So, hey, Sony announced the PlayStation 4 this afternoon and, as was rumored, it'll have some neat mobile and tablet functionality. Via "applications" on your phone or a tablet, you'll be able to browse players' videos, converse with them, and also challenge them to a match. The presenter at tonight's event added that we'll be to "keep in touch with the revolving world of game," too, whatever that means.

And here's something else: Sony seems to be pushing Remote Play via PS Vita pretty hard with this console. From what we're gathering, this functionality will be built into the hardware this time around courtesy Gakkai's architecture, which should make it snappier and much nicer looking. Phones or tablets weren't mentioned for this, but who knows? It would make sense -- and line up with the "control your console with your phone" part of the rumor we heard this morning.

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So, if you're not in the loop, get this: today, in New York, Sony is widely rumored to be announcing its next-generation console. We probably won't see the console or hear a price or even a firm release date. If we had to guess, we'd say that most of the event will revolve around sizzle reels and a whole bunch of talk about digital downloads and the "cloud" and the social functionality of the console. Who knows, though? Maybe Sony will unveil a new take on its PlayStation Plus service. Maybe it'll show off a bigger, more touch-friendly controller. Or maybe, just maybe, we'll hear about some new cross-compatibility features -- features that might let you use an iPhone or an iPad with the console. That's neat, right?

The latter is what we're interested in. Word on the street is that the PlayStation 4 will allow owners to use a phone or tablet to access theirs consoles. At least, that's what a Kotaku source is saying. Here's part of the report:

New information revealed by our source suggests that on top of all that, you'll also be able to control the PS4 remotely from your tablet or smartphone. You'll be able to use a mobile device to chat with your PS4 friends or buy games which are then automatically downloaded to your machine, our source says.

We've seen similar support for the 360 in the form of the SmartGlass app, which for what is, works pretty well. The PS3 doesn't have an app like this, which is kind of a bummer.

We'll be keeping an eye on the event this afternoon since our Spidey Sense is tingling. We have a feeling 2013 is the year both Sony and Microsoft fall all over themselves to mention "social" and "mobile" as many times as possible before their new consoles hit. Surely, this'll be a good thing!

[via Kotaku]

A lot of exciting news came out of today's Nintendo Direct. A new Zelda was announced. A Wind Waker re-release was, too. And a new Mario 3D game was teased. But one announcement in particular was more relevant to our interests than the others: apparently, an actual Mii-verse app is headed to smart phones this spring. Shacknews writes that it'll launch as a basic browser of the 'verse with "more functionality" slated to hit later.

Mii-verse browsing with a phone or a tablet was announced at last year's E3, but nothing Nintendo said at that event had us thinking it intended to make a dedicated app. Today's news kinda has us excited, as a dedicated app can do so much more than a web page. Here's a promo shot of the functionality from E3:

It'll be interesting to see how this shakes out, what Nintendo decides to throw into the app, and how well it supports it down the line. We've got a lot of waiting to do before we know, though.

[via Shacknews]

Neat: Ubisoft finally got around to alerting people to Far Cry The Outpost [Free], an official Far Cry 3 companion app that's been kinda hiding on the App Store since the freeze. With the app, you can decode your weapon mods and swap your multiplayer load-outs on the fly. You also get access to the game's stat-tracking functionality, allowing you to see exactly how much time you've been piddling away in the game's competitive modes.

Basically, The Outpost is just like ever other multiplayer-focused companion app we've stumbled across so far. That's not necessarily a bad thing if you're rolling deep in the game's competitive modes and decoding mods like a demon.

The app is free and available now. There's also a Google Play version, too, if you've got an Android phone handy.

That Pokedex app we were talking about last month has appeared on worldwide on the App Store as a Universal app. With an initial purchase, you'll get access to every Pokemon available across the "Unova region" in the games. Additional $5.99 purchases unlock all the other regions. There's a total of four other regions, to be a little more specific.

