2010
Latest
Android rumor rodeo, starring Sprint's first 4G phone, a delayed Eclair, INQ Mobile's 2010 handset, and more
The gang at Android and Me seemed to have made quite a number of acquaintances on their sojourn through CTIA and MotoDev Summit. Specifically, there were three people along the way they reportedly talked to that led to the most tantalizing of rumors. First down the rabbit hole is a Sprint developer who claimed the first 4G (i.e. WiMAX) phone will be an Android device, which honestly wouldn't be all that shocking given the company's love for and recent history with the OS. Next up is a Samsung exec that intimated we shouldn't expect Android 2.0 "Eclair" until Q2 2010 -- interesting in its own right, but looks like those whispers of Sholes launching with anything beyond Donut isn't gonna come to fruition now. Our third definitive individual is an INQ head employee who let slip its handsets would be finding its way onto a US carrier's network in 2010 and would have a "pimped out" customized Android skin chock full of social networking the likes of Spotify, Skype, Facebook, etc. The rest of its report is much ado about nothing -- no LG android phone this year, no TomTom app this year, and no standalone Google Maps navigation software. Yeah, that's quite a number of Android rumors to digest, and unfortunately nothing definitive. Looking forward to the future? [Via i4u]
Assassin's Creed 2 PC delayed to 2010
Ubisoft has tweeted that the PC version of Assassin's Creed II has been delayed to 2010. Specifically, the game has been moved to the ever-so-crowded first quarter of 2010. According to the necessarily brief announcement, Ubisoft has decided to delay the PC version in order to secure "a bit more time for the dev team to deliver the best quality game." Considering Ubisoft's own Yves Guillemot stated that early 2010 is "looking pretty crazy" and warned that some Spring 2010 titles may be delayed again, this is all very amusing. Unless you've been waiting for the PC version of Assassin's Creed II, of course.
Latest APB trailer shoots, drives, pops and locks onto your screen
Before you wonder, we'll answer: The third All Points Bulletin official trailer is pretty much all gameplay footage. We say pretty much, because there is a little dancing in it and, well, you'll just have to see for yourselves.What the trailer does with profound effectiveness is make you want to play the game much sooner than Spring 2010. We're not sure if it's the infectious song and its singer requesting that you give him both daft and punk, or if it's because there's a point in the video where three cars leap from stacked freight containers, onto a building and over into a street. Actually, it's probably the delicious combination of those two things.Check out the video after the break.
Samsung expecting OLED laptops in Q3 2010
It'd be about a year late according to an earlier roadmap, but Samsung at IFA this week proclaimed its intention to adopt OLED for its laptop lineup as soon as the screens are commercially available -- "probably sometime Q3 next year" said Kyu Uhm, head of Worldwide Sales and Marketing for the company's Computing Division. Unfortunately, the company was mum on any other details. We doubt it'll look much like its 2008 prototype, but we can dream, can't we? [Via OLED-Info]
Pachter expects GTA 5 coming in 2010
So yes, prognosticator of all electronic entertainment Michael Pachter told Gamasutra that he expects Take-Two to release the fifth full Grand Theft Auto game in 2010. It seems far-fetched to us (especially with another GTA IV episode still in the pipeline). But, sadly, Pachter doesn't give us a lot to work with in the piece, so, in the absence of details, we're just going to assume he's right. Journalized. One thing that's actually hard to argue about from the piece, analysts are overwhelmingly positive about Take-Two in 2010 with a bevy of big titles like BioShock 2, Mafia 2, Red Dead Redemption and several others. Does Take-Two even need a Grand Theft Auto next year?
Nokia Comes with Music US launch smartly pushed back to 2010
Not that most Americans could care, but Nokia is pushing back the US launch of its DRM-laden Comes with Music service into 2010. CWM, you'll recall, is Nokia's "free" all-you-can-eat music service that bundles the 12-18 month music subscription cost into the inflated handset price -- although like any DRM music scheme, solutions already exist to break the CWM shackles. The delay is probably a wise move considering the weak state of Nokia's US partnerships required to offset consumer costs, lukewarm response to its latest handsets, and the fact that most US consumers share a broad distaste for DRM music. We'd rather see Nokia launch late but with a compelling proposition than launch now in blind adherence to a timeline.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm targeted for 2010 release
We know, we know -- 2010 is an entire year, and doesn't provide much information as to when we'll be perusing the ruined landscape of Azeroth when World of Warcraft's next expansion, Cataclysm, is released. Still, we'd be remiss if we didn't mention the only piece of information yet to surface about the release schedule of the recently announced expansion, via a WoW.com interview with Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime. Thus, here it is: It's targeted for a 2010 release.Here's the two observations we can cull from that ambiguous launch announcement -- first, it's not coming out this year. Second, it's not coming out in two years. It's coming out somewhere between January 1 and December 31 of next year, it seems. That is, unless it takes Blizzard longer to develop than Morhaime initially thought, in which case, we'll hastily revoke our second observation.
