Most anticipated movies of 2011

Hope springs eternal. As we round the bases of another year, it’s important to let the average and outright crappy slough off and realize that we’re all standing on the precipice of another year of movies. The future stretches out before us full of possibilities. That cheesy trailer you saw last week could end up producing your favorite film of the year. That epic blockbuster you’ve been waiting for could be bigger than you ever imagined.
There’s hope for everything, but there’s also expectation, which is why Rob Hunter, Neil Miller and Cole Abaius painstakingly put together our list of the 30 Most Anticipated Films of 2011. It’s the stuff we’re most looking forward to this year, put together when our hope and optimism is at its peak.

The list is in as-chronological-an-order as possible keeping in mind the TBAs and complete unknowns. All releases are subject to change, but it’s nice to see so many films spread out so evenly across the year. Even in January!
See if you find something to get your hopes up for.

The Cabin In the Woods

The When: This year… maybe.
The Who: Directed by Drew Goddard; written by Drew Goddard, Joss Whedon; starring Richard Jenkins, Bradley Whitford, Chris Hemsworth
The What: A group of friends head to the titular vacation retreat and begin to die horrible deaths. Goddard and Whedon’s script is an exciting and entertaining read, and if MGM gets off their ass and finally releases the damn thing, viewers will be in for a fresh and fun take on the genre. I expect some of the film’s fresh approach to be ruined with spoiler-filled marketing, but I also don’t see any way that could be avoided. So see it as soon as possible once it opens. -RH

The Way Back

The When: January 21st
The Who: Directed by Peter Weir; Written by Peter Weir and Keith R. Clarke; Starring Colin Farrell, Jim Sturgess, and some extremely cold prisoners
The What: Peter Weir is a master filmmaker, and the prospect of him tackling a story as grueling as a group of prisoners escaping from the unending Winter of Russia and trying to make it to safety through the rough terrain is a gloomy and beautiful one. Weir draws some insanely strong performances from actors, and the talent here pairs some veterans with some new comers with potential. It sounds brilliant, but I’d bring a coat to the theater. -CA

Unknown

The When: February 11th
The Who: Directed by Jaume Collet-Saura; written by Oliver Butcher, Stephen Cornwell; starring Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones, Frank Langella, Aidan Quinn
The What: A man wakes from a coma and finds another man has taken his place at home and work and no one will believe he’s who he says he is. If that sounds confusing to you, just imagine how the guy feels. Neeson did quite well a couple years ago with his ‘man on a mission’ flick Taken, and judging by the trailer for this one it appears he’s up to his old, ass-kicking, head knocking self. Which is awesome. -RH

Drive Angry 3D

The When: February 25th
The Who: Directed by Patrick Lussier; Written by Patrick Lussier and Todd Farmer; Starring Nicolas Cage, Amber Heard, and William Fichtner
The What: Having cheated by already seeing this flick, it is with incredible ease that it makes it to this list. It is absurd, demented, and seeks to drop jaws every twenty minutes or so. Plus, William Fichtner has created a character that will become iconic – one that people will still quote from and imitate for years. Cage plays a father hunting down the Satanic cult that killed his daughter and stole her little baby – which they plan to sacrifice to the red guy with the bifurcated tail. As luck would have it, Cage’s character already knows Satan pretty well since he takes up permanent residence in Hell before busting out on his mission. -CA

Red State

The When: Sundance, then perhaps in March
The Who: Kevin Smith, John Goodman and a bunch of newcomers
The What: Even though we swear that we’re going to unfollow Kevin Smith on Twitter any day now, we can’t help but continue to listen out of pure interest in his next project. It’s a horror flick, a major departure for the traditionally funny (and recently unfunny) man. Above all things, that first teaser trailer was a zinger. It was visually on a level Smith has yet to reach, simple and chaotic. We’ll be damned if we weren’t hooked quickly by the thought of Smith changing directions and bringing us something new and fresh – especially if it gets him further away from Cop Out. Here’s hoping it’s scary as all hell, funny where it needs to be and everything that its director claims it is. -NM

