Thoughts from the Shelf

It has finally been confirmed the PlayStation 3 games console has overtaken Microsoft’s Xbox360 in sales in Europe according to figures released by Sony.

According to the Japanese manufacturer over five million units have been shifted across the continent and the PS3 has actually been outselling its rival since October.

“We have sold more PlayStation 3s throughout Europe than Xbox 360 even though they launched 16 months before us.” - Sony’s David Reeves

In the data released it was also stated that Sony has sold more than 12 million PSP handheld consoles and 48 million PlayStation 2 consoles throughout Europe.

Although Sony has successfully outsold Microsoft, Nintendo’s Wii console remains the dominant console in terms of sales. The Wii has sold over 25 millions units world wide.

The sales figures come after the PS3 console suffered a torrid initiation with users initially disappointed by early game titles coupled with stock problems, but as the console recovered it has managed to shift half of global unit sales throughout Europe.

“I think its fair to say that the first year of PS3 was a difficult one, there were some teething problems, and our customers were a little under whelmed by the range of titles that were available.” - SCE president and CEO

With all that behind them these figures suggest that the PS3 console will enable Sony to reclaim top spot as leading console manufacturer.

“I am very confident that after the 10-year lifecycle we will have the install base that we are looking for and that is obviously to be in the leadership position.” - Mr Hirai

It was also announced Sony are looking into disc free network gaming (http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/hirai-talks-about-playstation-future-360628 ) for future generations but admits that the global infrastructure in not yet in place to support such a concept.

Without any football news The Shelf couldn’t quiet live up to its name, so today we discuss the new signing of Luka Modric from Dinamo Zagreb by Tottenham Hotspur.

Equalling their club record transfer fee set last summer when Darren Bent signed from Charlton, Tottenham have signed Croatian midfield play maker Luka Modric for a fee of £16.5 million on a six year deal that is subject to a work permit being granted.

Signed from Dinamo Zagreb Luka Modric was born in 1985, and at the ripe age of 23 Spurs certainly have the best six years of his career yet to come. For his former club he last year picked up a parallel award with the premier leagues ‘Player of the Year’.

More accustomed to a central midfield role Modric had been playing in a wide left position for his former club showing a versatility that is much needed at the Lane.

Internationally Modric has represented Croatia at under 17, 19 and 21 levels and now figures as an integral part of Slaven Bilic Croatian plans. Playing along side Arsenals Eduardo, Portsmouth’s Niko Kranjcar and Vedren Corluka of Manchester City, Modric is one of a crop of talented young playing emerging in the Croatian national team.

The national team qualified for the European Championships by topping their qualification group Croatia also played a helping hand in ending England’s Euro 2008 qualification, beating them twice including a 3-2 victory at Wembley in the final qualification game.

Due to appear in Group B alongside hosts Austria, tournament favourites Germany and Poland the international credentials of Modric will be put to the test, and the Euro finals could well prove a looking glass as to what to expect form him in the Premier League next season.

Yahoo has implemented technology into it search facility that will provide a warning for users if they are about to click onto a site that hosts viruses, spyware or spam.

Using SiteAdvisor from McAfee Yahoo will warn users via a SearchScan facility of potentially risky sites. The SearchScan facility will be in place as default to produce on screen alerts to its users.

“Our goal is to protect users by allowing them to make a more informed decision about the sites they visit,” said Yahoo’s Priyank Garg.

The tool that is being introduced as a free embedded tool which will warn users of three types of security risks, browser exploits, dangerous downloads and unsolicited emails.

The facility went live today and an example error warning can be seen with a search for ‘free music’ with a red explanation mark highlighting potentially hazardous sites.

By teaming up with McAfee Yahoo are trying to calm fears from users who accidentally click on wrong links in search results.

“Yahoo users have clearly told us that among the most important concerns for them are all these lurking threats on the Internet,” said Priyank Garg, director of product management for Yahoo’s search division. “They know the damage they can do but they don’t know how to protect themselves.“

The add on demonstrates Yahoo’s plan to grab a bigger proportion of the search market amid a recent financial slump after a takeover bid from Microsoft was withdrawn seeing shares slump by 15%.

In the latest move to expand to expand the reach of the BBC’s iPlayer , the publicly funded corporation has signed an agreement with Virgin Media that will see its service available on TV.

As a result of the deal a soft launched version of the service was launched this morning by Virgin Media. Currently the service is only available through the red button when viewing BBC1, however there are plans to add it to Virgin’s programme guide for direct access.

Customers of Virgin Media will be able to use the service to catch up on the past weeks programmes without the need to download any content or playing software.

The deal is expected to be available for 3.5 million Virgin Media customers who can each view up to 350 hours of free TV programmes that have been aired over the previous seven days.

Virgin Media’s content chief Malcolm Wall said of the deal

“The enormous success of iPlayer online has demonstrated the desire TV viewers have for viewing quality programmes at a time that suits them, and now it’s available from the comfort of the living room. Virgin Media is proud to be working with the BBC to continue to lead this revolution in TV viewing.”

