ZodTTD makes PSX4Droid 3.0 free, claims Google booted him from Android Market

April 8th, 2011, 02:12 Posted By: wraggster

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Atari's Greatest Hits collection brings 100 classic games to iOS devices

April 8th, 2011, 02:10 Posted By: wraggster

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100 vintage Atari titles on App Store

April 8th, 2011, 02:03 Posted By: wraggster

100 classic Atari titles are available on the App Store now, the veteran publisher has announced.
The core Atari Greatest Hits app is free and gifts you a complimentary copy of ancient gaming touchstone Pong. You'll then pay 59p per four game bundle or £8.99 for the lot.
There are 18 arcade titles and 82 Atari 2600 games up for grabs in the universal app, including the likes of Centipede, Asteroid, Gravitar, Missile Command and Tempes. Each comes with the original cabinet or box art, while some have been tweaked to cater for Bluetooth multiplayer.
Here's the full list of games featured:
Asteroid Pack

• Asteroid
• Asteroid Deluxe
• Asteroids 2600
• Canyon Bomber – Bluetooth Multiplayer

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GameStop: Tablets the next gaming "explosion"

April 8th, 2011, 01:49 Posted By: wraggster

Following a flurry of recent activity in the market, with acquisitions of both Spawn Labs and Impulse - as well a move into Facebook retail - US specialist GameStop has claimed that it could set itself up as a manufacturer of tablet devices in order to ensure the platform has a compelling environment for games.
Speaking to Gamasutra, company president Tony Bartel hailed the portable devices as the "next explosion" to hit the video games sector, noting the retailer's commitment to be a player there.
"If we can work with our partners and the OEMs and they come up with a great tablet that is enabled with a great gaming experience and coupled with a bluetooth controller, then there's no need to go out and develop our own," he said. "But if we can't find one that's great for gaming, then we will create our own."
The retailer, which is the biggest specialist brand in the US market, has embarked on a series of initiatives in order to ready itself for a future in which boxed product sales take less of a share, and digital sales more.
As well as finding a foothold in cloud gaming and digital distribution, setting itself up as a competitor to the likes of OnLive and Steam, any moves into the hardware space will increase the list of rivals to include other significant players such as Apple and Samsung.
Since the announcement of the Spawn and Impulse acquisitions, GameStop stock has risen by nearly 6 per cent to close yesterday at $23.90.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...ming-explosion

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Unreal will come to Android says Mark Rein

April 8th, 2011, 01:48 Posted By: wraggster

The Unreal Development Kit (UDK) will eventually appear for Google's Android operating system, according to new comments made by Epic Games vice president Mark Rein.
Speaking to website Gamasutra he stated that, "We've been supporting [Android] for quite a while, and we've been providing [Unreal Engine 3] in source code format to our licensees."
"UDK is a totally different story," explained Rein."It'd be difficult for anybody right now to make a game with UDK and ship it on Android, because Unreal is for making high-end, high-quality-content games, and most of them are pretty large, because you can make a large game with it."
Rein reiterated that the biggest issues for Android support is that software's 50MB limited for apps, which makes Unreal Engine 3 developed games difficult.
As a result Rein has already come out in support of Google's recent crackdown on Android customisation and fragmentation.
"UDK will come eventually to Android, and Google is going to solve that problem - we know they're working on it, but we don't know the release date and we don't know when it will get into the hands of all the different vendors with all the different phones," said Rein.
The UDK was originally created for iOS platforms, with the Epic-published Infinity Blade proving a technological milestone for games on Apple formats. However it is not yet available for rival smartphone operating system Android.
Yesterday Rein confirmed that the game would not be released on the platform because of a lack of consistency in the operating system.

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Spark Trophies 1.85 has been released

April 7th, 2011, 13:43 Posted By: wraggster

Spark Trophies 1.85 has been released today; mainly to fix the avatar issue brought forward by PSN’s April 1st update. Please note that if you haven’t already, you will need to accept the latest PSN Terms of Service, before you can use Spark Trophies – not doing so will result in authentication errors.
This release also speeds up the app somewhat, by fixing a handful of bugs that resulted in unnecessary re-authentication.
Download

http://0xff.akop.org/2011/04/01/anot...phies-release/

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Rumor: iPhone 5 to Drop During 4th Week of June

April 7th, 2011, 02:41 Posted By: wraggster

The latest reports out of Asia - though some are already attempting to debunk it - suggest that the iPhone 5 (mock image above) will make a late June 2011 entry into the marketplace, even though Apple may still unveil the device earlier in the month at the company's Worldwide Developer's Conference, which begins June 6th in San Francisco.

