“Minecraft,” the iconic sandbox game by Mojang, is one of the most popular games in the world and is most distinguishable by the boxy texture of its in-game world. With Microsoft’s acquisition of the developer back in 2014, the game has since become a phenomenon worldwide and is now available to most gaming platforms.
With its popularity, it is no surprise that the game is bestseller. In fact, “Minecraft” has already reached another milestone recently, with Mojang having already sold over 25 million copies of the title.
The latest figure came from the Minecraft sales statistics page, MS Power User reported. The PC and Mac versions of the game combined have now sold 25,079,997 at the time this article is written. In fact, the title is selling like hotcakes, having sold 8,418 copies within the last 24 hours alone.
The sales figure is still incomplete though. The figure only comprises the sales for its PC and Mac version which are considered to be the original and main version of the game contributing to a huge chunk of its revenues.
But the figure is bound to get bigger if sales from other platforms are taken into account. Sales for the “Minecraft” Windows 10 and Pocket Editions are expected to pick up with the recently introduced version 1.0 to the Windows 10 and Pocket Editions versions of the game.
Mojang is slowly bridging the gap between the mobile, console and the PC / Mac versions of the game. Previously, each platform plays a different version of the game resulting in a drastically different gaming experience one may get depending on which platform one plays the game.
On the console side, Mojang is likewise upgrading “Minecraft” for the platform. The developer introduced last December 2016 the version 1.10 for consoles, adding a host of improvements like mods, blocks, and even wings, Game Spot reported.
The most exciting addition introduced by the version 1.10 for consoles is the Elytra described to be a chestplate-slot item allowing players to gain wings. Players can jump from high ledges and glide gracefully to the ground, the rate of fall can be controlled by looking up to gain altitude or looking down to glide to the ground.
With the updates in place, “Minecraft” players will definitely appreciate the more uniform gameplay experience across all platforms. Meanwhile, check out the video below released by Team Mojang showcasing The Ender Update.
Microsoft Japan is pushing the sales of Xbox One in the country with the Xbox One S bundled with “Minecraft.” The reason behind the bundle is to boost the otherwise lackluster sales the console has been suffering from during recent times.
The release of the Xbox One S bundle will be on Jan. 26, according to Dual Shockers. The bundle will contain a 500GB variant of the Xbox One S, which will cost around 29,980 yen ($261.4) in addition to taxes.
The price of the console coincides with the local price of the PS4. However, the difference is that the Xbox One version of “Minecraft” will be included in the box, as well as a download voucher for the Windows 10 version of the game as well.
Additionally, the bundle will also contain the “Favorites Pack” and the “Builder’s Pack,” which is included in the western release bundle for the Xbox One S. The packs will include seven and six DLCs respectively, and it certainly helps get players started with the game.
The move is surprisingly smart and relevant, as “Minecraft” enjoys a relatively good amount of popularity in Japan, according to Gaming Bolt. It is the best-selling Vita game of all time in the country, selling more than a million copies ever since its release. Meanwhile, its Wii U version still thrives ever since its launch, selling about a quarter million copies.
With this, “Minecraft” still remains to be the highest selling Microsoft-published game of all time in the country. It could be the primary reason why the tech giant made the move in the first place.
In any case, it will be interesting to see how it will augment the Xbox One sales in Japan, as the deal certainly offers good value. However, it is still worth noting that the console platform only has a few games the Japanese audience care about, and it will certainly present a challenge.
The Division is currently heading toward yet another major patch, 1.6, one that developer Massive has said is going to focus mainly on PvP. They’ve assembled another Elite Task Force of players and community members to give them suggestions, something that’s worked out rather well for them in the past, but the focus on PvP has sparked some of some of the most intense debates about the game since its launch.
Right now, the topic of the moment is whether or not The Division’s famous Dark Zone should get a PvE component at last, rather than simply continuing on with the PvPvE format it’s had since launch. I believe this debate began in earnest when SkillUp, a Division YouTuber, dedicated an entire ongoing video series to the PvP patch, and reversed a long-time position he’s held that yes, it’s finally time for the Dark Zone to get a PvE variant. Since then, The Division subreddit, the main fan platform for the game, has been swamped with everyone weighing in about the issue, and after watching this for about a week, I wanted to throw my hat in the ring. I’m no YouTuber, but I’ve probably written more about The Division than any other single games journalist out there, and I have a few thoughts of my own, for the two or three people that may want to hear them.
