The European Union has come to an agreement with networks to abolish roaming charges by June 2017. The agreement is only a preliminary stage, and it still needs approval from other EU governments and the European Parliament before it can be signed in as law, but this process is expected to go ahead without any issues.
Once the new law is in place, phone users traveling between any of the EU’s 28 countries will pay the same amount of money for calls and data as they would at home. Prior to June 2017, EU roaming charges will be capped at 0.05 euros per minute and per megabyte from April 2016. That’s down from 0.19 and 0.20 euros at the moment.
A fair use policy can still be adopted by networks, meaning it’ll be impossible to register and pay for a phone in a country where you don’t live, then use it at home to potentially save money. There’s also a clause that networks will be able to ‘impose minimal surcharges,’ if it can be proved the new system threatens to raise prices on domestic contracts and services.
In addition to the roaming charge alterations, the European Parliament has also looked at net neutrality, and agreed that networks must treat all Internet traffic equally. However, it’s not without exceptions. For example, networks can make agreements that ensure a minimum Internet quality for special services — meaning those that require higher bandwidth — provided it doesn’t impact normal Internet use for others.
Also, networks could restrict or block Internet traffic to protect against cyber-attacks, or manage speeds due to ‘exceptional congestion.’ The wording has caused concern among critics, due to its contradictory nature, but it’s clearly stated that networks cannot throttle or block traffic for particular services, or ‘for commercial reasons.’
The EU has been working on the creation of a “Digital Single Market” for several years, and although the abolishment of roaming charges is good news, it was expected in the past, yet is still two years away from coming into effect.
Apple exec Eddy Cue had difficulty holding back his joy when he demonstrated Apple Music features like Siri integration.James Martin/CNET
Apple is late to the subscription music party, but it is bringing Siri along to have a little fun.
On Tuesday, the electronics giant will launch Apple Music, its long-anticipated foray into the burgeoning world of tunes available to stream for a $10-a-month subscription. Similar to rivals such as Spotify, Tidal, Rdio and Rhapsody, the service will offer tens of millions of tracks to play on demand and collections of tunes tailored to your personal tastes.
Unlike those other services, Apple adds the element of voice commands with its Siri virtual assistant. Voice commands like "play the top 10 alternative songs now" and "play the top song from 1982" will automatically retrieve those tracks.
Listeners who experiment with Siri's chops as their personal music helper may find it to be the most playful part of Apple Music. Asking it to play the No. 1 song on the day you were born or the most popular song on the soundtrack to your favorite movie can be a fun rabbit hole to tumble down. But it's more important than just party tricks: Most subscription music services offer the same fundamental proposition, and a unique element like Siri may help Apple Music stand apart. But will it be enough to get people to switch from Spotify or realize that music is something worth $120 a year?
It's important for Apple to get consumers to answer yes. The popularity of the subscription format is new but growing quickly. Worldwide revenue from digital subscriptions jumped 39 percent last year while physical sales and downloads both dropped about 8 percent, and in the last four years the number of paying subscribers has increased more than fivefold to 41 million, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, a global trade group for the music business.
The same core service
As much as subscription music services like to play up what they do differently than their rivals, there is little variation between them.
"Services are fairly similar along a lot of the core dimensions," said Andrew Lipsman, vice president of marketing and insights at researcher ComScore.
Apple recruited hip-hop star Drake as an Apple Music cheerleader at its unveiling.James Martin/CNET
The music catalog doesn't really matter. Subscription music services including Spotify, Rdio, Rhapsody and Apple Music all tout catalogs of tens of millions of songs. Though some, like Jay Z's Tidal, like to highlight their access to exclusive tracks from hot artists, the presence or absence of certain artists or songs doesn't appear to matter much to consumers.
Take the example of Spotify and Taylor Swift. The pop star pulled her catalog off the Sweden-based music service in November in protest over payment standards. The period without the catalog of last year's biggest-selling artist was also when Spotify had its biggest growth spurt: it doubled its paying members to 20 million in about a year, and the majority of those additional 10 million subscribers joined after Swift's music went missing.
Curation doesn't really matter -- or rather, its something that every other service already offers in its own way. Apple Music was built upon a philosophy of human oversight to music recommendation that was a core tenet of Beats Music, and Beats Music had only 250,000 members by the time Apple agreed to buy it. Virtually all subscription music services make tailored music recommendations based on your past song choices, and many -- such as Google Play Music and Rhapsody -- have playlists finessed by music experts in some way.
