The amount of malware targeting Android is still growing fast, and Google has promised to crack down. Turns out, that's not going so well.

Back in February of this year, Google announced it was hardening its stance on Android security, unveiling an app-scanner (codenamed Bouncer) to weed out malware uploaded to Android Market (now Google Play) through automatic scanning. Since then, Google has taken more steps to protect Android users: it acquired VirusTotal back in September and in Android 4.2 Jelly Bean introduced an optional app verification feature that enables users to identify dangerous and potentially-dangerous apps on their devices, even if they downloaded them from the Web or got them from an app store other than Google Play.

How have Google’s efforts to combat Android malware been working out? Perhaps not so well. Security researchers were quickly able to analyze how Bouncer operated and find easy ways to circumvent Google Play’s automated scanning — techniques publicly available now to malware authors if they hadn’t managed to think of them on their own. Further, Xuxian Jiang of North Carolina State University has published an assessment of Jelly Bean’s app verification capability. The results? Google’s app verification service identified just over 15 percent of malware samples thrown at it from the Android Malware Genome Project

What do these findings mean? Do Android users need to immediately run out and install antivirus and security software on their devices? Or do only people who engage in “risky” behavior with their phones or tablets need to be worried?

How bad is it?

Looking at raw numbers, it’s pretty easy to Android malware is a serious problem. According to security firm TrustGo (PDF infographic) concluded in October that malware and viruses targeting Android had increased 580 percent year-on-year. Back in February, Juniper Networks reported an even scarier number: a 3,325 percent increase in malware targeting Android. (They made a keen little infographic too.)

Are these signs of Android Armageddon? Not exactly — or, at least, not yet. Those figures include not just apps found on Google’s own app store in Google Play, but also apps available for download out in the wilder-and-woolier world of third party app marketplaces. While Apple’s iOS (and now Microsoft’s Windows RT) operate in a walled garden where the parent companies are the only source for applications (unless owners jailbreak their devices), Google’s more-open Android platform actually encourages third party marketplaces. Probably the best-known (and best run) is Amazon’a Appstore, but there are hundreds of other Android marketplaces around the world. Many of these provide a localized experience for users: after all, if you don’t speak English, Google Play can be a daunting experience. This is particularly true in China, where not only do Chinese-language app marketplaces abound, but Google Play itself offers no paid apps due to Google’s very limited presence in the Chinese market. Android users in China who want premium apps are almost certainly going to go to third party marketplaces. Some of them are managed responsibly and proactively…others, not so much.

Even the comparatively sanitized world of Google Play isn’t entirely safe. In it’s October report, TrustGo found there were 175 million downloads of “high risk” apps from the Top 500 apps in Google Play alone. For TrustGo, high risk apps are separate from outright “malicious” apps: where malicious apps outright try to harm users or their devices, high risk apps are things that can potentially compromise a user’s privacy, steal data, make fraudulent transactions, track usage and location, etc. In many cases, high risk apps are programs that are attempting to monetize themselves using insecure ad networks: that means data like phone numbers and device IDs are being sold (or snooped) by third parties, meaning users get targeted with more spam, malware, and even telemarketing calls. Other high risk apps do things like replace the browser home page with their own search page, add their own icons to users home screens, and more.

How’s Google doing?

For well over a year, Google has been taking serious steps to try to reduce malware in Google Play, and the new app verification feature in Jelly Bean is intended to give users a way to confirm whether an app is legit regardless of whether they get it from Google Play or from other sources.

But so far, Google efforts don’t seem to have made a tremendous difference. Worse, the new app verification feature could lead Android users to have a false sense of security about their apps.

Bouncer — Google conducts automated scans of apps uploaded to Google Play (and developer accounts) using Bouncer, flagging those found to contain known malware. Bouncer works by essentially loading up Android apps in a software emulator using Google’s cloud infrastructure: basically, the app thinks its running on an Android device, but it’s really just running inside a program that behaves like an Android device. Google lets the app do its thing for a few minutes, watching its behavior, and if it doesn’t see anything suspicious, gives the app a pass. Back when Google unveiled Bouncer in February, the company claimed it had already been running quietly for some time and was responsible for a 40 percent drop in the number of possibly-dangerous programs available on Google Play.

