It seems as if everyone wants in on the gaming scene these days: jocks, cheerleaders, your mom. Even Apple wants a slice of the pie. But not Microsoft's J Allard, and in a recent interview the former Xbox zealot and current Zune front man shared his thoughts on why he feels Zune owners shouldn't expect to be playing Bejeweled or Pac-Man on Microsoft's iPod rival anytime soon. Granted he still has a full nine months to change his mind.

Microsoft previously toyed with the idea of releasing games on the portable, though with a new line of Zune devices hitting retail shelves this week, Allard addressed his particular concerns with bringing games to the Zune format, specifically surrounding customer satisfaction and portability of purchased games as hardware advances from one generation to the next. While Microsoft's move into the portable gaming space has been long awaited, we agree that it's good that Allard is voicing these sorts of concerns up front, rather than carelessly jumping into portable gaming sight unseen.

Still, the executive managed to leave the door open for Zune gaming by praising what Microsoft has managed to pull off in getting its XNA development platform to work with a variety of different types of hardware, though, Allard adds, "the Zune isn't playing Halo 3 anytime soon." Good thing, Allard my boy, since the idea of getting teabagged on the commute home is enough to ruin anyone's day.

Three new Kingdom Hearts titles were shown in Square Enix's private theater at this year's Tokyo Game Show. In addition to incredibly silly titles, the games all shared one thing in common: they will set new technical benchmarks on the platforms that they arrive on.

First up is Kingdom Hearts Coded, a unique reinterpretation of the original Kingdom Hearts game. The trailer begins with an ominous message that leads Jiminy Cricket in a frantic race to Mickey Mouse, to send Sora through a digitally recreated version of the original Kingdom Hearts. In Coded, players will be able to enter a "Debug Mode" which allows players to alter the world around them. In one sequence, we saw Sora gain the ability to run through objects, such as blocks. What he ran through would then explode, reinforcing the notion that Sora can have dominion of his world: it's like playing a Kingdom Hearts fanfic written by a hardcore aficionado of The Matrix. Of course, as cool as this may sound, chances are you'll never play it. It's frustratingly yet another one of the countless cell phone games that Square Enix has in development.

The other games showcased will certainly be more relevant to the Joystiq reader. "The time of the other side ... " the trailer begins. This will be Roxas' adventure, following the trials of Organization XIII. The battle system resembles the one featured in the past two console games, but there's a few new twists. Members of Organization XIII are aerially gifted, being able to float away at a whim. They also work together: we saw a four player co-operative mode on display which looks quite fun. Amazingly, the game manages to maintain visuals that are strikingly similar to the PS2 originals, albeit a bit more pixelated. Oh, and did we mention that this is on the Nintendo DS? Oh, and did we mention the title: Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. Certainly not the catchiest of titles. But, that wasn't the end of Kingdom Hearts games revealed today.

Disney/Square/Enix fans will be happy to know that three new Kingdom Hearts titles are on the way, as Square Enix announced brand new titles in development for the DS, PSP, and mobile phones at the 2007 Tokyo Game Show.

1UP reports that these will be three entirely different titles, although all three will share the theme of "time." Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep will be headed for the PlayStation Portable as a single-player action-RPG romp in the same vein as its PS2 brethren. Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days for the Nintendo DS is a full-3D game starring Roxas from KHII, and featuring simultaneous four-way multiplayer.

The final title, Kingdom Hearts: Coded, is being developed for mobile phones, and features the original Kingdom Hearts cast in a story that appears to take place in between the first and second PS2 games.

Though the phone company has previously stated that it's "obviously" looking into the production of a PlayStation-branded gaming phone, a new online report suggests that Sony Ericsson's future offerings may arrive sans the letters "PSP." Previously, SE's Peter Ahnegard stated that a PlayStation-branded phone would only be considered if it was "recognised as a true continuation of that brand of products."

Mobile news site, Mobile Entertainment, asserts that a phone equipped with a "games-oriented user interface" and motion-sensing technology is due to be unveiled by Sony Ericsson in February. It "will not be PSP branded," it explicitly notes. While Sony's intention to move into a market notably occupied by talkative tacos has hardly been conspicuous, details of possible configurations have been (and still are) the source of much speculation. Adding a motion-sensitive mechanic to phony games would certainly help resolve some of the perceived control issues, but would inevitably result in one too many of those tilting "get the ball into the hole" titles. And if this pans out, expect plenty of golf games too.

The N-Gage (hardware) is dead, long live the N-Gage (platform). While not a surprise, Nokia has officially unveiled its new mobile gaming incarnation.
The service will launch globally this November, where you can download the free client to your computer and subsequently installed onto compatible Nokia devices. According to the press release, all games will be free to demo, cost between six and 10 euros (approx. US $8 to $14) and feature online play against friends or random opponents via the N-Gage Arena.

Electronic Arts is currently showing the most support to the system, with Capcom and Vivendi also pledging to provide mobile titles.

According to the website, each player will have a their own profile with achievements and points. Most everything about the new service reeks of Xbox Live, in a very good way. The first phones to be compatible will be Nokia models N73, N81, N93 and N95, with more S60 models to be compatible at a later date.

[Via Engadget]

Stuffing an electronic device in your pocket simply isn't worth enduring the oddly shaped bulge if it can't play some decent games, right? Sony Ericsson seemingly agrees in an interview with Pocket Gamer, with the phone company's Peter Ahnegard (touché!) discussing the possibility of releasing a PlayStation-branded phone. Ahnegard explains that sticking the PlayStation name on a phone is easier said than done, as consumers have certain expectations from such a prominent label.

