Japan in 2012: Nintendo dominates software charts

January 28th, 2013, 19:36 Posted By: wraggster

The latest Pokémon games sold almost three million units in 2012, outselling second-placed title Animal Crossing: New Leaf by around one million units in Japan. The only games on non-Nintendo formats in the top ten were Resident Evil 6 and One Piece: Pirate Warriors, both for PS3.3DS titles took up half of the top 30, with PS3 claiming seven places. Wii accounted for four slots in the top 30, while DS took two (Pokemon Black/White 2 and Pokemon Conquest) while Wii U and PSP claimed one place – New Super Mario Bros. U and The Second Super Robot Taisen Z respectively.The data, published by 4Gamer, collated by Media-Create and translated by Siliconera, also revealed total lifetime hardware sales to date:- PlayStation 2: 21,833,215- PSP: 19,453,023- Wii: 12,638,836- PlayStation 3: 8,860,082- Nintendo 3DS: 7,689,512- Nintendo 3DS XL: 2,090,372- PlayStation Vita: 1,130,820- Xbox 360: 1,613,832Figures were not provided for Nintendo DS.The top 30 selling videogames in Japan for 2012 were as follows:1. Pokemon Black/White 2 (DS)2. Animal Crossing: New Leaf (3DS)3. New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS)4. Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry Wonderland (3DS)5. Resident Evil 6 (PS3)6. One Piece: Pirate Warriors (PS3)7. Mario Kart 7 (3DS)8. Super Mario 3D Land (3DS)9. Mario Party 9 (Wii)10. Dragon Quest X (Wii)11. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (3DS)12. Yakuza 5 (PS3)13. Dragon’s Dogma (PS3)14. Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS)15. Tales Of Xillia 2 (PS3)16. Paper Mario: Sticker Star (3DS)17. Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 (PS3)18. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates Of Infinity (3DS)19. New Super Mario Bros. U (Wii U)20. Wii Sports Resort (Wii)21. The 2nd Super Robot Taisen Z (PSP)22. Pokemon Conquest (DS)23. Taiko Drum Master: The Little Dragon and the Mysterious Orb (3DS)24. Resident Evil: Operation Racoon City (PS3)25. Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance (3DS)26. Run For Money Tousouchuu (3DS)27. Taiko Drum Master: Super Splendid Edition (Wii)28. Kid Icarus: Uprising (3DS)29. Inazuma Eleven Go 2 (3DS)30. Resident Evil: Revelations (3DS)

http://www.edge-online.com/news/japa...ftware-charts/

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Analysts say e-reader market is dying - literally

January 28th, 2013, 19:30 Posted By: wraggster

A market analyst has stated that the reason why e-reader sales are declining is not because of competition from tablets, but because the baby boomer generation is dying off.
A study conducted by ABI Research found that most of the world’s e-reader sales were being made in the US market, where most of the people buying them were of ever increasing ages. The decline is sales, therefore, is due to mortality among the customer base.
“Tablets have little to do with the trajectory of dedicated digital readers,” said ABI’s senior practice director Jeff Orr. “The facts are that the US market continues to dominate global e-reader shipments, and an ageing Baby Boomer population looking to replicate the print reading experience is a waning audience.”
Unfortunately the research doesn’t seem to examine whether or not a stable and simple device with a long battery life might naturally have a slower replacement cycle than a product with a contract life that acts as an incentive to upgrade, such as mobile devices.

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...terally/030086

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Black Ops II back at top spot

January 28th, 2013, 14:05 Posted By: wraggster

Sales of Activision’s blockbuster shooter Call Of Duty: Black Ops II are up 20% as it reclaims number one spot in the UK this week.Several price promotions at retail also helped to shake up the charts a little as the release drought continues. Sales of Assassin’s Creed III were up 71% after widespread price cuts, and it was a similar story for Warner’s Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, which moved up up six places as week-on-week sales rose by 28%. Halo 4 leapt up nine places to 13^th spot, posting a 53% sales boost. The only new release this week was EA’s The Sims 3: 70s 80s 90s Stuff, which went in at number 36.The top 10 entertainment software chart for the week ending 25 January 2013 is as follows:
1. Call Of Duty: Black Ops II
2. FIFA 13
3. Far Cry 3
4. DMC
5. Assassins’ Creed 3
6. Need For Speed Most Wanted
7. Just Dance 4
8. Football Manager 2013
9. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
10. Hitman Absolution

http://www.edge-online.com/news/blac...e-up-uk-chart/

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China reviewing game console ban 12 years after it was put in place

