We're all used to seeing rubbish game-to-movie adaptations. Super Mario Bros was atrocious, Max Payne forgettable, Resident Evil mindless - and don't even get us started on anything Uwe Boll's ever touched. (No, really - he might put us in a boxing ring and beat the snot out of us).

So it goes without saying that when I plonked myself down in the Leicester Square Odeon this month to watch Disney's Prince of Persia: Sands Of Time, I wasn't expecting much.

In fact, the knives (or ancient daggers, in this case) were very much out - not least for Jake Gylenhaal's smug Hollywood face.


The movie kicked off with the expected eye-staggering blockbuster glitz - and it was very clear that no expense had been spared by Jerry Bruckheimer to make every inch of his desert tale scream 'epic'.

But then something very odd happened: Sands of Time smashed a summer blockbuster tradition... and didn't get rubbish halfway through. In fact, it only became more brilliant.

More here --> http://www.computerandvideogames.com...VG-General-RSS ...

Ubisoft's CEO Yves Guillemot has said that he estimates around 50 per cent of console videogames will be available in 3D by 2012.

Speaking to investors last night following the release of the company's full year financial results, he said that discussions with 3DTV manufacturers had been positive and he expects 3D to grow rapidly over the next couple of years.

"The 3D games are going to come more and more with the TV screens that are available. We did Avatar last year and the experience was enhanced by the 3D experience. On 360, PS3 but also maybe on portable machines," he said. "So we can count on substantial growth on the 3D aspect just because it's more immersive.

"I think next year we should maybe see 15-20 per cent of games that will be 3D on next-generation consoles. And then the following year it will be 50 per cent."

The publisher was one of the first to release a 3D game last year, with the tie-in to James Cameron's Avatar beating sales expectations after an initial slow start.

3D gaming is to feature prominently at E3 next month, with a number of franchise upgrades expected from Sony, which has already shown titles such as MotorStorm, Wipeout and Gran Turismo running in 3D.

Nintendo has said that it will show its 3D handheld, the 3DS, at this year's event. It does not require special glasses to view the 3D effects.

Although quieter by comparison, Microsoft has also made 3D noises, with at least one of the blockbuster franchises associated with the Xbox 360 platform expected to be shown in 3D next month.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-in-3d-by-2012 ...

This two handed glove input setup, by [Sean Chen] and [Evan Levine], is one step closer to achieving that [Tony Stark] like workstation; IE, interacting with software in 3D with simple hand gestures. Dubbed the Mister Gloves, the system incorporates accelerometer, push button, and flex sensor data over RF where an MCU converts it to a standard USB device, meaning no drivers are needed and a windows PC can recognize it as a standard keyboard and mouse. Catch a video of Mister Gloves playing portal after the jump.

While amazing, we’re left wondering if gesture setups are really viable options considering one’s arm(s) surly would get tired?

http://hackaday.com/2010/05/19/miste...gesture-input/ ...

Mobile devices company Apple has been described as ‘arrogant’ by a Sony executive.
SCE Australia managing director Michael Ephraim said Apple’s alleged hubris is the subject of numerous news reports, but the game boss denied that Sony itself ever deserved to be labelled as egotistical.
“I don't think we are arrogant anymore,” he said.
“I think we can name a company that is a fruit that is in he news a lot about their arrogance,” he added, in a translucent reference to Apple.
The iPhone company has in recent months struggled to generate positive PR out from its own successes and popular products.


To the furore of many Flash developers, Apple still refuses to allow the development platform to operate on the iPhone, citing compatibility issues and battery-drain worries.
Many commentators have described the decision as an act of flagrant egotism, citing Apple’s past business conflicts with Flash provider Adobe.
In an interview with the Brisbane Times, Ephraim said Apple has “taken the mantle from us” in regards to being seen as the most arrogant game company.
Apple has also faced accusations of arrogance after a string of interesting business decisions. The group recently announced it was going to establish its own iPhone Game Centre – a service that could theoretically make third-party offerings, such as OpenFeint, redundant.
The iPad firm is also competing directing with Amazon’s successful eReader business by establishing its own iBooks store.
Sony itself has learnt first-hand how dangerous it is for a company’s public relations to be described as arrogant.
The platform holder once said the PSP was “the Walkman for the 21st century”, before claiming that the next generation doesn’t start “until we say it does”. Slow, and borderline-disastrous, initial sales of the PS3 came with accusations that Sony had not modernised its PlayStation empire with humble, consumer-facing intentions.
Ephraim initially seemed to admit Sony had appeared as arrogant, though he proceeded to backtrack from his initial comment.
He said he didn’t think Sony had ever led its business in a cavalier fashion.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/3...lammed-by-Sony ...

Mafia 2 designer, Alex Cox has discussed his game's 'aim for realism', which seems to have affected a number of game features in the open-world crime spree.

"Our design rule is, 'two shots to kill baddies', whereas Vito can take four or five hits. That's not much punishment, and ties in with our aim for realism," Cox told Xbox World 360.

Not only will you want to avoid getting into a shootout, you'll also want to obey the speed limit. What kind of a game is this?

"We really strived for a persistent police presence," continued Cox.

"You'll be able to upgrade your favourite ride. The downside being that if the cops recognize your license plates your vehicle can become persistently wanted."

"It's meant to make players care about their driving. You can even run out of petrol if you drive the same car for too long, so you need to fill her up at the station."

May we suggest a mini-game where you have to stop the pump on exactly 20 quid?

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...VG-General-RSS ...