Sounds great, right? Security researchers were quickly able to ferret out a lot of interesting behaviors of Bouncer — many of which could be used to let malware slip through its fingers. For instance, Bouncer’s analysis is purely dynamic: it only flags apps that misbehave during the five-or-so minutes Google runs the app in the emulator. If an app is subtle and just waits for a while before engaging in risky behavior, it could get a pass. Similarly, Bouncer seems to use a very limited set of contacts, pictures, and other fake personal information, making it easy for malware authors to special-case those items and avoid trying to steal them. Bouncer does let the apps it’s testing connect out to the Internet; however, those connections all come from IP ranges easily identified as Google, making it simple for malware developers to let remote Web services behave differently for Bouncer than they would for an Android device in the wild. Google has been updating Bouncer to work around some of these issues, but the fact remains that malware that delays its attacks long enough to evade Bouncer’s scrutiny will probably still pass muster. Similarly, apps that have totally innocuous installers but then download malware via update mechanisms can bypass Bouncer entirely.

App Verification — Android 4.2 Jelly Bean includes an app verification service as part of the Google Play app. The service can be used with apps obtained from any source, but users must have Google Play installed. Once app verification is activated (in Settings > Security > Verify apps) the service sends information to Google, including the app’s name, URL, and a probably-unique signature string (a checksum) representing a scan of the app’s files. Google then compares that information to data in its records about known malware apps: if there’s a problem, Android will alert users the app is either “dangerous” or “potentially dangerous:” potentially dangerous apps present a warning, and users can choose whether or not to proceed with the installation. Dangerous apps are blocked outright.

This sounds like another positive step for Android security, right? It could be, but so far that doesn’t seem to be the case. North Carolina University’s Xuxian Jiang threw some 1,260 samples of Android malware (representing 49 different “families”) from the Android Malware Genome Project at Google’s App verification service to see how it did. The result? App verification detected just 193 of them, or a bit over 15 percent of the total. Right now, it appears that Android users relying on Jelly Bean’s app verification to ensure their safety may mainly be receiving a false sense of security.

Google’s app verification will likely improve significantly in time. In September, Google acquired security software developer VirusTotal for an undisclosed amount, and VirusTotal’s technology has apparently not yet been integrated into Google’s app verification. When Jiang randomly chose one example from each of those 49 Android malware families, Google’s app verification service flagged 10 of them, but ten representative antivirus services in VirusTotal flagged anywhere from 29 to 49 (yup, 100 percent) of the samples.

Even if (when?) Google integrates VirusTotal technology into its app verification service, it will always be playing catch-up to malware authors, though. Even now, Android malware developers are known to mutate and repackage their malware so it can have different checksum values and thus avoid detection. Google’s app verification service also does no on-board scanning or analysis of app behavior. If an app doesn’t get flagged right away, it’s never going to get flagged later.

Protect yourself

To be sure, the scale of the Android malware problem has nowhere near the scale of, say, the Windows malware problem. TrustGo tallied up nearly 29,000 different Android malware samples in September 2012 — compare that figure to the over 75 million unique malware signatures firms like McAfee are tracking for Windows. Windows’ total installed base is larger than Android, and while Android is catching up fast it’s still a relatively young platform without the sheer volume of malware targeting something like Windows. Put another way: TrustGo emphasized that 175 million high risk apps had been downloaded from Google’s Top 500 apps in October 2012; however, when The Next Web’s Emil Protalinski concluded just 23 of those 500 were problematic.

How can users protect themselves?

Stay up to date — The best way to make sure you have the most secure version of Android is to apply operating system updates as soon as you can. Unfortunately, the fragmentation of the Android platform makes this impossible for many users, since mobile carriers have been very slow to roll out patches and fixes. More frustrating, some manufacturers stop offering updates for their devices long before their useful lifespans are over, meaning the only way for many customers to get newer, more-secure versions of Android is to get a new device.

How bad is it? Back in September data collected via Duo Security X-Ray mobile app estimated over half of all Android devices carried known, unpatched security vulnerabilities. Also consider that, according to Google, Android version 2.3 (Gingerbread) still accounted for about half of all Android devices checking in with Google Play as of last week.

Don’t download apps from links or messages — Limit your apps downloads to reputable, well-managed app stores. Although there’s no guarantee apps in Google Play, the Amazon Appstore, or other above-board ventures are safe — and, as we saw above, popularity is no guarantee of safety — well-managed stores are less likely to be serving up malware than apps available via direct download. Remember: one way scammer and cybercriminals get people to install malware is by sending links via email or text messaging — it’s particularly effective with children and folks who aren’t technically savvy.

Read those permissions warnings! — When you install an app from Google Play, you’ll be asked whether you want to grant it permission to sense SMS or MMS messages, access browser history or bookmarks, or access your contact data. Think careful about those permissions. Does that casual game need to send text messages? Why does that free disco-party flashlight app need to access your browsing history? If it doesn’t make sense, don’t grant the permissions.

Consider security software — For everyday Android users, common sense and paying attention should be enough to keep devices (and their data) reasonably safe — for now, anyway. However, for less knowledgable or technically-inclined users — perhaps like children and senior citizens — Android security software from a reputable vendor might be worth considering. Many security developers offer Android packages and services, including Avast, TrendMicro, Symantec, BitDefender, ClamAV, F-Secure, Kingsoft, Kaspersky, Kingsoft, and others.

