Google updates Street View with more than 250,000 miles of new imagery

Google has substantially updated its Google Maps Street View service, updating 250,000 miles of roads around the world.

The Street View coverage is now extended to cover Macau, Singapore, Sweden, the U.S., Thailand, Taiwan, Italy, Great Britain, Denmark, Norway and Canada. Google is also launching special collections in South Africa, Japan, Spain, France, Brazil and Mexico, among others.

Google says this is the largest update it has ever released for Street View and I am inclined to believe them. Now, you can view even more attractions all around the world from the comfort of your couch. That is, until you save enough money for this nice trip to Spain you’ve been dreaming of.

You can check out the cool places Google has added to its Street View by following this link.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

What the T-Mobile and MetroPCS merger means for you

T-Mobile and MetroPCS are merging to expand spectrum holdings and network coverage. What do current (and future!) customers get out of it?

T-Mobile parent company Deutsche Telekom has announced that it’s struck a deal to merge with regional pre-paid mobile operator MetroPCS. For MetroPCS, the merger represents a tremendous growth opportunity: instead of being a regional operator limited to a few markets, its customers will get nationwide service. For T-Mobile, the merger significantly deepens the company’s spectrum holdings in key cities and regions, enabling it to make a serious play as a value-conscious LTE operator. And for Deutsche Telekom, the merger finally represents a way to one day get out of the business of being a U.S. mobile operator, following its failed effort to sell T-Mobile to AT&T last year.

But what does the merger mean for consumers and customers of both T-Mobile and MetroPCS? Can customers expect better service and wider LTE coverage? Or, like so many mergers, will the new company just be bigger and more expensive?

The merger’s basic idea

The T-Mobile and MetroPCS merger is designed to give number-four T-Mobile more scale and deeper spectrum holdings in several major metropolitan areas, meaning it will more wiggle room to offer 4G LTE services and compete aggressively against the likes of Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon. The combined company will still be the number-four U.S. mobile carrier (behind number three Sprint), but will bump up to about 42 million subscribers. Although MetroPCS uses CDMA phone technology and T-Mobile is based on GSM, MetroPCS is already in the process of phasing out CDMA, and its spectrum holdings are broadly complementary: both companies live and breathe in the 1,700 MHz and 1,900 MHz spectrum bands.

The combined company will do business under the T-Mobile name, although MetroPCS and T-Mobile will continue to operate as distinct customer units. Contract-based mobile service (along with services for businesses) will be under the T-Mobile name, and pre-paid and no-contract service will be available under both T-Mobile and MetroPCS brands.

The pre-paid market — or, as Deutsche Telekom likes to refer to it, “value-focused” market — is one area where the combined company gets interesting. MetroPCS is exclusively a no-contract and pre-paid provider — also one of T-Mobile’s strong points. According to T-Mobile, the two companies will have about 14.6 million no-contract subscribers (9.3 million from MetroPCS), putting it nearly neck-and-neck with Sprint’s no-contract operation, which currently has about 15.4 million customers. The combined T-Mobile/MetroPCS no-contract business looks poised to earn more money than Sprint’s: in the second quarter of 2012, Sprint pulled in $1.2 billion from no-contract subscribers, where the combined T-Mobile/MetroPCS pulled in $1.6 billion. Basically, the combined T-Mobile and MetroPCS will likely become the biggest no-contract mobile operator after AT&T and Verizon — we only say “likely” because those companies don’t break out revenue from their prepaid/no-contract businesses.

The terms of the merger are unusual: technically, MetroPCS is acquiring T-Mobile in a reverse acquisition. MetroPCS will declare a 2-for-1 reverse stock split, pay $1.5 billion to its existing shareholders (a bit over $4 per share), and then buy all of T-Mobile’s capital stock by giving Deutsche Telekom 74 percent of MetroPCS. In the end, Deutsche Telekom winds up the majority owner of MetroPCS, and the new company will have nearly $25 billion in revenue and about $2.1 billion in free cash flow for the year. T-Mobile’s current CEO, John Legere, will be the CEO of the new company; MetroPCS CFO J. Braxton Carter will be the new company’s CFO. MetroPCS’s CEO, Roger Linquist, will apparently retire — he is 74 years old. Regulators have to approve the deal, and that will take a while: the companies expect the deal to be formally closed by June 2013. The new company will operate out of T-Mobile’s Bellevue, Washington HQ, but will maintain a “significant presence” in the Dallas area.

