Tag Archives: Entertainment

Microsoft unveils Xbox One: the ultimate all-in-one home entertainment system

By Guest PostMay 21, 2013Technologyalan wake, avatar, business at microsoft, call of duty, don mattrick, ea sports, electronic entertainment expo, Entertainment, entertainment system, forza motorsport 5, games, halo tv series, hd, isp, max payne, Microsoft, network, nfl, quantum break, skype, steven spielberg, xbox 360, xbox community, xbox live, xbox one, xbox platform, xbox smartglass, xbox wire blog

Blockbuster titles, Steven Spielberg-produced Halo TV series, and exclusive agreements with the NFL transform games, TV and entertainment for the 21st century living room.

REDMOND, Wash. — May 21, 2013 — A new vision for the future comes to life today as Microsoft Corp. unveils Xbox One , the all-in-one gaming and entertainment system created for today and the next generation. At Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Wash., the company showcased how Xbox One puts you at the center of all your games, TV, movies, music, sports and Skype.

“Xbox One is designed to deliver a whole new generation of blockbuster games, television and entertainment in a powerful, all-in-one device,” said Don Mattrick, president, Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. “Our unique, modern architecture brings simplicity to the living room and, for the first time ever, the ability to instantly switch across your games and entertainment.” (more…)

News Websites Should Target “Reward Seekers”, MU Researcher Finds

By Guest PostMarch 11, 2013Media, Technologyadvertising, brain friendly designs, Entertainment, gratification, information, media professionals, mobile apps, news organizations, news websites, newspaper sales, paul bolls, readership, revenues, reynolds journalism institute, school of journalism, university of missouri

Website designers should strive for simplicity, invoke emotion to boost online revenue

As newspaper sales continue to decline, many news organizations are searching for ways to improve readership and revenues from their online presences. Now, University of Missouri researchers have found that news organizations should target readers with certain personality traits in order to optimize their online viewership. Paul Bolls, an associate professor of strategic communication at the MU School of Journalism and a 2011-2012 MU Reynolds Journalism Institute Fellow, has found that news consumers who have “reward-seeking” personalities are more likely to read their news online and on mobile devices, and to engage with websites, by leaving comments on stories and uploading user-generated content.

In a study accepted for presentation at the 2013 International Communication Association conference in June, Bolls surveyed more than 1000 respondents and placed them into two personality groups: reward seekers and threat avoiders. He found that reward seekers tend to use the Internet liberally, searching out entertainment and gratification, while threat avoiders tend to be more conservative, looking only for information that directly affects them. Bolls found that respondents identified as reward seekers were much more likely to engage with news websites as well as more likely to use mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets to consume news. He says this knowledge should direct news organizations to target these reward seekers. (more…)

Meet the ‘Plumbers’ Powering ‘Halo 4’ Infinity Multiplayer

By Guest PostOctober 31, 2012Technology343 industries, armor abilities, bungie, cloud services, commander, dvr, Entertainment, game online, game studio, halo 2, halo 4, halo universe, halo waypoint, infinity multiplayer, jerry hook, luigi, mario, master chief, Microsoft, news center, plymouth rock, s curve, sara palmer, sci fi, social, spartan ops, subterranean it, tamir melamed, vehicles, video game, virtual machines, weapons, windows azure, xbox live

Members of 343 Industries talk to the Microsoft News Center about the infrastructure behind the “Halo 4” Infinity Multiplayer suite and the video game industry’s shift to a world of 24/7 live services.

REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 31, 2012 — Meet Jerry Hook and Tamir Melamed, the hardest-working plumbers in the video game world not named Mario or Luigi.

Hook and Melamed lead the engineering team laying the subterranean IT structures that will power every pixel of the multiplayer experience in “Halo 4.” Everything fans experience online – stats, screenshots, the simple joy of blasting a friend or stranger to smithereens – depends on the infrastructure they’ve built over the past year and half. That infrastructure is supported by Windows Azure, which provides the team with the affordable scalability they need to keep a game like “Halo 4” running smoothly for fans. (more…)

Microsoft Marks E3 with “Halo 4,” New Entertainment Experiences

By Guest PostJune 4, 2012Technologye3, electronic entertainment expo, Entertainment, fable, forza, game of thrones, gears of war, halo, halo 4, los angeles, master chief, Microsoft, south park, splinter cell, windows 8 pc, xbox 360, xbox live, xbox music, xbox smartglass, yusuf mehdi

At the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, Microsoft announced a robust lineup of new Xbox 360 games, including a new installment of the blockbuster Halo franchise. The company also unveiled new content and entertainment experiences for Xbox LIVE and smart devices.

