Xbox Kinect versus Playstation Move: Which Should You Buy?

If you really want to get your teen or even yourself the latest and greatest in the "video gaming" side of technology then Xbox Kinect and Playstation Move are where it's at.

These are add-ons for the original consoles, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 respectively, that will ultimately  mean new motion controlled gaming and extra fun for the entire family! (you can buy the motion sensors alone or in bundles with the main consoles)

What Do The Kinect and Move Do?

Because the technology is so new, it helps to find out a little more about what these controllers actually do before you consider buying them as gifts.

Both options work to create a new in-game experience that means even the slightest movements are picked up. This is similar to the Nintendo Wii, but goes much further.

Xbox 360 Kinect:

The Kinect was first known as "Project Natal" and is designed without a controller. It actually senses movements (through a senor bar) from your whole body to control what's happening on the screen.

Kinect Sensor with Kinect Adventures

Includes "Kinect Adventures!" and token codes for downloadable versions of "Gunstringer" and "Fruit Ninja Kinect" (requires broadband internet connection to redeem)

Sony Playstation Move:

This does make use of a controller, but is extremely sophisticated and can sense a wide range of movements. It also makes use of a navigation controller with directional pad.

Get the Move Controller System

Includes a copy of the Multiplayer PlayStation Move game, Sports Champions

Different Purchase Options

If you're looking to buy either of these motion sensors for your teen or tween or yourself, then you have a few different purchase options. Both can be bought without the consoles (if you already own them), in which case the Move costs around $100 which is R1020 on the South African market for all of the separate items, and Kinect costs $150 which is about R1530.00 Which is a whole lot more expensive than the Sony move.

PS3 plus Move Bundled System

The PlayStation Move 320 GB console bundle is the ultimate way for players to discover the extreme power, versatility and sensitivity of both the PlayStation 3 and the PlayStation Move motion controlled gaming system. The bundle consists of a slim designed PlayStation 3 console, with the massive 320 GB hard drive configuration, a DualShock 3 wireless controller, a PlayStation Eye camera peripheral, a PlayStation Move motion controller and a copy of the PlayStation Move game, Sports Champions. Together these components provide all the pieces necessary to fully experience the advanced motion controlled gaming only possible with the Move system, as well as the wider world of digital entertainment available with the PlayStation 3.

XBox 360 plus Kinect Bundle

The Xbox 360 4GB Console with Kinect. Kinect brings games and entertainment to life in extraordinary new ways - no controller required. Easy to use and instantly fun, Kinect gets everyone off the couch moving, laughing and cheering. See a ball? Kick it. Control an HD movie with a wave of the hand. Want to join a friend in the fun? Simply jump in. Wi-Fi is built-in for easier connection to the world of entertainment on Xbox LIVE, where HD movies and TV stream in an instant. Xbox 360 is more games, entertainment and fun.

Who Should You Buy The Kinect and Move For?

The Kinect and Move are aimed at both seasoned and casual gamers. Much like the Nintendo Wii, these motion controllers have the ability to get anyone involved, whether they usually like playing video games or not. That said, the Kinect is said to be more family-oriented than the Move - but it all depends on which console your recipient already owns. They'll already need to have the console for these accessories to work.

Should You Buy The Kinect or Move?

Although these are both technically classed as "controllers" or "accessories" for existing consoles, they don't come cheap. They are a huge upgrade to previous technology, with the ability to completely change gaming, which comes with a price tag to match.

That said, Kinect and Move are almost guaranteed to provide hours of fun for your teens and tweens, Even better, they will allow the whole family to join in! Just make sure that your teen already has the relevant console, or buy the console bundle alongside the controller.

It's obviously totally up to you which console and accessories you choose.
Happy gaming.

Playstation 4 Pricing and what can be expected from Sony with the release of the PS4

PlayStation 4

• PS4 is coming and you can experience the next generation in gaming at the remarkable price of £349.99 Which is R5533.80 on the South African Market ( directly converted to South African Rand) Although Prices can and will definitely vary in different countries and regions.

