Playmobil, famous for miniature people and toy sets covering themes from knights to doll house life to Native Americans, has partnered with Gameloft to bring their Playmobil Pirates game to the Play Store. While Pirates is significantly different from its Nintendo DS namesake, the game features the same animated Playmobil pirates and environments you'd expect, plenty of missions, and social integration.
Starting out, players will need to build a "pirate camp," or home base for a team of pirates you'll assemble to help in your ultimate quest to defeat Blackbeard.
Google has started to push out an update to the Play Store for Android with version 3.10.10. The difference in size compared to the previous version 3.10.9 from about a month ago is about 1.5KB, and after ripping through the APK, I found no significant changes. There are some tweaks to the in-app billing, checkout, and authentication code, but from what I can tell, this is a bug fix release.
When Ron tore down the most recent Play Store APK, he discovered references to pre-orders hiding within. It wasn't clear at the time just what this option would apply to, but now we know! It's books! According to a new help page, if an item on Play Books is not yet available, you may find a pre-order option that you can use to place a reservation. Neat!
The page also states that when you place a pre-order, your credit card will not be charged until the book is available.
Google is pushing out an updated Google Play Store version 3.10.9 that follows the previous versions 3.9.16 and 3.9.17. As always, we have the APK for your downloading pleasure (thanks, @WinDroidGuy!).
It looks like we can add one more market to the list of those to which Google has opened the Nexus gates. Customers in a few European countries can now claim their own Nexus 4 or Nexus 10 from Google Play. Note: since these orders just opened up, you may see some errors or inconsistencies with ordering or availability. If any of the devices appear to truly be out of stock, we'll update this post.
Upon closer inspection and analysis, I found a new set of XXHDPI 144x144px icons for tablets with similar to the Nexus 10 high density as well as some changes to the code for recommendations and Play Store widgets, though I couldn't pinpoint the exact differences in those.
In addition to the absolute mania of incoming announcements we saw from Google today, there was one interesting carrier-related development for the Nexus line – T-Mobile, the US' fourth largest carrier, announced that it would be carrying Google's LG-built Nexus 4 and ASUS-built 3G Nexus 7 as a "premier launch partner" starting this November. In fact, users can already sign up for more info at T-Mobile's website.
Following yesterday's price drop at GameStop, it looks like the Nexus 7 is slashing prices everywhere. Staples, Sam's Club, Office Depot, Wal-Mart, and a few other places all list the tablet at $199 (or a rough foreign equivalent). What's a little more rare is the 32GB Nexus 7 going up for sale in a few locations, though it's unclear how approved that is. Sam's Club has it up for order here, and PC Advisor is reporting that at least one user was able to buy the slate from PC World by asking for it, though it wasn't on display.
Google just started rolling out an updated Google Play Store version 3.9.16 that follows the previous version 3.8.17 from August. Good news, everyone - we've already got our hands on the APK for you to install manually thanks to our loyal tipsters.
Amazon, in an effort to continue expanding its services globally, announced today that its Android app distribution service, the Amazon Appstore, is heading for Japan.
The shopping and media giant is now inviting developers to submit their apps and games for distribution in Japan, giving them the chance to participate in a new market with Amazon and "expand their business." Jim Adkins, VP of the Appstore, explained:
Opening our portal to app and game developers looking to reach Japanese customers is an important milestone as we strive to serve consumers and developers globally.