Archive for the “Mobile News” Category

Twitter went down this morning, Thursday for about two hours due do a denial of service attack. This isn’t the first time Twitter has been attacked by someone, in fact it happens all of the time.

There are hundreds and thousands of bots and people out there that use Twitter to spam everyone. There are strict rules set when you register your account to help prevent this from happening, but people still manage to do it. For instance, one of the things that will happen is if you try to register too many accounts from one IP address, it will lock them all down and make them unavailable to the public. They are deemed spammy and denied access to. To regain control of your account(s), you must file a Ticket within your account, which is a call to their attention that it should not have been blocked. Service happens much more quickly if you file it while you are logged in, rather than filing a ticket outside of the account explaining the issue with all of your Twitter accounts. They send you a response email with your information in it, but unfortunately there is no way to follow up on the ticket when you sent your ticket without being logged in. This creates a few issues, especially when it comes to needing your account back in a timely manner.

This issue doesn’t really come up too often as most people only have a need for one Twitter account. This does however make it a pain for people with the intention to spam all of Twitter, which makes it a cleaner and safer community for us! With all of the spam floating around, there’s no telling when you click on something what it’s going to do. It could go to a harmless site, or to one that is dangerous and you manage to find a virus.

Twitter seems to be a little buggy here and there, but nearly everything is that has that many members on it. It’s bound to run into a few issues, especially with the extensive spamming issues. These alone could bring their whole server system down. It’s commendable that they were even able to get it back up and running as fast as they did.

Makes you wonder how many people were panicking when they couldn’t tweet about their breakfast muffin’s deliciousness.

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Austin Game Developers Conference 08 - Image 1

This year’s Austin Game Developers Conference is adding a nice twist to their event. It’s not just gonna be about games, it’s also gonna be about charity.

Yep, gamers who’d like to participate in the Austin GDC won’t only be having fun by testing their skills as gamers, but will also contribute to a good cause by making a charitable donation. How? Simple. There’s a US 20 entry fee for the Level Up Charity Games Competition, and everything will be donated to the ESA Foundation.

Marc Mencher, CEO of competition sponsor GameRecruiter, states this about their charitable deed:

We have a long-standing commitment to supporting the educational needs of minority and female students who are interested in being part of the video game industry. By providing this support to the ESA Foundation’s Scholarship Program, we hope to allow deserving individuals to further their education and expand workplace diversity within our industry.

Scheduled for the September 17 competition feature titles such as:

  • Rock Band 2
  • Madden 08
  • Super Smash Bros. Brawl
  • I-Play Bowling

The Austin Game Developers Conference will be running from September 15 to 17 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, Texas.

source mobile.qj.net

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M2E says it will deliver cellphone-charging motion power device in 2009 - Image 1This is one gadget I’d definitely buy if it comes out, thinking on all those times my cellphone ran out of power when I’m nowhere near my charger.

The company M2E (short for Motion 2 Energy) has reported that it has developed a new device that charges electronic gadgets with motion.

The idea is to place the charger in your bag. The device will charge in the background as you move around with your bag. Once fully charged, the device can pack enough punch to recharge a phone, as fast as an AC outlet could.

The charger contains coils and magnets that stores energy in a lithium ion battery when experiencing motion. If you’re not the type who likes to move around though, the charger can also store energy from your everyday wall socket.

The company is now looking into applications with hybrid and electric vehicles. As for the charger, we might not see it for a while yet, as it’s still in the design and development stage. Hopefully, it will come out sometime next year.


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Retribution - Image 1

The Beijing Olympics has already wrapped up and on the other side of the world, the Leipzig Games Convention is just about ready to take their banner down in the events venue. However, with all the goods that came out from the conference, there’s still a lot of much ado about which presentation takes the cake.

Well the Leipzig Messe has decided, and on its sixth consecutive run in the show, this year’s top accolades go to Sony’s upcoming PSP title, Resistance: Retribution. What gave it the edge among other contenders were its technically impressive graphics and intuitive controls. Having that 8-player on the web multiplayer thrown in for good measure also made the icing a tad more sweeter for gamers all around.

