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Forza Horizon 2 features Kinect-enabled assistant called ANNA
Road trips are a blast if you've got someone to talk to, but not everyone can just drop their life for weeks at time to attend driving festivals. You're an exception to that rule in Forza Horizon 2, but Turn 10 Studios Creative Director Ralph Fulton shared some good news with Examiner: Horizon 2 drivers will have a companion in a Kinect-supplemented AI partner called ANNA, which means the prime passenger seat real estate is open for a kickin' snack buffet. While ANNA probably won't keep your meal upright in hairpin turns, Fulton explained that she acts like a digital, navigation-savvy assistant. She'll suggest events to try, let you know when friends sign on and supply a recap when you slip back into the driver's seat. Sounds like ANNA will help you keep your eyes on the road then! When your view isn't darting between the windshield and your passenger side smorgasbord, that is. [Image: Microsoft Studios]
Disney Infinity to add Wreck-It Ralph, Tangled, Frozen characters
Disney Infinity aims to live up to its name with the addition of three movie franchises to the platformer/adventure/sandbox/whatever-it-is game. Wreck-It Ralph and Tangled characters Ralph, Vanellope and Rapunzel have already found their way into stores, while Anna and Elsa from Frozen have yet to arrive. Ralph is available exclusively at Best Buy until December 31, while Vanellope is exclusive to Target until the same date. Walmart, meanwhile, gets to braid and play with Rapunzel's ludicrously long hair until December 31 as well. Anna and Elsa will be released nationwide on November 26, a day before the movie they star in. So if you already know you're going to love the movie and its characters - or you're a time traveler and have already seen the movie - these toys are for you. And everyone else who can find them. Along with the characters, Disney Interactive will also be releasing 20 new Power Discs. These discs grant various in-game bonuses, from items and aesthetic changes to boosts and abilities. You can see the full list of discs and their effects after the jump:
Steam weekly deals: Anna, Retro/Grade, The Journey Down
Valve has posted new weekly deals on Steam this week, and you can pick up some excellent indie titles for the low price of cheap. The atmospheric horror puzzler Anna is on sale for only $3.39, 2DEngine's Chains is only $1.24, reverse music shooter Retro/Grade will cost you $3.40, the sticky sweet Sugar Cube: Bittersweet Factory is $2.37, and indie point-and-click The Journey Down: Chapter One is $2.80. That's a whole lotta great indie gaming for not a lotta bucks. The whole deal's good until June 10, despite the official Valve post date being off by a week again. You're just messing with us now, right Valve?
Anna - Extended Edition improves UI, horror based on player feedback
When Anna launched late last year, it freaked us right out. It's an adventure game soaked with subtle, horrifying moments and disturbing imagery overlaid on a gorgeous Italian countryside – though not everyone agreed with this positive assessment. It was knocked for being too short, too esoteric, not structured enough. Anna – Extended Edition promises to address these criticisms, based on "the feedback of the thousands of players of the original Anna." The extended edition is available now, in boxed and digital form in the UK, and digitally in the US via Steam, for PC, Mac and Linux.Anna – Extended Edition includes new environments, puzzles, user interface and music, improved graphics, and a new character, "The Wife Doll," who has her own AI. The user interface was one con we noted during our time with Anna, though we still found the entire experience to be an outright creep-fest. Enjoy your Wife Doll, everyone – we'll be over here, cowering in the corner.
Anna finds new victims on Mac this November
Polarizing horror adventure Anna makes its way to Mac on November 9. Previously released on PC, our snapshot of the game found it "refreshing," but opinions about the game are scattered like arterial spray.Anna is billed as a point-and-click adventure about a "sort of haunted" sawmill. If you're looking to learn more about the fright fest, check out our Indie Pitch on the game.%Gallery-167122%
Snapshot: Anna (PC)
There are so many games out there we couldn't possibly review them all. Welcome to Snapshot, where we highlight games that might fall outside our usual coverage but are still something we think you should know about. Don't fool yourself about what type of game Anna is. Though screenshots may deceive you into believing the game is a realistic point-and-click set in the gorgeous Italian countryside, Anna is a horror game through and through. Even the developers at Dreampainters pitch Anna as a classic point-and-click adventure, based on the heritage of Val D'Ayas, a small village steeped in ancient folklore. The sawmill? "Oh, that, it's sort of haunted," the developers seem to say, "but don't worry your pretty little head about it."After playing Anna, I suggest you worry about it. Worry about it a lot.%Gallery-167122%
The Joystiq Indie Pitch: Anna
Indie developers are the starving artists of the video-game world, often brilliant and innovative, but also misunderstood, underfunded and more prone to writing free-form poetry on their LiveJournals. We believe they deserve a wider audience with the Joystiq Indie Pitch: This week, Dreampainters talks ancient Italian legend, modern murder and the beauty of point-and-click adventure games with its new PC release, Anna. What's your game called and what's it about?The game is called Anna and is a point-and-click graphic adventure about a "sort of haunted" sawmill.What inspired you to make Anna?The main inspiration came from a real-life old sawmill in Valle D'Aosta, an all-mountain region in Italy (to be very precise, in Val D'Ayas). It is an ancient and beautiful place, with some legends about ghosts and hauting around it. We mixed all this with a set of local legends and personal stuff. This game is actually a true homage to Val D'Ayas and its heritage.%Gallery-167122%
Meet 'Anna' today on your PC
The horror adventure game Anna launches today on multiple download services (including Gamersgate and Desura). To celebrate that important milestone, enjoy this trailer that starts off pretty serenely before veering into creep-out territory.
