Nokia's Ovi Store is currently generating nearly one million downloads a day, according to George Linardos, the company's VP of Product, Media.
However, the company has already been working on a completely rebuilt version of the store, which is due to be launched next year.
“We're doing just under one million downloads a day, and our download numbers are growing 100% month-on-month,” said Linardos, at a roundtable event in London to discuss the company's app strategy with journalists.
However, he also said that the current iteration of the Ovi Store has always been intended as a stopgap measure, designed originally to consolidate Nokia's various content distribution initiatives – Download, MOSH and WidSets.
“All the while there's been this new platform being built in the background, which we'll be talking about in the next couple of months and launching in the Spring with what we're calling 2.0,” said Linardos.

“It's being built from scratch with a few legacy components, which will be phased out over the course of 2.1 and 2.2. So it'll probably be about 75% from scratch, and three or four months after that it will be 100%.”
Ovi Store 2.0's key improvements will focus on speed, user interface and reliability. For the full report on today's roundtable, click here.
EDIT: Nokia clarified at the end of the roundtable event - after this story was published - that 2.0 is not the official term for what's being launched in Spring. It's more of a refresh, or 'replatforming'.

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/35349...ming-in-Spring ...

Silent Hill Shattered Memories studio Climax wary of the Wii demographic
The CEO at Climax Studios – developer of the acclaimed Silent Hill Shattered Memories – believes that Wii titles for core audiences remain commercially unproven, and therefore increasingly difficult to develop for.
Simon Gardner told Develop that his studio has been able to get the most out of the Wii’s modest tech without too many issues. However he added that a big challenge comes from the Wii’s dichotomised installed base.
“We feel we now understand the hardware and the interface very well,” he said. “But the flip-side to that is that non-Nintendo publishers feel they haven’t done that well on it commercially.
“That’s the biggest issue. From that perspective the Wii is a really difficult device to develop for, because as a hardcore games machine, Wii games are always going to be held up against whatever’s just come out on the Xbox 360 or PS3.
Gardner said he was bored with hearing and reading the obvious differences in graphical power between the Wii and its competitors.

“The second you try to make a gamer’s game for it you will get unflattering comparisons,” he said. “That’s why it’s difficult.”
Gardner went on to express concerns about Wii’s installed base, saying that “despite it being very large, I think the attachment rate is fairly low, and I think that colours publishers’ view on how much they can invest in the system.”
Said Gardner: “I think that ROI’s on Wii games are probably low. I think publishers are very conservative on how much they can spend on it.”
Climax has just recently sent out review copies of Silent Hill Shattered Memories, and so far the game has enjoyed critical praise.
But – as with Visceral Games’ Dead Space Extraction, Platinum Games’ MadWorld and Grasshopper’s No More Heroes – critical acclaim on the Wii does not always result in comparable commercial success.
Asked if he thought Shattered Memories would buck the trend, Gardner remained cautious.
“We just don’t know if hardcore games can succeed on the Wii. I think it’s yet to be proven. I think a lot of people have bought Wii’s, but many aren’t buying software for it.
“With Silent Hill Shattered Memories, we’ve made a gamer’s game, and we’ve put a lot of passion into the game to get it right. But we’ve now got to wait and see how successful it’s really going to be commercially. That’s kind of out of our hands.”

http://www.develop-online.net/news/3...to-develop-for ...

Paddy Power, Ireland's largest bookmaker, has announced it is paying out early on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 being this year's Christmas number one.

Although the bookie saw a late surge of bets for FIFA 10, which resulted in the game's odds plummeting from 10/1 to 9/4 to make it second favourite, it decided MW2 had built up too much of a lead.

"Three out of every four bets placed on the Christmas number one videogame were backing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. With this level of support I don't think we're taking too much of a risk by paying out early," said Paddy Power.

The bookie will be paying out over EUR 12,000 to backers of MW2. Odds as high as 2/1 had been offered back in September.

The closing odds were as follows:

2/7 Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
9/4 FIFA 10
6/1 Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Winter Games
6/1 Wii Sports Resort
10/1 Assassin's Creed II
14/1 New Super Mario Bros Wii
25/1 Wii Fit Plus
33/1 HALO 3: ODST
33/1 Need For Speed: Shift
33/1 DJ Hero
33/1 Football Manager 2010
50/1 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
66/1 James Cameron's Avatar: The Game
66/1 PES 2010: Pro Evolution Soccer
80/1 Planet 51: The Game
80/1 Guitar Hero 5
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...y-on-xmas-no-1 ...

via Gizmodo


Theoretically, if you were to strap a PS3 Slim, projector and substantial weight in batteries to your body, you could play games on a big screen anywhere. Well in practice, someone actually did that:



Yes, it's just an Epson viral-ish video, but that doesn't make the clip any less wonderful, as a gamer walks the streets, choosing any convenient building for his giant canvas (while surely getting paid for it). Eventually, as pico projectors become more popular and powerful, it'll be interesting to see how many of us torture the landscape with Tekken 6 matches, and just how authorities choose to respond. ...

After a bare-bones reveal on Monday, developer Visceral Games has fleshed out Dead Space 2, confirming multiplayer, an enormous space station called Sprawl, dialogue for Isaac Clarke and a wide array of weapons, monsters and more.