Rango

The When: March 4th
The Who: Gore Verbinski, Johnny Depp, Animators at ILM
The What: Imagine Hunter S. Thompson and Captain Jack Sparrow — the only two roles Johnny Depp seems to be able to play to success lately — but as a chameleon with an identity crisis, trapped in a gorgeously animated Old
Western town full of banditos led by a rattlesnake voiced by Bill Nighy. Yes, we want to find out where Gore Verbinski scores his peyote, as well. -NM

Sucker Punch

The When: March 25th
The Who: Zack Snyder and a gaggle of gun-toting gals
The What: Back in a March release-slot, where he has previously wowed with 300 and Watchmen,
raging slowmosexual Zack Snyder brings mandom another glorious gift: hot, dangerously youthful, scantily clad girls whose break-out plan from a psych ward involves machine guns, giant robots, samurai swords and fire-breathing dragons. It could be the imaginative, violent assault on our senses that we need to break free of the Oscar-season doldrums. At the very least, it will be a flashy action flick that also stars Scott Glenn. -NM

Source Code

The When: April 1st
The Who: Directed by Duncan Jones; written by Ben Ripley; starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright
The What: A soldier wakes on a train in another man’s body with no idea why he’s there. And then the train blows up. And then he reawakens on the train… the idea may seem better suited for a Twilight Zone episode as there’s a risk the repetitive nature will get old at feature length, but Ripley’s script does a fantastic job of keeping things interesting as he doles out the answers and the suspense. -RH

The Beaver

The When: April 8th
The Who: Directed by Jodie Foster; written by Kyle Killen; starring JF, Mel Gibson, Anton Yelchin, Jennifer Lawrence
The What: A depressed man tries to turn his life around with the help of a beaver puppet that takes control of decisions. But what happens when the beaver decides he’s come to like the feeling of Gibson’s hand up his ass and refuses to leave? The script is darkly humorous, filled with humanity, and more than a little absurd. Will be interesting to see if the tone translates from the page to the screen intact. -RH

Hanna

The When: April 8th
The Who: Directed by Joe Wright; written by David Farr; starring Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, Cate Blanchett, Olivia Williams
The What: A young girl has spent her whole life  being trained to survive by her ex-CIA father, and when the two are separated she’s forced to put those skills to the test. Step one is blending in with a more traditional family. Step two is killing anyone who gets in her way. Farr’s script is a fast-moving adventure that puts a slightly more realistic spin on the Hit Girl character from Kick-Ass and adds a much stronger story as well. -RH

Scream 4

The When: April 15th
The Who: Directed by Wes Craven; written by Kevin Williamson; starring Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, Rory Culkin
The What: Sidney Prescott is once again targeted by an unoriginal masked killer. No one seems excited for this third sequel to the original classic, but they continue to be the best films of Craven’s career. And while they do occasionally seem incredibly absurd they’re also never less than entertaining. Original scripter Williamson is back after taking part three off, so hopefully he’s brought some fresh twists with him. -RH

Thor

The When: May 6th
The Who: Kenneth Branagh, Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman and Marvel Studios
The What: Marvel Studios begins the next leg of their Avengers initiative with the mystically powered hero who wields a giant hammer. It’s a risky proposition, throwing magic into a universe where Tony Stark and Bruce Banner’s science have reigned supreme, but with big time talent involved and a trailer that looks quite mega, Thor looks to be a promising next step for the kids at Marvel. Big action, big costumes, big hammer — big start to the summer if they play their cards right. -NM

The Hangover 2

The When: May 26th
The Who: The Wolfpack
The What: The Hangover was a bit of a surprise when it hit theaters in the sweaty summer of 2009, but it was a surprise that took a lot of people’s money by shaking it out of them with laughter. This time, the gang is back together to hit up the international lack of laws and ethics that comes with Thailand (and Justin Bartha will probably end up locked on a roof again). Will Todd Phillips go as far as to show us a woman with a trained snake that smokes cigarettes out of her vagina? It’s unclear, but it’s the possibility that he might that’s important. With this and Project X, it’ll be an interesting year for Phillips – one where he could potentially have two hits on his hands. -CA

Green Lantern

The When: June 17th
The Who: Directed by Martin Campbell; Starring Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard and Mark Strong with pointy ears.
The What: While on set, the filmmakers all kept mentioning Star Wars. I have to assume it was because of its epic, science fiction scope and not its tragic CGI racism. DC and Warners are launching their first strike into taking comic book movies to the tent pole stage, and they’re promising to do so by giving Peter Sarsgaard a gigantic forehead. That seems to be the best plan possible. Plus, Green Lantern is a beloved second tier super hero with a huge mythology to build upon – if they can summon a glowing green energy bat and knock this one out of the stratosphere. -CA