Korean news site ETNews.co.kr reveals today that Apple will roll out the fifth generation iPhone during the 4th week of June. Information surrounding the release comes as Korean providers SK Telecom and KT are believed to be among the first who will receive and carry the iPhone 5 upon its debut.

As always, any unconfirmed reports regarding the iPhone 5 - or any Apple product for that matter - must be taken with a grain of salt. Still, it is worth noting that a series of recent stories and like-minded reports indicate that earlier suspicions of a fall 2011 iPhone 5 release may be inaccurate. If the latest report out of Asia is correct, it means Apple...
http://modmyi.com/forums/iphone-news...week-june.html

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iPod touch prototype with capacitive home button leaked?

April 7th, 2011, 00:08 Posted By: wraggster

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HP's keyboard-less webOS phone and Verizon Pre 3 leaked?

April 7th, 2011, 00:06 Posted By: wraggster

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iPad Just Another TV Set?

April 6th, 2011, 23:52 Posted By: wraggster

"An iPad is just another TV set, and can be viewed just like an extra outlet. These are the words Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) has thrown toward content providers as demand for consumer viewing keeps shifting to more available sources like Roku, Apple TV, and the iPad, over providers like Netflix, and Hulu, and now Cable TV. Programmers are throwing down the gauntlet as more devices are able to stream video from a variety of providers."http://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/0...Another-TV-Set

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iPhone Homey - Pocket Solar Charger + Universal Battery Charger + FM Transmitter

April 6th, 2011, 16:08 Posted By: wraggster

News via http://gamingandgadgets.com/vbulleti...ttery-550.html

Newly released at Hong Kong Gadget site Chinavision:


Perfect for charging iPhones, iPods, cellphones, digital cameras, Nintendo DS, Sony PSP, and other mobile devices. What's more, all audio from these devices can be transmitted to FM radio speakers!

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Epic: No Infinity Blade on Android for now

April 6th, 2011, 16:00 Posted By: wraggster

Epic co-founders Tim Sweeney and Mark Rein have said not to expect a version of the iOS title Infinity Blade on Android systems yet, as the platform doesn't offer enough consistency to guarantee performance.
Speaking in an interview with Gizmodo, Rein and Sweeney spoke about the need for the infamously hands-off Google to exert more control over their platform to make sure that consistency becomes reality. Currently, Google allows mobile networks and handset distributors almost free-reign with the open source Android platform, leading to some performance disparity.
"When a consumer gets the phone and they wanna play a game that uses our technology, it's got to be a consistent experience, and we can't guarantee that [on Android]. That's what held us off of Android," said Rein.
"If you took the underlying NGP hardware and shipped Android on it, you'd find far far less performance on Android. Let's say you took an NGP phone and made four versions of it. Each one would give you a different amount of memory and performance based on the crap [networks] put on their phone.
"Google needs to be a little more evil. They need to be far more controlling."
Google's most recent iteration of Android, known as Honeycomb, has been held back from release to mobile companies in an attempt to maintain quality standards, remaining tablet only for the time being.
UE3 development for Android is very much a reality, however, as Rein made clear in a quote toGamesIndusty.biz.
"With respect to the engine we have been licensing Unreal Engine 3 on Android for several months now," Rein clarified.
"In fact Dungeon Defenders, from Trendy Entertainment, was the first game certified by Google on 'Honeycomb' and comes pre-installed on the Motorola Xoom tablet. It's been available on the Android market place for several months and it's a great game. Monster Madness, from Southpeak, is also available on the Android market place for mobile phone and tablet. "
Dungeon Defenders is also a prime example of another problem affecting the Android marketplace: a 50mb limit on app size. Any excess on that limit has to be downloaded separately, on the developers bandwidth, with a 'stub' program sitting on the marketplace itself.
As Rein points out, developers who are already paying fees to appear on the marketplace are not keen on funding bandwidth costs to see those programs downloaded, especially when app size greatly exceeds that limit. Infinity Blade, for example, currently weighs in as a download of around 850mb.
Getting round that extra cost is possible - and Trendy Entertainment has done just that by shipping Dungeon Defenders as a pre-installed app - but it's hardly practical for the majority. Google is doubtless working on this, Rein points out, but it's a definite indication of the platform's relative immaturity.
Last year, Epic subsidiary Chair Entertainment brought Unreal Engine to iOS users in the shape of visually stunning action RPG Infinity Blade. Not only has the title been a commercial success on that platform, it's also operated as something of a shop window for the technology on iOS devices.
In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz in March, Chair's CEO and CTO, Donald and Geremy Mustard, discussed how Apple was becoming more switched on to gaming as a major part of its business model, a relatively recent change in policy..