Multiplayer wasn't elaborated on, but RelyOnHorror's regurgitation of Game Informer's spread (via VG247) did promise we'll be able to dismember our friends. And we like the sound of that.

The new hub to everything will be Sprawl, a space station-cum-metropolis built around the remains of Saturn's moon. This dramatically dwarfs the Ishimura of Dead Space 1 and provides Visceral with variety: an opportunity to create shopping mall, church and school environments, to name a few.

Sprawl has been infected by the thought-to-be-extinct Necromorph and Clarke, the only person who knows how to deal with the menace, is called upon for help. He'll witness the Sprawl outbreak from the beginning, seeing death and panic spread rapidly through this rag-tag settlement.

Three years after the events on-board the Ishimura, Clarke's mind has unhinged, and Dead Space 2 will delve into his character much more deeply. He'll talk, for starters, and be under immense pressure his "twisted mind" may not stand - quite how that will manifest in-game we do not know.

The sequel has loads more suit upgrades and customisation options and each will be distinguishable visually. Clarke's arsenal will expand as well, as other weapons are brought in-line with the mighty Plasma Cutter. There's a new Javelin Gun that pins enemies to surfaces, and Telekinesis will be revamped and implemented more carefully. Clarke's a bit faster and more responsive, too.

The all-important horror element will return with bells on. Enemies will be less predictable and pacing will be more considered; at times you will feel like the hunter and at times you'll fight wildly like cornered prey. Visceral wants to lower the amount of monsters bursting out on you and instil an eerie, thought-provoking scare.

New monsters will help achieve this goal. One eye-catching addition is dead, grinning and naked infants that have no lips and sealed eyes. They'll dash at and pounce on Clarke, stabbing mercilessly at him with long claws. Another humanoid enemy literally spills his guts, which will infectiously slop towards Clarke.

Or there's a tentacled man who's gullet hangs from his mouth like an enormous tongue. He'll attempt to lasso Clarke and bring him close. But our favourite new addition are Stalkers: speedy pack hunters that will try to trick Clarke and out-flank him or lure him into a trap.

Missions, akin to these new monsters, will offer more variation and require brain-power as well as a quick trigger-finger to solve.

Zero-Gravity has also been improved, and allows Clarke to leap away from floors, walls and ceilings and float freely through environments, shooting as he goes.

And, as if that weren't enough, Visceral wants to litter the campaign with "epic" moments, like grand boss battles and scripted set-piece extravaganzas.

Oh, and RelyOnHorror's opinion of the screenshots were that Dead Space 2 is a "much more beautiful" game than the original.

Dead Space is in development for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. The game has no release date.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/hu...reveal-spilled ...

Silver-haired EA boss John Riccitiello has referred to Sony's new motion-sensing PS3 wand as "Gem".

"In the coming year, both Sony and Microsoft have announced new controllers. Motion sensor controls, Natal and Gem, these are likely to bring new consumers into the marketplace," blurted Riccitiello during UBS' Annual Global Media Conference yesterday, as overheard by IGN.

Sony's responded and said that no official name has been announced.

The PS3 motion-sensing wand will be released this spring. Four can be used at once, handy for Vishnu, and they'll rumble until the cows come home.

Meanwhile, Microsoft's Natal carries no date, although an autumn 2010 release appears to be everybody's best guess.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/ri...s-ps3-wand-gem ...

Telltale Game's website is hinting that detective duo Sam & Max could return in 2010.

A new page has popped up with the message, "What's new for Sam & Max?" above the date 2010.

Click on the star constellations around the sides of the page and you'll also get to see some concept art. Looks like a sci-fi theme is in the works.

But will the gameplay revolve around the same point-and-clicking we're used to? Here's hoping Telltale reveals more details soon.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/sa...return-in-2010 ...

Samsung is betting there's room for more in the smartphone market and has unveiled its new bada OS. The name 'bada,' means 'ocean' in Korean and was chosen to convey the 'limitless variety of potential applications which can be created using the new platform.' Samsung claims the OS is extremely simple for developers, saying that bada was built to be extremely interactive with its users — including flash control, motion sensing, fine-tuned vibration control and face detection. Samsung is hoping developers will take this user interface and create a variety of applications focused around it, and thus provide different types of apps than exist for the iPhone and Android OS. The bada OS has a variety of sensors, including accelerometers, tilt, weather, proximity and activity. Samsung will be hosting a series of Developer Days in Seoul, London and San Francisco, among other cities, throughout 2010

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/09/...s-With-Bada-OS ...

Any machines that need fixing after tomorrow will not be returned until after the festive break
With two members of the MCV team having used Microsoft’s Xbox 360 repair service in the last couple of months alone, we know all too well the pain of being without your console – but if your Xbox 360 breaks from tomorrow onwards you could be in for a frustrating Christmas.
European Xbox Community Manager Graeme Boyd has today confirmed via Twitter that any machines sent off to Germany for repair after December 11th will not be returned in time for Christmas.
“From the Xbox Support Team – if you're getting your Xbox repaired tomorrow is the last day for pick-up to get it back before Christmas,” he explained.
Time to double check that your console is well ventilated.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/36832/Xbox...deadline-dated ...