**Microsoft Enters Hardware Market with Potential Massive Purchase**

Microsoft has been attempting to get into the hardware market recently, and this could be a significant move for the company. A massive purchase would likely fall within the $1-3 billion range, which is a substantial amount of money but could provide Microsoft with a foothold in the market. This move would allow Microsoft to build Windows computers and phones, as they have already done with their Surface line of products.

One example of Microsoft's past foray into the hardware market was the Dell Windows phone, which had a unique name like the Venu. This move could be an attempt by Microsoft to get back into this space and offer more options for consumers. The Surface brand has already shown promise in the computer and tablet markets, so it would not be surprising if Microsoft were to expand into smartphones as well.

**4G Network Expansion in the UK**

Meanwhile, news from the UK is that 4G network expansion is underway. In the US, 4G networks have been available on several carriers for some time now, but in the UK, this technology has only recently become widely available. The auction process for these new 4G networks is currently open, and it will take a few weeks to determine which carriers will ultimately be selected.

This development is exciting news for consumers in the UK, as it means that prices for 4G plans are likely to decrease once multiple carriers are offering services on the same network. Currently, there is only one major 4G network in the UK, and this has led to high prices for data plans. With multiple carriers competing for customers, prices are expected to come down, making it more affordable for people to get a 4G phone.

**Phones For You Network Launch**

Another development that's worth noting is the launch of Phones For You, a new mobile network that will use the EE signal. This means that customers who want to buy phones from this network can expect them to be compatible with all EE devices. This could lead to some interesting changes in the way people shop for phones, as Phones For You will likely become a major player in the market.

Similar to Virgin Media's strategy with their mobile service, Phones For You is looking to differentiate themselves by offering their own branded network. This means that customers who buy phones from them will be getting a dedicated service, rather than just using a generic 4G signal.

**The Decline of High Street Retailers**

In a separate news story, it's been reported that the High Street is indeed dead. Sony recently announced plans to stop selling used games, which has led some to predict that Blockbuster will also be closing its doors. This move would likely have significant implications for gamers who rely on physical copies of their favorite games.

However, this news may not be entirely negative for PC gamers. With the rise of digital distribution platforms like Steam and Origin, many gamers are already shifting away from physical copies of games in favor of digital ones. While it's sad to see retailers struggle, it's also clear that the way people consume games is changing.

**HMV and Game**

In addition to Blockbuster, HMV has also been struggling to stay afloat. The music retailer was recently sold to various interested parties, including Game, which may be looking to expand its offerings in the coming months.

It's worth noting that Game's approach to this strategy is different from some of their competitors. While other retailers are focusing on digital distribution and online sales, Game seems to be looking at ways to offer more traditional retail experiences. This could lead to a interesting dynamic, as consumers may be drawn to Game for its unique blend of physical and digital offerings.

**DMC Under the Microscope**

Finally, it's worth noting that I recently preordered DMC 5, which is due to release soon. As part of my preorder, I'll be getting an early look at the game, including a first impressions video. This will give viewers a chance to see what the game has to offer before its official release.

