Nexon is ready to reveal more information about the next character set to hit MapleStory. "Players waiting for the upcoming release of MapleStory's gun-wielding space bounty hunter, Jett, will enjoy the newest Renegades update teaser trailer released today. For the very first time, players will get to see what Jett looks like and preview gameplay as the space bounty hunter in the third Jett trailer.
Nexon has released a new trailer featuring the new Tinkerer class that will be included in Dragon Nest. Bearing missiles, cannons, chemical attacks or robot bodyguards, the new Tinkerer Class brings new ways to bash enemies. The Tinkerer gives players a variety of weapons include rapid fire cannons, bubble blasters and Alfred the Robot Bodyguard, who fights alongside the Tinkerer, carrying identical stats. Check it out!
The Arena.Net blog has been updated with an invitation to players to help the team stress test the Guild Wars 2 servers on June 27th. The test will run from 10:00 a.m. PDT (11 MDT, 12 CDT, 1 EDT) that day.
Flyff players have a lot to look forward to with the approach of July and the arrival of the "blinged" up version of the game. The team has lots of new features for players to try out including the weapon transformation system.
Red 5 Studios has announced that it will be attending this year's Anime Expo 2012 in Los Angeles. Devs will be bringing its "Mobile Gaming Unit" to the show which is basically a 48' long gaming space for players to check out Firefall.
1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF JUNE 18 | GENDER, SEXUALITY, AND VIDEO GAMES
Women In Disguise
Cover Story: How games handle heroines posing as heroes.
I
t happens sometimes in video games. A fully armored warrior joins a quest, a villain looms imposingly at a level's end, or an annoying sidekick chirps unwanted tutorials in the player's ear. They're all apparently male characters. Then comes the revelation: the anonymous hero, the fearsome boss, or the boyish tagalong is, in fact, a woman.
1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF JUNE 18 | GENDER, SEXUALITY, AND VIDEO GAMES
Booth Babe: The Inside Story
Cover Story: Are E3 booth babes a blight on the industry? We go to the source: The women themselves.
L
ike energy drinks, over-priced lunch menus, and endless pamphlets, booth babes have always been a staple of the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Often tall and always svelte, these paragons of feminine beauty are a part of many a marketing companies' armaments: A sultry if not always respected means to an end. Gaming's female demographic may be on the rise, but for now video games remain predominantly a man's world. And little grabs male attention like a shapely derriere artfully framed in skin-tight black leather.
At least, that's what the PR specialists are probably telling their clients. I can't think of a better explanation for some of the outfits on the show floor this year. Though there weren't any pretty girls chained to consoles this time around, there was also no shortage of well-endowed women in questionable attire, something that may explain the age restrictions for E3 attendees. ("Mom? That lady isn't wearing any pants.")
Blizzard has drawn the ire of gamers a number of times with Diablo III, whether it be over its art style, its always-online requirement (resulting in many being unable to play because of errors), or the ability to spend real-world money on high-end gear that other players might spend countless hours trying to obtain. With the release of the game's most recent patch, yet another item can be added to that list of debatable offenses, as those who purchase a digital copy of the game will be forced to wait up to three days to access content beyond what is provided in a glorified demo.
Diablo III's Starter Edition is a fine way of allowing people to try out the game before purchasing it. It is not, however, what you would expect to be stuck with for any length of time after handing over $60. This isn't a bug or anything of the sort; as laid out on the official forums, this is intentionality functionality implemented as part of the 1.0.3 patch. "As of patch 1.0.3, when purchasing a digital version of Diablo III through the online store or your Battle.net Account, players are restricted to the Starter Edition for the first 72 hours (sometimes less)," reads the post. It goes on to detail what restrictions this puts in place until players can have their accounts approved: Matchmaking only with other Starter Edition players, no auction house access, no global play, and most problematically, a level cap of 13 and access to content only leading up to Act I's first big boss, the Skeleton King.
1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF JUNE 18 | GENDER, SEXUALITY, AND VIDEO GAMES
What Catherine Got Wrong
Cover Story: A few details missing from Atlus' unflinching look at relationships.
Note to concerned readers: this piece might mention things you don't want to know about Catherine.
