We don't cover a lot of games on Engadget Mobile -- or a lot of apps, for that matter -- but every once in a while we get graced with a franchise that's bound to get readers unusually fired up. This time around it's the cult hit Katamari Damacy in its I Love Katamari form, hitting the iTunes App Store courtesy of publisher Namco. The concept -- rolling a giant ball of crap around town -- seems almost tailor-made for the iPhone's control method, but unfortunately, we're hearing that the current version is a little rough around the edges with frequent slowdowns once you get enough stuff sucked into the ball. The platform's young, the game's young, and we're hoping it gets better over time, but only the most diehard Katamari fans may want to bite on the $7.99 asking price at this point.

[Via TUAW]

Apple's doing it. RIM's doing it. Google's doing it. Heck, even Microsoft might be doing it. As the peer pressure mounts, Palm has finally decided to cave and introduce its very own applications market place, which is simply being christened Software Store. Oddly, it looks as if Palm farmed out the production of said store to one PocketGear, but we're assured that the app will hum along just fine on over 25 Windows Mobile / Palm OS-based Palm devices. Available for download as we speak, it offers up over 5,000 apps and games, 1,000 of which are completely free. Hmm, we wonder if Palm's keeping a Nova-compatible version in its back pocket?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: Palm pinged us to say that this is actually the very same software store that has been around, it's just a sweet looking veneer to make accessing it easier.

According to extremely reliable and embarrassingly handsome Engadget sources, at an iPhone event held today, John Geleynse (AKA Director of Technology Evangelism at Apple) made some statements regarding the iPhone platform that should seriously raise a few eyebrows. During an ADC "iPhone Tech Talk" in San Jose, Geleynse apparently waxed excited about the potential for the handheld as a viable threat to the DS (and the PSP by proxy), calling the iPhone a "gaming console" and claiming that "it's not a phone, it's a console experience." Pretty bold talk about a device that has yet to really prove its gaming mettle, but nothing new from the Apple camp as far as we're concerned. Considering these comments alongside those from a recent interview in which Greg Joswiak compared the touch to the DS, it seems clear that the company is making a noticeable effort to push this angle. Adding some fuel to that fire is PR that just went out announcing a series of EA "sneak peek" events at Apple Stores around the US. In their words:

Throughout the month of December Apple Stores in New York, LA, San Francisco and Chicago will host special "EA Games Sneak Peek" events where Electronic Arts will discuss why the iPod touch and iPhone are amazing platforms for mobile gaming...

While there's no question the iPhone and touch have made inroads when it comes to gaming, it still isn't clear that there's going to be anything beyond a casual interest for these devices. Then again, if the Wii's success has proven anything, it's that there's plenty of cash in casual if you can make it appealing enough. And you know how Apple feels about appealing products and money.

Remember when playing Quake III at a decent resolution required a $5,000 Alienware? Man, those were the days. Now, we can't help but be thankful for a few special Nokia handsets (the N95 8GB, E90 and N82 in particular) that can all handle the game by their lonesome. In fact, the latest version of the software adds a few remarkably awesome extras. For starters, users can now take advantage of on-phone server support, meaning that your handset can actually host a Quake III multiplayer battle (and may we recommend the server name "trashaccident?"). Also of note, the devs have tossed in support for Bluetooth mice and keyboards. We know, right? Tap the read link for all the juicy installation instructions.

[Via Decoder, thanks Olli]

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]