1）据知情人所称，《无尽之剑》开发商Chair Entertainment目前已投入开发新款iOS角色扮演游戏。该游戏并非《无尽之剑》的继集版本，而是一款完全根据iOS设备量身打造的新产品。据称新产品仍将是AAA级硬核游戏，该公司有可能在今年夏末公布有关情况，这款新游戏有可能在今年底或2012年初问世。

infinity-blade

有消息称Bethesda公司将于不久后宣布推出其角色扮演游戏《上古卷轴5：天际》的iOS交叉推广产品。但目前尚无人知晓该公司将如何架构这款iOS游戏，有人猜测它有可能是《上古卷轴5：天际》的前传，但也可能根本就不是一款游戏，而只是《上古卷轴5：天际》的一份参考手册。

由Capybara Games开发的任天堂游戏《魔法门之英雄交锋》将通过育碧在今年底发行其iPad高清版本。这款游戏还将登陆iPhone和iPod Touch平台，但目前尚不知iPhone和iPod版本是通用版游戏，还是分别发售版本的游戏。

2）英国发行商Chillingo旗下部门Clickgamer最近发布新款游戏《The Relic》的iPhone和iPad版本。但这款风格类似《暗黑破坏神》的角色扮演游戏从总体上看并不十分如意。Clickgamer过去曾推出了《Modern Conflict》等高质量产品，但这次的新作《The Relic》却多少有点让人失望。该游戏的格斗模式有点无趣和机械化，甚至缺乏一个真正的游戏目标。除此之外，它的视觉设计也过于简单，用户界面功能也不明确，甚至无法自动保存相关信息，玩家必须手动保存游戏，否则退出游戏后之前的数据就会全部流失。

the relic

3）Hothead Games推出其首款iOS游戏《Bunny the Zombie Slayer》（游戏邦注：包括iPhone和iPad版本）。该游戏的玩法设置与《愤怒的小鸟》有几分相似，要求玩家指挥复活节兔子，隔着一堆沙袋抛出具有多种功能的彩蛋砸中僵尸的脸。这款游戏售价0.99美元，目前暂不支持Game Center功能以及多人游戏模式。

Bunny the Zombie Slayer

4）Alienware公司（游戏邦注：北美专业高端游戏电脑生产商，已被戴尔公司收购）最近称有意开发平板电脑，其产品高级副总裁Frank Azor表示，他们正在考虑如何为玩家提供不同规格的游戏设备，但目前还没决定是否将推出平板电脑。有观察者认为，作为戴尔旗下的公司，Alienware可以有效利其母公司的资源优势开发高端的平板电脑和智能手机，这些设备与Dell Streak产品一样，有可能采用谷歌Android操作系统。

5）据Opera最新报告显示，诺基亚在印度市场的竞争对手仅有本土手机设备。这个3月份的报告指出，在印度多数用户通过诺基亚手机浏览网页。在当地移动网络浏览量居前10名的手机设备中，仅有一款手机是非诺基亚产品。诺基亚在北美已经失势，甚至没有一款产品跻身美国排名前十的手机设备行列。但诺基亚在欧洲的情况仍然较为乐观，它在该地区每个国家前10名手机榜单中均占有相当的席位。

6）comScore最近发布的调查报告表明，越来越多用户倾向于通过手机处理信用卡交易。这项调查于去年12月份执行，有76%的信用卡用户称自己在2010在线访问信用卡帐户，比2009年上升了5%；有16%手机用户使用浏览器访问自己的信用卡帐户或执行交易操作；13%受访者使用手机应用管理自己的帐户或完成交易；13%使用短信管理帐户或完成交易。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

1）Three great rumours for you this week, just in time for the extended holiday weekend.

It’s no surprise that with the success of iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad that major development studios are taking an interest in making games for Apple device. Still, the idea of some of gaming’s biggest franchises – The Elder Scrolls, Might and Magic, among so many others – coming to iOS is nonetheless exciting.

While mobile games need not feel insecure when compared to console games, there’s still some joy to be taken in mobile gaming being taken seriously.