Right now, security software might be more important for businesses and enterprise, particularly as users increasingly bring their own smartphones and tablets to the workplace. Although the most profitable Android malware right now seems to be SMS scams (that surreptitiously send SMS messages to a service that charges a mobile user’s bill), 2012 was also the first time security researchers found mobile botnets, and targeted mobile attacks are on the rise, where attackers use Android (and BlackBerry) malware to move funds out of personal and business bank accounts.

Bottom line

The Android platform isn’t stumbling under the weight of malware, but mobile threats are very real and growing — and, as the most-exploitable and most-popular mobile platform, Android is cybercriminals’ biggest target. Google is taking steps to make Google Play and Android devices more secure, but so far those efforts don’t seem to be having big payoffs for users and, in the case of the app verification feature in Google Play for Jelly Bean, may lull users into a false sense of complacency. We hope Google’s security efforts improve quickly; in the meantime, the best way for Android users to stay safe is to be informed and vigilant.

Though the spotlight was largely on tablets and smartphones this year, 2012 brought a number of changes to the PC world that will hugely impact computers in 2013.

‘Tis the season for retrospection: that little lull between the holidays and the bright new year; those special few days when it’s only natural to look back at the highlights (and lowlights) of the weeks gone by.

This year, you couldn’t talk about PCs without talking about tablets and smartphones in the same breath. Seemingly every headline touted the impending mobile future while poo-pooing PCs as nothing more than relics of a more sedentary past. Here’s a reality check: as stagnant as PC sales were in 2012, computers still outsold slates by far. And not a single analyst expects tablets to topple traditional computer shipments any time in the foreseeable future.

In other words, rumors of the PC’s imminent demise are greatly exaggerated, and key events in the past 12 months could have tectonic consequences on the computing landscape for years to come. Here are the major events that rocked the PC world in 2012 and could send aftershocks a-quakin’ in the days and weeks ahead.

Windows 8: Microsoft’s move to mobile, or a complete flop?

Love it or hate it, the release of Windows 8 was easily the biggest computing story of 2012. By now, we all know about Live Tiles, missing Start buttons, and the operating system’s touch-friendly Modern-style apps, all of which are major departures from the traditional interface found in the beloved Windows 7 and its predecessors.

Less talked about are the substantial under-the-hood improvements Windows 8 brings to the table, which may explain why the operating system has landed with a dull thud – though not quite an outright flop – in the market. Microsoft claims to have sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses, though that number includes sales to corporations (which may not upgrade immediately) and PC manufacturers themselves, not just consumers. But consumers and analysts alike say that the public just isn’t chomping at the bit for Live Tile-packing PCs.

Five years from now we’ll hail Windows 8 as the momentous release that it is. The question is, will we remember 2012 as the year Microsoft kicked off its mobile ambitions, or as the year the Windows exodus began? My bet’s on the former, but time will tell.

Snuffing out SOPA

Something truly unprecedented shook the Web to its core early in the year when some of the biggest sites on the Web – including Reddit, Wikipedia, and Google – joined forces to display prominent statements or black out their pages completely to protest two controversial pieces of U.S. legislation: SOPA and PIPA.

In a nutshell, the bills got everyone in a tizzy because they were vaguely worded and could potentially be used to censor websites with little to no judicial oversight. Oh, the fact that big brain types like Vint “Father of the Internet” Cerf said that implementing the technical requirements in the bills would break the security of the Web’s DNS system didn’t help either. In the end, the bills ended up shelved indefinitely. Score one for the Net – for now.

One day later, U.S. feds (with the help of the New Zealand police) cracked down on Megaupload.com for copyright violations, seizing its servers and arresting its operators, leading many to wonder what the government even needs a bill like SOPA for if it can unilaterally crack down on website owners on the other side of the world as-is. Since the raid, many aspects of the Megaupload search and seizure have been deemed illegal by New Zealand magistrates, and the country’s prime minister personally apologized to Megaupload’s owner, Kim Dotcom, after it was revealed that government agencies illegally spied on him.

Microsoft wades into the hardware fray

Though this is only tangentially a computing topic, as the Surface tablet is a mobile product, Microsoft’s decision to compete directly against its manufacturing partners on store shelves has sent shockwaves throughout the entire PC ecosystem. In response, several manufacturers shelved or delayed plans for Windows tablets of their own, though only Acer would say as much in plain terms.

The awkward part: Microsoft blanketed the world in those glitzy dubstep-esque Surface ads, drowning out the ad efforts of its launch day partners.

