Apple Out to Reignite Growth With iPad, Watch, and Subscription Updates

Apple is expected to spotlight its smartwatch, iPad, and subscription services on Tuesday as it strives to reignite growth with a must-have holiday lineup.

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iPhone 12 leaked video shows off LiDAR camera placement

The Apple iPhone is one of the most anticipated devices each year and this year is no different. We are already seeing a ton of leaks about the iPhone 12 and the train isn’t slowing down anytime soon. Now, a leaked video has shown up on Twitter, posted by a user called EverythingApplePro in which you can see the back of the phone which contains the latest LiDAR sensor placement. Other rumours also did the rounds claiming that the iPhone 12 has gone into mass production and that the 120Hz display has been left out.

Here it is! Official iPhone 12 Pro chassis leak. Confirms mostly same camera with new LiDAR placement, flat sides, magnet cutouts & smart connector-like 5G antenna? This seems to confirm the 6.1 Pro model will get LiDAR too. October can't come soon enough. pic.twitter.com/YifSX7SWxh

— EverythingApplePro (@EveryApplePro) September 11, 2020

The video shows off the phones back panel. In it, one can see the LiDAR sensor placement along with various other cutouts. We also see the camera module which looks rather similar to the previous iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max with the triple camera setup. The leaked video also says that the company could fit the LiDAR sensor on not just the top-end iPhone 12 Pro Max but on the iPhone 12 Pro as well. 

In fact, we’ve got a rather comprehensive breakdown of what we know about the iPhone 12 so far. You can check that article out, here. You will be able to purchase an “Assembled in India” iPhone SE 2020 soon and you can read more about that story here. Also, because of the launch of the iPhone 12, Apple may discontinue iPhone XR and iPhone 11 Pro series. 

 

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Pac-Man Geo will let you turn your street into a Pac-Man level

Bandai Namco will also be jumping into the location-based with Pac-Man Geo. The company notes that the new game will let players create a Pac-Man level based on the real-world map in their area. This would be a classic version of the game with pellet-munching and ghosts to avoid. Players will be able to create their own mazes or play any other player generated maps. 

Bandai Namco’s announcement doesn’t exactly go into detail about the game itself, but notes that the game would follow the classic rules of the game. “while maintaining PAC-MAN’s simple rules and operability, players can experience the game at a deeper level than ever before, such as the joy of choosing one’s own stage to travel the world as they please, the pleasure of finding interesting terrain, and the fun of sharing these new discoveries,” the company notes.

 

Play PAC-MAN in the world around you! PAC-MAN GEO, a mobile app game that utilizes geographic information, is now open for pre-registration for iOS and Android users. iOShttps://t.co/V5BgCSfW3o Androidhttps://t.co/uq2XvMwvRO pic.twitter.com/3RlLbwkkKR

— PAC-MAN Official (@officialpacman) September 10, 2020

 

Pac-Man Geo will be available for download on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. However, it is not yet known when the game will be available for download, but players will e ale to pre-register for the game on their respective app stores. Apple’s app store also hints that the game might be available for download from November 30. 

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Pac-Man, who was arguably one of gaming early success stories and is considered to be one of the greatest characters in gaming. It’s simple yet challenging gameplay attracted many people and is considered fun even today. In fact, back in 2010, Google celebrates Pac-Man's 30th anniversary by releasing an interactive doodle that turned the Google logo into a playable version of Pac-Man. It as reported that the doodle caused a total of a $120 million loss in terms of productivity. You can check out the doodle here. 

A few weeks back, Timex announced that it was released a special Pac-Man-themed version of its classic Timex T80 watch. The device itself is a call back to the early days and features back watch functionalities. However, it also featured a Pac-Man themed front face and also played the Pac-Man melody.

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EA Play will be available on Android devices

Recently, Microsoft and Electronics announced that they would be joining forces for the good of the gamers. This was to announce that EA Play would be available as part of Microsoft GamePass Ultimate. The former is EA’s subscription service while the latter is owned by Microsoft. The merger will also apparently also include Android devices.

EA Play would be available to subscribers of Microsoft GamePass Ultimate, meaning users who’ve subscribed to GamePass Ultimate, they will also be able to access the EA Play portfolio. This “merger” of sorts is planned for later this year around the holiday season. While this was the major news, what seemed to have slipped through the crack is the fact that this would also be the case on Android. Users with a subscription to GamePass Ultimate will be able to access the portfolio of games on Android smartphones as well. This is most likely going to be due to the fact that Microsoft is bringing xCloud to Android, through which gamers will be able to stream games directly onto their Android smartphone or tablet. iOS usrs will miss out on this due to Apple not playing nice with game streaming apps. However, not the entire EA Play library would be available on Android. As of now, it is not known exactly which titles would be available on Android, but we do know that all EA Play titles would be available on the PC and Consoles.

EA Play coming to GamePass is definitely an amazing thing for gamers, but also for EA. Currently, EA does not have a streaming service and it would take a lot of investment on the company’s part to get it off the ground. Partnering up with Microsoft, which has been working on game streaming service for years, is an easier way of getting their own portfolio if games into the hand of gamers. But perhaps most importantly, the partnership solves two huge problems; having to manage multiple subscriptions and have to pay for multiple subscriptions. Currently, GamePass Ultimate costs Rs 999/month while EA Play costs another $4.99/month. With the two subscriptions combining later this year, users would only have to pay for the GamePass Ultimate (Rs 999/month) and reap the benefits of EA Play as well. It is important to note that it is not EA Play Pro that is being integrated into the GamePass model, but the lower tier subscription EA Play only. EA Play also recently became available on Steam.

