Sony is building a vast games empire: Can it keep control? Financial Times
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Google has been trying different things with the Play Store, including changes that have been enabled and reverted so many times we've lost track — hello, account picker and review section. However, not all of these are welcome modifications, like the controversial removal of update notifications. If your workaround was to manually check your recently updated apps, Google has just made that task a little bit more difficult by messing up the Play Store's sorting method.
Head over to the Store's My apps & games section and check the Updates tab. Previously, the apps were listed by reverse chronological order, with the most recently updated apps on top and the ones that received their updates earlier on the bottom. Now, there's no sense in the sorting method. It's all random, with recent updates mixed with older ones. To check the real order, you have to move to the Installed tab and choose the Last Updated sorting method. It's a simple enough workaround... for now.
Left: Order? What is order? Right: Alternative for checking the real order.
We're hoping this is a bug and that it'll be fixed soon. At this point though, and after the nonsensical disabling of update notifications, I'm starting to question whether Google is trying to put less emphasis on recent app updates and changelogs. Surely this couldn't be a thing, could it?
The PS5's specs have been finally revealed in an official capacity. Not by Sony – although we'll hopefully be seeing a PlayStation 5 reveal any day now – but by GameStop, which promises 8K gaming, advanced ray tracing and backwards compatibility features.
However, GameStop has not yet disclosed many details regarding the PS5's controller, widely thought to be the DualShock 5. We know the controller will have advanced haptic feedback capabilities (more specific, directional vibrations rather than basic rumbles) and thanks to a few patents, we know Sony's even thinking about incorporating sensors to detect your sweat and heart rate.
Another patent, recently published by the World Intellectual Property Organisation, shows Sony is thinking about adding smartphone-style wireless charging to its controllers. It's a move that makes so much sense, we're shocked it hasn't happened already.
While Xbox One controllers and DualShock 4s are both compatible with third-party wireless charging stations, this marks the first time Sony has waded into the fray. The drawings show Sony is looking to incorporate a base on which you can rest two or more DualShock 5s (or DualShock 4s), which could even be on top of the games console itself.
(Image credit: WIPO/Sony)
The controller comes with an adaptor showcasing additional keys, which can be mapped to buttons of your choice. The adaptor is "combining a wireless charging adaptor with the ability to strategically locate duplicate game controller button controls on the adaptor, which is mounted on the back side of the controller".
These adaptors also light up to "indicate a state of a battery in the game controller, and/or to indicate a functional mapping of game controller keys to adapter keys." To us, this sounds like a more advanced version of the back button add-on recently released for the DualShock 4. You can map any button you want onto these additional paddles, so to release a second version which also allow for the possibility for wireless charging seems like a natural move.
(Image credit: Future)
What could it be for? The obvious answer is the PS5's DualShock 5 controller, but why not include that functionality with the controller directly, while it was being redesigned?
A second theory is that the adaptor is for the DualShock 4. If PS5 controllers end up coming with wireless functionality and back paddles already, it would make sense to release an adaptor so that gamers could use their existing DualShock 4s as additional PS5 controllers.
Such a move would gel well with the impetus on responsibility that's going round the gaming industry. Both PS5 and its rival, the Xbox Series X, will have backwards compatibility, allowing gamers to keep their existing libraries of previous games. The Xbox Series X will also have "smart delivery" which allows gamers to upgrade their Xbox One games to the Xbox Series X versions for free. Allowing PS4 owners to keep their DualShocks and use them for the PS5 is definitely in line with this philosophy.
We're excited to see Sony finally step in with its own wireless chargers, and even more excited to see what it will do with this multi-functional adaptor. Will it be part of Sony's plans for the PS5? We'll surely know soon, as a reveal can't be far away...
Some significant changes are coming to Cortana. Starting this spring, Microsoft said it plans to make productivity the focus of the digital assistant. As part of the shift, Cortana will lose some of its more consumer-facing features, such as the ability to play music and control smart home devices. More significantly, the company plans to remove the digital assistant from its Launcher app on Android.
Microsoft says it will discontinue Cortana services in the application by the end of April. "This next step in Cortana's evolution will bring enhanced, seamless personal productivity assistance as a free update to the latest version of Windows 10 coming this spring," the company said.
It's not overly surprising to see Microsoft remove Cortana from its launcher app. While a lot of people like the launcher, the assistant was never its main appeal. What's more, we knew Cortana's days on Android were numbered when the Cortana app stopped working last month in countries like Canada, Australia and the UK. In those places, Microsoft has already removed the assistant from its launcher app as it tries to carve a different niche for the AI.
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After one big name participant after another (Facebook, Sony, Microsoft, Amazon) announced it would not send people to the show over concerns about the spread of coronavirus, GDC 2020 organizers have announced the event is off. It was scheduled to take place between March 16th and 20th, and in a statement, they said "we fully intend to host a GDC event later in the summer."
Those who were planning on attending should have received an email with answers to some of their questions about refunds for passes and hotels booked within the convention's block. Right now the plan is for "many" of the presentations that would have been given to be submitted via video and made available for free viewing online. The Independent Games Festival and Game Developers Choice Awards, as well as some of those talks, will stream on Twitch during the week the event would have taken place.
In an effort to support indie developers who may be impacted financially, the IGDA has teamed up with GameDev.world on a fundraiser that will include "a Pay-What-You-Want games bundle, a public game jam, and free online live talks and Q&A translated in the worlds' largest languages."
GDC organizers:
After close consultation with our partners in the game development industry and community around the world, we've made the difficult decision to postpone the Game Developers Conference this March.
Having spent the past year preparing for the show with our advisory boards, speakers, exhibitors, and event partners, we're genuinely upset and disappointed not to be able to host you at this time .
We want to thank all our customers and partners for their support, open discussions and encouragement. As everyone has been reminding us, great things happen when the community comes together and connects at GDC. For this reason, we fully intend to host a GDC event later in the summer. We will be working with our partners to finalize the details and will share more information about our plans in the coming weeks.
For more information, please visit our Frequently Asked Questions page: www.gdconf.com/faq
All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Google Stadia had a rough launch, with plenty of missing features and unfulfilled promises. But the latest update to the Stadia app hints that some of those features might be coming soon, including the highly anticipated free tier, YouTube streaming, family game sharing, and more, as spotted by 9to5Google.
The biggest thing is an indication that Google is gearing up to launch its free Stadia Base tier of service soon. 9to5Google’s report found strings in the app that allow for registration without a paid Stadia code, along with a free one-month trial for Stadia Pro memberships (which includes several free games, along with other benefits).
Also found in the app is an indication that Google may be limiting the number of people who can sign up and play Stadia at one time, with warnings that “Sorry, Stadia is full in your area,” and “In order to provide the best game quality for everyone, we limit the number of accounts on Stadia. We’ve hit that limit, but we’re working hard to build additional room in the Stadia cloud so more people can enjoy the same high-quality game performance. Please check back in the future for new player availability.”
Another new feature hinted at in the app is the long-promised ability to live-stream games directly from Stadia to YouTube, something Google has been showcasing as a major feature for Stadia since it was first announced. New strings for buttons and menus related to starting, managing, and stopping YouTube live streams were spotted in the latest app, implying that the feature could be rolling out soon.
Given that live-streaming games on a traditional console or PC still requires a fair amount of know-how and hardware, making it as simple as pressing a button in the Stadia app could be a big feature for Google’s service.
Sadly, the hinted-at features are just that for now: hints. There’s no indication of when they’ll be available for customers to try for themselves. Still, it’s an encouraging sign that Google is working hard to make its initial Stadia promises a reality — even if these features are coming later than fans may have hoped.
