Hi,
I've made a portal about Grand Theft Auto for the PSP.
Well the portal includes cheats about both games ( vice and liberty ) for the psp.
It's in alpha stage because there aren't that many cheats in it, not very good looking layout and i wanted to know if it could be useful to GTA players
All this is by the all time great nataku92 thanks him very much
- v1.6 UPDATE-
Late Christmas present I guess (or early new year's surprise?), but CSPSP version 1.6 is released! (along with CSPSPServer version 1.2). The main changes in this release are a redone online lobby complete with an account system, as well as an animation system for the players. Though there aren't too many changes to the actual gameplay, I fixed quite a few bugs. Here's the complete list of changes from the readme:
__________
|-UPDATES- |
|__________|
Fixed the majority of freezing bugs
Removed the 64 maps limit
Fixed the bug where all weapons were dropped on death
Implemented buyzones
Fixed the bug where your own ammo would increase when someone else was buying ammo
Added a simple loading bar
Implemented a new animation system for players (which also means slightly different player gfx)
Added "Overwrite Map" option when your map differs from the server's.
Added bullet speed to the guns config file (sniper rifle bullets are now as default 2x as fast)
Added some alert messages when buying (not enough money, buying time ended, etc.)
***Redid most of the Online Lobby; implemented an account system (with friends lists)***
The online portion of this version currently only works on custom firmwares (3.xx). To install, copy the CSPSP folder to your PSP/GAME folder (not PSP/GAME150).
NOTE: CSPSP now accesses the flash of your psp. It only reads (doesn't write), so it should be fine, but here's a warning nonetheless.
This is a simple plugin I made a long time ago for my personal use. I just found the source code while going through some old stuff on my computer, so I thought I'd clean up the code a bit and release the plugin.
I realize that there are other plugins that feature similar functionality but I wrote my own because I wanted to be sure its coded optimally, as there are a few careless ways in which these functions can be improperly used (the point of this after all is to conserve battery life).
It does the following when the Hold switch is enabled:
* Switches off the LCD backlight.
* Switches off the actual LCD screen.
(This is important because the backlight and actual screen are two different things. You can have an image being displayed on the screen while the backlight is switched off, such that you can see the image if you use a flashlight. You can also have the screen switched off while the backlight still illuminates the powered off screen.)
* Underclocks the CPU to 60MHz
(Sony has changed the clock speed functions such that only certain combinations of speeds work correctly. Simply trying to underclock to arbitary values will result in the CPU simply running at the stock speed. I have verified that Hold+ successfully underclocks to 60MHz.)
* The original screen brightness and clock speed are restored when the Hold switch is released.
* Prevents the PSP from going into suspend mode if you accidently push the power switch too far when turning off Hold mode.
* Allows complete operation of the PSP controls with the display turned off.
* Turns off LEDs in hold mode. LEDs are flashed once in 30 seconds so that the PSP is not mistaken to be powered off.
* While in hold mode, allows the use of Left, Right, LTrigger, RTrigger, Volume and Start buttons, if you hold the Select button first. Useful to skip songs, pause etc.
Additional Features:
*Enables the 5th brightness level.
Usage:
Turn on the Hold switch to automatically disable the display and underclock the CPU. Turn off the Hold switch to return the CPU to normal speed and enable the display.
If you push the ANALOG UP button when turning on the Hold switch, it will only lock the keypad like normal hold mode. The display and CPU speed will not be changed, so that you can watch videos etc. with the keypad locked.
If you push the ANALOG UP button when turning off the Hold switch, the display will remain switched off and the CPU will remain underclocked, but you can operate the PSP. To return to normal, push the power switch to the suspend position, or just press the Screen button.
While the PSP is in hold mode, if you first hold down the Select button, you can use the following buttons: Left, Right, LTrigger, RTrigger, Vol+, Vol-, Start.
Installation:
You can install it in the seplugins folder, and make an entry in VSH.txt. Thus it will be active in the XMB. Its also possible to use it in games by adding it to GAME.txt, but some games may crash etc., if the CPU is underclocked to such a low value.
Optionally, its also possible to install it in your PSP's flash0 so that it will work without a Memory Stick. For this you can use FreePlay's "NewBTCFNedit" and enable it for VSH mode in the all the PSPBT?NF.bin files. Add it before vshmain.prx.
Advanced:
If you want to change the clock speed to your own values, you can use a hex editor to change them. The offsets in the file for v3.5 are
0xD58 - CPU
0xD5C - Bus (Should be half the CPU speed or less)
The values should be entered in hexadecimal. The default value for CPU is 3C (60 MHz in decimal) and the default value for Bus is 1E (30 MHz in decimal).
Note that simply using any arbitrary value will not work. You will have to test and see which values for CPU and Bus speed work.
Credits:
Thanks to adrahil for helping with preventing the suspend mode.
Thanks to Booster for the SysCon Hook sample, based on which Hold+ v3.0 was updated.
Thanks to Total_Noob; As his plugin MusicHold was not compatible with Hold+, with his permission I've implemented the same features in Hold+ v3.0 for people who wanted some buttons to be usable in hold mode.
Changelog v3.5
----------------------------------
Enabled 5th brightness level. (If the screen dims due to being idle, it returns to the 4th brightness level. You'll need to press the Display button again to go back to the 5th level.)
Rich you 5 plugins not?
Have you ever dreamed 20 Plugins to use?
Then is "Plugins+" exact for you.
With this plugin can you use your 20 favorite plugins in vsh/game/game150/pops.
The plugins come into vsh+/game+/game150+/pops+.txt.
Installation:
1. Download "Plugins+.rar"
2. Rename vsh/game/game150/pops.txt to vsh+/game+/game150+/pops+.txt
3. Remove all number from the txt files.
4. Copy "seplugins" from the rar to ms0:/
5. Done! Now, you can use 20 Plugins!
"Early this morning we were alerted by our customers that there was a widespread issue affecting our 2006 model Zune 30GB devices (a large number of which are still actively being used). The technical team jumped on the problem immediately and isolated the issue: a bug in the internal clock driver related to the way the device handles a leap year. The issue should be resolved over the next 24 hours as the time change moves to January 1, 2009. We expect the internal clock on the Zune 30GB devices will automatically reset tomorrow (noon, GMT). By tomorrow you should allow the battery to fully run out of power before the unit can restart successfully then simply ensure that your device is recharged, then turn it back on. If you're a Zune Pass subscriber, you may need to sync your device with your PC to refresh the rights to the subscription content you have downloaded to your device."
There you have it, straight from the official support thread on this problem. So for those of you who were about to take screwdrivers to your Zune and open them up, just wait until tomorrow and it should start working again. This confirms that it was in fact caused by this year being a leap year, and thus having 366 days. I'm shocked and disappointed that Microsoft allowed this bug to go un-checked - they have some of the longest and most grueling test cycles in the industry for their software, so I'm stunned that the Zune team allowed this to happen. The Zune is struggling enough as it is, this is a black eye it really didn't need. We'll discuss that issue in a couple of days...I have some thoughts about it.
Zielok has released a new game for the GP2X, heres the details:
The "Next Element Deluxe" is a logical game, where your task is to destroy all the fields on the screen. To complete this task you have to rack your brain and deal with 80 levels. They all have interesting graphics and nice music. The "Next Element Deluxe" is a game with levels of rising difficulty, which tries to provide all players a lot of satisfaction.
Features:
- 80 levels
- high quality graphics
- many backgrounds
- very good gameplay
- many in-game music
- user friendly interface
Some words about a GP2X version.
I don't have a GP2X console. I have a testers with GP2X console and they tested my games but if you found any error please write to me http://www.zielok.com/index.php?action=contact
As 2008 comes to a close (or has already for those of you in The Future) it's always fun to look back on a year's worth of purchases and obsessively list twelve months of consumption.
This year represents, as far as I know, my biggest haul. The reason? This is the year I started to get review copies of games — a blessing and a curse. The total? Exactly 54 games for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PSP, Nintendo DS, Wii, Xbox 360 and PC — just slightly more than one game per week. The majority of them I paid out of pocket for (including that copy of Cruis'n), with some courtesy of publishers or developers (Resistance 2, for example). One was a gift!
Hit the jump for my own personal list and leave your own 2008 haul in the comments.
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin (DS)
Arcana Heart (PS2)
Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts (Xbox 360)
BioShock (Xbox 360)
Blastworks (Wii)
Braid (Xbox 360)
Call of Duty 4 (Xbox 360)
Castlevania Judgment (Wii)
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS)
Condemned 2: Bloodshot (Xbox 360)
Cruis'n (Wii)
Darkstalkers Collection (PS2)
Dead Rising (Xbox 360)
Dead Space (Xbox 360)
echochrome (PS3)
Fable II (Xbox 360)
Final Fantasy III (DS)
Game Party 2 (Wii)
Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360)
Golden Axe: Beast Rider (Xbox 360)
Haze (PS3)
The House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return (Wii)
Ikaruga (Xbox 360)
Left 4 Dead (Xbox 360)
Lips (Xbox 360)
LittleBigPlanet (PS3)
Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3)
Metal Slug 7 (DS)
Midnight Club Los Angeles (Xbox 360)
Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (Xbox 360)
N+ (Xbox 360)
Omega Five (Xbox 360)
Pac-Man Championship Edition (Xbox 360)
Peggle Nights (PC)
PixelJunk Eden (PS3)
PixelJunk Racers (PS3)
Portal: Still Alive (Xbox 360)
Resistance 2 (PS3)
Rez HD (Xbox 360)
R-Type Command (PSP)
SEGA Ages 2500: Phantasy Star Complete Collection (PS2)
SEGA Ages 2500: Fantasy Zone Complete Collection (PS2)
Silent Hill Homecoming (Xbox 360)
Soul Bubbles (DS)
Soulcalibur IV (PS3)
Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)
Too Human (Xbox 360)
The Last Guy (PS3)
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii)
Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise (Xbox 360)
Wario Land Shake It! (Wii)
WarTech (Xbox 360)
Wii Music (Wii)
World of Goo (PC)
Of that 54, I "beat" 22. Six I haven't played at all. The majority of the games acquired in 2008 were for the Xbox 360 (bias!!) with the least represented on my list being the PSP with just one game. Actually, I'm not sure if I got the Parodius Portable collection this year or last.
Former PlayStation exclusive series Way of the Samurai is making the platform jump. Publisher Spike announced its intentions to bring Way of the Samurai 3 to the Xbox 360 in February.
Originally released on the PlayStation 3 in November, Way of the Samurai 3 (aka Samurai Dou 3) debuted in Japan with 81,000 units sold. Not bad for a week's worth of sales, but developer Acquire and Spike may want to up those numbers with a port for Xbox 360 owners. The new version, dated for February 26th in Japan, will have "new elements" and offer downloadable content of some form.
Hopefully, that means we're one step closer to a Western release, regardless of the platform. I've always loved these quirky, if graphically underwhelming samurai adventure games. Who's with me? Anyone?
Is ready the latest stable version of this remake, with a bunch of new features:
Improvements in graphics.
Improvements in the sound.
Improvements to the gameplay.
Corrected many failures, (the game can be completed entirely, not as the previous version).
Improvements in stability.
Improvements in the documentation, and generally in all aspects.
It is not a final version and there is still work to graphic and sound, but the schedule is completed.
Wii/GameCube memory card manager is a project which has evolved from the mcbackup libOGC example back on 2006.
That example was intended to backup gamesaves over network and Akot added SD card support (trhought the SD gecko adapter) on 2007.
In early 2008 justb and dsbomb rebaptized the project to it's current name, added support for savegame deleting, showing the savegames information and developed a nice GUI for it.
Now, here is gcmm, ported to wii and libfat. More important, mcbackup has never correctly restored the savegames, though it may sometimes work, it seems to be pure luck.
This has been fixed. Enjoy.
Features:
-Backup savegames to front SD (wii) or SD gecko (gc)in GCI format.
-Restore gci savegames to memory card.
-Delete savegames.
Limitations:
-Only supports the GCI format. Anyway it's the most used and ther are tools to convert other formats into GCI.
-Protected gamesaves will only be able to be restored on the card it was backuped from. Even though, some protected savegames will still not work as some save protection rely in the situation of the gamesave on the memory card.
-Official Nintendo memory cards won't work in Wii mode for now due to a change in the DSP.
WIP:
-Add full raw memory card image backup and restore. Thanks to Masken for information and sources.
Additional notes about protected savegames:
Protected savegames rely on the serial ID that is given to the memory card when it is formated. That's why they won't work in other cards and why they won't work on the same card if that has been formatted.
Restoring a raw image to a diferent card has still to be tested to see if that will permit using a protected gamesave on another memory card.
Wii/GameCube memory card manager is a project which has evolved from the mcbackup libOGC example back on 2006.
That example was intended to backup gamesaves over network and Akot added SD card support (trhought the SD gecko adapter) on 2007.
In early 2008 justb and dsbomb rebaptized the project to it's current name, added support for savegame deleting, showing the savegames information and developed a nice GUI for it.
Now, here is gcmm, ported to wii and libfat. More important, mcbackup has never correctly restored the savegames, though it may sometimes work, it seems to be pure luck.
This has been fixed. Enjoy.
Features:
-Backup savegames to front SD (wii) or SD gecko (gc)in GCI format.
-Restore gci savegames to memory card.
-Delete savegames.
Limitations:
-Only supports the GCI format. Anyway it's the most used and ther are tools to convert other formats into GCI.
-Protected gamesaves will only be able to be restored on the card it was backuped from. Even though, some protected savegames will still not work as some save protection rely in the situation of the gamesave on the memory card.
-Official Nintendo memory cards won't work in Wii mode for now due to a change in the DSP.
WIP:
-Add full raw memory card image backup and restore. Thanks to Masken for information and sources.
Additional notes about protected savegames:
Protected savegames rely on the serial ID that is given to the memory card when it is formated. That's why they won't work in other cards and why they won't work on the same card if that has been formatted.
Restoring a raw image to a diferent card has still to be tested to see if that will permit using a protected gamesave on another memory card.
So, it didn't quite land before midnight as some had hoped, but we're sure you were partying too hard to notice. The Dev-Team just launched its long-awaited iPhone 3G unlock, dubbed "yellowsn0w," and while they're still working out a few kinks (terming this release a 0.9 beta release), reports are already pouring in of successful unlocks. It's also been confirmed that this release will work with the iPhone's latest v2.2 firmware, and in fact requires that the phone be updated to v2.2 to run at all -- much to the chagrin of folks who've held off on that update at the Dev-Team's behest, we're sure, but hopefully all will soon be forgotten in the new year... already freer than the last! Hit up the read link for download instructions and caveats.
Well, that was a wild way to end 2008, but Zune 30 users should be back in the saddle now that 2009 is here, as of about 7 am EST. In case you missed Microsoft's sage advice on the issue, you'll need to let the player completely drain its battery, then plug it back into a power source and all should be right as rain. Hopefully you didn't do anything drastic like removing the battery (voids the warranty) or use up all 10 of your free Zune Pass songs during those dark, dark hours of Zunelessness.
We were in support of Robert Peloni, the sole developer of homebrew RPG Bob's Game, when he began a 100-day lock-in to convince Nintendo to sell him the SDK he needed to release his game on DS. At least, we were on day 12 of said protest. We're 21 days in now, and things are getting ... well, they're getting a little odd.
What kind of odd? Well, Peloni has started releasing the addresses of Nintendo execs and offering semi-creepy holiday greetings to Reggie. Oh, also, he's begun threatening to ... well, as he said:
"If I cannot legitimately publish my game, the only option left to fulfill this goal is to bundle a KILLER APP with a DSi enabled 'homebrew device.' ... 'bob's game' is being translated into many languages, including Japanese, and will be released worldwide. Unfortunately, this has the potential to significantly cut into Nintendo's bottom line."
We still hope Bob can work something out, we just ... well, we can see why Nintendo might be a little hesitant about working with him.
Last night I shot off a few Kotaku resolutions, things I hope to do on the site during 2009. But what about you?
We're officially a short sleep into 2009, so you've had plenty of time to ponder your slow death and gamer failings. What do you hope to do this year gaming wise and, more importantly, what do you hope developers do?
Welcome to this week's Games Update, our weekly summary featuring all new product arrivals from the last seven days.
Christmas is over, but the fun is not. Although this is a relatively calm week, some products that were delayed from last week have finally arrived. We thank you for your patience and hope you have a real joyful time when you unbox your packages.
DJMAX is here to assault your senses, prolonging the Christmas excitement. Enjoy the cool graphics and catchy J-pop and K-pop tunes on the go with your Sony PSP with Emotional Sense - Black Square and on your PC with Trilogy.
As an example of the successes of this rhythm game brand, the Black Square Quattra Edition and the Trilogy Pulsar Edition are sold out already, but do join the DJ MAX party through the First Print Editions of both games.
