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20 years after it first tried to break the UK market – an attempt that ended in miserable failure for the company – Giorgio Minardi, president of Dunkin’ Brands International, is planning for another crack at bringing Dunkin’ Donuts to the UK.
The move is seen by some as a response to the continued successes of major competitor Krispy Kreme, starting talks of what promises to be an epic clash of the fried dough treat.
According to a report in the Daily Mail, Dunkin’ Donuts has agreed deals with two franchise partners to launch 50 restaurants in London over the next five years, with talks ongoing over a possible further 100 branches across the UK. ‘We feel there is significant opportunity for Dunkin’ Donuts in the UK, and we have had a tremendous response from potential franchisees interested in developing the brand across the country’ says Mr. Minardi.
Don’t think doughnuts (to use the correct European spelling – and please don’t point out the fact the American version is now an accepted variant) are all Dunkin’ Donuts offer though. Under the leadership of regional general manager Jim Johnstone, Dunkin’ Donuts in the UK will also offer other bread-based treats such as muffins, croissants and sandwiches; drinks such as tea, coffee and frozen delights; as well as what the Mail rather anally refers to as “a regional menu to cater to British tastes”.
Now, please excuse me as I attempt to snap Lonesamurai out of his constant shouts of “WOOHOO!!!”…
With Pokémon X and Y now just a month or so away, it won’t be very long until the entire world gets to discover a whole new region, with all new Pokémon – as well as all the old guard – on a 3D hand-held console for the first time. Surprisingly however, with so little time to go until the launch of the games, there’s still a huge amount we don’t know about the content of the games and the Pokédex within them – and of course, that makes the hardcore fans ever more impatient. Thanks to new leaks published by CoroCoro two days ago and since confirmed by Nintendo, however, we now have some more details to go on – so sit tight as we bring you up to speed:
Pokémon with multiple appearances
Although genders of Pokémon go back as far as the second generation of Pokémon games (and arguably to the very beginning of the whole franchise if you consider the Nidoran family), it wasn’t until Generation IV – with Diamond and Pearl entering the scene – that Pokémon of different genders started taking on different appearances. However, in nine games up to now, very few Pokémon have taken advantage of this mechanic; many either appearing exactly the same in both genders; or having such subtle changes as to be almost indistinguishable.
While it’s still possible for this to remain the case for the bulk of Pokémon being introduced in X and Y, two of the latest leaked Pokémon suggest some attempt to put more emphasis on gender differences. First, take a look at Meowstics:
Not only are the genders physically different, they learn different powers based on their gender as well. Male Meowstic learns the psychic-type move Miracle Eye, while the female version learns Extrasensory. It’s not known if the same is true of this next example, however:
Male (left) and Female (right) Pyroar
Pyroar is a lion-like Pokémon in appearance; and like real lions, male specimens sport hair all around their neck. Unlike real lions, however, the female’s hair grows merely from its head in a long, flowing line.
Then there’s Furfrou, a Pokémon players can groom to their liking. Starting off as a basic white dog, different grooming techniques can turn it into one of two poodle-like variants; or cause its legs to grow orange fur:
(Ungroomed Furfrou extreme left)
Mewtwo’s X Forme
Now here’s a shocker. Newly revealed by Nintendo is a Mega Evolution for Pokémon’s oldest legendary, Mewtwo. “But wait!”, I hear you cry, “wasn’t that revealed MONTHS ago?” Yes, but here’s the kicker: there’s TWO forms of Mega Evolution for Mewtwo! The one we’ve known about for a long time will only be available in Pokémon Y. However, for those of you who ignored Yveltal and have chosen to get Pokémon X instead, your Mega Evolution for Mewtwo has a very different look:
“Sorry, Pokémon Y Players! You can only get THIS version of me with Mewtonite X!”
Apparently, the revelation of this new Forme has already caused many fans to re-evaluate their choice of game just weeks before the worldwide launch – go figure, huh?