And price doesn't really matter -- or rather, it has been taken out of the equation. The recording industry has held all services to the same $10 a month price for an all-you-can-eat, play-just-what-you-want subscription, and Apple Music is no different.
However, product features may start to matter more.
"Until relatively recently, there had not been a lot of marquee innovation in the subscription music space, in the features of the product," said Dan Cryan, analyst with IHS. With Spotify's introduction of an element that matches the beats per minute in the song to the cadence of your running, and with Apple integrating Siri, "we are starting to see more difference and some innovation on the user experience," he said.
What Apple is doing differently
Apple Music has three main features that set it apart from rival services.
One is Beats 1, a 24-hour live radio station. The other major streaming music services stick with what's known as asynchronous, tailored radio -- that is, the hip-hop station you play on Pandora will be different than the hip-hop station I'm listening to at the same time. Beats 1 will play the same music, with the same DJ commentary and curation, at the same time for everyone worldwide.
Apple Music differs from rivals by having a live worldwide radio station, a platform for artists to interact with fans and the ability to control the experience with voice commands.James Martin/CNET
The second is Connect. The section lets artists share lyrics, backstage photos, songs and videos directly with fans and get their feedback. Musicians and fans can interact -- listeners can comment and artists can respond, plus anything posted is shareable on Messages, Facebook, Twitter and email. Though other subscription services let artists use the platforms to reach fans, Connect is the most elaborate and dedicated platform so far.
The last is Siri integration. It's more consumer-focused than Connect, which holds the most appeal for artists as a way to reach fans, and it's more engaging than Beats 1, which is designed to be something you can play and just lean back to hear for a while.
Music voice commands aren't unique to Apple Music. Google Now, the voice recognition element to Google's Android mobile operating system, allows users to perform simple commands like playing the specific song or pausing a track, but won't respond to more conversational requests like "play the song from the movie 'Boyhood.'"
Amazon introduced its voice-activated, Internet-connected wireless speaker Echo last year, and it is shipping the device to consumers widely starting next month. It can play specific songs from the Prime Music service that is part of Amazon's $99-a-year membership program, and it will spin up stations you've created on Pandora or iHeart Radio if you link an account.
But Siri's range of commands appear to be more sophisticated. And Echo stays in your home, while Siri follows you on your smartphone. That's a key point since streaming music services routinely report that most of their listening is on mobile devices.
Getting better use out of Siri
"Inertia can be a powerful force," said Lipsman. An element like voice command may not be sufficient to convince people who already subscribe elsewhere to switch or persuade people who don't see value in a $10-a-month membership that it's a good deal. "Even if something [like Siri] presents a new utility, is it a great enough utility to overcome inertia? It might just take some time to make that habit."
In that respect, a three-month free trial works in Apple's -- and Siri's -- favor. Letting people experiment with the service, and Siri integration may give them the opportunity to make it part of their routine. Also working in Apple's favor: iPhone owners already use Siri for other simple tasks. About 42 percent of iPhone owners turn to Siri at least once a month, according to ComScore.
However, the voice command element of Apple Music isn't promoted consistently in the app itself. Unless an iPhone owner watched the demonstration of Apple Music earlier this month at the company's keynote presentation at a developers' conference, and unless the company's tutorials for the service remind listeners how Siri can help, the voice commands could be overlooked."People are already using Siri, people have already used Apple for music," said Lipsman. "That may reduce the friction of making that move" to subscribe.
"Seamless integration is something that Apple is very good at," said Dan Cryan, analyst with IHS. "Once people realize they can do something with Siri, like set a timer, it becomes pretty intuitive pretty fast."
While the first challenge is to ensure that consumers use Siri in Apple Music, the bigger challenge is that Siri does what it should.
"Like everything else, user experience will determine the ultimate fate of this feature. If the voice commands are not recognized, it could lead to frustration," Current Analysis senior analyst Deepa Karthikeyan said, adding she doubted someone will switch from an existing music service provider just for the voice feature.
Apple's demo of the service experienced a gaffe of this kind. During the presentation at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple executive Eddy Cue asked Siri to "play the song from 'Selma,'" aiming for the popular tune on the soundtrack to the film about civil rights marches in the 1960s. Instead, Siri thought Cue wanted to hear "Selene" by Imagine Dragons. (On its second try, Siri correctly retrieved "Glory" by Common and John Legend.)
