Windows, Android Gain Market Share

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IDC has published its third quarter 2013 smartphone market share and sales estimates this week, and according to the numbers, Microsoft and Android platforms have come out smelling like a rose – while Apple has seen slightly better days.

Android saw an increase of 80 percent in its overall market share globally, with a total volume increase to 211.6 million devices. Windows Phone also saw a growth, with an increase to 3.6 percent market share and 9.5 million devices shipped over the quarter. That’s a whopping 156 percent improvement over the previous year’s sales.

While Apple saw an increase in device volume to 33.8 million, the overall smartphone market grew about 40 percent in itself, dwindling its general market share to 12.9 percent, a 1.5 percent drop from the previous year’s report.

BlackBerry ended up even worse, losing 41.6 percent of its device volume in previous years. It only shipped 4.5 million devices for the quarter – half of Windows Phone’s numbers.

Source: TechCrunch

PC Games Get Humble

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PC gamers looking for another viable option when it comes to buying games on the cheap have gotten their wish.

The Humble Store is officially open for business, providing a number of games for a discounted rate of 50 to 75 percent off, just in time for the holiday season.

It’s the latest move by the Humble team after putting together a number of Humble bundles to raise money for charity, by grouping a number of PC games for an affordable “pay-what-you-want” rate.

Most of the games will concentrate on independent game efforts, including such titles as Don’t Starve, Prison Architect and Rogue Legacy among others, but older favorites by bigger publishers may also find their way into the sales.

Developers will receive 75 percent of the revenue through the new channel, while certain charities like American Red Cross, Child’s Play, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the World Land Trust and Charity Water will receive 10 percent of the proceeds.

Source: Humble Store

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Xbox One Skydrive Explained

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With the Xbox One just days away from arriving in stores, Microsoft has been showing off more and more of the system and its various features. This week, the company unveiled a new video that explains how its Skydrive storage system works.

Jeff Henshaw, Xbox principal group program manager, explained its various features in the video, including voice support (through the Kinect device), issuing Snap commands for photo viewing enhancement, and Bing search, among others. You can also utilize live and streaming video at the simple press of a button, and view your photos at any time.

It’s all supported by the cloud, and the video clarifies any questions you may have about how it works.

The Xbox One arrives in stores November 22.

Source: Mashable

 

PlayStation 4 SF Launch Party

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This Friday will see the North American launch of Sony’s PlayStation 4 console, and Sony is celebrating in a number of ways. Along with a live TV special that will air Thursday night on Spike TV at 11 PM EDT, the company has announced a special event that will take place in San Francisco.

The party will take place at GameStop over on 830 Market Street, starting at 6 PM on November 14th and running well through the system’s midnight launch. Attendees will be able to check out PlayStation 4 demos and take advantage of a number of food trucks in the area to get their grub on.

In addition, a variety of items will be given away, including a prize pack for the game The Last of Us, a PlayStation Vita prize pack, and a PlayStation 4 grand prize, which includes a system autographed by Sony’s Jack Tretton, as well as a Knack poster autographed by game director Mark Cerny.

If you can’t make it to the party, don’t worry. Various retailers will open Thursday night at midnight so you can get your hands on a PlayStation 4 early, but you’ll likely be waiting in line. Sony Stores around the country will also hold midnight events, and you can find out more at the PlayStation Blog..

Source: PlayStation Blog

‘League of Legends’ Championship In Korea

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League of Legends tournaments are a very big deal, with the prize pool in the millions of dollars. Season 4 will be bigger than ever, and it’s become the most popular game by far in South Korea – and it didn’t hurt that a South Korean team, SK Telecom T1, won the Season 3 World Championship.  So it shouldn’t be a big surprise that Riot Games announced that the next world championship will take place in Korea.

This marks a change of location for the tournament, which was previously held in Sweden and, over the past couple of years, the United States.

In the official announcement, Riot explained its decision. “South Korea is widely considered to be a center of eSports and is home to some of the most devoted fans on the planet,” it reads. “With a deep eSports heritage, this is an ideal location to follow up the largest eSports event to date and showcase the top League of Legends players. At the World Championship, they’ll battle it out for the title of world’s best.”

Meanwhile, the all-star game, an event that pits the game’s best players against each other in competition, will take place in Europe sometime next year.

Source: Riot Games

3D Printed Happy Meal Toys?

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3D printing has certainly taken off over the past few years, and now a fast food chain is considering delving into the high-tech trend when it comes to new toys for its children’s’ meals.

McDonalds’ UK IT director Mark Fabes stated that the chain is looking into options for toys based upon 3D printings. And we don’t just mean pre-printed ones, but the option to have customers create their ideal custom toy right there in the store. KIds would get to select the exact toy they wanted to put in their Happy Meal, rather than being disappointed by getting a toy they didn’t like. In other words, it would put a little more Happy in the Happy Meal.

Unfortunately, there are certain things that have to be considered. In order for the toys to be created, there has to be melted plastic – and that’s a big no-no when it comes to having it near food items. Still, Faber didn’t state that the option was completely off the table.

Source: IGN

This Week’s [a]list Jobs – November 13

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“The trouble with Opportunity is that it always comes disguised as hard work.” -Herbert Victor Prochnow

Here are this week’s [a]list jobs:

  • Roku – Senior Marketing Analyst (Saratoga, CA)
  • Storm8 – Product Manager (Redwood City, CA)
  • SilverTree Media – Product Manager (Palo Alto, CA)
  • Machine Zone – Marketing Analyst (Palo Alto, CA)
  • Ayzenberg Group – Business Development for Broadcast (Pasadena, CA)

[a]list daily is your source for the hottest job openings for senior management and marketing in games, entertainment and social media.

To see last week’s jobs, click here.