Electronic Arts is in some trouble with its Star Wars fan base.
"Star Wars Battlefront 2," officially comes out on Friday, but many players are already upset over the expensive in-game transactions necessary to unlock certain characters. Tamoor Hussain, editor at GameSpot and Russell Holly, managing editor of VRHeads.com joined Cheddar to discuss the concept of paying extra within a game.
Hussain says that it used to take a significant number of hours to gain points in order to unlock certain characters, which upset players. So, companies began to add the option to buy the power to unlock them. But people are still upset. He says it could impact sales this week, but many people won't be looking into the issue too deeply.
Holly says in-game transactions are a tremendous business for Electronic Arts, which just bought Respawn Entertainment for over $400 million.
To ease some of the pressure, EA said that it will reducing the amount of resources it'll take to access key players in the upcoming game.
"They kind of changed the discoursed around the game," Hussain said, adding that this move will sway public opinion positively.
A day after it launched as one of two official electric scooter providers in San Francisco, Skip CEO Sanjay Dastoor said the operation has been a smooth ride so far. Dastoor told Cheddar Tuesday the company has seen a "really positive, really happy response, not just from the riders, but from the city and from the non-riders as well.”
VRt Ventures, a virtual reality studio, has partnered with street artist Shepard Fairey for a first-of-its-kind VR application. As Fairey and VRt CEO Jacob Koo explain, a newly launched app allows users to experience Fairey's latest exhibition up close, the way they would at a gallery.
Paperspace wants to make artificial intelligence more accessible, according to its co-founder and CEO Dillon Erb. Erb told Cheddar Tuesday that artificial intelligence is still so new and complex that mainstream companies find the tech difficult to harness.
Facebook is developing a camera-equipped device, codenamed Ripley, that sits on top of a TV and features video calling along with entertainment services, according to sources. The company is also working an AR projector device and other far-flung projects like a brain-computer interface.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know.
Paul Allen, who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates and went on to become one of the country's most prolific philanthropists and technologists, died Monday at 65.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know.
The Palm brand seems to be so valuable that people can’t help but resurrect it. The latest incarnation from the 26-year-old computing brand launched Monday in the form of a credit card-sized mobile device.
Jason Browne, chief investment strategist at Fund-X, said it's still unclear if the market's activity over the last few days is a normal correction or if the economy is headed into a bear market. The Dow Industrials closed out the week rising as much as 400 points Friday morning, giving back all those gains, before finishing the day up more than a percent.
Despite the stock market's recent volatility, especially within the tech sector, cloud-based software company Anaplan had a strong showing during its first day of public trading. Frank Calderoni, CEO of Anaplan, said the company's reputation is what is resonating with investors right now.
