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Grandialer, an iPhone app for GrandCentral
If you are one of the lucky ones who got in on the GrandCentral beta, then you might be interested in a new iPhone app that integrates with the GrandCentral service. Grandialer (iTunes link) allows you to use your iPhone to call people using your GrandCentral telephone number. The service can be used on EDGE since it's not a VoIP service. The application works by connecting your calls through GrandCentral and ringing back your iPhone. To set up the application, you just need to specify a ringback number for GrandCentral to call you back. To do this, just navigate to Settings > Phone number in the Grandialer application.Grandialer is a free application and is available today on the App Store. For more information on the application you can visit the developer's site.
iPod touch SIP-VoIP application videoed in action
Sure, there's less than 24 hours before everyone and their grandmother can hop online and grab 'hold of the SIP-VoIP application, but if you won't be bothered with it unless there's proof that it works, you're in the right place. The crafty folks over at touch mods have videoed "the first VoIP call" made with an iPod touch, the aforementioned software and their own microphone appendage. Granted, the dialogue is about as uninteresting as it gets, but trust us, that's not what's important here. Check out a couple of in-action videos after the jump.[Thanks, Tyler]
Kam Kam Mobile Alert detects GSM calls, wags tail
We've seen this type of toy before, but never in such a plush and cute form factor. The Kam Kam Mobile Alert -- that's the cat version -- and Don Don Mobile Alert detect the GSM radio on your handset from up to five feet away when a call or message comes in. Instead of blinking or spinning, Kitty or Rover will wag its tail for 15 seconds to let you know if your ringer happens to be silent. The desktop critter has a handy spot to plonk your handset in when in use, but sadly doesn't offer a charger option. The holiday season is approaching and this would likely make a cute gift, and at $30 a pop, it shouldn't break the bank.[Via ShinyShiny]
Intel, Skype partner for free international SkypeOut calls on Mother's Day
Haven't picked mom up a special Sansa C250 just yet? Weren't even planning on it? Well now you can stop fretting about where the coinage will come from to buy her a gift, as Intel and Skype have teamed up to offer the Gift of Gab come May 13th. The two firms will be charging the low, low price of nada for unlimited SkypeOut calls to landlines or mobile numbers that originate in the US or Canada for Mother's Day, giving us boys and girls here in the top sections of North America a full 24 hours to concoct and deliver an appropriate speech to that overseas-based mom. Of course, this offering could ensure that the "busiest calling day of the year" remains the champ in 2007, but regardless of what everyone else is doing, make sure you pencil in a phone call of your own a couple Sundays from now -- there's just no excuse left.
Massive Call of Duty 3 Wii video [update]
Finally, we've got something more visually stimulating than a screenshot to show on the game. With this long video, which is naturally embedded into the post after the break, you can get your Call of Duty 3 fix for a good 14 minutes. Highlights of the video include everything.So what are you waiting for? Continue into the post and check it out![Via Jeux-France][Update: Fixed link in the brackets to the Wii page; thanks b0bk!]
Call of Duty 3 scans from Nintendo Power
A lengthy article in Nintendo Power centers around the upcoming Wii launch title and Treyarch-developed game Call of Duty 3. Set after the D-Day landings during the summer of 1944, Call of Duty 3 follows the Allied forces during the Normandy Breakout campaign. While the recent news that the game will hold no inclusion of Wi-Fi gameplay is sad, to say the least, the focus on creating an excellent single-player experience will have to be good enough news during the interim to the game's release until we can all find out if our hope for a great game has been warranted. One thing is certain: the game definitely looks good.More scans are included after the break.
Rumor: COD 3 to have 16 player battles online [Update]
According to a forum post over at the official Nintendo boards, the latest issue of Game Informer will have a piece on Call of Duty 3 where it is said that online multiplayer for the game will feature 24 player matches via Xbox Live on the 360 and PS3 online for the PS3. The Wii, however, will support the lowered number of participants by allowing only up to 16 players to battle over Wi-Fi. Now, without a scan or any other kind of corroboration with the initial post, we're forced to chalk this up to rumor at the moment and will update you as news further develops.[Update: Go Nintendo received word that the information is in fact in the magazine, but is a misprint. Instead, the grim truth is that the game will feature no online multiplayer support on the Wii. Thanks Marc!]
Wii to be Bondless until 2008
It's been known for quite some time that Activision snatched up the Bond gaming rights after EA, but nobody knew exactly when the company's first game based on the smooth-talking British agent would release. Well, now we know, and in 2008 we'll get our first taste of the new era of Bond games, which will be a title based on the second film to star the new Bond Daniel Craig. We aren't a movie blog by any stretch of the imagination, but we were fairly happy to hear that he would be taking over following some very good past films. Of course, we already knew which development studio would actually be responsible for this new Bond game. Treyarch, as we all know, is currently knee-deep in preparing Call of Duty 3, yet will take up the reigns for the 2008 game.No announcement has been made in regards to what systems the game will be available for, but we're 95% sure it'll end up on the Wii.
Call of Duty 3 bonus action
Gamestop recently put up a listing for Treyarch's Call of Duty 3 on the Wii, complete with $59.99 US price tag and bonus DVD inclusion for pre-ordering. The bonus DVD is to be a sneak peek into the game, although in what kind of capacity the digital video disc allows you to sneakily-peek behind the game's scenes is a mystery.Any Wii Fanboys going to pre-order this and check the disc out? Anyone been out to see if the disc is available at your local Gamestop?
