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Palm enabling webOS apps to interact with Universal Search, dock mode?
When our own esteemed Paul Miller cracked the mystery that allows the Motorola Droid to behave differently when docked than when in the hand, it took a little of the magic out the switch. However, that doesn't diminish from its utility, and it's a feature that could be coming to webOS. PreCentral.net received a screenshot from a developer highlighting two new options for webOS apps: Universal Search-enabled and Dock-enabled. The first surely means that apps can provide content based on Universal Search queries, and we're going to go ahead and guess that the second enables an app to look and behave differently when docked. The question is: what's the dock? Is it just the Touchstone, or are there more docks coming? Here's to hoping.
Apple iOS 4.1 beta 2 now available for developers
Developers, developers, developers: Apple is now seeding the second iteration of the iOS 4.1 beta your way. It's been just shy of two weeks since beta 1 hit the scene, which is about on par with the pace of revisions for previous beta releases. We haven't had a chance yet to dive in and see what changes are afoot, but we're downloading now and will be sure to let you know if we notice anything. [Thanks, Brad]
Android App Inventor lets you be the developer (video)
Google is following in Nokia's footsteps today by offering its users a simple-to-use DIY app maker. Employing a design scheme that relies on visual blocks rather than oodles of arcane code, the App Inventor -- still in Beta, of course -- has functions for "just about anything" you can do with an Android handset, including access to GPS and phone functionality. All that's really missing is the raw creative talent, which we're sure you'll be happy to provide. Hit the source link to get involved or skip past the break for an educational video.
iOS has a bigger dev army than Android, but will cross-platform apps rule the day?
We oftentimes hear raw numbers of apps bandied about in mobile OS comparisons, but we rarely get any idea of just how many developers are behind the scenes working for each platform. This is the void of knowledge filled by AppStore HQ today, who have gone to their dev directory -- claimed to be a complete listing of all 55,000+ coders whose work is currently available for consumption in the Apple App Store or Android Market -- and stacked them into neat piles of Apple, Google and Gapple programmers. It's immediately apparent that single-platform development is the norm (with Apple holding the predictable edge), but AppStore HQ also provides a list of some of the most well known (and well funded) apps doing the cross-platform dance, and suggests that a movement is afoot toward making software available for both sets of users. Then again, the BNET article below points out the difficulties faced by smaller outfits, who might struggle to find the resources required to port their content over and maintain the skills required to be multi-platform, resulting in them sticking to one environment, irrespective of what allures others might throw their way. Give them both a read, we say.
EVE CSM delegates voice disapproval of CCP's attitude to council summit
In recent years, CCP Games have made significant efforts to get players involved in EVE Online's game design efforts. In addition to pre-releasing features on a test server to collect feedback, CCP have involved players more effectively in the development process through their innovative Council of Stellar Management. The council members are voted for by players, with the highest-voted member securing the chair position for the year. Players bring important EVE-related issues to their council representatives, who meet with CCP developers in Iceland twice per year for a week-long council summit. During the summit, all the most important issues backed by the council are posed to developers and discussed. Previous council sessions have made a significant impact on the game, getting features like the skill queue implemented and providing key feedback on expansions. This year's council had a record voter turnout, with confidence in the team at an all-time high. At the conclusion of their first council summit meeting with CCP, however, two key delegates have begun to voice concerns at the dismissive attitude with which they were met. Skip past the cut to find out why two council members are annoyed with CCP's approach to this year's summit, and why it's not all bad news and negativity.
GSM Palm Pre SIM unlock now available, unofficially
If you're itching to put a webOS device on your AT&T account and don't mind having half the now-standard RAM, the developers at jictechnology have released what they're claiming is an official, permanent SIM unlock for the original Palm Pre. A few bugs to get through, but it's apparently legitimate enough (we haven't tried, but the happy customers in the forums seem to suggest success) for the group to charge around £25. Great news all around, but if you're the sort whose fixation on Palm hasn't been so grand that you resisted switching to Sprint or Verizon, you can probably wait for the AT&T's Plus-sized model.
