It's gonna be a good long while yet before we know whether Comes With Music is the rousing (and profitable) success Nokia hopes it is, but it seems Espoo might already be looking into what other sorts of media can be all-you-can-eat-ified for the benefit of its handsets. They're generally being coy about what the future holds for unlimited media, but company exec Tom Erskine noted that they're being "open minded" about the natural fit that games and movies would have with the Comes With model. Seriously, who wouldn't be down with an entertainment-focused Nseries that bundled a year of gaming? EA's European marketing director added that his company -- which just happens to make a crapload of mobile games -- is "supportive" of any creative ideas handset manufacturers dream up, which certainly sounds to us like code for "we'd totally be down for Comes With Games." Nokia, we eagerly await this initiative you've yet to announce.

After seeing what we saw at CEDIA this year, we knew this innovation was only a hop, skip and a jump away. RCDb and Nortel have teamed up to showcase what they're calling the Video Bulletin Board, which is an interactive application that enables cellphones and Blu-ray players to communicate like never before. With it, you can "send a photo or video from your mobile phone to your own or a friend's BD Live-enabled Blu-ray deck and then, using the remote, activate a click-to-call feature that would automatically have your phone call back the mobile user who sent you the photo." It won't be long before you're ordering pizza from your Blu-ray player and watching outtakes on your handset -- at least, we hope.

[Image courtesy of Blu-ray.com]

Whoa, boy. Cue the second wave firestorm in 3, 2, 1.... After Nokia responded to outcries from N-Gage users who were infuriated at the idea of not being able to transfer their titles between handsets, all seemed to be well. Now, however, we're finding that there's still a "one transfer policy" in effect, meaning that your games can only be ported from one handset to another one time before your world implodes. It should be noted, though, that a recent report at All About N-Gage asserts that said policy is only temporary, and that Nokia is currently working towards "a more permanent transfer method." Of course, there's no set time line for when we'll see such a thing, and it's not like the N-Gage niche as a whole is growing in leaps and bounds; in other words, you N-Gage fanatics may want to pick a handset and stay content -- you might be relying on it for awhile.

[Via All About Symbian]

The National Football League and Sprint have been tied up in one form or fashion for years now, but the relationship is finally rounding third and heading for home. All mixed analogies aside, what we're saying is that the feature you've been clamoring for has finally arrived, and beginning tonight, select Sprint subscribers will be able to watch the entire Cleveland Browns vs. Denver Broncos tilt on their handset. Obviously, you'll need a Sprint TV-capable handset and an Everything Plan (or a $15 per month add-on) in order to tune in, but tonight's game -- which kicks off at 8:00PM ET on the NFL Network -- will be the first of eight games (televised solely on that network) to air via Sprint. Whether or not The Now Network can keep up with the action, however, remains to be seen.

Hot on the heels of Electronic Arts kinda-sorta slamming Nokia for its lackluster N-Gage gaming platform comes word that the video game giant will be dabbling in the world of Android here shortly. Unsurprisingly, we're informed that Tetris will be the first Android title out, while Bejeweled and Monopoly should follow suit in November. According to EA Mobile vice president Adam Sussman, "Android is another exciting new platform to offer customers great games with enhancements like touch and tilt capabilities," and while we weren't given specifics outside of the aforesaid titles, more games are definitely "in development."

It shouldn't come as any huge surprise that the handset gaming market isn't exactly thriving, and with these curious economic times surrounding us, we have all ideas that folks have better things to worry over than what their N-Gage buddies are doing. And so does Nokia. According to Jaakko Kaidesoja, head of Nokia's gaming operations, he "expects challenging times to continue," noting that the "overall gaming market is likely not growing." Predictably, he was fairly bullish on the eventual success of the N-Gage platform and the iPhone, but he did confess that pre-loading the N-Gage software onto mobiles would greatly help adoption (you think?). In related news, EA Mobile's Peter Parmenter thrashed Nokia by calling N-Gage "not quite polished yet" and referring to it as a soft launch. It's okay Nokia -- we still have to find something to do on the can, so surely gaming fits in there somewhere.

[Via mocoNews]

Read - Nokia's take
Read - EA Mobile's take

Perhaps the most anticipated mobile device of 2008 is now just days away from release, and needless to say, we have just a few things to say about it. Check out our blowout coverage of T-Mobile's Android-powered G1 over on Engadget!