If you have been following my work for any amount of time, you’ll know that I’ve been pretty anti-Dark Zone/Division PvP from the very beginning. Back in June, I called The Dark Zone a failed experiment, and today, I still stand by the assessment. In fact, that description seems more appropriate than ever.
To sum up The Division in its current form, the game is a very good PvE looter which is being restrained from being truly great thanks to balance concerns with PvP. There have been countless items, builds, talents and perks that The Division has nerfed in order to retain some semblance of PvP balance. While many of these things may have been just fine in PvE, they unbalanced PvP so dramatically, the build or item was killed for both modes. This has happened time and time again, and with a PvP patch looming, that seems destined to happen again with current top-tier builds (AlphaBridge, RIP, most likely).
Ah, the glory of the pre-nerf Midas (Photo: Ubisoft)
SkillUp makes a good point when he references other loot-based games that have tried PvP. It rarely, if ever works, and when it does, you’re sacrificing a lot to make it that way. Diablo 2 and 3 each had bare-bones PvP modes that were comically unbalanced and shoved away in tiny corners of the game. But a game like Destiny has crafted a pretty effective PvP system, though it’s done so by normalizing damage and armor levels in many modes, and by limiting build diversity severely. You will not see multi-piece gear sets with crazy bonuses in Destiny like you do in Diablo or The Division. This makes PvP more competitive, but it really limits overall build potential, which is a complaint I’ve had about Destiny since the very start.
The Division has been moving in a very good direction by introducing cool new sets and items that really change the way the game is played. I have never had more fun in The Division than I have after 1.5, assembling full AlphaBridge, Firecrest, Frontline and Striker sets on my four characters, and despite the fact that The Division has no different “classes,” having the ability to effectively create new ones with these builds has been great. And yet, the amount of truly “good” sets is limited by PvP balance issues, and many that used to be good are now either worse or just garbage for PvE and PvP.
I am not as optimistic as SkillUp and certain players that A) The Division PvP can be saved or B) that The Division PvP is even worth saving. While no, I’m not calling for its removal from the game, I do not think that The Division’s increasingly great PvE should be hamstrung by the roughly 10% of the game that’s geared-up Dark Zone PvP.
PvP can still exist in Survival, which is the Rust-like battle royale The Division’s PvP probably always should have been from the start. Here there are less balance issues to worry about because everyone has the same, relatively crappy gear, and no one has time to make min-maxed builds.
Photo: Ubisoft
Dark Zone PvP is another story, and this is where we get into the great PvE Dark Zone debate.
If you asked me around launch whether The Division should have a PvE version of the Dark Zone, I would have immediately said yes, without question. But today, even though I hold the same opinion, I ultimately care a lot less about it. Why? Because of how the game has evolved since then. PvE is in a great spot in The Division right now. You can do one of a zillion activities to gear up in the Light Zone, from missions to HVTs to LZ bosses to Incursions to Underground to Survival. There’s actually so much to do, I really don’t even think a PvE Dark Zone would add all that much to the game given how many great options there are for PvE farming already. This was absolutely not the case for a long while after launch, hence why a PvE DZ back then would have been such a great addition at the time.
With that said, I see nothing empirically wrong with splitting the DZ into PvP and PvE variants. It’s not taking anything away from PvP players other than easy targets who aren’t geared for PvP and just trying to farm in the DZ. But it opens up a whole enormous section of the map that many players have probably avoided to this point for even more farming opportunities.
The DZ isn’t going to be the most efficient place to farm, even if you’re not having to look over your shoulder for Rogue agents. Limited bag size and extraction are a pain in the ass, and while mobs are plentiful in the DZ, they often take forever to repopulate.
But the DZ is arguably one of the best designed farming locations on the map. Enemy encounters are larger in scale, more numerous and a lot more tense than they are in the light zone, and it’s a hell of a place to explore. I know there are many players who probably played the DZ a handful of times, hated it, and never went back. Well, starting up a PvE variant would practically be like free DLC that opened up 30% more of the map.