One of the consequences of the reverse merger is that the new T-Mobile will be a public company: before, it was a private company owned by Deutsche Telekom. Although Deutsche Telekom has agreed to provide a $5.5 billion commitment to support some existing MetroPCS transactions, write down the value of some of its investment in T-mobile, and offer the new company a $500 million unsecured credit facility, setting up T-Mobile as a public company gives Deutsche Telekom something it’s always wanted: a way out of the slow-growing U.S. mobile market. That’s why it tried to sell T-Mobile lock, stock, and barrel to AT&T in one giant transaction. Taking T-Mobile public doesn’t give Deutsche Telekom a swift and sudden exit from the American market, but it does put the company in a position to sell off its shares of the new company in the future.

If you’re a T-Mobile customer…

In the short term, the merger probably won’t affect T-Mobile customers: the company is continuing its $4 billion built-out of LTE services using AWS (Advanced Wireless Services) spectrum on its network. However, looking ahead, the merger means T-Mobile’s LTE offerings should be much stronger in the areas where MetroPCS currently offers service. Assuming all of MetroPCS’s AWS spectrum gets converted over to LTE — which should happen over time — T-Mobile will have an average of 50 MHz of LTE bandwidth in major areas like New York, Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco, Detroit, and Las Vegas — and 60 MHz in MetroPCS’s hometown of Dallas — and that includes a full 2×20 MHz in many areas, meaning T-Mobile’s LTE network should be able to keep up with competitors in terms of raw bandwidth. T-Mobile’s current GSM and HSPA+ handsets will continue working, too.

Going forward, T-Mobile’s move toward LTE also means T-Mobile customers can expect to have a greater selection of handsets. Instead of having to rely on phone makers to create special devices for T-Mobile’s own flavor of HSPA+ connectivity, T-Mobile should be able to offer customers mainstream LTE handsets. T-Mobile is hoping that, one day soon, that will include the iPhone, but the company will also be happy to offer customers the latest LTE devices running Android and Windows Phone, as well as accept iPhone migrants from other carriers.

MetroPCS has also been noted for its highly automated self-service capabilities, making it easier for customers to add minutes, pay bills, switch plans, and get a new phone without incurring a ton of customer support costs. On an investor call today about the merger, T-Mobile executives said they expect to be able to leverage that to improve its customer service levels — which would be welcome. T-Mobile’s customer service used to be lauded; recently J.D. Power and Associates has been rating it lowest in customer service among all carriers.

If you’re a MetroPCS customer…

If you’re a MetroPCS customer (and familiar with wireless technology), this merger is putting four letters in your mind: CDMA. MetroPCS’s voice network runs on CDMA, which is incompatible with T-Mobile’s GSM network. How can these incompatible technologies work together?

Short answer: they won’t. MetroPCS customers will be stuck on MetroPCS coverage and limitations until they migrate to new, future, handsets that will incorporate service for both networks. We also learned on the call today (and this long document) that the combined company anticipates keeping some of MetroPCS’s existing CDMA service operating through the first half of 2015, so customers have almost three years to transition to a new handset. MetroPCS’s all-contract business has an exceptionally high handset turnover: each year, between 60 and 65 percent of MetroPCS’s customers get new handsets, so transitioning away from CDMA in a span of nearly three years isn’t expected to be a major problem for most MetroPCS customers.

And MetroPCS customers should get some significant benefits from the deal once they transition, including substantially expanded mobile coverage, without being forced into roaming deals (including international roaming options). That expanded coverage area also makes it more likely MetroPCS customers can keep their service if they move to a more rural area. Although MetroPCS has already been rolling out LTE service, with T-Mobile it will have access to a much broader LTE network (once it’s built out), along with a wider choice of handsets — perhaps one day including the iPhone.

MetroPCS customers also get some stability: MetroPCS is the fifth largest mobile operator in the U.S., but it was still a regional provider going it along with limited growth opportunities. The combined company is larger, more stable, and backed by the considerable financial resources of Deutsche Telekom — which is still an investment-grade stock.

