Samsung OMNIA HD Comes with fring
The application supports a wide range of chat clients

Samsung OMNIA HD

According to the latest news on the Web, the upcoming Samsung OMNIA HD phone will come preloaded with fring. As some of you might already know, this application has become quite popular due to the fact that it is able to work on a wide range of mobile platforms, including iPhone, Symbian, or Windows Mobile.

At the same time, the application is also known for its compatibility with several chat clients like Skype, ICQ, Windows Live, Google Talk, or Yahoo! Messenger, as well as with social networks (Facebook, Last.fm), and micro-blogs (Twitter). Moreover, fring also allows users to make cheap VoIP calls.

Samsung already included the application in one of the best smartphones that have been unveiled last year, the 8-megapixel Samsung INNOV8. And, since users seemed to have enjoyed it so much, the Korean mobile phone maker is reported to have decided to include fring on the company’s flagship model for this year, the Samsung OMNIA HD.

This is great news for messaging enthusiasts, which will probably rejoice when the phone gets launched on the market, which should happen at the end of April or at the beginning of May. Some of the goodies the device will bring along include GSM Quad-band (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) and UMTS tri-band (900/1900/2100 MHz) connectivity, a 3.7-inch display capable of delivering a 360 x 640 pixel resolution, as well as the 8-megapixel photo snapper with smile detection and video recording capabilities.

In addition, the Samsung OMNIA HD also comes around with Bluetooth connectivity, Wi-Fi capabilities, global 3G support, global roaming functionality, picture ID, speakerphone, music player, e-mail capabilities, 8 or 16GB of internal storage, as well as a memory card slot for additional storage space. The handset measures 4.84 x 2.28 x 0.51 inches (123 x 58 x 12.9 mm).

New Details Appear on Overlord Minions
Fresh from Codemasters

Have fun in this evil DS game

Games have always depicted, in one way or another the glorious battle between good and evil, every one of them ending with the defeat of the bad forces and the triumph of the pure heroes who, in their endeavor, saved their village, country, continent or even world. But such a strategy was turned completely upside down by Codemasters when it released the first Overlord title.

The game placed the player in the armor of an evil Overlord that needed to get back his evil domain with the help of his trusty minions, each armed with different abilities but with the same hunger for chaos and evilness. After the success of the first game, the company decided to profit from it the most, and has just announced that in June we can expect three new titles in the franchise to arrive on every type of platform on the market.

While the primary focus was on Overlord II and Overlord Dark Legend, the titles made for fully-fledged consoles, we have now learned a few new details about Overlord Minions, a title made exclusively for the Nintendo DS handheld console. The game will place the player in the role of the evil master of an elite four minion team that needs to foil the plans of a cult that wishes to revive an ancient dragon and thus put an end to the Overlord’s reign.

The DS stylus and touch screen will be the main weapons of the player, as he can order his trusty minions all across the battlefield against enemies and solve puzzles that would secure his victory. Of course, between all of these evil endeavors, the user will also be entertained by the mischievous antics of the four loyal minions.

Among the four subjects, Giblet, Blaze, Stench and Zap, the master and eldest servant of the Overlord, Gnarl, will also make an appearance, and will guide and help the evil despot in his battles with tips and tricks.

Look forward to this evil DS title in June when it will be released alongside two other games; until then, you can still play the first title.

PlayStation 3 Price Cut Definitely Coming in April
Says analyst

100 dollars

Sony is a weird company. The PlayStation 3 home gaming console, the spear tip of its gaming platforms, is losing sales when compared with the same period last year and there’s no clear communication strategy from the company on which are the aspects that should attract a gamer to its product.

Its chief rival, the Xbox 360 from Microsoft, has been on an upward trend from the moment it saw a price cut, in September 2008, while also enjoying a surge as the New Xbox Experience was rolled out in November. Still, the company refuses to say whether it plans to cut the price of the PlayStation 3 or even to acknowledge that it needs one.

Videogame industry analysts are saying that the PlayStation 3 badly needs to see its price go down by around 50 dollars. Mike Hickey, who works for Janco Partners, stated that “If Sony does not cut the price of their console, we expect the continuation of languishing PS3 hardware sales and the potential for publishers to accelerate their reallocation of resources away from the PS3 console. We believe the market is expecting a PS3 price cut in April or by June at the latest.”

The analyst believes that the price cut should be no less than 100 dollars, making the 80 GB hard drive console sell for 300 dollars. Such a move could “effectively restart unit velocity at retail.” The announcement from Sony is said to be made before the middle of March.

According to Hickey, more and more rumors point to Sony preparing a PlayStation 3 version not featuring a Blu-ray. Still, logic dictates that such a move would actually harm Sony, as all the games published for the PlayStation 3 come on Blu-ray disk and the price of the unit is not such a big part of the cost of the PS3.

We’ll bring you news on the price cut when and if Sony announces it.

Street Fighter IV Breaks Guinness World Records
108 wins unbeaten

World record

Street Fighter IV has barely been released and it’s already breaking records. Guinness World Records is saying that Zak Bennett, who is said to be the best player of the fighting game in United Kingdom, has registered a new record for the Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition. He has registered 108 wins unbeaten and his record will be listed in the newest edition of the book.