Super 8

The When: June 20th
The Who: J.J. Abrams, Steven Spielberg, Secrecy
The What: We know what it’s not — a Cloverfield prequel, another hand-held point-of-view flick — or for that matter, anything related to Lost. And what it’s not is all we’ve had to go on until recently. Speculation says that this J.J. Abrams/Steven Spielberg team-up film will fit perfectly into the arsenal of old school Amblin and be an aliens-in-the-heartland story akin to E.T. or Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Stop right there, we need not know any more. We’ll show up for that. -NM

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

The When: July 1st
The Who: Michael Bay, Not Megan Fox and Giant F&*king Robots
The What: Say what you will about the first two films in the Transformers series, just don’t say that they didn’t have some awesome effects. Because they did. And with ILM back for another round and director Michael Bay promising a smaller, more focused narrative, it might just be the perfect mix of restraint and explosiveness that could make the Transformers movie you’ve wanted from the beginning. Yes, we just said restraint and Michael Bay in the same paragraph. It could happen. If all else fails, it will be a sweet gigantic mess of robot carnage — and there’s still nothing wrong with that. -NM

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

The When: July 15th
The Who: Everyone from Part 1 plus a cast of thousands
The What: July cannot get here fast enough. The final film in a decade-long franchise is closing the back cover on an epic ride that has seen some silliness and some pure amazement. Director David Yates made his thoughtful road trip movie with Part 1, and now he’s set to blow everything up and unleash the war. All the characters we’ve grown to love or hate or fear will clamor together and not everyone will make it safely to the other side. This might just be the darkest, most dangerous Potter yet, and that’s something truly to look forward to. -CA

Captain America: The First Avenger

The When: July 22nd
The Who: Joe Johnston, Chris Evans
The When: Director Joe Johnston is (hopefully) bringing the same imagination he brought to The Rocketeer (and has since forgot) to an adaptation of one of the more iconic men of the Marvel universe, super soldier Steve Rogers. He’s got a charismatic lead, a U-Boat load of talented gnomes at Marvel and almost 70 years of character history at his disposal. Setting aside his recent filmography, we can’t see any reason why The First Avenger won’t be a blast of high-powered WWII action with plenty of juicy Marvel Easter eggs. -NM

Cowboys & Aliens

The When: July 29th
The Who: Directed by Jon Favreau; Written by Bob Oric and Alex Kurtzman; Starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, and Sam Rockwell
The What: A science fiction/western mash-up featuring James Bond, Indiana Jones, and the only likable thing about Tron Legacy directed by the man behind Iron Man. It’s exciting just to see a Ford-style western get put up on screen, and the alien invasion angle seems like great popcorn fun. Oh, and Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard also have something to do with it. As if you weren’t already on the edge of your seat. -CA

Fright Night

The When: August 19th
The Who: Directed by Craig Gillespie; written by Marti Noxon; starring Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, Imogen Poots, David Tennant, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Toni Collette
The What: A young man discovers his new neighbor is a vampire, but when no one else will believe him he turns to a Vegas magician for help. This is a remake of Tom Holland’s first and best film, and it follows the original plot fairly closely. Farrell plays the suave but deadly vampire which for my money is one of the year’s best casting decisions. -RH

One Day

The When: Fall
The Who: Directed by Lone Scherfig; written by David Nicholls; starring Anne Hathaway, Jim Sturgess, Patrica Clarkson
The What: Two people meet on July 15th, 1988, and the film looks into their lives, loves, and losses on that same day for the next twenty years. Nicholls has adapted his own novel, and hopefully he’s been able to maintain the same combination of humor and pathos that made his book such an engaging read. A British accent won’t be Hathaway’s only challenge as the character is also supposed to be a mediocre looking wallflower. -RH

