Habbo research puts Finnish handset maker first, but LG, Apple and BlackBerry gain ground.
Nokia is the number one mobile phone brand according to the 112,000 teenagers who took part in the Global Habbo Youth Survey Brand Update 2009 (GHYS).

The annual poll, which was conducted by virtual world specialist Habbo in 30 countries, put Nokia top for the third year running, with 21 per cent of those surveyed favouring the brand.

That share is down, however, from 29 per cent in 2008 and Nokia only occupies the number one spot in 13 countries compared to 15 a year ago.

Number two overall is Sony Ericsson with 18 per cent of those surveyed favouring it (also down YoY, from 21 per cent in 2008).


Motorola, meanwhile, has fallen out of the global top five handset brands despite being placed third in 2008. Conversely, Samsung, LG and Apple have moved up to third, fourth and fifth place, respectively.

Oisin Lunny, country manager, Habbo UK, comments “The mobile phone is an important part of a teenager’s life. With the growth of smartphones, web access and content are as central to the teen mobile experience as SMS and voice once were. Mobile brands must engage with teens across these areas in order for teens to recognise them as market leaders.”

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/33415...n-mobile-brand ...

E3’09: MCV looks back at the announcements that simply be couldn’t be kept under wraps
This year’s E3 was a spectacular return to for the show, with all three of the major platform holders making huge announcements that bode well for their respective platforms. But in today’s day and age of 24/7 reporting, keeping those secrets under wraps has becoming increasingly tough.
Here’s a quick look at what we knew that we shouldn’t have known, and what the powers at be did manage to surprise us with.
THE LEAKS
* Sony’s Motion Sensing Prototype – Jack Tretton boldly professed on the E3 stage that Sony’s new motion tech was one secret it had managed to keep. Not so, Mr. Tretton. MCV had word of the announcement hours before it went live.
* PSPgo – Revealed in the most spectacular fashion, the PSPgo was old news by Saturday afternoon with HD video and pics already doing the digital rounds. In fact, word of the new machine’s name had been around for weeks.

* Project Natal – We all knew that Microsoft was working on Xbox 360 motion tech, even if the rumours relating the recently acquired 3DV were slightly off the mark.

* New Mario – Mario was odds on to make an E3 appearance this year, and MCV knew for certain that a new Mario game was going to be announced, with Super Mario Bros Wii already name-dropped.
* Gran Turismo PSP – MCV had word that the long-awaited handheld version of Polyphony Digital’s was to hog much of the PSP limelight well ahead of the presentation itself.
* Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker – We cut it fine, but MCV had not only identified a new MGS PSP title for E3 – we also got the right name for you.

* Crackdown 2 – Again, this one had been in the works for quite some time, but it was a cheeky Tweet from developers Ruffian that sprung this one early.
* Wii Fit Plus – Owing to Nintendo’s habit of hanging on to a title for as long as possible before outdating it with a sequel, a second Wii Fit outing was by no means a given this E3. Shame, then, that it had been widely predicted.
* Halo Reach – Damn the pesky internet. Not only does it never forget, but make one cock-up on your forum page and a million fanboys are all over it in a shot.
* Forza 3 – We’ve been seeing leaks about this title in various forms for a long, long time now, so it really was about time Microsoft came clean about its exciting new racer.
* Crysis 2 – Not so much a leak as a simply matter of deduction. With Crytek making such big noise about how well its CryENGINE3 runs on both Xbox 360 and PS3, anyone not putting those particular pieces together needs to take a long, hard look at themselves.
* The Last Guardian – The only thing we didn’t know was the name. The video, the developer, the hype – all very old news.
THE SECRETS
* Project Natal – We knew something was coming, but the scope of Microsoft’s new technology was incredibly hard to foresee. Talk of Peter Molyneux’s involvement had been going about, but Milo was a big surprise – and a very welcome one.
* New Mario – Mario was coming, we knew that. But in three separate titles? Whilst Super Mario Bros Wii was no shock, Galaxy 2 was a (hoped for) bolt from the blue, as was Mario’s downloadable DSi title.
* Final Fantasy XIV – This is what the internet geeks call a ‘megaton’, right? The collective gasps of both the Intent office and the E3 audience told you all you needed to know about this announcement. Despite everything, this was the single biggest moment this E3 – much like FFXIII’s ‘defection’ to Xbox 360 was last year’s.
* Agent – A new property? From Rockstar? Exclusive to PS3? Incredible stuff. Jack Tretton did a great job of containing what must have been his quite unbearable excitement.
* Gran Turismo 5 – Far from not predicting it, MCV actually got this one wrong, claiming that GT5 was to be a complete no-show this year. Ooops.
* Metal Gear Solid Rising – This was sort of leaked, in so far as Konami’s teaser site had told us some sort of MGS was on the way. We all expected MGS5, or an MGS4 port for Xbox 360. What no-one foresaw was a new, un-named multi-platform sequel.
* Left 4 Dead 2 – Another huge surprise, here. It feels like the first Left 4 Dead still has plenty of legs at retail, so this announcement of a sequel had simply not been anticipated. Keeping this quiet was a tough job.
* Metroid Other M – No-one saw this coming. The fact that big name developer Team Ninja has been bought on board makes this particular franchise revival all the more exciting.
* Resident Evil PSP – Another killer franchise made for another killer announcement from Sony. The lack of leak may be credited to the scarcity of show information, which suggests that this project is in its very early stages.
* Vitality Sensor – Even if this had have been leaked, few people would have taken it seriously. There’s never been a more muted response to a Nintendo hardware announcement – not that it will stop the thing selling by the bucket load.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/34602/E3-t...-and-the-leaks ...

