Google CEO Sees Android 2.3 As Your New Credit Card

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Google CEO Eric Schmidt is very bullish on the Android 2.3 OS with its near-field communication chips for mobile payments. In fact, he thinks it could lead to a transaction revolution.

“This could replace your credit card,” said Schmidt in an interview at the Web 2.0 Summit. “I don’t think people understood how much more powerful these devices were going to be than desktop computers.

He also talked about the rivalry with Facebook and the importance of social data. “We agree that social information is very important,” said Schmidt.

Source: InformationWeek

Digital Chocolate Reaches 20 Million Active Users

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Digital Chocolate announced that it has over 20 million active monthly members. With four million users from Facebook, the social game maker hit the 20 million mark less than two months after reaching 12 million.

Our growth across the world s most exciting platforms separates us from the crowd, said Marc Metis, president of Digital Chocolate. We are unique in combining social gaming expertise, leadership on both Facebook and mobile, a global approach, technology leverage, and scale.

Digital Chocolate has published Hollywood City, Island God, Vegas City and has seen 80 million downloads on smartphones for the Android marketplace and App Store.

Kinect Sees One Million Sales

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Microsoft has announced that the Kinect hardware has sold over one million units in its first 10 days of availability. They say that Kinect is set to sell five million by the end of 2010.

We are appreciative of the response we have seen from consumers that has culminated in sales of more than 1 million units in the first 10 days on the market for Kinect for Xbox 360, said Don Mattrick, president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. This is a great start to the holiday season, and we will continue to work with our retailer partners to keep pace with high demand and deliver against our plan to sell more than 5 million Kinect sensors worldwide by the end of this year.

We have seen tremendous excitement from customers for Kinect for Xbox 360, said Chris Homeister, senior vice president and general manager of the home entertainment group at Best Buy. There were lines of customers at our stores all over the country on the night of the Kinect launch, and thousands more are trying it for themselves in our stores every day. It s no surprise Microsoft has already surpassed 1 million units sold, and we expect Kinect to be one of the must-have gifts at Best Buy this holiday.

ITunes Says Hello To The Beatles

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Apple Corps, EMI and Apple have announced that the Beatles’ songs are now available on iTunes. 13 studio albums, the two-volume Past Masters compilation, the Red and Blue collections and a Beatles Box Set featuring the Live at the Washington Coliseum, 1964 concert film will all be available for purchase.

We’re really excited to bring the Beatles music to iTunes, said Sir Paul McCartney. It’s fantastic to see the songs we originally released on vinyl receive as much love in the digital world as they did the first time around.

We love the Beatles and are honored and thrilled to welcome them to iTunes, said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. It has been a long and winding road to get here. Thanks to the Beatles and EMI, we are now realizing a dream we’ve had since we launched iTunes ten years ago.

The Beatles and iTunes have both been true innovators in their fields, said EMI Group CEO Roger Faxon. It’s a privilege for everybody at EMI to work with Steve Jobs and with Apple Corps Jeff Jones and their teams in marking a great milestone in the development of digital music.

Single albums are available for purchase and download for $12.99 each, double albums for $19.99 each and individual songs for $1.29 each; the special digital Beatles Box Set will be available for $149.

October Sees Increased Spending

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According to a Commerce Department report, consumer spending increased 1.2 percent in October from the previous month to $373.1 billion. This was the largest increase since March, and sales were up 7.3 percent from a year earlier during October.

“October’s U.S. retail sales are a fairly encouraging sign that consumption growth may be starting to gain some traction,” said economist Paul Dales of Capital Economics.

Sales related to automotive needs, building and gardening all went up, showing a commitment to thriftiness and car-buying. Stores selling furniture, electronics and appliances, and health and personal care items saw purchases fall, however.

Still, commodity prices are increasing, and that might limit spending because of the necessity of gas and food. “It still looks as though consumption will be unable to shift the economic recovery into a higher gear, said Dales.

Source: Money.CNN.com

Sony Calls Move A ‘Triple-A Success’

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Microsoft’s Kinect right now is receiving a lot of attention, but that doesn’t mean that the PlayStation Move has done poorly. Mark Stanley, GM of Latin America for SCEA, called the motion controller a “tremendous success.”

“We re actually continuing to catch up on filling the pipeline with product, as we are in the U.S. and worldwide because demand has greatly exceeded our expectations,” he commented. “So far, we still don t have enough to supply the [Latin America] region and we re hoping to catch up, so triple-A success for us in the region. It s been able to translate easily into the region. Something as simple as Move is easily communicated, easily captivated by the region. The difference is we ve been able very much to define the difference between Move and Wii and Kinect, which has helped us quite a bit.”

Source: IndustryGamers

Fight Night Champion Steps Over The Ropes

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EA has established a solid boxing franchise in Fight Night, but now they’re looking to do things slightly differently. Fight Night Champion has all the detail and professional fights of before, but now there’s more story background.

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Mortal Kombat: Story Of Sub-Zero

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Sub-Zero has always been one of the more popular characters from Mortal Kombat‘s mythology, and his rather cluttered backstory is getting an overhaul for the latest game in the series. Check out this Ayzenberg produced trailer for more info on the new Sub-Zero.

Green Lantern Takes Flight

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There hasn’t been a lot of information that has come out about the Green Lantern movie so far, but that’s about to change. Check out this trailer for a feature on Entertainment Tonight, where the curtain gets pulled back.

 

Nintendo Evaluating Reception To Metroid: Other M

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Metroid: Other M is perhaps the most divisive Nintendo game to release since Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, where the fanbase was split over the cel-shading graphics. The reviews for Metroid were mixed and the sales have made Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime contemplate why it has missed Nintendo’s original projections.

“We believe that it could be, should be a million unit title,” said Fils-Aime. “We’re not going to get there, not through the holiday. And we are doing a lot of thinking as to why. Because it’s a great game. The consumer reaction because of the quality has been strong. We’re doing a lot of thinking about why we didn’t get there. I think the marketing was strong, advertising was very good, the social media we did was very positive.”

Fils-Aime was non-committal over whether he thought it was the gameplay or the portrayal of Samus that resulted in the disappointing results. When asked if he thought that Metroid had a future at Nintendo, he said “I certainly hope so,” he said. “I’m a passionate fan of Samus and the Metroid series.”

Source: Kotaku