The more awkward part: Those ads seem to have worked. A top Windows mobile advertising firm says that the Surface RT tablet is far and away the single most-used Windows 8/RT device.

The even more awkward part: In a letter to Microsoft shareholders, CEO Steve Ballmer said that the Surface won’t be the last device Microsoft makes. “There will be times when we build specific devices for specific purposes,” he wrote.

Lenovo topples HP for the #1 spot

This one’s a bit inside baseball, but there’s no doubt that Lenovo toppling HP and ending its rival’s six-year reign as the top PC manufacturer is nothing short of momentous. Perhaps more meaningful for the future is the way Lenovo and Asus are enjoying surging sales while American companies like Dell and HP are basically in free-fall, losing market share in the double digits in the third quarter.

That poor performance in the consumer market has prompted both U.S. companies to shift their focus to enterprise endeavors. They’ll have to battle Lenovo’s entrenched ThinkPad brand in the enterprise sector, but that’s beside the point – I think.

Hybrids hit the scene

The appearance of Windows 8 might not have breathed new life into the sluggish PC market in the way manufacturers hoped, but one bright spot has emerged from Microsoft’s new finger-friendly operating system: the rise of hybrid machines that blur the line between tablet and laptop, converting between form factors on the fly to meet your at-the-minute needs.

Thanks to their size and heft, most Windows 8 hybrids fall firmly into the “laptop first” camp; the display and thickness of devices like the Dell XPS 12 and Lenovo Yoga are petite for a laptop but gargantuan compared to proper tablets. Windows RT devices like the Surface and the Asus VivoTab take the opposite approach. They’re designed primarily for tablet usage, then up their productivity chops when necessary with the help of detachable keyboard docks. Regardless of which you prefer, the new-look Windows is forcing manufacturers to rethink their hardware in new-look ways, and hybrids are redefining what “PC” actually means. And that’s a good thing.

The rise of the mini PC

Hybrids aren’t the only devices shaking up the PC ecosystem. PCs went pint-size in 2012, with the arrival of several new products capable of delivering perfectly acceptable – if a bit underpowered – performance in a package small enough to fit in the palm of your hand.

Even better, these itty-bitty PCs sport matching itty-bitty price tags, which is the whole point of the Raspberry Pi, aka the mini-PC that started the current craze. With its accessible hardware, swappable operating systems, and low $25 to $35 price point, the Raspberry Pi Foundation envisions its computer introducing a whole new generation of youngsters to programming and computer science. The whole thing was designed to make it as appealing as possible to schools across the globe.

Several other mini PCs made their grand entry once the Pi kicked the door open for this smaller, slimmer form factor. APC’s Via 8750 follows the Raspberry Pi’s “open board with multiple ports” design; but perhaps more intriguing are the so-called “On a stick” PCs like the MK 802 II, and FXI’s Cotton Candy (which is still in a developer-focused beta stage). These USB drive-shaped devices pack a full computer and simply plug into a monitor or HDTV, making it a snap to bring your own personal PC with you no matter where you go.

Though these mini PCs have only been in the public eye for less than a year, they’re already improving rapidly. Newer versions (like the MK802 III) sport dual-core processors and discrete GPUs that give them performance on par with mainstream smartphones. Moore’s Law says even more potent mini PCs should arrive in short order.

AMD and Nvidia slug it out in the battle for graphical supremacy

Finally, the battle for graphical supremacy heated up in 2012. AMD landed the first punch of this GPU generation with the Radeon HD 7970, which immediately claimed the single-GPU performance crown when it launched at the beginning of the year.

Nvidia kept silent and bided its time. In May, a full five months after the release of the Radeon HD 7970, Nvidia unleashed the GeForce GTX 680, a graphics card that stole the performance crown back from AMD and did so for a sticker price $50 less than the high-end Radeon that sold for $550 at the time.

Most years, that would be the end of it – but not in 2012. Rather than hanging its head in shame and vowing to do better next year, AMD instead relied on its months of live testing data to release the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition, a souped-up version of the regular version with a boosted core clock. Though the card is louder and more power hungry than the GTX 680, it’s as stable as the sun and as good – or better! – than its Nvida counterpart in virtually every performance aspect.

Why does that matter? It’s simple: AMD simply hasn’t been competitive with Nvidia’s top cards from a performance standpoint for more than half a decade. Competition’s a good thing for consumers, and the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition gives us new hope for a graphically intense future of gaming … assuming AMD manages to stay afloat in the future, that is.

Happy New Year from Jetsetter and Digital Trends. In this week's column we look at who's developing the newly revealed multiplayer mode in Tomb Raider 2013 and major developments in the world of Korean MMOs from TERA to World of Tanks.

Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind? Should old Jetsetter be forgot and auld lang syne? For Jetsetter my dear, for Jetsetter, we’ll take a cup of kindness yet. And we’ll take a right good-will draft for auld lang syne and Jetsetter to boot.

Welcome once again to Jetsetter, Digital Trends weekly look at the international world of video games, bringing you word of what games people are playing and making well beyond the borders of the United States. The US represents the biggest video game market in the world by a wide margin and our tastes dominate the industry but it’s a big old world out there and it’s always worth exploring what else is out there. Did you know there was a Japanese game called Pepsiman about the Pepsi mascot? How about a Chinese version of Final Fantasy VII for the NES? Fear not. Jetsetter’s got your back.

With days to go before 2013, we’re starting close to home with a story about the next project for one of Canada’s best studios before doing it Gangnam Style and looking at two big developments in the world of Korean MMOs.

* Deus Ex: Human Revolution developer making Tomb Raider multiplayer modes.

We reported just a few days back that Tomb Raider, Square-Enix’s upcoming reboot of Lara Croft’s adventures, will include multiplayer modes in a first for the series. Turns out that Crystal Dynamics is only developing the adventure itself. Tomb Raider multiplayer is actually created by none other than Eidos Montreal, the intrepid studio behind 2011’s mindblowingly awesome (in this writer’s opinion) Deus Ex: Human Revolution. It’s surprising that the Canadian studio is taking the time to work on a separate project as it’s been hard at work on Thief 4 for years now.

 

* World of Tanks heads to Korea.

Hey, sexy ladies, you heard about World of Tanks opening for business in South Korea? Yeah, that’s right: Two “Gangnam Style” references in a single column! There are two days left in 2012, I’ve got to cram those references in before they become completely dated. Anyway, yes, the Belarusian free-to-play MMO that’s become a global phenomenon with 45 million active players in Russia, China, and elsewhere opened for business in South Korea on Thursday. “I’m sure that World of Tanks will be able to gain more and more gamer attention in Korea, thanks to the game’s profoundness both strategically and gameplay-wise,” said Wargaming Korea’s general manager Chankuk Park. Profoundness! Clearly I need to play this game.

 

* TERA goes free-to-play in Korea and Japan.

TERA publisher Hangame announced that its successful MMO will now be free-to-play in Korea and Japan. TERA was released in the US and Europe in the middle of 2012 after an extensive localization process, and while the game earned itself solid reviews with its gorgeous graphics and action-based combat, its adherence to monthly subscription fees has limited its success. That won’t change any time soon, though, as TERA will remain a subscription game in the US. The shift in Korea and Japan makes sense considering the game released at the beginning of 2011 in the region and is ready to move to the next phase of growth with the free-to-play pay model.

The Last Guardian. Final Fantasy Versus XIII. 2012 was a great year for video games but there's no shortage of long lost games stuck in development hell we wish had come out this year. Here are ten games including those lost hopefuls we expect to hear about in 2013.

Don’t believe the haters—2012 was a fantastic year in video games. From indies like FTL: Faster Than Light to surprise underdogs like The Walking Dead and franchise resurrections like XCOM: Enemy Unknown, the past twelve months have been littered with high quality storytelling and play on literally every platform available. For all of the great games, though, there was quite a few that were missed. Not those games like Tomb Raider, Aliens: Colonial Marines, or BioShock Infinite that were pushed from 2012 release dates into 2013, but the lost and damned of gaming. The vaporware, the announced but never played, the missing in action games that perpetually sit on developer’s fiscal forecast documents and Amazon.com preorder pages, waiting forever for a firm release date that will never come.

A new year always brings new hope. Here are ten games previously announced for current consoles that we hope will re-emerge in 2013 as either the last fruits of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, the first wave of next-gen games, or fruitful library expansions for the PS Vita and Nintendo 3DS.

 

Final Fantasy Versus XIII

Square-Enix habitually announces games far too early, but none have been more premature than Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Developed by Tetsuya Nomura (Final Fantasy VII) and the Kingdom Hearts 2 development team, this modernist spin-off of Final Fantasy XIII (it purportedly takes place in the same world but in a much different era) was originally announced in 2006 but has never been playable. Kotaku reported earlier this year that the game was finally dead but Square-Enix CEO Yoichi Wada hit Twitter to retort. “I’ve seen the rumors that Final Fantasy Versus XIII has been cancelled,” said Wada, “The rumors aren’t true. I’ve actually been in a recent presentation about the game and I’ve seen it.” Nomura also said in May that the game was coming along. “We would like to ask for your patients on an official announcement for this title,” said Nomura. With production of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII almost complete, the time is now.

