Video Of SGN’s Unlaunched iPhone Jet Dogfighter Game

People say the iPhone is really a gaming device with a mobile phone bolted on. And given how much time I spend playing games on my iPhone, I tend to agree. The touchscreen, accelerometer and (mostly still untapped) ability to play games against others over Wifi or 3G make gameplay compelling.

Social Gaming Network (among the first to exploit the iPhone accelerometer to create Wii-like games), is coming out with a new jet fighter dogfight game. The graphics are stunning, and you can fight against computer opponents or other people playing the game.

This isn’t the first iPhone dogfight game (Flying Aces and Top Gun are popular), but the graphics are way beyond what I’ve seen with the other games, the social fighting aspect is a first and unlike those games, SGN’s will be free. I had a chance to play it this morning in our offices, a video of that demo is below.

The application hasn’t been named yet and is still a month or so from launch, but SGN says if you email launch@sgn.com they’ll respond back when the game launches. The game will be free, and eventually users will be able to pay to upgrade their jets and weapons. In the first version users will train and add levels, but when the iPhone 3 comes out this summer, they say, a war is going to break out.

Microsoft extending Halo into the mobile realm!

What would tech journalists/bloggers do without cryptic-yet-seemingly-revealing job postings? Many a solid rumor has started as a result of these suggestive job position descriptions.

Take Microsoft’s recent posting on CareerBuilder.com (now listed as “expired”), for example. “[Microsoft is] looking to blend console, web, and mobile to create an immersive Halo world that follows the dedicated Halo fan wherever they go…As an engineer on this team, your responsibility will be to deliver a great out-of-game interactive experience that takes the next step beyond the systems found in Halo 3″ (emphasis added).

While I may have never jumped on the Halo bandwagon (Wii is all I need!), I know a number of Halo-obsessed freaks “connoisseurs” who would probably give a Master Chief arm and leg to have mobile access to game stats, clan communications, tangential story lines, a mobile Halo social network, and related mobile Halo mini-games (all of which are pure conjecture, by the way – the jobs post was quite vague). Just imagine, while waiting for the bus/train, you could talk smack to rival players, frag some grunts, or up your rank with EXP-building mini-games. Why talk to the people around you when you can just talk to your clan mates?

DevTeam has an iPhone 3.0 jailbreak but you can’t have it – yet

There are two sets of combatants in the long war of attrition called the iPhone Unlock Conflict. The newest battle is over the latest firmware, 3.0, and it’s starting to show how these two parties, the Dev Team and the Unofficial QuickPwn Hackers, are entering a new stage of conflict.

Jailbreaking, for those not in the know, is the process of unlocking the iPhone’s filesystem in order to install third-party apps not officially supported by the App Store. You can also SSH into jailbroken iPhones and use them just as you would any other terminal. This is completely different from the iPhone unlock procedure which unlocks the iPhone from a particular carrier and allows the use of unofficial SIM cards.

Because jailbreaking is comparatively trivial, the Dev Team was able to jailbreak 3.0 almost immediately as were a number of non-affiliated parties. However, there was no official or unofficial method out there to jailbreak 3.0 until last night and it was produced by a Russian hacker with no Dev Team Affiliation. However, this method could potentially upset the delicate carrier unlock procedures the Dev Team released last January. It is on that point that the Dev Team takes umbrage.

They write:

It’s silly to play cat&mouse with Apple during a beta period, when relatively few people are willing to actually use the beta software in their everyday lives. There are ways Apple can tighten the screws, and we’d rather not burn methods just for a beta release.

Their main concern is the potential failure of the yellowsn0w unlocking software caused by incorrect updates. However, you also see a bit of anti-script-kiddie outrage in their posts as well as a strange sense of entitlement in their “customers” (”Please don’t abandon us like that for Weeks again please. Just write something at all so we know you’re working on fixing everything, eventually.” writes one commenter) This odd interplay is half-open-source project and half-co-dependant drug addict. In both cases the consumer’s refrain is “Give us the stuff so we can love you more,” and, on the producer’s side, “You can’t handle this stuff. I’ll take care of it for you.”

This is not to disparage the Dev Team. Their unlocks have been works of genius and their contribution to the general iPhone infrastructure deserves at least a little praise from Apple (which will never happen) as well as our undying devotion. But an interesting White Paper on organizational structure is lurking somewhere in this relationship, provided they don’t nuke each other.

India’s PS2 Hanuman Boy Warrior

At the Taj President in Mumbai on Thursday, Sony, Milestone Interactive and developer Aurona unleashed the very first Indian PlayStation 2 game called Hanuman Boy Warrior. As the name suggests, the game will put players in the boots (or rather bare feet) of both a young as well as an old Hanuman as he battles mythological creatures and evil monsters.

