Angry Birds Trilogy takes up to 300 hours to complete?

Yes, so Angry Birds fever is about to land on even more gaming platforms in the future, but here we are with word from Rovio that Angry Birds Trilogy will consume the better part of 300 hours of your life here on Earth (where else are you going to play Angry Birds, on Mars?) in order to complete the game. With approximately 700 stages in total, the 300 hour challenge refers to players clearing it with a 100% destruction rate while calling upon the help of the Mighty Eagle.

Executive producer Kalle Kaivola of Angry Birds mentioned, “I’d love to meet the guy who does that first, I’m just totally going to congratulate them.” I’m quite sure that Kalle is not the only one, and while it takes an “average” of 30 hours to complete all the stages in the Angry Birds Trilogy, the number of hours would increase by a whole lot if you want to do so with a three-star ranking. Something tells me that if you are an avid Angry Birds fan, you would still want to replay Angry Birds Trilogy all over again even though you’ve completed the game.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Angry Birds set to land on Xbox, PS3 and Nintendo 3DS on September 28th, Rovio releases video of ‘Bad Piggies’ gameplay,

XCOM: Enemy Unknown Playable Demo Hits Steam

If you’re a fan of strategy games from developer Firaxis, you might want to grab the latest playable demo from the company. Firaxis and 2K Games have announced that a playable demo for the title XCOM: Enemy Unknown is now available for download on Steam. For now, the demo is available for PC gamers only, but a demo for console gamers will be coming soon.

xcom

The demo offers the first two levels of the single player tutorial campaign. The levels allow the user to experience combat controls and effective tactics for fighting the alien threat. Gamers will also be introduced to the XCOM Base in the demo. Soldier training and the researching of alien technology takes place in the base.

If you’re not patient enough to play through it yourself (or you don’t have a PC,) here’s a complete play-through of the demo:

The game is up for pre-order right now and include the Elite Soldier Pack. This pack includes the blonde, flattop wearing character from the classic X-Com game. The soldier pack also includes the ability to customize armor in the game.


The Engadget Interview (captured with Lumia 920): Nokia CEO Stephen Elop on WP8 and beyond

The Engadget Interview Nokia CEO Stephen Elop shot with the Lumia 920

Do you know what’s better than one interview with Stephen Elop? Two interviews in one month. We’d barely recovered from yesterday’s bout of nostalgia when we were given the opportunity to sit down with Nokia’s CEO in his office at the company’s HQ. Better yet, we were allowed to record the discussion with a hand-held Lumia 920 prototype. The resulting video is remarkably stable. Full disclosure: the audio was recorded with a shotgun mic mounted on a Sony NEX-C3 camera.

We talked about HTC’s colorful “signature” Windows Phone 8X and 8S and what that means for the Nokia-Microsoft partnership. Next we asked if Nokia is planning to work with carriers to offer incentives for existing Lumia owners to upgrade to the company’s 920 and 820 handsets. Finally, we discussed the evolution of PureView imaging technology from the 808 to the 920 and how Nokia plans to combine these building blocks in the future. Hit the break for our video interview.

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The Engadget Interview (captured with Lumia 920): Nokia CEO Stephen Elop on WP8 and beyond originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Sep 2012 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NASA Publishes the Farthest View of the Universe Yet [Space]

NASA has just published the most detailed view of the Universe ever taken. It’s called the Extreme Deep Field—or XDF for short. It took ten years of Hubble Space Telescope photographs to make it and it shows some the oldest galaxies ever observed by humans, going 13.2 billion years back in time. More »

BlackBerry 10 has native Facebook app, Twitter and LinkedIn in tow as well

BlackBerry 10 devices look set to come with a native Facebook app, as revealed at the BlackBerry Jam Americas conference earlier this morning. Needless to say, in order to maintain a sense of uniformity across various platforms, the native Facebook app resembles those found on Android and iOS platforms, albeit being 100% integrated with the operating system while promising to make full use of its spanking new Flow interface. Not only that, there will also be native LinkedIn, Twitter and Foursquare apps just for BlackBerry 10 alone at launch.