 

Agent

E3 2009 was a rough year for Sony’s PS3. The company’s press conference announced not one, but three exclusives that have never seen the light of day, including: the next item on our list, the PlayStation 3 version of Final Fantasy XIV, and the Rockstar Games thriller, Agent. Set during the Cold War, the game was supposed to be a dramatic shift for Grand Theft Auto studio Rockstar North, focusing on Ian Fleming-style espionage rather than late-20^th century crime dramedy. The above logo is the only official image ever released from the game, though a former Rockstar artist posted what were alleged screenshots of the game in 2011. With Grand Theft Auto V wrapping up for a spring 2013 release, it’s time for Rockstar North to refocus on the game.

 

The Last Guardian

The first trailer of Fumito Ueda’s follow up to Shadow of the Colossus was reportedly shown to Sony executives and select press in 2007, but to date The Last Guardian has been more of a myth than a real game. Sony showed the first official trailer for the game at E3 2009 and pegged it with a 2010 release date. Later the release date was pushed to 2012, but the year’s come and gone and the PS3 exclusive never made an appearance. Even though Ueda resigned from Sony in 2012, he stayed on to finish the game and promised in September that it’s still in production. “I give you my word that it exists,” said Ueda. Sony Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida promised it was coming soon. “The team is still on it very hard. There are certain technical issues they’ve been working on. That’s the period when the game, looking from the outside, doesn’t seem to be making much progress. But internally there is a lot of work going into creating the title.”

 

Zone of the Enders 3

Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima has shown plenty of footage of his next stealth game, but the iconic developer has said repeatedly that he’s desperate to work on another series again. His mech fighting fantasia Zone of the Enders got some love thanks to the release of Zone of the Enders HD Collection earlier this year, but the long-rumored sequel is still just a faint possibility. In May Kojima announced Zone of the Enders: Enders Project, a new sequel starring the fighting mech suit Anubis. Kojima even showed off new character models (seen above) but didn’t disclose platforms for the game. Expect to see Konami talk about ZOE3 alongside Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes (The Phantom Pain?) in 2013.

 

BioShock Vita

Irrational Games’ Ken Levine is a terrible tease. Not only did he promise BioShock Infinite would come out in 2012, only to delay the game into 2013, he also announced an original BioShock title for the PS Vita at E3 2011. That game disappeared after that brief mention, but Levine said at the beginning of December that he’s ready to work on it. What’s the hold up? Sony and publisher 2K Games are still working out an arrangement. “Where the Vita stands right now, it’s in the hands of the business people at Take-Two and the business people at Sony working out, hey, what happens in these business discussions,” said Levine, “[BioShock Vita] is something I’m still very interested in. I still have a cool design for it.”

 

Beyond Good & Evil 2

One of the best games to hit the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube was Michael Ancel’s science fiction epic Beyond Good & Evil. Part Zelda, part Star Wars, the game was an unusually ambitious attempt at world creation, arguably deeper in scope than Ubisoft’s more modern efforts like Assassin’s Creed. Ubi and Ancel debuted a teaser trailer for the game in the spring of 2008 and leaked a brief gameplay demo in 2009, but the game’s sat in the background since. Ancel gave an update on the game in May, recommitting it for next-gen consoles, but not giving a release date. “We won’t make promises that we can’t keep,” said Ancel, “We are in an active creation stage and at the moment we are only focusing on the game and making it the best that we can. I can say that it’s a very ambitious game and we need some tech to achieve that ambition. We focus on the game. We create it first, then we’ll see what can run it.” With five years of development time, Beyond Good & Evil 2 seems like a good launch candidate for Xbox 720 and PlayStation 4 in 2013.

Project Zwei

Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami hasn’t been absent from game development for very long as the excellent Vanquish released just two years ago, but he hasn’t made a new survival horror game since 2005’s Resident Evil 4. Mikami announced his codenamed return to survival horror, Project Zwei, in April 2012 alongside the above art. “I’ve found my focus and once again I’m striving for pure survival horror,” said Mikami. The only problem: There’s been no news about the game since that April announcement. His studio Tango Gameworks is developing the game and publisher Bethesda has said that it’s planned for 2013.

 

Ni-Oh

This is going back. Koei actually announced this action brawler inspired by an unfinished script by famed director Akira Kurosawa all the way back in 2004 – it was one of the very first PlayStation 3 games ever publicly discussed. A trailer for the game materialized in 2005 and the game was planned to release alongside the PS3 in 2006. In the interim, Koei merged with Tecmo and the game faded from the public. Ni-Oh shockingly re-emerged in August when Tecmo co-founder Yoichi Erikawa confirmed that developer Team Ninja was making progress on the game. “We just finished the alpha version of the game,” said Erikawa, “[Work is] continuing steadily.” It’s never too late for a PlayStation 3 launch game!

