Games sell songs

Mobile phones taking over the world

Samsung shrinking drives

PS3 to be shocked this year

One less reason to call a call center

Nintendo adds a channel

Monday 19th May 2008 - 23th May 2008

Games sell songs

The latest release by Motley Crue has seen larger sales on the XBox 360 than on the iTunes Music Store.

The new release "Saints of Los Angeles" by the band saw a release on the iTunes Music Store and XBox Live for the game Rock Band. The Rock Band version of teh game, while being more expensive, has sold more than 4 times the number of the iTunes version.

The Motley Crue album with the single is due for release in June.

Source Reuters

Comment

The main reason for the larger sales for the game when compared with the iTunes version is without a doubt thanks to the interactive element from playing the game.

When the album is released we should see things even out.

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Mobile phones taking over the world

The International Telecommunications Union has reported the number of mobile phones now in service around the world is half the total population of the world.

Africa is the main growth area for mobile phones, with Asia following behind.

The number of mobile phones in Africa now out number land lines.

Source The Australian

Comment

Unlike Australia, many other countries, including African countries have better and cheaper mobile phone plans.

Add to this the small amount of money needed to build a mobile phone network is only a small fraction of that need to build a land line network making it perfect for developing countries. 

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Samsung shrinking drives

In an effort to bring down the size of laptops and lower the power consumption Samsung has announced a 256 gigabyte flash memory based hard drive.

Previously the largest flash based drive was 160 gigabytes.

While the flash based drive does reduce size, heat and power consumption, it does cost extra when compared to a normal hard drive.

Source ZDNet

Comment

Currently only a few laptops have Solid State Drives, or SSD's, this is due purley to the high costs involved with the new technology.

As they become more widely used the costs will go down and most, if not all, laptop makers hould be using them in the next few years.

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PS3 to be shocked this year

One of the most successful games last year for the XBox 360 and computer is about to be moved over to the Playstation 3.

Bioshock, from Take 2 Interactive, is a highly acclaimed game from last year that was condemned by many Playstation 3 owners. However this week Take 2 announced they are going to move the game on to the Sony console, however no further details on any additions to the game have been announced.

Source Gamespot

Comment

It is really no major suprise, with game makers always wanting to maximise profits, added to the high costs of actually making the games, publishers will always try and reach the maximum market share which will mean in the future it is very unlikely, unless the game is made by the makers of the game console itself, games will not be exclusive to any one console.

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One less reason to call a call center

The NAB this week announced plans to allow people to get any information on their banking services on the internet by talking to a computer through the internet.

The plan will see the bank open a chat room that will be staffed by a computer geneated resonse system to let customers ask questions and appear to get answers from a person at the bank.

The technology is nothing new and has been used as entertainment items on the internet in chat rooms when there is no one else online.

Source ZDNet

Comment

While it will be a chance to get information easily, at first the "Chat Bots" will only have a very limted response list. As time continues the NAB will be able to evolve the programme, but it will still only be able to respond with what it is programmed to say.

It will be easier to understand than an Indian talking quickly on the phone.

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Nintendo adds a channel 

After a long wait for the feature to make its way from Japan to Australia, Nintendo this week launched the Nintendo Channel on the Wii console.

The Nintendo Channel offers videos and details on past, current and upcoming games for the Wii and DS consoles, as well as game demo downloads for the DS.

With the launch of the Ninteno Channel, the Wii console in Australia now has the same functions as the console has in all other countries.

Source Nintendo Australia

Comment 

The Nintendo Channel will be a priceless addition to the Wii if you want to know the release date for any upcoming games, as well as make recoomendations to Nintendo itself on what kind of games you like.

If you play the Wii a lot and have strong oppinions on the games that are being released, or coming soon to the console, the new features will com in handy. 

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