Apple ditches "Rate on Delete" in iPhone OS 4
MacRumors is reporting that Apple has removed the "Rate on Delete" feature from the upcoming iPhone OS 4.0 release. "Rate on Delete" is a pop-up notice that appears when a user deletes an app from their iPhone. The user is able to select a 1 to 5 star rating for the app or to refuse rating it by tapping the "No Thanks" button. "Rate on Delete" was first introduced in iPhone OS 2.2 as a way for users to easily rate apps without having to access the iTunes Store. The feature has been widely decried by app developers; many believed that it contributed to biased negative reviews since the "Rate on Delete" reviews were only coming from users who deleted the app (and hence were presumably unhappy with it) and not the users that chose to keep the app on their iPhone.
Microsoft tells its Windows Phone 7 Series developer story, tools available today
At its dev-focused MIX10 event kicking off today, Microsoft's closing the loop on some of the Windows Phone 7 Series third-party development details it started sharing in the days leading up to GDC last week -- and as you might expect, Silverlight and XNA are the stars of the show. XNA will naturally be the core, critical element of Redmond's gaming story while Silverlight is serving as a catch-all for the "rich internet applications" that make up much of your other mobile activities for those rare moments when you're not... you know, blowing up aliens or navigating a race course littered with your opponents' destroyed vehicles. To that end, Microsoft is kicking things off on the right foot by offering a free package of developer tools to would-be WP7S coders that includes both Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone and the Silverlight-focused Expression Blend for Windows Phone, pretty much everything you need to start building apps in preparation for the platform's anticipated launch toward the latter part of the year. The beta dev tools are available today. Developers are going to be treated to a host of must-have services out of the gate, including accelerometer support, location-based APIs using Microsoft's own Location Service, a newly-announced Microsoft Notification Service for pushing notifications regardless of whether an app is running (sound familiar?), hardware-accelerated video with integrated DRM and support for Microsoft's Smooth Streaming tech, multitouch, and camera / microphone access. On a related note, Microsoft has shared some important details on the revised Windows Phone Marketplace (notice the subtle name change) for WP7S-based devices today. The revenue split remains unchanged -- 70 percent goes to the publisher, 30 percent to Microsoft -- but the developer portal for managing submissions has been "streamlined" and some of the incremental costs associated with it have been killed off; what's more, students enrolled in the DreamSpark submission will have their registration fees waived altogether. The Marketplace has evolved from an app store to a content "destination," housing apps, casual and premium Xbox Live games, music, and customized carrier stuff in one spot. We'll be wandering MIX10 throughout the day, so stay tuned as we get more of the story.
Cyanogen Android ROM modder bends to Google's will but does not break
Late last week word hit the Android community that the developer of the Cyanogen Android ROM received a cease-and-desist from everyone's favorite "do no evil" company, Google. Many reacted negatively to Google asking a developer to not modify what is purported to be an open-source operating system, but the issue was not with the OS; rather it was with the apps that ship on it, things like Google Maps and Gmail -- things that are most definitely not open source -- which Google does not want distributed on modified flavors of Android. The solution, according to the dev, is to simply remove them from the ROM, but to provide a way for users to install them back on their devices. The dev will be working on an app that will enable users to back up those applications and then, after the ROM has been installed, to restore them like new. It certainly sounds like a tidy way around Google's restrictions, albeit one that is going to take a considerable amount of time to implement, the net result of which will be exactly like before. That leaves us wondering: was this really worth the bad PR for the Googs?
Intel Atom dev program launched, seeks to inspire netbook-centric applications
So, here's the situation. The current fleet of netbooks would be rendered next to useless with Vista loaded on, but having Windows XP on there forces manufacturers to regurgitate specification lists. Rather than using the introduction of Windows 7 to fully pursue a world where netbooks can actually run around freely with 2GB (or even 3GB!) of RAM and chipsets powerful enough to open seven Excel sheets simultaneously, Intel is today sparking up its Atom Processor Developer Program. The reason? To "spur a new wave of applications for... netbooks, with support for handhelds and smartphones available in the future." Call us calloused, but that sounds a lot like a company pushing for "lite" software that functions on sluggish hardware. Granted, we know that's not exactly the case here -- after all, even we wouldn't argue that some applications could benefit from being re-written to operate on a 10.1-inch display -- but it still feels like Intel's pushing software programmers to cater to underwhelming hardware rather than innovating its chips to work faster and more efficiently. There's no doubt that this feeling is compounded by just how long we've been waiting for a new wave of Atom CPUs, but at long last, we digress. The program actually has quite a few positive merits, such as striving to "reduce overhead and streamline the creation of new applications" for smaller devices -- something that would benefit every user regardless of processor. So far, both Acer and Dell have voiced their support for the program, giving us at least a modicum of reassurance that the Aspire One and Mini lines aren't vanishing anytime soon. Hit the read link for the glorified details, if you're into that type of thing.[Via jkkmobile]
Palm launches e-commerce beta for the App Catalog
Love the Pre? Love code? Love money? Well it's your lucky day. Palm has just announced that it will begin accepting applications for developers interested in producing for-pay apps for the webOS App Catalog. The company says that requests taken now will make devs eligible for inclusion in the mid-September launch of its e-commerce program. Just like Apple and Google, Palm will be splitting profits of paid apps with developers 70 / 30 (the devs get 70 percent, don't worry), and go figure -- credit cards will be accepted. Of course we're pumped about paying $.99 for a to-do app someday soon, but we're hoping this will also herald in a new age of steady releases for the Catalog, which is still looking frighteningly bare to us. Hey, that's what homebrew is for, right? Full PR after the break.
