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Kane And Lynch 2 – Dog Days: Releases on August

debaditya — Tue, 11 May 2010 10:13:38 +0000

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is an upcoming video game developed by IO Interactive, published by Eidos Interactive and will be released on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows in August 2010.It is the sequel to Kane & Lynch: Dead Men.

Announced in November 2009, the game is described as having a new visual style inspired by documentary films and user-generated content. According to the press release, every aspect of the game has been designed to deliver a fresh perspective to the words ‘intensity’ and ‘realism’. A pair of teaser videos accompanying the announcement present game footage in a distorted surveillance camera perspective. Dog Days will be presented from Lynch’s point of view, rather than Kane’s like in the first game.

It’s hard to imagine a game with worse post-release publicity than the first Kane & Lynch. While it was widely considered mediocre, it wasn’t until the controversial dismissal of Gamespot’s reviewer, Jeff Gerstmann, that the game became a larger-than-life symbol of The Man.

Without the controversy, the game probably would’ve been forgotten about a week or so after release, but even today the stigma surrounding the franchise remains, which makes the existence of its forthcoming sequel somewhat unexpected.

The team has focussed on some new features.They are:-

Fix the cover system
Overhaul the aiming and shooting mechanics
Smarter AI
Better-looking graphics
Add online co-op

Hope this game works and come out better than the first installment.

Mafia Wars Rival: Agency Covert Ops

debaditya — Tue, 11 May 2010 06:27:30 +0000

The Agency: Covert Ops is a spy-themed massively multiplayer online shooter. It is being developed and published by Sony Online Entertainment studios in Seattle for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 3.

Sony Online Entertainment released their second Facebook game The Agency: Covert Ops. It is a “Mafia Wars” style game where you lead the life of a secret agent.

Players are tasked with unlocking items, working through mini-games, customizing their avatars and fighting through battles. The game also whets the appetite for the full retail release of “The Agency” that’s hitting the PlayStation 3 and PC later this year.

There’s no doubt that Sony are taking this release seriously. If you’ve ever chowed down on “Mafia Wars” or “Vampire Wars,” you’ll be quickly at home here. There’s a surprising amount of variety here with mini-games to decipher codes and other spy-related duties.

It may be a new challenge to mafia wars to make its top position in FACEBOOK games.As Sony released its “The Agency: Covert Ops”.

Now its time for Mafia Wars team to make their more bigger and attractive.

Movil IQ100: Dual SIM QWERTY Handset at Rs. 3200

piyush — Sun, 09 May 2010 03:10:35 +0000

Movil mobiles have come up with a new Dual SIM (GSM + GSM) handset dubbed as Movil IQ100 at a reasonable price of Rs. 3200. The phone comes with a Blackberry look alike QWERTY keypad and provides a decent multimedia offerings. This 2.2-inch handset is bundled with an audio/video player, Bluetooth, FM radio and a meagre digital camera.

With IQ100, remaining in touch with your friends should not be a problem as it comes preloaded with social networking widgets like Facebook, Yahoo and MSN Messenger In addition, the handset also offers GPRS class 10 connectivity, Bluetooth 2.0, GPRS and WAP browsing options. However, the phone lacks even a Java support.

Movil`s latest offering is powered by Li-Ion 1500 mAh battery which claims to provide up to 12 hours of talktime and up to 300 hours of standby time if fully charged.

Complete Movil IQ100 Specs

• Display: 2.2-inch TFT display
• Dimensions: 111 x 62 x 12.9mm
• Weight: 97 grams
• Battery Capacity: Li-Ion 1500 mAh
• Talk time: 12 hours
• Standby time: 300 hours
• FM Radio, MP3 player
• Bluetooth 2.0
• GPRS
• Internal memory: 127 KB
• Expandable memory support: 8GB
• Free memory: 2GB

My Verdict

Movil`s Q100 is yet another Dual SIM handset which is available at a decent price of Rs 3,200. This low-budget phone comes with QWERTY keypad as well. In all, it is a decent offering of Movil. I won`t say a great one but I can definitely be satisfied with IQ100.

God of War Ghost of Sparta: Return of Kratos

debaditya — Sat, 08 May 2010 10:30:56 +0000

God of War is a video game for the PlayStation 2 console released on March 22, 2005. It is an action adventure game based on Greek mythology. God of War developed by Sony Computer Entertainment’s Santa Monica division. It is the first installment of the God of War series of games and the second chronologically.

Now the major “God of War” trilogy may have wrapped with a climactic, head-pounding battle atop Mount Olympus, but that doesn’t mean we’ve seen the last of Kratos. Apart from the inevitable sequel in which he’ll take out his aggression on Odin and Eostre, Kratos is returning for another flashback mission on the PSP titled “God of War: Ghost of Sparta.”

“God of War: Ghost of Sparta” takes place immediately after the events of the first “God of War.” Kratos may have managed to best Ares in battle, but his quest to become the new god of war was apparently just beginning.