Even better, we were playing mobile games before they were cool, so that makes us part of the mobile old guard, right?

Infinity Blade developer ChAIR working on new iOS role-playing game

Having fallen in love with iOS during the development of superb action role-playing hit Infinity Blade, developer ChAIR has moved quickly into a follow-up project. While I’m not able to divulge the full identity of the title, I can confirm that it’s a role-playing game that goes deeper than Infinity Blade.

The game isn’t a sequel or spiritual successor to Infinity Blade; on the contrary, it’s a completely different game built specifically for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Consider the first title a warm up for what I’m told is the entree: better graphics, more content, in-depth character customisation, and a story-driven campaign with multiple locations.

In other words, this is the triple-A hardcore title without compromise that everybody has been crying for. An announcement should be pieced together late summer, with a release eyed for the end of this year or the beginning of 2012.

Long-hinted Bethesda iPhone game ties in with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Bethesda has long been toying with the idea of releasing an iPhone and iPod touch game, even teasing with the media on a prospective announcement. While a big reveal has yet to occur, sources point to an announcement soon detailing an iOS tie-in with fantasy role-playing sequel The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

It’s unclear how the game will be structured. Will it be a side story? Will it set up the events before the game?

Perhaps it’s not a game at all, merely a dossier or reference manual to be used while roaming the realm. I’m inclined to believe it’s an action-packed side story with light role-playing elements modelled on the main game’s robust mechanics.

Even a port of The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall modified for play on a touchscreen – think about playing it on the larger iPad screen with its high resolution – would be welcome. Whatever the case, expect to hear about the tie-in over the summer, perhaps during E3.

Ubisoft issuing port of Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes HD for iPad

Even if you took issue with the cutesy style of Capybara’s take on the Might and Magic franchise, there’s no denying the good gameplay it offered on Nintendo DS. A recent release as a downloadable console title has reconfirmed its appeal and when Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes HD hits iPad later this year, you can echo its praises.

More a puzzle game than hack ‘n’ slash role-playing game, you do battle by matching soldiers together on the battlefield. Think Puzzle Quest, but with fantasy military units. It’s a unique concept that works well on a portable and certainly would be at home on iPad.

There’s sure to be an iPhone and iPod touch release, too, although it’s unclear if the game will be provided as a universal app or sold separately (perhaps released first for iPad with an iPhone and iPod touch version coming shortly thereafter like Capybara’s Sword & Sworcery EP). Look for it later this year.（source:pocketgamer）

2）Poor Controls & Usability Problems Hurt The Relic’s Potential

Chillingo division Clickgamer has released a new dungeon crawler on iOS called The Relic for both iPhone and iPad. An action role-playing game of sorts, the title is a loose, watered-down rendition of the popular Diablo franchise. Again, however, the comparison is used very loosely as this title is far from being release-worthy.

In the past Clickgamer has released quality titles, such as Modern Conflict, so it was a surprise when the iPhone and iPad game, The Relic turned out to be a distinct disappointment. With few action RPGs on the iOS, it was a game that could have been great. But it’s practically a lesson in what not to do in terms of design and basic playability.

There are more issues as well: Animations are jerky, visuals are simplistic and there are user interface elements that are unexplained (such as gold, which we’ve yet to need). The app also doesn’t autosave! Players must manually save, and if they quit, the app doesn’t say that game data will be lost.（source: insidemobileapps）

3）Bunny the Zombie Slayer

I’ve been a fan of Hothead Games for quite a while. From the Ron Gilbert helmed Deathspank to the criminally under-appreciated Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness series, they seem to be one of those groups that know how to make fun niche games. Bunny the Zombie Slayer is their first foray into the iOS market, and is universal for both iPhone and iPad. Do they continue what I believe is an impressive pedigree? For the most part, yes.

