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Rovio is making a non-Angry Birds game
AllThingsD recently sat down to chat with Rovio CEO Mikael Hed, and while much of the news about Rovio from the past few years has been to do with its enormously popular Angry Birds franchise (the latest title of which will be Angry Birds Space -- stay tuned for more on that next month). But Hed suggests that the era of Angry Birds exclusivity at Rovio is almost over: The company is working on a brand-new, non-Angry Birds game. In the past, Rovio has made a big deal about its history on mobile games. Before Angry Birds got so big, Rovio did work on other mobile platforms, and actually made more than 30 other mobile games, of varying success. But Angry Birds is obviously its biggest property, and ever since the original bird-tossing game took off, Rovio has made just a few other titles, on iOS and other platforms, all of them somehow related to Angry Birds. Unfortunately, Hed didn't have any information on what this other game might be -- he says the company's been making lots of "fun" things, but obviously hasn't released anything but Angry Birds spinoffs yet. We wait with bated breath; Rovio seems like a great company, but another game from a different franchise will give the verdict on whether or not the Finnish game developer can follow up to its now enormous reputation.
Nokia: 'We don't have a Plan B'
Wander into Nokia's corporate HQ and, if Victor Saejis is to believed, you'll be hard pressed to find any manilla folder bearing the legend "Plan B." The handset maker's European Manager told Swedish financial daily Dagens Industri that the company has no contingency plan in the event that Windows Phone loses out to Android and iOS saying that "Plan B is that Plan A is to succeed." It's a pretty unequivocal statement that Espoo's betting the farm on consumers embracing Microsoft's OS. Commenting on the company's recent troubles, the winding down of Symbian and the demise of MeeGo, he said "it's like starting all over again. But we must succeed in the U.S. if we are to succeed in the world" -- pretty honest, if a little disappointing to anyone who hoped there was an Android-powered white N9 lying in a Finnish skunkworks.
Nokia ends European, Mexican production: it's all Asia now (Updated)
Nokia's wielding another axe to its operations, cleaving away a further 4,000 employees from its operations in Finland, Hungary and Mexico. It follows a shedding of roughly 10,000 employees and a troubled withdrawal from Romania as the company pushes more operations towards Asia in an attempt to compete with its competitors. Whilst no more phones will be assembled in Europe, the company isn't closing the facilities outright, they'll be retained for "high value activities" (presumably R&D and other big-ticket projects). Whatever comes of Steven Elop's reign of the world's number one handset maker, it's clear to see that he's got a plan and he's sticking to it.Update: Nokia got in touch to clarify that the factory in Manaus, Brazil is unaffected by these cuts. The three factories mentioned (in Salo, Reynosa and Komarom) will furthermore be used for the software-portion of production, including installing carrier-and-region-specific features in the Americas, Europe and Eurasia. Hardware assembly will now take place at the company's existing facilities in Beijing (China) and Masan (South Korea).
Remedy seeking AI help on unannounced 'AAA console project'
Have you been waiting for the chance to move to the greater Helsinki, Finland area and want to work on a "groundbreaking AAA console project" with the folks behind the Max Payne and Alan Wake franchises? That's what Remedy Games is offering, outing work on another new game from the studio beyond the upcoming Alan Wake-goes-lumberjacking XBLA entry. Specifically, Remedy is seeking a "Gameplay/AI Programmer" to help work on the project, which will apparently use "the next iteration of Remedy's in-house engine," an engine that previously powered both Alan Wake games. If the chance to assist in the project isn't enough to win you over, experienced AI programmer, Remedy also promises a competitive compensation package, including "a good old Finnish sauna!" And now here we are, picturing a Finnish sauna full of game developers. There goes the day!