The BBC’s director of future media and technology echoed statements made when the player struck a deal with games manufacturer Nintendo to enable the service to be played on the Wii, in a step to bring the service from PC’s into users living rooms.

“We have always envisaged [the] BBC iPlayer on a TV platform and in the living room. By working with Virgin Media, this ambition has been realised. This partnership takes us a step closer to transforming the way our audiences watch TV.”

Other deals over the past year have seen the iPlayer become accessible on the iPhone and iPod Touch, and the PS3 is also widely tipped to jump on board, with a download for the Apple Mac also planned.

“Where technically feasible our ambition is to bring iPlayer to as many platforms as possible” said another BBC spokes person

Since Rockstar announced plans to develop its next title in the Grand Theft Auto series on next generation games consoles, the fourth game in the series has been every gamers radar.

The anticipation for this title is as much that it is tipped to shift six million copies in the first week smashing sales records. The opening week sales figure is currently set at £201m by Halo 3.

Game Review

The game that focuses around the character Niko, takes a trip to Liberty City in the latest title (the same setting as the third title for those who don’t follow the series) to take on the criminal underworld once again.

The character Niko is a former soldier from a Western European country spurred on to come to America by his cousin’s tales of money and women. As he arrives he realised however that all does not match up to the tales of his cousin and sets about making the most of his situation, settling some old scores and enjoying a bit of high living during his stay in the city at the same time.

The game is about 40 hours in length and is composed of animation, story scenes and voice overs. Amongst the improvements in scalability, meaning there are ever more places to run and hide and new ways to climb and explore buildings, there are significant improvements in the gunplay making it as good as a committed third person shooter title.

The driving experience is also enhanced thanks to a new game engine which allows for more variations in vehicles and unique driving styles. The vehicles also react a lot better to outside influence making escaping from police a much harder prospect.

The major advantage of this title however and something The Shelf looks forward to testing is the online offerings. Allowing up to 16 players at once players can race, fight or destroy, as well as much more with unique game play options.

Available on both the Xbox and the PS3, both consoles provide a more than adequate home for the title, but with community play dubbed to be the highlight; The Shelf will be backing the PS3’s online playing capabilities.

A report today claimed that the software being developed for the iPhone 2.0 may introduce remote control and iTunes collection streaming.

The software that will be utilised by the second generation iPhone has been tipped by TUAW to allow the playback of various media from local iTunes sources. The technology could also be implemented in the iPod touch.

The reports also make mention to dialogue boxes that would allow users to choose their source library or media type.

The Apple TV-like feature would theoretically enable playback of the content within any iTunes collection over a local network, much the same way as Apple TV allows users to stream content from multiple libraries.

This streaming service could also take the form of a remote control that would then enable each device to control playback on an iTunes library collection, in essence using the handheld iPhone or iTouch as a fancy remote control.

At the current time the credibility of the reports is in question, and TUAW itself conceded that it is much founded on speculation. However it does ask some interesting question on what to expect from the software that is due for release in June.

The internet based instant messaging service Skype has launched a series of unlimited calling plans that will allow users to call landline numbers throughout the UK for as little as £2.25 a month.

Under the plans released today customers of the Skype service will able to make unlimited calls to a predetermined country of their choice for the fee of £2.25. The package can also be expanded to include calls to 20 European countries for £3.99 a month, or to 24 countries worldwide which will include US mobiles for £7.99 a month.

These call packages are also free from lengthy contracts, although customers who do decide to sign up for an annual subscription could say another third on the aforementioned prices.

As has been highlighted with broadband providers recently in the news, unlimited rarely means unlimited, and the deals are subject to a fair usage policy implemented by Skype which restricts the user to 10,000 minutes a month. Those 10,000 minutes however calculate to around 5 and a half hours each day!

In the calling plans that are being offered by Skype, all UK based landlines that start in 01 or 02 are included in the deal and places Skype as a direct competitor to BT as well as other established mobile networks that offer bundles of free calls for a monthly subscription fee.

“This move is a natural step for Skype. Skype was founded on the principle of making free voice and video calls available to people all around the world. And now we’re making it even easier for the Skype community to call their friends and family who are not yet on Skype.” – Skype’s vice president and general manager of telecoms Stefan Oberg.

Some analysts have seen the move as a clear indication of the companies eagerness to derive more regular income through monthly subscriptions after Ebay admitted to paying too much for the company in 2005 when it shelled out $4.3billion to buy Skype.

After a lomg wait more news has eventually come about the eagerly awaited PlayTV.

Originally intended to be released in the first quarter of 2008 PlayTV should rightly be out by now, but news of the add on for the PS3 has suddenly gone quiet and aside from a BBC preview nothing has been seen of Sony’s PVR-enabler. According to Amazon however the release date may have been pushed back to as far as 31st July.

