android posts (Subscribe to this feed)

Apart from some fine print, the headline pretty much says it all. Attendees at this year's Game Developers Conference are eligible to receive a free Android phone. And not just any Android phone either. No, attendees will be able to choose between a super trendy Droid or an even trendier Nexus One. Needless to say, it's a pretty sweet deal. Now, about that fine print.

First of all, the offer is available only for All Access or Summits and Tutorials pass holders. Speakers, conference associates, comped attendees and, ahem, press are not eligible. Those lucky enough to be eligible must register for GDC before February 4 and must register to attend the GDC Mobile/Handheld Summit, the iPhone Summit or the Independent Games Summit. Oh, you also have to select the "opt-in" option when registering for a summit (don't forget!)

In other news, expect to see Joystiq staffers feverishly, desperately searching under the seats after every summit.

Android and Me points out some ports of popular id games were once available on your snazzy superphone, including Quake, Wolfenstein and Doom. They didn't last long, however, as Zenimax has managed to get the games pulled from Google's Android Market service due to copyright infringement.

It's only natural for ZeniMax to want to get the titles pulled and doubly so if the publisher is thinking about releasing id's classics on the platform, though that's just speculation on our part based on id's readiness to work on the competing iPhone platform. Head past the break to check out some footage of what you missed out on, courtesy of the unofficial Android version of Doom.

We've asked ZeniMax to comment on any commercial plans for these titles on Android and to clarify the nature of Doom's open source codebase and why it was included in this takedown request.

[Update: A ZeniMax spokesperson got back to use, writing: "We did issue a DMCA takedown notice to the Android store to remove the unofficial Doom, Wolfenstein and Quake games as they contain our trademarks and copyrighted assets, including graphics, artwork, storylines and audio. Open source relates to the underlying engine source code, not to a game's content, trademarks and assets, all of which remain proprietary. If the game was a total conversion and did not use any of our trademarks or assets, that would be fine. But none of our data can be repackaged and nobody is authorized to make a Doom, Wolfenstein or Quake product."]


[Via Game Politics]

Gameloft announced today it's planning on releasing games for the second generation of Android phones and reiterated its support for the current generation of devices using Google's mobile platform. The affirmation comes a mere weekend after the mega mobile publisher's finance director, Alexander de Rochefort, stated the company planned to "significantly cut" its development for Android devices.

Gameloft's statement today in no way negates Rochefort's words, as the latest release is just some yammering about the second generation devices allowing the development of high definition games, but the timing and its lack of substance is suspect. The executive previously noted Gameloft sold "400 times" as many games on iPhone as on the Android. Of course, if Google's platform develops a more significant install base, we're sure Gameloft will be happy to invest more and take everyone's money equally.

The unsinkable publisher Gameloft recently revealed that it is planning to "significantly cut" its development on Google's Android platform. Gameloft finance director Alexandre de Rochefort added that "many others" in the industry have scaled back Android development as well. The reason, according to Rochefort, is the organization -- or rather lack lack of organization -- of its application store, the Android Market. Rochefort stated that the Android Market "is not as neatly done" as Apple's App Store. Rochefort noted that Google hasn't really gotten many Android users to buy products, saying, "On Android nobody is making significant revenue."

To put things in perspective, Rochefort said that Gameloft has sold 400 times as many games on the iPhone as on the Android platform. Of course, it's worth noting that Apple's iPhone has a significantly larger market share than Android. According to a recent Gartner report released in August, the iPhone accounted for nearly 14 percent of the smartphone market, while Android phones accounted for less than 2 percent. With more and more carriers offering Android phones -- notably the recent release of the Droid on Verizon -- the Android market is likely to expand in the coming months. It will be interesting to see how the mobile market changes -- and whether Gameloft and others change their tune -- a year from now.

[Via Washington Post]

Are you lost at PAX? Or maybe you're at PAX and not used to being around so many people, and desperately looking for an excuse to stare at your iPhone for a while? Our social skills and sense of direction are poor enough that we've been in both predicaments.

ExpoJunkie just sent over a link to an iPhone/Android/Pre webapp designed just for the conference, with maps, and event listings by day and location. Best of all, ExpoJunkie PAX 09 edition is downloadable, so you can load it once and not be beholden to the whims of AT&T's crowded network or convention wi-fi.

Dear ESA -- dear everybody -- this is what we need for E3 and all other events where there are places to go and people to avoid.

With all of the attention being paid to the iPhone gaming market, it's easy to forget that Android likes to play games, too. Namco hasn't, though, today releasing four games that the likes of Data, the Buffybot and V.I.C.I. from Small Wonder should enjoy. (What? They're for phones running Google's Android OS? Oh.)

Following in the non-footsteps of its freebie Pac-Man release that hit alongside the T-Mobile G1 last September, Rolling with Katamari, Inspector Gadget (yep, that guy), and two Brain Age brain training games are now available on the Android Market. It doesn't sound like they'll be the last of their breed, either, with Namco Networks VP of sales and marketing, Scott Rubin, promising that the subsidiary "will continue to bring a broad range of exciting titles to users through the Android Market."

We are in the midst of a full-blown adventure game renaissance, thanks to the sudden proliferation of new adventure games and the (long-awaited) rediscovery by publishers of their own back catalogs. The latest adventure game to be brought back is Revolution Software's Beneath a Steel Sky, which may be best known these days for the fact that it's available for free and works with ScummVM.