iPhone devs offered cash to code for the Zune HD?
We've all been a bit up in arms about the apparent lack of a push for apps on the Zune HD given the platform's obvious strengths, but news from Daring Fireball seems to suggest that may not be the whole story. According to John Gruber, after publishing a short story on the ZHD and Microsoft's seeming lack of developer interest, he was contacted by an iPhone dev who claimed to have been pinged by Redmond to code for the new device. According to the source -- a Twitter client-maker -- he was asked to port his software to the Zune platform for "a bucket of money," though he ultimately declined the offer. Details beyond that fact are scarce, though apparently this dev is "certain" the offer was for the Zune. We won't argue for the benefits of having your application on two high-profile devices (clearly a personal decision), but it is extremely encouraging to hear that Microsoft sees the need to bring more than just basic functionality to a device like the Zune HD. Now, it's just a question of how smartly they go about it. [Via The iPhone Blog]
Class Q&A: Shaman questions answered
The first answer post from the class Q&A series is up! 6:30 PM on a Tuesday night is not exactly when I expected this to drop, but I'm not complaining, and neither are most shamans, I expect. 4,400 words from the devs answering the community's questions is always nice. I've summarized the major points below; my summary may seem long, but it is only 20% of the original post. As of Wrath, the goal is for all three Shaman trees to be viable in end-game raiding, and for Shaman DPS to be not necessarily quite as high as pure classes, but close; the goal is that "no raid worth its salt would turn down" any shaman out of concerns that the class is underpowered. They do think Shamans are a bit underpowered in PvP, especially smaller Arenas, and view that as a problem. They mention particularly wanting to improve Shaman performance on 2v2s.
Ghostcrawler respondes to balance questions
Our buddy Ghostcrawler has appeared on the forums answering (or re-answering, as he says) a few concerns about the balance of the game. Most of his answer is about PvP: he says that Death Knights and Holy Pallies are overpowered, but that while Blizzard does believe there are more imbalances, debate is still raging about exactly where they are. And he does say that while burst damage is still a concern, he feels that Blizzard did a lot to combat that when they started Season 5, and that the bigger concern now is getting mana pools under control. Too many fights now have healers just going and going, and while they don't want fights to end super fast, they can't all drag out, either.He also talks more in-depth about the balance between gear you can get from PvP and PvE and how it needs to be fixed: he straight out says that 25-man Naxx is too easy to PuG, and agrees that Ulduar and future PvP weapons "should ideally require the same amount of investment." Likewise, when Blizzard tried to reset the resilience stacking at the start of Season 5, they had players facing very powerful weapons from the PvE raids like Kel'thuzad, which lead to, as he says, "a perfect storm for fast Arena deaths." Which is probably why so many players left the Arenas.The plan for the future? Ulduar's hard modes will be way tougher than Heroic Naxx, so players won't be able to PuG PvE and then go kill in PvP right away. Of course Death Knights are still cruising for a nerfing, if patch 3.1 doesn't bring them down off their high Deathcharger. And GC suggests that in the future, starter PvP gear may beef up resilience at the cost of offensive stats, so that players don't begin with gear that has great defense and offense right away.