• The design of the PS4 system is sleek and functional, housing a powerful system architecture that will enable the industry's best developers to create amazing titles for the system.

PS4 games

• SCE Worldwide Studios has more than 30 PS4 exclusive titles in development, 20 of which will launch during the first year of the PS4.
• The line-up of games on the platform PS4 includes 12 completely new titles, including The Order: 1886 from Ready at Dawn. 
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• We also provided updates to other exciting PS4 titles such as #DRIVECLUB,  inFAMOUS Second Son, Killzone: Shadow Fall   and KNACK.

• Some of the best teams in the world displayed their groundbreaking games, including live gameplay of the highly anticipated Destiny from Bungie Studios for the very first time, as well as presentations from Ubisoft featuring Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag and Watch_Dogs, Square Enix showing off Kingdom Hearts 3 and Final Fantasy XV, plus Warner Bros. presented the world premiere for Mad Max. 

• We reinforced our support for independent and smaller developers with nine new titles that will debut exclusively on PlayStation 4.

• Overall, there are more than 140 games in development for PS4, including over 100 that will be available within the first year. 

PlayStation Plus on PS4

• Sony announced that PlayStation Plus subscriptions will carry over to PlayStation 4, so subscribers will have access to all of the benefits across PS3, PS Vita and PS4 for one price.

• These benefits include the ability to seamlessly start playing games and join your online friends while spectating gameplay or enjoying cross game voice chat, as well as exclusive discounts, cloud game saves and Instant Game Collection.

• To celebrate the launch of PlayStation Plus on PS4, they will offer #DRIVECLUB PS Plus Edition as part of the Instant Game Collection.

Entertainment

• Sony Pictures Entertainment appeared on-stage to announce that it is working on new original programming and unique access to entertainment content on PlayStation Network and PS4.
• "Sony Pictures Entertainment is one of the most powerful entertainment brands in the world and we look forward to bringing our fans curated content that you'll love."

PlayStation Vita

• In just over a year since the launch of PS Vita, Sony's built a library of more than 125 dedicated games and the platform will only get stronger in the coming year.
• More than 85 games will launch by the end of 2013, including The Walking Dead, Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate, CounterSpy, Destiny of Spirits, Doki-Doki Universe, Killzone: Mercenary and Tearaway.

PlayStation 3

• PlayStation 3 is in its sixth year and our commitment to it is stronger than ever. The PS3 game line-up today is huge, continuing with the release in E3 week of the critically acclaimed The Last of Us.

• Sony has more than 300 other titles coming soon on PS3, such as BEYOND: Two Souls, Rain, Puppeteer, Batman: Arkam Origins and Gran Turismo 6.

• In addition, They announced a PS3 bundle for Grand Theft Auto V and a new GTAV branded PULSE Wireless Stereo Headset that comes with an exclusive GTA soundscape.

Subscribe to WOT to read up on all the latest PS4 news and to make sure you don't miss out on any new updates as we build up to the launch of the next generation in gaming on PlayStation.

The president of SCE Worldwide Studios talks indie games, E3 and the future of PlayStation.

Where does E3 2013 rank for you in terms of impact?
It's amazing. I've been with PlayStation since the very beginning of the project in 1993 and some people reminded me of the way the passion and the vibe in the press conference was like the very first E3 in 1995, when we introduced the original PlayStation. Steve Race, president of Sony Computer Entertainment America at the time, just walked up onto the stage and said "$299" for the price, and the audience went crazy. And I agree – I remember that energy and excitement. We are so excited that all the plans we worked on leading up to this year are coming together. We feel like what we have designed and aimed for are really connecting with people, and that's great.
How did it feel being up there showing off the games that are developed by SCE Worldwide Studios to the world?

