The Arizona House of Representatives just passed landmark app store legislation in a 31-29 vote on Wednesday that could have far-reaching consequences for Apple and Google and their respective mobile operating systems. From a report: The legislation, a sweeping amendment to Arizona’s existing HB2005 [PDF], prevents app store operators from forcing a developer based in the state to use a preferred…
Tag: game consoles
The Impractical but Indisputable Rise of Retrocomputing
For all the personal technology introduced and popularized in 2020 — upscale fitness bikes, at-home Covid tests, game consoles new and old — the personal computer lands on the list with a bit of a thud. PCs lack the novelty of other gadgets, but they’re practical, essential even, in a year when work, school and social life have come to rely…
Are the Best Star Wars Stories Now in Games Like ‘Star Wars: Squadrons’?
A game critic for the Los Angeles Times remembers his reaction to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. “What a disappointment — if only it had been built for video game consoles.” This leads to this epiphany:
For all the deserved attention “The Mandalorian” series on Disney+ has received, the just-released game “Star Wars: Squadrons” reminds us that some of the best…
GameStop Forms Strategic Accord With Microsoft
GameStop jumped as much as 27% after a strategic partnership with Microsoft gave investors fresh optimism that the video-game retailer can turn around its business. From a report: Under a multiyear agreement, GameStop will use Microsoft’s cloud services to handle business operations, including finance, inventory and e-commerce, according to a statement Thursday. In-store workers also will use Microsoft Surface devices while…
You Can Now Play an Ultra-Rare Quake Arcade Cabinet at Home
Since its 1996 PC release, id’s seminal shooter Quake has been ported to everything from flip phones and smartphones to game consoles and Web browsers. But even many serious fans of the series don’t know about Quake Arcade Tournament Edition (Quake ATE), an officially licensed version of the game that ran on custom arcade cabinets. From a report: Even among those…
Ubisoft Family Accused of Mishandling Sexual Misconduct Claims
An anonymous reader shares a report: Five brothers started Ubisoft Entertainment SA in 1986 and since then the video game company has survived seven generations of game consoles, four recessions, a hostile takeover bid from France’s largest media conglomerate, and a global pandemic. Ubisoft is one of the world’s largest game publishers, the maker of blockbuster series such as Assassin’s Creed…
Toshiba Publishes Full List of Its Drives Using Slower SMR Technology
“Toshiba has just published a full list of all the consumer HDDs in their lineup that use SMR (shingled magnetic recording) technology,” writes Slashdot reader williamyf. “This comes after the whole submarine consumer SMR HDDs fiasco, and fresh on the heels of Western Digital publishing a full list of all their consumer HDDs using SMR. With this, Seagate is the only…
‘Maximum PC’ Magazine Accurately Predicted Apple TV-Like Devices In 2001
Slashdot reader alaskana98 writes:
In the February 2001 issue of Maximum PC, technical editor Will Smith described in his column what he would like to see in the “perfect set-top box”. At a time when arguably the best ‘PVR’ experience was being provided by the first iterations of the Tivo (with no HDTV or LAN connectivity), Will’s description of what a set-top…
The Rise and Fall of the PlayStation Supercomputers
“On the 25th anniversary of the original Sony PlayStation, The Verge shares the story of the PlayStation supercomputers,” writes Slashdot reader jimminy_cricket. From the report: Dozens of PlayStation 3s sit in a refrigerated shipping container on the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s campus, sucking up energy and investigating astrophysics. It’s a popular stop for tours trying to sell the school to prospective…
Ask Slashdot: Why Doesn’t the Internet In 2019 Use More Interactive 3D?
dryriver writes: For the benefit of those who are not much into 3D technologies, as far back as the year 2000 and even earlier, there was excitement about “Web3D” — interactive 3D content embedded in HTML webpages, using technologies like VRML and ShockWave 3D. 2D vector-based Flash and Flash animation was a big deal back then. Very popular with internet users….