When life hands you lemons…

T-Mobile merging with MetroPCS is the latest move in the company’s gotta-stay-alive strategy in the wake of AT&T’s failed takeover attempt. When the AT&T merger failed, T-Mobile was left with comparatively few options, and none of them were great. The company has settled on a “challenger” strategy that isn’t aiming to unseat AT&T or Verizon, but instead to offer a fourth stable, national competitor in the U.S. market.

Since it became single again, T-Mobile has made four major moves to position itself as a viable alternative to AT&T and Verizon:

• It picked up AWS spectrum holdings (as well as a roaming deal) from AT&T as part of its break-up fee when acquisition fell through
• It announced a $4 billion upgrade plan to offer LTE services on its AWS network — that involves upgrading 37,000 sites over three years
• It picked up still more AWS spectrum from Verizon as a condition of Verizon’s deal with cable operators
• It sold rights on 7,200 towers to Crown Castle for $2.4 billion in cash to fuel its LTE transition

For T-Mobile, merging with MetroPCS is about making the best play it can to build competitive 4G LTE services. The company has no spectrum holdings in the attractive 700 MHz bands recently vacated by broadcast television: those bands are particularly appealing for LTE and mobile services because they’re good at penetrating structures. With the MetroPCS merger, T-Mobile is still left out of 700 MHz LTE service, but it will be able to significantly increase the density of LTE services it can offer in higher-frequency AWS bands: they don’t penetrate buildings as well, but T-Mobile is hoping to make up some of the difference by widening the amount of spectrum it uses in many metropolitan areas, as well as by being particular about how it upgrades its towers — it’s been hoping to improve in-building coverage by about 20 percent just through its network modernization, which includes new antennas with integrated radios.

Those efforts probably won’t be enough to compete head to head with the likes of AT&T and Verizon Wireless, but T-Mobile and MetroPCS are a good fit in another way: no-contract customers. The U.S. mobile market is mostly saturated. Very few new mobile customers are being created: some estimates have the U.S. mobile market growing by about 3 to 5 percent a year through 2017. However, tough economic times and the high cost of smartphone voice and data plans means the no-contract and pre-paid segment of the U.S. mobile phone market could grow by 9 to 10 percent in that same period. The combined T-Mobile and MetroPCS should be a major player in that faster-growing market segment — particularly if the combined company can keep to its strategy of unlimited mobile data plans.

The next move is probably Sprint

What will be the next move in the mobile industry? Look to number-three Sprint. MetroPCS’s deal with Deutsche Telekom to merge with T-Mobile was actually MetroPCS’s second choice: earlier this year, MetroPCS nearly closed a deal to be acquired by Sprint. That deal was rejected by Sprint’s board, and MetroPCS had to go looking elsewhere for a buyer.

Sprint has indicated it intends to be a leader in consolidation in the mobile industry — and its most likely targets are LEAP Wireless or working out a deal with Dish Network. Dish, in particular, might be tempting: the satellite TV operator holds a number of licenses in the 2000 to 2200 MHz band that it intended to use to build out its own satellite-assisted LTE network. However, the FCC is on the verge of action that could make some of Dish’s licenses relatively useless to Dish…but useful as an add-on to Sprint’s built-out of LTE service in the 1900 MHz range. Sprint is already building out its LTE service, where Dish hasn’t really started.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Google is reportedly ready with the native Google Maps app for iOS

Despite its great look, the Apple Maps app -which replaced Google Maps in iOS 6 – has been subject to some heavy criticism over the past few days. The incomplete coverage and numerous inaccuracies made most users miss the iOS 5 days, when they could actually go places.

However, salvation might be on the horizon, as we got a report saying that Google is already done with the development of an iOS-6 compatible Google Maps app. Earlier rumors that it has already been submitted to Apple for approval were refuted, but that should happen soon enough. We are yet to see if Apple approves the app and allows it to make it into the App Store, but we are hoping for the best.

Meanwhile, if you don’t feel like using the new Maps app, you can always go to the Google Maps mobile website and use the “add to homescreen” button to create a shortcut, which could partially compensate for the lack of a native app. Either that, or hope that Apple focuses all its effort on making its alternative better than it currently is.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Digital Blend: Kickstarter’s ‘Year of the Game,’ PS Vita homebrew, and Rovio’s Bad Piggies

Welcome to Digital Blend, your one-stop-shop for coverage and recommendations of all things relating to mobile gaming, digital marketplaces, and indie titles (for the week ending September 9).