Generally, virtual assistant and voice recognition capabilities have dramatically improved in the last few years, said Van Baker, a Gartner analyst. "That is going to be much more important going forward, as we move closer to conversational interactions with devices rather than having to pull them out and touch a button."
Music services with a head start on voice commands may have an advantage as consumer interaction with devices gravitates more toward conversation, he said.
And Apple has other advantages besides Siri -- its stockpile of more than 800 million iTunes accounts makes it easier for people to subscribe because the company already has payment details that consumers won't need to enter anew. Apple Music will be an automatic part of the Music app on iPhones and iPads, which have a massive base of users.
Will those factors help Apple Music make some noise, or will voice commands? It's a good question to ask Siri: "Play something that will convince me to pay Apple $10 a month?"
The Apple Watch landed in seven additional countries on Friday and announced plans to expand into three more later this summer.
Apple's first wearable is now available for purchase at boutique shops and various Apple store locations in Italy, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland and Taiwan. These countries join the first wave of countries that carried the Apple Watch in stores, which included Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S.
The company also announced plans to launch the device in the Netherlands, Sweden and Thailand on July 17. This will bring the total count of countries selling the Apple Watch to 19.
Shoppers line up outside a boutique in South Korea to get their hands on the Apple Watch.
IMAGE: APPLE
International shoppers, who posted pictures on Instagram and Twitter from stores throughout the day, were able to walk in and pick up an Apple Watch in person. Apple has been criticized for how it handled the initial launch, which forced customers to wait weeks or even months for their watches to ship.
The new launch, paired with the next round of countries getting the watch, hints that Apple is catching up to demand. While the watch is now available in stores in the U.S., it's still hard to find. The good news, however, is that the wait time for shipments is much less than it was a month ago, ranging now from one business day to two weeks.
VR might be the hottest new technology in gamimg, but the man who made Mario isn't particularly impressed with what he's seen so far.
Game design legend Shigeru Miyamoto, speaking with Yahoo Games at last week's E3 conference, said that while the technology behind VR is certainly interesting, he hasn't seen anything done with it so far that fits with the style of play he — and Nintendo — prefers.
"The current types of virtual reality aren't really a good fit for Nintendo's philosophy of trying to create entertainment that people can play together in the living room," said Miyamoto. "We're constantly looking at different technology and experimenting with different elements of it, but we're not feeling virtual reality is currently in a place where it's ready to be released - as a product that fits with our philosophy of fitting in the living room."
In true Miyamoto style, though, he doesn't dismiss the tech altogether. In fact, the creator of franchises like Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, and The Legend of Zelda's cryptic follow-up comments are sure to get conspiracy theorists speculating about whether the company has its own version of VR in the works.
"We're here at E3 this year to really focus on the games that are launching within the next year or so," he said. "We're not showing off or showcasing anything that's further down the road, and that's why you don't see us here with any samples of potential virtual reality type experiences."
Nintendo declined to comment when asked it it's doing anything with VR.
Miyamoto’s comments largely mirror those of Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime, who told Polygon that he too was unimpressed with the current state of VR.
“I haven't walked the floor, so I can't say in terms of what's on the floor today, but at least based on what I've seen to date, it's not fun, and it's not social,” he said. “It's just tech."
Nintendo has a history of bucking trends. The company has been slow to embrace online multiplayer gaming, which helped turn robust networks built by Microsoft and Sony into lucrative pipelines. For years they wrote off smartphone gaming, though they’ve since changed their tune. Waving off VR could be another case of the company missing a huge gaming movement, though their caution is understandable. After all, they tried VR before, and it didn’t exactly pan out.
Like every other version of Windows, Microsoft has created a special desktop wallpaper for Windows 10. While Microsoft opted for daisies in Windows 8 and an aurora in Windows Vista, the default Windows 10 wallpaper uses a Windows logo just like Windows 7 did. It’s not just any old logo, either. Microsoft travelled to a San Francisco studio to build two installations to create the Windows logo out of light. The software company used camera mapping techniques, lasers, and projectors to create the new hero image that will be used on millions of PCs that ship with Windows 10.
The result is a dark and misty logo with light that beams out and around the edges of the famous Windows logo. It matches the dark theme of Windows 10 well, but it appears the wallpaper won’t be animated so the full effect (shown in Microsoft’s video) won’t be available on your desktop. This new wallpaper will start appearing on desktops once Windows 10 ships on July 29th next month.