Now

The When: September 30th
The Who: Directed/Written by Andrew Niccol; Starring Olivia Wilde, Johnny Galecki, Cillian Murphy, Amanda Seyfried, Alex Pettyfer, and Justin Timberlake.
The What: Now might be a wildcard choice, but sometimes those are the best options on the table in a world without surprises. Niccol’s name isn’t household, but he wrote The Truman Show and wrote/directed Gattaca and Lord of War. He also wrote/directed S1m0ne, but we’re forgetting that for the moment. His forthcoming film focuses on a future where the aging gene has been destroyed and Time (the abstract concept, not the magazine) has become the currency of the day. It continues the smart science fiction we’re seeing more and more of, and that’s a great thing. -CA

Real Steel

The When: October 7th
The Who: Directed by Shawn Levy; Starring Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lilly, Anthony Mackie, and Giant Fucking Robots
The What: Although the first trailer for the film made it seem like a bunch of metal begins going after each other, the plot itself sounds more like Paper Moon with a hint of sparks flying. Jackman plays a man looking for redemption and finding it in a new relationship with an estranged son. Levy has delivered some harmlessly mindless fun with his Night at the Museum pair, so it’ll be interesting if he can mine a bit more emotion and the literary depth of the Matheson short story this is based from. -CA

The Thing

The When: October 14th
The Who: Directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr; written by Eric Heisserer; starring Joel Edgerton, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Eric Christian Olsen
The What: Scientists in Antarctica discover a spaceship housing an alien life-form destined to kill them all and infect their dogs. This is a prequel to John Carpenter’s classic from almost thirty years ago. Will it be better? Unlikely. But it should hopefully be able to stand on its own as a solid alien horror thriller. If it can manage even half of the atmosphere found in the videogame from several years ago all will be right with the world. -RH

The Muppets

The When: November 23rd
The Who: Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Kermit the Frog and friends
The What: It has been a great number of years since Jim Henson’s Muppets have been properly placed onto the silver screen, so it’s nice to see that Disney is putting some time and effort into the affair. They’ve brought in some big talent, including muppet enthusiast and regular funny dude Jason Segel and silly songwriter extraordinaire Bret McKenzie (Flight of the Conchords), to steer the ship and they will unleash a bevy of cameos that may surprise us, assuming the internet doesn’t spoil them first. All that’s left is to bring that Muppets spirit. And with Brian Henson, Steve Whitmire and the masters of Henson’s workshop on board, the future has never been filled with so many rainbows (or songs about said rainbows). -NM

Hugo Cabret

The When: December 9th
The Who: Directed by Martin Scorsese; Written by John Logan; Starring Asa Butterfield, Chloe Moretz, Jude Law, Sacha Baron Cohen, Emily Mortimer, Christopher Lee, Richard Griffiths, and Sir Ben Kingsley
The What: The personnel involved here is enough to get excited about. Even the child actors have proven their immense talents. Based off the Caldecott-winning novel, this film tells the 1930s story of a young orphan living a secret life in a Paris train station who meets a young girl that changes everything. The book itself relies heavily on pictures (which bodes well for the movie), and it has an angle on the early films and works of Geoges Melies. Very cool. -CA

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

The When: December 16th
The Who: Brad Bird, J.J. Abrams, Tom Cruise, Josh Holloway, Jeremy Renner
The What: After one very well-done film, one wobbly-haired effort directed by John Woo and a so-so jaunt from a pre-Star Trek J.J. Abrams, the thought of another Mission: Impossible movie didn’t exactly sit well in our delicate nerd stomachs. Then they brought in director Brad Bird, followed swiftly by actors like Jeremy Renner, Lost’s Josh Holloway, Slumdog Millionaire’s Anil Kapoor and Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’s Michael Nyqvist. We don’t know the mission, nor do we know how ridiculously “impossible” it will be, but we like the players. And we’re confident in the fact that Brad Bird won’t take Tom Cruise to Nicolas Cage’s barber like John Woo did. He’s simply better than that. -NM

We Bought a Zoo

The When: December 23rd
The Who: Directed by Cameron Crowe; written by Cameron Crowe and Aline Brosh McKenna; starring Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Elle Fanning, Thomas Haden Church, Patrick Fugit, Angus Macfadyen
The What: A man moves his family to a rural community and buys a zoo to keep them all occupied. Crowe had a string of good to great films starting in 1989 but then released Elizabethtown in 2005. His five year sentence in director jail will end with this adaptation of Benjamin Mee’s memoir. A solid cast and a curiosity about Crowe’s follow-up to the stinking pile of dung that was Elizabethtown makes this one to watch. -RH

