Analysts report smartphone market growth of 89 per cent year-on-year in Q4 2010. iPhone share dwarfed by Android.
Cambridge-based firm ships 1.1 billion chips into mobile devices in three months.
Processor manufacturer ARM Holdings has announced that its revenue grew 33 per cent to £406 million during 2010.
In a set of unaudited accounts published on its website ARM also revealed its pre-tax profits for the year were £167.4 million, an increase of 73 per cent on 2009.
Design fault in Cougar Point chip prompts costly Sandy Bridge processor recall.
Chip manufacturer Intel has admitted that recalling and replacing its faulty Sandy Bridge processor could end up costing it a billion dollars.
The firm has identified a design fault in a Sandy Bridge support chip, Cougar Point, which could result in its SATA ports degrading over time, negatively affecting performance or functionality of connected SATA devices such as hard drives.
TGS-announced Project Dark renamed Dark Souls; From Software promises greatly increased difficulty.
From Software has confirmed that its Demon’s Souls successor, Dark Souls, will be released in Japan this year.
Twenty changes required of industry, government and education sector to safeguard UK videogame industry.
The long-awaited Livingstone-Hope review, released today, has recommended 20 steps the UK needs to take if it is to arrest the slide in its once-thriving videogame development industry.
If Hot Pursuit is the series’ arcade racer, what is Shift? We talk with two of the men behind the upcoming sequel to find out.
GDC session listing promises details on Move Server, allowing Move software development on PC.
The PlayStation 3 motion controller Move will soon be compatible with the PC, according to an event listing for next month’s Game Developers Conference (GDC).
Downloadable title coming to PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade later this year.
Sega has announced that the much-loved Sega Rally series is to return to home consoles for the first time since 2007. Sega Rally Online Arcade will be released for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 later this year.
Players invited to test automatically generated Super Mario Bros levels based on their own playstyle.
The Mario Level Generation Competition, which automatically generates Super Mario Bros levels according to player tastes, is now available to everyone.
Developer enlists PayPal’s help in latest bid to put a stop to sale of virtual items in all-conquering MMOG.
World Of Warcraft developer Blizzard has appealed to PayPal as it seeks to clamp down on real money trading, the practice of selling virtual goods for real-world cash.
Annual development marathon sees record attendance and 1,492 games created in 48 hours.
Organisers have announced that last weekend’s Global Game Jam (GGJ) 2011 saw almost 1,500 new games created in 48 hours.
In total 6,500 people took part in the event, which took place across 173 locations in 44 countries worldwide, comfortably exceeding the 5,000 attendees organisers were expecting.
Format: PC, Mac
Release: Out now
Publisher: Blendo Games
Developer: Blendo Games
Blendo Games’ uncanny promenade through gaming's most familiar high concepts has already devoured spies (Citizen Abel: Gravity Bone), spaceships (Flotilla) and aeroplanes (Air Forte) before arriving with consummate style at Atom Zombie Smasher.
Rovio reveals 20th Century Fox hook-up just hours after Lima Sky announces partnership with Universal.
Smartphone smashes Angry Birds and Doodle Jump are linking up with major Hollywood studios.
Nintendo boss clears up conflicting reports, confirming 3DS download service and web browser for May.
Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata has said that the 3DS’s eShop service will not launch until May.
Speaking during an investor call last week, Iwata said the 3DS download service would be delivered by a firmware update “scheduled for late May, at almost the same time around the world.”
Next major firmware update will allow PlayStation Plus subscribers to store game saves remotely.
Sony is to introduce cloud-based game saves when it releases its next big PlayStation 3 firmware update, according to reports.
Organisers reveal this year’s dates for annual “world’s biggest LAN party” in Dallas, Texas.
Organisers of QuakeCon, the bring-your-own-computer gaming tournament, have announced details of the 2011 event.
QuakeCon 2011 is to run from August 4-7 at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas, Texas. The event is open to the public, and attendance is free.
Voters now free to choose from 30 shortlisted games ahead of next month’s indie awards ceremony.