On a side note, is it just me, or did the entire RIM team on stage earlier this morning sound rather defeated even when they were making introductions and presentations of new and upcoming features of BlackBerry 10? All the doom and gloom clouds did not seem to lift just yet, but perhaps things might look up for RIM in the days and months ahead although I would not bet on that fully, how about you?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Images of Facebook app for BlackBerry 10 leaked, Facebook for BlackBerry PlayBook updated,

FCC may launch investigations into AT&T’s FaceTime blocking

When Apple released iPhone 5 with the option of using FaceTime over cellular networks, iPhone users were rejoiced. They finally didn’t have to limit their FaceTime calls to WiFi connectivity and could finally make them truly on the go. But AT&T cut this glee short when it announced that it wouldn’t allow such users to make FaceTime calls who wouldn’t subscribe to its Mobile Share Plans.

Naturally, the decision attracted the ire of the users as well as a number of public interests organizations. One such organization, Free Press, lodged a formal complaint with FCC over AT&T’s FaceTime blockage. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Unlock out-of-contract AT&T iPhones, without any hassle, AT&T: 73% of phones activated in Q2 were iPhones,

Sony’s PlayStation 3 getting ‘PSN Day 1 Digital’ to launch games digitally alongside retail

Sony's PlayStation 3 getting 'PSN Day 1 Digital' to launch games digitally alongside retail

Taking a cue from Nintendo’s Wii U, Sony’s PlayStation 3 is getting digital versions of some games delivered at the same time as their physical counterparts starting next week with Resident Evil 6 and NBA 2K13. via “PSN Day 1 Digital.” Unlike Nintendo’s initiative, however, Sony’s is third-party focused — not one game on its initial list of eight titles is published by any of Sony’s international publishing studios.

It’s unclear whether this is a full-on initiative for Sony’s PlayStation 3 or a promotion for October alone, but Sony’s PlayStation blog calls PSN Day 1 Digital “a new program,” which indicates it’s something more than just a one month promo — all the same, we’ve asked Sony for more info. Beyond just offering a smattering of games digitally at launch, PSN Day 1 Digital allows for pre-orders, and even offers a 10 percent discount on 007: Legends should you pre-order as a PlayStation Plus member. Head past the break for the full list of titles.

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Good News: Apple Still Uses Google Maps Where It Matters Most [Apple Maps]

Apple’s new Maps may be a horror show, but at least they haven’t fully permeated your iOS existence. As one redditor discovered recently, iCloud.com still uses Google Maps when you use its Find My Phone feature. It’s a sweet oasis, in your time of greatest need. More »

Minuscule Voice Recorder Guarantees No One Will Know You’re a Snitch [Voice Recorder]

When you’re involved in a sting operation, or just trying to collect some incriminating evidence, the last thing you want is the perps realizing you’ve been recording everything. And since the days of sneakily recording a conversation with a phone in your pocket are long gone, this ridiculously tiny voice recorder could be the next best thing. More »

Cars to run on biofuels harvested from whisky leftovers?

They say not to drink and drive, and obviously, alcohol is the offending chemical here, but nobody mentioned anything about your car clocking up additional mileage through shots of whisky infused into its fuel tank. We are referring to by-products of whisky being turned into biofuel, with a deal being signed recently for a Scottish distillery to perform this ‘miracle’. Touted to be the world’s first such procedure, the Tullibardine distillery in Perthshire has collaborated with a spin-out company from Napier University in Edinburgh, where the master plan includes using bacteria to feed on the “leftovers” from the whisky making process. In turn, this produces butanol that can then be used to keep your gas guzzler running.

It must be said that over 90% of the stuff that is churned out by a whisky distillery is not drinkable whisky, but rather, those leftovers such as draff and pot ales which are far higher in sugar content could be used for other more practical items, including fertilizer, cattle feed, and now, biofuel for vehicles.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Apple Patent Talks About Syncing iPhone And Car, Gaming Technology Makes Car Crash Testing More Accurate,