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I didn't expect much from games on the iPhone. I had visions of casual games, perhaps a fancy take on solitaire or a version of poker that takes advantage of the handset's touchscreen. Surely not a true mobile gaming experience.

Boy, was I wrong. For the last few days I've been sampling some of the games available from the iTunes Store on the iPod Touch, and I've been stunned at how elaborate and involved they are. On the iPod Touch I've played a version of Gameloft's Real Soccer 2009 that rivals the version of the game on the Nintendo DS, and I didn't even miss the buttons. I've seen demonstrations of Sim City, forthcoming for the iPhone and the Touch from Electronic Arts (ERTS), that look more elaborate and sophisticated than any versions I've played before on a desktop PC or console.

They're immersive, addictive fun. And it's now readily apparent to me that the iPhone and iPod Touch are well on their way to becoming an important force in handheld gaming. When you consider the ease and reach of Apple's (AAPL) online method for distributing games, Apple could do in this category what it did in online music, causing big headaches for the genre's established players, Sony (SNE) and Nintendo.

Apple's come a long way in short order. In the three months and change since the iTunes App Store opened for business, it's already home to some 1,500 games, compared with fewer than 300 titles for Sony's PlayStation Portable and about 600 for Nintendo's handheld console, the DS.

Apple's Gaming Advantages
The iPhone maker is also holding its own when it comes to units sold. Based on sales data and analysts' projections, Apple is on track to sell an easy 40 million devices or more a year that are capable of playing games.

Nintendo sold 42 million DS consoles during the 18 months from January 2007 to June 2008, according to market research firm iSuppli. So Apple is on pace to sell about as many game-capable handhelds in a single year as Nintendo, the market's current leader, has sold in the most recently reported 18 months. This suggests that Apple could be on the cusp of claiming the crown as the world's market leader in handheld gaming.

Now look at Apple's advantages over competitors. Apple already has more titles for its games than both of the other two combined. And aside from the free ones, games on the App Store sell at prices ranging up to $9.99 and sometimes a little more. Compare that with the $20 to $40 for Nintendo DS games and the $10 to $40 for games on the PSP.

And with Apple selling via iTunes, there are no costs associated with the distribution of physical media. All games are downloaded directly to the device. And in the event the game is buggy, the developer can easily issue an easy-to-download fix. The developer gets 70% of the sale and Apple keeps 30%, with no one else to get in the middle. Nintendo and Sony partners have to worry about shelf space at stores, shipping, returns, defective merchandise, and even the occasional shoplifter.

On a revenue comparison, Apple's gaming sales will be much smaller than at Sony or Nintendo because the price of individual games is so much lower. What's more, not everyone who buys an iPhone or a Touch will also buy games. But the potential game sales per iPhone user will be higher because of the price differential. In its most recent quarter, Sony sold 3.18 million PSPs and about 12 million games for an average of fewer than four games per device.

Apple's Impact on the Gaming Industry
While there's no data yet on specific iPhone game sales, users of the iPhone are heavier gamers than those of other phones. A survey by iSuppli's ConsumerTrak found that U.S. cell-phone users report spending less than 3% of phone-use time on games. But that average shoots up considerably to more than 9% on the first iPhone and 6% on the iPhone 3G. (That's still less time than iPhone owners spend on e-mail, texting, or talking.)

How big an impact can Apple have? "They're not going to put Sony or Nintendo out of business," says Van Baker, a gaming analyst at Gartner Group (IT). Both companies have strong and thriving home-console businesses.

And the iPhone and Touch aren't ideal gaming devices. They're also made for calling, Web access, and e-mail. And both lack buttons, which arguably would give players more control over complex in-game moves and maneuvers. (But the iPhone and the Touch have the multitouch screen and the accelerometer, which allow for some pretty fancy moves of their own).

Nor are Apple's newly spawned gaming devices cheap. The iPod Touch starts at $229 and the iPhone 3G starts at $199 and requires a two-year service contract. The Nintendo DS goes for $129 while the PSP goes for $170 to $200. But once you add the cost of games, and in the case of the PSP, a $30-to-$40 Memory Stick, the iPhone's price begins to look competitive. Then the iPhone also has iTunes, which includes easy access to music, movies, TV shows, and more games all the time. ...

Konami has unveiled the final character details and new screenshots for Castlevania Judgment, Konami's first Castlevania title for Wii™. Produced by legendary Castlevania producer Koji "Iga" Igarashi, Castlevania Judgment brings together fully playable characters from the franchise's 22-year history. The new assets include screenshots and biographies of the final three characters in the game: Grant Danasty, Cornell and Sypha.

