Friday, December 5, 2014

Called to testify even Eddy Cue, vice president of Internet services and software

Called to testify even Eddy Cue, vice president of Internet services and software - including iTunes and App Store - and responsible for advertising services and cloud business of Apple, Siri, Maps and Apple Pay. During the process in which Apple accused of having blocked third-party software on your iPod, Cue told her, deepening the discussion of DRM and the reasons for its decision to simulate a system error which wipe out all the songs purchased from store alternative.



According to him, Apple, after having examined the various possible solutions, thought to offer licensed to other companies DRM Fairplay - the name given to proprietary software for digital rights management - as well it would be possible to expand the music market making it grow faster, "but we could not find a way of working and reliable to offer it to other companies, 'said Cue.

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Were several technical problems that the company met, early interoperability and the growing multitude of MP3 players on the market: Apple knew that would come out new devices from other companies that might not work with this system. "Others have tried to do this, and they failed miserably - reminds Cue - one of which was Microsoft."

Eddy Cue

Record labels - writes The Verge - were against the concept of the iTunes Music Store since they already have their digital music stores and used different DRM technologies for their songs. Defending the use of DRM with iTunes and the iPod was mandatory for Apple, because only in this way it would be possible to keep safe your own store "When we discovered the existence of the hack, the only thing to do was to remedy the flaw in a certain period of time: desist would give the record companies to sell music through iTunes. "

Delete the downloaded songs from other software was then the fastest way to protect digital music file of record companies, which at that time controlled 80% of the music market. Apple still uses Fairplay to protect music files encrypted on their servers, but is then removed when the purchase is made the song: this system monitors and also protects the contents on iBooks and applications on the App Store.

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Nintendo's characters meet in Super Smash Bros.

Tired of saving princesses or destroy bosses, sometimes, to break the routine, even the characters of Nintendo meet for beating each of thrashing. As in Super Smash Bros. Wii U, home version of the fighting game released in early October on 3DS and now available on the Nintendo console.

In the game Mario, Luigi, Donkey Kong, Pikachu and all the other stars in the universe Nintendo is facing the death (so to speak) in a series of themed arenas. Each character is different and has a unique set of moves: the more you damage the opponents and the easier it is to defeat them, throwing them off the screen with a well-aimed blow called, precisely, Smash. The wrestlers available are more than 40, including old favorites such as arcade Pac-Man, and the couple Sonic / MegaMan, from games targati Sega.

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The longevity of the game is virtually endless, with many items and secrets to unlock through many modes, both offline and online, from the classic single player adventure to the multiplayer games, going through the challenges and mini-games. For the first time also is available confrontation with 8 players simultaneously, although only in local multiplayer. Too bad for the story mode, that if in the previous episode had been done on purpose, Wii U has been reduced to a mere succession of fights without any plot, with less and less boss missions to complete. While we enjoyed the chance to fight using their Mii avatars virtual Nintendo, personalizing moves and gear.

Super Smash Bros. is also the first Nintendo title to exploit Amiibo, the interactive dolls modeled on those of Skylanders and Disney Infinity: just bring a small statue of the sensor NFC Gamepad to create a character and start retrofitted with workouts and special items. Once stored in the memory of the puppet, the fighters Amiibo may be called into battle as helpers. Sure, it's not much, but when you consider that Amiibo will work from now on with almost all Nintendo games, surprises in the future could be very interesting.

Super Smash Bros. is now available on Wii U at a recommended price of € 59.90, while the first 12 Amiibo at 14.90 euro each.

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Battlefield: Hardline

design of a single-player campaign is part of the specification limits for modern FPS. The success of the most famous episodes of Call of Duty is no stranger to this relatively new requirement. Still, as the Battlefield series, known for its multi offers also during each his solitary adventure pane. Except for what has been done with Bad Company, free psn codes spin-off particularly successful, we can not say that the Swedes DICE have proved their ability to be at the level of competition on that ground. Just like BF3, it was often even close to disaster. But since Battlefield: Hardline is developed by another studio, namely Visceral Games, can we expect a more engaging result? This is what we have attempted to identify through an hour of play on two chapters selected by the developers.

