With their two mega mobile games Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride, Halfbrick had a pretty big presence on the show floor last weekend at PAX East, and I was excited to see what’s next for Jetpack Joyride, one of my favorite iOS games.
If you’ve played Jetpack Joyride, you already know that the game comes packed with vehicle upgrades and additional jetpacks to enhance the gameplay experience, but in an upcoming update, the game will also introduce new “gadgets.”

Purchasable from the stash, you’ll be able to equip two gadgets at a time. These gadgets all have a unique ability. One that I tried out while talking with Halfbrick was a freezing agent, which activated whenever I crashed and allowed me to slide much further before the game ended, increasing my distance traveled. Another power up allowed me to see exactly what vehicle power up lay ahead, instead of the usual shiny power up symbol.

I’m really happy that Halfbrick is going to continue supporting Jetpack Joyride, since it’s a really fun game and adding these gadgets will only make it more addicting to play.

There will be 15 new gadgets in all, which can be purchased using in-game coins.

Jetpack Joyride is currently available for iPad and iPhone for free. The update should be available sometime this month, also at no cost to you, so just start saving those coins!

You can check out the teaser trailer for one of the gadgets, the “Air Barrys”, after the jump.

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Twisted Pixel’s Splosion Man and Ms. ‘Splosion Man have made a big bang the past few years at PAX East, and this year was no exception, because the first day of the convention they announced that Ms. Splosion Man will be making the jump to iPhone, iPad and Steam later this year. I stopped by their booth on the show floor later that day to see for myself how the game translates over to touch screen controls.

For touch-screens, Ms. ‘Splosion Man has been reduced to a directional stick that moves you left and right. To jump and ‘splode, you just tap the screen. It took me several minutes to get used to this new control scheme.

It’s not as exact as using a joystick or directional pad, and the slippery nature of the iPad screen sometimes caused me to slide the directional a bit further than I would have liked. But after a few minutes it became more natural, and I’m sure once the full game is available for iPad, players will easily make the switch from controller to touch controls.

Retooled for iPad, Ms. ‘Splosion Man looked great. I’m definitely looking forward to this title, and it’s making it even harder to resist picking up an iPad.

We can look forward to Ms. ‘Splosion Man on our iOS devices and PC later this summer.

For screenwriters in Hollywood and elsewhere, the usual software tool for writing that million dollar screenplay is Final Draft. The software has been around for years, is used by most every TV and film production, and currently sits at version 8.0.

Of course, now that devices like the iPad are so popular, many writers (myself included) are wishing for a version of Final Draft that will run on it. I’m pretty sure that piece of software is coming. The pent up demand is there, it’s just a matter of time before it’s satisfied.

In the mantime, the makers of Final Draft have seen fit to release the Final Draft Reader application for the iPad. And while it isn’t a fully-featured screenplay writing app, what it does do, it does quite well.

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Yes, you read that right. Facebook is apparently closing a deal to buy super cool photo sharing service Instagram for a Billion dollars.

Facebook CEO Mark Zukerberg announced the deal on, where else, his Facebook page. Here’s the gist of the deal from Zuck himself:

I’m excited to share the news that we’ve agreed to acquire Instagram and that their talented team will be joining Facebook.

We believe these are different experiences that complement each other. But in order to do this well, we need to be mindful about keeping and building on Instagram’s strengths and features rather than just trying to integrate everything into Facebook.

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PAX East is a week and a half away and if you’re going to the convention now’s really the time to start planning what panels you’ll be attending, which booths you absolutely have to check out, and which musical guests you’ll be rocking out to at the nightly concerts. Luckily, there’s a nifty app called Guidebook, and the guys at Penny Arcade have released an entire digital guide for PAX East, so you’ll be able to plan your entire weekend right on your mobile devices.

Download the app via the appropriate app store and once you’re in, search for the PAX East 2012 guide. It has everything you’ll need to successfully survive PAX East: the entire schedule of panels, concerts, and tournaments, map of the area including restaurants and bars to check out, a full list of all the musical guests, exhibitors, and shuttle schedules to the various hotels and venues. Within the app, you’ll be able to design your own schedule for the convention, add to your “to-do” list, and track the #PAX hashtag on Twitter.

There’s even a section detailing the Boston Indie showcase, a fantastic bunch of games that everyone, attending the convention or not, should check out, since they’re all mobile based.

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Well, this is a bit disappointing. Granted, it will probably only affect a small percentage of you out there, but it’s still kinda lame.

According to reports, even if you have Apple’s shiny new iPad and want to engage in a little FaceTime with a, um, friend, you won’t be able to do it, even if you have super fast 4G LTE. It will only work over Wi-Fi.

If you try, you will be prompted to connect to an available Wi-Fi network. Curiously, if you are using your iPad as a Wi-Fi hotspot, which you can with the Verizon version, FaceTime will work if you initiate a call using an supported iPhone or iPod.

Apple has so far been moot on this issue but you can be sure people are going to be asking about it. After all, in many cases 4G LTE is as fast (or faster) than available Wi-Fi networks so the fact that FaceTime isn’t supported is difficult to understand.

Again, this isn’t a critical point for most of you, we just found it interesting as it gives a bit of insight into how Apple deals with wireless carriers. Of course, it could be a decision on Apple’s part. . . but we kinda doubt it.

