EA has only revealed 20% of FIFA 11's new features, reckons PSM3 magazine.

Reporting on its latest hands-on with this year's instalment, the mag reveals that EA's hinted an all new tackling system could be implemented.

"Overall [FIFA 11 is] a bit slower and more considered, and very physical," it says. "EA have only revealed 20% of the new features, and [producer David] Rutter hints a new jostle/tackle system is yet to be announced."

On its hands-on time, PSM3 says: "Time on the ball felt scarce, so technique players really make a difference with one-touch passes in busy midfields

"The new Personality Plus system makes players feel more individual - true since we had more joy twisting at speed with Arshavin than Van Persie, although both were top players."

Sounds good. Among the "20%" of new features we know about are improved graphics, customisable audio, "massively" improved player AI and 'footballer personality'.

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It was once the global leader in the mobile phone market, but the rise of competitors such as Samsung, Apple and Google has seen Nokia’s grip on the sector reach a new low.
Research firm IDC claims that Korean tech giant Samsung has now become the leader in the ‘featurephone’ sector (basic devices that offer calls, texting and web access). In Q1 2010 Samsung sold 12.2m such devices in Western Europe, with Nokia selling just 9.1m – a year-on-year drop of 18 per cent.
Surprisingly, Nokia remains the smartphone leader in the territory with 4.9m units sold in the territory in the same period. This compares to 3m iPhones – though remember that while Nokia has a whole range of different smartphone options, Apple has just the iPhone.


In the same timeframe, RIM shifted 2.4m units and HTC 900k. Samsung’s smartphone performance leaves a little to be desired, however, with just 300k devices shifted.
However, Nokia’s future prospects in the smartphone sector look less pleasing. The latest YouGov Smartphone Mobile Internet Experience study shows a 12 per cent drop in consumers considering a Nokia the next time they upgrade their handsets.
Of current smartphone owners, 41 per cent expect their next handset to be an iPhone and only ten per cent expect it to be a Nokia. The lack of available apps and concerns about the Symbian OS were the main reasons cited.
“Where Nokia once led the market, it has drastically fallen by the wayside,” YouGov's technology and telecoms team research manager Russell Feldman stated. “Its OVI store continues to be significantly outperformed by both Apple's Apps store and Android Marketplace.
“The results of our data consistently show that the market leader is fast becoming an also ran in the smartphone market. New products, software and apps are needed soon if Nokia is to keep up with its rivals.”
There’s no sign, though, that these numbers are making Nokia reconsider its strict allegiance to the Symbian platform, however.
“I am committed, perhaps even obsessed, with getting Nokia back to being number one in high-end devices,” Nokia’s head of mobile solutions Anssi Vanjoki stated on the official Nokia blog.
“Despite rumours to the contrary, there are no plans to introduce an Android device from Nokia. Symbian is our platform of choice for Nokia smartphones. Symbian has taken a lot of criticism lately – some of it fair, some not. But what is consistently overlooked is that Symbian still accounts for more than two-fifths of the global smartphone market.”

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Sony has revealed the launch line-up for the PlayStation Move motion controller in Japan, with six titles available from day one rather than the 16 of the American launch.

The Japanese launch is due to take place on October 21, a month after the U.S. debut on September 19. Despite this delay fewer games will be available for the system initially, with website Andriasang confirming only the following:

EyePet (SCEJ, ¥3,980/$45)
Sports Champion (SCEJ, ¥3,980/$45)
Beat Sketch (aka Sing and Draw, SCEJ, ¥2,980/$34)
Fure! Fure! Bowling (aka High Velocity Bowling, SCEJ, ¥1,900/$22)
Machi Suberi (aka Kung Fu Rider, SCEJ, ¥3,980/$45)
Big 3 Gun Shooting (aka Time Crises: Razing Storm, Namco Bandai, ¥6,279/$71)
The already available Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition will also have a patch available from day one for Move support.

The U.S. line-up has yet to be finally confirmed, but is known to include at least 16 titles. The only game currently exclusive to the Japanese line-up is Beat Sketch, previously known as Sing and Draw.

