_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();

Archive

Posts Tagged ‘iPhone’

Epic talks Project Sword, Unreal Engine on iPhone, and Apple TV as a game console

September 2nd, 2010 No comments
Following yesterday's dramatic announcement of Project Sword for iOS -- and the dramatic release of the free Epic Citadel tech demo -- Gamasutra spoke to Epic's Mike Capps about the games and the platform. Capps said that putting Unreal Engine 3 content on iPhone wasn't as hard as it seemed, thanks to the device's storage space that can come in handy for textures. "You've got 16 gigs of flash memory, which is way better, faster memory than what most people have generally on a home PC," he said. "So that stuff works really well. It's the big environments that get really complicated on the rendering tools for iPhone. But yeah, we've got some tricks for it."

Capps has his eyes on the future of the platform, both for Epic's own games and licensees. "We've got a few of our licensees using [the iOS tools for UE3] now, who've been testing it with us. So we'll roll it out to existing licensees and then start opening up. I think [Epic VP] Mark Rein has a big plan for how they're going to roll it out and make sure everybody's using it."

Capps also thinks there's potential to turn the new Apple TV into a game console of sorts. "... I can't wait to throw our engineers at it and see if we can get the latency we need to be able to play a game interactively over that wireless link to the Apple TV," he said. "I sure hope so."

JoystiqEpic talks Project Sword, Unreal Engine on iPhone, and Apple TV as a game console originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Related posts

iPhone Bit.Trip Beat has new levels, multiplayer

September 2nd, 2010 No comments
The iOS version of Bit.Trip Beat won't be a simple port of Gaijin Games' WiiWare debut. It has a couple of new features that may convince even the few people who completed the game to buy it again.

A representative for publisher Namco Networks informed Joystiq that Bit.Trip Beat will have a multiplayer mode, for up to four players on either iPhones or iPads. Even more intriguing, the mobile version of the chiptuney rhythm-Pong game will have new downloadable levels.

Namco Networks expects to release Bit.Trip Beat this fall. You can see what it looks like on iPad in our gallery. If you look at the images on an iPad, you'll really get the idea.

JoystiqiPhone Bit.Trip Beat has new levels, multiplayer originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments Tags: , , , , , ,

Related posts

Mobile developer Smule: Ping sounds great — what about app suggestions?

September 1st, 2010 No comments

ge wangIt’s no surprise that Ge Wang, cofounder and chief technology officer of music app-maker Smule, sounds excited about Apple’s just-announced social network for music, called Ping. But Wang said he sees greater potential in what Apple might do with Ping in the future.

For one thing, Wang said Apple should connect Ping with outside applications by offering something similar to Facebook Connect. Take Smule’s last big launch, the Glee iPhone app. Wang suggested that in addition to sharing iTunes music they’ve downloaded and that they recommend, Ping users could also share recordings of songs they made in the Glee app. In addition to feeding notifications into Ping, apps might also pull useful data from Ping about users’ music preferences.

And there’s no reason Ping has to be limited to music, Wang added. He noted that the “Ping” name isn’t specific to music, and that it “easily extends to other things.” Meanwhile, the iTunes store is now “about more than tunes.” You can also buy movies, TV shows, and, yes, apps. After Apple tests Ping with music, there’s no reason that it couldn’t use a similar recommendation system for everything else in the store. That could address an ongoing concern of app developers, who wonder how they can avoid getting lost among the app store’s 250,000 apps. (Apple is already making iPhone games more social with its Game Center, but that’s more about multiplayer support.

When I asked if there Apple might want to limit Ping to music, Wang said, “The more the merrier.
If this actually extends to applications, obviously discovery is an issue at the forefront of developers’ minds.”

Not everyone shared Wang’s enthusiasm for Ping. For example, Forrester analyst Mark Mulligan wrote that the news “fell far short of expectations, or rather hopes.” Of course, another Forrester analyst was unimpressed by today upgraded version of Apple TV, so I guess it’s just a disappointing day for them.

Tags: ,

Companies: ,

People:




Tags: , , , ,

Related posts

Apple announces iOS 4.1 with bug fixes, HDR photos, Game Center — previews iOS 4.2

September 1st, 2010 No comments

Steve JobsApple CEO Steve Jobs announced the latest version of its mobile operating system, iOS 4.1, today at its media event in San Francisco.

The new OS will include bug fixes for many iOS 4 issues, as well as some new features including high-dynamic range (HDR) photos, Game Center, high-definition video uploads over WiFi, and TV show rentals.