Welcome back to Digital Blend, our weekly look at the world of downloadable video gaming that exists at the fringes of the mainstream. That means we look at the hottest new mobile game releases, downloadable content drops on consoles and PCs, indie darlings that deserve your love and attention, and the best gaming values under $20.

Keep your comments and feedback coming. We want to hear from you! Did you try something you read about here and enjoy it? Is there a particular game you think we’ve overlooked or news you want to share? Any questions you are dying to ask? Let us know! Your thoughts, feedback, suggestions and (constructive!) criticism are welcome, either in the comments section below or directed at yours truly on Twitter, @geminibros.

Making headlines…

* Kickstarter knows where its audience is. The crowd-funding website has officially declared 2012 the “Year of the Game,” with seven of the website’s 11 million-plus earners relating in some way to video games. The figure also means that games account for the most money pledged out of any other category on the site, amounting to a total of roughly $50 million in crowd-sourced dollars. Kickstarter launched in 2009; in the time between then and the start of 2012, video game projects ranked as the eighth most funded category on the site. The numbers  this year catapult games up to the second most funded position.  For more on how the numbers break down, including the percentage of successfully funded game projects, check out Francis’ full report.

* Techland is prepping what appears to be a bit of a series reboot for Call of Juarez, with Ubisoft announcing a return to the original Wild West setting for the next game in the series, Call of Juarez: Gunslinger. Rather than picking up on earlier stories, Gunslinger blends fact and fiction, putting players in the shoes of an Old West bounty hunter in search of real-life outlaws like Billy the Kid and Butch Cassidy. Gunslinger will be released for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC platforms as a downloadable game sometime in early 2013. Check out Anthony’s post to learn more about the game.

* Early adopters of Sony’s PlayStation Vita are getting restless, what with the relatively small launch and post-launch library that’s been coming together since the handheld hit U.S. stores in February 2012. The slow burn has left enterprising programs with plenty of free time to work on circumventing the closed system for the purposes of running homebrew software. Hacker Yifan Lu discovered a Vita exploit that’s allowed him to develop the very first homebrew loader for the handheld, which is itself based on an early loader for Sony’s widely hacked PlayStation Portable. The core mindset behind homebrew development is noble in its aim to open up closed software platforms for homegrown development projects. Unfortunately, homebrew is often synonymous with piracy, which is why Sony is constantly working to shut down the exploits that hackers take advantage of. Lu insists that his goals with the Vita loader are for homebrew development only, but it’s definitely a sticky situation. For more, check out Anthony’s report.

* Rovio struck gold in a huge way with Angry Birds, so it shouldn’t be a surprise to hear that the company’s just-announced new franchise is really more of an outgrowth of its already established universe. Bad Piggies aims to turn to tables on those angry, angry birds, tasking players with building an assortment of vehicles that will carry the future pork products (mmmm… bacon) to the bird eggs that they’d so like to feast upon. Rovio hopes that this dramatic shift away from the “fling birds at structures to knock them down” gameplay of its previous hit will help establish Bad Piggies as a new franchise unto itself, rather than as a sequel.

* Valve definitely has the right idea with Steam Greenlight, a crowd-sourcing initiative that offers Steam users the opportunity to throw their support behind any of the various indie projects that are vying for a highly coveted spot in Valve’s online store. Greenlight is going through some growing pains, however. In the early days of the new service, a number of supposed indie developers posted “projects” that largely amounted to community trolling, offensive stuff like a 9/11 simulator. While a separate dialogue is starting to develop about what is and isn’t okay for Steam in the wake of a planned erotic game’s removal, Valve implemented a $100 posting fee to cut down on the fraudulent projects going up on Greenlight. The company is also looking to streamline how Steam users engage with Greenlight by offering personalized lists based on each person’s interests.