Titles planned for release after the Japanese launch include:

Mugen Kairo Hikari to Kage no Hako (aka echochrome ii, SCEJ, November, ¥3,980/$45)
Nikudan (aka The Fight: Lights Out, SCEJ, November, ¥3,980/$45)
Move de Party (aka Move de Party, SCEJ, November, ¥3,980/$45)
TV SuperStars (SCEJ, December, ¥3,980)
Furi Furi! Sarugetchu (aka Ape Escape, SCEJ, 2010, price TBA)
Sorcery (SCEJ, 2011, price TBA)
Tower (SCEJ, 2011, price TBA)
The Shoot (SCEJ, 2011, price TBA)
Heroes on the Move (SCEJ, 2011, price TBA)
Move-compatible versions of Killzone 3, Hustler Kings and Heavy Rain are also confirmed for release but have no specific date.

Basic pricing for the Move system was revealed at Sony's pre-E3 media briefing in June. This included a Starter Pack including a controller and the PlayStation Eye camera, with the Japanese version of the bundle including game Beat Sketch for ¥5,980 ($68).

The Japanese launch will also offer two extra game hardware bundles. The first is for Capcom's Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition and will include a Move controller, PlayStation Eye camera and a copy of the game for ¥7,980 ($91).

A second bundle with Namco Bandai's Big 3 Gun Shooting (so-called because it contains coin-op conversions of Time Crisis 4, Razing Storm and Deadstorm Pirates) will cost ¥11,980 ($136) and includes a controller and the Move Shooting Attachment.

A "PlayStation Move Omniverse" demo disc will also be give to free with purchases of any hardware bundle or controller, although its contents have not yet been revealed.

Although the European launch for PlayStation Move has been confirmed for September 15, a few days before the U.S., few other details have yet been made official. However, UK retailers have begun advertising the basic controller for around £40 and the Starter Pack for between £50 and £60, though they continue to shift their pricing.

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New versions of the PlayStation 3 are due to reach the Japanese market on July 29.

The CECH-2500 series ships with hard drive capacities of either 160 or 320 Gigabytes, which will retail for ¥29,980 and ¥34,980 respectively, according to Andriasang.com.

The 160 GB model will be available in both the standard Charcoal Black and the new, Wii-like Classic White.

A range of white peripherals are to accompany the launch, including DualShock 3 controllers and vertical stands.

The existing 120GB model, which was formerly retailed at the same price as the new 160GB unit, will switch to open pricing as of tomorrow - often a sign that an SKU is to be gradually phased out.

Sony has confirmed to GamesIndustry.biz that the new models are currently for the Japanese market only, with nothing to announce for European and American markets for now.

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Major publisher figureheads such as EA’s John Riccitiello, Sony’s Jack Tretton, Take Two’s Strauss Zelnick and Dinsey Interactive’ Graham Hopper have expressed their concern that the potential introduction of new laws controlling the sale of video games could have a major impact on the sector’s viability in North America.
In April the US Supreme Court confirmed that it is to make a decision concerning a possible nationwide rollout for Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed legislation that would illegalise the sale of violent games to minors, placing them under the same level of control as pornography, tobacco or alcohol.
Unlike in the UK where mature games are covered by the same retail law as violent movies, in the US there is no legislation controlling the sale of video games. It has always been claimed until now that any controls would be unconstitutional and contravene the First Amendment, which guarantees the right to free speech.
Instead, the industry relies on a voluntary code of conduct to control the sale of violent or explicit games to kids. The practice, however, does remain legal.
“It’s very, very surprising that the Supreme Court is hearing the case,” Take Two CEO Strauss Zelnick told CNBC. “I’m worried about it, and I think everybody in our business should be really worried about it.”

If new laws are passed then individual states would be free to determine what sort of content retailers are or are not able to sell. The potential result could be disastrous for publishers and could even end up with them having to produce several different versions of any given title to ensure that it gets onto all US retailer’s shelves.
It could also lead to major retailers such as Wal-Mart refusing to stock some titles altogether – a move that could have a disastrous effect on sell-through levels.
“One of America’s great exports is entertainment,” EA CEO John Riccitiello outlined. “The implication of Schwarzenegger vs ESA is we could end up with state level bureaucracies that define what’s marketable in 50 different jurisdictions across the US. I can’t imagine the government trying to tell Steven Spielberg ‘we need 50 different cuts of your movie for each state’. It will screw us up in a real way.”
Disney Interactive Studios’ executive VP and general manager Graham Hopper added: “It’s not about having a dramatic impact on our bottom line. It’s going to make our retailing abilities a nightmare.”
On a unit basis M-rated games constituted 17.4 per cent of all US game sales in 2009. Financially they likely occupied a higher percentage. More worryingly, publishers such as Take Two are heavily reliant on M-rated games, and some of the industry’s biggest sellers – such as Activision’s record-breaking Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – are the backbone of its current success.
“We believe as an industry that the primary reason the Supreme Court is hearing it is despite the fact that this law has been struck down, the issue has come up 12 times previously,” SCEA’s president and CEO Jack Tretton stated. “I think the Supreme Court is looking at it to potentially see if there’s something to it or to put an end to it once and for all.”
The ESA has previously indicated that it will fight the proposed introduction of any new legislation.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/39887/US-C...-new-game-laws ...