The bug fixes are welcome, particularly for the proximity sensor issue, which led to accidental button presses when the iPhone was held up to your face during a call. An Australian Apple representative previously said that the company hadn’t fixed the proximity sensor issue in iOS 4.1.

The addition of HDR photo capabilities was certainly unexpected. Jobs approached it as a way to help show more details in photos that were either blown out and too bright, or too dark. The HDR process involves taking three separate photos — with highlights, shadows, and midranges — that are combined to bring out details that are normally lost.

Game Center offers a set of APIs that allow developers to build multiplayer support into their iOS games, and is an app as well. Representatives from Epic Games hit the stage to show off their first iOS game — a sword and sorcery RPG that’s going by the name of Project Sword. The showed off how you can invite a friend through Game Center to play a multiplayer much, similar to how Microsoft’s Xbox Live works.

Jobs said that iOS 4.1 would be available for the iPhone and iPod Touch starting next week. He also briefly touched on iOS 4.2, which will be released in November, and will also include iPad support. iOS 4.2 adds support for wireless printing, and Airplay — a revamped version of Airtunes that allows users to stream photos and video between Apple devices, in addition to music.

Getting noticed iDB2010s a challenge for everyone building apps. Join us at DiscoveryBeat 2010, and hear secrets from top industry executives about how to profit in the new cross-platform app ecosystem. The conference takes place on October 18th at the Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco. Go here for conference details, or to apply to the “Needle in the Haystack” business contest. Early-bird tickets are available until September 15.

Tags: , , , , ,

Companies:

People:




Tags: , , , , , ,

Related posts

Alcatel-Lucent crashes mobile app party with OpenPlug purchase

September 1st, 2010 No comments

Telecommunications solutions provider Alcatel-Lucent picked up a mobile app development platform that allows programmers to write apps once and produce code that runs natively on iPhones and Android devices with its acquisition of OpenPlug on Wednesday. The details of the deal were not disclosed.

OpenPlug’s ELIPS studio allows developers to write code in Adobe’s Flex programming environment and port it to native languages like the iPhone’s Objective-C. The goal is to continue being able to develop apps for the multiple platforms that have come about — Symbian, Android, Windows Mobile and the like — without having to rewrite the code in a native language every single time.

Apple’s iPhone app development is a particular sore thumb for many developers, as they require developers to write in a handful of specific languages. Adobe’s Flash, a popular way to develop interactive games and website features, has famously been excluded from the iPhone.

The tool, however, bypasses that restriction by avoiding the use of custom software development kits and compiling the source code to the native platform, according to PC World.

Founded in 2002, OpenPlug is based in Sophia Antipolis, France. Its products are used by mobile developers like Sony Ericsson, Intel, Arima Communications and Foxconn.

[Photo: Sue Waters]

Getting noticed iDB2010s a challenge for everyone building apps. Join us at DiscoveryBeat 2010, and hear secrets from top industry executives about how to profit in the new cross-platform app ecosystem. The conference takes place on October 18th at the Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco. Go here for conference details, or to apply to the “Needle in the Haystack” business contest. Early-bird tickets are available until September 15.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Companies: , , , , ,




Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Related posts

Apple announces all-new designs for its iPod music players

September 1st, 2010 No comments

Apple said today it will release all-new designs for its entire line-up of iPod music players.

The announcement was the first in a press conference staged by Steve Jobs today at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, where Apple traditionally holds its fall announcements. It was the subject of intense speculation, as Apple is viewed as the leader in mobile technology innovation.

Apple has sold 275 million iPods to date. Jobs said Apple never rests on its laurels. For its fourth-generation iPod Shuffle, Apple will launch a version with buttons, voice-controls and playlists. It will come in five colors and sell for $49 for 2 gigabytes of storage. It has 15 hours of battery life.

The iPod Nano, which is bigger than the Shuffle, now has a multitouch screen that eliminates the click wheel. It is 46 percent smaller and 42 percent lighter than the previous version. It has 24 hours of audio battery life. It comes in six colors. It sells for $149 in 8 gigabyte version and $179 in 16 gigabyte version.

The iPod Touch is the non-phone version of the iPhone and Jobs says it has become the No. 1 portable game player in the world. Some 1.5 billion games have been downloaded to iPod Touch devices. Now the new version will have the iPad’s Apple-made A4 chip, a 3-axis gyro, a retina display, Game Center, and FaceTime video conferencing with a front-facing camera. It has a battery life of 40 hours for music playback. The new iPod Touch will be $229 for 8 GB, $299 for 32 GB, and $399 for 64 GB. They are all available next week and available for pre-order today.