Analyst firm Gartner has released its latest stats for handset and smartphone sales in the first quarter of 2010.
The most interesting part is its breakdown of the figures by operating system. Symbian remains the most popular, with 24.1 million smartphones having sold in Q1 with it.
Its market share of 44.3% is down from the 48.8% share it enjoyed in Q1 last year.
Also down in market share terms is the BlackBerry OS, which was in 10.6 million smartphones sold in Q1 this year. That's a big boost from the 7.5 million in Q1 last year, but the OS' market share has dipped from 20.6% to 19.4% in that time.
So who's on the up? Well, Apple's iPhone OS shipped in 8.4 million smartphones in Q1, taking a market share of 15.4% - up from 10.5% a year ago.


But the big winner is Google's Android OS, which has gone from a market share of 1.6% in Q1 2009 to 9.6% in Q1 this year - 5.2 million handsets.
Smartphones accounted for 17.3% of all mobile handset sales in Q1, according to Gartner.

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/37182...artphone-sales ...

Electronic Arts has called the port of Valve's Orange Box onto PS3 a "challenge situation" - and admitted that the release didn't quite live up to the developer's expectations.

The Orange Box - which contained Half-Life 2, Portal and Team Fortress 2, among others - was ported onto PS3 by EA's UK team.

It won wide acclaim from the press - hitting an 89 per cent average on Metacritic - but some critics bemoaned frame rate issues, and the SKU didn't hit the 95+ heights of the PC and Xbox 360 SKUs.

Indeed, Valve would later call the PS3 port a "stepchild version". The developer told CVG in February that it regretted elements of the release - adding that it didn't put its "best foot forward with the PS3 community".

EA Partners boss David DeMartini told CVG: "Valve focuses on 90-rated everything: 90-rated marketing programmes, 90-rated people, 90-rated games.

"They have a focus on excellence. What they do with all their partners, is they hold us to that same standard. If you don't reach it, they're going to get a little prickly - and appropriately so.

"If you can't operate at that level as a publishing and distribution partner, you shouldn't be participating with Valve. That's their expectation. I view it as a continuing challenge to delight them."

When it came to the question of the PS3 port of the Orange Box, DeMartini commented:

"To my earlier point, I think the Orange Box on PS3 was 86-rated; around that point. It was still very good and the team in the UK did a great job. It was a challenge situation.

"We were trying to do parallel development. Valve hadn't been on PS3 and they had made some statements about the platform which didn't exactly help. It really was a challenge situation.

"What it did point out - and it reinforced this for Valve - is that they like to have control over everything to do with their intellectual property and the games that they make.

"I don't know if we'd do another situation where we'd be doing one of the platforms and they'd be doing the other platform.

"But it very well could be that the PS3 is coming of age enough so that they would develop on it. I don't know that, but I think gamers can take it that where there are substantial platforms, Valve is certainly going to be on those platforms."

The 'unhelpful' statements DeMartini alludes to include Valve boss Gabe Newell's assumption that PS3 was "a waste of everybody's time" - something for which he later apologised to owners of the console.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...VG-General-RSS ...

The Dingoo a320 has been the homebrew surprise console of the year with masses of releases of emulators, games and apps, now a new version of the console is now released that is Homebrew friendly and seems to support a heck of a lot of consoles (emulated), im not sure if this new version of the Dingoo has more power but it sure sounds interesting.

Heres the details:

Newly released at Ishopvideogame.com



...

Newly released at Ishopvideogame.com



The Supercard DSTWO Card for Nintendo DS, DS Lite, DSi & DSi XL is a high-end slot-1 flash cart solution that allows you to launch games, run applications and play media directly from the device. Simply place your files onto either a micro SD or SDHC memory card (sold separately), insert the micro SD into your Supercard DSTWO, your cart into your DS, and turn the system on. Playing games and media has never been easier!

The Supercard DSTWO, with its beautiful Evolution (EOS) operating system and a powerful on-board processor offers unique and exciting features that you won't find anywhere else. Features such as full GBA emulation, a powerful new GUI, a real-time guide, an integrated auto-patch database, as well as being one of the few flash carts that allows users to upgrade the core firmware. If you're in the market for a sleek and feature-rich flash cart for the Nintendo DS, DS Lite, DSi or DSi XL, the Supercard DSTWO is the one for you.

The exact feature list for the Supercard DSTWO has not yet been made available, but from previous announcements we know the Supercard DS TWO will feature the following:

-RealTime Functions: RealTime Save, RealTime Game Guide(txt,bmp,jpg) & RealTime Cheat. (More stable, more easy to use, cheat code compatible with R4 and DSTT now)
-Multi Saves (Up to 4 slot), Easy to backup and restore saves.
-Unlimited MicroSD storage space support. SDHC support. FAT or FAT32.
-Multiple languages (English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, French, Italian, Korean, Japanese, Spanish)
-Built-in GBA & SNES Emulator.
-Action Slow Motion (4 levels,).
-File Management System (Copy, Paste, Cut and Delete, long file name support).9. eBook (BMP, JPEG, JPG, PNG, TIF, GIF, TXT, PDF).
-Perfect support for long file names.
-Real-time save slot increase to 4 slots. (Exclusive built-in automatic detection of 3D game engine technology, stability, greatly enhanced).
-Give up cheat-code slow motion game play method, improved use of CPU to do operations, "precise control of CPU speed" Achieving the action slowed down, stability / compatibility and better.
-Real-Time Game Guide will support txt formats without conversion, beautify the font is more beautiful; -New UI interface design. Easier-to-use.
-Advanced multimedia playback: native DivX/XviD playback as well as other major formats, similar to the iPlayer. ...