Micro_Mart_-_January_7_2016_

Issue 1395 41

November

October

C

ouldyoufeelthe

(actuallyrather

disappointing)

force?Yes,Star

Wars Battlefieldwasreleased

at thebackendof November

aftermonthsof hype.

However, It turnedoutto be

anotherin anincreasinglylong

lineof AAAgamereleases

thatfailedto settheworld

alight.It’llsellbig,nodoubt,

butdon’t gamersdeserve

justa littlemore thangames

thatlookgreatbutlackin the

gameplaydepartment?

Ta lkingof games,Sensible

Soccer’sJonHare launched

a Kickstartercampaignto

breathenewlifeintoa

successorto theclassicfooty

game.Hoorah!Thecampaign

wassubsequently, andpretty

quickly, ditchedas it failedto

gainenoughinterest.Hooroo.

Sonykilledoff Betamax,

leadingmanyto ask“Isit

reallystillgoing?”,Apple

killedBeatsMusic,leading

manyto ask“Isit really...”

• yougetthepicture.

Meanwhile,thePopehimself

askedpeopleto thinklong

andhard aboutexcessive

smartphoneuse.Perhapsthis

excessiveusecouldbe carried

outonBlackBerry’s newPriv

mobile,a handsetthatthe

companyis surelyplacinga lot

of hopeonforits widersurvivial.

Finally, Wikipediabagged

its fivemillionthentry(on

a shrubbythenameof

Persooniaterminalis), and

there wasa bigpaydayfor

King,as theCandyCrush

developerwasboughtby

ActivisionBlizzard fora

whopping$5.9bn.

W

e’re now

beginningto

venture into

theterritory

of newsthatyou’llnodoubt

rememberalltooeasily,

becauseit wasonlyweeks

ago.Thebiggestandmost

damagingstoryin recent

monthsis quiteprobably

theTa lkTalkhack,notonly

becauseof thescaleof it but

becauseof thewaythatthe

companyhandledthenews

at thetime.

Octoberwasn’t allbad,

though,withMicrosoft

releasingitsSurfacePro

4 modelto somegreat

reviews.The Witcher3: Wild

Huntbaggedfiveawards,

includingtopprize,at the

GoldenJoystickAwards,

where there wasalsoa

lifetimeachievementaward

forformerNintendoCEO

SatoruIwata,whosadlydied

earlierin theyear.

Easilythebiggest

newsof the

month,though,

wassurelythe$67bnthat

Dellsaidit wasprepared

to payfordatastorage

companyEMC.Thatwould

bethebiggesttechnology

dealever, unsurprisingly.

In Georgia,USA,a rap

musicvideomadebyprison

inmatesfounditswayinto

thewildviasocialmedia,

leadingto many, many

questionsrequiringanswers

fromtheprisonauthorities.

Finally, a roundof applause

pleaseforJoeKellyfrom

Cheltenham,whoplayed

Minecraftfor 35 hours, 35

minutes,and 35 seconds

in orderto raisemoneyfor

cancerresearch.

A

ndsowecometo December, themonthin which

theXbox 360 turnedten;The Witcher3: Wild Hunt

wonanotherbiggamingaward – thistimeat the

secondannualGameAwardsin America– anda

little-knownfilmcalledStar Wars: The ForceAwakenscameto

cinemas.We’re notsure anyonewastoobotheredaboutthat.

Thepastfewweekshavealsobroughtnewsthatfairy

lightscouldaffectthequalityof yourwi-fi,thatMicrosoft’s

LiveWriteris turningto anopen-sourceformat,andYahoo’s

announcementthatit actuallywasn’t goingto spinoff itsstake

in Alibabaafterall(seeJanuary),insteadlookingat spinning

off Yahoo’s core business.Ultimately, thebiggestpointabout

thisis thatit couldbeseenas a rejectionof a planinitiallyput

forward byMarissaMayerwho,it hasto besaid,hasn’t exactly

hada stellaryearin theeyesof themedia.Whatwill 2016

bringforMayerandYahoo?

More importantly, willanyonebeableto beatthatDonkey

Konghighscore?

December

placeby the Federal AviationAuthority