As for the other winners at Leipzig 2008:

  • Ideal PS3 game – LittleBigPlanet (Sony)
  • Best Xbox 360 game – Mirror s Edge (EA)
  • Ideal Wii game – Skate It (EA)
  • Best PC game – Spore (EA)
  • Ideal PSP game – Resistance: Retribution (Sony)
  • Best DS game – Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (SEGA)
  • Ideal Mobile game – PES 2009 (Konami)
  • Best On the web game – Warhammer Online: Day of Reckoning (Mythic)

source mobile.qj.net

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Peter Moore of EA - Image 1Peter Moore has spoken out about the ongoing battle of the British developers against illegal file-sharers, and unfortunately for the huge five, it’s not in their support as well.

Talking to Eurogamer at the Leipzig Games Convention, the British head of EA Sports said,

I’m not a huge fan of trying to punish your consumer… Albeit these people have clearly stolen intellectual property, I think there are superior ways of resolving this within our power as developers and publishers.

He does, however, concur that there should be a crackdown against piracy, but apparently, this is not his preferred method. While he did state there are other ways of dealing with the issue, he didn’t give a clear counter-proposal to what Atari, Topware Interactive, Reality Pump, Techland and Codemasters are doing, suing 25,000 people across UK for illegal file-sharing.

[Piracy] is completely wrong. It is stealing. But at the same time I think there are superior solutions than chasing people for money. I’m not sure what they’re, other than to build game experiences that make it more difficult for there to be any value in pirating games.

And commenting on the music industry’s stand on the matter (which is to also disagree and distance themselves with what the publishers and developers are doing), Moore said that it’s something that the gaming biz should have learned from them: you don’t win any friends by suing your customers.

But these statements, of course, are his own, and does not in any way reflect the position of the EA as a company. He says he doesn’t know how EA will react to these developments, although it is without a doubt that EA does not condone piracy and that they take the issue seriously. “… People deserve to get paid for the content they create, but as far as I’m aware, we’ve no plans, that I know of, to partner with Atari and Codemasters and chase down consumers.”

And so the chasm deepens.


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Peter Moore of EA - Image 1Peter Moore has spoken out about the ongoing battle of the British developers against illegal file-sharers, and unfortunately for the large five, it’s not in their support as well.

Speaking to Eurogamer at the Leipzig Games Convention, the British head of EA Sports stated,

I’m not a huge fan of trying to punish your consumer… Albeit these people have clearly stolen intellectual property, I think there are better ways of resolving this within our power as developers and publishers.

He does, however, concur that there should be a crackdown against piracy, but apparently, this is not his preferred method. While he did state there are other ways of dealing with the issue, he didn’t give a clear counter-proposal to what Atari, Topware Interactive, Reality Pump, Techland and Codemasters are doing, suing 25,000 people across UK for illegal file-sharing.

[Piracy] is absolutely wrong. It is stealing. But at the same time I think there are superior solutions than chasing people for money. I’m not sure what they’re, other than to build game experiences that make it more difficult for there to be any value in pirating games.

And commenting on the music industry’s stand on the matter (which is to also disagree and distance themselves with what the publishers and developers are doing), Moore said that it’s something that the gaming biz should have learned from them: you don’t win any friends by suing your customers.

But these statements, of course, are his own, and does not in any way reflect the position of the EA as a company. He states he doesn’t know how EA will react to these developments, although it is without a doubt that EA does not condone piracy and that they take the issue seriously. “… People deserve to get paid for the content they create, but as far as I’m aware, we’ve no plans, that I know of, to partner with Atari and Codemasters and chase down consumers.”

And so the chasm deepens.


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Study points to network weakness as source of iPhone 3G woes - Image 1

A lot of people have been complaining over the slow network connection that the iPhone 3G has been experiencing. I even heard of one woman who threatened to sue Apple over false advertising for the iPhone 3G’s speed.

A new study made by an independent group, however, suggests that the slow connection has more to do with the network carriers than the iPhone itself.

