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New iPod Games!

Electronic Arts just release two new games for the iPod, Soduku and Royal Solitaire. Soduku is the popular Japanese grid number matching game and is a 25.1MB download. Royal Solitaire includes games like Canfield, Klondike, Peaks, Pyramid, Beleagured Castle, Aces Up, Yukon, FreeCell, Golf and Scorpion. Basically all the well known versions of Solitaire. This game is a 45.6 MB download. Both of these will be available through iTunes US, UK and some other European iTunes.

-iamsiam

Microsoft's Zune Coming Real Zune!

THANK YOU! I know you enjoyed that title as much as I did!

Well there is more news on Microsofts new music player, Zune. Microsoft has finally released the price for the device ($249.99) and a release date (November 14th). The music service will charge 99 cents a song and will also have a $14.99 monthly subscription plan.

So it looks like this is a direct plan to go for apple's audience. But the question is, what will make people switch to the Zune? Right now, Apple controls 80% of the hard drive mp3 player market. All the songs these Apple users have, are most likely purchased through iTunes and are theirs to keep. The Zune will most likely not be able to play the songs from iTunes which means to convert to the Zune player, owners would have to not only purchase the player priced close to a 30 GB iPod but either repurchase all their songs or find a way to convert them to a file capable of playing on the Zune. Sure there work arounds like burning the songs as an audio cd and then reimporting them onto your computer as an mp3 but that takes time and work which some might not want to do. Another method would be to do the montly subscription but remember that once the subscription is terminated, the songs are gone. So converting to the Zune does not only involve purchasing the player, it involves converting the music too. So, why would people go spend $250 on a player knowing that they will have to do some conversion work which will cost time and possibly more money when they can spend that $250 on a new iPod? Lets face it. Everyone likes the path of least resistance right? So it seems that the majority of the 80% will stay with Apple. They've got too much invested in it to just up and leave. The Zune will need to have a better incentive if they want to take a portion of the market away from Apple.

Furthermore, management for Zune has admitted that the player will not make any profits this year. That's basically telling me, that prices could go up in the future somewhere. Whether it be the monthly subscription, the single music download or the player itself. Something will be raised to make this a profitable venture. And that just means more spending on the consumer.

As of right now, I'm finding little incentives to want to buy a Zune if I was already an iPod owner. I guess we'll just wait and see what happens in November.

-iamsiam

Apple Goes Gaming

Today, Apple introduced a new version of the fifth generation iPod. The new model has a larger storage capacity as well as a long battery life. Another add on is, support for video games! The new 30GB will have 14 hours of battery life for music playback and 3.5 hours of video playback. The 80GB will have 20 hours for music playback and 5.5 hours for video playback. The display is also 60% brighter as well!

The games will be sold through iTunes for $4.99 each. Right now, these are available: Bejeweled, Cubis 2, Mahjong, Mini Golf, Pac-Man, Tetris, Texas Hold’em, Vortex and Zuma. All that needs to be done is to download the game from iTunes (which works on its own after you pay for it) and then sync the ipod up and you're ready to go!

Here's the link to the official site.

-iamsiam

Microsoft's iPod Killer Round 2

Well, last Tuesday we gave you info about the new iPod killer and today we're here to give you more info about the rumored media player.

So it seems there's confirmation on reports of the iPod competitive media player that Microsoft plans to release. The player will be named Zune. Now there's news that Microsoft has contacted representatives of iPod accessory manufacturers about possible accessory licensing and compatibility plans. It will be very similar to Apple's Made For iPod program. And just like the iPod, Zune will have a port that Microsoft will allow other companies to accessorize for a fee of course, but at a lower rate than Apple's program. Microsoft hopes this will lead to a big third pary support for the new device, similar to what the iPod has.

Furthermore, rumor has it that the Zune will follow Apple's footsteps by most likely using wireless communication technology. Instead of using Bluetooth, Microsoft plans to use technology they developed themselves. The new technology will offer bandwidth and has other benefits over Bluetooth but will also allow Microsoft to lock third-party developers out. The new technology could possibly allow Zune users to "share" their music between one another and connect to existing Wi-Fi home or hotspot network locations.

We'll keep you in the loop as further news about the Zune surfaces so keep checking out our site!

-iamsiam

iPod Killer

Looks like all the talk about Microsoft making an iPod killer were true. There's more leaks coming out about the supposed "iPod killer". Brier Dudley, a Seattle Times columnist, claims the device is part of "a complete line of Xbox-branded digital-media products, including a device that plays media, a software media player and an online media service". Supposedly, the code name for the project is Argo. However, Gizmodo received info claiming the player was code named Zune. Gizmodo also stated it wasn't likely to have gaming features. On the other hand, Engadget scored the first photo of the device. As you can see from the photo, the player has a vertically oriented 4:3 aspect screen and will have iPod-like controls and styles.

Where's the reset button?

-iamsiam

Apple Got Game?

Well there's rumors starting about Apple possibly getting into portable gaming. And Gamespot has gotten some more details about this. Gamespot has learned that there might be more to these Apple-game rumors. Gamespot reports, "A tech-sector recruiter contacted the GS NewsDesk with an interesting story of a prospective hire that got away. Recently, when said recruiter made an offer to a software engineer, the engineer turned the offer down—saying he was being ‘heavily recruited by Apple." The engineer also mentioned Mike Lampell which makes this story more believable. Lampell has worked on numerous projects like Star Wars Republic Commando. Go check out the article here!

Now this is obviously still rumors since Gamespot was unable to confirm with Apple that Lampell actually works there. Anyone out there hear anything more about this, please be sure to post and let us know! Now I wonder if the Sony PSP makers are shakin in their pants?

-iamsiam

NES on iPod

Thinking about the days of old when you use to play NES games? Wish you can still play them? Have an iPod?

Well you're in luck! You'll be able to play NES games on your iPod thanks to this project:
INES

The project has progressed to being able to run the program but it is extremely slow. Just keep checking on that site to here the latest news.

-iamsiam

Pacman, Ms. Pacman

Remember those good old days of playing Pacman or Ms. Pacman at the arcades? Well now you can relive those days. Earlier we mentioned the ability to play Pacman and Ms. Pacman on the ipod nano and the ipod with video. Well now if you have the ipod nano you can build your own cabinet. The instructions are great and it's got tons of pictures to show you how it's done. Go here and check it out.

-iamsiam

More for the iPod

Think the iPod is just for listening to music and watching porn... er I mean tv shows and movies? Think again. There is a new project titled iPodMame that uses the iPodLinus software to let iPodders play Pacman and Ms. Pacman on the ipods.

To read more on how you too can play these games click here.

Now if only I can figure out what the heck they are saying, I might be able to get this on my ipod.

iPod Nano

In action

-iamsiam
portable gaming:ipod

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