Amazon Reportedly Working on Android-based Smartphone

Amazon is now working on a smartphone, if a report from Bloomberg is to be believed.

The device is being built to directly compete with other Android-based phones and the iPhone. The phone is reportedly in production at Foxconn, the Chinese manufacturing company that builds hundreds of products. While Amazon currently produces several products, including the Kindle e-reader and Kindle Fire tablet, the company has made no indication of entering the smartphone arena.

If true, it stands to reason that Amazon’s smartphone will have deep integration with the Amazon Prime service, which gives subscribers not only free two-day shipping, but also free access to tens of thousands of TV shows and movies. Amazon will also likely offer a number of cloud services such as a music player similar to Google Play (formerly Google Music), and have its own Android-based app store and media marketplace to buy movies, TV shows, music, and games.

Amazon is certainly in a strong position to sell their own smartphone because of the company’s retail power as well as its connections to cellular carriers through Amazon Wireless, which sells hundreds of phones on all major US carriers.

Would you be interested in an Amazon smartphone? What would make it worth buying for you?

Source : ign[dot]com

Trek Villain Not Khan?

Everyone expecting to see Khan in Star Trek 2 had better back off for a second, because a new report indicates that the film might feature an entirely different villain.

While chatting with SFX, Karl Urban -- a.k.a. Dr. McCoy -- said the following about Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays the film's heavy: “He’s awesome, he’s a great addition, and I think his Gary Mitchell is going to be exemplary.”

Gary Mitchell?! What?! I'm not joking Lee! (That's a little aside for the Trekkies who are reading.)

Who is Gary Mitchell?

For the non-Trekkies out there, a refresher: Mitchell was a character in the very first Captain Kirk episode of Star Trek. Played by Gary Lockwood, he was a Starfleet officer and close friend of Kirk's who was -- spoilers for an almost half-century old TV episode -- endowed with god-like powers and turned bad. The segment was called "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and it's truly one of the great Star Trek stories.

But here's the thing. Roberto Orci, who co-wrote Star Trek 2, recently named several characters who would not be in the film, and Mitchell was one of them. Additionally, the character recently showed up in the IDW comic which the filmmakers have said ties into the continuity of the films. But would director J.J. Abrams be down with that if Mitchell was the real villain of his movie?

So someone would seem to be misleading us here, but who is it? I hope it is Mitchell rather than Khan, because his relationship with Kirk would make for a great foundation to their inevitable conflict. What do you guys think? Khan or Mitchell? Comment below...

Follow Movies Editor Scott Collura on Twitter at @ScottIGN, on IGN, and subscribe to his Facebook updates.

Source : ign[dot]com

Rumor: Sony Revealing PlayStation Plus Revamp at E3

If a report on Eurogamer is any indication, Sony is set to reveal a massive revamp of PlayStation Plus at its E3 press conference, which occurs on the evening of Monday, June 4th in Los Angeles, California.

“Multiple sources have indicated” to Eurogamer that Sony wants to “convince more people to sign up to the premium subscription service” by dedicating a segment of its E3 conference time to PlayStation Plus. Part of the new functionality of Plus is rumored to be much-awaited functionality with PlayStation Vita. “Plus on Vita will offer Vita exclusive titles and DLC and cloud services that mean you won’t have to connect the handheld to a PlayStation 3 or a PC to back-up saves and other content,” Eurogamer’s source said.

We first broke news of Sony looking into reworking PlayStation Plus early in May, when an IGN reader shared with us a survey he received asking about hypothetical additions added to Sony’s optional subscription service. Perhaps the survey and this new rumor are somehow interconnected.

Are you content with PlayStation Plus? Or do you want more? Let us know what your ideal PlayStation Plus setup would be in the comments below.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/29/rumor-sony-revealing-playstation-plus-revamp-at-e3

Is This Dead Space 3’s Co-op Partner?

Earlier this month, our sources told us that Dead Space 3 will feature co-op. That report described the game’s co-op partner as “a man with a gnarly scar on his face, an engineering RIG of his own, and glowing red eyes peering from his helmet.” Now, it looks like we may have our first look at him.

A new animated short released by EA today features a character who fits that description to a tee. According to the video’s YouTube description, the character is Earthgov Sergeant John Carver. Carver “witnesses an attack on the Marker Site he guards which changes his life forever,” leading him to “fight his way through a colony now in complete chaos as he begins to discover how important he is in fighting the Necromorph plague.

Most importantly, the description notes that "this is just the start of John Carver's saga in the Dead Space Universe." Does this mean he'll be making an appearance in Dead Space 3?

Dead Space 3 still hasn’t been announced, though several leaks have all but confirmed that it’s in development. The game was first revealed by logos on an Israeli news show last year, followed by a retail listing in April.

E3 is only a week away, so if E3 is planning a Dead Space 3 announcement it will probably happen then. EA’s press conference is currently scheduled for Monday, June 4th at 1:00 p.m. PST. Be sure to keep your eye on IGN’s E3 hub for all the news as it happens.

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Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/29/is-this-dead-space-3s-co-op-partner

Mario & Sonic hurdle 3.28 million

Mario's latest trip to the Olympics was popular with gamers. As part of Sega Sammy's latest financial report, the company revealed Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games has sold 3.28 million copies between the Wii and 3DS versions.

Mario's Olympic outing was a bright spot on Sega Sammy's earnings report.

Other million-sellers on Sega's resume were Sonic Generations at 1.85 million and Virtua Tennis 4, which sold 1.04 million copies. Other titles called out by Sega were Football Manager 2012, which sold 710,000 copies, and Yakuza: Dead Souls, which moved 550,000 units.

The most lucrative platform for Sega software sales during the year was the Wii, which accounted for sales of 3.05 million titles. This is compared to 2.45 million for the PlayStation 3, 1.79 million on 3DS, 1.54 million on Microsoft's Xbox 360, and 1.1 million on PSP.

As for Sega Sammy's actual earnings, for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2012, the firm's Consumer Business (which houses its game division) posted revenues of ¥85.6 billion ($1.1 billion), down 3.6 percent from the year prior. The Consumer Business division posted operating losses of ¥15.1 billion ($189 million) for the year, a marked decrease from an operating income of ¥1.9 billion ($24 million) recorded a year ago.

In total, Sega Sammy recorded revenues of ¥395.5 billion ($4.96 billion) for the year, down 3.6 year-on-year. Profits came in at ¥21.8 billion ($272.7 million), down a significant 47.4 percent from the ¥41.5 billion ($519.1 billion) tallied a year ago this time.

Looking to its current fiscal year, Sega Sammy is predicting net sales to surge 18.8 percent year-on-year to ¥470 billion ($5.88 billion), with net income ballooning some 83.3 percent to ¥40 billion ($500.37 million) for the year ending March 31, 2013.




Source : http://gamespot.com/news/mario-and-sonic-hurdle-328-million-6376264