Top buys for the week…

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 — Collection 4: Final Assault :: Xbox 360 :: 1,200 MS Points

Activision’s inaugural year for “Call of Duty Elite” is officially over with the end of Modern Warfare 3‘s DLC content season this week. The new pack, a timed exclusive for Xbox 360, is all about the multiplayer, offering five new locations for players to frag and be fragged in. You’ll run through an abandoned mining town in Gulch, blow up the Jersey Shore in Boardwalk, rampage through New Orleans’ French Quarter in Parish, negotiate an oil rig’s catwalks in Offshore, and creep your way through a rotting ship’s graveyard in Decommission. As usual, this content will eventually come to PlayStation 3 and PC platforms, likely sometime in October.

Mark of the Ninja :: Xbox 360 :: 1,200 MS Points

Klei Entertainment’s Mark of the Ninja is, hands-down, the very best that this week has to offer in downloadable gaming. The 2D side-scrolling stealth game is very nearly perfect, sending players on a series of multi-path missions in full ninja garb. Don’t let the 2D presentation — which is beautiful and hand-drawn, by the way — put you off. You’ll be presented with a wide array of options as you progress through the game, not just in the routes you can follow but also in how your ninja’s skills and gear improve. Wrapping around the whole thing is a well-told story that will have you exploring some thought-provoking themes by the time its final moments play out.

Avengers Initiative :: iOS :: $6.99

There’s always a temptation to rag on movie-licensed video game given the rocky history that exists between the two mediums, but the currently iOS-excluisve Avengers Initiative (it’s headed to Android as well) is one of the rare exceptions. Marvel Entertainment is planning this one as an episodic series, with the now-released first episode focusing entirely on Bruce Banner’s green-skinned alter-ego, the Hulk. The gameplay is essentially a cruder take on Infinity Blade, but the experience is enhanced by sweet visuals, character customization, and the promise of more Marvel action to come.

The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim – Hearthfire DLC :: Xbox 360 :: 400 MS Points

I’m not gonna lie: Skyrim‘s second piece of downloadable content — the final timed-exclusive for Xbox 360 — pretty much amounts to House Armor. You can build a house. Or more than one house. You can upgrade your house(s). You can send your spouse to live in that house, and you can then take your domestic life a step further by adopting a child. There’s 50GS worth of Achievements to be had here, but don’t expect any kind of questline. And bring gold. Houses ain’t cheap, you know? Hearthfire isn’t for everyone, but it’s a neat addition to Bethesda’s vibrant world for those who really want to leave more of a personal mark in it.

Super Hexagon :: iOS :: $0.99

Every week there’s some new time-chomping mobile game that threatens to consume your life with its “just one more go”-friendly setup and destroy your phone with its “blink and you fail” gameplay. This week, that game is Super Hexagon, from VVVVVV creator Terry Cavanagh. The new game is much simpler than the gravity-powered platformer that precedes it. Players simply guide their little, triangle-shaped avatar around the perimeter of an inner hexagon as larger shapes shrink inward. The idea is always to have your triangle positioned so it can pass through the lone open area on the shrinking hex. It’s frankly much easier to grok by watching the thing in motion than reading a text description, so why don’t you go ahead and check out the trailer.

Zen Pinball 2 :: PSN :: FREE

Let’s be clear first: Zen Pinball 2 is technically free to download, but you’ll have to actually buy individual tables or table packs in order to fully enjoy it. Non-pack tables can be played for free, but there’s a time limit dictating how long you can play before you’re kicked back to the main menu. Pricing on tables starts at $2.50, and packs go up as high as $9.99. Any tables you might have owned previously in the original Zen Pinball can be imported, and everything is cross-platform-friendly, meaning you can play on both your PlayStation 3 and your PS Vita.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Ben Affleck: ‘I’m not working on the Justice League’

Ben Affleck is not going to be directing Warner Bros.' upcoming Justice League movie. He said so himself.

If you’ve been following our ongoing coverage of Warner Bros. upcoming, still-hypothetical movie based on DC Comics’ Justice League superhero team, then you no doubt know that Ben Affleck was rumored to be assuming the role of the director (and possibly one of the stars) for the movie. Likewise, you also probably know that other, separate rumors claim that Affleck will not be directing. With so many conflicting reports, who is a person to believe?

How about Affleck himself?

“I’m not working on the Justice League,” Affleck recently told Vancouver, BC news organization 24 Hours Vancouver. “One of the problems with entertainment web sites is that they need to fill pages, and that’s how rumours get started. Justice League sounds really exciting, but it’s not something I’m working on.”

