Asphalt 6 by Gameloft now available on the Android Market.

It seems Gameloft is truly impressed with how Google is improving the Android Market, so much so that when we reported on Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus hitting the market, the rumor was that the next game would be Asphalt 6. Well that has come true as well as it is now available on the market.

Asphalt 6 is probably Gameloft's best racing game they have released so far and one of the top ones for Android in general when it comes to racing games. The best part about it all though aside from being able to receive updates through the Android Market is that if your device can play the game, then you'll see if available. If not then you won't thanks to the markets new feature that allows developers to exclude devices.

As with Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus, Asphalt 6 is available for a slightly higher price than what you would pay for on the Gameloft web-based store. Coming in at $6.99, the price is still worth it if you want a really solid 3D racing game for your Android device. In our review we gave Asphalt 6 a 4/5 rating and with a few tweaks to the game it could easily get a 5/5 score. If you've been waiting for this game but have been holding out due to it not being on the market, now you can go get it!

So what will be the next game from Gameloft to be released onto the Android Market? We don't know just yet but we are going to find out!

Developer Website: Gameloft

Android Market Link: Asphalt 6

Adobe releases Flash Player 10.3 update for Android

Adobe releases the 10.3 update for Flash Player, bringing a range of fixes, optimizations and new features to Windows, Mac OS, Linux and Android platforms.

Adobe has released the latest update for Flash Player, version 10.3. The update works with all Flash-enabled platforms, including Windows, Mac OS, Linux and Android, with support for the most recent 3.1 update to Honeycomb. You can nab the download on the web at Adobe.com or through Android Market on your mobile device.

The latest Flash update is all about squashing bugs and making things work more smoothly. On the Android side, that means NEON optimizations for OMAP4-based devices (pretty much just the BlackBerry PlayBook for now), various fixes for the Samsung Galaxy S, HTC EVO and someMotorola devices and some optimizations for Android 3.0+. All of the fixes are detailed on Adobe’s Android patch notespage. There are a variety of fixes on the non-mobile side as well, along with a handful of new features.

In addition to some new developer tools for measuring video and acoustic echo cancellation, there are also now new controls for managing local storage that have been integrated directly into your browser’s privacy settings, with support for Mozilla Firefox 4, Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 and higher, Google Chrome 11 and “a future release ofApple Safari.” The update also adds a dedicated Flash Player Settings Manager to Control Panels/System Preferences on Windows, Mac and Linux computers, and auto-updated notifications for Mac OS

Netflix streaming now on few Android phones

Today, Netflix and Android scored more points in humanity's ongoing quest to be able to watch absolutely anything, anywhere, anytime--so long as you're using the right phone. Yes, the long-awaited Netflix app for Android finally showed up to the party today in the Android Market, but it apparently doesn't get along with everyone in attendance. In fact, Netflix says the app--which enables users to watch streaming movies--only runs on the following phones:

• HTC Incredible with Android 2.2 
• HTC Nexus One with Android 2.2, 2.3 
• HTC Evo 4G with Android 2.2 
• HTC G2 with Android 2.2 
• Samsung Nexus S with Android 2.3.

There's also word that it won't work on the forthcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablets, which Google handed out to Google I/O attendees earlier this week. Major party foul. But for those with one of the phones on the list, download the app and Netflix promises much of the same functionality as the iOS version, like being able to resume watching a movie or show where you left off on your TV or computer.

Netflix was in the rare camp of apps that became available on Windows Phone 7 before Android, something Roma De from Netflix's product team blames on the much maligned phenomenon of Android fragmentation. In a post on the company blog, Roma De described some of the "challenges" they faced with Android:

"One of these challenges is the lack of standard streaming playback features that the Netflix application can use to gain broad penetration across all available Android phones. In the absence of standardization, we have to test each individual handset and launch only on those that can support playback."

Roma De added that Netflix is "aggressively qualifying phones" and hopes to have a much larger roster of compatible phones in the coming months. Hopefully that means Honeycomb tablets, too.