Photo: Dekuwa / Flickr

Popular music service Last.FM is adopting a model similar to Spotify’s, wherein using the service on a desktop browser will remain free, but access from mobile devices will be charged for. While the move will no doubt disappoint Last.FM’s many loyal users, it appears as if the move was inevitable, as the service looks to better monetize its offering.

Who is affected

The only mobile devices unaffected by this move are Windows Phone 7 Last.FM users, and Xbox Live Last.FM users. The rest of us who use the popular streaming music service will be forwarded to a subscription page the next time we attempt to log in. This means if you’re using the service through an iOS device, an Android device, Sonos, Squeezebox device, as well as Denon, Roberts and Teufel devices, you’ll have to cough up some money.

This was necessary

Speaking on the changes, Matthew Hawn of Last.fm said that: ‘We’re committed to building Last.fm into a bigger service that gives listeners the best music discovery experience anywhere, while financially supporting and promoting the artists who make the music we love.’ He continued, saying, ‘For the cost of a fancy coffee, a Last.fm monthly subscription allows you to listen to radio across all platforms, on all your devices, and without commercial interruptions.’

Will this work?

Though subscription is a fairly cheap £3 per month, the streaming music service is facing a challenge in that it may be pushing its users to competitors like Spotify, who, though they’re more expensive, offer a more fledged listening experience, with a much vaster library of tracks.

As a fan of the streaming music service, it will be interesting to see how this decision affects the community, if at all. And hopefully the service is better able to monetize so these types of pricing scares don’t become commonplace.

Photo: Old Shoe Woman / Flickr

Social websites and ways of connecting with acquaintances have exploded over the last five years, with Facebook being the most obvious indicator of this. Outside of social networks, however, many people still don’t know the many ways you can connect with friends and build a community using technology, both software and hardware. We look at the ways we currently connect with each other.

Friend-specific connections

By now, everybody from the deserts of Somalia to the seas of the Maldives has heard about Facebook, the leader of the social networking revolution. Facebook represents a platform where people share connections with each other.

Topic-specific connections

Another example of online communities would be one where the friends are no longer the key focus but a specific topic/product is the focus. An example of this would be communities like Deviant Art for artists. Here the social networking aspects, if you will, aren’t concerned with who you know and have a connection with, but are rather concerned with topics you share a love with other people with, even if they aren’t your friends. Like Lichtenstein drawing? There’s a bunch of people on Deviant Art who do, too.

Device-specific connections

Beyond the software solutions, some platforms have online communities built around and into their hardware platforms. The most obvious example of this for gamers worldwide would be the Xbox 360. Xbox Live is a community built around Microsoft’s game console and the games playable on the console, while also being a way for gamers to connect with each other. Here, the service actually takes what Facebook does with social networking with friends, and topical networking, too, and builds them into a neatly packaged device. It’s brilliant marketing and a great strategy for keeping folks locked into, and interested in, the devices.

Another more recent example of device-specific connections would have to be Apple’s FaceTime. Though it’s easy to dismiss FaceTime as a mere Skype equivalent exclusive to iOS owners, it doesn’t exist outside of Apple’s devices, making it a device-specific solution. And while Apple looks to forward its VoIP agenda, what it’s really doing is creating a compelling reason for you, your friends and your family to own the same device. It’s smart, smart, smart business.

Why this matters

This matters because it’s a looking glass into the way the entire web will one day be built. People will no longer just visit sites. Every site will look to give people a compelling reason to join its online community, whether it be through connections with friends, a specific topic, or specific devices.

Photo: Stock.Xchng

Question: how do you illicit anger in millions of gamers worldwide? Answer: by increasing the subscription fee for your already pricey online gaming service, that’s how! Microsoft showed gamers, and the world, the blueprint to upsetting your customers. But is the price hike for MS’s popular Xbox Live service justifiable?

Price increase across the board

Major Nelson – real name Larry Hryb – announced the hike with a statement issued on his blog, which read: ‘Since launching Xbox LIVE in 2002 we have continually added more content and entertainment experiences for our members, while keeping the price the same.’ That’s called buttering them up before laying them down. Now for the laying part: ‘We’re confident that when the new pricing takes effect, an Xbox LIVE Gold membership will continue to offer the best value in the industry.’

So, what is the new pricing, exactly?

The price increase will take effect 1 November 2010 and will affect gamers in the US, Canada, Mexico and the UK. US gamers, who are accustomed to paying $7.99, $19.99 or $49.99 for a one month, three month, or twelve month subscription, respectively, will now pay $9.99, $24.99, and $59.99 over the same periods. In Canada, the price of a one month gold subscription will go from $8.99 CAD to $9.99 CAD. In Mexico 12 month gold goes from 499 pesos to 599 pesos. Finally, for us in the UK, the only price hike will be for the one month gold subscription, where we’ll go from paying £4.99 to £5.99 for Microsoft’s Xbox Live service. Everybody else need not worry – prices aren’t changing for you.