Anna disturbs its way onto Steam September 21
Italian horror Anna is coming to Steam September 21, available to download for PC and Mac. Developer Dreampainters originally released Anna on other portals in the summer, but German publisher Kalypso Media is now distributing the game onto Steam with a price tag of $10.The point-and-click thriller is based on the myths of a northern Italian valley. The choices you make affect the protagonists' "mental health," leading to one of three different endings.
Nokia Maps Suite 2.0 rolls out to Symbian devices, breaks free from beta chains
Symbian users haven't seen any shortage of love come their way in 2012. Just look to the 808 PureView for proof of that platform's staying power. Now, Nokia's doling out even more good news, dropping the beta tag from its Maps Suite 2.0 and officially rolling out that software to ^3, Anna and Belle handsets. For those unfamiliar with this bundle of location services, it's primarily a tidy integration of Espoo's Maps, Drive and Transport apps sewn into one, with tailored icons, enhanced UI customization, voice search and photo-tagging. Interested parties can get to downloading the currently available refresh via an OTA update on their phones now. And while you wait for that lengthy install, check out the source link below for additional shots of the packaged goods.
First trailer for Anna, a pretty, spooky and pretty spooky title from Italy [Update]
This little indie ditty has been on our radar for a few months now, intriguing us with slick graphics and a mysterious, vague storyline that seems to smear the line between Dear Esther and Amnesia. Anna takes inspiration from ancient legends in Val D'Ayas, a scenic valley in northern Italy, developer Dreampainters says. Anna is a PC-exclusive, point-and-click exploration title which, as is obvious in the above trailer, has a dark, subtly terrifying edge to it. It has three different endings, each taking about three hours to complete, thus bringing the entire experience to around nine hours. Anna is coming at a "budget price," according to Dreampainters. Update: That's definitely the release date at the end of the trailer up there, so keep a lookout for Anna on May 18, 2012. We'd look out for it ourselves, but apparently we need to get our glasses checked.
Nokia Astound owners face a Belle-less future, no update coming
So this is where the road ends for the Nokia Astound. After getting a hearty helping of Symbian Anna in November, owners of T-Mobile's first (and only) Symbian^3 device became hopeful that -- despite the fate of the OS being sealed -- the US counterpart to the C7 would remain relevant throughout the course of their contract. Sadly, it was not to be: the phone maker tweeted that the Astound won't receive an update to Symbian Nokia Belle. What of the original C7, you ask? Oh, the latest refresh is already rolling out to users worldwide, but the Astound doesn't appear to be invited to the party. Why? It would need to undergo an additional bout of carrier testing, which involves precious time and money that T-Mobile simply appears unwilling to dole out. This is speculation, of course, but we wouldn't find it surprising in the least to see a US carrier shun a ten-month-old device running an OS with a less than promising future.
Donna and Carla plan to kick Belle out of the Nokia ball, promise not to be Symbian's last dance
Nokia may have signed a pledge of mobile allegiance to Windows Phone, but that doesn't mean its Symbian faithful have to play the part of the spurned lover. Espoo still sees a future for users of its other OS and plans to dish out the upgrades in two future steps, bearing such '70s disco queen-from-BK names like Carla and Donna. Details of these purported updates leaked out at the company's Developer's Day in Mexico where a blurrycam slide outed the planned progression for Belle-operating handsets. So, what's on deck? Well, Carla'll be the first to hit, bringing an updated Browser (8.0 here), Dolby Surround Sound, NFC functionality and improved widgets, while Donna's party plans were less than forthcoming, indicating that it'd be an exclusively dual-core phone affair. So, clear out some space on that Symbian dance card, these solid gold gals are looking for one last spin on the mobile dance floor.