War Horse

The When: December 28th
The Who: Steven Spielberg and some talented British persons
The What: Steven Spielberg is everywhere this year. Whether it’s as a producer, inspiration, or whether he’s taking the reins himself, the man is leaving his mark on 2011. Hell, he’s even got two movies coming out on the same day. He’ll be battling himself at the box office. This particular project is the story of a young man and his horse. When the horse gets drafted (which apparently can happen) and sent to the trenches of WWI (which was called The Great War back then), the young man sneaks his way into the military to go be with his best friend. Essentially, it’s another war film from Steven Spielberg. What’s not to like? -CA

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn

The When: December 28
The Who: Steven Spielberg and every talented British person alive
The Pitch: With this embarrassment of talent riches — including a script from Steven Moffat (Dr. Who, Sherlock), Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim) and Joe Cornish (The Adam and Joe Show), a John Williams score and a co-producer credit for Peter Jackson — Steven Spielberg may be ready to give James Cameron the ole’ “anything you can do, I can do better” with this larger-than-life CG adventure film. At the very least, he will give Robert Zemeckis a nice tutorial on how to maximize the potential of performance capture and make an entertaining movie out of it. -NM

LOVE

After losing contact with Earth, Astronaut Lee Miller becomes stranded in orbit alone aboard the International Space Station. As time passes and life support systems dwindle, Lee battles to maintain his sanity - and simply stay alive. His world is a claustrophobic and lonely existence, until he makes a strange discovery aboard the ship. Driven by the powerful music of Angels and Airwaves, Love explores the fundamental human need for connection and the limitless power of hope... A high-impact visual adventure, that resonates a common truth, that everyone has a story to tell and something even greater to leave behind.                    

Nokia N8 Games

If you’re one of those lucky few who have their hands on a Nokia N8, then we have a few games for you to pass the time and gives your Nokia N8 phone that extra bit of awesomeness.
If, like us, you love gaming on your mobile phone then you’re in for a treat. Gaming on the mobile phone is excellent for a number of reasons, especially the fact that you can play games, even your favourite games, wherever you are and whatever you’re doing – be it on the bus to work, on the train or even if you’re chilling out at home.
So here are the games that come highly recommended by N8Geeks;
Angry Birds – Strategy

