Digital Trends
Consumers have been complaining about the problems associated with DRM technology on their music files: songs can’t be transferred between devices, shared with friends, backed up easily, and (in some cases) quick working altogether because an online music service decided to call it quits. Verizon Wireless has apparently listened, and has joined the DRM-free bandwagon in announcing more than 5 million MP3 tracks are now available from its Online Media Store.
PDA pioneer Palm has been on the ropes for a few years, seemingly unable to gather momentum behind its efforts to repossess and renovate the Palm OS and then introducing (but never shipping) the Foleo companion device…which, somewhat ironically, went over like a lead balloon just before so-called "nettops" became all the rage. Now, Palm is bootstrapping itself into the current mobile rage, opening the Palm Software Store—being run by PocketGear—where Palm device users can obtain more than 5,000 applications and games for their Palm OS and Windows Mobile devices…and more than 1,000 of those items are available for free. The move follows Apple’s well-known (and successful) App Store for iPhone and iPod touch applications, as well as similar efforts from RIM and Google.
The Boy Scout motto – “Be Prepared” – may call to mind images of knives, flints and rope, but these days, a cell phone can be as helpful in averting a disaster as any of those items. That is, if the battery isn’t dead. Unlike creating fire or finding shelter, there aren’t novel ways of recharging a phone in the middle of nowhere, but Iogear aims to change that with its new GearJuice Rescue Charger, a last resort when a few minutes of talk time is all you need.
After moving from concept to public beta testing through the First Access program in February, Nokia’s N-Gage gaming service for its mobile phones finally launched officially on Monday. It includes a marketplace of made-for-mobile games for download, the N-Gage Mobile Arena for multiplayer gaming, plus message boards and live chat for discussing games and setting up tournaments.
Initially, only six games will be available for players to download: FIFA 08, Brain Challenge, Asphalt 3: Street Rules, World Series of Poker Pro, Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep and System Rush: Evolution. Nokia will expand this listing shortly, though, with the addition of seven more games, including Tetris and The Sims 2 Pets.
The digital music battle just got a lot more interesting.
Granted, the Apple and AT&T partnership isn’t particularly strong. (AT&T is basically a new company with an old name and the relationship is really with Cingular, one of the least-liked of the carriers.) But on the other hand, when it comes to power in their respective areas, Apple and AT&T are unmatched in terms of scale and market share.
Video game publisher THQ announced today the release of a new Tetris game for the Xbox 360. This game, titled Tetris Evolution, is priced at $30 and is the latest title in a franchise which began when the first Tetris game appeared on PCs in 1985. Since then, the game has released across nearly every game system and sold more than 70 million units worldwide.
Tetris Evolution, according to THQ, offers a variety of new modes and features, in addition to the traditional Tetris gameplay elements. New to the Tetris franchise is the ability to download and customize themes, backgrounds, skins and icons. There are also new gameplay modes including Go Low, Eraser and a co-op mode called Hotseat where multiple players can manipulate Tetriminos within the same matrix.
The winners of the 2007 Game Developers Choice Awards have been announced (if not posted on the awards’ Web site yet), and the big winner this year is the first-person shooter Gears of War, from Epic Games and Microsoft Game Studios. Gears of War took home honors for technology and visual arts, as well as the coveted "best game" award.
However, other video game developers weren’t exactly left in the cold. Clover Studio and Capcom’s Okami combination nature/adventure game took top prizes for character design and innovation, and Nintendo’s Wii Sports earned prizes for game design and innovation. Nintendo’s Shigero Miyamoto also received a Lifetime Achievement award; his contributions to the medium include iconic titles like the Mario Brothers and Legend of Zelda franchises.
Remember back in the old days when television was universally decried as being bad for the eyes, and complicated diagrams were published in lifestyle magazines about how far away one should sit from the living room television to be “safe?” (Hint: I think it was on the order of 10 feet for a 24-inch CRT color television.) Well, now we’re finding that some video games may actually improve childrens’ health, and now a study from the University of Rochester finds that action video games—you know, first-person shooters—may sharpen players’ vision by as much as 20 percent.
At a special press event today in San Francisco, Apple Computer rolled out a complete refresh to its iPod line of personal media players—including new iPods, nanos, and shuffles in aluminum casings as well as new colors— and introduced a new version of its iTunes software. Oh, and one more thing: the company is now offering digital movies for sale via iTunes.
Just last year, Blizzard Entertainment crowed that it’s massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft had topped one million subscribers. Now, according to the New York Times, World of Warcraft has reached another milestone: some 7 million players worldwide, putting the company on track to pull in more than $1 billion in 2006 alone. Most WoW subscribers pay about $14 a month to participate in the game.
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