Blip: The original Xbox was almost a free console for 'casual' gamers

Microsoft's Xbox launch in 2001 marked a turning point for the home video game console market and for the game industry as a whole, but it could have gone off much differently.

Former Microsoft developer Seamus Blackley, who helped design and launch the original Xbox, and Oddworld Inhabitants' Lorne Lanning, who launch Munch's Oddysee on the Xbox in 2001, told GamesIndustry that Microsoft had considered giving the console away for free to undercut Nintendo.

"At the time, Xbox thought that the core market was going to be casual. They were going to be the casual gamers' machine," Lanning said. "Now, that's why they approached us because they said 'we think you've got something that competes in that Mario space and we think Mario's the thing to kill ... We see that space. We want that audience. We love Oddworld so why don't you get on this bandwagon? And we might give the box away'."

Blackley added that Microsoft also considered launching the Xbox as a game console but later forcing it to run Windows - a ploy to get the then-unpopular OS into homes - as well as focusing it on movies instead of games, or only letting it play internal Microsoft-developed games.

More blips

Thankfully none of that happened, and today you can use Internet Explorer on your Xbox One to read more of TechRadar's blips. Win?

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• Go play Super Mario 64 in your browser right now

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Turn your TV into a Chrome PC with Google's affordable Chromebit dongle

Google is going way beyond Chromecast with its latest HDMI dongle, the transformative and affordable Chromebit.

The Google Chromebit, made by Asus, turns any TV with an HDMI jack into a full-fledged Chrome OS PC - and it costs just $100 (about £70, AU$130).

The Chromebit comes in blue, silver and orange, and it swivels to fit in any HDMI port.

Google's Chromebit uses a Rockchip RK 3288 chip and quad-core Mali 760 graphics, 2GB of memory, 16GB of solid state storage, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, and a USB 2.0 port on the end.

Borrowed bits

As Gizmodo points out, this is not a wholly original idea. Chinese companies already sell Android-based TV dongles - which also use the Rockchip processor - and Intel in January announced a Windows 8,1-based HDMI gadget clumsily dubbed the Compute Stick.

The site said this entry-level Chromebit won't be the only version, either, and that Asus isn't the only company with one in the works.

The first Google Chromebit should launch some time this summer.

• Roku Streaming Stick is a decent Chromecast alternative

http://ift.tt/1ywC32r

Putting human vision models into computer video display

blip: Pac-Man goes 'wakka wakka' all over Google Maps

It’s a surreal feeling to see an aerial version of your stomping grounds on Google Maps. More perplexing, but just as undeniably awesome is that Google has introduced a new feature that allows digital tourists to turn the world into a fully-functional game of Pac-Man.

To give it a try yourself (and you definitely should), head to Google Maps and click the rather obvious button on the bottom left part of the page. Once you do that, the page is taken over with a delightful homage to the arcade classic. It's as cool as it sounds and we don't deserve this.

I’m terrible at Pac-Man, especially given the crazy twists and turns of the terrain here in NYC. Try playing in a familiar location so that you can use the lay of the land to your advantage.

More blips

It won’t take you long to beat our measly high-score in Pac-Man on Google Maps, but once you’re finished, how about you take a look at more of these bite-sized blips?

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DealsRadar: DealsRadar: Super cheap Xbox One, LG G Pad and lots more deals!

DealsRadar

DealsRadar is the go-to destination for all the best prices on tech and games on the internet. We update daily with links to the best deals on miscellaneous tech and games, with dedicated sections for all your favourite products!

Today we've got some great deals on a Xbox One, LG G Pad, Seagate Hard Drive and lots more great tech bargains.

If you're looking for a new phone why not check out our new phone store here.

DealsRadar's Daily Deals:

Xbox One: Here's a tempting deal on a great Xbox One bundle. Rakuten currently has the Xbox One Halo Master Chief bundle which includes the console and every Halo game ever, all for just £254.15. Use one day only code MARCHSALEDAY6 to get it to this price.

Cheap TV: John Lewis is a great retailer for its 5 year guarantee and customer service, and it currently has a super deal on its own-brand LG-built 55JL9000 55-inch HD TV. It's got all the mod cons and a superb webOS smart TV interface and it's currently available for just £649 from the John Lewis website. If your after another TV its worth checking out John Lewis' Electronics Easter Sale they have some great deals at the moment.

Android tablet: Want a good-but-cheap new 7-inch Android tablet? Check out the LG G Pad V400 - it's currently going for just £79.99 at Amazon.

Hard drive: Need a big boost in storage for your home computer? Here's a great deal on a Seagate 3TB (3000GB) hard drive - it was £139.99 but it's now going for £69.99 at Amazon.

Portable charger: Never let your phone run out of battery again with this Omaker portable battery pack. It'll recharge your phone or tablet many times over without you needing a wall socket, and it's currently going for the bargain price of £23.99 at Amazon.