January 28th, 2013, 14:04 Posted By: wraggster

China is considering lifting its 12-year ban on game consoles according to a report in Chinese newspaper China Daily. The report cites an anonymous source from the Ministry of Culture who says that the department is looking at the moratorium.“We are reviewing the policy and have conducted some surveys and held discussions with other ministries on the possibility of opening up the game console market,” the source is quoted as saying. ”However, since the ban was issued by seven ministries more than a decade ago, we will need approval from all parties to lift it.”Responding to Reuters, however, an official at the ministry’s cultural market department, identifying themselves only as Bai, stringently denied that the department was considering lifting the ban.Even so, the resultant speculation has caused a sharp hike of Nintendo and Sony shares – the former gaining over 3.5 per cent on the Nikkei index, and the latter rising 8 per cent. The report builds on rumours started when PlayStation 3 gained a quality certification from a Chinese safety standards body last November.“Our stance towards business in China has not changed,” Sony Computer Entertainment spokesperson Yoshiko Uchiyama told Reuters. “Of course, we acknowledge China as a promising market for our business, and we are always considering and preparing business opportunities and possibilities [in the country].”The ban on dedicated consoles was put in place in 2000, authorities justifying the move by saying they wanted to protect children’s mental and physical wellbeing. Of course, the market has voraciously consumed mobile and online PC games in the big three console’s stead.While the re-introduction of consoles to China would open up a potentially vast new market to manufacturers, they will face a challenge marketing pay upfront games in a region so enamoured with free-to-play. Games like CCP’s Dust 514, however, could find potentially huge playerbases.

http://www.edge-online.com/news/repo...-put-in-place/

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California Senator tells gamers to 'quiet down'

January 28th, 2013, 13:59 Posted By: wraggster

Yet another US legislator has spoken out against the games industry as driven by a "lust for money" and saying its customers were driven by a "lust for violence".
The politician is Leland Yee, California Senator and author of the games legislation famously struck down by the Supreme Court inSchwarzenegger Vs. EMA.

The country has entered into an intense dialogue surrounding the role video games and other violent media play in shootings such as those in Newtown, Connecticut and Aurora, Colorado.
"Gamers have got to just quiet down," Yee told the San Francisco Chronicle.
"Gamers have no credibility in this argument. This is all about their lust for violence and the industry's lust for money. This is a billion-dollar industry. This is about their self-interest."

http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...-to-quiet-down

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HMV could shed up to half of its stores

January 28th, 2013, 13:55 Posted By: wraggster

Hilco is set to close around half of HMV's stores in an attempt to keep the brand on UK High Streets.
The move was reported by The Daily Mail, which highlights the firm is looking to streamline in the brand to ensure its survival.
The firm, which also owns HMV Canada, moved to buy out £176 million of the struggling retailers debt last week in order to take control of the iconic brand – a move that mimics the strategy the restructuring firm adopted in 2011 as it saved HMV Canada.
Whilst the move has provided new life for the brand, it has certainly come at a price as HMV is set to lose closet half of its 223 stores across the UK.
However, the move would likely pave the way for fellow High Street retailer to swoop in and take a number of the retailer's location off its hands.

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...-stores/030083

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Raspberry Pi vs Gizmo

January 27th, 2013, 22:58 Posted By: wraggster

via http://dknute.livejournal.com/41911.html

Thanks to an article on SemiAccurate I learned about new AMD gadget called, wait for it, Gizmo. You can see it here.
Gizmo was most likely inspired by the success of Raspberry Pi as dev boards like this existed before but were never this cheap, or even available to general public. Let's compare it to RPi and Intel products then :P

- It's a PC (even runs Windows 7 since that's how AMD guys measured the silicon temperatures under stress).

First, it needs 3V "button" lithium battery, which is mandatory but apparently not part of the kit. In fact it has to be a battery with wires and a small plug, like in laptops, so forget about buying it in TESCO. Tsk.
Then you'll need a SATA hard drive, or SSD, so again forget about cheap SD cards. I suppose a CF card with IDE-to-SATA interface might do the trick if you don't need performance.
Lastly it will obviously need more power than a USB phone charger can provide, much more. The good news is it will accept anything from 9 to 24 volts, so it can be run on 12V lead-acid (car) battery for example.