Pokedex for iOS [$1.99], as its called, is a digital encyclopedia of Pokemon that tells you how to find a specific Pokemon, how a given Pokemon fights, dishes out details on evolution, and gives you the skinny on its ability tree. The app includes 3D models of every Pokemon and supports retina visuals. Here's some screens:

We're not sure what the actual use case for this is, but Pokedexes appear to be a thing people want, if the oodles of non-official apps can be taken as an indication of popularity and desire. In fact, there's so many of other Pokedex apps out there that The Pokemon Company's marketing effort actually includes the line: "search for 'Pokédex' on the Apple App Store and choose the following icon [picture of the app's icon]" just to make sure people grab the right one.

It'll be interesting to see how many third-party Pokemon Pokedexes disappear in the coming days since The Pokemon Company has its own. We'll see, eh?

Yup, The Pokemon Company has released an official Pokedex app across iPhone and iPad on the Japanese App Store. It's not a "new" app, mind; people are saying that this is a port Pokedex 3D Pro, which landed on Nintendo 3DS this July in the Japan. The iOS version is a paid app with in-game purchases.

If you're new to this whole Pokemon thing, a Pokedex is basically an encyclopedia that has all sorts of information about the little monsters that populate the series. This one in particular dishes out info on every Pokemon that has been in any game in the long-running series. It also has nifty animated 3D models of each, if you're into that sort of thing. The catch is that certain "sets" of Pokemon are locked behind IAP. Kotaku Australia reckons the app will run people $20 if they want everything.

The Pokemon Company is a subsidiary of Nintendo, so this isn't exactly a Nintendo app. It's probably of note that this is the second app The Pokemon Company has released on iOS.

The Call of Duty Elite app [Free] has been updated with Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 support. Now, you can track your career stats, recent matches, customize your classes, and follow your challenge progression from the app, provided you link either your XBL or PSN profiles to the service. Steam integration, unfortunately, is still not a thing for whatever reason.

BLOPS 2, which saw a release on PC and consoles earlier this week, has a cool new feature for the MLG among us: video streaming. And the Elite app also supports that. Like you can already in the game, you can watch other players rock out in BLOPS 2 via the app.

The stat-tracking part of this update was pretty necessary since this game is the new hotness and all, but it's nice to see the core functionality of Elite change up.

In December of last year, Microsoft released the official My Xbox Live app which allowed Xbox Live members to use their iOS device to do things like view friends lists and achievements, send messages to friends, or mess with your avatar. It was pretty cool, though kind of limited, but for a free download it was worth having for Xbox Live enthusiasts.

Today Microsoft has updated that very app to version 2.0 called Xbox Smartglass [Free], and it greatly expands on the initial concept of accessing Xbox Live from your mobile device. Xbox Smartglass actually connects with your Xbox when you're online and allows you to do things like navigate the Dashboard from your device, type into text fields on the Xbox using your iOS keyboard, and even control navigation of the built-in Xbox Live internet browser using the touch interface.

More exciting than this beefed-up interaction with the Xbox Live service itself is that Xbox Smartglass is also "smart" enough to recognize when you're playing certain Xbox 360 games that offer additional content, and will display said content on your iOS device giving you that "second screen" enhanced experience that seems to be all the buzz as of late. You can see some of what Xbox Smartglass is capable of in this demo video from Microsoft.

For some strange reason, Microsoft didn't take this update opportunity to add widescreen support to the app, so it's letterboxed on iPhone 5 and 5th generation iPod touch. I'm really hoping they have an update in the works for that. It does support Retina Display though, and look quite lovely on the newest iPads and makes for a perfect couch companion on the iPad mini.

We're gonna play around with the new Xbox Smartglass some more to see what it's all about, but if you're an Xbox Live member and an iOS device owner make sure to grab the free app and see for yourself how much it enhances the console experience through the second screen.

Out of the box, Gearbox Software's Borderlands 2 has robust mapping functionality that clearly displays the layouts of a given area. Also, like most modern games, Borderlands 2 isn't afraid to make it rain waypoints to quest objectives, big or small. But what it doesn't do is show you where collectibles and chests can be found, which is part of the reason why we want to, at least, name-drop the Official Borderlands 2 Map App [$2.99].