Facelock app hits the Ovi Store, Symbian handsets frame your face for security
Unlocking your phone doesn't get any easier than a simple patterned swipe or pre-set pin. But for the fussy amongst you, there's an alternative solution to make you feel both confidently futuristic, and downright ridiculous. Facelock, the facial recognition security app announced back at Nokia World 2010, has finally mosied on over to the Ovi Store, beta tag in tow. The screen lock tech functions pretty much as you'd expect: once you've set a static image of your face as a code, the front-facing camera will then match it up to your mug and, presto magico, you'll have access to your device. The free app is apparently compatible only with Symbian 3 handsets, although those rocking Anna and Belle shouldn't encounter any difficulties. Ready to face / off with your phone? Then hit up the source link below to download the gratis goods. [Thanks, Jerry]
Nokia passes off Symbian and 2,300 employees to Accenture
After placing all bets on Windows Phone, Stephen Elop announced that Nokia would slowly phase out its OG operating system, Symbian. Today, it's officially passed the torch, handing over all Symbian-related duties to Accenture, a consulting and outsourcing firm. 2,300 former Nokia employees will also be repurposed, getting a new name on their paycheck as they tend to the ill-fated OS. The Finnish mainstay says the arrangement will last until at least 2016, and plans to continually roll out updates during this time. Not everyone is hanging on another five years though, as it seems that at least 500 employees have jumped ship or found new gigs within the company since the original announcement predicting 2,800 reassignments. Head past the break to find the full (and very terse) press release.
Refresh Roundup: week of September 12, 2011
Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging to get updated. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery from the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy! Official Android updates The HTC Merge on US Cellular can now be bumped up to Android 2.3.4. It appears to be a manual install, so visit here to download the file and learn exactly how to update your device. [via UnwiredView] HTC has added another device to its growing list of phones and tablets that now support the HTCDev bootloader unlock tool. [via PocketDroid] The LG Optimus S on Sprint is now on the receiving end of an OTA Gingerbread rollout. [via UnwiredView] Great news, Samsung Infuse 4G users: you're getting an update. The bad news: it's a maintenance fix, rather than a full-out Gingerbread upgrade. Still, it may be worth the download if you have the time or opportunity. [via AndroidCentral] Samsung has released the kernel source for the Epic 4G Touch. [via PocketNow] Sprint's certainly getting a lot of love this week, and we're not done yet: the Motorola Photon 4G is beginning to push out another smallish bug fix meant to curb WiFi issues experienced by a few users, and appears to be a gradual rollout. [via SprintFeed] The original Motorola Droid X is expected to receive a maintenance refresh as early as tomorrow, which is intended to resolve a widespread issue with the keyboard. If you're in this category, definitely keep a close eye out on this space. [via Droid-Life] We're hearing that the Droid 2 R2-D2 update to Gingerbread, which we originally reported on last week, is officially rolling out to eager fanboys and fangirls countrywide. [via AndroidCentral] Unofficial Android updates, custom ROMs and misc. hackery Those CyanogenMod7 builds for the HTC Sensation and EVO 3D we were talking about last week? They're now available. As extremely early builds, download and flash at your own risk. [via AndroidCentral] Since we're talking so much about HTC, here's one more thing: you can now grab a ROM for your HTC Desire HD that enables the beats audio technology. [via GSMArena and Android Community] A dev has been hard at work pulling various Motorola Atrix ROMs and porting them over to the Droid X2. The first one available is plain vanilla Android 2.3.4, if you're just not feeling up to using MotoBlur (aka the now-nameless Moto UI). [via Droid-Life] The initial build of the Motorola Droid Bionic bootstrap is available for install, which essentially will enable you to bootstrap your recovery and create backups on your device. Custom ROMs still aren't around for the Bionic yet (although early builds of CM7 began showing up this week), but the bootstrap is a big step toward achieving that goal. [via Droid-Life] Other platforms Symbian's Anna update is continuing to expand support to more countries, including Italy, Switzerland, Taiwan and Turkey. The refreshes for the US, Canada and Australia -- according to an email from Nokia -- is expected to arrive within the next two weeks. [via MyNokiaBlog] Refreshes we covered this week AT&T Windows Phone 7 devices to receive Mango this fall BlackBerry PlayBook to get OTA update next month that will offer native email, calendar
Nokia 500 hands-on