After the glossy cool black of the Korean Rhythm game, fill your HD TV screen with a pristine white. The White Knight has arrived, his story chronicled on a Blu-ray game disc. Learn the meaning of gallantry and chivalry as you follow the novice merchant on his quest to save the princess and defeat the evil.
Decorate your new Nintendo DSi console with a number of slip on sox and prevent scratches or blemishes from landing on it. We have these sox in a variety of colors, choose the ones that goes best with your outfit.
Here's a quick summary again of all new arrivals from this week.
Xbox360™
Aviator Flight Stick US$ 49.90
PlayStation3™
Aviator Flight Stick US$ 49.90
USB AC Adaptor ASIA US$ 19.90
White Knight Chronicles JPN US$ 69.90
Nintendo Wii™
Rock Band 2 US US$ 54.90
Rock Band 2 Wireless Drum Set US US$ 129.90
Rock Band 2 Wireless Guitar US US$ 89.90
Story Hour Fairy Tales US US$ 24.90
PlayStation2™
Rock Band 2 US US$ 54.90
Nintendo DS™
Minna de Jibun no Setsumeisho: B-Kata, A-Kata, AB-Kata, O-Kata JPN US$ 39.90
Mystery P.I.: Portrait of a Thief US US$ 24.90
Sony PSP™
Biohazard Degeneration JPN US$ 41.90
DJ Max Portable Emotional Sense - Black Square [First Print Special Package] KOR US$ 49.90
DJ Max Portable Emotional Sense - Black Square [Quattra Limited Edition] KOR N/A
PC Games
DJ Max Trilogy [First Print Popular Edition] (DVD-ROM) KOR N/A
DJ Max Trilogy [Pulsar Limited Edition] (DVD-ROM) KOR N/A
Miscellaneous
PS1000 Dual Analog Pad US$ 24.90
Game Books and Magazines
Arcadia Magazine [February 2009] JPN N/A
Famitsu PSP + PS3 [February 2009] JPN US$ 11.90
Famitsu Wave DVD [February 2009] JPN US$ 18.90
Famitsu Xbox 360 [February 2009] JPN US$ 11.90
Pokemon: The Ultimate Guide (Hardcover) US US$ 24.90
Saka-Tsuku DS: Touch and Direct The Perfect Guide JPN US$ 27.90
The Last Remnant Signature Series US US$ 19.90
Weekly Famitsu No. 1047 (2009 01/09 + 16) Double Issue JPN US$ 8.90
Game related Music
DJCD Inu Raji TB Show JPN US$ 36.90
Plug+Program (~Seiya-murai) JPN US$ 42.90
Pop'n Music Request Best! JPN US$ 38.90
Game related Movies
Biohazard Degeneration JPN US$ 62.90
Biohazard Degeneration JPN US$ 52.90
Biohazard Degeneration [Blu-ray Box] JPN US$ 134.90
Resident Evil: Degeneration HK US$ 34.90
Resident Evil: Degeneration US US$ 39.95
Hello, I just present you with a first release of my "shell" nOLM (anOtherLuaMenu)
- Why "shell" in quotation marks?
- Because there is a configuration file, a home menu.
Be still nice, it's my first hombrew.
Obviously I intend to create programs more complicated than that.
J'esserrais later Dumper / Ripper for UMD, I even acquired a name ... QURry: Quick Umd Ripper
jimay introduced the first homebrew on Nintendo DS, which is none other than the adaptation of a classic arcade game: Bubble Bobble.
Quote:
yet little has been implemented:
the character and his movement
decor
map of the collision
the creation of bubbles and their movement
management of the character of collisions
the bursting of the bubble by Me
manny offers a first version of its clone of the game Lunar Lander 70 years of dating.
The game uses the Wiimote instead of buttons on the original game. For now Wiilander is not "playable" in the proper sense but you can navigate the planet.
POKE POKEMON PSP Demo
Simple Pokemon game test demo for PSP.
Next Version:
- Perhaps at least 10 Pokemons
- Totally in Portuguese / English also
- System SaveGame / Load
- Menu
- Pause system improved
- Possibility to get in some places
- Another area
- Talk with other characters
- Sound (Stage still in preparation)
- RPG mode
Hi Guys,
This game is my homage to the Amiga family of computers.
Powernoid is a breakout clone with powerups based on Megaball for the Amiga,
which also later inspired DX-Ball for Windows.
This update gave me a chance to use my Intrafont sine wave display,
The new wobbly ball powerup and moving objects also based on the sine wave routine.
There are also some significant bug fixes, and this one has in game music by Drax.
Quote:
Powernoid V4c (01/01/09):
Implemented Mikmod player for in game music.
One more extra life powerup brick added to game.
Improvement to sound routine so powerup samples are always played.
Increased pause duration between stages, new ball in play, and game pause with Home button.
Small display bug fix for game over where extra life powerup brick is displayed.
Change to high score encryption so the save file is incompatible with previous versions.
Powernoid V4b (01/01/09):
Bullets on either side of paddle now operate independently.
Fixed collision detection for powerup bricks that have multiple colours.
Moving barriers implemented in some stages.
Moving bricks implemented in stage 2.
Added Megaball style powerup description screen to intro.
Added powerup brick for extra life.
Change to high score encryption so the save file is incompatible with previous versions.
Davex has posted an Unofficial version of Picodrive the Genesis/Megadrive Emulator for PSP, heres the details:
Hi everybody,
It's been a long time since I released a mod for a PSP emulator, but finally I have a little spare time.
And for those who likes "rewind" mod, I'm happy to announce that Sega Genesis emulator, Picodrive, it's nearly to have their respective rewind mod (sorry, no mirror display)
I hope to have this finished within a week and made a final release, but if someone want to try a "preview", there is a link for download this unnoficial Picodrive version (tested on a PSP FAT FW 3.90 M33). BTW, Rewind key is asigned to "R TRIGGER".
January 2nd, 2009, 17:32 Posted By: Yellow_Yackets
PspLuaHelper is a free Psp Lua compiler created with C# and visual express 2008. It uses LuaPlayer 0.20.
It's previous version LuaHelper 2 didn't had the compiler embedded into the windows form. With LuaHelper you can easily compile .lua files without creating any .bat.
It is recommended that you update your .NET framework to 3.5 before you download the compiler.
*I just discovered a small bug... If you close LuaPlayer by pressing the [X] Button (or close button) you might have trouble decompiling the file. It's better to close LuaPlayer by pressing the key [ESC].
At first I thought this was really silly, but now can see the functional use…
Apple has filed a patent for iPhone and iPod touch gloves. This addresses the complaints of almost all users in cold climates who wear gloves outdoors. The multi-touch devices depend on electrical responses from user’s fingertips, which are often blocked by normal insulated gloves. Users in cold climates must choose between waiting to use their iPhone until they get indoors or taking off those gloves…brrr!
Apple’s solution is to construct gloves with a secondary inner layer that stimulates electrical feedback of human fingers when exposed to the outside. On each fingertip there would be pieces of material that peel back to reveal this inner layer. This inner layer is expected to deliver the same responsiveness as bare skin.
The exact design is not known, as it’s speculated that “The technique could use either an elastic ring to open or close the openings on the
The Motley Fool posted an article a few days ago on how Palm could lose everything (haven't they just about done that already?) and what they must do to survive. The main reason I am posting this is the Fool has some research showing that closed systems are crushing open systems in the marketplace. Closed systems are represented by Nokia, Apple and RIM, where the own the operating system and do much if not all of the hardware design. Open systems would include Palm, HTC and Motorola where the software is purchased from a third party, like Microsoft or Google.
This is the exact opposite of the PC world where only Apple owns their own OS. All other PC vendors buy from Microsoft or use a flavor of Linux, and despite all of the media attention on Apple, it is still below 10% of US share, though it is growing, especially in the consumer space.
Years ago when MS got into the phone OS business, they hoped to repeat their desktop success in the mobile device world and to date, aren't even close, while newcomers like Apple and very focused developers like RIM own the top positions. Do you see this trend continuing? What can the open system vendors (MS, HTC, Palm, etc.) do to turn this around? Should MS release their own phone? I know one of the things that really frustrates users is when there is a problem with their Windows Mobile device, Microsoft won't even talk to them. It is the carrier's responsibility to service the consumer, and speaking from experience, in all but the easiest of solutions, the carrier immediately responds with "wipe the devices memory and let's see what that does." That response simply says "I have no clue about this OS we've put on your phone, so just reset it." If MS sold a phone, I suspect they'd be far more inclined to help the user than their OEM partners are.
You can now save money and get all the accessories you need for your PSP-3000 or PSP Slim console with this 30 in 1 ultimate pack! 32 accessories includes all the must have for people caring for their console.
A dream comes true! Use your Xbox 360 wired controller on your Playstation 3 with XCM Cross Battle Adapter. Also feature a Rapid Fire function.
For xbox 360 controllers' fans, now you can use your 360 wired controller on PS 3 console, plug and play, also built in rapid fire function.
For many reasons people really like the Xbox 360 controller. The look and feel are second to none. Now those same controllers can be used on your Playstation 3 console! For the first time you'll have the use of real triggers on your Playstation 3 console!
A dream comes true! Use your Xbox 360 wired controller on your Playstation 3 with XCM Cross Battle Adapter. Also feature a Rapid Fire function.
For xbox 360 controllers' fans, now you can use your 360 wired controller on PS 3 console, plug and play, also built in rapid fire function.
For many reasons people really like the Xbox 360 controller. The look and feel are second to none. Now those same controllers can be used on your Playstation 3 console! For the first time you'll have the use of real triggers on your Playstation 3 console!
Flexible Car Stand for PSP-3000, PSP Slim and PSP consoles. It offers nti-scratch, dust repel and comfortable hand feeling and is suitable to use in car window, on desk, table surface or any shiny surface.
Sorry folks -- we know that you were looking forward to a future of "pay to play" computing, but it seems that Microsoft's application has been soundly dissed by the patent office. Reasons for the decision include the company's "occasional use of fuzzy terminology" and the fact that much of this stuff has already been patented. Of course, the decision can be appealed -- but for the time being, if you still want to pay monthly for a computer AT&T has a netbook for you.
The iPhone Dev-Team works in mysterious ways, but it also works in quick ways. Granted, the iPhone 3G's initial unlock took way longer than anyone would've liked, but when reports started surfacing that it wasn't working particularly well after the first beta release earlier in the week, they appear to have worked doubletime to get a better version into circulation. The release is now up to v0.9.4 -- still beta -- but if you tried the first cut and struggled, we'd suggest giving the new version a whirl.
While Windows may be more popular than Linux when it comes to netbooks for a variety of reasons, price certainly isn't one of them. We don't know whether it's peoples' fear of the unknown or just the awful UI facades typically used to hide the open-source alternative, but a lot of people are hoping that Android could sweep in and offer a third choice -- someday. Not content to wait, a couple of freelancers at VentureBeat (who also run a startup called Mobile-facts) spent a few hours tweaking Google's (Linux-based) OS to run on ASUS hardware and, thanks to the availability of open-source drivers for all the wee thing's wee devices, were up and running in no time. Mind you, the giant buttons and simplistic UI seem more suited to a G1 than an S10, but it surely wouldn't take long to fix that. So, the only question now is when will a manufacturer step up and announce Android out of the box? There's a little electronics show coming up soon, so maybe we'll hear more there.
You know what they say -- if you can't buy it, mod it. Michael "Bibin" Moffitt's backlighting job on this Game Boy Pocket is a case in point. Unwilling to shell out the dough for a Game Boy Light on eBay (but more than willing to destroy two old LCDs in pursuit of his mad dream), this guy removed the reflective layer and adhesive behind the handheld's display ("almost as hard as reasoning with a rabid PlayStation 3 fan," he writes) and built a backlight out of an LED, some perspex, and a diffusive layer. That's it -- now our man is playing Donkey Kong, in the dark, in all its monochromatic glory, and with no noticeable change in battery life. Hit the read link for plenty of naked GBP pics.
Say wha'?! An iPhone in a hue other than black, white, or silver? While a red model has been rumored since before the 3G even launched, we've never thought about a pink one -- let alone one hitting eBay. The text on the back of the device convinces us that this isn't a simple ColorWare job, but there aren't any photos of the back of the packaging either. Our take? Some OEM in Asia whipping up custom colors. But hey, Macworld's just under a week away, so who knows?
It's 2009, folks, so we figured we'd start it off with a bang (and about a gazillion comments in this post). George, a proud member of the USMC, is pondering what to do about a new smartphone, and given that your New Year's resolution was undoubtedly to ditch your dumbphone in favor of a more sophisticated model, you'll probably be interested as well.
"I am currently in the market for a new carrier and phone. I have Verizon now, but I am not all that happy with its service in my area. With the release of all the high end phones nowadays, one could get easily lost in the details. I currently have the LG Voyager; I like the phone, but I feel trapped and can't do much with it unless I pay for every little thing. I would like a mobile with WiFi, camera (with flash if possible), touchscreen, etc. I would like to stay under $200 with a 2-year contract. Any advice would be wonderful."
It's tough, ain't it George? There's the G1, iPhone 3G, Bold, Storm -- the list rolls on. So, let's spark up a sane, intelligent conversation on the pros and cons of each, all while remembering that our ideal handset sadly didn't arrive in time for Christmas.
Did you accidentally flip the switch on that OTA update to RC30 on your G1 and currently find yourself stuck with a non-root lifestyle? Well thanks to forum member chavonbravo over at xda-developers, things are about to get awesome for you. You can now revert back to RC29 with ease by snagging the uploaded image, renaming, copying to your microSD card, and running through standard procedure for re-flashing the phone. We can attest that the hack does indeed work, so feel free to proceed. Word to the wise, though: getting up to a modded RC30 isn't as easy as some might have you believe, so set aside a little time to walk through the steps (check out ModMyGPhone's guide page for clear instructions).
There's certainly plenty of reasons not to turn a pair of iPods into some portable speakers -- difficulty, inevitably poor sound quality, pains of regret -- but we're guessing that the sight of the creation above will prompt at least a few folks to start scavenging for parts. Apparently taking some lessons learned from previous Altoids tin speaker mods, Jordan Horwich crafted these for a total cost of $100, which includes the cost of some front and back iPod panels and some rather extravagant shipping rates. As you might expect, the entire project is a tad tricky, and involves a good bit of soldering, plus some Dremel work to make everything fit just right.
Sometimes it's easy to lose perspective amidst marketing. Case in point: Nielsen measured that gamers, on whole, spent 31% of their time on the PS2 in 2008 (more than the Xbox 360 and Wii combined).
The other interesting, though not necessarily surprising finding was that the gaming population spends more time playing the 360 than the Wii, despite the 360's lower install base. Microsoft can probably thank Call of Duty 4 for that win (along with similar online titles).
One point we're not sure about, however, is whether or not portable systems were included in this list. We're guessing not, as the DS would have probably popped up somewhere.
[Steve] sent us his new years project, a remote beer server controlled by his iPhone. He has built a frame from construx and used ioBridge to connect it to his iPhone. He states that he “wanted to make a project that allows for the perfect pour and take out all of that physical work”. Seems like it could use a little adjustment to be a bit less foamy. Maybe an additional frame to adjust the angle of the glass as it is poured
Yeah, the Gundam arcade game with the wonderful panoramic cockpit is getting a PSP port. I've done some digging on this though and whilst the official site doesn't mention anything, a slew of Japanese blogs are reporting a release date of the 26th of March (which was subsequently picked up elsewhere). Whether this turns out to be true I would be personally inclined to utter "what the ****?!?" at this state of affairs. Surely, the team behind the really good Gundam game on the Wii would be ideally suited to this, as that was already first person and afforded a similar control setup to the arcade game. You could even do all the networked multiplayer stuff on the Wii and the system's specs are a closer fit to the arcade board than, let's say, a PSP.
I can only assume with the various Gundam games out on the PSP at the moment, all of which work very well admittedly, that Bamco Namdai has followed the numbers to reach the conclusion that more people want a PSP version, despite the functional fallout.
Word comes from Sauron's agent, the one they call Major Nelson of the Red Mound, that the multiplayer demo for Lord of the Rings: Conquest is available now on Xbox Live. The 1.25GB demo is available globally and allows you to play as either the armies of "good" or "evil" -- although, what side those terms represent is surely up for philosophical debate.
Developer Pandemic has had no qualms in saying that LotR: Conquest is Star Wars: Battlefront with a Middle-Earth setting. The game should arrive on January 13 for X360, PS3 and PC. Now, go kill some filthy Hobbitses!
The average price for used video game sales on eBay and other resellers dropped nearly 12 percent from last year, according to an analysis by Video Game Price Charts.Com.
Average used game prices started at a high of $12.69 on Jan. 1, dropped down to a low of $8.57 on Nov. 3 and rose back up to $9.68 by the end of 2008, according to the site. The free fall from January mirrored a similar drop in 2007, but ended up shaving an addition 11.8 percent off resales prices.