I'm excited to share this experience with you all, and I hope that it will provide some useful insights into what's in store for DMC 5. The game is looking like it's going to be an action-packed romp, and I'm eager to see how it plays out. Stay tuned for my first impressions video, which should drop around 5 PM GMT (11 AM PST) on Friday.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello what's up guys and welcome to the update for the 24th of January 2013 there's been a fair bit in the news this week some that's quite important some that's not so much so I've tried to colate together what you might find interesting and what is all quite important to us really just before I start I just wanted to say that I started off a new series a couple of days ago part of my why you should play series and and it was Smite that I had a look at the other day there's going to be two new sorts of videos that are going to be fairly regular there's going to be why should you play which are games that I think you should play and then there's a lot of upcoming games such as Sim City crisis and all them good stuff um and I'm going to do like a first look I'm not sure what I'm going to call it yet give me some ideas leave some ideas in the comments below what should I call the videos cuz I can't recommend it but I can't s to bad it's my first look but first look does sound a little bit dry and boring so if you just leave in the comments below what you think should be called uh I'll be doing some of them starting on Friday with DMC so my DMC video will be up in either afternoon for the Americans and evening for us Brits but that will be nearer the time anyway on with the update firstly THQ is dead THQ has been auctioned off interestingly they auctioned off the game game by game um so there are different Studios that make the different games and the rights of the games have been broken up and gone to different people most importantly is company Heroes and Relic entertainment now that has been sold off for 26.6 million and that has actually gone who's it gone to it's gone to Sega which is quite interesting um so company heres to will not be affected by that in any way cuz the same Studios is continuing to work on it but we might might see something different about company Heroes 3 that's because of Sega but they're only the Publishers so it won't make too much difference uh but of course you've also got uh txq Montreal uh they have gone to Ubisoft and Ubisoft have got Montreal studio so that's not so much of a surprise really why that's going on and they've got South Park and they've got two other games that are upcoming uh take two bought evolve and then media so maybe it's like Kos but let's just call it media they publish under the name of Deep Silver uh they have bought valtion and they've also bought the Metro games as well as Saints Row so we're not going to see any of them dying at anytime soon it' be pretty silly for S row to die out but that is not going to happen and they've been bought for quite a large sum of money uh lastly kch have actually won the homefront bid um and 2K has have been rumored to buy WWE but that's not certain yet hopefully krych can turn home front 2 into a cracking game not sure whether it's in development or not yet but if it isn't if it isn't then or even if it's an early stage they can probably switch to the cry engine which you'll be getting uh almost like a second crisis but without without super suit sort of stuff so that should be quite cool uh but we have to wait and see what's going on there other news EA have announced two betas you know not really surprising uh the Sim City beta and the crisis beta now the Sim City beta you're going to need to sign up for um obviously Sim City's PC only but if you go to the web address in the description below then you can sign up I believe it's still open anyway depends when you're watching this uh yeah and you can still sign up for the beta uh nid giving away a few keys on Facebook so might be worth checking that out if you go to the page um but the crisis beta is open to everyone absolutely everyone available on PS3 Xbox and of course the PC and all you need to do is go into origin after the 29th of January and you'll just see a little game that will say Crisis 3 beta on it uh we it will be the same as what I've had a hands on I got to play at Euro gamer I got to play the hunter mode which is actually quite cool I think Hunter Hunted one of the two uh whereas you've got like some super people versus some normal people one's invisible one isn't so it's a bit like cat and mouse and that was quite fun and of course the graphics are amazing but if you want to try that out then there's no reason not to As Long as You Meet the system requirements just open origin from the 29th of January and that will be there for you Microsoft have been rumored to be looking around at purchasing the big computer company known as Dell this is quite interesting because obviously we've seen Microsoft trying to get into the hardware Market recently and this would make sense really um massive purchase it would be between 1 and3 billion us a lot of money but it mean it would mean that they could build you know Windows computers and windows um phones cuz if you remember there was the Dell what was it there was the Dell Windows phone it's like the venu or something like that really weird name um so they could be trying to get back in that and they could have you know a Surface computer Surface tablet as already do and they could have a surface phone so we will see what's going on there 4G over in the UK you lucky people in the US have already got it but we only got it recently um but we've only got it on one carrier e but now the auction is open and we won't know till it finishes it will take a couple of weeks but this will mean that finally Us in the UK will get proper 4G connectivity that's reasonably priced cuz at the moment we've got like a strangle hold is that what it's called