Technology

By Dan Gallagher Wall Street Journal Thu., Sept. 20, 2018 Some may think Call of Duty has fought a few too many battles, but the storied videogame franchise appears to have plenty of life left. The 15th sequel to Call of Duty doesn’t officially launch until next month. But strong buzz for the iteration, known as “Black Ops 4,” has been emanating from the videogame community since last week, when publisher Activision Blizzard performed a closed beta test of a game mode called “Blackout.” That mode offers a style of play called battle royale, where a group of gamers play until only one remains. Such tests aren’t unusual. But battle royale is the same style of play that has turned Fortnite into a global gaming phenomenon. It has also not been available previously on big, established shooters such as Call of Duty, so interest among gamers and investors is strong. Jefferies analyst Timothy O’Shea noted that Black Ops 4 viewership … [Read more...] about Activision’s Duty to challenge Fortnite

By Shalini Ramachandran Wall Street Journal Thu., Sept. 20, 2018 ESPN said it has signed up more than one million paying subscribers for the streaming service it launched in April, a boost of confidence for majority-owner Walt Disney Co.’s effort to win over cable TV cord-cutters. The ESPN+ streaming service, priced at $4.99 a month, offers fans hundreds of live Major League Baseball and National Hockey League games, college football and soccer matches from around the world. It also carries Top Rank Boxing, Ultimate Fighting Championship matchups, and original studio programming like Detail hosted by Kobe Bryant. The service doesn’t carry live streams from ESPN’s TV channels. Reaching the one million subscriber mark is a significant milestone for ESPN President James Pitaro, whose primary task since taking the helm in March has been to launch a successful ESPN-branded streaming service. ESPN this summer converted ESPN Insider subscribers, who were … [Read more...] about ESPN streaming service surpasses one million subscribers

Sections SEARCH Skip to content Skip to site index Technology Subscribe Log In Subscribe Log In Today’s Paper Advertisement Supported by ByKaren Weise Sept. 20, 2018 SEATTLE — If you’re one of the millions of people without a smart speaker in your home, Amazon wants to talk to you. On Thursday, the company announced not one, not six, but more than a dozen devices for its Alexa voice assistant — all meant to solve problems in your life that you may not have even known you had. There’s even a microwave. “If you have ever tried to defrost peas, it’s a number of clicks,” said Dave Limp, Amazon’s senior vice president for devices and services. Mr. Limp said the $59.99 microwave, made by AmazonBasics, the company’s house brand, was a way for Amazon to try out the smart home tools it is building out. The company wants the devices to be easier to set up out of the box and for … [Read more...] about Hey, Alexa, Defrost My Peas