Unfortunately we already know that he’s unsuccessful in his efforts to rid himself of the nightmares, and that his quest is doomed to fail, but at least he’ll be yanking cyclops eyes as he goes.

The announcement goes to on say that “Ghost of Sparta” will have 25% more gameplay and will feature new technology which allows for more enemies on screen and more realistic graphics.

The game is being developed by Ready At Dawn, the studio which has unquestionably mastered the PSP hardware to the point where their games are leaps and bounds ahead of the field. This is their second “God of War” game on the PSP. The first was excellent, if a little short, but 25% more gameplay should help make up for it.

God of War: Ghost of Sparta will be released later this year.

It may be an EPIC end to this trilogy.

RealNetworks GameHouse Launches Social Gaming

debaditya — Sat, 08 May 2010 07:30:58 +0000

GameHouse–the casual gaming arm of RealNetworks that’s been around under one name or another for a decade–is trying to respond in a big way to the rise of social games, virtual gifts, the Facebook platform, and other trends reflected in wildly popular games such as FarmVille. At the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco, it’s launching a platform of its own it calls GameHouse Fusion –a set of services designed to help game developers bake social features into their products.

They include everything from simple social stuff like leaderboards to special trophies gamers can create themselves; virtual goods; hosting and ad-sales services; and more. And they’re designed for browser-based games (including ones built for both the Facebook and OpenSocial platforms), downloadable ones, and ones for the iPhone and other mobile phones.

The GameHouse network is capable of drawing in over 50 million players a month on a variety of platforms, which includes social networking sites such as MySpace and Comcast. Players on these sites have access to thousands of online titles, all of which they can send to their friends if they think it’ll be of interest.

The first big expression of Fusion is a new GameHouse on Facebook portal that’s launching today. It includes 1,000 existing games that have been given social features via Fusion–in many cases relatively basic ones such as the ability to share high scores, see what games your pals are playing, and share your own gaming profile. But Real executives told they plan to roll out new features regularly, and see Fusion as enabling a scenario in which gameplayers can take their social identity with them as they play games on social networks, on their computers, on their phones, and on gizmos such as the iPad.

Facebook’s Soon to Launch Location Feature: Mc Donald’s First to Pioneer This Service

Dipesh — Sat, 08 May 2010 04:50:04 +0000

Facebook is all set to roll out location-based features for users and company brands. We could see the availability of the options for this awaited feature any day from now. It will allow the users to post their location within status update. It would also include the ability to check in at various hot spots in the city such as retail stores, restaurants and night spots. However, the exact details are still unclear and hazy.

McDonald’s will reportedly be the first brand to test the new features. According to the report by Advertising Age, users will be given the ability to check in at a location using a status update on Facebook, and then see a featured product targeted to that location.

Following is an Excerpt from the report:

As early as this month, the social-networking site will give users the ability to post their location within a status update. McDonald’s, through digital agency Tribal DDB, Chicago, is building an app with Facebook would allow users to check in at one of its restaurants and have a featured product appear in the post, such as an Angus Quarter Pounder, say executives close to the deal.

When the service rolls out to the end users a major privacy concern will also roll out alongside. Presumably, Facebook will make sure to address privacy issues with its location features and implement the settings that allow sharing your location only with friends group of your choice.

Verdict

Facebook has a huge user base and widespread reach through its native apps for major mobile platforms. Its new feature can pose a direct threat to other location-based services like Foursquare and Gowalla, who are specialized and experienced players in location-based services. They often make their earnings through integration with top brands. This move of Facebook may put these players in an uncomfortable position.

On a final note, it’s quite difficult to predict the exact details that what Facebook is featuring in this service. However, I would not expect to see updates like:

Mr X had our brand new McChilly at McDonald’s” “Buy McChilly as he did, Get 10% off on weekends.

And neither would I prefer to see a sponsored Ad link in my Facebook updates when I share my McDonald’s facts with my friends!

Hi.im: Your Social Profiles on One Page

Google`s Goggle Gets an Update With Text Translations

piyush — Fri, 07 May 2010 21:57:44 +0000

Google had introduced a new Goggle application a few days back, which uses pictures to search the web. At the Mobile World Congress (MWC) at Barcelona, Google had also shown the demos of its translating feature, which could recognize only German. Now, Google has officially released the much-awaited translation feature that recognizes text in Latin languages like English, French, Italian, German and Spanish.

Google is also concentrating this translating feature on non-Latin languages like Hindi and Arabic. The dual combination of picture-search and translation should do a world of good for its users. Moreover, it also comes with an improved user interface to provide flexibility while performing visual searches.

Besides translation, the newer version of Google also features improved a barcode recognition, recognition of a lot more products, logos and artworks.

