I got a chance to ask some of the developers from Chillingo some questions about developing for mobile platforms specifically for the iPhone.  You can check out their website at www.Chillingo.com to see all of their released apps along with apps they have announced.  So without further ado here is the interview:

1. What does Chillingo have going for it that other big iPhone developers like Gameloft don’t?
Chillingo has been successful and will continue to be successful because we concentrate on innovation on this great gaming platform not merely bringing remakes or ‘shovelware’ on existing IPs to the platform. This is where we set ourselves apart from the competition.
2. Are there any upcoming Chillingo apps that you are particularly excited about?
I am personally excited about SEED – our South Korean based MMO with real time combat and trading capabilities – enabled microtransactions using 3.0 in-app purchases. More news on this in the coming weeks I assure you!
3. How would you change how Apple handles the app store and the iPhone os?
Apple has done a tremendous job in ‘fixing’ many problems in the entire mobile value chain – the success of the App Store is testimony of this. The rest of the industry is trying to catch up but I believe that Apple is at least a couple of years ahead. The consumer-centric approach that Apple adopts in the mobile value chain is what the rest of the industry needs to learn from – selling content is not just about OEM deals – manufacturer/handset or even operator focused – it is all about the consumer. In this respect, I think that Apple should continue to do what they are doing, it is the ultimate mobile gaming platform todate!
4. Does Chillingo plan to develop apps for other platforms aside from the iPhone and android? If so what platforms?
Chillingo will always be open to other platforms as and when the technologies and value chain matures for these platforms. We are a game publishing company – pure and simple.
5. Will we see any of your iPhone apps ported to the Android OS?
We already have 5 apps on the Android OS including iDracula and Meteor Brick Breaker.
6. What are the pro’s and cons of developing for Android v.s. the iPhone?
It all depends on the underlying code-base of the original game. The lack of multi-touch support and hardware processing power is the main constraint on existing Android handsets compared to the iPhone.
7. What iPhone 3.0 features are you most excited to implement?
Multiplayer features would be the one I am most excited about. The iPhone platform lends itself as the most ideal multiplayer mobile gaming platform.
8. What is your all time favorite iPhone app?
It has got to be iDracula.
9. Will we be seeing any apps from Chillingo that are not games?
We publish lifestyle apps through our clickgamer.com publishing brand including Pocket RTA – a real time spectrum analyser, various award winning utilities such as Hi-Calc, and many more.
10. As a developer what would you like to see added in the iPhone 4.0 update and in the hardware update?
More peripheral support, more in-game memory – even blocks of memory than can be committed to the app – that would be cool – this is the case for other consoles – this makes it easier to manage memory when building big games.

Here’s the creepy baby commercial for anyone who didn’t get to see it when it was in circulation.

Genre: Platformer

Developer: South Peak Interactive

Platforms: PSP, 360, Wii

Players: 1

MSRP: $29.99

ESRB Rating: E (10+)

Website: www.southpeakgames.com

These are the cut scene graphics

Brave a Warrior’s Tale is a platformer in the vain of Spyro and Ratchet & Clank. It is about a Native American named Brave who has a series of flashbacks which you play through. You can get Brave a Warrior’s Tale for $29.99 on the PSP, 360, and Wii.

In Brave a Warrior’s Tale you play as Brave when he was learning to be a warrior. You fight creatures ranging from crows, to giant bears, and you even get to catch a few fish. You earn abilities in Brave a Warrior’s Tale by obtaining totems from animals you kill. Because it is a platformer you will also do a lot of jumping and a little bit of puzzle solving.

Brave a warrior’s tale does have a few things going for it. First is the Native American setting which sets it apart from other platformers of it’s nature. Brave a Warrior’s Tale does have an art style that would be attractive to most children, though I’m sure kids who meet the 10+ ratting would much more likely be playing a teen, or mature game. The last really good thing is that Brave a Warrior’s Tale is that it doesn’t have many gameplay problems.

Some improvements could defiantly be made to Brave a Warrior’s Tale. The most noticeable issue are the graphics which look like they were made for the Wii, and ported to the other systems. Now there was one major gameplay problem and that was the camera, which I had to immediately invert because I kept looking in the wrong direction, but worst was that it would lock in weird places leaving you blind in places that you shouldn’t be. And my biggest gripe was the lack of a story which left me not caring why I had to do any of the strange tasks assigned to me throughout the game.

Bottom Line, if you are interested in playing a platformer, I would suggest you skip this one and move on to something like Ratchet & Clank, Jak & Daxter, or even Kameo (360).