Touchscreen-based Modu 2 coming in 2010 (updated)
Modu finally came through with an actual product launch late last month, and already the company is preparing for the next best thing. According to a report over at Pocket-lint, a so-called Modu 2 should make its debut in a few corners of the globe next year. The handset will boast full touchscreen functionality and 3.5G connectivity, but in an effort to remain true to form, Modu will sell a QWERTY jacket that adds hard keys for those who just have to have 'em. To date, Modu has managed to move around 1,000 of its original handsets, but even the second one won't soon see shelves in America. Why? According to CEO Dov Moran, the handset "just isn't good enough for demanding Brits and Americans who like to surf the internet and stay connected." Hey, at least the man's honest.Update: The CEO of Modu pinged us to say that some of the quotes in the source article were incorrect. Here's his comment: "Clearly, our next generation modu 2 which will be touch+ based and will incorporate 3.5G technology will fit the needs of these opertors and we plan and hope to sell these devices throughout the world."
Blizzard on the Battle.net update
Activision-Blizzard held their second quarter conference call yesterday, and in addition to addressing the Starcraft II delay, both Mike Morhaime and Activision CEO Bobby Kotick shared some insight into what the revamped Battle.net will be like. The brand new system (which is currently up and working, albeit in a very skeleton form so far) will have "social networking features, cross-game communication, [and] unified account management," in addition to features that will let players "share experiences" with each other online (we'd presume that means things like screenshot galleries and leaderboards, but who knows?). Kotick also spoke up, and compared the service to that other popular online community, Xbox Live.Blizzard is still saying the new Battle.net will come in conjunction with the new Starcraft, so we'll have to keep an eye out for them both in the first half of 2010. It'll be interesting to see what other features Blizzard adds in, and exactly what form features like "cross-game communication" take -- do they mean actual in-game messaging across games, or just status updates and messages on a social network? Kotick's comparison to Xbox Live raises some questions, too, as that's a much wider service than you'd think Battle.net would be. But then again, the guy's a CEO, and all CEOs have a tendency to overestimate exactly what their company is doing. Like most of Blizzard's upcoming releases, we'll have to wait and see on Battle.net.
The Next to Fall from Fall 09: Our Predictions
As we breathlessly await to see which of our hopes and dreams will be crushed by the next game being pushed from this fall into Q1 of 2010, we've decided to pass the time with an office pool of sorts, each of us picking one game that we think will be the next to get bumped.Now, you may not want to read too much into these, as we've used methods ranging from sophisticated industry telemetry to completely pulling it out of our asses to make our picks. If there's one you think we missed, let us know in the comments, and if we get enough good ones we might collect those in a separate post. Also, true story: During the creation of this feature yesterday, at least two guys had to make new pics after StarCraft II got bumped. Fact.Ready? Let's get started.%Gallery-69524%
No Guitar Hero: Van Halen for Europe this year
We bring you sad tidings of yet another game's delay into 2010 -- but two elements of this particular delay may soothe your frayed nerves. First, the title in question will only be delayed in Europe, where a good number of you do not live. Second, the delayed title is Guitar Hero: Van Halen, which a good number of you apparently could not care less about.Activision recently told Eurogamer that the PAL version of the "Jump"-infused rhythm title would not hit store shelves later this year. The game has since undergone a release date bump to "TBD 2010" -- not the "Q1 2010" window we've become so accustomed to seeing this year's titles pushed to. The publisher didn't explain the reason for the delay, but we're pretty certain it didn't want Van Halen competing with the other 58 rhythm titles it's releasing this holiday season.
Activision talks 2010: Bond is back, joined by Tony Hawk, Spider-Man, and 'innovative' action game
On this afternoon's earnings call, Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith dropped some details on what we can expect out of Activision in 2010. Of course, there's "a strong lineup behind the Guitar Hero franchise" and some Call of Duty "new releases" as well as "online monetization" of the franchise (not this again!) and strong Modern Warfare 2 sales, but that's not all it has in store for 2010. "We'll launch also new games based on James Bond, Tony Hawk, and Spider-Man, along with games supporting the theatrical releases for Dreamworks' Shrek 4 and How to Train Your Dragon," Griffith said. "In addition, as previously announced, we're planning to release an innovative property in the $4b action genre." Here's Activision CEO Bobby Kotick discussing the aforementioned $4b opportunity; could this be what former Dead Space producer Glen Schofield dumped EA and went to Activision for? Regardless, it's been nearly half a year since we got an update on Activision's first stab at the Bond franchise, after acquiring the rights from EA over three years ago. So it looks we'll be seeing more of Bond in '10 ... two-thousand and ten.
StarCraft II delayed to 2010
In an official press release, Blizzard announced today that StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, the first installment of the Starcraft II trilogy, previously indicated to be released in the last quarter of this year, is delayed to the first half of 2010.The release cited the massive amount of work necessary to overhaul Blizzard's online matchmaking service, Battle.net, as the main culprit for the delay. Since the new BNet will be part of every new Blizzard game from here on in -- including World of Warcraft, as players with BNet accounts have seen -- it's vital that the service be working properly before the game's release.StarCraft II was never officially dated -- only an on-the-sly indication -- and multiple financial sites have reported the now-official release date as the first half of 2010 following this announcement and Activision-Blizzard's quarterly financial report. What does this mean for the WoW player? Well, it means that if you were expecting the focus of BlizzCon, or one of the focuses of BlizzCon, to be a StarCraft II release date, you'd be incorrect.Gives you pause when you consider what else they could be announcing instead, eh?