DealsRadar Recommended Deals:

Playstation: Sony Playstation TV - Reduced down to £44.99 at Argos

Tablet: Apple iPad mini 3 - Down to £249 with a 3 year guarantee at John Lewis

Tablet: Amazon Fire HD 7 - Now down to £89 at Amazon

Tablet: ASUS Transformer 10 inch TF103CX Tablet - Reduced to only £99.99 at Argos

Mouse: Razer DeathAdder Chroma Gaming Mouse - For only £49.99 at Amazon

Speaker: JBL Flip 2 Bluetooth NFC Portable Stereo Speaker - For only £39 at Amazon

Powerbank: Zens Universal Qi Single Wireless Charging Plate - Down to £35.80 at Amazon

Activity Tracker: Withings Pulse Ox Activity Tracker - Now for only £59.59 at Amazon

Graphics Card: ASUS GeForce GTX 660 DirectCU II OC 2GB GDDR5 - Down to £89.99 at novatech

Headphones: Samson SASR850C Professional Studio Reference Open Back Headphones - Now only £29 at Amazon

Games deals of the day

Xbox One: Sunset Overdrive (Xbox One) - For only £19.99 at Amazon

Xbox One: Need for Speed Rivals - Down to £12.85 at Shopto

PS4: Lara Croft & The Temple of Osiris - Reduced down to £10.85 at Shopto

PS4: Dying Light inc Zombie Mode, Survivor handbook & soundtrack - Now for only £32.86 at Shopto

PS4: Lords of the Fallen - Now down to just £21.85 at Amazon

The UK's best phone deals

TechRadar has some really funky tools for sorting through all of the best deals from all of the big UK networks for every phone on the market. We've also got some special pages where we've pulled out the best deals so you don't have to....

• Best iPhone 6 deals


• Best iPhone 6 Plus deals


• Best iPhone 5C deals


• Best HTC One M8 deals


• More coming soon...

Check out the new: TechRadar Phone Store

See specific deals related to the following hot handsets:

Samsung Galaxy S6 | Samsung Galaxy S5 | HTC One M9 | LG G3 | Samsung Galaxy Note 4 | Sony Xperia Z3 | Sony Xperia Z3 Compact | Google Nexus 6 | Moto X

The week's best PS4 deals:

There's no doubt that Sony's PlayStation 4 is the hottest games console on the planet now. Here are the cheapest PS4 standalone and bundle prices we've found this week:

Cheapest PS4 console: Get the PS4 console on its own on eBay for only £294.99.

DealsRadar's Top 3 PS4 bundles...

Deal 1: Get the PS4 with Lego Batman 3 &The Lego Movie for just £350.00.

Deal 2: Get the PS4 with DriveClub on eBay for just £299.99.

Deal 3: Get the PS4 with Bloodborne and a selected game from Tesco for only £349.99.

See more PS4 deals: Best cheap PS4 deals and bundles

The week's best Xbox One deals:

The Xbox One has evolved into a fantastic, versatile console with loads of cool features. Here are the cheapest Xbox One standalone and bundle prices we've found this week:

Cheapest Xbox One console: Get the Xbox One on its own at eBay for only £249.99.

DealsRadar's Top 3 Xbox One bundles:

Deal 1: Get the Xbox One with Halo MC Collection for only £254.15 (TODAY ONLY) using code MARCHSALEDAY6.

Deal 2: Get the Xbox One with Forza 5 from Tesco for just £299.00.

Deal 3: Get the Xbox One with Halo MC Collection, Battlefield Hardline, Ori and the Blind Forest all for just £319.99 at GAME.

See more Xbox One deals: Best Xbox One bundles and deals

Best cheap TV deals of the week:

DealsRadar understands that not everyone wants to spend thousands on a new TV. Here are the best cheap TV deals we found online this week.

Cheap TV deal 1: Samsung UE32H5000 HD TV | Now £219 | Amazon

Cheap TV deal 2: LG 40UB800V Smart 4k Ultra HD 40" LED TV | £449 | Currys

Cheap TV deal 3: LG 55UB820V 55" Smart 4K TV | Now £899 | Currys

Read more: Cheap TV: 25 best TV deals for March 2015

Hard drives and storage:

With smartphones recording 4K video and taking photos at 50MB a pop, it's not surprising that our laptops are running out of storage space.

Cheap Storage deal 1: Toshiba HDWC130EW3J1 3TB Stor.E Canvio | Now £74.95 | Amazon

Cheap Storage deal 2: Kingston 64GB USB 3.0 DataTraveler Mini Flash Drive | Now £15.99 | Amazon

Cheap Storage deal 3: Samsung Memory 32GB Evo MicroSDHC UHS-I Grade 1 Class 10 Memory Card with USB Adapter | Now 317.46 | Amazon

Cheap Storage deal 4: Seagate Backup Plus 8TB USB 3.0 Desktop 3.5 inch External Hard Drive |Now £199.99 | Amazon

Read more: Best Hard Drive Deals

Portable phone chargers:

If your smartphone or tablet is constantly running out of power at the most inconvenient times, you should think about buying a portable power bank.