Did you fire off a bunch of texts this Christmas? Welcome to the museum
Finland might be the spiritual home of the SMS, but it also proves that this ancient form of communication is going the way of the rune stone. A mere 8.5 million texts were sent over the country's Sonera network on Christmas Eve, versus 10.9 million on that festive day in 2010. The same trend was spotted on other Finnish networks and also on the other side of the world: Christmas Day texts in Hong Kong were down nearly 14 percent on the year before, and Telstra in Australia experienced a nine percent year-on-year decline over the whole of 2011. Things are different in America, where texting has continued to grow, but that growth seems to be slowing down and some analysts expect "SMS erosion" to hit Verizon and AT&T by 2014. The obvious culprit is mobile internet: social networking apps, BBM, iMessage and a host of other 'free' options, but you won't find carriers complaining -- data contract ARPUs suit them just fine.
Finland, Finland, Finland: it's still the country for Nokia
Nokia CEO Stephen Elop has heard what a few little birdies have been talking about lately: the future of the phone manufacturer's headquarters. Enough rumors have been floating around the possibility of Nokia picking up and moving, in fact, that the man in charge made it perfectly clear on Finnish TV station YLE that the company isn't going anywhere. Said Elop: "As long as I'm the CEO the headquarters is in Espoo... That's our home, our sense of belonging." So there you have it -- Nokia will continue to call Finland its home. Now, what can be done about all of those lost jobs from this past year?
White Nokia N9 descends from Lintukoto, goes on sale in Finland
Espoo isn't making it any easier to say goodbye to MeeGo's last dance with polycarbonate. Nokia's alluring and elusive N9 in-snow-white-dress appears to now be on sale... in Finland. Web retailer Verkkokauppa has the handset listed on its site for 630€ -- that's $840 for you import types. Memento hunters throughout Europe can buy what this Finnish site's selling or just sit tight and wait for the color variant to hit their respective markets this December. But if patience isn't at the top of your priority list, we'd suggest you hit up the source below with some plastic in hand.
No Comment: Rovio exec's wife dresses up Angry Birds style
In these pics over at the Hollywood Reporter, you can clearly see Peter Vesterbacka, the CEO of Rovio, who you may remember from his speech earlier this year at GDC 2011. The woman he's pictured with is none other than his wife, Teija Vesterbacka, who, according to the pictures, looks like a very lovely and elegant woman. The two look like they're about to have a very good time at a very fancy dinner, which is called the Castle Ball at the Finnish Presidential Palace, a formal event to celebrate Finland's Independence Day. The dress that she's wearing, however, clearly modeled after the big red Angry Bird? Well -- no comment.
IndieCade 2011: Molding The Swapper out of clay
The Swapper is one of IndieCade's most fascinating finalists this year. While the trailer will definitely pique your interest about the title (it features some really interesting "create-a-clone" gameplay -- more on that in a bit), what's most incredible about this one isn't how it looks or plays. It's how it was made. The Swapper was created by Facepalm Games, which is actually two teenagers named Otto Hantula and Olli Harjola (along with a sound designer) from Helsinki, Finland. They've created a few games, "but nothing as big as this one," they told me. You may think, given the amazing textures and bump-mapping on the game, that they used some kind of high-end engine to create it. Unreal Engine 3? CryEngine, maybe? Nope. "They're actually made of clay and some other stuff," said Harjola. As in, actual physical clay, which he modeled, photographed, and then put into the game with lots of dynamic lighting. "I probed a lot of different graphic styles," he says. "I don't really like 3D modeling, but I really like doing stuff with my hands, and this is what I came up with."
Apple TV coming to seven more countries next week
Apple's little black set-top box is due to arrive in seven more countries next week, according to a release from Apple sent to MacRumors. Belgium, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland are all on the list of those receiving the device for sale, so if you're in one of those places and need more content on your TV, there you go. In Finland, the price will be set at €119 including the VAT charges, which is pretty standard for that region of the world. AppleCare for the units will also be available, for an extra €29. The Apple TV is a pretty popular device worldwide at this point, and adding these countries into the mix should make for even more growth for the unit. Not to mention that since Apple TV is rumored to get some form of iOS apps in the future, now's an excellent time to get in on the action.