Taylor Swift pulled her catalog from Spotify last year, and she threatened to hold her album "1989" off Apple Music too.Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images
Apple Music won't have a blank space where Taylor Swift's hottest hits should be.
"I've decided to put '1989' on Apple Music...and happily so," Swift said in a message on Twitter Thursday, referring to the hit 2014 album that she threatened to withhold from the service in a blog post Saturday.
The tweet concludes a whirlwind drama involving Apple, the most valuable company in the world, and Swift, one of the globe's biggest pop stars. As a conversation between two of the biggest names in music played out on social media, the saga revived a public debate about how streaming-music services treats artists. Musicians like Swift complain that streaming formats don't compensate artists fairly.
"This is simply the first time it's felt right in my gut to stream my album," she wrote in another tweet, noting that the decision wouldn't give Apple an exclusive on her music. "Thank you, Apple, for your change of heart."Apple plans to launch its first subscription music service, Apple Music, on Tuesday. The company, which redefined music in the digital age by popularizing 99-cent downloads of single tracks with its iTunes Store, long resisted the subscription format, allowing upstarts like Spotify gain steam. However, the rapid rise of new models for paying for music has further complicated music royalties: Streaming may be a boon for the music industry once subscriptions reach greater scale, but for now it has artists like Swift worried they won't be fairly compensated.
Transportation company Cabify will use Telefónica smart buttons to let people order a car.Telefónica
We started with Internet-enabled PCs, moved to Internet-enabled phones and now are strapping on Internet-enabled watches. What comes next? Perhaps something as simple as an Internet-enabled button.
Telefónica, a Spanish carrier with network operations in many countries around the world, on Wednesday unveiled what it calls a smart button along with a couple partners who'll bring it to real-world tasks. Cabify will let people order car transportation by pushing the button; a tiny printer inside will print a receipt with information about the driver that's been dispatched. Shipping company Seur will let customers push the button to generate a request for a package to be collected. An earlier test with Telepizza let people use the smart buttons to order pizzas.
It's similar to Amazon's Dash Buttons, which enable one-click ordering of household products. But Telefónica's buttons use cellular networks, not home Wi-Fi, and thus can be placed anywhere in a city or town. And by tapping standard smartphone networks, they can be used across the world, not just on Telefónica's networks.
The smart buttons represent the latest twist in a burgeoning category of products called the Internet of Things, which spreads networked computing to everything from traffic lights to door locks. It's a market in which many companies are keen to get a foothold, since global spending on devices and services related to the Internet of Things is expected to grow from $656 billion in 2014 to $1.7 trillion in 2020, according to research firm IDC.
Pushing a smart button to get a pizza may seem uncomfortably close to behavioral experiments in which pigeons peck a key to get a reward, but lacing computer-powered, network-linked automation through our world could offer convenience and utility, not just instant gratification.
Telefónica plans to offer an unbranded version of the smart button for other companies that want to customize it, the company said. A smart button could be handy for letting people hail a taxi, vote on which mural they like best in a public art installation or alert a laundromat that a washer needs maintenance. The devices can rely on battery power or be plugged in.
Smart buttons vs. smartphones
But the idea faces a big challenge in the real world: smartphones already bring the Internet to people outside their homes. A taxi app can flag down a cab from wherever you are, not just wherever a button happens to be, and smartphones offer a lot more sophistication, like a way to pay for that car ride, too. Companies considering the idea also might prefer people to use their own phones to avoid pranksters and vandals who might abuse the button system.
Telefonica wasn't available to comment on the potential abuses the buttons may face in public.
Many Internet of Things companies sell gadgets, but Telefónica sees the technology as a new way to sell network access, too. Still, it's hedging its bets: Telefónica also invested in a French startup called Sigfox that offers its own network specifically for the Internet of Things. The Sigfox network offers long-range communications, low power consumption and low cost, but only carries tiny amounts of data compared to mobile phone networks. Sigfox could serve as an alternative network connecting nontraditional devices like washing machines and dog collars.
But for now Telefonica's smart buttons use the regular phone network. Each smart button has a cellular-based SIM (subscriber identity module) card inside to identify the device on the network. SIM cards, which are tiny computer chips embedded in a sliver of plastic, carry an ID number and a digital key to authenticate a device on a network, and are found in every smartphone.
One major SIM card maker, Gemalto, is promoting a more rugged alternative it calls MIM, or machine identification modules, for industrial uses on the Internet of Things. One example it announced this week: an oceanography consulting firm called HidroMares will build them into sensors that detect wave motions, currents, and the salinity, depth and temperature of water at ports. The sensors are fixed to buoys and piers help port operators make navigation safer and faster.