Confirmed: Call of Duty 3 a launch title
Hot on the heels of the recent videos and screenshots for Call of Duty 3 comes news that the game will be available on launch day for the PS3. I'll give that a second to sink in...OK, done? Good. So, in being available on November 17, 2006, Call of Duty 3 might be able to push sales in much the same way that Call of Duty 2 did for Satan's Microsoft's Xbox 360 console. Regardless, Call of Duty has been just about the only WWII shooter worth playing for quite some time, so hopefully this turns out to be a big plus for Sony and their PS3 console come release this November.
Activision unleashes official CoD 3 images
Do you remember our report on leaked images last month? Still remember nothing? Well, maybe you should, like, take some ginkgo boloba or something. I don't know, I'm no doctor.Regardless, it looks like Activision took a cue from the page of Red Steel, showing two players using the Wiimote in, we assume, realistic fashion proportional to how the final experience will be. Still, even though we've basically seen these, at least they're higher resolution shots. So, uh, nice...smoke?
Call of Duty 3 trailers and screens
IGN has posted a few different trailers showing the new Close Quarters Combat feature as well as some extra gameplay footage for Call of Duty 3. With the new Close Combat feature, you can do more than just bash a Nazi or two, allowing you to disarm traps such as mines, even going so far as to plant your own. Also, the game is to incorporate more destructible environments, causing the days of wood being able to block grenades without so much as denting to become a thing of the past.Considering that Treyarch, who was responsible for Call of Duty: Finest Hour and Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, which were a bit less enjoyable than the original Call of Duty and its expansion pack in United Offensive, along with the sequel on the PC, should we expect Call of Duty 3 to have the same problems as their past efforts on consoles? We sure hope not as the Call of Duty franchise has been the only enjoyable WWII shooter for quite some time.
Call Recorder plugin for Skype
Call Recorder from Ecamm Network is a Skype plugin that allows you to record your calls (interviews, podcasts, etc.) as two-track AAC files for that perfect 'edited for your blackmailing pleasure' effect (calls can also be converted to MP3 for the AAC-haters in the audience). A recent version update also brings the ability to save voicemails as quicktime movies.Call Recorder is a Universal Binary and requires Mac OS X 10.3.9, as well as Skype for Mac v1.4 or higher. A demo is available, while a license costs $14.95. As of this writing, Ecamm Network is offering a sale price of $12.95.
Call of Duty 2 demo released
At long last, Aspyr has released a demo of the hugely popular sequel to Call of Duty, the aptly named Call of Duty 2. No matter how badly I wanted to run to the Apple store and pick up the retail version, I knew I would feel horribly foolish if I got the game home only to find that it wouldn't run on my PowerBook. I knew I had to wait for the demo. MacGameFiles has the 665MB file as either a direct download, or a deliciously communal bittorrent file (doesn't the sharing just make you want to hug someone!?). If you've been waiting to try the game before you buy it, there is no better time than the present to kick some virtual Axis butt. [Via The MacObserver]
First Call of Duty 3 screens
The first screens for Call of Duty 3 on the Wii have surfaced. The screens aren't the best quality, so it's a safe bet that the game looks a lot better than this right now and will look even better as it progresses. The game will also do away with the reticle and the team plans on concentrating on perfecting the use of the Wiimote in the coming months.[Via Codename Revolution]
Call of Duty 2 Hits Stores
At long last, the long awaited sequel to one of the greatest first person shooters of all time--and 2003 Game of the Year--is available in stores as an OS X compatible Universal Binary. The series, set in World War II, is known for its extensive use of sound and environmental design to make the player really feel like they're in the middle of a war zone. Sporting an all new game engine, COD II officially requires a G5 or Intel Machine, but I've heard reports of it running respectably on even 12 inch PowerBooks. I can't wait to get my hands on this game, see you on the battlefield!
More Sadness details emerge
NIBRIS, one of the smaller development houses confirmed to be working on a title for the Revolution, recently revealed some goals for their game Sadness. In striving for a more atmospheric, psychologically-based game, NIBRIS hopes to stress on the player's nerves and shock them into submission. “...In my head there is a voice, different from the others. Whenever it answers it overwhelms the remaining voices, it mixes up thoughts and destroys peace. It tells me that I'm only mixed up in a thought which yearns to prove its own existence. The voice which whispers that I'm not really who I am and the perceived reality is only an abstraction created by my own mind. It is the original voice, which wants to free itself from my head, to free itself from the logic and reason it is being stifled by. The voice of animal endurance at all costs, which forces onto unimaginable things. It is the voice of chaos which is now screaming frightfully in my head for me to take an axe resting against the wall and cut off my father's head.”I hope to see something that combines the dark atmosphere of Call of Cthulhu with the shockingly clever mindgames of Eternal Darkness.
Rumor: Call of Duty a launch title
Got next is reporting that one of their GN spy pirates (we imagine a scruffy, peg-legged man brandishing a PP7 and preferring his rum stirred rather than shaken ) that "an upcoming entry in Activision's Call of Duty series will be the first third-party FPS title released using the unique capabilities of the Nintendo Revolution controller." Up until this point, the news is filled with promise and excites of a possible Call of Duty 2 port that effectively uses the Revolution's remote to create a more dramatic and energetic experience than the already founded excellence of the title. Of course, this is until you read down further and read that none other than Exakt Entertainment is developing this supposed title.Exakt's track record isn't the best, porting over arguably the worst versions of True Crimes: Streets of L.A. and X-Men: Next Dimension to the GameCube (games that really weren't that great on any console). Then there's Call of Duty: Finest Hour, which admittedly wasn't terrible, but came nowhere near what kind of experience the original Call of Duty and its expansion United Offensive provided.
