Monthly Archives: September 2015

YouTube Gaming will soon support streaming from Android devices

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YouTube Gaming officially went live at the tail end of August and positioned itself as the largest competitor to the reigning streaming champion, Twitch. Now YouTube Gaming is adding another trick to its arsenal to try and net more users and viewers.

Google has made it known that it will soon be supporting YouTube Gaming on Android-based devices in one new area: streaming. That means that on some devices, Android users will be able to stream their YouTube Gaming shenanigans right from their device, all without needing any extra hardware to get the job done.

What’s more, YouTube Gaming on Android will support audio and video comments by way of the front-facing camera and a connected headset. Game clips can be recorded and uploaded to YouTube by way of the Google Play Games service, too.

There’s a catch, though. This new feature is rolling out in Japan to start, and there doesn’t appear to be a public timetable for when Android streaming will be supported in other countries. According to YouTube Gaming head Ryan Wyatt, “Japan’s mobile games define its gaming culture, far more so than in other countries,” and that’s why they chose that area to launch the new feature.

What do you think of the idea?

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New Fire HD tablets bring larger screens, improved software

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Fire HD 8 comes in pretty new colors. Photo: AmazonAlongside its new 7-inch Fire tablet and the new Fire TV lineup, Amazon today announced two new Fire HD slates with larger 8-inch and 10.1-inch displays. The new devices also boast new Fire OS software; thinner, more colorful form factors, and updated internals. Fire HD is at least $100 more expensive than the 7-inch Fire

Read the full article…

The post New Fire HD tablets bring larger screens, improved software appeared first on Cult of Android.

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Amazon’s new Fire TV box has 4K support and Alexa voice control

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Today’s a big day for Amazon. Not only did it unveil four new Android tablets, including one that costs $50 and can be bought in a six-pack, but it also unveiled a new Fire TV set-top box.

The new Amazon Fire TV looks a lot like the original Fire TV box, but it’s gained the ability to play 4K video, which is a big deal if you’re lucky enough to have a 4K TV. The new Fire TV box also comes with a Fire TV Voice Remote that allows you to access Alexa, Amazon’s voice assistant, to do things like check the weather and sports scores and also play music.

In terms of raw specs, the new Fire TV box has a quad-core MediaTek processor, a Power VR GX6250 GPU, 8GB of storage, a microSD slot, 2GB of RAM, Bluetooth 4.1, and HDMI, Ethernet, and USB ports.

The new Fire TV box is available for pre-order today for $99.99 and it’ll begin shipping on October 5. That bundle includes an Amazon Fire TV Voice Remote, but if you’d prefer a package that includes a Fire TV Game Controller, you can get the $139.99 Fire TV Gaming Bundle that includes a Fire TV box, game controller, 32GB microSD card, and two games. Amazon is also selling a Fire TV Stick bundle that includes the Fire TV Voice Remote for $49.99.

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This Neural Network’s Image Descriptions Are Hilariously Bad — And Also Really Advanced AI

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This Neural Network’s Image Descriptions Are Hilariously Bad — And Also Really Advanced AI
When will a neural network know who Donald Trump is? How long until one can come up with a joke on its own? How about recognize Yoda? It may not be much longer, with neural network models progressing at breakneck speed. But there’s still a long way to go.

September 17, 2015 at 10:09AM
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‘Game Art’ Puts The Video Game Art Debate To Bed By Giving Creators A Say

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Video games are art now and everybody has something to say about it.
Ever since 2010, when acclaimed late film critic Roger Ebert asserted video games are not art, the games industry rose up to the contrary. From Gamasutra to the Guardian, dozens of video game critics have weighed in on the topic. The Smithsonian American Art Museum established a traveling exhibit on the Art of Video Games. And all the while, video games themselves have been improving their graphics and music and color palettes for stunning immersive experiences.
Just when I thought this topic had been done to death, I received a review copy of Game Art by Matt Sainsbury. Since Ebert’s words were heard around the world, I’ve read several reactionary video game art books, though it would be more accurate to say I “looked at” them. Game Art is a welcome change of pace. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but Sainsbury’s interviews with dozens of game creators give them context.
Game Art includes art from 40 games and 21 different interviews with their creators. Sainsbury’s reporting spans the major studios—like Bioware, Square Enix, and Ubisoft—but devotes just as much time to independent creators. The games featured range from the recognizable, like Final Fantasy, to lesser-known but no less beautiful indie favorites. There are games designed for children, games designed strictly for adult audiences, and everything in between.
The result is a thorough cross-section of the games industry today. Sainsbury doesn’t pull away from some of gaming’s most controversial topics. His interview with Gouchi Suda of Lollipop Chainsaw fame doesn’t just acknowledge the studio’s penchant for gratuitous violent and sexual content—Sainsbury makes that boundary pushing the focus of his interview.

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