Why the long face? Here, have a gift

Photo: J.VillaretePhoto / Flickr

As if to put a smile on all those sad US gamers’ faces, Microsoft is offering a temporary discount on the Xbox Live subscription, wherein you pay $39.99 for a live subscription, representing a 20 per cent discount over the formerly normal $49.99 price tag. Expect gamers to snap up this option en masse, by the way.

Be smart – circumvent the system anyway

We’re still advocates of buying cards and subscriptions for the Xbox Live service outside of Microsoft’s channels. Stores online sell them for notably cheaper, and are significantly more convenient, too.

But back to the question, is it justified? Surely it’s relative. No price increase in eight years is a significant achievement, but, even then, with PSN being free, it seems a hard pill to swallow. I mean, it’s not as if the service isn’t already making bucket loads of money. Now, compare that to how much people pay for WoW monthly, suddenly Live seems more palatable. It’s all relative, and the truth is, we’re not about to jump ship in protest – it’s just too good a service to do so for a measly pound, for us Brits. For our US friends, though, it’s a whole other story.

Photo: Nintendo

In a conversation with investors Satoru Iwata, Nintendo’s President, made it patently clear that a successor to the Wii is coming, but that people would have to be patient for the announcement because Nintendo doesn’t want competitors imitating them.

Just like the Wii strategy

If you dash your mind back to late 2005, you’ll notice that this is identical to the Nintendo Wii strategy. Prior to E3 that year, nobody really knew what the Nintendo Revolution (the Wii’s working name back then) would be, and then ‘boom’, Nintendo introduced motional controls to an unsuspecting world.

Iwata says, ‘We are of course studying and developing the next console to Wii. However, there is a big difference between studying a product and announcing what it is and when we will release it.’

Catch the imitators off-guard

Perhaps taking a veiled swipe at Microsoft and Sony rushing motion controls to market, Iwata adds ‘I am afraid to say that the history of entertainment is also the history of imitation.’ Ouch. And he concludes by saying ‘Again, we are planning the next products for Nintendo’s continuous growth, but we cannot tell you what, when and how we will release it here. Thank you for your understanding.’

The bare minimums

Frankly, the prospect of the next Nintendo Revolution, or Nintendo Wii 2, rather, excites us, yet we do have some reservations. Firstly, and most importantly, Nintendo needs to embrace the web properly. No obtuse friend codes, no ‘afterthought’ game market places. Make it as easy to connect to the web as it is with Xbox Live.

Secondly, work harder with third parties to help them understand your platform better. The curse of Nintendo has always been that they make the best games for their own platforms, with third parties producing second-class titles. Why is this the case, considering these problems do not exist on other platforms? Fix these issues and add that Mario’s House sparkle and I can assure Nintendo that I, too, will join the Nintendo revolution and help the Nintendo Wii 2 become the unmitigated success it was on its first outing.

Who would bet against a company that is making this?

Photo: Microsoft

Microsoft is doing anything and everything it can to ensure the viability of its Windows Phone 7 Series mobile OS for smartphones. We wrote a post based on a rumour that they were courting developers with money, which Microsoft neither denied nor confirmed. The company has now confirmed what we’ve all known for a long while now.

Thanks, Todd Brix

Microsoft director Todd Brix confirmed that the company was soliciting developers using a variety of means, including the aforementioned cash incentives, as well as free test hardware. The financial incentives weren’t simply limited to dolling over cash, but had a variation that included Microsoft making up the difference in cash if minimum revenue promises were not met.

And let’s be clear. We do not fault Microsoft for this. They don’t have the first mover’s advantage they once did, and they have the finances to push the platform, without having to rely on organic growth. Do it!

Look how easy it is!

Photo: Stock.Xchng

Initially, Microsoft was said to be recruiting iPhone and iOS developers for Windows Phone 7 Series, but it has also emerged that Microsoft is looking within its own stable of platforms for developers. Microsoft is reportedly selling Xbox Live Arcade and Xbox Indie Games developers on developing for Windows Phone 7 Series by punting how easily portable those games are, considering they are all developed using Microsoft’s XNA platform.

Running speed

Microsoft is finally in the home stretch of launching the long-awaited Windows Phone 7 Series. Since Microsoft had a foothold in the industry with Windows Mobile years ago, things have shaken up significantly. Google Android has emerged a viable competitor, Nokia’s smartphone dominance has slipped, RIM continues to be a strong competitor, and the iPhone is the most widely used smartphone in the world. It’s not as if these aforementioned companies are in favour of Microsoft imposing their will on a high stakes industry such as this one.

Photo: J.VillaretePhoto / Flickr

Bobby Kotick recently expressed his displeasure at contributing a central experience to Xbox Live without seeing any financial payoff from the system. Now that information regarding just how much money Microsoft are making from Xbox Live subscriptions has emerged, we can’t say we blame him.

