Two updates are now available: one for OVI Suite and the Real Golf. OVI Suite has now been updated to version 3.1.0.74 while the Real Golf has been updated to version 1.2 (3). It’s great to see how almost all aspects of Nokia devices and software can be updated via either OVI Suite and SW Update on the devices. Only thing missing is the ability to detect and update third party software. As it stands there is no way of being automatically notified of updates for third party software. Currently only Nokia’s own software components, software or games notify you when there’s an update. Fire up your OVI Suite and start updating.

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I never used to play games on my mobile devices, leaving all of my gaming time for consoles. It was Angry Birds that opened the flood gates and got me into mobile gaming. I wouldn’t consider myself a mobile gamer in the sense that I spend hours and hours playing these games, but they’re great when I have 10 to 30 minutes to spare waiting in line at the bank or relaxing on the couch.

On one hand you have the N8’s browser and the use of Adobe Flash, which also allow of Flash-based games straight from the browser on Facebook game, classics like Bejeweled and even play roulette online. But this list is purely about applications and these are my top 10 must-have games for the Nokia N8.

1.Angry Birds

If I could only have one game on my N8, it would probably be Angry Birds and many seem to agree. Angry Birds is in a category all on its own, gaining an almost iconic status and can be found on anything that can play games. Even the unveiling of any new device can’t seem to happen without a demo a showing “how smooth Angry Birds runs on it.” Angry Birds has a very reasonable price and the fact that it’s updated regularly with free new content makes quite a good deal. No need to describe the game itself as you probably know it by now, if you don’t, all you should know is this: Get it now!

2.Angry Birds Season

The season versions of Angry Birds is a holiday themed version of the original. It’s a fresh take on the original game with frequent updates that also make it a great deal and a different look that should keep things interesting. An

3.Fruit Ninja

Fruit Ninja is simple and addictive: touch the screen and slash the flying fruit. That description makes it sound respective and pointless, but the actual result is nothing short of  amazing. Everything from the squishy, splatty sounds to the moments of pure action make for a game that’s addictive, yet difficult to put down. Fruit Ninja scores high on presentation despite it’s simplicity it makes good use of the 3D graphics.

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Nokia Experts has posted a good review of the Game Gripper accessory for the N900, giving it high praise as a good gaming accessory. But what did catch my attention was the warning slip in the package that indicates that the accessory my cause accelerated wear on the handset’s keyboard. I would even say that it will most certainly will cause excessive wear on certain keys and because of the fact when you buy such an accessory chances are it’s to do some serious gaming, which again will cause the wear to happen even faster.

While, it is a cool accessory I simply can not recommend for this reason. Well, that’s if you appreciate the keyboard of the N900. Check the review and let us know what you think? Are you still getting the Game Gripper?

There’s no denying that the N900 is quite the capable gaming machine. With various native Maemo games and lots of emulators from DrNokSnes to VGBA and on the hardware side a capable graphics, fairly fast CPU, TV-out and a QWERTY keyboard. But let’s say you wanted to take things to another level. Well, now you can add Game-Gripper to the list. It’s basically a controller that latches on to the N900 and takes advantage of games and emulators that allow for custom keyboard binding, like DrNokSnes. It comes in 9 different colors, out of which we think the all-black model will look extremely good on the N900. It’s a pretty basic with a  rubbery flexible design, and it also have openings to accommodate things like the charger and headphones with the controller attached. It will set you back €14.95 and pre-orders can be done here.

Would you buy the Game-gripper or do you prefer the QWERTY keyboard?

There are two emulators for the N900, specifically DrNokSnes (SNES) and iNES (NES). To download these two apps you need to add a new Catalog.

1.Go to Application Manager and go into options and choose Application catalogs.

2.Choose New and fill in the following info:

Catalog name: Maemo Nintendo Emulators
Web address: http://b-man.xceleo.org/repo/maemo-nintendo-emulators/
Distribution: fremantle
Components: main

3.Save the catalog, update and now these two applications should appear.

