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Mystery Nokia smartphone flaunted in European Lumia 920 ad
A recent Nokia Lumia 920 TV commercial from Netherlands carrier KPN Mobiel -- spotted by My Nokia Blog -- shows a curious yellow handset at the five second mark, and after squinting for a bit we're still not sure what we're seeing. It's obviously not a 920, and it doesn't match any other existing models that we can remember. Our mobile experts noticed that it vaguely resembles the Nokia Lumia 822 from US carrier Verizon, but the headphone nub, camera pod position and tapered design don't match that model -- which also appears to be smaller than the one pictured above. Could the Finnish carrier be holding out on us until Mobile World Congress 2013? Or is it some kind of Dutch variant of the 822? We've no idea, but if any of you do, we're sure you'll let us know below. You can scope the video after the fold.
EVE Evolved: Expanding on wormholes
It's no secret that I'm nuts about wormholes! Last week I looked at the reasons why EVE Online's Apocrypha expansion was such a big success and rejoiced at the recent announcement that CCP will be developing similar laterally designed expansions from now on. In the announcement, developers wrote that they would ideally have liked to iterate on Apocrypha's wormhole gameplay for several releases, which got me thinking about how that gameplay could be expanded on now. Wormholes were a massive catalyst for exploration, small-scale colonisation, industry and PvP, but would it be possible to recapture that magic in an expansion? The Sleeper storyline certainly evolved with the Incursion expansion as it became known that Sansha forces were able to control wormholes and had invaded Jovian space, but that story sadly didn't translate into gameplay for people living inside wormholes. There's no risk of running into the Sansha home system on your travels, and Sansha forces will never lock down a wormhole system and attack your starbase. That feels like a bit of a wasted opportunity to me, and I worry that a new wormhole expansion could similarly pass up the opportunity to add interesting new gameplay. Adding more hidden wormhole systems and combat sites would be fun for a while, but the underlying wormhole mechanics and NPC capabilities are already common knowledge. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at various ways that a future wormhole expansion for EVE could recapture the magic of Sleeper space.
What would happen if you put your hand in the Large Hadron Collider? Er, well, um... (video)
Scientists, they've made our lives infinitely easier, healthier, and longer, but sometimes even their giant intellects can be stumped. Here we have a perfect example of such a scenario, where the seemingly innocuous question of what might happen if one were to dip a hand inside the Large Hadron Collider has generated a wide range of hypotheses, none of which sound particularly assured of being correct. The trouble is that, aside from the known unknowns -- such as whether the accelerated protons would crash and explode upon contact with your hand or just pass through -- there are surely unknown unknowns that will likely become apparent only once you try to do the act itself. So, any volunteers?
Mysterious T-swivel handset appears on Korean site, keeps us guessing
Here's a Sunday challenge for you -- what in tarnation is this thing? The mysterious T-swivel type handset has appeared on a Korean site, presumably signifying its status as a simple concept. Obviously, the device packs a full QWERTY keyboard, a front-mounted camera, a rather sizable display and a swivel contraption to keep things horizontal when texting and the like. Beyond that, your guess is as good as ours here. Any clues on this thing's origins? We only ask because, you know, we'd love to actually toy around with one.[Via Pocketables]
Research: 30% of Xbox owners don't know about XBLA
An amazing 30% of Xbox 360 owners have "never heard" of Xbox Live Arcade according to research firm Magid Associates in their new GameDaily column. We'd instantly cry foul if it weren't for the stunning revelation last week that, according to NPD, only 40% of PS3 owners knew their console had a Blu-ray drive. Who are these consumers?The survey of 1800 US households found that 149 owned an Xbox 360. Of the 70% who own an Xbox 360 -- and know they have XBLA -- 42% have tested product but never purchased and 28% have "bought games using XBLA." We'd say that Microsoft might want to focus on getting the 42% to purchase something, but we think it might be better to get the 30% who don't know XBLA exists to become aware. Seriously, that's like 3 million people with a box in their house and they don't even know one of its main features. Magid Associates will have a report out next year on whether the "awareness gap" has closed. What frightening report about gamers being unaware of their consoles capabilities will we see next?
More support from Namco-Bandai
Namco-Bandai's Japanese press site has unveiled that the company plans to bring two new games to the Wii platform. Though only Final Furlong was playable at E3, the company is showing strong, strong support for the fledgling console.Many are speculating on the possibility of Time Crisis 4; while the Wii is obviously capable of doing a full FPS, a lightgun game would certainly be a welcome addition. How about another Tales game, or a Baten Kaitos sequel? Oh, those crafty Japanese corporations, always keeping us in the dark. Any ideas as to what Namco's rolling out?
