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Nokia's Anssi Vanjoki resigns, the search for a new smartphone chief begins
Holy moly, it's all gone topsy turvy over in Nokia's camp. After Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo was given his marching orders on Friday, this week it's the turn of Anssi Vanjoki -- who only recently became the company's Mobile Solutions leader -- to announce his departure. Anssi has handed in his requisite six-month notice along with the following statement: "I felt the time has come to seek new opportunities in my life. At the same time, I am one hundred per cent committed to doing my best for Nokia until my very last working day. I am also really looking forward to this year's Nokia World and sharing news about exciting new devices and solutions." It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to recognize that Anssi's sudden desire to explore new opportunities is at least in part motivated by Nokia's choice to install Stephen Elop as its future CEO at the expense of good old OPK. Still, you've got to think there could've been a better time to announce such heart-stopping news, maybe after your company's most pivotal Nokia World convention in recent memory? [Thanks, Ted]
Intel snaps up former Palm and Apple VP Mike Bell for its smartphone push
Seriously, what the hell did HP acquire when it bought Palm? A bunch of pretty patents and a rapidly dwindling talent pool, it would seem. Mike Bell, a celebrated capture for Palm back in 2007 after 16 years at Apple, was most recently occupying the role of Senior VP for Product Development on Jon Rubinstein's team, but he has now switched allegiances to the blue team. Interestingly, though his address might change, his job spec will not -- Mike will act as Director of Smartphone Product Development in Intel's Ultra Mobility Group, where he'll "help build and lead a team to build breakthrough smartphone reference designs to accelerate Intel Architecture into the market." It's hard to imagine how Intel could signal its intent to be a big player in the smartphone realm any more forcefully. Click past the break for the full text of the internal email announcing Mike's arrival.
CE-Oh no he didn't!: Nokia's Anssi Vanjoki thinks cameraphones are about to make SLRs obsolete
From what we know of Anssi Vanjoki, he's a great guy and one that isn't afraid of admitting his company's mistakes. Alas, now we can also add to that dossier the ignominious fact that the fella doesn't seem to know how professional cameras work. Talking about the rapid improvement in cameraphone technology during a speech in Helsinki yesterday, Vanjoki said that very soon "there will be no need to carry around those heavy lenses." He's really enthusiastic about HD video coming to phones, which he predicts will be here within 12 months (if you ask Sony Ericsson, it's here already), but we just can't let that spectacular line about lenses slide. The glass you shoot through is, for a lot of people, the most important piece of photographic equipment and there are genuine reasons why said lenses are heavy, elongated, and typically unfriendly to pockets. Then again, this dude also thought the N-Gage was gonna be a success, so don't start selling off that glass stockpile just yet.
Nintendo's Denise Kaigler steps down to spend time with family
Nintendo vice president of corporate affairs Denise Kaigler recently announced via the Nintendo Minute feature on IGN that she would be vacating her position in order to spend more time with her family. In the post, she explained, "it's a fact of life that job and family often pull us in opposite directions. As regular readers of this feature know, this has proved particularly challenging for me," later adding "the time has come where I need to choose one over the other ... and I have to choose my family." We wish Kaigler the best of luck in this new venture, and hope that wherever she may end up, she retains her unconventionally sassy interviewing technique.
GDC China 09: Social evolution and Eastern vs. Western dynamics
Yesterday was the for the Game Developer's Conference in China, and one of the highlights included a speech given by Nexon America's vice-president Min Kim on Nexon's entry into the Western market and a call for more Chinese developers to make the leap across the ocean.Kim, who was born and raised in New York City and took frequent trips to visit his grandparents in South Korea, sees a connection between the gaming cultures on both sides of the ocean. His speech cited the original links between the American and Asian markets when it came to arcade culture, but how both sides began to diverge when console video games rose to power in American and Japan but not in mainland Asia.Kim's speech also goes into Nexon's first steps into the American market, the rise of social gaming, and Kim's interest in what he calls the "Penguin Army" -- the gamers who will soon out grow Club Penguin and move on to other games. For the full notes on his speech, check out the story over at Gamasutra.