Metaflow established itself in the old walled garden era as a workflow management specialist, offering a platform that gave content providers pain-free access to operator and D2C portals.
It still does this, but has now broadened its service to include a B2B Marketplace through which a developer can register, upload their content and wait for the royalty cheques to come in.
This channel now supports Android developers, reflecting the fact that such products are increasingly being sold outside the Android Market store.
One early participant is 3D games developer Polarbit. Its CEO, Mitri Bautista-Wiberg, said: “As an independent developer and publisher, direct and cost-efficient routes to sales channels, operators and end-users, is vital.
"By integrating Metaflow Submissions and B2B Marketplace solutions into the workflow of Fuse, our development platform, we take one step further towards making it a one-stop, fully device and channel independent handheld game development and deployment solution."

Charles McLeod, CEO of Metaflow, added: “Metaflow provides the opportunity to connect thousands of the best premium content developers into hundreds of sales channels by providing a one stop shop to develop, promote B2B discovery, distribution and delivery everywhere.”

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/37735...oid-developers ...

Sony is working on a new secret PlayStation concept, Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida has revealed.

The project - most likely to be the long-awaited 'PSP2' - is being created in full collaboration with Sony's studio network.

Yoshida told Develop: "When Ken Kutaragi moved on and Kaz Harai became the president of SCE, the first thing Kaz said was, 'get Worldwide Studios in on hardware development'.

"So he wanted developers in meetings at the very beginning of concepting new hardware, and he demanded SCE people talk to us [developers]."

When asked if the approach applied to new hardware already being created, he added: "Yes, we are undergoing many activities that we haven't yet been talking about in public. Some future platform-related activities."

CVG revealed earlier this year than Sony Computer Entertainment had filed a trademark in the US under the name of 'Playview'.

The filing described the trademarked device as a: 'Portable electronic device for receiving and reading text and images and sound through wireless Internet access and for displaying electronically published materials, namely, books, journals, newspapers, magazines, multimedia presentations.'

However, it added that the product would handle 'Computer game software recorded on optical discs'.

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It’s only been on retail shelves for a month, but Sega has already confirmed that it won’t be publishing a sequel to Obsidian’s latest RPG release Alpha Protocol.
The game was released on May 28th and wasn’t that well received by reviewers, managing an average of just 63 per cent (on Xbox 360) on reviews aggregation site Metacritic.
“Let's speak very commercially; the game hasn't sold what we've expected, therefore we won't be doing a sequel,” Sega West president Mike Hayes told CVG. “The concept was brilliant, though.
“You know this whole thing with Metacritic where you have to be in the high 70s to mid-80s minimum [to have any success]. Well, with RPGs you have got to be in the late 80s. Whilst we had a good game, I don't think we had a game that had enough to get us to that upper echelon and I think that was the issue. 

“The amount you need to invest to get there is so large because RPGs are naturally big projects. We've decided we won't do a sequel.”

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/39883/Alph...quel-ruled-out ...

The previous Government is facing criticism over its projects to develop iPhone applications, including a Foreign Office travel advice app and a jobseekers tool.
According to the BBC, a Freedom of Information request revealed that a number of projects undertaken with costs ranging from £10,000 to £40,000, the most expensive being an unfinished DVLA app guiding people on how to change a wheel on their car.
“It seems many Government bodies have given in to the temptation to spend money on fashionable gimmicks at a time when they are meant to be cutting back on self-indulgent wastes of money,” said the campaign director of the Tax Payers Alliance, Mark Wallace.
“It is ridiculous not only that they are commissioning these apps but that some of them are supposedly secret on grounds of national security. Someone who is faced with losing their home because of high tax bills, or whose life is being ruined by crime isn't going to get any reassurance from knowing there's an app for that.”
The news comes after the Coalition Government stated intentions to review the 820 websites currently on the books, which have cost £94 million in development and running costs and a further £32 million in staff.

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