L
ast summer, Catherine showed that you can mix a puzzle game with an unflinching look at interpersonal relationships and end up with a pretty fantastic product -- our own Jeremy Parish gave it an A in his review. And though the game features a succubus as one of its female leads and a demon as its principal antagonist, Catherine grounds itself with the bittersweet and veracious ramblings of half-drunk, aging men; Vincent's nightly barroom excursions stood as the game's highlight, as these encounters had the player gradually getting to know a very flawed but likable cast of characters over the course of nine chapters. So, with Catherine's emphasis on player honestly with touchy subjects like infidelity, it's only natural that the few plot omissions feel strangely absent.
In 2007, Portal surprised the pants off of an unsuspecting public who thought Half Life 2: Episode 2 would stand out as the highlight of Valve's curiously named The Orange Box. This student-project-turned-retail-release offered interesting mechanics previously dabbled with in games like Prey, and its impeccable level design and dark, original humor made it one of the best gaming experiences of the aughts.
1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF JUNE 18 | GENDER, SEXUALITY, AND VIDEO GAMES
Sex Ed 101 for Video Games
Cover Story: Learning to build a better game from film, music, and literature.
I
'm a whole lot younger than the medium of video games, but I'm confident that I have the ability to discuss the birds and the bees in a slightly more mature manner without giggling and pointing at the sight of an exposed breast. Sadly, the same can't be said of a vast majority of games, which may be growing in terms of narrative and presentation, but still remain in a stunted state of arrested development when it comes to anything sexual. Too many video games deal with sex and sexuality by using the same tact as a soft-core porno, only with slightly better music. Having the camera nearly molest an anatomically incorrect digitized facsimile of a female isn't sexy; it's just kind of pathetic.
I can't help but feel like many video game developers, publishers, journalists, and even the characters themselves could use a thorough lesson in how great art deals with the vast concept of sexuality in intelligent and mature ways. This lesson could very easily resemble an introductory college course that focuses not on the titillating, but on the thought-provoking. If our medium as a whole were to enroll in Sex Ed 101, a three credit course that focused on how to maturely covey the various facets of sexuality, it would be wise to take a good look at how other forms of art tackle the subject. Specifically, how three masters of their craft were able to take topics once considered verboten, and weave them in so tightly with their own respective art.
1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF JUNE 18 | GENDER, SEXUALITY, AND VIDEO GAMES
OP-ED: Mainstream Gaming and the Male Gaze
Cover Story: Men, women, and chainsaws meet interactivity. Are games the next frontier for how we view how men view things?
(This article delves into critical theory and games. It doesn't "tl;dr" well. The opinions in this op-ed are my own, and only my own. They do not represent the opinions of my employer or my employer's publishing partners. While the temptation may be there to label the thoughts in this piece differently, please respect my opinion, and more importantly, respect the opinion of those smarter than me who disagree by properly labeling this piece as opinions from one individual. Finally, there are far more educated experts on feminism than myself, so any errors are mine alone.)
T
he fact that gaming is debated as art is evidence that, even at its best, games are "low" art. We do not share the history of music, the dedicated critical language developed over the last decade for film, nor do we have the accessibility of the printed page. We are also an inherently commercial art. It requires both a large, addressable market, and targeted marketing, for a game to survive. That is not to say we can't learn from other types of art. Specifically, narrative gaming shares a great deal with film in both structure and composition. We share the idea of a script, a camera, and in many cases, traditional three act structure.
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Trion World has announced that the 9th massive update of Rift, named Conquest, launches next week. Adding a host of new features including three-faction PvP, a new raid Sliver, and a mentoring system that allows high level Ascended to play with their low level friends, Rift: Conquest continues Trion's commitment to ongoing improvement and integration [...]
Sweeping changes will take over Flyff Gold on July 11. Some of the new systems are going to reinvent the MMORPG, from the brand new Weapon Transformation and Consignment Marketplace to the renovated Guild Siege rewards and in-game social client. Take Flyff's extensive character customization to the next level by transferring the best stats onto [...]
The free-to-play fantasy and steampunk MMORPG ARGO Online is about to provide additional high level content. A new arena system that will allow cross-faction as well as internal PvP battles is part of the planned expansion. Besides a new continent, a higher character level cap and additional high level content, the upcoming content patch will [...]
The MMOFPS Heroes & Generals, has released a new video titled "Come Out to Play". By splicing live action and in-game sequences together, the video celebrates H&G's innovative combined online FPS and strategic campaign in an authentic World War II setting. As a true testament to our open door development model, where developers work with [...]