So, compared to RPi it's not really that great for small projects. It's on par with some of the Intel N-series Atom ITX boards, like D945GSEJT or DN2800MT. Its form factor places it somewhere between RPi and ITX.

- It needs cooling (unless used in a lab environment).

While the board is all passive-cooled it's clearly stated in the docs that this is just enough for 25C ambient temperature and only without a case. If you want to put it in a case or use at higher temperatures you'll need to add a fan to the CPU radiator. There is a fan connector on the PCB for that purpose, though I would've like bigger heatsinks.
The CPU itself is rated at 6.4W but there's also the companion chip (the "south bridge") to consider. The VRM section is also going to generate some heat but I assume it can deal with it in most situations.

Again, a win for RPi and possibly also for the two Atom boards I mentioned since these will work in a case if there is enough convection present. I've seen fanless cases for these Atoms boards so it can be done. Obviously though it depends a lot on where that case will be put It might work in an air-conditioned room but not otherwise in summer heat. It's not black and white here.

- It's an APU.

And now we're talking. It's not that much smaller than ITX board and possibly runs hotter so does it have any good sides to it? Yup, the computing power available.
It's a dual-core fully out-of-order AMD64 architecture CPU clocked at 1GHz. That might not look very impressive compared to 1.86GHz N2800 Atom, which is also 64-bit capable and dual-core, with Hyper-Threading to boot, but Atoms are in-order architecture. Turns out it's difficult to make code that would not choke in-order CPUs so much. The compilers are to blame although some code (semi-random branching for example) is just not predictable enough to properly optimize.
The APU is not just CPU though, it's also the GPU next to it. Radeon HD 6250 in this particular case, with 80 shaders clocked at 280MHz.

So why exactly is a measly mobile GPU, the lowest of all AMD has to offer, that much of a win? Because its 80 shaders equal to 1 compute unit (CU), and you can do other stuff with it than just drive VGA output.

To make a point here I've run some tests. My code was trying to brute-force crack M4-type encryption key from dumped NAOMI data. These keys are only 32 bit long and the encryption algorithm is not even that complicated once you see it - again, thanks to Andreas Naive for making "obvious" things actually obvious to us, mere mortals
I wrote a cracker in C that, given a key, will decode 8 bytes of data and compare it with known pattern to check for match. To scan entire key space you need to run this code 4294967296 times. A typical, simple approach would be to create a cracking procedure that takes a key value as an argument and then make a loop that will call this procedure 2^32 times, checking the result. Here's how long it takes:

* Intel Core2 Duo E6600
- 1 core @ 2400MHz (2nd core not used)
- full out-of-order architecture
- Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
- 64-bit code (MinGW64 4.5.3 -O2)
+ 415s

* AMD Athlon XP processor 1700+
- 1 core @ 1466.909MHz
- full out-of-order architecture
- Debian Linux, 2.6.32 kernel
- 32-bit code (gcc 4.4.5 -O2)
+ 937s

* Intel Atom N270
- 1 core @ 1596.095MHz (HT not used)
- in-order architecture
- Debian Linux, 2.6.32 kernel
- 32-bit code (gcc 4.4.5 -O2)
+ 2799s

* Raspberry Pi ARM11
- 1 core @ 900MHz (O/C, core @ 450MHz, SDRAM @ 450MHz)
- ARMv6 architecture
- Raspbian Linux, 3.2.27 kernel
- 32-bit code (gcc 4.6.3 -O2)
+ 3378s

As you can see it takes some time, and the in-order Atom and RPi ARM are especially bad at it. And my RPi is running overclocked, the typical values are 700MHz for CPU, 250MHz for core and 400MHz for SDRAM so in reality it's even worse. Obviously you don't want to run crackers on your small dev board but what if this was face/shape recognition based on images from small camera on a robot? That does seem like a plausible use case.

Now there's this stuff called OpenCL which lets you distribute your computation-heavy tasks over multiple CPU cores, and also GPU compute units. I used the same cracker, except the main loop was thrown out and replaced by OCL framework. Here's how it went:

* Intel Core2 Duo E6600
- 2 cores @ 2400MHz
- full out-of-order architecture
- Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
- OpenCl code (AMD APP 2.6)
+ 105s

* AMD/ATI Radeon HD 5770
- 10 compute units @ 850MHz
- GPU architecture
- Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
- OpenCl code (AMD APP 2.6)
+ 6s

Yeah, that's whole 6 seconds. Not all code gets that much of a boost on GPU, this one was integer based with some logic operations but didn't have many branches in it. Even the CPU version got twice as fast as simple C code, most likely due to aggresive compiler optimizations - most loops had just 4 passes so it's a great place to unroll and use SSE2 vectorization.