Given the proliferation of smartphones with decent to very good cameras, it made sense that what followed was a whole lot of camera and photography apps for those smartphones. Among the most popular for iOS devices, with over 27 million registered users, is Instagram.

But what of Android and its users? Are they supposed to sit on the sidelines and not be able to enjoy all that Instagram goodness?Not much longer, apparently. As we previously reported, the app was announced for Android in December but not specific release dat was given.

However, at the annual South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger of Instagram hinted that the Android version of their app is coming “really soon.” In fact, Systrom briefly showed the app running on his Galaxy Nexus and claimed that “it’s one of the most amazing Android apps you’ll ever see, in some ways, it’s better than our iPhone app.”

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It’s possible some people don’t care about Apple or its products. I’m sure people like that do exist. For the vast majority of us, however, tomorrow is sure to be a magical day as Apple is set to reveal the next generation of its hugely successful iPad.

The company will unveil the latest hotness at a press conference tomorrow morning in San Francisco at 10AM Pacific. As usual, Apple has keep the lid on pretty tight and tried to keep all details about the device out of the press.

However, some information has managed to leak out and we’ve got one or two sources of our own so unless something radical happens, we’ve got a pretty good idea what to expect tomorrow. Of course, it’s no fun keeping that kind of info to ourselves so we’re going to share it with you. No need to thank us.

Here’s some predictions on what to expect from the iPad 3. (Note: We’re not calling it the iPad HD and we don’t think Apple will either)

• HD  (aka “Retina”) Display — It’s pretty much a given the next iPad will at least have to match the iPhone 4′s screen quality. In fact, we think it will sport four-times as many pixels as the iPad 2. That’s 2048 x 1536 pixels in the same 9.7″ size. In other words, the display should be amazing.

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You knew it was coming. It was inevitable. Just like there’s going to be an iPhone 5 soon enough (think June), the iPad 3 is pretty much a certainty thanks to an invite that went out today from Apple for an event on March 7th.

The event will take place in San Francisco and will no doubt introduce the iPad 3 to the eager masses yearning to be free of the limitations of 3G and a single processor, among other things. Apple’s iPad 3 is expected to feature a high-definition 2,048 x 1,536-pixel Retina Display, quad-core Apple A6 processor, larger battery, 4G LTE, an 8-megapixel camera and similar case design.

In addition, expect some cool features tied to the next major release of Apple’s iOS and Mac OS X operating systems which will hopefully include, among other things, full integration of Pages, Numbers and Keynote with iCloud across all Apple devices. That would be very nice indeed.

We’ll keep you posted on all the iPad 3 news and more. Until then, it’s probably time to get those iPad 2′s ready for eBay before they really drop in value.

Angry Birds may be a simple game, but with over 12 million downloads on the App Store alone, it’s the biggest name in mobile gaming. Which is why I’m really excited to learn that the newest version of the high-flying poultry puzzle game will be in space.

That’s right, Angry Birds Space. SPACE. I LOVE space.

The game’s developer, Rovio, has posted a website for the game, with an image of a slingshot on the moon and the words “One small fling for a bird, one quantum leap for birdkind” underneath.

Thinking about it, Angry Birds is a game about physics and gravity. Knocking down different pieces of the environment is key to finishing levels and obtaining high scores. So introducing zero-gravity into a game based around gravity is going to put an entirely new spin on it, and I think it’s a great way to take this already fantastic game to new heights (literally).

Angry Birds Space launches March 22nd. While you wait, you can check out Rovio’s website where you can download a new wallpaper and watch the teaser trailer after the jump.

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Sony’s newest handheld, the Playstation Vita, doesn’t launch officially in the US until February 22nd, but if you’re one of the antsy few like myself who just needed to get your hands on  just a bit earlier than its official US Launch date, the “First Edition” bundle was available for sale yesterday if you preordered. Before I write up my full review on the Vita, I wanted to share my initial reactions to the system, especially for those of you who are still on the fence about picking it up next week.

First things first- the Vita is beautiful, both asthetically and physically. I love the way this device looks, and I LOVE the way it feels in my hands. The 5 Inch OLED screen obviously makes the Vita easy on the eyes, and games look great. I’ve never found myself questioning how much better this looks than the PSP- it’s astounding how much power they’ve packed into this thing, without making it very heavy or cumbersome.

If you’re a veteran of the PSP, or any Sony system really, the Vita is easy enough to pick up and play. They’vre rearranged some buttons, which I really appreciate, as the volume and start buttons on the PSP were too low for me to reach comfortably before. The biggest change has been the addition of a second analog stick. I cannot stress how much better these analog sticks are than the PSP’s, which I had break on me multiple times on multiple PSPs.

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If you follow tech news very much, and Apple in particular, you know one thing is certain: even if you have the “latest thing” from Apple they will be releasing an even better one sooner or later. That’s never been more the case, and more the subject of scrutiny and speculation, than with the iPhone and iPad.

So, it should come as no surprise that pretty much everyone is in the “what will Apple release next” game, including the Wall Street Journal. This time around the Journal is reporting that Apple’s next generation iPad (aka iPad 3) will feature, among other things, 4G LTE wireless connectivity.

In addition, said iPad 3 will be sold at both AT&T and Verizon. That isn’t exactly earth-shattering news, though, as both wireless carriers have had 4G LTE for some time and have hardware that runs on it already.

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