Over $1 billion in annual revenue

Through piecing different pieces of information, Gamesindustry.biz (free subscription required) has discovered that Microsoft make more than $1.2 billion (£790 million) annually on a combination of Live subscription and downloadable content. Microsoft now have over 25 million XBLA subscribers and more than 50 per cent of these subscribers have a gold subscription – accounting for around $600 million (£395 million). In an interview since, Xbox COO Dennis Durkin revealed that more than half of the total Xbox Live revenue came from digital downloads, adding at least another $600 million (£395 million). That’s a whole host of money we spend on DLC, Xbox Live Arcade games, themes and, shudder, Avatar fashion accessories.

Buy smarter, please?

Photo: Dan Coulter / Flickr

Most Xbox Live subscription and Xbox Live Arcade points are bought directly online due to the ease of simply punching in a few credit card details and processing a transaction. Savvy gamers have discovered, though, that if you buy Xbox Live subscription cards and if you buy Xbox Live Arcade points from retailers online, you get them for less than the price Microsoft itself charges. Some online retailers even email the vouchers to you instantly, so that you don’t have to wait. It just makes sense and, by the calculations above, Microsoft don’t need anymore of your Xbox Live subscription money, now do they?

Years down the line, even though many gamers are still not happy with having to pay for the XBL subscription, do you think it’s been worth your money? And which titles dominate your gaming time?

Photo: gynti_46 / Flickr

As Microsoft Office 2010 is readied, Microsoft saw its quarterly profit jump by 35 per cent, thanks in no small part to Windows 7 and undoubtedly making CEO Steve Ballmer very happy.

The critically received operating system has been selling very well, helping propel Microsoft to record Q3 revenue of $14.5 billion (the company’s financial year starts in June). This revenue represented a noteworthy 6 per cent increase over the same time last year but Wall Street, ever so hard to please, saw Microsoft share prices fell with the news.

Xbox Live

Outside of Windows 7, Microsoft reported strong growth within Xbox Live, Bing, and the company’s upcoming cloud services.

Business buyers return

Photo: Microsoft

Microsoft believes a resurgent technology industry could see Windows 7 grow more still. Chief Operating Officer, Kevin Turner, claimed that business customers were beginning to ‘refresh their desktops’ and expected Windows 7 sales and momentum to remain strong.

One-tenth of PCs now have Windows 7

The performance of Microsoft’s current operating system sees the OS business group grow by 28 per cent, when compared to the beginning of last year, and over one-tenth of PCs around the globe are now running this operating system. These figures represent a stark contrast to the badly received and disappointingly selling Windows Vista operating system, which was mired with problems from launch day, forcing Microsoft to announce a replacement sooner than the company would have liked.

Project roadmap

Photo: Facebook

Microsoft has recently released its Kin handsets, and is readying the release of Windows Phone 7 Series. In addition, the company is still investing a lot of resources into its Xbox platform, which has seemed to take a somewhat permanent turn to profitability. The company has also just sent Microsoft Office 2010 for pressing, representing the preparation of its other cash cow. The landscape for Microsoft Office 2010 is significantly different than it was for previous releases, with free cloud-computing productivity suites proving viable alternatives. In this regard, Microsoft teamed up with Facebook to release docs.com in hopes of slowing, and ultimately eliminating, the progress Google Docs has made.

Photo: Infinity Ward

Just as the dust began to settle after the sour departure of two of Modern Warfare’s most important team members, two more team members have left the developer.

LinkedIn indeed

The announcement, which was not so much an announcement as it was a status update on business network LinkedIn, shows the two Infinity Ward developers are currently unemployed. Lead designer Todd Alderman and lead software engineer Francesco Gigliotti join studio heads Vince Zampella and Jason West as having left the studio.

Different circumstances, same reasons?

Photo: Infinity Ward

Though it is as yet unconfirmed why they, Gigliotti and Alderman, left the studio, gaming blog Kotaku reports the duo left by resigning, which is admittedly better than the way Zampella and West were ushered out of the studio by security guards, in what is up there with the most dramatic firings in gaming history.

The big question, of course, is why they chose to resign off the back of the success of Modern Warfare 2. There’s little reason to believe it’s for any reasons other than those connected to Zampella and West’s leaving the studio. Either the way they left irked eight-year studio veteran Alderman and seven-year studio veteran Gigliotti, or the reasons behind their leaving are the cause of their departure.

Big fame, big drama

Apparently the primary reason Vince Zampella and Jason West left was because Activision, the publisher that owns Infinity Ward, had not paid the expected royalties from the colossal success of Modern Warfare 2, which has grossed over $1 billion dollars (£650 million) in revenue.

Photo: Microsoft

This, as rumours continue, led Zampella and West to start searching for a new publisher, which was the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak, on Activision’s side. Since then, one imagines relations between Activision and Infinity Ward are tense, with the studio’s development quality significantly hampered by these high-profile departures.

New maps, still selling like hotcakes

Modern Warfare 2, which is available for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, is still selling like hotcakes, with the studio recently releasing its downloadable Mapathy pack on Xbox Live.