Now, my 5770 has 10CUs clocked at 850MHz so in total 8500PU - "power units". It run for 6 seconds so it needed 51000PUs to complete the task. The 6250 has only 1CU at 280MHz so 280PUs total. 51000/280=182 seconds. In reality probably a bit more due to slower data transfers. Compare that to Atom results and you'll see why having that GPU is important
With dual-core CPU you can easily run a lot of data processing and offload the really heavy stuff to GPU, so it appears to be a great dev board for more advanced projects.

Now why did I bother with this long-winded explanation? Well, it looks like AMD has got all three next-gen consoles in the bag. We've had a lot of "insider leaks" lately, most of it is wishful thinking taken for gospel, especially when it comes to fanboys. Silly people. It's not about raw power anymore. Consoles will not be able to beat PCs with the numbers, not unless you want them to draw 1kW of power and cost the same as rack full of servers. It's about being smart with what limited resources you have. One can argue that's always been the case but this generation will show it even more. A typical PC that can run games in 1080p in 3D at 60fps would need some 300-400 Watts of power. Next gen consoles are promising the same level of fidelity (well, we shall see about that I guess) at half that power. This is what I find most interesting. I couldn't care less if the CPUs are 1.8 or 3.2GHz and how may gigabytes of RAM there are inside.

BTW, I've made some additonal calculations. My RPi runs on 5V and draws 0.5A so it used up 5V * 0,5A * 3378s = 8445Ws to get the calculations done. My Radeon 5770 has 108W TDP so let's assume I actually hit that, and that the rest of my PC drew 150W, which is VERY safe assumption as CPU was idle and so where the HDDs. (108W + 150W) * 6s = 1548Ws. So not only it was faster but also used less power Nice things, these compute units. With 16 thousands 128-bit wide registers it's no wonder each takes so much silicon space.

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"Adults Only" OpenArena Now Playable On Raspberry Pi

January 27th, 2013, 20:57 Posted By: wraggster

The Raspberry Pi Foundation has released OpenArena – a multiplayer first person shooter game based on Quake III — for the Raspberry Pi. Available as a free download, the game has been rated 'Adults Only' because of the blood and guns. The open-source game is powered by the 'ioquake3' fork of the engine that Quake III runs on – id's Tech 3 engine. Modifications have been made to the gameplay by removing the copyrighted material and adding new free content.

http://games.slashdot.org/story/13/0...n-raspberry-pi

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Raspberry Pi used as a beacon transmitter

January 26th, 2013, 00:28 Posted By: wraggster


[m0xpd] got his hands on an inexpensive AD9850 DDS Module from eBay but needed a way to control it. He took inspiration from the projects that used a PIC microcontroller, but decided to add his own twist by using a Raspberry Pi to build a multi-mode beacon transmitter.
At the center of this breadboarded circuit lies the green AD9850 module. To its left is a level converter he built to get the 3.3V levels from the RPi board to work with the rest of the 5V hardware. The signal then feeds into a QRP amplifier and a low pass filter.
He didn’t start from square one when it came time to write the code for the RPi. Instead he grabbed an Arduino sketch for the very same DDS and ported it over to Python. The first test signal was his call sign sent in Morse code at QRSS speeds. But he also managed to get Hellschreiber messages working, making it a multiple-mode device.

http://hackaday.com/2013/01/25/raspb...n-transmitter/

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Calls for Government to change laws on gift cards

January 26th, 2013, 00:26 Posted By: wraggster

Independent financial adviser John Bloomfield is calling on the Government to take action on store gift cards.
The move comes after HMV administrators Deloitte initially announced that it would not allow customers to use gift cards at the troubled chain.
However, pressure from government and publicity for a manwho stormed out of an HMV store with games in hand after staff refused to accept his credit saw Deloitte reverse its decision, brining it in line with Blockbuster which continued to honour gift cards despite its fall into administration.
Now The Sunderland Echo reports that Bloomfield has created an online petition that looks to force stricken retailers to honour gift cards no matter their financial situation.
“When a retailer goes in to administration the public's gift cards can no longer be redeemed as card owners simply become a creditor of the business even if the administrator keeps the operation trading,” the petition reads.
“In order to instil more faith in Gift Cards the government should look to protect the Gift Card holder so that they are not treated as all other creditors of the business.
“The options are quite clear. Option 1: all revenue from gift cards should be held in a trustee account until the gift card has been redeemed or expired. Option 2: create a higher level of creditor class for gift cards so they can be redeemed during a period of administration.”

