You might recall the discussions over Scott Foe's look at the future of gaming from the Edinburgh Interactive Festival. Well now you can see the whole talk online via the online video service, Vimeo. There's a number of areas that the article glossed over, so here's your chance to see Foe's unfiltered thoughts.
iPhone 3G owner and blogger Tarek Esber has had enough of Apple's device and has gone back to an S60 phone. Here he lists in articulate detail the nine reasons why the S60 device is superior for his needs. An interesting read (via this week's Carnival of the Mobilists)
Yesterday's N79 and N85 launches were different in that there was no physical event - the whole thing was virtual. Leaving aside the preview day and annoying leaks, does the use of a virtual launch represent a successful new style for Nokia? Ewan thinks so and was quite impressed, reckoning that Nokia has found their own 'voice'.
The puppy simulator Dogz is now available from the N-Gage application's showroom section. If you can't see it in the showroom, select Options and then Update Now. If you still can't see it, click on Available Games and then scroll to the bottom of the list. (Thanks to ccraig for alerting us!)
Popular web broadcast service Qik, which allows users to stream live video from their handset to the internet, picked up a round of funding this morning from business partners Marc Andreessen (Ning) and Ben Horowitz (VP at HP). There's no word on how much was invested beyond the rather bland '[it's] significant.' Andreessen and Horowitz now join the board of the company.
The Nokia N85, the latest edition to Nokia's Nseries range, was announced today. With AM OLED screen technology, tri-band WCDMA (3G) cellular radio, USB charging, and preloaded Ovi content and services, the multimedia-centric N85 delivers the latest evolution of Nokia's dual slider form factor.
The N85 boasts the usual impressive Nseries specification list: 5 megapixel camera (with dual LED flash and lens cover), integrated GPS, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, FM transmitter and TV-out. The N85 will be available from October at a price of €450 (£350) before taxes and subsidies. Read on for more.
The Nokia N79, a new monoblock (candybar) Nseries handset, was announced today. It features a 5 megapixel camera (with LED flash and protective lens cover), automatic screen rotation via an accelerometer, touch sensitive NaviWheel, Xpress-on smart covers, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, TV-out, FM transmitter and integrated GPS. The N79 has out of the box support for the full range of Ovi services: Photos, Music, Maps, Video and Games (N-Gage). It will be available from October at a cost of €350 (£280) before taxes and subsidies. Read on for more.
It might be flagged up heavily as a mix of rumour and speculation, but Stuart Dredge's column over on Pocket Gamer makes a certain amount of sense. In it he puts forward the idea that Nokia will launch a 'Comes With Games' service, similar to 'Comes With Music' that we know is coming. The rumor was repeated by many at the recent Leipzig Game Developers Conference, with one major label allegedly signed up.
Until now, commercial software has generally been based around the traditional business model of selling a product directly to the user. Piracy is seen as a threat to direct sales, and many commercial publishers have responded to this with various kinds of DRM, but are there alternatives to the model which could make piracy irrelevant? Tzer2 takes a look at some candidates...
A round of quick updates for you to note: Nokia PC Suite is now at v7.0.8.2, Nokia Maps (for FP1 devices) is at v2.0 Build 3204 and Share Online is at v3.0.08.23. All no doubt mainly bug fixes and optimisations, but I'm a version junkie and am grabbing them anyway (via Ricky Cadden)
According to their official website, Nokia's firmware update service is currently unavailable for the 6220 Classic, so you can't update that phone's firmware for the moment. Support will apparently be restored ASAP but they haven't said when that will be. (via S60inside)
Over on All About N-Gage we've reviewed the new adventure game Dirk Dagger And The Fallen Idol, a noir detective story with a good sprinkling of humour done in the style of the classic Lucasfilm and Sierra adventures. Has Nokia resurrected this long-forgotten genre? Click on the link to find out...
You've got to love these virtual device launches. Tuesday, 9am BST (11am Finnish time) sees Nokia throwing a virtual event that anyone can get involved in. The devices being premiered have been widely leaked, admittedly, but you'll be able to see the full details, with videos and chat, on Tuesday, right here. And of course on All About Symbian, too.
This is something All About N-Gage has been calling for for a while now, and finally it's happened: Nokia has teamed up with Zeemote to produce a wireless gaming controller compatible with all existing N-Gage and Symbian S60 games and applications. The controller's application can be installed on any S60 3rd Edition handset and lets you map the controller's buttons to any of the phone's buttons. While a separate controller for mobile phones sounds crazy, it actually makes perfect sense for handsets with TV Out, as it effectively turns them into home games consoles.
Yahoo has released a native Symbian application which puts a shortcut to its oneSearch service on the Idle screen of your phone (N70, N95, N73, 6120, and E65). The stand out feature is Search Assist that suggests terms and phrases as you go and aims to save you time and provide related concepts for more refined results.
