Over on All About N-Gage, we're getting excited about an unconfirmed video which appears to be a trailer for Worms on Next Gen N-Gage. It's from a fairly reliable source, and it features the N81 plus graphics never seen on the original gen N-Gage version. Worms publisher THQ has already said they're supporting Next Gen N-Gage, so a new version of Worms would make a lot of sense.
Symbian Press has announced a new developer's title: "Games on Symbian OS", by Jo Stitchbury. Full details here, with availability next month. From the blurb: "...shows the potential for creating mobile games for Symbian smartphones... It covers various aspects of mobile games on Symbian OS, with contributions from a number of experts in the mobile games industry, including Nokia'’s N-Gage team, Ideaworks3D, and ZingMagic, as well as academics leading the field of innovative mobile experiences".
I reviewed Meteor almost three years ago but Krisse, in the run up to the next-gen N-Gage launch in 20072009 2008, has been revisiting many Symbian OS classics and here reviews Meteor again in QVGA form on a modern S60 3rd Edition device. Has the game changed in the intervening years - does Meteor still hold up? It's available for all versions of S60 and UIQ, plus Series 80, by the way.
In All About Symbian Insight # 7 (AAS Podcast #55) Steve, Ewan and Rafe look back at 2007 and pick out their highlights from the year. We cover the Nokia N95, a resurgent UIQ and Nokia's Ovi announcement. In the second half of the podcast we turn our attention to 2008 and make a few predictions.
Twelfth Night has come and gone so Xmas is well and truly over, but you can still get Snowed In 6: Deep Freeze for free if you hurry. Simply download the game from this page (click on the relevant "try" button), install it on your Symbian device, and then head on over to the unlock code page to get your free key. SI6 is available for all Symbian platforms, and the offer ends on the 15th of January.
A small but interesting morsel from the folks at Projectnext.eu: If you have the latest version of Nokia PC Suite installed, and rename any file using the extension .n-gage it will automatically adopt a Nokia application icon, and right-clicking on it will bring up an option to install it. This option doesn't work of course, but the fact that it appears implies that PC Suite has already been designed with the Next Gen N-Gage platform in mind.
Krisse is either getting dangerously loose with AAS MegaGame awards or has indeed found a second game in a fortnight to merit the high rating. Sola Rola, despite being built on J2ME, delivers at every turn, with smooth and believable 2D animation allied with great level design. Here's the Sola Rola review, make sure to click through at the end of the review to the video walkthrough, to see what Krisse means.
Looking for where to focus any new casual gaming projects? Then the latest survey (this one from Parks Associates) can help. Bottom line is that the majority of casual gamers are interested in Puzzles and Card Games, some 55%, with word and arcade games at 32% and 33% respectively. This compares to 'portable gamers' (eg the PSP and DS users) who almost equally look for Sports, Action, Driving and First Person Shooters for their kicks.
It's nearly the end of 2007, so we're presenting a short and sweet round-up of seasonal S60 3rd Edition themes in honour of the upcoming New Year. Don't forget the Champagne and assorted party snacks! UPDATE: We've now added PiZero's freshly-created collection of New Year themes. SECOND UPDATE: The legendary Babi has now come up with a New Year 2008 theme, which we've added to the article. THIRD UPDATE: As if to complete the trilogy, P@sco has done a New Year theme as well.
It's possibly the biggest and best game ever created for S60, has texture-mapped 3D surfaces, innovative puzzles and gameplay, a fabulous soundtrack and it's exclusively available for S60 3rd Edition and S60 2nd Edition phones. It's Lament Island, and it's reviewed in detail here by our very own Krisse, who awards it a coveted AAS MegaGame award. Highly recommended.