Pachter on delays: Game industry not 'particularly well-coordinated'
When confusing things happen (say, for instance, games slipping into the first quarter of 2010 faster than we can count) we turn to the guy who has all the answers, analyst Michael Pachter. As we cried into his flannel shirt (metaphorically, of course) about all the fun we were missing, he tried his best to explain the situation."I think the game industry isn't particularly well-coordinated," he said, in his best soothing tone. Movies, he continued, are able to get out of one another's way more easily, because if two movies come out you want to see in back-to-back weeks, you're likely to see them both. "But the game business is different," he said, "because you're not going to go out and buy three games in one month. ... Well, maybe you will, but the average consumer won't."We begged for even more explanation, and he obliged.
Verizon will run LTE trials in Seattle and Boston later this year
We don't know if this is indicative of the company's rumored plans to roll out LTE in Q1 2010 , but Verizon has announced that it'll start running trials of its 4G network later this year, and the lucky cities to first get a stab at it are Seattle and Boston. In an earnings call today, CFO John Killian reiterated that the plan is to have a commercial launch in "up to 30 markets next year" (note he didn't say when in 2010), with an expected 100 million points of presence for LTE by 2013. VZW COO Denny Strigl skirted by a few questions about any future Apple devices, but no surprise there, that's been its modus operandi for some time now.[Via Phone Scoop]
Project Natal recognizing retail shelves in 2010, says Ballmer (update: maybe not)
Despite our incessant pleading, not a soul at Microsoft -- including newly-minted media darling Kudo Tsunoda -- would give up a release window for Project Natal, except to say "not in 2009." Well, at least we know we won't be waiting too far into the future. Company CEO and cheerleader Steve Ballmer told attendees to his speech at The Executives Club of Chicago today that the Xbox 360 motion control interface is coming in 2010. That's still a large timeframe, but hey, at least you can go ahead and start planning your block-breaking 2011 New Year's Eve party now. Update: Looks like Steve might've spoken out of turn. Microsoft just us over an official statement reiterating that they "have not confirmed a launch date at this time." Full reading after the break.
Analyst: Blu-ray can't stop video sales slump, sees modest growth in 2010
As frequently predicted, Blu-ray hasn't been enough to make up for sagging DVD sales, as a new Screen Digest report indicates a 4.8 percent slide worldwide last year, falling more than $2.6 billion. After plateauing approaching 2007, disc sales have been falling ever since and even Blu-ray's $482 million contribution can't hold up the slack. Still, it's looking at online rentals like Lovefilm and Quickflix to make up for some of the rental losses internationally, but don't expect Blu-ray to help grow the market at all until at least 2010. Of course, the company did also predict the format war would remain stalemated just weeks before Warner ended the whole thing, so we'd keep a grain of salt handy while reading.[Via Financial Times]
Reality check: Super Mario Galaxy 2, Metroid: Other M not due 'til 2010
Nintendo's newly announced sojourns into space, Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Metroid: Other M, are already sending avid Wii fans into convulsive seizures of glee (gleezures, if you will). Though it's the kind of behavior that blends well with the bustling E3 crowds, it's rarely professional for those of us trying to do work. As a preventative measure, we've etched the tragic facts of Nintendo's release schedule into our minds, bringing us down to earth from the galactic highs offered by Mario and Samus' returns.They're currently not due until 2010. Gleezure contained.%Gallery-64834%
Verizon Wireless to light up LTE in 20 to 30 markets in 2H 2010
Looking for some LTE news that's harder than those wishy-washy vibes you've been getting thus far? Listen up. On a recent conference call, Verizon Wireless President and CEO Lowell McAdam (shown) stated that its LTE network would launch commercially in around 20 to 30 US markets during "the second half of 2010." He continued by noting that a "nationwide buildout would be complete in late 2013 to early 2014," but failed to elaborate on the whens, whos and whys in between. For those locked into the 4G movement, you'll notice that these dates are slightly different than ones tossed out in April by the outfit's CFO, which leads us to believe that we could hear something else in just a few month's time if things don't go perfectly to plan. At any rate, McAdam did confirm that a tiny group of VZW testers would have access to 4G this year, with one "pre-commercial" network per US coast being activated during 2009. Bring on the bytes, baby.[Via phoneArena]
Panasonic and Sumitomo see eye to eye in this OLED game, big screens due in 2010
Ready with the proper retort to all those rumors, false starts and misquotations, the Nikkei is reporting that Panasonic and Sumitomo are zeroed in and have the tunnel vision to deliver the 40-inch plus OLED HDTVs we've been waiting for within fiscal 2010. Once organic electroluminescent product is flooding the streets, the plan is apparently to cut the power requirements of the bright, slim displays to less than a third of current LCDs by 2015, right around the time Samsung thinks this tech will be ready for the mainstream, anyone else care to make a prediction? (Registration req'd on read link)[Via Reuters & OLED-Info]