There were two record attempts undertaken by Zak Bennett in London last Friday. On his first try, the player only managed to reach 28 wins in Street Fighter IV, as he was beaten by challenger Hatim Habashi. But on the second try, the number of 108 wins was reached.

Craig Glenday, who is the Editor-in-Chief of Guinness World Records, commented that “We congratulate Zak on his extraordinary achievement and welcome him into the Guinness World Records family. It’s always great to see gamers showcase their talent while making a mark in the record books.”

Street Fighter IV is seen as the true sequel to Street Fighter II and Capcom has really pushed the title as marking a revival of the fighting game franchise. Most players and reviewers have positive opinions regarding the game, which can be played on arcade machines, on the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. Very quickly, it managed to sell more than 2 million units.

The Gamer’s Edition of the Guinness World Records book is published yearly and aims to present all the impressive gaming feats that take place over the course of 12 months. Getting listed is one of the biggest honors for a hardcore gamer and the Guinness publisher insisted on using the word “athlete” when referring to gamers, which seems odd but appropriate for record holders.

Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening Hints XVII (PS2)
Learn the Yamato Devil Arms move

Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening

Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening is a videogame developed by Capcom Production Studios 1 and published by Capcom Ltd. The game was designed exclusively for the PlayStation 2 console from Sony, as was the first title in the series. It was released in February 2005 and can be classed as an action title played from a third person perspective, incorporating fighting, horror and sci fi elements in gameplay.

Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening is the second sequel in the multi million dollar selling series and continues to make use of elements considered central to the franchise. The main character of the game is again Dante, a normal guy who possesses a lot of demonic strength hidden deep within him. After the adventures of the first and second game, Dante is even better equipped to handle all kinds of supernatural threats, though he mainly focuses on demons. He is still the perfect anti hero, with his demonic heritage being quite at odds with his human existence.

Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening is a prequel in which the history of Dante is explained, focusing on the feud with his brother. The game is pretty hard to complete and the overall atmosphere is very engrossing.

The level of violence in the game is high and this, coupled with the quick paced action sequences, made it a best seller and the series continued to thrive with the most recent addition being Devil May Cry 4 launched in 2008. A variety of fighting styles have been incorporated in the game.

GAMEPLAY HINTS

Mission 19: Yamato Devil Arms move

Play as Virgil in Mission 19 to use the Yamato Devil Arms move. It is only usable in the Boss fight in this mission after Dante is taken by the Boss.

Mission 19: Multi-player opportunity

When you are fighting the hideous version of Arkhem, get his health bar halfway down. An intermission sequence will interrupt, introducing Virgil to the battle. When the clip has ended, you will be fighting alongside Virgil. Press Start on controller two, and that person will be playing as Virgil.

Tomb Raider: Beneath the Ashes Launched and Ready for Download
Lara’s Shadow begins stalking in March

Going under

Ubisoft is sending word that the first piece of downloadable content for the latest Tom Raider game is available on the Xbox 360 for the price of 800 Microsoft Points and offers players a chance to get into the adventuring boots of Lara Croft as she explores the sprawling basement of the now burnt down Croft Mansion in Beneath the Ashes.

Why would a relic hunter go down and explore the rather big basement of the old house? It seems that dear old father has hidden a very powerful relic somewhere in the area and of course Lara wants to get her hands on it. The problem is that the underworld that she explores is huge and, of course, filled with traps, zombies that look like Crusaders and some spiders. Along with the new quest, the Beneath the Ashes DLC also offers 125 new Achievement Points and six new costumes for the protagonist.

The main problem with the DLC is that the issues with the original game are still there. The shooting is still terrible and there are quite a lot of shooting bits in the subterranean areas. On the plus side, the grappling hook sees a lot of use and is genuinely interesting to swing by obstacles and take down statues using it.

Eidos says that it plans to release another piece of DLC for Tomb Raider in March, although no clear date has been mentioned. It will be called Lara’s Shadow and, in an interesting twist that will probably attract the attention of gamers, it will deliver those who get it to play as the Dopleganger, who is stalking Lara, some nefarious thoughts in mind.

Eidos states that the two pieces of DLC will only be available for the Xbox 360 version of Tomb Raider, through the Marketplace.

Patch 3.10 for World of Warcraft Enters Testing
Quite the change list

Hoping for a patch

It seems that patch 3.10 for World of Warcraft, the biggest since the release of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, in the last months of 2008, has just entered testing at Blizzard. Based on the previous track record of the company, it appears that MMO players will have to wait between four and six weeks, as the patch is being thoroughly tested before it goes live on all the game servers.

The biggest piece of content added through the patch will be a new raid instance, Ulduar, but the patch will come with a pretty big list of tweaks and modifications. Listing it all is pretty futile at the moment, as Blizzard is testing it so that it can make more changes, as the release date is drawing near. Still, there are some big features that are unlikely to be cut during the testing period.

All those players who have reached maximum level can now visit a trainer and opt to pay a fee for Dual Spec. This basically means that they learn two different talent trees, each complete with its own separate glyphs and key bindings. After this step, the character can switch between the two without any further hassle.