Disney supports physical product with gift card initiative
Disney is supporting retail with gift cards that will allow mobile users to download Hannah Montana content to their phones.
The first of the gift cards is available at 600 Sainsbury's stores across the UK, priced at £5.99. Customers who purchase the Hannah Montana cards will be able to go online to download games, screensavers and ringtones.
“Hannah Montana is a worldwide phenomena with a passionate fan base for whom mobile phones play a big part in their lives. Bringing the mobile content to retail in a tangible product is a great way for the consumer to find the content they are looking for whether they are buying for themselves or as a gift for a fan,” said Sunil Gunderia, vice president, head of mobile for Disney Interactive Studios, Europe.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/34596/Hann...ming-to-retail ...

AiLive's gesture recognition tech available for free to registered developers

Sony revealed its motion-sensing 'wand' controller at its press conference yesterday - and already it's revealed its plans to help developers get the most of the peripheral.

AiLive – company which co-developed the Wii MotionPlus together with Nintendo – will make its LiveMove 2 motion recognition software available for free to all licensed PS3 developers thanks to a new deal with Sony Computer Entertainment.

Developers can 'train' the software to understand key gestures, which can then be accurately recognised when performed by players, taking the burden of motion interpretation away from game teams.

"The phenomenal precision of SCE's new controller combined with the effortless expressive power of AiLive's LiveMove 2 will dramatically expand the frontier for natural motion control in games," said Dr.

Wei Yen, chairman of AiLive

"Our market-proven LiveMove 2 software gives developers the power to inject freeform player motion directly into their game. We're thrilled to help deliver this unparalleled level of control to PLAYSTATION® 3 players."

Masayuki Chatani, executive vice president and chief technology officer at Sony Computer Entertainment, added: "The LiveMove 2 development tool is the premier solution for recognizing human gestures in games. I am very happy to be able to make this revolutionary tool available to all PLAYSTATION® 3 developers. We eagerly look forward to the new and engaging game experiences developers will create for the PLAYSTATION® 3 with the help of LiveMove."

http://www.developmag.com/news/32075...e-2-to-PS3-SDK ...

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata stepped onto the stage during the company's press conference. His big news? He wants to take your pulse.


The crowd in the Nokia Theater hushed when the jovial Nintendo President Satoru Iwata walked onto the stage. For good reason: Iwata helped usher in the sales phenomenon known as the Nintendo Wii. But despite the console's success Iwata revealed he's still concerned by gaming's inequality. There's still a gap between the novice and veteran game player, he said. He called for an entirely new way of thinking about games.

This, of course, is similar to the introduction of Microsoft's Project Natal, so I expected Nintendo was preparing to counter Microsoft's announcement.

Instead, Iwata unveiled the Nintendo Vitality Sensor. Like the Wii Nunchuck, the device plugs into the butt of your remote. And like a medical Oximeter, you slip the device over your index finger so it can read your pulse and other "signals being transmitted by [gamers] bodies."

The premise sounds similar to some of the stress- and emotion-sensing head gear created by companies like Emotiv.

Iwata suggests this device could be used as a relaxation aid. We suggest it's another sign that Nintendo has eclipsed the core gaming demographic (which isn't necessarily a bad thing, just different).

http://www.gamebizblog.com/gamebizbl...ent-award.html ...

Tucked in between the "worst kept secret" PSP Go and motion control demos at its E3 press conference, Sony also revealed new content for the PlayStation Network video service, and the ability to download video directly to the PSP, no PS3 or PC intermediary needed. No word on when to expect the new content exactly, but it will include video from Showtime Networks, Starz, G4 & E!, Summit Entertainment, The Weinstein Company, HDNet & Magnolia Pictures, Anime Network, Media Blasters, Right Stuf's Nozomi Entertainment, Starz Media's Manga Entertainment, Toei Animation, Viz Media, WEP, UFC, TNA and Video Action Sports. Looks like Sony will have easy on the go access to video store content up and running before Microsoft gets its Zune integration act together, but whether that compares to 1080p instant streaming promises remains to be seen (Hint: first one with direct Hulu access wins, we're just saying, guys.) Check out Sony's trailer embedded after the break.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/02/s...-store-16-new/ ...

In case you missed it yesterday, video of Sony's PS3 motion controller prototype has made its way to YouTube. It's not an ordinary Wiimote, it's not as mind blowing as Microsoft's Natal, it's, well... it's something in between. And it's not available until 2010 so this is as close as you'll get for awhile.







http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/03/v...ler-in-action/ ...

Not so eager to burn thousands of dollars and years of your life at flight school, only to get stuck with pitiful route options and no three day layovers in Barbados? Have a look at your next best option, Logitech's Flight System G940. Hailed as the company's first force-feedback flight simulation controller, this thing goes far beyond the simple call of duty. Instead of just tossing a joystick in a box and calling it a day, Logitech has also included dual throttle and rudder pedals, giving you 250 programmable button options and bragging rights galore. Sadly, you'll have to coast through the summer 'til this hits Europe and America in September, but that should give you plenty of time to save up the three Benjamins it'll require to bring one home in legal fashion.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/03/l...ces-flight-sc/ ...

Hear ye, hear ye! The abomination you see above can be yours today for the low, low price of just $374. Or, you can send in your own DSi, have it abused as such and returned to you for the even lower price of just $174. Don't ever expect it to forgive you, though.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/03/c...es-unthinkabl/ ...