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Dammit Google. Every time I feel like you are taking the next big step in communications technology, you do something baffling like this.
A lot of people were very excited when Google initially announced that they would be laying infrastructure to provide free fiber optic internet connection in a number of U.S. Cities in the form of Google Fibre. This was especially exciting for consumers as Google spent years fighting for net neutrality policies to be put in place, keeping ISPs from restricting their customers’ internet use for financial gain.
On Monday however, Google responded to an informal complaint that was filed with the FCC claiming that net neutrality does not give citizens a right to run servers out of their homes, an act that violates Google Fibre’s terms of service. While many people picture servers as big expensive computers that only large companies use to move large amounts of data around, any personal computer can act as a server for any variety of common reasons. Running a mail server from home? That violates Google Fibre’s Terms Of Use.
Using SSH to access files on your home computer from work? Google Fibre doesn’t want that.
Monitoring your household remotely through a webcam?
Net neutrality states that “Fixed broadband providers may not block lawful content, applications, services, or non-harmful devices.” Google claims that hosting a server from a residential location falls under the provisions for reasonable network management, but these provisions allow ISPs to take action should congestion occur, not to create policies that pro-actively prevent congestion. Furthermore, the majority of people who use their home computers as servers will not have any significant impact on congestion for a 1Gbps network.
Google’s support representatives have been hitting the forums to assure people that the policy is not meant to restrict use of reasonable uses of their service, such as those listed above, however forum posts are not legally binding. Terms Of Use are, and we can be sure that, as soon as a single user falls into the gray area of network use, Google’s black and white policies will take that user down.
To see Google’s response to the informal complaint that the FCC forwarded to them, go here: *Warning: PDF File*
To see the FCC’s policies regarding Open Internet and Broadband Industry practices go here: *Warning: PDF File*
The No Blocking rule is on page 2, in section ii of paragraph 1, and the Reasonable Network Management provisions are on page 47, in paragraph 80.
The next generation of console gaming may have finally found its niche – as the generation that blurs the line between video game players and video game creators. That’s according to a new announcement by Microsoft, which confirms – like Sony with the PS4 – that XBox One owners can use the next-gen console as their very own development kit.
Xbox’s corporate vice president Marc Whitten said that all Xbox Ones will function as development kits, which are usually only available to licensed developers. This will give everyone who owns an XBox One the tools to build their own XB1 games as part of the very system they’re playing them on – a trend Ouya started with its independently-focused Android-based console; and subsequently adopted by Sony for the Playstation 4. To add to the appeal, reports spreading on the internet claim Microsoft will allow indie developers to self-publish on the Xbox One, though Microsoft are yet to comment on this part of the equation.
UPDATE: However, the functionality WON’T be available immediately at the console’s launch; it will be installed on all consoles at a later date.
Here’s Microsoft’s official comment:
Our vision is that every person can be a creator. That every Xbox One can be used for development. That every game and experience can take advantage of all of the features of Xbox One and Xbox LIVE. This means self-publishing. This means Kinect, the cloud, achievements. This means great discoverability on Xbox LIVE. We’ll have more details on the program and the timeline at gamescom in August.
Let me be the first to claim this day, Global Gamedev Independence Day 🙂
UPDATED TO ADD:
Mark Whitten added in late-breaking news today that independently-published games will have just as much potential for exposure as professionally-published games, with Microsoft having no intention to separate the two from the future XBox Live Marketplace:
“My goal is for it to just show up in the marketplace. Of course there will be different pivots inside of that. There will be everything from what are we curating, kind of like spotlight content, to the normal discoverability stuff like recommendations, what’s trending, what’s got a lot of engagement on the platform. And you’d be able to find that content in any of those. There wouldn’t be any difference based on what type of game it was. Then of course there will be other type of pivots where you can go and look at whether its a genre of game or any other. But you shouldn’t think of it as there’s an indie area and a non-indie area.
Just as today, where we will highlight things that are coming in on the service, we want to make that more discoverable. We’ll make it things that we curate as well as the other ways that you find content whether that’s what your friends are doing or what we recommend based on your play behaviour. Or top listings. We want to make sure we have all of those types of discoverability mechanisms.”
Microsoft are yet to comment on whether indie developers will experience any cost to their own pockets to acquire devkits or publish their games. But you WILL have full rights to charge for the games if you prefer; and pricing is aimed to be similar to today’s Xbox 360 Marketplace. With little else revealed, Whitten says we’ll have to wait to Gamescon to know the rest of the details. Stay tuned!