Goggles can be a very useful application especially for the travellers who face problem in understanding local language. To carry out with the translation, point your Android powered handset on the text and draw a box to indicate the area to translate. Then, press the shutter button. If Google app is able to recognise the text then a translation options pop up. Thereafter, just press the translation button and enter the source and destination languages.

However to install Goggles, firstly you need to have an Android based phone and secondly it must not be oldest version of Android OS. Goggles can be installed only if your handset is supported by Android 1.6+ versions.

Reliance to Offer Free local and National Calls

piyush — Fri, 07 May 2010 19:38:34 +0000

Reliance Communications has announced Unlimited Local and National Calling offer for its CDMA Mobile Service users. Reliance is taking this initiative to celebrate its 100 million customers worldwide.

Commenting on the simplicity of the new offer, Mr Mahesh Prasad, President of Marketing – Wireless Business, Reliance Communications said,

Most of the current market offerings make certain distinction in terms of usage on local versus long-distance, on-net versus off-net calling or daytime versus night time. Through our Simply Unlimited CDMA Offer, we plan to further simplify this confusion by doing away with the tariff metering practices of the Indiantelecom industry since the introduction of first mobile service in India.

Reliance is currently offering two unique calling packs. These are the “Simply Unlimited CDMA Local Pack” and “Simply Unlimited CDMA National Pack”.

The details of the packs are as follows:-

Simply Unlimited Local Pack

Price: Rs. 299 valid for 1 month

Benefits:

Unlimited local and national free calls to any Reliance phone in India (Reliance GSM, CDMA or Fixed Line)
All National Long Distance within Reliance network and other networks will be charged at 50 paisa / min.

Simply Unlimited CDMA National Pack

Price: Rs. 500 valid for 1 month

Benefits:

Unlimited local or national free calls to any Reliance phone in India (Reliance GSM, CDMA or Fixed Line) whether local or National.

However, Both these unlimited packs have a talktime validity of only for 30 minutes per day. As you exceed 30 mins/ day, 50 paisa will be charged per minute.

Farmville Loses 4.4 Million Players in a Month

debaditya — Fri, 07 May 2010 15:28:19 +0000

FarmVille is a real-time farm simulation game developed by Zynga, available as an application on the social-networking website Facebook. The game allows members of Facebook to manage a virtual farm by planting, growing and harvesting virtual crops and trees, and raising livestock.

Since its launch in June 2009, FarmVille has become the most popular game application on Facebook, with over 82.4 million active users and over 23.9 million Facebook application fans in May 2010.The total number of FarmVille users alone are over 20% of the users of Facebook and over 1% of the population of the world. Despite this, Farmville is still classed by Zynga as being in Beta testing stage.

But now the game has started losing its players.

Despite becoming a household name in the social gaming world, “FarmVille” has recently lost some momentum. The game hit a slump last month as it dropped from 82 million players in March to 78 million at the end of April.

Inside Social Games reported the numbers, and suggests the loss is due to the removal of third party notifications on Facebook, a tool that stopped players receiving a constant flow of information about the farmyard shenanigans. Zynga CEO Mark Pincus has suggested this drop in numbers is only for the “short term”, as “FarmVille” wasn’t the only game from the company to lose some followers.

The list of games affected includes other Zynga titles “Cafe World” and “Mafia Wars”, as well as games from Crowdstar and Playfish. It’s expected that the drop may continue over the next month, as gift requests are eliminated from Facebook and can only take place in the game itself.

Hope these games attain their position again in top Facebook Games.

Infinity Ward v/s Activision: A War Has Begun

debaditya — Fri, 07 May 2010 12:40:29 +0000

Infinity Ward, located in Encino, California, is an American video game developer founded in 2002 by 22 former employees of 2015, Inc., including the project leads who had worked on Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. The company was acquired by Activision in October 2003 and consists of approximately 70 employees as of May 2010. Infinity Ward is responsible for the development of the breathtaking Call of Duty series.

Activision (ATVI) is an American video game developer and publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world’s first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles. Its first products were cartridges for the Atari 2600 video game.

WAR BETWEEN INFINTIY WARD AND ACTIVISION

The fallout between Infinity Ward and Activision has taken yet another dramatic turn, as a large number of Infinity Ward employees, both current and former; have filed a class-action lawsuit against the publisher for between $75 million and $125 million in unpaid bonuses.

According to the report, Activision has paid $28 million in royalties so far, but still owes $54 million for 2009, as well as other bonuses based on the first quarter of 2010. The group is also seeking $75 million to $500 million in punitive damages.

Up until now, a total of 26 employees have left Infinity Ward, which means that at least 12 members of the Employee Group are still with the studio.

Activision spokesman Dan Amrich said that employees who leave the studio would be giving up their bonus, and that “the more people that leave, the bigger the bonus gets for the people who stay”.

Now it is very doubtful to say whether we are going to get CALL OF DUTY 7 as their last edition or the batlle is going to settle down after its release.
(Image Via: mw2blog)