We felt that Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 was a product that would be perpetually evaluated, tweaked and overhauled as time went on, and sure enough, we're already seeing those winds of change blow yonder. Reportedly, Microsoft has now removed the restriction that prevented developers from writing applications that would continue to operate behind a locked screen (without a user's explicit permission, anyway), enabling a whole host of apps to breathe in a manner in which they simply should. Audio apps, for example, will now be able to run in the background without yet another layer of pointless Vista-esque permissions, and Microsoft's Charlie Kindel said in an interview at its Professional Developer Conference that this move "is an example of us continuing to listen to customers." Frankly, it's just more fair -- Microsoft's own ingrained applications could already do this sans user permission (email, Zune playback, downloads, etc.), so it makes sense to give loyal developers that same opportunity. Of course, devs will have to prove that background apps won't burn up an absurd amount of battery life, but that's definitely not an unexpected qualification.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/29/m...to-run-beneat/ ...

We've been toying with a Palm Pre 2 for a few weeks now, but given that it's not "final hardware," we can't exactly make any firm judgments on the unit itself. Tim Pettitt, product manager for HP Palm, can. In speaking with MarkGuim.tv (and slyly handling a Verizon Pre 2), he not only confirmed that the company was relying on a layer of the famed Gorilla Glass to keep the front as scratch-resistant as possible, but also that the five megapixel camera is capable of capturing a shot every second. More importantly, however, he made clear that it wouldn't be just the developers nabbing an unlocked GSM Pre 2. According to Tim, that very handset will be "available direct from HP.com," though he stopped short of saying whether it would support T-Mobile's AWS 3G band. For AT&T loyalists, however, we're guessing this may be the best way to nab webOS on the network that's still rethinking possible.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/30/u...rom-hp-gorill/ ...

John Carmack has an article up on the Bethesda blog discussing the iPhone/iPad version of RAGE, which is said to run at an impressive 60fps. 'Managing over a gig of media made dealing with flash memory IO and process memory management very important, and I did a lot of performance investigations to figure things out. Critically, almost all of the data is static, and can be freely discarded. iOS does not have a swapfile, so if you use too much dynamic memory, the OS gives you a warning or two, then kills your process. The bane of iOS developers is that "too much" is not defined, and in fact varies based on what other apps (Safari, Mail, iPod, etc) that are in memory have done. If you read all your game data into memory, the OS can’t do anything with it, and you are in danger. However, if all of your data is in a read-only memory mapped file, the OS can throw it out at will.' And a tweet by Carmack yesterday suggests that an Android version of RAGE is on the way too.

http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/1...For-iOSAndroid ...

Microsoft's Kinect motion controller isn't due to ship until November 4th, but one retailer has jumped the gun, leaving a number of gamers with a bit of a quandary. The un-named distributor has sent what Microsoft describes as 'a very small number' of Kinect systems to lucky buyers who might not consider themselves quite so lucky if they try to use the device and its bundled games. Installing the games will require a firmware upgrade, which is nothing out of the ordinary, but in this case the upgrade hasn't yet been released. Attempting to install the non-existent update seems to fool the console into thinking you are trying to play a pirated game and locks the user out of Microsoft's Xbox Live on-line service

http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/1...s-To-Xbox-Live ...

Oral arguments for the California games law are set to begin on November 2. It's a hugely important court case for the industry, and if the Supreme Court sides with the legislators it could lead to an exodus of talent from the games business, says one attorney. 'Certainly less games would be produced and there would be a corresponding job loss,' said Patrick Sweeney, who leads the Video Game practice at Reed Smith LLP. 'But I expect the impact will likely be significantly deeper. I believe the independent development community would be severely impacted. Innovation, both from a creative and technological aspect, would also be stifled. The companies, brands and individuals that we should be embracing as the visionaries of this creative and collaborative industry will migrate their talents to a more expressive medium.' Meanwhile, Dr. Cheryl K. Olson, author of Grand Theft Childhood, notes that even if California gets its way, it could backfire

http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/1...ndustry-Exodus ...

Sony has announced that it will be bringing curious post-apocalyptic survival game, Tokyo Jungle, to Europe's PlayStation Network.

First announced at Tokyo Game Show last month, the game sees you picking an animal and then doing your best to make sure it survives on the mean streets of a deserted, decimated Tokyo.

What this essentially amounts to is an opportunity to set various animals against each other in a series of ludicrous battles. Elephant vs porcupine, ostrich vs chicken, elephant vs monkey... take your pick.

No concrete information yet on how this will translate in gameplay terms but check out the launch trailer below for a few more clues.

Tokyo Jungle will launch on PlayStation Network some time in 2011.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...med-for-eu-psn ...

There has been a 157 per cent year-on-year increase in the amount of time users spend watching movies and TV shows through Xbox Live, Microsoft has claimed.

According to a survey conducted for the platform holder by Knowledge Networks, 21 per cent of all American consumers now use game consoles to watch TV programmes and films through Netflix, Facebook, Twitter, Zune, Last.fm, ESPN and Hulu Plus apps.

Those figures will likely see a further jump with the new Xbox 360 dashboard update due next month, which adds further support for Zune and Kinect. You can check out all the changes for yourself from 4th November.