The study examined data from 2,600 speed tests from all over the world, and it shows that 3G networks are performing faster than EDGE. Worst case scenarios showed some users were not able to connect to the network, while others reported 3G performance that’s seven times faster than EDGE.

Users who experienced the most problems were from major metropolitan cities where the most iPhone users reside, such as San Francisco. This suggests that 3G towers are getting overloaded. Basically, too many swimmers in a very big pool. The system’s swamped.

Apple won’t be able to do much with a software update in this case – the likely approach would be to optimize the network towers themselves. Apple hopes to alleviate things by improving 3G signal management with the next software update. In the meantime, if you want a faster signal, go to Canada.


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Leipzig 2008 - Image 1With the Leipzig Games Convention 2008 finally closing its curtains, we now get confirmation that next year’s event has already been scheduled. The announcement was made via press release by Leipziger Messe GmbH CEO Wolfgang Marzin: GC 2009 will be held from August 19 to 23, also in Leipzig.

Along with the announcement, we hear of a survey conducted to this year’s event’s visitors, asking them if they’d want to see another GC next year.

Among all the visitors – whether trade exhibitor or part of the general public (some of which have travelled from half way across the world just to see the show) – a vast majority of about 90 agreed.

This makes me think of what the outcome would have been if a survey like this were conducted at the end of this year’s E3, but moving on…

GC 2008’s success is proven by the sheer number of visitors who dropped in: over the four-day period, some 203,000 people came in. Compared to last year, the number of software and hardware companies from around the world who participated in the Leipzig event have increased, from 189 to 234.


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Peter Moore of EA - Image 1Peter Moore has spoken out about the ongoing battle of the British developers against illegal file-sharers, and unfortunately for the massive five, it’s not in their support as well.

Speaking to Eurogamer at the Leipzig Games Convention, the British head of EA Sports stated,

I’m not a massive fan of trying to punish your consumer… Albeit these people have clearly stolen intellectual property, I think there are better ways of resolving this within our power as developers and publishers.

He does, however, agree that there should be a crackdown against piracy, but apparently, this is not his preferred method. While he did say there are other ways of dealing with the issue, he didn’t give a clear counter-proposal to what Atari, Topware Interactive, Reality Pump, Techland and Codemasters are doing, suing 25,000 people across UK for illegal file-sharing.

[Piracy] is totally wrong. It is stealing. But at the same time I think there are better solutions than chasing people for money. I’m not sure what they’re, other than to build game experiences that make it more difficult for there to be any value in pirating games.

And commenting on the music industry’s stand on the matter (which is to also disagree and distance themselves with what the publishers and developers are doing), Moore stated that it’s something that the gaming biz should have learned from them: you don’t win any friends by suing your customers.

But these statements, of course, are his own, and does not in any way reflect the position of the EA as a company. He says he doesn’t know how EA will react to these developments, although it is without a doubt that EA does not condone piracy and that they take the issue seriously. “… People deserve to get paid for the content they create, but as far as I’m aware, we’ve no plans, that I know of, to partner with Atari and Codemasters and chase down consumers.”

And so the chasm deepens.


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Leipzig Games Convention 2008 - Image 1The Leipzig Games Convention 2008 will be seeing two more days before it finally draws to a close, but already the awards ceremony has taken place last night. We’re still trying to catch up on all the news from Leipzig, but for now, report on the cream of the crop!

Spanning 29 exhibitors and a grand total of about 120 software and hardware titles, only nine awards were given out, with each category representing a gaming platform.

  • PSP: Resistance: Retribution (Sony)
  • PS3: LittleBigPlanet (Sony)
  • 360: Mirror’s Edge (Electronic Arts)
  • Wii: Skate It (Electronic Arts)
  • DS: Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (Sega)
  • PC: Spore (Electronic Arts)
  • MMO: Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (Electornic Arts)
  • Mobile: Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (Konami)
  • Hardware: PlayTV (Sony)

We also hear that the attendance at this year’s GC is a record. The attendance for 2008 has increased from last year’s 35,000 population, to this year’s 38,000.


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