Sony has declined to comment on the release date of its PlayTV device so whether the release date being touted by Amazon is reliable or not remains to be seen. Either way Amazon is currently offering pre-orders for the device for £59.99 (with a £10 saving) and guaranteeing the cheapest pre-release price.

“We have yet to announce a release date and price for PlayTV, and do not comment on rumour or speculation,” a spokesperson for Sony told Eurogamer.

As yet the only official comment confirms that PlayTV will be out this year.

Amazon is not the only retailer to pre-empt Sony’s official PlayTV release. In February HMV blamed a rival retailer for a webpage that claimed the DVR add-on, which HMV was offering for £100 (€120/$200), would be available from 28 March.

The Shelf was a big fan of the PlayTV device when it was first touted last year, and the functionality that the device will give to the PS3 will be well worth the investment. The high definition ready duel digital tuners will allow users to watch one free view channel whilst recording another, much in the same way sky plus has been functioning for its paying customers.

PlayTV customers will also be able to use remote play to browse the EPG, start and stop recordings and even watch live TV on a PSP.

Politicians in the Europe have voted against measures that would see illegal file sharers thrown off of the internet.

Ideas that were outlined on The Shelf earlier in April in the post titled Virgin Media to Pilot Three Strike Policy? were including in a report on creative industries written for European parliament.

In the vote MEP’s backed an amendment that said the proposed termination of users contracts conflicted with “civil liberties and human rights”. The ruling went against the numerous European governments who are trying to implement tough action against pirates on the internet.

“The vote shows that MEPs want to strike a balance between the interests of rights holders and those of consumers, and that big measures like cutting off internet access shouldn’t be used,” said a spokeswoman for the European Parliament after the vote.

However the amendment called on nations to “avoid adopting measures conflicting with civil liberties and human rights and with the principles of proportionality, effectiveness and dissuasiveness, such as the interruption of internet access.”

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) who represents Europe’s music industry accused the amendment of being badly drafted and stated that

“We (The IFPI) look forward to a full discussion in the European Parliament in the coming months on how best to address copyright theft online,” said the IFPI.

In more news regarding the BBC iPlayer and following on from last months post about the service launching on both the iPhone and iTouch, iPlayer Launched on iPhone and iPod Touch, it seems the service has stepped up a gear and is now available on the Nintendo Wii.

Having struck deals with Apple to be the first mobile platforms to support the service, it seems the BBC is now pushing the service into living rooms of the public through the Nintendo Wii.

It has been rumoured that both Sony and Microsoft were eager to sign the iPlayer for their respective PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles, but the deal feel through due to increasing demands of the games console manufacturers.

“If you want to get [iPlayer] on the PlayStation or Xbox, they want control of the look, the feel and the experience; they want it done within their shop, and their shop only.” - head of BBC Future Media and Technology Erik Huggers

Darren Waters, BBC technology editor said “The BBC’s announcement of a deal with Nintendo to put the iPlayer’s streaming service on the console makes something of a mockery of claims by Sony and Microsoft that their consoles are the true multimedia machines.”

With Xbox live having no browser it seems Microsoft are unwilling to work with the BBC without retaining control over the look and feel of content delivery, however with the ‘open platform’ of the PS3 it does seem inevitable that the iPlayer will find its way to the PS3 before long.

“[Sony] has said often that PS3 is an ‘open platform’ and all it would take is a small update to let gamers access iPlayer in the web browser.” - Darren Waters, BBC technology editor

With the majority of iPlayer customers currently accessing BBC content through a PC, the publicly funded broadcaster is taking steps to make its services available directly to the big screen television set, and it sees the Japanese games console as a means of doing so.

Currently users can view content downloaded from the iPlayer through their television sets, although it requires using the S-video output on most notebooks and a suitable S-Video to Scart cable. For LCD or plasma screen screens this could be replaced by a higher quality VGA input/ output.

The advantage of this latest deal for the iPlayer is that the Wii consoles are already rigged up to TV set, and therefore programmes can be viewed directly on the console.

Wii players will need to install the Internet Channel which will cost 500 Wii points or £3.50 but there are plans for a free alternative in the future.

The service will remain in beta initially as the BBC experiments with the optimal video encoding techniques for superior playback. The BBC already encodes all 400 hours of weekly iPlayer video, and now must do the same again for the high quality H.264 iPhone streams, and the Wii.

Wii encoding will be of a poorer quality as the Wii only supports Flash 7.This is because of the fact that initially the Wii was only designed to support lower quality Youtube style video.

“Our regular Flash content is encoded at 500Kbps. We chose that bitrate because it’s the highest quality that could be reliably streamed on pretty much any UK broadband internet connection. However, for Wii we had to increase the bitrate to 820Kbps because the Sorenson codec used by Wii simply needs more bits to achieve the same picture quality,” - BBC’s Anthony Rose