Photo: Ubisoft
The problem seems to be that Massive just doesn’t want to let the DZ go. They want to hold on to their original intent of having the place be “high risk, high reward,” as is the common phrase, and judging by their comments and streams, many of them are huge PvP players themselves. While again, I don’t begrudge PvP continuing to exist, I do not think that’s what most of the community enjoys playing, nor do I believe that Massive should be hurting the aspect of the game it gets right, PvE farming, in order to try and make its never-going-to-actually-be-good PvP a little better.
There are more complicated issues at hand here, and there probably isn’t space here to go through them all. I would suggest you watch SkillUp’s video series for yourself. I agree with some of his suggestions, like tiers for a group PvP DZ, a normal PvP DZ and a PvE DZ, but I disagree with the idea that DZ funds should be used to purchase god-rolled maxed items Massive hand-crafts for vendors. Putting “perfect” items in any one activity alone is never a good idea in a game like this, as it hurts everything else besides that activity. And I think he had a cool idea about different premade classes for PvP matches, though I’m less sure about his plan to give victimized, non-Rogue players crazy buffs like 100% movespeed and such when Rogues first descend on them. It’s too convoluted and still wouldn’t fix a lot of the core problems with the system. But at least he’s trying to problem solve.
My own opinions are more cut and dry. The Division should continue to shift focus away from PvP, letting it exist in Survival and one DZ variant, but not letting it lead to nerfs for fun PvE builds. I’m trying to imagine what a game like Diablo 3 would be like if it tried to balance its gear sets for PvP play, and it would be an utter nightmare. For The Division, rather than broad nerfs that affect all game modes, if something is a serious problem? Ban it. Is that one weapon talent or sniper rifle or gear set making the DZ crazily unbalanced? Well, you can’t enter with it, and you can’t equip it there. The end. Problem solve that way, rather than nerfing things that destroy viable, fun PvE builds. As much as I’ve enjoyed getting gear sets the past few weeks, it’s incredibly irritating that only 3 or 4 out of 13 feel at all viable. It doesn’t have to be like that, and PvP is the main culprit as to why so many of these sets are so useless or dull.
The Division is a great loot-shooter. It is a not a great PvP game, and never will be. Focus on what works and continue to improve it. Don’t sacrifice any more of this game on the altar of PvP, as it’s lost too much already.
Forget Half-Life 3, Star Citizen is officially gaming’s most perplexing, compelling mystery release at this point. While HL3 is more a question if Valve ever feels like making video games again, Star Citizen is another animal entirely, a game that’s very publicly in development with a practically unlimited budget thanks to a never-ending army of crowdfunding backers buying virtual spaceships that either don’t exist yet, or can’t be used in a fully-fledged game.
There’s perhaps no real significance to Star Citizen’s latest grand total, $141 million, other than the fact that it’s what’s now in the warchest heading into 2017. But there’s something both impressive and perverse about Star Citizen’s funding at this point. It’s raised more than the budget of most AAA games and movies at this point, and the money has almost turned into its own little mini-game. Fans “win” and get increasingly excited the more money the game brings in, somehow validating their own decision to give (invest!) and maybe give a little more. There’s an interactive widget on the RSI site that lets you see the cash come rolling in almost in real time, and you can break it down by how many thousands are rolling in per hour, tens of thousands per day, or hundreds of thousands per month.
I’m not going to park myself in the “this is gross because people should be donating to charity, not a video game” camp because that’s a flawed argument that doesn’t make much sense. People don’t understand that Star Citizen backers don’t feel like they’re donating to a charity, rather they’re “co-investors” in one of the most ambitious sci-fi video games of all time. The money lets them lay claim to virtual real estate (a ship, usually) and makes them feel like they’re a part of something. “I’m proud to have helped alittle bit [sic]. Love this game,” says a random person on my FB news feed as they share news of this funding milestone.
Photo: CIG
With that said, from outside the bubble, things feel like they’ve gotten a little out of hand. Like most crowd-funded games, Star Citizen had fund-raising stretch goals once upon a time, but those were cut off ages ago, and yet the money keeps pouring in for…what, exactly?