The free-to-play fantasy MMORPG Maestia – Rise of Keledus has received a revised guild system. The new patch brings a variety of new features to player associations, including expanded functionality. In addition, the statue system honors the best Maestia players. In the new bank, Maestia guilds can for the first time distribute gold reserves among [...]
Eredan with FreeMMORPGratis and MMOreviews is celebrating a registration event. Register now for Eredan here and win a item pack with a value of 8€. You will receive the gift pack after you have registered a new account. Pack gift Content: - A Premium Booster Contains 13 cards chosen at random amongst all the Acts [...]
NGames with FREE MMORPG and MMO Reviews is celebrating a Closed Beta Pack giveaway for Pockie Ninja II Social. Activation Duration: From July 4th to July 9th Gift Pack Contents: 1. 7-Day VIP 2. Chakra+50 x 10 3. 50,000 Ryo 4. Ninja Bag x 30 5. Altar Stone x 10 6. EXP Pill A x [...]
BasketDudes is going to celebrate a Triple Experience Weekend from Friday 22 to Sunday 24. This event is a great chance for BasketDudes' users to increase the experience they get after each match by a factor of 3. This will allow them to level up their team much faster and to get a good competitive [...]
Gravity Interactive, is heading down to the coast for the annual summer festival in ROSE Online. Starting now and running until July 17th, players can grab their swim trunks and snorkels for some of the best summer events yet in ROSE. This year, Anzhelika in Luna is fed up with her snowy planes and demands [...]
THE DISPLAYS IN HP's TouchSmart series top out at 23 inches. To get anything bigger, you must move over to HP's Omni all-in-one lineup. The upper limit here is a ginormous 27 inches, but you won't get that slick touch user interface, and you'll need to sacrifice performance to keep the price tag in the same $1,250 neighborhood occupied by the TouchSmart 520-1070 we reviewed in March. We're not convinced those are good trade-offs.
Both models feature an HDMI input that allows you to use the display independent of the computer, and that's easily one of their best features. Plug in a set-top box or a gaming console, and the machines can serve double duty as a computer and a 1080p display for watching TV or playing games. There's just one problem: You can't use the wireless keyboard to control or mute the volume when the computer is being used solely as a display. Instead, you must push the PC/Game mode button to bring up an onscreen control panel, press the minus button three times to select the volume control function, and then repeatedly press the plus or minus buttons to adjust the volume. To mute the volume, you must turn it to zero—which takes 14 button presses from full volume—or switch the display back into PC mode. That will drive you nuts at every commercial break and every time the phone rings.
The 27-inch screen is great for watching movies and TV, but your eyes won't like using this computer for long stretches.
We tend to dismiss the speakers in all-in-ones because the small enclosures just can't produce good bass response. Connecting HP's Pulse subwoofer (a $130 option) into the Omni 27 Quad's subwoofer output made us realize how well HP's integrated speakers produce mid- and high frequencies. You might, however, find an even better sub from a mainstream speaker manufacturer. Polk Audio's PSW10, for instance, has an amp that produces 50 watts RMS to the Pulse's 30 watts, and it features a 10-inch driver compared to the Pulse's 6-incher. We found it online for just $120.
Unlike the TouchSmart 520, the Omni 27 Quad does not include a discrete videocard or a TV tuner. You can add these features when you place your online order, but a videocard will add $70 to $120 to the price, and the TV tuner will tack on $50.
Adding HP's Pulse subwoofer to the Omni 27 Quad does wonders for its audio capabilities—and it has blue LEDs! (Don't worry, you can turn them off.)
Like the TouchSmart 520-1070, the Omni 27 Quad comes packed with 8GB of RAM, but the unit we reviewed was outfitted with a 2.5GHz Core i5 2400S (compared to the 2.8GHz Core i7-2600S on the TouchSmart) and a paltry 1TB hard drive (compared to the 2TB drive on the TouchSmart). Here again, you can order a customized model at additional expense.