Before any sort of gameplay was shown we were subjected to a dance routine, two painfully long speeches and two supposedly famous children who I’ve never seen before blabbering about stuff that I really didn’t pay any attention to.

The game will play out like an action adventure offering a third person view of Hanuman as he goes around annihilating evil without even shedding a single drop of blood since this game is geared primarily towards children and sensitive non-gamers.

Anyway for all those interested in this game, here’s a quick lowdown courtesy of the game’s press release:

The game is the journey of Hanuman across two phases of his life : Bal Hanuman (Childhood) and Yuva Hanuman (Young adulthood ). He faces many obstacles and enemies on the way and uses his powers to overcome the same. But true to the positivity of Indian mythology, the adventure always finishes with the destruction of the evil spirit but freeing of the soul possessed by the evil.

The story is a classic “Win of Good over Evil” tale targeted at children and young teens. It is a narrative of Hanuman that allows the audience to easily identify with the character as he goes through the game that reflects the time period in the players’ lives.

Hanuman Boy Warrior is now available exclusively for the PS2 for Rs. 499.

Snowblind Map Pack now available for Gears of War 2

BODIES AS SHIELDS!!!

I haven’t typed out that phrase in a long while. Chances are you probably already downloaded the Snowblind Map Pack for Gears of War 2 but if you didn’t then this is your reminder. It’s available now for 800 MS points. You can also earn an extra 250 Achievement points. Hit the jump for a Snowblind trailer and further details on the new achievements.

Spanning tunnels, bridges, courtyards and offices, players can sharpen their skills on the four new maps in the Snowblind Add-on: Grindyard, Under Hill, Courtyard and Fuel Depot. All maps are playable on every “Gears of War 2” multiplayer mode, including the highly popular Horde mode:

· Grindyard is a massive industrial complex located in a junk-processing plant from the days of Sera’s industrial excess. The office, now gutted, serves as a perfect place to fortify, but if you’re not careful, you’ll end up trapped inside the office with no hope of escape.

· Under Hill takes players through snowbound tunnels that were once billed as a feat of Seran engineering. Head for high ground on the bridge and you’ll be rewarded with massive firepower, but be prepared to defend your position and try to escape being cornered.

· Courtyard is a wide-open battle royale containing explosive weapons that once formed the heart of Ephyra’s fashionable Civic Center. Lines of sight are far and clear here, and battles tend to focus around the elevated sniper nest. Watch your back and keep a fresh clip.

· Fuel Depot, back by popular demand, Fuel Depot is a “Gears of War 2” remake of the fan-favorite “Gears of War” map, but winter has set in and the depot is now covered in a blanket of snow. Open and unforgiving, it takes a well-coordinated team to cover all the angles here.

Here’s the complete list of achievements, points and descriptions:

· “Rookie Gear” (10 points): Earn enough multiplayer experience to reach level 5 (Public only).

· “Seasoned Gear” (20 points): Earn enough multiplayer experience to reach level 15 (Public only).

· “Battle-Tested Gear” (30 points): Earn enough multiplayer experience to reach level 25 (Public only).

· “Battle-Hardened Gear” (50 points): Reach level 50 and play a match on each of the four Snowblind Map Pack maps (Public only).

· “Veteran Gear” (75 points): Reach level 100 and win a match on each of the four Snowblind Map Pack maps (Public only).

· “Never Eat Red Snow” (20 points): Complete waves 1 through 10 on all Snowblind Map Pack maps in Horde (any difficulty).

· “Icy Dead People” (25 points): Complete waves 1 through 50 on any Snowblind Map Pack map in Horde (any difficulty).

· “Frigid Body Dynamics” (5 points): Play a multiplayer match on each of the four Snowblind Map Pack maps (any mode).

· “The Weather Outside Is Lethal” (15 points): Win a multiplayer match on each of the four Snowblind Map Pack maps (any mode).

Action games improve vision!

This won’t come as a surprise to anyone who ever sniped in Tribes, or got good enough at Street Fighter II to see kicks coming after a single frame. But to those who think there are no benefits to playing games, one study suggests at least one: improved eyesight.

Now, we’re not talking about going from 20/80 to 20/40 or something, but the study showed that people who had played 50 hours of action games (as opposed to casual games) over the course of 9 weeks showed increased contrast and luminosity detection. Speaking as someone who could (though not at first) bulls-eye a light armor flying through the air from across the map on Broadside, I think that’s the least of our abilities.