The article's author JJ Hendricks believes the drop in used game prices is because of the recession, but I'm not so sure that's a good explanation. Looking at the charts you can see that 2008 prices drop below 2007 prices in April, regaining strength for only a month or so before dropping below 07 again.
Perhaps it's because of the quality of used games being sold. There is certainly anecdotal evidence that gamers are holding onto more recent titles longer than they used to.
Oh look! The weekend! Again! After having a restful New Year's Day, playing Left 4 Dead and Rez HD, it's time to take two additional days off. So, what's left to play this weekend?
My newly acquired copy of Final Fantasy III DS perhaps? Maybe some Gears of War 2? Maybe I'll even give that copy of Golden Axe: Beast Rider a spin beyond the first two hours. Maybe I'll just flog myself for a few hours or do something more exciting like sort receipts for tax purposes!
What about yourself? What's the plan for ringing in the new year, game-wise?
Metacritic put together a list of the best and worst games of 2008 on every console. The top reviewed aren't that surprising, but there are some real doozies in the duds.
The list was created by looking at average review scores and includes a couple Grand Theft Auto IV mentions, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Fallout 3, among others.
DS
1. Chrono Trigger
2. The World Ends With You
3. Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
4. Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
5. Professor Layton and the Curious Village
Dud
Homie Rollerz
PC
1. Fallout 3
2. Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor
3. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
4. Grand Theft Auto IV
5. World of Goo
Dud
Beauty Factory
PS2
1. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4
2. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES
3. MLB 08: The Show
4. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008
5. FIFA Soccer 09
Dud
Women's Volleyball Championship
PS3
1. Grand Theft Auto IV
2. LittleBigPlanet
3. Bioshock
4. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
5. Rock Band 2
Dud
Vampire Rain: Altered Species
PSP
1. God of War: Chains of Olympus
2. Patapon
3. LocoRoco 2
4. FIFA Soccer 09
5. Space Invaders Extreme
Dud
King of Clubs
Wii
1. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
2. World of Goo
3. MaBoShi: The Three Shape Arcade
4. Okami
5. Tetris Party
Dud
SPOGS Racing
Xbox 360
1. Grand Theft Auto IV
2. Gears of War 2
3. Fallout 3
4. Braid
5. Rock Band 2
Welcome to this week's Movie/Music news roundup, containing new Japanese and Hong Kong Video and Music releases from this week listed at Play-Asia.com. Around 80 new items are covered in this week, including new J-Pop, Anime as well as Japanese, Hong Kong and Western movie releases and much more.
This week has been mostly calm with major game and music releasing countries enjoying their national Christmas and New Year Holidays. Still, a popular band and some music producers managed to squeeze their works through the slowly diminished end-of-year line.
Kat-Tun, another one of Johnny's chart toppers recorded the last concert of their Queen of Pirates Tour and gave it to their fans as a New Year present. Debutting as a rock band, the DVD is filled to the brim with exciting fast paced tracks and passionate dance numbers.
Spend your New Year holidays with your idols and introduce them to your family and friends whenever you have the opportunity.
Still not enough excitement? How about a night with charging zombies, ceaseless gun fire and cutting edge computer graphics? The Umbrella incident in Raccoon City is resolved and people have been living somewhat peaceful lives until the undead started popping up again.
Christmas or New Years need not be blissful or peaceful if you know where to look, and we are pointing you to the direction of Biohazard Degeneration.
Bemani's Pop and cute rhythm games Pop'n Music and its music producers have also brought their fans something to spice up their New Year parties by. Created for fans, Pop'n Music Request Best! contains the long versions of songs with the most votes.
Besides the fan favourite tracks, a composer and major contributor to the game also released his first album, Plug+Program. Another interesting game soundtrack is Lord of Vermillion, Square Enix's excellent arcade trading cards game.
Here's a summary of all new releases that were published between Saturday, December 27th and Friday, January 2nd, 2009. If some specific item that you are looking for is missing, please don't hesitate to contact our customer service with your request.
J-Pop Music releases (8)
ENKA Music releases (8)
Anime Soundtracks & Drama CDs (4)
Video Game Soundtracks (4)
Hong Kong Version Music releases (2)
Blu-ray Disc Movies (35)
Anime & Animation (3)
Hong Kong Version Movie releases (6)
Japanese Movies (5)
J-Pop DVD releases (2)
As Tears Go By (~Andy Lau Tak Wah, Maggie Cheung, ...) HK US$ 28.90
Climbers High JPN US$ 52.90
Cloverfield / Sleepy Hollow (Blu-ray 2-Pack Back to Back) (~Michael Stahl-David, Lizzy Caplan, ...) US US$ 42.99
Cloverfield / Sleepy Hollow (Blu-ray 2-Pack Side by Side) (~Michael Stahl-David, Lizzy Caplan, ...) US US$ 42.99
Coming to America / Trading Places (Blu-ray 2-Pack Back to Back) (~Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, ...) US US$ 36.99
Coming to America / Trading Places (Blu-ray 2-Pack Side by Side) (~Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, ...) US US$ 36.99
Corazon De Melon (~Waka Inoue, Takanori Nishikawa) JPN US$ 47.90
Days of Thunder (~Robert Duvall, Randy Quaid, ...) US US$ 29.99
Drillbit Taylor / Norbit (Blu-ray 2-Pack Back to Back) (~Owen Wilson, Alex Frost, ...) US US$ 42.99
Drillbit Taylor / Norbit (Blu-ray 2-Pack Side by Side) (~Owen Wilson, Alex Frost, ...) US US$ 42.99
Eagle Eye (~Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan) US US$ 39.99
Event Horizon (~Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, ...) US US$ 29.99
Ghost (~Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, ...) US US$ 29.99
Ghost Town (~Greg Kinnear, Tea Leoni, ...) US US$ 39.99
God Bless The Machine Dancouga / Choju Kishin Dancougar Blu-ray Disc Box 1 JPN US$ 384.90
Italian Job / Shooter (Blu-ray 2-Pack Back to Back) (~Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, ...) US US$ 36.99
Italian Job / Shooter (Blu-ray 2-Pack Side by Side) (~Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, ...) US US$ 36.99
Kelly Chen Love Fighters Concert 2008 Karaoke (~Kelly Chen) HK US$ 39.90
Last Holiday (~Queen Latifah, Ranjit Chowdhry, ...) US US$ 29.99
Next / Face Off (Blu-ray 2-Pack Back to Back) (~Nicolas Cage, Julianne Moore, ...) US US$ 36.99
Next / Face Off (Blu-ray 2-Pack Side by Side) (~Nicolas Cage, Julianne Moore, ...) US US$ 36.99
Painted Skin (~Zhou Xun, Donnie Yen, ...) HK US$ 31.90
Patriot Games / Sum of All Fears (Blu-ray 2-Pack Back to Back) (~Harrison Ford, James Earl Jones, ...) US US$ 36.99
Patriot Games / Sum of All Fears (Blu-ray 2-Pack Side by Side) (~Harrison Ford, James Earl Jones, ...) US US$ 36.99
Resident Evil: Degeneration US US$ 39.95
Resident Evil: Degeneration HK US$ 34.90
RV (~Robin Williams, Jeff Daniels, ...) HK US$ 28.90
Shoko Nakagawa Concert Tour 2008 - Donyoku Matsuri (~Shoko Nakagawa) JPN US$ 58.90
Spiderwick Chronicles / Nacho Libre (Blu-ray 2-Pack Back to Back) (~Freddie Highmore, Sarah Bolger, ...) US US$ 42.99
Spiderwick Chronicles / Nacho Libre (Blu-ray 2-Pack Side by Side) (~Freddie Highmore, Sarah Bolger, ...) US US$ 42.99
Surfer, Dude (~Matthew McConaughey, Zachary Knighton, ...) US US$ 34.98
The Duchess (~Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, ...) US US$ 39.99
The Ruins / Tomb Raider (Blu-ray 2-Pack Back to Back) (~Jonathan Tucker, Shawn Ashmore, ...) US US$ 42.99
The Ruins / Tomb Raider (Blu-ray 2-Pack Side by Side) (~Jonathan Tucker, Shawn Ashmore, ...) US US$ 42.99
The Truman Show (~Jim Carrey, Laura Linney, ...) US US$ 29.99
Now here’s a surprise. In the future Yosumin is going to be more than a DS game. Square Enix and likely some other developer are bringing the rectangle making Flash game Yosumin to Xbox Live Arcade.
Yousmin isn’t exactly Square Enix’s first Xbox Live Arcade since they own Taito and a handful of Taito properties like Space Invaders Extreme are coming to Xbox Live Arcade. However, the Yosumin leak stands out since it’s a Square Enix thing instead of a legacy property from Taito. Hmm… maybe some other developer isn’t working on Yosumin Live. Square Enix quietly announced they are building a US studio designed for digital titles.
Last week Spike posted a countdown clock which ticked over in 2009 to reveal Way of the Samurai 3 was getting an Xbox 360 port. In a video greeting the developers revealed it’s on track to come out in Japan on February 26 and will have additional content not found in the PlayStation 3 release which came out in November 2008.
What kind of content? Looks like it might be character customization content. Way of the Samurai 3 has a character creation system where you can transform your samurai into a Spartan warrior or don a suit of cardboard boxes. Currently, no US publisher has announced Way of the Samurai 3, but since an Xbox 360 version is in the pipeline we should get it.
Uberjack has released a new version of the Sinclair Spectrum emulator for PlayStation Portable:
What's New
Version 0.10.0.1 (January 01, 2009):
Fuse updated to version 0.10.0.1
Miscellaneous bug fixes
Support for compressed disks (see documentation)
Option to enable/disable sound while tape is loading (only works with Fastloading disabled)
Option to enable/disable "Issue 2" keyboard support
Extra button options - Square/Cross/Circle/Triangle with L or R trigger held down
Option to enable/disable tape fastloading (some games do not load correctly when enabled)
Virtual keyboard: emulation should not lag as much when virtual keyboard is displayed
Added state exporting to other versions of Fuse - press Start while the 'Save/Load' tab is selected -- an SNA file will be written to the snapshot directory
Virtual keyboard: classic display mode (show when R held down), or toggle mode (show/hide when R is pressed)
Tape autoloading
Snapshots are now saved into PSP's own PHOTO directory (/PSP/PHOTO), and can be viewed in PSP's image viewer
File selector snapshots - while browsing for games with the file selector, pause momentarily to display the first snapshot for the game
RedSquare is an classic 2D action game. Click and hold the red square. Now, move it so that you neither touch the walls nor get hit by any of the blue blocks. If you make it to 31 seconds, you are doing brilliantly!
Special thanks to my family for their support during the development of this game.
01/01/2009 Version 0.70
- Added global highscore screen
- Global highscore information is fetch from internet.
- Improve button graphics.
- Improve release notes screen.
- Added new cool background music.
- Network thread status is displayed on welcome screen.
- Bugfix: Local highscore is now always loaded correctly.
- Build game with libogc 1.7.1 and devkitPPC r16 compiler.
I just learned about developing applications on Wii 3 days ago. I was wondering what application should I make, and I noticed that there was no Apple II emulator for Wii yet. Apple II/e was my first computer, so I thought it will be fun to be able to emulate it on my Wii. AppleWin is a good Apple emulator, but it is very windows specific, fortunately someone already ported it to Linux using SDL, and the name is LinApple.
Someone already made an early SDL port to Wii, but it is missing threading support (which is needed by the emulator). After reading things at wiibrew.org and devkitpro.org, I decided to complete the threading part. The next problem is the input. I want to be able to write BASIC applications, so I decided that the SDL port must support keyboard input, someone already made LibWiikeyboard, so I can just plug it in SDL (actually this is a hack, to correctly handle SDL requirements, there are some things that needs to be changed, in LibWiikeyboard and in the SDL gamecube implementation).
Next part is the porting process itself. The difficult part is making sure all the endiannes conversion of 6502 (Apple II CPU) to Wii’s PowerPC is done correctly, because I don’t have a USB gecko to debug it. Currently the port works, but don’t expect too much from this first release. I can already play some games, but I haven’t tested many other things.
Frezzy made his 2nd homebrew for the DS, it is always a utility, "VocableDS". "In which you create your own form of vocabulary and perform tests.
Quote:
v1 - First Release
* You can create vocabulary lists which can be 100 words big. A word and its translation can be 50 characters big!
* The filename 15 characters can be big.
* The character sets of English, Spanish, German and French are included.
* And of course you can test yourself!
* You can decide if you want to be asked for the word or for the translation.
* You have only a choice between 15 more files cuz is not displayed!
* The file must be created by VocableDS.
* At the end of a vocabulary test you can see how much of the words you've answered correct or wrong.
Hello everyone, this is the demo of my game: Jungle adventure, the aim was to create a platform game filled with animation and is easy to make maps. I took the characters of the tuto xtreamlua, I hope there is no copyright.
WInnydows has released a new version of Winnydows Commander the media app for the PSP/iphone:
Some fixes.
Added tools bar.
Search tool fixed and enhanced.
"My computer" now load so fast as it possible.
Added clipboard tool - clipboard manager with drag drop support.
Added ISO compressor tool - compress ISO to CSO and back.
To Explorer added info line.
PSP saves look better now.
For PSP saves added enhanced properties.
WInnydows has released a new version of Winnydows Commander the media app for the PSP/iphone:
Some fixes.
Added tools bar.
Search tool fixed and enhanced.
"My computer" now load so fast as it possible.
Added clipboard tool - clipboard manager with drag drop support.
Added ISO compressor tool - compress ISO to CSO and back.
To Explorer added info line.
PSP saves look better now.
For PSP saves added enhanced properties.
Miriam has released a new Custom Firmware for the PSP, heres whats new:/features:
Requirements:
- A PSP with 3.52 M33-3 or higher.
Instructions:
- Extract the UPDATE folder to /PSP/GAME on your memory stick.
- Obtain the 5.02 EBOOT and copy it to the UPDATE folder with the name '502.PBP'.
[This step is not required if you are already on a different 5.02 custom firmware]
- Run the updater and follow the instructions on the screen.
- The battery check can be bypassed by holding L + Triangle on launch.
- Enjoy 5.02 GEN-A.
Features:
- Suspend, Reset and Pandora options added in the recovery.
- Hide MAC Address can be enabled via configuration in recovery.
- VSH Recovery can now be opened with an option in the vshmenu.
- You can quickly exit the recovery by pressing the Select button.
- Game Categories Plugin by Bubbletune integrated (enabled by default, can be disabled in recovery).
- Option to reboot in to official firmware in the recovery, it will remain like this until the next cold reset.
(Slim Only, support for the Phat PSP might be added later)
- Slim Colors Patch by Bubbletune integrated, enable in the recovery and flash 13-27.bmp to your flash0.
This will allow you to use the Slim Colors on your Phat PSP.
- Higher homebrew compatibility compared to other 5.02 custom firmwares.
- Functional 5.02 pops (keep pops compatibility in mind).
Using Game Categories (taken from the original readme):
- Create folders prefixed with 'CAT_' in the GAME, GAME150, GAME5XX or ISO folder.
- Fill them with everything you want to appear for that specific category (if you have the same category name in two or more folders they will be mixed).
- Keep the Sony file length limitations in mind, due to the name of the category being added to the total length, the length of each filename will increase even more.
If a corrupt icon shows up, try lowering the length of the filename.
- Boot your PSP, open vshmenu and select the appropriate category.
Notes:
- I'll release a 1.50 kernel add-on in a few days.
- The very latest 5.00 popsloader from Dark_AleX can be used in this custom firmware.
- You can't share the files located in your flash0 between multiple machines, instead, share the updater.
- Installation of this custom firmware remains at your own risk, even though it has been tested througly, we can not provide any guarantee.
About homebrew-only version:
- This version of the custom firmware aims at supporting game developers and allowing things such as running homebrew, modding your XMB, etc. But removing support for POPs and ISO's.
- In the future we might hope to find something similiar to this in an official firmare, a dream, perhaps.
- You can select whether you want to install the Full or Lite version in the updater, and your selection can be changed later.
- This version saves about 70kb of flash0 space!
CTF_Updater notes:
- This program lets you convert 5.00 M33 Themes to 5.02 GEN Themes.
- Usage: <program> <ctf file to convert> in a ms-dos prompt, the same file input is converted in output
- Use with CXMB in this package
Recovery translation:
- Included in this package are English, French and Spanish. English one is only included for translation purposes, as the recovery has the English one embedded inside and will switch to it when your own language is not found.
- You can place your language files in either ms0:/seplugins or flash1:/, after which they will be used if the appropriate language was selected in the XMB.
Credits:
- Dark_AleX: For the original custom firmware.
- PSPGen: For all their support and allowing us to release the CFW on their site.