Marine shipping may not be as fun as holding a spontaneous pizza picnic in the park. But at a deeper level, it comes down to the same thing: wiring the Internet into everything we do.
Microsoft Office makes its way to Android phones after arriving first on tablets.Microsoft
Don't own an iPhone or Windows Phone, but rely on Microsoft's Office for writing, building presentations and crunching numbers? No problem.
Microsoft's venerable suite of applications, including Word, PowerPoint and Excel, is finally making its way onto smartphones powered by Google's Android mobile operating system, Microsoft said Wednesday.
Maybe best of all, the apps -- like their counterparts on Android tablets and devices running Apple's iOS operating system -- are free to download.
Microsoft first made its Office suite available for Android tablets in February and announced a preview of the smartphone versions in May. The apps look and work much like the software designed for Apple's iPads and iPhones, meaning you can edit Word documents and wirelessly run PowerPoint presentations from your phone. Unlocking more mobile features and using the software's desktop versions requires an annual subscription to Office 365. That last part is core to CEO Satya Nadella's strategy for reinvigorating Microsoft's business software.
The world's largest software maker hopes people will pay the fee for Office 365 so they can use the cloud versions of Outlook, Word and PowerPoint on their Macs or PCs. That's become especially attractive as employees shift activities between their corporate and personal devices.
"The goal of these apps is to make sure that as people think about working, creating and doing, they think of Office as the default," said Ebun Onagoruwa, a Microsoft product manager. Onagoruwa said this is the culmination of a nearly 18-month journey -- since Microsoft first offered Office for iPad -- "transforming [Office] from a software suite into a platform that would work across devices."
Nadella and his team want corporate customers to stop thinking of Office and Windows software as products they buy with onetime licenses. The company is following the lead of others in the industry, such as Adobe Systems, Oracle and Salesforce.com, which are pushing customers to pay annual subscriptions for applications, storage and other services in the cloud.
Microsoft's cloud business currently accounts for $6.3 billion a year, or about 5 percent of total revenue. Nadella hopes the business will deliver about $20 billion in sales by 2018.
Nadella in April said the mobile versions of Office for both iOS and Android have been downloaded more than 100 million times since June of 2013. To up that number, the company is partnering with more than 30 device makers, including Samsung, Dell and LG to preinstall Office and its Skype video-calling software on Android devices.
You can build incredible things in Minecraft, from a space shuttle to Minas Tirith to a working computer. But even the coolest architectural wonder pales next to this ridiculous piece created by a pixel art master known as Thorlar Thorlarian.
That’s right. The picture at the top of this story is actually a top-down snapshot of a vast Minecraft world.
How vast? Thorlar used 1,128,960 Minecraft blocks to recreate the official wallpaper from the 2010 BlizzCon fan event. He did the entire thing by hand, dropping one block at a time. It took him nearly six months to complete it.
Don’t believe it? Here’s the video:
Thorlar’s insane work wasn’t just for the sake of art — it was also for charity. He live-streamed his work via Twitch, earning $3,500 for the Make-A-Wish foundation in the process. He’s raised over $11,000 since joining Twitch in 2014.
While his feat seems remarkable, Thorlar told PC Gamer that it was really just a matter of scale.
“Pixel art, when it comes down to it, is just like drawing with pen and paper,” he told the publication. “So with enough practice, it’s easy to know what blocks have what color, such as black being best represented by black wool, coal blocks, etc. At that point, no matter the size of your project, all you need to do is know what block would be most suitable for what area.”
Add about 1,000 hours of meticulously dropping blocks into place and, yeah, it’s a breeze. An interactive map of Thorlar’s work can be found here.
Polaroid got a lot of attention last year for its Cube camera, a tiny square Full HD camera that was little more than a lens with a power/record button.
With a camera this small -- it measures 1.4 inches (35mm) square -- there is no room for a screen to see what you're shooting or even just to change settings. If that's a deal-breaker for you, the upcoming Cube+ will fix that with the magic of Wi-Fi.
The rest of the camera's features seem to be the same, although the Cube+ can capture 8-megapixel photos (the Cube's resolution tapped out at 6 megapixels), which potentially means photo and video quality is improved. (The Cube's video was just OKconsidering its size and $99 price).It's the same size as the original Cube, but with the wireless you'll be able to directly connect to an iOS or Android device and use it to control the Polaroid Cube+ or use your device as a viewfinder. The Cube+ app will also let you transfer videos and photos, so you can edit and share straight from your phone ortablet.
