Companies to collaborate on new cloud-based solutions for gaming experiences and AI solutions

TOKYO and REDMOND, Wash. — May 16, 2019 — Sony Corporation (Sony) and Microsoft Corp. (Microsoft) announced on Thursday that the two companies will partner on new innovations to enhance customer experiences in their direct-to-consumer entertainment platforms and AI solutions.

Under the memorandum of understanding signed by the parties, the two companies will explore joint development of future cloud solutions in Microsoft Azure to support their respective game and content-streaming services. In addition, the two companies will explore the use of current Microsoft Azure datacenter-based solutions for Sony’s game and content-streaming services. By working together, the companies aim to deliver more enhanced entertainment experiences for their worldwide customers. These efforts will also include building better development platforms for the content creator community.

As part of the memorandum of understanding, Sony and Microsoft will also explore collaboration in the areas of semiconductors and AI. For semiconductors, this includes potential joint development of new intelligent image sensor solutions. By integrating Sony’s cutting-edge image sensors with Microsoft’s Azure AI technology in a hybrid manner across cloud and edge, as well as solutions that leverage Sony’s semiconductors and Microsoft cloud technology, the companies aim to provide enhanced capabilities for enterprise customers. In terms of AI, the parties will explore incorporation of Microsoft’s advanced AI platform and tools in Sony consumer products, to provide highly intuitive and user-friendly AI experiences.

“Sony is a creative entertainment company with a solid foundation of technology. We collaborate closely with a multitude of content creators that capture the imagination of people around the world, and through our cutting-edge technology, we provide the tools to bring their dreams and vision to reality,” said Kenichiro Yoshida, president and CEO of Sony. “PlayStation® itself came about through the integration of creativity and technology. Our mission is to seamlessly evolve this platform as one that continues to deliver the best and most immersive entertainment experiences, together with a cloud environment that ensures the best possible experience, anytime, anywhere. For many years, Microsoft has been a key business partner for us, though of course the two companies have also been competing in some areas. I believe that our joint development of future cloud solutions will contribute greatly to the advancement of interactive content. Additionally, I hope that in the areas of semiconductors and AI, leveraging each company’s cutting-edge technology in a mutually complementary way will lead to the creation of new value for society.”

“Sony has always been a leader in both entertainment and technology, and the collaboration we announced today builds on this history of innovation,” said Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. “Our partnership brings the power of Azure and Azure AI to Sony to deliver new gaming and entertainment experiences for customers.”

Going forward, the two companies will share additional information when available.

About Sony Corporation

Sony Corporation is a creative entertainment company with a solid foundation of technology. From game and network services to music, pictures, electronics, semiconductors and financial services — Sony’s purpose is to fill the world with emotion through the power of creativity and technology. For more information, visit: http://www.sony.net/.

About Microsoft

Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

For more information, press only:

Microsoft Media Relations, WE Communications for Microsoft, (425) 638-7777, rrt@we-worldwide.com

Sony Corporation, Corporate Communications & CSR Department, Sony.Pressroom@sony.co.jp

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://news.microsoft.com. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://news.microsoft.com/microsoft-public-relations-contacts.

This evening Nintendo has revealed a new special offer for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers in its Super Mario Maker 2 Direct presentation.

Using the offer, subscribers to the company’s online service can buy two eShop game vouchers for £84.00 / €99.00 / $99.00 and redeem them for a pair of games – these can be used for pre-ordering unreleased titles. So, as detailed in the presentation, you could pre-order Super Mario Maker 2 with one voucher and use the other immediately on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. With an RRP of £49.99 and £59.99 respectively, purchasing with Game Vouchers would save you £25.98. Not too shabby!

The vouchers last for 12 months from purchase, so you can sit on one or both of them for a while if there’s something releasing later in the year which you’ve got your eye on. It appears that all Nintendo first-party games are included, but the video also shows the upcoming Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, which Nintendo is publishing. A full list of available games can be found on the company’s website, and it includes select third-party titles such as Octopath Traveler, Dragon Quest Builders and The World Ends With You: Final Remix.

While Nintendo has been historically reluctant to discount its games outside of ‘Player’s Choice’ lines, we’ve seen more and more first-party titles in recent sales. Offering discounts on new games is something of a first for the company, though. Interestingly, small print at the bottom of the web page says that the games on offer may change. At the moment, this appears to apply to digital games only.

Will you be taking advantage of this offer? Let us know in the comments.