Russ Brown talks on Heroes of Telara
Information is scarce on Heroes of Telara, one of Trion World Network's upcoming MMO titles, but Trion's Russ Brown is helping to fill in the gaps by sitting down for an interview and talking about what the game will have to offer.Russ's interview with the MMO Gamer (all the way back from E3, according to Trion's Stephen Reid) is a great read for anyone exciting about the game's "emergent world" possibilities, as Russ talks frankly on how the team can get into the game and hijack the monster AI to control them, or how they can even do little things like have merchants who have limited time sales.Russ also talks about the game's class switching system and subclass system, where you can pair classes with your main class to emphasize or change their traits. If you want more of a fighting paladin than a healing paladin, for example, you could pair the paladin class with the fighter subclass.If you want all of the gritty details though, head on over to the MMO Gamer and check out the full interview. As we said earlier, it's worth the read.[Via MMORPG.com]
Hi-Rez Studios VP Stew Chisam on what to expect from Global Agenda
The people at Hi-Rez Studios are the creators of Global Agenda, a 'spy-fi' mix of massively multiplayer online game and a shooter. Although Global Agenda is still a ways off from a release date, fan sites have already been established, notably Global Agenda Mission Control. The Mission Control community recently posed some questions to the Global Agenda creators, and Stew Chisam, Hi-Rez Studios Vice President of Game Operations, was happy to respond. Chisam provides updates on Global Agenda's fiction, which is fleshed out in two stories so far -- The Utopian and The Cure for Life. He states that Global Agenda's lore will be there to establish backstory, but the game experience isn't necessarily story-driven. "You'll see that the players themselves drive the drama and action inside of the game," he says. "It's their interactions with each other and the alliances they choose to make that really create the 'history' inside the game and drive your progression forward as a character."
Activision Blizzard appoints new European managing director
In a hasty attempt to replace outgoing European higher-up Joerg Trouvain, Activision Blizzard has announced that it's found a replacement for the briefly open executive position -- the equally awesomely-named Thibaud de Saint-Quentin will be taking over as the company's European senior vice president and managing director of publishing come next Monday. Strangely enough, Saint-Quentin's auspicious résumé doesn't include any gaming industry experience -- he's actually moving to the job following 20 years of serving as vice president for Kraft Foods' division of coffee, a beverage we're currently enjoying. Damn, this guy's good.
Sega speaks (Sonic in March?)
Scott Steinberg, VP of Sega's marketing division, recently spoke to GameDaily about the next generation of consoles. There was a good amount of Wii-speak, including a reaffirmation of Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz at launch and a tentative release date of March for Sonic Wildfire. From the interview: "There's a bit of a design, creative learning curve on how to fully exploit the nunchuks and Sega is already thinking about its second generation software. So if they're not already here, they probably weren't on board at the beginning and the companies are going to have a harder time thinking about ways to innovate and Sega's already thinking second generation." Sega's quite a supporter of the Wii, but Scott does comment that he hasn't seen a metric ton of Wii games in development from third parties, contrary to the raving Nintendo fanboys. Hopefully, games like Banana Blitz and Wildfire can create a large enough install base to make those third-party games worthwhile for developers. More delicious interview in the link.
PS3 could debut in Europe for 500 euros, says SCEE exec
La PlayStation Trois! French gamers must be familiar with that combination by now, and if a certain Sony executive gets his way, the PS3 could be appearing in Europe for as low as 500 euros this fall.Apparently George Fornay (president of Sony Computer Entertainment France and vice president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe) confirmed to Generation Europe 1, in French, that the PS3 could be priced around the 500 euro mark, most likely between 499 euros and 599 euros. For the unfiltered French audio, try the Play button near the middle of Europe 1's podcast page here.Such an estimated figure may include Europe's Value Added Tax (VAT), so the final price range in the States might well be lower than the current U.S. currency equivalent of roughly $600-$725 for those many euros. Of course, who's to say whether Mr. Fornay was simply speculating on a local podcast or whether he actually exhibited loose lips before the French press?[Thanks, Fan; also via Joystiq]