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/calls...-cards/0109889

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Devil May Cry hits number one in Japan

January 24th, 2013, 22:13 Posted By: wraggster

Ninja Theory's reboot takes the top spot with half the sales of Devil May Cry 4
Ninja Theory's DmC: Devil May Cry entered the Japanese charts at number one last week, narrowly beating the still strong Animal Crossing: New Leaf.
For the week ending January 20, the PlayStation 3 version of DmC sold 110,429 units - just over half of Devil May Cry 4's 205,390 sales on PlayStation 3 when it launched in 2008. The game's Xbox 360 version did not reach the top 20.
The only other new entry to reach the top 20 was Namco Bandai's Digimon Adventure on the PSP, which entered the charts at number 3 with 47,807 sales.
In hardware, the 3DS XL remained the dominant platform with 51,015 sales, while the 3DS placed second with 30,048 units. Both the Vita and the Wii U continued to struggle, with the former dropping more than 2,000 sales to hit a weekly total of 9,036 units, and the latter falling by more than 4,000 to finish the week with 16,654.
The Wii U's performance is likely to be helped by Nintendo's promise of new releases in its Mario and Zelda franchises by the end of the year.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...r-one-in-japan

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Raspberry Pi becomes a Torrent box

January 24th, 2013, 22:10 Posted By: wraggster


If you’re making a media server out of a Raspberry Pi, why not add an interface to the biggest torrent sites on the Internet? That’s what [Alan] did when he wanted an automated media downloader that can stream movies and TV shows to any device.
[Alan]‘s torrent box is basically a web app running on a Raspberry Pi. By accessing the Pi from the browser of a desktop or mobile device, he can search a collection of torrent sites and download just about everything to the Pi with a touch of a button. Once the files are downloaded, the Pi is able to move them to any directory, either locally or on a network, or just serve them up on a TV with a media player.
While we’re not endorsing file sharing, we can’t think of a simpler way to set up a seedbox that draws a minuscule amount of power. It’s a great addition to any media server, and a great way to get the latest season of <<Linux Distribution>> streaming to your TV.

http://hackaday.com/2013/01/24/raspb...a-torrent-box/

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Building your own Model A Raspberry Pi

January 24th, 2013, 22:09 Posted By: wraggster


When the Model A Raspberry Pi is released in the coming weeks or months, you’ll have the opportunity to buy an even cheaper ARM Linux computer that will draw 1/3rd the power of the classic Model B. Some people just can’t wait a month to get their hands on it, so [Blair] decided to make his own.
The Model A Raspberry Pi is nearly the same as the Model B; the only things missing are an Ethernet port, a single USB port, and the associated chips required to drive these ports. In a brave bit of desoldering, [Blair] removed the Ethernet/USB controller with a butane torch.
In part two of [Blair]‘s adventures, he removed the Ethernet connector and replaced the two-high USB ports with a single port, greatly decreasing the height of the Raspberry Pi.
As of right now, this is just about the only way to get your hands on the lower power, more compact Raspberry Pi. We can’t wait, though, for the eventual tutorial of how to turn a Model A into a Model B. That’ll be an awesome demonstration of god-like soldering skills.

http://hackaday.com/2013/01/24/build...-raspberry-pi/

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Video games escape UK's latest retail crisis

