You might be wondering what Bplay, a game and theme publisher, is doing at the Wireless Enterprise Symposium, but hey, suits like games too. The most recent addition to their catalog is, of course, Guitar Hero, but they’ve also got games like Leisure Suit Larry: Love For Sail, Surviving Hollywood, Star Wars: Battle Above Coruscant, Caesar, and the upcoming Texas Hold ‘em King 3. Bplay is the primary outlet for Magmic’s games, but another portal, Winplay, offers their Windows Mobile ports. Outside of games, Bplay offers themes in droves, of course. As a gamer myself, I can’t wait to see what they have on offer at WES.
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WES Exhibitor Spotlight: Bplay
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BPlay just opened up a whole new category of themes for Zodiac signs, so you can answer the age-old “what’s your sign?” pick-up line in style. All the signs available across Zen, Today, and Icon styles, but it would be cool if the backgrounds fit the signs a bit more – you know, a big ol’ bull for Taurus, some scales for Libra, that kind of thing. My question is when are they going to start porting over themes to the Crossbar style?
Research in Motion has patented a process whereby a BlackBerry’s theme can be changed from a remote source, reports ZDNet’s BlackBerry Beat. The patent, entitled System and Method for Adaptive Theming Of A Mobile Device, could be used by carriers or other third parties to change a user’s themes based on something like the season, geographical area, etc. It sounds like a fantastic idea, especially for theme makers, but I worry about potential abuse. The patent describes various methods of identification between BlackBerry and the third party, so security isn’t an issue, but there’s no guarantee that the service will be opt-it rather than mandatory.
BerryReview recently posted about Michael Smalls, a BlackBerry theme designer who has released over a hundred BlackBerry 8100, 8300, and 8800 themes for free. The design of the website leaves quite a lot to be desired, but the themes themselves are well done and there is a lot of variety. If none of the themes are entirely to your liking, you can even contact Smalls to have one personally designed for a $3-$10 fee depending on complexity. Fair warning: the site absolutely requires Internet Explorer on a PC to download the themes. There’s always Gemblock, who also does a lot of free themes.
So, the U.S. has been abuzz with electoral debates and presidential candidates for at least a year now, and if you’ve picked your side, you can show your colours with some new themes from BPlay. Being in Canada, I’m pretty daft about American politics, but the way the democrats have a Smartcar icon and the republicans have a fighter jet, I think the picture’s pretty clear. And hey, so long as you’re getting all political, you should check out White House Rumble. Along with the new themes, Bplay’s also released Spyro, the old PlayStation classic recently brought to the Wii, as a side-scrolling game for BlackBerry.
Christmastime is rapidly approaching, and maybe that special BlackBerry-user in your life hasn’t been bought for just yet. Well, there’s still time and BBCool’s here to help you find something you know they’ll use and love. We’ve compiled a little wish-list of stuff we would personally like to see under the tree – presents we’re so sure of that we’re knocking 10% off all in-store items marked with asterix – just enter the coupon code BBHOLIDAY for your discount. I know, we’re giving y’all presents early again, but we just can’t help it.
Check the BBCool Wishlist behind the jump!
Gemblock’s holding a cool contest for those theme developers out there, where entrants can win a cool $100 for an original theme. This is a great chance for budding theme builders to gain visibility, recieve constructive criticism, and get a look at the work of their fellow developers. And hey, who knows? You might even win the prize. For everyone else, keep an eye on the page for some free themes to test out – no doubt we’ll be seeing some quality submissions soon.
Just when you thought you could avoid the OS wars by using a handheld other than the iPhone or a Windows Mobile device, bPlay releases two new themes for the faithful to wave their respective flags. WinDesktop and MacBerry Tiger have brought the feud to your BlackBerry. Even at BBCool HQ, the battle lines between Windows and Mac have been drawn, with both blood and tears shed over the bitter conflict. The cost of waging your own OS war is a mere $6.99.
Instructions have been floating around on how to access hidden carrier themes for awhile now, but Pinstacker Rcbjr has broken down the 11 steps needed to get the job done in this concise post. It’s a little tricky, requiring some file renaming and deletions, but the instructions are clean and straightforward, and in the end you should be able to access some new themes. And who can say no to new themes? Give it a shot, and let us know how it goes.
bPlay’s just released a new basketball game, NBA 2-on-2 SLAM by Magmic alongside a new Basketball theme. Anyone serious about their basketball would do well to pick both of these up. I just noticed that they also offer discounted bundles now, so if you grabbed a sports jam ringtone too, you’d be getting 10% off. Not a bad deal at all. It might be easy to say gadget geekery and playing sports are mutually exclusive, but it turns out NBA players love their BlackBerrys too.
