1）据CultofMac报道，苹果将于6月11日举办WWDC大会，届时将发布苹果iOS操作系统升级版本iOS 6。

iOS 6(from knowyourcell.com)

但观察者认为，由于iPhone 4S去年10月才刚发布，苹果不太可能在今年夏天的WWDC大会上推出iPhone 5。据传谷歌也将在今年夏天发布其操作系统最新版本Android Jelly Bean。

2）加拿大埃德蒙顿开发商Overhaul Games日前宣布计划于今年夏季把BioWare在1998年的经典RPG《博德之门》引进iPad平台。

baldurs-gate-ipad(from techland.time.com)

这款新版游戏名称为《博德之门增强版》，将包含原版游戏的《Tales of the Sword Coast》内容扩展包以及一些全新内容。

3）据路透社报道，Rovio首席执行官Mikael Hed日前否定了之前关于《愤怒的小鸟太空版》不会登陆WP7平台的传闻，并表示Rovio正与诺基亚合作，将这款游戏推向WP7平台。

Angry Birds Space(from mashable.com)

在此之前，曾有分析师声称，如果Windows Phone手机无法支持《愤怒的小鸟太空版》，该设备很可能面临销售问题。

4）据Andriasang报道，Square Enix日前宣布首款基于《最终幻想》系列的社交游戏《Final Fantasy Brigade》自1月份登陆Mobage平台，目前已收获200万玩家。

Final Fantasy Brigade(from siliconera.com)

5）Strategy Analytics日前预测2012年采用LTE技术的手机出货量将达6700万部，超过2011年的680万部；其中以苹果、三星和HTC等移动设备为主导，美国、日本和韩国市场最为领先。

iphone-LTE(from iphoneincanada.ca)

但昂贵的设备售价和数据流量费用，以及有限的电池寿命、不断增加的设备重量和体积等因素，可能成为用户采用此类设备的制约因素。

6）对于Double Fine成功通过Kickstarter进行大众融资的情况，许多业内人士担心该这种现象将危及传统发行业务。但Double Fine成员Tim Schafer日前表示，尽管Kickstarter为特定项目创造了机遇，但还不会马上威胁传统发行商的利益，通常能够在Kickstarter获得成功的项目都要有特殊的故事背景。

double_fine_adventure(from Double Fine)

他还表示，Double Fine团队目前面临的有趣挑战是如何保持创新，同时又能迎合传统粉丝的需求。

7）据彭博社和IDC报道，2011年RIM在加拿大的黑莓设备出货量仅208万部，而iPhone则是285万部。值得注意的是，2008年时黑莓在当地市场的销量是苹果的5倍左右，在2010年销量也比iPhone多50万部。

Apple-vs-RIM(from idownloadblog.com)

双方势力逆转的一大原因就是，苹果设备拥有Siri和双核处理器支持，而RIM目前尚不支持这些功能。

RIM在2011年第四季度销售利润约50亿美元，而苹果利润则是130亿美元。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

1）Apple iOS 6 launching in June?

by Zen Terrelonge

Talk of Worldwide Developer’s Conference taking place stirs up the rumour mill.

CultofMac reports that Apple has pencilled the next WWDC event into its diary, taking place on June 11th.

If that is the case, it could mean the unveiling of iOS 6, the upgrade to Apple’s existing operating system.

However, while the ‘corporate event’ may take place in summer, it’s unlikely delegates will glimpse the iPhone 5, given that the 4S was released in October, and Apple is expected to do the same for its successor this year.

Interestingly, we recently reported that Android Jelly Bean is also expected to be launched in summer, which could bring the two platforms head-to-head once again.（source:mobile-ent）

2）BioWare’s Baldur’s Gate to receive ‘enhanced’ re-release on iPad

by Tom Curtis

Newsbrief: Edmonton-based developer Overhaul Games announced today that it plans to bring back BioWare’s classic 1998 RPG Baldur’s Gate by releasing an updated version of the title for the iPad.

This new version of the game, dubbed Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition, will include the complete original title, the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion pack, as well as some brand new content exclusive to the re-release.

Overhaul Games, which has also developed an enhanced version of BioWare’s third-person shooter MDK2 for the PC, says it plans to launch Baldur’s Gate on iPad this summer.（source:gamasutra）

3）Angry Birds Space IS coming to WinPho and Nokia

by Zen Terrelonge

Rovio exec dismisses earlier reports that Microsoft will get the cold shoulder.

Earlier on today, news had surfaced that Rovio wouldn’t roll its new Angry Birds Space game out to Windows Phone 7, due to the developer doubting the Microsoft OS as a profitable platform.

Now, Rovio CEO Mikael Hed has blasted the rumours in an interview with Reuters, to say: “We are working towards getting Angry Birds Space to WP7. We are working closely together with Nokia to bring our games to their platforms.

“Our mutual goal is to bring the best possible experience to our fans, including all fans using Windows Phone devices.”

Prior to this however, analysts had stepped forward claiming Windows Phones would struggle to sell if Rovio bypassed an Angry Birds Space launch.

