We’ve been in touch with the BBC Trust today, to follow up the statement that was mentioned in our piece about the BBC Trust position on the iPlayer and Linux playback. Here it is in full with our observations at the end.
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BBC Trust Statement On iPlayer OSC Meeting: Bit Woolly
BBC Trust: iPlayer On Linux And Mac A Must
The Open Source Consortium (OSC), the organisation leading the charge to make the BBC iPlayer open to all platforms, not just Microsoft Windows, met with the BBC Trust yesterday to find that there was a lot of agreement in their ambitions.(The BBC Trust has now issued a statement.) Speaking to Mark Taylor of the OSC straight after the BBC Trust meeting, I learnt that The Trust had declared that they “share the vision” of the OSC. Not surprisingly the OSC representatives felt very buoyant but the very positive meeting.
(more…)Ben Lavender, iPlayer Inventor Leaving BBC Today
Ben Lavender, the person who came up with the idea behind the BBC iPlayer, originally called iMP, is leaving the BBC this afternoon.We’d been told about the news a while back, but have held off until the information was public. Looking at his Linkedin profile, we see that it now shows his new role, as Group Digital & Product Director at LoveFilm.
(more…)BBC Trust To Listen On iPlayer Going Open Source
Finally the BBC Trust appears to be open to talking about the iPlayer going Open Source.Good to see that the BBC Trust is to take representation from the Open Source Consortium (OSC) regarding their concerns about the fact that the BBC iPlayer is currently dependent on Microsoft’s Windows DRM.
The OSC made an official complaint to the BBC Trust in January this year but did not hear back from them until now. Quite unlike Ofcom and the old DTI, who they did get replies from.
(more…)Virgin Media: BBC iPlayer Via TV First
Virgin Media tell us that they “will be the first” TV service to offer the BBC iPlayer service through their STB and remote control – rather than through a computer.Following yesterday’s Official launch of the BBC iPlayer, we thought this would of interest to follow up.
(more…)BBC iPlayer To Finally Launch
This morning, BBC boss Mark Thompson announced that the corporation’s long-awaited iPlayer on-demand TV service would launch, as an open public beta, on 27 July this year.Unveiling details of the peer-to-peer download service, Thompson predicted that the iPlayer (nee iMP) would be “at least as big a redefinition of broadcast TV as colour TV was 40 years ago.”
(more…)BBC iPlayer On-Demand Service Gets Green Light
The BBC Trust has given the go ahead for the BBC’s iPlayer service (iMP).Expected to launch later this year, the iPlayer service lets punters watch TV shows online seven days after the initial broadcast, with viewers also able to download and store programmes on their PCs for up to 30 days.
(more…)Sea War MultiPlayer For The Palm: Review (90%)
Some of the most compelling games are often the simplest, and games don’t get much more basic than the age-old game of Battleships.The idea might be as old as the hills, but Russian developers Intorine have souped up the interface (supporting 320×320 and 320×480 screen resolutions), lobbed in a bucketful of attractive graphics, added some satisfying explosions and made the thing multiplayer.
Sink! Kill! Destroy!
You can either play the game against a computer opponent or do battle with another human – locally, via Bluetooth or over an Infrared connection.As in the time-honoured game of Battleships, your aim is to guess where your opponent’s ships are lurking by dropping bombs on squares on the screen.
If you miss, you get a splashy sound (and quite possibly the derision of your chum across the room) and if you hit the target you get a gratifying kaboom (with the option to shout and jeer at your opponent’s misery).We tested Sea War on a pair of Treo 650 smartphones and found it worked more or less flawlessly, although if we drifted a bit too far out of range the game would lose the connection.
Sad to say, we found ourselves “testing” the game for a considerable length of time as we vied for the top slots in the high scores table.
Our opinion
Maybe it’s because we’re easily pleased by simple things, but we got enormous pleasure playing cross-office Sea War tournaments. It’s a whole load of fun.It’s not a bad single player game either, although the computer opponent sometimes plays like it’s imbibed strong drugs.
Either way, for a price tag of absolutely nothing, this game’s a great time-waster and an absolute winner in our book. We love it!
Features: 70%
Gameplay: 85%
Graphics: 75%
Value For Money: 95%
Overall: 90%Terraplay Supplies Motorola With Real Time Multiplayer Mobile Games
Motorola handset owners will now be able to go multiplayer bonkers, courtesy of a new selection of real-time, multiplayer games from Motorola’s consumer portal, www.hellomoto.com.The company claims that the addition of multiplayer gaming will make “full use of the multi-media capabilities” of their devices, with the games delivering “a compelling, interactive gaming experience for consumers, which keeps them returning, consequently driving ARPU for operators.”