The new version, Beneath a Steel Sky Remastered, won't be free and won't run in ScummVM, but it will have the advantage of running on iPhone. The update will include new content like fully-animated cutscenes from Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons. Creator Charles Cecil expects to charge around $2 or $3 for the title.

"Yes, you can jailbreak your phone and play the game for free," he told Eurogamer. "But if you like the game and like the kind of games we make, then pay us a little bit of money and, if it's a big enough success, we can reinvest the funds. We can start to look at a potential BASS sequel."

According to the announcement, the iPhone version will be out this fall. Revolution Pocket has plans for other mobile platforms, including Android, PSP Go, and DSiWare.

Taito has announced that iPhone and iPod Touch users can access versions of Space Invaders and Cooking Mama in the app store now. The Space Invaders game available in the app store is of the classic variety, but features "full use of the motion sensor and other iPhone 3G and iPod Touch input methods." As for Cooking Mama, the version available for the iPhone and iPod Touch includes "both favorite recipes from past console installments as well as a variety of dishes completely new to the series" and has been enhanced to "make the most of the iPhone 3G / iPod touch's multi-touch screen accelerometer." You can find Cooking Mama and Space Invaders in the app store now for $6.99 and $4.99, respectively.

In addition to new games for Apple platforms, Taito has also announced plans to support Android. T-Mobile users will be able to pick up Arkanoid and Space Invaders now for $5.99 each.

Those trendy enough to own T-Mobile's G1 "Google phone" will have the opportunity to mash their touchscreen and rock out to an Android version of Guitar Hero.

This edition of Guitar Hero will feature music from Deep Purple and Guns N' Roses among others, and will be one of a few paid applications for purchase off the Android Market. It'll be playable on any Android OS phone, which is currently just the G1.

Guitar Hero "Android Edition" (not the official name, but we think it sounds nice) will join EA's catalog of games in the surprisingly empty gaming section of the Google phone marketplace. We can, however, be certain that if Guitar Hero becomes a sales hit, Activision will continue to churn out sequel after sequel for the Google OS. It's the Acti way.

[Via Guitar Hero News]

When Microsoft announced Xbox Live Anywhere, fans of the service were excited about checking in on their friends list and coordinating game sessions on the go with their trusty mobile device. Unfortunately, Microsoft seems to have all but ditched the idea. However, not content with giving up, other communities have picked up the pieces.

The team at 1337pwn.com are one of those communities, hell-bent on allowing you to check gamerscores, online status and all other things cyber stalking related. Now, Xbox Live gamers with an Android OS-based phone can enjoy a little "faux-Live Anywhere" with the latest release from the 1337pwn team. Check out this application, now available on the Android Market, to see what your friends are doing on Live when you're on the go.

Electronic Arts has answered the call for more games on Google's Android mobile device platform – i.e. the T-Mobile G1 – with a version of Tetris now available for download from the EA Mobile site. The game is selling for $7.99. It will be followed next month by Bejeweled and Monopoly: Here & Now Edition.

In an official release, EA Mobile America and Asia publishing veep Adam Sussman calls Android an "exciting new platform" and says that the division has "more games in development" beyond the three revealed today. Looking at its catalog of iPhone / iPod Touch games, it's probably safe to expect some variation of Spore and Scrabble to be in the bunch.

Here at Joystiq, when we hear about cool technology like Bluetooth or the iPhone, our minds jump to one thing -- how can this make gaming better? So you can imagine our thought process when Google announced its Android mobile operating system yesterday. Problem is, we don't know enough about cell phone game development to say for sure what, if anything, Android will do for cell phone gaming.

Luckily, Jon over at the Zen and Games has "done [his] share of time in the cell phone game development trenches," as he puts it, and is excited by the possibilities of Google's standardized OS. Among them:

• Google's OS will hopefully provide a stable, standard platform that isn't as buggy as the current Java Virtual Machine (like what Nokia's trying to do, but better because it's Google)
• Android might force cell phone makers to create phones with hardware specs. that match their stylish case designs (instead of today's crop of flashy-looking phones that can barely handle text messaging)
• The open software development kit means anyone can develop games for Android (possibly leading to a resurgence in indie mobile gaming)

While we're generally skeptical about mobile gaming, the Google name is enough to give us hope for something better than The O.C. Mobile.

It's not for lack of trying on the machines' part, either. GarageGeeks' GuitarHeronoid makes a passable attempt at playing the game with its image-processing brain, human-like fingers, and shapely mannequin body. As you can see in the video below, though, the results are as of yet not terror-inspiring. More like pity-inspiring. Hey, robot, let us know when you can do better than this kid at PsychoBilly Freakout and we'll stage some sort of rock off. Until then, we'll be stockpiling E-bombs, just in case.

We've seen Mario in the Matrix, Luigi as a Braveheart, and what we thought was everything in between. Well, hold up, 'cuz now we've seen everything: classic game icons have been mashed up with Star Wars.

Super Console Wars: The Gamepire Strikes Gold is that hybrid that with good and evil roles spread out onto each platform and various gaming mascots, ranging from Mario clone troopers vs. Princess Zelda to a VMU droid and GPU-enabled android (erm, peripheral).

About two-thirds of the way through the 20-minute video, you're gently encouraged to wear 3D glasses to enhance your video viewing, but even without glasses, the parody stands as an amusing take-off of gaming standards, pop culture, and retro reminiscing. Obi-Wan Shinobi, indeed.

[Thanks, Cradrock]

See also:

• Super Mario Reloaded
• Ready for an "Oldschool Revolution"?