The survey went on to claim that 25 million Xbox Live members worldwide spend a total of one billion hours a month on the service – an average of 40 hours each.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...-for-tv-movies ...

Game Boy classic Super Mario Land will be one of the first games to hit the 3DS's online store, according to a video shown to Nintendo investors.

The clip was aired during an investor update hosted by CEO Satoru Iwata in which Nintendo's boss showed off the new 3DS Store.

According to Andriasang, he promised that it would be much easier to use than the DSiWare shopfront and would also have a promotional function, hosting game trailers and release information.

To take a look at the new store and see Super Mario Land running on the 3DS go to the 40 minute mark of the video embedded on Nintendo's Japanese site.

Nintendo confirmed the existence of a Virtual Console for the 3DS last month. You'll be able to download classic Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance titles to its new handheld. Apart from Super Mario Land, the only other title confirmed so far is The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX.

The 3DS is due for release in Europe in March 2011.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...tore-shown-off ...

The PlayStation Phone (or Zeus if you're in denial) looks a lot like the PSPGo, except for the fact that the analogue stick has been replaced with a strip of touch-pad and, obviously, it has the necessary phoney bits at either end.

Spec-wise it's going to be packing a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8655, 512MB of RAM, 1GB of ROM, and a screen between 3.7 and 4.1 inches.

We also 'know' it's going to be running on Android, which means it should be a lot more customisable and flexible than an Apple product, for example.

Of course, all this comes from various sources, insiders and crystal balls - even the pictures we've seen have been labelled as prototypes. So, really, we don't know anything for certain, but at least we'll have some idea of how likely this wish-list is.

Here are just some of the things that would make us pick up a PlayStation Phone on day one. Don't forget to throw your 'must haves' into the hat into the hat as well.

POCKET PLAYSTATION
So far there's been minimal talk about what kind of games we can actually expect on the PlayStation Phone - In fact, there's been minimal talk, full stop. We have heard, however, that we won't be seeing downloadable PSP games as such, but games made specially for the phone itself.

We say that's a load of old pickle juice. If this is going to be a PlayStation Phone it needs to knock the buttons off its rivals in terms of gaming. We don't expect it to become as hardcore as a handheld console - we're still hoping for a PSP2 to cover that - what would open our wallets, however, is PlayStation classics in our pocket.

That's proper games, not gimmicky addictions, that not only have quality gameplay at the core (even if they don't have the modern day polish) but a nice jolt of nostalgia to boot.

Whatever strategy Sony takes games wise with the phone, we just hope it won't suffer in the software department like the PSP has. Great, inventive developers need to be enthused and snatched up for the PS Phone if it's going to even have a chance of success with us gamers.


STICKY SITUATION
Is anyone else a little bit worried about that touch pad? We're petrified. Touch pads don't have anywhere near the tactile feedback and subtle control capabilities as a couple of analogue sticks.

We do realise, however, that two Sixaxis style sticks wouldn't work on a slide phone - although we think we could come up with a pretty decent pop-up mechanism for two analogue sticks, given a bit of cash and a design team.

Unless Sony's got some super feely tech going on though, we need something better than a touch-pad, which can be annoying enough when moving a mouse on a laptop, never mind trying to control a half decent action adventure game.

At the very least we think the PlayStation Phone needs to have some way of incorporating two PSP style analogue sticks. We know they aren't the best in the world, but they're a necessary trade-off for compact control. One isn't enough on the PSP but give us two and we'd take it over that touch-sensitive strip any day.

TOUCH ME
Ok, this sounds like a bit of a contradiction considering our last two requests but the PlayStation Phone does need some touch screen capabilities. From a function perspective alone this one's a dead cert.

It doesn't have any numbers on it, that's the problem. The keyboard then, for SMS messaging and dialling numbers (it's a phone as well remember) has to be an adaptable on-screen interface as with the iPhone. Unless Sony is going to make us scroll through the alphabet using the D-pad... Wait, Sony wouldn't make us do that would it?

And we know we said the PlayStation Phone should go beyond app gaming but that doesn't mean it can't cater for the little blighters at all. We're fans of games like Cut The Rope and Angry Birds and they work best with a bit of finger control.

Besides, they're so successful both in terms of printing money and critical acclaim that it would be mad for Sony not to try and get in on the market. We might be hardcore gamers, but we have a 'come one come all' mentality as long as the core remain well fed.

The touch screen can't be a makeshift thing though, Apple pretty much managed to take it to the next level and Sony need to match it. Remember, the PlayStation Phone has to allow people to browse the net, type and navigate its features with ease as well as providing great game content.

THE SOCIAL NETWORK
For the love of everything that's holy Sony, when can we get Trophies on the PSP? Wait, on second thoughts, scrap that, it's too late now. Just put Trophies straight on the PlayStation Phone. It's the perfect device for it.

We're assuming that the device will have both wireless and 3G connectivity so being fully integrated with friends in both a social and gaming level is crucial as well. Just like on the PS3 we want to be able to see friends' profiles, what they're playing and compare stats and Trophies. Basically the PS Phone needs a proper online gaming platform.

We want full integration with the PSP and PS3 as well, since we've already got remote access ...