LOS ANGELES – The Xbox 360 console charged into its seventh Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) today buoyed by a bundle of blockbuster game releases led by Halo 4 and a set of new entertainment experiences that will push Xbox farther into the living room, and onto PCs, tablets and phones.

Microsoft also revealed a set of new Xbox content, partners and apps – including bringing Internet Explorer to the console for the first time. The company also introduced a new music service and Xbox SmartGlass, a new app that brings an immersive entertainment experience to all devices. (more…)

That’s entertainment

By Guest PostFebruary 15, 2012Entertainmentabc family, american teenager, beach boys, bobby baccalieri, brooklyn, casino, celebrity fit club, christopher, ellen degeneres, english, Entertainment, episode, fbi agent, film, goomba, jennifer kessman, king of queens, las vegas, law and order, leo boykewich, literature, martin scorsese, mitchell hall, new york actor, nicky deuce, peter x feng, secret life, steve schirripa, the sopranos, ugly betty, wayans brothers

*Actor Steve Schirripa discusses experience in entertainment industry*

Steve Schirripa, best known for his television roles on The Sopranos and The Secret Life of the American Teenager, spoke Monday, Feb. 13, in Mitchell Hall about his experience in the entertainment industry.

Peter X. Feng, an associate professor of English with an expertise in film and literature, conducted the on-stage interview in an Inside the Actors Studio-type format. (more…)

Xtranormal: Movie-Making for Everyone

By Guest PostNovember 16, 2011TechnologyAmazon, animation, artificial intelligence, avatar, avid technology, bizspark, Entertainment, graham sharp, kinect, microsoft azure platform, microsoft bizspark one, microsoft word, political statement, proprietary technology, sharp, Technology, viral sensation, xbox 360 technology, xtranormal, xtranormal system, xtranormal technology

*Microsoft BizSpark One startup aims to make animated movies as easy as typing.*

REDMOND, Wash. — Xtranormal’s tagline, “If you can type, you can make movies,” describes both the company’s mission and how to use its text-to-speech system to create animated movies. The Microsoft BizSpark One member is working to transform movie-making into an everyday activity, as simple and commonplace as composing a text message.

“We want to make animated movies ubiquitous,” says Graham Sharp, COO of Xtranormal. “I’d like to see people using the Xtranormal platform like they use Microsoft Word: just opening a document and starting to type.” (more…)

Developers Tune In to Microsoft’s Channel 9

By Guest PostSeptember 10, 2011Media, TechnologyBill Gates, bill hill, channel 9, channel 9 formula, channel 9 live, cockpit channel, coding4fun, developer and platform evangelist, dpe, Entertainment, halloween videos, jeff sandquist, laura foy, Microsoft, new york times, pdc, professional developers conference, scott guthrie, Twitter, united airlines flights, visual studios, Wall Street Journal, windows, YouTube

*Channel 9 has been broadcasting from inside Microsoft’s labs and offices since 2004, giving a large community of developers an insider’s view of the people behind the company’s products and technologies.*

REDMOND, Wash – Passengers on United Airlines flights have long turned their in-flight entertainment dials to Channel 9 to hear what’s happening in the cockpit. For more than seven years, developers have had a similar opportunity to get inside the mind of Microsoft.

Microsoft’s Channel 9 – named for United’s cockpit channel – has been broadcasting since 2004 from inside the company’s offices and labs. Be it quirky Halloween videos that get hundreds of thousands of hits or hour-long interviews with the company’s most talented engineers, Channel 9 pulls back the curtain at Microsoft to reveal its human side. (more…)

Television ‘Breakups’ Cause Some Viewers Distress, Lead To More Media Use

By Guest PostApril 22, 2011Cultureemily moyer gusé, Entertainment, favorite television programming, favorite tv characters, media activities, my favorite character, ohio state, people, relationship, television programs, temporary breakups

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Even temporary “breakups” can be distressing for some people – at least when it comes to their favorite television programs.

A new study examined how college-aged television viewers reacted when their favorite shows went off the air or were replaced with reruns as a result of the television writers’ strike of 2007-08.

The results revealed the important role television plays in the lives of some viewers – particularly those who use television for companionship and those who feel they have a strong “relationship” with their favorite TV characters. (more…)