Gadgets
Microsoft Band gets better with third-party apps
The Microsoft Band quickly became pretty popular after it was launched as it came as a relatively affordable fitness tracker, with no extra ambitions of becoming the popular smart watch the Apple Watch has become ever since its launch. The Microsoft Band is the Redmond giant’s first attempt at a wearable device and albeit a good one, many people have complained previously about the lack of support for third-party apps. That complaint seems to have been remedied with the new announcement from Microsoft.
Starting today, the Microsoft Band software development kit aka the SDK is available for third-party developers. That opens up the possibilities of having thousands of new fitness tracking or notification serving apps work with the Microsoft Band. One of the best traits of the Microsoft Band is that it’s cross-platform compatible, which means you can use it with either an iOS, Android or Windows smartphone. That feature has been somewhat expanded with the support that was added for third-party applications. Developers will be able to get the SDK from Microsoft and start working on their own dedicated apps for the Microsoft Band.
Although a beta version of the Microsoft Band SDK has been released in February, developers could not properly create apps for the fitness tracker as the beta SDK didn’t allow access to certain sensors and features found on the device. With the new SDK, which developers can get from the HealthVault Developer Center, they can create tiled apps and have them work with all the sensor in the Microsoft Band. Those who choose to write for the Microsoft Band will be able to sell or give their apps away on the platform of their choice, be it the iTunes app store, the Microsoft store or the Google Play store. With full access given to all the features and hardware of the Microsoft Band, we should expect more and more apps being made for the wearable. As such, the popularity of the device might as well increase as those who are not interested in smart watches but would like a fitness tracker that gets all the necessary information and feeds it back through an easy-to-use platform like Health can find those things in the Microsoft Band.
Microsoft has been working hard to make the Microsoft Band as interesting as possible and with the new addition of the Bike tile, even bikers can accurately track their cycles with the gadget. As more and more people seem to be getting interested in all that’s Microsoft and Windows 10, the company might have a good shot at leveling out with Android Wear at least in the next year. We are not sure what 2015 holds for us in terms of wearable technology, but we’re sure to see something new coming from Microsoft, too.
We have been keeping an eye on the game Miasma Chronicles from the creators of Mutant Year Zero for a while now. We now know when it will be released, and it will be on May 23, 2023, on the PS5.
Being outnumbered all the time, mastering the art of the ambush will be crucial to surviving, and whatever advantage you can get will be needed. You can view a different, more condensed glimpse of gaming above and below.
How do you feel about the Miasma Chronicles? You played Mutant Year Zero, right?
Fans of Final Fantasy have been disputing for decades over a variety of topics, such as whether game VIII is the finest or which one contains the best minigames. But something fresh has the community in a tizzy, and this time it’s a 19-second trailer for the upcoming Final Fantasy XVI that’s energizing fans along with the reappearance of certain well-worn and recognizable talking points.
主人公クライヴの相棒、トルガルをご紹介🐺Part2
探索の心強い味方！ボタンひとつで誘導してくれます。『ファイナルファンタジーXVI』
🔔予約受付中🔔https://t.co/6BciWXOPkt #FF16 pic.twitter.com/KmsisjJbbY— FINAL FANTASY XVI (@FF16_JP) March 22, 2023
If it weren’t for the fissure that protagonist Clive skillfully navigates in the video, this narrative might have been about Torgal, a great canine companion. That’s right, we have returned to the discussion of the Squeeze Gap, the most heinous error in game design (in the eyes of some fans).
Others pointed out that you can see through the gap that this is an intentional design choice and does not, in fact, hide a loading screen. In the colorful comments section of the aforementioned Tweet, some people complained about the inclusion of yet another Squeeze Gap on current-gen PCs.If you have nothing better to do, follow us down the rabbit hole of quote-retweets.
Sincerity be damned, we don’t really care either way, but it is odd for Square Enix to release an official promo for a highly anticipated game that shows half of a character squirming through a small space.As always, the music is spot on; praise where praise is due. On June 22, Final Fantasy XVI will debut for PlayStation 5.
What do you think of the squeeze gaps generally and the squeezegate incident specifically?
In order to decide which publisher published the best games, Metacritic calculates ratings for all the games that were released in the previous calendar year. The website that collects review ratings for all popular media has done the math, and Sony Interactive Entertainment came out on top for 2022.
Yes, Sony’s first-party initiatives from the previous year allowed it to “no issue” claim the top spot on Metacritic’s list. The 2022 release schedule for the platform holder averaged 85.6 points overall, with all of its PC ports scoring in the website’s “green score” range.
The business did indeed have a successful year in 2017. We had a fantastic trio of original games: God of War Ragnarok, Gran Turismo 7, and Horizon Forbidden West, all of which were of very high caliber. But in addition to that, the firm also launched The Last of Us: Part I and a number of PC ports, including God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, and Uncharted: The Legacy of Thieves Collection, all of which received positive reviews from critics. MLB The Show 22 had the lowest metascore of any Sony game last year, according to Metacritic, but it still earned a respectable 77.
According to Metacritic, these are the top 10 publishers for 2022:
- Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Paradox Interactive
- Activision Blizzard
- Focus Entertainment
- Take-Two Interactive
- Capcom
- SEGA
- Annapurna Interactive
- Humble Games
- Devolver Digital
If you’re interested, you can view the complete summary at this link. How do you feel?
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