This week Pete is hyped for the Vita but P+J start to imagine all the ways Sony is gonna eff it up, Apple is breaking up with hipsters, House of the Dead: Overkill, Socom 4 and listener questions are answered with stunning detail.  Tasty or mild.

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It seems like yesterday when we were able to update our iPhone, iPad and iPod touch to iOS 5. But as we all know some were experiencing poor battery life and a couple of other bugs.  So Apple went to work and delivered a new update (iOS 5.0.1) ahead of schedule.  Now remember iOS 5 brought us the option of not having to tether our device to our computers to update our devices and I have to say it was a pleasure to update.  All you have to do is make sure your device has a Wi-Fi connection, click on Settings than General and last but not least Software Update, and within 5 minutes your device will be updated. No more hassle of using iTunes was a shear pleasure and this has to be one of the quickest updates I have ever done on anyone of my devices. Just a reminder you can still update your iPhone the old fashion way, by tethering it to your computer and doing it that way, but lets face it that is a thing of the past.

Isaacson conducted over 40 interviews in total with Steve Jobs and more with  friends, family and competitors to gain an insight into the man who changed the world.

If non-fiction is not your thing but you still want to find out more about the man then don’t worry as Sony Pictures has purchased the films rights. Already attached to produce is Mark Gordon who brought us Saving Private Ryan and Source Code amongst others.

If you are interested or can’t wait for the adaptation then the book will be available to purchase from Oct 24th.

Source: CVG

Moments ago, Apple ended the “Let’s Talk iPhone” conference with the announcement of the “iPhone 4S”. We all knew than an announcement was coming of either a 4S or a 5, but the announcement is out and here are all the new features that you can expect from the new iPhone 4S.

First of all, nothing new to the external hardware, so don’t expect a bigger screen and any change to the design of the phone. You can expect a completely new and upgraded camera, but I will get to that later.

The main thing that you should care about with the 4S is how powerful the device is, it features a dual core processor, with up to 2X faster CPU. Expect dual core graphics and speeds of up to 7x faster than the iPhone 4. All of this is achieved by the Apple A5 chip that they are putting in the device.

Also the battery life is still very similar to the iPhone 4 but I assume it can hold out a little longer. If you use your wireless on your phone you’re going to appreciate the new wireless speed, with up to 2X faster downloads using HSDPA, this means that you can get up to a 14.4mbps download speed on your phone,  twice the speed of the iPhone 4.

If you are a frequent user of the camera on the iPhone 4 and you think the quality is pretty good, your about to be in for a shock as the iPhone 4S features a 8 Mega-pixel camera, double the iPhone 4. You can take absolutely amazing photos and not only that, you can also take 1080P video, not just HD recording, but full on 1080P recording. Also the camera is much faster, and has backside illumination giving out 73% more light. Little things like face detection and only taking 1.1 seconds to take the first photo make this camera pretty darn powerful. The 1080P video recording also features video image stabilization and also temporal noise reduction.

For weeks now we have had rumors of an “Assistant” being integrated into the phone and that is exactly what’s happening. Meet “Siri” the personal assistant that takes anything you say into the microphone and quite simply, does it. In the demo that was given it was asked “Do I need a raincoat?” in Siri said “it sure looks like rain today” and pulled up a weather forecast. Other neat examples being asking for the time in Paris pulled up a clock of Paris, you can even sort out your calendar, by saying, book a meeting with Phil tomorrow morning in the meeting room, and it will all jump into your calendar. If someone sends you a text asking you to go biking tomorrow morning, the assistant will let you know of the conflict and reschedule you. You can ask for restaurants and it will pull the nearest ones up. Another great example being “Remind me to call wife when I’ve left the office”, in this sitation it already is aware of who your wife is, and puts a location based circle around your office, when it detects you leaving this area, a reminder pops up.

It’s really hard to describe how intelligent Siri is, you can pretty much say anything and it can pull some sort of data to you, it even uses Wolfram Alpha to get some data. Dictation is also possible in emails and text messages and as you go on, your phone learns your voice to get even more precise results.

I’m not going to go into what you can get from iOS 5, iCloud is going to be out alongside the phone at launch for free.. And iTunes Match seems way overpriced at $25.00 a year.