Players will now also be able to enter a queue for the Battlegrounds from anywhere in the game world, with no limitations, in what seems to be a feature taken from rival MMO Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning.

A Gear Manager is also being added, in order to make it easier for the player to move between different sets depending on the situation. The Death Knight class, which has been introduced via the most recent expansion, is set to get the most tweaks to the different abilities, probably because it’s still new enough not to be balanced yet.

Xbox Live Gets Back Deal of the Week, Braid Gets First Discount
A new feature for all the cost-conscious customers

The Deal of the Week will return to Xbox Live

The Xbox 360 Live service is one of the most popular online meeting places for gamers who own one of Microsoft’s big white consoles. The fact that it has a lot of features and also allows gamers to download things related to their favorite titles made it a much loved service by a lot of players.

Now, it seems that Xbox 360 owners are in for a real treat, as the community manager from Microsoft, Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb, has just announced that The Deal of the Week feature will start to appear once more, after making its first appearance in December, when it offered the Halo 3 Legendary Map pack a discount. As that was only a holiday promotion, Hryb has now posted on his blog that the special offers will start coming weekly for Xbox Live users.

“After the successful run the deal of the week had last December, we’re bringing it back on a regular basis,” said Hryb. “ Starting Monday, February 23rd Xbox LIVE Gold members will receive a discount on a different piece of content each week (Arcade games, Game Add-Ons, Xbox Originals). The special deal pricing is available for Gold Members only. I’ll post the new deal each Monday morning when it becomes available at the special price. The Marketplace team is doing their best to make a Deal of the Week available in Xbox LIVE regions.”

The first “victim” of this new weekly promotion is the very popular independently developed arcade title Braid, which will now be going for the low price of just 800 MS Points, a 33 percent decrease from the standard 1200 MS Points price tag. Also, according to Hryb, look forward to promotions regarding game add-ons for Ninja Gaide II and Project Gotham Racing 4, in the following weeks.

This move will certainly prove quite profitable for Microsoft, which is going to become pretty popular with the big number of cost-conscious gamers out there. Hopefully we’ll see some more interesting deals in the weeks to come.

Lost Planet 2 Announced, No More Ice
Capcom likes its shooters

No more ice

Capcom had promised a new game reveal and it delivered. An Xbox Live Marketplace teaser has shown that the publisher would create and release Lost Planet 2, a sequel to the third person shooter mainly known for the beautiful snow-covered vistas that it presented and for the gameplay mechanics, which relied on heat.

It seems that the snow is not here to stay, thought. The video, which was first seen in Japan, seems to be chronicling a global warming event, akin to what the Earth is experiencing but much quicker and with greater impact. The snow will give way to more temperate backgrounds and even to muddy, rain soaked jungles through which characters will have to battle.

The main creative driving force behind Lost Planet 2 is said to be Jun Takeuchi, who has also produced Resident Evil 5. It seems that the storyline featured in the videogame will be involving a cast made up of multiple characters taken from rival snow pirate factions. There are no details on how the story will evolve and what enhancements the game will have over the original release in the series. The game is set to use the MT FrameWork 2.0, a game graphic engine that is an evolved version of the platform the company has used in the development process of Devil May Cry 4, Lost Planet and the first Dead Rising.

Another detail that has not been explained by Capcom is on which platforms the game would debut. A while ago, the company announced its plans to make all its future releases multiplatform, beginning with the recently revealed Dead Rising 2. The first Lost Planet title was an Xbox 360 exclusive and Capcom has made no mention of a PlayStation 3 version of a sequel. We’ll have more details as soon as Sony offers them

Sony and Nintendo Get Sued Over Wireless Technology

Yet another company wants money from the corporations

Both the PSP and the DS use wireless technology  The gaming industry has evolved over the years, and has quickly embraced all the benefits that new technologies could bring to it, thus easing and introducing new things to game and console development.

One such feature is the wireless technology, which is now present in quite a lot of devices all around us. Among them, our handheld consoles, like the PlayStation Portable or Nintendo DS, both use wireless technology in order to facilitate multiplayer modes and the communication between users all across the world, and our smartphones, like the ones in Nokia’s line of N-branded terminals, use it to surf the Internet or for other services.

But now, it seems that a small company, called Wall Wireless, is taking the three big corporations to court, because it claims that all of them are infringing a patent that it filed back in 2003, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Creating and Distributing Real-Time Interactive Media Content Through Wireless Communication Networks and the Internet.” The company is claiming that the three big electronics manufacturers made it “[suffer] monetary damages that are compensable by no less than a reasonable royalty.”

Said patent explains that it “pertains … to methods and systems that allow an operator to distribute messages having aural or visual content that is generated by the operator using handheld apparatuses such as mobile telephones.” The company claims that devices such as the PSP, the DS, the N-branded phone line, including N81, N82, N93 and N95, or even video games that feature wireless multiplayer, like Mario Kart or WipeOut Pulse, are all infringing its patent.

While the three companies made no statements, you can be sure that the suit won’t result in the small company being paid. Hopefully in the future we won’t hear about any other firms claiming money from large corporations for patents that are too general or old.