Microsoft unveils gorgeous blue-tinted Xbox 360 dev kit and no, you can't have one
There are so many things we love about the new Xbox 360 dev kit unveiled at this week's Game Developers Conference and due out in the summer. In addition to its sleek black-and-blue tint finish and some stylish etchings, it also boasts 1GB of RAM, or twice what is found in the retail model. Beg all you want, this gorgeous piece of hardware is only for those who make the games -- for now, at least.
LOTROcast chats with Aaron "Rowan" Campbell
While there are a bunch of great podcasts out there covering lots of different MMO games, we're always glad to see a new, promising show join the group. One such show that we've recently latched on to here at the Massively offices is LOTROcast, which is a mid-length, bi-weekly Lord of the Rings Online podcast put out by Moormur. While there are still a few technical bugs that need to be worked out in regards to formatting, for three shows thus far, it's proving to be well worth the listen. In this most recent episode of LOTROcast, Moormur sits down with Aaron "Rowan" Campbell, Live Producer for Lord of the Rings Online and talks about a variety of different topics like the development of ideas and testing for Book 7; some of the upcoming dev love in terms of new content players can expect; different things from mounts to mailboxes; and more. He also touches briefly on the roadmap for 2009 and Book 8, and fields a few reader questions. In all, definitely worth a listen if you love the lands of Middle-earth. Also, be sure to check out our latest LotRO developer tour if you're looking for more Book 7 goodness!
CCP Games drops Linux client support for EVE Online
One of the nicer aspect to EVE Online, in terms of accessibility, is that you can play it across the trinity of operating systems: Windows, Mac, and Linux. The latter two have been made possible through the CCP Games partnership with TransGaming Technologies, via their Cider and Cedega technology, respectively. Unfortunately, while the Mac client has attracted (and retained) a number of users, the same cannot be said for the EVE Linux client. We received word from affected players over the weekend that CCP is dropping support for the Linux client, but it's official as of this morning. CCP Whisper stated, "I am sorry to announce that from the 10th of March onwards CCP will no longer be officially supporting the Linux operating system. The low amount of users of the Linux client did not justify the degree of additional complexity having three operating systems imposes on our development and release schedules." He states that he and CCP Games are fully aware of the disappointment this will cause but the resources the company has devoted to Linux support could be put to better use elsewhere, in ways that benefit more players.
EVE Online's Tech III ships hit Singularity test server
When CCP Games first announced the new line of ships coming to EVE Online with the Apocrypha expansion, a modular design called Tech III, player opinions were rather divided. Some view the flexibility to create thousands of potential ship configurations as a positive thing for EVE. Still, others remain standoffish, citing either the potential for over-complexity or "Lego in space."Well now it's time for speculation to fizzle out, and for the players to see what Tech III is all about firsthand. An announcement today from EVE dev CCP Nozh let the players know that Tech III can be experimented with on the Singularity test server.
Faction populations largely balanced in Warhammer Online
When Warhammer Online launched, one of the pressing concerns players had was population imbalance between Order and Destruction. Some of the measures Mythic Entertainment has taken to remedy this -- like free server transfers -- seem to have worked, according to Mythic's Jess Folsom.A recent dev blog by Folsom at the Warhammer Herald addresses the concerns WAR players continue to have about faction imbalances, and paints a decidedly bright picture of the current state of play.Percentages shown for the average of all North American servers shows a near equal balance in active accounts per faction (49% Order vs. 51% Destruction), and an even 50/50 split between factions in terms of average experience and renown point gains.
EVE to drop Classic graphics support, possibly some subscribers in the process
The beauty of EVE Online is often cited as a major draw to the game. EVE's graphics presently come in two flavors: Classic graphics, which is essentially EVE as it's always looked, and Premium graphics, which came out in 2007 and is quite an improvement over Classic. Despite how good Premium graphics look now, according to EVE dev CCP Zulupark, they could look even better. In fact, CCP Games would like to push ahead with EVE's graphics, but supporting the game in Classic in tandem with improving the Premium graphics has been holding them back. Essentially, CCP has been supporting two different clients and thus a dual pipeline, where they must create two versions of each art asset introduced into the game. Zulupark says, "It complicates build and patching processes considerably and, for the most part, it simply doesn't allow us to make EVE look as beautiful as we want." The solution to this problem, he states, is for CCP to drop the Classic client altogether and focus their attention on Premium graphics as the game moves forward.