Other Mega Evolutions
A surprise new entry to the list of Pokémon getting Mega Evolution is Garchomp – if only because some fans believe it to be already a highly overpowered Pokémon. Like many Mega Evolutions, the appearance change is subtle, but very noticeable:
Garchomp (left) and Mega Garchomp (right)
Starter Evolutions
Finally, the Generation 6 starters of Chespin, Fennekin and Froakie have grown up; and we’ve finally got to see their first evolutions. Froakie becomes a longer and slimmer frog with human-like arms, called Frogadier; Chespin becomes a chubby hedgehog called Quilladin (after the “quills” – or spikes – of a hedgehog) and has been compared to a grass version of either Emboar or Darumakka; while Fennekin becomes a more human-shape fox called Braixen.
Ok, Tuesday 17th was a BIG day for the Guild wars 2 community
Not only was Tequatl the Skinless being redone as an encounter to something that even the Dev team find hard to do, but was also the release for the long awaited Looking For Group Tool (something most of the community expected in the release last year…)
However, we just got this on the official forum…
Hey everyone,
With Tuesday’s release we are gearing up to launch the new Looking For Group tool for Guild Wars 2. As the system comes online, our primary focus is with the quality and the stability. To ensure a solid rollout, we’ll turn on the LFG tool in beta form to a subset of players. As the week goes on, we’ll periodically unlock the system to additional groups of players.
In Tuesday’s release notes, you’ll see the complete list of what the feature will do once we’ve fully unlocked the system. However, during the beta rollout not everyone will be able to use the LFG tool and the World vs. World subcategories will be disabled.
The Looking for Group feature has been highly requested and we’re excited to be this close to its final release, but quality is paramount. Therefore, we ask for your patience and understanding while we work through this phased beta rollout and with any problems we encounter.
Thanks,
Mike Zadorojny
& the Looking For Group team
The iTunes-integrated radio player will be part of a broader, iOS7 update, according to information delivered by CEO Tim Cook in Cupertino.
A number of important features were confirmed during the announcement, including:
1. iTunes Radio will be available across all iOS devices, including Apple TV and iTunes on PCs. It is part of a far broader iOS7 platform release and concommitant iTunes update.
2. iTunes Radio will imitate Pandora’s artist-driven, personalized stations, but will not be bound by the same restrictions on skipping and consecutive plays (unclear is how liberal the service usage rules will be, however).
3. iTunes Radio will also mimic Pandora’s thumbs-up/thumbs-down functionality to fine tune those stations. Thumbs up translates into “Play more songs like this” while thumbs down is the opposite (not the exact language, but you get the idea).
4. There will also be more than 300 DJ-curated and genre-focused stations to choose from.
5. Audio ads will be inserted after every 15 minutes (or so) of listening, with video ads every hour.
6. Similar to Pandora One, Pandora’s premium tier, iTunes Match subscribers will enjoy ad-free listening.
7. iTunes Radio will feature integrated download buying opportunities for every song, linked to the existing iTunes account and stored credit card.
8. Furthermore, a history of all songs played will be neatly presented, with buy links next to each track.
9. iTunes Radio will be totally Siri-enabled. That includes voice-actived station selection, song identification, station narrowing (‘play more songs like this’) as well as basic play, skip, or pause functionality. Siri will also allow users to place songs into their Wish List for later purchase.
10. Exclusives. Just like iTunes proper, iTunes Radio will have pre-release exclusives weaved into station playlists. That will almost always beat Pandora.
11. All stations will be iCloud-enabled, as well as all Wish Lists. Stations can be stopped on one device, and easily resumed on another.
Other details, not specifically mentioned in the announcement:
12. Apple has directly-licensed major label content for this service, while mostly forcing less favorable terms upon independents. But all content could enjoy upside from paid purchases.
13. The current ‘iTunes Radio’ service, which contains streams to all sorts of web-based stations, is expected to be replaced (not confirmed).
