BlackBerry OS 10 tutorials caught on video, cool new gestures demonstrated

BlackBerry OS 10 faced a few delays, but the waiting might be worth it as the new OS is a far cry from its bland, text-based predecessors. The new OS relies heavily on clever gestures for many of the basic tasks – even going back to the homescreen is done with a gesture rather than a button like on Android or iOS. As such, BB OS 10 brings back memories of the (short-lived) excitement that MeeGo caused.

The best way to teach users the new gestures are quick and simple tutorials played on the phone itself. Here are four of them, that show both gestures we’ve seen before and a few of new ones.

BlackBerryItalia recorded the tutorials, the first of which details the “essential gesture” – a swipe up. It is used to unlock the screen and to go back to the home screen.

Once you’re in, you can easily move between the unified inbox (UIB), the currently running apps and the app drawer.

You can also swipe slowly up to have a peek at the number of missed evens and if there’s anything interesting, you can swipe right to bring out the UIB.

Then there’s the swipe down gesture. Unlike the notification areas of most touch-based OSes and the personal/work mode switch swipe down gesture, this one brings down toggles (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc.) in the homescreen and also app-specific settings.

While Windows Phone 8 is betting on live tiles, BlackBerry OS 10 thinks gestures are the way to go. Both are business-oriented and both will be competing for third place next year. Who do you think will win?

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Grand Theft Auto V and BioShock Infinite delays responsible for Take-Two losses

Grand Theft Auto 5 and BioShock Infinite are going to give Take-Two a lucrative 2013, but it's hurting in 2012 as a result of their delays.

The future is bright for Take-Two Interactive. Borderlands 2 had a strong first week, with critics raving and financial analysts predicting it will be the fourth best-selling game of the year, trailing only Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, Assassin’s Creed 3, and Halo 4. XCOM: Enemy Unknown‘s got good buzz and NBA 2K13 will enjoy the series’ perennially great sales. Next year? BioShock Infinite, Grand Theft Auto V. Those two games though, the shining stars of 2K Games’ 2013, were supposed to come out in 2012. They’re the root of Take-Two’s low revenue expectation woes.

As reported by GamesIndustry International, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick explained during a meeting this week why the company saw a $107.7 million loss in the last fiscal year. “This was primarily due to our decision to postpone the release of several titles in order to allow for additional development time,” said Zelnick, “Although our commitment to quality may occasionally affect near-term results, we believe it’s the right approach for maximizing revenue and profits over the long-term.”

BioShock Infinite, by all accounts, needed the extra gestation time to be the success that Take-Two wants it to be with gamers. Irrational Games announced ahead of E3 2012 that it would push BioShock Infinite into 2013 and that it wouldn’t show the game to the press until it was close to finished. In August, though, numerous key staff members working on Infinite left Irrational amid reports that the game was in deep trouble. Cut multiplayer modes and broken play systems were just a couple of the alleged problems facing the game.

Grand Theft Auto V meanwhile didn’t come out in 2012 because Rockstar Games is, as the studio is wont to do, taking its time making the game perfect. “Grand Theft Auto V is in full development and making substantial progress,” said Zelnick in the meeting. There were rumors that GTAV might see a surprise release in October, but the game’s now a lock for the beginning of the next fiscal year.

A year that will prove markedly better than 2012. Take-Two saw sales during the April to June quarter drop to $226 million from $334 million during the same period in 2011. Max Payne 3 simply didn’t hit in the way that past spring Rockstar releases like Red Dead Redemption and LA Noire did. Grand Theft Auto V shouldn’t have the same problem, and BioShock Infinite should help Take-Two close the fiscal year in March strong.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Luigi’s Mansion and Castlevania for Nintendo 3DS delayed into 2013

Nintendo's fall release schedule for 3DS is packed, but two high profile titles have slipped to 2013.

 

Delays aren’t a bad thing. Sometimes a game just needs more time in the oven. Even if the people making it decided, you know, this is finished, we have literally placed all that and a bag of chips into the ROM, sometimes waiting a little bit longer to get it out is the best idea. Then a good game can be polished to the point of greatness, or it can be released at a time when there will be fewer high profile games jockeying for people’s attention and dollars.

The Nintendo 3DS has been no stranger to delays over the past year. Kid Icarus: Uprising was supposed to be ready for launch and it ended up releasing nearly a year later this past March. Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon was also supposed to be ready for the Nintendo 3DS quite a long time ago, but after a couple of delays, Nintendo announced at E3 2012 that it would be out in time for Christmas. None too soon based on my time with it in June.

Luigi’s Mansion won’t be out in time for Christmas though. Nintendo released an expansive release calendar detailing the 3DS and DS line up through the end of the year and Luigi’s Mansion did not make the cut.

In this case, Nintendo is wisely giving Luigi room to breathe. Between now and Christmas, Nintendo alone has New Super Mario Bros. 2, Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, and Paper Mario: Sticker Star just to name a few and that’s on top of a few third-party games that Nintendo is aggressively marketing itself like Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion.

Next Level Games has been working on Luigi’s Mansion for around two years now and the game is nice and polished in demos. It’s not a game that’s going to really steal people’s hearts and minds away from even a Paper Mario game. Best let it breathe on its own.

Konami’s Castelvania: Lords of Shadow—Mirror of Fate, formerly scheduled for October, will join Luigi’s Mansion in 2013. That game however could use the extra development time. When I played it at E3 2012, Mercurysteam’s first handheld Castlevania was a mess. It looked like a bowl of chunky soup and played like a stiff old man. It lacked the vivacious color of past portable Castlevanias but even its dour atmosphere lacked the polish and sheen of the original Lords of Shadow. A few more months will do the game nicely.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com