Netflix? Gaming? On a TV?
We’ve known about Netflix’s ambitions to bring its library of games to TVs and computers for some time now. It was still just rumoured back in March before the streamer multimedia house confirmed it themselves through a very limited test two months previously. Now, the cloud service is making its way through the US as part of a wider test, allowing subscribers to play games on smart TVs or Chromecasts and the like.
The whole idea, according to Netflix’s vice-president of Games, Mike Verdu, is to turn the cloud streaming division into “a value add,” to your current subscription, and won’t be kicking your consoles or PCs out of their rightful spots anytime soon.
“We’re not asking you to subscribe as a console replacement,” he said. “It’s a completely different business model. The hope is over time that it just becomes this very natural way to play games wherever you are,” Verdu said at TechCrunch Disrupt.
Netflix certainly isn’t planning to take on the big hitters like GeForce Now, Luna, PlayStation or Microsoft. At least, not yet. It’s keeping its catalogue of mobile games ‘free’ to subscribers and won’t charge for the privilege of playing on a bigger screen. That might change in the future, once Netflix gets bolder and moves on from mobile gaming and begins developing larger games with its extensive IP list.
As for when South Africans will get a chance to fiddle with Netflix’s library on their TVs, we couldn’t tell you. It can’t be far away now, with the streamer hopefully using the US as a final testing ground to improve the user experience before going global.
FNB’s app wants to help save the planet
The world is going through changes. Things are getting a little warmer, and as the news is constantly telling us: it’s our fault. Never mind the never-ending deforestation and burning of fossil fuels by the planet’s largest organisations. Put all that out of your mind for now. FNB is launching an Earth carbon calculator that’ll supposedly “help millions of its customers to improve sustainable living by understanding the impact of their carbon emissions on the environment and ways to reduce it.”
Found in the FNB app, specifically in the nav» Earth section, it’ll use FNB’s “data and analytics expertise, accompanied by international best-practice carbon factor methodologies” to better give you an idea of just how badly you’re messing up the planet every month based on your transactional spend. It’s hoping to convince at least a few people to curb their habits and help the world.
It’s also got a ‘Carbon Coach’ – an educational tool that’ll give you the low-down on climate change impacts, like the bank’s recently launched nav» Energy that gives people a simpler way to learn about renewable energy and what they might be looking for.
Nintendo 64[K]
Meet the Analogue 3D, a piece of hardware that’ll turn your selection of Nintendo 64 cartridges into 4K-capable games when it releases sometime in 2024. If you’ve ever heard of the Analogue Pocket, that console that lets people plug and play their retro handheld game cartridges in one place, this is related.
Unsurprisingly, the Analogue 3D comes from the same company and will do the same for fans still holding onto their N64 cartridges. It’ll run the games natively at a boosted 4K without any emulation needed. If older is better (it isn’t), it’ll include “original display modes” to achieve that olden-day look you’d get from CRT (cathode-ray tube) TVs.
It’s running its own OS and supports Bluetooth and might even get a custom Analogue controller, though the ports on this thing imply that it’ll support those original N64 joysticks if you’re willing to give them a proper dusting. Don’t fret about region-locks, either. It’s highly unlikely these will make their way to South Africa locally, meaning a pre-order is in order to get your hands on it.
Pre-orders haven’t opened up yet, but you can sign up to be notified when the console becomes officially available on the Analogue website. There’s no official pricing just yet, though we’re guessing it’ll set you back further than the company’s $250 price tag for the Pocket.
There might be a new GTA in town
There’s a good chance that there’s a new Grand Theft Auto game being cooked up. Settle down, we’re not talking about GTA 6 which we know is still in the oven. This has to do with Netflix’s ambitions to further itself in the gaming industry, and it’s reportedly headhunting a new GTA game for the platform.
That’s coming from a report put out by the Wall Street Journal (via IGN) which reckons that Netflix is heavily investing in the gaming side of things, having acquired several studios and established one or two of their own.
Rockstar’s owner, Take-Two Interactive and the streamer have reportedly “discussed plans” to release a new GTA game through a licencing deal, though that’s where the news stops. There’s no word on what sort of GTA game it could be – though it’ll probably fall into the top-down mobile category if Netflix wants this out anytime soon. Chinatown Wars Part 2? Pretty please?