24 Hours then attempts to work around Affleck’s own words by saying that just because the man is not currently working on Justice League, that does not mean that he wouldn’t be up for it in the future. This movie is still a ways away from entering production, so why couldn’t Affleck sign on later? Or so the site’s reasoning seems to go.

We however, are done with this. If Ben Affleck says he’s not directing Justice League, then as far as we’re concerned he’s not directing Justice League. Until an official press release contradicts this idea, we think it would be more prudent to speculate on other possible directors than to constantly flog this “Affleck as Justice League director” idea to death. Intriguingly, there are new rumors circulating that the Wachowski siblings are among Warner Bros.’ prospective auteurs, and despite their middling success since The Matrix, you can’t deny that a Wachowski-helmed Justice League flick would, at the very least, be a massive visual spectacle — and call us shallow, but we kinda dig Wachowski-brand spectacle, even if it’s severely lacking in complementary substance.

Excitement aside, and as much as this is quite literally our job, can we place a moratorium on Justice League director rumors? We aren’t going to get Christopher Nolan to helm this project, Affleck is presumably out and that Wachowskis thing I just mentioned is as likely to be entirely made up as it is to be legitimate. Maybe those other sites mentioned by Affleck that desperately need to pad out their page views can’t see what’s going on here, but we’re growing tired of reporting on what is effectively a lack of information. We’d convey the same meaning and ramifications by telling you all kid’s fairy tales. You know the Three Billy Goats Gruff, right? Not only is that a great story, it’s also exactly as likely to come true as any of these rumors. Let’s make a pact here: You won’t read any of this stuff, we won’t write about it, and instead we’ll all focus on something more important (like, literally anything else). Deal?

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Digital Blend: 3DS XL arrives, no Vita price cut in 2012, EA has more free-to-play incoming

Welcome to Digital Blend, your one-stop-shop for coverage and recommendations of all things relating to mobile gaming, digital marketplaces, and indie titles (for the week ending August 19).

Welcome back to Digital Blend, our weekly look at the world of downloadable video gaming that exists at the fringes of the mainstream. That means we look at the hottest new mobile game releases, downloadable content drops on consoles and PCs, indie darlings that deserve your love and attention, and the best gaming values under $20.

Keep your comments and feedback coming. We want to hear from you! Did you try something you read about here and enjoy it? Is there a particular game you think we’ve overlooked or news you want to share? Any questions you are dying to ask? Let us know! Your thoughts, feedback, suggestions and (constructive!) criticism are welcome, either in the comments section below or directed at yours truly on Twitter, @geminibros.

Making headlines…

* Sega is stepping further into the mobile business. This week, the publisher announced the launch of Sega Alliance, a new partner program designed to help indie developers find the marketing and production support that they need to get their games noticed on mobile platforms. Sega already has a presence in the smartphone and tablet space with its wholly owned IP, but Sega Alliance aims in different direction with its focus on bringing in new talents. The first release under the new initiative is Jack Lumber from Owlchemy Labs, the same studio behind Snuggle Truck.

* Capcom is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the NES classic Mega Man (or Rockman, as it is known in Japan) this year with an iOS-exclusive release called Rockman Xover. It’s only confirmed for a fall 2012 launch in Japan right now, but don’t be surprised if that grows into a broader release. The game ditches the platforming action that the series is known for, instead delivering a social-driven RPG in which players build their own Mega Man robot as they work to rescue all of the other various Mega Men from a plot hatched by a gang of the series’ most notable villains.

* EA is hoping to build a bright future for the Command & Conquer series by embracing the free-to-play philosophy that has made Command & Conquer: Tiberium Alliances such a hit. The BioWare-developed Command & Conquer: Generals 2 is now officially confirmed to be following a F2P model when it comes to PC in 2013. This is indicative of a larger trend that the publisher is moving toward, with the C&C news coming only days after EA confirmed plans to make the Star Wars: The Old Republic MMORPG a F2P offering this fall. 

* Those who have been patiently waiting for Sony to knock a few dollars off the price of its new PlayStation Vita handhelds are going to have to keep waiting. The portable was released in the U.S. in February 2012, less than a year after Nintendo dropped the price of its 3DS down from $250 — the Vita’s launch price — to a more competitive $180. That, coupled with the relatively light — though largely solid — library of launch and post-launch titles has left the Vita in a tough spot. It’s a great piece of hardware that too few people are adopting. A price cut might change that, but Sony boss Shuhei Yoshida put the kibosh on any hopes for such a thing happening in 2012. “No,” he said. “It’s too early.”