Voting has opened for the Independent Games Festival (IGF) 2011 Audience Award.
Festival chair Brandon Boyer made the announcement on the IGF website. All members of the public and indie game community are eligible to vote in exchange for an email address.
Survival horror sequel straight in at the top as Black Ops sales finally start to slow.
Dead Space 2 is the new UK all-formats number one, knocking last week’s chart-topper LittleBigPlanet 2 into second place.
Sony boss gets specific following last week's announcement of PSP successor Next Generation Portable.
Sony president Kaz Hirai has revealed a host of new information on the firm’s new handheld, codenamed Next Generation Portable.
Hirai was speaking at a roundtable interview following last week’s official announcement of NGP, summarised by Impress Watch and translated by Andriasang.
Read Part 1 here
In S3, pupils have a fairly developed knowledge of French and my class has initially enjoyed playing the game and progressing through levels for the first couple of weeks of its used.
They soon needed to be more challenged and felt that the “compare” tool (repeating phrases) was making them feel self aware in front of others in the class.
Pupils were asked to work in pairs in order to create a conversation in French using the My French Coach software. They were invited to choose a topic of their choice and make reference to their consolidated knowledge of French in order to create sentences which were grammatically and structurally correct. Their task was flexible in terms of length, vocabulary, originality, use of humour and props, etc…
Previously, pupils had only practised very short, set up role plays in class on specific topics.
Pupils first familiarised themselves with the phrase book and dictionary tools. Each pair then discussed and agreed on a topic and started constructing their sentences being able to get confident with unknown vocabulary using the “compare tool” in order to learn and practice the pronunciation of their new words.
The phrase book tool offers a variety of topics (such as holidays, greetings, shopping…), most of which haven’t been taught in class.
Below, we can see a short clip of pupils discussing their role play using the DS.
Once the task was completed, pupils were filmed, performing their role play and were asked to assess each other as follows
Pupil A: “It’d be good if the phrase book focussed more on topics studied in French such as school, but the compare tool helps with pronunciation.”
Pupil B: “I enjoyed using the DS and feel it’d be good if there was a voice recognition device where you can record your Standard Grade speaking pieces and it would then be said by a French person!”
I feel this task has been very well received by my pupils. They felt it was something exciting to do and it really raised their confidence in speaking French as well as thinking about their next steps in order to make progress.
During the preparation of their task, pupils needed teacher’s help but a lot less than for other types of writing work. I also felt that pupils were “on task” and developed their social skills without realising: compromising, working as part of a team, listening to others’ views, use of praise and being considerate: “is it ok to use stereotype? Will I offend someone?”
Below is an example of the role plays produced by the pupils.
Finally, we can see the critera chosen, and the feedback given by the pupils.
Read Part 1 here
Patch addressing game freezes and corrupted save files now ready for release pending Sony approval.
BioWare has confirmed that it has completed work on a patch for the PlayStation 3 version of Mass Effect 2.
In a post on the developer’s forums, BioWare’s Chris Priestly confirmed that the patch was being submitted to Sony for approval.
Posters on game’s official forums complaining of console bans when trying to play Black Ops on new PS3 firmware.
The newly-released PlayStation 3 firmware update appears to have led to a slew of players being banned from playing Call Of Duty: Black Ops online.
Inaba-produced online brawler headed west under a new name; trailer inside.
Sega has confirmed that it is to publish Platinum Games’ recently-announced Max Anarchy in the west under the name Anarchy Reigns.
X-Men’s Sentinel reunites MVC2’s most powerful team; Darkstalkers’s Hsien-Ko makes the cut too.
Capcom has announced the final two characters to be included in fighting sequel Marvel Vs Capcom 3 ahead of its release next month.
Darkstalkers’ Chinese zombie Hsien-Ko and X-Men’s mutant-hunting robot Sentinel are the final two characters to be announced, giving players a choice of 36 characters, with more planned as DLC.
Chris Donlan finds out what happens when indie gaming’s antic zoologist takes on the undead.