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Apple revises app Store guidelines for game streaming, Microsoft calls it a bad experience

Apple has updated the App Store guidelines for developers, tackling some very specific issues just before the release of iOS 14. The new guidelines specifically take into account Game Streaming services like Microsoft’s xCloud and Google’s Stadia. The guidelines also lay out more specifics around in-app purchases and also tackles the issue that brought controversy around Wordpress.

A few weeks ago, Microsoft’s xCloud app was unceremoniously removed from the App Store. Apple cited reasons that since the games being streamed via the service could not be vetted for compliance with App Store policies, xCloud was hence in violation of App Store policies. The reasoning given by Apple was considered weak, since the company does allow streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Videos and even Spotify and YouTube to be available on the App Store without the pre-requisite that all content hosted on the streaming service be vetted first.  Apple has since taken cognizance of the lop-sided nature in which it applies App Store guidelines and revised them to accommodate game streaming services. According to the new guidelines, Here’s what the new guidelines say:

“Streaming games are permitted so long as they adhere to all guidelines -- for example, each game update must be submitted for review, developers must provide appropriate metadata for search, games must use in-app purchase to unlock features or functionality, etc. Of course, there is always the open Internet and web browser apps to reach all users outside of the ‌App Store‌. Each streaming game must be submitted to the ‌App Store‌ as an individual app so that it has an ‌App Store‌ product page, appears in charts and search, has user ratings and review, can be managed with Screen Time and other parental control apps, appears on the user's device, etc.”

Microsoft responded to the new changes, criticizing them for not really being customer friendly. “This remains a bad experience for customers. Gamers want to jump directly into a game from their curated catalog within one app just like they do with movies or songs, and not be forced to download over 100 apps to play individual games from the cloud. We’re committed to putting gamers at the center of everything we do, and providing a great experience is core to that mission.”

Microsoft expects to launch xCloud on Android later next week, but it seems unlikely that Microsoft would bring xCloud to iOS, even despite the new changes in app store policy.

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PUBG Mobile generates over 500 Million in revenue for Tencent in just over 2 months: Sensor Tower

While PUBG Mobile may be currently banned in India, it looks like its developer, Tencent will still be raking in money. According to a report by Sensor Tower, the game generated over $500 Million in revenue in just over the past two months. In fact, the game is estimated to have earned over $3.5 Billion in player spending over its lifetme. This amount includes the combined revenue for the global version of PUBG Mobile as well as its Chinese-version, Game For Peace. Sensor Tower’s report notes that PUBG Mobile was the top grossing battle royale game world wide ahead of Garena Free Fire, Knives Out, Fortnite and Call of Duty: Mobile.  

The report also acknowledges the fact that India was the game’s largest market in terms of installs as of September 2, 2020 with 185.5 million downloads. However, the ban put in place by the Indian government might change all that. Regardless, it doesn’t seem like the ban will have too much of an impact for Tencent in terms of revenue. China remains the top market for Tencent with Game For Peace generating 53% of the game’s global revenue. The US comes in at second place with 13.6% while Japan accounts for 5.5%. Sensor Tower also notes that the App Store accounts for 80% of all revenue while Google Play makes up 20 percent.

A few days ago, PUBG Corp, the South Korean company responsible for publishing the PC and console version of the game, stated that it would be severing its ties with Tencent for PUBG Mobile in India. It also announced that it intends to make sure that the game’s data is stored locally and that it will run its operations from within India. 

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Microsoft may be working on a third next-gen Xbox console called Series V: Report

Microsoft may be working on a third next-gen Xbox console called Series V: Report

It seems like Microsoft have revealed all they could before the official launch of its next generation of consoles, namely the Series X and the Series S. However, it seems like the Redmond-based company may have something more up its sleeve. According to a post from Twitter user @IdleSloth84, Microsoft may launch another Xbox version called the Series V. The alleged console is codenamed Project Edinburg and is said to be less powerful than the Series X, but more powerful than the Series S. As such, it would slot in the middle of the two consoles.

 

(Rumor) There is a Xbox Series V (codename is Project Edinburg) it's rumored to be less powerful than the Series X but more Powerful than the Series S pic.twitter.com/C8V2FYYF5e

— Idle Sloth (@IdleSloth84) September 11, 2020

 

The image shared by the user also suggests that the upcoming device might be placed in the middle according to size as well. However, the most notable thing to note in the image is the fact that the device does not seem to have a disc drive, so it might be an all-digital console, just like the Xbox Series S. This would also explain the smaller size of the Series V as compared to the Series X. However, readers are advised to take this rumour with a pinch of salt as it would be pretty easy to photoshop.

For now however, Microsoft seems to have tied up all its major announcements regarding the launch of the next-generation Xbox. Both the consoles will be launched on November 10, with pre-orders starting on September 22. The Xbox Series X is priced at Rs 49,990 in India, while the Series S will be available at Rs 34,990. 

The Xbox Series X is Microsoft’s flagship next-gen console with features such as Ray Tracing and 4K UHD gaming at 120fps. It runs on a custom AMD Zen 3 CPU and an RDNA 2 GPU. This is paired with 16GB GDDR6 RAM and a custom 1T SSD.  

The Xbox Series S was officially confirmed earlier this month and Microsoft touts it the smallest Xbox ever. As mentioned earlier, it does not come with a disc drive, so users will have to rely on digital downloads. While it may be less powerful than the Xbox Series X, it still offers 1440p gaming with DirectX Ray Tracing and a 512GB SSD. Both the consoles will be backwards compatible with Xbox One, Xbox 360 and original Xbox games. 

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