The Polaroid Cube+ arrives in August in red, blue and black versions for $150. Pricing wasn't announced for the UK and Australia, but the price converts to £95 and AU$200.
Also announced were two new colors for the original Cube camera: hot pink and glow-in-the-dark green. Those, too, will arrive in August and will sell for $100, £89 or AU$149.
It’s something that has happened to all of us: you finish an email, hit send, and suddenly realize that you’ve made a typo or spelled the recipient’s name wrong. Or you were much too angry when you wrote it. For Gmail users there has been a quiet and until-now-unadvertised fix for this, known as the “Undo Send” feature.
The feature does exactly what its name implies: it lets you un-send an email for a short while after sending. Of course, it isn’t reaching out and snatching the email back — it just holds the email for a brief period sufficient for you to evaluate your regrets — but it can still be a life-saver. This feature has actually been available since March of 2009, but it has been hidden away in the Labs section of Gmail’s settings.
Now the feature is finally making its way out of the Labs dungeon. Undo Send will soon be added as a “formal setting” for the web version of Gmail, Google announced today in a post on the Google App Updates blog.
The Gmail web app isn’t the only place this feature can be found. Google Inbox, released last year, has had its own “Undo Send” feature since its launch. Plenty of third-party mail apps offer this feature as well, but for those who use the vanilla Gmail web client, it’s nice to see that the feature is now officially supported.
If you haven’t been using the beta version of the feature, it will remain turned off by default. To turn it on simply head to the General tab in Gmail’s settings and tick the “Enable Undo Send” checkbox. You’ll also be able to set how long Gmail will hold a message before actually sending it. If you’ve already been using the Labs version of the feature, it will remain turned on by default.
The feature began rolling out yesterday, so it should be available to most people already, though it’s possible that it could take up to two weeks to show up for some people.
You can play in the same virtual world from your PC, Mac, iOS device or Android gaget with Lego Minifigures Online.Funcom
Lego Minifigures Online will let people play in the same virtual world from a variety of devices.
Due out June 29 from game developer Funcom, the buy-to-play game will support Windows PCs, Apple's Mac, and Linux, iOS and Android devices. That means you'll be able to join fellow players in the same online world from different devices, allowing you to interact with a wider variety of people and switch between multiple platforms yourself.
Lego Minifigures Online lets you create a team of more than 100 Lego Minifigures, each with its own personality and capabilities. You then guide your team through various adventures as you journey through classic Lego worlds.
"From Pirate World to Space World, players must play together and smash their way through aliens, sea monsters, and more to unlock the full potential of their Minifigures," Lego said in a press release. "Along the way, players will also encounter plenty of that great, universal Lego humor!"
Beyond the usual Lego game play, what makes the new game so special is that for the first time ever, players can join each other in the same consistent and persistent virtual world whether they're at a PC, Mac, iOS device or Android gadget. You can switch from your desktop or mobile device and keep the same game alive with your friends and other players. Funcom is also jumping onto a new trend. PC gaming is making a comeback lately in part because high-powered computers can support games with more cutting-edge features. But mobile gaming is still hot, so Lego Minifigures Online will tap into the best of both worlds.
"Not only will it feel like a fresh, new experience for those who have played the earlier free-to-play PC version, there is also so much potential unlocked now that gamers can play with each other across platforms on a broad range of devices," Funcom CEO Rui Casais said in a statement. "Maybe you are playing on an iPhone while your friend is on an Android tablet and your grandma is on a high-powered PC; you'll still play together in the same world, along with thousands of other Lego fans from all over the globe."
There is that one gotcha. As Casais said, the game was initially available for the PC in a free-to-play version. Now that the game is expanding its horizons to the Mac and mobile platforms, players will have to pay to play. To entice players to pay, Funcom promises new features and content, gameplay additions and major improvements across the board.
Lego Minifigures Online will be available for the PC, Mac and Linux on www.playminifigures.com as well as Valve's online Steam store for $29.99 on June 29, and will include all worlds and content in the game. The iOS and Android versions will be debut in the App Store and on Google Play respectively for $4.99, which will include just the first online world. Users of iOS devices will be able to buy more worlds starting June 29, while Android users will be able to pick up additional worlds later this summer.