If it wasn’t already a dead giveaway when we started seeing Luigi in the promotional materials, a co-op construction mode has now been officially confirmed for Super Mario Maker 2. During the latest Direct presentation, Nintendo revealed how you’ll be able to pass a Joy-Con to a friend in the sequel and get them to help out or speed up your course creation, with co-op making. You’ll also be able to play these courses together.

If that’s not enough, there are multiplayer versus and co-op modes as well. In online versus, four players face-off in a sidescrolling showdown and race through a randomly selected level. The online co-op requires players to work together to beat a course, and if one finishes it, everybody wins. Last of all is the nearby play option – allowing four players to play together locally on their own systems. Only the host needs to have access to an internet connection in this mode. The selectable characters in these modes include Mario, Luigi, Toad and Toadette.

This online component is supported by an online hub known as Course World, where players can browse popular courses, new courses and search with specific tags or a pre-defined set of filters. When a course has been downloaded, it can then be played anywhere and anytime (including offline). You can personalise your own Mii character’s appearance in this mode with the clothing items you unlock when you complete objectives in the game. There’s also an Endless Challenge, requiring you to try and complete as many courses as possible on a difficulty of your choosing.

Does multiplayer Mario Maker action excite you? Will you be constructing and competing against your friends and family members? Tell us below.

Explanimators | Episode 7

Cobotics

While working side-by-side with a robot may seem like science fiction, cobotics (collaborative robotics) is already happening in high-end manufacturing. Rather than reading an article about how cobots support people to do their best work; let us sing it to you.

RAGE 2 is Now Available on Steam!

RAGE 2 brings together two studio powerhouses – Avalanche Studios, masters of open world insanity, and id Software, creators of the first-person shooter – to deliver a carnival of carnage where you can go anywhere, shoot anything, and explode everything.

In this 2019 GDC talk, Larian Studios’ Swen Vincke takes a look at all the strategies employed to make Divinity: Original Sin 2 a better game than Divinity: Original Sin, and how they worked out.

Vincke is a strong believer in the power of iteration, and in the course of his talk he walked the audience through the ways in which the team tried to iterate on Original Sin’s design at every level, with varying levels of success.

The team learned a lot about how to design and organize for iteration, and Vincke shared some of those lessons alongside plenty of examples of both success and failure.

His talk was a fantastic deep dive into the development process of one of the most critically-acclaimed RPGs of 2017, and now you can watch it (completely free!) over on the official GDC YouTube channel.

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC or VRDC already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.

Starting at 2:00 p.m. PST today, members of the Xbox One Preview Beta Ring will begin receiving the latest 1905 Xbox One system update (19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_1905\18362.3046.190502-1940) Read on for more about the new features, fixes and known issues in the latest 1905 system update.

DETAILS:

• OS version released: 19H1_RELEASE_XBOX_DEV_1905\18362.3046.190502-1940
• Available: 2:00PM PDT 5/6/19
• Mandatory Date/Time: 3:00 AM PDT 5/7/19

Fixes:

Audio:

• Fixes addressing the audio streams when Atmos is used for Stereo Speakers and Mono-mix mode.

Home:

• Fixes to the Controller Icon on home – “Unknown” battery should will not be shown as “plugged in” icon
• Additional fixes to a memory leak to address overall system performance.
• Fixes to UI and workflow when Signing in and out for some users.
• UI fixes to the Game Pass Quests in the Game pass twist.
• Fixes to address Legacy 360 gamerpics in the Settings app showing up too small.

System

• Fixes to complete Kinect setup when it crashed at audio setup.
• Additional fixes to a memory leak to address overall system performance.
• Fixes to narrator bugs on the Updates Page and Xbox Privacy page.
• UI fixes to light and dark themes to make text easier to read.
• Localization fixes.

Known Issues:

Audio

• We are tracking the issue in which your ATMOS setting switches back to DD 7.1 after taking an update.  You can change it back after an update however we are working towards resolving.
• Headsets are not being assigned to the users profiles and not working correctly.
• Some users are encountering no audio on their Xbox console after boot (no shell audio, no game audio, no app audio), then have CSS ask them to perform the following steps:

1. Cold reboot the console

OR

2. Go to Audio settings on console
3. Change their HDMI audio settings to the highest supported uncompressed channel count for their equipment
4. Switch back to the desired format
5. Audio should be restored

My Games and Apps

• We are tracking the video corruption issue with Youtube and Netflix 4k playback.

Profile Color

• Sometimes users may encounter the incorrect Profile color when powering on the console.

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