GSA Windows Phone Update - 26/10/11 - 1/11/11

It has been but one week since our last update but what could occur in such a short amount of time. Unsuprisingly not that much, but heres your usual DOTW, new release and some new phones from Nokia as well.

First up, DOTW, this week with Beards and Beaks for £1.49. This was the first (and only so far) WP7 game to have DLC as an inclusion. As an added bonus its a reasonably easy 200GS too. Gameplay consisits of flicking your gnomes into position to defeat the crows by beating them to diamonds or just straight beating them to a pulp. It's fun and quite charming in its style.

Gnome Town, an idyllic place of gnome mellow … suddenly overrun with murders of crows so audacious that even Hitchcock would take refuge behind a toadstool. Who knew the two could get so down and dirty in a turf war that knows no bounds? It’s a race of treasure heisting … a ballet of gnome flicking … and an all-out natural disaster of very unbecoming behavior. The powers of the Mushroom only add to the chaos … and the mystique … becoming your most reliable and “amusing” last-resort defense. If you think everything tastes like chicken and you’re fond of rubber ducks, gnomes and crows are gonna really blow your mind.

New out this week is Orbital for £2.29. A simple enough puzzle game in which you have burst bubbles by bouncing new orbs off of the old ones three times to burst. Beware though, I tried to play this and even with help option couldn't figure out what the hell I was supposed to be doing, but I was ill so my brain wasn't working properly. Definitely a try before buy purchase!

Orbital is the addicting and challenging puzzle game to spend every free minute on. Three thrilling game modes combined with an absolutely addicting gameplay will grant you the ultimate challenge. Test your skill and ability to survive as long as possible and reach for rank one on the leader board! Because in this one-thumb experience you’ll have but one target: Destroy as many orbs as possible and shoot yourself into the Orbital Olympus. Get your hands on this puzzle game and you will never want to miss it again.

Shoot the orbs onto the playing field and watch them grow until they hit an obstacle and use the following orbs to destroy it. Hit every orb three times until it bursts into space and grants you one point to your highscore. Destroy as many orbs as you can but beware: The space on the playing field is limited so think hard about where you put the next one!

Three game modes will challenge you with addictive gameplay. Just play your game and try to destroy as many orbs in Pure mode, or get your orbs distracted by a gravitation field around them in Gravity mode. Your shots will be distracted by gravitation so be careful when you target! The Supernova mode will allow you to perform awesome combos when your orbs damage the surrounding ones with a shock wave as they burst into space.

But it’s not only about reaching the highest score! Fulfill the special tasks to unlock Achievements or try to get on top of the Xbox LIVE Leader board.

Finally this week, theres been some views of the new WP7 Nokia phones at a recent Nokia conference. There are two models being released the Lumia 800 and the Lumia 710 (pictures below the 710 is on the left).

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The 710 will also come in white and black versions with different coloured backs including black, white, cyan, fuchsia and yellow. It also seems Nokia are really pushing to get their foothold back in the smartphone world as these are the additional press details released

Our innovation is complementary: To make a product truly “wow-worthy”, you need to build software to work perfectly with hardware, and hardware to work perfectly with software. That’s happening today with Nokia and Windows Phones. Take photos, for example. We built Windows Phone to include a “pocket to picture to post” feature that lets people capture photos and share them through their social networks almost instantly. To complement that, Nokia is building phones with high-end optics from Carl Zeiss so your photos are just as good as those taken with a point-and-shoot. It’s a perfect blend of hardware and software innovation working together to put you and the people you care about first.

Together, we’re bringing customers more of a good thing: Windows Phone has excellent built-in navigation with Bing Maps and powerful entertainment through Zune. Nokia’s making those even better by including Nokia Drive’s voice-activated free, turn-by-turn navigation and Nokia Music’s massive library of tracks and hundreds of channels from MixRadio. That’s more of a good thing, and it means that you can customize your experience exactly how you’d like it.

A beautiful OS deserves a beautiful phone: My first mobile phone was a Nokia, and from the moment I picked it up, I knew it was something special. The new Nokia Lumia family feels the same way – well built, sleek, fast, and flat out beautiful. And with Windows Phone onboard, they have an OS that matches that exceptional industrial design every step of the way. You’ll know exactly what I mean when you pick one up for the first time.

We’re making the ecosystem broader, deeper and stronger: We’re working together to build the Windows Phone ecosystem at every level – empowering developers to build compelling apps that take advantage of new and unique software and hardware features, partnering with component manufacturers to build even more amazing hardware, working with carriers to get Windows Phones into the hands of customers worldwide, and more. The short version of this is…we’re just getting started!

Personally I'll be looking forward to the new Nokia phones come update time for me!!. Also from the Nokia convention are a couple of videos regarding some of the new features in Kinectimals for WP7 and also a detailed look at the Xbox Companion App in action as well.



And that is everything this week. Now that Mango has been released to pretty much everybody expect loads of new features to start being pushed and new innovation teased in the run up to Xmas as Microsoft give a big push for the Smartphone market over the holiday season (which considering how quiet its been for the last few months will give me something to actually talk about in these updates). Also dont forget the upcoming Mango feature review coming soon and if you've found any funky features let me know so they don;t get missed out.

Finally its time for me to say adieu for the week, I do hope people are still enjoying and reading these updates. As per usual I leave you with a related video and although not funny this week, this song means a lot to me not only is it an amazing tune but it always reminds me of Hackers. A minor classic in my opinion which not only introduced me to Ms. Jolie but also inspired me to take up blading which i finally managed to accomplish a few years back. So till next week sit back, enjoy the views and chill out to a timeless classic!!!

I've got Kinectimals as a new download too mate

x loopymoo x wrote:I've got Kinectimals as a new download too mate

Aye i saw someone post a comment about it on the marketplace but I can't find head nor tail of it in my Zune marketplace, i wonder how you got hold of it then?

Kinectimals isn't supposed to come out until next week. It was accidentally up for a short time but taken down again.

I actually tried downloading Orbital earlier but couldn't find it on Zune marketplace. Is there a direct link anywhere?

Xbox marketplace, saw it there last night through my xbox

A link for you direct from the Windows Phone website, here. If it work let me know and I'll start linking all titles up in the update Scrap that just tested it through my phone and it does work! The DOTW and New release are now linked and will be so in all future updates, huzzah for the Lazy Link!!

Lovely, I'm glad I downloaded it yesterday

Tenlo wrote:A link for you direct from the Windows Phone website, here. If it work let me know and I'll start linking all titles up in the update Scrap that just tested it through my phone and it does work! The DOTW and New release are now linked and will be so in all future updates, huzzah for the Lazy Link!!

Not working, but I think it's just me......when I try to buy it it says my phone isn't updated.