- Bubbletune: For giving me and allowing me to use his Game Categories Plugin and Slim Colors source code.
- Granite: For creating the ICON0.PNG used in the updater.
-----------------------------
Enjoy the custom firmware and have a happy new year,
Miriam and the rest of the GEN development team :-)
By now you’re feeling good and no doubt digging custom firmware 5.02 GEN-A. Although, perhaps you were a little saddened when you learned CXMB was no longer functional… But that’s all changed; Miriam has released an unofficial version of Poison’s CXMB that is now fully compatible with CFW 5.02 GEN-A. So boogie on down and enjoy countless user contributed XMB themes all over again.
Miriam and co have released a version of iR Shell v4.8 for Custom Firmware 5.02GEN-A, this version has been hex edited to work on the new custom firmware, so its not 100% compatible, they claim its 90% so not far off eh :P
[What is this?]
This is a spoofer (aka faker) for the information found in the XMB->Settings->System Settings->System Information. This version supports the firmwares of 5.00 and 5.02 and includes spoofing of both System Version and Mac Address. So you can personalize the XMB Information for whatever you need, including your own imaginary "8.32342 0xDEADBEEF" firmware and matching mac address.
[Changes from Last Version]
- Automatic detection of character set (Ascii/ansi or Unicode*)
- Added 5.02 GEN-A support
- Added Mac Address editing
[Install]
Copy the "sysconf_spoofer.prx" to the "seplugins" folder on your MEMORY STICK and add a line to vsh.txt (or create one within seplugins folder) and add the line "ms0:/seplugins/sysconf_spoofer.prx 1" and then make a "spoofversion.txt" and/or a "spoofmac.txt" in seplugins folder. Within these, write your hearts desire; with either ascii (normal text) or Unicode* (special characters). Reboot your PSP, and be amazed at your system information.
[Developers]
Source code is included, if you have any questions, post in the relative thread(s) for this applications, I'll get back to you as soon as possible.
Well, here's an interesting twist to this story. That mysterious and completely enraging "Zune bug" that cropped up on the final day of 2008 may not have been restricted to Microsoft PMPs. A much smaller cadre of Toshiba Gigabeat users reportedly experienced similar issues, and some even noted that the whole "discharge and re-date" rigmarole fixed their unit right up as well. Upon further investigation, it seems that the issue may actually reside in the Freescale MC13783 processor, which -- coincidentally enough -- is used in the Zune 30 and a few of Toshiba's alternatives. We suppose it's a little late to ask, but did any non-Zune owners experience similar issues just prior to the dawn of '09? Or were you too busy, um, partying like it was 1999?
The perfect complement to ION's Drum Rocker kit, dreamGEAR has unveiled the WarBeast wireless guitar controller for PlayStation 3 and PS2. It's compatible with Rock Band, Guitar Hero, and Rock Revolution games and features a removable faceplate for customization and removable neck and headstock for easier transport. Officially licensed by B.C. Rich, the company is touting this axe as the first and only full-sized guitar controller on the market -- although we bet Starpex and maybe even Gene Simmons would beg to differ. It's now available on the company's website for $130, though if you can't afford that Rock n' Roll lifestyle, Amazon's got it for $90. They've also got a new Quad Dock Xbox 360 controller charger and some refreshed versions of their PS3, Wii lineup, which aren't out yet -- according to Electronista they'll go for around $30 or $40.
The Wii Balance Board may be all well and good if you want to play things safe, but those looking to up the danger level a tad will no doubt want to give this new SKIGYM simulator some serious consideration, with it promising to improve your skiing ability and give you a workout in the process. Apparently, you can either hook the fully-motorized device up to your PC and play the included Alpine Ski Racing game, or simply use it on its own as a piece of exercise equipment -- we're guessing it's also only a matter of time before someone uses it to control a robot. Not surprisingly, this piece of living room clutter will also put quite a dent in the old bank account, with it running €1,649, or roughly $2,300.
If you were hoping that another no-name company would release a $400 Blu-ray player, then today is your lucky day as ezGear is very proud to share the details of its BluCobra Blu-ray Disc Player. The BluCobra -- love the name btw -- features 7.1 analog outputs, SACD, TrueHD, DTS-HD HR&MA and the cutting edge profile 1.1, otherwise known as Bonus View. Luckily Sony, Samsung, and Panasonic can rest easy until at least March when this beast is scheduled hits the streets. Oh, and just a little prediction, no way the BluCobra will sell for its MSRP.
If you've ever wondered "Does anyone actually browse the web on consoles?," Market Share has an answer for you: yes, but not very many people. The firm reports that .04% of all web browsing is performed on PS3, compared to the .01% of Wii, the only other current-gen console with a browser.
Of course, PS3's browser is built-in; Wii's particular version of Opera costs 500 Wii Points ($5) and, well, people have to seek it out among the other WiiWare offerings. So, tell us, are you reading Joystiq on a console, and if so, which one?
If you've ever wondered "Does anyone actually browse the web on consoles?," Market Share has an answer for you: yes, but not very many people. The firm reports that .04% of all web browsing is performed on PS3, compared to the .01% of Wii, the only other current-gen console with a browser.
Of course, PS3's browser is built-in; Wii's particular version of Opera costs 500 Wii Points ($5) and, well, people have to seek it out among the other WiiWare offerings. So, tell us, are you reading Joystiq on a console, and if so, which one?
The latest special issue of People celebrates the Atari 2600 as the console that “ruled the interactive gaming world” in the 1980s – no mention of the original Nintendo, Sega Master System or even Coleco Vision.
I’m not sure why People Magazine is even celebrating the 80s in the first weeks of 2009, but if they’re going to trumpet everything that ever mattered between 1980 and 1989, why isn’t the NES on the there? According to this exhaustively researched article by GamesRadar, the NES sold way better than the Atari 2600.
In fact, aside from a joke about the 2600 being the son of Pong, there’s no mention of video games in the 80s at all. Shame on you, People!
People Magazine’s “Celebrate the ‘80s!” special issue is on shelves now.
P.S. I think People actually meant to call out the Atari 2600 Junior. The original 2600 came out in 1977 and therefore hardly deserves to share page space with the Rubik’s Cube and a Cabbage Patch Kid.
Does Wii Fit work? It's hard for me to tell, personally, as my Little Debbie Zebra Cake intake ratio is tied proportionally to my progress in the non-game. See, I'm not a scientist.
Thankfully, researchers at the University of Mississippi — specifically researcher Scott Owens — are evaluating Wii Fit's ability to make you more physically fit, doing it more scientifically, with control groups and larger sample sets. That's more respectable than me trying to remember if I played Wii Fit last week and tallying discarded Zebra Cake shrinkwrap.
The study, which kicked off in the Fall of 2008, will monitor the physical fitness of eight families. Researchers will chart the progress of the Wii Fit-using families, with and without the software, comparing it to the data collected in-game.
While we anxiously await the results, how's your own Wii Fit regimen treating you? Which regions could be described as "of steel"? Hey, keep it PG.
A "source" has told VG247 that Traveller's Tales' next LEGO game won't be Star Wars. Won't be Indiana Jones, either. Won't be Robocop, won't be Predator, won't be Halo. It'll be LEGO Rock Band.
Seems the rumour stems from an interview on Britain's Radio One last night, in which TT swore a new LEGO game would be out this year. Despite earlier indications their next game would be a LEGO Harry Potter, VG's source - who claims to be "100 percent correct” - has instead made the Rock Band call.
Seems like an absolute waste of the LEGO name, not to mention a pointless overcrowding of the Rock Band "genre", but hey, crazier, stupider things have happened in this business.
Role-playing game White Knight Chronicles has been the focus of much attention for its perception as a great white hope for the PlayStation 3 in Japan. It is from Level 5, after all.
You know Level 5, developers of the best selling Professor Layton series for the Nintendo DS, entrusted with Square Enix's most recent Dragon Quest entries. They know how to make million sellers.
While first day sales of 130,000 copies may not have seemed to reverse any fortunes for Sony's PlayStation 3 in Japan, the first week's worth of sales for the Level 5-developed title bode better for the game.
White Knight Chronicles raked in an estimated 203,000 copies during its first seven days on sale, according to a typically reliable Japanese blog. That's despite middling Famitsu reviews.
That's good. In fact, it's the third best debut for a PlayStation 3 game behind Metal Gear Solid 4 and Devil May Cry 4. Better than Yakuza KENZAN and Shin Sangoku Musou. In other words, not bad for a non-sequel.
Now that PlayStation 3 games are starting to have better sales legs in Japan, we'll be keeping an eye on sell-through of the game to see how well it holds up. Keep in mind these are unconfirmed figures and we'll wait for Media Create numbers to confirm.
Pandora's production just needs the last steps. There was another delay because the battery manufacturer refined the design an so we had to delay the prototype case, too(it doesn't make any sense, when the battery doesn't fit). At the moment a prototype of the final battery is being made and will be finished in the next days - shortly after that the final case will be adapted to the new battery. And then we REALLY will have the final prototype case - because we will have everything what is needed.
A delivery of Pandora in the next two months is very likely.
Apple users have long gloated that Nintendo's sleek new form factor with the DS looked great alongside their Apple products, but it looks like the DS can be made to fall in with other products, too. BenHeck.com forumite goteking produced this awesome Vaio-branded DS Lite by setting the logo into a replacement shell. The result looks pretty nice next to his laptop.
Shagrath just released version 1.0 of his platform independent PS3 media server, which is coded in Java. To use the application with all its features like 1080p transcoding, you should have a decent CPU (Shagrath uses a Core2Duo E6750, 2.66GHz + 750mb RAM).
Click for ZOOM
Heres the changelog for V1.0:
"- New Features
GPL licensing
IDX/SUB support for AviSynth ONLY
Revamped some UI, especially transcoding settings for better usage (hope this will be not confusing)
First attempt to make a working and generic LPCM or AC3 automatic conversion with tsMuxer (seeking isn't working well and demuxed audio delays are not managed)
AviSynth script is now really fully customizable
- Fixes
Yet another flac parsing bug
Sync issues management for xvid/mp3
Rare and random video glitch due to another seeking bug
.ass subtitles files support
UUID random generation, it's now possible to launch multiple servers on one network.
Added wmv binary codecs in Windows package for smooth WMV-HD transcoding
VIDEO_TS folders are now case insensitive"
Playstation HOME - the new platform for business/company communication? - lol. The companies Ernst & Young, Merrill Lynch and Microsoft think so. To reduce cost of travel and communications they will use HOME instead of past expensive methods. But why HOME? Microsofts XBOX Live features online meetings aswell. This may bring up some thoughts like "who got paid by whom?".
Managing director of Advanced Workplace Associates, Andrew Mawson, said: "Increasingly we are living in a world without borders where workers need to collaborate on a global scale."
"Audio and video-conferencing solutions have emerged but the use of virtual worlds may offer the next evolution in overcoming the tyranny of distance - a more realistic and learning-enhanced environment."
If managers in important meetings have the possibility to act like a nursery chield they won't concentrate as much as in a "normal" meeting. HOME is called a service but actually more used for having funny conversations like in a game. So who the hell had this crazy idea?
Nick Swardh has released a new version of his Video Converter for the PSP, heres whats new:
PSPVC v3.40 changes:
Added a “Process Priority” select box
Added a “Constant Quality Mode” in “Advanced”
Added support for subtitles embedded in OGM videos
Added option to save batch-list to file for later editing (if needed)
Unlocked view of batch while converting
PSPVC will now be placed in systray when minimized
PSPVC will automatically be resized to fit small screen resolutions
Fixed an 5:1 audio bug
Fixed a subtitle-stream mapping bug
Fixed a subtitle bug
+ a bunch of misc improvements
The iPhone Bluetooth Project has been quietly pining away at the Bluetooth aspect of the iPhone for months. They recently released BlueSn0w, a small tool (which bears a striking resemblance in name to another recently released - but unrelated - tool) which is mostly proof of concept. It work strictly via command line, but they promise updates in the near future. This could lead to some exciting things, like Bluetooth file exchange being enabled, among other things.
Quote:
Our team has successfully been able to demonstrate a 'pwnage' of the bluetooth chipset allowing anyone to write/implement a fully functional Bluetooth
Do you have secret connections and you wish to hide all traces of communication? Then Best Private Conversation from Smartphoneware is for you. This application allows hiding SMS messages, deleting records from system calls log, restricting access to the application by password and even notifying of new messages in a disguised manner. http://my-symbian.com/s60v3/software...uto=609&faq=15
Patrick Frei has just notified us about releasing an updated version 2.0.0 of his free PhoNetInfo application, retrieving and displaying detailed phone and network information. This new version provides several changes and improvements, including copy/text function for all fields and boxes, performance improvements and adds new phone models' CPU information to the HAL tab. V2.0.0 is released as unsigned, so you'll have to sign it yourself using Open Signed Online. http://my-symbian.com/s60v3/software...Auto=391&faq=1
You might've heard that crazy rumor making the rounds that Microsoft leaked the Windows 7 beta on purpose to build some positive buzz, and while there's no real evidence (or likelihood) of that of any sort, the seemingly-magical build 7000 is certainly doing well for itself. Following up on wide praise for the fledgling OS, ZDNet's Adrian Kingsley-Hughes pitted the beta up against XP and Vista in some informal "real-word" tasks like boot up, shut down, file maneuvers, installations and other common tasks. On both test systems, an AMD Phenom 9700 setup and an Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2200 number (with ATI and NVIDIA graphics, respectively), the Windows 7 install soundly bested XP and Vista task by task, with few exceptions. Performance testing is never an exact science, but it's clear that Microsoft is taking performance very seriously this time around -- we can't wait for the next conveniently-leaked beta to bolster this rep even further. Next on the benchmarking agenda? Real World: Brooklyn tasks.
Eager to use your mouse / keyboard combo on your Xbox 360? Eager enough to drop $179.95 for the privilege? If so, then you should probably know that XIM's ready and willing to oblige. The XIM 2 module, which is supposedly plug 'n play in nature, is at long last available for ordering, though it's not quite ready for shipment. Seriously though, for this price you may be better off investing in a few controller mastering lessons and using the remainder on Bawls and Cheetos.
Star Wars dorks are second to none in spending crazy amounts of money on anything branded with their obsession, but at what point does it become exploitative? I'll just throw it out there: this clock.
We live a fairly fast-paced, jet-setting lifestyle -- an unfortunate side-effect of which are the hours of frequent layovers we are forced to suffer while flying between Hugh Hefner's Sky Villa in Vegas and our private, opulent island getaway off the coast of O'ahu. These long stretches are made even more unbearable when we forget to pack our handhelds -- a situation that often causes us, in a sheer fit of boredom, to overdose on Dramamine and attempt to ride the baggage carousel.
Luckily, we'll never again have to know the firm, rubber-gloved grip of an annoyed Air Marshal -- Best Buy recently began offering DS Lites and select DS titles in their Best Buy Express vending machines. These machines are located at several major airports throughout the U.S., and sell a number of important devices for travelers, such as headphones, chargers, and most recently, Pokémans catching simulators.
Wiibreaker is a simple brickbreaker game I made because one of my artists for Wii Shooting Gallery, Azza123, said there were no brickbreaker games out for Wii homebrew. Thus, I have created WiiBreaker. In total, this first release took about two weekends to write.
Once the ball falls below the screen 3 times, you lose.
Version History
0.3 - All of the artwork, including the icon, has been redone by Azza123 - Bricks are randomly assigned different colors - Signifigant changes to the overall game - SDHC Support - Power Button Support - Bug Fixes - User Generated Backgrounds - IR Sensor Control Scheme - A far better menu (font support and its sorta interactive) - Pause Feature - Balance Board Control Scheme - Sound Support (sucks, but its there and turned off by default) - 1 Highscore for each control scheme
RedSquare is an classic 2D action game. Click and hold the red square. Now, move it so that you neither touch the walls nor get hit by any of the blue blocks. If you make it to 31 seconds, you are doing brilliantly!
03/01/2009 Version 0.71
- Bugfix: Global highscore xml data is now always processed right.
- Network thread status is now showed on the welcome screen.
- Improve sound effects (Thanks nowhereman).
- Updated credits screen information.
- Updated help screen information.
- Build game with libogc 1.7.1 and devkitPPC r16 compiler.
Wii-Tac-Toe is a Tic-Tac-Toe game for the Nintendo Wii. It was programmed in C++ using devkitPro along with GRRLIB.
The game can be played alone vs the CPU or with a friend using one Wiimote. The game AI does not always do the same moves, so the fun never stop.
To win the game, you have to place three marks (O or X) in a horizontal, vertical or diagonal row. If the grid is filled completely and no one has won, well, it's a tie game. Start over and try to beat your opponent.