Set to retail with an RRP of £49.99, compared to $59.99 in the States.
Microsoft has announced Xbox One games in the UK will come with a Recommended Retail Price (RRP) of £49.99.
OXM spotted the prices on the company’s online store, which currently lists Dead Rising 3, Ryse: Son of Rome, Forza Motorsport 5 and Kinect Sports Rivals for that price.
Last month, Microsoft announced that first-party Xbox One games would be sold in North America for $59.99, which is the same price games are currently sold for there. In terms of the UK, it’s worth remembering that retailers are likely to undercut Microsoft – in fact, Amazon is already listing Need for Speed Rivals at £43.99.
Sony has yet to announce any UK pricing for its games, though the company has similarly confirmed an American price point of $59.99.
In the development of their mobile platform, it seems the people over at Ubuntu have discovered something about the smartphone industry: every smartphone in production is “consumer grade”. Noting that Formula 1 cars are used a commercial test-bed for new automotive technologies, the people at Ubuntu wanted a similar product for the smarphone industry. So they decided to build one.
The Ubuntu Edge is indeed a powerhouse of a phone. With a 4GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and a multicore processor to be named later, this phone is more powerful than many PC’s. And the chips aren’t the only impressive things on this phone. With a casing crafted from a single piece of textured metal, and a sapphire crystal screen, this phone will be incredibly durable. Rather than focusing on just having a higher ppi, which is wasted on most phones today, the 4.5 inch screen will sport greater clarity through color enhancement and improved brightness. The battery life will also be improved, utilizing a silicon anode battery, in place of the more standard lithium-ion of today’s phones.
On the software side, the Edge will be running both the Ubuntu mobile platform and Android side by side.
To finance this project, Ubuntu is reaching out to technology enthusiasts to donate a whopping $32,000,000 on Indigogo. If the campaign succeeds, it will shatter all previous crowd-funding records. To receive one of the new devices, supporters will have to donate at least $830, and wait until the project is finished in May of next year. Participating in the campaign will be the only way to receive one of these phones, as Ubuntu is only planning to make 40,000 of the phones.
Turns out the internet is not quite as united on the issue of DRM as we were led to believe. A fan by the name of David Fontenot has started a petition on Change.org claiming that “consumers were uninformed” during the initial outcry against the DRM policies that were announced with the new Xbox One.
To review, when the Xbox One was initially announced at E3 in June, it was also announced that the Xbox One would have to log in via internet connection every 24 hours to verify ownership. If a log in was missed, gamers would not be able to use their consoles to play games until a connection was re-established. Microsoft also talked about their game sharing and trading policies, stating that games used games could be resold, given as gifts, and even resold to retailers, but this could only be done once per game license.
And as they are wont to do, gamers got a bit upset.
After about two weeks of listening to their fans’ rage, Xbox announced that they would be repealing their DRM policies on the Xbox One, and the system would operate largely the same as the 360 does currently, with no online requirement and infinitely resell-able games. Unfortunately, along with the removal of DRM, came the loss of several features that were announced with the Xbox One, namely the ability to trade and resell digital licenses for games, and play your games on any Xbox One.
What really needs to happen here is that both parties need to step back, take a deep breath, and really look at what each side is asking for. Xbox made a serious misstep in their initial release statement by claiming that “every Xbox One owner has a broadband connection”, and not highlighting that it is the DRM policies that allowed several of their notable new features to operate. This situation exacerbated by Phil Spencer’s sarcastic claim that “We have a product for people who can’t access the internet, it’s called Xbox 360”.
The fan response could have been a little more controlled as well. Any appearance of the letters DRM these days seems to cause an immediate, visceral reaction in gamers, leading to copious quantities of “nerd rage” and not a lot of well thought out research and reasoned discussion. Perhaps a calm complaint would have elicited a more informative response from the executives at Microsoft, than the wave of outrage that was put forward.
So where do you stand on the Xbox One DRM policies? Do you want the many-featured, but DRM restricted Xbox? Or are you in the DRM free, but less innovative camp? Let us know in the comments below, or over in the forums. To check out the petition, head over to http://www.change.org/petitions/microsoft-give-us-back-the-xbox-one-we-were-promised-at-e3-2