I don't know Monopoly yeah uh we've got only one 4G network and so the prices are pretty extortionate um I would have gone for a 4G phone but I didn't because it was too expensive and it just wasn't worth it but once we get O2 vone 3 all of them in the 4G NYX then prices are going to come down on the surface is going to get going to get a lot better so that's quite exciting news uh interesting as well there is going to be phones for you network phone for you are going to start their own network and use the E signal uh so if you go into a phones for you shop that might mean things be going to be a little bit different because of course they're going to be pushing their own network now similar to what Virgin Media does with Virgin Mobile so that's the phone news uh and of course really the biggest news this week is the High Street is it dead well I did say in my video couple of weeks ago about Sony to you know ban used games and we said and we had a lot of comments about you know this would put blockb out of business it's a bit late already out of business and this was before and if it happened so yes it's is it worrying it's the thing is it is it is a shame and it is sad but it was inevitable it was always going to happen um you know it's a shame but for us PC Gamers it doesn't make too much difference uh and you know I never really used to go into Blockbuster I'm a big fan of um Blu-rays I don't releas I did have Netflix and love film for a bit but I'm still a big fan of Blu-ray cuz you get the best quality which is what I'm about um so as you know but they're always going to be on the way out with this digital distribution um and of course HMV is going out of business as well but it's being looked at being bought over by loads of different people including game interesting enough but you know it's oldfashioned it's old hat and it is unfortunately on its way out so it was always going to happen and f that is just about it I thought there was more but there wasn't thank you for watching this video as I said I've got my DMC I know I lied didn't I I lied and said I wouldn't be getting it but I changed my mind so getting it preloaded now and when it's done I will sort of video out what I'm planning to do plan is I will play it for about 40 45 minutes then we'll kick in from the first look we have a look at the user interface we'll have a look at the options menu all the good PC stuff and then we will have a brief look at the game as I said it will be a first look I can't think of any names to hand under the microscope is that any good do you like that DMC under the microscope maybe so if you have any ideas for names let me know in the comments below no ST well you can put stupid names if you want but obviously they won't make it in whatever you want to do it's up to you but video will hopefully can't promise but it's about 90% sure that it will be video will be up around about 5:00 GMT so English time and then Pacific time that's what 6 hours behind so about 11:00 11:00 a.m. it's all right or it could be a bit later depends depends depends depends but it will be up I'm telling you it will be up on Friday until next time I will see you next time goodbyehello what's up guys and welcome to the update for the 24th of January 2013 there's been a fair bit in the news this week some that's quite important some that's not so much so I've tried to colate together what you might find interesting and what is all quite important to us really just before I start I just wanted to say that I started off a new series a couple of days ago part of my why you should play series and and it was Smite that I had a look at the other day there's going to be two new sorts of videos that are going to be fairly regular there's going to be why should you play which are games that I think you should play and then there's a lot of upcoming games such as Sim City crisis and all them good stuff um and I'm going to do like a first look I'm not sure what I'm going to call it yet give me some ideas leave some ideas in the comments below what should I call the videos cuz I can't recommend it but I can't s to bad it's my first look but first look does sound a little bit dry and boring so if you just leave in the comments below what you think should be called uh I'll be doing some of them starting on Friday with DMC so my DMC video will be up in either afternoon for the Americans and evening for us Brits but that will be nearer the time anyway on with the update firstly THQ is dead THQ has been auctioned off interestingly they auctioned off the game game by game um so there are different Studios that make the different games and the rights of the games have been broken up and gone to different people most importantly is company Heroes and Relic entertainment now that has been sold off for 26.6 million and that has actually gone who's it gone to it's gone to Sega which is quite interesting um so company heres to will not be affected by that in any way cuz the same Studios is continuing to work on it but we might might see something different about company Heroes 3 that's because of Sega but they're only the Publishers so it won't make too much difference uh but of course you've also got uh txq Montreal uh they have gone to Ubisoft and Ubisoft have got Montreal studio so that's not so much of a surprise really why that's going on and they've got South Park and they've got two other games that are upcoming uh take two bought evolve and then media so maybe it's like Kos but let's just call it media they publish under the name of Deep Silver uh they have bought valtion and they've also bought the Metro games as well as Saints Row so we're not going to see any of them dying at anytime soon it' be pretty silly for S row to die out but that is not going to happen and they've been bought for quite a large sum of money uh lastly kch have actually won the homefront bid um and 2K has have been rumored to buy WWE but that's not certain yet hopefully krych can turn