What's this, then? It's the Nokia 500, hanging out in the Vodafone booth. The 3.2-inch handset is awaiting an official release on the European carrier, which should be hitting around the October time frame here in Germany, according the rep we spoke with. Still no word on pricing from the carrier, but it was suggested to us that the handset would likely run €99 or less, on contract. We managed to get some hands-on time with the Symbian Anna handset, and can't say we were all that impressed by the hardware on what feels like a relatively low end phone for Nokia, a company that has offered up some of the best hardware designs in the business. The screen feels quite narrow, and the device itself a bit chunky. The phone has 256MB of RAM and a 1GHz processor, which do the job reasonably well, though the Anna interface will likely leave something to be desired for many smartphone users. There's also a five megapixel rear-facing camera and an microSD slot -- oh, and the rep we spoke with seemed particularly excited about the different color back plates, which will be available for the phone. It's not the most exciting phone out there from the Finnish handset maker, but for those looking for a relatively low-cost smartphone from the company, the 500 certainly gets the job done.%Gallery-132475%
Engadget Mobile Podcast 101 - 08.27.2011
After the two most craziest weeks ever in the history of the mobile technology news universe, it's important to step back and just take stock of everything: a survey course, if you will. That's why we've created Engadget Mobile Podcast 101, your first stop on the road to an otherworldly state we call CMA: Complete Mobile Awareness. Come along, won't you?Hosts: Myriam Joire (tnkgrl), Brad MolenProducer: Trent WolbeMusic: Daestro - Light Powered (Ghostly International)00:02:23 - Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple00:10:00 - Tim Cook: Who is Apple's new CEO?00:25:27 - iPhone 5 coming to Sprint, other carriers in mid-October?00:27:27 - App logs reportedly confirm dual mode CDMA / GSM iPhone 5 in testing00:41:15 - Apple to release cheaper, 8GB iPhone 4 within weeks?00:49:58 - Samsung Galaxy S II not coming to Verizon after all? (update: confirmed)00:53:25 - Sprint's Epic Touch 4G may be first US-bound Galaxy S II, arriving September 9th?00:55:39 - Trio of US Samsung Galaxy S II models get together for a group photo?01:04:05 - Samsung debuts new Galaxy lineup, refines naming strategy along the way01:11:46 - Nokia announces Symbian Belle alongside three new devices01:21:28 - Microsoft: Windows Phone Tango will be minor update, is meant for low-end handsets01:25:35 - Microsoft: front facing cameras, Skype integration coming with Mango update (video)01:26:05 - HTC Omega blessed with renders, revealing its front-facing camera01:31:15 - Blackberry Curve 9360 hands-onHear the podcastSubscribe to the podcast[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes[RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Mobile Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically[RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Mobile Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator[Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune MarketplaceDownload the podcastLISTEN (MP3)LISTEN (AAC)Contact the podcastpodcast (at) engadgetmobile (dot) com.Follow us on Twitter@tnkgrl @phonewisdom @engadgetmobile
Nokia announces Symbian Belle alongside three new devices
True to Monday's teaser, Nokia unveiled its latest update to the Symbian OS as well as a few new devices. Belle is indeed coming, and it's heading to the Nokia 700, 701 and 600 in the third quarter of this year. The successor to Anna brings NFC sharing and pairing functionality to the table, along with three additional home screens (bumped up to six), a dynamic lock screen, live widgets in five different sizes, and a pull-down taskbar and notification menu. Fortunately, the new handsets announced today aren't the only beneficiaries of the upgrade: the N8, E6, E7, X7, C7, C6-01 and Oro will all get Belle at a yet-unknown later date. Join us after the break as we go more into detail on the three phones announced today, along with a video and press release. %Gallery-131567%
Nokia to announce Symbian Belle update on Wednesday, crafts a countdown timer
Well, that must be embarrassing: Nokia gets a fancy countdown clock set up on its Facebook page as a teaser for something new on Symbian, and the file it set up still says "belle_fb_TeaserMain" in it. It doesn't anymore, but the cat's already out of the bag; on Wednesday morning Espoo will most likely unveil Belle, its forthcoming bump up from Symbian Anna. We're unsure of the exact details that'll be shared, though we've already seen enough of the new update to know what to expect: with a couple lengthy videos, multitudes of screenshots and a leaked version of Belle floating around somewhere, there isn't much of a mystery left to shed light on. That said, we're still hoping we'll see some device announcements as well as dates and device compatibility. Perhaps Mr. Elop just wants us to think it's Belle, in which case this would be the best teaser of all. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