I was proud to be a part of this very important press conference. When we started planning for E3, honestly I thought there were people who would present better as the show was to be done in English. But when I spoke with the SCEA PR team, they said, "You have to do it. People want to hear from you as the head of Worldwide Studios." Everyone is working so hard to get PS4 into the market that I felt enormous responsibility to show the best of what people are doing from the software standpoint. I wanted to get that message across.
What kind of feedback do you get from the development teams about working with PlayStation 4?
I don't have to ask for this feedback, they just tell me. They are so happy that they can just focus on the games. They don't have to spend so much time trying to understand the hardware. The progress that all teams have made is great. That's a consistent message that I get. Many of the team members of the studios were already involved in the discussion of what PS4 should be, what DUALSHOCK 4 should be in terms of improvement from DUALSHOCK 3.

I get the feeling when I talk to the teams that there's a real sense of pride that they are now using the system they helped to design. They have a genuine passion for showing why PS4 is so special for playing games on. We can show the best of PS4 through our games.
With PlayStation Vita there's a sense of immediacy; you can put a game down and come back to it later on...

It's the same philosophy with PS4. We all love this immediacy and the seamless experience, and in many ways PS Vita is the inspiration for many of the features that we have incorporated into the PS4 system software designs. Actually, because it is the same group of people involved in designing PS Vita and PS4, PS Vita was almost like preliminary work and PS4 is the continuation of that. It's an evolution of the thinking of a home console, especially on the networked services side. So yes, we like the immediacy, and the expectation of the gamer is that all devices should be like that. We are working hard to achieve that.
Why is it so important to support independent game developers?

Because independent developers are making great, awesome games! Their passion, creativity and energy are at an all-time high. We expect that to continue, the reason being many indie studios are not brand new to the industry; they are often very experienced and have worked on many, many games over a number of years at larger studios. And they might think, "I want to make this game, this idea, for me," but it can be difficult to achieve within a larger team.
Because of the advances in digital platforms, now it's possible for small teams to create games and make a success of them all over the world. That's where the energy and some of the most exciting experiments and concepts are. Some of the best examples are last year's award winners, Journey and The Walking Dead. Both were digitally distributed and were made by small development teams. They competed with games with the biggest production values and they won. It's so important for us to be supportive of that on PS4, PlayStation 3 and PS Vita.
That creativity you talk about must then feed back into the teams under the SCE Worldwide Studios umbrella?
Absolutely. We have larger teams and we also work with external developers and producers who cultivate close links with the smaller teams. When they see something amazing that is being developed, that inspires our teams as well. Larger teams sometimes find it better to stick with proven themes, but once a smaller developer shows something can be done, that really fires the other teams up – they want to outdo them.
Visit eu.playstation.com/ps4/games to take a closer look at the games coming to PS4 and keep an eye on eu.playstation.com for part two of our exclusive interview with Shuhei Yoshida.

Galaxy S4 on DSLR is Samsung Galaxy NX

Combining DSLR and Android may be strange for some, but for Samsung, it could be the “next big thing.” Samsung Electronics is on the roll and betting on Android again, and today, Samsung is expected to unveil its first DSLR with Android Jelly Bean mobile operating system.
Yup, Google’s popular mobile operating system running on digital single-lens reflex camera. For starters, or for smartphone fans out there who’s not into photography, here’s one paragraph from Photography Life about DSLRs:

DSLR stands for “Digital Single Lens Reflex”. In simple language, DSLR is a digital camera that uses mirrors to direct light from the lens to the viewfinder, which is a hole on the back of the camera that you look through to see what you are taking a picture of.

Viewfinder is where you can see your subject, just like on smartphone, the viewfinder is the display on your phone. For Samsung, adding Android on DSLR is the future of photography.

DSLR Android Jelly Bean, the Samsung Galaxy NX will cater photographers and social network addicts who love sharing photos on the go.

Image via Samsung Press.

It seems the company has a point. In fact, we love taking photos because humans love preserving memories, and of course, share it to others. Have you seen a polaroid? Polaroid, a former hit camera that can share photos instantly – literally.
In the so-called digital age, sharing means posting your photos on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google+ and other social networking sites available on the "Net" right now — the motto of a digi kid: the more social networking accounts, the better. I mean after all, that's how people keep in touch these days. instead of a phone call, people use their social networking skills and tools such as their smartphones, iPads and Galaxy tabs while they are on the go.