Nokia passes off Symbian and 2,300 employees to Accenture
After placing all bets on Windows Phone, Stephen Elop announced that Nokia would slowly phase out its OG operating system, Symbian. Today, it's officially passed the torch, handing over all Symbian-related duties to Accenture, a consulting and outsourcing firm. 2,300 former Nokia employees will also be repurposed, getting a new name on their paycheck as they tend to the ill-fated OS. The Finnish mainstay says the arrangement will last until at least 2016, and plans to continually roll out updates during this time. Not everyone is hanging on another five years though, as it seems that at least 500 employees have jumped ship or found new gigs within the company since the original announcement predicting 2,800 reassignments. Head past the break to find the full (and very terse) press release.
The Nokia contraction continues: 3,500 further job losses and more on the horizon
Nokia always said there'd be "substantial reductions in employment" but it's still brutal to see it happen. The manufacturer just revealed it intends to close its massive manufacturing plant in Cluj, Romania (pictured above) in order to shift high-volume feature phone production to Asian factories. The Cluj plant currently employs 2,200 people. Further "consolidation" of Nokia's Location and Commerce business will result in the closure of sites at Malvern in the US and Bonn in Germany, impacting around 1,300 employees. Finally, the company also says it'll review its production operations at Salo in Finland, Komarom in Hungary and Reynosa in Mexico, but we won't know how many workers this will affect until a further announcement at the beginning of next year. Nokia's press release says these cuts will take place by the end of 2012 and be in addition to the 4,000 job losses announced back in April -- it's copied in full after the break. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Nokia N9 begins shipping at not inexpensive prices
After months of rumors and pre-orders, the Nokia N9 has finally begun shipping. Today, the Finnish manufacturer announced that its Meego-drenched handsets are now available for consumption, in both 16GB and 64GB variants. Of course, those of us in the US are out of luck, as are those in Germany and the UK (barring any back-door wizardry), but everyone else can grab a 16GB model for the not-so-small price of €480 (about $650), or the 64GB version for the similarly steep price of €560 (roughly $757). Pricing and availability, of course, will vary by region, but you can find more details in the full press release after the break, or at the source link, below.
Henry Tirri appointed CTO of Nokia, permanently replacing Rich Green
Not much of a surprise here, but today it finally becomes official: Henry Tirri has been appointed CTO of Nokia, nearly four months after assuming the position on a temporary basis. Tirri, who joined the company in 2004 and previously served as head of its research center, will permanently replace former CTO Rich Green, who took an indefinite leave of absence from Espoo back in June, citing "personal reasons." At the time, some local media outlets reported that Green's absence would be permanent, due to disagreements over CEO Stephen Elop's smartphone OS strategy. Reportedly a one-time Meego advocate, Green will now return to the US to "pursue new opportunities" and, as of today, is no longer a member of the Nokia Leadership Team. Tirri, meanwhile, will be responsible for designing "Nokia's technology agenda both now and in the future, and driving core innovation to enable business development opportunities." We'll have to wait and see where that path leads, but you can find more details about the appointment in the full press release, after the break.
CNC machine carves dot drawing portraits for your living room walls
Fancy seeing your mug enlarged to halftone-processed heights? You're in luck, because Finnish modder Metalfusion has a homebrew solution for those Wall Street Journal-style hedcut delusions. Using a specially designed image conversion program, the DIY hobbyist tranforms .jpg, .gif or .png files into DXF-formatted dot patterns of varying density. The resulting images are then fed directly into a CNC machine where a drill is left to make the wood-carved magic happen. Need some visual confirmation of this awesome feat, then head past the break for a video demo of this old-timey optical illusion.