4. We can’t give you the ROMS but if you look around the web you should be able to find tons of NES and SNES ROMS.

Works amazingly well on the N900, with good audio and fast frame rates. When multi-tasking the N900 was even able to keep a live preview going of the game that I forgot to pause.

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The 5800 XpressMusic has been  out for a while now and  with all its success you’d expect it to get the full Nokia treatment, like Nokia Internet Radio or viNe. But one of the biggest omissions is N-Gage support. The N97, basically a souped-up version of  5800 has N-Gage support, so why not support it on the 5800? Even E75, a business device (!) has N-Gage while, the 5800 XM, device all about entertainment doesn’t? Doesn’t make sense to me. With so many 5800 XM units out there, not supporting means locking a big share of Nokia users. Would you like to see N-Gage support on the 5800 XpressMusic?

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Hardware acceleration of 3D graphics has been a much debated topic and rightly so, just look at the difference it makes on the System Rush Evolution. Notice how the (3D Accelerated) Demo version looks much better than the final versions which uses the CPU to emulate the 3D chip?

The difference in quality can be best described by this post at the TamsS60 – the S60 Blog: “The main work for the developer is to reduce things like drawing distance and/or the number of on-screen objects in order to achieve higher/playable frame rates on software emulated devices…which usually is a manageable task.” Software emulated devices are basically devices that use their CPU.

It is for this reason; the question whether the N96 had a 3D accelerator, has been hotly debated.

Does the N96 offer 3D acceleration? It’s still a bit unclear. The official word that CNET was able to get was that: The Nokia N96 is designed as flagship for many experiences. While it doesn’t have 3D hardware acceleration we opted to include hardware accelerators for video and music as well as a mobile TV chip and 16GB of internal memory. Nonetheless, the Nokia N96 is fully N-Gage compatible, supports games with 3D graphics, has dedicated gaming keys and ships with a voucher for a free game in many markets.”

But on the other hand, the N96 uses the STn8815 chip and it’s a fact that it does have dedicated video and audio acceleration and they mention this on the official site: “A smart video accelerator for SDTV video encoding and decoding, with MIPI and SMIA camera interfaces.” And “smart audio accelerator containing a comprehensive set of digital audio decoders and encoders, and offering a large number of 3-D surround effects”, but strangely they also mention: “A smart graphics accelerator”

And here they seem to indicate the inclusion of a 3D accelerator: “The new imaging accelerator joins the smart-video and -audio accelerators established in earlier Nomadik devices, and the new graphics accelerator intended to support 2D/3D graphics-intensive applications.”

I decided to do a few tests on my own by trying to run 2 3D apps that I know for ceratin use 3D accelerated graphics: the System Rush Evolution DEMO and the Nokia E3 benchmark created by FutureMark. In the case of the FutureMark E3 Demo , the program won’t even run and in the case of the System Rush Evolution Demo I get the following message: “Could not find suitable GL config”

Personally I think Nokia should implement 3D accelerators in future devices, the reason why is clear: better graphics. Well, that’s until the CPU is capable enough of doing this by itself.

Does the N96 have 3D graphics? Is the dedicated 3D accelerator dead? Is the writing on the wall in the sense that the CPU will do most of the work, including 3D graphics?

Image: Allaboutsymbian

Here’s an interesting twist to the usual adventure game. It’s called “the Journey” and it’s an adventure game for S60 3^rd edition mobile phones. You play the role of an infamous detective and have to solve a mysterious case not only by making it through the story, but also by walking to different locations. It does this in a very interesting way; it basically uses the phone GPS capabilities to keep track of your movements. You start the game at a default location, maybe your home. During the course of the game you’ll have to take your mobile and use your actual streets and surroundings to play the game. The game saves the locations and in the course of the story you will have to return to your default location. It’s a cool idea, but I do suggest using your home as the default location you have to return to J. The Journey can be download here.

Via: Allaboutsymbian