Photo: CIG
Forget Half-Life 3, Star Citizen is officially gaming’s most perplexing, compelling mystery release at this point. While HL3 is more a question if Valve ever feels like making video games again, Star Citizen is another animal entirely, a game that’s very publicly in development with a practically unlimited budget thanks to a never-ending army of crowdfunding backers buying virtual spaceships that either don’t exist yet, or can’t be used in a fully-fledged game.
There’s perhaps no real significance to Star Citizen’s latest grand total, $141 million, other than the fact that it’s what’s now in the warchest heading into 2017. But there’s something both impressive and perverse about Star Citizen’s funding at this point. It’s raised more than the budget of most AAA games and movies at this point, and the money has almost turned into its own little mini-game. Fans “win” and get increasingly excited the more money the game brings in, somehow validating their own decision to give (invest!) and maybe give a little more. There’s an interactive widget on the RSI site that lets you see the cash come rolling in almost in real time, and you can break it down by how many thousands are rolling in per hour, tens of thousands per day, or hundreds of thousands per month.
I’m not going to park myself in the “this is gross because people should be donating to charity, not a video game” camp because that’s a flawed argument that doesn’t make much sense. People don’t understand that Star Citizen backers don’t feel like they’re donating to a charity, rather they’re “co-investors” in one of the most ambitious sci-fi video games of all time. The money lets them lay claim to virtual real estate (a ship, usually) and makes them feel like they’re a part of something. “I’m proud to have helped alittle bit [sic]. Love this game,” says a random person on my FB news feed as they share news of this funding milestone.
Photo: CIG
With that said, from outside the bubble, things feel like they’ve gotten a little out of hand. Like most crowd-funded games, Star Citizen had fund-raising stretch goals once upon a time, but those were cut off ages ago, and yet the money keeps pouring in for…what, exactly?
Recommended by Forbes
CIG’s Chris Roberts released a sort of mini “state of the union” announcement as the new year began, but one so vague it almost seemed like a parody.
“Gameplay will get deeper as new systems come online to provide players the chance to do more than pew-pew,” he says. “I also expect exciting advancements as we integrate our revolutionary tech, like subsumption and procedural planets, into the game.”
“2016 was a noteworthy year in Star Citizen’s development. 2017 with Squadron 42 and Alpha 3.0 is looking to be even better.”
Star Citizen has so far missed every single full release date it’s set for itself, between SC itself and spin-off game Squadron 42. That’s become par for the course, and now the tone of this is more or less “we did great work last year, expect more great work this year” without any real indication of when this monster will actually come to life in earnest. The big Star Citizen story as of late is that the game has been changing its engine from CryEngine to Amazon’s Lumberyard, which seems uh, ambitious to say the least this far down the road, but this is what happens when you take this long to develop a game. The tech falls behind and you have to update, creating even more work and making things take even longer.
Photo: CIG
To me this all feels like a talented indie movie director who quietly tries to raise $1M for a passion project he wants to make. Instead, the concept is so good that it has Hollywood throwing a $150M blockbuster budget at him and suddenly, he has to throw out every plan he had and up the scope of his idea 100x over. That $1M movie he might have made in the first place could have been great and released in theaters already. But this $150M behemoth is a different sort of beast and is now stuck in development hell with six script variants and no release date. But the difference here is that there’s no Hollywood mogul breathing down his neck to finish, instead the funding comes from fans who are mostly content to sit back and say “take your time, make it good, we love you!” which isn’t exactly putting anyone’s feet to the fire.
My opinion has jokingly been that Star Citizen will either be the greatest video game ever made or a total disaster, but honestly I feel like it will land somewhere in the middle. The game has such a fervent following at this point that it’s most devoted fans will simply refuse to let it fail. No matter what the final product ends up being, they will play it religiously and claim it’s God’s gift to the genre. But will the finished product convert skeptics or those who haven’t followed this saga at all? I don’t know, that’s a much tougher sell.
This saga continues to be fascinating, promising and just a bit disturbing. Let’s wait and see if 2017 brings with it more than simply millions and in funding and new abridged alpha variants.