The pricing of the iPhone 4S is below:

16GB: $199
32GB: $299
64GB: $399

The iPhone 4S is to be released on Friday 14th October and pre-orders will begin on the 7th.

Image Source: Engadget

For most of us gamers, the premier event this week will be E3. There is another mega-event happening this week: Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference.

It’s no surprise that the focus will be on App Development. Apple will have a thousand engineers on hand to answer any questions existing and aspiring developers may have. I wouldn’t expect anything less—a ticket to the conference costs $1,599.

The big news will probably be surrounding iOS 5 and its future capabilities. Among other topics, the new Mac OS, Lion, and Apple’s new cloud storage service, iCloud, will be unveiled. The next five days will speak volumes regarding the future of Mac and iDevice gaming!

I’ve been covering mobile gaming for years now, and I’ve seen the App Store at its humble beginnings, and rapidly grow to the phenomenal juggernaut that it is today. Though quantity isn’t always quality, which is the case for the App Store. Sure, there’s plenty of selection at dirt cheap prices, but all of the games offer small bursts of micro-on-the-go gaming, while not offering any real substance that true gamers are used to. We’ve seen Plants vs Zombies, Angry Birds, and Tiny Wings, and yes, they do offer hours upon hours of pure addiction, but none of them have offered a truly complete gaming experience. If you’re tired of old rehashes and remakes (ala Final Fantasy) or the blatant rip-offs that clutter the App Store (that don’t ever feel quite right being played on Apple’s touch-screen devices), then make way for what I consider to be the App Store’s first official ‘real’ game that cannot be missed.

The first element that will stand out to most will be the beautifully unique visuals. Taking inspiration from pixel-art, the Canadian based developer took a very creative approach when designing the visual style. It all comes off feeling very simple at a glance, yet once you get into it and see the rustling bushes, and rippling water, you realize that attention was given to the tiniest of details. Next but certainly no less incredible is the audible treat your ears will experience. From the very start main menu track, you know you’re in for something special. Jim Guthrie is the man responsible for the loss of $8.99 when you visit the iTunes Store to purchase the game’s soundtrack. Every song, and every noise fits perfectly in creating an atmosphere so involving, that within the game’s first act you will no doubt feel like you’ve stepped into another world.

The game is broken up into several “sessions” that on average last about 15-30 minutes. In each session you will do a lot of exploring, and uncovering of mysterious texts and puzzles. You can simply touch where you’d like to explore, and double-tap to interact with just about anything you see on screen. You can really tell how this game was catered and built from the ground up for the iOS platform, as it even uses the familiar gestures like pinching to zoom in or out anytime you’d like. You’ll also encounter intense enemies on occasion, where you’ll turn your device upright and enter a sort of ‘fight mode’ where a sword and shield icon appears on your screen. If timed correctly, you will dodge, block, and thrust your sword into the enemy. It’s all too simple, yet very rewarding as the fighting takes more of a backseat to exploring the strange land.

Us writers here at Platform Nation usually like to make this next paragraph touch upon a game’s weaker points, or ways of improvements. Instead, due to the fact that I can’t think of anything, I am going to urge anyone who has iPod Touch, iPhone, or iPad, to spend the ridiculously small charge of $2.99 ($4.99 for the universal iPad version). It’s a special game that deserves all of the rave reviews it has already received, and a game changer for the iOS platform. The App Store needs more exclusive original titles like this.

Features:
- A rich mysterious land to explore, while unraveling a unique story.
- Beautiful, unique pixel-art visuals.
- The best soundtrack to hit the App Store, which could compete with console games and movies.
- Intuitive controls, built from the ground up for the iOS platform.
- Very cool integration of Twitter.
- Packed with clever, never-before-done moments.