Version 0.4
French, German, Dutch, and Spanish translation
Improved text quality due to FreeType, thanks to wplaat and DrTwox
Console/remote power button support, power off the Wii in standby mode
Console reset button support, reset the Wii to Main Menu
More news from the development team for the new year:
We have made a couple tweaks to the MK2 board design that was sent to all the devs, and we should have a MK3 prototype in a week or so. If everything is fine with that board, it will go into mass production very shortly thereafter. We could have just used the MK2 board and left the minor bugs in as "quirks", but with all the other delays, it was worth it to do one more revision and get it perfect.
The cases will be going into mass production on the 15th. That's our deadline for making any last minute tweaks, and it looks like we'll be in great shape for that. We already have the new LCD ribbon cable for these cases and it's working nicely.
The keypads will go into mass production in the next week or two at the latest. The keypad layout will be very similar to the one on the original renders. I am told there will only be "minor changes" between the render and the final layout. There may be separate layouts available for the middle east and Asian regions, but all other regions will have the same standard layout for now. It is very likely that alternate keymats (including blank mats) will be made available for a small price at some point in the near future.
We now have the SGX video drivers in their entirety. We're just waiting for a few documents to come back signed and then we can release both the binary part and the open source driver shim to the public. Expect OpenGL ES demos soon.
Reorders are happening now, slowly. We're sending out details and a reorder URL to customers one at a time, starting with US customers. Some have already been sent, and the rest are on the way. We're doing it slowly to avoid any potential problems with the CC processor and to avoid overwhelming the sales ladies. Do not worry, everybody will have the opportunity to reorder in time to get their Pandora.
We are meeting with the bank this week to fix the Amex situation. They cannot simply sit on the money forever, and we're not accepting any more of their stall tactics. If the bank simply refuses to rectify the situation, there is a backup plan. Anybody who paid for a Pandora will get one, no matter what the bank does. One way or another, this situation will be remedied this week.
Last November, Square Enix dropped a portable port of their web-based puzzler Yosumin on an unassuming Japan. Despite receiving middle-of-the-road reviews, it seems that Squeenix has decided to release an XBLA port of the game, titled Yosumin Live, as evidenced by a few screengrabs from Portuguese site RumblePack as well as a few leaked screenshots from Destructoid.
Yosumin, for those not in the know, is a Bejeweled-esque title in which the player must clear similarly-shaped blocks by swapping them into rectangular formations. A screenshot clearly showing an "Achievements" tab in the opening menu is the main evidence that the game is coming out on XBLA, though RumblePack claims Yosumin Live will make its move to the PSN shortly thereafter. There's no source given for said hypothesis, though -- we'll have to wait for word from Square Enix for further details.
The limitations of the 360's D-pad are well known (and well trolled). This modder's building a D-pad with eight individual switches so that when he hits a diagonal, dammit, he hits a diagonal.
John, the modder, wrote us directly about this. While he acknowledges that sanding down the casing that surrounds the circular pad may improve its response, "you still do not get the accuracy of having eight individual buttons." And rather than build or buy an arcade joystick, he's broken out the solder and set out to make the 360 controller more better all by himself.
I guess building a controller with a D-pad more like Sony's runs afoul of IP infringement somewhere, but that'll never stop modders. John's project stands at $15 in parts, and he's now working on making the top plate/button cover (you see the exposed tact switches there). He says he'll get a step-by-step up on Instructables or his blog once the whole thing is finished, if you have some wires and diodes laying around and don't mind cracking open your own controller.
Help Blue compete in the backyard fair in 123 Time Activies, and find words in ABC Time Acitivies, through various activities in these games
We recently added support for Blue's 123 Time Activities and Blue's ABC Time Activities and as usual you're encouraged to play through the games with a daily build, report all encountered bugs to our bug tracker and submit some nice screenshots.
from Richard42
Mupen64Plus v1.5 is ready!
It has been just over half a year since the last major Mupen64Plus release, so it's been a long time coming, but I'm happy to present version 1.5! This release is more evolutionary than revolutionary, with many code cleanups and improvements to existing features. Please try it out and report any problems that you have on our Google Code Issue Tracker.
Major New Features
* Rom Cache System by Tillin9, Okaygo, and Hasone.
* Qt4 GUI by slougi, Tillin9, and others
* Support for Macintosh OSX platform with Intel CPUs
Minor New Features
* Debugger improvements
* QT GUI: translations for English, Norwegian, German, and Dutch
* Configurable key commands for special emulator functions
* Our own custom test ROM, courtesy of Marshallh
* jttl_audio: added GTK GUI configuration dialog
* soft reset function (hit F9)
* jttl_audio: both SDL-based and OSS-based volume control methods are now supported
* LZMA, BZip2, 7-zip archive support
* Multi-file Zip support
* GTK GUI: user-configurable columns in ROM browser
* LIRC - added support for speedup, slowdown, pause, and frame advance
Bug fixes
* There are dozen of bugfixes included, fixing problems with: save states, certain games, crashing bugs, GUI bugs, performance issues, and visual artifacts.
Mupen64Plus has a Home Page over at Google Code, with lots of useful information, screenshots, a bug tracker, a discussion forum, etc.
To download Mupen64Plus v1.5, just grab the package that you want:
This new release is the product of hundreds of new code improvements: We now have an almost 100% reworked 3D core, which is shared amongst all ports for the first time, and have better save states. Compatibility has been improved across the board. The huge number of reworked systems and small fixes is noticeable on some games and homebrew games are running better–or even running at all for the first time. And this work has not stopped, so stay tuned for what’s coming in the future!
The Emulatemii team have posted some WIP news of the progress of the N64 Emulator for Wii and Gamecube:
Just a tiny status update about the progress within the last few weeks to bring us into 2009.
I finally realized what was going wrong with a couple of games, we weren’t using 16Kbit EEPROM type saves for certain games that require it. A fix should make its way to the SVN in the next few days for this. Notable games that are now booting thanks to this fix are: Banjo Tooie, ExciteBike 64, Yoshi’s Story.
As for some news on the dynarec front, I coded up a few rough demos and a bug a two was revealed to us from these demos. Also, tehpola has been working hard at debugging the emulator on his PS3 to correct & find solutions to the bugs we’re finding (see article below to see why it’s done on PS3). Every little bit gets us one step closer to the finished recompiler.
Also, the soft graphics plugin has been updated to render the framebuffer through hardware to aid us in debugging (with a faster framerate).
The Emulatemii team have posted some WIP news of the progress of the N64 Emulator for Wii and Gamecube:
Just a tiny status update about the progress within the last few weeks to bring us into 2009.
I finally realized what was going wrong with a couple of games, we weren’t using 16Kbit EEPROM type saves for certain games that require it. A fix should make its way to the SVN in the next few days for this. Notable games that are now booting thanks to this fix are: Banjo Tooie, ExciteBike 64, Yoshi’s Story.
As for some news on the dynarec front, I coded up a few rough demos and a bug a two was revealed to us from these demos. Also, tehpola has been working hard at debugging the emulator on his PS3 to correct & find solutions to the bugs we’re finding (see article below to see why it’s done on PS3). Every little bit gets us one step closer to the finished recompiler.
Also, the soft graphics plugin has been updated to render the framebuffer through hardware to aid us in debugging (with a faster framerate).
I just learned about developing applications on Wii 3 days ago. I was wondering what application should I make, and I noticed that there was no Apple II emulator for Wii yet. Apple II/e was my first computer, so I thought it will be fun to be able to emulate it on my Wii. AppleWin is a good Apple emulator, but it is very windows specific, fortunately someone already ported it to Linux using SDL, and the name is LinApple.
Someone already made an early SDL port to Wii, but it is missing threading support (which is needed by the emulator). After reading things at wiibrew.org and devkitpro.org, I decided to complete the threading part. The next problem is the input. I want to be able to write BASIC applications, so I decided that the SDL port must support keyboard input, someone already made LibWiikeyboard, so I can just plug it in SDL (actually this is a hack, to correctly handle SDL requirements, there are some things that needs to be changed, in LibWiikeyboard and in the SDL gamecube implementation).
Next part is the porting process itself. The difficult part is making sure all the endiannes conversion of 6502 (Apple II CPU) to Wii’s PowerPC is done correctly, because I don’t have a USB gecko to debug it. Currently the port works, but don’t expect too much from this first release. I can already play some games, but I haven’t tested many other things.
version 0.0.2:
- Fixed text overlay
- Disable saving options (dangerous for now, because you might overwrite your files)
version 0.0.3:
- Sound support
- Fix joypad problem
- Invalid disk image will not freeze the emulator (in case of invalid disk, Master.dsk will be reloaded)
Pickle has today released a new version of the Dos Emulator for GP2X, heres whats new:
Ive uploaded the latest dosbox binary and source. Not many changes this time around.
1. USB keyboard support (the dosbox.conf needs to be updated with usescancodes=false for it to work right)
2. M_HT latest dynarec (there was a small increase in speed between v2 and v3, you probably wont notice it)
Thats it, I hope someone find this useful. And as always im around to help anyone get a game/app up and running.
(Thanks go to Thanks to Senor Quack for the USB keyboard support in SDL, also if theres interest to add keyboard support in some the other ports I can do that)
Alekmaul celebrates 2009 with a new release of ThomDS, heres whats new
V2.0: 04/01/2009
* Mode graphics with alpha lerp for better readability
* Updating the intro like that of my other emulators
* Switch to the standard library management via DLDI FAT
* Sort files in the selection and transition to 512 files displayed
* Added sending the compatibility of a game via WIFI
(see http://www.portabledev.com/pages/ds/...ers-thomds.php)
* Improved emulation buzzer (try the speech software Vox
to see ^ ^)
* Improved display speed (direct and assembler)
* The directory THOMDS is no longer required, files can be everywhere
* Added the management of state backup MO5 (load / save state) with
save 999 files per tape
* Add the moving of the tape
* Mode stylus via R & L
* Management of the stylus on the screen after the most accurate screen mode
* Management mode of the DS (the cover closed pauses execution)
Moonlight has released a new version of his Media App/Shell for the Nintendo DS, heres whats new:
Version 2.00 beta.2 2009/01/04
Start the application that can be tied to an external file extension. (MoonShell2 is still not able to come back) (/ moonshl2/extlink/readme.txt).
As related apps, ImageViewer (extension IPK) were added.
Bonus features "to reverse the screen up or down the file list" [/ auxiliary tools / bonus features / SwapDisp.txt] added.
Even the disk format to a small cluster size is the most 8GByte to start. (SDFormatter recommended)
When the next image file of less than 512 pixels, to fill the launcher as a wallpaper file list.
The touch screen text (non-scroll bar area) that can scroll.
When you close the panel, L / R has an option to disable the button.
Launch_Tab0_Launch.png and Launch_Tab1_NDS.png change the image size of 256x192 pixels.
3 seconds or more in any SELECT of the screen to save the screen capture button and continue. (Help create skins)
A + B + L + R Fixed a bug that did not work properly initialize command of the entire set at the same time when you start pressing.
And the option to hide the file extensions, a bug fix will not appear until the folder name extension.
Fixed a bug that appears in the list of file extension is not supported.
First up we'll catch you up to speed with ffgriever's In Game Reset! He's now updated it to work with HDL. Well, at least to an extent for now. But he's done what no one else has, given regular users the ability to soft reset games back to the HDL menu without getting out of their chairs.
Here's a bit of his changes:
Quote:
Updated 04 January 2009:
IGR for HDLoader rev2.
DNAS games should work now
Fixed some games that were giving blue screen (eg. ico)
Fixed some games that were giving bsods
Fixed some games that didn't react to combo press at all
Everything should be more stable
New method of unhooking hdloader
Name of hdloader file has been changed to "HDLOADER.ELF", as suggested by dlanor.
Out of these, only the last one (new unhook method) can cause some problems. I tested it on v7 and v10 only.
BTW. HDLoader doesn't unhook itself properly even in mode 3. That's why proper unhooking has to be done by IGR even when mode 3 is enabled. But fortunately we always have unchanged copy of kernel in rom . So I'm just copying whatever I have to.
Next up, we have an updated uLaunchELF by dlanor and E P!
We'll do a direct quote of the changes because no one explains it better than they do.
Quote:
LaunchELF v4.31 (2009.01.04)
-Added new "MISC/About uLE" subprogram, displaying a program credits screen
-Enhanced FileBrowser to support multiple hotplugged USB mass drives
-Upgraded usbhdfsd to SVN rev 1490 by radad, for multiple USB drive support. Note that this may require running the new "setup.sh" script, for those who wish to compile uLE themselves. (Or use the new script "upgrade_usbhdfsd.sh".)
-Fixed various issues with TextEditor (inability to insert CRLF at CRLF etc)
-Fixed a partition unmounting issue, that sometimes caused non-fatal failure of the TextEditor to show proper partition contents when browsing for a text file
QLeap published a new unofficial version of AnyRegion Change that will allow you as its name suggests to change various settings for your system, of course, the region and language.
This version improves the original level of support for Wii and Korean support Systemmenü patched with tools such as StarFall.
News / corrections:
- Region Free full Wii / NGC (mod04)
- Autoboot systematic fashion Recovery (mod04)
- Fixed some bugs particularly when replacing a 3.3k Systemmenü another 3.3k, SD cards are no longer mounted correctly.
- Improved Region Free with some modchips.
Matiaz: has today released the Hello World of his exploit for the PSP which opens up Homebrew for all Consoles and expecially for those Homebrew Starved on PSP3000 consoles.
Flarejune returns with his indispensable plugin: Freecheat.
It allows, among others, to use cheats, read texts, connect USB,
taking screenshots and anytime for a game or from the XMB.
Installation:
# Download Freecheat Ver. 1.0.12.18
# Connect your PSP to your computer via USB,
# Right-click on the file you downloaded,
# Choose "Extract files ...", (WinRAR must be installed)
# Select destination (PC Desktop/PSP).
# Press OK and wait for the extraction of files.
# Copy FreeCheat folder to ms0:\
(ms0:\ = drive of your psp)
# Go to ms0:\SEPLUGINS folder on your PSP
# Open the file VSH.txt (create it if it does not exist) and add the following line:
ms0: / FreeCheat/fc_3xx.prx (If you're above CFW 3.80 M33)
ms0: / FreeCheat/fc_371.prx (If you're on CFW 3.71 M33-4)
# Open the file GAME.txt (create it if it does not exist) and add the following line:
ms0: / FreeCheat/fc_3xx.prx (If you're above CFW 3.80 M33)
ms0: / FreeCheat/fc_371.prx (If you're on CFW 3.71 M33-4)
# Open the file GAME150.txt (create it if it does not exist) and add the following line:
ms0: / FreeCheat/fc_3xx.prx (If you're above CFW 3.80 M33)
ms0: / FreeCheat/fc_371.prx (If you're on CFW 3.71 M33-4)
# Open the file POPS.txt (create it if it does not exist) and add the following line:
ms0: / FreeCheat/fc_3xx.prx (If you're above CFW 3.80 M33)
ms0: / FreeCheat/fc_371.prx (If you're on CFW 3.71 M33-4)
# Turn off your PSP.
# Go to Recovery Menu (Shut Down PSP then Hold Rtrigger then Power on)
# Go to Plugins and activate your desired plugin (press X/O to enable)
Last year was a great year to be an Xbox 360 gamer as is evident by the quality of titles that Xbox LIVE members were playing. After a few days of number crunching, here are the top games for 2008 based on Xbox Live connectivity.
Xbox 360 Top Live Titles (based on UU's)
1 Halo 3
2 Call of Duty 4
3 GTA IV
4 Gears of War 2
5 Gears of War
6 CoD: World at War
7 Guitar Hero III
8 Battlefield: Bad Company Demo
9 Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Demo
10 Rock Band
Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions purchased)
1 Castle Crashers
2 Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2
3 Braid
4 A Kingdom for Keflings
5 UNO
6 Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
7 Fable II Pub Games
8 Duke Nukem 3D
9 Bionic Commando: Rearmed
10 Worms
The above arcade list is based on full versions purchased.
Original Xbox Top Live Titles (based on UU's)
1 Halo 2
2 Fable
3 Star Wars: Battlfrnt 2
4 Counter-Strike
5 Fable: Lost Chapters
6 Doom 3
7 Conker: Live Reloaded
8 Splinter Cell Chaos
9 SW: KOTOR
10 SW: Republic Commando
We'd be fibbing just a wee bit if we said that Eye-Fi functionality for the iPhone has always been imminent, but now that it's real, we suppose we aren't too surprised. Announced today at Macworld, the Eye-Fi application will enable iPhone owners (that just so happen to also own an Eye-Fi card) to upload images taken on their handset to their computer and the web. Reportedly, the app will allow users to aggregate all of their photos from both the iPhone and a digital camera into "organized folders on a computer and to one of 25 online photo sharing and social networking websites." The app is also said to support geotagging just like the Eye-Fi Explore, though two crucial bits of info are sorely missing. First off, what happens with folks that don't own an Eye-Fi card? And second, when is this app even coming out?