GSM turns 20 today, still rocking the world
Happy birthday, dear Global System for Mobile Communications! 20 years ago today, on July 1 1991, the world's first GSM call was made by Finnish Prime Minister Harri Holkeri. The historic call used Nokia gear on GSM's original 900MHz band. Today GSM is all grown up and ruling the world -- connecting 1.5 billion people in 212 countries and serving 80% of the planet's mobile market. GSM gave us a number of firsts. It was the first fully digital cellular system using TDMA to cram more information into less spectrum and provide better sounding, more reliable calls using less power. It introduced the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM), the idea of switching handsets at will (something carriers have sought to subvert by locking phones), and the reality of international roaming. Short Messaging Service (SMS) was first launched on GSM networks, along with packet data (GPRS and later EDGE), which made internet access practical on mobile devices. Eventually, GSM expanded to the 400, 800, 1800 and 1900MHz bands and evolved into WCDMA-based UMTS (3G) and later HSPA and HSPA+, followed by LTE (4G) networks. So next time you're at the coffee shop sipping on that latte while uploading that video to YouTube at 10Mbps using your LTE phone, remember to be thankful for that first GSM call 20 years ago -- that's when the mobile revolution really started. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Ex-Marvel Studios head becomes 'special advisor' at Angry Birds studio
The man responsible for the sale of Marvel Entertainment to Disney, as well as for producing a string of Hollywood blockbusters based on Marvel properties, is now a "special advisor" for Angry Birds creator Rovio. David Maisel left his successful position as the chairman of Marvel Studios after just two years on the job to work with Rovio on building "the company's entertainment strategy." He'll be helping the Finnish studio expand into "new areas in the entertainment business," and will also head up any future Angry Birds films as executive producer, in part reprising his role at Marvel Studios. "I'm very honored and excited to join Rovio ... and the franchise potential of Angry Birds give Rovio the most exciting prospects I have seen in the entertainment business since Marvel in 2003," Maisel overextends in the press release announcing his job appointment. "We welcome his experience and vision as we continue broadening our entertainment production scope at Rovio," CEO Mikael Hed adds, returning the back scratching. Corporate steam blowing aside, we can't help but wonder how Maisel can compare Rovio's one (admittedly very, very popular) property -- Angry Birds -- with Marvel's decades old stable of properties, but then we're also not special advisors to Rovio.
Angry Birds creators plan new game, location-based platform
Rovio's next big plan for Angry Birds is to add in some location-based features, according to GigaOM, with a platform it's calling Angry Birds Magic. The platform will use location-based information on a number of different smartphones (including, presumably, the iPhone, though there's some reference in the plan to near field communications, which of course, the iPhone hasn't yet included), allowing players to use where they are to both unlock new content and compete locally on leaderboards for a certain area. Rather than do what an app like MyTown has done and try to spread the content around to everywhere, Rovio says it's planning to be more strategic, using certain locations and certain features to try and monetize the game and engage the audience (like providing specials at a certain retailer during a sale, or other ideas like that). The company is also planning a brand new app called Wine and Dine (no kidding), as well as an Angry Birds cookbook (featuring egg recipes, of course). Wine and Dine will still be in the Angry Birds universe, but it will supposedly be "more about the pigs." Rovio also reportedly has more new games on tap (including some that aren't Angry Birds related), so it sounds like the team is keeping busy up in Finland.
Elusive Galaxy Tab 8.9 hitting Nordic countries in September
Samsung today issued a slew of press releases announcing the arrival of new tablets in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Norway. The news, naturally, focuses on the company's flashy Galaxy Tab 10.1, which will arrive in those countries in August. What's really interesting here, however, is the mention of the more compact Galaxy Tab 8.9, which has been out of the spotlight as of late, reportedly due to screen problems. The issues (if there were indeed any) have apparently been resolved, and the 8.9 is set to be released in the aforementioned Nordic territories in September -- either that or it's going to take an extra month to shave an inch and change off of those remaining 10.1 models.
Shadow Cities launches on iOS App Store
Technomages, today is your day! Rise up and cast off the fetters of boring society to claim your kingdom! All it takes is one free download of Shadow Cities, which has finally arrived at the Apple App Store. Taking the best parts of real world alternate reality games (ARGs) and MMOs, Shadow Cities casts you in the role of a mage who is fighting dark forces while simultaneously striving to control chunks of territory. Instead of staying home, players are tasked with traveling physically to different places around their neighborhoods to cast spells against other players and NPCs. Players can join one of two factions that struggle for ultimate domination amid an unsuspecting populace. Shadow Cities hit the top of the charts in Finland when it was released there, and Grey Area hopes that it will do the same worldwide. If you'd like to learn more about this immersive title, make sure to read up on our Shadow Cities tour from GDC!