* Nintendo releases its super-sized 3DS XL in North America this Sunday, August 19, 2012. By all accounts it’s a solid piece of hardware that offers a notable improvement over the 3DS, particularly in the realm of its 3D display features. Our own Ryan Fleming has been tooling around with the new hardware for the past couple weeks, and he definitely liked what he saw. He questions the wisdom of not including a second analog control, something that can be added to the 3DS via a Circle Pad Pro, but the overall reaction is a positive one. For more, check out Ryan’s full Nintendo 3DS XL review.

* The PlayStation Vita might have been largely absent from the E3 2012 festivities this year, but that could be because Sony was saving the big stuff for Gamescom 2012. The publisher revealed many details of its future plans for the handheld during the Germany-based consumer show this week. For starters, LittleBigPlanet developer Media Molecule is currently toiling away on a Vita-exclusive platformer called Tearaway that trades in the Sack People for papercraft. Also confirmed is a new Killzone FPS game from Guerilla for the Vita, called Killzone: Mercenary. Perhaps the most exciting news, however, is confirmation that PlayStation Plus subscriber benefits will soon be extended to the Vita as well. That means discounted software, free software, and more.

Top buys for the week…

Papo & Yo :: PSN :: $14.99

It’s a light week for 100-percent new digital releases, but it’s definitely a quality over quantity sort of vibe to what’s out there. The best of the totally new bunch is Minority Media’s Papo & Yo, a beautiful puzzle-platformer with some very powerful thematic elements. I’m not going to try to synopsize it for you here. Either get the game and find out for yourself, or dig a little deeper with my Papo & Yo review.

The Expendables 2 :: XBLA / PC :: 1,200 MS Points / $14.99

The Expendables 2 was already released for PlayStation 3 via PSN, but this week the Xbox Live Arcade and PC versions arrive alongside the release of the movie. I’m not gonna lie: this isn’t any kind of amazing game. It’s just dumb, straightforward fun, with players taking control of one of the movie’s four major characters in a twin-stick shooter built around body counts. It’s not for everyone, but it’s mindless fun for the right kind of action fan. Check out my Expendables 2 game review for more. While you’re in the reading mood, you should also take a peek at Anthony’s Expendables 2 movie review.

Dust: An Elysian Tail :: XBLA :: 1,200 MS Points

PS3 gamers might get beautiful puzzle-platforming in Papo & Yo, but Xbox 360 users get beautiful action-RPG adventuring in Dust: An Elysian Tail. In this final salvo for Microsoft’s 2012 edition of Summer of Arcade, Dust marries absolutely gorgeous hand-drawn 2D graphics with exceedingly sharp writing, simple-yet-fun gameplay, and a surprisingly deep set of RPG systems. There’s a lot of game here for your $15, and it’s mostly pretty damn good. Check out my Dust: An Elysian Tail review for more.

Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack :: PC :: $7.99

The best PlayStation Vita launch title is now a thing you can enjoy on your PC as well. Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack follows a formless alien blob as it breaks out of confinement in a research facility and proceeds to absorb everything in the vicinity in order to grow larger, Katamari Damacy style. The game is a 2D platformer with an adorably evil alien protagonist and one of my all-time favorite last levels in all of video games. Check it out if you haven’t before, or take a peek at my Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack review for more.

Jack Lumber :: iOS :: $0.99

Jack Lumber is the first of Sega’s new releases under the Sega Alliance label, a new partner program designed to lend support to indie devs on mobile platforms. The game is the work of Snuggle Truck dev Owlchemy Labs, putting players in the enormous work boots of the titular “supernatural lumberjack.” It’s a bit like Fruit Ninja, only you’ve got time dilation powers that allow you to perform some seriously impressive feats of mid-air chopping.

Random Heroes :: iOS :: $0.99

Ravenous Games, the same team behind the killer iOS platformer League of Evil, is back with Random Heroes. The new game is built around a more involved set of mechanics, with the story complemented by video game trappings like character progression and exploration. 

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com