For those with a whiteboard full of Apple rumors, you'll been keenly aware of the fact that the whole iPhone Air terminology has been tossed around before in a joking manner. This, however, is not a joke. In fact, it's a very real KIRF, and it's possibly one of the most awesome we've ever seen. We mean, who'd ever want an iPhone nano when one could have -- wait for it -- the iPhone Air. Aside from clean, beautiful, streamlined edges, those fortunate enough to procure one from China will also find dual SIM card slots, an FM radio, Bluetooth, a multimedia player and a built-in camera. The KIRF game just got stepped up good fashion, and we love it
Some Xbox 360 mods are the product of serious craftsmanship, some are rather silly, and some -- like this Suzuki automobile console / Xbox 360 game console hybrid -- really give one pause. This isn't the sort of thing that one spends moments / hours / weeks on, after which he reflects for a moment ("Aren't I rather clever?"), and then hides it safely in the closet (or sells it on eBay). No, this is an automobile. We're guessing that the slight cringe of embarrassment he's going to feel when picking up his date for the cotillion will be outweighed by the safety and security he feels knowing that he can always play Super Smash Bros. Brawl -- even on the road. According to the photo's description on Flickr, this car features not one but two Xbox 360s, two projectors, and two flat screens. The game controllers are availabe at a moment's notice -- including one in the steering wheel, one in front of the gear shifter -- and one of the 360s is set in the dashboard. Oy vey.
CrunchGear says they've got the dirt on what Palm is launching at CES, which, let's face it, better be awesome if they wanna stick around. According to their source, that may just be the case.
Autoblog dug up this classic mechanical engineering project from 2006. A team of five University of Toledo students constructed a system to help parallel park a car. First, you drive nose first into the space. Hydraulic rams then lower the drive wheel out of the trunk, raising the rear of the car. The single wheel is also hydraulically driven and moves the car into the space. They have a blog documenting the six week build. Have a look at the demonstration video below.
Capcom Europe revealed today -- and reiterated in a few cases -- the release schedule for the publisher's titles in the first quarter of 2009.
February TBA - Flock (XBLA/PSN)
February 20 - Street Fighter IV (X360/PS3)
February 27- Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop (Wii)
February 27- Neopets Puzzle Adventure (Wii/DS/PC)
March 13 - Resident Evil 5 (X360/PS3)
March TBA - MotoGP (Wii)
March TBA - Bionic Commando (X360/PS3)
All these dates are believed to be official European release dates. We're currently awaiting Capcom US to release its own list of dates (if it even plans to do so). We'll update if anything changes.
We're automatically skeptical of any reports coming out of an organization who uses the letter "Z" to pluralize, but we find it difficult not to believe in a recent finding from VGChartz (sigh), who claim that Wii Sports has surpassed Super Mario Bros. as the best-selling video game of all time. After compiling last week's software sales, they've concluded that Wii Sports has barely crept past the 40.24 million mark that kept SMB on top of the pile for a bajillion years.
Of course, its worth noting that both games were bundled with their respective platforms (except in Japan and South Korea, whose Wiis were Sports-less), greatly boosting their sales. We wouldn't be surprised if the report proves to be accurate -- nor would we be shocked if Nintendo is currently looking for the highest, broadest rooftop from which they can proclaim their latest sales triumph.
And here I thought no one was listening. In Bungie's latest weekly update Urk reveals that the push to talk feature in Halo 3 is getting a bit less restrictive.
Since the game was launched, any player on a team larger than four had to press the d-pad in order to talk during a match. Now Bungie is upping the limit to 6-player teams, meaning that only people playing in Social Big Team matches need worry about pushing the button. Bungie does warn that this could result in increased lag for some players, not to mention increased chances of being completely trashed by your teammates when you do something wrong, as I am prone to do.
Incidentally, some of us who might not be keen to read instructions never knew you had to push to talk and therefor thought everyone was just ignoring him. The more you know...
It's a brand new year for Nintendo Wii downloadables, and while this week sees only a game a piece released for the Virtual Console and WiiWare, there's enough Kirby and crab battles for 20 titles.
Yes, I said Crab Battles. Today Konami releases Sandy Beach for WiiWare (500 Wii Points), a title that lets you build sand castles, fortify them with cannons, and defend them against hordes of invading crabs in Crab Battle mode. Crab Battle mode. That is the most beautiful combination of words ever. I just hope we can attack their weak spots for...you know.
The pink puffball makes his triumphant return to the Virtual Console this week with the release of Kirby's Dream Land 3 for the Super Nintendo (800 points), another classic tale of sucking and blowing as only Kirby could do it.
While I might go with Kirby this week, there's just something about a cheap game with a Crab Battle mode
A high school student frustrated over a recent gaming session at an internet cafe in South Korea set light to a warehouse Saturday evening.
The 15-year-old told police that he torched the warehouse, located at the top of a four-story building, because "his computer games did not go well." The fire did an estimated four million won in damage.
It's foreign game panic day! Like Jun Takeuchi, Hideo Kojima is worried about Western games and Western developers. He tells Japanese magazine Famitsu what he's going to do about it.
Kojima mentions that he plans to "start from zero" this year in hopes of competing globally. The game creator says that his company Kojima Productions is undergoing heavy internal review to forge "a team that can challenge foreign creators and software houses." Adds the Metal Gear developer:
I've thought a lot about how Western games have been winning, looking it from a global perspective, and there are things that I've noticed...
I've come to understand that the way we've made games up until now won't translate globally, and I've come to think that I need to make Kojima Productions a team that can compete alongside the rest of the world.
That's nice and all, but didn't Metal Gear Solid 4 do better abroad than domestically? Quick, somebody inform Kojima!
Runik posted some new news about his Sega Saturn emu for Windows:
May 2009 be a great year to everyone
There's not a lot of news regarding Saturnin, as last month and a half corresponded to a peak of work into my real job. So my free time was drastically reduced during this period, and I couldn't work on Saturnin as much as I wanted ...
But that didn't mean that I didn't do anything : I created a local subversion server and put the source code on it, as I never gave up the idea to move the project to open source (don't expect anything soon though )
I also started using a task manager to handle all the notes lying around and the todo list (it's Task Coach for those interested), with the hope to have everything a bit more formalized.
On the code itself, I did some rearrangement to clean everything up, to put all the related functions into the same files, etc. ...
And now I'm back on adding the bitmaps to the rendering engine, but there are some difficulties that can't be solved right now, forcing me to create a more advanced VDP2 texture debugger.
So I'm 100% on that right now.
VisualBoyAdvance-M is a Nintendo GBA and GB/GBC emulator for Windows (based on VisualBoyAdvance).
- ADDED "change backdrop color" button to palette view and added corresponding hack to the core rendering engine for all graphic modes.
- Enable/disable refresh button in MapViewer when automatic refresh is enabled.
improved code beauty.
- ADDED video layer reset "OptionsVideoLayersReset" function to commands list, CTRL+0.
- ADDED information messages when enabling/disabling layers.
- MOVED rewind interval to Tools menu.
- Added default "screenshots" directory.
- Set default directories "battery" and "savestates".
- Code cleanup.
- Automatically & silently create directories in a relative path.
- FIXED building with GCC/MinGW.
- FIXED: Added PNG include dir.
- corrected typo.
- When time permits I'll add a resource checksum instead.
- Include change to work with in-project msvc dependencies.
- Added info about "file_extractor" dependencies.
- Standardised the output paths, dropped "file-extractor" from the solution and added the dependancies\msvc files into the project.
- Used the latest names for the zlib and libpng dlls and libs ... change if yours are different and linking fails.
- Branch for MFC changes.
- REMOVED gbafilter.cpp/h because it was not used anywhere.
- small resource file fix.
- ADDED support for .ips .ups .ppf files to the GUI.
- ADDED patch files to Win32/MFC project.
- ADDED Microsoft compatible replacements for fseeko64, ftello64 and __off64_t.
IMPORTANT UPDATE!
There were errors that were blocking the program after failures in loading a module. Now you're able to resume and choose another tune.
No other changes. Download at the same link.
Heres the initial newspost with all the details in:
Hi! I've spent some hours these days to build this little tool (...forgive the UI...) that plays XMs directly from your FAT device. It's twice useful:
- it gives you a chance to listen to your XMs on the DS before you incorporate them in your project
- it gives me a chance to have some feedback (so please let me know if some modules doesn't load / doesn't play correctly)
Up, down, left and right keys navigate the directory, A enter directory / load the XM file, B to stop it.
This is a 3D engine, which aim is to make easier the procces of making a 3D game for the DS
Characteristics:
-Loader of models and textures from FAT.
-Dual 3D, as easy as normal 3D.
-Can load BMPs of 8, 16, and 24 bits and convert them into textures.
-Hardware-accelerated effects like fog and toon shading.
-You can take screenshots of both screens in dual 3D mode or the 3D screen in normal 3D mode.
-Animated model support.
-2D over 3D system.
-Very basic physics engine.
-API functions.
-2D text in 3D mode, any character size allowed.
-More things...
TODO:
-Improve physics engine.
-You can ask me for the things you would like to see.
Improvements:
Now you can step through the process.
Only problem is that you now can not use pspsh while running PSPDebug because the breakpointlistener uses a timer to connect and check for updates.
Added a menu.
"Projectfiles" improved for faster loading.
Some visual improvements inside the assemblerwindow.
Some bugfixes ...
New feature called "Debug project" added that allows you to check the processflow(by displaying your source) of your program.
You can set breakpoints, step over lines and check every change on your psp.
It also outputs some errorinformation.
Variables can't be watched for now. http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/9775/pspdbgoz9.jpg
Check Makefile of the example, if you want to debug your own project.
(debugging settings need to be set with "CFLAGS = -g -O0", thx to "jbit" for helping me to find that out)
I decided to develop a little graphical userinterface for the tool called "PSPLink".
PSPLink was created by TyRaNiD,Julian T,Rasmus B and John_K and allows you to view memory and processinformation.
Because of the fact that this tool is useful, but not very userfriendly without any interface i will create this little program wich should help some people out there.
(for reversing parts of programs,creating trainers,plugins or other things ...)
At the moment you can't really debug things ... just analyse.
You can set breakpoints, but at the moment the program does not stop at that location.
(Only the PSP stops at those locations and your PSP may stop, so be careful with testing this ... but you can still use pspssh as usual)
I added some additional files that are not done by me.
This includes:
-syscalls.txt
-usbhostfs_pc.exe
-pspsh.exe
-psp-objdump.exe
-driver folder
-ScintillaNet.dll
-sprite-example was from pspsdk and was slightly modified(mainly the Makefile)
Just added them incase somebody does not want to compile the whole toolchain.
The source can ofcourse be requested.
At the moment its only build for windows systems.
Quick info:
Use "Break" in threadwindow to stop the selected thread (will stop on address in debugwindow).
Use F2 to set breakpoints in debugwindow.
Use F9 for continue a process in the debugwindow.
Use F8 to step over commands in the debugwindow.
Use F7 to stop into commands in the debugwindow.
Doubleclick a line that has an offset to jump to that offset.
Takka has been busy updating exophases GBA Emulator for the PSP, heres whats new in both a stable and alpha version release:
Alpha Version whats new:
-UnOfficial gpSP kai 3.3 test 2 build 132 svn.399
-The separation of the other options for debugging and cheats C and C EMYU revive core ARM core ARM core ASM has to be switched to EMYU (available after restart)
-ROM temporarily its 1MB cache revert was reduced, RAM a bit less cash when extracting ZIP file, PSP-1000 the extraction buffer 320KB generic BMP extension VRAM buffer take on 112.5KB save about PSP-1000 in memory of 16MB of ROM icon buffer / pochi add some images to change the font's (not the network update, ZIP files included)
-Fixed a freeze on failure to initialize when interrupt IRQ fonts, IME register 0 fix was checked on the other bits (if there was a problem for this is unknown)
- For debugging, add the option to run as an older (available after restart)
-Add debug option (Note bones to write a note of the information in the system for testing)
Stable Version whats new:
-UnOfficial gpSP kai 3.3 test 1 build 172 svn rev.392
R fix the sound gap happens when Rhodes added the state did not fix the build number is active roll CFW3.71 M33-3 or less at the PSP-2000 TV output / additional memory is not supported The new line of code video.cfg LF + CR CFW3.95GEN also to respond to the additional memory to manage on their own as before when extracting ZIP file, PSP-2000 is a decompression a buffer (up to) 16MB use (PSP-1000 has 256KB).
StreetskaterFU the very well known PS3 Hacker posted this on his blog:
As I didn't found a good Linux USB logger I coded a very very simple one myself. It logs the USB traffic of every port. To run the application you need atleast kernel version 2.6.11. To start the program go to the terminal, change to the folder the "usblogger" is in and enter: "sudo ./usblogger". It won't run without root privileges. Don't try to run this under Windows or Mac, its Linux-only!
The idea behind was an easy way to log any USB actions of for example the gameos, or the PSP under Linux. To sniff gameos USB you will need a USB cable with 2 male sides. Plug it in PS3 and PC and start the logger on PC.
Here a few ideas what to test:
- PS3 USB at PS3 boot sequence
- PS3 USB to PC fake external HDD
- PSP USB at PSN Store downloads
- etc.
#UPDATE:
----------------------------------
Changelog 0.5:
- code clean up
- less cpu power need
StreetskaterFU the very well known PS3 Hacker posted this on his blog:
As I didn't found a good Linux USB logger I coded a very very simple one myself. It logs the USB traffic of every port. To run the application you need atleast kernel version 2.6.11. To start the program go to the terminal, change to the folder the "usblogger" is in and enter: "sudo ./usblogger". It won't run without root privileges. Don't try to run this under Windows or Mac, its Linux-only!
The idea behind was an easy way to log any USB actions of for example the gameos, or the PSP under Linux. To sniff gameos USB you will need a USB cable with 2 male sides. Plug it in PS3 and PC and start the logger on PC.
Here a few ideas what to test:
- PS3 USB at PS3 boot sequence
- PS3 USB to PC fake external HDD
- PSP USB at PSN Store downloads
- etc.
#UPDATE:
----------------------------------
Changelog 0.5:
- code clean up
- less cpu power need
Microsoft is rumoured to be preparing to take legal action against failed distributor Entertainment UK, a branch of the liquidated Woolworths Group, in order to acquire stock currently being held by the company's administrator to prevent it being sold off cheaply and recoup losses.
EUK, still has CDs, DVDs and videogames worth tens of millions of pounds in its warehouses, according to The Times. Under "retention of title" rules, companies can claim back their own stock if it has not been paid for as well as stock that has already been paid for in order to cover debts.
This grants companies which stand to lose millions of pounds the opportunity to recoup much of the loss if it can reallocate the stock to retailers not currently in liquidation.
Late last year it was reported that EUK owes Microsoft GBP 26 million, Nintendo around GBP 21 million and Ubisoft GBP 1.4 million.
Killzone 2 has snagged a perfect 5/5 score in the latest issue of the US Official PlayStation Magazine.
According to forum posts from those with early subs copies, the mag describes the game as "a powerful contender for the best game of 2009".
This beats Resistance 2, which got 80 (or 4/5 in the mag's new score system), and is one of only two PS3 exclusives (MGS 4 being the other) that has been awarded a perfect score in the magazine.
"The buddies alongside you in each battle have been expertly tuned to provide just enough cover and support to actively get your back on occasions, while never making it feel like they could achieve every objective alone," says the review.
"None of the circumstances, weapons you find, locations you visit, or frankly any of the details in the world feel arbitrary. The world is consistently realized in its unappealing flavour," is adds, according to this forum post.
In closing, the review concludes: "Without a doubt Killzone fans, action, and shooter fans of any stripe will instantly tag this sequel as a powerful contender for the best game of 2009."
We got tipped by an anonymous Gamestop employee that the chain won't accept original Xbox games, consoles and accessories as of Feb. 9. Looks like this is officially it for the console.
Says our tipster:
"The Marketing kit for this coming Sunday has a sign that says Gamestop will no longer be accepting Xbox games, systems and accessories as of Feb 9th. Finally, corporate has realized this, after selling an incredibly low number of systems and games. My store probably sells one Xbox a month or so."
Is it just me, or is this now a milestone for original X's demise? I'm guessing they'll sell or bury the rest of their original Xbox stock over time. But when your console's no longer currency at Gamestop, the party is over, my friend.
We don't have any hard details yet, but word on the street is that Samsung is planning on pairing up its 6.5mm (.2-inch) thick LCD HDTV with an equally svelte Blu-ray deck just 39mm (1.5 inches) thick. We'll find out more during Wednesday's press event, we're sure -- any bets on whether "thin BD players" will be this year's "thin displays?"
Beejive's already quite usable Beejive IM iPhone app just got an update to 2.0, adding file transfer and voice messages to its multitude of IM connectivity.