What? A game involving birds? What on earth! In this game you literally use small, large and positively very angry birds as your choice of weapon to defeat the arch enemies – the green pigs. The enemy has stolen your eggs and it’s your mission to reclaim them using your various artillery (or should I say birds).
You fire your birds from the left side of the screen into various structures with the aim of the game to kill each and every green pig that is on your screen in order to progress to the next level.
Compete against thousands upon thousands of other people with online leader boards, or if you’re anything like me, even compete against your friends to see who’s the best Angry Bird-ee. This game will give you many hours of fun, strategic planning and tonnes of excitement – all for free.
This particular version is only a small, free version – which has with it 6 unique and fun levels. The full game is due to be released soon on the Nokia N8, so keep your eyes peeled.
Price: FREE
Download: Angry Birds on Nokia N8
Guitar Rock Tour 2 HD – Arcade
Many people will have heard of the ever-popular Guitar Hero franchise, widely available for consoles and this game is very little different. You tap your way to rhythm-king with this seriously addictive music rhythm game.
If you’re a fan of rock music and do have a sense of rhythm (it’s probably going to be difficult if you don’t) then this game is for you. You can choose to either become and world-renowned drummer or a guitarist; you will be travelling the globe and perform on the most famous concert stages with your new found band.
The aim of the game is to tap the screen to the beat of the specified song. If you miss-time the tap, you’ll know about it – the crowd will grow with unrest and, eventually, boo you off if you’re timing isn’t up to scratch.
Do you have the rhythm to successfully complete all of the songs with the likes of “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll”, “Call Me”, “Paranoid” and lots more. Take up the challenge and become the master of your guitar and drums, there is no second best.
Price: €7.00 / £6.00
Download: Guitar Rock Tour 2 HD on Nokia N8
10PM – Action
The dead are rising from their graves after a deadly zombie-like virus managed to escape from a secret government laboratory. After a botched attempt to cover up the incident, it’s up to you to defend your ground from a possible zombie invasion in this awesomely addictive game.
In your typical zombie outbreak storyline, the government has been secretly creating new viruses to be used as weapons, but something went disastrously wrong and broke free from government hands.
The result of this; zombies that come out at 10PM – and they quite literally do. If you attempt to play the game before 10PM you will be confronted with a pink, tadpole-like ‘thing’, with the goal of collecting other similar versions of yourself.
Start the game up at 10PM and you’ll be confronted with blood-thirsty zombies and your goal is to kill them before the escape the reaches of your crossbow – every time one of them manage to escape your reaches, you will lose health. The zombies come across your screen in an attempt to reach the other side, your job is to stop them with your explosive laden crossbow – how else do you kill a zombie?
If you want to play the game before 10PM, luckily you can. Just simply quit and touch the ever shining sun. Either that or do it the long-winded way and set the time of your phone to 10PM.
Price: FREE
Download: 10PM on Nokia N8
Real Football 2010 HD – Sports / Football
Real Football 2010 HD is, as you would probably imagine, a football game for hand-held devices. The game is a benchmark set for mobile football games and is available on many operating systems, including the likes of the iPhone and of course the Nokia N8.
Do you have the skills to overcome the best teams in club football? You can choose from 245 teams in over 7 leagues and almost every player on the World’s best football stages – all thanks to the FIFPro license obtained by its’ developers.
There are 14 unique stadiums with excellent detail in 3D as you tackle, slide and shoot your way to victory thanks to the intuitive and simplistic touch screen controls, which include a directional touch pad that allows for that perfectly precise pass that could down and out the best of teams.
If you’re a football fan, be it gaming or not, this game will be perfect for you. With the great graphics and huge array of teams and players, there is plenty to keep you occupied during those nagging and boring bus journeys to work.
Price: €4.00 / £3.00
Download: Real Football 2010 HD on Nokia N8
Tetris – Arcade
Tetris is an old-school classic, especially if you’ve ever owned a Gameboy back in the day (surely i’m not that old that i’m the only one who remembers it). The game has been played and enjoyed by over 60 million players and with new added features, this game is perfect for your Nokia N8.
The aim of this game is to fit pre-defined free-falling shapes that come from the top of the screen, to the bottom of the screen. Each time you make a line with these shapes, that specific line will dissapear from the screen. If you don’t manage to correctly fit the shapes into the bottom of the screen, it will be game over. You don’t want your shapes to stack on each other, rather fit them in like a jigsaw.
If you’re a Tetris newbie or a hardened veteran, this game will probably keep your entertained for hours upon hours.
Price: €7.00 / £6.00
Download: Tetris on Nokia N8
Crazy Hamster Lite – Adventure
Crazy Hamster Lite is an adventure game where you assume role of crazy hamster, who has forgot to store his supplies for the coming winter. Not to worry though, as you will be visiting different lands to collect them all before the harsh winter sets in.
It’s not as quite as easy as that though, as you will have to keep your eyes peeled for various traps and obstacles that are put in place to keep your from completing your target – collecting all his food across these various lands.
You have to neutralize and stop these menacing traps and even help the hamster build bridges to pass gaping holes, extinguish fires and even using ladders to make him move faster. This game will definitely please those that love adventure games, so get your hands on it now – best of all, it’s free.
Price: FREE
Download: Crazy Hamster Lite on Nokia N8
Galaxy on Fire – Action / Adventure
Galaxt on Fire is a multiple award-winning sci-fi adventure that is finally available for Symbian devices, in particular in this case the Nokia N8. It brings with it significantly better graphics, touch and motion controls, high-quality sound and an awesome new survival mode.
You are in a huge galaxy of hundreds of planets (500 to be exact) and space stations with your aim being to defeat all the enemy spacecraft that you come across. Upgrade your ship in order to battle with the better, faster and stronger enemies and you progress.
You assume control of Mr Maxell, a mercenary in control of a spacecraft that is destined to fight against the alien Vossk. You will be fighting against 10 different species, from humanoids to aliens, cyborgs and many others in a totally awesome game.
Price: FREE
Download: Galaxy on Fire on Nokia N8
Avatar HD – Action
Delve deeper into the spectacular and unique world of James Cameron’s Avatar and get ready for a journey of discovery and redemption, which is sent two decades prior to the events in the epic film.
You will assume command of Captain Ryan Lorenz and put your conciousness into the body of a human-Na’vi hybird and become the very first Avatar. Fight for survival in epic and tense action sequences against the beasts and carnivorous plants. In the height of the battle, you will take to the skies of Pandora on a banshee in awesome shoot’em up sequences.
Plan your own future as you put your new powers to use either saving the Na’vi or work with the humans to destroy the Na’vi’s World forever. The game is rich in content and has very impressive graphics that fit and look perfect on the Nokia N8 – if you’re an Avatar fan or even if you’re new to the whole Avatar excitement, get yourself involved and immersed into their World.
Price: €4.00 / £3.00
Download: Avatar HD on Nokia N8
Need for Speed Shift – Sports / Racing
The World’s #1 franchise has finally hit the Nokia N8. Get on the circuit in the fastest, hottest and most enviable cards in the World. You will be flying through the streets of London, Italy, Dubai and other countries in 24 awesome street and pro-racing tracks and events. Your goal is to race, out-speed and beat the top 3 racing drivers in the World.
If you’ve ever played the game before on an Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 and enjoyed it, then this is probably a game for you. The graphics on this game are also beautifully illustrated and very well presented, with different cars to choose from and lots of intense events to pit your new-found skills against the opposition.
Price: FREE
Download: Need for Speed Shift on Nokia N8
If you’ve downloaded any of these awesome games then let us know what you think and if you have any other games to share with our readers then leave a comment below.