We’re all waiting in breathless anticipation for Nintendo’s big Switch press event in just a few days on Jan. 12, which should be the biggest info dump about the system to date. So far, information has only trickled out about the system through official channels, with the bulk coming from leaks. Nintendo debuted a three minute trailer for the Switch this fall which revealed its handheld/home console split functionality, but the spot almost raised more questions than answers, and Nintendo has been tight-lipped since.
One point of speculation has been about the price of the unit, and it seems everyone more or less has the same idea in mind. After the system was first announced, analysts said that Nintendo probably couldn’t price it higher than $300. Last November, there was a retailer leak that put the Switch’s price at $250, but that was mostly seen as a placeholder rather than inside info. Now, Nikkei, the Japanese paper, is predicting a ¥25,000 for the Switch, or about $215 in the US given the current exchange rate. Given different international pricing, that may end up being rounded pretty far up to $250 overseas, which was the original price of the Wii at launch.
All of these are essentially just estimates, but the idea is clear, Nintendo would be pretty crazy to price the Switch any higher than this.
The Wii U had a higher base price of $300, which certainly was not the only factor it floundered, but it was a higher barrier of entry to than the Wii. The common thought is that the base model of the Switch will be $250, and perhaps some upgraded, higher storage version may be $300 at worst.
Price has been a big point in Nintendo’s favor the last few console generations, with the Xbox One and PS4 starting out at $500 and $400 respectively, and the PS3 famously going for $600 at launch. It seems unlikely that even with a device that combines handheld and home console functionality, that Nintendo would want to skirt above the $250-300 range.
Photo: Nintendo
The problem? Nintendo has not been great about making prices come down over time for both software and hardware. Wii U’s are still incredibly expensive to this day and Nintendo games rarely come down in price the way you see with most PS/XB titles. So while you’re getting money off up front, if you enter later into the console’s lifecycle, you’re not really saving much. The message is clear. Buy this console/game now, as it won’t do you any good to wait.
The Switch would seem to do a lot for $250, acting as both a handheld and console, but this raises a question I’ve had for a while now, one we still don’t know the answer to. It’s more or less being implied that Nintendo will phase out the 3DS after this year, which would leave both its division working on one unit, the Switch. Now, it’s great that Nintendo has a device that does both, but Nintendo’s handhelds have been enormous sellers by themselves over the years, and now scaling back to only one device implies they’re really going to want to increase hardware sales to make up for that. But they’re in a tough spot because the Switch’s price point isn’t combining two hardware SKUs for something like a $500-$550 asking price, so that simply relies on them selling a ton of units to make up the difference.
Not that Nintendo can’t do this, but is it likely? Ehhh.
Just this last generation, the Wii U sold 13.3 million units. The 3DS sold 61.5 million units. Yes, the 3DS will continue to be sold this year, but after that? Will it continue? Will Nintendo actually make a new handheld? Who knows? But if not, and if the Switch becomes the end all, be all of Nintendo’s hardware offerings, is it really going to sell 70 million units in this current climate? Maybe, but that’s an incredibly tall order.
There are a lot of other factors at play here including Nintendo making new inroads into mobile revenue streams and opening up its IPs for branding opportunities in other industries (the theme park!) but there’s a whole lot riding on the Switch, and that may be especially true after this year.
“Microsoft Monday” takes a look back at the past week of news related to Microsoft. This week, “Microsoft Monday” includes details about a red Xbox One controller being released tomorrow, the accidental release of a Forza Horizon 3 developer version, Minecraft surpassing 25 million copies sold for PCs and Macs, a few Windows 10 user interface tweaks, a connected vehicle deal signed with Renault-Nissan and more!
A Red Xbox One Controller Is Being Released Tomorrow
Red Xbox One Controller / Photo Credit: Microsoft
Tomorrow Microsoft is going to release a matte red version of the Xbox One controller. As of now, the red Xbox One controller appears to be limited to GameStop and the Microsoft Store at a retail price of $64.99. The red version of the Xbox One controller joins black, white and blue Xbox One controller options. And there are special edition versions of controllers with game themes and two types of Xbox One Elite controllers: a Gears of War 4 limited edition and a black-and-silver version.