The long-awaited (previously confirmed) iPhone 3G tethering plan for AT&T is coming this week for Macworld, says TUAW. Standard AT&T tether plan pricing: $30/month with a 5GB cap. Who's excited???
Last week, GameStop revealed that gamers who pre-ordered Killzone 2 would get "exclusive" access to the demo. We contacted SCEA to see just how exclusive that deal is, and as it turns out, the answer is very. Our rep told us, "The demo will be available on the PSN after the game ships but only through GameStop until then." You heard the man, folks, if you're interested in checking out the game before its February 27 release and didn't get into the beta, it's gonna cost you one (1) Abraham Lincoln.
Microsoft has deemed its European holiday onslaught a success, with Chart-Track data reportedly showing Xbox 360 sales "almost" doubling when compared to the same period in 2007. This made the Xbox 360 the fastest-growing system of 2008, leaving it in a prime spot for further 2009 traction, says Chris Lewis, Regional Vice President of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business for the EMEA region.
"Christmas 2008 was a resounding success for Xbox 360. 2008 saw us grow faster than any of our competitors and we over-achieved in sales during the crucial Christmas selling period," said Lewis. "With eight million consoles sold since we launched, and consistently out-selling PlayStation 3 in EMEA, we're poised to build on this success in 2009." Microsoft claims to have over a one-million unit lead over the PlayStation 3 in the EMEA region, which includes Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
It's sounding like the only "megatons" at Microsoft's CES 2009 keynote will be the volume of hors d'oeuvres served beforehand. According to TechCruch, the company will focus primarily on Windows 7, mobile devices and home networking, while Xbox 360 will barely get a mention. Lest we forget that MS used CES 2001 as its venue for the global unveiling of the original Xbox.
The site says that some media outlets have already been told -- under embargo -- that the only mention of 360 during MS head Steve Ballmer's presentation will be that Halo Wars and Halo 3: ODST are (brace yourself) scheduled for release in 2009. Though we already knew that, we suspect there will be those in attendance overhead saying "Halo wha?" and "2009 ... hey, that's now!"
Seek and ye shall find a casual squint-a-thon on Xbox Live Arcade this Wednesday. Interpol: The Trail of Dr. Chaos wraps investigative, per-pixel peering around a globetrotting chase, with "elaborate crime scenes" and "hundreds of mysterious hidden objects" to eke and serenade with a celebratory "Aha!"
You need not be alone in your hunt for Dr. Waldo Chaos, as Interpol supports four-player co-op (both online and on couch). Perhaps you can split the 800 ($10) cost with the other agents.
There may soon be a way of picking up and playing Radiant Silvergun that doesn't involve second mortgages or selling plasma. Talking with Gamasutra, Treasure CEO Masato Maegawa revealed that Microsoft has approached the developer about giving the cult classic arcade and Saturn shmup a makeover for Xbox Live Arcade.
While you reattach your jaw, it's worth noting that Treasure has yet to say yes to the remake, with Maegawa expressing concern that unlike Ikaruga, which blasted its way onto XBLA in April 2008, much more work would have to be done to Radiant Silvergun before it was given the green light. "If you play Radiant Silvergun nowadays," noted the exec, "it's certainly aged in assorted ways, and I'm not sure they're all good." Honestly Treasure, you can have our Microsoft Points, spit polish or not. Anything to keep our precious bodily fluids to ourselves.
Look, we know the economy is in shambles; a perambulating corpse, gnawing its way through the hopes and dreams of the global populace ... but this is getting ridiculous. Reports of "drastic cost cuts" at Sony have us really spooked – think not only "factory closures" but also "the abolition of several major divisions," according to the Times of London. (In response to the report, Sony told Reuters, "We don't have any such plan.")
While there's no mention of specifics (will the PlayStation brand/division be affected?), the Times does quote a Credit Suisse analyst who says that, unless Sony takes aggressive steps to consolidate power in the hands of prez Howard Stringer – it will be unable to "close the gap with competitors such as Apple and Nintendo." Perhaps more evident to those of us watching the gaming industry specifically is the mention of "frustrations ... and a clear internal cultural clash between Japanese Sony and its US and European operations." We thought Kaz was going to bring some of that good, ol-fashioned American can-do attitude to Japan back in ought-six? Nevertheless, we want to talk to the investors directly:
Listen guys, we know Sony's got some problems. We know that. But you've got to just chill out and relax – chillax even – and wait until the Big S shows off whatever Team ICO's got in the oven. Not buying it? How about this: Microsoft is feeling the economic pinch also, but the grapevine seems to think the Xbox division will be spared. Nintendo isn't the only competition out there, you know?
Pandora Toolkit v2.0 by PSP-Ita.com
------------------------------------ www.psp-ita.com
What is it?
It's a simple homebrew for all the PSP powered by Custom Firmware, which allows to do necessary operations in order to create a Pandora kit, useful to unbrick/downgrade any kind of console (except the new PSP-3000 and the PSP-2000 with TA-088v3 motherboard).
This application derives form Hellcat's Pandora Installer 3.xx. Credits for the original code go to him.
Notes for the users:
- The app has been tested deepely and no anomalies were noticed.
PSP-Ita.com and all of its staff aren't liable in case of damages that this application could provide to your PSPs.
Pay attention using it and be careful navigating thorugh menus.
- You can use your own background: just replace the file "sfondo.bmp" (included in the app's directory) with any 24bit BMP picture.
If you prefer to save space in your memory and to don't use the background picture, it will work anyway with a black wallpaper.
- You'll be able to update by yourself the version of "Despertar del Cementerio" that the hombrew installs! In this way you wont have to wait new releases to be up to date. To do that, replace the "DDC.PBP" file with the one of the "Desoertar del Cementerio" official installer that Dark_Alex is going to leak (always paying attention to rename it "DDC.PBP" and replace it with the one already existing in the application's folder!)
Program's functions:
- Install "Despertar del Cementerio":
It allows to launch directly the file "DDC.PBP" from the homebrew.
The DDC.PBP eboot contained in this version is the official installer of Dark_Alex's "Despertar del Cementerio v7" (the lastest version).
- Pandorize Battery:
It allows to turn a Pandorized battery in a normal one. (to start any PSP whithout a Memory Stick cointaining DDC)
-Resolve issues with FAKE Memory Stick:
It allows to solve problems of some FAKE Memory Stick with the IPL install.
Trought this process the app will re-allocate for good the MS and will format it too.
/!\ WARNING /!\ : all data in the Memory Stick will be erased. Forever.
- Detect motherboard model:
It allows to detect the type of mother board installed in your PSP.
In this way you'll be able to understand if you can pandorize your battery or not (note: it is possible to do that only on mother board models previous to the "TA-085 v2" one)
Moscas user of our forum, issue a new update of its Goblins PSP, utilty multifunction PC, which comes as the version 1.4.1.0
This new release fixes a bug in the previous v1.4.0.0 that prevented the start of the program after installation.
Here you will find the complete changelog also features added in version 1.4.0.0
Changelog v1.4.0.0 - v1.4.1.0:
Quote:
Changelog v1.4.0.0:
- A program available in Italian and English
- Function install / upgrade CF (the list of downloads can be downloaded separately due to the function of the program which then will bring you back to the pages download psp-ita.com)
- Added Yacc (the compression / decompression of image files (ISO / CSO)
- Added UMDgen (program to change the data of image files in order to reduce the size account of)
- Possibility to send e-mail to report to report any bugs or suggestions (a service is offered free assistance to the program, use the appropriate functions to create an e-mail and automatically transfer it to the default program for e - mail)
Changelog v1.4.1.0
-Fixed the bug that was after installation and that prevented the implementation of the program
Moscas settimalmente to check if there are updates to the program, using the search function updates.
Manuel, our user forums, today releases the first beta version of Android, shell inspired multifunctional all'OS Google Mobile, which will allow 'access to several operations.
All the details in full.
Features:
Features available in Beta 1
Quote:
• USB
• Trucks
• Games
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Manuel tells us that the next version or the beta 2 will have 'many improvements.
Meanwhile nn you only have to try this first version to report any bugs you find.
DCEmu is not only the Home of Homebrew and Gaming news, but Also the home of Homebrew Coders. DCEmu host many coders like GPF, PSMonkey, Chui and Deniska to name but a few.
It doesnt matter what console you code for we support all.
If your a coder that looking a home for their project, Contact us on 0800-DCEMUROCKS or Just PM Wraggs or Darksaviour69, or email Darksaviour69 (at) dcemu.co.uk . We can provide you with your own subdomain e.g yourname.dcemu.co.uk and your own section in the forum, We can also provide the layout and newsposting method for you site (via the forums).
Posting a new release is as easy as a forum post and say its a PSP Release we can add your feed to both the PSP Site and the main DCEmu portal so your bound to get a lot of exposure, we also link each site in the network to increase the exposure.
We welcome Homebrew and Emulation coders and projects but obviously nothing illegal :P but also will consider sites that will benefit the scene of homebrew, for example DCEmu Reviews is now one of the worlds biggest Hardware and Gaming reviews websites.
Reply via Comments if interested or to me Wraggster or the other admins of DCEmu.
All Homebrew/Emulation Coders once we verify them (and i spot them) have the ability to post in all our Console News Forums and the news automatically shows up on not only the site to which that news forum belongs but also on the main DCEmu Portal Site. We always like to have an onsite mirror but gladly welcome the linking to your own site.
DCEmu can be used by coders to become their release centre and with the Homebrew Scene across so many scenes being so massive now you can quickly get noticed by a lot of sites including mainstream networks.
Now with the News forums, normal members cant start topics in them but you can reply to any topic, Normal Members can post as Normal in any Non News forum. I get so many emails asking why he/she cant post in whatever forum.
And heres one for people using private messages to ask Questions, Please Use the forum to which the question would be easiest to get an answer as quick as possible. I get so many and i just ignore all of them (not to mention i have a massive amount of work anyhow). Also the users on DCEmu who use homebrew every day are tons better than me for remembering how to do homebrew on that particular console.
How Can You Help DCEmu
This site like any site is a massive undertaking and we need help on every console scene. No site in any scene is 100% perfect on what they cover and totally up to date. In homebrew methods change all the time and only you the users can help others join in the fun. If your a specialist in any console area and you want to see all the news appear its a great way of making sure it happens.
We are always in the need of Tutorials and Guides and FAQs not only for Homebrew but for hacking and Development and even just for gaming on consoles.
Our DCEmu Reviews Website is also in the need of reviews of both Hardware, Homebrew and Games Reviews so please review as much as possible.
Newsposters are always in need especially for WIP and Release News of Emulators, Homebrew etc and across many languages, i am English and to be honest the the translation apps on the net are crap, but the more help we get the better we can become, ive also no doubts that there are releases in places like Japan, China and Korea etc that never reach the likes of DCEmu and others because of language barriers.
Console News
Another change thats going to happen is that our Console News site will now post as much retro homebrew, Game Translations and also Modchip/flash cart news as possible, bringing much needed coverage to those communities.
The DCEmu Homebrew and Gaming Network
To those of you who are new to the DCEmu Homebrew and Gaming Network our Network Covers all these consoles.
As you can see theres quite a few consoles we cover
But thats not all we cover we also have a range of websites that arent totally Homebrew Related.
The Joypad.Net - http://www.thejoypad.net/ - The Joypad.Net is the premier place to find news on controllers and joypads etc.
DCEmu Interviews - http://interviews.dcemu.co.uk/ - Interviews with Coders from many Homebrew and Emulation Scenes and Home of the DCemu Interview, join in the biggest public interview
DCEmu Guides & Tutorials - http://tutorials.dcemu.co.uk/ - This is the place to submit any and all tutorials and Guides for any scene and they can be homebrew and gaming related. Once we verify them they will show up across our network.
DCEmu Reviews - http://reviews.dcemu.co.uk/ - This is the scenes biggest independant collection of reviews and is the place for both hardware and Software reviews. Get your reviews noticed by submitting them to DCEmu reviews. We now have the sister site Games Reviews
DCEmu Console History - http://console-history.dcemu.co.uk/ - This is where you can find Dark Watchers Collection of Console History, a great place to catch up on old consoles
PC Gaming & Homebrew - http://pc-gaming.dcemu.co.uk/ - Our PC Gaming site covers PC, EEEPC and PC Homebrew and Emulators.
DCEmu Blog - http://blog.dcemu.co.uk/ - This site covers anything that doesnt fit above and is our rant/current affairs/funny stuff/Movies News site, all the off topic stuff goes in here.
Cross & Taylors Chefs - http://personal-chef.dcemu.co.uk/ - This site for all those who wonder is my brothers site who is a top chef, again not homebrew related but he cooks a mean meal :P
DCEmu Developer Sites
These are sites where we have some of the Homebrew scenes best coders release their emulators, games etc to the world:
I think thats all, one last thing is to say thank you from everyone here to all the visitors, guests, coders and staff who make DCEmu what it is today.
A feature i did a few years ago and one im going to repeat now is the DCEmu Interview, a unique idea in which questions are asked by me to the Whole DCEmu Community its a way to learn more about each others and find out what our interests are and much more
Todays Question is What was the Homebrew Main Event of 2008? What for you was the biggest event/release of 2008 Give your Answer via Comments.
We want your DCEmu Interview Questions, Post any good questions Here
Remember to check out our DCEmu Interview Site to catch up on previous DCEmu Interview Questions
BenHeck.com forum member goteking apparently built this camera-in-a-Famicom-cart a little while back, but this is one instance when we're more than happy to catch up a little late, even if we may quite not be able to bring ourselves to gut a cart of our own. As you can likely imagine, this mod mostly depends simply on choosing the right cart-sized camera, and goteking found that a standard Sony Cybershot point-and-shoot fit the bill quite nicely, though there's certainly plenty of other possiblities out there (bonus points for anyone able to make an Game Boy cart camera). Hit up the link below for a few more pics of the camera, plus a glimpse of some of goteking's other projects, including a VAIO DS and a VAIO Eee PC.
Madroms released a new compilation of Dezeamon 2 games for his Dezaemon 2 Save Game Manager:
It's Christmas time, again! This year, I had another batch of Dezaemon 2 games given by the Japanese community. So, I made another tool, the Dezaemon 2 Save Game Manager Vol. 2 that can be grabbed here:
This year the tool contains 74 games. For each game, you can listen to one music sample and watch a video and some screenshots. The D2SGM2 contains a total of 1706 screenshots/pictures, 104 music samples and 74 videos.
Videos on homebrew Saturn programs is something new. As we don't have high level tools to make cinepak videos, if we make high quality videos they will not run smoothly on a real Saturn and there will be a lot of flickering. I hope some good programmers could make some great programs in the future to convert videos to Cinepak that can be handle well by the Saturn.
Each game has always 5 save game slots (named DEZA2___._01 to DEZA2___._05), all of them are the same. Just choose the one you want to copy. They are all recognized by Dezaemon 2 game (DEZA2___._01 = slot 1, and so on).
The D2SGM2 works on 352x240 resolution, so you need a RGB compatible TV to see all the lines on screen (info taken from the Sega Saturn programming doc). Else, you can try using the highres mode implemented (704x480 resolution) but I don't know if it resolves the problem.
The D2SGM2 must work on all Sega Saturn. I only tested it on EUR and JPN saturn with RGB cable on RGB compatible TVs, and all works well.
This tool has been made with the help of:
- Rockin'B: thanks for your Save Game Manager and your advices
- IGK: really thanks for your help, your confidence and the beta tests you made + all the musics you recorded and all the videos you made!
- NENG: thanks for your beautiful musics!
- vbt: thanks for your help on Saturn coding and your advices
- darius: thanks for the AR and PC COMMS Card
- Raynex: Thanks for your beautiful intro screen!
- all the members of The Dezaemoners community for their superb works
The Games and Musics that can be found on the D2SGM2 are copyright by Athena, A2TA, GISHU, HONG-KONG, IGK, ITON, Kenichiro, KEROYON, KONNICHIHA, leimonZ, mo4444, NENG, oda, Raynex, Sak, SAWAGANI, Shilfy-Yo, Shinichi Mochizuki, Shu Tokutomi, Soft Bank, TOROPICA and ttechi.
I really want to thanks once again all the members of the Dezaemon 2 community for their wonderful works and for sharing them with us, and IGK for the work he did on this project. Without them, all of this would not have been possible.
About the Dezaemon 2 database, I updated it with some new games. And as always, IGK helped me a lot and made all the videos available on Youtube for them. He did a great work again! Thanks guy!!
Now, I will let you browse the database and test our new D2SGM2. You will probably have hundreds of hours of play.
Outspark, a leading entertainment services company that publishes and operates massively multiplayer online games, announced today the closed beta test for its newest game, Wind Slayer. Between January 7th and 14th, players will have a chance to embark on a hero's journey through hundreds of quests and intense battles to earn experience, treasure and prestige. Outspark encourages gamers of all ages to sign up for a free account and register for the closed beta now at www.playwindslayer.com.