Best iPhone Apps in 2011

Atomic Web Browser

Atomic is one of the better alternative browsers available for the iPhone and iPad as it offers a number of benefits over the native Safari offering. It has an impressive full screen mode that gets rid of most of the navigation clutter to allow you to view more of a given page at any one time. Another neat feature is its tabbed browsing, which makes it faster to swap between open pages.

There’s good integration with Twitter and Facebook and it includes a handy built-in ad blocker too. You can also choose between a large range of search options such as Bing, Yahoo, Wikipedia and YouTube. We like the way you can increase or decrease the font size used to display pages and there’s a handy lock rotation feature for those using older iPhones.

Verdict

Atomic Web Browser is a slick alternative to the built-in Safari browser as it offers up a number of really useful features.

Convert Units for Free

The iPhone isn’t exactly short of applications to convert between different units, but some of these are paid for apps and many are limited to specific types of conversions. Convert Units beats the lot because it’s free and allows you to convert between a very broad range of different units including everything from time and volume, to speed and temperatures.

The user interface is refreshingly straightforward. You simply select the type of conversion you want to perform using the button in the centre of the display and then use two roller deck menus at the top to choose the two units to convert between. There’s a keypad at the bottom of the display where you enter the amounts that you want to convert.

Verdict

Convert Units’ broad range of conversion options and slick, easy to use interface makes it a worthwhile app to have on your phone.

iFitness

If your New Year’s resolution was to get back in shape, but you’re currently lacking a bit of inspiration in your fitness regime, then it’s worth giving iFitness a go. It offers a comprehensive exercise database with clear and easy to follow instructions, pictures and videos.

Currently there are over 300 exercises listed in its database, which will give you plenty of opportunity to vary your exercises programme and save you from becoming bored. You start by choosing the muscle groups that you want to target and you can then tap on individual exercises that work these muscles to see a picture of the exercise. Tap again and you’re presented with detailed text instructions on how to perform it. On more complicated exercises there are also video instructions that you can view.

Verdict

This feature-packed fitness app means you’ll have no excuse for not sticking to your exercise regime.

Nigella Quick Collection

Nigella may be the middle-aged man’s crumpet thanks to her ample curves, but she knows a thing or two about knocking up a tasty meal with the minimum of fuss. This app offers 70 recipes that have mostly been culled from her ever-increasing number of cookery books, but there are also 10 that are exclusive to this app.

The recipes are sorted into categories, but you can also select recipes using the 'what’s in your fridge' option. When viewing recipes you can move back and forth through the instructions by shouting forward or backward into your iPhone, so you don’t have to dab at it with your sticky fingers. There’s also a useful shopping list feature that comes in handy when you’re out buying ingredients for meals you’re planning on dishing up.

