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Humble Bundle's Origin package offers up some of its biggest games yet
Humble Bundle has had a pretty good run with its game offerings so far, but its newest grouping of Origin titles provides some of its biggest names yet. Included in the bundle are Mirror's Edge, Medal of Honor, Dead Space, Dead Space 3, Crysis 2 Maximum Edition, and Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box (most of which are available on Steam). The games can all be purchased for $1, but paying over the average (currently $4.54) will also net you Battlefield 3 and The Sims 3 Starter Pack. Buying the bundle won't just score you some sweet games; you'll also be contributing to a few good causes, as Electronic Arts is donating its share of the proceeds to charities like the Human Rights Campaign, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, the American Red Cross and the American Cancer Society. For more info, check out the video after the break or follow the Humble Bundle link below.
Xbox Live for Windows Phone 7: your Xbox isn't in your phone yet, but we're getting there
We just spent some serious, and we mean serious time with Xbox Live for Windows Phone 7. Just like your Xbox, this is sort of an amalgamation of "the place you go to play games" and "the place you go to ping and taunt your friends who also play games." Unfortunately, it seems there's a bit of a disconnect between phone-based scores and records and Xbox achievements -- they all add up to the same gamerscore, but you can't easily there are separate charts to pull up your most recent Halo exploits to show off on your mobile, for instance. Luckily, that still puts Microsoft in a better position than any other mobile games platform (until Apple can get Game Center to stop sucking, at least). Being able to message and challenge friends all from the same "hub" where you keep your games is great, and being able to view your avatar and the avatars of friends (you can even play dress-up with your own) is nice gravy on top. Of course, what really matters is the games, right? Luckily, Microsoft has a pretty strong launch lineup, with some of the regulars like EA's The Sims 3 and Need for Speed, along with some exclusives like Rocket Riot and the hotly anticipated The Harvest. The good news? Games look and play great, just like you might expect from an iPhone or Android level capacitive touchscreen platform, with The Harvest as an obvious and very important standout in complexity and polish. The bad news? Everything takes forever to load (our rough estimate is about three minutes to start playing in The Harvest), and when you don't have any multitasking, that's a really bad thing. Check out some of the Xbox Live hub and capabilities after the break, along with some games, and make up your own mind.
Windows Phone 7 launch day app roundup
With thousands of developers churning out thousands of apps, we've no doubt exploring the Marketplace is going to be a full-time job for at least a day or two after you nab your Windows Phone 7 device this fall -- but with all the hullabaloo today, we thought this would be a good opportunity to highlight a few that Microsoft and its partners have been talking about recently. Dig in!
Microsoft announces ten Windows Phone 7 handsets for 30 countries: October 21 in Europe and Asia, 8 November in US (Update: Video!)
It may have "Windows" in the branding, but Windows Phone 7 is not the desktop PC experience shoehorned into a cellphone. Microsoft tried that with Windows Mobile... and we all know how that turned out. Today, eight months after the Windows Phone 7 OS unveiling in Barcelona, we're finally seeing the official launch of the retail hardware: nine new WP7 handsets, some available October 21 in select European and Asian markets and others from early November in the US. The phones will find their way to over 60 cellphone operators in more than 30 countries this year. Microsoft tapped Dell, HTC, LG, and Samsung to deliver the Snapdragon-based handsets with a carrier list that includes AT&T, T-Mobile USA, Vodafone, TELUS, América Móvil, Deutsche Telekom AG, Movistar, O2, Orange, SFR, SingTel, and Telstra. And that's just for the first wave -- Microsoft has even more handsets coming in 2011 including the first for Sprint and Verizon in the US. Here's the lineup of 480 x 800 pixel (WVGA) phones announced today: HTC 7 Surround -- The 3.8-inch T8788 with slideout speaker for AT&T and Telus HTC HD7 -- Schubert comes of age as a 4.3-inch HD2 cousin for T-Mobile and beyond HTC 7 Trophy -- the 3.8-inch Spark headed to international carriers HTC 7 Mozart -- another heavily leaked int'l player with 3.7-inch display Dell Venue Pro -- 4.1-inch portrait QWERTY slider for T-Mobile we broke as Lightning Samsung Focus -- AT&T's 4-inch Super AMOLED slate we broke as Cetus Samsung Omnia 7 -- the i8700 is a 4-inch Super AMOLED jobbie for Europe LG Optimus 7/7Q -- the E900 is the official 3.8-inch global workhorse LG Quantum -- AT&T's 3.5-inch landscape slider first seen as the C900 HTC 7 Pro -- a 3.6-inch QWERTY slider for Sprint (2011) "Glance and Go," is the slogan Microsoft is using to differentiate itself from an already crowded smartphone market. Something we've already seen alluded to in that leaked AT&T ad. As Ballmer notes, "Microsoft and its partners are delivering a different kind of mobile phone and experience - one that makes everyday tasks faster by getting more done in fewer steps and providing timely information in a 'glance and go' format." He's referring to WP7's customizable Live Tiles, of course. Xbox Live integration is another biggie with EA Games just announcing its first Xbox Live-enabled wares coming to Windows Phone 7 in the fall including "Need for Speed Undercover," "Tetris," "Monopoly," and "The Sims 3." The other big differentiators are the slick Metro UI, integrated support for Zune media and Zune Pass subscriptions, Bing search and maps, Windows Live including the free Find My Phone service, and Microsoft Office Mobile. Now quit stalling and jump past the break for the full list of handsets per carrier and country. Update: Added the official WP7 overview videos after the break.
