Month: October 2016

Enlarge / Microsoft's Jen McCoy speaks about updates to gaming in Windows 10. (credit: Jennifer Hahn)

Microsoft's Windows Creator Update event included a brief segment about the company's game-specific updates. That Wednesday segment kicked off with an announcement that Windows will now come with live, online game-streaming capabilities built in.

These won't be powered by the popular game-streaming site Twitch, however, but by Beam, a very similar game-streaming service that Microsoft acquired in August. Instead of having to connect games to Beam's Web UI, PC gamers will be able to load the Windows "game bar" interface—which already exists in Windows 10 by pressing the Windows key and the G button—and pick a "Beam" streaming option.

Beam's Twitch-like functions are boosted by a stress on incredibly low latency, so viewers aren't buried behind a lengthy delay between when the action happens and when they see it. Beam also offers a gamification system that rewards viewers with "experience points," and these points can be spent on interface customizations and on placing votes for what a game streamer might do. Microsoft didn't unveil anything else about how its own games will more deeply link to the Beam interface and its voting system.

(credit: Comcast)

Comcast yesterday sued the Nashville metro government and mayor to stop a new ordinance designed to give Google Fiber faster access to utility poles.

Comcast's complaint in US District Court in Nashville (full text) is similar to one already filed by AT&T last month. Both ISPs are trying to invalidate a One Touch Make Ready ordinance that lets new ISPs make all of the necessary wire adjustments on utility poles themselves instead of having to wait for incumbent providers like AT&T and Comcast to send work crews to move their own wires. The ordinance was passed largely to benefit Google Fiber, which is offering service in Nashville but says that it hasn't been able to deploy faster because it is waiting to get access to thousands of poles.

Nearly all the Nashville utility poles are owned either by the municipal Nashville Electric Service or AT&T. Because Comcast has wires on many of the poles, it has some control over how quickly Google Fiber can expand its network. When Google Fiber wants to attach wires to a new pole, it needs to wait for ISPs like Comcast to move their wires to make room for Google Fiber's.

Enlarge

NEW YORK—Although Microsoft has released a number of new Windows builds to members of its insider program since the August release of the Anniversary Update, so far these haven't contained much in the way of substantial new features, and the contents of the next major update to Windows 10 have remained largely unknown.

That changed today, with Microsoft revealing some—though the company stresses, not all—of what we should expect to see when the update is released next year. As with the Anniversary Update, the "Creator's Update" will focus on various key areas such as productivity and gaming.

3D features

"3D" is a big deal in the Creator's Update, and Microsoft demonstrated operating system's capability to quickly scan, modify, and print objects with 3D printers. The stated goal was to make "3D creation" as simple as the process is for taking a 2D picture or video. On stage, MS presenter Heather Alekson used HP's X3 Windows Phone to perform a quick walk-around scan of a sand castle, which then appeared on the phone as a textured 3D model.

Meier holds forth with fans at a Firaxicon fan gathering in 2014.

Sid Meier is not very good at Civilization.

The creator and namesake of the long-running Sid Meier's Civilization series—which just saw the launch of its sixth numbered release last week—freely admits that he's only "OK" at his own creation. It's a shortcoming that Meier, in a set of recent interviews with Ars Technica, chalked up to a fundamental difference in playstyles.

"To be good [at Civilization] you have to try to find or exploit the weaknesses in the game," Meier said. "I'm not generally doing that. I'm trying to play the way you're supposed to play and get into the role. 'What would I do if I was the king of this civilization?' That's the fun for me."