Well, this is very late news, but better late than never: There's been an update to the Mobipad application, which allows you to wirelessly control S60 devices through a standard Nintendo Wii controller (particularly useful if you've got your phone connected to a television through TV Out). The new Mobipad 1.2 beta lets you customise all the buttons to your own liking, which should solve the control problems that were experienced by previous Mobipad users. The catch is that you have to make a 5 euro donation to the developers to get the new version (previous donors get the new version free). The old version 1.0 is still free though.
The next gen N-Gage shoot-em-up Space Impact Kappa Base has been updated to add support for online clans and instant messaging in the game's "World Battle" section. Current owners can update to the new version for free, and people who haven't bought SI:KB yet may like to know the game's price has been dropped to 5 euros. Current owners can find full instructions for updating to the new version below.
ZingMagic, creators of slick version of classic board and puzzle games on all platforms, have launched a range of their titles now supporting S60 5th edition devices like the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. The list is: Backgammon Pro II, Checkers Pro II, Chess Pro II, Chinese Chess Pro II, Four In A Line Pro II, Gomoku Pro II and Reversi Pro II. All have a reworked UI (compared to the original S60 3rd Edition versions) and improved AI. There's also Zingles II, a bigger update, now supporting '4x4', 'thru 16x16', 'Jigsaw', 'Killer Sudokus', plus lots of 'solving aids, helper features'. Links, screens and mini-review of one of the new titles below the break.
Ewan heads out onto the course with the golfing legend.... but this, curiously, isn't an N-Gage game - it's Java. Surprisingly, this fact doesn't affect playability and, despite somewhat rudimentary graphics, he finds that it ranks with the best golf games on the mobile platform. Here's the review of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09.
The guys over at Herocraft have been busy for the last couple of weeks. After releasing their long awaited title Travel Genius, they have updated two of their more recent offerings: Hexxagon Labs and 8 in 1 Arcade Park. You will be happy to know that both of these updates are available for existing owners of the games for free, it is definitely worth checking them out. Read on for details.
The puzzle game DChoc Cafe Sudoku has arrived on the N-Gage platform, you can download it from the N-Gage application if you go to the Showroom tab on the far right of the screen, select "Options" and then "Update Now". It's from the same people who did DChoc Cafe Solitaire, and you can see a video trailer below.
In All About Symbian Insight 57 (AAS Podcast 110) Rafe reports back from the UK launch of the Nokia 5800 launch at Nokia's flagship store on Regents Street, London. The team discuss Q4 finanical results from Nokia and other consumer electronics company before Ewan updates us on two recently announced N-Gage games and Steve highlights Jomtris.
Third party publishers Glu have announced Age Of Empires III for the new N-Gage platform, based on the PC real time strategy game set in the glory days of various European colonial powers. UPDATE: This has now been confirmed by Nokia, though they say that the release date in the press release is wrong and it's actually due some time in the first half of 2009. (Thanks to "brain" on the N-Gage blog's comments section)
The C64 emulator Frodo for S60 3rd Edition has been updated to version 1.5, and now includes support for accelerometers in selected phones, which lets you tilt the phone to simulate a joystick or steering wheel (you can see a demo video below). There's also an on-screen keyboard and vibration support. Frodo comes in versions available for older Symbian devices too such as S60 1st and 2nd Edition, Series 80 and UIQ, just scroll down the same page. Apparently Frodo for S60 3rd Edition should work in theory on the 5800, though it may run very slowly as the application hasn't been optimised for S60 5th Edition yet. (For more S60 3rd Edition emulators, see AAS's special feature.)
The arcade racing game Asphalt 4: Elite Racing is now available on the next gen N-Gage platform. To see it, go to the Showroom tab on the far right, select "Options", then "Update Now". It should be visible in the "Latest Games" section, or alternatively click on "Available Games". (Also worth noting that the prequel, Asphalt 3, is still available on N-Gage and has been reduced in price to 7 euros.)
I can't resist linking to this. Just about my favourite version of Tetris, all programmed in Python for S60 (amazingly) and working on almost all modern S60 devices (no need for graphics acceleration here) in this, the very latest version 1.60. It seems that Jomtris really is paving the way for other heavyweight games and apps all written in Python (a modern day object-oriented equivalent to Psion's old OPL, if readers remember this).