January 24th, 2013, 22:04 Posted By: wraggster

The collapse of HMV and Blockbuster is unlikely to have a massive impact upon the video games market.
The two entertainment giants fell into administration over the last two weeks, following news that Play.com is ending its own direct-to-retail business.
All three retailers are big supporters of the games industry, and employ thousands of dedicated staff and video game advocates. Meanwhile, hopes remain high that HMV will be acquired by Hilco UK, which could save all or some of its stores after buying its debt.
But according to data sourced from MCV, these three entertainment giants only account for around 12 per cent of the games market, so actual game sales won't be impact too heavily. And research firm Kantar Worldpanel says GAME is best placed to pick up any lost sales, ahead of supermarkets and other online rivals.
“In terms of games, even combined, these retailers have a relatively small market share,” said Entertainment Retailers Association’s Kim Bayley.
"Play.com’s transition to a marketplace model could yet see it sell more games than before, but through third party sellers. The sale of entertainment through Blockbuster was always a small part of its business. Meanwhile, HMV looks set to re-emerge in a new form.
“Short-term, the disappearance of rivals from the entertainment business is potentially good news for their competitors.
“It’s far worse news for suppliers. Retailers have long been frustrated by suppliers’ apparent deafness to their pleas, whether on lop-sided release schedules or the need for greater product innovation. If something positive is to come out of this week, hopefully it will be that this acts as a wake-up call that retailers should not be taken for granted.”
Konami’s UK boss Peter Stone added: “At this moment the public is being given the impression there is nowhere left on the High Street to buy games and that may exacerbate the problem. Only yesterday I corrected a friend who thought she had to buy games online ‘because GAME had gone bankrupt’. Let’s hope that each of the chains can find a way to survive into the future.
"Online retailing can be a cut-throat business. Play originally built up their business based on the Jersey model but even then I think found it hard to make profit. In the meantime new entrants such as The Hut and ShopTo have come along and together with Amazon are keeping the market super-competitive. In general physical goods online is still quite a healthy business but retailers need to really stay on their toes to survive."
It’s been better news for retailer GAME, which suffered its own administration woes this time last year. The firm said this week it enjoyed a better than expected Christmas and hopes to improve its store base as part of its strategy to build ‘the UK’s most valuable community of gamers’.
“Looking at the work we’ve done over the last nine months, you’ll see we’re not only adapting to industry changes and delivering for gamers, we’re doing it at pace,” CEO Martyn Gibbs told MCV.
“Let’s be clear – we have a long way to go and a lot of gamers to convince but we are listening to them and combining that with a new technological approach.
“We constantly evaluate our performance and where there are gamer communities we don’t reach – both geographically and virtually – that means constantly re-evaluating our geographical and virtual coverage.
“We’re committed to the gaming communities of the UK and will do everything we can to deliver for them, both now and in the future.”

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/video...crisis/0109820

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FIFA series hits £1 billion at UK retail

January 24th, 2013, 22:02 Posted By: wraggster

EA Sports’ football franchise has become the first series to gross over a billion pounds in sales, says UK charts authority.ChartTrack told CVG that the £1 billion milestone was reached through the cumulative sales of 40 FIFA games. The two most recent releases accounted for just over £200 million of that total.FIFA 13 was the highest grossing FIFA game to date, followed by its predecessor FIFA 12. Call of Duty and Mario are the UK’s second and third largest grossing UK brands by revenue generated, says the report.ChartTrack said that the 19 games released to date in the Call Of Duty series have made over £800 million in the UK. The Mario series takes in 60 titles and includes tie-ins such as Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games.The data does not include the Mario and FIFA games released before Chart-Track’s inception in 1996.

http://www.edge-online.com/news/fifa...-at-uk-retail/

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Logitech to ditch console gaming accessories

January 24th, 2013, 21:50 Posted By: wraggster

Logitech is to ditch console accessories and sell off its remote and video security division, Harmony, after reporting poor results for fiscal Q3.
According to Pocket Lint, Logitech reported net losses of $195 million, having seen a 14 per cent year-on-year decrease in sales.
The move to sell the division is apparently part of a plan to refocus on those areas where the company expects to make profit, such as tablet accessories, while cutting away less profitable divisions, which includes speaker docks, console peripherals and remotes.
“These results are unacceptable and we are taking decisive action as an outcome of my strategic review. I was pleased with the continued strong demand for our Ultrathin Keyboard Cover in Q3. We plan to expand our presence in the growing tablet accessories category with the launch of a number of exciting new products later this quarter.” said Logitech’s CEO Bracken Darrell.
“We are taking immediate actions to shape a faster and more profitable Logitech. We are developing more mobility-related products, leveraging the powerful growth of tablets and smartphones. We intend to sustain our leadership in PC platform-related products where we have engineering, distribution and scale advantages.”