Microsoft Accidentally Releases Developer Build Of Forza Horizon 3
Forza Horizon 3 / Photo Credit: Xbox.com
Microsoft and Playground Studios released a car pack update earlier this month, but it was actually the wrong version according to a Forza forum post. The car pack update ended up being a 53GB download and a new profile created in that version would not be playable in any other release. When the glitch was detected, the update was pulled. Interestingly, Engadget pointed out that the glitched release appears to have leaked details about Porsche cars coming to the game in the form of add-ons.
Minecraft Hits More Than 25 Million Copies Sold For PCs And Macs
Minecraft / Photo Credit: Mojang
Minecraft, the flagship game created by Mojang, has hit over 25 million copies sold on PCs and Macs to date. You can see the 25 million milestone published on the Mojang website where it also shows the number of copies being sold on a daily basis. As a whole, Mojang hit 100 million copies sold about six months ago across all of its platforms, according to Neowin. Minecraft is currently available on Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Windows 10, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Raspberry Pi, Apple TV, Gear VR, etc.
Mojang partnered with Telltale Games for the Minecraft: Story Mode. And there is a Minecraft movie coming in 2019. Microsoft acquired Mojang for $2.5 billion in 2014 due to the success of Minecraft.
Windows 10 User Interface Tweaks
Microsoft is preparing to make some user interface changes to Windows 10 — which is currently being referred to internally as “Project NEON.” MSPowerUser posted some leaked screenshots of the new user interface and you will notice the animation, blur effects and windows toolbars appear to be transparent.
MSPowerUser suggested that the changes in the design are similar to what we saw with the Aero Glass elements in Windows Vista and Windows 7. The blurred sidebar, backgrounds and navigational elements for the apps are known as “Side-Nav Acrylic”, “Background Acrylic” and “In-App Acrylic” respectively. Some of these minor design changes are expected to arrive when Windows 10 Redstone 3 releases in the fall of 2017.
Microsoft Announces Connected Vehicle Platform Deal With Renault-Nissan
Microsoft has announced a new deal it signed with Renault-Nissan, which will be the first Connected Vehicle Platform customer. The Connected Vehicle Platform is a “set of services built on the Microsoft Azure cloud and designed to empower auto manufacturers to create custom connected driving experiences.”
The Microsoft Connected Vehicle Platform will collect sensor data that can be used in other Microsoft products. For example, the Cortana digital assistant could be voice activated in vehicles to set up service appointments at auto repair shops.
Peggy Johnson, the executive vice president of business development at Microsoft, said that there are five core scenarios that auto partners are looking to prioritize through the Connected Vehicle Platform. This includes “predictive maintenance, improved in-car productivity, advanced navigation, customer insights and help building autonomous driving capabilities.”
Microsoft technology has been used in cars for years now. Microsoft SYNC was introduced at the North American International Auto Show in January 2007. Some of the other auto partners that will integrate Microsoft products into its vehicles include BMW, Volvo and Toyota.
Xbox Live Hits 3.9 Billion Hours Of Usage In November And December 2016
During the months of November and December 2016, Xbox Live hit an “all-time high” of 3.9 billion hours spent — which is a 23% increase year-over-year, according to Xbox.com. A major reason why Xbox Live hit an all time high is because nearly 400 new games were released in 2016 such as Gears of War 4 and Forza Horizon 3. Of the 3.9 billion hours spent playing on Xbox Live, over 265 million hours were through the Xbox 360 games available within Xbox One Backward Compatibility program such as Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 3, Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect 2 and Skate 3.
Plus gaming on Windows 10 saw tremendous growth. Over 2.5 billion hours of gaming was logged in Windows 10 for November 2016 alone, a 127% increased compared to the same time one year earlier.
Forza Horizon 3 has over 14 million players on Xbox One and Windows 10. And 23 million Versus Multiplayer and Horde matches were played since it launched on Gears of War 4. Another milestone is that Xbox One users created over 2.4 million customized Xbox Wireless Controller designs through the Xbox Design Lab.
Microsoft Flow Adds Support For 13 More Services
Microsoft Flow / Photo Credit: Microsoft
Last week, Microsoft announced that Flow now works for 13 more services. Microsoft Flow is an automated workflow service that performs tasks based on rules that you set between different applications. Flow is often compared to IFTTT.