Final Say
It’s all in the tiny details for S:S&S EP. There is so much creativity and clever little knacks packed into this title that I can’t describe just what a delight it was to play. It’s a refreshing title on the App Store like drinking a cold iced tea on a summer day, as well as an important one. Personally, it marks the debut of a “must-play” game for gamers of all kinds. I see it being a “system seller” in which people that were previously never interested in Apple, think about picking up an iPod or renewing their phone contract to an iPhone with this game as their main push behind the purchase. It’s a shame that we don’t have a 10 scale rating system for mobile gaming, as I believe this to be a game in a class all to its own, worthy of a real rating like the console game’s it can, and does compete with. Sword & Sworcery delivers an experience that only great games can deliver, and it left me with the same wondrous, mysterious, feeling as the first time I played ICO. Buy this game.

BUY

The iPhone 4 was released on June 24, 2010, making the release dates almost exactly one year apart. I still use a 3GS and have no plans to upgrade to a 4; could the next generation really be enough to convert 3G/3GS users like me?

As far as the June 2011 release date goes, I don’t have much faith. There hasn’t been much to say regarding specs, except some more rumors involving an 8 megapixel camera.

The iPad 2 was also recently released, less than a month ago. That would make two major product releases in approximately four months, a gigantic feat previously accomplished last year when the iPad was released in April 2010.

I’m not saying the June 2011 release date is impossibility, but how much longer can Apple sustain this breakneck pace of hardware releases?

Released last week, this is the second update for the game since its launch, and both of them have been absolutely free. This time around you’ll find a bunch of added tweaks and features, including the ability to start more than one character at one time, restart from the first bloodline, as well as minor adjustments such as customizing the size of the ‘dodge’ buttons that appear on the display.

There is also a new mode called “NewGame+” which allows you to essentially re-master every item in the game for those of you who are really into building your character up.

Some of the more interesting updates however include more than 10 new enemies to encounter, 30 new magic rings, swords, helmets, and armor, and of course the new area where you will unlock the God King’s darkest secret.

It’s great to see new content for the game as I had played it to death and felt it had gotten a tad stale, but with these new features I will definitely be jumping back in. What’s more is the fact that there is already a third content pack ‘coming soon’ which will include the long demanded multiplayer component for the game. Cannot wait for that.

Until then, keep on leveling up, and check back here for the latest! For more information including our full review click here.

Last year I gave a rave review to ‘The Impossible Game,’ and my love for it since then has only gotten stronger. Released today was a brand new update which now finally supports the Retina Display for the iPhone 4 and the latest iPod Touch. Oddly enough, after giving it a test, it didn’t seem to change the visuals all that much as they were very simplistic anyway. But at least the tiny icon on my home screen doesn’t look so disgusting anymore compared to the icons… and that’s all we care about anyway, right?

For the unfamiliar to the game, ‘The Impossible Game‘ has you perfecting perfectly designed levels getting from point A to point B without making a single mistake. You must jump over spikes and gaps, while constantly being propelled forward. One blink and it could be game over. It’s a bit hard to explain so I encourage anyone, and everyone, to try out the lite version and watch as you’ll be addicted like no game before.

The game ships with one level, as well as an unlockable level (the original X Box Live Arcade level, where the game originated from), as well as two bonus in-app purchasable levels. I’m never usually one to buy into in-app content, but I couldn’t resist in this case, and am I ever glad I did it. The two new levels add even more insanity to the mix, featuring new obstacles to overcome, different backgrounds, and even more top notch music which was one of my favorite things about the game in the first place (download the full soundtrack here, if you’re interested).

Do yourself a favor if you’ve yet to check the game out and get it now that it’s in beautiful Retina Display goodness.

2 different colors. 2 cameras. Apple’s A5 chip. 33% thinner then the current generation iPad. All for the same price. The specs have finally been announced and the iPad 2 is hidden no more. It has a release date of March 11, yes, only about a week away. The newer iPad will also allow HDMI mirrored video output (if you buy the adapter) at up to 1080p.

You can read all the final specs over on Apple’s iPad website. Now the big question is, who is going out to pick one of these up on day one? Personally I thought I would be but all of a sudden, I’m a little let down. I guess I was hoping for a nice retina display, or an SD port. While finally getting that camera is nice, it’s not enough to make be have to pick on up on day one. And while the faster and more efficient A5 chip is also a plus, I don’t really need it, not for what I use my iPad for. If you don’t have an iPad though, I have to say, this new iPad 2 is a great way to start with one.