Based on Terraplay’s fixed line multiplayer technology (as used for online Playstation2 gaming), Terraplay MOVE supports mobile multiplayer gaming and is being used by a growing number of mobile operators on both 2.5G and 3G networks.
The technology lets users take part in multiplayer mobile gaming, supporting everything from turn-based games, sports games, action games and racing to full multiplayer games with thousands of concurrent players.
As well as playing directly against other phone users, game-hungry portal visitors will also be able to compete in ladder tournaments, view global rankings and chat in-game.The service means that if Blodwyn in Bargoed fancies a quick bit of mobile fragging with Fritz from Frankfurt, she’ll either be able to do battle through hellomoto.com or via a mobile operator service.
“Motorola believes immersive human-to human-applications will be key drivers for growth in the mobile industry and we are very pleased to be offering such exciting multiplayer games to our customers.
As part of our ‘Innovate’ programme we are always looking for the very best technologies, such as Terraplay, to support the considerable capabilities of our handsets, and in addition drive additional revenues for our operator customers.” Says Ronan Smyth, Applications Manager, Motorola.
As part of the service, Motorola will provide a suite of well known games (such as ‘No Refuge’ and ‘Mole War’) available for its many handsets, on both 2.5G and 3G.
“This represents another major step forward in the development of Terraplay given the stature of Motorola in the global wireless market. Motorola’s initiative is excellent news for the growth of the multiplayer sector,” purred Jeremy Lewis, Chairman of the Advisory Board, Terraplay Systems, “Multiplayer gaming, offered as premium services, is a real revenue generator and an ideal path to higher ARPU for all service providers”.The multiplayer gaming service is available now through Motorola’s consumer portal, www.hellomoto.com.
Availability is initially UK only with a roll-out to all other regions soon thereafter.
3G Real-Time Multiplayer Gaming From 3 In UK
With a long parp on their PR trumpets, 3 notched up another first with the launch of “over-the-air” real-time multiplayer games over their network.The service will go live in April and allows up to four gamer dudes to frag the feck out of each other in real-time over the 3 network.
The first real-time multiplayer games to be made available will be No Refuge, an explosion-tastic, tank battle war game supplied by Mobile Interaction.
Next up will be Synergenix’s Lock ‘n Load, a shoot’em up game with even more explosions, followed by the turn-based multiplayer game, Cannons Tournament, a shoot and fire cannon game supplied by Macrospace. With explosions, naturally.
The real-time multiplayer gaming environment is supported on Terramove, a gaming solution from TerraPlay, allowing publishers to develop multiplayer games for the 3 network.
3 also announced advanced games boasting “near console quality”, which will, apparently, “bring the real gaming experience to UK mobile for the first time”.
The “near console quality” games will be made available to customers through the ‘Today on 3’ service and will include Rally Pro Contest and Lock ‘n Load, both 3D games.
These console-esque games are being supported on the 3 network by the Mophun gaming engine that is being supplied to 3 by Synergenix.Gareth Jones COO of 3 was on hand to big up the offering: “3 has consistently been the first to deliver the very best on 3G. As the fastest growing UK operator, this is an exciting new development in our service offering. Combined with our great value and market-leading handset portfolio, 3 continues to set the benchmark for the other operators to follow.”
Graeme Oxby, Marketing Director of 3 was quick to join the quote action: “As the success of our music service demonstrates with over 10 million downloads in 6 months, 3 has learnt how to package and deliver compelling products over 3G. In Gaming, we are doing the same thing – picking the right games for 3G and delivering services that are immediate, fun and accessible at affordable prices.”
3 is currently the only UK operator to offer customers the choice of buying and renting games. Game-junkies can either pay 25p for a one game fix or double their money for up to three days of play on a game – this lets them see if they like the gear on offer before buying it.
With the ‘buy’ option customers make a one off payment, of between £3 (US$5.7, €4.3) and £7.50 (US$14.25, €10.8) and then have continuous use of the game on their video mobile till their fingers are reduced to stubs.
The ‘near console’ quality games will initially only be available on certain models and cost £7.50.
The announcement of these advanced handheld games would suggest that 3 is pro-actively targeting the lucrative console market, and looking to lure potential Gizmodo, DS and PSP customers.We suspect that their success will depend greatly on how the games match up to the ‘near console’ quality claims.
After all, the Sinclair C5 was nearly a great idea….