Battlefield: Hardline



In the single player campaign of Battlefield: Hardline, you play as Nick Mendoza, a young man newly promoted detective. He is accompanied by Khai during the adventure, more seasoned colleague and reasoned than him. Other characters obviously join the duo during the adventure but needless to go into too much detail. What is important to note is that they will both end up embedded in a much more complex history than it appeared to be initially. If the fight against drug trafficking organized by any cartel is starting point for Office, the scenario will soon fly off to other lands to make you live ever more spectacular events and eventful. That's convenient because Visceral Games develops the single player campaign as a television series. The developers even speak of seasons and episodes.

dual approach

Preview Battlefield: Hardline PlayStation 4 - Screenshot 51
Welcome to sensitive areas of Miami ...
We could play two distant sections, the first and the ninth. Again, we will obviously do without the details of the scenario in order to preserve the interests of the latter. However, know that the beginning of the adventure takes place in the streets of Miami in the heart of visibly difficult neighborhoods ravaged by poverty, crime and drugs. For several minutes, the game presents Nick and Khai through a dialogue in which the two policemen are revealed to each other. An absolutely interminable sequence during which you do not have hands. Difficult to heavier in terms of staging. After this long time, Battlefield: Hardline begins to let you play and introducing the same time its mechanical. The main originality of the title to the possibility of addressing the vast majority of situations in two different ways. Namely frontally scrubs everyone. Or more subtly, using the various tools at your disposal. This ranges from taser (taser) by simple phone in hand-to-hand from behind to stun the enemy, through the use of his badge. This offers the possibility of freezer opponents before securing them permanently by handcuffing them. The consequence of this slightly open gameplay, this is of course that the level design has been designed to enable these approaches.

Bad Cop

Preview Battlefield: Hardline PlayStation 4 - Screenshot 52
You can choose between frontal approach and subtle.
Visceral Games has ensured that the game does not punish you for having adopted the frontal approach even that as a police officer, you're supposed to pay attention to your actions. However, unless you kill enemies, the more you are rewarded. You then get various honorary awards and especially money in larger quantities, it to purchase weapons or objects of various kinds. Besides large machine guns or shotguns that stain, you can, for example, to unlock a riot shield always useful when the situation degenerates, or a gas mask to avoid getting smoke out by the enemies. The other big game mechanics concerns the investigation side thereof. It must constantly scan the various locations for clues. Some are required to move forward, others are only necessary if you want to finish everything at 100%. Typically good idea which is actually not really. Clearly, these phases are of little interest if not vaguely to promote immersion. But it ends soon get fed up with. Especially there is always an element next to which it happened and that we should thereby seek for minutes. What has the gift of breaking the rhythm of the game.


Preview Battlefield: Hardline PlayStation 4 - Screenshot 53
What we saw of the campaign was not frankly unconvincing.

Now that you are aware of the theory, namely what is in the solo part of Battlefield: Hardline, we come to the concrete, to our feelings from the two chapters that we traveled. These do not look alike at all in that the second - very late in the adventure, we recall it - forces you to face hordes of enemies in difficult conditions. Impossible to play the infiltration. What is frustrating because it is in the open side lies the little interest of the single player campaign of this episode. Little interest because behind the originality of some mechanical (the badge once) hides a terribly bland game. From what we have seen in the text. We feel that the developers have not gone after their ideas. The enemy AI is for example not developed enough that we have want to have fun with it. Psn code generator The level design, although correct, it also demonstrates the lack of imagination of Visceral Games. But if one were to highlight an item to explain our feelings, it would be the attitude of our partner Khai. Once the action is racing, it will hide in a corner until it happens. As if the developers did not really know what to make of this secondary character outside the scripted times. In short, all sorely lacking in character, identity. Everything is cold, like the general atmosphere and personality of the various protagonists.