Native resolution of 1920x1080 is fine for 23- or 24-inch computer displays, and it's the highest resolution that current-gen HDTVs can deliver. But you sacrifice a great deal of precision when you spread that number of pixels over a 27-inch screen that's just two feet from your eyes. Losing the TV tuner—and even the touch UI—isn't a big deal, but we don't like the idea of stepping down to a lesser CPU and a smaller hard drive to get that big screen. Our biggest complaint, however, centers on the ridiculously convoluted volume control—it's bad enough to prevent us from recommending the Omni 27 Quad at any price.
The head of EA's Origin may take issue with Steam selling games at a steep discount -- *cough* hypocritically *cough* -- but judging by a statement from his boss, he may not have to worry about being undercut at retail forever. No, David DeMartini isn't getting fired; EA COO Peter Moore just thinks that basically all games will be free to play in the next five to 10 years.
"I think, ultimately, those microtransactions will be in every game, but the game itself or the access to the game will be free," Moore told Kotaku. "I think there's an inevitability that happens five years from now, 10 years from now, that, let's call it the client, to use the term, [is free.]"
It won't be a total shift for the industry; when asked how a game like Mass Effect could translate into F2P, Moore said he thinks that a handful of $60 games that cater to the hardcore will survive, but they'll be few and far between. The real cash isn't in catering to the hardcore, though, Moore says; the big money comes from luring in the masses with the allure of free games.
That's a strong opinion, but Moore isn't an idiot or a n00b to the gaming industry; before settling at EA, he held down executive-level positions at Sega and Microsoft's Xbox division.
Hearing that, does Crytek's decision to focus exclusively on F2P games in the future sound so crazy? Or do you think big names and multimillion dollar companies are simply getting carried away with a fad?
Think your CPU cooler kicks ass? Some of the top minds in the country disagree. Researchers at the Sandia National Laboratories have been working on a novel new design for a rapidly spinning cooler, one that they say is up to 30 percent more efficient than traditional models AND virtually silent in typical use cases. Sounds crazy ambitious? Apparently, it isn't; Sandia's already looking to license the technology out to electronics suppliers, and one unidentified CPU cooling company has already hopped on the bandwagon.
Sandia's cooler basically consists of two parts: a disk-shaped heat spreader with vertical cooling fins, positioned on top of a stationary base plate that touches the CPU and acts as a heat sink. The bottom of the finned spreader is flat, as is the top of the heat sink. A gap of less than 0.001-inches separates the two, and during operation the top disk spins at a rate of 2,000 RPM.
Being at such close range and spinning so fast creates, essentially, a self-regulating "hydrodynamic gas bearing," which lets the cooler negate the thin layer of stagnant air -- known as the boundary layer -- that locks in a lot heat in traditional sink-plus-fan CPU cooling methods. In fact, the heat takes on almost liquid properties in Sandia's method and transfers between the heat sink and the cooling fins very, very efficiently.
As the cooler spins, its shape draws air down into the "eye" of the hardware, which is then quickly pushed out radially through its curved fins, keeping everything cool. The shape and spin of the cooler benefits this stage two-fold; it pumps air very, very well, and any dust that tries to settle on it gets blown out just as fast.
If that's a bit too technical for your blood, check out the video above, in which creator Jeffrey Koplow shows off the cooler in action and provides a solid description of how it works. It's a lot easier to grasp if you watch it, trust me. A lot more information can be found in a whitepaper on the Sandia National Laboratory website.
Sandia hopes the cooler's design will scale up and take off in a number of industries, including (obviously) PC uses, solid state lighting, HVAC, automotive and large appliances. Which CPU cooling company do you think licensed the technology?
Fair warning if you woke up in an exceptionally good mood today and don't want anything to ruin it. Stop reading right here, right now. Seriously. I'm even tossing in a throwaway sentence to give your brain a chance to communicate with your eyeballs to divert your attention elsewhere (here's a fine piece on the science behind Nigerian scams). Still reading? You were warned.
One of the latest videos to go viral on YouTube shows a group of middle school kids relentlessly taunting and verbally abusing Karen Klein, a 68-year-old school bus monitor who tries her best to ignore the insults but is ultimately driven to tears. It gets worse (and better).
The middle school kids make fun of her weight, threaten to defecate on her property (and other places not fit to repeat), tease her income level, they poke and prod her, talk about stabbing her, and at one point, joked her family should kill themselves, a taunt that hit too close to home considering her oldest son committed suicide a decade ago.
"Live with integrity," is one of the few verbal responses Klein offered the children.