Rogers has gained the notable distinction of becoming just the first carrier in North America to partner with Nokia to distribute its N-Gage and Maps clients, an unprecedented move that could lead to tighter (dare we say, more Europe-like?) relationships in the future. Both products are initially available on the N95 8GB -- a phone that Rogers officially offers through its own channels -- and will presumably see wider launch as other S60 handsets are brought into the fold. What's next, Rogers, full-on Ovi support?

[Thanks, James]

For better or worse, it looks like the so-called iControlPad is edging closer to reality -- or at least something really similar. According to a new image (and our limited Spanish translation skills), Belkin is actually looking to produce an App Store gaming controller, though we're still not entirely convinced that what we're seeing is legitimate. Whatever the case, the JoyPod would somehow, someway provide users who purchased Super Monkey Ball to play it using a bona fide game pad, though we can't figure out if the iPod touch / iPhone slips in behind the controller or if it just morphs to fit the JoyPod's space constraints. Guess we'll see (or not) soon enough.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: Belkin pinged us to say this is 100% fake. Ah well, at least you know the truth now.

We saw a couple versions of the iControlPad iPhone gamepad surface back in May, but it looks like the clever add-on is getting close to reality -- check out these case prototypes that just popped up. Yeah, it's not, uh, small -- good thing the target price is under $30. Touch Arcade also has some other pictures of another iPhone gaming accessory that looks like it slides open, check it out at the read link.

Contrary to what Zeemote is implying with its latest release, this isn't the first time we've seen a handset maker embrace (as in, literally hug) its JS1 Bluetooth controller. Nevertheless, the Zeekey application will enable S60 device owners to play N-Gage games and control S60 apps with the aforementioned JS1. We're told that the program will come pre-loaded on "featured handsets as special gaming bundles," though it'll also be available by its lonesome on Nokia's website. If only you could work up the will to actually buy that JS1, you'd be in business.

[Via Pocket-lint]

And to think, we actually believed that Nike and Apple were this close to delivering the long-awaited running application for the iPhone. While it was widely reported that these shots were indeed the real deal, AppleInsider is pointing out a chink in the armor: Cupertino doesn't offer iPhone developers a programming interface for accessing one's music, yet this mysterious program clearly showed someone listening to Chris Martin and friends (an unreleased song, evidently) while attempting to make it to 0.02km. The take away? It's still pretty likely that the two outfits are working to create a fitness program for the App Store, but those screenshots ain't it.

[Thanks, Michael]

Tilt controls might be getting all the fanfare, what with the iPhone and Sony Ericsson's own W760 featuring tilt gaming, but the analog stick still reigns supreme when it comes to getting some actual fragging done. We spotted Zeemote's promising JS1 mobile joystick back at MWC this year, featuring four trigger buttons and an analog nub, but the little Bluetooth controller is finally getting a release. In fact, Sony Ericsson is giving this thing away in the Netherlands, with the purchase of a W760. Sadly, folks who already own a W760, don't live in the Netherlands, or just want a stand-alone JS1 for throwing at people or wedging in small crevices are still out of luck -- still no word on price or release of the thing outside this deal.

It's hard to say if the pigeon you see above actually understood what he / she was doing, but apparently these birds can be taught to at least play App Store games in a very poor manner. The creature's owner does note that Mr. Pigeon was pretty awful at racking up high scores on Tap Tap Revenge, but the important thing to realize here is that pigeon pecks do register as presses on the screen. Now that this is all out in the open, we fully expect a follow-up video next week of someone teaching their bird to dial a number on command. Vid's after the break.

Perhaps one of the largest barriers to a massive, all-out, unqualified success for Nokia's latest incarnation of N-Gage is that it takes two to tango -- yes, it's as much a single-player gaming platform as it is a multi-player one, but the community features are its crown jewel and it's pretty tough to find another N-Gager in some parts of the world. Nokia's Aki Jarvilehto told attendees of the Develop 2008 conference that it's looking at using N-Gage's "assets" on Xbox Live or PlayStation Online, though it's not clear whether there'd be any interactivity between console players and their mobile equivalents, or if Nokia's just looking for another revenue stream to augment on-phone sales. Either way, Creatures of the Deep on the big screen without having to jack into our N95's TV-out? Bring it on.

[Via The Nokia Blog]