"we're pretty sure full production won't start until Steve Jobs (or whoever will be donning the black turtleneck in his sickly stead) strides onto the stage at the official launch keynote"

Going by Apple's track record, they usually announce the product and allow you to buy it immediately from their website, to be delivered within a few days. If they had to manufacture the things, they'd make the announcement.... and then everyone would twiddle their thumbs for a few months, waiting for the damn thing.

I don't believe Apple operates like that any more. They know people go ape shit for their next must-have gadget, so they now adopt the "It's out to buy now! RUN!!! RUN!!!" approach.

And people normally do.

Unfortunately, GPL developers are about to discover the pain that traditional copyright holders have been going through for years. As more and more people decide to leap on the App bandwagon, those lacking a certain moral fibre will simply take to mining GPL'd games and selling them, regardless of how the assets and associated data might be licensed.

I don't expect this will be the end of such stories, far from it.

I've only just today seen that I, myself, have had to issue a DMCA take down notice to Apple, over a GPL game I made. Oh well...

"Carmack Says NGP Is a 'Generation Beyond' Smartphones"

Which means it probably has a price to match. Sadly.

"Sorry, but in no universe is the Cortex-A9 'as powerful' as a PlayStation 3's CBE."

When you're done with your multi-dimensional transportation device, could I borrow it so that I can go to Ultimate Lesbian Model World, please? :)

You know, I'd have thought that graphical adventure games would've found a new lease of life on touch-screen mobile phones.

The interface is ideal, almost on-par with a mouse: tap to click... er... and that's about it (no right click, though).

Games like Monkey Island, Beneath a Steel Sky, etc., would be very easy to play on them, far easier than most arcade-style games. The ability to save at virtually any time would also make them perfect for the nature of the phones. How many people do you see tinkering with them on their daily commute? Play for 20 or 30 minutes. Save, continue tomorrow or after work.

I know that ScummVM is available for Android, but it's rather strange that there aren't more commercial point-and-click adventure games available.

(note: I neither own an iPhone or an Android phone)

Google Marketplace: "My house, my rules."

Android Phone User: "My phone, my rules."

Apple App Store: "My house, my rules."

iPhone User: "My phone, Apple's rules."

What's all this talk about piracy? As far as I understood it, people were cracking the PS3 so that they could install Linux and run homebrew...

Sorry to sound negative, but I wonder how long it will be before Verizon remove both the unlimited data and the free tethering plans..? I suspect this will be something they offer only in the short term, to get people on board.

It wouldn't surprise me if they bring a 500MB cap to the data plans in 2012 and also began charging for tethering, much like how providers such as Orange have done in the UK...

I can live with 500MB, myself, but I know this annoys the living hell out of a lot of other people.

Please pardon my likely sheer ignorance (or even misunderstanding) on this topic, but how is it possible for someone to code a backdoor into encryption software in an open source project..? I mean, wouldn't someone notice..? Isn't that like someone just making another entrance to your house and then painting it over to match the brickwork..?

Unless, of course, all code is accepted in general good faith and there are very few eyes that are looking at this sort of thing.

Or it's open source code talking to closed source drivers, or something..?

... Wikipedia (yes, I know, I know) From the criticism of the EPUB format: "One criticism of EPUB is that, while good for text-centric books, it may be unsuitable for publications which require precise layout or specialized formatting, such as a comic book"[1] Comparing this with what the article says that Apple is doing, it sounds like they are trying to deal with this problem. I'm probably wrong, but that's my first impression. Let's just hope that they decide to submit the proposal for an update back to the standards committee.

... is good, but I'm holding out for 4 Girls, 3 Kinects, 2 Boxes, 1 Cup :)

I tend to always make an effort to finish a game that I start playing, even if I begin to dislike it (much like I do with books and films - I've never walked out of a movie, and only stop reading a book if it really, really is doing nothing for me). I rarely ever play games online (like many here, I'm unable to cope against exhaustively practiced 12-year-olds), so it's the single player experience for me that counts.

Generally, I also only ever have one game on a go at a time, which I guess helps things.

I even made it through to the end of Demon's Souls, a feat that I know many either gave up on or were simply unable to achieve.

I've been playing games since I was about 8, moving from a Commodore Plus 4, to C64, to Amiga, to PS1, to PS2, and now to PS3. I have noticed a sharp decline in the number of games that I play, through. Likely I'll become far more casual and start to only play games on my phone or something...

... the biggest loser in all of this is the customer.

As per fucking usual.

The as-yet-unnamed retailers...

Given that there are really only two major retailers in the UK: GAME and GameStation, it's most likely them. Of course, it might be HMV, but they're not exactly specialist game retailers.

"...the PlayStation Phone will run Android"

It's the sound of Oracle, Apple, Microsoft and Nokia all rubbing their hands together in glee, for all the patent infringement damages they'll be able to bring against Sony.

Seriously, these software patent disputes are pissing me off. It's like watching children fighting in a playground about who gets to go on the swings first...