With Samsung Galaxy NX, the first Samsung DSLR with Android mobile operating system, owners can shoot professional images and upload it directly to Google’s servers, or directly to Facebook. And because it runs Android, cloud storage apps are also supported, like Dropbox, Box, Google Drive and more.

Samsung is aware of the fact that Android is popular, and by combining DSLR, the popularity of Google’s platform, and the name “Galaxy,” Samsung is possibly on the verge of getting a new smash-hit.
Samsung’s current flagship phone, the Samsung Galaxy S4, is considered as a decent “cameraphone” courtesy of its 13-megapixel back-facing primary camera. However, its tiny lens is not enough to satisfy photography fans — and Galaxy NX could fill the gap between the regular DSLR, smartphones and the cloud.
Korean tech giant Samsung is expected to unveil and publicly demonstrate the Samsung Galaxy NX today at the so-called “Samsung Premiere 2013.”
According to rumors, the new DSLR Samsung device with Google’s Android will have a price tag of US$1,300 which is R13 266.24 on the South African market, For comparison, the Samsung Galaxy S4 retails for $700 to $800 in the States and On  the South African market at R7143.36, but of course, the Galaxy S4 is not the DSLR. The Point being that the DSLR is not a cheap piece of Tech.

Nokia Lumia EOS with 41MP PureView camera confirmed and will run Windows Phone 8

It looks as though Nokia can’t wait for its own event and placed the ginormous number 41 on its July 11 open invite.
Apparently, Nokia will unveil a brand new Windows Phone next month, the Nokia Lumia EOS with 41-megapixel back-facing camera called “PureView.” Experts say the Lumia EOS and the 808 PureView phone that Nokia previously released are sharing the same camera technology.

Nokia confirms in a blog post that the Nokia Lumia EOS will offer a 41-megapixel PureView primary camera.

Image via Nokia.com

In a blog post, Nokia said that they have 41 million reasons while inviting Lumia owners and other consumers to watch the 2013 Nokia Conversations event. Apparently 41 million = 41MP or 41-megapixel, so it’s just a clue about the next flagship Lumia handset.
Keep in mind that Nokia is relying on Windows Phone only, so it is obvious that the long-rumored Lumia EOS will also run Microsoft’s mobile operating system.
And with Windows Phone, the Lumia EOS will not offer Twitter’s Vine, Instagram with its photo and new video service and other video and photo-centric applications available only on Android and iPhone, though it is possible that Nokia will add a companion app that will take advantage of the exciting 41-megapixel shooter on the Lumia EOS.

MacBook Pro 2013 refresh to benefit from Intel Haswell

MacBook Air 2013 refresh lineup is getting all the love from reviews mainly due to its improved overall performance while serving better battery life than its predecessors and other Apple laptops which occupy the top-end spots specifically the Retina MacBook Pro, the 2012 model.
Gigaom collected MacBook Air reviews coming from top tech sites like Verge, CNET and PC Magazine and reports that the new laptop from Apple is very different from previous releases mainly because it offers better battery life with Intel Haswell’s efficiency and bigger battery placed inside the thin laptop.

Thanks to Intel Haswell and improved hardware, Apple’s MacBook Air 2013 lineup is getting all the “love” from critics. However, some portion of the market still demands for a Haswell-based MacBook Pro, both Retina and Non-Retina. Image via Apple.com