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...ssories/030065

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Forget the six-pack, 56 per cent of women find tech-savvy men sexy

January 23rd, 2013, 23:16 Posted By: wraggster

Women are stereotypically associated with fancying men in uniform, but sales of calendars featuring hose-wielding firemen could begin to slump as females make room for a new ardour – the 'techno-sexual'.
That's right, computer upgrade site Crucial.com has found that 59 per cent of women admire guys that know how to fix and upgrade technology, ahead of 49 per cent who like men that are knowledgeable about cars.
The rise of the techno-sexual has encouraged 40 per cent of men to exaggerate about their tech know-how, such as embellishing their ability to repair devices in order to woo the dames.
However, it's seemingly easy to get caught out, with 80 per cent of women never believing those that are all mouth and no action. 60 per cent of those surveyed wish they knew more about tech, compared to 33 per cent for cars, 28 per cent for property, 17 per cent for music, 14 per cent for fashion, and 11 per cent for sport.
Roddy McLean, a computer upgrade expert from Crucial.com, said: “Heroes today are becoming more Mark Zuckerberg than Jeremy Clarkson, as our busy lives become increasingly dominated by our use of technology."

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/read/...en-sexy/020390

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Raspi-controlled RGB LED strip display

January 23rd, 2013, 14:46 Posted By: wraggster


[4RM4] over at the Stuttgart hackerspace Shackspace ran into a guy selling individually addressable RGB LED strips when he attended the 29th Chaos Communication Congress last December. He had a Raspberry Pi with him, and after a little bit of work he rigged up an LED display that wrapped around a trash can. A respectable hack, but not quite ready for prime time.
After getting back to the Shackspace, [4RM4] decided to go in a more classic direction by building an RGB Snake clone. A few neat features were implemented like a high score list, a free play bot, and a clock.
To control his pixel-munching snake, [4RM4] used a Wii Nunchuck controller hooked up to the Raspberry Pi’s GPIO pins. It looks like a whole lot of fun, and given the absurdly high scores shown in the video after the break, it looks like this build is getting a lot of use at the Shackspace.

http://hackaday.com/2013/01/23/raspi...strip-display/

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US politician calls violent game devs 'electronic child molesters'

January 23rd, 2013, 01:45 Posted By: wraggster

US politician Ralph Nader has called developers of violent video games "electronic child molesters".
<figure style="font: 14px/21px sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 20px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px currentColor; width: 300px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; clear: both; word-spacing: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; float: right; display: block; white-space: normal; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" class="article-image article-image-alt article-image-300"></figure>In talks with US news site Politico on Sunday, Nader criticised violent media as he called out President Obama for a lack of action in the gun violence debate which has been spotlighted since the Sandy Hook shooting in December last year."We are in the peak of [violence in entertainment]," Nader told Politico. "Television program violence? Unbelievable. Video game violence? Unprecedented," he added, criticising Obama for not taking action against violent video game creators which he called "electronic child molesters".
Obama called for new research into the effects of violent games and media on the young in a recent press conference in which he outlined his agenda for tighter gun laws in US.
The President proposed America should ban automatic weapons, limit magazines to ten bullets, introduce a standardised background check all buyers and increase scrutiny of mental health patients.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...ild-molesters/

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'70% of software sold online by 2014' says Avangate

January 23rd, 2013, 00:54 Posted By: wraggster

E-commerce specialist Avangate is warning the channel that it must change if it wants to continue selling software.
This is aimed at software vendors and resellers alike.
Avangate’s chief marketing officer, Michael Ni, commented: “Analysts tell us that while 30 per cent of software is sold online today, that will increase to 70 per cent by 2014. This means the entire software channel’s mentality has to change from box shifting to bit shifting. Avangate can help them get there faster than anyone else.”
Avangate, an e-commerce/virtual distributor for B2C and B2B brands from BitDefender to Lavasoft, has seen 3,000 per cent growth over the last five years as the software download market has grown. It says it has 2,500 software partners signed up already, with more to come throughout 2013.
Ni believes there will be a number of challenges for vendors and resellers as the market evolves, from payments to licensing entitlements, upgrades, database ownership and so on.
He pointed out that as subscription becomes more popular, it also becomes more important than ever to engage well with customers over a long period: “Software companies are quickly adapting their businesses to subscription models, even as they increasingly build and deliver new services via the cloud. This shift to where the customers have the ability to drop their subscriptions at any time forces publishers to better understand and service them.”
Avangate offers several solutions from marketplace storefronts through to a full ecommerce platform.

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...vangate/030055

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