The testing period offers participants the elite opportunity to be one of the first to experience Wind Slayer in its entirety. Participants will also provide Outspark with valuable feedback that will be used to further refine the game before its wider release later this year.
Set on the beautiful continent of Beuritania, Wind Slayer invites adventurers to travel a diverse land filled with everything from beautiful, grass covered meadows and mountaintops to curious villages, dark caves and even an underwater city. Along the way players gain skills, weapons and experience as their characters grow stronger and choose one of the game's six exciting classes – Warrior, Archer, Mage, Rogue, Monk and Priest.
Additional Wind Slayer Features Include:
Hundreds of in-game items to customize your character
Hundreds of engaging in-game quests
Beautiful fantasy worlds and captivating visual effects
About Outspark:
Outspark is a leading entertainment services company that publishes and operates engaging online multiplayer games. Since the company's formation in January 2007, the online community has grown to more than 3.5 million users, the majority of which are located in North America. Featuring a portfolio of immersive free-to-play games and related content, the company is building an online destination where members come for the games and stay for the community. Titles include Fiesta, Secret of the Solstice, Bread 'n Butter, Project Powder, Blackshot and Wind Slayer. Backed by Tencent, Altos Ventures and DCM, Outspark is headquartered in San Francisco, Calif., with a subsidiary office in Seoul, Korea. For more information, visit http://www.outspark.com.
Capcom has revealed that the PC version of Bionic Commando will come out after its console counterparts. The first true sequel to the classic platformer "will be initially available for gamers on Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation 3 with the PC version following shortly afterwards," read the company's official statement.
While Capcom did not announce a specific release date for the console versions of Bionic Commando, the company did reveal that the anticipated game would launch sometime during the first half of 2009.
A rumor surfaced last year that a LEGO Harry Potter game was on the way; however, an inside source tells Eurogamer.net that developer Traveller's Tales isn't planning to release one; at least not within the next 12 months.
Giving some validity to the rumor was the fact that the LEGO game developer is a subsidiary company to Warner Bros., which currently owns the rights to the Harry Potter franchise. However, the European gaming site reports that since Electonic Arts is making a game based on the upcoming Harry Potter movie, Traveller's Tales may have to wait its turn for the license.
According to Eurogamer, another LEGO Indiana Jones game "is looking likely." When BBC Radio 1 asked Traveller's Tales producer Loz Doyle if fans would ever see another LEGO Indiana Jones game, he replied, "you never know." He added, "There's always the possibility that we would revisit a franchise. And you never know; it might not be the end of Star Wars, it might not be the end of Indy; we keep our options open."
The original LEGO Indiana Jones focused in on the original movie trilogy and did not cover the latest film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. On the LEGO Star Wars side, both the old and new trilogies have been recreated in virtual LEGO form.
While no game was officially announced, Producer Nick Ricks confirmed to BBC Radio 1, "There will be a LEGO game in 2009. And I think it's okay to say that you'll be a bit surprised."
Earlier this year, Videogaming247 reported that Traveller's Tales was working on a LEGO game based on EA's Rock Band rhythm game.
German developer Crytek will release a patch and software development kit for Crysis Warhead, its critically-acclaimed shooter, later this year.
"The Editor and SDK are being worked on and will be available for release in [2009], we currently don't know when this will be, but good progress is being made and we're hoping it will be sooner rather than later," read the game's web site.
As for the update, the MyCrisis team member wrote, "Crysis Warhead will receive a patch in the new year, it's almost finished thanks to some hard work from the Warhead team, so that's something to look forward to."
A Pandemic Studios community administrator has revealed the minimum PC system requirements for Lord of the Rings: Conquest, its highly-anticipated action game. According to the game's official forums, Lord of the Rings: Conquest requires the following:
Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista
2.4 GHz Core Duo processor or equivalent
1 GB RAM
A 256 MB Video Card, with support for Pixel Shader 3.0 - nvidia 7800 or equivalent
The latest version of DirectX 9.0c
A DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card
At least 6 GB of hard drive space for installation.
Lord of the Rings: Conquest is currently set for a January 9 release internationally and January 13 launch in the US.
Market research company NPD Group has released its list of best-selling PC games for the week of December 14 – 20, 2008, which saw World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King and Spore continue their sales dominance. While this week's top-10 list is eerily similar to the week prior, there were some noticeable changes. Valve's Left 4 Dead was able to move up a notch, whereas Activision's Call of Duty: World at War and Bethesda Softworks' Fallout 3 slightly dropped down the list.
1. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Expansion Pack
2. Spore
3. Left 4 Dead
4. The Sims 2 Deluxe
5. Call of Duty: World at War
6. Fallout 3
7. The Sims 2 Apartment Life Expansion Pack
8. Bejewled Twist
9. World of Warcraft Battle Chest
10. The Sims 2 Mansion & Garden Stuff Expansion Pack
Courtesy of NPD.
It is important to note that NPD data is merely reflecting of various US retail outlet sales. The list does not encompass a variety of digital distribution figures.
CCP's space MMO, Eve Online, has reached a milestone by reaching out to 45,186 concurrent players.
The videogame publisher was excited about the milestone and a CCP representative wrote on the game's web site, "it is truly a testament to our loyal fans that 5 years into EVE's existence we are still breaking records and more people are flying in New Eden than ever before."
Over the course of the years, CCP has made tremendous serverside changes to the game's infrastructure. Gamasutra reports that "The game now features a player-driven democratic society via its elected Council of Stellar Management, and an elaborate in-game economy watched over by former real-world economist Dr. Eyjolfur Gudmundsson."
Remember that proof-of-concept you saw way back in June of last year? You know, that one involving SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone? Here at Macworld, Sling Media is doing its darnedest to take the spotlight away from the looming Apple keynote by announcing that said app is almost ready for consumption. It'll be demonstrating a functional version in San Francisco, and it's planning to submit the software to Apple for certification sometime this quarter. In case you couldn't care less, it'll also unveil a prototype SlingPlayer for Mac HD, which will enable Mac-using Slingbox PRO-HD owners to stream high-def material to their Mac. As for the good stuff, pricing has yet to be determined for the SlingPlayer iPhone app, but the SlingPlayer for Mac HD will be made available gratis.
Okay, yes, we were mad skeptical that the Agora would ever see the light of day, and you know what? This is one situation where we're absolutely delighted to be proven wrong. Kogan's homegrown Android handset just got pictured in the wild -- the first time we've seen anything but a render -- on its way to a supposed CES debut. Rest assured: if it's really going to be meandering around Vegas this week, we will hunt it down.
Assembler points out this video in which Sega used chimps to market the Saturn. Judging by the games, this was very early days for the machine. Note that the primate on the left is named "Seagal" (Segaalu) and the one on the right is named "Anthony" (Ansonii), thus Sega vs Sony. Pretty lame campaign, but I like monkeys, and it's kind of interesting to see how they marketed their 3D like it was the business.
Electronic Arts announced today that Scrabble will make its way to the DS and PSP in March, and to Xbox Live Arcade at a later date. Beginning in spring, XBLA will not only receive the perennial wordsmith board game, but also Boggle, Battleship, Yahtzee, Connect Four, Sorry! and Sorry!Sliders.
In a very interesting development, XBLA will also receive a branded "Hasbro Family Game Night" channel. Chip Lange, general manager of EA Hasbro, says it'll allow players to easily find family-friendly digital board games. We only wish that Microsoft would extend such a courtesy to the high-quality European board games that are also available on the service
Electronic Arts announced today that Scrabble will make its way to the DS and PSP in March, and to Xbox Live Arcade at a later date. Beginning in spring, XBLA will not only receive the perennial wordsmith board game, but also Boggle, Battleship, Yahtzee, Connect Four, Sorry! and Sorry!Sliders.
In a very interesting development, XBLA will also receive a branded "Hasbro Family Game Night" channel. Chip Lange, general manager of EA Hasbro, says it'll allow players to easily find family-friendly digital board games. We only wish that Microsoft would extend such a courtesy to the high-quality European board games that are also available on the service
Electronic Arts announced today that Scrabble will make its way to the DS and PSP in March, and to Xbox Live Arcade at a later date. Beginning in spring, XBLA will not only receive the perennial wordsmith board game, but also Boggle, Battleship, Yahtzee, Connect Four, Sorry! and Sorry!Sliders.
In a very interesting development, XBLA will also receive a branded "Hasbro Family Game Night" channel. Chip Lange, general manager of EA Hasbro, says it'll allow players to easily find family-friendly digital board games. We only wish that Microsoft would extend such a courtesy to the high-quality European board games that are also available on the service
We're posting these new StarCraft II screens (we count six) with much reservation. After all, someone out there woke up this morning with no intention to die. But, having seen these new depictions of war-waging micro machines, this someone has triggered an inescapable obsession. Our friend will sit and stare until the eyes bleed, the throat dries and the body wavers. Eventually, this poor soul will keel over and, yes, drop dead. The doctors will call it many things: dehydration, exhaustion, heart failure. But we know the true cause. Love.
Ian Jackson, VP of sales for Sony Computer Entertainment America, told CNET that internal data shows a 130% increase in PS3 sales during the holiday season (post-Black Friday). Jackson also claims that the PS3 has seen 40% sales growth during the calendar year. He expects the momentum to continue in to the new year ... but really, what else is he going to say? Now is not the time for a Sony exec to say anything ... troubling.
Playing with percentages is fun, but we don't really know if Jackson was speaking globally or about the US. If he's talking globally, it might very well be possible that the world is picking up America's sales slack. However, if Jackson is talking about the holiday sales in the US, then Sony must have done gangbusters in December, because we know that November was not a good year-over-year month for the PS3. NPD's December data, which should be out in the coming weeks, will give a clearer picture of how the PS3 did during the holiday season.
David Reeves, President of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, believes that Sony is "on target" to figure out that elusive second step. "The most important thing for us as a company in the very short term is for us to start making money," Reeves explained rather candidly in a recent article on the official PlayStation website. "This is a pledge that was made last March and is something that we are still very much on target to achieve." His tone was considerably more positive than one adopted by recent rumors, which have Sony on the "brink of upheaval."
Quizzed -- or rather, politely asked to contribute in a promotional piece -- about 2009's most exciting developments, Reeves noted that once the company's flagship system is out of the financial woods, things will really take off for PlayStation and its fans. "2009 promises to be a very exciting year for PS3, with blockbuster titles such as Heavy Rain and Killzone 2 coming out, whilst we have the music and video download service becoming available towards the end of the year," he said. And don't forget about our pal, the PSP, which will have games taking "full advantage of the new enhanced screen." http://www.joystiq.com/2009/01/06/re...arning-profit/
David Reeves, President of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, believes that Sony is "on target" to figure out that elusive second step. "The most important thing for us as a company in the very short term is for us to start making money," Reeves explained rather candidly in a recent article on the official PlayStation website. "This is a pledge that was made last March and is something that we are still very much on target to achieve." His tone was considerably more positive than one adopted by recent rumors, which have Sony on the "brink of upheaval."
Quizzed -- or rather, politely asked to contribute in a promotional piece -- about 2009's most exciting developments, Reeves noted that once the company's flagship system is out of the financial woods, things will really take off for PlayStation and its fans. "2009 promises to be a very exciting year for PS3, with blockbuster titles such as Heavy Rain and Killzone 2 coming out, whilst we have the music and video download service becoming available towards the end of the year," he said. And don't forget about our pal, the PSP, which will have games taking "full advantage of the new enhanced screen." http://www.joystiq.com/2009/01/06/re...arning-profit/
Epic VP Mark Rein has posted on the Gears of War 2 forum, indicating that a major title update for the best-selling sequel is due to arrive in January. Some of the improvements planned: adding Achievements for the DLC content; fixing bugs; and addressing exploits.
Some of the online exploits the patch aims to fix involve players wielding an invisible shield, gaining infinite Lancer ammo and equipping a shield with a two-handed weapon. Epic also plans to include a harsher penalty for quitting matches early, spawn point protection and the ability to see the Submission flag using Tac/Com.
Most importantly (to shotgun whores), the new patch will fix "client side hit detection," so even in "laggy" matches the gun will be more reliable. That's great, because those shotgun folks really make the multiplayer an inviting experience.
GameStop will no longer accept trade-ins on original Xbox games, systems, or accessories beginning Febuary 9, 2009. Although GameStop corporate wouldn't verify this information during its "quiet period" leading to Thursday's holiday sales report, several local shops confirmed the policy when we called. Employees were unaware if something similar would be implemented for PS2 or GameCube in the near future.
Those looking to unload their original Xbox and dozens of games for the whopping sum of $12.87 (that's just a guess), should head on down to GameStop before the deadline.
Sometimes news comes from where you least expect it. Case in point: middleware firm Illuminate Labs. The lighting tech company recently toweled off new screens for Blizzavision cast off, WET, confirming that the acrobatic shooter is still expected to bound onto retail shelves for the PS3 and Xbox 360 sometime in 2009.
In development at Montreal-based developer Artificial Mind and Movement (A2M), WET has remained submerged well below the radar since it was first detailed in August 2007. Beyond the new eye candy, WET's pool of details remains shallow, though it's at least good to know that someone will be fishing the game out of the well someday soon.
Sometimes news comes from where you least expect it. Case in point: middleware firm Illuminate Labs. The lighting tech company recently toweled off new screens for Blizzavision cast off, WET, confirming that the acrobatic shooter is still expected to bound onto retail shelves for the PS3 and Xbox 360 sometime in 2009.
In development at Montreal-based developer Artificial Mind and Movement (A2M), WET has remained submerged well below the radar since it was first detailed in August 2007. Beyond the new eye candy, WET's pool of details remains shallow, though it's at least good to know that someone will be fishing the game out of the well someday soon.
We tend to think of demos as free gifts from the gaming overlords, which would make the Skate 2 demo coming on Thursday to Xbox Live a gift within a gift, like a Hickory Farms sampler wrapped in a Snuggie. Just for downloading the demo and registering here, you could win MS points and, curiously, one of six custom Skate 2 skateboards, which should look great sitting idly in your garage.
Thanks to the Thursday placement, we're assuming this'll pop up simultaneously on PSN, just without all the free prizes.
We tend to think of demos as free gifts from the gaming overlords, which would make the Skate 2 demo coming on Thursday to Xbox Live a gift within a gift, like a Hickory Farms sampler wrapped in a Snuggie. Just for downloading the demo and registering here, you could win MS points and, curiously, one of six custom Skate 2 skateboards, which should look great sitting idly in your garage.
Thanks to the Thursday placement, we're assuming this'll pop up simultaneously on PSN, just without all the free prizes.
Flush with the success of its G13 gameboard, Logitech is now creating a whole series of peripherals that will all work together to celebrate the seventh letter of the alphabet. The G-series line includes a new $199 G19 keyboard, offering a 320 x 240 color LCD mounted on top and 12 "G-keys" that can have up to three macros assigned to each. Next up is the $129 G35, a 7.1 surround-sound headset with integrated "voice-morphing" options for those who'd rather sound like a space squirrel than domestic gamer. Finally, there's a new flavor of the G9 mouse, dubbed the G9x, which loses the photo-overlay in favor of a maximum DPI of 5000 -- that's a whole 1800 more than before! Those extra dots will set you back $99 when the G9x releases in April, while the keyboard and headset should come about a month earlier. http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/06/l...-who-need-lot/
Thanks to "over-achieving" in Europe and (we'd imagine) a few sales in North America over the holidays, the 360 has reached 28 million units sold worldwide. That's more than 8 million ahead of PS3 and around 12 million (estimated) behind Wii. Microsoft also claims there are around 17 million users on Xbox Live, with over $1 billion in sales occurring on the service.
To give some perspective to these numbers: If you were to stack all the 360s on top of each other, then stack all the PS3s and Wiis next to them, then stack all the PCs and DSs and PSPs in yet another stack and then just walk away, we could probably all get a lot more reading done.
Been looking for months now, but I just haven't found a PS3 theme that beats the original wavy lines one that comes with the console. Well, I hadn't. Have now.
There are 
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Flush with the success of its G13 gameboard, Logitech is now creating a whole series of peripherals that will all work together to celebrate the seventh letter of the alphabet. The G-series line includes a new $199 G19 keyboard, offering a 320 x 240 color LCD mounted on top and 12 "G-keys" that can have up to three macros assigned to each. Next up is the $129 G35, a 7.1 surround-sound headset with integrated "voice-morphing" options for those who'd rather sound like a space squirrel than domestic gamer. Finally, there's a new flavor of the G9 mouse, dubbed the G9x, which loses the photo-overlay in favor of a maximum DPI of 5000 -- that's a whole 1800 more than before! Those extra dots will set you back $99 when the G9x releases in April, while the keyboard and headset should come about a month earlier. 