Bunny the Vampire Slayer has players flinging eggs from the left side of the screen to knock down zombies on the right side. That setup probably sounds familiar, but don’t think for a second that this is an Angry Birds clone. It isn’t. In Angry Birds you set your shot up in reverse order, i.e. I’m going to pull down and left and the bird will fly up and right since it’s coming out of a sling shot. In Bunny the Zombie Slayer you’ll tap and drag where you want the apex of your throw to be, since you have to throw them over the pile of sandbags in front of you. You’re aiming to get the egg to arch and hit the zombies right in the face.（source: gamezebo）

4）Is Alienware Working on a Gaming Tablet?

Today at a product briefing for their new 11-inch, 14-inch, and 18-inch gaming laptops, Alienware discussed the possibility of introducing a gaming-centric tablet device.

Though company representatives would neither confirm nor deny that a tablet was in the works, they did say that tablet products were a consideration.

“We’re looking at all form factors and how we can provide value to gamers using all of the different factors,” Alienware’s Product Group Senior Vice President, Frank Azor said. “The answer isn’t no, but it isn’t also yes yet.”

As a Dell-owned brand, Alienware it would seem that the company could easily leverage their parent company’s established resources within the mobile space to craft their own line of supercharged tablets and smartphones. Like the Dell Streak, an Alienware-branded smartphone or tablet would likely take advantage of Google’s Android platform, but since the range of  complex, graphically intensive mobile games is still somewhat limited, it may be awhile before there is enough justification for a gaming-centric mobile device. （source: ign）

5）Only local phones compete with Nokia in India

Opera has released its monthly State of the Mobile Web report – and one of the many little gems within it highlights one of the steadily growing problems of Nokia in the Indian market: homegrown devices.

What’s the story?

Opera’s monthly release is something I really look forward to. As the most widely used smartphone web browser around the world, it offers a really good look at the ways that people in all sorts of different countries are interacting with the mobile web, and with smartphones in general. Back in September 2010, GoMo News noted that outside of North America, Nokia was still utterly dominant when it came to mobile web browsing. But the release for March 2011 paints a different picture.

Really?

Not a very different picture, mind you. Go and browse through the country snapshots for March 2011, and you’ll see the vast majority of mobile browsing is still being done on Nokias. But what we’re seeing here looks (to me) like the first few wobbles that highlight just how possible it is for Nokia to fall from grace – especially in developing markets like India. We’ve already reported on how the main threat to the big brands dominance in India comes from smaller, indigenous manufacturers; and now the Opera figures show that the sole non-Nokia phone in the Indian Top 10 devices for mobile browsing in March was from one of these manufacturers. The Micromax Q5 is number 8 on the list.

What we think?

Nokia is already playing a losing game in America. There isn’t a single Finnish device on the Top 10 for the USA. Things are quite different in Europe, where every country has at least a few on their list (68 out of 100 for the 10 biggest data using countries). But with the demise of Symbian, it seems that new devices won’t be appearing to replace old ones as they wear out or break. I think the next 24 months are going to see a lot of changes to the State of the Mobile Web.（source: gomonews）

6）Mobile phones gain popularity for credit card transactions

comScore is one of the biggest Internet research agencies in the world – it tracks on-line information for some of the Internet’s largest companies. Today, it has released results from its tracking of US credit card use on-line over the past year. And it shows a very healthy increase in the number of people who trust their mobile devices enough to complete credit card transactions on them.

What’s the story?

The mobile factor is only one part of the larger study – based on findings from the panel of 1 million people that comScore maintains in the US, as well as a survey of 2,000 internet users from December 2010. The full report can be seen here, but we’re focusing only on the mobile aspect.

What are the findings?

There’s an interesting feedback loop at work here. As issuers of credit cards provided services like on-line banking, their customers became more interested in them. The more interest the users showed, the more services were provided. Many issuers are now very keen on providing their customers the easiest possible methods to use their cards by web or by phone. And users are beginning to respond:

76% of cardholders accessed their accounts online during 2010, up 5% from 2009.

16% of mobile owners used their mobile browser to manage their accounts or complete a transaction

13% used a mobile app to manage their accounts or complete a transaction

13% used SMS to manage their accounts or complete a transaction （source: gomonews）