 

Mega Man

Mega Man 10, released in 2010, was the last official Mega Man game released before series creator Keiji Inafune resigned from Capcom. At the time, multiple new Mega Man games were in development including Mega Man Universe, an MMO Little Big Planet-style take on the series that focused on user-created levels, and Mega Man Legends 3 for the Nintendo 3DS. Both were cancelled in 2011 following Inafune’s departure, a silent atrocity committed by his shamed former employer. Capcom is melting its Mega Man freeze though. The release of fan-made Street Fighter X Tekken came with the promise that Capcom would spend 2013 celebrating the franchise. Capcom USA executive Christian Svensson has suggested that a series rebirth is on the way.

 

Seaman 3DS

If 2012 proved anything, it’s that you can’t keep a great Sega game down. Jet Set Radio and Nights Into Dreams returned in HD remasters even as the company struggled financially. Yoot Saito and Sega’s bizarre Dreamcast pet simulator Seaman was even touted as a candidate for a reboot. In February 2012, reports came out that Saito and Nintendo were working on a Nintendo 3DS version of Seaman. Then in June, Saito teased fans with a picture of the iconic freak critter from the series in a Santa Claus costume. Nintendo’s 3DS publishing schedule is barren past the spring, so Seaman 3D seems like a good bet for later in the year.

The Samsung Galaxy S III is just about the hottest phone on the market today. Whether you’re an Apple fanboy or Steve Ballmer, 30 million Galaxy S IIIs is a lot to swallow. With so much surrounding Samsung in 2012 and even more to come in 2013, the mobile world is starting to focus on the next “Next Big Thing”.

In the mock-up video, the Galaxy S IV is portrayed as a slimmer Galaxy S III with a much smaller bezel. Also, the teaser video notes that the Galaxy S IV will have a 2GHz quad-core processor, full 1080p AMOLED display, 13MP camera and Android 5.0 (Key Lime Pie).

Of course, these specs are just rumors and speculation. However, that would be pretty cool and definitely worthy of the name of “The Next Big Thing”.

Rozetked, one of YouTube’s finest rendering artists, released the world’s first Samsung Galaxy S4 render. Take a look:

What do you think the Galaxy S IV will look like? What kind of hardware will Samsung squeeze into their next flagship? Let us know in the comments below.

Many people have replaced their Starbucks cards, for example, with a mobile app that offers even more functionality. You might already be using NFC on your smartphone to replace some credit cards, but what if you could replace your car keys too? Hyundai wants to make that happen.

When you think about it, this really makes a lot of sense. So many cars have push-to-start these days where the actual physical key doesn’t really matter all that much. All you need is something that can provide the appropriate signal and the NFC technology in compatible smartphones sounds like a perfect fit. Hyundai is aiming to replace traditional car keys with NFC-based apps by 2015. This wireless technology is likely an option, as some people will still want regular keys, but it is certainly intriguing.

But it’s not just about unlocking your doors and starting the engine. Hyundai wants to make it possible to set specific user profiles based on which smartphone is being used. In addition to opening the door, it might automatically set your seating and mirror positions, for example, and automatically switch to your favorite satellite radio station. And the cars would likely have an inductive charging plate to provide power to your mobile devices too.

I like it. There are already smartphone apps to work with compatible “smart” door locks, apps to pay for things, and apps to replace customer loyalty cards. It’s only a matter of time before we abandon traditional keys and wallets in favor of an all smartphone lifestyle.

The past year has seen some interesting advancements – and some goofy gadgets – in the way we exercise, but wearable technology still often fails to impress. That’s about to change.

The last year has seen a ton of new health gadgets, widgets and apps hit the market, all looking to crack the code on coaxing tubby Americans to move more. For a glimpse at just some of the ones we’ve covered, check out this, this, this, and this.

But before you run out to get the next blinky shiny device promising to jumpstart a new you in the New Year, it might be helpful to put this broader digital fitness trend in some context.

From motivational apps to “smart” jewelry like Nike’s Fuel Band and Jawbone’s Up, the developers and manufacturers in this space are making two big behavioral bets on the best way to turn couch potatoes into hard bodies. Before you buy anything, you need to know what they are and how likely they are to work for you.

Big Bet #1: The Quantified Self

Ever since the Nike+ debuted in 2009, (see here for a great Wired overview of its impact all we’ve been riding a growing swell of interest in “measure it to manage it” personal data collection. At the pinnacle of that particular niche of geekdom sits the Quantified Self community, whose “Self Knowledge Through Numbers” mantra veers curiously close to an article of faith for a bunch of scientists.