Assets for Castlevania Judgment can be downloaded at Konami's media area on the company's Web site: http://www.konami-data.com/pr/index.php.

Character Biographies:

Grant Danasty
Grant Danasty used to live as a noble thief (much like Robin Hood) all the while aspiring to become a vampire hunter like Trevor. As the most agile man in Transylvania, Grant Danasty joined forces with Trevor to defeat Dracula. Since overpowering Dracula, Grant Danasty has become a true champion of good, devoting his time to restoring the town to the days before Dracula's rule.

Cornell
Cornell, a proud werewolf whose martial arts are said to be invincible, has come to rescue his younger sister Ada, who was kidnapped and taken to Dracula's castle. With the blood of beast-men in his veins, in Castlevania Judgment, Cornell is transformed into a wolf and unable to change back.

Sypha
Sypha is a tough, strong-willed witch who uses fire, lightning and ice magic. Affiliated with the church, Sypha hides her true nature by wearing priestly clothes. While Sypha has not yet met Trevor, fate has determined that they will defeat Dracula together and then marry.

Castlevania Judgment is rated "T" for Teen by the ESRB and scheduled to be released on Wii™ in November, 2008. For more information, please visit: http://www.konami.com. ...

The more casual console collectors in the audience may scoff at the asking price for this PowerFest '94 Competition Super Nintendo, but if you've got an extra fifty-thousand dollar bill lying around, you really can't go wrong with this little stocking stuffer. Built for the Nintendo World Championships II competition, this one of a kind survivor — only 32 were made, they say — from the early '90s is a hidden bargain.

Why? According to the seller, it features level 1-1 of Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, five laps of the first track from Super Mario Kart and the home run derby from Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball. That's practically a hundredth of a full game, right there!

http://kotaku.com/5076423/50000-gets...super-nintendo ...

The more casual console collectors in the audience may scoff at the asking price for this PowerFest '94 Competition Super Nintendo, but if you've got an extra fifty-thousand dollar bill lying around, you really can't go wrong with this little stocking stuffer. Built for the Nintendo World Championships II competition, this one of a kind survivor — only 32 were made, they say — from the early '90s is a hidden bargain.

Why? According to the seller, it features level 1-1 of Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, five laps of the first track from Super Mario Kart and the home run derby from Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball. That's practically a hundredth of a full game, right there!

http://kotaku.com/5076423/50000-gets...super-nintendo ...

CVG had a chat with Microsoft's head honcho on Xbox Live in Europe, Jerry Johnson, in which he revealed that half of the original feature set envisioned for the New Xbox Experience was "cut out" along the way. According to Johnson, we'll still see at least some of these features delivered via more frequent, seamless updates to the NXE.

Johnson told CVG that there's "still a lot of stuff we want to do" and that "half of the things we wanted to do, we cut out of the service." One of these things was "a Photo Party app that will be part of the platform," he revealed. Using it as an example of the face of updates to come, Johnson said, "The way it will be distributed is all of a sudden you'll see a slot on the dashboard and if you don't have it you click on it and it's going to download from the service onto your application part of the dashboard. Those are the type of things we're going to start doing."

The Primetime channel, which will house various multiplayer, social-focused, live "game shows," will be delivered in this manner in spring 2009, Johnson confirmed. It had originally been slated as part of the NXE launch, before joining the list of things that were nixed.

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/11/04/mi...-features-cut/ ...

Spb Software, world's leading Windows Mobile software developer releases Spb Traveler 2.0 - an expert mobile travel assistant application that is a pleasure to handle. The new Spb Traveler 2.0 offers a revolutionary animated finger-friendly user interface, a subscription-free flight search engine (powered by OAG), an animated 3D Globe with real satellite image of the sky, and a Geo Game for fun and learning. Winner in Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine's Best Software Awards, Spb Traveler provides valuable tools and information to travelers such as world time and global weather service (powered by Foreca, the trusted provider of msn.com), tip calculator and multilanguage phrase book, as well as currency, unit, and clothing size converters. In all it does, Spb Traveler 2.0 has the speed and usability of an Spb Mobile Shell-powered interface, topped off with high-class 3D animation and gestures

http://spbsoftwarehouse.com/products/traveler/?en ...

Elecont Dialer allows users to organize phone contacts directly on Home/Today screen. Contacts can be easily accessed by touching it with finger or stylus or selecting it by joystick. Elecont Dialer shows contacts in multiple layouts, optimized for different screen sizes. Most interesting feature is display mode with touch-controlled sliding effect, which takes only 1 line of Today screen. It saves screen space for other plugins

http://www.elecont.com/news-dialer-oct-08.htm ...