Final Fantasy has arrived on the iPhone

Both Final Fantasy I and Final Fantasy IIFinal Fantasy II reviews [iTunes links] — two games from one of the most revered console game franchises of all time — are available for purchase in the Apple App Store for the iPhone and iTouch right now.

We knew they were coming a while ago, but we didn’t know the pricing. Each game costs $8.99 and features upgraded graphics similar to those found on the Sony PSP versions released a couple years ago. Both titles debuted on the Nintendo Entertainment SystemNintendo Entertainment System reviews in the late 1980s.

Note that the App StoreApp Store received the Japanese version ofFinal Fantasy II, not the American one. Japanjapan reviews’s Final Fantasy IVFinal Fantasy IV reviews was released as Final Fantasy II in the United States for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, but this is the original Final Fantasy II that wasn’t released in the States until much later — confusing, we know.

If you’re not familiar with the Final Fantasyfinal fantasy series, it’s one of the seminal franchises of Japanese role-playing games. Final Fantasy games involve a lot of random strategic battles with monsters in addition to some dialogue and exploration. They’re difficult, but they’re rewarding if you’re willing to invest some serious time.

ChancesChances reviews are these early titles won’t appeal to people who aren’t already fans. Developer Square Enix is banking on nostalgia here. FolksFolks reviews who aren’t fans might want to wait for the later, more accessible games in the series to hit the iPhone OS — not that anything’s been announced yet.

First impressions – Meebo IM now available on the iPhone. And it’s free.

The App Store has no shortage of IM apps in its catalog, but as we all know, not all of them offer a good experience. The official paid version of AIMaim is a bit bloated and slow to send messages; IM+, along with NimbuzzNimbuzz, PalringoPalringo and fring all have terrible user interfaces. Beejive IM is pretty much the only exception here – loads quickly, has reliable Push Notifications, a nice interface, landscape support, among other things.

We’ve always wondered why Meebo, the king of in-browser IM, never released a native iPhone app. We do not have to wonder any longer as Meebo has just released a Native iPhone app.
Best of all, it’s free.

Our initial impressions of the app:
- It launches FAST. FasterFaster reviews than any other IM app.
- The interface is really nice and clean, although not better than BeejiveIM in my humble opinion. Still, it’s not ugly or bad by any stretch of the imagination.
- Push Notifications are supported, however Meebo does not state how long it will keep you signed in for.
- Works on LandscapeLandscape reviews!
- We haven’t seen any ads yet, which is pretty surprising since this is a free app.

I’m moving this to the front page and using it as my main IM app. And I think you should, too. GreatGreat reviews, great job, Meebo. You are now the king of IM on the iPhone, too. Update: Okay, I have been using this app all day and I have a few more things to add. This app does not support file transfers. I had not realized that until I tried to send a picture to a friend, only to find out the app has no such feature. This might be a deal breaker for some. The app is still superb, but no file transfers is rather disappointing.

Windows Phone 7 Interface Gallery

Windows Phone 7’s interface really is quite amazing. It’s unlike any other interface we have seen previously(yes, even the Zune HD), with no backgrounds, fades , shadows or gradients. It’s simply a moving “tile” interface system with really nice fonts and transition effects. We like it a lot.

[ Mobile World Congress 2010 ]

Windows Phone 7: The Official Press Release

BARCELONABarcelona reviews, SpainSpain reviews — Feb. 15, 2010 — TodayToday reviews at Mobile World Congress 2010, Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled the next generation of WindowsWindows^® Phones, Windows Phone 7 Series. With this new platform, Microsoft offers a fresh approach to phone software, distinguished by smart design and truly integrated experiences that bring to the surface the content people care about from the Web and applications. For the first time ever, Microsoft will bring together Xbox LIVE games and the Zune music and video experience on a mobile phone, exclusively on Windows Phone 7 Series. PartnersPartners reviews have already started building phones; customers will be able to purchase the first phones in stores by holiday 2010.

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Q&A With Microsoft

Microsoft has just ended their press conference in BarcelonaBarcelona reviews, SpainSpain reviews, And they’re taking a moment to do a Q&A session. I am transcribing these questions live for you to read them.

“With such a proliferation of platforms, all of which are free,  will microsoft will ever reconsider its policy of charging for licenses?”

“There’s something easy to understand about our model: We build a model, we sell them. We only have one or two competitors who are on a model of free, and that might work for them. Our model is clear and direct, we plan on staying on that model.”

“With windows phone 7 consistency, How are you going to allow your partners to differentiate themselves?”

“We make it so that the UI is extensible rather than replaced. The problem with replacing is that the UI ecosystem is fighting with each other. Having consistency provides an overall better user experience. But the UI is very extensible.” Surprising!

Ballmer: As an old-timer, let me remind you, maybe the first time I heard  this discussion is when we moved from DOSDos reviews to WindowsWindows, there was consistency about windows that we didnt have in DOS, turns everybody wound up creating  a bigger pool of opportunity through that transition, I think when we look back 3 to 5 years from now we will see a lot of innovation and everybody will be pleased we could do that on top of a higher foundation instead of having everybody replumb the lower level guts of the user interface”

Are you going to support Adobe Flash in any way?

“We don’t have Adobe Flash support in Windows Phone 7 out of the gate.”

Steve Ballmer adds “We have no objection to Adobe Flash support ”

“Im afraid that’s all we have for time, thank you so much for attending!”

[ Mobile World Congress 2010 ]

AT&T Will Be The First To Carry A Windows Phone 7 Device In The U.S.

Ralph De La Vega, CEO of At&t Mobility, just announced on stage that At&t will be the first carrier in the U.S. to carry a Windows Phone 7 DeviceDevice reviews . No firm dates for now, but we will let you as soon as we find out.

[ Mobile World Congress 2010 ]

Video: Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 in action

[ Mobile World Congress 2010 ]

Watch Microsoft’s press conference live!

Microsoft is showing off Windows Phone 7 right now, and you can watch it live. Player after the break.
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Windows Phone 7 Won’t Support Flash At Launch

Adobe issued an statement earlier today stating that the FlashFLASH reviews plugin, which has been available for the current version of Windows Mobile (6.5.3) , won’t be available at launch for the new Windows Phone 7 OS. This actually allows us to speculate on a couple of things:

1. According to rumors, Microsoft might be including Silverlight support out of the box with Windows Phone 7. Silverlight is Microsoft’s answer to Adobe’s flash, and this might have dampened Adobe’s relationship with Microsoft, even if their press statement says otherwise.

2. Windows Mobile 6.5 had Flash built-in. If Windows Phone 7 was using the same kernel and code base as 6.5, porting flash over would have been an easy copy and paste job.  This gives us hope that Windows Phone 7 will be the Game Changer Microsoft have been promising us.

Check our site tomorrow at around 9am Eastern for extensive coverage of Microsoft’s press event at Mobile World Congress.

Google vs. Apple – Preludes to a clash of the Tech Titans

Check out this nice infographic put together by GigaOM.  I find the recent battle to acquire Admob particularly intriguing — Is Apple trying to get back at GoogleGoogle for entering the mobile phone business?

Check it out:

[ Via GigaOM ]