In addition to giving you layouts, the Borderlands 2 Map App reveals rare chest, Cult of the Vault, and collectible locations. And through the map's UI, you can mark off each of these as you find them, which actually makes the external mapping app handy. If you want to collect everything, this seems like a good friend to have.

You've seen apps like this before. Dishonored recently got one, and most notably, the latest Batman did, too. If you used these, you'll feel right at home, as its made by the same folks behind those: Brady Games.

The other reason we wanted to mention this, by the way? Because it also lets us mention that Borderlands 2 is a blast. It's an inspired, off-beat hybrid RPG shooter that does loot right and has insanely fun co-op. Give it a shot.

It hasn't been hard to get into the Steam Mobile beta, but if you couldn't for some reason here's some good news: Steam Mobile [Free] is now accessible to anyone with an actual Steam account.

Word of this comes courtesy of the app's latest update notes. Which, by the way, in addition to opening up the platform, Version 1.1 of Steam Mobile sees a lot of needed stability tweaks, including better menu rendering. Also, the app now supports iPhone 5's big screen.

Steam Mobile lets you chat with your friends, buy or pre-order games, and check out the latest Steam news among other, mostly community-driven things. If you're deep in the PC scene, it's a pretty cool tool to have. Check it out.

Getting lost to Arkane Studios' Dishonored is a problem. For example, instead of writing up this post immediately, we've been playing Dishonored. But getting lost in the game will never be a problem; Its official map app, which displays just about anything you could want, has us covered pretty well.

After grabbing it earlier this morning, Dishonored Official Map App [$2.99] is proving to be a solid companion piece. It has layouts for every level in the game and lists everything that can be collected. As the user, you can also cross off what items you've picked up, so things don't get too messy.

Dishonored, in case you've been hiding in a cave, is a gritty first-person stealth-action game set in a gorgeous steampunk world. It's out now across Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

My Xbox Live [Free] on iPad just got a lot more useful overnight.

Microsoft has released a new update for the iPad version of its Xbox 360 companion app, allowing you to browse, launch, and control specific Xbox Live content from your iPad. You can also see and stream new Xbox Live content from the "Discover" section of the app.

In a nutshell, Microsoft has turned My Xbox Live into a rough Xbox 360 media remote. You can launch the latest episode of Breaking Bad from the app, for example, and then pause, rewind, or fast-forward the episode from the app via a virtual controller interface. We have an image of the interface in this article.

In order to get My Xbox Live to play nice with your console, by the way, you'll need to set companion to available in your system settings. Just blade over a few spaces when you pull up the dash and you'll see the option.

We gave this a test run earlier this morning and were pretty impressed by just how well it worked. Content launched really fast and setup was, surprisingly, a breeze. And while those are awesome things, it's hard not to note what My Xbox Live still doesn't do as you play around with it. You can't turn on your console from the app, for instance. Also, you can't buy content from the app, making this all kind of a wash for some of us.

One interesting thing we discovered is that My Xbox Live's virtual controller will pop up when you launch a game from the app. Unfortunately, none of the games we tried to play with via iPad responded to virtual button presses. Games we tried included: NBA 2K12, Spelunky, and Rock of Ages.

Regardless if you watch enough Xbox Live video for this to become a thing you'll use, this is a solid first taste of what Microsoft's SmartGlass initiative is going to bring to the Xbox 360. Our take? We're hungry for more.

Better late than never: the official companion app for Red Storm's Ghost Recon Future Soldier, Ghost Recon Network [Free], is now out and available on the App Store. With it, you can modify your weapon loadouts, check online stats, and even fiddle with your Squad stuff without having to touch the proper game. In a later update, you'll be able to do even more, including check friends' stats and access Challenges. Sweet, right?

One catch: in order to get all of this, you've got to connect a uPlay account to your copy of Future Soldier. The easiest way to go about this is to create a uPlay account in the game and then link it through the official GRN web site on your computer. The app's functionality for this specific task is... bad at best, much like all of the its UI. But, whatever: stats and weapon switching on the go! How futuristic.