Cheap Portable Charger deal 1: TeckNet® Power Bank 12000mAh Fast Portable Charger Battery Pack | Now £13.97 | Amazon

Cheap Portable Charger deal 2: EasyAcc 10000mAh Brilliant Ultra Slim Dual USB | Now £18.99 | Amazon

Cheap Portable Charger deal 3: VINSIC 20000mAh Ultra-slim Power Bank | Now £25.90 | Amazon

Cheap Portable Charger deal 4: Anker® Astro Mini 3200mAh Ultra-Compact Lipstick-Sized Portable Power Bank | Now £13.99 | Amazon

Gift cards:

Amazon gift cards | John Lewis gift cards | Currys gift cards| PC World gift cards | GAME gift cards

Top 10 Games: best titles, cheapest prices!

The best games at the cheapest prices

We all want to play the top games, but none of us want to pay top prices, right? We'll be scanning the web on a daily basis to find the best prices on all of the top selling games on all of the top gaming platforms. So if you're going to order a new game online this week - check with DealsRadar first!

1. Battlefield Hardline

Live out your cop and criminal fantasy in Battlefield Hardline. This action-packed blockbuster combines intense signature multiplayer moments of Battlefield with an emotionally charged story and setting reminiscent of a modern television crime drama.

Best PS4 price: £42.00 at Amazon | Best Xbox One price: £42.00 at Amazon | Best PC price: £26.99 at cdkeys

2. Final Fantasy Type-0 HD

The first FINAL FANTASY game for the newest and most-powerful generation of game consoles, is upon us. FINAL FANTASY TYPE-0 brings an immersive world, memorable characters and the production value known of the series, together with high quality gameplay and storytelling truly worthy of the FINAL FANTASY name.

Best PS4 price: £32.75 at GameCollection | Best Xbox One price: £32.75 at GameCollection

3. Grand Theft Auto V

The biggest, most dynamic and most diverse open world ever created, Grand Theft Auto V blends storytelling and gameplay in new ways as players repeatedly jump in and out of the lives of the game's three lead characters, playing all sides of the game's interwoven story.

Best PS4 price: £40.00 at Amazon | Best Xbox One price: £41.00 at Amazon | Best PC price: £29.97 at GameStop

4. Dying Light

Dying Light is a first-person, action survival horror game set in a vast and dangerous open world. During the day, players traverse an expansive urban environment overrun by a vicious outbreak, scavenging the world for supplies and crafting weapons to defend against the growing infected population. At night, the hunter becomes the hunted, as the infected become aggressive and more dangerous. Most frightening are the predators which only appear after sundown.

Best PS4 price: £42.99 at Amazon | Best Xbox One price: £42.91 at Amazon | Best PC price: £21.90 at cdkeys

5. FIFA 15

FIFA 15 brings football to life in stunning detail so fans can experience the emotion of the sport like never before. Witness the intensity of crowds chanting and cheering like on match day, and listen to commentators guide fans through the story of the game with dynamic match presentation.

Best PS4 price: £34.00 at Amazon | Best Xbox One price: £34.99 at Amazon | Best PC price: £33.00 at Amazon

6. Mario Party 10

Bowser crashes the latest Mario Party, the first installment of the series on the Wii U console. In the new Bowser Party mini-games, play as Bowser himself and face off against up to four others playing as Mario and friends. Control Bowser using the buttons, motion controls and touch screen of the Wii U GamePad controller in different ways, and wreak havoc as Bowser in each mini-game while the other players strive to survive.

Best Wii U price: £24.99 at Zavvi

7. Resident Evil: Revelations 2

The beginning of the Resident Evil Revelations 2 tale sees fan favourite Claire Redfield make a dramatic return. Survivor of the Raccoon City incident depicted in previous Resident Evil games, Claire now works for the anti-bioterrorism organisation Terra Save. With the terrifying Afflicted enemies waiting around every dark corner, players will need to use their ammo and weapon supply wisely, in classic survival horror style.

Best PS4 price: £27.99 at Base | Best Xbox One price: £25.99 at Gameseek | Best PC price: £14.99 at cdkeys

8. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare envisions the powerful battlegrounds of the future, where both technology and tactic have evolved to usher in a new era of combat for the franchise. Delivering a stunning performance, Academy Award-winning actor Kevin Spacey stars as Jonathan Irons – one of the most powerful men in the world – shaping this chilling vision of the future of war.

Best PS4 price: £23.85 at Simplygames | Best Xbox One price: £23.85 at Simplygames | Best PC price: £18.90 at cdkeys

9. Minecraft

Experience the Minecraft gaming phenomenon, rebuilt with new features designed for console. Create worlds limited only by your imagination. Explore, build, and conquer alone or with your friends via split-screen mode or online.

Best PS4 price: £12.99 at John Lewis | Best Xbox One price: £14.00 at John Lewis

10. The Order: 1886

The Order: 1886 introduces players to a unique vision of Victorian-Era London where Man uses advanced technology to battle a powerful and ancient foe. As Galahad, a member of an elite order of Knights, join a centuries-old war against a powerful threat that will determine the course of history forever in this intense third-person action-adventure shooter, available exclusively on the PS4 system.

Best PS4 price: £43.99 at Zavvi

http://ift.tt/1EXfP0M