home front 2 into a cracking game not sure whether it's in development or not yet but if it isn't if it isn't then or even if it's an early stage they can probably switch to the cry engine which you'll be getting uh almost like a second crisis but without without super suit sort of stuff so that should be quite cool uh but we have to wait and see what's going on there other news EA have announced two betas you know not really surprising uh the Sim City beta and the crisis beta now the Sim City beta you're going to need to sign up for um obviously Sim City's PC only but if you go to the web address in the description below then you can sign up I believe it's still open anyway depends when you're watching this uh yeah and you can still sign up for the beta uh nid giving away a few keys on Facebook so might be worth checking that out if you go to the page um but the crisis beta is open to everyone absolutely everyone available on PS3 Xbox and of course the PC and all you need to do is go into origin after the 29th of January and you'll just see a little game that will say Crisis 3 beta on it uh we it will be the same as what I've had a hands on I got to play at Euro gamer I got to play the hunter mode which is actually quite cool I think Hunter Hunted one of the two uh whereas you've got like some super people versus some normal people one's invisible one isn't so it's a bit like cat and mouse and that was quite fun and of course the graphics are amazing but if you want to try that out then there's no reason not to As Long as You Meet the system requirements just open origin from the 29th of January and that will be there for you Microsoft have been rumored to be looking around at purchasing the big computer company known as Dell this is quite interesting because obviously we've seen Microsoft trying to get into the hardware Market recently and this would make sense really um massive purchase it would be between 1 and3 billion us a lot of money but it mean it would mean that they could build you know Windows computers and windows um phones cuz if you remember there was the Dell what was it there was the Dell Windows phone it's like the venu or something like that really weird name um so they could be trying to get back in that and they could have you know a Surface computer Surface tablet as already do and they could have a surface phone so we will see what's going on there 4G over in the UK you lucky people in the US have already got it but we only got it recently um but we've only got it on one carrier e but now the auction is open and we won't know till it finishes it will take a couple of weeks but this will mean that finally Us in the UK will get proper 4G connectivity that's reasonably priced cuz at the moment we've got like a strangle hold is that what it's called I don't know Monopoly yeah uh we've got only one 4G network and so the prices are pretty extortionate um I would have gone for a 4G phone but I didn't because it was too expensive and it just wasn't worth it but once we get O2 vone 3 all of them in the 4G NYX then prices are going to come down on the surface is going to get going to get a lot better so that's quite exciting news uh interesting as well there is going to be phones for you network phone for you are going to start their own network and use the E signal uh so if you go into a phones for you shop that might mean things be going to be a little bit different because of course they're going to be pushing their own network now similar to what Virgin Media does with Virgin Mobile so that's the phone news uh and of course really the biggest news this week is the High Street is it dead well I did say in my video couple of weeks ago about Sony to you know ban used games and we said and we had a lot of comments about you know this would put blockb out of business it's a bit late already out of business and this was before and if it happened so yes it's is it worrying it's the thing is it is it is a shame and it is sad but it was inevitable it was always going to happen um you know it's a shame but for us PC Gamers it doesn't make too much difference uh and you know I never really used to go into Blockbuster I'm a big fan of um Blu-rays I don't releas I did have Netflix and love film for a bit but I'm still a big fan of Blu-ray cuz you get the best quality which is what I'm about um so as you know but they're always going to be on the way out with this digital distribution um and of course HMV is going out of business as well but it's being looked at being bought over by loads of different people including game interesting enough but you know it's oldfashioned it's old hat and it is unfortunately on its way out so it was always going to happen and f that is just about it I thought there was more but there wasn't thank you for watching this video as I said I've got my DMC I know I lied didn't I I lied and said I wouldn't be getting it but I changed my mind so getting it preloaded now and when it's done I will sort of video out what I'm planning to do plan is I will play it for about 40 45 minutes then we'll kick in from the first look we have a look at the user interface we'll have a look at the options menu all the good PC stuff and then we will have a brief look at the game as I said it will be a first look I can't think of any names to hand under the microscope is that any good do you like that DMC under the microscope maybe so if you have any ideas for names let me know in the comments below no ST well you can put stupid names if you want but obviously they won't make it in whatever you want to do it's up to you but video will hopefully can't promise but it's about 90% sure that it will be video will be up around about 5:00 GMT so English time and then Pacific time that's what 6 hours behind so about 11:00 11:00 a.m. it's all right or it could be a bit later depends depends depends depends but it will be up I'm telling you it will be up on Friday until next time I will see you next time goodbye\n"