It's infuriating, and isn't anything I'd normally post on Maximum PC, but there are a couple of silver linings surrounding the unfortunate incident. First, thanks to the age of the Internet (and an idiotic decision to post the video on YouTube), Greece Central School District and local police are now investigating what took place on the bus, NYDailyNews reports.
Secondly, the Internet proves that good still trumps evil, as there's been a vacation fund setup at Indiegogo.com. The initial goal was to raise $5,000 so that Klein could take some well deserved time off and go on "a vacation of a lifetime!," and with 30 days remaining, it has already raised a whopping $154,000.
You can watch the horrific and NSFW video here, and if you feel compelled to donate to Klein's vacation fund, you can do so here.
Verizon Wireless already boasts the nation's largest 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, and it doesn't appear interested in relinquishing that bragging right any time soon. In fact, VZW today announced the expansion of its 4G LTE network into 46 totally new markets, along with better coverage in 22 existing regions. If you're keeping count, that's a total of 304 markets to date being served by VZW's 4G LTE network.
"Time and time again, third-party surveys affirm that the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network keeps its promise to provide customers with consistently reliable responsiveness, download and upload speeds, and greater availability in more places throughout the country than any competing network," said Nicola Palmer, chief technical officer of Verizon Wireless. "Our aggressive 4G LTE network build-out is on track, providing our customers with the largest 4G LTE network in the United States – and the world – today. We are committed to cover more than 400 markets by the end of 2012. We will continue to expand and strengthen our 4G LTE network and plan to offer full nationwide coverage everywhere we have 3G coverage today, by the end of 2013."
That's good news for potential Samsung Galaxy S III owners, which touched down in the U.S. today (on T-Mobile and AT&T) and will be available at Verizon in the coming weeks. VZW offers two dozen 4G LTE devices in all, more than any other carrier.
As for the new 4G LTE markets, they range from Logan, West Virginia to Yuba City/Marysville, California, and several areas in between (and around).
Most everyone interested in owning an LCD TV seems to have already went out and purchased one. According to DisplaySearch, worldwide TV shipments tumbled 8 percent year-over-year in the first quarter of 2012, marking the steepest rate of decline since the second quarter of 2009. More telling, however, is the fact that LCD TVs, which dominate the market with an 84.2 percent share of all types of TVs (well ahead of CRT TVs, which sits in second place with a 9.9 percent share), saw shipments drop by 3 percent year-over-year, and by 33 percent sequentially.
This is the first time in the history of the category that LCD TV shipments have fell on an annual basis, and the immediate future doesn't look so bright for the segment, either.
"Soft demand and cautious expectations about the upcoming year in many parts of the TV supply chain have led to a slowdown in shipments," noted Paul Gagnon, NPD DisplaySearch Director of North America TV Research. Gagnon added, "Key component prices, such as LCD panels, are not expected to decline much in 2012, and many brands are concentrating on improving their bottom line. Both of these trends will contribute to slowing unit volume among a price conscious consumer market."
Every other category of TVs fell as well, including Plasma (minus 18 percent year-over-year), which has continued to stick around. As for TV brands, Samsung holds the top spot with a 26 percent share of the total market, ahead of LG (14. percent), Sony (9.4 percent), Sharp (6.5 percent), Panasonic (5.3 percent), and all remaining brands (38.3 percent).
Reactions to the recently unveiled Microsoft Surface tablet family just keep coming in, with everyone from PC vendors to industry watchers eager to weigh in on the Redmond-based company's decision to sell self-branded tablets. Even though people are probably more interested in Apple's reaction, Google beat the Cupertino company to the punch Wednesday when it fired a cautious verbal volley at the Surface.
During an interview session at the GigaOm Structure conference in San Francisco, GigaOm patriarch Om Malik asked Google's senior vice president of Chrome and Apps, Sundar Pichai, for his take on the Surface. Pichai began by saying it was a surprising announcement and "shows the pressure they feel from Apple and iPad." However, he did compliment Microsoft for putting "serious effort" into the Surface's form factor, an area in dire need of innovation according to him.
"They are doing everything right in terms of messaging, but to me it's a very complicated strategy to pull off," Pichai said. "Even before the Surface announcement, Windows 8 itself has been a cause of both optimism and concern among entire ecosystem. I am excited because the Windows ecosystem is in some ways ossified, and it takes time for it to change."
