March 2011
Latest
Zaprudering the Invite: Anything to see?
Whatever you might think of Apple's grammar, there's not much this invitation's artwork is giving away. Of course, we all want to know: is there a camera up there? If so, we're not seeing evidence of it in the top-middle of the graphic. Perhaps there is a left-mounted camera hidden by March 2, or perhaps there is no camera to be seen at all, which will disappoint FaceTime chatters everywhere. Or perhaps Apple is simply being a tease ... as usual. The volume toggle and mute switch appear unchanged, and I suppose it's nice to know that the virtual iPad has been fully charged before being incorporated into the invitation. The numeric battery charge meter is, however, out of action in this shot, which lends a certain falsity to the image. The iPad appears to be sporting the iPhone 4 default wallpaper. Could that mean anything? Nah. Probably not. Can you guess what technology or innovation will help define 2011 through the iPad? We're still scratching our head and making guesses here in TUAW-land. Our own Kelly G. rolled her eyes at the language. While it's not TUAW's place to smack down Apple for a badly constructed sentence, we're more than happy to turn over pedant duties to our commenters. How would you have phrased your invitation? Let us know!
The 3rd Birthday will be observed March 29 in North America
We were expecting an evite or maybe one of those crazy JibJab animations, but instead Square Enix just issued a press release announcing that The 3rd Birthday, the PSP-exclusive installment of the Parasite Eve series, will hit North American store shelves on March 29. The title, which was originally under development for mobile phones, will retail for $30. This is a UMD-only release with no plans for a downloadable PSN version at present. We can only imagine that Square Enix is prepping a game card version for Sony's "NGP" platform. In announcing the release date, the publisher also confirmed the casting of two well-known TV names for the main characters' English voice overs. The game's star, Aya Brea, is voiced by Yvonne Strahovski (Sarah on Chuck) while Jensen Ackles (Dean Winchester on Supernatural) plays Kyle Madigan. The cast of Jersey Shore was evidently too busy at the gym, doing laundry and tanning to participate.
Yahoo! Connected TV store will let developers start charging for apps in March 2011
Yahoo! has been building its Connected TV widget platform up since debuting at CES 2009 and opening up its SDK in 2010, and it's already getting started on a new push for 2011 - paid apps. Right now the various TVs from Samsung, Sony, VIZIO, Toshiba and LG based on its platform only offer free widgets but the Connected TV Store is expected to launch in March, letting developers hawk their wares at the remote-wielding masses for anywhere from 99 cents to $99, with Yahoo! receiving a 30 percent cut for its trouble. Kadoo, PlayJam, Virtual Nerd, ScreenDreams, Accedo Broadband and Mycast weather are already testing the waters and the company promises a full demo at CES 2011. Since we figure it's only a matter of time until Apple works its app store into the Apple TV, Google has already announced its plans to add the Market to Google TV next year and everyone from Samsung to Boxee is actively courting developers in the living room, 2011 should be a very interesting year.
Nintendo 3DS will launch 'in all major markets' by March 2011, design still being tweaked
When Nintendo of Japan first announced the 3DS (think: way back in March), it promised a release of the portable by the fiscal year ending March 2011. Given the DS and DSi's six-month global rollout window, however, we weren't sure if that applied to the world or just the company's backyard -- sure, we've heard rumors of a UK release in October, but nothing's been confirmed. Cue Nintendo of America's president Reggie Fils-Aime to give a definitive answer: "The one thing, for sure, is that we will launch in all of our major markets by March 31, 2011." Well, that about settles it in our mind. Fils-Aime also clarifies that what we saw on the floor is not the final design -- something that was mentioned during the press conference -- but we wouldn't expect anything more than slightly altered button placement (for its part, the official site lists "look," battery, pre-installed software, and supported languages as TBA). But hey, if you want to believe a third screen is possible, don't let us stop you from dreaming.
Darksiders, Saint's Row sequels from THQ in fiscal 2012
THQ's Brian Farrell has revealed on today's investor conference call that the company is planning to revisit some of its most successful franchises as far away as the fiscal year of 2012 (which would be sometime after March 2011), including this year's bestseller Darksiders, and the popular Saint's Row franchise. Farrell says the company is looking to fiscal 2012 for "accelerated growth with three major core game titles scheduled: Warhammer 40k Space Marine, a sequel to Darksiders and the third generation of our popular Saint's Row franchise." Given that these are more than a year away, we don't have any more information besides the fact that they're planned for release (Who will Darksiders ape next? Will Saint's Row finally solve all of those bugs?). But news of sequels for both games will be welcomed by their respective fans.
