a subwoofer - but Sony says it will act more like a surround sound system thanks to the inclusion of its S-Force PRO Front Surround technology.

Another issue that Sony set out to solve with the HT-S400 was the distinct lack of vocals in other two-channel systems.

Sony says it's solved this problem with its X-Balanced Speaker Unit and Separated Notch Edge that "improves vertical amplitude symmetry" by using "strategically placed cuts on the edge, which help to control the stress inside and outside the edge of the diaphragm".

We'll have to put that claim to the test when we get our hands on one, but so far the HT-S400 sounds like it will deliver far better sound than its $300 sticker price would suggest.

Analysis: Why buy a 2.1 system when you can buy a 5.1 system instead?

While $299 is a great price for a proper soundbar, Sony faces some steep competition from the likes of Vizio and Samsung, who offer cheaper systems.

Vizio in particular offers the V-Series 5.1 Sound Bar (V51X-J6) with satellite speakers that sells for $219 - or $80 less than what Sony plans on charging for the HT-S400.

So why buy any 2.1-channel system when you can buy a 5.1-channel system for even less? Well, you might not have the room for - or like the look of - satellite speakers. In the case of Vizio's 5.1 system, you have to run cables from the subwoofer to the rear speakers, and that could be problematic for some.

The other reason is that the main bar on 5.1 systems - the one responsible for driving the center, left and right channels - is underpowered compared to a more expensive 2.1 soundbar. The difference in power might result in hard-to-hear dialogue on the less expensive system or underwhelming stereo sound.

Ultimately, it's nice to have options in the soundbar space, and for that reason we're welcoming Sony's new soundbar with open arms.

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Blizzard is creating a "brand-new survival game" set in a "whole new universe" - Eurogamer.net

Posted: 25 Jan 2022 12:34 PM PST

Overwatch, World of Warcraft, and Diablo developer Blizzard Entertainment has revealed it's working on a "brand-new survival game" set in a "whole new universe".

The news comes as Activision Blizzard continues to reel from the shocking allegations it fostered a company culture where sexual harassment, assault, and inappropriate behaviour were able to thrive, with Blizzard Entertainment itself being called a "breeding ground for harassment and discrimination against women" in a State of California lawsuit filed last year.

As the company has continued to face a reckoning over its workplace culture, a number of its flagship titles have seen delays, with the highly anticipated Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4 now not expected to arrive until 2023 at the earliest. It's in this climate that official word of a new Blizzard Entertainment title, said to be in the "early stages" of development, has arrived.

concept-art-for-new-blizzard-ip — Concept art accompanying today's announcement.

The announcement, posted on Blizzard's website, is primarily focused on attracting new talent to the studio in order to work on the project, and, as such, remains extremely light on detail. "Blizzard is embarking on our next quest," the post reads. "We are going on a journey to a whole new universe, home to a brand-new survival game for PC and console."

This universe, the post continues, will be, "A place full of heroes we have yet to meet, stories yet to be told, and adventures yet to be lived. A vast realm of possibility, waiting to be explored." An accompanying piece of concept art shows two teenagers stumbling upon a passage leading away from their dreary urban home to a verdant fantasy world.

Blizzard is hiring to fill a number of positions across its Art, Design, and Engineering teams as part of the new project, and says it's looking to create a "diverse team of developers willing to lend their voices, to listen and to be heard" - a notable goal given the extremely disturbing reports surrounding its workplace culture that have continued to emerge since last summer, but one that tallies with talk from senior executives insisting that change is coming.

If Blizzard Entertainment's new project reaches fruition, it'll be the company's first new IP since the release of Overwatch in 2016. It'll likely also be company's first new IP to be released under the stewardship of Microsoft, which announced it was acquiring Activision Blizzard for an eye-watering $69BN last week.

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