Microsoft sold 5 times more phones this Christmas season

With Microsoft being a major Qualcomm partner, last night Steve Ballmer dropped by Qualcomm's press conference and shared on stage that Windows Phones are enjoying increasing popularity.

Of course, he didn't mention any specific numbers, but what he did say is in November 2012 they've sold 4 time more smartphones than the same time last year.

And even better, around this holiday season, that number rose to 5 times the last year's Christmas sales.

Now we wouldn't count on this to be any serious number given that analysts have found Microsoft's market share to actually shrink in the US this November compared to August. And Windows Phone is still at the bottom of the mobile OS ladder besting only the dying Symbian breed.

Anyway, we guess even analysts don't know the exact number so these are just estimates. In fact, nobody will know anything certain before Microsoft themselves announce a proper number for smartphone activations - something, which is hardly going to happen anytime soon.

Update: AllAboutWindowsPhone.com has an intriguing calculation of the actual sales numbers. Their author reckons since analysts suggest roughly 2.5M Windows Phones have been sold last Q4, then worst case scenario, this year's number should be around 10M for the whole quarter.

While we were watching Qualcomm's press conference, we couldn't help but snap a few more screenshots with Steve Ballmer being such an expressive stage speaker as usual. We hope you appreciate the humor in the situation, we are by no means trying to belittle Microsoft's efforts and their otherwise top-notch mobile operating system.

 
Steve Ballmer presenting Windows Phone at Qualcomm's press event

Interested to hear the man speak himself? Checkout the video in the source link below. You might want to fast forward to 19:00m to get to the part about smartphones. It's only 2-3 minutes long.

Source | Via

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Telltale Looking Into Save Game Imports For 'The Walking Dead' Season 2

 

To say we're excited about the second season of Telltale's "The Walking Dead" would be a huge understatement, but what about all of the difficult choices we had to make throughout the first five episodes? Will those decisions affect the continued story? Apparently, Telltale is looking into it.

In a recent chat with Red Bull UK, Telltale Games CEO Dan Connors said the team is currently looking into different ways to carry save data from the first season over to the second season, which Telltale is already working on.

"Right now we are just starting to form the concept for season two," Connors said in the interview. "This all remains to be seen, but we are definitely figuring out how to carry the saves over."

So, it seems likely that the decisions we made in the ifrst five episodes will effect the story right from the get-go in season two. But zombies aren't the only thing the folks at Telltale Games are thinking about for the future.

"Coming from LucasArts we always felt we could do a great Star Wars story game," said Connors. "We also love the idea of building out a deeper story to a great game franchise, something like Half Life Stories or Halo Stories."

Um, yes please! Telltale tackling a Star Wars game could be epic (am I allowed to say that anymore?). What do you think? Hit the comments and let us know!

[Red Bull UK via Gamespot]

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Tags Dan Connors, Season 2, telltale games, the walking dead

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'Game Of Thrones' Season Three Cast And Premiere Date Announced

"Game of Thrones" might not have had any new footage to show at San Diego Comic-Con this year, but they did come with two massive announcements. Season three introduces many, many new characters, and showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff came with an (almost) entire listing of the new cast members, as well as the third season release date.
The quick news first: "Game of Thrones" returns to HBO on March 31, 2013. That's pretty much in keeping with the previous two seasons, so there's not much of a surprise there. Still, it's nice to mark a date on the calendar and start our countdowns early.
Now what we've all been waiting for: the casting. We've been dying to know who will be playing new characters like Jojen and Meera, Beric Dondarrion and Brydon Tully, and now we have found out. Read on after the jump to find out who almost all the new actors and actresses will be.
We've said "almost" twice now, and it's about time we explain that. There's no sign of Mance Rayder or Strong Belwas on this list, and it's actually pretty surprising. Belwas we can understand (maybe he's just cut for time reasons), but Mance Rayder is a major, major player in future "Game of Thrones" storylines. Our only explanation is that the folks behind the show are waiting for some big name to portray one of the most interesting and intriguing characters in the story.
Without further ado, here are the actors who will be joining the cast this season in order of how excited we are about them.
Clive Russell will be playing Bryndon "The Blackfish" Tully, Richard Dormer will be playing Beric Dondarrion, Paul Jaye will be Thoros of Myr, Thomas Brodie-Sangster will be Jojen Reed, Ellie Kendirck will be Meera Reed, Diana Rigg will play Lady Olenna Tyrell aka the Queen of Thorns and Tobias Menzies will be Edmure Tully.
Mackenzie Crook will play Orell, Nathalie Emmanuel is Missandei, Kerry Ingram is Shireen Baratheon, Kristofer Hivju is Tormund Giantsbane, Philip McGinley is Anguy, Tara Fitzgerald is Selyse Baratheon and Anton Lesser as Qyburn.
Can it be March 31 already?
Are you as excited about the third season as we are? Tell us in the comments section below or on Twitter!
Tags Comic-Con, Game of Thrones

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