Verdict

It’s a bit pricey, but this well presented app is the ideal companion when you need a bit of inspiration in the kitchen.

Cut the Rope

The iPhone isn’t exactly short on puzzlers, but there’s always room for one that’s truly excellent and Cut the Rope fits the bill. The premise behind the game is simple. You open a package to find a monster called Om Nom that’s rather fond of sweets. Luckily, on each level there’s a sweet and it’s your job to guide it into Om Nom’s gob.

You can’t directly interact with the candy. Instead, there are ropes on each level that you have to cut to guide the sweet towards the monster. As you would expect, the puzzles get substantially more difficult as you go along, but the gameplay remains superbly well balanced and the graphics and in-game physics work a treat.

Verdict

The superbly addictive gameplay, cute graphics and impressively accurate physics make Cut the Rope one of the best puzzle games on the iPhone at the moment.

Yell.com

With tons of location-aware apps floating around that offer lots of information on your current surroundings it can be easy to forget that some of the more established names still have plenty to offer. Take Yell.com, for example. This app calls on the UK’s Yellow Pages listings to allow you to search for local businesses and service providers in your local area.

The database includes pubs, restaurants, taxis, cash machines and shops. The app can also use your phone’s GPS chip to show you those that are nearest to your current location and there’ an augmented reality view that overlays information about local business on a live feed from your phone’s camera. You can save business details to your iPhone’s contact list and get driving or walking directions to the businesses that you find.

Verdict

Yell.com is a well-designed application with an easy to use interface that makes it easy to find useful businesses nearby.

Brushes

If you’re of an artistic bent and fancy using your iPhone to knock up a few sketches or even complete pictures then Brushes is a great place to start. The iPhone is not exactly lacking in artistic apps, but Brushes rises above the competition not by going out of it’s way to offer tonnes and tonnes of features, but instead by offering a supremely intuitive user interface that avoids getting in the way between you and the picture you’re trying to create.

The app provides you with a broad selection of brushes that you can customise using the transparency, stroke width and spacing settings. There’s also an easy to use colour wheel with a comprehensive array of effects and the app makes it easy to work on different sections of your picture at any one time.

Verdict

If you fancy doing a spot of painting on your iPhone, then Brushes is definitely the tool to get.

90 in 1: Appzilla!

As its name suggests, this app offers 90 different mini apps for the paltry sum of 59p. Open up Appzilla and you’re presented with icons for all the apps laid out across a number of scrollable screens - pretty much like the normal iPhone homescreen.

With this number of apps included, the quality varies a lot between them and with some of them you can find similar apps available for free in the app store. However, there are still many here that are worth having and in general the usability of each of the apps is quite good, even though the presentation can be a bit crude at times. Among the apps included you’ll find a flashlight, currency converter, spirit level, spell checker and more.

Verdict

Not all the apps are massively useful, but there are enough good ones here to justify the low 59p asking price.

Gibson Learn & Master Guitar

If there’s one brand that’s synonymous with electric guitars then its Gibson, thanks to the fact that it’s behind some of the classic models like the Les Paul, SG and Explorer. So with the Gibson name attached to this app you’d expect it to be pretty good and thankfully it doesn’t disappoint.

Despite being free, it packs in a lot of useful features including a guitar tuner and metronome. Along with this, you also get a reasonably large chord guide that covers pretty much all the basic chords that you’ll need to learn as a beginner. Gibson has even included a number of high quality videos from its Learn and Master Guitar courses that offer excellent instruction for both beginners and more advanced guitar players.

Verdict

Slick presentation along with some very useful features and great instruction videos make this a must-have for budding guitarists.

FileApp

The sizeable amount of storage built into all the iPhone models means they’re ideal tools for carrying files around on. This is where FileApp comes in, as it makes it easy to transfer files from a PC to your iPhone. You can connect to your phone from your PC either via a USB cable or over Wi-Fi as long as they’re on the same network.

Once connected you can simply drag and drop folders and files across to your phone. You can then sort your files by filename, date created or file type. Naturally, you can also view files while they’re on your phone. A pretty wide range of file formats is supported for viewing, including Word, Excel and PowerPoint, along with PDF, HTML, TIFF and JPG.

Verdict

FileApp is a pretty simple application, and it makes it easy to get files onto your iPhone and then view them.