The iOS is Apple’s mobile operating system for the iPhone, iPod Touch and the iPad. Altogether, Apple has shipped 120 million iOS devices in four years. Jobs noted others (Android) are “throwing around a lot of numbers” on activations per day. Apple’s iOS activations are now at 230,000 per day, not including upgrades. Some 6.5 billion apps have been downloaded to date, or 200 downloaded every second.

Next week, Apple is introducing version 4.1 of the iOS. It fixes a lot of bugs and has new features such as high-dynamic range photos, the ability to upload high-definition videos over Wi-Fi, TV show rentals, and Game Center (a previously announced multiplayer gaming social hub for iOS gamers). In November, version 4.2 will bring those features to the iPad, and it will also add the ability to do wireless printing from iOS devices. That makes the devices much more convenient for various productivity tasks. Jobs demoed iOS 4.2 running on an iPad tablet computer.

“We couldn’t be happier with the progress of iOS,” Jobs said.

Apple has 300 stores in 10 countries now and gets as many as a million visitors a day on some days. It teaches 80,000 classes a week and half of the buyers of Macs are new to the Mac. Apple showed off a cool game from Epic Games. Mike Capps, president of Epic, came out on stage to show off a game code-named Project Sword. It is powered by Unreal Engine 3, Epic’s realistic 3D graphics technology. So the game’s 3D graphics of a medieval town, where knights battle each other with big swords, looked gorgeous. Epic will makes its Unreal technology to iOS developers. The Project Sword game will come out this fall.

Getting noticed iDB2010s a challenge for everyone building apps. Join us at DiscoveryBeat 2010, and hear secrets from top industry executives about how to profit in the new cross-platform app ecosystem. The conference takes place on October 18th at the Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco. Go here for conference details, or to apply to the “Needle in the Haystack” business contest. Early-bird tickets are available until September 15.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Companies:

People: ,




Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Related posts

Autodesk returns to the Mac with native version of AutoCAD, iOS devices

August 30th, 2010 No comments

Fifteen years ago, Autodesk abandoned the Mac. Today, the maker of AutoCAD 3D engineering and design software is returning. It’s a sign of how far Apple has come in making a comeback with both its desktop and mobile devices.

San Rafael, Calif.-based Autodesk is launching AutoCAD for Mac OS X software today. It is also launching a light version of AutoCAD, dubbed AutoCAD WS, as an app that will run on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch mobile devices. The mobile app lets users edit and share their AutoCAD designs while on the run.

It’s a victory for Apple, which has labored to get more enterprise applications on its platform. And it says a lot about Apple’s gains with Mac market share as well as the growing importance of mobile devices. AutoCAD is widely used by professional designers, engineers, architects and artists to create 3D computer models.

“Apple is thrilled that Autodesk is bringing AutoCAD back to the Mac and we think it’s the perfect combination for millions of design and engineering professionals,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The AutoCAD WS app is a bold new idea, a mobile version of industry-leading design software for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, the world’s most innovative mobile devices.”

In an interview, Autodesk executive Amar Hanspal said the company began work on the Mac conversion project about 18 months ago, mainly because of the Mac’s resurgence and its switch to Intel-based microprocessors. The native Mac software has been tested by more than 5,000 beta users. The software takes full advantage of Mac OS X and its graphical browsing features such as Cover Flow and multitouch gestures. The Mac version costs $3,995 and will be available in North America and Europe this fall.

“We are doing this because it gives consumers more choice,” Hanspal said. “Both the Mac and mobile devices have become serious business platforms within the last few years.”

More than 10 million people use AutoCAD already. But Hanspal says that the company’s goal is to democratize engineering and design software so that almost anyone can use it. The version for mobile devices was built with the help of Visual Tao, an Israeli firm that Autodesk bought in December. The free app will extend AutoCAD to Apple iOS devices and will be available soon in the App Store. It lets users edit and share AutoCAD files on mobile devices.

Users of mobile phones can also use the mobile app, provided they have a web browser on the phone that supports Adobe Flash software. But Adobe is not yet offering native versions for other phone platforms.

Hanspal said that turnaround for Apple’s platforms began four years ago, with the switch to Intel chips and the launch of the iPhone. In the early 1990s, Autodesk made Mac software, but it discontinued that in 1994.

Autodesk’s rivals include other engineering software firms such as Dassault.

Tags: , , , ,

Companies: , ,

People:




Tags: , , , , ,

Related posts

Microsoft launches Bing Android app for Verizon, but will anyone care?