Adherents measure almost everything in their lives, from calories consumed, to hours slept, watts burned and miles traveled – all in a relentless effort to tweak, tune, hack, and refine their baser instincts into their best selves (see Tim Ferriss’ “Four Hour Everything” franchise as a pop-culture example).

Verdict: This is inescapable in the current market – pretty much all of these companies have hitched their wagon to the assumption that “If I can visualize my activity, I’ll be more motivated, and stick with it longer.”

The problem is that there’s a persistent gap between the activity reports, charts and graphs these companies promote and that remarkably sticky issue of human inertia. After all, trend lines and scatter plots are one thing; a well-timed kick in the pants, is another. Put another way, you can have all the data in the world, but without motivation, it’s just noise.

And for those self-starting self trackers who delight in every element of the game, there’s a different trap: spending so much time “fixin’ to get ready to” that their activity-to-analysis ratio tanks and they’re back on the couch where they started – a whole lot smarter to be sure, but none the wiser (and not much leaner).

Recommendation: The team at Basis, who pre-sold their entire inventory for the holidays in the first week of their launch, does a great job tackling the problem of inertia head-on, working on building habits one at a time so they stick, and translating raw data into actionable insights. If you don’t want to get bogged down in the information, and need more gentle and helpful nudges to get out and do more, then Basis might be a good match.

Big Bet #2: The Game-ification of Everything

This one’s been all the talk at think tank confabs for the past few years, from SXSW to TED and beyond (see one here)

At its most ambitious, adding a “game layer” to our frenzied lives is supposed to turn us into choose-our-own adventure versions of Pavlov’s dogs – checking in on location apps, coming back to our social network pages every hour, snapping up daily deals. For anyone that’s been suckered into buying, selling, gifting or grifting points, badges, vegetables or other markers of digital accomplishment and clogging friends’ feeds or inboxes – you’ve been gameified.

Still, our current fitness world, filled as it is with flatscreen TVs and Stairmasters, could do with a little more fun and games.

Transparent though they may be, these efforts to engage our sense of competition and accomplishment are helping more of us stick with our regimes, and get the dual benefit of charting progress and comparing ourselves to others. A recent Atlantic cover story rightly outed the current gaming fever as a resurgence of psychologist B.F Skinner’s Behaviorism. After years of battling the middle age bulge, the author found success by harnessing a few of these apps and devices to lose thirty pounds and, at least at press time, keep it off.

Verdict: Despite the hype, Game-ification 1.0 is done – just look at Zynga’s stock price. Location-based tech-darling Foursquare has revamped its business model after the novelty wore off their check-ins, and we expect a similar drop off in stickiness with most of these first wave fitness platforms.

Nike’s first Fuel effort fits squarely in the category. Unless you’re such an enthusiast that you’re intrigued by the score-keeping and tracking for it’s own sake, don’t hold out excessive hope that this is going to do for you what your Nordic-Trak rusting in the basement never could.

Given development lag times, though, expect to see more of these early attempts at game-ified fitness flush through the pipeline next year. As late as June, I advised a developer creating a new online/offline interactive wellness game for one of the big three console makers, and they were firmly stuck in the “badges and widgets” ghetto. The intention is good, but in terms of practical effects on the average exerciser, this stuff is pulling grade school levers when we need the grad school version.

Recommendation: If you want engagement and distraction from the usual grind of working out, and crave the actual or virtual company of others as you just do it, stay tuned for the new developments coming out of Portland and Nike’s Fuel program.

Just announced late this year, Nike is opening up the Fuel universe to third-party developers and launching a partnership with Xbox Kinect. 

While in the past, online exercise hasn’t played out to much effect (see Nintendo’s Wii Fit hype cycle), Nike’s efforts with Microsoft and their interactive video games go well beyond air tennis in your living room – things like harnessing advanced movement tracking/analysis and dropping you into games as your favorite Nike pro athlete. You will actually be able to Fuel points you’ve earned in real life as points in the games.

Think about that for a minute: Fake real pro athletes in 2D powered by real amateur athletes in 3D! How’s that for a postmodern take on losing your spare tire?

By kicking down the walls between their platform, their third-party developers, and their users’ Xbox and their physical activities, Nike puts us on the edge of some interesting potential progressions in fitness technology.

Conclusion

If you’re a die-hard early adopter who delights in newest-coolest and doesn’t mind the occasional bug, then jump in. There are more than enough interesting products out there right now to keep you glued to your wrist and the tech blogs that can tell you what those lights and numbers actually mean.

For the rest of us, 2013 is cooking up some truly intriguing developments, like sensors that tell us much more than steps counted or calories burned, and digital worlds that swallow us whole, only to spit us out again, more fit and more engaged with our physical selves.

Quantified and Game-ified Selves are here to stay, so the question is: what counts, and who’s keeping score?