Since Hed’s declaration, Nokia has received a 0.6 per cent share increase, which suggests the predictions may have been on the right track.（source:mobile-ent）

4）Final Fantasy Brigade up to 2 million players — Square Enix has revealed Final Fantasy Brigade — the first social game based on its popular Final Fantasy series — has brought in 2 million players since it launched on Mobage in January. Andriasang reports Square Enix is celebrating this milestone by giving players a number of free items including a “Debu Chocobo” (“Debu” means fat in Japanese) that will provide players with rare gear if fed special vegetables.（source:insidesocialgames）

5）LTE mobile phone shipments to hit 67m in 2012

by Zen Terrelonge

LTE – or 4G – is supposed to be the future of mobile broadband and Strategy Analytics claims LTE-enabled phone shipments will reach 67 million this year.

It’s an incredible increase on 2011, when shipments reached just 6.8 million units, and it is expected to be driving by Apple, Samsung and HTC, in leading countries including the US, Japan and South Korea.

Japan is already off to a flying start. Just yesterday, we reported that NTT Docomo had passed the two million milestone for LTE users, securing a million newcomers within the past quarter.

Adoption inhibitors will be down to expensive devices and data plans, hurdles consumers with have to overcome in order to access the platform.

Additionally, reduced battery life and increased device weight or size will act as deterrents.

Neil Mawston, executive director, Strategy Analytics, says: “The mobile industry is entering a breakout year for 4G LTE technology. Multiple operators and multiple phone vendors will be launching dozens of LTE models across numerous countries worldwide.

“LTE has quickly become a high-growth, high-value market that no operator, service developer, device vendor or component maker can afford to ignore.”（source:mobile-ent）

6）Schafer: Kickstarter won’t take business from traditional publishers, yet

by Leigh Alexander

With its record-breaking Kickstarter campaign, San Francisco-based Psychonauts and Stacking developer Double Fine has drawn a lot of eyes to the role the crowdfunding service can play in the future of how games are developed and funded. Some have even suggested that it could threaten the traditional publishing model in a very serious way.

Following his lecture Thursday night at the NYU Game Center, Double Fine’s Tim Schafer talked about that Kickstarter adventure game project, and also shared his thoughts on how to address the needs of today’s adventure gaming audience, as well as the scarcity of humor in the genre.

Schafer said that while Kickstarter offers interesting opportunities in specific cases, it doesn’t look to be an immediate threat to the publisher format. “I think it is a great new way to make things happen that couldn’t happen before, and I don’t think it really takes things away from publishers,” he said. “The things you can make with Kickstarter are often things that have a special story.”

“[Projects like Brian Fargo's] Wasteland 2 — these are things that publishers have already passed on,” he continues. “It’s not like you’re going in and taking a bunch of business away from them, yet.”

When it comes to the Double Fine Kickstarter game, the team has an interesting challenge in terms of balancing innovation with serving traditional fans. “It’s an interesting question… with each of those old adventure games, we always did try to innovate on those games,” Schafer points out. “Each game tried to do something different, so this is going to be interesting, because we really feel like we should be doing that again. What would one of those games look like now?”

But he acknowledges many Kickstarter backers may be supporting the project in the hopes of reviving a memory, or returning to forms they remember, so it’s a tricky balance: “It’s not like we can go and add, like, a lot of first-person action elements or something,” Schafer notes.

It’s a safe bet that players can expect more of the brand of humor for which Schafer is known; NYU Game Center’s Frank Lantz, also creative director at Zynga New York, observed that the designer’s work has a certain “emotional warmth” in its comedy that is somewhat rare in the game industry. The work of game design generally attracts people with a more clinical bent, an engineer’s mentality that sometimes comes at the expense of the unique empathy necessary for good humor.

“The question of ‘why aren’t there funnier games’ comes up a lot,” says Schafer, who lists Katamari Damacy and LocoRoco as games that have stood out to him in terms of humor. “I think it’s a very imitative industry, and if someone did make a huge hit comedy thing then suddenly you’d see a bunch more (horrible) comedy games.”

With a bad action film or game, Schafer points out, audiences can still have fun – it may be poor, but the elements of action they enjoy will still be there. But if comedy audiences have an experience that isn’t funny, there’s nothing to redeem it. Perhaps there are fewer comedic video games because of how high the stakes are, he suggests. （source:gamasutra）

7）iPhone outsells BlackBerry in Canada

by Zen Terrelonge

RIM loses top spot to Apple in its own backyard for the first time.

RIM has had a hard time in recent months and now it has lost leadership of the Canadian mobile market for the first time ever, according to Bloomberg and IDC.

The Ontario-based BlackBerry maker shipped 2.08 million devices in Canada last year, which was beaten by 2.85 million iPhone shipments.

It’s an interesting development, given that BlackBerry was the top dog in 2008 when RIM secured sales fivefold the number of Apple and again in 2010 outselling the iPhone by over 500,000.

The power shift is likely down to the increasing developments Apple is putting into its devices such as Siri and dual-core processors, while RIM can’t offer any of those features at present.

In light of these results, RIM really needs its BlackBerry 10 OS to be a success, and more importantly, it needs tarrive sooner rather than later.

Meanwhile, RIM’s sales profits reached around $5 billion in Q4, which was beaten by almost three times as Apple hit profits of $13 billion.（source:mobile-ent）