August 30th, 2010 No comments

bing android appAfter releasing an iPhone app for its Bing search engine last December, Microsoft announced an equivalent Android Bing app today for Verizon users.

But since Android is much more deeply integrated into Google’s search and navigation offerings than the iPhone, the release of the Bing app honestly strikes me as curious. Who would actually use this thing? And is Microsoft doing anything with it to entice Android users to choose Bing over Google’s myriad services?

At first glance, the answer to the last question would be a simple “no”. The Android app is a dead ringer for its iPhone sibling: The main page features the Bing image of the day, and from there you have access to the app’s various sections, like “Images”, “Movies”, and “Maps”. Also like the iPhone app, the Bing image search is attractive and easy to use, and Microsoft has integrated voice search capabilities into pretty much every aspect of the app.

By bringing over the basic features of the Bing iPhone app to Android, Microsoft has managed to deliver a competent product. But, at least as it stands right now, there’s little reason for an Android user ever to launch the Bing app. All of Google’s search and navigation services are better, and it also has already integrated voice commands into the Android OS. The Bing Android app also appears to be missing some of the newer features of the iPhone app, including social search, and “visual scanning”, Microsoft’s take on the Google Goggles camera search feature.

Like Yahoo’s simplistic Android search app, Microsoft most likely brought Bing to Android just to have a presence on Google’s mobile platform. But aside from simply being on the Android Market, it doesn’t seem like there’s much it’s going to accomplish with the app.

Microsoft is planning to bring the Bing app to other Android carriers later this year, according to TechFlash. It launched the app on Verizon first because of the carrier’s existing mobile search deal with Bing.

Tags: , , , , ,

Companies: , ,




Tags: , , , , , , ,

Related posts

Golden Sun: The Dark Dawn Dated for November 29th

August 30th, 2010 No comments

The last time anyone played a Golden Sun game, it was on the Game Boy Advance. Then last year, Nintendo announced that a brand new game was going to be introduced to the series for the Nintendo DS called, Golden Sun: The Dark Dawn.

Today, the company confirmed that the role-playing game will be in stores on November 29th, just time for the holidays. According to the Gamestop website, The Dark Dawn will cost $34.99 when it’s released.

My guess is that Golden Sun: The Dark Dawn will be one of the last great titles for the Nintendo DS, before the 3DS is released probably within the year.

Tags: ,

Related posts

Tags: ,

Glu Mobile raises $13.5M in private placement as it expands to smartphone games

August 30th, 2010 No comments

Mobile game publisher Glu Mobile has raised $13.5 million in a private placement as it aims to expand its position in smartphone games.

The money will be used to fully implement the company’s cross-platform expansion plans, said Niccolo de Masi, chief executive of San Mateo, Calif.-based Glu in statement. “We have an exciting roadmap which will roll out beginning in October of this year,” he said.

In an interview last week, de Masi (pictured right, at our MobileBeat conference) said he has recruited several key executives and revamped the company’s operations since he joined as CEO in January. The company, which has 450 people, has developed a big presence in the past nine years as a maker of games for feature phones. But it has been adapting its product line-up to focus on smartphones for a couple of years now.

In the second quarter, iPhone revenue doubled from the prior quarter. The company is also aggressively launching games for Google Android, Palm and Research in Motion smartphones as well. In the fourth quarter, the company is launching five original games. That’s up from three promised earlier in the year and is a testament to improved operational excellence, de Masi said.

Big hits in the mobile game market usually don’t make more than $10 million in revenue on any given platform. That’s why it’s important to spread out and address all possible platforms, de Masi said. Glu will continue launching about 25 to 35 games a year. In the next 18 months, de Masi believes the big platform war will be between Apple, Google’s Android, and Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 platform.

“We expect all of them to integrate their mobile storefronts with living room storefronts,” de Masi said, in a reference Apple TV, Microsoft’s Xbox Live, and Google TV.

De Masi says it’s critical for the company to cross-sell its games, using titles that are already popular to help users discover new titles that they also might like. It is working to automate recommendations for users. It is also working hard to get well-positioned on various app stores operated by phone makers and carriers.

The companies latest funding was led by existing shareholders Greenway Capital, Cannell Capital, Cypress Capital, Granite Global Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Scale Venture Partners and Stephens Investment Management.

Getting content noticed is a challenge for everyone, not just Glu Mobile. We’ll cover the topic intensely at DiscoveryBeat 2010, our upcoming conference at the Mission Bay conference center in San Francisco on October 18.

Tags: , , , ,

Companies:

People:




Tags: , , , , , ,

Related posts

GameSpasm is Digg proof thanks to caching by WP Super Cache