"Windows 8 is a big disruptive thing, and that is both good and an opportunity for everyone else. One of the main concerns with Windows 8 is that it is primarily designed around touch and tablets, and it's not exactly fully clear how great of an user experience it is on laptops and so on with Metro mode."
Pichai's reaction in a lot of ways mimics the overall initial response to Windows 8 and the Surface in that it too is mixed. Perhaps no one really knows how to react to and what to really expect from Windows 8 and the Surface tablet family.
At long last, Samsung's highly anticipated Galaxy S III smartphone has crossed the U.S. border, having already shipped to more than two dozen other countries last month. T-Mobile gets first dibs on Samsung's newest Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) device, with AT&T, Sprint, Verizon Wireless, and U.S. Cellular planning to offer the smartphone "in-store and online within the next several weeks," Samsung says. Odd wording by Samsung since AT&T is scheduled to offer the Galaxy S III sometime today as well (currently is listed as "Due Today" on AT&T's website).
T-Mobile priced the Galaxy S III at $280 for the 16GB model and $330 for the 32GB version, both of which reflect a $300 instant discount and a $50 mail-in rebate card. Suggested retail price is $630 (16GB) and $680 (32GB).
In case you need a refresher, the Galaxy S III sports a 4.8-inch Super AMOLED HD touchscreen (1280x720), dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 processor (international version rocks a quad-core CPU), 2GB of RAM, 8MP rear-facing camera with autofocus and LED flash, 1.9MP front-facing camera, 4G LTE radio, and a 2100 mAh battery.
Reviews of Samsung's flagship device started popping up on the Web yesterday and mostly reflect positive impressions, though some feel the Galaxy S III falls a little short of the hype. CNN, for example, notes that there's plenty of horsepower underneath the hood, but that many of Samsung's TouchWiz features "suffer from frustratingly poor execution, adding up to a "clumsy" device, albeit one that still trumps many of its competitors.
The
Think your CPU cooler kicks ass? Some of the top minds in the country disagree. Researchers at the Sandia National Laboratories have been working on a novel new design for a rapidly spinning cooler, one that they say is up to 30 percent more efficient than traditional models AND virtually silent in typical use cases. Sounds crazy ambitious? Apparently, it isn't; Sandia's already looking to license the technology out to electronics suppliers, and one unidentified CPU cooling company has already hopped on the bandwagon.
Fair warning if you woke up in an exceptionally good mood today and don't want anything to ruin it. Stop reading right here, right now. Seriously. I'm even tossing in a throwaway sentence to give your brain a chance to communicate with your eyeballs to divert your attention elsewhere (
Verizon Wireless already boasts the nation's largest 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, and it doesn't appear interested in relinquishing that bragging right any time soon. In fact, VZW today announced the expansion of its 4G LTE network into 46 totally new markets, along with better coverage in 22 existing regions. If you're keeping count, that's a total of 304 markets to date being served by VZW's 4G LTE network.
Most everyone interested in owning an LCD TV seems to have already went out and purchased one. According to DisplaySearch, worldwide TV shipments tumbled 8 percent year-over-year in the first quarter of 2012, marking the steepest rate of decline since the second quarter of 2009. More telling, however, is the fact that LCD TVs, which dominate the market with an 84.2 percent share of all types of TVs (well ahead of CRT TVs, which sits in second place with a 9.9 percent share), saw shipments drop by 3 percent year-over-year, and by 33 percent sequentially.
Reactions to the recently unveiled Microsoft Surface tablet family just keep coming in, with everyone from PC vendors to industry watchers eager to weigh in on the Redmond-based company's decision to sell self-branded tablets. Even though people are probably more interested in Apple's reaction, Google beat the Cupertino company to the punch Wednesday when it fired a cautious verbal volley at the Surface.
At long last, Samsung's highly anticipated Galaxy S III smartphone has crossed the U.S. border, having already shipped to more than two dozen other countries last month. T-Mobile gets first dibs on Samsung's newest Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) device, with AT&T, Sprint, Verizon Wireless, and U.S. Cellular planning to offer the smartphone "in-store and online within the next several weeks," Samsung says. Odd wording by Samsung since AT&T is scheduled to offer the Galaxy S III sometime today as well (currently is listed as "Due Today" on AT&T's website).