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Apple's Secret Weapon To Win the Tablet Wars

April 4th, 2011, 19:39 Posted By: wraggster

"International Business Times reports that when manufacturers trotted out their Android tablet prototypes during the CES show two months ago, pundits were happy to toll the death knell for the Apple's iPad, but now manufacturers are discovering that simply making a good tablet does not guarantee that it will sell — much to the chagrin of Motorola and its Xoom product. Now it is plain for all to see that Apple's secret weapon is their network of dedicated Apple stores worldwide where dedicated sales people are not only able to better explain its tablet to consumers but Apple also captures more margin than competitors who have to share margin with retail partners. Apparently, we are not going to see a repeat of the Android ambush of the smartphone market where the combined, price, savvy marketing, and modulated supply releases of the iPhone created so much aspirational demand in the market that buyers simply surged at the chance to buy what was perceived to be an equivalent product at lower prices. 'Motorola's Xoom is only the first to face these problems,' writes AA Defensor. 'Soon RIM's Playbook, and HP's TouchPad will hit the shelves and unless they can do something drastic over the short term, it might remain to be an iPad market. But not because they did not build a good product.'"http://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/0...he-Tablet-Wars

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Angry Birds Rio 'hits 10m downloads in ten days'

April 4th, 2011, 19:34 Posted By: wraggster

Rovio's breakthrough franchise shows little sign of slowing

The latest edition of Angry Birds has soared past ten million downloads just ten days after its release, the game’s developer has claimed.
Rovio said Angry Birds Rio had been “breaking all records� in a message released on the firm’s Twitter account.

Rio is the fastest-selling Angry Birds edition yet, the figures suggest, showing that the mobile market’s lust for the franchise hasn’t dulled.
The title is available on iPhone, iPad and Android devices. Yet the game isn’t available on Google’s own Android Market, after Amazon scored an exclusive deal to distribute the Android game on its own App Store.
Currently the game is first place on the App Store paid chart, rising above all apps including non-game programs.
Angry Birds Rio ties into a new animated movie, Rio, which is set for release later this month.
In March Rovio, based in Finland, had secured a $42 million investment from several VC firms. The company went on to reveal plans to float on the stock market.

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Google cracks down on unauthorised Android deals

April 4th, 2011, 12:43 Posted By: wraggster

Google has begun to censure companies over unauthorised changes to the Android operating system, as well as the formation of partnerships without the company's involvement.
According to a Bloomberg report companies will now need prior approval from Google's Andy Rubin in order to gain early access to software updates.
The changes in the working relationship were described by major hardware partners such as LG, Toshiba, Samsung, and Facebook - which is working on its own device. Bloomberg's sources suggest that some companies have already made legal attempts to prevent Google's interference.
Although Android remains open source, and therefore free to use by any company, the advance access to features and updates is now being used as a means to bring major partners into line. Especially given Android's now 31 per cent share of the market.
Google's move is apparently due to concern that its market is beginning to fragment, with some hardware manufacturer's continuing to use outdated versions of the operating system - creating compatiblitily issues for developers and confusion amongst customers.
As a result Google has begun to insert "non-fragmentation clauses" into its contracts, ensuring that it has the final word on how the operating system is used and customised - as well as any additional partnerships between companies.
Smaller firms complain that Google is purposefully delaying the release of new code to the public, making it harder for them to compete.
"The premise of a true open software platform may be where Android started, but it's not where Android is going," Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop is quoted as saying.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-android-deals