And here comes the lack of MacBook Pro refresh at the recently concluded WWDC 2013. A certain portion of the market is still demanding for the Pro lineup’s own upgrade to Haswell, and also the inclusion of top-end hardware available in the market right now.
On a new blog post, Fortune iterates that its specs will convince users to upgrade to the new MacBook Air, despite the fact that Apple’s 12-hour or 9-hour (for the 11-inch model) promise is hard to achieve.
It is safe to say that Apple will introduce a new MacBook Pro this year, but it is still unclear if the regular non-Retina MacBook Pro will get its own refresh because Apple is obviously focusing on making the MacBook Air its entry-level laptops. Apple is playing the “efficiency game” here because the company can save some cash if it will stick with MacBook Air and Retina MacBook Pro tandem.
Of course, no one knows about Apple’s plan yet, and whether the new Retina MacBook Pro will completely replace the non-Retina lineup, but one thing is clear, Apple is making its Mac list shorter as smartphones and tablet computers market share post record spike.
Analysts say Apple can retain the growth of its Mac business with the new MacBook Air models with Intel Haswell sporting the tag price of $999 to $1299. The cheapest 11-inch MacBook Air competes with new laptops running Windows 8 which also offer the latest Haswell microprocessor technology of Intel. And while Apple is delivering goods to entry-level PC market, Apple’s Retina MacBook Pro is taking the top-end category and covering a market with more demands when it comes to on-the-go computing.

Source: Gigaom, Forbes & Popherald.

Comparing the Samsung galaxy S4, iPhone 5 and HTC one: From price to Features.

Ahead of the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Edition release date, some consumers are still asking about the advantages and disadvantages of owning a phone with pure Google OS, against owning an iPhone 5 that will receive a new iOS update later this year.
Of course, there’s the argument that Samsung and HTC’s operating system, the Google Android, is more advanced than Apple’s iOS including the upcoming iOS 7 mobile system update. However, Apple’s iOS is still arguably better when it comes to app selection — so it will still depend on the consumer’s preferred ecosystem.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Edition, and also the HTC One Google Edition, will compete with Apple’s iPhone 5 later this month in the US. Is pure Android OS and top-notch specs enough to convince consumers to switch to Android? Image via Google.

Some analysts say that Apple is not actually competing with Android, in fact, its iOS 7 allegedly shows that Apple is just on the “defensive” side of the game.
Apple’s iOS 7 will also make the iPhone 5 look and feel different, but not by much. Adding new features like the Control Center with quick WiFi, Bluetooth, Music and screen brightness toggles, plus other enhancements will surely make the iPhone 5 a more attractive device.
And then there’s a rumor that Apple will unveil a new iPhone later this year. Of course, Apple will release a new phone because the company needs to compete with Samsung, HTC and other phone makers new devices with top-notch specs. However, adding a new phone on its lineup will not only give Apple a chance to attract consumers who are looking for a new iPhone, but putting a new high-end phone on its lineup will also nudge the iPhone 5 to the mid-range category with cheaper price.
The iPhone 5 is currently priced $649, the cheapest, and $849 for the high-end variant with the biggest built-in storage. If Apple will release a new iPhone in September, then it is safe to say that Apple will cut the price of the iPhone 5.
A cheaper iPhone 5 could be a big problem for Android phone makers, especially for Samsung and HTC’s new products, the HTC One Google Edition and the Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Edition running the untouched version of Google’s operating system. With unskinned Android, Google also said that it will update the two phones automatically if a new system is available.

Comparing HTC and Samsung’s phones

HTC One Google Edition is slightly more affordable than Galaxy S4 Google Edition. The One will sport the $599 price tag, while the Galaxy S4 is taking the $649 price point.
HTC One competes with Apple iPhone 5 by offering aluminum unibody, a 4.7-inch 1080p display, two front-facing speakers and a new camera sensor called UltraPixel, but similar to Apple’s, the HTC One does not support additional storage, and its battery is non-removable.
And then that’s the advantage of the Samsung Galaxy S4. Apart from its bigger battery, it is also removable allowing users to replace it with another one in case of emergency. Plus, the Samsung Galaxy S4 also supports additional storage with its built-in SD card slot.
However, the Samsung Galaxy S4 arguably fails to compete with iPhone 5 and HTC One when it comes to build quality, and similar to Galaxy S3 last year, the S4 offers a full plastic body with glossy back that feels sticky.
Both the HTC One and the Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Edition handsets will join the market, US only, on the 26th of June. Google will exclusively retail both handsets via its online Play Store.