According to a company blog post, Microsoft Flow can now connect to these 13 services:
• Azure Queues storage provides cloud messaging between application components. Queue storage also supports managing asynchronous tasks and building process work flows.
• Chatter is an enterprise social network for your company that allows employees to connect and collaborate in real time.
• Disqus is a service for web comments and discussions that makes commenting easier and more interactive, helping publishers power online discussions.
• Azure DocumentDB is a NoSQL service for highly available, globally distributed apps. Sign in to your DocumentDB account to create, update, and query documents and more.
• Freshdesk is a cloud-based customer support solution that will help you streamline your customer service and make sure your customers receive the support they deserve. The Freshdesk connector is intended for Freshdesk agents to manage tickets and contacts.
• Google Contacts is an online address book, integrated across your Google products and more.
• GoToMeeting is an online meeting tool that allows you to schedule your own meetings or watch for the ones you are invited to.
•HipChat is group chat, video chat, and screen sharing tool for teams of all sizes. Built for business, HipChat is persistent, searchable, and loaded with items your team will love.
• Medium is a vibrant network of thinkers who care about the world and making it better. Connect to your Medium account to track new publications, write stories, and more.
• MSN Weather provides the very latest weather forecast, including temperature, humidity, and precipitation for your location.
• WordPress is web software that you can use to create a beautiful website, blog, or app.
Microsoft To Reorganize Certain Departments On February 1st
According to Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet, Microsoft is set to conduct a massive management reorganization including the creation of a digital team focused on cloud services. The reorganization — which will affect the sales, partner and services teams under the Worldwide Commercial Business group headed by EVP Judson Althoff — is expected to take place on February 1st.
The Enterprise & Partner Group (EPG) will be merged with the Small and Mid-Market Solutions and Partners (SMS&P) group. Chris Weber, the corporate VP of midmarket solutions and partners, will oversee the combined businesses.
Microsoft will also combine the Worldwide Public Sector and Industry Businesses, which will be overseen by corporate VP Toni Townes-Whitley. A new “One Commercial Partner” business is being created to combine a number of partner teams within the company and it will be led by Ron Huddleston. The new digital team that will be handling cloud services will be led by corporate VP of Microsoft Services Anand Eswaran.
Will the reorganization cause any layoffs? Fortunately, a Microsoft spokesperson told ZDNet that will be no layoffs due to the shift. “Like all companies, Microsoft reviews its resources and investments on an ongoing basis,” said the spokesperson.
Microsoft And Mattel Partner On A Connected Room Hub
Aristotle home assistant / Photo Credit: Mattel
At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Mattel unveiled a new product within its nabi brand. The product — which is called Aristotle — is a connected room hub that was built through a partnership between Mattel, Microsoft, Qualcomm and Silk Labs. The purpose of Aristotle is to provide assistance to parents while entertaining children through the use of artificial intelligence.
“The platform’s Artificial Intelligence will utilize three distinct AI engines, including Microsoft Cognitive Services and the Silk Intelligence Platform. These multi-levels of AI enable Aristotle to learn patterns and autonomously act upon user habits to aid in child development and learning. Aristotle’s AI will also have a unique personality that will appeal to parents and kids and will be presented as the great descendent of Aristotle himself,” said Mattel in a press release.
The Aristotle device consists of a webcam and a speaker that responds to commands. The speaker has LED lights built-in that functions as nightlights, task indicators and for gaming purpose. Aristotle is able to recognize the kids based on their voices and names to offer personalized functionalities.
According to PCWorld, parents can also program Aristotle so that it only responds to commands after hearing the word “please.” And if Aristotle hears a child crying, parents can be alerted with a notification. Plus Aristotle can be programmed so that it triggers an event based on something that happens. For example, a lullaby can be played if Aristotle hears a child crying. And Aristotle knows multiple languages so it can respond in Spanish if a child is in the process of learning that language.
To make certain the privacy of the child is maintained, Aristotle was created with COPPA compliance. And there aren’t any default passwords so it prevents hackers from spying on children. Plus the data is encrypted to and from the cloud. To purchase Aristotle, Mattel will be selling it for $299 starting in June 2017.