*In the spirit of full disclosure I did not finish the game but I feel that I played enough to develop accurate opinions of this game

Now, if you are starting to get a little bit tired of Sacboy just running, jumping, swinging, and whatever else he does do I have some good news for you! He will soon be Swimming, and if you head over to beta.mediamolecule.com right now you can sign up to get swimming before everyone else.

Water is coming to LittleBigPlanet as part of an exciting new kit!

We really do need to test the water to make sure the new features all work as planned, and we need your help to do it! How would you like to dive on in to the crystal clear waters and enjoy some splish-splashing about before everyone else? Get out your rubber rings people, this is gonna be one hell of a pool party!a

It looks like Microsoft doesn’t like having the most expensive console on the market and is now ready to drop the price of the elite. According to this Wal*Mart add that engadget found the elite will be dropping in price to match the PS3′s New Price at $299. There is no official word from Microsoft. But this does seem to confirm the rumors that the Elite will be replacing the Pro.

I was going to write a quick synopsis on the plot but wikipedia has an excellent one so I though you would be better served by this one. (I left out the major spoiler part)

The film opens with a documentary-style series of interviews that introduce the situation. Twenty years before, an alien ship is seen coming towards Earth and arrives above Johannesburg, South Africa. It hovers above the city for three months without any contact; eventually humans take the initiative and cut into the ship. They discover a large group of aliens who are malnourished and sick. The aliens are later assessed as apparently being all “workers”, with their leadership mysteriously missing. Grainy footage shows part of the ship (supposed to be a command module) falling to Earth, but nobody has been able to find it, leaving the ship inoperable.

The creatures, called “prawns” as a derogatory reference to the sea creature which they resemble, are housed in a government camp. The alien race’s true name is never learned — they are primarily referred to as “prawns” or, more rarely, “non-humans”. Overcrowding and militarization eventually turn the area into a slum known as District 9. A massive black market is set up between the aliens and a group of Nigerians primarily led by Mumbo, a paralyzed warlord. In addition to inter-species prostitution, the Nigerians exchange alien weapons for canned cat food, which has a similar effect to catnip on the aliens.

The movie takes place in 2010, 28 years after the aliens’ first arrival in 1982. Patience over the alien situation has run out and control over them has been contracted to Multi-National United (MNU), a private company that shows little regard for the aliens’ welfare. MNU is interested in using the aliens’ advanced weaponry, but its integration with alien biology makes it useless for humans.

An MNU field operative named Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), is set with a task to move 1.8 million aliens to a newDistrict 10 camp located 240 km from Johannesburg, with help from private security forces working for MNU. While inspecting a suspicious alien residence, Wikus handles an alien device which squirts a dark liquid into his face. He becomes very sick and collects the device as evidence.

-If you want the rest of the plot click here (Major Spoilers!!!)

I thought this movie was amazing, and anyone who enjoys SiFi movies should most definatly see this movie.

On the Amazon German Site you can find a “Playstation 3 Konsole slim” though there is no picture and the site is not in english, it does raise the question when will we see the PS3 slim. I used the google translator and found that there were 2 used consoles for sale and no new ones. Though this looks a little sketchy if you pair it with the pictures that engadget found that may be of the PS3 slim, it does make you think that we may be seeing a PS3 slim fairly soon.

So… do any of you think we will be seeing a PS3 slim on the market anytime soon, and do you think any of these are real?

Translated Site

Regular Site

Update:

According to Kotaku the German Amazon page had a picture for a brief time, but it is no longer up, below is their screen capture.

Update:

The above picture was fan-made and should be disregarded.

The publishers can’t stop used game sales due to a supreme court ruling back in 1909 called the First-Sale Doctrine which states that anyone has the right to buy, sell, rent, lend, or giveaway a trademarked good that was obtained legally. This is the basis that many markets work such as the car industry, the movie industry, and even our very own game industry.

According to an article in issue 20 of the official PlayStation Magazine Game-Stop makes a $7 profit on new games, and  a whopping $28 dollar profit on used games.  In short without rehashing the whole article Game-Stop sells more new games than used games and makes more bank off of the used sales.

So now with all of the above information disclosed I will reveal the solution to this problem. Publishers need to negotiate with used game stores to get a cut of the used game sales and to do that they need to give the Stores cheaper prices on new games so their profit margins will go up and both sides will benefit. Or, publishers need to get into the used sales business, and undercut Game-Stop.

Though I do understand why they disable the achievements when you cheat it is still sad to see the ability to cheat in games (especially like Saints Row or GTA) taken away from the achievement whores that we all are. (At least I am)