"We're not launching a brand of handset simply because we can, but because we can lead up to the expectations of the consumer," he said. "Up until today we haven't felt we could launch a PlayStation phone because it wouldn't be recognised as a true continuation of that brand of products." When further prodded, Ahnegard admits that a PlayStation phone is "obviously something that we're looking at" and expects it to materialize in some form before Christmas... "but exactly which Christmas I can't confirm!" Well, that narrows it down.

Konami is bringing an original Castlevania title to mobile phones due out September 18. Order of Shadows, is being built specifically for mobile and features a new storyline and original soundtrack, according to the press release (via IGN).

The game is being made in cooperation with series head Koji Igarashi and will feature the Belmont clan. Look for Castlevania: Order of Shadows on T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon and "other major carriers" next month. In the meantime, make your own Castlevania subtitle with this handy program.

The nominees for the Leipzig Game Convention's Best of GC awards have been announced. Of the ten categories, eight are platform-specific, one is for online and one is for hardware.

Leading the nominations by merit of being multiplatform is Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 with four nods (PS2, PS3, PSP and Xbox 360) followed by Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and Hellgate: London with two apiece (PC and Online). Ladies and gentlemen, please make your predictions before the winners are announced Friday, August 24. Full list after the break.

If you believe everything you read, then by now Apple should have already merged with Nintendo, released a game console and taken over the portable gaming market with the iGame. The New York Post has mixed up all three of these recurring rumors and comes up with a "juicy" story about an imminent war over portable gaming between Nintendo and Apple.

The key to the speculation is the recently unearthed Nintendo patent for a motion-sensitive portable. Since the iPhone already has an accelerometer (albeit not an overly sensitive one), obviously this means that Apple has been "secretly plotting its foray into portable video games for months" and that the announcement by January's MacWorld show will "put the two tech titans in direct competition."

Never mind that Nintendo hasn't announced any products based on this motion-sensing patent (ditto for their iPhone-like cell phone gaming and multi-touch portable patents). Never mind that the games currently available for the iPhone are largely crappy, web-based Javascript clones and that third-party applications currently have to run through the Safari web browser. Never mind that the persistent rumors of Apple getting into gaming have been around for at least two years now with nothing more to show for them then some simple iPod games.

Apple is getting into games! And Nintendo should be worried! This time we're serious! Trust us!

NES emulation on the iPhone already? Watch the video and see how it's arrived already. Granted. it would be a lot better if you could swivel this thing into landscape mode to really make it work like an old-school Nintendo controller, but the fact that this is up and running is fairly impressive itself.

The Unofficial Apple Weblog has the deets on this emulator, and we're looking forward to playing around with it. The only problem is, with a screen that small, can anyone really see what they're playing? Not if the controls stay like this, but we're hoping things get turned a little sideways and they crack the sound issue.

Hudson's newest mobile game, Gravity Blast, is scheduled for release on August 7 for Verizon and August 8 for AT&T. Judging by playtime at a recent Hudson event, the $5.99 game could be everything we want in a mobile title: it's quick, simple, and fun.

Gravity Blast uses just a single button to swing a spaceship around planets and other obstacles. Hold the button to activate a gravity attraction towards larger objects. Release it, and fire off in a straight path based on the previous momentum. With the right timing, the spaceship swings around planets through small mazes. That's the whole game, and it works.

We've seen Beowulf and how it'll look on consoles, but we have no idea what to expect from the recently announced Beowulf mobile game. Gameloft, who has been having a very good year so far, will develop and publish the game for mobile phones, which is based on Robert Zemeckis' Beowulf film releasing Nov. 16.

Considering we've seen God of War pull out a decent mobile game, who knows what we can get out of the epic poem with a 600K memory cap placed on it. The mobile game will release the same time as the console and handheld versions Nov. 16 to go along with the movie. Feel that marketing synergy at work.

PopCap Games released a free web-based version of Bejeweled for Apple's iPhone, available via the Safari browser. Take note, this is not a downloadable game, thanks to Apple's insistence on web-based third party apps, so the game actually plays inside the phone's browser. GameDaily spoke with PopCap's Greg Canessa about the project and details of the web-based format here.

We've seen what World of Warcraft looks like on the iPhone – and there are already a good deal of web-based iPhone games out there – but Bejeweled is arguably the first polished iPhone-"native" game out there. With the handheld's accelerometer and multi-touch display, we'd love to see what sort of games developers could develop using an actual SDK. Until then, we'll settle for web-based Bejeweled (which you can test out using Safari by going here).

Mobile games publisher Gameloft announced they posted €45.9 million ($62.9 million) in sales during the first half of their fiscal year. According to Gameloft, this is a 50% increase from last year, which means they are well on their way to hitting their €95 million ($130.3 million) objective when the games industry goes into overdrive sales for the end of Q3 and the Q4 holiday season.

The sales come from standard issue back titles and, in the same way Activision pulled ahead in the first half of this year, Gameloft saw significant revenue from movie/TV licensed games like Shrek the Third, Desperate Housewives and Lost. Yes hardcore gamers, you may curse the heavens for that if you wish.

This is a pretty cool trailer for the mobile version of The Bourne Ultimatum, with some great side scrolling action sequences reminiscent of the flash series Xiao Xiao. Unfortunately, those moments of shadow-fighting are only part of this pretty awesome trailer and not, unfortunately, actual gameplay footage.

The real game looks like what you see above -- which is not bad for a mobile game, but after seeing the rest of the trailer, we're a bit disappointed. Video embedded after the break.