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Pirated Android App Shames Freeloaders

April 3rd, 2011, 21:08 Posted By: wraggster

A pirated version of an Android app is actually a Trojan that shames someone who installs it by sending an SMS message to all his/her contacts telling them of his/her piracy. The original app is called Walk and Text, and costs $2.10 in the Android Market. The app uses the camera on the back of a smartphone to show a user a visual of his upcoming surroundings, which will supposedly prevent the user from running into the street or across a set of train tracks. The pirated version is available from unofficial Android app markets, and once installed redirects the pirate to the legitimate app in the Android Market, while also sending the SMS message to the phone's entire contact list."http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/04/...es-Freeloaders

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Wagic on the iPad and the iPhone

April 3rd, 2011, 16:35 Posted By: wraggster

News via http://wololo.net/wagic/2011/04/02/w...nd-the-iphone/

This is a post I promised myself I would do, a long time ago. The main reason I haven’t posted about this yet is that I don’t myself own any Apple product, so I’m in an awkward position to talk about this…
If you’re a Wagic player, you’ve probably been wondering if there was any plan to release Wagic on platforms outside of the PSP. The answer is, of course, yes. Wagic already runs perfectly on several platforms (Maemo, PSP, Linux, Windows), and we are trying very hard to get it ported to as many platforms as possible. But the truth is, we’re lacking manpower to maintain all the ports.
A little while ago, Xaw Otihs, who already ported Wagic to the Maemo platform, shared a video showing extremely good progress on the iOS platform.

If you’re into card games, you probably already know about freeware games such as Forge, Incantus, MagMa… These games all have pros and cons (Forge recently reached a number of cards higher than Wagic… but wait for our next release guys, the competition is not over yet ), but Wagic is the only one designed for portable devices. If you’ve been hoping for a Card Game on your iPhone, Wagic is likely to be the thing you’ve been looking for. The thing is: the port exists (and it’s been in our public svn for a little while now), but we now need devs to improve it so that it goes into a more acceptable state: easier to compile, easier to configure, easier to distribute, better interface for touch devices, etc…
If you’re an iOS dev and are interested in this project, we would love to hear about you. Don’t send me an email personally, as I’ve been really busy lately, but rather, please follow our “procedure� for joining the Team: provide a few patches for the game, on the forums, and we will review them. If they’re good enough, we’ll gladly give you submission rights in our SVN . More info here
(and to clarify one thing, we’re talking of the Cydia side of the force here…we don’t expect Wagic to be distributed on non-jailbroken devices anytime soon )

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Sony CEO Lets Slip That iPhone 5 Will Have 8MP Camera

April 2nd, 2011, 23:49 Posted By: wraggster

During a recent interview with Walt Mossberg, Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer may have inadvertently let it slip that Sony plans to supply Apple with 8 megapixel cameras for the next-gen iPhone. While discussing the Japanese earthquake, Stringer noted that Sony's camera sensor plant in Sendai had been affected and that shipments of 8 megapixel camera sensors to Apple were subsequently delayed."http://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/0...ave-8MP-Camera

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Sumixe - Google Android 2.1 Tablet with 7 Inch Multi-Touch Screen

April 2nd, 2011, 00:38 Posted By: wraggster

News via http://gamingandgadgets.com/vbulleti...435.html?t=435

Newly released at Hong Kong Gadget site Chinavision:


Meet the Sumixe Google Android 2.1 Tablet with 7 Inch Multi-Touch Screen (WiFi, HDMI, Camera). The ultimate technology companion is here.

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Mini Projector for iPhone 4 and 3GS Released

April 2nd, 2011, 00:36 Posted By: wraggster

News via http://gamingandgadgets.com/vbulleti...465.html?t=465

Newly released at Hong Kong Gadget site Chinavision:


Project movies from your iPhone up to 40 inches diagonally with this high performance iPhone projector

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